The Gonzalo Rhythm Sound

Jazzaferri

IMO that rhythm works sooo well in that one. Bass player is workin it pretty hard at times and with everything else going on that simple basic very dry rhythm sits nicely in the mix.

jonpowl

What happened to the great video from the guitarist who studied with Gonzalo? Please re-post....

Buco

His post went to the black hole ( @jkaz ) same as mine 'cause it happened at about the same time Michael was switching to a new server which he mentioned elsewhere.
I'll write a condensed version of what I wrote and what I remember writing about as I was drinking morning coffee and thinking about trying out this style a night earlier.

Anyway, regarding ringing notes during 2/4, those are simply harmonics my in case.
As I tried tonight again I find, and I'll use a specific example, that if I play a Gmaj the way Gonzalo does as well, on 2/4 beats I get harmonic to sound towards the 5th fret, D note.
What I found I need to do in order to minimize this harmonic is to move that finger towards 4th fret as much as I can and the harmonic goes away for the most part. Retraining myself to fret the chords this way, pulling my finger closer to the preceding fret on the notes that might create harmonics is a different proposal altogether. Also the harmonic is the quietest at the point where you lift your finger to where is just looses the freted note. The more you lift the finger to the point of completely letting go of the string, the harmonic gets louder, which is how I learned to create a harmonic anyway, to pick the string while my finger is barely touching it.
A good exercise with the goal of getting rid of these harmonics on 2/4 could be to play a 2/4 set of hits on all 4 beats. Listen to your voicings, and adjust the fingers to where you have the harmonics minimized.

Realizing all that doesn't get me that much closet to Gonzalo's groove of course, and mentioning that made me remember the other half of my post.
Which is Gonzalo's, and other great rhythm players, timing.
His timing is impeccable. Not only the keeping time of beats but also the timing and especially the evenness of 1/3 and 2/4 sets as well as individual hits themselves.
They are played exactly the same, no deviations unless he chooses to embellish the sound.
This evenness is what puts it in the pocket.
People can argue different points of Gonzalo's rhythm playing, some love it, some not so much but I don't think anyone can argue that Gonzalo is the master of Groove.

Buco

Jazzaferri

Learning fine control of the left hand for righties is one of the critical skills for rhythm playing in this style. Being able to mute at any time between the beginning of the pick stroke through to the end of the beat is a great skill to acquire.

Buco

Huh, never thought of guitar playing in terms of righty person training to do a lefty actions, interesting. Being a natural lefty person (I'm pretty sure) who was raised as a rigty, I always thought that might've put me in a disadvantage, but your proposition is making me rethink that.
Thanks Jay
Buco

PS doing the exercise of playing every chord muted, to a degree, as in 2/4 beats totally worked for last night in order to get rid of unwanted sounds. It'll take time before this slight repositioning of fingers becomes natural, but it's one way to get rid of ringiness in your 2/4 beats.
Gonzalo and other great rhythm players surely got this down to the exact science.

Jazzaferri

I have refined this exercise some....and practice different combinations, the latest being stacatto, 1/8, stacatto stacatto

Not sure where it all will lead, but it feels right.

Jim Kaznosky

Bones

Buco, yes harmonics are a bit of an issue and I try to do the same thing, just make sure that you are not right over the fret especially at the 5th, 7th, etc. Also on 2/4 (and 1/3) to eliminate excessive ringing it is important to not push down too hard with the left hand and release/damp/mute with the left hand as soon as possible after the strum (if you are going for that sound). This also has the effect of giving a clean break between beats which eliminates muddiness (of yourself and the whole band) and also helps to give it a nice bounciness.

For sure the fretting hand has much to do with the whole ringing thing on 2/4 but it can't be completely fixed without technique of the strumming hand (at least in my case). I wish that I could understand the physics of it but it definitely makes a difference and it is not playing quieter with the right hand. You can do it at all volumes. It's just some quality of the tone that changes when I dig into the strings rather than smashing at them (hyperbole, for lack of a better description). It has more of a controlled feeling and a better tone. It is still something that I need to consciously strive for especially when I start to get fatigued I slip back into my old bad habits. It is helping me a lot to play along with recordings. My 2 favorites are Swing Guitars on the New Hot Club CD and (now) French Guitar (the one posted earlier) since they are not too fast and have that modern tone that I am (trying) to achieve. Also, it is easier if I leave out the upstroke most of the time and just try to sneak it in here or there if I feel confident that I am solidly 'in the pocket'.

Also, a note on faster tempos. Gonzalo definitely uses all wrist movement at faster tempos (out of necessity) and more forearm movement at slower tempos but achieves the same tone. So that is some food for thought I guess.

Sorry about all the rambling posts but I'm thinking a lot about this very subject right now. I'll shut up now and go practice! But, again, take my ramblings with a big grain of salt and get some Skype lessons to be sure you are not practicing bad habits. Totally worth it. Gonzalo is a great teacher, very patient, and a nice guy.

Buco

Bones wrote: »

For sure the fretting hand has much to do with the whole ringing thing on 2/4 but it can't be completely fixed without technique of the strumming hand (at least in my case). I wish that I could understand the physics of it but it definitely makes a difference and it is not playing quieter with the right hand. You can do it at all volumes. It's just some quality of the tone that changes when I dig into the strings rather than smashing at them (hyperbole, for lack of a better description).

Yes I agree, I think so too.
I equate that to the similar thinking a martial artist might use when breaking a hard object with a fist.
They focus the burst of their energy behind the object.
I heard one of them once say, "if I tried to aim for the surface of the brick, I'd break my hand every time instead of the brick".
I try to think of this when I practice both chords as well as single notes, think behind the string or passed the string.

Jazzaferri

Buco...I find that thinking while playing makes for contrivehd music....hearing what is going on around should take up all or as much as possible of ones attention...

Thinking about technique ....perhaps while practicing..

Hope I have understood you correctly