Originally Posted by: shapertakh...lately ive bin gripped with orchestral harmonies....specially when used with rock genres........its not that i want to write a symphony but at least i want to add those cool string sounds to my compositions.....i want to know if there is any special theory involved in doing so......should i simply take a set of harmonizing notes and plug in a strings vst such as finale???
what should i be doing to write a simple and valid strings part fo my song..
Many of the responses so far have been helpful and good advice. I just want to add a bit more with a specific example.
The trade or skill you are after here is called orchestration. Here is one way to achieve it. Take a chord progression from a guitar part:
E |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B |--2--|--3--|--3--|--3--|--2--|
G |--2--|--2--|--4--|--1--|--2--|
D |--2--|--4--|--4--|--2--|--2--|
A |--0--|--0--|--2--|-----|--0--|
E |-----|-----|-----|--0--|-----|
A D Bmin E7 A
Take the notes on each string of the guitar part and regard them as a melodic line or "voice" unto itself. They do not have to be only notes on one string, but this is the easiest way to understand the idea from a beginning perspective.
Assign each melodic line or "voice" to an orchestral instrument. For example, violin 1 gets all the notes on the B string:
Violin 1
E |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B |--2--|--3--|--3--|--3--|--2--|
G |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A D Bmin E7 A
Violin 2 gets the notes on the G string:
Violin 2
E |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G |--2--|--2--|--4--|--1--|--2--|
D |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A D Bmin E7 A
The Viola gets the notes on the G string:
Viola
E |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D |--2--|--4--|--4--|--2--|--2--|
A |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A D Bmin E7 A
And finally the 'cello can have the "bass line", notes on the A and E strings:
'Cello
E |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A |--0--|--0--|--2--|-----|--0--|
E |-----|-----|-----|--0--|-----|
A D Bmin E7 A
Instead of just playing the guitar part, you could have one of the violin group instruments play the vocal melody once in the song instead of the voice as a variation. Instead of the strings group you could use the woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon) or brass (trumpet, french horn, trombone, tuba). Or mix and match them. Which is the very complex skill involved in learning how to properly and effectively use orchestral resources.
I just did a whole tutorial on this topic. I did a 4 part harmony of "God Save The Queen" (a.k.a. "My Country Tis of Thee") inspired by Brian May of Queen.
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=415
You can do these things with a MIDI sequencer and a VST (virtual instrument software). I use Garritan Personal Orchestra. The later versions of Finale have a scaled down version of GPO bundled. So that might be a good choice for you.
I taught myself how to orchesrate largely by reading and working through Walter Piston's wonderful book, "Orchestration". I also read Rimsky-Korsakov's "Principles of Orchestration" but I found it lacking in many respects for me personally. But it is a great work and linked at the bottom of this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestration
Finally, the availability of all the classical masters works in MIDI format makes studying orchestration a lot easier. Check here http://www.classicalarchives.com/
I learned the most about orchestration by studying the scores of Haydn, Mozart and of course, the master craftsman, Beethoven.
