Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Minarik Goddess Special Edition
Music123 is running a third guitar giveaway this month.Check it out.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Monday, June 27, 2005
Win a Fender Stratocaster
Music123 is running a contest to give away an American Fender Stratocaster. This is the lefty version, shades of Jimi Hendrix. Check it out.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Deals Still Exist for Vintage Guitar Collectors
By: Joey Robichaux
If you're a recent vintage guitar collector, the stories you've
heard are true. You once could step into pawn shops or flea
markets and find vintage Gibson Les Pauls and Fender
Stratocasters for $50 to $100. True. These guitars now sell for
thousands of dollars on Ebay and Gbase.
Those days are gone -- but there are still deals if you know
what to look for.
The simple thing to remember in vintage guitar collecting is ...
American guitars. Not to say Japanese or European luthiers
haven't made fine guitars, but the vintage market isn't looking
that way. If you stay American-made, you'll have the best chance
of an instrument that will appreciate in value.
Next, forget about those who claim certain years of American
guitars aren't desirable. It's true that folks once looked down
on '70's Stratocasters -- but folks are now scrambling and
paying top dollar for 70's and 80's models! Same thing with
'80's Gibson guitars -- once thought of as poor-quality
examples, people now bid high amounts for them.
Why? Well, once the most desirable pieces are gone, whatever's
left is going to command attention.
So -- to find the next "deal" -- look for American made guitars
that collectors are currently ignoring. Because -- soon enough,
these will be at the top of the food chain.
How about specifics? Well, think "student" models. Some models
are already desirable -- Fender Mustangs and Gibson Melody
Makers, for example; other models haven't gained notice yet ...
but they will!
For instance, Fender Bullets, made in the early 1980's, are
student model guitars, but are American made and use parts found
in Telecasters of the same period (pickups, etc). These are
great-sounding, easy-playing, and nice looking instruments. You
can still find Bullets for less than $300 ... although they're
beginning to gather attention. Note, we're not talking the
Squire Bullet Stratocaster-type model, but the American-made
Fender model (looks like a Telecaster).
Fender also put out a Lead series -- the Lead I, Lead II, and
the Lead III. Again, these were an American made student series
-- but are great playing, solidly made, and sound wonderful. You
can still pick up Lead's for less than $300.
Gibson Melody Makers have already been discovered by collectors
-- but there's not a lot of action with Gibson's Kalamazoo line
... yet. These student models are similar in quality to the
Melody Makers and Fender Mustangs. I've found Kalamazoo models
for less than $100!
I haven't mentioned other brands -- Epiphone, Gretsch, Guild,
etc -- because either their student models have already exploded
in price or they really don't have student models. Stick with
Fender and Gibson, stick with American made, and keep your eyes
on lesser-known student models ... and you'll find deals that
will likely join other lines in appreciating over the coming
years.
About the author:
Joey Robichaux operates the Free Sheet Music website at
http://www.freesheetmusic.net and is an avid guitar collector.
If you're a recent vintage guitar collector, the stories you've
heard are true. You once could step into pawn shops or flea
markets and find vintage Gibson Les Pauls and Fender
Stratocasters for $50 to $100. True. These guitars now sell for
thousands of dollars on Ebay and Gbase.
Those days are gone -- but there are still deals if you know
what to look for.
The simple thing to remember in vintage guitar collecting is ...
American guitars. Not to say Japanese or European luthiers
haven't made fine guitars, but the vintage market isn't looking
that way. If you stay American-made, you'll have the best chance
of an instrument that will appreciate in value.
Next, forget about those who claim certain years of American
guitars aren't desirable. It's true that folks once looked down
on '70's Stratocasters -- but folks are now scrambling and
paying top dollar for 70's and 80's models! Same thing with
'80's Gibson guitars -- once thought of as poor-quality
examples, people now bid high amounts for them.
Why? Well, once the most desirable pieces are gone, whatever's
left is going to command attention.
So -- to find the next "deal" -- look for American made guitars
that collectors are currently ignoring. Because -- soon enough,
these will be at the top of the food chain.
How about specifics? Well, think "student" models. Some models
are already desirable -- Fender Mustangs and Gibson Melody
Makers, for example; other models haven't gained notice yet ...
but they will!
For instance, Fender Bullets, made in the early 1980's, are
student model guitars, but are American made and use parts found
in Telecasters of the same period (pickups, etc). These are
great-sounding, easy-playing, and nice looking instruments. You
can still find Bullets for less than $300 ... although they're
beginning to gather attention. Note, we're not talking the
Squire Bullet Stratocaster-type model, but the American-made
Fender model (looks like a Telecaster).
Fender also put out a Lead series -- the Lead I, Lead II, and
the Lead III. Again, these were an American made student series
-- but are great playing, solidly made, and sound wonderful. You
can still pick up Lead's for less than $300.
Gibson Melody Makers have already been discovered by collectors
-- but there's not a lot of action with Gibson's Kalamazoo line
... yet. These student models are similar in quality to the
Melody Makers and Fender Mustangs. I've found Kalamazoo models
for less than $100!
I haven't mentioned other brands -- Epiphone, Gretsch, Guild,
etc -- because either their student models have already exploded
in price or they really don't have student models. Stick with
Fender and Gibson, stick with American made, and keep your eyes
on lesser-known student models ... and you'll find deals that
will likely join other lines in appreciating over the coming
years.
About the author:
Joey Robichaux operates the Free Sheet Music website at
http://www.freesheetmusic.net and is an avid guitar collector.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
How To Change Your Electric Guitar Strings
By:Mantius Cazaubon
Many guitarists, especially beginners, struggle with changing
electric guitar strings. But it really is a simple exercise.
Here's a straightforward guide you can follow:
Tools.
You will need a small needle nose pliers to cut and bend the
strings, and a string winder to help you wind the strings
quickly.
Remove the string.
You should change each guitar string one at a time. That way,
you will avoid warping the guitar neck, and you will be able to
quickly tune the new string to the other strings.
I usually remove the 6th string first. Use your string winder
and turn the tuning peg until the string becomes very slack. Now
cut off the twisted end of the old string so that it slips
easily out of the guitar. Then wind the top section of your
string out of the tuning peg.
What you do next will vary depending on the type of electric
guitar you have. The one I'm using, the strings go through the
body. Remove the old string. Pay close attention to the way your
old string comes off, and do the opposite when putting a new one
back on.
Replace the string.
Now let's put back a new string. Feed the string through a hole
in the body of your electric guitar, or the tail piece. As said
earlier, it depends on your particular electric guitar. Get the
ball end of your string in place.
Now pull the string over the bridge, over the nut of the neck,
and up past the tuning peg. Make sure it isn't slack. The new
string is very long so you will have to cut some of it off.
Leave enough string for a few winds around the tuning peg. Two
inches above the peg should work.
Pull the string through the hole of the tuning peg and begin
winding it. The string shouldn't be slack. To keep the tension,
place your fingers under the string. With the guitar facing you,
wind the tuning pegs on the left side clockwise. Wind those on
the right side anticlockwise.
To speed up the winding process, place your string winder over
the tuning peg and wind until the string becomes tight. Then
take off the peg winder and use the tuning peg to tune the
string.
Now that you've changed and tuned your 6th string, you can just
repeat the process for all the other strings.
Breaking in.
Since the strings are new, they can stretch and go out of tune
easily. They need to break in. You can speed up the breaking in
process by stretching the string yourself. Give the strings a
few gentle pulls or do some spirited strumming.
You will find yourself having to tune your guitar quite a bit
after replacing your strings. But after one or two days
everything should be okay.
About the author:
Mantius Cazaubon offers a buying guide to helping you choose an
electric guitar that meets your needs on his site,
http://www.electric-guitars-guide.com/. Visit
http://www.electric-guitars-guide.com for electric guitar
lessons, tips, and reviews.
Many guitarists, especially beginners, struggle with changing
electric guitar strings. But it really is a simple exercise.
Here's a straightforward guide you can follow:
Tools.
You will need a small needle nose pliers to cut and bend the
strings, and a string winder to help you wind the strings
quickly.
Remove the string.
You should change each guitar string one at a time. That way,
you will avoid warping the guitar neck, and you will be able to
quickly tune the new string to the other strings.
I usually remove the 6th string first. Use your string winder
and turn the tuning peg until the string becomes very slack. Now
cut off the twisted end of the old string so that it slips
easily out of the guitar. Then wind the top section of your
string out of the tuning peg.
What you do next will vary depending on the type of electric
guitar you have. The one I'm using, the strings go through the
body. Remove the old string. Pay close attention to the way your
old string comes off, and do the opposite when putting a new one
back on.
Replace the string.
Now let's put back a new string. Feed the string through a hole
in the body of your electric guitar, or the tail piece. As said
earlier, it depends on your particular electric guitar. Get the
ball end of your string in place.
Now pull the string over the bridge, over the nut of the neck,
and up past the tuning peg. Make sure it isn't slack. The new
string is very long so you will have to cut some of it off.
Leave enough string for a few winds around the tuning peg. Two
inches above the peg should work.
Pull the string through the hole of the tuning peg and begin
winding it. The string shouldn't be slack. To keep the tension,
place your fingers under the string. With the guitar facing you,
wind the tuning pegs on the left side clockwise. Wind those on
the right side anticlockwise.
To speed up the winding process, place your string winder over
the tuning peg and wind until the string becomes tight. Then
take off the peg winder and use the tuning peg to tune the
string.
Now that you've changed and tuned your 6th string, you can just
repeat the process for all the other strings.
Breaking in.
Since the strings are new, they can stretch and go out of tune
easily. They need to break in. You can speed up the breaking in
process by stretching the string yourself. Give the strings a
few gentle pulls or do some spirited strumming.
You will find yourself having to tune your guitar quite a bit
after replacing your strings. But after one or two days
everything should be okay.
About the author:
Mantius Cazaubon offers a buying guide to helping you choose an
electric guitar that meets your needs on his site,
http://www.electric-guitars-guide.com/. Visit
http://www.electric-guitars-guide.com for electric guitar
lessons, tips, and reviews.
Friday, June 17, 2005
Guitar Playing - Technique vs. Feeling - What's important?
By:Edward D Cupler
For many people, when they hear the word technique applied to
guitar playing, it brings to mind someone spending long hours
practicing scales and chords, getting their fingers to work like
precision machines that play each note perfectly without fail.
With no more feeling than someone doing calculus.
On
the other hand, when the word feeling is applied, people might
think of a smoke filled room in which every face has a story to
be told, and the guitar is a means of extracting every pent up
emotion in the room. The MC is an old blues man that has felt
every hardship life has to offer and he now turns the pain into
musical notes that cut deep into the soul of every person in the
room.
So what's important? Both! I'm not saying that
everyone needs to have the technical ability of a Malmsteen, nor
do I think that everyone should be filled with the blues like a
Stevie Ray Vaughan. I do however think that a guitarist should
have the technical ability to play however they feel. Technique
and feeling are both important and neither should be ignored.
Listening to Malmsteen, you can easily feel the intense emotion
in every note. His playing isn't just a blaze of notes; it's the
sound of someone who has mastered technique to the point where
he doesn't have to think about it. His playing has become free
of the constraints and limitations allowing the emotion to
create the music. By the same token, listening to Stevie Ray
Vaughan you hear all the feeling you would expect from a great
blues player, but Vaughan also had great technique that makes
this possible. Without great technique his playing couldn't flow
effortlessly and his playing would become choppy and restrained.
Like Malmsteen, Vaughan's technique allowed his guitar playing
to become free of constraints and limitations, allowing emotion
to take precedence in the creation of his music.
So
how do you learn this? Well, if you're alive there will always
be something to stir up some passion in you. Injustice,
religion, love, hate, movies, books someone else's music.
History gives us thousands of years worth of great stories and
literature to draw from. The news we hear every day can be
enough to get us worked up. All you need to do is harness these
feelings and let them become a part of your music. This is where
your technique must get to the point that you're not thinking
about scales, modes, and chord theory or alternate picking
styles and bending each note with perfect pitch. This is where
you must draw a distinct difference between practicing and
playing the guitar. Practicing is; long hours, getting your
fingers to work like precision machines that play each note
perfectly without fail. Studying chords and scale theory with no
more feeling than someone doing calculus. The goal is great
playing. Just like a good quarterback needs to spend hours
studying plays and practicing accurate passing so things come
naturally during the big game, a guitarist must spend hours
developing good technique so things can come naturally during
the big gig.
When practicing technique, the most
obvious thing that comes to mind is speed. How fast can you
blaze through your scales? Although this is a part of good
technique, it is not the only thing you should work on. Accurate
string bending is also very important. You must train yourself
to bend notes to pitch. Many amateur guitarists bend strings
without accuracy, which makes their bends sound weak. Another
thing that you should work on is the relationship between chords
and scales. Without understanding which chords belong to which
scales, your playing can get lost very quickly. You should
understand how to form your chords anywhere on the fretboard
from the scale you're using. Check out the Guitar Scales and Chord
Triads lesson at Guitar Metal for a visual
reference. Don't just memorize chord shapes. Show a man a chord,
he plays one song, but teach a man how to make chords from
scales and he can write his own songs. When practicing for speed
and accuracy, know what your goal is. If you want to have the
ability to play at hyper speed, you'll need to focus more on
scales and alternate picking techniques. Practicing them at slow
speeds to find the best technique and to eliminate anything that
might be slowing you down. I also recommend using the following
video lessons "Speed Kills" and Speed Lives", both from Michael
Angelo Batio. These videos are great for helping you to
understand techniques for playing fast. However if your goal is
to play a more bluesy rock style such as Angus Young, you will
want to focus more on blues phrasing and bending. You still may
need to slow things down to eliminate bad playing habits, but
the goal here would be crisp clean playing not necessarily
speed, although some speed is important.
About the author:
Edward D Cupler is the owner of guitar lessons website
guitarmetal.com Offering free guitar lessons to beginners
and advanced students.
Ed is also the owner of Digitalgreys.com
For many people, when they hear the word technique applied to
guitar playing, it brings to mind someone spending long hours
practicing scales and chords, getting their fingers to work like
precision machines that play each note perfectly without fail.
With no more feeling than someone doing calculus.
On
the other hand, when the word feeling is applied, people might
think of a smoke filled room in which every face has a story to
be told, and the guitar is a means of extracting every pent up
emotion in the room. The MC is an old blues man that has felt
every hardship life has to offer and he now turns the pain into
musical notes that cut deep into the soul of every person in the
room.
So what's important? Both! I'm not saying that
everyone needs to have the technical ability of a Malmsteen, nor
do I think that everyone should be filled with the blues like a
Stevie Ray Vaughan. I do however think that a guitarist should
have the technical ability to play however they feel. Technique
and feeling are both important and neither should be ignored.
Listening to Malmsteen, you can easily feel the intense emotion
in every note. His playing isn't just a blaze of notes; it's the
sound of someone who has mastered technique to the point where
he doesn't have to think about it. His playing has become free
of the constraints and limitations allowing the emotion to
create the music. By the same token, listening to Stevie Ray
Vaughan you hear all the feeling you would expect from a great
blues player, but Vaughan also had great technique that makes
this possible. Without great technique his playing couldn't flow
effortlessly and his playing would become choppy and restrained.
Like Malmsteen, Vaughan's technique allowed his guitar playing
to become free of constraints and limitations, allowing emotion
to take precedence in the creation of his music.
So
how do you learn this? Well, if you're alive there will always
be something to stir up some passion in you. Injustice,
religion, love, hate, movies, books someone else's music.
History gives us thousands of years worth of great stories and
literature to draw from. The news we hear every day can be
enough to get us worked up. All you need to do is harness these
feelings and let them become a part of your music. This is where
your technique must get to the point that you're not thinking
about scales, modes, and chord theory or alternate picking
styles and bending each note with perfect pitch. This is where
you must draw a distinct difference between practicing and
playing the guitar. Practicing is; long hours, getting your
fingers to work like precision machines that play each note
perfectly without fail. Studying chords and scale theory with no
more feeling than someone doing calculus. The goal is great
playing. Just like a good quarterback needs to spend hours
studying plays and practicing accurate passing so things come
naturally during the big game, a guitarist must spend hours
developing good technique so things can come naturally during
the big gig.
When practicing technique, the most
obvious thing that comes to mind is speed. How fast can you
blaze through your scales? Although this is a part of good
technique, it is not the only thing you should work on. Accurate
string bending is also very important. You must train yourself
to bend notes to pitch. Many amateur guitarists bend strings
without accuracy, which makes their bends sound weak. Another
thing that you should work on is the relationship between chords
and scales. Without understanding which chords belong to which
scales, your playing can get lost very quickly. You should
understand how to form your chords anywhere on the fretboard
from the scale you're using. Check out the Guitar Scales and Chord
Triads lesson at Guitar Metal for a visual
reference. Don't just memorize chord shapes. Show a man a chord,
he plays one song, but teach a man how to make chords from
scales and he can write his own songs. When practicing for speed
and accuracy, know what your goal is. If you want to have the
ability to play at hyper speed, you'll need to focus more on
scales and alternate picking techniques. Practicing them at slow
speeds to find the best technique and to eliminate anything that
might be slowing you down. I also recommend using the following
video lessons "Speed Kills" and Speed Lives", both from Michael
Angelo Batio. These videos are great for helping you to
understand techniques for playing fast. However if your goal is
to play a more bluesy rock style such as Angus Young, you will
want to focus more on blues phrasing and bending. You still may
need to slow things down to eliminate bad playing habits, but
the goal here would be crisp clean playing not necessarily
speed, although some speed is important.
About the author:
Edward D Cupler is the owner of guitar lessons website
guitarmetal.com Offering free guitar lessons to beginners
and advanced students.
Ed is also the owner of Digitalgreys.com
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Digitech GNX3
Besides being a state-of-the-art multi-effects guitar processor, the GNX3 also incorporates a built-in digital 8-track recorder! The GNX3's recorder features; standard recording transport buttons, punch in and out capability, individual track playback level and pan control, track overdubbing capability, and a Drum Track button which enables a virtual drum track to be recorded from the built-in drum machine. The GNX3 as a guitar processor is loaded with all that you've come to expect from Digitech such as; Multi-Modeling Technology, Hypermodel creation, and Advanced Cabinet Imaging Technology.
Check out user reviews: Digitech GNX3 (Guitar Effects)
Check out user reviews: Digitech GNX3 (Guitar Effects)
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
More on Gibson Les Paul Faded Standard
Back in 1958 Gibson guitars debuted the Les Paul Standard. To this day it represents one of the most perfect guitar designs ever created. Made famous by such artists as Jimmy Page and Duane Allman, the Standard is one of the few definitive instruments of rock n' roll.
Gibson's newest member to the "Standard" family is the Les Paul Faded Standard. This fantastic instrument has the same classic appointments as the Les Paul Standard; BurstBucker Pro pickups, a solid mahogany body with a carved AA maple top and a fully bound neck and body. The "faded" finish gives it the cool, vintage look of an older, "broken-in" instrument.
Enter to win an autographed guitar signed by Les Paul:
Gibson's newest member to the "Standard" family is the Les Paul Faded Standard. This fantastic instrument has the same classic appointments as the Les Paul Standard; BurstBucker Pro pickups, a solid mahogany body with a carved AA maple top and a fully bound neck and body. The "faded" finish gives it the cool, vintage look of an older, "broken-in" instrument.
Enter to win an autographed guitar signed by Les Paul:
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