hishbemeaner asked:


I currently play guitar and was planning on performing in a band with it. However, our bassist fell through and we found someone who can play guitar. I was just curious about how hard it is to transition from guitar to bass so I could play bass and the other person can play guitar.

Caroline
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May
22
Filed Under (Guitars) by admin
Bella Mclaine asked:


Generally people at some stage start like to learn a musical instrument. Many leave it from the mid life while other does keep on playing throughout their life. Music become passion, hobby, and even earning food if you are learn very good playing guitar. More famous is electric guitar amongst all other types of guitars. Many beginners just jump on playing electric guitar. Now, there could be varied reasons, for relatively cheap buying of an instrument or you can learn it at ease. But, the main factor is the “Rock Star look” and basically this inspires a lot to many people to learn electric guitar.

Some people get confused between electric guitar and acoustic guitar. They sometimes misunderstand or overlap definition of both. Arch tops – a type of electric guitar is manufactured in a same way as the acoustic guitar are produced. They differ quite in their own way. Electric guitar specification is electric powered amplifiers to carry out the operation successfully. While acoustic guitars depend on the body’s vigor and create the quality sound and volume. But electric guitar mechanism can be explained by use of pickups & amplifiers to push the sound.

Electric guitar has the ability to generate a rocking sound for what this electric guitar is known for. It has many features which can thrills the audience eye’s and helps to catches their attention through high waves of electric sound waves. A good or professional electric guitarist with his magic hands that works on strings and chords with some musical notes of rock bands having heavy metal music genre. This is far better compared to down range of an acoustic version. But, effects such as overdrive increased sustain are possible to achieve.

Some more points to differentiate through design of their acoustic cousins. Electric guitar designed specification can at a glance is much to give you a good synopsis. But if you don’t know then electric guitars are available in creative designs like the “Flying V” comfortable for playing in different styles. Some of the customary designs that is more common to people are Gibson Les Paul and Fender Stratocaster style.

Differences do not end here, but even the strings of electric guitar are classically thinner because the strings need not to echo the sound effect compare to the strings of acoustic guitars. As you know, it more relies on the electric sound amplifier to produce the best quality of sound. Well, you will also find that electric guitar strings are much closer to guitar’s neck and so with needs less efforts to play it. Electric bass guitar is the exceptional case. Guitarist has only 4 and thick strings to play with it. Electric bass guitar strings is much thicker as compared to other electric guitar.

With all these differences you can come to know why any beginner will like to opt for electric guitar. A beginner should focus his mind for learning guitar with the required tutorial. Thus, enjoy your playing with electric guitar to shake the people of your town.



Lloyd
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May
20
Filed Under (Guitars) by admin
Ian Williamson asked:


The guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments today. Most of the music that you hear on the radio uses guitars in many different ways: pop, rock, reggae, blues, ballads and everything else is influenced by the guitar.

The guitar, together with the drums and the piano compose the modern music scene equipment set. The playability of the guitar has made it one popular instrument. A guitar can be played by a learning child or an experienced guitar player. It’s not “picky” about its players.

Today, the electric type of guitar is most often used in musical production. The guitar has been enhanced with a very good accompaniment in the form of the effects box. Today, guitars can emulate the sounds of a piano, a violin, even the sounds of the human voice and is continuously widening its horizons.

With the functions and features of the modern electric guitar, one can’t help thinking about the beginnings of the instrument. Where did the guitar come from? This article tries to give a brief history of the wonderful musical instrument, which is the guitar.

The creation of the guitar cannot be traced to a single person. The guitar came about through the evolution of its predecessors. Its image has also undergone change throughout the centuries. Today, playing the guitar is a symbol of talent and musical prowess, but during the early times, the guitar was actually a symbol of being poor and it was refuted by most classical musicians.

Predecessors

There have been many guitar-like musical instruments in the ancient times, up to as many as 5,000 years ago. Instruments which look like the guitar were seen in statues which were recovered in archeological expeditions in the Iranian region of Susa. However, the very first documented mention of the instrument dates back to the fourteenth century. At that time the guitar-ancestor had three pairs of strings (usually referred to as double courses) and a single string with the highest tone.

Some say that the word “guitar” came from the word “qitara”. Qitara is an Arabic name for the different kinds of lutes during the early times.

Evolution

The guitar, as we know it, is said to originate in Spain. It is believed that the people of Malaga invented the instrument. The guitar evolved from having three pairs of strings to four pairs of strings and eventually six single strings.

The guitar began to become popular in the 16th century. It was played by the lower and middle classes as a counterpart for the vihuela which was played by the aristocrats. The vihuela was tuned like a lute but had a body similar to that of the guitar.

The guitar made a serious evolution during the 18th century: the double strings where replaced by single strings and a sixth string was added. In the 1800s, Antonio Torres de Jurado gave birth to the classical guitar. Basically, he increased the size of the body of the guitar. The guitar still struggled because it was considered as an instrument for the taverns - an instrument which could not be used for classical music. In Spain, where people hated the piano, the guitar found refuge. However, it was also tainted by the views that guitars were for gypsies and for no-good bums who asked for loose change in bars.

Electric guitar

The modern electric guitar was invented in 1931. The electric guitar uses electronic “pick-ups” to enable it to produce sound. The pick-ups convert the vibrations from the strings into electric signals. The body of the electric guitar is semi-solid or solid, depending on the design. The structure of the guitar took a great leap when the electric guitar was born, no longer did its sound depend on the structure and construction of the body, but on the quality of the pick-ups and soundboard.

The sounds of the electric guitar can also be altered to be able to achieve a desired tone. The use of the guitar effects box has given the guitar a wide array of sounds. I is continuing to garner popularity in all fields of music, even in classical music.

The guitar is a very dynamic musical instrument. Through evolution, the guitar has made its mark on the modern music scene. From crude instruments with many variations, the guitar has become a real and much-sought after instrument.



Ramon
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Phil Donahoe asked:


In this article we are going to examine traditional guitar lessons and the new technologies for guitarists that present guitar lessons online we will also give a brief overview at what guitar lessons are truly the best.

Do I Need Guitar Lessons?

If you want a complete step-by-step guitar playing education that can take you from beginner to the stage, then you are going to need guitar lessons in some form. You can learn without lessons but this makes it much more difficult in the long run. Guitar lessons come in 2 forms. The traditional method is to pay for each lesson and have a tutor guide you step-by-step which can be very expensive in the long run. The alternative that the Internet has provided us with is online guitar learning.

Taking traditional guitar lessons are fun and easy to do but they also require you to put some effort into them and to stick with it and every lesson costs you. For that reason most new guitarists (and experienced guitarists) turn to online guitar lessons which are much more cost effective and provide a much broader scope of options for the aspiring guitarist. Online guitar lessons are a way of allowing a person to learn how to play the guitar in the comfort of their own home at their own pace and with their wallet still in tact. The problem is often knowing which online guitar lessons are good, and which ones are a waste of money. You can check our resource link at the bottom of this article and we go over that in more detail where we review them all for you and help you choose the best option for you.

The Advantages of Learning Guitar Online

The future of guitar lessons is here with all sorts of new online guitar music lessons being offered by many very qualified and creative guitar lesson teachers and guitar music lovers alike. The Internet has certainly opened up the guitar learning industry to guitarists all over the world and this has put their teaching skills in your home for you to learn at your convenience at any time you wish!

Almost all online guitar lessons are interactive which means you get to control the flow hearing & seeing, one fingering at a time as you learn and master each lesson. Don’t think that online guitar instruction is just for the novice, though, because many of the available lessons will teach you, not only the basics, but many advanced techniques as well including specialist styles such as blues or even lead guitar skills (any budding Slash’s our there?). The one drawback to online guitar lessons is that you don’t have a teacher right there in the room with you to help you place your fingers on the right strings and show you a specific chord. However, the better guitar courses come with instructional streaming video to show you exactly what you need to be doing and how to do it so you can accurately mimic the guitar teachers positioning and style.

With online lessons, you are able to take the lessons whenever you want without having to go anywhere, there are no restrictions. You get to learn at your own pace, as with online guitar lessons, but the difference between the books and online lessons really remains in the presentation. In addition, there are also some video lessons available online which really separated the best guitar courses from the mediocre ones.

Unfortunately, not all online courses are equal, there are online courses that are basic, hard to use with separate lessons and audio, or written by nobodies who are about as good as you are already. Luckily we have reviewed, tested and compiled the better online guitar courses on our site so you do not have to worry about wasting you money on these bad courses. We will show you the best online guitar courses to choose from and ensure you are on the right road to guitar success. You can review these guitar courses on our website listed below.

Guitar Lessons Are Useless Without Practice

Whether you have an existing guitar teacher or learning online, mastering the guitar comes down to practice! t is more beneficial for you to practice multiple times during a week than to practice for one long session. Also, if you give yourself time between practicing, even if it is just 10 minutes, you’ll find that your brain is much more efficient at turning your short term practice into long term knowledge as your muscle memory kicks in. Also a tip for parents who want to help their kids learn, you can encourage children to practice by granting them occasional rewards for successful practicing and presenting what they have learned to you. Be positive and encouraging even if their performance is not that great. The building of self esteem and confidence will do as much good as the entire practice session.

Conclusion

If you have the money to spend on traditional guitar lessons, great, enjoy them and have fun learning but do not ignore these online options as a excellent supplement to your learning arsenal. If, like me, you enjoy learning at your own pace in the comfort of your own home on your schedule then learning online is defiantly an option for you! Check out our website and discover for yourself the best options available for learning online today!



Danny
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randbj41811 asked:


I gave up when I moved to intermediate guitar because the fingerpicking part was difficult for me but I am going to retake intermediate guitar.

Any tips on why fingerpicking is difficult?

Keith

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May
08
Filed Under (Guitars) by admin
Guitars from Spain asked:


Buying a new guitar is always an exciting process for the beginner or experienced guitarist. A basic knowledge of the instrument and an assessment of your musical goals will help you make a wise purchase, a purchase you can enjoy for years, perhaps even a lifetime All guitars produce sound through the vibration of the strings. Classical guitars transmit the vibration of the string to the soundboard via the saddle and bridge. The combined resonance of the strings, saddle, bridge and soundboard are, in turn, amplified in the sound-box or body of the guitar. The design and quality of the, saddle, bridge and soundboard have a major impact on the guitar’s sound.

Have in mind before buying…

Nylon produces a round, mellow sound and is the preferred sound for classical, Low, medium, normal and hard tension strings create a tension up 75-90 pounds. Less string tension makes a classic guitar easier to play. The fingerboard, 50-52 mm at the nut, provides room for intricate finger picking. The longer string, 650-655mm length from saddle to nut enhances the bass response and sustain. The classical guitar body style is smaller than most other acoustic designs which make the instrument easy to handle and feel. Always remember, when buying a handmade guitar, you are buying a live instrument. Temperature and humidity are the main factors to ruptures and instrument deterioration if not cared according to the maker’s instructions.

See” taking care of your guitar” below.

Setting Goals

What are your goals? Are you anticipating a serious hobby or majoring in music? If so, buy the best solid top guitar you can afford. An inexpensive guitar is a good choice if your goal is merely casual enjoyment for a semester or so (or if you’re really poor!). Do you need to be amplified for church or stage? If so, an acoustic-electric classical will afford maximize versatility. Before shopping, decide on a budget so the dealer can show you guitars in your price range.

Trying Out a Guitar - Action

Each guitar is unique in feel due to variations in neck thickness and shape. If the neck is comfortable, the guitar will be easier to play. The string height above the fingerboard–the action–also influences playing ease. The action may vary according to personal taste and playing style. High action is difficult to play but allows buzz-free high volume playing. Low

action is easy to play but buzzes during aggressive playing. A compromise between the two is best for most players. Fortunately, the action can be adjusted to suit your needs. If you are a steel-string player, remember that classical action is higher than steel-string action due to nylon’s lower tension. Listen carefully to the timbre (tone color) of the guitar. A balance between dark and bright is the most versatile. However, timbre preference is subject to taste and playing style. If your right hand technique is on the bright side, a dark sounding guitar will help balance your tone. If you play without

nails, a brighter guitar will help bring out the upper frequencies. Play single notes throughout the guitar’s range and listen to how they sustain. Listen to the relationship of the bass notes to the treble. The bass should be firm with a long sustain. However, the treble notes must be able to stand out in relation to the bass so you can project the melody. Finally, have someone play the instrument so you can judge the projection. What’s the difference in sound between a $300 guitar and a $3000 one? Budget guitars are less resonate and have a smaller tonal and dynamic range than expensive guitars.

Workmanship

Whether you are a beginning or advanced player, a quality guitar is crucial to your success and enjoyment. A fine instrument is easy to play, exudes workmanship, and sounds resonant and responsive. A quality instrument inspires you to practice and excel as a musician. Buy the best guitar you can afford and it will greatly enhance your learning and enjoyment. Note the quality of workmanship in the seating and polish of the frets, the binding between the top and sides, and in the finish. However, in all fairness, you normally get what you pay for. Budget guitars cost less because cheap materials and lesser workmanship are used to trim costs. Budget guitars should be playable but will have numerous finish defects, unpolished frets, messy glue joints, unsanded bracing and poorly adjusted action (a good dealer will adjust the action if needed). Premium quality guitars will have a near perfect fit and finish of all components. Even the interior bracing will be neatly glued and sanded smooth! Before purchasing a guitar, confirm that the tuning heads turn smoothly and allow reasonable pitch control. Fortunately, cheap or broken turning heads are relatively easy and inexpensive to replace.

Price Ranges

Professional classical guitarists play instruments handcrafted by individual makers, e.g., Fleta, Hauser or Gilbert. Depending on the maker’s reputation, these guitars cost $3,000 to $20,000. Guitars made by a specialized group of builders in a small shop cost from $1000 to $10,000 e.g., Ramírez, Hirade or Asturias. For most people these instruments are out of each.

Most beginners are looking for an inexpensive guitar. Buyer beware: most guitars retailing for under $100 are disappointing junk. Don’t throw your money away on a cheap toy, pay a little more and get a real guitar. Really cheap guitars have

unacceptable compromises in design, materials and construction quality. Fortunately, there are many factory-made guitars costing from $150 to $300 that make fine beginning instruments.

Recommended Classic Guitars

These models are excellent values in their respective price ranges. Granada guitars from Sevilla- Spain range form $299- $499, Prudencio Saez - guitars form Torrent - Spain. range from $380 -$1,800. Amalio Burguet guitars- Catarroja- Spain, range fro, $999- $4,500.



Gina
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PoohStickGirl asked:


Besides the price? Super Bullets Nickelplated Light Electric Guitar Strings, ST3250L Nickel Plated Steel Bullets Electric Guitar Strings, Super 250 Nickel Plated Steel Electric Guitar Strings, ST250L Nickel Plated Steel Standard Tension Electric Guitar Strings, Original “150″ Nickel Bullets Light Electric Guitar Strings, Original “150″ Nickel Bullets Light Electric Guitar Strings.

Minnie
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KEVIN asked:


I’m going to start taking guitar lessons and I was wondering which guitar I should buy. Is there really that big of a difference between the 100 cheap “value pack” and the $500 guitar? Does it make that big of a difference when you are just starting to learn to play? Should I buy the “beginner pack” then buy the better guitar when I learn what I’m doing or will I be better forking over the cash for the better guitar up front?

Courtney
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May
02
Filed Under (Guitars) by admin
Ian Williamson asked:


Guitars are the most common instruments played by many music lovers of all ages. Even kids can easily learn to play the guitar. Choosing the right guitar is very easy. There are many types of guitars that can go along with any kind of music. All a guitar player needs to do is identify the kind of music he prefers to know which type of guitar is best for him.

The following are the most common types of guitars.

Classical Guitars

Classical guitars are the father of all guitars. They have been used for many genres and all kinds of music. Classical guitars come with nylon strings which give the guitar a unique and colorful sound. The sizes of classical guitars have been standard for many years. Classical guitars that are of the finest quality are made with spruce or cedar tops. The guitar is able to produce various sounds even with the use of fingernails.

Electric Guitars

Electric guitars are the next most common guitar especially in the 20th century. Electric guitars are known as the main attraction of rock music. These guitars have been famous since rock music was introduced and blend very well with jazz, pop and even blues music. The main difference between other guitars and electric guitars is that they are played with amplifiers because they are unable to produce sound without amplification.

Steel Guitars

Steel guitars acquired their name because they are literally made of steel. These types of guitars are played horizontally. A guitar player may place the guitar across his knees or legs or on a stand. The pedal steels of these guitars are the ones responsible for their unique sounds.

Bass Guitars

Bass guitars are similar to electric guitars. However, there are also variations in these guitars such as the acoustic bass guitars. Although bass guitars fall under the family of guitars, the sounds they produce are very distinctive and separate from any other guitar. The reason is that bass guitars usually have four strings unlike standard guitars that have six to twelve strings.

Many other guitars may be found on the market. There are also the archtop guitars, twelve strings guitars, solid body guitars and the resonator guitars. All these types of guitars produce different kinds of music that can satisfy the taste of many music lovers. All a person has to do is identify his taste for music to be able to decide which guitar is perfect for him and his music.



Eric
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May
01
Filed Under (Guitars) by admin
Roberto Sedycias asked:


The guitar (violao) is a musical instrument that utilizes strings to produce sound. Usually, guitar is made with six strings, but four, seven, eight, ten and twelve string guitars are not rare.

Guitar (violao) is considered as an instrument in many forms of music like blues, country, flamenco, rock and even pop. Acoustically playing, the guitar involves production of the tone by vibration of the string and modulation by the hollow body. Electronic manipulation can also be done on the tone using an amplifier.

Combinations of various woods, with either nylon or steel strings are used for the construction of guitars. The person who makes and repairs string instruments like guitar is called a luthier.

History and development of string instruments similar to guitar (violao) can be traced back to at least 5,000 years. In those days, when synthetic material was not available for making guitars, a guitar was defined as `a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard, ribs, and a flat back instrument, most often with incurved sides`.

There are two major types of guitars:

Acoustic guitar (violao): A soundboard (present in the front of the guitar body in the form of a piece of wood) is used to produce the sound from this kind of guitars. No external arrangement or device is needed to produce sound. This makes the acoustic guitar quieter than other commonly found band or orchestra instruments and often an external amplifier is used to make the guitar sound audible and to match the sound of other band instruments. The latest range of acoustic guitars come with a host of pick-ups for amplifying and modifying the raw guitar sound.

Within the acoustic guitar type, the sub-categories include: Classical guitars; Flamenco guitars; Steel string guitars (include the flat top or `folk` guitar); Twelve string guitars; Arch-top guitars; Renaissance or Baroque guitars; Resonator, resophonic or Dobro guitars; Russian guitars; Acoustic bass guitars; Tenor guitars; Harp guitars; Extended range guitars; Guitar battente.

Electric guitars: Electric guitar bodies are solid, semi-hollow or hollow. The sound produced is little and low without amplification. An amplifier forms an integral part of electric guitars. Vibrations of steel strings converted into electric signals by electromagnetic pick-ups are fed in to an amplifier using a cable or radio transmitter. The sound is often modified either using electronic devices or through distortion of valves naturally. The pick-ups here are of two types: single line or double line, each can be either active or passive. Electric guitar sound is most commonly used in jazz, rock-n-roll and blues style of music.

Construction of the guitar (violao) is based on whether the player is left-handed or right-handed. Usually, players use their dominant hand to pluck the strings. For most of the people, it is the right hand. The other hand of the player is on the frets for depressing and gripping guitar strings.

The various major guitar components include: headstock, nut, fretboard, frets, truss rod, inlays, neck, heel or neck joint, strings, guitar body and pickups.

There are certain accessories that might be helpful while playing a guitar (violao). Accessories like: Plectrum - also called the guitar pick, is used for picking the strings. It is made of a plastic like hard material; Slides - used for creating glissando effect in blues and rock genre of music. Neck of a bottle, knife blade or round metal bar, any of these can be used as a slide; Copatasto - it is used for changing pitch of open strings.



Chris
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