Can I Get By With This Many Notes?

There are only about 46 unique pitches on most modern electric guitars, depending on the manufacturer.  The range for steel string guitars is less, and fewer even exist on the modern classical instrument.  That amount is roughly half of the 88 tones found on the piano.  I guess it’s up to guitar players to make each note count twice as much.  We usually do.  The nature of the instrument allows for some tricks and effects that just aren’t possible on other instruments.  For example, guitarists can rapidly pick one note (a technique referred to as tremolo picking) while providing counterpoint.  Eddie Van Halen’s intro to his song, Little Guitars, and the Francisco Tarrega warhorse for classical guitar, Recuerdos be la Alhambra, come to mind.  The ability to bend notes and include percussion effects is also unique to stringed instruments and is exploited to the fullest on the guitar.  (These, of course, are only a couple of examples of what makes the guitar unique.  In all fairness, though, the piano has its own definitive peculiarities, as do other instruments.) 

    It’s not how many notes you play, it’s what you do with them that counts. 

Given it’s limited range, it is impressive that many stylists often chose to further limit the notes used, but they do this with great effect.  B.B. King would stay within an octave or so and stick to the pentatonic scale while delivering a compelling solo that suited the style.  (Again, I’m limiting the illustrations here.) 

I realized that a few of my compositions for my upcoming release, Platforms, use almost the entire range of the acoustic guitar.  When I compare it to some of my other music that uses less of the instrument, I don’t really notice a lot of difference in the overall experience.  When a piano player involves the extreme ranges of the keyboard, it is a noticeable change and often is chosen precisely for dramatic punctuation.  The lows are rumbling and become muffled when clustered.  The highs are dashing and bold, even during pianissimo passages.  The change is very apparent. 

These extremes of pitch provide some extra ear candy when a piano is around, while the guitar has staked its claim in the heart of the usable audible spectrum and is content to leave it at that.  It’s usually enough for me anyway. 

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