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Tension and Release


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Posted

I've been thinking about solos in general recently. I think one subject so often overlooked is the concept of tension and release. I have seen very technically proficient musicians who just do not know how to build to a climax, and I think that this is really what it all boils down to.

 

I heard an online recording of a guitar clinic with Trey Anastasio from Phish, which was essentially a dissertation on the importance of tension and release. I notice how often people here talk about speed, picking, new scales, etc....but not so often do we discuss how exactly to combine all of these ingredients into a stew.

 

So what does everyone else think? I left this topic pretty broad, because I'm really interested to see what people have to say. Lets hear some thoughts, maybe some cool licks.....I can also post the link to the guitar clinic if anyone is interested.

 

Warmest regards,

 

Nick

Posted

I think this concept is of utmost importance in soloing. All the most vital aspects of playing a great solo are always overlooked; otherwise we'd all be excellent players.

 

Now I love scales and other devices just as much as the next guy, but what they all boil down to is 'sound.' It's great to have as many sounds as you can at your disposal, but making music is really about choosing the right sounds for the right situation, and using everything in the right amounts.

 

There are a lot of broader ideas to look at when it comes to soloing, such as tension and release, range, dynamics, articulation, tone color, scales and chords, and rhythm. Most often we just focus on scales and chords and rhythm because they are the easiest to explain, put on paper, and understand intellectually. The other aspects of music are often overlooked or not consciously studied because it's harder to think up ways to practice them or focus on them, but in reality they are just as important as anything else.

 

I'm sure there are a couple more to add to that list if I sit down and think about it, but in the end, anything that allows diversity in sound will make your soloing better. Sitting too much on one sound, whether that be tension, release, a particular scale, a particular volume level, etc, will make the solo sound boring. Adding diversity at the right points is really what separates a great solo from a good solo.

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Posted

yeah, dynamics are very important, especially if you're soloing for an extended period of time, but even playing an 8 bar solo in a pop song requires a bit of thought (maybe moreso than playing a solo over 64 bars)

 

you can break dynamics down into a list of opposites...

 

 

high dynamic...

 

loud, fast, high, complex, rough, a-rhythmic, sudden etc etc

 

 

low dynamic...

 

quiet, slow, low, simple, smooth, rhythmic, gradual etc etc

 

 

you can probably think of more...

 

so when constructing a solo, you can make a decision about the "shape" of it - for example you want to start with a low dynamic and build to a crecendo at the end - a simple but effective dynamic shape. so how would you achieve this? well you can mix elements from the "low dynamic" list and gradually replace them with elements from the "high dynamic" list

 

start simply, low down with quiet long slow notes and gradually increase the volume, pitch, speed and complexity of your phrases

 

pretty obvious really, but something many people don't think about very much.

 

have a think about some other dynamics you could add to the above list and think of some different dynamic shapes - assign one dynamic to the shape and practice playing solos that follow that dynamic. for example - one shape would be like half a sine wave - a curve that starts low, goes high and then low again - assign the dynamic "speed" to this curve, or "texture" and see if you can play something that only changes this one dynamic - it may not be very musical, but it will allow you to zone in on one single aspect.

 

sim

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Posted

Agreed with all the above

 

On another thread, we were talking about songwriting where the gent was having difficulty with this part and found himself producing an ever-tightening/escalating feel without the breaths.

 

 

 

One "tension" dynamic to look at is harmonic --

Do you have consonance or dissonance?

How, harmonically speaking, far away from the tonal center are you?

 

That's where I find just going back and looking cadentially to be of help. The tension and release of a piece is sort of in-built there and while we can work against/across that for dramatic effect, working WITH the cadences gives us that natural motion.

 

As mentione above, sometimes just overlaying a visual of tension and release just lets you see it more clearly.

 

I remember this little songwriting exercise where you take a piece and circle the points of tension, these are you accents. You put a line on your resolutions, these are your rests (pauses)

 

In effect, yoou are looking at a rhythmic statement, on a big timescale.

With tension and release, you are making a musical STATEMENT, you increase the tension to highlight the point and then you can confidently rest your statement by releasing that. IT allows closure.

 

Just tension is boorish -- every point can't be the most important

Just relaxed is boring and trite - you aren't saying anything

 

No sense of that leads to musical rambling where you want to say something, but don't have anything to say...like talking to the pretty girl at 15yrs

  • 1 year later...
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Posted

Bumping this thread due to its relevance to my question... I've been a big Trey fan for years now. His playing (well, Phish in general) got me into music over 10 years ago. I did not really pick up the guitar until about 2 years ago sadly.

 

I saw Trey play Friday night in Asheville and I was paying careful attention to how he used tension and release, something I have known about for a while, but I never actually understood how it actually worked. I have a general understanding of modal theory and how to apply it, but no clue as to how to add tension and release to my very bland solo and improvisation skills. So, my question to you all is how does it actually work and how can I begin to utilize it in my playing to give my solo's a sense of direction?

Posted

While you can derive some tension from harmony/scale choices, it mostly has to do with rhythm, dynamics, range and articulation.

 

Dynamics are the easy part to understand. Playing soft creates low tension, playing loud creates more tension.

 

Articulation can be a little more variable. A really aggressive attack and short, staccato notes can create tension, but you could also play a long legato line and create tension from the rhythms used. Articulation is one way to add tension, but other factors and effect it.

 

Range is one other factor. Try starting a solo in the lower register of your instrument, then gradually move to the higher register, and back again to create tension and release.

 

Rhythm is the big one here for creating tension. Longer, more sustained notes don't have a lot of tension, but busier notes, like eighth notes and sixteenth notes, give off more energy. Hemiola is another great tool to use (hemiolas are rhythms that shift against the beat every time they're repeated. Try playing eighth notes in 4/4 time but group them in 3's, perhaps making the 1st of every three a higher pitch. Play it against some sort of backing track so you can hear the rub. You can get pretty wild with hemiolas). Those are just a couple suggestions. Basically anything you do rhythmically ultimately has a lot to do with the tension.

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Posted

But in western music don't certain notes, or a certain combination of notes in a key force the listener to want to hear resolution? Not just starting and ending on the root, or the 5th. I know Trey is a master of this. He'll keep building his solo until the audience is just begging for resolution. Then he'll hit that note and it just sounds so amazing, so emotional. It's like a musical orgasm. I know there is tons of theory behind how it works and why, but the stuff I have found is just way over my head.

 

I have always believed a solo should tell a story. It should not be just a bunch of notes in a scale randomly thrown together. Maybe I am just frustrated that I am unable to do that just yet.

Posted

You are right, but it's the harmony that determines those notes. In order to reflect that in your soloing, all you have to do is focus on the notes of the chords and your solo will mirror the tension/release of the harmony.

 

Simple example: G7 to C major.

 

G7 really wants to resolve to C major, and to employ that in your soloing, focus on the notes of G7 (G B D F) and play them on the strong beats and make sure you resolve on the change to C major. Try playing an F on beat four and an E on beat three. This is what's called "playing the changes" and is really essential to making a solo fit with the chord progression.

 

Too many people do, as you said, just throw the notes together in the scale. Different notes have different weights of tension on each chord, so get to know what they all sound like. Try recording yourself playing G7 to C major over and over, and try to hear what all 7 notes of the scale sound like and try resolving them up and down and learn how that sounds.

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Posted

That is some good input. For a long time I always saw scales and chords as 2 totally separate entities. Lately I have been trying to teach myself to see the chords as they relate to the scales.

 

Perhaps I need to start working on some triads and arpeggios then. They've been on my to-do list once I am comfortable with the modes. Maybe I should have tackled those first. Thanks for your help.

Posted

 

Originally posted by Phulcrum


Perhaps I need to start working on some triads and arpeggios then. They've been on my to-do list once I am comfortable with the modes. Maybe I should have tackled those first. Thanks for your help.

 

 

Absolutely. Arpeggios are essential to understanding how ant scale works over a chord.

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Posted

 

Originally posted by Phulcrum

That is some good input. For a long time I always saw scales and chords as 2 totally separate entities. Lately I have been trying to teach myself to see the chords as they relate to the scales.

 

 

That's kind of a point I rant on (and sorry about that guys) - in terms of how popular music (and especially guitar oriented music) is approached and understood...

 

a melody on top of monolithic "chords"

 

I don't mean it's wrong or overly-simplistic or anything like that...it's a valid approach, but is only part of the deal and an appreciation of how western music is put together on a more fundamental level can help us.

 

unlike popular music where guys start thinking "OK, how to I create a melody over this harmonic structure" -- much of "traditional" theory starts the other way 'round "given this melody, how can I make neat harmonies"

 

what's kind of neat about it is that you can look at harmony "vertically" (the voices in a time slice) AND you can look at the SAME music horizontally (the melody within a voice across time) - this, I find, can help integrate the concepts of harmony and melody as opposed to keeping them too separate.

 

So I think it a very cool thing that you are taking a step back to look at some of that and get an idea as to the whys so you can make good hows

 

One good point Pop brought up with the "it's (tension) not merely in the..."

is that when we thing about tension, we don't need to synthesize it in very specific functions only, but can use a variety of tools.

Really more than a musical tool, it's a basic artistic tool (hey screenplays, books, whatever can fall flat from misuse of tension too...plot, "story arc", these are terms we hear as well) ...the concepts of tension/release...they are sort of fundamental "below" music -- examining writing, competition...romance, religious philosophy can really help the appreciation of applying energy with art and impact

  • 2 years later...

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