lesson: rockschool ON THE CD TraCkS 77-86

Reading Music Part 12

Dynamics & Articulations

In this lesson Charlie Griffiths explains how you
Brought to you by...

can be more emotive or groovy when you apply

dynamics and articulations to your music.

the diverging lines. the diminuendo is the

opposite of a crescendo and is sometimes
called a decrescendo. It is also shown as a
hairpin, but with the pointy end towards the
right. With diminuendo the music should
start loudly and gradually become quieter.
Often certain notes within a passage or
riff are stressed more loudly than the
others. this is comparable to our speaking
voices in that we stress the important words
slightly more than the less important ones.
these variations make for a more
interesting listening experience. In music
we refer to those individual louder notes as
accents and are indicated by small V

The first method of

ABILITY RATING
Easy
Info WIll ImprovE your
Key: Various Notation reading
Tempo: 60 bpm Fretboard knowledge
CD: TRACKS 77-86 Employability!
It Is unusual for a piece of music to be
played entirely at the same level of intensity
and volume throughout. some parts may be
played strongly and loudly while other
sections might be more suited to a lighter,
more sensitive touch. these changes in
volume are called dynamics and they can be
marked on the score in a number of ways.
The first method of denoting the general
volume of a piece or a section is by using the
letters p and f. these are the initials of the
Dynamics can be
applied to chords as
well as lead playing
words piano and forte; p means soft and f
means loud, and these can be applied to the
guitar by picking softly or harder to produce
different levels of volume. Varying degrees
of volume are indicated by adding more
letters; pp (pianissimo) means even quieter
and ff (fortissimo) means even louder. the
letter m, short for mezzo can be used in
conjunction with these indications and
means moderately. Mezzo-piano or mp
means moderately soft and represents your
normal playing level.
a crescendo is a gradual increase in
volume over a designated time. It is shown
as a long hairpin shape beneath the stave
with two lines converging on the left and
getting gradually wider apart as they travel
right. start quietly at the beginning of the
hairpin and increase the volume
incrementally and evenly until the end of
denoting the volume of a piece
or a section is by using the
letters p and f - piano and
forte, or loud and soft.
shapes rotated 90 left which are placed
either above or below the note-head in
question. a very loud accent is shown as a
completely inverted V shape.
staccato means that the notes should be
played in a broken fashion, with each note
separated from the next by a moment of
silence. this essentially means that there
are rests between the notes, but the lengths
of those rests are not specified on the
notation. Each note is simply written at its
full value and a small dot is placed above or
below the note head. these dots arent to be
confused with dotted notes, whos dots are
placed to the right of the note head. the
length of space you leave in between notes is
up to your artistic interpretation of what
sounds good to you, but generally staccato
notes are played as short as possible.
the following examples demonstrate
these dynamics; play through each slowly,
making sure that you are playing the
directions accurately. use the backing
tracks provided, or a metronome and focus
on staying at the same tempo throughout.
NEXT MONTH: Charlie concludes his 14-part
series on Reading Music

94 GuitarTechniques June 2015

 Dynamics & articulations learning Zone

ExAmplE
GUITAR 1 pp to ff
TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 2 4 4 Charlie Griffiths cd tRack 77
This example has a different dynamic for each bar. Think of mp as the ff is akin to shouting and pp to whispering. Use your pick to attack the
READING
centre of your dynamic range, like your default speaking Part 12 string at different intensities according to the direction given.
voice. Therefore

Ex 1 Dynamics

4 .. ..
& 4TECHNIQUES
GUITAR

MAGAZINE 2 4 4
Charlie Griffiths

P READING Part 12 P
Ex 1 Dynamics

#4#
Ex 2 Crescendo

. 42 CresCendo
. cdtRack. 79
& . 4 .
GUITAR 4TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 2 4 4
useCharlie
as possible;
Griffiths
harder .
example as softly
ExAmplE
this
Start by playing the very tip of your and dig in more and more using the shoulders of the pick at the
P READING
pick to tickle the string. As you progress through the bars graduallyPart
pick 12 highest level of volume.
P
Ex 1 Dynamics

#4# 4
Ex 3 Diminuendo

Ex 2 Crescendo

4.. 44 .. .. MAGAZINE2 4 4 Charlie Griffiths

& 4TECHNIQUES



..
GUITAR

P READING Part 12 P
Ex 1 Dynamics

>
Ex 3
4 Accents

#4# 4 >
Ex Diminuendo

Ex 2 Crescendo

4 . .
w cd tRack.. 81

GUITAR
ExAmplE 4.. 43 diminuendo
& 4TECHNIQUES >

. . MAGAZINE2>4 4 Charlie Griffiths > away from the^ guitar until just the tip is
as loudly
Start by picking aspossibleby digging your READING
pick into the strings. through the bars pull your pick
P
The more of your pick you use, the louder it will sound. Part 12 brushing the string.
As you progress
P
Ex 1 Dynamics
> .
Ex 5
4 Staccato
Accents

>
. . . . .
Ex
Ex 3 Diminuendo
##4 4. 4 .
2 Crescendo
j w ...
& 4# 4. 4 . .. .
& .
>. > . > ^
P P

> . .
5
Ex 2
4 Staccato
Crescendo
Accents

> j
Ex 3 Diminuendo
# # 44 . .. ... 83
. . . .
& 444 ACCents . . w
>. notes with small sideways
> V shapes . above or. forceful pick stroke. The final>note isa very hard

either
ExAmplE cd tRack
look out for the
below them and play those notes louder than the others by using a more played the loudest of all.
^ accent so should be

> . .
Ex
Ex 3
5
4 Diminuendo
Staccato
Accents
## 44 >
j
.
& 44 . . . . . . .
& w ..
>. > . > ^

>
Ex 4 Accents

> j
. w cd tRack... 85
Ex 5 Staccato
## 44 . .
& 4 .
. . .
&
. . small.dots> aboveor below
4 > have . as short. . contact remains so>as to mute
the string completely. In this
ExAmplE 5 stACCAto
play the notes which them the finger
as possible to separate them from the following note. Stop the notes ^
example, not all of the notes are staccato, so play the ones without dots
by relaxing your fretting finger so that the string leaves the fret, but as normal sustained notes.

.
Ex 5 Staccato

.
#
& 44 .. . . . j . . ..
. . .

June 2015 GuitarTechniques 95