Are you talking about software that emulates acoustic strumming in general? or e-guitars? or a library that combines everything? its definetly the hardest thing to emulate when you want it to sound realistic! i think it would be easier to learn some chords and strumming patterns(i did that!
Key to all of these is understanding how the guitar could and should be played in the first place - knowing which note combinations are just impossible and knowing which ones whilst difficult can be done.
Apotheosis
Standard sounds in Reasons with some OTT processing to create the edginess on the lead guitar and a little delay chorus on rhythmic guitar part. This was collaboration where the bass and drums were provided by my collaborator emmanuelle.d.
[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/audio/apotheosis.mp3[/mp3]
Mental Fatigue
Preceded the above and in part was why the collaboration headed in the direction it did.
Two versions (mostly different mixes)
Version 1
[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/audio/mental-fatigue-01.mp3[/mp3]
Version 2
[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/audio/mental-fatigue-02.mp3[/mp3]
Pastorale
A piece for nylon string and flute. The nylon string is from the Kontakt factory library, the flute from Garritan Personal Orchestra 3.
know the voicings (arrangement of notes within a chord) used for chords as you go further and further up the neck - i.e. there are several standard voicings used for guitars based on shapes lower down the neck
understand that the technique of playing means that you probably don't always have every note sustaining
know typical right hand finger picking patterns - which strings, which order
even a single downward or upward strum has each note come in successively not at the same time - working out how much space is necessary at a given tempo takes time and lots of experimenting to get the feel
understand what Drop-tunings give in advantages and disadvantages
treat pitch bend as a tool for
wang-bar control
vibrato (upwards only)
controlling upward bends
controlling release bends
remember that there is no guitar built that can give you a downward bend
hammer-ons and pull-offs are a lot trickier to emulate than it seems.
These are comprised of two (or three in the case of hammer-pulls and pull-hammers) individual notes
the second note is usually lower in volume/velocity than the first
the second note cuts off the first but the first note must sound until it is cut off
mimicking tapping is pointless unless you have the samples to begin with
I'm sure there are others.
As for good old strum based guitar VSTis check out the Akkord Guitar in Native Instruments Factory guitar library. It has a library of
24 strumming patterns.
24 strum types, which you can use to create your own strumming patterns.
42 chord types for all 12 notes.
You can also construct you own chords using their short form notation or dialling in every note.
If every composer over the centuries had to take lessons on every instrument they wrote for not a lot of music would have been written. Part of being a composer is to understand the basic and advanced playing techniques of any instrument you write for. It does not mean being an exceptional performer on any of them although it indubitably helps if you are on at least one, because you then understand things like breathing, dynamics, etc.
if you are writing for someone to play, then you should have them in to discuss issues and drafts of the work; even if you aren't, having a player who is willing to discuss why a piece cannot be played or only played with great difficulty will be of terrific use to you. You will grow as a composer and start to understand so much more about the art and craft of composition and orchestrating.
Electri6ity is hot . . . supposedly the scripting/modelling is pretty top notch, but idk yet.
Direct Guitar has a of the neck+bridge, it's a 7gb library of a DI sampled Stratocaster AND there's a free version "reduced" on their website for Kontakt . . . download that for the time being and run it through some cheap Amp simulations.
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