Guitarists and harmony

[benhall.1]

Look, I know this has been done to death on the interwebs, but still it does puzzle me ...

I've had two, apparently very competent, guitarists recently say to me "Oh don't talk to me about harmony. I don't know anything about harmony." (And yes, it was when I was clearly not happy with the chords they were using.)

I'm not particularly annoyed this time by this peculiarity of certain guitarists. But I am puzzled. If they're not interested in harmony and don't know anything about it ... er ... why are they playing guitar?

[Feadoggie]

But I am puzzled. If they're not interested in harmony and don't know anything about it ... er ... why are they playing guitar?

Can we get an Amen? There is a not so subtle difference between "playing guitar" and "playing music". And I've played guitar for more than a half-century now. It is a pet peeve of mine that many, many guitar players do not understand or care at all about the simplest aspects of music theory and best musical practices. It has to do, IMO, with the way many guitarist learn to play - by the rote replication of the playing of other guitarists - instead of learning what one would/could/should play in a given context and understanding why it does or does not work.

Feadoggie

[Nanohedron]

I've had two, apparently very competent, guitarists recently say to me "Oh don't talk to me about harmony. I don't know anything about harmony."

Does their area of such apparent competency lie in melody? If so, then appeal to their vanity: Tell them they shouldn't debase themselves by stooping to chording; that is the work of mere beasts of burden, and their considerable talents were meant for better things than just serving others as a drudge.

[Angel Shadowsong]

I have composed a song but only the melody line. Im trying to figure out the chords to use, as the chords are the harmonic building block of a song...if i am not mistaken.

My guitarist friends said to me that there are a lot of chord possibilities on that melodic line.... I was wondering what they meant by that.

My pianist friend just said observe the cadence and listen to the tension and resolution of notes and it will never sound so bad like 2 guitarist playing the same piece.

I didn't get this one, but after making a research there is a running gag or joke for 2 guitarist playing the same piece.... they call it a counterpoint.

Well they say that when the guitarist make a mistake, one string can cover for the mistake of the the 2 or 3 string...so it is not obvious.


I mean no offense to guitar players.

[accordionstu]

Having listened to thousands of recordings of flute with guitar or, bouzouki, harp, accordion, fiddle etc, I have come to the conclusion that I like the sound of solo Flute with nothing else going on in the background , save a foot tapping.

[Nanohedron]

My guitarist friends said to me that there are a lot of chord possibilities on that melodic line.... I was wondering what they meant by that.

Either they were making excuses for their cluelessness, or they knew exactly what they were talking about. Some melody lines invite all sorts of appropriate and even surprising possibilities; others seem to invite comparatively few. Also, a melody line doesn't exist in a vacuum; it sits in relation to the greater entirety of the tune, so there's that to consider. The context of the whole tune may create certain limits, too.

Part of the problem is what kind of music the melody is, and whether the backup player really knows the idiom inside and out. If s/he doesn't, the odds are massive that you're in trouble. If the backup is well familiar with the idiom (and by that I don't mean you're simply around it enough to know it when you hear it), then there is the question of what you want to present to the listener: Do you want to do the straight-up obvious thing, or do you want the backup to be totally "outside" and blow their minds? And by that I don't mean random garbage; whatever you do, it must be intimately linked to, and informed by, the melody. IMNSHO.

If they can't do that, hand 'em a couple of rocks to bang together. You'll be less pissed off.

I was talking with a musician, a bass player, about Trad music; he was genuinely astounded when I told him that in Trad, the melody drives everything. His jaw literally dropped. I in turn was astounded that he was astounded. To me, it's very simple. I wonder how it is on his planet.

[benhall.1]

Having listened to thousands of recordings of flute with guitar or, bouzouki, harp, accordion, fiddle etc, I have come to the conclusion that I like the sound of solo Flute with nothing else going on in the background , save a foot tapping.

I would give a resounding Amen to Feadoggie's Amen ... but an even bigger Amen to this post from Stu.