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:

Unlocking The Neck – this multi blog post goes into so much detail that it is almost a little intimidating at first but once you get yourself going you are well on your way to learning the entire neck on the guitar. This is something that I believe every guitarist should go through.

Learn How To Play Guitar In 21 Days – okay, this might sound like one of those “play guitar fast” or “learn to play in 24 hours” type things but it is actually a really well done video series on what would essentially be your first 21 days of playing guitar. This definitely gives a beginning guitarist the edge over other guitarists just starting out because it gives them the right way to do things right from the start.

How To Practice Guitar And Not Bore Yourself To Death – very important. This is something that I used to always tell my guitar students. You see, it is only natural that you will become bored if you are playing guitar songs that you absolutely hate!

Alternate Tunings For The Guitar – this is something that I have just recently got into. Having the ability to play around with all different guitar tunings opens up an entire world of different possibilities for what you can do on a guitar.

Modding The Boss CS-3 – okay, I’m not putting this out there to get you into the modding guitar world. Some people, like myself, are just not comfortable voiding their warranties and working with a hot soldering iron. However, I put this hear because I wanted to mention the possibilities that this type of thing brings. It is a whole new cool level to the guitar world and a hobby as a whole. It is something that is not always thought of but for people already used to dealing with electronics and want to do some cool mods to their gear, there is a whole internet of available info on this.

So there’s just five little links to check out and get you thinking in different ways on starting or continuing to play the guitar

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

Hardware:

This first thing that you need is an interface device that connects to your computer, usually by firewire or usb, which allows you to plug your guitar into it. These devices usually consist of regular inputs for your guitar just like a regular guitar amp. There is usually also a headphone output and sometimes mic inputs.

Software:

In order to allow the interface to work properly with your guitar, you need a piece of software to allow you to get the guitar amp and effects models that will bring the sound to your computer’s speakers. Most of the time, you will find that the software will come with the pieces of hardware that you will choose to use as your interface.

This is really the nuts and bolts of it. Stay tuned in because I will be reviewing some of these hardware and software devices in the near future!

Click here to check out some excellent fretboard cleaning products.

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.

From there, take the steel wool (or the alternative plastic scrubbers) and CAREFULLY polish the fretboard in a motion that is parallel to the frets. As long as you are very careful, you should not damage the fretboard itself.

Once you have all the frets polished, go over the fretboard one last time with the cloth. You should see even more grime come off into the rag and the frets and fretboard become smoother and less dirty.

One final note is that if you are using the steel wool, it will leave behind little bits of metal that can easily get stuck to your pickups due to the magnets. I always take a cloth and completely cover my pickups while doing this to avoid and shavings getting stuck on the pickups.

Once you have it all cleaned up, apply a small amount of oil to the fretboard using a separate cloth. This will help to protect the wood and keep your guitar’s neck and fretboard in tip top shape for many years.

And really, that is all there is to it! My recommendation now is to always make sure to give your fretboard a good clean up with a cloth everytime you change your strings. Changing your strings regularly and giving it a good wipe down every time will not give the dirt a chance to build up and come to a point again where steel wool is needed.

Click here to check out some excellent fretboard cleaning products.

Click here for 2×12 cabs for sale.

Click here for 4×12 cabs for sale.

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.

Next is transportation. Do you have the room in your vehicle for your 412 cabinet? Don’t do what I did, which was buy a new head and 412 cab only to find that the cab will not fit in the trunk of my car! It can fit on the back seat but it is really awkward to get in and out.

The venues you play at can make a difference in what you choose but remember that most times you can also mic your amp. If you can mic your amps at the venues that you play at, my advice would be to go for a 112 combo amp. Sure, it does not look as cool as a huge stack but your back will thank you later!

Finally, what amp head are you using? It would definitely be a good idea to take your head out and try out a number of different cabinets of all different sizes. You might be surprised on how different it sounds through different cabinets.

Click here for 2×12 cabs for sale.

Click here for 4×12 cabs for sale.

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.

When you start to learn this, or any other style of guitar then you certainly want to make sure that you put in enough time to practice. If you don’t then you might loose heart and not make the improvements that you want to. If you are an absolute beginner then you will find it difficult at first, but you need to get over the initial difficulties of learning and very soon it will all fall in to place. Then you will only improve more and more, especially if you have a structured course of lessons to help you to improve.

Learning to play the blues guitar is a great way to expand you musically knowledge. For thrash metal guitarists it offers a way to add melody to their existing writing, and for classical guitarists, it gives them a chance to play some loud music once in a while.

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.

It’s important for beginning guitar students to just practice feeling comfortable with the strings. I have memories of how weird it felt for my fingers to get caught up in the strings as I tried to do a simple strum. That’s all a part of it.

At first it feels odd and unnatural, then you get the hang of it and can ease your fingers across the strings and gently strum.

Lessons are OK but, to be honest, the way to learn guitar strumming is to get the feel of drumming on the strum. A good way is to turn on a radio and strum to the rhythm of the songs. That will help you get the feel of it.

You do not need to use a guitar pick for this but if you want to fool around with one, go ahead. Experiment.

Be warned that your strumming fingers could get a little raw without a pick. (You will feel it when you touch a hot cup of coffee the next day. ) The goal here is to get the feel of the guitar and strings as if it is a part of your body. I prefer just an occasional pick.

A lot of guitar practice time goes to chord fingering.  The many patterns and combinations of notes up and down the neck take time to learn. Strum patterns are important too, so put in some quality time making rhythm sounds with your fingers over the strings of the guitar. You will discover some interesting sounds.

Open tunings are a great way to learn some strumming patterns. An open tuning makes each strum sound great but you don’t have to know how to make actual chords. You can simply make a chord buy pressing all the strings across a fret. Try this pattern with an open tuning.

• Open,
• Fifth fret,
• Seventh fret.

That combination will give you  three chords to play a few hundred songs.  That is also known as the One – Four- Five progression.

Using this method I can show a new student how to  play entire songs in just a few minutes!

The truth is- by using a dominate chord open tuning  you can make good guitar music in about a half hour.

The extra bonus to this is that an open tuning gets you to practice guitar strumming patterns for days before you even learn chord fingering.

Let’s face it,  the guitar’s standard tuning sounds awful when strummed as an open chord.  You would sound pretty bad that way. But open tunings can make you sound like a rock star in no time. Now that doesn’t mean you will be extremely confident all of a sudden but you can make some decent sounds and that will inspire you to keep playing.

Joni Mitchell is an open tune player.

Most guitar players throw a few open tunings in in on certain songs.

As you learn to strum with open tunings you will build confidence and stay on track because you will feel good about the sounds you are making. That’s absolutely HUGE.

That’s a big part of learning to play. Knowing you are actually getting somewhere is vital to sticking with it. Open tunings do that for you.

Author- Kyle Whitford is a professional guitar player and performs on jingles and commercial music for his marketing company. He is an award winning, voice over artist, singer, copywriter, producer , and SEO in Charlotte North Carolina.

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.

A strap

These are necessary to play standing up.  It’s good to practice like this at least some of the time, as there are very few times you will actually perform sitting down, particularly if you’re an electric guitarist.

Some picks

These are necessary to, you know, pick with.  They are available in all sorts of materials and thicknesses.  Super thin ones are usually only good for chord strumming, while very thick ones can feel cumbersome for some players.  The exact thickness is often a matter of taste, but if you are unsure exactly what to get then something about 0.88mm is often a good start.

Spare strings

Some spare strings will save trips to the shop when you break them.  Be sure to get them in the gauge that your guitar is set up for.

Something to learn from

To learn guitar, it’s best to have some materials to learn from – these can be private guitar lessons, group lessons, guitar instruction software, dvds, books, or just playing along to your favourite CDs

Something to tune with

Guitars do go out of tune.  Most guitarists will use an electronic tuner to tune with, but you can also tune by ear using a pitch fork, another instrument, or even from CDs or mp3s.

What don’t you need?

An amplifier

Yes, that’s right.  You can learn guitar without an amplifier, even a solidbody electric guitar.  Unplugged, is not going to be loud enough to play stadiums, but it will be fine for your bedroom.  Amps are great, electric players will usually want one very soon after they start, but you don’t actually need one to start learning.  For parents who are buying equipment for a kid or teenager to learn guitar on, I think it can be a good idea to just buy them an electric guitar, with the promise of buying them an amplifier if they practice regularly for a year or 18 months.

Effects pedals

Effects pedals, rack units and so on can be great.  But when you’re first learning, they are only going to distract you from learning to play the guitar.  For new guitarists, I tend to think it’s best to hold off for at least a year before buying effects.

Home Studio

You don’t any recording equipment to start to learn guitar.  That said, you can get a lot of benefit from listening back to yourself playing – it’s a really good way to focus on any rough patches in your playing.  But you don’t need a fancy home studio to do that – a beat-up old boom box from the 80s will work just as well simply for the purposes of listening back to your playing.

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.

Whilst flamenco music actually developed in Andalucía, Southern Spain, it is now performed all around the world and its influence can be heard in many forms of music.

Many of the skills used by flamenco players can be taught during your flamenco guitar lesson.

A good starting point is to watch and listen to some of the great flamenco players that are performing today, but you will also need guitar flamenco lessons to start learning the techniques.

During your flamenco guitar lessons, you are likely to learn many new rhythms and two of the most well known are called the rasgueado and the tremolo. Both of these are difficult to master initially, but given time and practice, you will be able to produce the desired sound.

The rasgueado is finger strumming but it is very rhythmic, precise and usually very rapid, as is the case with the tremolo.

Once your flamenco guitar lessons have identified and shown you how to achieve these techniques, many hours of practice will be required to achieve the correct speed.

However, these are only two of the methods used by many flamenco players, and they are actually quite advanced techniques.

The best starting point is to have some lessons and be assessed as to your current level. Lessons are available from beginner to professional level and often music can be seen in tablature form for those that do not read music.

Think about this now! Are you young and still in school or middle aged, bored and lonely? Well if it is the former, you will be going to college soon and maybe you will want a way to earn some money while completing your studies. You can get a job at ‘Burger king’ supposedly and there is nothing wrong with that. Dignity is in the work itself and that is a fact. But let’s face it, you want to have some serious fun while at university and that is one of the points of going to college, big fat serious and do not forget, clean fun. Imagine you got a job at a bar playing guitar or even better, got a band together. These have got to be some of the most righteously fun ways to make some cash and it is doubtful there will be anybody contesting that argument.

Now as to the latter situation, the lonely bored middle aged professional. Well you can except this situation and make your peace with it for the rest of your life, but why would you. You still have choices and one of these choices is doing a complete guitar course. Take it step by step, living in and concentrating on the present. Start with a beginner’s guitar course and/or then move on to a more advanced crash course in guitar; having fun all the while you are doing them. When you complete your guitar course, you can be a kid again, start all over again and learn what it feels like to be alive again. Check out the Internet, there are plenty of online courses or DVD courses you can order. Then all you need is the instrument to do your course for guitar. The time to fulfill your dreams is now people, now, because tomorrow may be too late!

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.

The next time you need to change electric guitar strings on your guitar you might look into the different types of strings available. You will need to purchase the right type of corresponding string to the note such as the e string or the g string. You could purchase a whole set and have all of your notes covered with some extras to spare. The prices for the strings can range from $3 to $12 depending on how many strings you purchase. A properly strung guitar will create the type of sound and music you want your audience to hear.

You can find electric guitar strings available at most music stores. You might also find them at major department stores that carry musical instruments. There are also several online retailers that carry musical instruments and strings as well as specialty retailers that carry only strings. Choosing to purchase the more durable steel wrapped strings will allow you to play your music for a longer amount of time before needing to change the strings again. Using the higher quality strings will also provide you with the best possible tone you can get, even if you are just learning to play the guitar.