Chapter 1 “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes {and ears).” —Marcel Proust The Basic Sound Dimensions |.am sure we all remember math class when the teacher introduced us to ‘geometry. Remember trying to draw all those rectangles, cubes, triangles, and trapezoids? Figuring out their heights, widths, and depths? The artist in me enjoyed the drawing part of the math class, but the math part of it left ‘me in the dust. So, | gravitated toward the arts, primarily music and learn- ing the guitar. | thought | was safe from the math classes of the world, until | realized that the world of music art had its own dimensions of height, width, and depth! | guess that | was so absorbed in learning all those pretty chords and licks that | was blind (and deaf) to how the basic sound dimensions could help my playing and composition. It was a combination of folks—my first art teacher, Mr. Barnes; the master guitarist, Jim Hall; my composition teacher, Jeronimas Kacinskas; and a screaming (at me) conductor (not to be named here}—who, together, showed me how a close awareness and control of the basic sound dimensions could inspire my performance, improvisation, and composing abilities. | realized that all those nice chords and licks | was using could be a Jot nicer and more powerful if| shaped them with the basic sound dimensions. Let's look at the dimensions in order of impor- tance (from my present perspective) 1, Dynamics. How loud or soft the musical idea is, and a respect for silence. This is the sound dimension that creates depth in music—how close the music is to the listener. 2, Rhythm. How long or short the musical idea is, and a respect for the silence between the ideas. Rhythm creates the width of the music—its horizontal or time dimension. 3. Direction. Is the musical idea going up, down, or staying the same? The direction dimension creates the height or contour of the musical idea. ‘When two melodies are sounded in counterpoint, or two players are improvising simultaneously, awareness of their basic direction relationship is of prime importance. 4. Articulation. How sharp or how round sounding the musical idea is. The manner of attack or articulation of our pick and/or fingers creates the musical idea’s basic shape and tone color.THE GUITARIST’S GUIDE TO COMPOSING AND IMPROVISING RRYTHM + Long, Short? ——> Fig. 1.1. The Basic Sound Dimensions We are already masters of the use of the sound dimensions in our most basic music communication: our spoken language. Each of us has a unique way of speaking, shaped by how loud or how soft we talk, how fast or how slow we talk, the direction or how we move up and down with our talking, and of course, how we attack our words, our articulation. How we use these elements gives us our “talking personality.” Of course, the words we use are important also. But we all use the same words. It is the delivery of these words—their loudness, rhythm, direction, and articulation—that produces the personality of our speaking. In the study of music improvisation and composition, the many intellectual and mathematical concepts (such as scales, intervals, arpeggios, BMaj?, flat nine, sharp this, sharp that) are enough to drive us crazy. Of course, these intellectual ideas are like the “words” of our musical language. They are necessary and impor- tant to have and understand, but they don’t come to musical Iife without an awareness of the basic sound dimensions. When we are speaking, we are improvising and interacting. If we could respond as closely in our musical improvisation as we do in our everyday use of language, it would be a great help in our playing. We cannot play music without including the basic sound dimensions. They hap- pen automatically. But how aware of them are we? And what level of control do wwe have with them? This chapter presents techniques and pieces of music that will inspire your playing and composing by developing your awareness ofthe basic sound dimensions. Some of the studies may seem quite unique. This is a good thing. That light of awareness may just pop on, thanks to your curiosity. Have fun with these ideas. This chapter may even improve your math!