In terms of guitar work, obviously.

Some friends of mine and I were discussing this word today and I posited that there is no unifying definition of what "angular" guitars mean, some people think it is a start/stop thing and some think of it as descriptive of the guitar's timbre... a bunch of web-searching and UTFSFing presented no revelations.

What of it, PRFers? What do YOU think 'angular' means? Particularly those of you who have had it used to describe your music?

i think it's when you have a lot of tritones (and maybe augmented chords/arpeggios/patterns too) -- maybe because they are angled on the fretboard (that staircase shape) and maybe because they sound pointy.

A journalist using his elbows to type an article about Joy Division.

trilonaut wrote:i think it's when you have a lot of tritones (and maybe augmented chords/arpeggios/patterns too) -- maybe because they are angled on the fretboard (that staircase shape) and maybe because they sound pointy.

Yes. As a synaesthetic, I imagine jagged lines when I hear that stuff, as opposed to nice melodic lines which are curvy and wavy. Of course that could also just come from my years growing up reading cello music, and that's how the written notation would look.

This is a term that I understand; I would never use it.

If I wanted to I could describe the guitar playing in Wishbone Ash or Elastica as "angular" and recommend their music to someone on that basis. They could listen to it and say, "hey, I know what angular means" or they could be recommended better bands such as Television and Wire.

The word has done its duty in the half-articulate currency of music journalism and should be retired from usage.

I see no point in trying to define the term in this context.

big_dave wrote:A journalist using his elbows to type an article about Joy Division.

I laughed a bit at this.

"Angular" - In terms of guitar playing: use of semi-harmonic dissonance, somewhat spindly, thin guitar melodies and quite off-beat, but still syncopated accents. An abrasive guitar tone doesn't hurt.

There, now I just described Andy Gill.

Do I get a free blowjob now?

having an angle, or angles, or an angle-like quality?

feh?

to me, it's a combination of non-traditional chord voicings (meaning, more than just power chords or standard major and minor chords), multiple stringed instruments working to crate and destroy both consonance and dissonance, having some odd meters as necessary, probably have some arpeggiated chords, maybe the strings are both playing independent riffs that do or don't work together perfectly. often comes with aggressive, introverted nerd guys.

From Merriam-Webster Online:

Main Entry:
an·gu·lar
Pronunciation:
\ˈaŋ-gyə-lər\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Middle French or Latin; Middle French angulaire, from Latin angularis, from angulus angle
Date:
15th century

1 a: forming an angle : sharp-cornered
b: having one or more angles

2: measured by an angle <angular distance

3 a: stiff in character or manner : lacking smoothness or grace
b: lean and having prominent bone structure

In this case, 3b wins.