Electric Guitar Articles

The high energy performances of rising country rock star, Candy Coburn, are starting to win her an ever increasing fan base. Sporting her trademark green guitar, a Mother’s Day gift from her husband, Candy literally explodes onto the stage in her live concerts. Her music has a unique style that Candy says was shaped by her life experiences and which seems to connect with her audience.

She has already released one CD titled, “Enjoy the Ride”, and her second CD is due out sometime this fall. She has been doing a lot of touring during which she has opened for many of country music’s biggest stars. In her most recent performance in Missouri’s bootheel region, she opened for Little Big Town. She certainly did a good job there of warming the crowd as she had them hooting and yelling for more.

Candy is a down to earth girl with a big heart, and as soon as her performance ended, she headed straight for a group of children in a special section high up in the arena. The children, many of them in wheelchairs, were given a thrill by having their pictures taken with the performer they had just finished cheering for on stage. She remained signing autographs and having her picture taken with fans until the main performance was ready to begin. Even when Little Big Town had finished their set, she was found in the lobby still mingling with her fans.

This is not unusual for this down-to-earth, unspoiled, but quickly rising, new singer. She can often be found doing charity shows in her home region, and relates easily and naturally with her growing number of avid fans. Do not be surprised if in the future the cry of “We want some Candy” is heard all over the world of country music.

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When changing the strings on a classical guitar it is best to change one string at a time. It is not good for the neck of the guitar to have a sudden release of tension and then to have it applied forcefully later. This can lead to distortion of the neck and permanent damage.

As well as this, never tune the string more than a tone above its normal pitch. You can tune it a little sharp (for example, one semitone above normal concert pitch) as this can make the guitar a little ‘brighter’ to play. Tune it any higher and you risk breakage.

Never put steel strings on a classical guitar. It is not constructed to take this exertion and it is easily damaged (the neck can break away from the body).

To string the guitar: - Unwind the old string until the tension is completely released and the string is quite floppy - Unthread the string from the Capstan in the Headstock - Next untie if from the bridge and discard it

You’re now ready to string the guitar: - Start by slipping the string through the corresponding hole in the bridge from the sound hole end - Leave approximately 1½ inches of the string sticking out past the back of the bridge - Pull the extra string length towards the sound hole and loop it around the string where it originally entered the bridge - Loop the string under and over itself on top of the bridge twice. This forms a figure 8.

- Pull the string tightly away from the sound hole and attach it to the tuning peg as shown below

- Loop the string at the peg head and then twist it around itself before tightening the peg

- Continue to restring the other strings one by one using the above method

After all the strings are restrung, start to tune the strings by starting with the first E treble string. Use the tuning fork to get the A note on the 5th fret. You can tune the other strings from this.

There is another way of securing the string to the bridge. This is called the Letter D method. This is usually used only for the 4th, 5th and 6th strings and is done as follows: - Start as you would with the figure 8 by passing the string through the bridge at the sound hole and leaving 1½ inches sticking out - Bring the extra string length back and loop around itself then under and over itself ONCE at the very back of the bridge forming the letter D

Supposedly, the figure 8 is better since it has more holding power.

Some things to take note of while restringing and tuning: - Nylon strings, especially trebles, are very stretchy. On the first day they will seem to be never in tune but will stabilize the next day - Don’t stretch the strings when restringing since this make them develop thin areas. Uneven strings do not play in tune - Most intonation problems are due to uneven strings - Experiment to find the string that sounds best

Remember to take your time when first restringing a guitar. Take care that you learn the correct method. There will be less slippage and breakage or tuning problems if you learn in this way.

When you first put on new strings play all the semitones, fret by fret, along the string length and then retune the guitar. This will allow the strings to stretch more quickly and settle down and stay in tune.

There are a lot of classical guitar strings on the market. It pays to experiment until you find the one that is right for you

Restringing a guitar can be a bit daunting at first. Approach the task slowly and take time to learn the correct methods.

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Gen Mason is a guitar player from Florida. Discover free how to improve your guitar skills at Jamorama

Are you ready to play the unofficial “most cool instrument in the world”? Well, yeh, that’s the guitar. Yes, playing guitar is cool. Some people miss out on it, though - but they’ll look back later with remorse and say: “i studied classical piano when i could’ve been playing guitar…”

But since you’ve decided to learn guitar, I’d like to give you a few pointers to get you started.

First of all, if you’re serious, get a decent instrument. Don’t pick up a $50 guitar from Walmart. At least invest in a name brand beginner’s guitar. I bought an Oscar Schmidt acoustic guitar from a friend for $90. A price like that sure didn’t break the bank, but it’s a quite decent guitar, especially for someone like me - my expertise is on the keyboard, not the guitar.

Secondly, get some help learning guitar. If you’re pretty musical, you might get by with a DVD or instruction book teaching you how to play. Or, you may have a friend who can help you out a little. Most of us, though, will learn guitar quicker with a teacher. Find a teacher that is a good guitarist, but is also a good teacher. Also, be sure that they play the type of guitar music you want to learn. For example, if you want to play rock music, don’t get a classical guitarist for a teacher!

Thirdly, learn guitar by playing songs that you love. It’s much more fun to practice when you’re playing your favorite songs. The great thing about contemporary guitar music is that no matter how much of a beginner you are, you can find great songs to learn. If you’re really new, you might even want to try one of the old “three chord” rock songs, by the likes of Elvis.

Of course, one of the most important things you should do is practice!

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Andrew Koblick’s Guitar Improvement DVDs include… Amazing Guitar- Improve Fast & the Ultimate Blues Primer - Play the Blues Plus check out our Free Guitar Newsletter.

Have you ever wanted to become a rock star? Would you like to know how to play your favorite songs on your guitar? Or write your own music? Maybe you would just like to play songs with your family sitting around the campfire, or serenade your love. Whatever your interests are, learning to play the guitar can be lots of fun.

I have been a music lover all of my life. Since I was a kid, music was my passion. I can still remember my favorite songs, and the memories they bring back to me. For music lovers like myself, music has always had a special meaning. Even though I’m not exactly a youngster any more, you will still find me cranking up the radio, jamming to my favorite songs.

Although I learned to play a few different instruments, my instument of choice is the guitar. It’s very easy to learn and I love the way it sounds. There are so many different sounds you can implement with a guitar such as: classical, rhythm, bass, solo, and a number of others. Once you get started, it’s hard to put it down! You’ll be enjoying your new found talent more than ever before.

I didn’t start learning to play the guitar until the age of 15. I was amazed at the ease of learning it. For someone who doesn’t play an instrument, the guitar is one of the best instruments to start with. I wish I had. It would have made my learning experience a lot more fun!

Stastics have shown that children who learn to play an instrument do better in shcool and function at a higher social level. It gives them confidence in other areas and makes them feel good about themselves. It also gives them something to look forward to and to strive to get better at.

Who knows? Maybe you or your child will become the next Garth Brooks or Jimmy Hendrix! You never know what the future can bring. But even if that doesn’t happen, playing the guitar can enrich your horizons, and make your life much more fun.

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Mandy Morris - Learn to Play Guitar with Jamorama - The Ultimate Guitar Learning Kit, no matter what country you’re in. Jamorama is the BEST way to learn how to play guitar! Click Here or just go to http://articlelinkto.com/jamorama for more info.

Many of the normal things that we do in our lives have been changed by the Internet. Most of these changes have had to do with the way we purchase items that we need or want, from household appliances, home décor, gifts, clothes, and food. Of course, musical instruments like drums, pianos, and guitars are not far behind. In the past, musicians would have quailed at the idea of buying a guitar that they have never seen or touched before.

But times are changing, as I’ve mentioned. Any nonbelievers would only need to take a peek at E-Bay to see how many guitars and other musical instruments are being sold and bought daily. I’m not suggesting, of course, that guitarists should just go ahead and buy their guitars online without first thinking about the pro’s and con’s. Buying a guitar that you’ve never seen and listened to before does have its fair share of risks, especially if you’re buying from someone or from a company you’ve never heard of before.

One of the annoyances is the shipping. Musicians are very finicky about the way their instruments are touched and handled. So even if we’d like to think that the guitar you just bought is being carefully handled by everyone it comes in contact with, from the store down to the delivery guys, sometimes it doesn’t always happen that way.

There may be times when your newly-bought instrument will arrive with some dings and scratches, due to a number of possible reasons, such as improper packaging from the store or rough handling during shipping. So before shipping the guitar, you should think about getting your instrument packaged professionally. There are some online businesses that can offer you these kinds of services, as well as let you contact the shop first and confirm the contents of the package, before the instrument is shipped.

Aside from the dealer and shipping risks, probably the scariest part of buying a musical instrument online is that you don’t even get a chance of playing that instrument before paying for it. If you’ve ever been in a music store and played a variety of models of the same guitar, then you’d know that the sound quality always differs from one model to the next. Of course, anything that is made out of an unpredictable material such as wood will certainly have differing degrees of quality. Sure, it may look jazzy and shiny, but in the end, looks aren’t what you’re really looking for in a guitar, are you?

There’s always a possibility that when you receive your guitar, you’ll find out that it’s not at the level of quality that you were hoping for. But fear not, because most online music shops are offering 24-hour or 48-hour return policies to protect you and your investment. Moreover, these retailers are usually required by law to grant a 30-day return policy on all products, although some will not readily tell you that.

Hundreds of guitar shops and music stores abound on the Internet. Many of them operate as a music store in a specific area and are also offering their products online. However, there are also several music shops that only operate through the World Wide Web. These music retailers, since they solely rely on the Internet for their business, are somewhat more experienced in buying and selling online, so you can expect that your deals and purchases will be smoother and less likely to be stressful.

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Azlan Irda is a co-founder of http://www.lowpricesmusicalinstruments.com, where quality guitars at great prices are sold. Visit us for your guitar needs.

Are you the type of person who lets your guitar case become the house of cobwebs? It is a probably a good chance that you own a six string and didn’t put the effort in to learn how to play, or started to take intro to guitar lessons and that failed, or some other life things blocked your chances. Starting beginner guitar lessons in the normal way sometimes fails because your current life situation is hectic.

Although, if you own a pc, you can search for websites that offer beginner guitar lessons for next to nothing (or nothing), or you can buy guitar lesson deals that include a follow along book and most of the time a music Dvd. Do not worry if you struggle reading real music staff; intro players can learn how to read tablature (or tab for short), which is so simple to read compared to regular sheet music. Dylan recommends going here for other great music related material http://www.mywebrelease.com.

A great way to get started or brush up on the basics, beginner guitar lessons allow you to start where you feel comfortable, and move forward when you’re ready. Beginner guitar lessons are readily available to you online and there are quite a few good sites to choose from. Some can be downloaded, or you can have beginner guitar lessons shipped to your home, whichever you decide.

No matter how you decide to begin your beginner guitar lessons online or with other learning packages, you begin with the very basics on guitars and parts (accessories), such as guitar picks and musical tuners. Students learn how to properly hold a guitar and how to tune the guitar properly so it sounds right. This appears to be simply easy, but most students feel very out of place at first, and definitely benefit from these tips.

Another terrific plus side to taking beginner guitar lessons in your own house, is becoming embarrassed never happens. The music lessons are very simple to learn and are there so you can play them several times until you complete that particular level of play. Beginner guitar lessons usually have basic music scales and how to position for certain chords; it is vital to have some amount of music theory so you can always fall back to it, this maybe even when you become an expert musician.

The idea is to get you playing, either for the first time, or to get you back in the saddle again! Guitar is one of the easiest instruments to learn, contrary to what you may have heard, and is very versatile for most types of music. You don’t have to go buy a brand new guitar, unless of course you want to! For beginner guitar lessons, you just need something with six strings and that can be tuned. After just a few lessons you’ll be wowing your family and friends with your amazing talent!

As you can see we provided you with lots of valid information on beginner guitar lessons. Remember to never get discouraged. Also try to practice at least once a day even if it is for only a couple of minutes. Another valid tip is when taking beginner guitar lessons is to not over play. In conclusion, remember to have fun with them!

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Dylan loves music and enjoys these two other recreational sites: Art Portals Photography For Fun

Many guitar players find themselves in a rut at times not knowing how to get out. Guitarists can spend months upon months in the dreaded rut, even years if nothing is done about it. Sometimes guitar lessons can make things worse, depending on the situation.

One of the main symptoms of being in a rut is the feeling of playing the same things over and over. Some people also describe the rut as just an un-inspirational time period. Both are true.

However, either way there IS a remedy. The remedy comes in a one two punch. It’s designed to bring back the inspiration and sharpen you skills to a fine point.

You see, as you get better on the guitar, (over the course of time) you don’t realize it instantly but you actually begin to outgrow what you’ve learned to a point of mental starvation, and the toughest thing to get beyond is the fact that it can be happening and you don’t even know it.

The learning process usually happens at a slower pace, so you don’t notice yourself bottoming out from lack of substance.

Solution:

You need to gather up five to ten really cool guitar licks that were well though out, and learn them. The thing you want to do is remember the techniques of the licks as you play them over and over.

Now, as you really start to see the techniques of the licks, start to change notes in the in the variations using the exact same techniques. Even if you only change two notes, your going to have a completely different sounding lick, based off of the technique you were using. This is super cool. I’m telling you this works great!

You’re now able to split many other lick techniques into several other sub-licks spawning from the one main lick you learned. This will really start to develop all kinds of new ideas including many more immediate licks on command. It will totally fire up your inspiration because you now have all this new musical phrasing and cool sound scapes to utilize within your music.

REMEMBER: You need quality guitar licks and techniques to begin with; this guarantees everything that spawns from it will be just as killer as the original rock guitar licks.

Once you get these killer rock guitar licks and techniques, you want to be sure and learn one lick at a time very slowly. The point is to burn each lick into your mind one at a time.

Again, this will insure you get the maximum out of your development phase. It goes quickly because it’s fun and inspirational.

Play each lick no less than 100 times in a row. Watch every move your fingers make. As you continue on, you’ll notice your mind start to expand on the initial guitar lick without you even trying. It’s like magic!

You have everything to gain by learning a few new killer rock guitar licks. 100% Risk-Free Guarantee!! You can also learn how to improve your speed picking skills. Keep a positive attitude and great things will begin to happen.

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Bob Molton is a Professional Rock Guitarist and has developed blogs on Rock Guitar Licks, http://rockguitarlicks.blogspot.com Guitar Speed Picking, http://www.topfuelguitar.com and Guitar Lessons http://guitarlesson123.blogspot.com

Imagine this…

You pick up the guitar one day. Start playing your favourite song, and all of a sudden you feel this pain in your wrist. It’s a sort of pain that distracts you from your playing. You think to yourself “I’ll toughen it out it’ll probably go away tomorrow”, and continue to play some more. You continue to play like this day to day, and then you notice that the pain keeps getting worse. You wonder to yourself “Will this pain ever go away? I hope so.” The problem is, this might not be just a pain that will go away. It might be a pain that will cause serious injuries such as tendonitis.

Tendonitis is a serious injury that causes inflammation of a tendon. When you over stretch your tendons it begins to tear which leads to swelling. This is very dangerous because tendons are hard to heal, and will unlikely heal to the original strength. A lot of times this pain is caused by not stretching before you play. Stretching plays a big role in guitar playing. When you stretch your hands, fingers, wrists, and arms you widen the range of motion of your joints. Which will also enable you to play more effortlessly, and faster. When you play without stretching you have limited joint movement. Which means that your hands and wrists won’t be as flexible as if you were to stretch before playing.

Here are a few stretches that you can do before you play:

* Place the palm of your left hand to the inside of your fingers on your right hand. Push with your left hand so your fingers are going towards your forearms until you feel a burn in the wrist. Hold for 10-15 seconds. Now do the other hand. You can also do each finger individually.

* Extend your left arm fully across your chest, and with your other arm pull your left arm towards your chest. Hold for 10-15 seconds.

* With your left palm push the inside of your thumb towards your forearm, hold for 10 seconds.

* Extend your arm behind your shoulder by holding your elbow with your other hand. Pull until you feel a burn. Hold for 10-15 seconds for each arm.

* Thoroughly massage your hands and fingers individually. This is a crucial step. This will really relax your hands.

Not only should you stretch just before you play the guitar, but also any other time you get the chance. Guitar is not the only place that you can get an injury such as tendonitis. You can get it from exercise or physical work. Always stretch before doing a lot of movement that’s involved in working and exercising. If you start to feel pain, STOP PLAYING. This is a danger sign to a minor or serious injury. Just give it a rest, and if the pain continues consult a doctor. Remember, it’s all about having fun.

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Mike Morin is the writer of the Awesome Guitar Lessons Newsletter. Awesome Guitar Lessons provides free guitar lessons to new and experienced guitarists. Also, up to date information on guitarists around the world. Click Here ==> http://www.awesomeguitarlessons.com

So. You’ve decided that you’d like to learn how to play the guitar, huh? Great decision! In this article, I’ll cover the basic things you’ll need to get before you’re ready to start taking guitar lessons.

The first thing you’ll need is pretty obvious: a guitar! You should really give some serious consideration to what you want in a guitar before you buy one, though.

There are three major classifications of guitars: acoustic, classical, and electric. Acoustic is pretty much the most versatile, but it may not be what you want.

An acoustic guitar is a steel stringed guitar with a hollow wooden body. As it’s name suggests, it can be played acoustically, meaning that you don’t need an amp to play it. You can use an amp with an acoustic guitar, though. Some come with pickups already installed inside the guitar - you just plug in a ¼” sound cord and go. These are called acoustic-electric guitars. If you choose a guitar without this feature, you can buy a soundhole pickup for your guitar for about $60, which allows you to plug your acoustic guitar into an amp.

A Classical guitar is similar to an acoustic guitar, except it has nylon strings and is designed somewhat differently. As it’s name suggests, a classical guitar is ideal for playing classical guitar. You might also want a classical guitar for fnger-picking or Spanish music.

An electrical guitar is usually a plastic solid body guitar with thin steel strings. It requires an amp to play it. Electrical guitars have a unique sound, and are often used with effects pedals to distort or change the sound of the guitar. Electric guitars are central to rock music, as well as being integral to many other types of modern music.

Once you get your guitar, you’ll still need a few other items. If you’re playing an acoustic or electric guitar, you’ll want some picks. I’d suggest you start with Medium picks for most music. You should also buy a capo, which is used for changing the key of your guitar. Be sure that it fits your guitar properly before you buy it though.

With these items, you should be ready for your first guitar lesson.

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Andrew Koblick’s Guitar Improvement DVDs include… Amazing Guitar- Improve Fast & the Ultimate Blues Primer - Play the Blues Plus check out our Free Guitar Newsletter.

Learning to play guitar chords is one of the most important aspects of guitar playing. The reason guitar chords are so important is they are the “root” of songs and are the “center” of the building of a melody. A guitar chord is comprised of two or three notes that are played at the same time. A chord should not make any annoying sounds such as buzzing or muting when played.

Guitar Chords are created from individual notes from the fret board that are pieced together to form a colorful sounding multinote called a chord. Chords are divided into six categories: Major, Seventh, Augmented, Minor, Diminished, and Minor Seventh Flat Fifth. All chords can be placed in one of three groups based on the musical structure of the chord: Major, Minor, or Seventh that can be combined into great sounding chord sequences that make up lots of popular songs. There are all types of chords, but all will fall under two categories: major and minor chords.

Minor Chords

Another common chord shape, and the usual contrast to the major chord, is the minor chord. A minor chord is a chord, which has a minor third above its note or pitch. Minor chords are the same as major chords except instead of a major third, there is a minor third. Minor chords can evoke a more somber or pensive mood. Minor chords are always shown with the small (m). With any bar chord, you can lift a finger and be playing the minor bar chord.

Major Chords

The most basic chords are the seven major chords, A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Major chords consist of a root note, a major third above the root, and a perfect fifth above the root. Major chords are always shown by their name alone. Numbers correspond to notes of the relevant Major scale. Using a bar chord, the transition between a major and a minor chord is relatively simple.

Beginner Chords

If you are a beginner guitar player you know you have to learn chords. For beginners, guitar chords can be difficult at first, and making a transition from one chord to another can be difficult too. Don’t get in a rush to start playing beginner chords, learn how to do it first. Beginners often find G major challenging to play and B major impossible, but this changes with practice. Learn all the basic guitar chords you need to know as a beginner and you can start playing songs today. Even though they are designed to be easy to finger with the left hand, the real difference between the advanced and beginner guitar chords are the way they are played.

Did you Know?

Chords form the backbone of most rock and pop songs and also provide the harmonic accompaniment to the melody and instrumental solos.

Guitar chords are one of the most important aspects of guitar playing. Guitar chords, (chords 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. 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 don’t understand how powerful guitar chords really are. Changing from one chord to another is without a doubt the best way to learn guitar chords. What is really amazing is that by learning no more than 10 to 15 basic guitar chords, you will be equipped to play thousands of rock and pop songs.

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Kirk Downing is the creator of the popular portal for guitar enthusiasts called JamDojo. The site provides great information including beginner guitar lessons at http://www.jamdojo.com/beginnerguitarlessons/