Lead guitar
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Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a
History
The first form of lead guitar emerged in the 18th century, in the form of
Through the later 19th century, Steel Strings began to appear, particularly by
Through the 1920s, the emergence of early
Through the 1940s Merle Travis would greatly develop the fingerpicking techniques pioneered by guitarists like Maybelle and McGee, and develop a style of his own based upon the thumb solely providing the bass line, and the index finger solely providing the melody. This style would be the foundation for many future guitarists including Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, Doc Watson, and Earl Hooker, though many used two fingers rather than just the index as Travis had done.
Creating lead guitar lines
To create lead guitar lines, guitarists use
Some guitarists occasionally use skills that combine technique and showmanship, such as playing the guitar behind their head or picking with the front teeth. In a
Jazz guitar soloing
Jazz guitarists integrate the basic building blocks of scales and arpeggio patterns into balanced rhythmic and melodic phrases that make up a cohesive solo. Jazz guitarists often try to imbue their melodic phrasing with the sense of natural breathing and legato phrasing used by horn players such as saxophone players. As well, a jazz guitarist's solo improvisations have to have a rhythmic drive and "timefeel" that creates a sense of "swing" and "groove". The most experienced jazz guitarists learn to play with different "timefeels" such as playing "ahead of the beat" or "behind the beat", to create or release tension.
Another aspect of the jazz guitar style is the use of stylistically appropriate ornaments, such as grace notes, slides, and muted notes. Each subgenre or era of jazz has different ornaments that are part of the style of that subgenre or era. Jazz guitarists usually learn the appropriate ornamenting styles by listening to prominent recordings from a given style or jazz era. Some jazz guitarists also borrow ornamentation techniques from other jazz instruments, such as Wes Montgomery's borrowing of playing melodies in parallel octaves, which is a jazz piano technique. Jazz guitarists also have to learn how to add in passing tones, and use "guide tones" and chord tones from the chord progression to structure their improvisations.
In the 1970s and 1980s, with jazz-rock fusion guitar playing, jazz guitarists incorporated rock
When jazz guitar players improvise, they use the scales, modes, and arpeggios associated with the chords in a tune's chord progression. The approach to improvising has changed since the earliest eras of jazz guitar. During the Swing era, many soloists improvised "by ear" by embellishing the melody with ornaments and passing notes. However, during the bebop era, the rapid tempo and complicated chord progressions made it increasingly harder to play "by ear". Along with other improvisers, such as saxes and piano players, bebop-era jazz guitarists began to improvise over the chord changes using scales (whole tone scale, chromatic scale, etc.) and arpeggios.[2] Jazz guitar players tend to improvise around chord/scale relationships, rather than reworking the melody, possibly due to their familiarity with chords resulting from their comping role. A source of melodic ideas for improvisation is transcribing improvised solos from recordings. This provides jazz guitarists with a source of "licks", melodic phrases and ideas they incorporate either intact or in variations, and is an established way of learning from the previous generations of players
Role in a band
In a band with two guitars, there can be a logical division between lead and rhythm guitars, although that division may be unclear.
Effects and equipment
In rock, heavy metal, blues, jazz and fusion bands and some pop contexts as well as others, the lead guitar line often involves melodies (as well as
To attain this sustain effect guitarists often use
High volume can induce
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-470-48133-2.
- ISBN 978-0-634-08678-6[1]. Page 141
- ^ Salter, Trent. "Marshall Amplification: Interview with Jim Marshall". Premier Guitar (April/May 2003). Marion, Iowa: Gearhead Communications, LLC. Archived from the original on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2010.