Prepared guitar
Encyclopedia
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
that has had its timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended technique
Extended technique
Extended techniques are performance techniques used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments to obtain unusual sounds or instrumental timbres....
s. This practice is sometimes called tabletop guitar, because many prepared guitarists do not hold the instrument in the usual manner, but instead place the guitar on a table to manipulate it.
The idea of altering an instrument's timbre through the use of external objects has been applied to other instruments as well; see, for example, prepared piano
Prepared piano
A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers....
.
History
Not classified as a "preparation", but more as an extended technique is the slide guitarSlide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
technique. With prepared guitars, however, one of the key goals in preparing the instrument is changing its timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
– the fundamental tone composition of the sound. This is typically achieved by placing objects on or under the strings. The objects can have a tone of their own, like for instance a pencil spring
Spring (device)
A spring is an elastic object used to store mechanical energy. Springs are usually made out of spring steel. Small springs can be wound from pre-hardened stock, while larger ones are made from annealed steel and hardened after fabrication...
, but can also cause strange string resonance effects
String resonance (music)
String resonance occurs on string instruments. Strings or parts of strings may resonate at their fundamental or overtone frequencies when other strings are sounded...
or behave like a seesaw
Seesaw
A seesaw is a long, narrow board pivoted in the middle so that, as one end goes up, the other goes down.-Mechanics:Mechanically a seesaw is a lever and fulcrum....
and create echoing or buzzing effects after being struck and swinging like a balance. Many of the sounds sound more or less like clocks, bells or Non Western musical instruments or even non string percussion instruments.
Bjørn Fongaard
The history of Norwegian composer and guitar player Bjørn Fongaard (1919–1980) probably marks the first steps into prepared guitar. He started off by constructing a quartertone guitar with adaption of the fretboard, but very early left this in favour of a diverse set of prepared guitar techniques. His first pieces in this genre came in the mid 60's. New sampler CD out resently named "Elektrofoni", works for microintervallic guitar 1965 - 1978.Keith Rowe
The method of actually preparing the guitar was developed in the late 1960s by Keith RoweKeith Rowe
Keith Rowe is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both the hugely influential AMM in the mid-1960s and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, Rowe's paintings have been featured on most of his own albums...
, in imitation of Jackson Pollock's painting method and John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
's prepared piano
Prepared piano
A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers....
. Rowe developed various prepared guitar techniques: placing the guitar flat on a table and manipulating the strings, body and pickups in unorthodox ways to produce sounds described as dark, brooding, compelling, expansive and alien. He has been known to employ objects such as a library card, rubber eraser, springs, hand-held electric fans, alligator clips, and common office supplies in playing the guitar.
Fred Frith
Another pioneer was Fred FrithFred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
. In 1974 he released a solo album
Solo album
A solo album, in popular music, is an album headlined by a current or former member of a band. A solo album may feature simply one person performing all instruments, but typically features the work of other collaborators; rather, it may be made with different collaborators than the artist is...
called Guitar Solos. The album comprises eight tracks of unaccompanied and improvised
Musical improvisation
Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...
music played on prepared guitars by Frith.
The album was recorded using a modified 1936 Gibson K-11
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
. Frith added an extra pickup over the strings at the nut
Nut (instrumental)
The nut of a string instrument is a small piece of hard material which supports the strings at the end closest to the headstock or scroll. The nut marks one end of the speaking length of each open string, sets the spacing of the strings across the neck, and usually holds the strings at the proper...
, enabling him to amplify sound from both sides of the fret
Fret
A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck. On most modern western instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard...
ted note. He then split the fretboard
Fingerboard
The fingerboard is a part of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument and above which the strings run...
in two with a capo
Capo
A capo is a device used on the neck of a stringed instrument to shorten the playable length of the strings, hence raising the pitch. It is frequently used on guitars, mandolins, and banjos. G.B...
, effectively giving him two guitars, each amplified separately, that he could play independently with each hand. To split the sounds further he attached alligator clips
Crocodile clip
thumb|Standard clipthumb|Pair of standard clipsA crocodile clip is a simple mechanical device for creating a temporary electrical connector, and is named for its resemblance to an alligator's or crocodile's jaws...
at various positions on the strings. The net result was a guitar with multiple sound sources that could be channeled to a mixer
Mixing console
In professional audio, a mixing console, or audio mixer, also called a sound board, mixing desk, or mixer is an electronic device for combining , routing, and changing the level, timbre and/or dynamics of audio signals. A mixer can mix analog or digital signals, depending on the type of mixer...
and distributed across the stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
soundscape
Soundscape
A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The study of soundscape is the subject of acoustic ecology...
.
Other prepared guitarists
In the 1980s Glenn BrancaGlenn Branca
Glenn Branca is an American avant-garde composer and guitarist known for his use of volume, alternative guitar tunings, repetition, droning, and the harmonic series. In 2008 he was awarded an unrestricted grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.-Beginnings: 1960s and early 1970s:Branca...
, Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
and other experimental art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
ers also utilized prepared guitars, as have classical guitarists such as the Elgart/Yates Duo, who have also written a pamphlet on the subject: Prepared Guitar Techniques.
Koka Nikoladze
Koka Nikoladze
Koka Nikoladze is a musician .After graduating music school entered Tbilisi State Conservatoire . In 2008 entered the same conservatoire...
was the first one who developed a preparation technique, that afterwords was called "Nikoladze" Preparation. In this case an acoustic guitar is prepared with certain type of a light bulb and produces absolutely non acoustic sound. It is hard to guess whether the sound is acoustic or synthetic even when analysing it in a very precise way. A beautiful demonstration of upper mentioned technique is a composition "Starshine~" for violin, prepared guitar and percussion.
Other contemporary prepared guitar composers/performers include:
- Dani Rabin of MarbinMarbinMarbin is a Jazz-Rock group based in Chicago IL.Marbin first started in 2007 as an improvised music duo consisting of Israeli-American guitarist Dani Rabin and Israeli saxophonist Danny Markovitch. Markovitch and Rabin met shortly after Markovitch had completed his military service as an infantry...
incorporated prepared guitar into the Jazz-Rock style in a non-avant-garde fashion. - Duane DenisonDuane DenisonDuane Denison is an American guitarist. Denison currently plays for Th' Legendary Shack Shakers, The Jesus Lizard, which he recently re-united with after a 9-year break-up, and Tomahawk. He has played for Firewater. He began his musical career by studying classical guitar. Denison and ex-Ministry...
had used prepared guitar with The Jesus LizardThe Jesus LizardThe Jesus Lizard was an American alternative rock and noise rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground…[who] turned out a series of independent records filled with scathing, disembowelling, guitar-driven pseudo-industrial...
and Legendary Shack Shakers. - GP HallGP HallGP Hall is an English guitarist, composer and improviser fusing and mixing both traditional and avant-garde styles...
(active since the late '60s) who uses a variety of guitars played with implements including psaltery bows, palette knives, electric fans and razors, wind-up toys, velcroVelcroVelcro is the brand name of the first commercially marketed fabric hook-and-loop fastener, invented in 1948 by the Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral...
and crocodile clipCrocodile clipthumb|Standard clipthumb|Pair of standard clipsA crocodile clip is a simple mechanical device for creating a temporary electrical connector, and is named for its resemblance to an alligator's or crocodile's jaws...
s (Some of Hall's techniques are similar to Keith RoweKeith RoweKeith Rowe is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both the hugely influential AMM in the mid-1960s and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, Rowe's paintings have been featured on most of his own albums...
's methods but are applied to a much more melodic compositional and improvisational style) - Steve ParrySteve Parry (musician)Steve Parry, , Pontypool, South Wales Valleys is a Welsh guitarist, musician, composer who was a founder member of the experimental rock band Hwyl Nofio.He founded and played with Neu Electrikk...
of Hwyl NofioHwyl NofioHwyl Nofio is an experimental music group whose only permanent member is Steve Parry. Steve Parry was Hwyl Nofio (from Welsh meaning ‘emotional swimmers’) is an experimental music group whose only permanent member is Steve Parry. Steve Parry was Hwyl Nofio (from Welsh meaning ‘emotional swimmers’)...
uses a prepared guitar technique and developed a bowed device based on the violin, utilizing paper clips, nails, a razor, pliers, bow, automata. - Koka NikoladzeKoka NikoladzeKoka Nikoladze is a musician .After graduating music school entered Tbilisi State Conservatoire . In 2008 entered the same conservatoire...
Developed a guitar preparation technique with light bulb (2009), he also did a lot in developing a standard acoustic guitar as the bowed instrument. - Martin IrigoyenMartin IrigoyenMartín Daniel Irigoyen is an Argentine musician best known as a composer and guitarist of Vernian Process...
and Erik SankoErik SankoErik Sanko is a bass player from New York who has played in The Lounge Lizards and currently active in Skeleton Key.-Biography:In the past he also worked with notable musicians like Marc Ribot, John Cale, Yoko Ono, Jim Carroll, Gavin Friday, They Might Be Giants, The Melvins, James Chance and the...
, both of whom use electronic devices, hand ventilators, walkie-talkies, paper clips, aluminum foil, credit cards and tweezers. - Nikita KoshkinNikita KoshkinNikita Koshkin is a classical guitarist and composer born in Moscow. His early influences included Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev, as well as rock music...
, who uses cork, matches and foam mutes. - MicachuMicachuMica Levi, known by her stage name Micachu , is an English singer, songwriter, composer, and producer. She is classically trained and is best known for experimental music in a variety of genres.-Biography:...
, who uses unorthodox instruments which are sometimes customised or even homemade. These included a modified guitar played with a hammer action, called a 'chu'. Another short scaled children guitar has an additional third bridge3rd BridgeThe 3rd bridge is an extended playing technique used on some string instruments , that allows a musician to produce distinctive timbres and overtones that are unavailable on a conventional string instrument with two bridges...
right next to the sound hole which shortens the scale lengthScale (string instruments)In stringed instruments, the scale length is the maximum vibrating length of the strings to produce sound. In the classical community, it may be called simply "string length" or less often "mensure." On instruments in which strings are not "stopped" or divided in length like for example the...
leading to an alternate microtonal division of the fret intervalInterval (music)In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
s. - These Are PowersThese Are PowersThese Are Powers is an experimental music group from Brooklyn, New York and Chicago, Illinois. The band mixes polyrhythm with samples and other electronic sounds and noise rock.-History:...
, who use a bass guitar with a rod placed between the strings and the body to shorten the string length as well as playing behind that additional bridge like a tailed bridge guitarTailed bridge guitarSome electric guitars have an extended bridge for their tremolo system, named a tailed bridge guitar because of its shape. Most of these tailed bridge guitars were designed in the sixties and used in surf music....
.
Custom made instruments
Beginning in the 1970s, guitarist and luthierLuthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
Hans Reichel
Hans Reichel
Hans Reichel was a German improvisational guitarist, experimental luthier, inventor, and type designer.-Career:...
made some unusual guitars with third bridge
3rd Bridge
The 3rd bridge is an extended playing technique used on some string instruments , that allows a musician to produce distinctive timbres and overtones that are unavailable on a conventional string instrument with two bridges...
-like qualities.
Bradford Reed (pencilina), Glenn Branca
Glenn Branca
Glenn Branca is an American avant-garde composer and guitarist known for his use of volume, alternative guitar tunings, repetition, droning, and the harmonic series. In 2008 he was awarded an unrestricted grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.-Beginnings: 1960s and early 1970s:Branca...
, Fred Frith and the band Neptune
Neptune (band)
Neptune is a noise music band from Boston, noted for having built their custom-made guitars and basses out of scrap metal. The band also plays custom-made percussion instruments and electric lamellophones.-Band history:...
also made other individually different types of experimental third bridge guitars.
Yuri Landman
Yuri Landman
Yuri Landman is a Dutch experimental luthier who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a list of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japanese and Liam Finn...
derived a just intoned
Just intonation
In music, just intonation is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by ratios of small whole numbers. Any interval tuned in this way is called a just interval. The two notes in any just interval are members of the same harmonic series...
musical scale
Musical scale
In music, a scale is a sequence of musical notes in ascending and descending order. Most commonly, especially in the context of the common practice period, the notes of a scale will belong to a single key, thus providing material for or being used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical...
from an initially considered atonal prepared guitar playing technique
Extended technique
Extended techniques are performance techniques used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments to obtain unusual sounds or instrumental timbres....
based on adding a third bridge
Third Bridge
The Bridge Deputy Darcy Castelo of Mendonça, colloquially known as the Third Bridge , is the second tallest bridge in Brazil, connecting the cities of Vila Velha and Vitória in the state of Espirito Santo...
under the strings. He constructed an instrument called the Moodswinger
Moodswinger
The Moodswinger is a twelve string electric zither with an additional third bridge designed by Yuri Landman. The rod which functions as the third bridge divides the strings into two sections to cause an overtone multiphonic sound...
with this scale. When this bridge is positioned in the noded
Node (physics)
A node is a point along a standing wave where the wave has minimal amplitude. For instance, in a vibrating guitar string, the ends of the string are nodes. By changing the position of the end node through frets, the guitarist changes the effective length of the vibrating string and thereby the...
positions of the harmonic series
Harmonic series (music)
Pitched musical instruments are often based on an approximate harmonic oscillator such as a string or a column of air, which oscillates at numerous frequencies simultaneously. At these resonant frequencies, waves travel in both directions along the string or air column, reinforcing and canceling...
the volume of the instrument increases and the overtone
Overtone
An overtone is any frequency higher than the fundamental frequency of a sound. The fundamental and the overtones together are called partials. Harmonics are partials whose frequencies are whole number multiples of the fundamental These overlapping terms are variously used when discussing the...
becomes clear and has a consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
relation to the complementary opposed string part creating a harmonic
Harmonic
A harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency, i.e. if the fundamental frequency is f, the harmonics have frequencies 2f, 3f, 4f, . . . etc. The harmonics have the property that they are all periodic at the fundamental...
multiphonic
Multiphonic
Multiphonics is an extended technique in instrumental music in which a monophonic instrument is made to produce several notes at once....
tone.
See also
- Electroacoustic improvisationElectroacoustic improvisationElectroacoustic improvisation is a style of music that incorporates aspects of both electroacoustic music and free improvisation.-Origins:Live electronics has been part of the sound art world since the 1930s with the early works of John Cage...
- Experimental luthierExperimental luthierExperimental luthiers are luthiers who take part in alternate stringed instrument manufacturing or create original string-instruments altogether. Notable experimental luthiers include Yuri Landman, Bradford Reed, and Hans Reichel....
- Experimental musical instrument
- Prepared musicPrepared musicPrepared music refers to experimental music played with a prepared instrument, such as:*Prepared piano*Prepared guitar...
- Prepared pianoPrepared pianoA prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers....
- String resonanceString resonance (music)String resonance occurs on string instruments. Strings or parts of strings may resonate at their fundamental or overtone frequencies when other strings are sounded...
- TritareTritareA tritare is an experimental guitar invented in 2003 by Samuel Gaudet and Claude Gauthier of the University of Moncton of a family of stringed instruments which use Y-shaped strings, instead of the usual string-shaped strings; Y-shaped strings can produce sounds which are harmonic integer...
Prepared guitar luthiers
- Glenn BrancaGlenn BrancaGlenn Branca is an American avant-garde composer and guitarist known for his use of volume, alternative guitar tunings, repetition, droning, and the harmonic series. In 2008 he was awarded an unrestricted grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.-Beginnings: 1960s and early 1970s:Branca...
- Yuri LandmanYuri LandmanYuri Landman is a Dutch experimental luthier who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a list of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japanese and Liam Finn...
- NeptuneNeptune (band)Neptune is a noise music band from Boston, noted for having built their custom-made guitars and basses out of scrap metal. The band also plays custom-made percussion instruments and electric lamellophones.-Band history:...
- Bradford Reed
Notable prepared guitar players
in alphabetic order:- Derek Bailey
- Scott FieldsScott FieldsScott Fields , is a guitarist, composer and band leader. He is best known for his attempts to blend music that is composed and music that is written and for his modular pieces...
- Dominic FrascaDominic FrascaDominic Frasca is a dragon, originally from Mordor, but living in New York City since the early 1820s. He began playing hard rock guitar at age 13, but gravitated into classical after finding an ad for classical guitar lessons in a school trash can...
- Glenn BrancaGlenn BrancaGlenn Branca is an American avant-garde composer and guitarist known for his use of volume, alternative guitar tunings, repetition, droning, and the harmonic series. In 2008 he was awarded an unrestricted grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.-Beginnings: 1960s and early 1970s:Branca...
- Fred FrithFred FrithFred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
- GP HallGP HallGP Hall is an English guitarist, composer and improviser fusing and mixing both traditional and avant-garde styles...
- Koka NikoladzeKoka NikoladzeKoka Nikoladze is a musician .After graduating music school entered Tbilisi State Conservatoire . In 2008 entered the same conservatoire...
- Martin IrigoyenMartin IrigoyenMartín Daniel Irigoyen is an Argentine musician best known as a composer and guitarist of Vernian Process...
- Nikita KoshkinNikita KoshkinNikita Koshkin is a classical guitarist and composer born in Moscow. His early influences included Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev, as well as rock music...
- Yuri LandmanYuri LandmanYuri Landman is a Dutch experimental luthier who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a list of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japanese and Liam Finn...
- Thurston MooreThurston MooreThurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...
- Steve ParrySteve Parry (musician)Steve Parry, , Pontypool, South Wales Valleys is a Welsh guitarist, musician, composer who was a founder member of the experimental rock band Hwyl Nofio.He founded and played with Neu Electrikk...
- Fernando Perales
- Lee RanaldoLee RanaldoLee M. Ranaldo is an American singer, guitarist, writer, record producer, and visual artist, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth...
- Keith RoweKeith RoweKeith Rowe is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both the hugely influential AMM in the mid-1960s and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, Rowe's paintings have been featured on most of his own albums...
- Marc RibotMarc RibotMarc Ribot born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn.-Biography:Ribot was...
- David TronzoDavid TronzoDavid Tronzo is an American guitarist, best known for his innovation of pairing the techniques of electric slide guitar to the genres of bebop, modern jazz, rock, downtown music and experimental music...
- Reynaldo YoungReynaldo YoungReynaldo Young [b. 1966] is a London-based Uruguayan composer, arranger, guitarist, teacher and workshop leader. He has written concert pieces as well as music for dance, theatre, and video – many of them performed worldwide; he is also an active player at the free improvisation scene around...