Those notes that just "sing"

warrenpridgeon

Do you guys find that certain notes on your guitar have like an awesome feeling/power to them... like it's the exact note the guitar was designed to play and sustain longer than others?

Do you find that higher quality instruments have more of these or that more of their notes act this way?

I ask because we were doing a song writing effort last night and people had written songs in keys we don't play in often and while experimenting with lead lines/riffs I found that the guitar was "singing" more than normal because I was playing different notes...

Just some musings/wonderings of a guitarist...

chris77

No idea..... Maybe because you don't play those notes often your brain is perceiving them as fresh and new and wonderful, unlike the notes you usually play to which your brain has become accustomed to? Like when you try a new cologne for the first time and smell yourself all day long. Next week, same cologne but you do not notice it anymore. Same with new toothpaste....

V8

chris77 wrote: No idea..... Maybe because you don't play those notes often your brain is perceiving them as fresh and new and wonderful, unlike the notes you usually play to which your brain has become accustomed to?

Verrryyyy likely! Although...

I saw a interview with Abdullah Ibrahim a while ago where he spoke about composing in musical keys and how he used/interpreted them. One thing I do remember was his description of F - as "The Key of Life". (Oddly enough, also the title of a Stevie Wonder album).

I'm a lazy one that sticks mostly to the familiar : E, A, D, G, C. Although last challenge though I found myself playing licks (melody) in F - transposing it to familiar keys so I could work easier with harmony - but this seemed to leech out something I really liked in the original melody, so I kept the melody in F and worked out very simple chords/bass line in F.

GuitarDoge

Well I'm sure that it's true that they may be more exciting as you haven't heard those notes before it could be a more scientific reason.

Because of the way a guitar is made, there may be certain spots where overtones are louder and truer. making the notes sound better, also making it easier to get pinch harmonics and feedback, and making certain notes sound much better. I think that generally higher end guitars are more resonant and therefore have more and better spots where this occurs.

someoneelse

Low E string played open with A string hitting 9th fret bend from F# to G#

?