On a stringed instrument, should a note ring during a rest?
In this example tablature, what should happen with the Bs and Gs during the rests? Should they be allowed to ring during the rest, or should they be dampened in some way?
If it should just ring, why not have a note that extends across the whole thing? If it shouldn't ring, what's the correct way to dampen it?
EDIT
I should have also noted that Track 25 references a downloadable (with the code from Hal Leonard Banjo Method - Book 1: For 5-String Banjo) audio clip. In that clip, the player does allow it to ring.
(3)3 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
It should not ring. Sometimes silence is just as important or more important as the notes you play.
Listen to a song of any style and see if the instruments play the entire time. (Hint: they don't).
As far as how to silence the strings that depends on the instrument as well as the context of when the rest happens.
As a beginner I'd say use you picking or strumming hand to stop the string from ringing by placing it on the string.
Just as the note tells you how long it should last, a rest tells you how long the silence is for. But that's the problem with a lot of tab. It doesn't actually tell you how long each note is. Ironically here it does say the rest is for one beat.
That's where real music scores (sic), and is added to good quality tab.
So, rests need to be 'played' in silence. To make that silence, mute the string after playing the previous note, by touching it gently with a finger, or palm, from either hand. Whichever is more convenient.
You're right - if the writer wanted that G or B to ring, he'd have written it as a minim (2 beat note). He didn't. Think of it like a trumpeter. Playing all those notes, but somewhere he has to breathe in for the next lot. That rest helps, and there's no sound while that happens!
Having said all that, there is plenty of guitar music - some very old, which has chordal playing but the chords are arpeggiated. Here, the notes are written out individually, and look like they need to each play for a specific short time. Do that, and the piece sounds stilted. What needs to happen is for each chord note to continue ringing. To write this on the stave gets to be, and look, complicated. So it's simplified. One has to listen to what's being played, and make a judgement. But for accuracy's sake, play any music exactly as writ.: that's (presumably) the way the composer wanted it. Rests and all.
A good guitar tablature would show a Let ring marker above the note (e.g. see here). By the way, the tab you posted puzzles me a little, since it seems to keep tablature and standard notation together, while they usually stands one over the other, as you can see here.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.