How to Look After Your Guitar

By: Ian Williamson

It is no big secret that proper care of your guitar will give
you a more consistent quality of sound and an extended for the
guitar . If you are at alls erious about playing guitar you will
want to get some accessories that are essential for the care of
the guitar. A guitar player is only as good as the sound and the
quality of the guitar that they are playing.

The first item on th elist would be a hard shell case for
transporting the guitar. Many people use what they call soft or
cloth "gig bag" which zip up and protect the exterior surface of
the guitar. A major problem with this type of case is that the
tuning nuts on the end of the neck of the guitar get out of tune
almost every time you transport it as there is nothing to
protect them from being knocked which causes them to turn and
get out of tune. Also, if there is any kind of impact while
loading and unloading the guitar, this could cause cracks or
actual punctures in the body of the guitar. A hard shell case
prevents these things from happening as there is space between
the neck and body of the guitar and the actual case. The case is
designed to take impact while holding the guitar securely on the
inside protecting the actual body and neck of the guitar and
keeping it in tune. It is a bit more of an investment than a gig
bag but in the long run it will help to make your guitar last
much longer.

Another item that should be considered for care of the guitar is
a guitar stand. You need this to put the guitar on while you are
not playing it. Many people lean the guitar against a wall or
couch or some other stationary object when they are not playing
it. There are a couple of reasons why this is not a good
practice. The first would be that if you do not lean the guitar
in the correct manner you can very easily warp the neck of the
guitar which makes it much more difficult to play. Warping of
the neck increases the distance between the strings and the neck
which causes you to have to apply more force on the strings
while playing. This can make for some very sore and blistered
fingers! Also, leaving the guitar laying around makes it much
more available for accidents to happen. Having a stand keeps the
guitar in the same location when you are done with it and also
supports the neck close to the body of the guitar which totally
prevents warping of the neck - a small investment solving some
big problems.

The last item that should be considered is an actual tuning
device for the guitar. You will find that the longer you play
the guitar the better you will become at tuning it by just using
your ear. But for starting out, you will want to use something
that gives you the exact sound and gives the guitar an accurate
tune up. There are many devices that you can get that are very
easy to use which will give you the exact tuning you need. When
your guitar is not tuned correctly this can be very embarrassing
- especially if you are singing along with the guitar!

About the author:
This article is brought to you by Ian Williamson from Play Guitar at
http://guitar.you-can-learn.info