LEARNING GUITAR GLOSSARY Action - The height of the strings above the fret board. Active - When pickups are said to be active they normally have a power source, such as a 9 volt battery to power active circuitry. Arpeggio - A chord played one note at a time. Balance - The relative volume levels of various instruments or tracks. Barre Chord - A barre chord takes its name from the role of the 1st finger of your left hand. This finger acts as a "bar" across the fingerboard, depressing all six strings and replacing the nut (the ivory piece at the top of the neck). By using your first finger as a "bar," you can move many of the open chords you have learned up and down on the fingerboard. Body - The main part of a guitar (not the neck). Bridge - The part on the guitar body that contains the saddle(s). Bridges can vary in shape and style and their main purpose is to transfer the strings vibration to the top of the instrument. Buzz - An unwanted edgy tone than can be present in an audio signal, containing harmonics of 60Hz. Chops - Ability to play an instrument. To have great chops is to be technically or stylistically profient on a musical instrument. Chord - A group of three or more notes played simultaneously. Chord chart - A diagram which shows a chord progression: Ab, Abm... to Gdim, Gaug. Chord progression - A sequence of chords played one after another. Chorus - A special effect in which a single sound source is made to sound like several, through the use of time delay and detuning. Delaying the input by a slowly varying time between 15 and35 milliseconds and mixing the dry input signal back in, a wavy, multiple-voice effect is achieved. It's also possible to feed a portion of the signal back into the input. Chromatic Scale - Because the chromatic scale has twelve notes and each fret on the guitar moves up one half-step, every note appears on all six strings somewhere before the twelfth fret. In other words, there is an 'E' on every string, an 'A' on every string, a 'Gb' on every string, etc. Clean - Free of noise, distortion, overhang, leakage. Not muddy sounding. Clinical - A track or mix which is too clean, lacking both warmth and an edge. Colored - A sound that is not true to life, perhaps due to an unnatural use of external processors. A mix that has a not-flat response with peaks and dips. Compressed - A sound, recorded track, or mix where the dynamics are restricted or narrowed. Compression - The intentional reduction in dynamic range to increase sustain and/or add punchiness, caused by a the use of a compressor/limiter. Compressor - A signal processor that reduces dynamic range by using automatic volume control. Also, an amplifier whose gain decreases as the input signal level increases above a pre-set point. Control room - The room in which the producer and engineer monitor and control the recording. Delay - The time interval between a signal and its repetition. Processors that can delay a signal for anywhere from 10 milliseconds to 10 seconds are called digital delays or delay lines. Distortion - An intentional desired, or unintentional unwanted, change in the audio waveform, causing a raspy or edgy sound quality. Down Stroke - Right hand movement from top to bottom. Drum machine - A device (stand-alone or within a synthesizer) capable of producing drum-like sounds or digital recordings of real drum sounds. Echo - A delayed repetition of a sound or signal, usually at least 50 milliseconds after the original sound. Electric guitar - A guitar which can be electrically amplified (usually with a solid body). Feedback - The return of a portion of the output signal to a device's input. A common source of feedback is sending the output of a guitar amp's speaker into a guitar's pickups, by stepping close to the amp. Fingerstyle - A right hand technique which involves using some or all your right hand fingers. Flanging - An effect in which a delayed signal is varied between 0 and 20 milliseconds of delay and combined with the original signal. The resulting swishing, hollow sound is reminiscent of a jet passing overhead. Usually a variable comb filter is used to produce the flanging effect. Flat - Lower in pitch. Fret board - The front side of a guitar neck which contains the frets. Frets - The vertical metal bars on a guitar fret board. Gain - Also known as 'Amplification', the ratio between the input voltage and the output voltage, or between the input power and the output power. Gain is usually expressed in decibels. Guitar tablature - A system of reading and writing guitar music (abbreviated to TAB). Harmonic - An overtone at a frequency that is a whole number multiple of the fundamental frequency. Harmony - Two or more notes sounding simultaneously. Headstock - The part of a guitar situated on the end of the neck which houses the machine heads. Input - The connection going into an audio device or computer. In a mixing board, a connector for a microphone or other signal source. Intonation - The instruments ability to play in tune at various positions through out the neck. Jack - A receptacle-type connector for audio signals into which a plug or other input is inserted. The plug is the 'male' connector and the jack is the 'female' connector. Live recording - A recording made at a club, concert hall, stadium, or other venue with an audience. Also refers to a recording made with a band or group playing all together, without the use of overdubbing. Machine heads - Used for tuning up each string and housed on the headstock (sometimes referred to as tuning heads or tuning keys). NAMM - An acronym for the National Association Of Music Merchants, a not-for-profit association which provides a variety of tangible services to retail and commercial members of the music products industry. Neck - The part of a guitar which houses the fret board. Noise gate - A device or circuit used to reduce or eliminate noise between notes or musical phrases. Nut - Found at the end of the fingerboard near the tuners. Usually formed from bone, ivory, plastic, ebony or graphite, the nut determines string spacing and string height by small grooves cut into it's surface. Octave - The interval between any two frequencies where the upper frequency, 880 Hz for example, is twice the lower frequency, say 440 Hz. The frequency of the open A string on a guitar is at 440 Hz and the frequency of the note A, one octave up on the A string 12th fret, is at 880 Hz. Open String - A string played with no left hand fingers fretting any note. Overload - The distortion resulting from a signal exceeding a input's maximum input level. Pickups - An electromagnet housed underneath the strings on an electric guitar which produces a signal to be amplified by a guitar amplifier. Power Chord - A chord which contains no 3rd (suspended chords, and chords containing 3 or more notes exempted). Riff - A common word for a musical motif or phrase, especially popular with guitarists and keyboard players. Rhythm - A sequence of events played with the right hand on a guitar which gives a piece of music a distinct beat. Saddle - On flattop instruments with pin or tie back bridges, the saddle transfers the strings vibration to the bridge. Sharp - A excessively trebly or edgy sound, with too many high frequencies. It can also be used positively to describe a tight sound with good low-frequency transient response and detail. Signal - A varying electrical voltage that represents sound. Smooth - Sounds which are not harsh and easy on the ears, due to a nearly flat frequency response, especially in the midrange response. Also used to describe sounds which have a lack of dips and peaks in the frequency response. Soft - Sounds or recorded tracks with poor transient response; too mellow or gentle. Sounds in which the peaks seem squashed or smeared. Strumming - A technique where the right hand plays the noted of a chord simultaneously either with down or up strokes. Sustain - The portion of the envelope of a sound in which the level is constant. It can also mean the ability of a sound to continue without decaying noticeably. Swing - A rhythm in music in which the down beat is felt slightly longer than the up beat (sometimes called a shuffle). Tabulature - A notation system for stringed instruments based on fingering numbers rather than standard musical symbols. Tempo - The speed of a piece of music. Truss rod - A curved metal bar implanted into the neck of a guitar used to adjust the amount and direction of bend in the neck. Up stroke - Right hand movement from bottom to top. Warm - A music track or mix with good bass, sufficient low frequencies and adequate fundamentals relative to harmonics. Opposite of thin. It can also mean pleasantly spacious with good reverberation at low frequencies. Some engineers will talk about a mix having warm highs, meaning sweet highs.
LEARN GUITAR ONLINE
LEARNING GUITAR LEARNING GUITAR LEARNING GUITAR LEARNING GUITAR LEARNING GUITAR LEARNING GUITAR LEARNING GUITAR LEARNING GUITAR LEARNING GUITAR LEARNING GUITAR
|
