Share your technique and theory thread 🙌😊

[IT'z Roberto]

Hi guys, not sure if any of you are interested, but I figured I'd post a thread relating to different techniques and theory's for composing music.

I believe a thread with people contributing their skill/ideas can be a useful tool for those who wish to inspire people such as myself, who are always eager to learn different/new techniques.

If you have any videos, tutorials, walkthroughs, etc. Feel free to post them here

Happy Sunday brohams!

 

[Dr. Caligari]

Sounds like a cool idea but maybe you could specify a bit more what kind of ideas/advice you're looking for? It's a pretty big topic so a bit hard to know where to start.

 

[IT'z Roberto]

Sounds like a cool idea but maybe you could specify a bit more what kind of ideas/advice you're looking for? It's a pretty big topic so a bit hard to know where to start.

Well brother, I'm open to any guitar techniques. I also figure that there are some people out their who may just want to see/hear what others among the forum have to teach.

An easy example would be something like "how do you go about your legato?" Or "here's a neat trick/technique, try bending at the end of each phrase for some spice" etc etc

Preferably with tutorials of course it's just an idea thread, but it would be neat to have people share their tips/tricks/techniques to help inspire and improve the skill of others

 

[Winspear]

VOICE LEADING
Pay attention to it!
No more throwing down chord shapes without thinking about how they connect.
Treat them as muliple smooth melodies happening at the same time (which is where the term voice leading came from, for writing choir harmony). Utilize chord inversions to achieve voice leading.

If you want to play Cmaj triad to Gmaj triad, dont:
875xxx >
320xxx
That's three big descending leaps.

Do:
875xxx >
755xxx
Two small descents and one static sustain.

Or:
875xxx >
10 10 9xxx
A moderate ascent with a 4 semitone leap ontop (generally try to avoid more than that for a smooth sound).

Also a great way to rehash the same chord progression with a vastly different sound, for a familiar yet different effect on a section repeat within a song for example.
You can think purposefully about the effect you want to create, and make any chord progression descend, ascend, or stay fairly static with as many sustained notes as possible.

Also, knowing that smooth voice leading can make anything work really well, you can take the other approach, start with a chord fingering, and just move your fingers slightly around it to find what the next chord may be, rather than deciding it prior and then trying to voice it closely.

Voice leading makes chord progressions pop in their most emotive way, particularly when you can get chromatic tones involved and highlight them purposefully on the top line etc.
For example Amin>Cmin
532 > 331

 

[IT'z Roberto]

VOICE LEADING
Pay attention to it!
No more throwing down chord shapes without thinking about how they connect.
Treat them as muliple smooth melodies happening at the same time (which is where the term voice leading came from, for writing choir harmony). Utilize chord inversions to achieve voice leading.

If you want to play Cmaj triad to Gmaj triad, dont:
875xxx >
320xxx
That's three big descending leaps.

Do:
875xxx >
755xxx
Two small descents and one static sustain.

Or:
875xxx >
10 10 9xxx
A moderate ascent with a 4 semitone leap ontop (generally try to avoid more than that for a smooth sound).

Also a great way to rehash the same chord progression with a vastly different sound, for a familiar yet different effect on a section repeat within a song for example.
You can think purposefully about the effect you want to create, and make any chord progression descend, ascend, or stay fairly static with as many sustained notes as possible.

Also, knowing that smooth voice leading can make anything work really well, you can take the other approach, start with a chord fingering, and just move your fingers slightly around it to find what the next chord may be, rather than deciding it prior and then trying to voice it closely.

Voice leading makes chord progressions pop in their most emotive way, particularly when you can get chromatic tones involved and highlight them purposefully on the top line etc.
For example Amin>Cmin
532 > 331

Nice thanks for the tip with a written explanation and tablature I appreciate that

 

[LordCashew]

VOICE LEADING
Pay attention to it!
No more throwing down chord shapes without thinking about how they connect.
Treat them as muliple smooth melodies happening at the same time (which is where the term voice leading came from, for writing choir harmony). Utilize chord inversions to achieve voice leading.

If you want to play Cmaj triad to Gmaj triad, dont:
875xxx >
320xxx
That's three big descending leaps.

Do:
875xxx >
755xxx
Two small descents and one static sustain.

Or:
875xxx >
10 10 9xxx
A moderate ascent with a 4 semitone leap ontop (generally try to avoid more than that for a smooth sound).

Also a great way to rehash the same chord progression with a vastly different sound, for a familiar yet different effect on a section repeat within a song for example.
You can think purposefully about the effect you want to create, and make any chord progression descend, ascend, or stay fairly static with as many sustained notes as possible.

Also, knowing that smooth voice leading can make anything work really well, you can take the other approach, start with a chord fingering, and just move your fingers slightly around it to find what the next chord may be, rather than deciding it prior and then trying to voice it closely.

Voice leading makes chord progressions pop in their most emotive way, particularly when you can get chromatic tones involved and highlight them purposefully on the top line etc.
For example Amin>Cmin
532 > 331

Great post! I'd add that this is especially important for dissonant chords. Good voice leading certainly improves any chord progression but idiomatically appropriate, or at least logical, resolution of an augmented or fully diminished seventh chord can be the difference between it sounding great or trash.

 

[Brocephus]

There's a massive amount of techniques to be mastered in different ways. All I can say to beginners is that what has helped me the most by far is the rule of minimal movement, even if it's not a technique, it's certainly part of good technique. Unless you really want to hit the strings hard (for dynamics, etc.) there's no reason to hit them any harder than you need to. This also goes for the fretting hand! If you're using active EMG's, like I did, you don't have dynamics anyway, so don't hit the strings so damn hard.

Getcha pull!

 

[IT'z Roberto]

There's a massive amount of techniques to be mastered in different ways. All I can say to beginners is that what has helped me the most by far is the rule of minimal movement, even if it's not a technique, it's certainly part of good technique. Unless you really want to hit the strings hard (for dynamics, etc.) there's no reason to hit them any harder than you need to. This also goes for the fretting hand! If you're using active EMG's, like I did, you don't have dynamics anyway, so don't hit the strings so damn hard.

Getcha pull!

Honestly, that is a really good tip, very overlooked by even advanced players. Reading this helped set a reminder to relax and not squeeze the guitar like a pair vice grip s

 

[works0fheart]

This also goes for the fretting hand! If you're using active EMG's, like I did, you don't have dynamics anyway, so don't hit the strings so damn hard.

*plop!*

And off goes the lid on this can of worms again lol.

 

[Alberto7]

The latest thing I've learned is to be a bit more conscious of my body posture while I play, as well as my fretting hand grip strength.

I've developed back pains from sitting like shit my entire life, and now I'm starting to develop what feels like tennis elbow from playing for too long and grippin too hard on 7 and 8 string riffs. I've had to shift my shoulder and elbow positions to be a little more outward facing (I used to really keep my shoulders forward and elbow close to my body as I played) as well as my thumb behind the neck and adjust my finger pressure. I need to play more delicately so I stop damaging my elbow more.

TL;DR - be conscious about your posture and left hand grip, and find a position and grip strength that work for you so you don't develop joint pains in the long run. Do this even if it means slowing down for a little while till you get used to it.

 

[Brocephus]

*plop!*

And off goes the lid on this can of worms again lol.

Hahaha I didn't mean to do that. They're fine pickups I just don't prefer them anymore. Its all personal preference though. Oli Herbert, my favorite guitarists, recorded most of his albums with an 81/85 set, so it is what it is.

 

[Drew]

Well brother, I'm open to any guitar techniques. I also figure that there are some people out their who may just want to see/hear what others among the forum have to teach.

An easy example would be something like "how do you go about your legato?" Or "here's a neat trick/technique, try bending at the end of each phrase for some spice" etc etc

Preferably with tutorials of course it's just an idea thread, but it would be neat to have people share their tips/tricks/techniques to help inspire and improve the skill of others

So, this is semi related, I guess... I had a long conversation with someone who'd really been studying joint independence and sort of the overall biomechanics of the hand, who was also a very proficcient guitarist. I believe he's currently working on a book on the subject so I don't want to go too deep into this, but there were two big takeaways from that conversation for me.

1) Finger independence. Your 3rd and forth fingers, ring and pinkie, are in part controlled by one of the same tendons. This means there's limits to how truly independent they can be. Your first, second, and 3/4 do not overlap, however. This has two major practical implications:
A) The human hand evolved to be very efficient at "grabbing" motions. So, finger independence isn't a HUGE concern when it comes to moving fingers sequentially - 1-2-3-4 or 4-3-2-1 stuff is going to be pretty efficient no matter how you choose to fret it, for example.
B) Outside of this, though, at the margins, motions that don't involve both 3 and 4 are going to be much more efficient than those that do. Fretting 3nps scale patterns with two whole steps as 1-2-4 has a biomechanical efficiency edge over fretting them 1-3-4, and your hand will fatigue perceptibly less fast. I've re-thought how I fret things as a result of this, and this was a conversation I came into thinking this was totally irrelevant.

2) For similar reasons... The more relaxed your wrist position is while playing, the less "tension" there is in the system, and in turn the less "inertia" you have to overcome while making movements, and the faster you can play. Focus on keeping your wrist and hand relaxed, and playing in whatever posture promotes this. Much as above with finger independence (at first changes may feel awkward, becayuse you've spent years doing something else), it will feel strange at first, but over time focusing on using the most independent possible combinations of fingers, and keeping your wrist and hand as relaxed as possible, will lead to faster, smoother, and more effortless legato playing.

I'd be lying if my fandom for Alan Holdsworth went much beyond "respect from upon far," but I think he's a really good example here: look how natural his wrist angle is:


Similarly, Shawn Lane kept a pretty modest bend to his wrist even at his stretchiest, which I don't think is a coincidence: