I'm bloody lazy

ThePrettyDamned

Not when it comes to metal - I try to be as precise as possible when playing metal.

But most of my stuff is sleazy hard rock and funk.  And I'm lazy!

Example - a standard melodic/funk solo section might have a repeating 3 chord idea - let's say e minor, d major, c major.  Imaginative, right?

But while most folks would play them as bar chords, or be careful to voice them nicely, I quite often play an e minor as the G (10fr A string), E (9fr G string), G (8fr b string).  I'll maybe slide into the g from the 7fr E.  

The d major and c major would be played in the same way, but in a major shape.  

I like the spaciousness this creates but it *is* purely from laziness.  I also like 2 note chord with a big gap, so an E minor might be 7fr E on the A string and 8fr G on the B string. Again, lazy! It's easier to do the shapes and easier to do little hammery bits from.  

Is anyone else as plain lazy as me?  My hands are very small (no, really - not an excuse, they're really, really tiny) so I don't do much thumb over neck stuff.  So that doesn't count

randomhandclaps

I don't think laziness is necessarily a barrier to being a guitar genius.  I once read that during one of the sessions for Rainbow Rising, Richie Blackmore turned up and hadn't even bothered brushing his hair - still played amazing though.

ThePrettyDamned

Ha!

digitalscream

The thing is, one man's laziness is impossible to play for another. Playing things in unusual ways because that's where your fingers fall isn't called being lazy - it's called "finding your own style".

It took me a very long time (like, 28 years or so) to realise that what I thought were my crap technique, lazy finger positioning and totally inconsistent picking actually all contribute to the fact that quite a few people on the local circuit can now recognise my playing by just hearing it. For me, that's only a good thing.

GuyBoden

ThePrettyDamned said:

Example - a standard melodic/funk solo section might have a repeating 3 chord idea - let's say e minor, d major, c major.  Imaginative, right?

It's not lazy, chords are just multiple note choices. If you know the chord's notes. just play the notes in any order.

I'd be playing inversions, maybe I'd also drop the bass notes and just play on higher strings.

Emin = E G B or G B E or B E G
DMaj = D F# A or F# A D or A D F#
CMaj = C E G or E G C or G C E

Obviously, each inversion has it's own particular sound.

There's only one rule, does it sound good to you.

ThePrettyDamned

GuyBoden said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Example - a standard melodic/funk solo section might have a repeating 3 chord idea - let's say e minor, d major, c major.  Imaginative, right?

It's not lazy, chords are just multiple note choices. If you know the chord's notes. just play the notes in any order.

I'd be playing inversions, maybe I'd also drop the bass notes and just play on higher strings.

Emin = E G B or G B E or B E G
DMaj = D F# A or F# A D or A D F#
CMaj = C E G or E G C or G C E

Obviously, each inversion has it's own particular sound.

There's only one rule, does it sound good to you.

Yeah, I guess I'm kinda playing an inversion of sorts? Idk, I'm not much of a theory guy.  

It sounds pretty cool, but it can be a bit weird sounding - throwing one in is nice, but having two or three from laziness doesn't sound so great.

I've recently spent a lot of time exploring simple progressions using just 2 notes per chord.  You can add interest by adding a drone third note to each, too, but it creates wonderful space that's amazingly BORING on guitar.  But I suspect, with a good bass player, it can make quite a nice sound.  

I'm trying to justify my laziniess!

daveyh

That's not lazy that's just accomodating your physical structure. I'm much the same, small hands so little thumb over and almost always partial chords.

I also do sleazy and funk. Are we twins?

ThePrettyDamned

We might be.

Do you like gaudy taxi cab yellow guitars?

daveyh

ThePrettyDamned said:

We might be.

Do you like gaudy taxi cab yellow guitars?

I do! How did you guess?

Roland

On the other hand you could say that fretting the barre chord was laziness, because you hold the same finger pattern, regardless of the sub-set of strings that you intend to play. In general, playing fewer strings gives a more open sound. Personally I think that both fingerlings have their place, depending on where or not you want to emphasise particular strings