How Can I Sound More like a Classical Violinist on Guitar?

Harmony & Theory
#1

I’ve recently been learning the Melodic Minor scale and thought it sounded somewhat reminiscent of classical violin, it’s inspired me to really look into how they approach the instrument!

I’ve started analysing some of Paganini’s works and have already gotten so many fresh ideas e.g. ascending arpeggios and descending with scales, chromatic scales, pedal tones etc.

Does anyone have any more suggestions on some things classical violin players tend to do?

On a side note, do you think the octave trills in this piece are possible on guitar or am I gonna give myself tendentious? I’ve never heard anyone do anything like it on guitar before :smiley:

#2

I think their vibrato is worth studying. They do it differently than most electric guitarists do. It’s not going to be as wide of a vibrato since we have frets. It’s still a cool option to have.

Ha! That’s pretty cool! Just trying that quickly (I’m not good at it at all since it requires decent ring/pinky coordination which i SSSUUCCCKKK at), but I think you could do it. Particularly if it’s between the A/G strings and the interval of the trill of a minor second. You could always get creative do one of the notes with the fret hand, and use your picking hand to tap the other.

#3

Not something I’ve ever thought about, I’ll give it a deeper look!

So cool! Heard it before but never realised what they were actually doing! Yeah the minor second seems do-able, not sure about the major second but again it sounds so cool I’m gonna have to give it a try :grin:

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#4

They have an amazing instructional pipeline like the pianists do, so grab some of their music and have fun!

#5

:stuck_out_tongue:

this guy made a tutorial on making your own :sweat_smile:

#6

Violinists’ produce vibrato by wiggling their finger up and down the fretboard (towards and away from the nut and bridge), instead of back-and-forth like most electrics guitarists. Classical guitarists produce their vibrato this way, too, but it’s very subtle compared to either violinists or most electric guitarists. There are a bunch of electric guitarists who produce their vibrato this way, though: Steve Hackett, Steve Howe, and especially Robert Fripp, whose hand goes full-on manic, yet his vibrato is so subtle and easy to miss.

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#7

Do you have any specific suggestions? I’ve looked for stuff on YouTube and I’m mostly coming across violin techniques that are irrelevant to me. I really want someone to breakdown some phrases or ideas!

Do you think the best thing to do is go straight to the music? I’ve started breaking down Paganini’s first caprice and have already had some great ideas that I might share on here later, takes longer this way but maybe I’ll just have to not be lazy about it :grin:

#8

Too literal! I’d rather just learn a bowed instrument at that point :rofl:

#9

Sure, but I think it would be interesting to try as a way to take a break from guitar for a while. For me, the sound gets stale after a while.

Most people undoubtedly have one of those pens nearby.
:sweat_smile:

You never know it might spawn some sort of creative spark for an etude or short solo piece.

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#10

I think you are already doing exactly what you should for this. Transcription, analysis and application :+1:

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#11

Yngwie was largely influenced by the Classical Violinists. He has said that in interview after interview.

#12

Yeah that is quite widely known about Yngwie, I’m a huge fan and know practically all his licks but wanted to go straight to the source rather than have Yngwie’s interpretation of classical violin :grin:

#13

I transcribed some of his arpeggios from his first Caprice if anyone is interested!

It started out okay but quickly got more difficult to arrange on guitar, so I’ve had to alter some arpeggios a little bit and drop a few phrases down an octave

I always tried to avoid doubling notes in arpeggios, thought it sounded like a very obvious mechanical thing on guitar but Paganini is doubling notes on almost all of the arpeggios and it sounds incredible - and luckily, is very easy to do on guitar :grin:

The hardest part is when the diminished arpeggios get lower on the neck, he’s already skipping what would typically be the last note on a guitar styled arpeggio and jumping up a note. This is fine on the the normal arpeggios but results in a nasty stretch twice in this excerpt!

EDIT:
I changed the first stretch so it’s up an octave like the original piece, sadly you have to use a guitar with a 24th fret, which I don’t have :cry:

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