legato vs. stacatto style

JJLipton · Post by **JJLipton** » Fri Mar 26, 2010 11:56 am

Legato at its best

Stacatto at its uh...extreme

Which style do you guys prefer? I think players like Eddie Van Halen and Paul Gilbert are good at mixing the two well. Learning either of those songs will offer some good techniques. I almost got the first song down! It makes me so happy, i've always wanted to play that song haha.

kim · Post by **kim** » Fri Mar 26, 2010 12:26 pm

i prefer neither, less talk, more rawk.

JJLipton · Post by **JJLipton** » Fri Mar 26, 2010 1:06 pm

Haha, strange since both pieces are completely instrumental....as little talking as possible.

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Fri Mar 26, 2010 7:04 pm

They both have their uses.

Comparing which is best is like comparing dynamic levels. You have to use both.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 1:04 am

Jesus I hate Yngwie. That isn't staccato. He's just picking most of the notes he's playing. Staccato means something else.

DanHeron · Post by **DanHeron** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 1:25 am

yeah, that's not really staccato. He's playing so fast the notes couldn't be legato anyway. Staccato is just when you stop the notes straight away, so they dont ring out at all. It would be hard to play that fast and really do staccato or legato...

SpaceFace · Post by **SpaceFace** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 1:58 am

I like Satch but if you really want to see legato at its best you need to look at Allan Holdsworth. Just about everything he plays he does legato and does it flawlessly. Makes his guitar lines sound smooth like saxophone lines.

JJLipton · Post by **JJLipton** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 4:52 am

DanHeron wrote:yeah, that's not really staccato. He's playing so fast the notes couldn't be legato anyway. Staccato is just when you stop the notes straight away, so they dont ring out at all. It would be hard to play that fast and really do staccato or legato...

I think you may be referring to pizzicato. Yeah, honestly i respect Yngwies skill but his music does not suit ANY occasion. The Satch song is a rather pretty tune though, and Joe's phrasing is impeccable. I could never really get into holdsworths stuff, but shawn lane is amazing as far as jazz fusion goes. Here is another good example of legato style playing. in the style of steve vai

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 4:58 am

JJLipton wrote: I think you may be referring to pizzicato.

What's pizzicato?

I think you need to go away and find out what legato, staccato and pizzicato all mean.

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 5:18 am

BacchusPaul wrote:
JJLipton wrote: I think you may be referring to pizzicato.
What's pizzicato?

I think you need to go away and find out what legato, staccato and pizzicato all mean.

+1

I'm pretty sure pizzicato is just plucking the strings.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 3:20 pm

Yes. Pizzicato is a term used to describe when a classical string instrument is plucked, instead of being played with the bow (arco) Neither term is really useful when talking about guitars.

It annoys me when people use terms connected to classical instruments to try to sound like they no more about what they are talking about than other people. Guitarists already have a plethora of terminology that describes what we do. There's no need to shoe-horn in words that don't really work. It causes confusion, and worse, it intimidates other people (who often know as much about this stuff as the bull-shitter) so that they never really try to learn theory.

All the stuff Malmsteen says about "extreme arpeggios" and "diminished chromatics" is bollocks. It literally doesn't mean anything.

Your average guitarist will know quite a lot of theory. They will likely use different words to a classical musician, but it's the same principles being applied to the same craft. Communication is more important that terminology, and using technical words badly hinders this.

kim · Post by **kim** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 3:43 pm

no jj, what i meant 'stacatto, legato etc..' who gives a fuck, i didn't study guitar theory just fucking play who the fuck gives a shit what the theoretic term is all that matters is the sound not the terms for it.

my dad is learning guitar, he keeps trying to baffle me with technical terms but when he plays it just does't sound like it comes from his heart and just a bunch of shit he's 'learned' it's like learning a language from a textbook but not speaking it like a native getting the dialects and witty things just the things you memorize from theory.

JJLipton · Post by **JJLipton** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 12:57 am

kim wrote:no jj, what i meant 'stacatto, legato etc..' who gives a fuck, i didn't study guitar theory just fucking play who the fuck gives a shit what the theoretic term is all that matters is the sound not the terms for it.

my dad is learning guitar, he keeps trying to baffle me with technical terms but when he plays it just does't sound like it comes from his heart and just a bunch of shit he's 'learned' it's like learning a language from a textbook but not speaking it like a native getting the dialects and witty things just the things you memorize from theory.

LOL @ Bacchus "diminished chromatics". Theres really no need for any hostility here...I was just presenting two cool styles and asking which one sounds better to everyones ears. I guess a more appropriate title would have been "hammer ons and pull offs vs picking every note" I don't really claim to be an expert on music theory, knowing only what i like to call "survival theory" for rock and pop styles. I think the internet in general, and especially youtube are an amazing resource for guitar instruction. A lot of the more technical guitar stuff looks quite complex and intimidating on paper, but when applied to the guitar it turns out to be surprisingly simple most of the time. keep rockin'!

DanHeron · Post by **DanHeron** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:30 pm

I'm reffering to legato and staccato...

Staccato, which is shown on the notation as a small dote over the note, means you dont let it ring out. You stop it straight away. I know this, i have been learning classical guitar for over 10 years. I learnt Steccato and Legato when i was like.. 9 years old.

kim · Post by **kim** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:36 pm

hostility ? que ?

towards my dad maybe, i hate people trying to become virtuoso on guitar but they don't feel what they're playing they're just parrots aping what a book says...ok that sounds hostile lol

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:44 pm

kim wrote:hostility ? que ? towards my dad maybe, i hate people trying to become virtuoso on guitar but they don't feel what they're playing they're just parrots aping what a book says...ok that sounds hostile lol

learning theory doesn't mean you're just going through the motions.

if you learn the first box of the blues scale and improvise using it over and over then you're going through the motions, but if you're having fun while you're doing who cares.

kim · Post by **kim** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:47 pm

yeah he's just too much of a perfectionist it needs to be exactly like what it says in the book, it's jsut too much, playing guitar should be fun. even when learning (you're always learning) put some fun into it.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 7:32 pm

my dad is sort of like that, but with games.
he's always played PC games but he suddenly got into them big time about two years ago. now he's sat there with a Â£70 mouse and this horrible "gaming" keyboard that cost him about Â£40.

look at this fucking thing, it's horrendous to type or play games on.

he's got a headset that cost far too much and sounds terrible too. it's the tinniest pair of headphones i've ever heard.

it's all got to be MADE FOR GAMING and, y'know, THE BEST YOU CAN BUY. as though it's all going to make him amazing at games.

i remember when i was 14 i went out and bought a new mouse for Â£30 and his head was about ready to explode. that mouse lasted me for five years and when it stopped working i fixed it. my dad's old Â£70 gaming mouse stopped working last week so rather than revert to one of his other expensive gaming mice, he spent another Â£70 on a brand new mouse.

i just leave him to it now.

kim · Post by **kim** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 8:16 pm

haha, too familiar !! footstands, guitars he never plays, changing strings all the time, expensive books and cd roms, justinguitar as homepage... *facepalm*

DanHeron · Post by **DanHeron** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:44 pm

I never chose to learn theory... When i was 9 my mum got me a guitar and sent me to a guitar teacher that she saw advertised in the post office. Turns out he taught classical guitar. As a beginner though it was just learning notes and playing simple melody lines, not very classical. I stuck with it though and started doing the graded exams, that's where I needed the theory.

It's quite funny you mention your dad having a footstand... For 10 YEARS i have done classical guitar, using a footstand at my lessons and in exams. BUT (this is a secret not even my guitar tutor knows...!!!) I have never owned one or used one at home to practice LOL