Brett Garsed Discussion

[fanio]

TALKING ABOUT LEGATO TECHNIQUE AND IT'S APPLICATIONS.

[chris_johnstone]

I used to be a pick everything kind of guy but have of lately been adopting a smoother legato approach.
I think of legato as a sound not a technique, meaning that I blend in picked notes like the way Brett does, rather than just trying to hammer every note. I like the accents you can do with this approach as I find that I lose definition if I just hammer. You also have more control over the direction of the notes too and can be very melodic, like Brett. (although I am nowhere near his standard, please don't get the wrong picture.)
Anyone else have comments??

Chris

[JJW]

Its just one of the many techniques used to express yourself,nothing more nothing less.I bet most guitarists these days blend it all together and do so without even thinking about it.You can get a very smooth flow with legato,you can also economy pick for the same results when your gentle with the pick.Brett uses the pick a fair bit anyway as he mentions on his DVD,i expect with him and with other great players it just the natural way to play with the less effort possible.
Its a great sound but dont forget the rest of the armoury

[Adolfo Aguilera]

I've always done the legatto thing, first of all it's easier and cleaner (more often when you have a crap guitar and amp!), the second reason is when I started to play everybody tried to emulate Malmsteen or Vai and I tried to avoid it, because It was too hard for me, I mean, "not natural"...I think there are two ways: picking every note but in a very, very fluid way (like Kee Marcello, for example) or just playing legatto in a way that you could never know how many picked notes have you listened.

[fanio]

OK,I'm happy to see your interests on the argument!Well,I think legato as a sound,just like any other said,and this sound can be reached even playing more notes with pick and fingers.For me the touch makes the difference.I'm from Italy(sorry for my terrible english )and I went to Brett's clinics and he said a thing that a lot of people seems to forget or don't understand:he said that he picks a lot of notes,more than you expect!The secret is keep the velocity equal between picked and not picked notes,to avoid a good legato effect.If I said bullshit,then just beat me off!!!!

[fanio]

I wanna ask you some questions,just for discuss our ways of playing:do you play legato even whith acoustic guitar?Does it work for you?Which is the importance of a good setup on your guitar?Is the distortion really necessary?Post your replies guys!!!

[JJW]

Low action does indeed help legato and other techniques.As for tones/overdrives,you should be able to pick up any guitar with moderate action and play without pluging into any amp.The amp is just amplifying the notes-you should be able to play just as well unplugged

Compressing the signal can help a lot,i tend to use a lot less compression now as i find the dynamics get altered alot.When i was younger i spanked the compression for that level sound on each note and the big PICK sound you get when alternate picking.

Moderate chorus or phaser can also make the notes sound more slippery

Just mess around and have fun

[Adolfo Aguilera]

I tend to think that you need a good tone which makes easier play legato lines and definitely you can't get rid of a bit of distortion and low action helps a lot.
I do use legatto when I play acoustic and I play the same way but trying to pull the strings off harder to maintain a uniform sound... I recommend you listen to the first album of Allan Holdsworth "velvet darkness" it's a master class in how to play legatto with an acoustic guitar!!!

[chris_johnstone]

Adolfo,

Which song does Holdsworth play acoustic? I've never heard it and would love to hear it, I feel like I'm missing out!

Chris

[chris_johnstone]

Don't worry, I found them. Strange hearing him on acoustic, amazing technique. Sounded a little like Joe Pass with those jazzy legato runs.


Chris

[Big Kev]

Chris - sorry if you know this already, but the album Adolfo is talking about is called Velvet Darkness, which is no longer available. (AH claims that he was never paid for that album and it was recorded and released under false pretenses. He successfully sued for it to be permanently withdrawn from sale. It was recorded in 1976 and re-released on CD in 1990.)

Anyway, several tracks ("Floppy Hat", "Kinder", "Last May") have AH on acoustic, though to my ears it's not as legato as Adolfo thinks (happy to be wrong there though). I hear quite a bit of pick in there, particularly compared with what you normally hear from Allan. Having said that, AH actually uses the pick a lot more than people realise, just like Brett. I guess you can just hear it better on an acoustic.

Kev

(By the way, I deleted your duplicate post and apology Adolfo.)

[Adolfo Aguilera]

Hey Kev, You're right as usual. I'm a long time fan of Allan and I've seem him playing live and It's easy to see that he picks a lot of notes, (he doesn't play legatto like Kotzen, who doesn't pick at all...). Probably this type of legatto gives you more "rhythmical control" , I remember Allan used to double complicated lines when he joined U.K. and his picking was more obvious in those days, and maybe he has developed his style to pick less notes or just to sound more fluid ????. Brett plays many notes on acoustic as well ("two strong hearts solo from The Last Time dvd) and I love his solo in "ever be" from under..
Adolfo.

[Big Kev]

I think AH probably does pick less now than he would have in the '70s. I think a bigger factor though is probably that his tone from the mid-'80s onwards really developed that big sustain and fluid tone that it seemed to lack in earlier work (U.K., Bruford, etc). This would really help to smooth out the differences in attack between pick & no pick. And I guess, just like Brett, Allan has become a master at making the pick attack and velocity as unobtrusive as possible.

Kev

[bretto212]

Allan is a one-of-a-kind genius and a freak of nature, end of story. I've seen footage of many jazz guitarists using legato technique (Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass) but no-one before Allan ever used it the way he does. He is unique in his concept and approach to his instrument. Given that he has large hands and the ability to cover large intervals I'm sure it's major factor in his physical approach but at the end of the day it's really his musical mind that chooses the notes or at least decides to continue choosing them.
I use heavy strings (.011 to .052), have a higher than usual action and very normal hands so my technique has evolved around these factors. I used to think they were limitations but they're actually assets. I'd be limited if I had the same size hands as Allan and was hearing absolutely no music of my own in my mind or perhaps didn't have the nerve to create my own concepts and stand by them. You've got to do that if you want to find your own voice and not be a clone.
I guess this relates a little to the guy wanting to swap the instructional dvd (which I have no problem with by the way). I feel he understands the point of the dvd, which is to provide some technical tools to create your own unique phrases. It's just that he wants the phrases themselves and I don't agree with that approach. If you copy and continually use someone else's lines then you're playing something THEY thought was musically valid, not you so it's important to let your own natural ability and instincts lead the way.
So many people talk about who's got the most chops, who can play over the most complex changes blah, blah, blah. If it really was about that then there'd only be about 5 people currently playing anything as none of the rest of us would meet the qualifications. It's about having a strong identity so that when you play people know it's you. Allan plays legato but also picks a lot of notes, Richie Kotzen plays legato and doesn't pick much at all so there you go. Two very different approaches to the same technique. By all means, analyze others but at least spend as much time listening to your own thoughts about your own playing. It's guaranteed that everyone else will have a strong opinion about what you're doing so you may as well have one too!

[fanio]

Well,I think bretto is right when he says that a player should have his own identity.Music is a language,so why should we speak whith the words of other people?There is a time for imitation(like little childs learning to speak ),then,thinkin' with our own head, we articulate words and phrases and expand our vocabulary to create something new from what we learn.William Stravato teached me this way of thinkin' when I was younger,and that's probably the most logical approach to music,but we should have the consciousness of that,otherwise we play like clones!Happy new year everybody guys and girls out there!!!