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About Me
My Name Is Victor and I play both classical and electrical guitar
6:07 PM
Friday, January 30, 2009
Power Chords 1- The art of playing rock
Power chords are actually no different from chords, except that they are played fast. Power chords are usually the most important in rock, especially when it comes to rhythm guitar. Power chords can be rather simple to play. With a little bit of practice, you can come out with a decent rock and roll sound. So what are you waiting for? Attempt some power chords now! I would recommend dammit by blink182 and it can be found here http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/b/blink_182/dammit_tab.htm
E|---------------|---------------|---------------| B|---------------|---------------|---------------| G|-------5-------|-------5-------|---------------| D|-------5-------|-------5-------|---------------| A|-------3-------|-------3-------|-------3-------| E|---------------|-------3-------|-------3-------| An example of a power chord.
By the way, the top string is your thinnest, while your lowest string in a tab is the thickest. Guess I should talk about tabs later. Other songs which are well-known include green day. You will notice that most of their songs are chords and power chords. Chords should be learnt first in my opinion. It is one of the basics. So, I would recommend starting off with chords before attempting power chords.
Class Assignment: Try finding some more chords. Then practice switching between chords. This will help you move fast when playing power chords. The basic chords which all guitarists should know are the F, G, Am, E. Chords can be easy to find, simply use a search engine, like the one in my blog or search ultimate-guitar.com for it.
Why do songs such as Jason Marz and simple plan have so many fans? They might be simple to play as compared to other songs but yet are popular? The reason lies in chords!
Chords sound great when the chords are in harmony. It can be easy to play. And right now, I would recommend that you look up www.ultimate-guitar.com and find I’m yours by Jason Marz. Probably one of his best songs, it is simple enough to play.
Chords should always be learn first. This is because chords are the basic foundations of playing guitar. Also, learning chords first will at least allow you to play some songs just within a couple of weeks. This will show that you are improving and will increase your confidence in yourself. However, attempting to play difficult songs with little or no chords first will take a while to learn. Would you want to play guitar for 1 year and yet be unable to play any song? And when someone asks you what you can play, you go ’erm…. Nothing’ Or perhaps, you would rather choose to learn 5-10 songs within a year? And when approach, you can comfortably choose between which songs you wish
6:05 PM
Electric Guitars
FAQ about electric guitars
What songs are they used for? Generally, they are usually used for rock, pop, metal.
How much should a starter spend on a guitar? As for electric guitars, the price of an electric guitar does not really matter. The price for bass guitars matters a lot, that is, you can feel the difference. However, this is not really true for electric guitars. Hence, i would strongly recommend to spend about $300-$400 on a guitar.
Is it possible to self-learn? Yes, of course. Popular sites such as www.ultimate-guitar.com are very useful for learning. However, if one wants to learn it fast, it would be much better to attend lessons. Starters may also make use of useful youtube videos to aid their learning. Is it better to learn acoustic first than electric? Yes. The strings of acoustic are less painful to press. For me, i started straight into electric and it really took sometime to get my fingers well-seasoned. If one is very determined to play an electric guitar, i think it will be fine because the pain will be bearable. However, taking acoustic first will give you an advantage when playing electric. Although electric and acoustic are different, they are yet similar in some sense.
How can i find tabs online? You can search www.ultimate-guitar.com for tabs. Guitar Pro, is a popular software that is used to open some tabs. I would strongly suggest getting this because it will allow you to hear the song without the lyrics. Furthermore, you can see which musician plays what. It is really useful!
For any questions about electric guitar, feel free to contact me at guitar.lover10@gmail.com
Why on earth do guitarist even remember these complicated series of octaves? There are so many scales, yet most guitarist actually bother to learn them? While it may seem difficult to learn, scales do have a purpose. Let's zoom into this purpose.
Scales are excellent exercises to aid in your improvisation and solos. Did you know that improvisation and solos come from these scales? By know the pattern of scales, you could simply change it here and there using bends, pull-offs and so on. Get the idea? In this case, you can actually create something that sounds cool, a lick, easier.
Secondly, scales help you to understand which fingers to use. When learning scales, do follow the finger guide, that is very crucial. Guitarist learn which fingers to use via scales. Once mastered, that guitarist is able to play songs using the correct fingering instead of using all the wrong fingering, which may prove to be slower as compared to using the correct fingering.
For beginners, you probably should learn scales. Why? When i started off playing an electric guitar, I always strike the wrong strings. That was because I did not learn scales yet. When I was supposed to pick the 3th string, i pick the 4th string. However, after numerous handouts of scales from my teacher, I now can pick the correct guitar string. In order to curb this problem, this should be the answer to this problem. Not only is it effective, it also helps improve other aspects too.
Guitar Scales that you could possibly learn: Chromatic scale Pure minor scale Harmonic scale Pentatonic scale
4:54 PM
As I have noticed that the coated strings are becoming ever more popular, the price for these "everlasting" strings keeps rising and rising. However, for those of you whom do not want to pay $10 or more for a pair of strings that may only last you a month or two, I have a few tips to get that cheap $5 pair of strings to last almost just as long as those super-duper coated strings.
Here is how you can "coat" almost any of your favorite guitar strings:
1. When you purchase a new pair of strings, do not put the strings on the guitar yet. Instead if the strings come in a bag, then just tear a hole in the bag, or if they come in paper or other packaging, then put them in a small zip-lock bag or sandwhich bag.
2. Grab a can of WD40 or other similar product and spray a light coat on the strings while they are still in the bag. Let them sit up to 30 minutes. This will allow the WD40 to soak in to the wound wire and will create an overall even coating that is both water and tarnish resistant. Best of all, WD40 does not create a slick or otherwise noisy coat that will create finger sliding feedback while your guitar is plugged in.
3. Once you have soaked your strings with WD40, take a bottle of lemon oil and apply a small amount on a soft cotton rag. You can then use the rag to wipe any debri or grime off your fretboard and frets. This will give you a clean start so that any previous debri does not automatically start attacking your strings as soon as you install them. (please note that you should make sure to test the lemon oil in a small spot before using as in some instances it may remove small bits of finish or laquer on a fretboard & make sure that the fretboard is the only place you apply the lemon oil)
4.You may now install your new "coated" strings onto your guitar.
Now, here are some tips that will even further the life of your strings:
1. When your strings become dirty and start losing their "sound", you may apply a small amount of WD40 or lemon oil (both will remove grime) to a soft cotton cloth. Then loosen your strings and wipe the strings down with a light squeezing pressure from your hands so that the oil gets down and removes the grime and dirt. WD40 and lemon oil are both great products to use in removing dirt because the oil actually gets down in the coils of the wire and will break up the compressed dirt and then the cloth (along with pressure from your hand) will help remove it completely. When done wiping down, carefully tighten your strings and tune them back to however you like.
2. The number one cause for string decay is the grime and sweat that is transferred from your hand to your strings when playing. To greatly reduce the amount of dirt that is transferred, wash your hands before playing your guitar (especially when you have brand new strings). This is by far the best method of making your strings last longer and I swear by this method as every time I play my guitar I wash my hands before hand. This has allowed me to get my D'addario strings to last up to 3 months in which they still sound almost as great as when I first purchased them.
3. One thing that I do while changing strings is to completely condition and clean my guitar. As this sounds kind of stupid, you are removing your strings from the guitar, so you have a chance to get all the hard to reach spaces along your fretboard and pickups that are normally hard to clean when strings are installed. I normally just use some wood polish or other product that is safe on the wood and finish of your guitar. I wipe the entire guitar down and remove almost all finger prints. I also take a Q-tip and clean out the dust along my pickups. This method not only removes some dirt buildup that could possibly effect your strings, it also just gives you a clean, shiny, and in most cases better sounding guitar (since grime often dampens the sound of your guitar).
I hope this has at least given you some ideas and will help some people that do not wish to purchase coated strings such as Elixer strings. I am in no way saying that any string is better over the other, but I do prefer this method over purchasing "coated" strings as they cost much more than I am willing to spend for one set of electric guitar strings. I also must tell you that while these products have in no way harmed my guitar, I urge you to test products like WD40 or lemon oil in a small spot before using all over the entire guitar. This way, you will prevent any large damage that could result.
Lastly, this is my first lesson so I hope that this was a satisfactory tutorial. If you feel that I could improve upon this lesson, please feel free to leave CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. If you do not like my methods of "coating my strings", feel free to post any other products or cheap DIY methods in a calm and non-aggressive manner. Thanks and I hope everyone gets a long string life by using these methods/tips.
6:54 AM
Tips on playing guitar solo
Guitar solos revolve around the improvisation of scales. Hence, knowing the scales very well will help you in learning guitar solo. I feel that the major, minor, harmonic and pentatonic scales are the most useful. Not only does it increase your overall movement, it also makes sure you use the correct fingering. Of course another important way to master guitar solos is to practice. The more you practice, the better you get, it is the law of nature.
Soloing is more than just a couple of scales, and patterns. It is used to express feelings. The pentatonic scales give a rather sad feeling. So, if one is looking to make a sad solo, he or she can improvise on one of the pentatonic scales.
I am going to give you an example, the Harmonic Minor Scale and the pentatonic minor; both are awesome and unique scales. Gary Moore used the Harmonic minor scale for blues sound, in the song 'I still got the Blues'. Hopefully, you can clearly see that solo are improvisation of scales.
If you don't improve your soloing with a bend, a pull-off, etc. Your solo may still sound like a scale. So what can you do in order to play a good solo?? First of all, you must know the key of the song. Mostly the key of a song is the first note you start playing on it. Always make use of techniques like bending, tapping and such to add colors to your solo. Take a look at dragon force ‘inside the winter storm’ or practically and dragon force songs, played by Herman Li, you will realize that his solo is filled with different techniques such as power chords, sliding, tapping and palm muting.
So, the bottom line is, master your scales before learning any guitar solo. Then, try to improve the solo using various types of guitar techniques.
The key to playing fast is not about practicing fast. This can be hard to understand. But, speed comes from practice. My guitar teacher used to scold me whenever I played fast. Why? He told me that playing fast will not be beneficial. You will probably be thinking. But when you do running, you run as fast as you can so as to improve your stamina. However, this same principle does not apply to playing a guitar.
Constantly dedicated 15-30mins a day to do a speed exercise will help. The good thing about speed training is it helps train your fingers to be independent. Especially playing rock and roll etc, speed is what makes it nice. By practicing slowly, it allows you to be able to play fast and slow. Ever seen a guitarist who is able to play very fast, yet unable to play slowly?
That’s me last time! However, I have heeded the advice of my teacher. And now, I am able to play both fast and slow. Look up various websites for speed exercise. While speed exercise can be very tiring, it is very beneficial. In speed training, you need determination to do it. Doing the same exercise non-stop, not even a second, for 15-30mins is really no joke!
‘Speed comes naturally’ says my teacher. I did not believe it last time. But, either ways, I listened to him and did everything slowly. For god’s sake, I did not have much time to practice guitar daily. With the limited time, I wanted to maximize my practice by doing more scales and exercises. However, when I did slowly, it kind of made me feel unproductive. But now, thinking back, I feel that quality comes before quantity. So for all you guys looking to play fast, practice slowly, and consistently! Remember, slow and easy wins the race!
6:53 AM
Electric guitarist seldom just use the amp along and play, they make use of different types of effects to make good music. Some effects that i will talk about include distortion, chorus, phase shifter, pitch shifter, digital delay, wah-wah pedal, reverb and tremolo. A good multi effects pedal brand is ZOOM.
Distortion This effect makes the sound driven too hard for the amp. Most guitarist will make use of this effect because it creates a musical pleasing way. Distortion can be anything from fuzzy to a screaming chain-saw fuzz used by bands who play metal.
Chorus This effect makes the overall sound sound fatter, which sounds like the sound of many guitarist playing all at one time.
Phrase Shifter This effect allows you to play in harmony alone through splitting the signal into two paths. It is really useful when practicing a song alone as it allows you to play in harmony.
Digital delay This device produces a repetition of the sound, just like echoes. It also created rhythmically timed repeats of the notes you play. One famous band that uses this is Guns N' Roses.
Wah-wah pedal This effect plays with the frequency. You can control the sound by raising and lowering the pedal. The world famous dragonforce makes use of this pedal to make all sorts of weird sounds.
Reverb This effect reproduces the natural echo sound produced. It is sometimes included in amps. While the ones include in amps are not bad, having reverb as a separate will give you more variety and control.
Tremolo Similar to reverb, it is included in many amps. Tremolo is the rapid wavering of the volume that makes your guitar sound as if you are playing it through a slowly moving electric fan.
4:51 AM
There are couple of guitar equipments which you will need when playing guitar. For experts who go live on stage, a guitar strap is something that you definitely need to use. Without a strap, how are you even going to hold your guitar on stage?
Choosing a strap may be difficult to some extend. Here, let me share with you some tips on buying a guitar strap.
1) Top priority when buying a guitar strap is for it to feel comfortable. Nothing else matters when buying a guitar strap. Any other consideration should be off the list.
2) Make sure your guitar strap suits your music genre and personality. And finally, just note that until you become a rock god or some guitar idol, a guitar strap isn't one of those things you should take a mortgage for. Do not attempt to buy a guitar strap which doesnt suit your genre of music. Of course, do bear in mind priority number 1.
Ready to buy guitar strap now? Go check the different types of guitar straps available in the market! Be it fabric or leather guitar strap, you will need one if you intend to play live!
In my opinion, the difference between a $500 and a $700 electric guitar isn't that much. I would choose to buy the $500 in this case. Of course, the feel of the electric guitar and such also comes into place when choosing an electric guitar. What i feel that you should do is to spend less money on a guitar. Maybe, you could feel the difference? But I can't really feel the difference. Mostly, the 2 things that i would say when buying a guitar is, its good or its not for me. That's all. Instead, spend your money on other equipments for guitar such as a better amplifier?
3:23 AM
Power chords can be used as a stretching excercise for guitar players. Of course, that is if you know how to! But don't worry, I will now show you how to make use of power chords as a stretching exercise.
Guitarist, firstly form the power chord pattern 3-5-5 on the bass strings, starting with the thickest e.g E and ending with D string. Using this power chord, move up and down the frets 1 - 5. E.g 1-3-3, 5-3-3. Strum the 3 strings about times. For guitarist who are able to play 8th notes, then play it in a rhythmic way. Otherwise, simply the strum it 8 times.
Actually, it really does not matter which power chord pattern you use. The key is to play it along the top part of the fretboard. Example: within frets 1-7. Why? Because the top part of the fretboard is always harder to read as compared to the lower. Don't believe? Try it! As it is harder to reach, your fingers are going to have to stretch in order to reach them. Also by moving your power chords along the frets, you will be able to feel the stretch in your hand.
We have talked about maximising your practice time. I would say this guitar exercise would be killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Why do i say so? Because it enables you to stretch further and as well as to increase your strumming speed on your guitar! Why not take your guitar and work it out now?
Did you take guitar lessons in high school? Can you strum a few bars of a Bob Dylan song, or play along with the Rolling Stones? If you are considering learning classical guitar, you are in for a whole new experience! Classical guitar is considered to be an art; one that has been practiced for hundreds of years. It has a history all of its own. Before you begin learning to play classical guitar, you will want to study its history and learn a few other things that make the classical guitar different from a regular acoustic guitar.
The main difference between classical and regular acoustic guitar is the way that you play them. A classical guitar has to almost become a part of you. Your body needs to move with the guitar as you play. Let yourself feel the rhythms and the melody and be caught up in them. If you are willing to take this approach, the music you play will have much more passion and movement than if you sit straight up and strum stiffly on the guitar.
Playing classical guitar requires the musician to be relaxed, both in mind and in body, and to become part of the music. Any thoughts or ideas you have of playing acoustic guitar will probably not apply to classical guitar. Be open to changing any habits or ideas that you have; this will help you to learn more quickly and to become a classical guitar player that people love to listen to.
Although classical guitar will seem difficult, take the time to learn the basics. Practice them over and over. If you do this, you will have a strong beginning to build on when you want to learn more complicated tunes and techniques. Practice and patience are very important when you want to learn classical guitar.
There are different ways to learn to play classical guitar. You can buy a book, CD or video, or even find information on the Internet. The most successful way to learn is to find a classical guitarist to teach you. It is much easier to learn how to sit, how to hold your guitar, and how to play the music if you have someone right there to show you and to correct you if you make any mistakes. Contact your local music store or put an ad in the newspaper to find a teacher. Enjoy this new learning experience, and if you feel discouraged, listen to a CD of a professional classical guitarist and look forward to the day you will be able to play that well!
Playing and learning guitar can be very fun and online guitar lessons will help you learn the guitar faster than you thought possible!
Being a musician, I am glad that interest in learning guitar is on the rise. When games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band were introduced many of my musician friends felt that it would be the downfall of actually learning a guitar for real. But in fact, just the opposite has happened. Guitar teachers across the world are reporting a huge rise in the amount of new guitar students that they have. What does this have to do with online guitar lessons?
Usually when you meet with a guitar teacher it is once a week. But what do you do when you would like more instruction? This is where online guitar lessons come in. These online lessons are a fantastic way to fill in those gaps in instruction. They are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So if you want to practice and learn at midnight on a Friday night, you can!
I talked to a couple close friends that are serious guitar players and they both thought that the idea of having access to guitar lessons at all times was amazing. They both suggested that they would have learned guitar much faster if they had access to these online lessons when they started. What does this mean to you?
If you are serious about learning guitar and want to pick it up faster, then you should definitely check out adding online guitar lessons to your regular practicing!
5:41 AM
Recently bought a intelli metro tuner- IMT202. I find it really good. Wow, I do not even need to connect the tuner to the guitar. Just strike a single string of the guitar, the tuner is able to detect! How wonderful! Besides that, it is equipped with a metronome. I bought this metro tuner at $30. Of course, it could be more expensive in your country's guitar store. For guitarist looking for a 2 in 1 metronome + tuner check this model out!
Learning guitar scales is important, even if you think it almost as boring as learning chords. The problem with many new guitarists who have just started learning is that they want to go too far too soon. That is the road to disaster, as many failed guitarists will tell you.
Have you ever seen these piano players learning how to play, when they are going up and down the octaves playing their scales? Well, they are putting money in the bank because it will help them later when they have to play certain note combinations without thinking. If you are going to be a good lead guitarist, or a solo guitarist of any description in any genre, you too will have to spend time learning your guitar scales.
So, the question that many non-musicians ask. What are scales, and why are they so important? Scales are combinations of notes, ascending or descending, normally within an octave. The major scales are the basis of all other scales, and start and end on the same not. They go in the order whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half-whole, the wholes and halves representing steps. Thus, for the scale of D: D - E - F# - G - A - B - C# - D.
Scales are chosen because they are melodic and harmonic, and once learned, they can be used to produce tunes that are pleasing to the ear. When learning guitar, you will come across the pentatonic scale, which is derived from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th notes of the corresponding major scale. Thus, the pentatonic D will be D - E - F# - A - B
There are a number of reasons for learning scales, one being that they are fundamental to learning the theory of music, and if your ambition is to become a classical guitarist, then you will also be required to learn about the theory of music. They allow you to learn about harmonics and pitch, and the effects of sharps and flats. Some note combinations are discordant to the ear, and scales will make it a great deal easier for you to compose a series of notes that will sound good.
Another reason, more important to guitarists, is that they enable you to play a series of notes without thought that will sound good, especially when played fast. Most fast guitar riffs and solos would sound meaningless if played slowly, but sound great when played fast. That is because they are based upon the pentatonic scales. You could conceivably use a major or minor scale, but with a pentatonic, you only have to learn combinations of 5 notes.
By learning a few pentatonic scales, you will be able to play fast guitar licks up and down the frets, using the same 5 notes in the same order. If you listen to the main solo in 'Bohemian Rhapsody', written by Brian May, that is played using a pentatonic scale, as is 'Eruption' by Eddie Van Halen. You can play the same notes over a number of octaves and it will sound great, because the notes are a scale that is pleasing the ear. Hence, the importance to a lead guitar player of learning guitar scales.
Once you get up on stage and start playing, you are not going to remember a complex series of notes to make up a rapid guitar solo. You have to play the notes by rote. If you have learned a guitar scale, the pentatonic in particular, you will be able to play anywhere on the neck of your guitar, as long as the notes are true.
Sure, you will have to change it for each string, and according to where on the neck you play it, but the notes will be the same and they will always be played in the same order. In practise, it doesn't matter to you if they are sharps or flats or neither: you are just playing the notes, and don't have to understand the theory. If you have learned your guitar scales properly, then you won't have to remember because of the muscle memory involved.
It's the same with chords. If you have learned your chords properly, you don't have to figure where to put your fingers, you just play the chord and you fingers automatically get them right due to the muscle memory of repetition and revision. You don't start a new song in your gig, and then wonder what the chords are: they come automatically, and so do the scales when you need them.
That's why learning guitar scales is important, and why you shouldn't screw up your face when asked to play them. It's money in the bank, that you will withdraw when you are finally standing alone in front of 10,000 screaming people and striking up the first note of your fabulous guitar solo. It's only dozens of repetitions of a pentatonic scale, but they don't know that - they think you are fabulous - a star- and all because you took the time to learn your guitar scales.
Looking for online guitar lesson? Well, some are of course useful, like jamorama. But of course, if you do wish to look for free online guitar lessons. Then what I suggest is to check out youtube for great lessons. I have found countless of free online guitar lessons. Most of the time, they prove to be better than text lessons. Why not search youtube for online guitar lesson? But of course, do keep in mind that jamorama offers good online guitar lesson, although its payable.