playing harmonics

  • On the Kemper there is a Harmonic Pitch. I tried to use it to play harmonics like the intro of a song which I include here. The trouble is that I tweaked for hours and got nowhere. The piece shows, in my opinion, 2 guitars. I don't know if the Harmonic Pitch stomp is capable (intelligent) to copy that harmonic sound. And even more important How do you do that? What are the basics to play around with Voice 1 Interval en Voice 2 Interval to achieve a wanted 2 guitar harmonic sound?


    https://soundcloud.com/theplayer-3/harmonics

  • Hi Paults,
    I'm sorry I didn't mention that. The key of the song is A (first chord). I tried to set the key to A myself, but this doesn't sound well. Do I need a real masterclass to understand how to set things right, i mean with intervals to achieve this? I mean Hotel California would be nice to play this way....

  • One half step higher : Set the Harmonic Pitch Key to E. The notes in E major will give you the harmony notes you need, I think.


    Generaly speaking: To zero in on the intervals used in harmony parts, you may need to learn each part, and compare the notes played. If the harmonies are all the same scale interval, it can be done with one Pitch effect. If the harmonies are not all the same scale interval, you might need a custom scale, or to switch Pitch effects in a rig, or to another rig with a different interval effect.


    Also : If you want to make harmony rigs, an understanding of how modes relate to major scales can make it easier to use the major scale from another key with the Harmonic Pitch, instead of needing to program a custom scale in Chromatic.



    BTW - There are Factory Rigs and Rig Exchange Rigs to give you a jump start to setting up other sounds - search for PITCH and HARMONY.

  • Just a little thing, Some times the first chord of a song is not necessarily the key it could be modal. Here is an example She Sell Sanctuary by the cult starts with a D chord but the song is not in the key of D. D is the root note but the other 2 chords C and G are are not in the key of D major. D C and G are all in the key of G there for making the Key of the song G major but the song resolves on D making it really in the key of D mixolydian allowing D to be the root. So when deciding keys make sure you look at the whole chord progression not just the first chord :)

  • Just a little thing, Some times the first chord of a song is not necessarily the key it could be modal. Here is an example She Sell Sanctuary by the cult starts with a D chord but the song is not in the key of D. D is the root note but the other 2 chords C and G are are not in the key of D major. D C and G are all in the key of G there for making the Key of the song G major but the song resolves on D making it really in the key of D mixolydian allowing D to be the root. So when deciding keys make sure you look at the whole chord progression not just the first chord :)


    Hi Raoul23, You are right. I'm not too familiair with the key of songs. I play Sanctuary too exactly the you write (apart from the solo in the beginning: G14+D0). I call this the key of D. So I mightI have given the wrong key...I can't tell for sure.


    It's also a puzzle for me why Paults wrote to me to set the Harmonic Pitch key to Eb and the harmony note to Minus One Third. just by listening to the audiotrack. There's a big gap in my theoretical music knowledge...

  • Here's a little bit of theory for ya Modes are just major scales played from starting on a different note. So for example if you play G major and start on G the tones/semi-tones run in order that make the major scale what it is Tone-Tone-SemiTone-Tone-Tone-Tone SemiTone. Now if you start this sequence but start on the 5th note in the scale the order of the tones and semi tones change even though you are playing the same notes that you were before .This scale is a mode called the mixolydian mode ( same notes as the major scale but different order). What gives a scale its sound is how these tones/semitones are arranged. The harmonic minor scale which sounds very arabian is the minor scale but with a tone and a half gap at the end which makes the natural minor scale become a harmonic minor scale with a different sound. I hope I haven't confused you to much but I just wanted to share how keys, scales and chords all have a relevance to each other and have to be thought of quite thoroughly :)

  • It's also a puzzle for me why Paults wrote to me to set the Harmonic Pitch key to Eb and the harmony note to Minus One Third


    Like I said above, I based the Eb suggestion on the idea the chord progression started on an Ab chord (the recording sounded "in between" Ab and A to me). When you told me the first chord you are using is A, I changed that suggestion to the key of E Major :)


    I suggested the Third below, because I could hear the lower harmony was a Third below the high part.


    Programming harmonies for melodic, chord based parts can get complicated:


    This kind of guitar part is more melodic than the typical "blues scale" kind of guitar part, so a different approach needs to be taken to program a harmony. I played the upper guitar part, and found a Major key that contained the notes in the upper part, and also the notes in the lower harmony.


    The reason I suggested a different Major Key than you would expect is because the KPA's Intelligent harmony allows selection of Key, but does not have a separate parameter for Mode. This is not a problem, though, if a Major Key is selected that shares the same notes with the Key and Mode of the song.


    When you play the higher of the two lead lines, with the harmony set to one Third below the melody, the notes in the E major scale should give you the notes of the lower gutar part

  • I have the same issue. I want play melodies/solos and it should sound like 2 guitars.
    Example: The hook line of Judas Priest / Breaking the law.
    I don't want program harmonies. Just a click that gives me the second guitar e.g. one octave transposed.
    Seems to be quite difficult. But I thought I could use the octave or so and mix it in at 50%...but no success.

  • You can definitely do that. Of course, if you don't want a fixed interval but rather one which changes diatonically depending on the notes you play (which is definitely the case when you want to "harmonize" two guitars, I can't see any other way that using a scale in the harmonizer... for example, if you are in C and want the Profiler to always play the third, when you play a C it will return an E (4 half-tones), but when you play an E it will return a G (3 half-tones): so it would be impossible to use a fixed interval.
    An octave, OTOH, is (like any other fixed interval) something different, that - strictly speaking - doesn't require an harmonizer.


    What don't you like when using the octaver?

  • That was really helpful Gianfranco, thanks.
    I'll first try the octave approach. If it sounds too sterile...I'll try the harmonizer approach.
    I was just too lazy to program it for each song!

  • Well, as long as you play in a specific key (major or minor) and are ok with specific intervals you'll just have to set the key and one or two intervals (you can have two other parts played automatically): it takes 1', really. Otherwise if you need to harmonize some different scales or need changing intervals... there's were the customized scales enter.


    HTH