ok here's the scenario.
GUITAR ONE plays this progression
C Em F G Am
GUITAR TWO plays (capoed at 7th fret)
G Bm C D Em
the question is, I understand that the chords will sound good against each other - but what if guitar two plays arpeggios - will they harmonise ok with guitar one or not?
thanks in advance
Matt
I don't see why appergiating would make much of a difference, you're still ending up with roughly the same polychords:
Cmaj7add9
E9
Fmaj7add9
Gmaj7add9
A9
Now if you'd be appergiating both you will want to make sure that the harmonic intervals between guitar one and two are not too conflicting. For example, don;t play the B and C of the Cmaj7add9 toegether.
Matt, if you're intending the two progressions to be the same, shouldn't the capo be at the fifth fret?
At the seventh fret, using G Bm C D Em chord shapes would give you D F#m G A Bm chords....
At the fifth fret, using G Bm C D Em chord shapes would give you C Em F G Am, which is the same as the progression you're using on the un-capoed guitar.....
Take a look at the C chord open - x32010 - the notes you are playing are x, C, E, G, C & E - C is the root, E the third and G the fifth in the scale of C....
Capoed at the fifth, and playing a G chord, you'd actually be playing 875558 - the notes you are playing are now C E G C E C - the same notes as the open C chord - so whichever two notes the two guitars are playing simultaneously, you still will be playing two notes from a C chord, and they will harmonise....
Hope this helps....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Vic, I think he is playing G Bm C D Em chords with guitar two, not their shapes.
That results in
Guitar1 Guitar2 Together
--------------------------------------------
C E G G B D Cmaj7add9
E B G B F# D E9
F A C C E G Fmaj7add9
G B D D F# A Gmaj7add9
A C E E B G A9
If both parts are indeed intended to be similar there is no harmonization issue, I guess.
I'm kind of second-guessing, Arjen - I know Matt likes messing about with different tunings, and quite a bit of the stuff he's tabbed for Easy Songs uses a capo - so I'm presuming (guessing!) that he wants two guitars to play the same progression using different voices...
In which case, the question I'm guessing he's asking is:
If I arpeggiate the open C chord, and simultaneously arpeggiate the capoe'd C (G shape) will the two voicings of the chord clash?
They shouldn't....whichever two notes are being picked simultaneously on both guitars, you'll have two notes from a C chord.....
More guesswork - It'll probably sound like an arpeggiated chord on a 12-string....
We won't know till Matt tells us, but I'm guessing one of us is right!!!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
I am referring to chord shapes in both examples. According to my chart, a capoed guitar at fret 7 playing a G will sound like a C uncapoed.
Hope that clarifies things. So it will sound ok, is that the bottom line on this?
thanks to Arjen and Vic as always, can rely on you guys to think these things through!
Matt
Well, you don't need a chart for that, just count it out:
G, G#, A, A#, B, C, C#, D. It's the other way around, playing a C at 7th will sound like a G, which is what I thought you would be trying. So looks like Vic is right here. :D If you play the shapes instead of the chords you get:
D11
F#m11b9
G11
A11
Bm11b9
If you move the capo back to the fifth fret you'd get what Vic suggested, the same chords played by both guitars. In that situation there is basically nothing that even potentially could cause trouble, all you have is C, E and G notes and every interval you can make with these notes would be easy and smooth. You could grab a thousand instrument and have them all play different voicings of a C chord and you would still run into little problems. Problems with harmony only arrise when you use notes that can pottentially conflict, like the 1sth and 7th (C and B in Cmaj7) or 9th and b3rd (D and Eb in Cm9).
In other words: keep the capo at seven and you'll have plenty of problems to face. Move the capo back to the 5th (as Vic suggested) and you're in trouble-free water. Which is easier because there is never any conflict but harder because there is plenty of potential to sound boring. Is this a arrangement for the ESD or an original by the way?
Ever felt really really stupid? I was reading the chart wrong doh......!!!!!!
thanks a lot guys, you have saved me an awful lot of pain and head scratching....
all the best
Matt
It might end up on the Esd, I don't know, doubt if anyone's that interested. Its based round Robbie Williams (yes, i am afraid so....) song Advertising Space. My guitar buddy said it was a song we could do something with, so i am just seeing where we could go with it.
