Okay, okay... so I know how to write for an orchestra. Someone once told me that if I could do that than writing some rock would be a breeze (it's only three chords, after all).
Well, that might be... but I'm trying to get Finale to play it back and I'm clueless. Does anyone know where I might find either a MIDI file with some basic electric guitar rythms or a tutorial/sheet music that explains out how a guitarists plays his stuff? Thanks.
Hi, Foss Man
I also highly recommend the Real Guitar program which Tom mentioned. It's around $150, and so you are paying for "just" the one instrument (actually two, nylon and steel string guitars) but it's incredible. I put their demo to good use while it was still running, and wish I could afford it.
Along with superb guitar samples which you have a lot of control over, it comes with a large library of MIDI files which were generated from real guitarists strumming and plucking in various styles. With a bit of doing, you can assemble a very decent guitar track for any project imaginable.
The point is you want to find MIDI files, even if they aren't the ones in Real Guitar, which are detailed enough to do the basics for you - the way chords can actually be played is figured out for you, and the humanized strumming which can be So difficult to achieve through your own editing - those are all in the files.
You don't want audio files -- not as flexible for what you want to do.
Go check out Real Guitar's site. If you have the bucks for it, you couldn't do better.
Randy B.
(rbowser)
Fossman
I've haven't done much with guitar, but I can say that rbower is right about finding MIDI files/tools that do the strumming/picking for you.
What sequencer do you use?
The other thing to pay attention to is guitar voicings. There are very common ways to play certain chords - how the notes are spaced out, which note is
on the top, which is on the bottom, etc. A book on common guitar chord fingerings should help. Or find a real guitar player to help you get started.
- k
"An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have, but that he - for some reason - thinks it would be a good idea to give them."
- Andy Warhol
Excellent suggestion, Klassical - "...A book on common guitar chord fingerings should help..."
An invaluable reference book I've had on my reference shelf for years is "The Guitarist's Picture Chord Encyclopedia" compiled by John Pearse. Charts and photos to accompany each chart, showing exactly the voicings possible. I pull that out to check if what I'm cooking up in my MIDI files is grounded in reality - when I'm not using MIDI files like we've been talking about.
I've found that I always need to blend automated guitar files with my own playing, to have the guitar track be as unique and individual to the project as I need it to be.
My big project which I've been posting the songs from in The Listening Room is my stage musical, "Dorian-The Remarkable Mr. Gray," and an acoustic guitar is used as a supporting instrument in most of those pieces. It was all a combination of Sonar CAL files for strumming, keyboard playing guided by the book mentioned above, and insertions of some rhythm guitar files in Sonar made by the folks who make Real Guitar.
Randy B.
(rbowser)
You might also look at Rythm N hords from Musiclabs.com. It's chock filled with hundreds of guitar midi files.I use it with Sonar 6pe. Just be aware that it is a midi fx. They say they will have a full vst version soon- although they've been saying that for quite some time now.
Fred
Hi, Fred
Good call to point out Rhythm N Chords. That's actually the utility I was referring to which comes in a light version in Sonar. That's from the same folks who developed Real Guitar (and the new electric version, Real Strat) over at Music Lab - a company started by enterprising Russian musicians.
It turns out that it's more cost effective to get one of their packages like RG which includes rhythm patterns along with the samples. But there are several options, and here is their site:
Randy B.
(rbowser)
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