Claims
- 1. A method of playing a fretted string instrument having a body, a neck, a single elongated fingerboard on said neck and conventional strings in tension over said body between a head and bridge thereof; said fingerboard extending rearwardly of said neck over said body and including at least about twenty-five frets, a substantial number of which frets overlie said body, means for retaining said instrument against the body of the instrumentalist and angularly disposed relative to the vertical, said fingerboard being outwardly convexed, the forward edges of said body adjacent the fingerboard diverging rearwardly, said fingerboard thereby being accessible to the fingers of both hands approaching said fingerboard from opposite sides throughout the length of said fingerboard, neck and body, said method comprising the instrumentalist retaining the instrument against the instrumentalist's body and angularly disposed relative to the vertical with the single fingerboard facing outwardly, approaching said strings with the fingers of one hand from one side of said fingerboard and with the fingers of the other hand from the other side of said fingerboard, and tapping, bending and pulling at least one of the strings along the length of said fingerboard with the fingers of both hands by applying the fingers of one hand to the at least one string, then applying the fingers of the other hand in advance of the position of the one hand and then applying the fingers of the other hand again in a position in advance of the position of the other hand in either direction.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 731,817, filed May 8, 1985, now abandoned, which was a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 579,244, filed Feb. 13, 1984, now abandoned.
This invention relates to a novel electric guitar and to a novel method of playing the guitar.
As guitar playing has become popular, guitarists have sought new techniques to vary and expand the sound that is produced. With advances in the technology used in making electric guitars and with advances in making strings that can be bent, guitars have become vastly different sounding instruments. For example, sounds can be made on the electric guitar simply by touching its strings, and it is no longer necessary to pluck or pick the strings to produce sounds as required on acoustic guitars.
As guitarists have sought ways of expanding the use of electric guitars, they have found that they do not need to pick the guitars on high volumes or low volumes as much as was previously thought. Electric guitars allow for new ways of playing. As a result, guitar players can now use touching techniques; i.e., touching the strings with the fingers of either hand to produce interoctave sounds without picking. In this regard, electric guitars have been developed which are especially adapted to be played with both hands. For example, Chapman U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,751 discloses an electric stringed instrument of the guitar family with an extended fingerboard wide enough for nine strings to allow a performer to tap or touch bass chords with the fingers of one hand and melody with the fingers of the other hand and which is difficult to balance against the body of the instrumentalist so that it is played in a substantially vertical position. Also, the two-handed touching techniques which can be used on such guitars have generally been rather limited. Firstly, the circuitry for such guitars has to be changed to increase sensitivity so that notes will not meld into one another; as both bass and melody notes are played simultaneously. Also, such guitars have not been adapted to be played with a wide variety of the conventional finger movements upon the strings, such as pulling and bending the strings. This is because the fingerboards of such guitars have been flat so that the guitars can be played by simply depressing the strings or by tapping the strings and holding them against frets. Such guitars relegate the fingers of one hand to the bass and one hand to the melody and are thus not adapted to the played with the fingers of both hands playing chords and melodies at the same time over extended ranges of notes and by the use of intertwining hand-over-hand techniques for linking melody and chord patterns together on single and/or plural string.
Further, playing a two handed technique requires that the two hands play independently of one another. All stringed instruments have one thing in common; that is, the fretboard musically measures the key signatures with a dot. However, the keys of the piano, for examples, are identified as markers for sharps and flats, so that both hands share a relationship in coordination, linking one to the other. In the two handed techniques of the prior art, the two hands do not move in the relationships of the pianist's hands. Thus, no stringed instrument has been designed to provide a relationship where the two hands become one appendage both moving fluidly together as one scale and one chord, in that no stringed instrument has provided a visual means to locate the placement of the fingers of the hands in a two-hand playing technique.
In accordance with this invention, a fretted string instrument is provided comprising a body, a neck, an elongated fingerboard on said neck and a plurality of strings in tension over said fingerboard; said fingerboard extending rearwardly of said neck over said body and including at least about twenty-five frets, a substantial number of which frets overlie said body. In one preferred embodiment, said fingerboard has about twenty-five to thirty-five frets thereon, with at least about ten frets overlying said body and said fingerboard extends to about the middle of said body. Thus, an extended fretboard is provided for playing with two handed techniques without, however, extending the length of the guitar so that balance and reach in a stand up performance are not adversely affected.
In another preferred embodiment, said fingerboard has a convex upward curvature in cross-section. In still another preferred embodiment, said fingerboard, said neck and said body are formed as one piece and said fingerboard is located in a space formed in the face of said body. In yet another preferred embodiment, said body is generally diamond-shaped and is adapted to counterbalance the weight of the rest of said guitar and said neck and said fingerboard form an acute angle with said body.
The invention also contemplates the provision of tremelo levers positioned at the head piece and at the face of the body, and which vary pitch electronically rather than by string tension to enhance the instrumentalists ability to perform the two handed playing technique.
Also in accordance with this invention, a method of playing said guitar is provided which comprises tapping, bending or pulling said strings with both hands.
In the two handed playing techniques of the invention, plucking with eight fingers and bending strings in a guitar fashion, both hands become a single moving scale or chord pattern. To assist the instrumentalist, the fret board of the instrument of the present invention provides markings showing the sharps and flats for each string.
US Referenced Citations (2)
| Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
| 2989884 |
Bunker |
Jun 1961 |
|
| 4142436 |
Chapman |
Mar 1979 |
|
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
| Entry |
| Jimmie Webster, Illustrated "Touch System", for Electric and Amplified Spanish Guitar, Published by Wm. J. Smith Music Co., New York, NY, copyright 1952. |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
731817 |
May 1985 |
|
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
579244 |
Feb 1984 |
|
Patent Grant
4993300
