# Can electric guitar be used as an instrument for classical/contemporary composition?



## PresenTense (May 7, 2016)

Why do music schools refuse to take electric guitar for composition seriously? I'm not just talking about writing pieces for electric guitar; I'm talking about using the electric guitar as a tool for composition for orchestra.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Why? Have you tried to write for an electric guitar and orchestra and had your submission refused?


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## PresenTense (May 7, 2016)

No, I'm just curious. I'm not a composer but I'd like to be one.


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## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

PresenTense said:


> Why do music schools refuse to take electric guitar for composition seriously? I'm not just talking about writing pieces for electric guitar; I'm talking about using the electric guitar as a tool for composition for orchestra.


2 options are possible for repertoire refusals
1 - they are not open-minded.
2 - there is no interesting piece offered to them with this orchestration yet.
In the first case, maybe it is better to focus in orchestras which already played pieces with electronics. These orchestras probably will not refuse adding such option (electric guitar) if you offer a good guitar player and an interesting piece.

As tool for composition, a piano gives you more options for planning an orchestration. Maybe this explains why...


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## Guest (Feb 3, 2017)

There are loads of compositions with electric guitars, so yes, it's an issue of open-mindedness.


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## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

nathanb said:


> There are loads of compositions with electric guitars, so yes, it's an issue of open-mindedness.


by some strange reason i was thinking about a kind of electric guitar concerto (orchestra + electric guitar) - in Jason Becker style (or not)


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

nathanb said:


> There are loads of compositions with electric guitars, so yes, it's an issue of open-mindedness.


Could you provide some links, you have them handy, please?


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> Could you provide some links, you have them handy, please?


There was a thread about this recently actually.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I've seen works with electric bass in them. Try this one for size:





 (pay attention to the last 4 minutes)

Because the timbre of electric guitar is so striking, I think that's been the issue of trying to incorporate that sound in a orchestra for composers. But electric bass seems to blend better.


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## Guest (Feb 3, 2017)

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> Could you provide some links, you have them handy, please?


Solo works? In ensembles? Concert works?


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

PresenTense said:


> I'm talking about using the electric guitar as a tool for composition for orchestra.


I'm not sure I understand this. I think the only instrument ever used as a tool for composition for orchestra is some kind of keyboard. Composers either composed just with a pen and paper, or composed 'at the piano' still with a pen and paper, or these days use a computer.
Maybe Paganini wrote his solo parts 'using' his violin, but composing an orchestral work using an instrument is a concept I don't understand.
Graeme


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Paganini used an acoustic guitar, on which he was quite expert, as an aid in composition rather than a piano. Enrico Chapela wrote his Magnetar, a concerto for electric cello, using an electric guitar as a composition aid.

Beethoven, of course, always used a piano, and advised his students to keep a small practice piano by their bedsides to capture ideas.

Bach sneered as such things and called composers who had to use keyboards "finger composers."


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

They are not open to breaking tradition. Imo, Violin is a great substitute.


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## Ralphus (Nov 13, 2016)

Are you asking, Why don't music schools allow composition students to use an electric guitar to compose music?

If so, 1) how would they know? do they not ALLOW this to happen? 2) obviously, your average composition teacher may suggest using a keyboard or computer or something more traditionally suited; 3) what about using any instrument, like a kazoo, or a heckelphone, or temple blocks? 4) are you suggesting using an electric guitar as a tool for writing an orchestral composition or a string quartet or a choral piece? or for writing ELECTRIC GUITAR classical music?

I think a composer can do whatever they want and justify it however they wish. But it wouldn't at all surprise me if a composition lecturer balked at the idea of a student writing a piece for orchestra and choir entirely on an electric guitar (esp. if they notated it in tablature! ), I mean, why? If it's the only instrument they have access to, then have at it and good luck!

I think your question is a little odd--not to disparage it, but I'm not sure why/what you mean.


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## IsoaSFlus (Feb 3, 2017)

Maybe you can commission someone likes Jonny Greenwood to write a piece for electronic guitar XD


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

KenOC said:


> Beethoven, of course, always used a piano, and advised his students to keep a small practice piano by their bedsides to capture ideas.


Ewen after he became completely deaf?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

IsoaSFlus said:


> Maybe you can commission someone likes Jonny Greenwood to write a piece for electronic guitar XD


Good advice and a very warm welcome to Talk Classical .


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

One of my Michael Tippett CDs has electric guitars but I can't remember which CD. John McCabe also used one in his ballet Edward II. I almost bought the two CD set last year; I'll confess I backed off when I learned about the guitar.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Would they be willing to accept an acoustical guitar for composition? Is it the idea of a guitar, or specifically the electrical guitar that is at issue? (Personally, I cannot abide the sound of an electric guitar, which is one reason that I can never listen to modern pop music. Of course, I am not a composition school, and this is just a matter of my personal taste.)


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Because the timbre of electric guitar is so striking, I think that's been the issue of trying to incorporate that sound in a orchestra for composers. But electric bass seems to blend better.


Not sure what timbre you are referring to. Modern electric guitars, with their attendant sound processing and amplification systems, can sound like anything one wants. They can even sound like guitars!


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