PRIVATE MUSIC BLOG

Buying Good Guitar Strings are very Important

2007-02-10T05:46:00.000-08:00

Guitars are only useful if they have strings. Though strings look rather insignificant in size, they have a profound effect on your playing experience. Here's a point to note: A lot of amateur guitarists don't buy guitar strings until they cut one of their strings.
That's not correct because your guitar strings get degraded with use. This is specially true of metal strings. These are prone to rust and corrosion. So, depending on the level of sound quality you desire and how often you use your guitar, change your strings often.
Now into the main thing (How to buy guitar strings)...
There are different types of guitar strings and the type that you should go for depends largely on your type of guitar (Is it an electric guitar, acoustic guitar, etc), the kind of music you want to play, your volume requirements (not really an issue unless you play unamplifed acoustic), the tone contrast you prefer,the level of your play and how much you are willing to spend among other things.
There are nickel, nickel-plated, stainless steel and nylon strings. The most common type are nickel-plated guitar strings. Their sound is brighter than those of pure nickel strings but not as bright as stainless strings.
Stainless steel strings are resistant to corrosion but have a rougher feel when compared with nickel-plated strings. Furthermore, they have very good sustain. That means that those are the ones you need if you want strings that will help you hold those notes for as long as possible.
You have a lot of choices to make from type to brand. There are so many brands to choose from. You can go for popular names (those usually come at a higher price) or you can just go for anything that gives you good sound.
Guitar strings also come at different prices. For as little as $5 you'll get a pack of strings. However, you can spend as much $40 when you want to buy guitar strings. It all depends on what you want. Just keep in mind that you have to replace your strings regularly for the best sounds.

7 steps for choosing perfect Acoustic Guitar

2007-02-10T05:45:00.000-08:00

Most people think that selecting the perfect acoustic guitar is a simple task, but whether you are a beginner or an expert, choosing the right guitar can be a very difficult decision.
For most beginners an acoustic or classical guitar is a great choice because it is easy to use and requires almost no accessories.
The first step in selecting the perfect acoustic guitar is to do your research. With so many different products, manufacturers and styles of guitars available on the market, musicians need to be well informed. Talk to the sales people at your local music store and ask as many questions as possible.
The second step in selecting the perfect guitar is deciding which type of guitar you want to play: Acoustic or Classical. Classical guitars use nylon strings which produce a soft, mellow sound, while acoustic guitars use steel strings and produce a bolder, stronger sound.
The third important step in choosing an acoustic guitar is whether you want six or twelve strings. Twelve string guitars require much more precision and skill than a six string guitar. If you are a beginning player it is always recommended to start playing with a six string guitar and as your skills increase move on to a twelve string guitar.
The fourth step in selecting the perfect acoustic guitar is choosing the right body type. The body of the guitar is split into three separate parts: a top bough, the waist and the bottom bough. The waist is the narrow part in the middle of the body and the boughs are the bulges above and below the waist. Having a seamless fit between the body of the musician and the body of the guitar is very important for comfortable playing.
The fifth step is to select the type of wood the guitar body is made from. Most guitar bodies are made from a top, a bottom and a single band of molded wood for the sides. Each has a sound hole cut out of the center which emits the sound from the strings. Guitars can be made from either laminated wood or solid wood. Laminated wood guitars are less expensive and deliver average to excellent sound. Solid wood guitars can be very expensive but deliver exceptional tones and superior sound.
The sixth step for buying the perfect guitar is to test it out. When trying out new guitars always try to play the same musical selection. This will allow you to hear the different tones and sounds available from model to model. If you are a beginner and don't know how to play, ask one the sales associates to play a sample for you. Most employees in music stores play instruments themselves and are always willing to show off their skills.
The seventh and last step to selecting the best acoustic guitar is to know your budget. Acoustic guitars can cost as little as fifty dollars and as much as thirty thousand. Look around in music stores, online and in local pawn shops to find high quality guitars at reasonable prices.
Follow these steps and you'll own the guitar of your dreams in no time!

Instrumental Practice

2007-01-08T00:05:00.000-08:00

Of course, the instruments themselves don’t make any sounds at all. They all require one thing -- the human touch. A person must take up the instrument and coax the voice from within it. And just as a new-born baby can’t recite poetry, a novice musician can’t evoke the instrument’s full natural voice. Through practice, he or she develops a level of skill with that instrument.

Don’t confuse skill with talent. Skill is acquired through hard work and a desire to excel. Talent is an innate ability; a gift that is bestowed on us at birth. Everyone has talent, but some people seem to have only to glance at an instrument and have it emit the most beautiful sounds. These musicians are blessed with a wealth of natural talent. The rest of us must spend countless hours ‘wood shedding’ in order to make our improvements. We depend more on our skill, which we hone and build upon with practice, to make us good players. Using that practice time effectively may be the most important thing a player can do to improve his or her musical skill level.

The goal in practicing is to improve our ability to coax the natural voice from our instrument. We want to be as expressive and nimble with it as we are with our own voice. Without thinking, we all use inflections, whispers, shouts and myriad other devices to express ourselves vocally. Ideally, we should be equally adept at manipulating the instrument’s voice to express musical ideas. Most of us can’t spend as much time playing and practicing as we do speaking, so we must make the most of the time we do have with the instrument.

Daily practice is necessary to sustain progress. When you skip days or weeks, the improvements you might have made fade quickly away. Establish a daily practice regimen that you can stick to. If you work a ‘normal’ job every day, it’s a good idea to practice before you start working. You’ll feel good knowing that you’ve been musically productive before you even begin the work day. Also, take one day of the week off. The rest will help you maintain a fresh approach to your music.

And don’t over-do it. If you intend to practice for more than an hour-a-day, work up to it slowly. Don’t jump right in with two hours in the morning and two at night. You can easily cause permanent damage in the form of tendonitis, carpal tunnel, or other repetitive stress injuries. These are debilitating and may never heal. If you do feel discomfort while you’re practicing, stop immediately. Do not keep going and think the pain will go away. If you feel pain every time you play, see a doctor.

You should also strive for privacy when you practice. If your environment is quieter at night than it is in the morning, set aside time in the evening. Let those around you know that this is your own time and that you are not to be disturbed. Turn off your beeper, don’t answer the phone, and stay out of earshot of the television or stereo. The further you are from the mainstream of household activity, the less likely you are to get distracted. Practicing in private also helps you feel less self-conscious about making mistakes.

And if you don’t make mistakes when you practice, you aren’t working on the right material. You should be concentrating almost solely on the passages that give you trouble. Instead of playing a song through from start to finish over and over, you should play it through only once to warm up and then work on the difficult measures. During the warm-up, make note (no pun intended) of any bars where you miss notes or beats. Then go back and practice each of these trouble-spots slowly enough so you can play every note clearly. Repeat the offending section until you can play it twice without errors. Then increase the speed a little and repeat the section some more until you can play it twice without errors. Continue this way until you can play the part up to speed. If after you increase the speed you find that you can’t play it without making a mistake, slow it down again and repeat the section until you can play it cleanly.

Practice sometimes seems like drudgery. The repetition gets boring and it’s easy for your mind to wander while you’re playing a passage over and over. You go into a sort of ‘auto-pilot’ mode and your fingers move without your brain being engaged. While this is sometimes desirable when you’re performing, it can be counter-productive during practice. Stay aware of what your hands are doing to make sure you’re playing a passage correctly. If you are playing it wrong over and over, you wind up reinforcing mistakes rather than correcting them. And if, while you practice, your wondering about what to have for dinner, you are not fully present for the activity at hand. Keep focused on the instrument and making it sound as musical as you can. Even if you’re practicing “Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star”, you should be fully aware of the sound (or the voice) that you are forming.

Varying your practice material is a good way to minimize the monotony of repetition. If you work on songs A, B, and C on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and songs D, E, and F on Tuesdays, Thursday, and Saturdays, you won’t become bored with your daily practice. And be sure to do warm-ups every time you pick up your instrument.

Developing a good sense of timing is as important in music as playing the correct notes. Just as with spoken language, your playing must maintain a natural, rhythmic flow. If your speech is fractured and difficult to follow, no matter how profound your words are, people will have a hard time listening to you. In music, if you hit every note but your rhythm is off, the musical message will be lost. A metronome is the best practice aid available to this end. It serves a couple of different purposes. First and foremost, it keeps you playing in time. It taps out an indisputable beat, and as long as you listen to it, you’ll be right on the money. Secondly, a metronome helps mark your progress on a given piece or passage. When you slow a difficult part down, make note of the metronome setting at which you can play it without making any mistakes. As you master the piece, set the speed higher and higher as described earlier. Keep track of your progress by marking down the songs and metronome settings that you’re working on in a practice journal. This makes it possible for you to know exactly how fast you played it yesterday, the day before, last week, etc.

Good technique is the cornerstone of good musicianship. If you form proper habits when you start playing an instrument, you’ll set a strong foundation upon which you can build. If you form bad habits, you may find at some point that your technique actually hinders your playing ability. Breaking old habits is extremely difficult, especially if you’ve been repeating them for years. Do everything you can up front, including taking lessons from a reputable teacher, to develop the proper technique for your instrument. While you practice, pay close attention to maintaining that technique. Eventually, it will become second nature and you won’t have to think about it.

Remember, when you practice, you are improving your ability to express yourself musically. Strive to find your instrument’s natural voice and listen for that voice in every scale, arpeggio, or paradiddle that you play. Follow these rules for effective practice and you will be rewarded with a lifetime of music.

Practice daily, but don’t over-do it
Don’t practice mindlessly.
Focus on the musicality of what you’re working on, even if it’s only a C major scale.
Work on material that you find difficult
Use a metronome
Keep a practice journal
Develop good technique.

What Classical Guitar Can Do For You

2007-01-04T04:12:00.000-08:00

For most players, the realm of classical guitars is one that they'd just as soon avoid. The scale length is different, the neck is wider, and they're harder to play, so why bother?

Why? Because the world of the classical guitar is definitely one worth exploring and one that will reap incredible rewards the more you explore it. A well-executed classical passage within a rock song can give an air of class and distinction to the music, not to mention adding a great break in the middle of the song. Playing classical guitar, even if you use it traditionally (playing simple fingerpicker parts, strumming and single-note lines) can help your playing take a giant leap forward.

Classical guitars are very, very similar in their construction to traditional acoustic guitars. The body is smaller, but the bracing methods and wood types are similar. The necks are wider to accommodate your fingers, the nylon strings give the classical guitar its distinctive tone, but most players with average-size hands find that this transition isn't as difficult as they first may have pictured it. Classical guitars are very, very similar in their construction to traditional acoustic guitars. The body is smaller, but the bracing methods and wood types are similar. The necks are wider to accommodate your fingers, the nylon strings give the classical guitar its distinctive tone, but most players with average-size hands find that this transition isn't as difficult as they first may have pictured it.

What can a Classical guitar do for you?

Well, give it a try and you'll find out a whole new world.

Singing

2007-01-01T23:47:00.000-08:00

Do you want to learn how to sing or just how to sing better? You may not be aware of it but it’s likely a case of learning how to sing better for most of us. It’s not that absolutely everyone can sing, but most of us can if we take a sensible approach to trying.
There is a wealth of information available on the internet offering lessons and scales and claiming to reveal the “Five least known Singing Secrets”. Well here’s something to ponder, there are no secrets. The ability to be a good singer is nothing more than learning how to listen to yourself, being able to correct you pitch if it’s off, breathing for a continuous supply of breath, and muscle control in your throat and body to produce the best tones, not to mention, tons of practice. Proper practice that is, not practicing mistakes.
Singing lessons will certainly help guide you to being able to recognize how all of these things go together but the reality is that you can quite likely do it yourself with only a little help.
Have you ever seen advertising that claims you can increase your range by an octave? That to me is a very big claim. Personally I would have to see it to believe it. I’m not saying that it’s impossible but it’s not as possible as some would have you believe. The only real way to increase your range is to practice properly, without hurting yourself, and building your range up over a period of time. That’s the only way to do it safely and still keep a rich tone about your voice. My sense is that anything else would be falsetto singing and in my world, there’s no real room for that.
This practice is where scales and such come in handy. You sing ascending scales and descending scales in a variety of phonetic phrases. It’s a controlled environment and you can make improvements in your range for sure, but it will take time if you do it properly. Naturally the more you practice, the greater your improvement.
You may need to consider that range is not the be all and end all of being a great singer. When you listen to your favorite songs it becomes apparent that at least most of the song stick to a certain range and doesn’t go too much higher or lower than that. Most of those notes are quite reachable by the average human so don’t kill yourself trying to do something super-human when it comes to increasing range.
Instead of range, worry about pitch. It really doesn’t matter how high or low you can sing if you can’t hit the right notes in between. Stick to the easy stuff you know you can do and work up from there. Use your ears. If you sound like you’re off, correct it and don’t be shy about it. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you stop singing wrong notes. Your ears are the greatest aid you have to being a great singer, you should learn how to use them first, then decide if you need lessons.

Selecting Your First Guitar

2006-12-21T04:55:00.000-08:00

So you’ve decided to take up the guitar. Excellent! You’re about to undertake a journey that will change your life forever. Really. The two most important decisions you make next will be selecting an instrument and selecting an instructor. This article deals with the former.
The $1,000,000 Question – Electric or Acoustic
This choice is largely determined by the type of music you want to play. Some genres, like blues and certain popular styles, are well suited to either instrument. But others are fairly specific to either electric or acoustic. Traditional folk, for example would dictate an acoustic guitar while most jazz and rock styles would warrant an electric. And if you’re interest is in classical playing, the choice is clearly an acoustic with nylon strings. So the first step in choosing a guitar is identifying the type of music that you’re most interested in playing. Then listen to a few players that you like and see if they’re playing electric or acoustic instruments.
Full Size or Student
If you are younger than 10-years old or have exceptionally small hands, consider getting a smaller than standard instrument. It will make learning easier and you’ll be more inclined to practice if you aren’t struggling with the instrument every time you pick it up. All of the major guitar makers produce student or travel-sized guitars so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding one.
New or Used
Your money will go a lot farther on a used instrument than on one that’s new. If you can find a well-maintained used guitar that fits your needs, you should consider it seriously. But be sure that it is in good shape and is what it’s purported to be. Some unscrupulous individuals sell counterfeit versions of name-brand guitars at ridiculously low prices on the used market. Be wary of any deal that seems too good o be true and consider taking any used guitar to a pro for an inspection before laying down your cash.
How Much to Spend
The low-end guitar market has made great leaps in quality over the past 15 years. There are reasonably well-built instruments, both electric and acoustic, available for under $150 new. But the cheapest isn’t always the best bargain. A beginner needs to have a guitar that stays in tune, plays fairly easily and is comfortable to use. When selecting your guitar, make sure that it meets those criteria.
In Conclusion
Every instrument is different. The more you try out, the more you’ll know what you like and what you don’t. Ask your friends who already play what they like or dislike about their guitars. And listen to the advice of those who have been through the process. But in the end, you will be spending countless hours with it, so pick the instrument that appeals to you.

Santa Brought me a Guitar-Now What???

2006-12-21T04:54:00.001-08:00

So you've got a guitar for Christmas. You've always dreamed of being able to play but never got round to it. Well now you have an instrument, you'll probably want to learn to play it. The early stages of your guitar playing experience will either make or break you. This is going to be a challenge regardless of any natural talent you may have. I am going to suggest a few things that will make a difference and will give you the best chance of succeeding. The first thing you need to do is check out the guitar you were bought. Obviously, it is going to feel difficult to play at first but there are things that you should look at to see if the instrument is not going to hinder your learning.
1. Check that the guitar sits comfortably on you. There are many styles of guitar and not all of them will give you the best chance of learning. Take the Flying V style for example, a guitar literally shaped like the letter V. You may have always dreamed of owning a guitar like this and there is no reason why you shouldn't, just don't learn to play on one initially. The reason for this is that they don't sit on your knee very well and you will spend more time wrestling with it rather than playing it. Sit your new guitar on your knee, if it stays there with the minimum of effort, you are on to a winner.
2. For the younger guys reading this, the next step is to check that you can reach the first fret comfortably without over stretching. If you can't, you need to swap the guitar for a smaller scale. These guitars are readily available from music stores and are referred to as either 1/2 size or 3/4 size. They tune the same so you can still learn your favourite tunes and then upsize as you get bigger.
3. The next thing to check is the action. The action of a guitar is a term used to describe the space between the strings and the frets (the metal bars on the fingerboard). This space can be altered on good quality guitars and the preferred distance changes between experienced guitarists making it a personal choice. However, If the strings are so high that you could pass a cigarette lighter through it, or so low that you couldn't pass a piece of paper through it, you could be in trouble. Take the guitar to a well respected guitar shop or repairer for them to adjust it for you.
4. Make sure the guitar is in tune. It always shocks me when a student comes to a Stringstocks Guitar School for their 4th or 5th lesson and the guitar is wildly out of tune. If you practice out of tune, you'll find it hard to realise when the guitar is in tune. You can buy a digital guitar tuner that is pretty easy to use from almost any musical instrument store.
I believe that if you have the 4 points above checked then you are ready to start learning productively. There are many routes to learning to play the guitar. You can teach yourself, get a tutor, learn from books, videos, DVD's or even the internet. Which is the best one? Try and think about how you learn. Do you like to explore things for yourself? Do you like to have someone take you through the process step by step? Do you like to study books? Or do you like to be visually entertained whilst learning? Your answer may point you to one of the options I have mentioned. However, there are pitfalls to each method which I will briefly highlight.

Learn to play Bass Guitar

2006-12-21T04:51:00.002-08:00

Many people believe that learning bass guitar is something that is very hard to do when, in fact, it is actually quite easy to learn. The great thing about it is that you only have to learn to play small pieces at a time and you can progress very quickly in your learning stages. There are many people that want to know how to learn bass guitar but simply don't know where to go and what to get in order to do so.
How to learn bass guitar
First of all, let me say that if you are a complete beginner to this instrument or any instrument for that matter, you will find that it is not only very easy to learn but is also extremely enjoyable, if you feel like you are not progressing enough or that it is a little hard for you (not likely) then just slow down and go over things at your own pace, the rewards are great when you do learn bass guitar so stick with it and don't give up.
If you have a family member or friend that has a bass guitar then it would probably be a good idea to just get fimiliar with the instrument, you do not have to get good at playing it at this stage but instead just get into a comfortable position with it and go over the different parts of it, this is simply to let you understand a little more about the instrument, you do not have to do this, it is not essential but can be a nice little introduction to it.
You may also wish to watch someone else who knows how to learn bass guitar, as in, someone that has learnt it before and see how they do things, this will give you an idea of what it is like for someone in your position and they may even be able to give you a few tips about learning how to play it.
Of course, if you wish to learn to play then you will need to get yourself a guitar or at least rent one, so get yourself one somehow and again, get a feel for it and become comfortable with it.
The first real step to learning to play bass guitar is to simply find a manual or instruction guide that will walk you through the process easily and in my opinion, this is a better way to learn than hiring a teacher or going to a class simply because it allows you to do things at your own pace and if you feel uncomfortable trying to play in front of others, you will be able to do everything in your own home or somewhere you can be alone, you can find a manual on the internet.

Karaoke

2006-12-21T04:51:00.001-08:00

Have you ever dreamed of showing your vocal skills in front of a large screaming audience? Some people do and there's nothing wrong with it. Some people are born gifted with the ability to perform and sing. Not everyone is and that's okay, too. Where can you go once a week to croon to your adoring fans?
Karaoke is a fun and cheap thing to do during the week. Some places only have karaoke sessions on the weekends, but if you live in a larger city they usually have them at all times during the week. You may have walked into a place and discovered it was karaoke night. You may have thought about how fun it must be to sing in front of everyone. Perhaps, you may have thought about how horrible the poor sap on the stage was.
No matter what you're initial thoughts are on the karaoke phenomenon, it's something you should consider doing sometime. It doesn't matter at all if you're bad. For the most part, people are respectful of the singers. Everyone will tell you how good you did no matter how awful you were. They know how hard it can be to get in front of everyone and sing. Who knows? You might just prove to be the next Barstar!
There is an unspoken rule in the world of karaoke. If you noticed that a particular person sings the same song during the session, it's their song. You can give it a try though, but it's just the nice thing to do to let the same person sing it each week. If you do give it a try and you outshine the other person, hard feelings may develop from the person you stole the song from.
Be well and give it a go next time you're in a karaoke lounge. You may not be the next Superstar, but you may just prove to be the next Barstar!

Learn to read a MUSIC

2006-12-21T04:50:00.001-08:00

1. Essential to communicating with other musicians.
Music is a language unto itself. Given that, how can you communicate if you cannot speak it? Ensembles, bands, choirs, opera, jazz all operate on the written notes first. Way before improvisation was the written note. Simply put, if you cannot read you will never be in any ensemble that requires it. WE could really stop right there.
2. Essential to understanding theory.
The theory of music is by necessity based on the written note. All of the structure of chords, melody, harmony and so forth can only be understood completely through the written note. I know you say well this is boring, but someday you will be so glad you started now.
3. Learn a song without any other reference.
You will not have to replay the tape or cd a million times or learn from someone else. How many times can you try to learn from a cd or from someone else and not know if you got it right? If you can read you can go straight to the book and get all of the basic information on your own. This greatly speeds up the learning curve. You cannot learn from a book the particular way a band performs the song, but you can get the basis of the song and go from there.
4. Know the way the author of those songs meant for them to sound.
This is very interesting I think. I have many times been very surprised to find out a song was written very differently than I have always heard it performed. Perhaps the performer left of the "intro" for example. "Georgia On my Mind" by Hoagy Carmichael for example. Nobody plays the intro. Also there are other examples. I know this example is an old song that many of you may not know, but the fact remains that just because you have heard it on the radio a million times does not mean it was written that way. It may be even better the way the author originally intended it! If you are a song writer I am sure you would want people to know the way you wrote it. Think about that for a moment.
5.Discover new music.
It is a wonderful thing to "find" music just because you are leafing through a songbook and you find something that really speaks top you. I have found many this way. These are songs that I absolutely love. I would never have known they existed without being able to read.
6.It is Fun!
It may seem a little hard at first, but so was riding a bicycle as I recall. In fact the first time my father let go from holding me on a bicycle I ran into a post and knocked it over! I rarely do that these days now that I have learned how. In fact there are days when I don't knock anything over.
7. It will make you a better musician.
This may go without saying, but it really bears repeating. After all, don't we all want to be a better musician? Of course we do. Are you prepared to discover new music, perform with people you might never have met otherwise, speak with authority about the origins and intent of a particular piece of music or composer? I think I know the answer. Learn to read music, you will not be sorry.

Piano Player

2006-12-21T04:48:00.000-08:00

Who hasn’t heard a piano with admiration? and how many of those admiring a piano melody ever wished they could play this famous instrument as good as the performer. The piano is widely used in western music for solo performance, chamber music, and accompaniment in a number of genres. It is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal. Though piano is not portable and it’s often expensive, it’s versatility and ubiquity has made of it one of the most familiar of all musical instruments.
Among the greatest performers we can find; Haydn, the immortals Mozart and Beethoven and Romantic composers such as Listz, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms. Of course piano is not only played in classical music. This instrument has a great versatility that allows it to be played in a number of diverse genres as jazz and pop music.
Of course the personalities mentioned above belong to those ne in a life time performers. But you don’t need to be one of them to play piano well where ever you want. At home or somewhere public. You just need to have the discipline and right techniques to learn the basics and build over them. To learn to play piano is not an impossible task for any one. It’s something that is perfectly doable and attainable for you.
Many experts day that he best way to learn piano is to look for someone who will teach you “piano fluency”. This is finding a method that will train you to use your ear to bring you to the stage where you can play virtually any piano song that you hear. Making the playing of the piano a natural performance of your senses.
Private piano lessons can cost $30 an hour and more. Imagine if you did not need a piano tutor at all, how much would you save?

Guitar Lesson 1

2006-12-21T04:40:00.000-08:00

Let's say you practice five hours a day on your guitar. What happens when you become a father with children around your feet. Can you still be a guitarist and practice?
As a father and a guitarist I have some advice. The story on how a mother can continue playing guitar has to be written by an expert on that subject.
I guess the problem is that many guitarists think that if they can't practice the way they are used to they might as well quit.
What happens with you as a guitar player when you become a father with small children?
1. You will still have time to play guitar but not when you expect it.
I have many times wondered why people that practice a lot on their guitars as they become parents suddenly stops completely to play guitar and become desillusioned with this part of their lives.
It's like a person who wants to train on a gym two hours a day. If this doesn't work he quits completely. Why?
To make ten push ups a day is better than doing nothing. I takes maybe ten seconds to make this exercise and it will have positive results. The most important thing is that you are still trying to work with your body and the time will probably come when you can increase the amount of training.
Of course the same principle applies to guitar playing. Change the way you play but don't quit. I'm sure your children don't want that.
2. Time to play guitar will come in small portions.
As you don't always know when you have time to play on your guitar you have to have your guitar or guitars extremely accessible. Have the guitar on your bed or somewhere else very close at hand. Maybe you have to buy a cheaper guitar in order to feel comfortable with this arrangement.
Personally I have an very expensive classical guitar but I mostly play on my less expensive guitars as I have them nearby all the time.
3. You might be interrupted in the middle of your guitar playing at any time.
I suggest that you give yourself a reasonable amount of homework to practice on your guitar. Try to learn this homework by heart as soon as possible so you don't need pieces of paper around as you practice. I guess you know that small children like the taste of paper..
If you give yourself just one task to perform as your guitar lesson homework you will even with small amounts of time to practice spread all over the day see yourself progressing. The important thing is to focus on this task long enough to see results and long enough for the skills to become part of your playing.
4. You will have to concentrate on more things than your guitar playing.
If you have a long term goal with your playing you will always be able to look back on what you are doing as a guitar player and can see yourself progressing. I suggest that you put your long term guitar playing goals on a place out of reach for your children but within reach of your eyes.
5. You must feel that your guitar playing is of benefit for your wife and your children.
Is it selfish to play guitar when you have children? Let me give you an example from my own childhood:
My dad was a musician playing violin, cello and guitar in our home. He was working as a guitar teacher and I heard him play classical guitar pieces, cello pieces and violin pieces everyday.
I can still remember some of those melodies and they invoke a feeling of peace and memories of childhood in my heart. I have a special relation to those pieces of music and they have certainly enriched my life.
In other words, you will need to have a repertoire of nice melodies to play for your children. Focus on learning melodies to play and try to find opportunities to play them for your wife and children.
Having a family has certainly enriched my life and made me a better musician and guitar player.

2006-12-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

Well since I have some troubles with my blog I havent been in it for a long time, but now is new and fixed, so enjoy . . .

Electric or acoustic guitar for beginner

2006-09-12T23:36:00.000-07:00

Having played the guitar for a number of years, I am often asked this question by eager learners - "Should I start learning with the acoustic or electric guitar?" In this article, I'll talk a bit about both so you can come to an informed decision.
First of all, let me get something straight. The actual notes and fretboards work the same for both, so if you start with either one, its always interchangeable, although the playing techniques might differ.
Most younger players would gravitate towards the electric guitar thanks to MTV and the "cool factor". The acoustic guitar seems to have a more "folksy" image to it. Both sound very different, with the acoustic relying purely on natural acoustic principles to generate the sound, using the body of the guitar as an "amplifier". The electric guitar on the other hand needs an electric amplifier to generate sound. There are of course hybrids, but that is not relevent in this article.
So, which is better for the beginner? I'll cover 3 aspects below - cost, convenience and playability.
Cost
Both are about the same, you can get really expensive custom built electric of acoustic guitars. However, the electric can start to get more expensive simply because of the tempting options and accessories like amplifiers, pre-amps, effects pedals, volume pedals, etc. The acoustic on the other hand might be simpler to start with. It plays right out of the box!
Convenience
Again the acoustic wins as you can take it almost everywhere without worrying about a power socket. There are personal practice gadgets available for the electric guitar which allows you to practice with headphones.
Playability
My personal preference here is the electric guitar. I find it easier to play, with the strings being softer and thus less effort to play.
Either way, they both should be respected and used for what they are and any good guitarist should be adept at both. For the beginner, I would prefer the acoustic as it helps a lot in ear training as you get accustomed to the vibrations of the body making the tuning of the strings are easier to detect.
My final piece of advice is to don't get too obsessed with your instrument while you're learning but focus on the music instead. Once you start to get better at it you'll know instinctively what sort of 'ax' you'll need. I've met my fair share of musicians who are so into the gear but have not improved in their skill much and on the other hand, have heard some amazing, soul-stirring music from blues masters that have played the same guitar all their life!

Improvising

2006-09-06T06:05:00.000-07:00

Improvisation (also known as improvising) is the act of making something up as you go along -- an act with which we all have a little experience. Remember playing House or Doctor as a child, letting the game go wherever your mind would take you? That was improvisation. No rules, no boundaries, just the limitless potential of your imagination.
Similarly, musical improvisation is the act of "writing" (creating it as you play) a song while performing it, a technique found most often in jazz and bluegrass (but can be traced back to renowned classical improvisers like Handel and Bach). Of course, it's a little more complicated than an imaginative children's game. Though improvisation is a highly creative and flexible technique, it requires great skill on the part of the musician. A musician involved in an improvisation must have a detailed knowledge of chord structure and complicated scales and modes. The musician must also have an intuitive ability to structure a song on the fly; great improvisation thrives on its ability to sound not improvised but rather wholly composed. That illusion, the ability of a song to seem anything but spontaneously made up, is part of improvisation's allure.
There are two basic forms of improvisation: structured improvisation and free improvisation. Structured improvisation, though a contradiction in terms, is the most common of the two. In this form, musicians will use a pre-determined series of chord changes, usually held down by the rhythm section, as the song's base. The lead instrument in the improvisation (sometimes also pre-determined) then have the freedom to create new melodies and harmonies from these pre-determined chords. The flexibility of this improvisation form is dependent on the flexibility of the chord changes, and the musicians involved must be able to play exactly what they hear in their heads, as some complicated changes may not allow for large deviations.
If we were to improvise on a song such as "Billy Boy", for example, we would follow the chord progressions of the song, but make up a different melody for it. Some musicians choose to stay fairly close to the melody by using neighboring tones and half-step slides and so on; other musicians feel free to completely abandon the traditional melody and make up a new melody entirely.
In addition to songs, many musicians in the jazz and rhythm & blues tradition improvise endlessly on the 12-bar blues, which has a chord progression using only the I, IV and V chords (also known as the "primary chords" of a given key) of whatever key the musicians are playing in. For example, if a jazz group was playing in the key of Bb, the improvisations would be based on the I, IV and V chords in the key of Bb: namely Bb, Eb, and F.
Of course musicians also add extra notes to chords such as the 7th -- especially in the blues -- and sometimes also change the harmony somewhat from time to time. But the recurring theme always reverts to the I - IV - V formula.
Free improvisation, on the other hand, is far more like a game of House or Doctor -- it has no rules. Instead of focusing on harmony or melody, free improvisation focuses on the feeling and texture of the music and the way the instruments complement each other. This form tends to be far more experimental and rarely adheres to one style or genre or music -- it is, quite simply, what it is.

Creating A Band

2006-09-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

No wonder we all seek to express ourselves in some way. To achieve success in music we need a band, as a solo career is no longer popular. And now you are between decisions how to choose the band members to share you dazzling ups.
Well, there are two ways out:1.To involve professional musicians into the project and to divide obligations in advance. The only thing acquired is your own professional skills. 2.To surround yourself with deer friends and start following the path of studying altogether.
No matter which way you will go, just don’t haste. It may happen the guitarist will tear a strip off or the drummer will misfit a drum set. It’s no use shouting on them. We all make mistakes every now and then. First of all try studying few easy songs, like My Girl by Nirvana. But don’t jump into mastering jazz or grind core, as the Suicidal Tendencies, the Red Hot Chili Peppers or the Slipknot represent.
For joint work to be fruitful enough, you should organize rehearsals into two parts, the way, one will be devoted to revising already studied songs and the other one will be used for improvisation, which is of a great value, as the band members study to predict every next step of each other. Its’ you feeling every sense of music in the result. You can feel it’s aliveness by letting it through your mind. But the main thing is not to feel down in case everything is not as excellent as you have imagined. It’s much worse to loose pleasure in playing and creating music.
What concerns recommendations of experienced musicians, they are worth listen to, however, keep it in mind, it’s up to you, which of them to choose to follow.

Anti Tabs Guitar Player

2006-09-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

Reading sheet music can be very intimidating for a beginning guitarist. It is, after all, a brand new language composed of a lot of symbols that are new and alien. But Reading sheet music is a must for anyone who wants to be a serious guitarist and it will take your guitar playing well beyond anything that TAB will show you. Tablature is a crutch. It will only teach you how to play songs and compositions by rote. It is true that with Tab you will learn how to play a piece of music but in the process you are missing some of the real things that music, and being a musician are all about.
What is the goal of a guitarist?
Playing pieces of music is not the only goal of a guitarist. Growth in both technical ability and creativity are just as important. When you learn a piece of music by TAB you experience a certain amount of growth but as you master the piece your growth quickly levels off. You have learned the piece and you practice it only to keep it sharp. When you learn a piece of music with traditional sheet music you are not just learning the notes you are also learning another language. This exercising of your mind makes you more flexible, more capable, and more creative. With time and practice you recognize keys, chords, progressions and whole host of things you would never see with TAB.
Advantages of Reading Sheet music
Hearing the music -As your skill develops and your ears sharpen you will be able to pick up a piece of written sheet music and actually hear the notes without playing the guitar. It is a language that you have learned. For some this ability comes quickly and for others it takes years of practice.
Creativity – Learning a language exercises a new part of your brain. Everyday, as you apply yourself to learning this new language you will grow. And this growth promotes your creativity. You are given many more tools to work with and apply to your music composition and you gain a broader, and more colorful, understanding of music.
Sight Reading - – As you develop your skill in reading sheet music you will gain the ability to pick up a piece of music that you have never seen before and play it from sight. This ability makes you a competent musician and accelerates your ability to add pieces to your repertoire.
Breadth of Repertoire -– Does your taste in guitar music deviate from the mainstream? It can be very difficult to find tablature for pieces that are not mainstream. But you can always find the sheet music. It is the language of music.
Cross-pollination with other instruments - – If you have heard a piece of music written for another instrument; like the piano, bass guitar, cello, or anything else where would you find guitar tab for it? If you are able to read sheet music you can get a copy of the music, understand it, and transcribe it for your guitar. This holds true for sub-genres of guitar. There is an enormous amount of music available to guitarists that are not written in tab. Music like classical guitar, flamenco, Spanish and progressive/experimental. Reading sheet music gives you instant access to all these flavors of guitar.
The Ultimate Reward –
As a guitar player, or aspiring guitar player, you know that it is not something that you study for a few weeks and are done. Playing guitar is a life long pursuit and learning tablature is just a short cut that enables you to play some songs. But learning to read sheet music is a skill that will have a more profound impact on your experience with the guitar and with the music. It will make you a better, more creative, and more capable player. It will enrich your experience with the guitar and with the music in ways that tab never can.

How to play guitar

2006-09-06T05:25:00.000-07:00

Guitar chords, (note groups played specifically on a guitar,) differ only from other types of chords by virtue of instrument; they're simply a series of three or more notes played together. These notes don't necessarily have to be played simultaneously, however.
Broken chords (also referred to as arpeggios) are three or more notes that aren't played at the same time but closely enough to still be heard as a group or whole. And even the three-note rule is open to the occasional exception; some guitar chords consist of only two notes, but they still function as chords because they work diatonically in the same way that a major or minor chord would.
Guitar chords might very well be the most important element of guitar playing; after all, they're the basis of what makes a song. Most people picking up a guitar for the first time figure out a few guitar chords before even going for their first lesson, and still more teach themselves guitar without any help from an instructor. Self-taught guitarists learn chords in a number of ways. Some learn by listening to their favorite songs and slowly picking out the notes, a common yet often frustrating process. Others figure out the chords by learning to read tabs, a type of sheet music intended for fretted instruments that uses a graph-like chart to show where on the frets the fingers are placed. Both techniques are common among those learning the guitar, though the number of self-taught guitarists who never learned to read tab is fairly high.
Just like any other instrument, the sheer number of possible chord-groups can often be overwhelming for a new guitarist. And even the frequently taught chords are beginning to fall by the wayside, making room for a variety of guitar sounds created by tuning the strings in almost innumerous ways. Though power-chords (a type of note group using a base note, an octave note and the fifth) are still the most common type of chords, new bands are increasingly experimenting with alternate tunings to create new sounds; alternative bands have been toying with this way of playing interesting guitar sounds for decades.
So how many chords does a guitarist really need to know?
Most simple songs contain just 3 called "primary chords". So even a stark beginner can learn 3 simple note groups well enough to strum along and accompany himself as he sings. But after that, the sky is the limit; there are thousands of possible chords, so it is up to the individual guitarist as to how many he or she want to master.

Guitars

2006-09-06T03:47:00.000-07:00

Since i start to listen music i start to watch and listen one instrument. That instrument is guitar. It is not that other instruments are not good, but guitar is the only one i really care about. This is the first time i wrote something about that so i need somebody to share my toughts.