Stayin’ Alive: Guitars, Part 1

The slower tempo I’d chosen for the song gave it a heavier sound. To augment the mood I went for distorted guitars. I wanted in-your-face, grind-it-out, chugga-chugga, funky goodness. I was aiming for something in the Tony Iommi/Kim Thayil range of tone and feel. This isn’t necessarily what I got (everybody has their own unique sound), but I was looking in that direction.

I had four tracks to work with and I decided right away to dedicate three to guitar. It’s been a while since I recorded this, so I’m going from memory, but I believe I used the bridge pickup on all three tracks. The bridge pickup gives better high end and definition but isn’t as warm and mellow as the neck pickup. A lot of rock players don’t even use the neck pickup. I like to toggle back and forth in live situations, but for recording this track, I stuck with the more aggressive sounding bridge pickup.

The introduction is a canned rhythm section generated by the 4-track. After a brief introductory phrase, the guitars kick in with a call-and-response motif based more on rhythm than melody. Basically, it’s fretted harmonics across all the strings, followed by a descending slide on the low E string.

Then the main riff begins, with all three guitars playing the exact same part. I’m pretty sure one of the tracks is straight up the middle, while the other two are panned somewhat to either side.

The chord at the end of the riff is fun. It’s an A power chord played at the fifth fret. Nothing special about that. The fun part is bending the entire chord up a half step toward the end of the phrase. Throws a touch of “evil” into the intro.

Back to the main riff for the first verse. Then, when the pre-chorus kicks in (”It’s all right, it’s okay…”), all the guitars go to straight power chords.

(A power chord, incidentally, isn’t really a chord because a chord requires three or more notes. This is just the root and the fifth note in the scale. Without a third to determine whether the chord is major or minor, power chords are popular in hard rock and heavy metal. They are ambiguous, easily adaptable to different situations, and sound great at high volumes and with distortion.)

Back to the pre-chorus: At the “We can try to understand…” part, the two guitars that are panned to the sides stack another fifth on top of the power chord. So I’m playing the root, the fifth, and the fifth of the fifth (aka the ninth). On the fretboard it looks like this (first is a regular A power chord, second adds the ninth):

e|--------|
b|--------|
g|--------|
d|--7--9--|
a|--7--7--|
e|--5--5--|

At the risk of getting insanely technical (and frankly, over my head), this is what is referred to as “quintal harmony.” As I understand it, in Western music (pop music, at least), most chords are built on “tertiary harmony,” which means stacking thirds. To form a C major chord, take the root note in the scale (C), go up a third (E), and go up a third from there (G). To make it minor, flatten the third. Go up a third from the G to add more color, and so on.

There is also “quartal harmony,” which can be found in avant-garde music, or music that falls outside the mainstream. In jazz, legendary pianist McCoy Tyner made extensive use of quartal harmony, as did the great Miles Davis. Classical composers such as Claude Debussy and Bela Bartok also are associated with this style, which can sound “weird” to ears accustomed to hearing nothing but stacked thirds. Music composed using quartal harmony can seem unfocused, meandering, chaotic.

I mention all this not to display great knowledge and understanding (hardly!), but because I’m trying to figure it out myself. Anything that expands my musical horizons is a good thing. Philip Tagg has a long but useful article on harmony for those interested.

In the pop world, I can’t find too many examples of quartal harmony. The one exception seems to be Andy Summers, who apparently employed quartal harmony in many of The Police’s early works, including “Message in a Bottle” (the chords are arpeggiated - broken into single notes formed from the chord’s components). This should come as no surprise to folks who are familiar with Summers’ career, as he has worked frequently in the jazz idiom since The Police disbanded. Green Trees, an album of Thelonious Monk songs arranged for guitar, is a classic.

Well, I’ve veered off on quite the tangent today and we haven’t even gotten to the chorus yet. Guess that will have to wait till next time.

• 2006: Dreams and Gifts — I never write here anymore. The music project seems to be dead for now, but I’m not willing to give [...]