guitar midi notes?

R

RhyanCrisis

New member
since a piano has 8 keys per octave.. i'm guessing a guitar has 6 (cause of six strings... and i have no knowledge how to play a guitar so if i am wrong... i'm wrong) when doing chord progressions for guitar.. is it done the same way as a piano so C maj would be CED??? in guitar?.... is it the same?

ps.. how are the guitar strings labeled? (example first key on piano is C... last one is G)
 
Quick answer - the chords are the same on any instrument, and you're completely wrong about how guitars work :)
 
another quick answer - guitars still have the same about of notes in an octave, just you have to hold down different frets to get the notes on some strings. I can only play a few chords on guitar and not sure of where all the notes are exactly so can't explain any further than this
 
A bit longer - the regular guitar tuning is E A G D B E, from low to high - basically each string just offers a different starting point (and the same notes can be played from multiple strings); there are also a myriad of alternate tunings for different styles and methods. Playing chords on a guitar is obviously even more closely tied to what can be reached physically with your fingers as usually you just have that one hand to form the chords with, but as said, the chord formation is theoretically identical with the piano, even if in some cases it's more viable to play a certain inversion of a chord rather than the exact same as you would be playing on a piano.

Btw, there are 12 keys - semitones - in an octave (the 13th being the full octave), not 8 (which is the number of full tones, not keys).
 
krushing said:
Btw, there are 12 keys - semitones - in an octave (the 13th being the full octave), not 8 (which is the number of full tones, not keys).
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That should be

"not 6 (which is the number of full tones, not keys)"​

Leaving aside all other considerations, if there are 12 semitones (half-tones) there MUST be 6 Tones or Full-Tones

7 natural note names (white keys)

CDEFGAB

5 chromatic note names (black keys) with two ways of naming (10 names all up)

C# D# F# G# A#
Db Eb Gb Ab Bb

On Guitars.

Guitars, as has been said above, span the same note names and same structures to create chords. To create a voicing for a particular chord takes time and patience - it is one of the ways that you can tell if the sequencer (the person who sequenced a part) knows about guitars or not, by the sound of the part; i.e. the voicings of the chords match what a real guitarist would do.

Each string can have between 19 and 24 frets, giving it a range of 1 Octave + Perfect 5th to 2 Octaves. An open string on the guitar is the starting point or 0th fret.

Intervals then proceed as follows:


Fret| Interval
-----------------
.01 | minor 2
.02 | Major 2
.03 | m3
.04 | M3
.05 | P4
.06 | A4/d5
.07 | P5
.08 | m6
.09 | M6
.10 | m7
.11 | M7
.12 | P8

​

In terms of MIDI note names/numbers, the guitar starts at E1/44 and continues to E5/92 a span of 4 octaves. if you are emulating a detuned guitar or a low 7 string guitar, the note name numbers may go down to B0/27. Emulating a high 7 string, the note names will continue up to B5/99.

Standard guitar tuning for a six string is
E3/68 - B2/63 - G2/59 - D2/54 - A1/49 - E1/44

These can drop by semitone to one of the following four tunings:
Eb3/67 - Bb2/62 - Gb2/58 - Db2/53 - Ab1/48 - Eb1/43
D3/66 - A2/61 - F2/57 - C2/52 - G1/47 - D1/42
Db3/65 - Ab2/60 - E2/56 - B2/51 - Gb1/46 - Db1/41
C3/64 - A2/59 - Eb2/55 - Bb2/50 - F1/45 - C1/40
 
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Pretty new to the forum and completely stunned that people are STILL desperately trying to write MIDI guitar parts or "play guitar" via keyboard. It doesn't work, trust me on that. I play guitar and I play some keys, it's not gonna work, so just forget it.

If you want to incorporate guitar parts into your music, there are two options:

a) record a friend who knows how to play
b) learn to play yourself

Those are your only options....


Peace
 
I wouldn't say it can't work at all, but the paradoxal thing is that you have to understand pretty well how these things are played on a guitar - and if you know it well enough, you probably know how to play them anyway for real. That said, there have been quite a few pretty advanced guitar plugins coming out lately, which do allow the creation of pretty convincing guitar parts even without the techniqueto hit the fretboard yourself.
 
krushing said:
I wouldn't say it can't work at all, but the paradoxal thing is that you have to understand pretty well how these things are played on a guitar - and if you know it well enough, you probably know how to play them anyway for real. That said, there have been quite a few pretty advanced guitar plugins coming out lately, which do allow the creation of pretty convincing guitar parts even without the techniqueto hit the fretboard yourself.
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The time spent studying MIDI guitar implementation and then the time spent learning to express that on a keyboard - quite a lot of work. Spend the same time on learning a real guitar and then just fgn rock out!!
 
jackhzrd said:
Pretty new to the forum and completely stunned that people are STILL desperately trying to write MIDI guitar parts or "play guitar" via keyboard. It doesn't work, trust me on that. I play guitar and I play some keys, it's not gonna work, so just forget it.

If you want to incorporate guitar parts into your music, there are two options:

a) record a friend who knows how to play
b) learn to play yourself

Those are your only options....


Peace
Click to expand...

Those are only your opinions.

As krushing rightly notes, if you know enough about the instrument you can emulate it pretty successfully, particularly with the quality of samples and vsts out there today.

I play guitar and bass and can tell you that most times I find it just as easy to sit and emulate as to play the part - I have been playing for 35 years, so I think I know what I am doing


Happy to share some tracks that have been played for real and played with emulation for you to tell me which is which - i.e. blind test.
 
^^^If you've been playing guitar for 35 years, of course you're going to know how to manipulate the keyboard and pitch bend wheel to make it sound like a real guitar. He was talking about someone who doesn't play guitar therefore doesn't know the dynamics or the subtleties of real guitar.

For example how would someone know how far to pitch the note up one full note on the pitch wheel if they never did bends on a real guitar before? Even for an experienced guitar player learning the pitch wheel with the left hand while playing the keyboard with the right hand to make it sound like a real lead guitar will take lots of practice and time.
 
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you are over-thinking the problem - I said nothing about playing the keyboard to do this.

See, when we bend, we can move it oh so many ways - not to mention micro-tonal bending, which is the real area where guitar emulation becomes harder - micro-tonal bends with micro-tonal variation inside of it - I can actually bend 4+ semitones up on a properly set up light gauge guitar (0.007 for top E, 0.032 for bottom E.) It is about technique, but it is also about the guitar itself.

the original question was not about emulation either, just what note range and how the guitar related to the keyboard and other musical ideas.

In response to your other questions - a beginner is asking these questions which of course will lead to other questions which will lead to more questions - the learning process is about discovering something and then discovering how it can be extended and manipulated - it is why learning takes time and application - your experience is different to mine and certainly to Rhyancrisis' - it does not mean that the question should be answered with a blank don't try to do it, because I can't make it work - he may have an insight that makes it possible or others may have that insight and are willing to share it.
 
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