Re: Guitar Chord Systems

reed kotler ( (no email) )
Thu, 07 Nov 1996 19:41:19 -0800

>
>At the present time, I can only easily sight-read bass and treble
>clef for keyboards and bass clef for bass. I can wade through
>single-note lines in treble clef on the guitar but the strain of
>deciding which strings and frets to use on a four-note chord is a
>bit much for me. Tablature together with standard notation would
>help here tremendously.
>
You won't get much sympathy for me as far as wanting tablature
instead of written music.

There is no chance you'll get tab out of me on the discussion list.

>> Maybe I'll post some examples of using the four note rootless
>> voicings for comping.
>
>Please. However, doesn't a rootless voicing rely on the bass line to
>some extent?
>
Yes and no. For some tunes you can play mostly rootles voicings and
it will hold together for the most part. You might need to hit
a few roots here and there. Others will not hold up as well without
alot of bass notes.

Obviously if you have a bass player (or practice with Band in a Box
or a playalong this isnt a problem).

Rootless voicings are particularly apppealing to guitarists since
you are limited to 4 note chords for the most part.

4 notes without the root lets you play all the nice tension tones.

reed