Fight "Four" on the guitar

Guitar accompaniment is played in various ways: through arpeggios, plucking, and the so-called striking. The fight has a large number of varieties depending on the metro rhythm of the song or melody, tempo, style and the level of training of the guitarist. Even one and the same melody can be accompanied by a variety of rhythmic patterns. One of the simplest types of combat for beginners is the "Four".

First, you need to understand what the names of such common guitar battles as "Six", "Eight" and the "Four" considered here mean themselves. This is pretty simple:

• in the rhythmic scheme "Sixes»6 strikes are made on the strings with the right hand;
• rhythmic pattern "Eights"Assumes 8 hits.

From the definition of a battle, it can be understood that “impact on strings”One can count not only strikes on them in order to obtain chord sounds, but also percussion strikes, the purpose of which is to obtain characteristic“ noise ”effects.

"Four" is the base for many other types of combat, including those mentioned - "Six" and "Eight". The simplicity of the fight allows even novice guitarists to master most of its variations in a few lessons, and then use them in accompaniment to songs (with the knowledge of chords and the ability to put them on the fretboard).

First, you need to learn simple combat patterns, in which there are no additions in the form of muffs and percussion effects. For beginners, exercises with such schemes will bring tangible benefits.: they will learn to take chords, understand the notation of rhythmic patterns, correctly move from one chord to another, develop a sense of rhythm.

The easiest option is to hit the strings with a pick or with your fingers just down at the expense of "one, two, three, four." Four counts - four hits. Here is a graphical diagram of this combat option:

The emphasis in this fight should be on the first hit.

You can take strikes in different ways.:

• a pick (if metal strings);
• thumb;
• forefinger (snap bang);
• with three or all fingers (except the thumb) at the same time.

In the accompaniment, this fight is used for songs or melodies of marching, patriotic or military themes, but in a modified form. The strings are struck in the same order and by the same means, but the character of the sound of the chords changes to a staccato sound. This is achieved by muffling them immediately after sound production (impact). This method of muting sounds among original guitarists is called "muting", as well as "muting" or "muting".

A muffled strike is indicated in the combat diagrams by different signs.:

• arrow with the direction of impact and an asterisk (*) at the top;
• arrow with the direction of impact and the sign "NS"At the top;
• the same arrow and a square above it;
• arrow with the letter "G"(" Jamming ").

There are simply no standards for naming guitar strikes. The scheme of the "Quartet" of the marching type with muffs, thus, can be of the following type:

The scheme of a marching battle of a slightly different nature is quite applicable - with muffs not for every count, but only for the count of "times" to strengthen the emphasis on a strong beat of the beat.

Examples of songs for the marching version of the battle "Four":

1. "At an unnamed height";
2. "Holy war";
3. "Top" (V. Vysotsky).

The next variant of the considered battle much more popular marching. In it, strikes on the strings with a pick or with the fingers of the right hand are made not only when they move from top to bottom, but also on the way back (from bottom to top).

Let's consider the technique for performing this option in more detail. Below is a schematic representation of the battle:

In this example, there are 3 possible accents.:

• to the account "time";
• at the expense of "two";
• on the last beat of the rhythmic pattern.

A fight with an emphasis on the count of "two" (third hit) is convenient to perform as follows:

• blows down are made with the index finger of the right hand;
• blows from below - the nail part of the thumb.

When highlighting the first beat of a rhythmic pattern, you can use the following finger pattern:

• first blow (down) - index finger;
• second hit (up) - big;
• third (down) - index;
• fourth (up) - index.

Beginning guitarists are advised to first practice any of the fighting options with their thumb or forefinger.... If the battle rhythmically and dynamically becomes clear, the student plays it not only on one chord, but also in various harmonic sequences, then other means of sound production can also be connected.

Rhythmic schemes using syncopated beats are more complex variants of the "Four" (that is, beats shifted from strong beats to weak beats).Below are the schemes of fights in the 4/4 time signature, by which you can understand what such beats are and how they can diversify and complicate the seemingly simple rhythmic pattern of the Fours.

In the first example the strike on the strings from top to bottom is carried out on the count of "one", but the sound of the chord continues on the count of "one and, two" until the next strike. The remaining three extractions of the chord are performed with strokes from bottom to top and only for each count of "and" after count of "two". It turns out that on all strong beats of the rhythmic figure, except for the first, there are delays of sounds produced on weak beats (to accounts "and"). In the diagram, delayed (syncopated) beats are indicated by red notes connected to league beats. Leagues are signs in musical notation that increase the sounding time of the main note by exactly the duration that the note sign associated with it has (in this case, by eighths of the duration).

The only blow from top to bottom on the count of "times" is best done with the index finger, and all the rest - with the thumb.

For every eighth beat of a measure, the fingers or the pick are moved in accordance with the count:

• "One" - movement downward with a blow on the strings;
• "And" - upward movement without hitting (the finger sweeps over the strings without touching them);
• "Two" - the finger goes down over the strings;
• "And" - a blow of the finger on the strings when moving up;
• "Three" - unstressed downward movement;
• "And" - hitting the strings from the bottom up;
• "Four" - the finger sweeps down over the strings;
• "And" - strike from below on the strings.

Second example differs from the first in that the fourth strike on the strings is performed on the count of “four” from top to bottom. Everything else is by analogy with the first example, but thanks to this difference, the perception of the battle by ear changes.

Duckback is an addition to the usual types of guitar fights., including the "Four". Any of the above variants of "Fours" can be transformed by changing any element of sound production from a normal beat to a ducked beat. Here is an example of a modified variable stroke combat without padding to a ducked variation performed on the count of "two":

The technique of performing a blow with a duck:

1. movement is performed down the strings with the index finger of the right hand;
2. immediately (without pauses) the palm is fully straightened and with a sharp circular motion with its edge from the side of the little finger muffles the strings by completely overlapping them transversely.

The result is a clicky percussion sound that enhances the striking effect and denotes the emphasis of the rhythmic figure.

Another variant: the bend is performed not with the edge of the palm with a clockwise rotation of the hand, but with the thumb of the same hand with the rotation of the hand already counterclockwise.

Besides, dimming can completely replace one of the strikes on the strings in the rhythmic pattern... But this, rather, refers to a separate method of influencing the strings - to percussion on the guitar. Therefore, such a jamming of strings is one of the elements of the "Four" and other types of fights developed from it - "Six" and "Eight".

In the striking pattern, complete muting of the strings is usually indicated by the sign “NS»: