The old muted string trick! Eah .... ?

[Osensei]

Have any of you guys tried to pick out a lick that you heard some cat play on a CD or something only to find yourself tying you fingers in knots?! Then you sit back and wonder, "What the hell kinda technique is this guy using to pull this off?".

Then one day the light bulb comes on and you realize that a certain note or notes that gave you trouble in the lick were actually created by percussively plucking on a dead or muted string. You know? The sort of thing you see in notation that is denoted on the staff as having an X instead of a notehead.

It's sorta like a psychological trick thats played on the ear of the listener. The listener actually believes they hear a particular note because the rest of the melodic line has suggested by leading that a certain note should occur at a given point. But what actually occurs there is a dead pluck! The listener however, thinks they actually hear a note!

Can anybody site some examples of this little trick being used?

 

[DankStar]

Re: The old muted string trick! Eah .... ?

I'd say a lot of the acoustic solos on Return to Forever's "Romantic Warrior" album with seemingly a thousand notes in them, but unfortunately, Al DiMeola probably does hit all those notes for the most part.

I would say that a lot of the solos on Back for the Attack probably do have the Xs instead of notes. It's not a bad thing, but it seems to be George's style. There's one outtro solo in particular (which keeps repeating) that, to me, has a lot of Xs instead of notes. I think it's actually the end of the first song (Kiss of Death), but I'll have to listen again.

 

[fingerace]

Re: The old muted string trick! Eah .... ?

Have any of you guys tried to pick out a lick that you heard some cat play on a CD or something only to find yourself tying you fingers in knots?! Then you sit back and wonder, "What the hell kinda technique is this guy using to pull this off?".

Then one day the light bulb comes on and you realize that a certain note or notes that gave you trouble in the lick were actually created by percussively plucking on a dead or muted string. You know? The sort of thing you see in notation that is denoted on the staff as having an X instead of a notehead.

It's sorta like a psychological trick thats played on the ear of the listener. The listener actually believes they hear a particular note because the rest of the melodic line has suggested by leading that a certain note should occur at a given point. But what actually occurs there is a dead pluck! The listener however, thinks they actually hear a note!

Can anybody site some examples of this little trick being used?

I remember falling into that 2 or 3 times a few years ago:

I wanted to learn a solo note for note. I had a tab to help but it was mostly by ear.

I remember playing along with the track after I memorized some of it, and noticing that something is wrong at places. It was this dead note thing, when I looked at the tab...

I never learned the solo the correct way.. It sounded better to me without the muted note!

 

[CGord]

Re: The old muted string trick! Eah .... ?

This isn't exactly the thread topic, but I hear music differently from how it's actually played all the time. I'll sit down to learn some passage or other, & the rhythm will be entirely different from how I hear it; I'll hear individual notes or chords in a passage that aren't even there. It seems my brain adds whatever it needs to make the song fit in my brain's of how it should be performed.....or something.

 

[joeydude]

Re: The old muted string trick! Eah .... ?

It seems my brain adds whatever it needs to make the song fit in my brain's of how it should be performed.....or something.

yes this is a very real phenomenon. lost of people dont realse how important rests are. your brain fills in holes in melodic lines and rythms. and sometimes nto havign the note there and lettign the listener fill ti in gets a better effect than constantly playign 16th notes