The Hampshire Guitar Orchestra

Tone and Texture

This is where things get more complicated and a little more controversial, and this page definitely skates round some of the real issues in a Niibori orchestra.
For example, we don't talk about thickening the bass line by doubling it an octave up, which deliberately adds extra harmonics.

Clarity

What makes for a glorious listening experience is when an ensemble has that clarity that lets you hear each and every line weaving amongst the others. How can we achieve that?

Take note

Many guitarists are familiar with the concept of spacing the notes in a chord so that the bass notes are more widely spread than the top.

Here are two chords - play them and hear how "close bass notes and spaced treble" notes sounds gruff and hollow, and how "spaced bass notes and close treble notes" sounds full and satisfying...


A gruff chord	A clearer sounding chord

Don't worry about the barré in the second example - here in the world of ensemble guitar, we share out the hard bits!

The soundscape

Here are the frequencies that make up the chords - high notes to the right. It's an exaggerated picture and we have emphasised the tune note a little.


A gruff chord	A clearer sounding chord

A metallic sound...

Because every note has harmonics, we need to add them into the picture as well. And here they are, added in.


A gruff chord with a metallic sound	A clearer sounding chord with a metallic sound

You can see that what was a clean sound, easy on the ear, is gaining a complexity that makes it hard to pick out which are notes "inside" the chord and which is the tune note.

A mellow sound

Here's the same picture but with a rounded tone - so much easier to hear all the notes. In an ensemble, each note is a part, and so a rounded tone makes it easier to hear all the parts. It gives the orchestra clarity of sound.


A gruff chord with a mellow sound	A clearer sounding chord with a mellow sound

So far...

So we've seen that...

a mellow sound seems more sustained
a rounded tone is less fatiguing on the ear
a rounded tone is more forgiving of timing issues
a rounded tone is more forgiving of tuning issues
a rounded tone has more clarity

Coming up...

So how do we get this magical rounded tone? Next page.

tone and texture