This is measure 5 and measure 6, one with an independent bass note and one without.
How do I notate a passage in acoustic guitar, in order to make the lowest note ring? Is there a difference in sound between measure 5 and measure 6?
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This looks like a picking or fingerpicking style in which all the notes would ring, not just the bass note. If that is the case, measure 6 along with a description such as “let ring” would suffice. That is commonly used to indicate that the notes ring out and are not actually all eighth note durations.– John BelzaguyCommented Aug 29 at 17:10
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Thanks, I wondered about putting the words "let ring" there.– mmusicCommented Aug 29 at 17:29
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2 Answers
An awful lot of acoustic guitar music is not written as accurately as would be expected. But notes which are obviously the bass note which would ring through the bar would be seen as such, even if not written as such.
However, to be on the safe side, your 1st example would clarify what was expected.
I inherited a student who was taught to play what the 2nd example actually expected, and the resulting playing sounded quite disjointed. When they re-learned with a bass note lasting the whole bar, it sounded like that was what was supposed to be played. So, use ears and common sense to achieve a good result!
In fact I would rather notate this as such:
And while doing this
is less effort to do, it conveys a different meaning. As Tim said, a professional guitarist might understand what was meant, and play accordingly. But that does not make the engraving correct. While in amateur editions this might happen, there would be a clear difference between these two in a professional engraving. And as the question is “how do I notate ...” I think the answer should not be: Even if you do it wrongly, it will probably still work out.
The reason why this important (apart from being specific) is that notating polyphonic structures correctly helps understanding the piece tremendously. The reason is that experienced musicians do not read note by note, but rather whole blocks at once. Thus engraving the correct structure will make it easier for the player to quickly read the score.
See for example these two examples, one being engraved the usual way and one doing the lazy way. Note how the lazy engraving takes much more effort to read and understand:
Lazy
Usual
