Sparkle Voicings
BY ANDY ELLIS
CHOPS: Intermediate
THEORY: Intermediate/Advanced
LESSON OVERVIEW:
• Learn how to use artificial harmonics in your playing
• Find ways to expand standard
fretted voicings with a single
artificial harmonic
• Create bell-like dissonance
with major- and minor-second
intervals
Click here to hear
sound clips of
these examples.
Many guitarists marvel at the shimmering cascades of octave harmonics the late
Lenny Breau wove into his runs and progressions. Breau took harmonic techniques Chet
Atkins pioneered and expanded them in ways
that left other guitarists shaking their heads
in disbelief. Breau’s technique was spectacular,
matched only by his restless imagination. If
you haven’t heard him yet, drop everything
and search out some You Tube videos—there’s
a wealth of mind-blowing material out there.
(Search for “Lenny Breau harp harmonics.”)
In this lesson, we’ll adapt—and greatly
simplify—Breau’s approach, and use it to generate chord voicings that would be difficult
or impossible to play with standard guitar
technique. The idea is to insert a single octave
harmonic into a typical chord form to give it
a chimey texture and create intriguing interval
clusters that differ from what you’re actually
fretting. I call these “sparkle voicings,” but
I’m sure they have other (and probably more
rigorously academic) names. If you’re new to
the concept of playing harmonics on demand,
check out “Mastering Artificial Harmonics”
on the next page before you go any further.
Fig. 1 illustrates the basic concept. We
begin with a standard five-note Am7 (A–G–
C–E–A) at the 5th fret. Holding this grip,
slowly arpeggiate the chord, starting from
low A, as shown. As we cruise across strings
6, 4, 3, and 2 for the first two beats, things
are perfectly straightforward. But on beat 3,
we return to string 4 and again play the G,
but this time as an octave harmonic. In the
process, we cancel out the lower G, but with
all the other vibrating strings and the arrival of
the octave harmonic, the missing low G goes
virtually unnoticed. Instead, it sounds as if
we’re continuing to sweep through the Am7.
Then, as we press forward to hit A (beat
4), we get the big payoff—a ringing major
second composed of the harmonic G and
fretted A. This tangy dissonance floats
above the still-ringing lower strings.
So that’s the deal: We slip an octave harmonic into a group of fretted tones to extend the
chord’s range and create an ear-grabbing close
interval. Now, let’s put this technique to use.
In Fig. 2, a diatonic Am7–Gma7–F#m7 5–
Em9 progression gets the sparkle treatment.
Notice how in this progression, the chords in
measures 1-3 each comprise four fretted notes,
yet we’re able to create the illusion that we’re
playing five-note voicings, thanks to the extra
octave harmonic. And the last chord sounds
like a seven-note arpeggio. That’s a cool trick
to pull off with a 6-string, wouldn’t you agree?
As you work through this passage, pay
attention to dynamics. We want the harmonic, which is inherently quieter than
its fretted siblings, to stand with them as
Fig. 1
44 &
Am7
oe
oe
oe
‚
oe
let ring
oe
A.H.
¿
5
5
5
˙
5
17
5
Fig. 2
4 4 &#
Am7
let ring
oe
oe
Gmaj7
F#m7b5
Em9
oeoeO
oeoeoeO
¿ let ring
oe
oeoeoeO
oeoeoeoeoe‚
A.H.
A.H. ¿
let ring
oe
A.H. ¿
let ring
oe
A.H. ¿
0
5
3
1
0
5
4
2
0
˙
5
17
4
16
2
14
4
16
2
5
3
2
