Members tramampoline Posted October 6, 2003 Members Posted October 6, 2003 For those of you who don't know, a Santur is a Persian zither (a flat board with an array of strings set over it) that are normally struck with two featherlight mallets. Go here to learn more about it and hear it. www.santur.com But there is a way to approximate this awesome trill sound on the guitar. This takes some practice but here's some general thoughts on playing this way. First you'll need a #2 pencil, almost any length will do (mine is 5 inches long). Just for the record, I've also tryed chopsticks and they work well too, but they have a harder time bouncing on the lower strings, so experiment! Hold the pencil's tip lightly between your thumb and middle finger (or whatever feels comfortable, I just find the middle and thumb to have the correct balance of looseness and tightness in terms of grip) and let the lower end (the eraser side) hang down near the strings. Also, tilt the guitar back towards you a bit so the width of the fretboard is not perfectly perpendicular to the ground). Now fret a note for example, on the high E string. Gently 'swing' the pencil into the string. Now when the pencil hits, loosen your grip and let the pencil 'bounce' against the string, much like a drummer lets his drumstick 'bounce' on the snare drum to make drum rolls. You'll notice that the harder you swing it, the more 'bounces' you get. Also, how far away you start the swing affects the amount of bounces. While letting the pencil simply stop bouncing on it's own creates a cool 'speeding up' trill effect by itself, there are far more possibilities. Try experimenting with uniform rythymic patterns. For example, try hitting the string multiple times, but each time get the pencil to bounce the same number of times (123, 123, 123). Experiment with swinging distance and swinging strength to create double time or half time effects of your intended rythym. Also try juxtaposing different beat groups against each other. For example a bouced triplet against a bounced quadruplet. Also, adding single pencil hits with no bounce into the equation allows you to accent certain beats. I've also found that this technique sounds really cool by approximating the sound of a slapback delay. For instance, say you fret a G on the 3rd fret of the high E. Start by bouncing the pencil to create a very quick (almost instant) 2 note duplet and immediately after that fret the 5th fret A and let the pencil bounce another 2 times (this is all in one swing). The pencil 'repeats' the note once giving the illusion of a slapback echo being on. Make sure the pencil is bouncing quickly to create a desirable effect. Another fun thing to try is arpeggiating chords with the bouncing pencil technique. For example take a G chord: xx5787 Now pretend like you're moving across the strings as if you were arpeggiating them, but each time you run into a string, bounce the pencil on it an equal (or unequal) number of times. Very fun, exotic sounding effect. Experiment with different beat arrangements and patterns. Also, I find it easier when bouncing the pencil on strings other than the high E by aiming the pencil so it hits slightly below the targeted string (so as not to accidentally hit neighboring low strings). Try it out! See if you like it.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.