Posts Tagged ‘guitar’

All About Vintage Guitar Gear

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

If you play guitar, you’ve probably listened to old records, and marveled at the tone you were hearing. Of course, much of what you hear is due to the guitar player, but gear does play a part. You’re hearing the amazing tone of high quality vintage guitar gear. Though there isn’t anything magical about vintage gear, it often had a build quality and special character that gear today often lacks.

The first step to getting this vintage tone is getting a nice vintage guitar. While a brand new Gibson electric guitar might still sound great, a vintage one will be even better. Of course, you pay for this tone. Vintage guitars are not cheap! However, with their high quality, aged wood, hand wound pickups, and high quallity construction, vintage guitars are worth it for many.

Merely having a vintage guitar is no enough, though. To get the full sound, you’ll want to get a vintage tube amp. Tube amps, vintage or otherwise, have always had a warmer, smoother, more natural sounding tone than solid state amps. Paired with a quality instrument, a tube amp is very expressive, almost like an instrument in itself.

Of course, if you’re buying vintage gear, you’re not going to be able head over to your local music store and start picking up amps and guitars. Rather, you’ll have to shop online or at specialty stores. If you’re looking to buy vintage Fender guitars online (or any other brand), there are many places to go that offer a wide selection. Again, you’ll pay for this, but for many it’s worth it.

So, I hope this help you see how you can get amazing tone with vintage gear. While nothing replaces skill when it comes to making great music, having the right vintage gear can help take your sound to the next level. Start looking around today for the vintage guitar of your dreams! The amazing tone will be worth the cost.

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How To Get Started With Bass Guitar

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

Looking into playing bass guitar? This is a great idea on your part! While the bass guitar isn’t nearly as popular as the regular electric guitar, it can be just as rewarding to play, if not more. The bass player forms a bridge between the rhythm section and the rest of the band. Without a bass player, bands tend to sound thin, so your job is certainly important.

So, how do you get started playing the bass guitar? Obviously, you’ll need a bass. The most popular style of bass are the Fender basses. With Fender, there are two main styles of basses, the Precision Bass and the Jazz Bass. Each of these have their own distintive tone, to be sure to listen to each before buying. There are also fancier types of basses out there, such as fretless basses, but let’s not worry about those right now.

You will also need a bass amplifier. These amplifiers make it possible to hear what you are playing. To start, get a small practice amp, which is designed for bedroom use by beginners. They are, however, too quiet to be heard over a drum kit, so you’ll need a larger amp once you start performing.

Once you have your gear, you’re going to want to get some lessons. By taking lessons as a beginner, you develop good habits right from the start. A good teacher will help you with all parts of your playing, from technique to tone. Lessons may seem pricy, but they are worth it.

So, I hope this gives you a quick idea about what it takes to learn to play the bass guitar.  Getting better takes time, but its all worth it in the end. It’s not an easy instrument, but once you become proficient, it is very rewarding to play.

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Eliminate that fret buzz now

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

Fret buzz is one of the most frustrating problems you can have when you first learn to play the guitar. Part of the problem is that there are so many possible causes, some of which are easily fixed, and others, less so. It makes sense then, to first of all try and identify what’s causing the problem and eliminate easily fixed causes first.

The first thing to check, if your guitar is electric, like, say a Gibson or Epiphone Les Paul, is that it’s the guitar itself that is buzzing and not the electrics. Unplug your guitar from the amp and check if the buzz is still there. Now check that the strings are seated properly in the nut (at the top of the neck) and the bridge. On old guitars, the nut, especially if its plastic, can get worn down and cause fret buzz.

If none of that is causing the problem, hold the guitar up to eye level and look across the strings, level with the pick-ups. Are the pick-ups touching the strings? If so, that could also cause buzzing.

Next, check your strings. If they’re grubby or have a film of sweat on them, that could be causing buzzing. Clean them with a damp cloth, or use a specialist cleaning product like GHC Fast Fret. The fretboard itself can also get grubby. Sweat and dirt builds up over time on the fretboard and next to the frets themselves. Clean that too, preferably with a cleaner designed for the job. If not, a damp cloth is better than nothing.

If none of that works, you may have to get professional help from a guitar tech. The cause could be a fret that’s not level with the others and needs sanding, or a saddle that needs adjustment. It could also be a worn nut that needs to be heightened or replaced, or a truss rod that needs to be adjusted.

Clean the fretboard, replace the strings and make all the checks outlined above. If none of those work, take your guitar to your local guitar store and ask their technician to take a look. It shouldn’t cost too much to make the necessary adjustments. While you’re there you might want to ask him to do a complete set-up for you. That way you’ll know that your guitar is in the best condition it can possibly be.

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What is a Humbucker Anyway?

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

Electric guitar pick-ups collect or ‘pick-up’ the vibrations of guitar strings which induce an alternating current in the coils of copper wire wrapped around poles in the pick-up. That current is then passed through potentiometers which modify volume and tone and through a guitar lead to an amplifier. The amplifier then uses either valves or transistors to convert that current to an audible sound and amplify it.

There are two main types of pick-up, the single coil variety found on guitars like Fender’s Stratocaster and Telecaster, and twin coil humbuckers, found in Gibson and Epiphone guitars.

The humbucker was originally developed in the late 1950’s by a Gibson employee, Seth Lover, in response to a problem with single coil pick-ups. The problem was that single coil pick-ups tend to be vulnerable to electromagnetic interference which produces an audible hum when amplified. The purpose of Lover’s twin coil was to buck the hum, hence the name.

The humbucker has two coils of copper wire each wrapped around six magnetic poles. The coils are reverse wound and reversed in polarity. The effect of this is that the electromagnetic interference induces current in opposite directions in each pick-up and is thus cancelled out. At the same time, the signal from the vibration of the strings is increased. This is known as common-mode rejection. Guitars fitted with humbuckers, such as the Les Paul and SG, usually have one pick-up at the bridge and one at the neck, each with its own volume and tone controls and often a metal plate fitted over the top of the pick-up.

The other key property of twin coil pick-ups is that the two coils resonate at different frequencies and so the humbucker has a broader resonant peak than single-coil pick-ups. This broader resonant peak produces a fatter, warmer tone, one of the hallmarks of the Gibson Les Paul and Epiphone Casino, than the clear bright signature sound of the single coil pick-ups on the Fender Stratocaster.

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10 Great Ways to Improve your Guitar Playing

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

Stuck in a rut and want to take your guitar skills to the next level? Here’s ten ways to do it easily and quickly and they won’t cost you a penny.

1. Check your posture. It’s something that’s too often ignored, but posture is very important when you play guitar. You spend hours practicing and playing and most of that time is spent in the same position. Get it wrong and you you could be lining yourself up for all sorts of aches and pains. Also, correct posture helps you form chords and get those difficult to reach finger positions more easily. If you’re sitting down, sit upright, don’t slouch over the guitar. If you’re standing with the guitar on a strap, keep your back straight and shoulders back.

2. Hold the guitar properly. Again this is something that’s often overlooked, but it’s important. And your right hand is as important as your left when it comes to correct positioning (swap that around if you play left handed). Your right palm shouldn’t rest on the guitar, the only time it should make contact is if you’re using it to dampen the strings to achieve a specific sound. Otherwise it should be off the guitar. Your left hand should bend at the wrist toward you and should be positioned so that the tips of your fingers can reach every string without obstructing the other strings.

3.Choose a time to practice and stick to it. There’s no getting around it, playing guitar, like any other learned skill takes time, effort, and discipline. If you adopt an ad hoc approach to practice, you’ll soon get out of the habit. So set aside some time, even if it’s only an hour two or three times a week and make that your practice time.

4. Don’t just play chords and solos. Your fingertips are the only point of contact between you and the keyboard and so they need to work perfectly. Playing the same chords and solos will allow you to become very good at those chords and solos, but nothing else. Find some guitar exercises online or in a guitar book and do them at the start of each practice session to keep your fingers nimble.

5. Step outside your comfort zone. We all have styles we enjoy playing and chord patterns and solo licks we love, but, as in No. 4 above, only playing those won’t help you develop as a guitar player. Make a conscious decision to learn different styles, and new chords. Deliberately stop yourself playing your favourite licks and chords and play new ones instead. You’ll be a better player for it.

6. Play with others. No matter how much you practice alone, you won’t achieve nearly as much as you will jamming with other players. Bouncing ideas of others, picking up tricks, different ways to play chords and learning new songs are just a few of the products of a good jam. And it makes practicing much more fun.

7. Focus on a goal. We all have days when we can’t be bothered practicing. Whether it’s because we’re tired, hungover, are just lack motivation, the result is the same. It doesn’t have to be like that. If you have a goal, something that really motivates you, it’s much easier to practice regularly. For example, there;s a new guitar you really want why not print out a picture of it pin it up near where you practice and promise yourself that as soon as you reach your next target, you’ll buy the guitar.

8. Get lessons. Teaching yourself, learning from friends, DVDs, books and online guitar tutorials, such as Jamorama is all very well. But there’s no substitute (cue Pete Townshend) for one to one tuition. Yes, it’s expensive, but you don’t need to sign-up for a full-course, just get a few lessons to conquer any recurring problems your having or get yourself over the next hurdle.

9. Keep your guitar in good condition. This is a no-brainer. Keeping your guitar clean, wiping off sweat from the strings and keeping it out of harms way are essential. You should also change strings regularly and give it a complete ’spring clean’ every once in a while.

10. Practice more. Because you can never practice too much. However, that doesn’t mean you should practice for hours on end without a break. Fatigue sets in and destroys concentration, which leads to mistakes and in turn that causes discouragement. Have a break from the guitar completely at least once and hour, even if it’s only for five or ten minutes. You’ll be much fresher and practice more productively as a result.

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Which Online Guitar Lessons Are Right For You?

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

If you play the guitar or would like to and have spent any time looking on the Internet for online guitar lessons, you may well have found it a pretty depressing experience. There’s no shortage of lessons and courses out there, it’s just that sorting the good ones from the dross seems almost impossible.

Visit the websites of these courses and you’ll find paragraph after paragraph of hype, promising you the earth, telling you that if only you buy this course or sign-up for this site, you’ll be transformed from guitar zero to guitar hero in a matter of weeks. Worse still, if you try and find honest, hype-free reviews of these products you’ll find that most of the sites that turn up in the first few pages of Google’s search results for the product name followed by ‘review’ offer little more than a rehashing of the original sites. Many of these so-called reviewers haven’t even tried out the product they claim to review, let alone written a careful and honest appraisal.

The one piece of good news is that nearly all these courses, including the likes of Jamorama, Guitar Scale Mastery, and Riff Master Pro Slow Down, offer a money-back guarantee if you don’t like what you get when you buy. But that still leaves you with the task of laboriously buying and downloading one after the other in order to find which one’s right for you.

So, what should you do? The first thing is to be honest about your own skill level. There’s no point buying a course for advanced players if you’re a complete beginner, and vice versa. Next, decide whether you work better from reading something that’s written down, or watching a lesson on video. Thirdly, prepare to practice. No matter what they promise, none of these programs will make yo a better guitar player without hours and hours of effort on your part.

To find out which online guitar lessons are right for you, forget about searching Google for reviews. Head off to your favourite guitar forums and ask there if anyone has ever used the courses you’re interested in. Go to Yahoo Answers or AllExperts.com and post a question. And head to Technorati and find some blogs written by guitar players, or better still, teachers, and ask their opinion.

Like improving your playing, these research techniques take time and effort, but the reward is that you won’t spend hours downloading courses which don’t deliver what they promised and then claiming a refund. It’ll be well-worth it in the long run.

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The Easy Way To Mastering The Guitar

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

The roots of today’s guitar can be traced back millenia with many of the ancient instruments showing characteristics similar to the modern instrument. Even though the guitar generally has six or twelve strings there are other versions which can have four, five, seven, eight and ten strings. For many decades this musical instrument has played the leading role in the progression of pop music and even after the invention of synthesizers, and sampling technology, the guitar is the preeminent instrument in most styles of music such as rock and blues.

With so many ways of writing music on computers you might find it surprising to learn that for a great many years now the popularity of the guitar has been markedly increasing with more and more people purchasing and trying to learn how to play the guitar. While many have aspirations of being a rock star the majority just want to learn how to play well for the enjoyment of it.

Nearly all people learn to play the guitar by buying a teach yourself guitar book. There is a variety of books which include audio compact discs which make the learning all the easier. These books generally show you a number or simple chords and power chords as well as bar chords and a few simple songs.

A more exciting way to learn how to play is by buying a DVD or, better still, an interactive DVD which will teach you several different techniques and styles. As well as tuition DVDs offering basic lessons it is possible to buy specialist versions which show you how to play like a popular guitarist. Often these include a selection of pieces by that performer so that you can master their methods.

As well as learning from interactive DVDs on your home computer you can also get guitar lessons online. Some tutors offer tuition on a one to one basis by way of webcams and downloadable material. Many people possess the console game “Guitar Hero” and it is also possible get a similar thing online but for real guitars. Line 6 offers a wonderful monthly membership plan which has a superb selection of songs to jam along to with or without the guitar track.

Acoustic Guitar or Electric Guitar

The acoustic guitar is available in a number of designs but all need a sound box behind the strings to increase the sound of the modulating strings. The majority of folk have had sight of a classical guitar and nearly all acoustic guitars are of this design, however there are various other designs available such as the Resonator.

The electric guitar is the best known type but it is found in such a wide variety of designs that you are very much restricted by your own imagination. There are a small number classic styles such as the Fender Strat (Stratocaster), Fender Telecaster and the Gibson Les Paul which are the most famous.But, with digital technology, these three classic guitars and more can be found in a guitar called the Variax which uses computer modeling to manipulate the sound of the Variax to sound exactly the same as the original.

In the past most folk learned guitar on an acoustic model but the price of electric guitars has fallen so much that it is now possible to purchase a full package, guitar, amplifier, strap and tuition book/CD, for close to the same cost as a quality acoustic.

Please note: if you are thinking about learning how to play guitar it is imperative that youstart at the beginning! Way too many kids assume that they can master a guitar classic instantaneously, however, with a small amount of effort and time you can possibly be well on your way to becoming a the best master guitarist.

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If You Want to Learn Guitar…

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

If you are interested to learn guitar, you should know that you are doing something really great in your life. Even if you do not end up joining a band or really going anywhere with the whole music thing, if you learn guitar you are gaining a new skill that you can carry with you for the rest of your life and one that will at least be enjoyable.

If you want to learn guitar, there are many wonderful options that you have, and there are a few companies in particular that you are going to want to consider.

ABC Learn Guitar

This is a great choice if you are interested in learning how to play guitar. This company has been around for quite some time now and they feature a well trained and qualified staff who are music enthusiasts and will be able to work with your strong points and help you to become a fabulous guitar player.

They discuss issues such as how the strings are identified, introducing the fretboard, reading guitar tab, tuning the guitar, and the importance of rhythm. All of these are key factors when it comes to learning guitar and becoming a skilled guitar player.

Guitar Player World

This is another fantastic option if you want to learn how to play guitar. Whether you want to learn how to play standard guitar or learn bass, they offer all the information that you need to become incredibly skilled, and in a very short period of time.

They offer everything from software to tips and advice that you can use, all which will be incredibly helpful and assist you in the learning process here.

Learning to play guitar is something that anyone can do, regardless of your beginning skill level and age. Some people think that just because they are grown up there is no point in them learning a new skill like this, but really, why not?

Playing guitar can be very relaxing and a way to express yourself, but does not have to be your career choice. Maybe you could play for some of your close friends and family or if you prefer just practice when you are alone. You will feel instantly better knowing that you have a new talent and you can get really creative with a guitar.

There are also a ton of other instruments that you can learn how to play if you are so inclined.

If you Learn Guitar you are gaining a new fun skill that you can carry with you for the rest of your life. To read more no cost articles on learn guitars visit, http://www.learnguitars.jsgenterprises.com.

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