The Handmade Guitar

Ten Ways to Coax New Sounds From

Your Axe Without Buying More Gear
by Curtis Perry
The Handmade Guitar
Curtis Perry
The Handmade Guitar 2
The Handmade Guitar
Copyright 2013 by Curtis Perry
singlynoted.net/handmade
Self-Published through Perry Media
ISBN 978-0-9920915-0-7
Audio recorded and edited by Curtis Perry
Design by Curtis Perry
Written and Recorded in Ottawa, Ontario
All rights reserved. Please enjoy, share what you learn, and pass along bits of inspiration. But
please do not reproduce or redistribute signi!cant parts of this book (written or recorded)
aside from brief quotations for use in reviews, blog posts, tweets, or creative works of your
own. Thank you.
The Handmade Guitar 3
Contents
5 Introduction

Playing Di"erently
8 The Unruly Thumb
11 Tune it In
14 Get Bent
18 Pick it Apart
20 Use Both Hands
23 Coda: Approaching Di"erently
The Handmade Guitar 4
Introduction
Creativity comes from strictures. Even still, its amazing just how much
as been achieved by enterprising guitarists over the past century. Formally
speaking, these alternative methods are referred to in manuals of
orchestration and in academic circles as extended techniques. While this
is a fair description, I would rather the rather accounted for these
techniques as both somewhat standard, and the result of ingenious
thinking by those who applied it in a distinctly musical way. Here is an
overview of some of the most vibrant alternative techniques that have
sprung up, with just right amount of depth so as to be cogent and useful
while allowing you to get to applying the concepts as soon as possible.
Above all, I hope that what will come out of those who read this is a
newfound state of mind and creative zeal. Who knows maybe your newly
invented technique will bring on the next wave of innovation in guitar
playing.
This book is not necessarily for absolute beginners. A basic
understanding of chords and scales would be ideal before taking on the
fringes of playing guitar. This being said, I have seen many people learning
the guitar approach it at !rst with the exact fresh and creative attitude this
book will try to instill in anyone who reads it, only to lose that sense of
curiosity as standard playing and repertoire in ingrained. So it could be
advantageous to the beginner to explore this book, if not necessarily to
immediately apply the concepts, then to retain the curiosity and
willingness to experiment they already have.
The Handmade Guitar 5
The only rule in this book is that, apropos to the title, the sound has to
technically originate from your hands directly manipulating the instrument.
There are a litany of reasons for there being such a plethora of extended
techniques for the guitar. For one thing, the guitar family is unique for
o"ering a range of expression rivaling the voice thanks to such direct
manipulation of the origin of the sound, the strings. John Cage had to
resort to the prepared piano, literally placing nuts and bolts into the body
of a baby grand in order to cull alien sounds from the instrument
whereas all a guitarist needs to do is intervene with a !nger. And where
other string instruments might have certain similarities in tone production,
none match the polyphony of the guitar. Unsurprisingly, all of the guitarists
referenced in this book also composed their own parts, and didnt feel a
need to conform to the standard set of technique that any session
guitarist would be expected to know at the time of its composition. In
other words, thinking imaginatively about the direct manipulation of the
instrument led to sounds that would not be immediately obvious if
approached principally through sheet music, or some other instrument
such as the piano.
Most music an instrument produces is likely to be considered idiomatic
to it, and over time the expectations of what is considered idiomatic is
expanded as new ideas #ourish and are considered validated thanks to
popularization via esteemed artists. For example, brass typically play
melodies in musical intervals 4
th
s and 5
th
s, while #utes tend to use trills far
more than the inverse is true, because of the unique strengths and
weaknesses germane to each instrument. The guitar is especially exciting
because it is often both challenged and liberated to ful!ll multiple roles,
The Handmade Guitar 6
especially in an environment such as a solo singer-songwriter, or as the
lead in a trio #anked only by a bassist and drummer. The guitar is an
orchestra unto itself, then, and as will be demonstrated many times in this
book, that challenge has been undertaken time and again by various
artists with great success.
Most of this book covers techniques that have been established in
recent history, but typically havent been expressly talked about in most
educational materials, to the detriment of guitarists everywhere: more
basic things like using the thumb to fret bass notes, alternate tunings both
esoteric and conventional, over-bending, alternatives to the plectrum and
!ngers, plucking strings in unconventional areas, using both hands to fret,
partially muting strings with the left hand (or right, if youre left-handed),
right down to trickier techniques like harp harmonics.
The coda, Approaching Di"erently, doesnt necessarily summarize the
material but rather o"ers some starting points which may lead you to
some discoveries of your own. This includes some notes about the unique
tonal pro!le of every individual string, the chordal possibilities pairing open
strings with chords beyond the !rst position, and an overall way of lateral
thinking that has led various musicians to implement the innovations
explored in the book, such as imitating other instruments.

Above all, I hope you get inspired by the ideas!
The Handmade Guitar 7
Chapter One: The Unruly Thumb
Admittedly, were starting a bit tame. Or so it seems. Many would argue
that wrapping your thumb around the back of the neck to mute or fret a
bass string a very standard
technique. While it is
widespread, it remains
controversial in educational
circles. For many, the thumb
is meant to remain in the
centre of the neck, pitched
in a thumb-up position to
ergonomically facilitate
barre chords and lateral
stretch for the !ngers to
play single-note melodies
with fairly equal e"ort on any string. The issue with this is that this is a
position that is primarily well-suited to !ngerstyle and/ or acoustic players,
as bending notes or selectively muting bass strings while playing with a
pick are not of concern.
For the many musicians, such as those engaging in blues and rock, who
do tend to bend strings and selectively mute while holding a pick, it is
more advantageous to support the neck with the base of the palm while
extending the thumb to wrap around the top, reaching the lowest string,
and in some cases one string further. This allows a di"erent kind of
The Handmade Guitar 8
The Thumb in Classical Position
leverage that favours bending
strings, and o"ers a di"erent
paradigm for muting or even
fretting the bass strings.
The truth is that one can and
should change the position of
the thumb as appropriate, just
as one moves the thumb up
and down the neck depending
on the range of notes to be
played. There isnt really standard
documentation for this (until now, I suppose).
More likely than not, music which calls for the thumb to wrap around
the neck does not naturally reside in sheet music, simply as a
consequence of the culture around electric guitar music that places
improvisation above composition with sheet music.
What I mean by naturally residing is this: what do you think of when you
visualize a Bach study for guitar? Most likely, youre imagining the sheet
music. Thats where the the artistic essence of the music resides for most
people if they think of a tangible way of obtaining it. Now think of Little
Wing, by Jimi Hendrix. What would you visualize? Probably the iconic guitar
performances on stage, or the vinyl record. Not sheet music, which exists
at best as an imperfect transcription of Hendrixs intuitive playing. This
being said, the example which follows, like every example in this book, is to
The Handmade Guitar 9
Using the Thumb to Play a Bass Note
be as just that: an example. Give it a shot, and take it from there, seeing
where you can go with it. You know, like John Mayer did when he left
Berklee to do his own thing.
What the use of the thumb allows is a freeing of the !ngers to add
ornamental #ourishes to the chords. In a sense, this is not unlike organ
pedaling, which subordinate the feet to playing the bass line, freeing the
players hands to add even more melodic material to the arrangement.
The Handmade Guitar 10
Chapter Two: Tune it In
The second thing anyone ought to consider when expanding their
tonal palette on the guitar is alternate tunings. In the classical world, this is
referred to as
scordatura Italian
for mistuning. Just
as accidental notes
are really quite
intentional, so are
alternate tunings.
Its like going for a
walk in a part of
town youve never
been you notice
aspects of things
you had previously taken for granted.
With alternate tuning, you can take on the tourist mindset and create
something really fresh. It can start as simple as tuning the low E string
down to a D, commonly referred to as a Drop tuning. This opens the door
to using the bass strings as a drone, against which one may overlay some
melodies in D (whether thats major, minor, or some other mode).
Additionally, many !ngerstyle and slide guitarists have found opportunity
in Open tunings, such as Open G (DGDGBD). Songwriters such as Joni
Mitchell have combined these Mitchells CGDGBD tuning combines
Open G and a dropped sixth string (to C), for example, in her song Cold
Blue Steel.
The Handmade Guitar 11
Example Two o"ers some melodic patterns inspired by the Open G
tuning. Notice how a scalar melody is formed between the !rst, third and
fourth strings (D, G and D in this tuning), through a seemingly disparate
combination of open strings and the 10
th
fret. The A note sounded by the
second string #oats about it all, providing some cohesion. The bass line on
the !fth and sixth strings provide a melody and lend movement. Of course,
since were in an open tuning we can end with natural harmonics all along
the 12
th
fret:

The Handmade Guitar 12
It gets even more interesting in the consideration of completely esoteric
tunings such as those of Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), often employing
tunings such as F#F#F#F#EB, e"ectively creating an octave/ chorus sort of
e"ect, with many opportunities for both abrasive and beautifully colourful
intervals of minor and major 2
nd
s. See Example Three for some of the
possibilities this has to o"er.
Stumped for what to do with your next song, or looking for a challenge?
Try tuning the strings to something youve never heard before, and play
something as you would if you were in standard tuning. There is a caveat:
strings will break if they are tuned much higher than a semitone above
standard tuning, and depending on the gauge of strings and the
instrument, even this might be pushing it. I would recommend using a
capo instead in most cases, as this will be much safer while achieving the
safe end result. Re-learn the fretboard and discover certain chords and
ri"s that become easier, or indeed possible, thanks to a little mistuning.
The Handmade Guitar 13
Chapter Three: Get Bent
Related to the previous technique, slack tuning (i.e., standard tuning
with every string detuned by a
semitone, or EbAbDbGbBbEb)
enables some more leverage
while bending strings. You
could play the following
examples in standard tuning,
but slack tuning is
recommended especially
when overbending, as youll
see.
You might consider bending to be a fairly de rigeur aspect of playing, but
there are a few things that, unless youre a fairly experience blues musician
or the like, you may not have considered.
The Handmade Guitar 14
Prebending
Your !rst foray into stretching your
bending vocabulary is prebending. Its
simple: Bend the string !rst, then pluck
and return to the original fretted note. You
could also think even further ahead by
prebending a string a couple of notes
ahead of time in the melody.
The Handmade Guitar 15
Unison Bending
Next, theres unison bending: Most often between the G and B strings,
fret two notes an interval apart (most often a major 2
nd
), and bend the
lower notes string to meet the upper note at the interval of a unison.
Sometimes entire melodies are played with grace-note unison bends,
often in rock songs, and to great dramatic e"ect.
The Handmade Guitar 16
Overbending
Once youre comfortable with those techniques, theres a challenge to
be had in overbending: Not a yoga move (ahem), but instead the practice
of bending a string beyond a whole tone higher than the original fretted
note. Sometimes small melodies can be played this way! It can be
extremely di$cult to hold precise pitches when employing this technique
but when its done successfully its nothing short of magical to your
audience. In any case, it is a very dramatic move aided by a completely
#uid, vocal, glissando tone.
All of these bending techniques taken together, add much in enhancing
the guitars inherent melodic sensibilities, and ought to be considered
especially in the composition and improvisation of solo material. A tasteful
bend can go a long way.
The Handmade Guitar 17
Chapter Four: Pick it Apart
Take a Bow (Or a Coin, or...)
Sometimes, its not just how you
use it, but also what youve got. In this
spirit, you could do worse than to
explore alternatives to the plectrum,
aka your guitar pick. The the most
popular alternative is likely your
!ngers, the most famous is
undoubtedly the bow of a violin, as
seen in the deft hands of Jimmy Page,
and later, Sigur Ros Jonsi. This o"ers
a radically expanded tonal palette,
and is especially useful in generating
rich, ambient sonic backgrounds.
What else could you use? A coin,
the palm of your hand, perhaps a
comb comes to mind with due
caution not to be too abrasive with the tougher plectrum alternatives.
The Handmade Guitar 18
Beyond the Bridge
Besides plectrum alternatives, where you choose to pick can have huge
implications for your tone. The standard for this is a choice between
picking near the bridge, which o"ers a more brittle tone, closer to the neck
in a soft, pianistic tone, or somewhere in between.
However, who says you couldnt pick on the neck, facilitating mandolin-
like tremolo !gures? Or how about the strings taut between the nut the
the tuning pegs, or on some guitars, between the bridge and the body?
This produces an atonal, ghostly e"ect which is been put to great use for
decades, from songs like You Know Youre Right by Nirvana, Lucky by
Radiohead, and Mistaken for Strangers by The National. It would be
bene!cial to investigate each of the aforementioned songs to see the
variety of ways it has been successfully implemented; and so, theres no
saying you couldnt do the same for this decade. Hear Example Seven to
get a sense of this chilling e"ect in action.
The Handmade Guitar 19
Chapter Five: Use Both Hands
Ambidexterity involves being about to use either hand for a given task.
In this spirit, the question is asked: what happens if we use the picking
hand for fretting, and the fretting hand for picking?
Using Both Hands
Well, for one thing, theres what we call two-handed technique. And no
I dont necessarily mean the Eruption solo! Some pioneering guitarists,
such as Stanley Jordan,
have taken an entirely
di"erent, pianistic
perspective on the
guitar, using both
hands almost
exclusively in the
playing of entire chord-
melody arrangements.
Indeed, it is such a
distinctive style of
playing that an entirely
new instrument was borne of it, called the Chapman Stick, invented by
Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. Players who specialize in this style
are known as touch soloists. In a sense, as the slide guitar is the natural
conclusion of bending and sliding legato, so the touch soloist takes on the
ultimate approach to hammer-on and pull-o" legato technique.
The Handmade Guitar 20
Much like how is it bene!cial to approach string bending beyond
upward bends, there is a world of two-handed solos beyond Van Halen (as
amazing as it was to hear it the !rst time). Refer to Example Eight for a
demonstration.
Partial Mutes, Rhythmic Cues
Sometimes conventional barre chords can sound a bit thick for a
song, and more rhythmic density is in order. It can be advantageous, then,
to mute some strings with the
fret hand while still fretting
others. One e"ective voicing
involves a bass note paired
with a 10
th
(i.e. a 3
rd
plus an
octave in size), with the two
strings between these notes
muted by the !nger fretting the
bass note.
Acoustic guitarists such as
Dave Matthews make great use of such voicings, which can really help
outline the rhythm and enhances the clarity of complex strumming
patterns. Listen to Example Nine for a typical use of this technique.
Tolling the Bells (Arti!cial/ Harp Harmonics)
The Handmade Guitar 21
Earlier in the book, we tried natural harmonics e.g., placing your !nger
on a string just above where the 12
th
fret is inset, plucking it, and
subsequently taking your !nger o" to allow a bell-like tone to chime, at a
similar note as the corresponding fretted
string, but very di"erent with respect to
timbre. What if you could do this with any
note on the fretboard, e"ectively opening up
a whole new textural e"ect for melodies? You
can these are called harp harmonics, the
most famous example of which is probably
Django Reinhardts solo on Nuages. Canadian
jazz guitarist Lenny Breau also made very
extensive use of the technique as a hallmark
of his sound.
Coda: Approaching it Di"erently
The Handmade Guitar 22
This is really just the beginning. Its not just about playing di"erently
its about approaching di"erently, and employing lateral thinking. I wanted
to leave a few other thoughts that merit your consideration in the quest
for adding to the pantheon of alt-guitar musicianship and, ultimately,
!nding and then further developing your own truly original musical
aesthetic.
The !rst thing I want you to think about, is that every string is unique.
Consider playing any the melody, the exact same notes and rhythm,
multiple di"erent ways before deciding on which way suits it best. Make
what might seem to be a technical decision be an artistic one. Would you
want to include open strings to make the notes overlap slightly, or do you
choose to remain in the sweet spot in the middle of the fretboard? There
is a startling di"erence, and it is worthwhile to keep yourself perennially
aware of this.
Related to the previous point is the technique of playing higher notes
on lower strings. What I mean by this is, for example, playing a E major
chord with frets 14, 14, and 13 on the A, D, and G strings, respectively,
while leaving the remaining strings open. This e"ectively doubles the open
B and E strings on top, while remaining tonally di"erentiated, providing a
beautiful, shimmering tonal e"ect. Of course, this is only the beginning of
what could be a long period of experimentation with this strategy for
chord voicings, and as mentioned, melodies.
A major theme you might have garnered throughout the book is the
notion that you can try to imitate another instruments idiomatic traits for
the purposes of extending the tonal range of the guitar, and that this
The Handmade Guitar 23
homage can often be a great starting point for discovering new
techniques. Getting out of the idiomatic box is really crucial in the quest
for trying something new.
Additionally, an exploration of rhythmic e"ects often brings great
returns for exploratory playing. One need only peruse the repertoire of
Don Ross and others on the Candy Rat record label, for example, to see
how an emphasis on rhythm can bring about an entirely new school of
playing. Just as another example emulation of the e"ects DJs employ can
give some fresh insight on the art of directly manipulating sounds. And
pardon the pun, but this only scratches the surface.
I hope this short book has helped you in some small way towards
getting more creative and inspired with your guitar playing, and more
broadly speaking, your music.
The Handmade Guitar 24