Notes on the Guitar as a System

The acoustic guitar is a context unto itself, thus it's appeal for solo work. A small universe of sounds is available to the careful player and listener.

The electric guitar requires an amp to complete a system. Without amplification, a solid or semi-hollow body electric guitar has minimum, barely audible resonance. Amplification brings out the resonances and overtones that are the magical qualities associated with electric guitars. The guitar must be played and amplified loudly to make the electric guitar sound vibrate to its potential. electric guitar = electric guitar + amplifier.

Also, for me, the electric guitar requires the context of an ensemble, as its harmonic/resonant capabilities (particularly at solo volume levels) are smaller than those available to an acoustic guitar in a solo context.

The reason acoustic guitars sound mostly bad amplified is because the piezo and sound hole pick-ups don't "pick up" the qualities of the resonating body (guitar top) that is the acoustic transducer, nor do they pick up the bi-tones that result from a stopping a string with a finger on the fretboard.

The acoustic guitar is about maximum vibration before amplification while the electric guitar is the inverse.

It all about resonating bodies.

Topic of the Day: MICROTONES

Microtones focus your attention to qualities of distance not available in equal temperament.

On an electric guitar, a slide can act as a quasi-third bridge allowing normally inaudible bi-tones to be amplified by pickups.

A slide can also trigger bi-tone multiphonics due to changing the proportions of the strings on the left side of the third bridge. Bi-tones are sometimes called ghost notes/tones in popular parlance, but this name only serves to obscure this well-documented aspect of string vibration.

On an acoustic guitar, bi-tones are normally audible and add to the complexity of the acoustic sound.

Resource: List of Books and Videos about Amps and Electric Guitars

More commercial than academic, but sometimes that's just right or better.

http://amptone.com/booksrecording.htm#_Toc142020948

Topic of the Day: RESONANCE

Resonance. The minimum through maximum vibration potential of a system. Includes inductive vibrations in supposedly unrelated circuits (i.e., natural, human, and computer system environments). Metaphorically, not formally, related to resonance in electronic circuit theory.

 

Microtones bring your attention to qualities of distance not available in equal temperament. It's all about resonance, both in and outside your ears, and the ears' ability to map space in your brain.

In addition to making harmonic use of the modes of limited transposition, he [Messiaen] cited the harmonic series as a physical phenomenon which provides chords with a context which he felt to be missing in purely serial music.^[44] An example of Messiaen's harmonic use of this phenomenon, which he called "resonance", is the last two bars of Messiaen's first piano Prélude, La colombe ("The dove"); the chord is built from harmonics of the fundamental base note E.^[45]  - Wikipedia: Messiaen, Olivier. 1/4/11

Solo or Group Event No. 1 - Amigo

Some ideas I've been working on. (click on image for original size). Let me know what's what, eh?

Temporality

Trying to find my way back into this blog:

Remember what Susan McClary wrote and also, the way Gagaku and Javanese music, and Zen... made me feel about temporality.  I still think time is the most basic musical quality. Multiple times, time spectra, the theory of relativity, and so on. Time span cast in various dimensions.
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Maybe this will turn into a guitarcentric space for thoughts about music and composition rather than an exclusive guitar thing.  That would be cool.

Guitarist of the Day: Jonathon Grasse on Surrealestate's Lacunae (Acoustic Levitation)

 

Guitarist of the Day: Jonathon Grasse on Surrealestate's Lacunae (Acoustic Levitation)

 

In the track I Still Dream of Nana, whispering, as a musical-dramatical device, has the effect of drawing the listener into the sound world created by guitarist Jonathon Grasse and the LA-based group Surrealestate on their new release Lacunae on the Acoustic Levitation label.

Grasse is an imaginative and oh-so patient player. He treats the Stratocaster like an alto or soprano instrument, coaxing the most delicate, yet complete, sounds and overtones in what can sometimes be the harshest range of the electric guitar. I’ve always admired this unique aspect of his playing. By the time he shifts into the instrument’s lower ranges, you’ve almost forgotten that the instrument has lows (and this is just part of Grasse’s afore-mentioned patience). In I Still Dream of Nana, he shifts between tonal and non-tempered sounds, and employs articulations that alternately remind me of a koto, gongs and bells, environmental, and imaginary spatial sounds. The recording preserves the nuances of the microstructures that Grasse constructs/releases. Throughout the CD, Grasse draws your attention to his uncluttered yet timbrally loaded guitar gestures. His career as a composer definitely informs his guitar playing. No shredding here, just music through masterful playing…thank goodness.

The title of the album (Lacunae) is perfect for this track, as a metaphor for a (spiritual) space previously unexamined, omitted, or unthought. Grasse’s playing is well suited to the ensemble that includes Charles Sharp on percussion and little instruments, David Martinelli on drum set, Jeff Schwartz on bass. Ken Luey on flute/clarinet/tenor sax, and Bruce Friedman on trumpet. 

LA keeps coming up as an expanding place for new and inventive music and as a home to practitioners of the highest quality. Hopefully, Surrealestate's Lacunae, and Grasse’s contribution to it, will get the attention it deserves. This is music beyond category and well worth a listen.

-Amigo

Jonathan's website
 

Available for purchase/listen at iTunes