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Arranging For Five Guitars
When I started collecting guitar records in a serious way, one of my passions was any recording, which had four or five guitarists playing in harmony just as five saxes, trumpets or trombones would in a big band. Some of my very earliest recollections of this type of recording are the records of George Barnes with his 'Guitar Choir' and Tony Rizzi's Five Guitars. A list of such recordings is given elsewhere. The effort taken to seek out some of these recordings will reward the listener/guitarist.
In an effort to promote this style of group playing, here's a short course on arranging in this style.
Let's start with Major chords. Suppose the melody line is as follows,
(sorry guys, this is a TAB free zone!) :
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Click here for Midi sound clip
If we use the chart below (Major Chords) the five parts can be determined (guitar five always plays and re-enforces the melody an octave lower than guitar one). The top row of the chart refers to the melody note in relation to the chord i.e. if the chord is C the root is C, the third is E etc.
Major Chords:
Root |
Ninth |
Third |
Fifth |
Sixth |
Seventh |
1 6 5 3 |
9 6 or 7 5 3 |
3 1 or 9 6 or 7 5 |
5 3 1 or 9 6 or 7 |
6 5 3 1 |
7 5 3 1 or 9 |
Applying the above table we get the following (guitar 1 on top - guitar 5 on bottom):
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Easy, isn't it!
Here's an example that uses some of those Major Sevenths:
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Midi sound clip(before) Midi sound clip (after)
The next table deals with Dominant Seventh Chords:
Root |
Ninth |
Third |
Eleventh |
Fifth |
Sixth (13) |
Seventh |
1 7 5 3 |
9 7 5 3 |
3 1 7 5 |
11 9 7 5 |
5 3 1 7 |
13 3 or 11 9 7 |
7 5 3 9 |
Example:
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Midi sound clip(before) Midi sound clip (after)
Let's look at the table for Minor Seventh Chords:
Root |
Ninth |
Third |
Eleventh |
Fifth |
Sixth (13) |
Seventh |
1 7 5 3 |
9 7 5 3 |
3 1 7 5 |
11 3 7 5 |
5 3 1 7 |
13 3 1 7 |
7 5 3 1 |
…and apply it to the following:
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Midi sound clip(before)
Midi sound
clip (after)
The following table covers the three remaining types of chords you will need:
Type |
1 |
9 |
3 |
11 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
13 |
Minor |
1 6 5 3 |
9 6 or 7 5 3 |
3 1 6 5 |
5 3 1 6 |
6 5 3 1 |
7 5 3 1 |
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LTS (m7-5) |
1 7 5 3 |
9 7 5 3 |
3 1 7 5 |
11 9 7 5 |
5 3 1 7 |
7 5 3 1 |
13 3 1 7 |
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Dim |
1 6 5 3 |
9 6 5 3 |
3 1 6 5 |
11 1 6 5 |
5 3 1 6 |
6 5 3 1 |
7 5 3 1 |
13 3 1 6 |
The above tables will allow you to arrange slow and medium tempo melodies for five guitarists. The more you practice at it the easier it becomes and a side effect of this is that for those who need it, your sight reading will improve. The more writing you do the better your reading becomes - a well-known fact!
For faster tempos (tempi?) a slightly different technique has to be applied and a follow up page will deal with this in the near future. Until then, have fun!
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