Members NewGuyonGuitar Posted June 21, 2012 Members Share Posted June 21, 2012 Why is it, and I'm afraid to ask as the answer is going to melt my brain, that you sometimes strum all the strings of the guitar when playing a chord, and sometimes you strum only selected strings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Jed Posted June 21, 2012 Moderators Share Posted June 21, 2012 If all the notes are within the chord (are chord tones) then it's ok to strum all the strings. But what if one or two strings produce notes that are not in the chord ? What if those strings / notes would make the chord sound like crap ? Well, then you mute the strings / notes that you don't want to ring through. Make sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BydoEmpire Posted June 21, 2012 Members Share Posted June 21, 2012 What Jed said, but also, even if all the strings produce notes within the chord you want, sometimes you don't want them all to ring out because it creates a different sound. You can strum all six strings and make a G chord, but if you're playing in a band with keyboards, bass and another guitar player, maybe you don't want to take up that much "sonic space" so you might do a G chord using only three strings. They're both G chords, but they sound a little different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members polishpaul Posted June 21, 2012 Members Share Posted June 21, 2012 Freedie Green was much appreciated for his use of two-note comping chords. When he played with the Count Basie Orchestra there were plenty of other musicians building up the sound scape so he just jogged along with his two-note chords, often the third and seventh, to outline the progression. Full barre chords, to quote in the vernacular , would have sounded crap! I used to think that being so selective with the strings you want to ring out was and would forever remain an unattainable goal....but it's amazing how time and effort changes things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_SLOP_king Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 On open chords, you typically play all the strings (except on a Dmaj). It really depends on the notes used for that chord. Say you're playing a Bmaj7, which is B, D#, F#, A#. You wouldn't want to play an open A string with this chord because it would sound really bad (due to the clashing between the minor second interval separating the note A# and the note A). There are also instances where you wouldn't want to play the actual notes in the chord. Say for instance you're playing that same Bmaj7 chord. You wouldn't want to play the B, or the root, above the A#. Again, you run into a bit of a paradox with maj 7th chords. Anyway, what you'd wanna do if you're playing this chord is play the notes, but at the same time, instead of playing the root above the 7th of the chord (the 7th of this chord is A#) you can play the 3rd above the A#. So instead of playing B, D#, F#, A#, B, you would want to play B, D#, F#, A#, D#. We learned this in harmony class. Again, it comes back to the intervallic distance between the 7th of the scale/chord (in this case, the 7th is A#) and the root, which is B. The distance between A# and B is a minor 2nd. Minor 2nd intervals are very dissonant and don't sound good when in a more 'major' context such as this example. Hopefully, I didn't just confuse the hell out of you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members c+t in b Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 get a teacher! You're going to have a million questions like this, since you're just starting out. A teacher will make everything easier to understand in a quicker period of time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NewGuyonGuitar Posted June 22, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 get a teacher! You're going to have a million questions like this, since you're just starting out. A teacher will make everything easier to understand in a quicker period of time Have one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members polishpaul Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 Have one. Wow! I must give minimalism a shot....save loads of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members polishpaul Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 Here we go then, testing: Just do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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