I Ching, the Book of Changes: Part 2

Applying I Ching to the Guitar

We won't try to make any mystic applications or interpretations of I Ching in relation to the guitar here. We'll leave that to you deep-thinkers. But there are some observations taken from I Ching symbols that can help serious guitar students physically divide and subdivide the guitar in ways that will help better picking habits and neck knowledge.

When the bars in the I Ching symbols are compared to string groups, then each of the 64 possible permutations becomes a study of the guitar unto itself. Indeed, when sliced this way, the guitar is actually 64 separate instruments. Here's an imaginative story to help make the point:

A Lesson from Gilligan's Island... Minus Gilligan and Friends

Imagine you are stranded on a desert island with nothing but the clothes on your back, an endless supply of coconuts and your steel string guitar. You have endless time to practice guitar, so when you are not eating coconuts, you are practicing your guitar. Weeks go by and you really get good at your craft. Then it happens... the salt air takes its toll on your strings, and one by one, the strings break, two weeks apart. Each time you lose a string, you need to figure out a new way to make music with your instrument. Each time you succeed, but you notice that the capabilities of your new instrument and the nature of the music itself is transformed. Whether you fingerpick or flatpick the remaining strings, it is a different guitar. Finally, when the last string breaks, you are rescued and return home. After a shower and a meal you rush to the music store and buy a new set of strings, then write a best-selling book on your discoveries, and make a record of cover tunes with never-before-heard renditions using extreme string skipping and unique voicings. The final twist to your story is that now you discover that there are dozens of other rescued castaways with the same agenda as you... only their music is also unique, because the salt air broke their strings in a completely different order than your own.

The idea is that when we study different string groupings, whether flat-picked or finger-picked, we discover that we use some more than others in our playing, and that some are more comfortable than others. The goal of this lesson is to provide a framework for students to identify groupings they use (some to excess), and encourage exploration of the others.

6-String Groupings

This grouping has two patterns: 6 on or 6 off. 6 on is when all the strings are strummed or plucked at once and ring together. While this grouping is desirable for producing a full sound or texture, it's limitations are that chords must be selected where one or more of the tones in the chord repeat, otherwise the sound is extremely muddy. Compared to all the other string groupings, 6 on is at once the most full, and the most limited in its ability to articulate.

6 off is when none of the strings are strummed or plucked. Silence while the guitar is at rest, or when the player holds the strings at rest. Its the intentional rest that deserves our attention. Guitar players that learn to master the guitar at rest, and thus create space wherein other melodies and harmonies are framed. Learn to listen for this space, and master it in your playing as well.

5-String Groupings

This grouping has 6 patterns, all of which are 5 strings on, and 1 string off. This is the beginning of articulation, because unlike the 6-on pattern, 5 on requires the tactical muting of one of the strings. When the artist chooses to mute one of the strings, it is typically either a string with a very dissonant tone or a tone that repeats.

Strumming or picking patterns that work well over 5-string groupings are those that provide a distinct lower and upper voice, in a point/counterpoint pattern. The muted string provides separation between the lower and upper voices.

4-String Groupings

4-string patterns have 15 possible combinations. These patterns offer great and rich possibilities for articulation, because the spacing between notes, where inversions can occur naturally, while still providing solid chord structure.

Because of the need to mute two of the 6 strings, the player must begin to pay greater attention to the picking technique. Finger picking, string-skipping or alternate picking become a matter of great focus during practice and performance, and left vs. right hand muting techniques come to the fore.

3-String Groupings

3-string groupings are 3-on 3-off, offering 20 possibilities. When the 3 strings are adjacent, triadic harmony and triad inversions are the most natural chord selections. When there is space between strings, then other intersting harmonic possibilities arise with open intervals.

3-string groupings can be used in a very interesting and mysterious way, because since the space created by the strings not played is as powerful as the space filled by the strings being played. This creates the possibility of implied harmony, where the listener perceives notes being played in the space where are not really being played at all.

2-String Groupings

2-string groupings are 2-on and 4-off, suggesting 15 possible combinations. This string grouping offers a vast landscape for applying all knowledge of intervals. When the strings are adjacent to each other, the typical intervals in the harmony are thirds, 4ths and 5ths. When the strings are spaced 2 strings apart, then popular intervals become 6ths, 7ths, octaves and 9ths.

When the strings plucked are 3 or more strings apart, then compound intervals, or those extending beyond one octave are possibilities.

1-String Groupings

Finally, the 1-string grouping with 1-on and 5-off offers 6 possibilities. This grouping is the basis for pure melody, and each string then becomes a voice unto itself. The voice of each string should be explored and understood intimately by the player in order to best articulate the emotion. In percussive expressions, the small strings tend to emulate the cymbal, while the large strings emulate a bass drum. In melodic expressions, the small strings have a more coronet-like quality, while the larger strings have more of the qualities of a tuba.

Explore and master each of these strings with picking, legato, sliding, bending and tapping techniques, and learn to choose the string to play based on the vocal quality it has to offer.

Conclusion

Hopefully this primer has opened your eyes and ears to many more possibilities with the guitar, being 64 instruments in one. If you ever find that your playing is in a rut, try playing your existing repertoire on different string combinations than those you are already comfortable with. You will find a whole new universe of possibilities has opened up to you.