8 string school

7/22/2019 8 String School

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/8-string-school 1/43

by Frank Boons

Lesson material

Eight StringCommon PoolThe learning tool for the eight-string guitarist



Part A - Method for learning the eightstring

A glimpse of part AI imagine someone walking into my room, picking up the eightstring and askingme for a first lesson on this instrument. I don't know his or her background and

abilities, so it has to be very basic. Here's my imagined first lesson in 10 points.

1. Make sure that while playing, your body stays relaxed. Keep breathing!2. Imagine you start playing bass. Play quarternotes, 1-5, 1-5 (in E, this is 7th

fret on the 7th and 8th string. Then imagine you start playing guitar: playone chord (an E maj7 could be the 6th fret on the lowest three guitarstrings). Play this in quarternotes.

3. Combine bassline and chord: four beats to a measure, you play thebassnote and chord simultaneously. To experiment, you can try to playthese with different left hand fingers. Or you can try another Emaj chord,or play the bassline differently (1= 7th fret on the 7th string, 5= 9th fret

on the 6th string).4. Make the rhythm more interesting of either the bass or guitar part. Writethis down, so you can see where bass and guitar fall together, and wherethey don't. The writing down really helps in learning more complexthings! For ideas, you can take a starters book for drummers, taking thebass drum rhythm for the bass, snare for the guitar. Tip: funky rhythmshave rests and staccato notes in the bass. These leaves you with moremoving space and fingers for playing the guitar part!

5. Now we try a little solo. Play the E major scale (or related pentatonicscale) in the 7th position on the guitar strings. Again, quarternotes.Combine this with the simple 1-5 bassline, also quarternotes.

6. To develop your abilities, you can play two eightnotes or four sixteenthnotes in the scale for each quarter bass note.

7. If you can do this without looking at your fingers, you can start listening,and before you know it, you are playing your first solo on an E majorchord.

8. Then, combine comping with soloing. Play bass&chords for two measures(8 beats), then solo and bass for two measures. Repeat this until you cando it without counting. Then make other combinations of comping andsoloing (such as 1 measure chords, 3 measures solo).

9. Repeat points 2.-8. for another chord (A would be good; 1-5 would thenbe on the 7th fret, 6th and 7th string respectively). The chord could be adominant7, such as 5th fret on the a string, 5th fret on the d string, 6th

fret on the g string.10. Assignment for the next lesson: take the simplest song you know, and

write out at least rhytmically how bass and guitarparts (chords, scales) fittogether. Then practice them slowly, first separate, then together.



A somewhat more comprehensive approachFor me, learning is the internalisation of new ideas in such a way that I can applythem whenever I want to. 'New' means new to me as a person learning, notnecessarily to the world. In this 'method' I do not present a lot of new ideas inthe world sense. I describe how I applied existing ideas to the eightstring, how I

learned them for this instrument.

The eightstring I refer to is a guitar with two unique features:(1) it has eight strings: 3 bass strings tuned E-A-D and 5 guitar strings tuned A-D-G-B-E. Bass and guitar strings have separate outputs.(2) it has fanned frets (a novax patented design).

To me there seem to be two basic approaches to this instrument. One is to makethe most out of the design, and play bass and guitar simultaneously. This washow the instrument was intended by its designers, Ralph Novak and CharlieHunter. The other approach is to see it as a guitar with expanded range. Thismakes it possible to play chordvoicings with an extended range. The secondapproach is one easy way into playing eightstring guitar. You can see it as a 6string, with the A and D strings doubled. Chord voicings on the 6 string can theneasily be transferred to this instrument (although not all of them are as easilyplayable…). Methods for chord melody playing that are available from manysources can easily be applied to the instrument (see the source list below forsome suggestions). The first approach calls for a different line of practicing, andthis is what I focussed on when I got the instrument. My method in fact consistsof a number of elements. These can first be studied in themselves. The elementsare based on the idea of simplification: if you want to focus on some aspect ofplaying, think up an exercise that is stripped of all or most of the elements thatyou do not want to focus on. this means also that as I develop more abilities, it

becomes possible to combine different excercises. So the real fun is in combiningthe different elements.

Elements are:A. Technique - the physical handling of the instrumentB. Rhythmic versatility - making the most out of the possibilities of theeightstring as a polyrhythmic instrument.C. Melodic content - single note linesD. Comping - chords & intervalsE. Developing bass lines

Below I present material on each of these elements. This is done in the form oftext documents (Word-files) and exercise sheets (in Tabledit). The textfile explainshow to approach the exercises.



A. Technique - the physical handling of the instrument

Playing the eightstring is physically challenging. nevertheless, I find that I can domore than I can imagine. the main danger is that of forcing my body while tryingtoo hard. It helps me a lot to approach each exercise slowly, and make sure that

every part of my body remains relaxed: fingertips, fingerjoints, hand muscles,wrists, lower and upper arms, shoulders, as well as the rest of my body (all theway down to my toes). I got into Tai Chi, a chinese martial arts form which isbased on the idea of having energy flow freely through your body. As this flow isblocked, you develop injuries. As energy flows, it allows you to move your bodyfrom a state of relaxation rather than tension. This image helps me to practicewithout developing pains or more structural blocks.

Quotes to think about: George van Eps: ‘gymnastic work is not always pleasingto the ear – but very necessary’. En steve morse: might as well make it musical

Exercise sheet 1a – right hand - General excercises for thumb-finger independence1. this exercise helps to develop a basic feeling of string distances. I always play

bass strings with thumb, and guitar strings with alternate fingering (P-I and I-M). In its simplest form, you can practice this with muted strings (likeindicated in the tab). You can later fret notes. Start slowly to develop a goodtone, then increase tempo. To make sure you develop good time, make sureto use a metronome or drum machine!

2. to develop agility in playing arpeggiated chords. I took these patterns fromGuiliani classical guitar etudes. The 3 note-chords can be moved to otherstring sets. for the chords I use each of the P-I-M fingers allocated to a singlestring.

3. specifically deals with the most awkward right hand stretch: low bass stringswith high guitar strings. of course you can use it to focus on other sets ofguitar strings (string skipping exercise…).

Exercise sheet 1b – right hand - General excercises for thumb-finger independenceThese are some exercises to develop the ability to play syncopated lines over asteady bass pulse. They can be practiced in straight rhythm or with a jazz swingfeel.

Exercise sheet 1c – basic polyrhythms

These look simple, but provide some difficulties as well as opening up lots ofinteresting avenues. They are combinations of different rhythmic pulses: 3against 2, 4 against 3, etc.

Exercise sheet 2 – staccato-legatoThese I find very difficult, but they help a lot in making bass and guitar partsmore independent. The basic idea is to play one part staccato, and the otherlegato. Doing this consistently provides fingering difficulties, as you will find out.Once solved, these difficulties help to improve left hand flexibility.A general note: I experimented with different ways to make notes sound legatoor staccato. Some ideas:

- staccato: you can do by dampening the string after playing with the righthand, or by releasing pressure after playing a note with the left hand



- legato: works best when different notes are played with different fingers.Playing them with the same finger inevitably leads to a small silence.

A. This exercises provides the basics: bass & guitar have quarternotes. theone plays staccato, the other legato

B.

Here a scale in the bass is combined with a single interval on the guitarpart. Experiment with different intervals, and different pulses in the bass(eight notes in stead of quarter notes in the bass lead to differentfingering problems!)

C. Here the guitar has a scale, while the bass plays one note.D. Same as C, but it is a scale of thirds. This makes the fingering more

problematic (which again changes according to the rhythm chosen forthe guitar).

And finally, scales in both bass and guitar….



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A-iii. Basic polyrhythmsTablEdited by Frank Boons

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A-iv. Staccato/legatoTablEdited by

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A-iv. Staccato/legato -

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Left hand flexibilityThe main purpose in left hand technique is (1) to develop flexibility, and (2) toget used to the fanned frets.

Regarding flexibility, the best workout is to study George Van Eps’Harmonic mechanisms for guitar . While written for the sixstring, it is a thorough

way of developing flexibility in left hand fingering. His exercises can either beplayed on the five guitar strings, or adjusted for the eightstring (seeing it as a sixstring with double A and D strings).

I have developed a few (ideas for) exercises specifically designed for theeightstring. These ideas can be developed much further, something I leave to theimagination of the user of this method.

Exercise sheet A-v. Left hand flexibility (chords)Like the Van Eps books, this exercise uses chords to develop flexibility. Thechords are taken from the chordshape library (see element D). Make sure youpractice this on different stringsets. Practicing it in different positions helps youto develop the skill to deal with the fanned frets.



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D. Comping - Chords and intervals

This is a first set of material for comping on the eightstring. I will later add to thisas outlined in the text.

Comping refers to accompanying other players, something for which I find theeightstring particularly suitable. Chords are simply two or more notes playedsimultaneously. The question is: what notes can be combined together to makeup a chord? The answer is: any set of notes that sounds right to you. Withoutgetting too much into theory, I would say that harmonic theory deals withdifferent approaches to selecting notes to be part of a chord. I use two simpleapproaches as a starting point:

(1) scale based: You first select a scale, and then derive chords from notesbelonging to that scale.

(2) Shape based: A more simple yet possibly adventurous approach is to takea chord shape and move that up and down the fretboard without altering

it in any way. This is good ‘gymnastic practice’, but it also makes youdiscover sounds that you would not get in a scale-based approach. Theadventure lies in the fact that you include non-scale tones in your chords.These add tension to the overall sound. If you like that, it works.

So, in all there’s four parts in this element:

(1) scale based (2) shape basedTwo note Interval scales (III) Interval shapesThree note (II) Diatonic chords (I) Chord shape library

(I). Shape based chordsI start with this one because it contains all the shapes you will find in the otherparts.

Exercise sheet D- i. Chordshape librarySome things become manageable by approaching them systematically (at leastto me). This sheet shows all the three note chord shapes (on adjacent strings)that are playable on the eightstring (without developing Allan Holdsworth-likeskills….). There are just 61 shapes. I have put them on the top three strings (G-B-E), but they can of course be transferred to the two other string sets (A-D-G andD-G-B). This gives a total of 183 different chords (if played with the same bass

note). Changing the bass note makes them into a different chord, but physically,you play the same shape. This makes the practice easier for me, because I knowthere’s an end (!) to it. Two remarks:

• some shapes include an octave. This is generally considered useless in achord in any context beyond rock (powerchords typically include octavesto build a fuller sound). On the top three strings, this would be theshapes in measures 8, 22, 30, 42, 51, 61. When you transfer the shapesto other stringsets, other shapes will yield octaves. These can be omittedas shapes for that stringset.

• some shapes include unisons. These can also be omitted. On the topthree strings, these would be in measures 13, 24, 43, 49, 58. Again, on

other stringsets other shapes will yield unisons.



Practicing these shapes can take different forms:• Block chords versus arpegiated chords (for arpeggiation patterns, see A-

i.2 )• Experiment with fingerings• Voice moving: from one shape to another•

Move one shape through a position• One shape, scale in bass• Understanding what you’re playing. In the end, the sound of a chord in a

particular context is what makes you use it. Nevertheless, it helps tounderstand how these shapes work as chords in a particular harmony. Foreach shape, combined with a bass note, you can determine what therelationship is of the guitarnotes to the bass note. This tells you whether achord fits in a particular scale, and whether it uses guide tones, chordtones, and/or tensions (scale derived or non-scale derived).

• Take any song and experiment with new shapes within this song. Youcan do it rationally, analysing the chordnotes and decide whether they fit,or just use your ears.

• You can of course also use this chordshape library to map three notechords on non-adjacent strings…

Exercise sheet D-ii. Chromatic chordpositionThis exercise provides a link between the shape-based and scale-based chordalapproach. Any 3-note shape can be described by the intervals between thenotes. Because of the tuning of the guitar, the same shape results in a differentsound when it is transposed to another stringset. So one exercise is to keep theintervals the same when you change stringsets. This sheet shows this achordshape starting on the lowest three guitar strings. Of course, you can dothis for the other shapes as well. It helps to write this all down (which I started

doing in D-iii. Chordshapelinks ). It helps to write it down also in chord diagrams.The guitar is a visible instrument and you can develop the connection betweenvisual, physical and aural memory.

It also helps to mentally note what happens when you move shapesacross stringsets in this way. In changing from strings A-D-G to D-G-B, the topnote moves one fret up. In the move from D-G-B to G-B-E, the middle notemoves one fret up. In changing directly from the bottom three strings to the toptwo strings, the two top notes move one fret up.

(II) Diatonic chords (Scale-based)

Scale derived chords:1. select a scale (say, C major, consisting of C-D-E-F-G-A-B)2. take a set of notes from this scale that make up a chord that sounds

good to you (C-D-G)3. move this chord through the scale. This means that the shape of the

chord (in terms of fingering) changes, even when you stay on thesame stringset. In the example, this would yield D-E-A, E-F-B, F-G-C,G-A-D, A-B-E, B-C-F)

4. Play the chords you found with the root of the scale in the bass. Listencarefully what works for you and what doesn’t.

This demystifies the theoretical approach to chords, because you easily discovermany chords that fit with the scale you selected. (actually, this approach is



similar to the one described by Allan Holdsworth in his instruction video). Justtake care to listen carefully; not every chord fits in every musical situation.

TriadsA basic approach to comping in a scale-based way uses a harmonic device called

triads: three note chords built from stacking two thirds. In the key of C majorthis would be a triad: C-E-G. When you change the order of these notes, you gettwo more chord-forms: a third and a quart (?) (E-G-C) and G-C-E (a quart and athird). These are called 1st inversion and 2nd inversion, respectively.

Playing these on different string sets yields a number of chord shapes(which can be found in the chord shape library), not all of which are equallyuseful on the eightstring (if you want to combine them with playing a bassnote).

Exercises- play triads up and down one stringset (exercise sheet D-iv. Triads #1 ).

This sheet shows triads on one string set up and down the neck in: (1)root position, (2) 1st inversion, and (3) 2nd inversion. I added bassnotes onone string. You can add bassnotes from the C major scale on otherstrings if you want. Make sure you practice this in other keys as well.

- - play triads in one position with different bass lines. With one bass note,

going through the triads in fact makes you play complex ‘jazz’ chords- play triads, one of the chords note on bass strings (this amounts to

playing a bass line with intervals on the guitar)- use different plucking patterns for these exercises – see exercise sheet 1a.

(Guiliani, Van Eps)

Quartal chordsYou can also build chords by stacking 4ths instead of thirds. The chords thatcome from this have a more open quality, and they are well suited for theeightstring because they often can be fingered with one or two left-handfingers. Exercise sheet D-v. Quartal#1 maps these chords in the differentstringsets in the key of C.



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D-v. Quartals



E. Developing basslines

Here's a starter for developing walking basslines.

Walking basslines

Walking basslines involve a steady pule of quarternotes (except for syncopatedaccents you might want to add), so rhythmically, this is easy. The challenge is inthe note choice. The bassline still provides the harmonic basis (roots and fifths)for what is played, but I think of a walking bassline as improvising around thisbasis.

Exercise sheet E- i. Walking bassline constructionThis exercise is based on one chord: A minor. The exercise sheet containsexamples of the principles outlined below. There are endless variations to this!!

1. Find the roots (A) and fifths (E) on the fingerboard. These are the notesyou ‘play around’.

2.

Use approaching notes; i.e. notes a half step (one fret) below and abovethe A and E. These would be A# & G#, and D# & E#. The bassline isstrongest when the approaching notes are on weaker parts of themeasure. Aim for a root (or fifth) on the first beat.

3. Add other chord notes to the root and fifth. This makes use of thearpegiated chord. You can play the arpeggio in different variations (1357,1537, 1735, etc.)

4. Then, combine principles 2. and 3.5. Take an appropriate scale (C major, G major) and use these notes. To

make it more ‘jazzy’, you can add passing notes to these scales: the minor3rd, augmented 4th, and minor 7th. The key idea is to use the notes ofthese scales to play around the roots and fifths. Another idea: you aim forthese basic notes (but at the same time play around them, keep thesuspense going a bit).

In applying these principles, there are various characteristics of basslines withwhich you can play around:

o Scalewise development: keeping a line ascending or descending aslong as possible

o Jumps: bigger leaps (fifths, octaves)o Play patterns of the scale (see Element C.)

This is challenging at first, but the aim is for it to become second nature to

improvise basslines with these principles. The next challenge is to play a basslineover a chord progression. [more on that later]



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E-i. Walking bassline construction



DE. Walking basslines & comping

This is the combination of elements D. and E.

One of the more challenging styles is to combine walking basslines withcomping. Because the bassline is complex, moving up and down thefingerboard, you need to have developed your skills in the comping section quitea bit. Still, putting bass and chords together is another challenge.

Rhythmically, the bass plays a quarternote pulse (if possible, with syncopatedaccents), and the guitar provides rhythmic interest through syncopated chords.General guidelines:

• Err on the side of rhythm• The aim is to be able to improvise both bass and guitar parts.

Exercise sheet DE- i. Walkingbass/comping on one stringsetIn this exercise, you play a bass scale up and down the fretboard with chords(one scale/chordtype) on one stringset added. This exercise is in D minor. But asyou can see, the chords are not just D minor chords; these are shapes derivedfrom scales in which the D minor chord figures.

• Play cycle of 5ths with chords up and down stringset; bassline 1-5 withapproaching notes. (Exercise sheet DE-ii. Walking basscomping cycle5ths)

• Choose one chord (then two, then three) and play a walking basslinewith this/these chords

• Voice leading & other approaches (counterpoint) to selecting chords• Comping rhythms

Exercise sheet DE-iii. Practicing walking basslinecompingThe next step is to take a bassline and practice the possible ways of compingover that. I suggest the following steps:

1. Determine a one measure bassline. Play this with one fingerthroughout. This bassline, played with the second finger, defines aD7 chord (among other ones…).

2. Play all the possible chords derived from the G major scale. Theexercise sheet shows possible (in terms of fingering) triads.

3. The same, but now I used quartal harmony.4. Add tension (non-scale) notes in the chords.

5. Play the bassline with another left hand finger (1st, then 3rd) andrepeat steps 2.-4. Take care: due to the altered fingering, somechord shapes are not reachable anymore, but others have becomeavailable.

6. Play the bassline with more than one finger. This again alters theavailable chordshapes in terms of fingering.

7. Find out in what other places on the fingerboard you can play thesame bassline (there’s more than these seven alternatives!). Itmight be necessary to play one or more notes of the bassline anoctave lower/higher. With each of the basslines you find, you canrepeat steps 2.-6.



8. One further possibility: the D7 chord fits not only with the G majorscale. It also figures in the whole note scale for instance. With thisscale as a guideline (D-E-F#-G#-A#-C), you can repeat steps 2.-7.

This, I would say, exhausts the practice of this bassline. But, there are more

basslines, and these’s more than just the D7 chord. So, here are somesubsequent steps. Each of these can be developed by repeating the preceedingsteps:

9. Practice other 7th chords (C7, C#7, etc.). You play the same things,but in different areas of the fingerboard. Not always easy, with thefanned fretboard.

10. Think up another one measure bassline for the D7 chord.11. Connect the two and you have a two measure bassline….12. Take another chord.13. Take two chords, one per measure.

Exercise sheet DE- iiii. Walking basslinecomping#2The last exercise focussed on diversity of chords over one walking bassline. Thisexercise does the opposite: improvising a bassline over two chords in oneposition. The sheet shows an example, that can be expanded by using the rulesfor developing walking basslines.



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D-iiii. Practicing walking basslinecomping#2



Bonus: a lesson on funk rhythm

In order to get you started on some real playing, here's my basic approach tolearning rhythms, counterpoint if you wish. you can apply it to any type ofrhythm, but funk rhythms are the most easy ones that sound best. They have

lots of rests that provide space for comping/soloing in the guitar part.

Exercise sheet funky rhythm

This is my basic approach to learning rhythms, counterpoint if you wish.

a. Start with playing the bass rhythm separately. Take care to produce agood tone (generally described as ‘digging into the string’ with yourthumb).

b. Play the bass rhythm with quarternotes on the guitar. This gives you an

idea where the bass notes fall on or between the beat.c. Play scales with the bass rhythm. Start with quarternotes, then eight, thentriplets, then sixteenth notes.

d. You can of course do the same with arpeggios or pentatonic scales.e. Think up a comping rhythm on the guitar. Practice this separately first,

then combine it with the bass.f. Find out in what other positions the bass line can be played, and repeat

points a. – e. for these other positions.g. Then combine the different positions. You can now play the bass line

with chords/solo covering the whole guitar neck.



TablEdited by Frank Boons

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Part B - Transcriptions & tabs

Downloadable tab-filesHere's a few transcriptions of themes from charlie hunter songs. These are by nomeans definitive; the're part of my ongoing learning process. This process now

experiences some temporisation due to the recent birth of my two sons.... Forthis reason, i post the not-yet-finished transcriptions. please feel free to let meknow about mistakes & additions!




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