a lot of time you hear the advice that you should try to make the guitar sound like a human voice singing, when soloing or making a melody.
i think this is good advice, in that it can help you form more deeply rooted sounds than just messing around in the key signature.
but one thing you don't hear often as advice, is to just get the voice of the guitar itself to come out. most acoustics and many good electrics (for me it's old les pauls) have their own distinct voice. it's deep and rich and resonant and polyphonic. many sounds that work great on the guitar don't really come from the voice at all.
Or you can take that advice litterally and get a "talkbox" 8)
Stairway to Freebird!
Hehe, yah yoyo, that would work too.
Brothertupelo: I hear what you're saying - good point! That's what they always say, and to a certain extent I totally agree. But you can also look at the saying another way, and that is to 'sing through your instrument.' That's the way I look at it.
Well, I also look at it sorta like you do - every instrument has its own voice, its own personality, and to me at least, it's our job to 'get out of the way' of it and let it sing.
We can sing too though; though it. It's a good point what you're saying though about the guitar being polyphonic and humans (and most other instruments) being monophonic, except with the main chordal instruments in pop music - guitar and keyboards - it still can be looked at as singing; only now you're singing through a 'choir.'
Good discussion though. It's interesting when things get more philosophical, though I have to admit, a talkbox could be pretty cool.!
Take care both of you. :)
The advice to emulate vocals in playing lead lines refers to phrasing, melody and player-created nuances such as vibrato.
To your point: Guitars' voices like people's voices all have their own somewhat individual tonal qualities and ways of "ennunciating" musical notes. Timbre is probably a better word for it. But consider that the timbre of a guitar really isn't just the guitar alone, but comes out of a complex interaction among the player's fingers, guitar and amplification. Other factors contribute to that timbre, but those three dominate the fundamental sound before effects are added.
-=tension & release=-
John Fogerty did alot of that in the Creedence days in songs like Chooglin' and others. :)
Stairway to Freebird!
