Make a Game of Your Guitar Practice and Surprise Yourself
 by: Jeremiah Thompson

So you want to be improve your guitar playing?

Well, like any thing, guitar skill progress takes time and practice, but many of us have much difficulty practicing regularly because it is so easy to let other things take priority over our guitar lessons.

First, you need to absolutely make up your mind that you want to improve your guitar playing and then make sure that your progress is truly is a priority for you.

Make a list of the most important things that you need to focus on in your life right now and honestly assess where guitar fits into your list.

Ideally, you want to be engaged in a guitar lesson for at least an hour a day in order to make any significant progress.

However, you may have to conclude that at this point you are not going to be able to devote even an hour a week to the task.

If that is the case, try to spend some casual time reading guitar-related publications or listening to your favorite guitarists to nurture your love of the music. When your priorities change and you have more time, you will then at least still have a strong interest in becoming as good a guitarist as you can. Listening to Eric Clapton or other greats will only kindle your interest and may even cause you to reprioritize your guitar lessons.

Once you see where your guitar practice fits in with the rest of your life, make a true appointment with yourself. Put your practice into your schedule. Get it in your planner or it won’t get done!

Okay, now that you are regularly spending time with your beloved guitar, what should you do?

First, make sure it is quality time. Don’t have the television on or be hanging out with friends. Then, make sure you are working on skills that you need to sharpen.

If you spend time strumming popular solos and cranking up your amplifier, you may have some fun, but you will not improve your skills.

Think about the chords and scales that you struggle with. Grade yourself on them on a scale (no pun intended) of 1 to 10 and then re-evaluate every week or so. Re-grading every practice or guitar lesson is not appropriate because it is unfair to measure progress that frequently.

No one improves in a straight line. You may hit a certain chord great one day and then have two of the strings sound very unclear the next day. However, if you work diligently you will make progress when measured every couple weeks or so.

Do the same thing with scales and even notes depending on your current skill level.

Once you have a way of measuring your progress, you will be inspired to continue with your regular practice regimen and guitar lessons.

As an advanced step, after you have made progress with a certain group of chords and scales, you should find a song you like that uses many of those elements and work on that as a way of applying your improved ability.

This can be very rewarding.

You may even want to start with the song and work backwards, but make sure that you do spend a great deal of time on the fundamentals before you get serious about the song.

The key to all this is regular consistent work and a measurement of results. Achieve this, and you will enjoy your practice time more and more. Challenge yourself to be at a certain grade by a specific time.

Make a game of your practice efforts and you will surprise yourself!

About The Author

Jeremiah Thompson is an amateur guitar player and true lover of the instrument and its rich sounds. He loves writing about the subject and contributing to his website, http://www.seeguitars.com.

jeremiah@seeguitars.com

If you want to do some serious guitar picking you need a fairly heavy pick. I recently read a post on a forum where a guy said he uses a dime for speed picking. This might be a trifle extreme but it illustrates how far you can go in the pursuit of individual style. Whatever you choose for a pick, hold it between your index finger and your thumb. That might seem obvious but we need to be on the same page. And let’s get something straight right away – you need to pay attention to how you hold the pick. The sound you get is cleaner if you are holding the pick parallel to the strings. Angling the pick gives a softer attack.

You pick guitar strings with the pointy part of the pick, and the idea is to pick clean and fast. But it takes practice. There are a few different ways of looking at developing picking speed. One school of thought says you keep your wrist rigid, starting the movement from the elbow. You can also just use the index finger and thumb in a circular movement but your body is probably going to want to move from the wrist.

Any mode of picking you actually use will be a mixture of the above methods reflecting your own body’s way of working. Here is a good place to mention pain. Don’t play through it, you will injure yourself. If your wrist or hand or arm hurts – stop. If it hurts when you start again tomorrow, maybe you should see a doctor. It’s best to look after your body and live to pick guitar another day.

For playing fast you need to develop your alternate picking technique. Start with a downstroke and do alternating down and up strokes. Don’t try for speed at this stage, you are just getting your muscles used to the picking movement.

Many guitar players mute the strings that they are not actually playing so no unnecessary sound is picked up. Place the meaty heel of your hand on top of the strings, in front of the bridge. If you are playing metal guitar, you will be going for the chugging sound that some pressure on the strings will give you. If you want to hear the notes ringing while you are playing fast, lessen the pressure of your hand on the strings.

Another consideration for a guitar picker is the dynamics of the sound produced by picking near the neck or near the bridge. You are possibly already aware that you get that Duane Eddy twang by playing close to the bridge, and the sound mellows as you move your picking hand closer to the neck.

Of course you are going to be in need of further exercises for getting your up and down strokes flowing automatically. You can get these from a teacher or from an internet search. For practicing muting and experimenting with different sounds, you should already know some songs you want to fool around with.

Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog which contains all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, and how to learn guitar scales.

Ok so 3 more posts today that I’ve dug up – I’m an information JUNKIE on this stuff lately. Give em a browse and let me know what ya reckon. They’re just from a few different sites I’ve been surfing lately that are generally good for information like this…

Beginner Guitar Chords Lesson – Learn the C7 Chord : Learn To Play …

Learn how to play beginner guitar chords in this free lesson teaching you how to play the C7 Chord, also known as a dominant 7th Chord. … Chord Playing Tip: Be sure that you are pressing down on the string hard enough. You should play each string one at a time to make sure you have a nice clean sound. If any of the strings buzz or sound muted, then something is not right. The video below will further demonstrate how to correctly play the C7 Chord. Enjoy! …

Infinite Guitar Review

I absolutely love the way the lessons are presented and it was pretty handy to have the related texts and tabs along with the videos. Now to be very brief about it Infinite guitars provides online guitar lessons, they are definetely not …

Counting Crows Mr Jones Online Acoustic Guitar Lessons Free …

Strum Counting Crows Mr. Jones in this fairly EZ online acoustic guitar lesson. See the rhythm and chords used for this very cool song. Email me through. … Dude, Awesome, thanks. is your guitar a Taylor? I have a Jumbo 12 string taylor and it looks just like yours! Love it! Awesome sound! By MrRolandEsteva on Dec 8, 2009 | Reply. Excellent video to … Excellent video to learn from … Thanks. By paulyknapp on Dec 8, 2009 | Reply. What about the … What about the chorus? …

Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

How about these right… I think you’ll find the following nuggets of wisdom particularly insightful. Leave your comments below. Check out the second one in particular…

Playing The Blues Guitar: Useful Tips | Shopping Blog

You can actually find a video where you can learn this technique very easily. You can find lots of ways to learn the guitar blues. You can actually choose to have a tutor for learning blues guitar, although this may be a bit 'expensive. … you should better build your question like this, “Where can I learn to play guitar with maximum effect for me?” And this is where the links that you see can help – they will send you directly to the site with guitar lessons reviews. …

Online guitar – Online Guitar Lessons – Review

20 Best iPod Tracks to Drive To How to Start A Gospel Record Label Simply Learn How to Play the Electric Guitar Just Like a Rockstar Reinforcing Healthy Habits with Kids Music and Videos. Mail this post. Technorati Tags: Online guitar.

Medieval Lute Music in a Video Comic

Online Guitar Lessons and Articles. Free Online Guitar Lessons, Articles, Videos, Charts, and Information. Medieval Lute Music in a Video Comic. Something that guitar players and composers may be interested in is medieval lute music. …

Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

Most musicians know that different guitar strings are better for playing different styles of music. For playing rock, lighter gauge strings are better because bending the strings can raise a note up 3 or 4 semi-tones and lighter gauge strings are easier to bend. However, jazz would be the other extreme. Jazz guitarists prefer strings that are of a heavier gauge because they rarely bend a string to raise a semi-tone but rather they pick the notes. Classical guitarists use nylon strings. Blue Grass guitarists most often use standard wound strings. Country guitarists usually use medium to light gauge strings.

The problem with buying sets of strings, no matter what genre music you play, is that prepackaged string sets don’t allow for personal preference and individual styles. As you become more accomplished, you will most likely find that you like certain gauge or type strings over others.

Several (more than a few) years ago I found that by using different gauge strings, I could bend the strings and play a different chord using the same chord position. For example, when making a simple F chord, I could also play a Bb by bending the strings.

Years ago I discovered that using a .009, .011, .016, .024, .032 and .038 were the gauges that gave me the added effects that best suited my style. I had to buy each string separately because prepackaged strings didn’t come in those gauges. Now Erie Ball has prepackaged sets of guitar strings that are pretty close and other string manufacturers do as well. There are Ernie Ball prepackaged sets of guitar strings that use the .009, .011, .016, .024, .032 and .042. Now I buy that set and a single .038. (I have a drawer full of .042’s if anybody needs them.)

Personally, I prefer Ernie Ball because they seem to hold their brightness longer but you might prefer another brand. The best thing to do is just to experiment until you find the brand and the gauges that suit you best. You can buy Ernie Ball and other brands of strings at .

About The Author

Woody Bridges is the author of the Guitar Lessons With Video system, which is used to teach people worldwide how to play the guitar – in any style desired. With over 60 years of experience as a lead guitarist, he has played with greats such as Willie Nelson and George Jones, as well as other well-known musicians and performers on stages all over the country. You can learn more about Woody and his Guitar Instruction at http://www.guitarlessonsonvideo.com.

Hey Readers! I’ve been comin across some crazy stuff the past few days from a few different blogs around the web which I just had to share with you. Check em out below…

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That’s all the news for today guys, so until next time, thanks for stopping by.

Recent years have brought about the addition of so many musical styles and as a result, many people want to learn how to play guitar. Unfortunately, most of these want-to-be guitar-playing hopefuls who lost sleep over the idea of playing all their favorite riffs never make it past learning three chords. As a guitarists myself, I know the challenges of learning to play an instrument. I also know how to overcome most of these challenges. In this article I will be addressing a few challenges to learning the guitar and their solutions.

1. Learning to play guitar takes hard work.

The only place that success comes before hard work is in the dictionary. No matter how much God-given ability you have, you are not exempt from hard work. If you really want to learn how to play the guitar or any instrument for that matter, except for maybe the Kazoo, you must develop a habit of practicing. It takes the average person 21 days to develop a new habit. One thing that will help is to set aside a certain time everyday to practice and stick to this schedule even when you don’t feel like it. Don’t just plan on finding time to fit in a practice because it will never happen. You must schedule a 30 to 60 minute block of time each day. If you already have a full schedule, you may have to quit something else. It really just depends on how badly you desire to learn how to play and how much you are willing to sacrifice to accomplish this goal.

2. Learning to play guitar means sore fingers.

During the first few weeks of learning to play guitar, your fingers will be quite sore until you have developed calluses on your fingertips. This is an unavoidable reality of learning to play guitar and many people unfortunately quit due to soreness. The great news is that it’s only temporary considering you are practicing regularly. The more you practice, the sooner your fingers will stop hurting.

3. Learning to play guitar requires playing songs and chord progressions you may not enjoy.

Most people want to learn guitar because they were inspired by someone or by some really cool riff. Unfortunately, most of the songs you love and desire to play are just out of your league in the beginning. You must first take the time to learn many basic fundamentals like chords, simple chord progressions and scales before you can tackle your favorite solos. Many people quit trying to learn guitar because they are so bored with the basics. Most worth-while endeavors in life will require the discipline necessary to endure the baby steps. One thing that will help you endure these baby steps is to keep the vision in front of you. Keep thinking about that really awesome riff that you will be able to play one day. Remember that you have to crawl before you can walk.

4. Learning guitar requires good teaching.

There are some good guitar instructors and some bad ones. Before spending your hard-earned money on just any person who claims that he or she can teach you to play guitar, check this person out. It’s a good idea to ask for references. A good teacher should be able to provide these for you. Another option, and certainly a cheaper one, is to teach yourself via books and videos. Some of the best guitarists I know were self-taught. If you are a self-motivated type of person, I would highly recommend this latter option to you. There is a plethora of resources to help you learn how to play guitar.

Playing guitar is very fun and rewarding; however it will take hard work and patience. If you really desire to play, keep dreaming about playing your favorite song or riff and keep this vision in front of you. This goal will keep you motivated and determined on those days that you just don’t feel like practicing. If you have been dreaming of playing the guitar, go for your dreams. There is no better time than the present.

About The Author

Scott Brooks has been playing guitar for over 25 years and has inspired many others to play. Get a great resource to help you learn how to play guitar fast at:

Acoustic Blues Guitar

Well, it is around the hundred year mark since the world first started noticing blues guitar players. Of course they were all acoustic guitar pickers then because they had very few places to plug their electric guitars in, but they made the best of what they had. Just as a basic first impression, I would say that blues guitar players kind of favor acoustic guitar every bit as much as electric guitar. A glaring example is the success Eric Clapton had with his Unplugged album, but there are plenty of other electric blues players who are on record playing acoustic guitar. Even Jimi Hendrix appeared on TV playing some acoustic blues songs.

Acoustic blues guitar was brought to the world by the likes of by Robert Johnson, Bill Broonzy, and Rev. Gary Davis. Fingerpicking acoustic blues uses your thumb to play the bass notes while the first and second fingers play the melody. Bear in mind that the thumb is responsible for keeping time, so it will take some time getting your fingers to work independently but it will be worth it. Rev. Gary Davis was an acoustic blues player who used his thumb to strum the chords and only his index finger to play the melody.

Lightnin’ Hopkins was another acoustic blues player whose style was out of step with fashion when he was trying to make his way as a guitar player in his youth. Hopkins grew up listening to music played by bands but he learnt to play the guitar in isolation from other musicians. So he developed a guitar style that imitated a band playing lead, rhythm and bass. He even provided his oWell, it is around the hundred year mark since the world first started noticing blues guitar players. Of course they were all acoustic guitar pickers then because they had very few places to plug their electric guitars in, but they made the best of what they had. Just as a basic first impression, I would say that blues guitar players kind of favor acoustic guitar every bit as much as electric guitar. A glaring example is the success Eric Clapton had with his Unplugged album, but there are plenty of other electric blues players who are on record playing acoustic guitar. Even Jimi Hendrix appeared on TV playing some acoustic blues songs.

Acoustic blues guitar was brought to the world by the likes of by Robert Johnson, Bill Broonzy, and Rev. Gary Davis. Fingerpicking acoustic blues uses your thumb to play the bass notes while the first
1000
and second fingers play the melody. Bear in mind that the thumb is responsible for keeping time, so it will take some time getting your fingers to work independently but it will be worth it. Rev. Gary Davis was an acoustic blues player who used his thumb to strum the chords and only his index finger to play the melody.

Lightnin’ Hopkins was another acoustic blues player whose style was out of step with fashion when he was trying to make his way as a guitar player in his youth. Hopkins grew up listening to music played by bands but he learnt to play the guitar in isolation from other musicians. So he developed a guitar style that imitated a band playing lead, rhythm and bass. He even provided his own percussion by slapping the body of the guitar.

The secret to playing lots of acoustic blues songs is in learning a basic chord sequence. A one, four, five progression – for example C, F and G or G, C and D usually make an acoustic blues guitar chord sequence. Listening to the music of Mississippi John Hurt is a good way to get started on acoustic blues. His early career as a blues performer was hampered by his guitar and vocals being too subtle and expressive than was fashionable at the time.

You can do a web search for lessons on how to play acoustic blues guitar like the great bluesmen of the past, but as a general introduction to playing acoustic fingerstyle guitar, you cannot go wrong with the guitar technique known as “Travis Picking”. The basis of this style is to use the thumb, first, second and third fingers of the right hand to pick the strings in a predetermined sequence while the left hand plays chords. This is the basic idea of the style, but once you can perform this kind of picking with ease, you will find that you will begin to develop your own musical ideas that allow you to depart from rigidly playing standard chords and the same right hand picking patterns. “Travis Picking” was made popular by Country guitarist Merle Travis and popularized further by Chet Atkins.

So we have covered the names and techniques of great acoustic blues guitar players and found a basic way of playing the guitar that will set you on the road to being a blues guitarist.
wn percussion by slapping the body of the guitar.

The secret to playing lots of acoustic blues songs is in learning a basic chord sequence. A one, four, five progression – for example C, F and G or G, C and D usually make an acoustic blues guitar chord sequence. Listening to the music of Mississippi John Hurt is a good way to get started on acoustic blues. His early career as a blues performer was hampered by his guitar and vocals being too subtle and expressive than was fashionable at the time.

You can do a web search for lessons on how to play acoustic blues guitar like the great bluesmen of the past, but as a general introduction to playing acoustic fingerstyle guitar, you cannot go wrong with the guitar technique known as “Travis Picking”. The basis of this style is to use the thumb, first, second and third fingers of the right hand to pick the strings in a predetermined sequence while the left hand plays chords. This is the basic idea of the style, but once you can perform this kind of picking with ease, you will find that you will begin to develop your own musical ideas that allow you to depart from rigidly playing standard chords and the same right hand picking patterns. “Travis Picking” was made popular by Country guitarist Merle Travis and popularized further by Chet Atkins.

So we have covered the names and techniques of great acoustic blues guitar players and found a basic way of playing the guitar that will set you on the road to being a blues guitarist.

By: Ricky Sharples

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog which contains all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, and how to learn guitar scales.

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• Using Cell Phone Reverse Listings
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• Slow Computer Problems – Anti Spyware Might Be Your Answer
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• Is Spyware Slowing Your Computer Down?
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• Top Rated Spyware Removers – What Really Works?
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• Spyware Reviews – Top Spyware Removal Programs
  [Computers-and-Technology:Personal-Tech] Before you download software to clean your computer, spyware reviews will help you decide on the many programs out there. After all you are trusting you expensive computer to a piece of software that can possibly delete files that your computer needs to run on making your problem even worse.
• Reverse Cell Phone Listing – 3 Ways to Preform a Search
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• How the Experts Trace a Cell Phone Number
  [Communications:Mobile-Cell-Phone] If you need to trace a cell phone number to see who is behind the unknown calls you are getting or to trace the recent calls on your wife or husbands cell phone you will need to do a reverse call search. Private investigators and law enforcement agencies have been using a search service for years.
• Free Cell Phone Reverse Lookup – Are There Really Any Free Searches?
  [Communications:Mobile-Cell-Phone] Is there really a free cell phone reverse lookup service that works and will not charge you? How many times have you used a “free” site that takes you to a certain point and then wants to charge you? It is annoying to say the least.
• Using Cell Phone Reverse Lookups to Trace Any Cell Number
  [Communications:Mobile-Cell-Phone] Cell phone reverse lookups are a way to get information on any cell phone number even unlisted. If you are getting prank calls or want to find out who a number belongs to a simple search will reveal the callers name, address service provider and a lot more personal information then you ever thought possible.
• Tracing an Unknown 800 Number – Turn the Tables on Them
  [Communications:Telephone-Systems] Tracing an 800 number is not as easy as it sounds. Telemarketers are now hiding behind 800 numbers and using automated systems to make their calls. There is a way however to get the companies real phone number and address.
• Is That New Person Your Dating Telling the Truth? Do a Quick Background Check
  [Relationships:Dating] Is That New Person Your Dating Telling the Truth? Do you know private investigators and law enforcement agencies use reverse call look ups? It is an easy less expensive way to do a quick background check on someone without them knowing. Is your new boyfriend being completely honest with you? Run his number through a reverse call search and check him out. He will never know.
• How To Trace A Cell Phone Location – Without Them Knowing
  [Communications:Mobile-Cell-Phone] Have you ever wanted to trace a cell phone and find out the location of the caller. There are services available that will let you preform discreet searches. The cell phone owner will never know they have been tracked down. A decent reverse cell phone trace will reveal the callers full name and address, date of birth, address history, and some services will provide any criminal or other very personal records on that person.
• Reverse Cell Phone Lookup – Stop Prank Calls Cold
  [Communications:Mobile-Cell-Phone] Do you get annoying prank calls or wrong numbers on you cell phone all the time? Nothing worse than getting prank calls at 2 am or while you are driving in heavy traffic. I used to get these all the time but I found out how to put a stop to them.
• How To Trace A Cell Phone Number
  [Communications:Mobile-Cell-Phone] We all get calls from strange unknown cell phone numbers but trying to get information on a cell phone is a lot harder then a regular landline telephone. I wanted to learn how to trace a cell phone number so I did a little research to find out how.
• How To Find The Owner Of Any Phone Number
  [Communications:Telephone-Systems] Do you receive prank calls, a lot of unknown calls on your caller id or need to find out who your husband has been calling on his cell phone? If so a reverse call search can give you the information you need.
• Best Reverse Phone Number Search Provider
  [Communications:Telephone-Systems] With so many reverse phone search providers out there I wanted to offer some tips on finding the best one for your money. Some sites I joined were just scams offering outdated and worthless information and once they have your money it is really difficult to get a refund. I found this out the hard way.
• Food to Eat for Gout – The Gout Diet
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• Low Purine Diet and Gout – Benefits Involved
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• Gout Causing Food – What To Avoid For Controlling Gout
  [Health-and-Fitness:Alternative] One of the major causes of gout is the foods we put in our bodies. In this article, I will discuss several different gout causing foods, and offer advice on how to avoid them, and replace them with foods that have demonstrated the ability to decrease the pains associated with gout. If you are interested in learning how you can alter your diet, to avoid gout causing food, then you will want to read this article.
• Foods to Avoid That Cause Gout
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• Repairing Your Xbox 360 – Do it Yourself
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Like any precision instrument guitars will perform their best when they are properly set up. By setting up your guitar properly you can maximize your guitar’s potential and also customize how it will feel, play, and sound to your liking. There are some adjustments that are best left to a professional but you can do a lot yourself with just a few simple tools. Here are 3 easy steps you can take to adjust your guitar’s action, intonation, and pickup output.

The action of a guitar refers to how easy it is to fret (push down on) the strings. A guitar set up with good action will play effortlessly. The easiest way to affect the action of a guitar is by adjusting the string height at the bridge. Most electric guitars will have an adjustable bridge to allow this. Most guitar bridges will have either a hand-turned bridge height adjustment knob (like on Les Paul type guitars) or a hex-wrench driven mechanism (like most Strat-type guitars). Simply turn the screws to lower the string height. The goal is to go as low as you can before the strings start to ‘buzz’ meaning they are resting on a the fret wire. There are some instances where you may want a higher string height, for example if you play slide guitar, but in general the lower the better. Other adjustments that affect string height and action such as height at the nut, neck angle, and truss rod adjustments may be better left for the professional.

Intonation of a guitar refers to the relationship of the frets to the precise string length. A guitar that is intonated correctly will sound ‘in-tune’ at all neck positions. Poorly intonated guitars will sound ok at one neck position, but will sound ‘out-of-tune’ at other neck positions. The length of a guitar string from nut to bridge needs to be exactly bisected at the 12th fret. In other words the 12th fret must divide the string exactly in half. Here the adjustable bridge comes into play again. Most bridges will have individual saddles for each string that can be moved to adjust intonation. Moving the string saddle, in effect, changes the length of the string. You will need a good electronic tuner to adjust your intonation. The goal here is to precisely match the tone of the fretted 12th string to the tone of the 12th string natural harmonic. A natural harmonic tone is achieved by only lightly putting your finger over the fret wire (the 12th in this instance) and picking the string normally. Natural harmonics will ring like a chime. They are easier to hear when the guitar is plugged into an amp and even easier when using the overdrive channel of your amp. Use your tuner to match the tone of the 12th string harmonic to the fretted 12th string tone by incrementally moving the string saddle one way or the other. Do this for each individual string, and your guitar will be intonated.

Pickup output can greatly be affected by the proximity of the pickup to the string. The easiest way to adjust this is by adjusting the pickup height. The closer the pickup is to the string the higher the output. Most pickups will have a height adjustment screw on either side of the pickup housing. Simply turn it to raise and lower the pickup. Fret the strings at the highest possible fret and raise the pickup so that it’s about 1/8” from the string. This should produce a good high output sound. From here you can customize your sound by either raising or lowering the high E or low E side of the pickup to enhance or subdue the treble or bass response. Make sure that you match the output between all of your pickups so that you won’t get a big volume change when you change pickups.

With these tips your should be able to improve and customize your guitar and maximize the its performance. Remember that a properly set up guitar has a great impact on how it will play. It can be the difference between a guitar that plays good or one that plays great. Visit www.2ndstringguitars.com for the best value in new and used guitars, factory 2nds, and refurbished instruments at cheap guitar prices.

E. Lucktong

About The Author

E. Lucktong is an avid guitar player and performer with over 20 years of experience. Visit http://www.2ndstringguitars.com for great values on new and used guitars, Factory 2nd and refurbished guitars, and vintages.

Is there any way to take guitar lessons online?

i just got an electric guitar and i don't know how to play.

When packing a guitar for shipping one must take great care that it is properly secured to minimize any chances of it being damaged. The key is to pack the guitar properly within the box so that it can endure the external forces that can occur during shipping and handling. Here are some guidelines and tips to help you assure that your guitar will reach its destination unscathed.

The safest way to ship guitars is to double box them. The inner box can be a hardshell case or a triangular shaped cardboard guitar box. The outer box should be a sturdy double-walled cardboard box. Finding a box big enough to ship a guitar can be a challenge because of the length of the instrument. Some cardboard box companies make specific ‘guitar boxes’ that are 50” x 20” x 8”. Ask your local music store, and they may willing to give you both a used triangular box and a suitable outer box from shipments they have received. Take note of the actual dimensions of the box: length, height, and width. These are very important to calculate shipping costs and in keeping with regulations of shipping package sizes. Remember that you can always cut a box down if you need to.

First, prepare the guitar for shipping. Strings should be loosened to reduce strain on the neck. In hollow body archtops the bridge should be removed from the top if possible and secured elsewhere. Newspaper or other padding should be placed between the strings and the body of the guitar. Some suggest removing the strap button from the bottom of the guitar (especially in hollow bodies) to prevent damage when the box is in the upright position.

Next place the guitar in the inner box (or case) and fill any spaces with packing material. Pay special attention to the neck joint of the guitar. This is the most common place damages occur. Make sure there is plenty of padding to support this area at the end of the neck.

Once the inner box is secured place several inches of packing material at the end of the outer box. Stand the box upright and place the inner box (or case) into the outer box with the body end (not headstock end) of the guitar down. Now fill spaces around the inner box with packing material. Give the inner box a few good shakes during this step to make sure the packing material fills all the spaces. Top the box off with several inches of packing material for the end, cut any excess length of the box, tape it up, and you’re done. If you have packed the guitar properly you should be able to shake the package and not feel anything move around inside.

A few words about packing material. There are a lot of choices here that will work fine. Newspaper, Styrofoam popcorn, and bubble wrap are most commonly used. One of the most effective packing materials I’ve seen used for guitar packing is gift wrapping paper. If you can get it for cheap it works really well.

I hope that the tips given in this article will help you feel more confident about packing guitars for shipping. Visit www.2ndstringguitars.com for the best value in new and used guitars, factory 2nds, and refurbished instruments at cheap guitar prices.

E. Lucktong

About The Author

E. Lucktong is and avid guitar player and performer with over 20 years of experience. Visit http://www.2ndstringguitars.com for great values in new and used guitars, factory 2nds and refurbished guitars, and vintages.

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A Metal Guitar Lesson

Metal guitar is a very popular genre with people who feel that negativity and hopelessness are not getting a fair go in modern music. If you are reading an article called “Metal Guitar Lesson” you probably have an idea about what Metal is but if you don’t, the best way to describe it is by listing some Metal groups.

The genre originated with the loud, in-your-face music of the late sixties and early seventies pioneered by guitar players like Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. This style quickly moved onto another definition of the word “music” where melody fades into the background to give way to the quantity and quality of sound the guitar player is able to produce. Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are early Metal guitar groups. Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Motorhead and Slayer, Sodom, Kreator, Destruction, Children of Bodom, Tankard, Testament and Pantera are also well established but represent the more ruthless Metal guitar music known as Thrash Metal.

Every metal guitar player needs to be a fantastic string bender. The whammy bar on your guitar will change the pitch of your strings but if you have a cheap guitar you might have a problem with strings breaking. It’s best if you do it the non-whammy bar way which is pick a note and move the string sideways to bend the note up.

To get that chugging effect so desired by heavy metal guitarists, you will need to learn to mute the strings. If you have been listening to Metal guitar, you will have heard the sound, so now follow the description to find a comfortable way of MAKING the sound: simplay hold your pick in the usual playing position and place the pinky side of your hand on the strings to muffle the sound. Now take a few minutes to slowly find a way so you can pick notes on the sixth string while your hand is still muting the sound. As you become more familiar with picking in this position, you will be able to extend your range of palm muting techniques.

Once you have palm muting working for you, you could start to master machine-gun picking. This is lightning-fast up and down strokes with the pick. It takes some practice but you will be glad you did when you start combining this standard metal guitar technique with palm muting.

Vocals are not the strong point of Thrash Metal so let’s get to the equipment you need to become a Thrash Metal guitar player. Distortion is an important part of Metal so a d
1000
istortion pedal is essential. You will need the usual guitar stuff like plectrums and a tuner and a metronome.

The musical background you need for learning Metal guitar is much the same as for blues players. The major, minor, pentatonic, minor harmonic scales will be handy plus the phrygian, lochrian and byzantine modes. You might want to learn to read music or at least, tab.

Another characteristic of Metal guitar is the use of drop tunings. If you play Metal your guitar should be tuned low. It gives you a totally different kind of control over your strings, your sound is more aggressive and you can do more with hammer-ons and tapping. You could just begin by tuning your guitar half a step down. Not a drastic change but it makes your guitar sound more growly without losing all the high range. Or you could take your strings down a whole step so that your guitar is tuned D G C F A D.

If you take your tuning one and a half steps or two steps down your guitar is now sounding menacing. If you want to tune your guitar any lower than two steps down, a longer than normal neck will stop the strings from moving around too much.

By: Ricky Sharples

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog which contains all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, and how to learn guitar scales.

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Guitar lessons on YouTube?

So, I know this is cheapskate-ish, but hey, tons of people offer it.

I don't need step-by-step crap, I've been playing violin for years and have taken music theory. I need technical instruction on how to play the guitar.

So, does anyone know of YouTube channels that teach mostly technical aspects of guitar and/or bass guitar?

It could also be from some other video site, but the idea is that it's free.
Thanks.