238658923659

156
Part III: Beyond the Basics: Playing Like a Pro
Going up the neck puts the guitar’s sound in a range with other
melody-playing instruments, such as the piano, harmonica, sax, and
trumpet. Higher notes (up to a point) just sound better, and the guitar is
kind of a low-pitched instrument, so the higher it can play, the more brilliant
and vibrant it will sound.
The strings are more flexible and more responsive to left-hand expressive
techniques the higher you go. This quality makes not only bending
easier, but also playing hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, and applying
vibrato (more on these articulation and expressive techniques in
Chapter 10).
Positioning Your Digits for
an Easy Key Change
In order to make your knowledge transferable, you need to recognize the
value of the closed position. This term refers to a chord, scale, or lead pattern
that uses no open strings. When you play something that doesn’t rely on
open strings, you can shift the passage up and down the neck without changing
the relative sound.
Barre chords (covered in Chapter 4) can be played anywhere on the neck, in
all 12 keys. The principle holds true for scales, lead patterns, and licks: Play
them in closed position, and they retain their integrity no matter where you
place them.
Eyeballing your guitar’s neck
You can play the guitar in open position without
really looking at the neck. But when it comes to
leaving the confines of the lower frets, you must
now look at the neck to get your left hand in the
correct position. You may have noticed this
when you first tried to play barre-chord progressions
around the neck. (For more on barre
chords, see Chapter 4.)
If you’re a singing guitar player who uses a
microphone, having to look down at the neck
can be disorienting, because you have to move
your head — and your mouth — away from the
mic to look at the guitar to play reliably up the
neck. It’s not a huge adjustment, but you must be
aware that playing up the neck requires you to
adjust your stage posture slightly. Also, if you’re
used to having unbroken eye contact with your
audience, you may have to momentarily unfix
your gaze from that attractive person in the third
row whom you’re trying to impress with your
version of “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man.”
TEAM LinG