Voice Leading & Guitar

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Akumajo New Member Joined: 27 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Voice Leading & Guitar     Hey, can anyone help me out here. I really need to know how to apply voice leading to guitar, but I'm at a complete loss. There is so little information on this, so it would be greatly appreciated. Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:04 pm

jimmy peters Jammer Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 99 Location: vancouver bc can I AM AT A LOSS AS TO WHAT YOU MEAN. CAN YOU EXPLAIN? _________________ good luck jimmy peters Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:29 pm

mikeyBoab Jam Master Joined: 12 Oct 2007 Posts: 163 Location: Glasgow, Scotland Yeah you need to 'splain yourself. If I get your meaning, voice leading on guitar would simply be changing one or two notes in a chord without changing the bass note. Is this what you're meaning? Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:45 pm

jimmy peters Jammer Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 99 Location: vancouver bc can I DON'T FEEL BAD!!! JIMMY _________________ good luck jimmy peters Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:08 pm

Akumajo New Member Joined: 27 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Sorry, I'll try and be more specific. Ok, I have Walter Pistons Harmony 5th Edition. It's all great, until I try to apply this stuff to guitar, especially with SATB. How does one go about connecting chords on guitar? Rules of motion? Ranges? Is it as relevant? I just dont know, and this is very rarely discussed online. Could somebody give me an example of how this is done? Or prod me in the right direction? I appologise if this is too vague. I'm not sure what else to say. Thanks for your time though ^_^ Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:56 am

mikeyBoab Jam Master Joined: 12 Oct 2007 Posts: 163 Location: Glasgow, Scotland Hi Aku. I'm still not getting you. When you say "connecting chords" do you mean moving from one chord to another? There are many ways this can be done . . . For example, moving from C to Am can be done by playing "C", "C with a bass note of B", "Am". Is this what you're looking to learn about? Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:46 am

Akumajo New Member Joined: 27 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 What I mean is connecting the notes of each chord as you move from one chord to the next. Part Writing might be a better term to use. So, the rules for voice leading/part writing that are in my Harmony book, how are they applied for guitar? It seems much more complicated than keyboard seeing as guitar is both vertical and horizantal. Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:00 pm

jimmy peters Jammer Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 99 Location: vancouver bc can i think what you are after is----key of C Major Cmaj--c-e-g- to f maj--f-a-c to g7--gbdf---amin--a-c-e using any note of the chord you are on ie. C you could go to F maj or A min ---very easy. i hope this is what you are after. i also think you need a GOOD teacher as their is a lot more to this than i have described. good luck jimmy peters _________________ good luck jimmy peters Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:30 pm

Akumajo New Member Joined: 27 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 lol, yeah I know that stuff, like chord function and root progressions, inversions, cadences, extended harmony, modulation et al. But, lets put aside root progressions, and chord function. Lets forget "which chord can go to which chord". I'm concentrating on the voices that make up the chord and how the rules of voice leading govern their movement from one chord to the next. On a course they teach you 4 Part Harmony for this and you do exercises on a keyboard, all their lessons etc are on a keyboard. Which is very straight forward. However, the guitar doesnt have the range of a keyboard and is vertical as well as horizontal. For me this is confusing, because I have never seen an example that is explained fully ever in my life. I understand types of motion (parallel, similar, oblique, and contrary), and I have a list of rules for how they are to be used (no parallel 5ths, 8ves etc), but then there are other complications such as making the triad (you cant really, in a practical sense use Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass when approaching harmony for guitar), I know this must be incredibly frustrating to answer, but since this is such a very under explained topic when in relation to guitar, this could be very valuable to persevere through, lol. Ok, you have a progression, lets say C-F-G-C. You know your roots, you know what chords you want to use. Now, if you were to strictly follow voice leading how would you personally play this on guitar? Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:05 pm

jimmy peters Jammer Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 99 Location: vancouver bc can i KNOW now you are above my head. i suggest that you find a GOOD guitar teacher good luck jimmy peters _________________ good luck jimmy peters Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:38 pm

mikeyBoab Jam Master Joined: 12 Oct 2007 Posts: 163 Location: Glasgow, Scotland Yeah man, you're way beyond my humble capabilities . . . Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_leading to see if that's of any use. Good luck with that! Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:25 am

Tevis Maloney Member Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 24 Location: Arizona Not to sound like a cop-out, I will say it depends on what other instruments are involved. If I have a bass player I may want to shift my focus from the lower strings to higher. I like to think in terms of playing in a close positon relative to each chord or voice, that being said it helps to know where your root, third and fifth is. For just one guitar, you pretty much have free reign to experiment and find what works. Your ears will let you know. Hope that helps. Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:04 am

jimmy peters Jammer Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 99 Location: vancouver bc can thank you sir jimmy _________________ good luck jimmy peters Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:49 pm

gdw3 Junior Roadie Joined: 14 Apr 2007 Posts: 6 Location: North Hollywood, CA Don't think these folks replying understand voice leading...     Your question sort of answers itself. What I mean is, if you know what voice leading is, then just apply the theory of it. Voice leading is basically the smooth movement of "voices" in chords, without having jerky jumps or large leaps. You'd apply it to guitar like you would when orchestrating chords for an ensemble, by looking for the nearest note that falls within the next chord for the particular voice you're writing for, keeping in mind the big picture as to where you're going overall. Guitar is tricky because you have limitations as far as what your hand can do, plus extra choices for where on the fretboard a certain note will be played. So, you may have a smooth voice-led chord, but it may involve a large movement of your fetting hand to get to the proper position for that next chord. As with anything, it'll be tougher at first, but get easier as you do it more. Seek out arrangements of jazz tunes that use chord melodies. Many of these will have good sections of voice-led chords. Does this help? _________________ I can never think of anything clever to say in these darn sig lines.... Ohhh, the pressure.... Oh, just forget it. Wed May 06, 2009 9:13 pm

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