When pianists write guitar parts…

[metropolis_4]

Ugh, anyone else have to deal with this? This is a reduction orchestration so a pianist took the original guitar parts and tried to transcribe them, and then added some lines from other instruments to the guitar score.

First, this line is at about 140bpm. I know that line probably lay well on the harp or whatever originally played it, but do you have any idea how hard that is to play on a guitar!?!?

Second, that F is 8va?!? Sorry, I don’t have a 25 fret guitar!

Third. Do you have any idea how bad those chord voicings sound with distortion?! I know those sound good on your piano but I don’t think this is the sound you want on guitar so I guess I’ll have to fix it for you.

And Fourth. Stop trying to write every. single. chord. in that comping pattern in voicings a pianist would use.

Ugh

 

[Achilles]

Can you post the tab?

 

[PLX]

This reminds me of the time I bought a Led Zeppelin music book, and struggled to learn the songs.. nothing in this book sounded correct.

Realized a couple decades later, this entire book is transcribed for piano.

 

[metropolis_4]

Can you post the tab version?

Here you go:

The fast one would be one of the two of these

And the high one would be this

You’re on your own for the other two

 

[spawnofthesith]

Not pianist but I had to learn stuff the drummer wrote in guitar pro in an old band, there was definitely some stuff in there of questionable possibility to actually play on guitar

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

It's situations like these where I'm glad I write and perform the piano/keyboard parts.

 

[Los-D]

Here you go:

The fast one would be one of the two of these

View attachment 24152

View attachment 24153

And the high one would be this

View attachment 24154


You’re on your own for the other two

Have you tried using tapping to cover some of the wider intervals?

 

[metropolis_4]

It’s crazy how often I’ll see parts where a piano player says “Heavy Distortion”, and then they want you to play chords like these:

I don’t think that’s going to sound the way you think it will sound…

 

[metropolis_4]

Have you tried using tapping to cover some of the wider intervals?

The problem with that particular one is that it would be a crazy stretch to tap. The first 4 notes would be: 15^10^8^3

I think I’d have to use two fingers on each hand to get that.

The easiest way to me seems to be to play it this way, pull off from the first note to the second note of each grouping, and sweep the last two. But that last one is quite a stretch from 9 to 4

 

[Los-D]

The problem with that particular one is that it would be a crazy stretch to tap. The first 4 notes would be: 15^10^8^3

I think I’d have to use two fingers on each hand to get that.

The easiest way to me seems to be to play it this way, pull off from the first note to the second note of each grouping, and sweep the last two. But that last one is quite a stretch from 9 to 4

View attachment 24156

I would tap-pull off-pull off in one string, hammer on from nowhere on the next string, or maybe tap and pull off on one string, tap and pull off on the prev one.

I think the issues is then you’ll run into remembering which fingering to use (a muscle memory thing) based on each shape. I don’t think I am helping here

 

[laxu]

All you have to do is go say "hey, I thought the piano parts could use some sprucing up" and give some sheet music written in a way that is easy to play on guitar but difficult on piano. Also include that it should be played with heavy distortion.

 

[Whizzinby]

 

[la szum]

The problem with that particular one is that it would be a crazy stretch to tap. The first 4 notes would be: 15^10^8^3

I think I’d have to use two fingers on each hand to get that.

The easiest way to me seems to be to play it this way, pull off from the first note to the second note of each grouping, and sweep the last two. But that last one is quite a stretch from 9 to 4

View attachment 24156

 

[la szum]

Can I pose the question as too why those parts are NOT being played on.... an.... uhmmmmm... piano or synth?

 

[metropolis_4]

Can I pose the question as too why those parts are NOT being played on.... an.... uhmmmmm... piano or synth?

Two reasons:

First reason is because guitar is the sound/timbre/instrumentation the composer wants

Second is because in reductions like this someone is taking music composed for something like 24 musicians and finding a way to arrange it to be played by 12 musicians. So they are combining parts and looking for who isn’t playing something who could cover a particular part. If there is something like a cello part and all three keyboards are already playing something else but the guitar is resting then they might give the line to guitar

 

[Los-D]

Two reasons:

First reason is because guitar is the sound/timbre/instrumentation the composer wants

Second is because in reductions like this someone is taking music composed for something like 24 musicians and finding a way to arrange it to be played by 12 musicians. So they are combining parts and looking for who isn’t playing something who could cover a particular part. If there is something like a cello part and all three keyboards are already playing something else but the guitar is resting then they might give the line to guitar

Hey, so what did you settle on?

 

[la szum]

Two reasons:

First reason is because guitar is the sound/timbre/instrumentation the composer wants

Second is because in reductions like this someone is taking music composed for something like 24 musicians and finding a way to arrange it to be played by 12 musicians. So they are combining parts and looking for who isn’t playing something who could cover a particular part. If there is something like a cello part and all three keyboards are already playing something else but the guitar is resting then they might give the line to guitar

Man, I am quitting then.

I can almost feel you creeping into some kind of Synth setup with Ghost saddles and
each string being able to be a different instrument.

And I am super sorry about that.

 

[Achilles]

I can almost feel you creeping into some kind of Synth setup with Ghost saddles and
each string being able to be a different instrument.

 

[metropolis_4]

Man, I am quitting then.

I can almost feel you creeping into some kind of Synth setup with Ghost saddles and
each string being able to be a different instrument.

And I am super sorry about that.

Nah, it’s not like that. Nobody expects it to sound like the instrument that originally played the part, they just need it to be covered by some other instrument.

Usually the person who wrote the orchestrations or the MD will ask someone to cover a line that was being played by an instrument they don’t have covered. They’ll pick what instrument they want to hear play the line based on who is able to cover it and what sound they want. So you’ll see things like a saxophone covering a bassoon line

 

[metropolis_4]

Hey, so what did you settle on?

You mean for the 16th note runs?

I’m picking the first note on the E string, pulling off to the second note, and sweep picking the last two notes.

That pattern lies best with my muscle memory