plectrum – modern music theory and application

2 Part Counterpoint Guitar Strumming

Posted on April 15, 2024April 15, 2024 by Modern Music Theory

2 Part Counterpoint Guitar Strumming: songwriting guitar style lesson

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at contrapuntal 2 part guitar strumming. This involves employing contrary motion technique where 2 parts move in different directions

This is not traditional Bach counterpoint but using and exploiting what works naturally on the guitar’s traditional tuning EADGBE.

In the first exercise we will just pluck some simple 2 part voicing’s leading to a plagal cadence.

counterpoint-songwriting-guitar-lesson-example

In the next exercise we will brings out the inner voicing’s whilst strumming rhythms on all the guitar strings.

Now, we will move up to the next three strings and strum some more patterns.

In the following exercise you will see how easy it is to create contrary motion through the different registers with the plectrum as [simple dyads or] 2 note voicing’s.

Now, we will move up to the first and second strings,

Here is a chordal variation with an added pedal note:

The next example is in G major and produces a really lovely sound that resonates on the first two strings.

Let’s now add a G pedal: Notice the ascending [but falling] scale motifs:

Finally, we can employ another useful technique by using a pedal note with a chord. This is not contrapuntal, but it is useful for creating a clear sense of harmony with rhythmic drive.

Here we will add a little a “Down Down Up” plucked triplet motif to break it up.

Full Exercise:

Free PDF DOWNLOAD:

2-part-guitar-strumming Download

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String Skipping/Intervallic Guitar Part 3-HARMONY

Posted on April 4, 2023April 6, 2023 by Modern Music Theory

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String Skipping/Intervallic Guitar Part 2-HARMONY

PLEASE WATCH VIDEO ABOVE FOR DETAILED ANALYSIS:

Hi Guys,

Today, one last look at “Intervallic string skipping” for a contrapuntal-esque picking style.

The first thing to do is take one position on the guitar fingerboard and find the “Harmony” embedded within that position.

I have taken the A Major position [F#m Relative]

Now, let’s make an A Major basic arpeggio from the 1st string and the 6th string.

Straight away, you will notice that the notes on the 1st string and the notes on 6th string are the same but in different octaves. This gives us an easy and excellent way to exploit the High to Low or Low to High counterpoint effect.

Now let’s do the same with a piece of scale: [Starting on an “Upstroke”]

Again, the octave makes this flow and connect easily from the low to high.

The next point is to take a chord sequence and use this “String skipping/intervallic” effect: Here we have Vi ii V7 I

HARMONY

Th next essential point is to acknowledge the harmony in this position:

We will do this by exploiting the Cycle of 4ths in this simple 5 fret position.

Here you can see that we have a huge amount of harmony available to us right under our fingertips. These chords don’t have to be Major, they can be minor, diminished, augmented etc. This gives us even more material to work with.

If we move down a fret [Semitone] then we have another set of harmony in 4ths awaiting us.

Along, with this we have chord inversions and all of the inversions of A Major:

So, as you can see there is a huge amount of harmony right in front of us even in this one position that we can exploit and create lots of music from.

Lastly, let’s create another “String skipping intervallic” example:

I’m going to create a phrase outlining a D Maj#11 chord.

To make this sequence quite quick I am going to add some scale from high to low:

Now we will add a V -I cadence

Now, let’s view the whole line:

PDF DOWNLOAD:

al-di-meola-guitar string skipping harmony Download

PDF DOWNLOAD 2:

contapuntal-guitar-lesson Intervallic guitar Download 2

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Al Di Meola/John McLaughlin-Strumming Guitar Lesson

Posted on January 9, 2023January 12, 2023 by Modern Music Theory

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Al Di Meola/John McLaughlin-Strumming Guitar Lesson

Please watch video above for a detailed analysis:

Hi Guys,

The key to learning percussive guitar strumming is to be able to shift through the rhythmic gears. When you can do this then you can double the time and add percussive flourishes [al la Al di Meola] to your right hand strumming.

Start by counting the quarter note and then move to the eighth note and then up to the 16th note.

SEXTUPLETS:

The next grouping to contend with is the group of 6 notes called sextuplets.

You can count 1 2 3 4 5 6

or you could break it up into 16th’s as in,

I prefer to employ Konokol and use this as my count for the rhythm. This is because it is easy to say quickly and will register with my brain and produce lightning reflexes with my right strumming hand

In order to get 16th notes in quick succession it is essential to count them as:

1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a

Mixing Rhythmic values:

The next concept is where it all falls into place. This consists of mixing up the rhythms and creating double timing patterns for percussive effect.

Example 1: