Guitar Techniques and Styles

The guitar is a multifaceted musical instrument with wide functionality, various playing techniques and styles. A beginner guitarist should know that there is simply no limit to perfection in guitar music performers: having mastered, for example, a classical guitar, you will want to learn how to play flamenco, then blues, and so on ad infinitum. But it's good that most styles of guitar playing have a lot in common. The main styles and techniques of playing this instrument are described below.

The main task of any musician, including a guitarist, is to get a good sound on his instrument. On the guitar and other similar stringed musical instruments, melodic sounds arise from the impact on the strings with the fingers of the hands. In this case, even in the case when you need to play only one note, you have to use the fingers of both hands, which is not required, for example, on a piano, accordion, button accordion, which have fixed (ready) sounds in a separate key or button.

Technique of sound production - this is the basis, mastering which the guitarist should first of all take up.... And both hands and their fingers are involved in the process of sound production. The left hand is responsible for pressing the strings, the right hand is responsible for directly extracting sound from them. In other words, it is necessary to develop the technique of actions of both hands in order to obtain high-quality sound.

Left-hand techniques include:

• the accuracy and strength of the clamping of the strings at the frets;
• fluency of the fingers;
• simultaneous placement of fingers in chords, including using the barre;
• legato;
• suspenders (bands);
• vibrato;
• tremolo.

If the fluency of the fingers and their accuracy on the frets is more or less clear even to a beginner, then the rest of the techniques of the fingers of the left hand should be explained in more detail.

Quickly arranging your fingers into chords on strings is one of the most difficult techniques for aspiring guitarists.... Mastering this technique sometimes takes several months of training. The goal is to learn how to put a chord of any complexity in one movement in a split second, while ensuring accurate and clear sounding of all sounds of harmonic construction.

At first this will seem impossible, since the fingers are not ready for stretching and do not have sufficient independence from each other. You have to study various exercises for both stretching and finger independence, practice them daily, along the way practicing at first taking simple chords, consisting of two or three pressed strings, and then more complex ones - using types of barre.

Here are some examples of how to place your fingers correctly in a chord:

This technique is explained very simply. If you play the accompaniment by striking or busting, then the change of chords in most cases occurs with a strong beat, when the movement of the right hand during the fight is carried out from top to bottom along the strings, or the bass is taken in the case of busting. That is why you need to first of all have time to press the strings from above, that is, the bass ones, and then the melodic ones. The moment will come when a beginner guitarist will perform the chord formation, although not instantly, but still in the time that will be enough to place his fingers on the strings before extracting them.

For different types of guitars, this method of sound production is called differently. The ascending and descending legato, which have such names in the classical guitar, in the acoustics and electric guitar are called "hummer" and "pool", respectively.

Ascending legato (hammer) - sound production due to a fast and energetic strike on the string at the desired fret of the left finger in the upward movement of sounds (from a lower note to a high note). It can be produced both after the sound of the open string is produced, and after the sound on the pressed string, while the initial sound is produced in the usual way - by pinching the finger of the right hand. After the initial note, plucked, not only one, but also several legato notes, played with the fingers of the left hand, can follow. Legato connects sounds with each other, since they almost imperceptibly (without interruption) pass into one another.

Downward legato (pool) - the reverse of the hammer action: you need to connect a higher sounding note with a lower one on the same string. It is believed that this technique of sound production is more complicated than the previous one. Here you need to get the initial sound in the usual way - by plucking, - and extract the other by pulling the finger that is pinching the string at the moment, towards the adjacent string down. In this case, the sound into which the transition from the initial one should take place is prepared in advance - even before the first note is extracted, simultaneously with placing the finger on the appropriate fret, it is clamped with the other finger of the left hand and the fret where the second (legate) sound is located. It is necessary to ensure that the legato note sounds no weaker than the first: regularly practice the technique of pulling your finger off the string on different frets and strings of the guitar: pulling should be active, similar to plucking the string.

The brace (bend) technique is practiced in a variety of styles of acoustic guitar with metal strings and electric guitars. Most of all it is used with the picking technique of the game.

There are two main ways to perform bends.

1. The first sound is taken with the finger of the left hand on the fret and played in the usual way, for example, with a pick, and the second - by pulling (shifting the string on the same fret up or down across the neck until the desired note is obtained). In this case, the string does not need to be hit with the pick a second time.
2. The first sound is taken by the bend (the string is pressed, pulled up to the desired height, extracted with a pick). The second sound is obtained by returning the string to its normal position, that is, to the note that sounds when it is pressed at this fret without a band.

Vibrating sound on guitars with nylon or steel strings is produced by the rhythmic alternation of microscopic tension and weakening of the strings at the frets of the neck. This is done with the tip of your left finger. The string is pressed perpendicularly by the pad of the finger to the fret when taking a sound, and then, with the interaction of the forearm and the left hand, a rhythmic swing of the finger begins at a certain angle back and forth parallel to the length of the string (as if driving along the string with the outer roundness of the pad). But the center of the string must be in the same place on the fret. Due to this, although a very small tension or weakening of the string occurs, it is quite sufficient for tonal changes in the sound.

On an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar with metal strings, it is possible to reproduce vibrato by making movements with the finger pressing the string, not along, but across the neck of the guitar, thereby pulling or loosening it (by the type of band performance). Even a trembling sound on an electric guitar can be reproduced in this way.

This technique of sound production can be mastered especially quickly by guitarists using the pick method of playing the guitar. Playing an even tremolo with your fingers is far from immediately possible and by no means everyone. The tremolo technique requires very fast and even playing of several of the same notes., creating a certain background to melodic enumeration or being, on the contrary, a melodic line in a guitar piece.

Most often, in classical guitar, the tremolo is accompanied by a bass or arpeggiated harmonic line. Sounds are repeated in high register, creating the sensation of sounding a human voice. The tremolo line is usually followed by three repetitive finger sounds in this order: a-m-i. Bass or lower register arpeggios are played with your right thumb (P). It turns out the sound production scheme: P-a-m-i.

In the technique of playing the flamenco guitar, a tremolo line of 4 repetitive sounds is predominantly used, so the order of sound production is somewhat different: P-i-a-m-i.

Right-hand techniques include:

• finger play;
• the battle;
• picking technique of the game.

Let us briefly describe the features of these techniques for playing the right hand on the guitar.

Many styles of guitar music involve playing with your fingers. This includes classical guitar and flamenco guitar, newfangled fingerstyle (fingerpiking), as well as conventional acoustics without a specific style.

Playing the accompaniment by striking down and up the strings with your fingers or a pick in a certain rhythm and sequence, together with blanks and pauses, is called "guitar striking." There are quite complex battle patterns that novice guitarists are unlikely to be able to play right off the bat. You need to start with simple ones, without gaps: "fours", "six" and "eight".

Common when playing electric guitar and acoustics with metal strings.Nylon strings are also played, but this is a non-standard option.

Perhaps, other beginners will not be able to understand without explanation how the techniques differ from the technique of playing the guitar. And in reality, this issue does not look particularly transparent. Many professional musicians believe that playing techniques are ways to decorate the performed musical works or to improve the sound of an instrument.

Among the main techniques with which you can decorate your performance, the following can be distinguished.

1. Apoyando and tirando... Refers to the finger technique of the game. Apoyando is a method of sound extraction, after which the finger of the right hand rests on an adjacent string. Especially common among classical and flamenco guitarists. Tyrando is a sound production technique that does not involve resting your finger on an adjacent string. The sound with this method does not have such a deep and special timbre as that obtained with apoyando.
2. Arpeggio... The brute-force game is loved by guitarists accompanying lyric songs and romances. In this case, chord sounds are played in a decomposed (sequential) manner. There are a lot of brute force attacks. The main thing here is to learn how to pull the strings in the correct order and not to jam them ahead of time.
3. Flazolets... In addition to decorating the piece with an unusual sound, the harmonics expand the available range of the guitar neck: some harmonics emit notes that are higher in pitch than the highest sound of the standard tuning.
4. Slide (glissando) is a great way to flip notes or move to a different position with minimal time. This technique is carried out by sliding along the string with the fingers of the left hand.

Some playing techniques are non-standard for the guitar, borrowed from the techniques of other musical instruments.

• Pizzicato... Borrowed from bowed instruments (violin, cello). A muffled sound on the guitar is obtained by lightly placing the edge of the palm of the right hand on the strings near the saddle while playing with your fingers or a pick.
• Tapping... Used on electric guitars. The sounds are produced not with a pick, but by tapping the string with the fingers of the right hand on the frets corresponding to the sounds produced. Indispensable for playing legato on large interval strings.
• Golpe... Percussion technique used by flamenco music performers. In this case, simultaneously with the playing of the fingers on the strings, a blow is made on the upper deck of the guitar body with one or two fingers of the right hand.

A few beginner guitar tips to help you master this challenging instrument.

• Start learning only with a quality instrument.
• Hear and watch the guitar masters play: this is both motivation and a master class at the same time.
• It is more useful to practice 2 times a day for an hour, rather than 6 hours 1 time in three days.
• Get a solid tutorial for your chosen playstyle and stick to the learning order outlined in it.
• Not having fully mastered a certain technique, do not rush to move on to another.