Guitar

Creating A Mood The Chameleon GUITAR BASS

Guitar in lm, TV and gaming is a beautiful thing. Capable of a huge range of sounds, tones and emotions, the guitar has been utilised in a wide range of genres. Guitar can be a great composing tool for both single note and chordal ideas and the ability to add effects opens up many more doors when creating a mood. There are genre specic situations with classical guitar, amenco, country, metal and so on but there has also been a huge inux of ‘hybrid’ styles - blending metal with orchestral music for example.

One of the great things about composing/creating screen music on guitar is the fact that it’s typically easy to get started with ideas. Arpeggiating chords, rock licks, muted picking, funk rhythms or big spacey voicings are all fair game. The many avours of electric and acoustic guitars also come into play. Let’s check out some ideas to get you started, these are just simple phrases that (hopefully) evoke a feeling or emotion that might be seen somewhere on screen. Figure A – ‘Contemplation’

Essentially an Em-C-D chord progression play this at a slow tempo using a glassy Strat sound with some reverb and delay. You could use the tremolo arm to give the chords some vibrato/pitch movement too. To set the scene think of man leaning against a wall looking up at the sky or a blank stare out into space. FYI, we’re not talking about Herbie Hancock’s uber funk jam (although that does deserve to be regularly talked about in great detail… perhaps another issue). More so, we are going to have a look at bass as a musical chameleon. An instrument that can t into a plethora of genres making it a great instrument for music, screen, TV, lm and video game production alike. Playing the timekeeper, informing the listener of the harmony, creating a groove, creating a mood and controlling the low end are just some of the roles for bass guitar. The following are some typical bass parts/feels/styles/grooves that you might hear/use in music for screen. Figure A – Walking Bassline

Based around an Am sound, play Figure A with a swing feel at a slow-ish tempo. Walking basslines should be a staple of any capable bass player and this example could be played on double bass or electric with at wounds to really emphasise the round, thuddy sound. Can be used for anything from a sophisticated sound (wine bar, upmarket party, expensive car) to mysterious sounds for Police/Detective shows or incidental moods.

Figure B – Root and 5 th

Figure B – ‘I hear footsteps’

A combination of quavers and semi quavers this idea uses faster phrase and space to create a feeling of movement. Try a clean sound (or perhaps something slightly dirty) and play at a medium tempo. You could try palm muting to add dynamics and open up on the last three notes. The whole melody could also be doubled with some tuned mallet percussion for contrast. Think a ‘70s mystery show with someone creeping down a hallway or a mouse scurrying along a kitchen oor.

Country music (along with rock/blues/funk etc) often utilise the root and 5 th sound. It adds some movement and variation rather than just staying on the one note and is a great tool to be familiar with. This example starts on C, moves to D and then nishes on G (so uses the 1, 4, 5 but in a different order). You could try slow and dirgey or up tempo for more rollicking sounds. Lots of modern pop has used this sound too thanks to the acoustic guitar/DJ type electronic genre.

Figure C – Ambient semiquavers

Figure C – ‘Parking lot’ You might try a Tele or SG on the bridge pickup with a little bit of breakup. Play the riff with a slightly raw and loose feel but not too messy. Picture a classic hot rod pulling quickly into a carpark or a close up of someone turning the ignition to start a car. The idea is just stock rock/ garage/punk but played with a little attitude and placed in the right scene it could work a treat.

Now, none of these ideas are groundbreaking compositions. But, they don’t need to be to create a mood or convey a feeling. These ideas could be solo guitar or built up with a rhythm section, ensemble, band and of course effects can be utilised to taste (there are also some sounds that instantly call up a specic mood – wah funk, ambient delay, tremolo country/folk etc). Pay attention to your favourite TV show or movie, or even a random ad on YouTube, and see what you can garner in terms of sound and composition. Chances are you’ll hear some tasty uses of guitar and latch onto plenty of ideas that aren’t super difcult.

Figure D uses a repetitive rhythmic gure that descends harmonically and ends with eight semiquavers. This could be double with percussion or mallets for a subtle sound or doubled with more raucous instrumentation to contrast the tied notes and space. Plaintive, reective scenes or slow motion effects might be appropriate or even quicker tempo electronic soundscapes with pulsating synths and digital noises.

Bass can be a very useful starting point for building screen music. As mentioned earlier it can state harmony or pedal through changes, it can be static or syncopated rhythmically and it can be laid back and unobtrusive or abrasive and gnarly. Don’t be afraid to combine genres and sounds and dig into your tonal palette also to really get creative.