Acoustic Guitar Reviews Archives

Advice on buying your first guitar

Your fed up of playing guitar hero and you’ve got the balls to learn real guitar -well done. So where do you begin with buying a guitar? Here’s some tips to give the beginners an idea of what they need to look for in a guitar.

  • What guitar do you want? The infamous legend is that to play an electric you first need to learn on an acoustic. This is rubbish. Buy the guitar that will give you the most enjoyment. The more practice you get on your favoured type of guitar the better. Its the same with giving someone who wants to play acoustic guitar an electric- its not a great idea. Although you will still be playing guitar, to start on the instrument you want will be alot better, due to hand positioning and posture.
  • What guitar do you need to buy? So we’ve narrowed down the guitar type that you want, but what style of guitar is going to benefit you and your playing? You shouldnt get a Gibson 335, a guitar thats built for blues playing if your thing is brutal heavy metal. The tone of a guitar will vary from guitar brands depening on the pick ups and the wood used to make them. While single coil pickups will give you a ‘brighter’ tone, humbuckers will give off a more bassier tone. Starting off on one of the cheaper models, such as a Squier or a Yamaha brand guitar which are good solid beginners guitars are good.
  • Try out a few guitars before you buy one. The only way you’ll know if you enjoy playing the guitar is by trying it out for yourself. While trying out a guitar as a beginner can be daunting, no-one will mind, as we were all beginners at some point. If your buying the guitar as a suprise gift, know what kind of music they want to play and ask the shop for recommendations. A guitar you enjoy play will encourage you to no end, while one that you dont enjoy will only take the fun out of it.

After to get your first guitar and guitar accessories


Related Blogs

Technorati Tags: ,

Technology means anyone can be a rockstar

It’s not just guitar hero that’s getting a whole load of people back into the idea of writing and recording their own tracks. The hugely successful game may have inspired countless wannabe rockstars to pick up a guitar and start rocking out but with so much new technology available to budding musicians, it seems the cutting edge of new music is becoming less Gibson and more… Gameboy?? No, you didn’t hear that wrong. As musicians try to come up with more and more ways to stay ahead of the crowd people are finding inspiration in all kinds of unexpected places, from state of the art phones to old toys and retro games consoles. Here are a few of the more innovative and unique uses for technology in music that we’ve found:

Old Nintendo Gameboys – perhaps one of the strangest musical creations around, DJ Scotch Egg doesn’t actually use any normal DJ equipment but produces his tracks entirely using sound effects and software from gameboys. But they’re not the new, shiny, slick consoles we’re used to nowadays – he only uses the old chunky grey ones we all remember playing in the early 90s. This unusual approach not only works surprisingly well (he even manages to pull it off live and gives an energetic performance bursting with attitude) but it’s also a real blast from the past as you pick out the sounds you recognise from the games of your childhood!

iPhones – Due to play a series of shows at Wembley Stadium in the summer supporting Take That, Gary Go’s set is something a bit different to what you’d usually expect to see at a pop concert. He doesn’t play any instruments live, and he doesn’t have a band – he just does everything on his trusty iPhone. In fact, he wrote, played and recorded his album purely using iPhone software apps he had downloaded especially. It should be an interesting gig to see, provided his mum doesn’t decide to give him a call while he’s on stage!

Laptops – OK so maybe this one’s not quite so weird and wonderful, we all know it’s not exactly unusual to see a laptop being used onstage during a show. But what makes the laptop such an important aspect of making your own music is that if you have one you literally don’t need anything else. With so many different programs for musicians out there, able to recreate the sound of any instrument almost perfectly, and then record and mix your tracks, it’s just a case of picking the right DJ software and going for it. Gone are the days of ‘but I don’t know how to play the guitar’ and ‘I don’t know the first thing about recording music’, these days it seems anyone can make it as a rockstar.


Related Blogs

Technorati Tags: , , ,

How To Play Guitar 101: To Your Success

The great motivator Earl Nightingale came up with the following definition of success…
Success is the progressive realization of the goal you want to achieve.” I love that definition! What does this definition mean to you? Let’s take a closer look at the worthy ideal part of it…

Spend a few minutes writing down what “worthy ideal” means to you. It is my vision of perfection…a vision of what I would ideally want & like things to be.It is a vision that I fine very energizing & inspiring!

If your success with guitar is totally dependant on working towards a worthy ideal, doesn’t it make sense that you first need to figure out what YOUR worthy ideal is? How can you progressively realize something if you don’t know what it is? How about we do some exercises to figure your one out…

Please invest at least a couple of hours doing the following exercises. They will really help you to build a picture of your worthy ideal in your mind’s eye…

Exercise 1:
Imagine how would ideally like to play.Try to imagine what your guitar will look like, sound like, and feel like.What kind of guitar are you an expert at? How does your improvising sound? What about your composing? Please write your answers down now.

Exercise 2:
I want you to imagine your ideal guitar playing career. Would you be a master guitar teacher? What about a wonderful perforing artist? Or what about performing as part of a highly successful band? How would you like to be an in demand studio guitarist? What do you really want to do? You can write down your answers now.

Exercise 3:
Write down your worthy ideal. Write your goal down in the present tense like you have already achieved it.Try to condense it down into a one paragraph statement.

Exercise 4:
If you will invest 5 minutes every morning & night that will help you to reach the goal you want to achieve. This will help you to stay motivated and focused on what you TRULY want.

Clarity is essential. If you don’t do it, you might not be able to start developing an effective career geared towards your goal.

You will find that while you are answering the questions that self-doubt will start to creap into your mind. You may doubt whatever you right down will be possible or not! This is normal. Just write down your answers anyway :) You don’t need to know right now HOW you will achieve your worthy ideal. It’s easy, just figure out what it is.

You can improve your guitar skills. You only learn by doing.


Related Blogs

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Rejuvenate yourself with music-aid

The youths of today are crazy and mad after music and for them music is a cure for all their worries and anxieties which is like a sensation and the only thing that keeps them going along with completing their world. According to them soothing and gripping music relieves them from the tiredness and exhaust. Also, music brings them out of the bad mood no matter whatever the reason may be. It has also been proved scientifically that music helps to rejuvenate you and brings you out of the fatigue and any types of worries and anxieties. Also, it is important to know that the type of music that you listen is also crucial and plays a vital role in soothing you down or refreshes you. Peaceful and mesmerizing music is beneficial when you want to refresh yourself from tiredness. Slow sad music should be resisted in the moments when you are tensed and engrossed by worries. The news is in the atmosphere that the music freak youths are crafting music albums for people of several professions to relieve them of the work and its monotony by the music freak youths. The music that will tell some provoking thoughts and quotations that will encourage one and all to move ahead and work hard to grow more. Hearing this the music lovers are very much excited and are desperately waiting for the release of the album. Also, the technicians of the city are encouraging the wonderful initiative taken by the youngsters. Not only this, the Bala Cynwyd Electricians have even started giving advices as to what kind of music makes them feel happy and contented. They say that the music forthem should not at all be electrifying but should be soothing and calm. Perhaps electricity and electrifying products reminds them of their work! Seeing the active involvement of the electricians Woburn Roofers and Sherman Oaks Plumbers have also approached the youths with their compositions and lyrics that can be utilized for the music album that is about to be released. The professionals all over the world are utilizing this great opportunity to explore their talents and are bringing it in front of all. Fair enough! Volunteer professionals!


Related Blogs

Technorati Tags: , ,

3 guitar players who influenced heavy metal

Metal has a huge string of guitar players who completely destroy and own the stage as though nothing else mattered. Lets talk about three guitarists who influenced the sound of heavy metal, and how they still impact on the genre even today.

  • Randy Rhoads. Randy Rhoads was remembered more for his work with ex Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne rather than the LA band Quiet Riot. Randy helped to write Ozzy classics such as ‘Crazy train’ and ‘Dee’. Rhodes had a classical playing background, encorporating much of it into his work in the two albums that he played on for Ozzy. Randys work can be seen on the Ozzy albums ‘Blizzard of Oz’ and ‘Diary of a madman’. It is believed that Rhoades would’ve gone on to leave the band to study classical guitar at UCLA, and he would seek out classical guitar tutors on tour with Ozzy to keep up his knowledge and playing skill. The specialist guitars that Jackson had made for him are extremely popular with metal guitar players. Rhoads lost his life in a plane crash in 1982 and guitar playing and character has been paid tribute to numerous times throughout the years.
  • Chuck Schuldiner. Main songwriter, vocalist and guitarist of pioneering metal band ‘Death’. Hailed as the father of the death metal subgenre, a term he himself wasnt comfortable with, Chuck was a huge influence on many guitar players and extreme metal. the first Death album ’scream bloody gore’, is often thought of as a template for the sub genre of death metal, but each new release saw Deaths sound progress onward from that. Death release a further 4 albums with the band, ‘Human, ‘Spiritual healing’,'Symbolic’ and ‘The sound of perseverance’ before folding Death to play guitar for ‘Control denied’, which released ‘The fragile art of exsistance’ in 1999. Chuck Schulidner died after a long battle with cancer in 2001, which saw the metal community unite many a time to try and raise funds for his surgery.
  • Darrell Lance Abbott -’Dimebag’. Guitarist of the infamous Pantera later of Damageplan and also played guitar on the country band rebel meets rebel. Pantea began as a ‘glam metal’ band in Texas in 1981, but thier sound changed dramatically and 1989s ‘Cowboys from hell’ album saw them becoming heavier, with a groove in their sound. Thier next album 1992’s ‘Vulgar display of power’ was the band breakthrough album, featuring the songs ‘this love’,'walk’, and ‘a new level’. The next album ‘Far beyond driven’ reached the top of the US charts at a time when metal wasnt considered ‘popular’. Pantera also released ‘Greater Southern Trendkill’ and ‘Re-inventing the steel’, after which Pantera split, as bassist Rex Brown and vocalist Phil Anselmo went off to do ‘Down’ and ‘Superjoint ritual’ and Dimebag and his brother and drummer Vinnie Paul created ‘Damageplan’. While playing onstage with Damageplan in Dec 2004, Dimebag was shot and died instantly. His sound is still seen in alot of bands today- ‘Lamb of god’ are an example of this.

Inspired to get playing some electric guitars? Come to these guys to get a great deal on guitars


Related Blogs

Technorati Tags: ,

Guitar Tuning Guide

Guitarists adopt different ways of tuning. The results of the simplest ways of tuning are slightly different to each other. Beginners should follow the way of tuning that is comfortable to him. Experts adopt the right method of tuning following the pitch of the tune it sounds.

The standard tuning method is followed to tune a guitar. The strings are numbered simultaneously. The strings are numbered from the lowest to the highest string. The thinnest string is the first string that sounds high and the sixth thickest string corresponds to the lowest pitch. The standard tuning is E-A-D-G-B-E. So the sixth string corresponds to the lower E, fifth string-A, fourth string-D, third string-G, second-B and first-High E.

Pitch pipe is cheap and easy to handle.  Pitch pipe is used to tune your guitar so that each string sounds well. Electronic tuner is better than pitch pipes as it gives perfect tune. High pitch electronic keyboard and piano can also set the right tune of your guitar. Tuning forks are available in various types to tune individual strings.  It is cheap and easy to carry. Harmonics is the complicated method of tuning which brings clear and resonating sound.

The easiest method of manual tuning is called Basic Tuning. At first place a finger on the fifth fret of the sixth string and play the fifth and sixth string at the same time. The two notes should sound similar. If the notes sound different then adjust the tuning peg for the fifth string so that when played open it matches with the fifth fretted sixth string. Repeat the same with fourth and third string. Place your finger on the fourth fret of the third string to adjust the tune of second string. Play the fifth fret of the second string to tune the final string. The Ibanez acoustic electric guitar is a basic choice provided to a new guitarist.

You have to tune your guitar regularly to prevent your guitar from going out of tune.


Related Blogs

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

To learn piano can be as simple as do-re-mi

When you are beginning to learn piano you will find the following tips invaluable .

Ask around or go to your local university to find references for a capable teacher that can guide you in your goal to learn piano.

The right instruction is so important that it could be the most important decision you make in your early stages of learning piano. They can guide you and keep you from developing bad habits that may last for years and be difficult to eradicate.

Online programs to learn piano can also be an excellent way to start.

Some say you can learn by ear and it is true to some extent of course, but nothing is better than exceptional instruction.

 

There are many musicians that cannot read and most of these people are so talented and such good natural musicians that perhaps they are not held back too much. However I think if they were asked they would admit they wish they could have learned more about music theory and it’s application.

The use of instruction will allow you to become a accomplished pianist in a much shorter time.

It is probably not the best idea to use a friend who plays piano to instruct your child; they may or may not be a competent teacher and it may strain your relationship.

Should your child progress with an unqualified teacher, it will be harder to unlearn the bad habits they have learned.

 

If you have a friend or relative instruct your child you may be less inclined to push the teacher to push your child. You will also most likely not criticize their teaching methods, even when it may be perfectly reasonable to do so.

The next thing to do learn to play piano or learn how to sing or be a a songwriter is obvious, but it is where a lot of new students go wrong when starting piano. You need to practice regularly.

Too many people never reach their potential because they simply do not put in the hours.

The more you can practice the piano without overdoing it, the better. Try for 20 minutes at a time, several times a day at first.

You will get more from your practice if you are not fatigued so start early in the day or take a rest beforehand if you can.

Start each practice session with warm-up exercises. They routinely work through the pieces you are learning.

If you are learning a new piece, set a certain amount of sections that you will learn every day, whether it be pages or measures or lines.

Your instructor or course will guide you with specific goals along the way.

It is important when you learn how to play piano to work on sight reading skills and reading music.

Finally, it will help your interpretation of musical pieces as you learn piano to read about the composer that you are playing.

 

Spend time honing your skills, make a commitment not to quit, and soon you will be playing piano with the best of them!


Related Blogs

Technorati Tags: , ,

Alvarez Yairi Masterworks acoustic guitar

DYM95C Aura with built in preamp..solid rosewood back and sides solid spruce top ebony fingerboard

Duration : 0:5:19

Read the rest of this entry

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

Guitar Rock Tour – iPhone Game Review:

With the iPhone being touted as the “next big thing” in handheld portable gaming devices, it’s time to put that claim to the test and see just how good the games are. www.ponderpop.com In this the first of a fistfull of PonderPop iphone game reviews Blunty shines the cold hard light of rock & roll hangover on “Guitar Rock Tour” from Gameloft. Tracklist in game includes hits like Beat It, In the shadows, Girlfriend, Message in a Bottle, What’s My Age Again, Rock You like a Hurricane, Smoke on the Water, Underclass Hero, You Really Got Me, The River, If Everyone Cared, Who Knew, and more! “Play the guitar and drums tracks of the most popular worldwide hits on your iPhone! Without any musical knowledge, learn how to quickly master the basic controls of each instrument by using the iPhone’s Touch Screen and kick off your career as a rock star! Keep your cool in front of the crowd and follow the beat so the guitar (or drums) is synchronized with the other intruments in the band!” – www.gameloft.com Distributed by Tubemogul.

Acoustic Guitar Reviews

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ibanez Iceman ICB300EX Bass Guitar Review Scott Grove

Ibanez Iceman ICB300EX Bass Guitar Review Scott Grove

Acoustic Guitar Reviews

    Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

     Page 1 of 16  1  2  3  4  5 » ...  Last » 
    Powered by Yahoo! Answers