Patent Application
20090007762
The invention relates to a music system and method and, in particular, systems and methods to facilitate the generation of accompaniment sounds in relation to the notes and/or chords being designated on a musical instrument.
1. Terminology
In standard guitar playing technique, the term fingering a chord is commonly used to refer to the act of simultaneously pressing a plurality of guitar strings to its frets while arranging the pressing fingers in an order that comprises the notes of the designated chord. The act of fingering a note or chord does not refer to or include the act of strumming or plucking the strings. For right-handed players, the act of fingering is accomplished with the left hand of the player while the act of strumming or plucking is accomplished with the right hand.
The terms finger, fingering or fingered are used in the traditional way throughout the description and refer only to the pressing of the instrument strings to the instrument frets, not to the strumming or plucking of the strings. When a string is pressed against a particular fret, a particular note is generated if that string were then plucked. The notation used is the string, e.g., E, A, D, etc., followed by the fret number (i.e., 1, 2, etc.). Thus, “A2” means finger the “A” note string at the second fret, “E3” means finger the E-note string at the third fret, etc. The designated note is then inferred from this notation (e.g., A2 implies that a B note is designated by the fingering, E3 implies that a G note is designated by the fingering). Finger arrangements for chords are commonly referred to as chord forms, chord formations or fingering formations. The guitar technique referred to herein is the traditional guitar technique as described in standard instruction books such as Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method Grade 1, The Mel Bay Rhythm Guitar Chord System and Mel Bay Guitar Chords from Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
In many commercially available Musical Instrument Digital Interface (“MIDI”) devices, groupings of data such as MIDI parameters that are stored in the unit memory and accessed as a group by the user are commonly referred to as presets. Certain parameters of this disclosure are programmed by the designer or the user and stored as presets.
The commonly used term MIDI note number will be written herein as MIDI note #. In order to avoid confusion, the # character, commonly referred to as the pound sign, is not used herein to refer to a sharp note as it is commonly used in traditional musical notation. In the present description, notes are designated by using their flat equivalents with the traditional musical notation b after the respective note letter. The term sharp is not used herein. The # character is used herein only to refer to number.
The guitar instrument to which reference is made herein is the equivalent of a standard six-string electric guitar that includes components of a guitar such as the Fender Stratocaster or Gibson J-160E and is tuned to standard guitar tuning as described in Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method Grade 1 unless otherwise described or depicted herein.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The primary use of the guitar is to provide chord accompaniment for a vocal. When playing chords on a traditional six-string guitar, bass accompaniment can be added only through the use of a live bassist or the use of any of several commercially available accompaniment devices. Use of such devices requires the instrumentalist's musical performance to follow a preprogrammed accompaniment track, and spontaneity is often limited.
Commercially available devices commonly known as guitar synthesizers are electronic guitar systems that reproduce the sounds of other instruments as a guitar is played. Guitar synthesizers utilize a pitch-to-midi technology that responds only to a well-executed picking or finger-picking of individual notes. Guitar synthesizers available from Roland Corporation can perform the task of providing a bass note accompaniment for a note or series of notes played on a guitar to which the synthesizer is connected, but cannot be used to efficiently provide a traditional bass accompaniment when the user is playing chords.
Another commercially available device that is used to generate bass sounds from the playing of guitar notes is commonly referred to as an octave box. Octave boxes cannot produce bass notes from the playing of a chord or chords.
Split-fretted stringed instruments such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,690 to Aitken and U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,157 to Matsubara are designed to utilize the instrument as a guitar synthesizer, that is, to actuate synthesized notes that have rhythms that directly reflect the rhythms that are being played on the instrument by strumming or plucking the strings. Such rhythms are inappropriate for simulating traditional bass accompaniment that typically follows the rhythm that is played on the bass drum by the drummer of the ensemble with his or her foot in a rhythm that is counter to that being played by the guitarist of the ensemble.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a musical instrument, system and methods to generate appropriate accompaniment sounds by the tapping of an actuator, which generates the accompaniment sounds relating to the notes and/or chords being fingered on the musical instrument and independent of the rhythm being played on the instrument.
A fretted instrument is used to designate the MIDI note #'s for bass notes or accompaniment sounds when the user fingers commonly used chords on the instrument. In a preferred embodiment, a solid or hollow-body guitar is used; however, it is understood that other fretted instruments may also be used to practice the invention. The bass notes and/or accompaniment sounds are prerecorded and preprogrammed into the synthesizer microchip and actuated in rhythms that are tapped out on actuators, e.g., by the user's foot or feet. Methods are included that are designed to facilitate the actuating of notes and rhythms that are characteristic of traditional bass accompaniment and to obviate the problems that arise when using fretted instruments to actuate bass accompaniment.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system is described as including a fully functional electric guitar instrument, certain frets of which are divided into sections that output to a switching component. When the user fingers instrument strings to designated fret sections, a switching component sends note selection data to a synthesizer housed in an external interface. A floor unit includes actuators or pressure-activated switches that output to the synthesizer. The user taps on the actuators with his or her feet and thereby actuates accompaniment notes that are generated in the rhythms in which they are tapped. The user may tap to generate notes in rhythms that are typical of traditional bass accompaniment or other accompaniment instruments. Bass or other accompaniment notes generated by the process are designated by notes and chords being fingered on the instrument. Methods and functions that facilitate the simulation of traditional bass accompaniment are also described.
Additional features, advantages, and embodiments of the invention may be set forth or apparent from consideration of the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. Moreover, it is to be understood that both the foregoing summary of the invention and the following detailed description are exemplary and intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the invention as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. Furthermore, the accompanying drawings illustrate methods of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the methods.
Reference will now be made in detail to particular methods and embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Accompaniment notes are actuated by the tapping on one or more fret-designated transducers using the feet or hands. The rhythm that is “tapped out” is the rhythm in which the bass or accompaniment sound is generated. The rhythm with which the user strums or plucks the strings of the instrument is not reflected in the rhythm of the accompaniment notes. Rather, the rhythm of the accompaniment notes is generated according to the rate at which the fret-designated actuator is tapped out, e.g., by the user's feet. The fingered notes or chords on the instrument designate the MIDI note #'s, which identify the accompaniment notes for sound production by the synthesizer. Hence, the user's fingering designates the accompaniment notes and/or sounds, while the tapping of the fret-designated actuator creates the rhythm for the designated accompaniment notes. This allows the instrumentalist, e.g., guitarist, to produce two rhythms: the first produced from strumming or plucking the instrument strings, and the second produced by tapping the fret-designated actuator with the accompanying notes or sounds designated by the fingering. Alternatively, the fret-designated actuator may be tapped by a second musician, e.g., a percussionist. In this example, a first musician sets the first rhythm by plucking or strumming the strings and also designates the accompanying notes by the fingering, and the second musician sets the second rhythm by tapping on the fret-designated actuator according to the desired rhythm accompaniment.
Preferably, a note-assigned transducer is also included. The note-assigned transducer, like the fret-designated transducer, allows a separate rhythm to be produced. However, in contrast to the fret-designated transducer, the accompaniment note is pre-programmed by the user, as opposed to being designated by the fingering. This allows the instrumentalist to tap out a frequently occurring note during a performance regardless of the fingering.
A note-assigned floor transducer 25 is useful when the user requires direct actuating of a bass note to accompany a chord that may be difficult to finger or that is not designated by the chord that is being fingered on the instrument when the transducer is tapped. For example, the user may assign MIDI note #35 (a B note) to the note-assigned floor transducer by programming the data into Preset #1 in the memory of the synthesizer microchip 31. As long as Preset #1 is accessed, the user may tap the note-assigned floor transducer 25 to actuate the B accompaniment note at any time to accompany any chord. Any accompaniment note or sound that is stored in the microchip memory may be assigned to the note-assigned floor transducer 25.
A MIDI receptacle (not shown) included on a front panel of the external interface 33 provides a connection to a commercially available MIDI foot controller to access presets during performances. A scroll-up/scroll-down switch input receptacle (not shown) on the front panel of the external interface 33 is included for connection of a cable to a dual floor switch to provide scrolling up or down when accessing presets. An LED readout (not shown) included on the front panel of the external interface 33 provides a readable indication of the accessed preset. Parameter controls (not shown) on the front panel of the external interface 33 provide user programmable adjustment of floor transducers to account for sensitivity and set threshold parameters. The adjustment may be used to limit the input signal, thereby limiting the generating of extraneous bass notes when a transducer is attached to a particularly resonant or responsive drum. Components commonly known as limiters or gates may be utilized for transducer threshold and sensitivity adjustment. The external interface 33 may include controls (not shown) that facilitate the programming of functions, as will be understood.
String endpins (not shown) made of brass or other electrically conductive material insert into stringpin contacts 8. V+ from a low-voltage battery, such as a 9V battery, that is housed in the external interface (not shown), applies a voltage to each of the instrument strings through contact wires 14. This voltage is used to energize a circuit in the switching component 9 associated with a fret section designated by the fingering, for purposes of communicating designated fret sections to the switching component 9. Stringpin contacts 8 are normally used for hollow-body guitars to apply this voltage. Bridge contacts (not shown) are substituted for the stringpin contacts 8 when an archtop guitar such as a Gibson ES-335 or a solid body guitar such as a Fender Stratocaster or equivalent is modified as described and depicted herein. Guitar strings (not shown) coated with phosphor bronze or other electrically conductive alloy are included, such as strings commercially available from Martin Guitar Co. A pickup output receptacle (not shown) for direct connection of a standard cable to a standard guitar amplifier, such as a Fender Twin Reverb, for amplification of the instrument pickup may be included on the guitar when the accompaniment systems of the illustrated embodiments are not being used.
The switching component 9 as shown in
The switching component 9 may be programmed to scan or monitor each string individually to ascertain the address of a closed relay switch. This switching method is appropriate for use with an instrument that is equipped with standard frets as depicted in
Extraneous Notes and/or Note Selection
Reference will now be made in detail to preferred methods for obviating the generation of extraneous notes and/or note selection resulting from a fingering. The methods described herein are compensatory functions directed to facilitating the simulation of traditional bass accompaniment for anticipated fingering patterns and/or chord progressions. The methods are preferably implemented by tables or associations programmed into the switching component 9, which map MIDI note #s to various combinations of designated fret sections resulting from corresponding fingerings on the instrument neck (as may be communicated through relay switches of a circuitboard). Generally speaking, this disclosure contemplates and illustrates through examples that fingerings may be logically mapped to a MIDI note # suited for accompaniment for various chord forms on the instrument neck. For example, in one embodiment three algorithms, or switching methods, programmed into the switching component 9, are used to select MIDI note numbers: an Adjacent Fret Section/Adjacent String Cancellation (“AFS/ASC”) switching method, a Multi-String Selection (“MSS”) switching method and a Note Cancellation Function (“NCF”). In the AFS/ASC and MSS methods, a MIDI note # is selected from a pair of designated fret sections, although more fret sections may also be used to select a MIDI note #. The NCF is used to turn-off an accompaniment note.
The AFS part of AFS/ASC selects the MIDI note # based on pairs of adjacent frets fingered on the same string, e.g., the fret pairs E3 and E2 when E3 is fingered, and the ASC part prioritizes E-string fingering over A-string fingering.
Preferably, the AFS/ASC method chooses the lowest pitch string that is fingered, since this fingering typically forms the root of the chord in popular music. Thus, wherever the first position bar chord (whether it be a major, minor, dominant seventh, or other variation) is formed along the neck of the instrument, the switching component 9 can select the appropriate accompaniment note based on the fret pairs in contact with the low E string. If the E string is not fingered, then the fret pairs for the A string are used to select the MIDI note # which can correspond to a second position bar chord, e.g., D chord formed by A5, D7, G7, etc.
The MSS switching method is used for chord forms that have a fingered note designated in the lowest pitch string that is not the desired accompaniment note. In contrast to the AFS/ASC method, the MSS switching method selects a MIDI note # from fret sections designated from a plurality of string fingerings, as opposed to a single string under the ASC/AFS method. The MSS method can override MIDI note # selection under AFS/ASC depending on the fret sections designated or not designated. However, in this example, under no condition can the MSS override the AFS/ASC method when the E string is fingered.
Thus, the foregoing examples of switching methods, which are based on playing styles for popular music, e.g., rock, assume a progression that normally has a root or fifth formed by the lower pitch strings. It should also be noted that the switching component 9 may be programmable so that a user can select among different algorithms for selection of the accompaniment note based on a particular choice of chord formations, keys, progressions and/or playing styles, e.g., first, second, third, etc. chord formations, chords which have a note other than a root, third or fifth of the triad fingered by the lower pitch string, etc.
The Note Cancellation Function (“NCF”) is used to turn-off the accompaniment note that is produced when the fret-designated transducer 24a,b is tapped. This may be useful when no accompaniment is desired, but the musician is likely to continue to tap the transducer, e.g., to keep a beat or when transducer 24c is secured to a percussion instrument, or when a chord is fingered which does not result in a desired MIDI note selection.
In another embodiment, a programmable Note Inclusion Function (“NIF”) in the presets may be desirable in order to eliminate discordant accompaniment notes from the note selection process. Specifically, the NIF limits the available accompaniment notes in each preset to a subset of notes that the user programs into the synthesizer IC memory. Presets are programmed, named or numbered by the designer or the user for reference and access. To accompany a song such as LaBamba by Richie Valens that is comprised of chords C, F and G, the user would access the preset that includes only the C, F and G accompaniment notes, such as the depicted preset that is named FGC in
Presets may be accessed by the user through the use of one of any commercially available MIDI controllers or momentary switches that are designed for operation with the foot. A MIDI receptacle is included on the front panel of the external interface 33 to provide connection of a standard MIDI cable. A preset scroll-up/scroll-down switch receptacle is included for connection of a standard TRS cable to dual floor switches to provide scrolling up or down when accessing presets.
Traditional bass accompaniment is played in single notes, that is, rarely are two or more simultaneous bass notes sounded at any time during a performance on a bass guitar or bass fiddle. To integrate this characteristic, the synthesizer IC 31 microchip includes a function that precludes the generating of simultaneous or overlapping bass notes. Each note that is generated interrupts the previous generated note and generates for the designated note duration or until it is interrupted by a subsequent generated note.
Bass accompaniment notes generated by the system are five seconds in duration, however, the duration of each prerecorded synthesized accompaniment note is programmable and can be increased or decreased by the user. Note duration parameters are stored in presets in the memory of the synthesizer IC microchip.
In the embodiments described herein, piezoelectric transducers, commonly known as acoustic drum triggers, are utilized as actuators for the generating of bass notes or accompaniment sounds. A microphone, pickup, drum, audio signal, momentary switch, electrical current, MIDI data generator or other appropriate actuator may be used in place of the transducers to actuate bass notes or accompaniment sounds that are stored within the memory of the synthesizer microchip or sound generator in other embodiments of the invention.
In the embodiments described herein, bass notes are described as the designated accompaniment sounds. However, prerecorded piano chords, guitar chords or any appropriate accompaniment sound, combination of sounds or sequence of sounds may be programmed into the memory of the synthesizer microchip or sound generator for actuating in other embodiments of the invention.
In the embodiments described herein, MIDI note # data is utilized as the note selection data that is sent from the switching component 9 to the synthesizer or sound generator 31. Note selection data such as pitch data, waveform data, frequency data or other appropriate data may be utilized for selection of bass or accompaniment notes in other embodiments.
In the embodiments described herein, twenty-nine fret sections are designated for connection to the switching component 9. Fewer or more fret sections may be included or designated in other embodiments.
In the embodiments described herein, coordinates that designate the selection of bass notes or accompaniment sounds are appropriate only for standard tuning of the guitar instrument. Certain components may be programmed for selection of appropriate bass notes or accompaniment sounds when alternate tunings of the instrument are employed.
Therefore, although this invention and these methods have been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is to be understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of illustration and that numerous changes in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This application and invention claim the priority benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119 of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/948,233 filed on Jul. 6, 2007, which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60948233 | Jul 2007 | US |
