Read this interesting one today. Instead of recording yourself strumming a chord, record yourself playing each individual note that makes up the chord in the same strumming pattern. It's weird. Sounds a bit different. A little clearer. I wouldn't of course use it to replace proper playing, but instead use it as effect.

What is more cool about it though is you can pan the individual notes. Just did it with a D chord (so only 4 strings - but I could easily add the other two as playability is not an issue here) and then panned the low notes to the high in the same way a piano plays. So actually went hard left on the low D up to hard right on the F#. Cool sound. You can then mix it up to make it more spread. Lots of possibilities. Just an interesting approach that I never thought of before and I'm sure would sound really cool in the appropriate places in a song.

The list of possible chord inversions to create a nice sound is endless. Imagine playing every single note on the fretboard of say C major. So every single C, E and G note on the guitar is played with the same timing. Then pan that bad boy everywhere! That would sound crazy and I imagine very beautiful. A full wash of chord coming from everywhere. Then inside that sweep a simple moving melody... Wow. I think this is basically orchestral composition on a guitar, and treating every note as a new instrument..

Enjoy! I know I will.

:-)

I think you might as well just consider that "this is basically orchestral composition" and not just focus on the guitar.

:-)




Chord voicing on a guitar has a subtle rhythmic component. A down stroke sounds different than an upstroke. If you build harmonies out of different takes you may consider if you want the notes to occur simultaneously or as a series of pulses that  form a strumming sound.


It seems like you are off to have some fun!!!


best regards,
mike

I don't think I would have the patience for guitar orchestration.  I think it would suck all of the fun out of playing guitar for me.

I can see the fun in trying to build up something this way.

You're going to have to be really careful about your timing though - no room for any sort of sloppiness!

What's really cool about this Matt....record each note like you're saying and then throw them into Melodyne DNA and change the notes around to any chord you decide to make without artifacts! LOL! :)

Or, play a full chord and then bring it into Melodyne and it will target each note in the chord and allow you to move it anywhere you want....then copy and paste and change voicings and you can write an entire song based on one chord. I was messing around with this when I first got DNA....it was really cool and you can come up with some strange things that you wouldn't normally play. :)

-Danny

I think Gibson has offered something similar for a little while. They have individual string-output integrated in their Firebird X.  
 
"The bridge piezo pickup includes hex outputs (each string can provide a separate output for computer or live performance setups), which allows for totally new guitar sounds — from “clean” distortion and synth-like timbres to groundbreaking surround possibilities. Firebird X’s new hex pickup design means higher output and greater string separation than ever."

Anyone w/ a sense of aesthetics may find themselves puking their guts at its sight, but it would seem that it does the job...


http://www2.gibson.com/Pr...tionary-Features.aspx#

YES! HEX PICKUPS!! Man I'd love to have one of those. These guys make them... http://www.ubertar.com/hexaphonic/

I'd be curious to try them - though mixing guitars is already enough of a headache IMHO. Imagine multiplying that by 6... lol

Heh. Yeah but you could just create the tracks then send them to a bus. I'd probably use it more for leveling out the tones between the low and high strings to get a more even and full sound. You know how sometimes you have to compensate between the low chugs and the higher squeals? This way you can get the optimum levels and effects settings for both without doing multiple takes. Not sure how good those pickups actually sound but it's a cool idea.

I remember that rumor when supposingly a Def Leppard album
was recorded that way.....when a tune on hit had been done
that way or parts of it anyway.....IIRC.