Basic Pop Guitar Notation

Course materials for module ‘Popular Music Analysis’ MUSI 221 Institute of Popular Music, University of Liverpool Basic text and notation supplied by Brad Sheward, 1996 Rewritten and edited by Philip Tagg, 1997

Tuning techniques can be performed on all guitars, al- though there are some exceptions (For example, Guitar strings are tuned to 1. Guitar open string bending cannot effectively be performed on strings the pitches shown in exam- a classical guitar). Also, the way in which some ple 1a. Guitar notation, how- techniques are performed varies on different types ever, uses the treble clef of guitar: vibrato on a classical guitar is performed showing pitches one octave in a gentler and more subtle fashion than it would higher than they actually be on a heavily distorted rock guitar. sound. Guitarists therefore expect to see the open string pitches of their instruments Explanation of Techniques notated as in example 1b. Slurring Tablature 4. Pull-off Slurring is a smooth 5. Hammer- on Tablature is a graphic representa- 2. Open sounding technique tion of the fretboard of various strings in which is made of ham- TAB fretted string instruments (e.g. mer-ons and pull-offs guitar, bass guitar and mandolin). (and also can incorpo- Guitar tablature is a six-line staff rate right hand tap- that illustrates the guitar finger- ping). It can sound board. The top line indicates the quite virtuosic if per- highest sounding string, top e, and formed at some speed, the bottom line the lowest sound- especially when used in conjunction with other ing string, low e (see example 2). techniques such as sweeping and tapping. A gui- Numbers are 3. Fret numbers in TAB tar with light strings, low action and large frets is used on each line easier to slur on, and a smoother, more flowing to represent the flurry of notes can be achieved. fret number on Hammer-on. Strike the first note and then fret the the guitar fret- second note without picking it (ex.5). board. The string Pull-off. Strike the first note and then pull the fin- and fret position of any note can ger off to sound the second note (ex.4). be indicated, even on more unusual guitars (e.g. 7 A trill is a slur made up of a rapid succession of or 10 string guitars or guitars with 36 frets) and hammer-ons and pull-offs between two or more guitars that have been tuned differently. Music for notes. A fast trill can be achieved by tapping the twelve-string guitar is also notated in the standard edge of the pick on the string instead of using a six-line TAB staff because each of the instrument’s second finger of the left hand. six normal strings is doubled by another lighter string tuned an octave higher. In TAB, open strings Tremolo Arm (or Whammy Bar) are represented by the number 0 (zero). Chords are depicted by placing numbers vertically on the Many guitarists never play without a whammy bar. stave, as are double stops (see example 3). Others have never or will never use one because they consider it to be a unnecessary toy. While the There are many different ways of representing the whammy bar can be used quite expressively, it is various techniques available on the guitar, in both often used to create attention-grabbing effects TAB (short for tablature) and standard notation. Although there is as yet no standard way of notat- Rock guitarists have used the whammy bar to pro- ing these techniques, there are some relatively duce a wide range of effects. Most are quite un- simple notation conventions that denote the action common and maye be unfamiliar to the untrained of the various techniques in a reasonably compre- ear. One of the most common uses for the wham- hensible manner. my bar is to create a wide-interval vibrato. Some of these techniques cannot be performed on certain guitars. For example, whammy bar (or tremolo arm) techniques cannot be performed on fixed bridge guitars (like a Les Paul), whereas the technique which involves bending the string be- hind the nut is only possible on a fixed bridge gui- tar (for this technique usually a Telecaster). Most Page 2 B Sheward & P Tagg: Basic pop guitar notation 1

6. Vibrato 7. Wide vibratof There are other types of harmon- 0 .

O ics available on the guitar, most P i n c

t of which are really only used by h

h

h rock guitarists. Pinch harmonics, a r e tap harmonics, touch harmonics m o

r and palm harmonics are the most n i e conventional. In rock guitar play- c f ing, pinch harmonics are more O common than the others and are O used at least as often as natural harmonics. The Other effects include the overused ‘dive-bomb’ technique uses the right hand to produce the har- technique, bar ‘scoops’, and bar ‘dips’. The wham- monic, the side of the thumb and the tip of the pick my bar has also been used to imitate engine revs, striking the string almost simultaneously. This ac- various different animal sounds, screams and tion of the thumb touching the string slightly after whistles, and other novel roars and squeals. the pick has struck it is very similar to the way in Hand vibrato or ordinary vibrato with the wham- which natural harmonics are produced, but any my bar, see example 6. fretted note can produce a harmonic (as the left hand acts as an extension of the nut) and hand vi- Wide or exaggerated vibrato by hand or with the brato or a bend can be applied to the note. Again, whammy bar, see example 7. there are stronger harmonics at certain points be-

® Bar scooping. De- 7 tween the fretted note and the bridge. . s B press the whammy bar, c Natural harmonic. Lightly touch the string at the o a r o

strike the note, and rise p fret position indicated in the tablature (see exam- i n quickly to the pitch indi- g ple 9). cated (ex.7). Pinch harmonic. Pick the fretted note (shown in the tablature) and produce the harmonic at the 8 .

B ¬ Bar dips . Strike the pitch indicated by using the thumb of the right a r

hand and the plectrum (see example 10).

d note and simultaneously i p

s depress the whammy bar a semitone. Then Bends and slides

raise the bar quickly to 1 1 .

the original pitch. B

Bend (full) ® The note is struck e n

and bent up one whole tone (two d

Harmonics frets). 1 Harmonics on all string instruments are achieved 1

by lightly touching the sting instead of depressing 2 . it all the way to the fingerboard. On a guitar these B ¬ Bend (half). The note is e n types of harmonics are called natural harmonics. d struck and bent up one semi-

The strongest and easiest natural harmonics to 2 tone (one fret). play of these are found at the 12th, 7th and 5th frets, but there are harmonic points all over the

fretboard. 1 3 .

Table 1: Common guitar harmonics Bend and release ® The B e

Guitar string 12th fret 7th fret 5th fret note is struck and bent up a n d

1st string (top e) e b e semitone (or a whole tone) &

r and is then released to the e 2nd string (b) b f# b l e a

3rd string (g) g d g original pitch. The three s e 4th string (d) d a d notes are tied and therefore 5th string (a) a e a only the first one is actually 6th string (bottom e) e b e struck. 1

4 ¬ Pre-bend and release. 9 a .

. n The full range of harmonics P h d r

N Bend the note up a semi- a e a r available on the guitar can r - e m t b

u l tone (or a whole tone), strike e e o r

only really be heard on a a n a n s d

l it and release it to the origi- i

c e precisely set up electric guitar with a distorted nal pitch.

tone. Playing at high vol- 1 5 ume with the pick-up selec- .

U tor in the treble position Unison bend. Two notes are ® n i s o

(bridge pick-up) also en- struck simultaneously and the n hances the full range of b lower note is bent up to the pitch e n harmonics. of the other. d B Sheward and P Tagg: Basic pop guitar notation Page 3 1

6 strumming, hybrid picking and riff picking (single .

S

l notes). The latter is mainly used in rock, metal and i ¬ Slide. Strike the first note d e and slide up to, or down to , blues. It is generally notated in both TAB and the second note, standard notation (especially for fast or complicat- ed riffs and rhythm fills). Hybrid picking, as its title suggests, is a mixture of fingerpicking and picking with a plectrum (at the same time). It requires 1

7 right hand finger strength and agility and is typi- .

Pick slide ® A scratchy P

i cally notated in TAB and standard notation with a c

sound is produced by k

note stating ‘hybrid picking’. s l

scraping the edge of the i d It is usually up to the player to decide which e pick down the length of the rhythm(s) to use while strumming: chord names string(s). Pitches notated and/or chord windows are provided but no rhythm do not correspond to any is specified. However, a common way of notating precise audible pitch. strums is to use rhythm slashes with the chord name above and to place these along with the Other techniques chord windows at the beginning of the piece. If the window is written at those points in the score 1

Muffled strings ® A percus- 8

. where it actually occurs, the notation will become

sive sound can be produced M u cluttered and may be difficult to read at sight, es- f f

l pecially if quick chord changes are involved. Un- by lightly laying the left hand e d

across the strings and strik- s less the piece contains highly unusual chords there t r i ing them without producing n is absolutely no need to use TAB, as this too would g harmonics. Pitches shown s make for a very cluttered effect. are arbitrary. A pull-off or hammer-on may often be included as

1 either part of a strum or as an part of an extra 9 ¬ .

pluck after the actual strum stroke. This kind of P

a Palm muting. The right l

m technique is notated by using string number and

hand can be used to par- m fret numbers in the indicated rhythm.

u tially mute the string(s) t

i For fingerpicking, both TAB and standard notation n

g just before or over the are desirable to facilitate reading and in order to bridge. guarantee that the right chord is played in the right inversion in the right place on the fretboard. However, since writing TAB can be a an arduous Rhythm Techniques task, especially for non-guitarists, fingerpicking figures may be presented in standard notation There are many different types of rhythm playing alone, along with the chord name. on the guitar, the main ones being fingerpicking,

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