Overture

Here's the guitar part to Overture from Ladyworld. This part ventures into lead territory just a little bit, but it still functions as a background part in the arrangement and isn't upfront the way a solo would be. 

The main technique used in this part is something known as a unison bend. I'll explain that first, and then get into the typical pro tips, theory talk, and all that jazz. 🎷

TAB is attached as a PDF and Guitar Pro file.

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Unison Bends:

These are double stops (double stop = 2 notes played at once) where the 2 notes are a whole step apart. The lower note is bent upwards until it matches the pitch of the higher one, and they are now both in unison, hence the name.

They can happen on two different pairs of strings: on strings 1+2, or on strings 2+3. For strings 1+2, the spacing of the 2 notes is 3 frets apart, so it can take some practice to get used to doing this stretch and also bending the lower note. Fortunately, strings 2+3 are much easier as the spacing is only 2 frets apart, and the 3rd string is the easiest string to bend because it has the least amount of tension.

Pro Tips:

- If you listen to the song you'll hear there's an alternate ending on the last time. It is simply just playing the 15th fret on the 1st string and 18th fret 2nd string (the latter being bent up to unison). 

- In the video, on the second repetition of the riff (starting at 0:13), I actually play some of the notes on different strings. This is because anything that happens on strings 2-3, can be played 5 frets lower on strings 1-2. Wow! But to avoid any possible confusion, pay the closest attention to the first repetition.

- If you're feeling good about everything and want to spice it up a bit more, try adding rakes. You'll see that for the most of the bends here, you see my right hand hits many of the 6 strings, and not only the 2 which are producing a note.  The other strings that I hit are producing a scratchy sound that lead into the bends. This is called a rake. I do this by resting my RH's palm on the lower strings of the guitar, a little bit past the bridge pickup. This lets me play these strings as well, but they will not produce a note. The palm curves in such a way where the higher notes will ring out (the ones I want to play), and the lower ones are completely blocked. Why do I do this? Because it sounds bigger and gives the notes a more percussive sounding attack.

Theory Talk:

The chords beneath this section are:

G major - G minor - D minor - C major

Over each chord, the notes which I'm playing as they relate to each individual chord are:

- G major (3rd - root)
- G minor (4th - root) - oooo suspended, very nice
- D minor (root - 4th) - kind a suspended again, but I don't think this was on purpose!
- C major (root - 3rd)

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That's it for now. Enjoy, and drop any questions or comments down below!