How To Play Handpan & Guitar Together (featuring RAV Vast A Integral)

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Adrian DiMatteo and AJ Block here. Today we are excited to show you how to play handpan & guitar together. This is a great combination which we use all the time. Each handpan has a certain number of notes that lets you play different chords, so you can do some chord changes; also by just playing the scale you can get a lot of different colors and textures combined with the guitar which has infinite harmonic possibilities, and get a lot of good combinations and a lot of unique different sounds. We’re going to talk a little bit about music theory, a little bit about guitar technique and handpan technique and how we can think about the instrument and apply those ideas to finding different textures, different melodies and chord changes that we can use so that the instruments sound harmonious together. Since both handpan & guitar create chords, we’re gonna be careful not to step on each other’s toes

The handpan used in this video is actually a RAV Drum in the A Integral scale, which works great with guitar because you can play a lot of open chords, including A minor, C major, G major, E minor, F major, and more. All of these are “open” chords on the guitar and are really simple to play.

The notes on the A Integral RAV Drum are A B C E F G, so it’s basically the A natural minor scale without the note D. It’s a 6-note scale and some of the notes
repeat themselves.

 

Links:

Adrian DiMatteo’s album, “While You Are Awake”

Guitar and music theory lessons with Adrian DiMatteo

Handpan featured in this video (RAV Vast A Integral)

90-Second Guitar Lessons

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AJ Block is the director of Didge Project and is active as a didgeridoo teacher and performer. In addition to didgeridoo, AJ has spent years studying music traditions from all over the world including jazz (trombone and piano), western classical music, Indian Classical Music, guitar and world percussion. AJ has developed a number of programs for Didge Project including The ABCs of Didgeridoo, The Didgeridoo Skills Course, and Circular Breathing Mastery. He is also the author of Didge For Sleep, a didgeridoo learning method designed specifically for people with Sleep Apnea. As a performer AJ is the leader of the Didge Project Music Collective and a member of Dream Seed: A Shamanic Sound Journey. AJ is a founding member of Sacred Arts Research Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of sacred art traditions through education, ritual and study. As a student of spiritual teacher Maestro Manuel Rufino AJ is an active member of the Golden Drum community.

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