I need some help from the musically trained Dopers out there.
I’m very musically inclined, and sing and play several different instruments for FUN. I also play by ear. I have NO idea how to read music, or what key, tone, tempo etc, I play in when I cover a song, or create one. That said I have a few questions from those who DO understand this stuff. The terms for these have come from my band mate Aslan who Can’t figure out how the hell I play like this and make it sound right. Apparently I do everything the wrong way and it shouldn’t work.
“Deagan’s Bizzarre Bagpipe Guitar”- A tuning and playing style I’ve made up to simulate the sound of bagpipes on a guitar. Tune your highest string to ring in harmony with your lowest string when both plucked open. Your second lowest and lowest strings should make a chord when you play them lowest open, second lowest second fret. Now try plucking the lowest string open, and highest string seventh fret; they ought to sound in harmony. If you’ve got it tuned right you can use the two lowest strings as drone notes and the highest as a chanter to play melody over the drone. You never use the third through fifth strings at all.
Is there a technical name for this?
“The Most Annoying Tempo Ever”- This is a style I use while in the bagpipe tuning, as it allows me to sort of simulate lots of different world playing styles. The drone notes are played in a constant rhythm : bum-bumbumbum. I’ve been informed that this is a whole note, followed by three notes that last the duration of a whole note.
As if that wasn’t enough, I play the melody over top this in between the plucks of the drone, the notes vary from, one long sustained note, to up to nine notes during the above drone rhythm. I counted it out and it’s always in odd numbers as well.
Is there a technical term for THAT?
Lastly, a question on vocals: Is Bass the lowest part a person can sing? I’ve heard that there is a term for those who can sing lower than the normal bass register. As I’m one of them I’d like to know if such a term exists, or if I’m simply an exceptionally low bass.
Yes, it’s usually used in an opera context, and it’s called a “basso” or “basso profundo”. To the ear a “bass” sounds pretty much like a “basso”, though. They’re both a deep male bass voice. Why do you ask?
FYI, Cradle of Filth and other death metal bands have an amazing ability to go heavy bass on their vocals. Cradle of Filth alternates its basso stuff with screaming, 5000Hz parts–on the same singer
As for your bagpipe, the reason for the harmony is that the musical interval, the space, in pitch, between two notes, is a perfect interval. Perfect intervals are either 8, 5, or 4 steps apart. In your case, playing the highest string on the seventh fret will harmonize with the lowest string because it is (kind of) a 5-step from the note of the lowest string, albeit the lowest string being 2 octaves down. (An octave acts like k*2pi in the sine function-once you go up an octave, the frequency is twice as high, but you’ve only returned to your starting point in terms of the name of the note you play).
Traditionally, it was considered desirable for a Russian Orthodox deacon to be a basso profundo. If you’ve never heard one in person, I highly recommend it. Especially when there’s other people singing as well, you feel the basso more than you hear it.
This recording of “O Gladsome Light” contains an excellent example of basso profundo at the beginning, when the deacon intones the exclamation before the hymn.
Interesting! I like the death metal referance, since that’s the style we play in. I find this stuff fascinating but music theory is one of those subjects, which in general is inpenetrable to me. I wish I could produce those screeches, but when my voice changed it went LOW and I’ve got to work hard to even get the low end of tenor. Specifically, I’m asking about this because we are working at a fusion of traditional world music and heavy/death metal. There a few bands which have made overatures in this direction but we are using some really unusual styles. A lot of them utilize weird scales, and my band mate really needs the theory behind what I’m doing so that he can learn to replicate it.
Currently I’m working on itegrating balinese gamalan percussion, as well as tuvan throat singing into a couple of songs. Also in the works are japanese koto, and a odd four stringed instrument I’ve made based off the mongolian Morin-Chur. The only problem is that while I’m able to reproduce these things by ear, Aslan NEEDS the technical notes.
Duck Duck Goose, thank you SO much for finding that term! I KNEW there was a word for the type of voice I have. It was driving me nuts because people ask if i process my voice, and I have to explain that it’s simply the way I sing. (Think a cross between james earl jones, tom waits, and peter steele from Type-O-Negative).
Small world! I was raised Russian Orthodox, and heard the monks from St. Tikon’s monestary often when I was younger. The Choir was VERY sad to see me leave, I guess Profundo’s are rare.
Diminished scale: One fret , two frets ,One fret, Two frets… repeat.
Augmented (whole tone) scale: Two frets, two frets, two frets, two frets… you get the picture?
Music theory looks hard because everything has stupid names, and if you’re playing with weird scales you’re into terms like the phrygian mode of the harmonic minor. Basic music theory won’t begin to cover weird stuff that isn’t in any particular key and maybe has odd time-signatures.
Classical theory books that I’ve seen don’t even cover modes - which is pretty fundamental to rock. It sounds to me that the way you’re playing would be described as ‘modal’.
It can’t hurt to learn what notes you’re playing and what a scale or chord is in principle, especially if it’s a barrier to playing with other people.