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176 Part III: Beyond the Basics: Playing Like a Pro TEAM LinG
and 7, but in this chapter, you apply it to single-string lead playing. Figure
10-3 shows a lead passage that uses muted notes (indicated by the letters
P.M.) along with accented notes to sustain the dramatic interest.
Figure 10-3:
Muted
notes
interrupted
by
occasional
accented
notes.
Shuffle (qr=qce)
A7
P.M. P.M.
T
2
A 2 2 4
B 0 0 3 4
0 0 3 4
Track 56, 0:15
2 2 4
2
Another way to play a note short, other than muting it, is to simply stop it
dead from ringing through its full, indicated rhythmic duration. Playing short,
crisp notes is called staccato; this is indicated with a small dot appearing over
the notehead.
Breaking Down the Music: Phrasing
Putting notes together in a cohesive thought in music is called phrasing.
Phrasing takes into account how notes are sounded (articulated or not) and
how they’re grouped together (as part of a unit or detached). The following
sections present techniques to help you have more control over phrasing a
series of notes and making them more emotionally powerful than just the
notes themselves would be.
Connecting notes the slippery way: Slides
A slide is a smooth, slippery way to connect notes, and you perform them
with just a slide of a finger. Slides come in many flavors and can be used
subtly or obviously to gently connect two melodic notes or to enter and exit
notes. In a slide between two notes of definite pitch, the first note is picked,
but the second note is not picked. The sliding motion of the left-hand finger
sounds the second note, and the effect is subtler than if the second note were
articulated (attacked with the pick). Slides are a great way to mix up the sound
of a series of notes so every note is not articulated — which can sometimes