High-C string 5-er in the upper register

[matthewbrown]

I bought an Ibanez Volo BTB33 and have finally become a bit more comfortable with it, especially the higher register (all those NEW NOTES!). I'm forming a duo with a guitarist to play a variety of instrumentals, mostly jazz, but some pop & a fair bit of Latin material, too. I'd like to approach using the Volo as more of a baritone guitar at times, and then at other times move into the lower register and use it as a bass. I also have been playing classical guitar for awhile, so I'm becoming better informed about right-hand arpeggiation and open strokes in the right hand.

I'd welcome advice from players who have developed a more guitaristic approach to the upper register, particularly with a high C string in the mix. How do you arrange material, and what kinds of material suits it best? What techniques will be most helpful to use? RIght now I hope to work Blackbird by Lennon & McCartney up as an arrangement. I fell in love with the version that Bireli Lagrene does with Sylvain Luc...

 

[Aloe]

if you want to take some familiar complex chords easily, tuning a high C half a tone lower works for some guys.

the other approach is to use bass shapes for chords, but build them with the root on A or D strings, so you have a fifth on the thick string for alternating with your chord. in that case the high C should stay C.

have fun!

 

[Groove Doctor]

May need some effects to get the most potential out of the high register. Slight reverb & maybe a little Chorus to make it ‘sing’ in a live mix while soloing.

Take some piano style chords/ arpeggios and play them across the neck, but in the upper frets. Tapping also works nicely to play the highest notes when playing stretch chord voicings.

Also, ‘learn some cello lines/ arpeggiations. It’s a great way to expand your mind on what is possible on bass.

Capo the 7th fret (whilst practising) for getting your mind around Baritone guitar-like voicing and open tunings.

 

[matthewbrown]

May need some effects to get the most potential out of the high register. Slight reverb & maybe a little Chorus to make it ‘sing’ in a live mix while soloing.

Take some piano style chords/ arpeggios and play them across the neck, but in the upper frets. Tapping also works nicely to play the highest notes when playing stretch chord voicings.

Also, ‘learn some cello lines/ arpeggiations. It’s a great way to expand your mind on what is possible on bass.

Capo the 7th fret (whilst practising) for getting your mind around Baritone guitar-like voicing and open tunings.

I hadn't thought of using a capo! Excellent suggestion!

 

[JonathanPDX]

I play a 5-string tuned EADGC and the biggest adjustment is really wrapping your head around the different chord shapes, which are unique to this tuning and don't translate from guitar.

To start, look at your root notes on both the E and A strings, and find all the chord tones you can reach in one fingering. Some of them get really unusual, for example, your G major triad can be played on the 3rd fret of the E-string, 4th fret of the G string, and 2nd fret of the C string. These shapes move to any chord/key, but starting with easy chords like G and C made it easier for me to wrap my head around new shapes and inversions.

Some shapes you already know are going to extend. The easiest example is a dominant chord; G (E-string 3rd fret), F (D-string 3rd fret), B (G-string 4th fret) is the shape most bass players think of. But you can move that F up an octave and play the same chord, just by moving F from the D-string 3rd fret to the C-string 5th fret, and now you have an inversion with the 7th an octave up, which sounds quite different and cuts through the mix much more clearly than the traditional bass player fingering.

Remember that all your harmonic ideas can expand with the C-string as well, you can play some chords with natural harmonics that are really tricky to play cleanly without the high C-string.

There are some great players out there that use this tuning, like Matthew Garrison, who you can study for new ideas and techniques!

 

[matthewbrown]

I play a 5-string tuned EADGC and the biggest adjustment is really wrapping your head around the different chord shapes, which are unique to this tuning and don't translate from guitar.

To start, look at your root notes on both the E and A strings, and find all the chord tones you can reach in one fingering. Some of them get really unusual, for example, your G major triad can be played on the 3rd fret of the E-string, 4th fret of the G string, and 2nd fret of the C string. These shapes move to any chord/key, but starting with easy chords like G and C made it easier for me to wrap my head around new shapes and inversions.

Some shapes you already know are going to extend. The easiest example is a dominant chord; G (E-string 3rd fret), F (D-string 3rd fret), B (G-string 4th fret) is the shape most bass players think of. But you can move that F up an octave and play the same chord, just by moving F from the D-string 3rd fret to the C-string 5th fret, and now you have an inversion with the 7th an octave up, which sounds quite different and cuts through the mix much more clearly than the traditional bass player fingering.

Remember that all your harmonic ideas can expand with the C-string as well, you can play some chords with natural harmonics that are really tricky to play cleanly without the high C-string.

There are some great players out there that use this tuning, like Matthew Garrison, who you can study for new ideas and techniques!

These are helpful suggestions! One easy chord shape is a triad with a third in the bass on the E string and the upper notes on the G and C strings. Major 7th shapes are pretty easy, too. Learning "Blackbird" in this tuning is a good place to start, I think -- lots of tenths! I'll check out some of Garrison's work for more ideas.