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Bijou
Akahai
USA
51 Posts |
 Posted - 12/29/2011 : 9:31:19 PM
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This is a burning question for me ever since I have started to learn to play slack key guitar. I may not even word this question correctly but I will try to make sense of a topic that I cannot figure out. If a guitar player is handed a song with just the words and the chords marked above the words. How does one figure out a picking pattern for the various chords?
Is there a magic formula? I have some music with just the words and the chords written about the words.
What do I do with them ? Is this something that one picks up over time? 
Big Mahalo to you all.
J
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Judy |
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TerryLiberty
Lokahi
USA
207 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2011 : 05:15:02 AM
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Judy:
I'm assuming you mean if you're playing in the background, not the lead. As a rank beginner, I guess I'd just strum the chords in time with the rhythm. I'll be interested in what the more experienced folks have to say...
Terry
Olympia, WA
Forever a haumana |
Terry
Olympia, WA
Forever a haumana |
Edited by - TerryLiberty on 12/30/2011 05:15:44 AM |
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GUke
Lokahi
188 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2011 : 11:29:15 AM
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You first need to know the melody of the song. Then you need to know what key the chords on the sheet are so that when you hum/sing the melody the chord changes sound right. Sometimes they donʻt match. (I just saw the animated movie Rio, and the chords of the sheet music of a particular song from the internet to my ear sound totally off, even when I fit the melody to the key of the song sheet. I wonder if itʻs the same song or maybe Iʻm not getting the melody right to agree with the chords. I did finally find one chart that seem to match what I was hearing in the movie.)
Experience overtime will help you find the right strum pattern or picking pattern. For example is this mele a typical chang a lang, is there a bit of swing, is it waltz timing, is it a ballad, is it double strum. If you play with dancers, then how fast do they want it played.
From my guitar days, I learn certain picking (or arpeggio) patterns. Iʻll experiment and play a song trying a picking pattern or patterns at places where it sounds right to me. I might use the pick throughout the entire song too. Hawaiian mele often have the vamp, and there are specific picking patterns playing the vamp that is used. If you learn one you can always play that pattern (adjusting if needed for key of the song sheet).
Song sheets can vary, too. Usually they are presented with the easiest chords and changes. And as you become more experienced, you might note sheets for the same song with even more chords, including those diminished, major 7th, augmented etc. I think of these as embellishments, or for a painter itʻs shading a color. Usually these chords are more transitional/passing that is you might just strum the chord for half the measure, or even just one strum, moving to the next chord. Bottom line I think of it as adding more texture than just playing the same chord for the whole measure.
So for me, it was the more I played, the more different strum and picking patterns that I learned, and knowing the melody of the song that helps when given a song sheet. Iʻd say the most important is the the last. If you are familiar with the song, then you experiment with the stuff youʻve learn over time.
If youʻre referring to playing lead, then one plays the melody and at the appropriate places add the full chord. That chord may be a second or third fingering. IMO itʻs all about phrasing the melody. |
Genaro
Should I? Itʻs only $, and where Iʻm going itʻll burn or melt. |
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Bijou
Akahai
USA
51 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2011 : 3:17:16 PM
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It is just me playing songs by myself. Right now I am learning a John Keawe song .
For example, the song is in Taropatch and the picking pattern in 5124123. Some of the chords are C , CM, G, and so forth. What got me thinking is how does one come up with these patterns. I am not experienced enough but the more songs I play the "mo betta" I understand music. As Peter Mederios has named his book " Hawaiian Music a Life time of learning." It certainly pertains to all music . There is so much to learn and experience.
Mahalo for the responses. 
J |
Judy |
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mike2jb
Lokahi
USA
213 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2011 : 7:37:43 PM
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Judy, here's my beginner point of view:
If you're in Taropatch tuning, your thumb needs to pluck the 4th, 5th and 6th strings (if you count 6th as the fattest). These are the bass notes. Use your fingers as you like for the other strings. These will mostly be the melody notes.
For most songs, you can alternate your thumb between strings 5 and 4 for G and C chords (or with any barre chord). An example pattern might be 53425341.
After you're used to that pattern, try changing it up a bit: just keep the 5's and 4's in the same place and change the 1's, 2's and 3's around as you like. You may begin to hear a melody come out from the high notes.
For D chords, switch the pattern to 63426341. Again keep the bass notes where they are and then change around the melody notes as you like.
If you can do those patterns as a background with the song chords you already know, and then sing the melody over the chords, the next step will be trying to match the melody notes your fingers pluck to the ones you are singing. In many cases, those note will fall somewhere under your fingers when you are holding your chord positions. Be sure to keep the bass note pattern the same.
Just my 2 cents. Good luck.
- Mike |
Edited by - mike2jb on 12/30/2011 7:40:12 PM |
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Allen M Cary
Lokahi
USA
158 Posts |
Posted - 12/31/2011 : 07:50:52 AM
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Not to be too flip, the pattern is to pick where the notes are. Of course this is for soloing a melody. Everyone has a different style, uses different numbers of fingers, and different fingers on the notes. For back up, you want to maintain a steady rhythm and not walk over the singer.
Allen |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
Posted - 12/31/2011 : 09:10:45 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Bijou
This is a burning question for me ever since I have started to learn to play slack key guitar. I may not even word this question correctly but I will try to make sense of a topic that I cannot figure out. If a guitar player is handed a song with just the words and the chords marked above the words. How does one figure out a picking pattern for the various chords?
Is there a magic formula? I have some music with just the words and the chords written about the words.
What do I do with them ? Is this something that one picks up over time?
Big Mahalo to you all.
J
There's an American folkie style (may be common elsewhere as well) that uses a constant and consistent arpeggio pattern as accompaniment. It can work very well for old English ballads and pop folk ditties, but it doesn't sound very Hawaiian to me when it's used in slack key.
Get out a few CDs of your favorite slack key/vocal artists. I think you'll hear a few different approaches. With the solid rhythm provided by the thumb, very little more is needed to accompany a song, but much more is possible if desired.
One approach is to brush the high strings lightly for a sort of strum accompaniment, so thumb - brush - thumb - brush would be the pattern. I think an upward brush starting at the first string (the thinnest one closest to the floor) and sounding the top three sounds best. If you have a few licks you're very comfortable with it's fun to use them as fills between lines of the vocal. And of course you'll want to sound your slack key vamps loud and proud at the end of each verse.
Ledward and Uncle Ray often play counter melodies or stock figures behind the vocal, Ray even talks about making up a song from his "backups," his accompaniment figures. Keola Beamer is more likely to develop an arrangement for accompaniment, a song within the song. For a real old time sound, Auntie Alice Namakelua taught various single not patterns in G wahine and this was her slack key accompaniment style.
Fran |
E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key Guitar in California - www.kaleponi.com
Slack Key on YouTube
Homebrewed Music Blog |
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Picking pattern Question
