Kite Guitar Exercises and Techniques by Kite Giedraitis: Difference between revisions

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== Quarter-fret Bends, Sixth-fret Bends, etc. ==
== Quarter-fret Bends, Sixth-fret Bends, etc. ==
This is a very advanced technique that requires a keen ear, and frankly may or may not appeal to you.  
When soloing over an ^m7 chord, a sustained 4th creates an innate-comma pentad. The effect is subtle but noticeable, and once you hear it, it's hard to unhear. The comma can be tamed by splitting the difference. Play the plain 4th, then bend it up a quarter-fret to a <u>half-up</u> 4th. The bend needn't be exact. Unlike bending the down-5th a half-fret up to the 5th, the end result isn't to lock into a specific ratio. In fact, rather than play a static half-up 4th, a moving bend that starts at the plain 4th and goes up to the half-up 4th or even beyond sounds better. This is called a fuzzy 4th, specifically an upfuzzy 4th. But over a vm7 chord, we want a downfuzzy 4th. Either play the <u>down</u> 4th and bend it up, or play the plain 4th and bend it down (harder).  


When soloing over an ^m7 chord, a sustained 4th creates an innate-comma pentad. The effect is subtle but noticeable, and once you hear it, it's hard to unhear. The comma can be tamed by splitting the difference. Play the plain 4th, then bend it up a quarter-fret to a <u>half-up</u> 4th. The bend needn't be exact. Unlike bending the down-5th a half-fret up to the 5th, the end result isn't to lock into a specific ratio. In fact, rather than play a static perfectly-bent 4th, a moving bend that starts at the plain 4th and goes up to the half-up 4th or even beyond sounds better.
Any chord that has two notes an upmajor or downmajor 2nd apart will create a fuzzy note:  
 
Most tetrads create such "bendy" notes. Over a v7 chord, play the <u>down</u> 4th and bend it up to the <u>half-down</u> 4th.  
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|+
!chord category
! colspan="2" |if the chord has both...
!what to bend
! rowspan="2" |what to bend
! colspan="6" |example chords
! colspan="6" rowspan="2" |example chords
!no need to bend if...
|-
|-
|7th chord
!plain
|the 4th
!upped or downed
|-
|root
|minor 7th
|the perfect 4th
|^7
|^7
|v7
|v7
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|^d^7
|^d^7
|vdv7
|vdv7
|the 7th is major, dim, or plain minor
|-
|-
|minor add4 chord
|4th
|minor 3rd
|the minor 7th
|the minor 7th
|^m,4  
|^m,4
|vm,4
|vm,4
| colspan="4" |
| colspan="4" |
|the 3rd is plain
|-
|-
|6th chord
|5th
|major 6th
|the major 2nd
|the major 2nd
|^6
|^6
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|vm6
|vm6
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
|the 6th is plain
|-
|-
|major add9 or major9
|9th
|major 3rd
|the major 6th
|the major 6th
|^,9
|^,9
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|^M9
|^M9
|vM9
|vM9
|the 3rd is plain
|-
|9th chord w major 3rd
|the 4th and major 6th
|^9
|v9
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" |
|4th: see 7th chord, 6th: see add9 chord
|-
|9th chord w minor 3rd
|the 4th
|^m9
|vm9
|see 7th chord
|}
|}
Both the top and bottom rows of the table apply to the dominant 9th chord, thus it has <u>two</u> fuzzy notes.
One can hide pitch shifts by sharpening an entire chord by some fraction of an edostep. Obviously it won't work if a chord uses open strings. Play a progression with a pitch shift, e.g. Iv - vVI^m - vII^m - Vv7 - Iv. The 3rd chord has vD and the 4th chord has D. Bend the entire 3rd chord up a quarter-fret by ear, so that its vD becomes a half-down D. This creates another pitch shift, because the chord now has a half-down A which differs from the previous chord's vA. However, two small 15¢ shifts are better than one large 30¢ one. Alternatively, bend the 2nd chord up a sixth-fret and the 3rd chord up a third-fret, to create three pitch shifts of 10¢ each.
One can hide pitch shifts by sharpening an entire chord by some fraction of an edostep. Obviously it won't work if a chord uses open strings. Play a progression with a pitch shift, e.g. Iv - vVI^m - vII^m - Vv7 - Iv. The 3rd chord has vD and the 4th chord has D. Bend the entire 3rd chord up a quarter-fret by ear, so that its vD becomes a half-down D. This creates another pitch shift, because the chord now has a half-down A which differs from the previous chord's vA. However, two small 15¢ shifts are better than one large 30¢ one. Alternatively, bend the 2nd chord up a sixth-fret and the 3rd chord up a third-fret, to create three pitch shifts of 10¢ each.