[hb]

After about 6 monthes of trying to play the guitar, I have come to notice something that I just can't figure out and that is, why do people tab music in a fashion that makes the song harder to play? (at least for me). An example would be, and I could be wrong but I think it was one of Kirk's lessons was that for "And I Love Her", called for the G note at the fifth fret of the fourth string the going to an A (second fret-3rd string) and then a b flat (third fret-3rd string). In my limited knowlede and limited fretting ability, why wouldn't it call for just hitting the open G on the third string? Would I not be right in say that the latter would be a little easier to play? I am not critisizing anyone on the way they tab music as I know nothing about it. It's just a question that baffles me and I have noticed this in many tabs.
Thanks,
hb

[allthumbs]

I played it both ways. Playing the G on the thicker 4th string gives the G a much warmer tone than playing just the open G string. Much more dramatic. It is all about tone. Kirk keeps these tunes relatively simple but, not at the expense of tone. Try both ways and you can easily hear the difference.

[hb]

Thanks for the explanation. So are you saying that when you tune a guitar comparing an open string to the lower string-5th fret that they are the same note but they don't sound the same?
hb

[allthumbs]

It could also be that that G is the best way to transition from the notes that were played before it. I don't know where that run falls within the context of that tune. I imagine Kirk has a good reason for doing it that way. It really is just as easy to do it that way after you have been playing a while. The idea is to train your fingers to go where you want them to, not what is easiest to play other wise no one would play above the 5th fret.

[Nem]

sometimes its also more effort to play an open note as opposed to its fretted equivalent because you might not want it to ring on afterwards, and hitting an open would require more effort to mute it after the passage

and ive not taken a look at the particular tab but that G note might be part of a chord tone that kirk uses and sometimes its just easier to fret out the entire chord

[Fretsource]

So are you saying that when you tune a guitar comparing an open string to the lower string-5th fret that they are the same note but they don't sound the same?

Yes - Same pitch, different tone (timbre).

[WernHalen]

Originally Posted by Fretsource

Yes - Same pitch, different tone (timbre).

Much like a piano does not sound like a guitar even when you play the same note... The strings might vibrate at the same frequency, but the fact that it is a different guage string and the string is a different length, makes a difference to the way the wood in your guitar reacts to the frequency. Like a misquito vs a bird flying into a window pane...

The overtones and sub frequencies that fills a note, and makes it sound good, is also different... Overtones and sub frequencies can be best described as the warmth... take a tube amp vs. a transistor amp. The tube just sounds more full and 'warm'...

I wonder why it is refered to as enharmonic noise?

[danthelion]

Originally Posted by hb

... I think it was one of Kirk's lessons was that for "And I Love Her", called for the G note at the fifth fret of the fourth string the going to an A (second fret-3rd string) and then a b flat (third fret-3rd string)... hb

I can't find the lesson for "And I love Her", the other day someone mentioned a lesson for "More Than Words" & I can't find that one either. Where are these lessons? Are they on the PT forum, & if so is there a list of lessons that are there?

I better put some more money in the piggy bank & get my act together to save & buy PT.

Dan

(PS. I Love all the new smileys )

[si16]

I don't think I've ever seen those lessons either, Dan. Here or on PT. Can anyone point us in the right direction?

[hb]

Originally Posted by danthelion

I can't find the lesson for "And I love Her", the other day someone mentioned a lesson for "More Than Words" & I can't find that one either. Where are these lessons? Are they on the PT forum, & if so is there a list of lessons that are there?

I better put some more money in the piggy bank & get my act together to save & buy PT.

Dan

(PS. I Love all the new smileys )

My mistake...I thought it might have been one of Kirk's lessons but now I remember that I got it somewhere else. As to "More than Words", I had posted a SUGGESTION that Kirk do a lesson on this but I have not seen it. That is probably where you saw it. Sorry for the confusion.
hb

[Cedric01]

Originally Posted by hb

After about 6 monthes of trying to play the guitar, I have come to notice something that I just can't figure out and that is, why do people tab music in a fashion that makes the song harder to play? (at least for me). An example would be, and I could be wrong but I think it was one of Kirk's lessons was that for "And I Love Her", called for the G note at the fifth fret of the fourth string the going to an A (second fret-3rd string) and then a b flat (third fret-3rd string). In my limited knowlede and limited fretting ability, why wouldn't it call for just hitting the open G on the third string? Would I not be right in say that the latter would be a little easier to play? I am not critisizing anyone on the way they tab music as I know nothing about it. It's just a question that baffles me and I have noticed this in many tabs.
Thanks,
hb

Playing the G note at different locations on the fretboard is called octaves. It will give the music a different feeling.

[hb]

Originally Posted by Cedric01

Playing the G note at different locations on the fretboard is called octaves. It will give the music a different feeling.

I could be wrong, but the notes I am referring to are the identical notes and not an octave apart?????!!!!
Thanks for the input.
hb

[Matty22]

On a similar topic

Theres a song that i play, that is basically just power chords, but picked rather than strummed.

My mate plays it in drop D tuning (DADGBE), and i play it in Drop C (CGCFAD).
where I play at 2, 9, 7 5 - and he plays it 0, 7, 5, 3....
i reckon it sounds better in drop C even though its the same notes. can i attribute that to the lesser tension on the string because of the dropped tuning, or some other reason? or am i just hearing things? lol

Thanks
Matty

[Kirk Lorange]

Originally Posted by hb

I could be wrong, but the notes I am referring to are the identical notes and not an octave apart?????!!!!
Thanks for the input.
hb

Yes, hb, the notes you were talking about are the same, not octaves.

The lesson may have been 'Here, There, everywhere' ... the main reason I would have chosen a fretted note over its open string counterpart is the context in which it was being played ... what came before and what followed, and which chord shape I was working off. Very often the easiest is not the open string (why should an open string be easier, anyway?), it's the fretted note. Also, as was mentioned by someone else, fretted notes can be vibratoed, bent, wobbled ... which open strings can't; and the sound, the timbre ... many reasons.

But, that's not say that you can't play the open string instead. Eventually, you should be able to play any phrase in many different positions with equal ease. Open, fretted .... G note at the 10th fret, 5th string ... 15th fret, 6th string.

[scotty_b]

Originally Posted by Kirk Lorange

... the main reason I would have chosen a fretted note over its open string counterpart is the context in which it was being played ... what came before and what followed, and which chord shape I was working off.

I think the context is the important thing. Fingering choice makes a big difference in playing through a passage, and we need to think of not just the next note, but three, four or five notes ahead when we play as well.