Affordances for the guitar : chordal structures for performance in the worship music of Chris Tomlin

Abstract

Just as a door handle invites a user to either push it or pull it, certain aspects of guitar chords invite the player to move from one chord more easily to one or another chord. This user-friendly aspect of certain guitar chord structures highlights the presence of affordances embedded in the structure that offer an easy path to executing a different chord. The theory of affordances stems from early work in cognitive studies and ecological psychology by James Gibson and is demonstrated by Don Norman’s architectural design work in door handle structures. Norman’s position is that as a person approaches a closed door, the design of the handle should suggest whether the individual should push the door handle or pull it to open the door. More recently, cognitive scientists have considered the quality of embeddedness of certain affordances, much like the jigsaw puzzle piece that shows the puzzle worker where it belongs by certain traits that it carries. Similarly, affordances embedded in the chord structures of Chris Tomlin point the guitarist to an easy path for quick chord changes, allowing the beginning guitar student to learn quickly and the guitar-player-worship-leader to offload attention from the hand and chord shifts, freeing up attention for other worship-leading details. The application of embedded affordances is useful in design principles like Thaniya Keereepart’s graphic user interfaces for handheld internet devices. Music composition iv practices such as Herbert Clarke’s trumpet compositions also rely on embedded idiomatics, and Joel Krueger, Marc Duby, and Rob Withagen are just three of many who have considered the sonic affordances inherent in certain types of music, leading to specific action possibilities. This research specifically studies the chord structures found in the music of CCM artist Chris Tomlin in relation to the science surrounding cognition, ecological psychology, and embedded affordances. The primary idea driving this research is that there are specific guitar chord fingering patterns and structures that allow for easy transitions from one chord to another more so than other patterns and structures, and those chords are represented in Tomlin’s music.