Written by Happy NGD on June 17th, 2010
Back when I started playing guitar the internet did not exist, there were no online lessons, youtube instructional videos, webcam guitar instructors….nothing like that. The closest thing we had to this at that time were a few guitar magazines that had about five song tabs per month and a couple lessons (with no audio!).
You kids these days have it so much easier! LOL!
Since I started blogging about the guitar, I have read quite a few excellent posts on other guitar sites and blogs that I wished I would have had back when I first started playing the guitar. Things would definitely have been a lot easier then.
Here are some of the most excellent blog posts and guitar related articles that I have seen over the past little while online. Hopefully, if you are either a new guitarist or seasoned guitar veteran, it will allow you to increase your guitar knowledge and playing abilities: … continue reading ⇒
Posted in: Commentary, Education
Written by Happy NGD on June 15th, 2010
With the way that technology is going now, there are many different ways that you can use your computer as a guitar amp. It just takes a couple different products and software packages and you are good to go. Not only that, but you will have an array of different guitar amp models to choose from.
Note – for this article, I am just going to give a brief overview on what exactly you need in order to get set up to use your computer as a guitar amp. Think of this as the first installment because I will soon be adding product reviews as well as other more detailed how-to’s in the very near future to help get you set up with the perfect computer/guitar practice set up.
photo credit: eyeliam
… continue reading ⇒
Posted in: Education
Written by Happy NGD on June 14th, 2010
If you have had your guitar for a number of years and have never taken the time to clean up the fretboard, it may just be time for you to take a look at this little guide on how to go about doing just that.
photo credit: sanbeiji
What will you need in order to do this?
1. A clean rag or cloth. micro-fiber are my favorite.
2. Steel wool – the finest you can find.
3. An alternative to steel wool are plastic scrubbing pads if you are nervous about using steel wool on your fretboard.
4. Oil for the fretboard’s wood. Lemon or some kind of furniture oil works fine.
The first thing that I like to do is to take the cloth and give the guitar’s fretboard a good wipe down. Most of the built up grime should come off fairly easily. … continue reading ⇒
Posted in: Education
Written by Happy NGD on June 9th, 2010
I like to check out all the different guitar related forums and see what kinds of questions that people are asking on there and offer my input. One question that I saw recently was a person asking for reasons for choosing different sized guitar speak cabinets. Either a 212 or a 412 speaker cabinet. Instead of answering on the forum, I thought that it would probably make a good post as well.
First off, the choice between 2 or 4 speakers depends on a lot. How much are you willing to carry around? How much room does your car or band van have? What kind of music are you playing? How big are the venues you play at? What head are you going to pair with the cabinet?
So many questions….
Let’s talk about sound first. A 412 is going to give you a lot better bass response, have an obviously “bigger” sound. Four speakers will push a lot more air and volume than a 2 speaker set up. … continue reading ⇒
Posted in: Education
Written by Guest on April 14th, 2010
If a guitar or non-guitarist asked me this question I would say yes immediately! Learning the guitar is one of the most pleasurable things that you can do, and whether you are new or an experienced guitarist you should always look to learn a bit of blues guitar. This is because the blues is the root of all modern music that we have today. If it weren’t for the blues, we wouldn’t have had Elvis and then the Beatles and everything since then.
There are lots of different ways to get blues guitar lessons. You can find a local tutor, or you can look online for courses and free lessons. I think that it is always worth getting a proper course as this gives you a structured approach to learning and allows you to make steady improvements in your playing. You will find that there are a lot of both electric and acoustic blues guitar lesson sources if you look hard enough. … continue reading ⇒
Posted in: Education
Written by Guest on April 12th, 2010
Learn by Being Playful
To get the correct guitar strumming patterns and fingering you can experiment by yourself or with a friend.
We all learn rhythm from TV, iPods, radio stations and live bands.
Rhythm is a part of nature.
- Trains,
- galloping horses,
- rushing water
are all rhythms. A strumming pattern is percussive, sort of like the drummer of your guitar. … continue reading ⇒
Posted in: Education
Written by Guest on April 6th, 2010
You can start to learn guitar by borrowing somebody else’s gear, but most students will very quickly want to get their own. Most guitar shops will want to sell you as much stuff as possible, which can make it hard to know exactly what equipment you actually need to learn guitar, and what can wait.
What do you need?
A guitar
Yes, you do need a guitar. No, it doesn’t need to be Steve Vai’s old Ibanez Universe currently on sale on ebay for $14,900 – something cheep and cheerful is fine. I tend to think it’s best not to spend too much if you are new to playing guitar, it can take a while to know exactly what sort of things you like in a guitar. … continue reading ⇒
Posted in: Education
Written by Happy NGD on March 31st, 2010
Flamenco guitar is one of the most exciting forms of guitar playing and in order to learn how to play fantastic flamenco guitar it is well worth investing in some flamenco guitar lessons. The distinctive flamenco sound is achieved due to many factors and the first thing you will need to buy is the correct guitar.
A traditional flamenco guitar is much shallower and lighter than a classical guitar, the wood is thinner, which helps keep the instrument light, and they are often made from cypress wood, plus they often, but not always, have very attractive wooden pegs.
The strings are also usually closer to the body of the guitar than on a classical instrument as this helps with the ‘tapping’ technique often used by flamenco players. To prevent damage to the delicate wood, a flamenco guitar will have a fine sheet of plastic on the soundboard, called a golpeador, which prevents dents and chips developing from the constant attack by the guitarist’s nails. … continue reading ⇒
Posted in: Education
Written by Happy NGD on March 23rd, 2010
Do you often get up in the morning feeling, well dispassionate or like there is simply no luster and shine in your life. Simply put you feel like a loser, for lack of a better word and now you have two choices. You can play victim, blame everyone and everything around you, except you of course for your misfortunes or lack of passion; or you can make a decision here and now to constantly improve your life in all the ways you can. Alright, you have made the decision and that makes you feel much better, does it not? Now the question is what is the next step? Well if you want a suggestion, how about a guitar course. If there was ever a more fun, sexier way to express one’s passion it is through music, so now make another decision. Say I am going to finish a complete guitar course; whether it is a beginner’s guitar course or crash course in guitar, you have to begin somewhere. … continue reading ⇒
Posted in: Education
Written by Happy NGD on March 21st, 2010
If you play electric guitar then you most likely have had to change the electric guitar strings at some point. While it would be ideal if the strings on a guitar never broke, it is not the reality. There are several options to choose from when replacing the strings on your electric guitar. You can choose the new style of slinky electric guitar strings to use. The Ernie Ball extra slinky strings are one type that are made of nickel plated steel wire that is wrapped around a hex shaped core wire which is also made of steel.
This wrapped design gives the strings excellent tone quality as well as a much longer life then standard strings. You can also find the nickel plated and wrapped strings in a variety of weights from the ultra light electric guitar strings to the heavy. There are also strings designed for the particular music style you like to play. You can purchase guitar strings that are designed for jazz or rock music. These strings will add better tonal quality to the type of music you wish to play. The strings are available in different sized sets ranging from 1 to as many as 24. … continue reading ⇒
Posted in: Education
