| Author | Topic | | AnonJr
Absent-minded Webmaster
USA
621 Posts |  Posted - 21 Dec 2006 : 21:58:20  
| I was in the .. uh .. "Reading Room" reading the latest issue of Bass Player, and I came across an article by Tim Commerford on how to play Rage Against The Machine's "Killing in the Name". The article mentions "ghost-notes" a few times and indicates that they are rather important to getting the song right.
In the article, it mentions that one particular riff (doubled by guitarist Tom Morello) "centers around subtleties in syncopation, ghost-notes, hammer-ons, and slides."
It also mentions that the trick to the chorus is "in contrasting those A-string ghost-notes with the accented eighth-notes that follow."
I'm sure I can spot them in the tab, but what are they and how are they played? |
There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.
- Will Rogers |
| AXEMAN2415
Guitar Weenie
USA
740 Posts | Posted - 22 Dec 2006 : 14:28:38
| I am not sure what Mr. Cummerford's context is, because many players often use similar words to describe different techniques. To me, ghost notes are notes that are fretted, but not struck, plucked, tapped, or attacked in any solid way.
In Guitarspeak,a ghost bend is a string bend that is pre-bent prior to striking it. In Basspeak, a ghost note is probably a note that is either muffled or not quite fretted completely, so as to sound more percussive. It could also be a note that is fretted, but not struck, and is held an octave above the actual struck note. In other words, if you strike the 'A' on the 'E' string (5th fret on the low 4th string on the bass) but you also fret the octave 'A' at the 7th fret of the 2nd string, without striking it, the octave will still sound its pitch.
Those are my guesses. |
"C'mon Dave, Gimme a break!" |  |
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