The new Yamaha Tyros 5 is perhaps the most realistic guitar emulating keyboard yet. The Flamenco Guitar in there is also impressively realistic, use of sampling plus modeling as well as Audio samples of even things like a guitarist's vocalizations and grunts, etc. as well as intelligent and thus automatic string bends, slides, etc.
Here is a demo of Tyros 5 emulating The Shadows' guitar stylings.
Look Ma, no Modwheel!
Close your eyes when you listen...
Of course, adding Modwheel to it can also be done:
I think the most difficult part of the equation for today's MIDI keyboardist is keeping up with the cost of replacing the keyboards, which is now at least an annual event for those wishing - or needing - to stay on top of the curve.
The upside to that is the fact that pretty soon enough this kind of sound will likely become the defacto standard and simply expected from all MIDI keyboards in future.
Sheer proliferation will also likely mean that these sounds will lose respect and popularity, too.
I'll keep my intentionally high-action 80's JapStrat with the switchable single and double coil pups in it, Coricidin bottle and Zippo lighter handy, though.
Probably time to define what's being discussed and specifically for pgfantastic's needs.
I'll suggest the following, not definitive, but just to delineate all the different nuances that can be done on guitar. Feel free to pitch in with more appropriate terminology - I'm kind of thinking of these off the top of my head, some are arguably vague or made-up on the spot!:
Fret Bends: when the string is pressed down on a fret and pushed across the fretboard for the purpose of raising the pitch of the note.
Bridge Bends: When the bridge has intentional capability of slackening or tightening of the strings for purpose of raising/lowering pitch. Extreme action in lowering known as dive-bombing.
Fret Slide: When a finger that is fretting a string is kept held down on the string and then slid higher or lower on the fretboard for the purpose of a chromatic pitch change to the string up or down. That's what is in the Amplesound demo I posted a few posts back.
Portamento slide: When an un-fretted string is length limited by a 'slide' mechanism for a portamento, non-chromatic pitch raise/lower. Common to pedal steel, lap steel, dobro, hawaiian guitar styles.
Hammer-on: Instead of picking a note either with finger pad/nail or pick, the note instantiation is done by 'hammering' a fretting hand finger onto the string and holding it down at a particular fret.
Pull-off: Opposite of Hammer-on, where the currently fretted string is somewhat plucked by the fretting finger as the fretted pressure on the string is released.
Palm muting: Intentional muting of the string vibration with the heel of the palm of the picking hand.
Double-stops: Picking two strings with the purpose of a harmonized melody. See "Brian May", "Stevie Ray Vaughan", "Chuck Berry" for reference recordings
Pinch harmonics: Purposefully limiting the modal string vibration to only a few of the string vibration modes by performing a type of muting instead with the fleshy portion of the thumb of the picking hand. Reference: ZZ Top "La Grange". Some players will also use the heel of the picking hand instead of or in addition to the fleshy portion of the thumb in order to access various vibration node points more quickly with the fretting hand.
Vibrato: On fretted instruments, this typically can only raise the pitch above fretted pitch, unlike fretless instruments where the pitch can vary around the center pitch. Emulation of fretted guitar vibrato needs to consider this distinction that is different from other types of vibrato on other instruments (voice, wind instruments, fretless bowed instruments, etc.) In fretted instruments (typically) this is a ever so slight variation on string bending where bending occurs either by horizontal movement across the fretboard, or increasing/decreasing pressure on the string (extreme case - Yngwie Malmsteem with his scalloped fretboard outfitted Strat)
OK, I'm tiring of this, but it is instructive to me just to type this out, why emulation of guitar playing on keyboard will likely always be a challenge - but that kid in the Tyros video is doing pretty well!
Certain inversions of chords that a keyboardist grabs easily, and may attempt to use as guitar parts, are actually giveaways because they are either virtually unreachable on the guitar neck with standard tuning, or, if reachable, very hard to have strong fingers left over for certain bent notes.
But perhaps the single most cheezy thin that can happen is use of Modwheel for bends that sound like Modwheel instead of bent or slide strings.
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