By: Laurie Lea
Many guitarists start out with the dream of becoming a great
guitar player. It's well within the reach of anyone willing to
put in the work to learn their craft but all the hard work is
what stops many people. Practice won't always be exciting and
will sometimes be downright boring if you don't go at it with a
plan and some discipline . When you first start to play guitar,
it's easy to practice because you're basically just sitting
around noodling away and getting to know the instrument. You
have no real direction or agenda and things are pretty simple.
Sooner or later you're going to see or hear other guitar players
that are playing things a little beyond your current ability and
you'll want to ramp your skills up so that you play as well as
they do.
The good news, realistically, is that everyone starts at zero
and builds on their skills from there. How quickly you excel or
how far you can go is entirely in your hands but you can rest
assured that having disciplined practice will allow you to go
further faster.
You'll want to pick definite, specific times for practice.
Choose times when you can concentrate in a focused way on the
task at hand without anything interrupting you. Have all of your
household chores and duties completed and out of the way,
homework done, dog walked, and everything else that could
possibly interrupt and interfere.
Work out a practice plan and stick to it until each topic is
completely understood and you can play it very fluidly and
easily. You can break practice up into categories like this for
example:
- Warm up - Major Scales - Free jamming - Minor scales - Riffs
from songs you like
- Warm up - Major Scales - Free jamming - Minor scales - Riffs
from songs you like
...and so on.
The point is to stick to the plan every day until you've
mastered the topics. Play slowly and cleanly and with the use of
a metronome if possible.
Resist the urge to want to play fast too soon. It will come with
time, but you'll become a much better guitarist if you take the
time and effort to cleanly pick every note.
So, you want to practice regularly and with a plan, as well as
playing everything you learn very deliberately so as to get it
perfect before you move on. Once you're confident that you've
got it down, move onto something else to keep challenging
yourself.
About the author:
Enjoyed this article? Go to http://budurl.com/a7bm for more
great tips and advice on playing guitar.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
How to Buy a New Guitar without Getting Ripped Off
By: Laurie Lea
If you're looking to buy your first guitar, upgrade the guitar
you have or add to your growing collection, you'd be very wise
to do your research first to make sure you get a decent
instrument that you'll be happy with. It makes no sense at all
to rush the process. You may wind up hating the guitar you get,
you'll never play it, be angry with yourself that you wasted the
money and you might lose money on it when you go to re-sell it.
Most people will suggest that you to go down to your local music
shop and try what they have. We'll get to that point, but there
is some fun and easy legwork you need to do before you ever set
foot in a music store, especially if it's one of those that are
crawling with commissioned sales people.
You'll need to narrow down exactly what type of guitar it is
you're looking for. The two basics types of guitars are acoustic
(hollow body) and electric (solid body). After you've picked the
basic type you also need to consider what you want the guitar to
look like. While this makes absolutely no difference to how the
instrument sounds, you're going to have it for a long time and
you want to be proud of it. What the guitar looks like is an
extension of your personality so don't be ashamed to make the
look of an instrument a priority.
Guitar magazines can be great sources of information as they
usually have monthly reviews of guitars and equipment. Be
careful with these though. While most guitar magazines will give
honest and unbiased reviews of instruments if you flip through
the magazine you'll also notice that the magazine has full page
ads for most of the top companies. The companies pay the
magazines big bucks to run those ads so obviously saying their
instruments are junk in a review wouldn't be good for business
would it? The good things is that most companies now make entry
level guitars as well as many levels above, so a magazine is not
likely going to bother reviewing guitars that are likely to be
terrible. Next you'll want to check out the web. Go to
www.google.com and type in forum:guitar and you will get a whole
list of forums that are based on guitars. Of course this will
cover all aspects of guitar playing, guitar lessons, and even
guitar players but it will give you a starting point to find
forums that contain honest user reviews.
After you've trawled the forums and found some reviews you
should be narrowing down the choices and reading up on a few
models. Before you head to the music shop to try them out, check
out what your favorite guitarists are playing. Many have
signature models which generally cost more but they've
customized them based on years of experience and trial and error.
Armed with all of this knowledge you'll be able to make a very
informed purchase and hopefully buy a guitar that you'll be
happy with for years to come!
About the author:
Enjoyed this article? Go to http://budurl.com/a7bm for more
great tips and advice on playing guitar.
If you're looking to buy your first guitar, upgrade the guitar
you have or add to your growing collection, you'd be very wise
to do your research first to make sure you get a decent
instrument that you'll be happy with. It makes no sense at all
to rush the process. You may wind up hating the guitar you get,
you'll never play it, be angry with yourself that you wasted the
money and you might lose money on it when you go to re-sell it.
Most people will suggest that you to go down to your local music
shop and try what they have. We'll get to that point, but there
is some fun and easy legwork you need to do before you ever set
foot in a music store, especially if it's one of those that are
crawling with commissioned sales people.
You'll need to narrow down exactly what type of guitar it is
you're looking for. The two basics types of guitars are acoustic
(hollow body) and electric (solid body). After you've picked the
basic type you also need to consider what you want the guitar to
look like. While this makes absolutely no difference to how the
instrument sounds, you're going to have it for a long time and
you want to be proud of it. What the guitar looks like is an
extension of your personality so don't be ashamed to make the
look of an instrument a priority.
Guitar magazines can be great sources of information as they
usually have monthly reviews of guitars and equipment. Be
careful with these though. While most guitar magazines will give
honest and unbiased reviews of instruments if you flip through
the magazine you'll also notice that the magazine has full page
ads for most of the top companies. The companies pay the
magazines big bucks to run those ads so obviously saying their
instruments are junk in a review wouldn't be good for business
would it? The good things is that most companies now make entry
level guitars as well as many levels above, so a magazine is not
likely going to bother reviewing guitars that are likely to be
terrible. Next you'll want to check out the web. Go to
www.google.com and type in forum:guitar and you will get a whole
list of forums that are based on guitars. Of course this will
cover all aspects of guitar playing, guitar lessons, and even
guitar players but it will give you a starting point to find
forums that contain honest user reviews.
After you've trawled the forums and found some reviews you
should be narrowing down the choices and reading up on a few
models. Before you head to the music shop to try them out, check
out what your favorite guitarists are playing. Many have
signature models which generally cost more but they've
customized them based on years of experience and trial and error.
Armed with all of this knowledge you'll be able to make a very
informed purchase and hopefully buy a guitar that you'll be
happy with for years to come!
About the author:
Enjoyed this article? Go to http://budurl.com/a7bm for more
great tips and advice on playing guitar.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Epiphone Les Paul Special II Review - Solid Quality, Low Cost
By: R. S. Rasnick
Because the market for novice guitars is so popular, you're
beginning to find beginner-level instruments everyplace you
turn. Even retailers like Target and Wal-Mart have gotten in on
the action.
However, the old proverb "you get what you pay for" applies when
purchasing a musical instrument at the same place you can buy
motor oil. Obviously, it's difficult to buy a substantial,
beginner guitar without wasting your money.
Look out, then, for the Epiphone Les Paul Special II! It has a
street price of less than $170, so it's moderately obvious that
this instrument is aimed at budget-conscious consumers. Despite
the low cost, you get rather a bit for your money.
There's no shortage of instruments in the budget market, and the
Epiphone Les Paul Special II is a worthy entry into this growing
marketplace with its killer rock sound and ease of play.
The Epiphone Les Paul Special II boasts two open-coil humbucking
pickups (the 700T and 650R), which translates the acoustic tone
from its basswood body. The guitar features a bolt-on neck
(mahogany) and a rosewood fretboard. A tune-o-matic bridge with
stopbar tailpiece are standard, as are dot inlays.
A 3-way selector switch along with master volume and tone
controls allows you to set your sounds. The guitar's
specifications include a 24-3/4" scale and 1-5/8" nut width.
Upon our first review, we did have to make a few little
adjustments such as intonating the guitar, adjusting the action,
and tightening up the tuners. The pickup selector was also a bit
scratchy.
After we took care of these minor problems, we were extremely
pleased with the overall quality of the guitar. The finish is
moderately thin, so you do have to be cautious, but the wine red
finish was well done overall.
We were encouraged with the action and tones, which are simply
superb for a guitar as budget-priced as the Les Paul Special II.
We did observe a couple of dead spots on the neck, but what do
you want for $170? We still enjoyed the instrument very much.
Given its price, we strongly recommend the Epiphone Les Paul
Special II for anyone seeking a budget-level instrument that is
both playable and good-sounding.
About the author:
If you are looking for a great price on a guitar for beginners
or for a wonderful budget-priced guitar, you should definitely
consider the Epiphone Les Paul Special II. For the
absolutely lowest prices, look no further than http://www.raysguitarshop.com">Ray's
which offers the best prices on all used and new electric and
acoustic guitars on the Internet.
Because the market for novice guitars is so popular, you're
beginning to find beginner-level instruments everyplace you
turn. Even retailers like Target and Wal-Mart have gotten in on
the action.
However, the old proverb "you get what you pay for" applies when
purchasing a musical instrument at the same place you can buy
motor oil. Obviously, it's difficult to buy a substantial,
beginner guitar without wasting your money.
Look out, then, for the Epiphone Les Paul Special II! It has a
street price of less than $170, so it's moderately obvious that
this instrument is aimed at budget-conscious consumers. Despite
the low cost, you get rather a bit for your money.
There's no shortage of instruments in the budget market, and the
Epiphone Les Paul Special II is a worthy entry into this growing
marketplace with its killer rock sound and ease of play.
The Epiphone Les Paul Special II boasts two open-coil humbucking
pickups (the 700T and 650R), which translates the acoustic tone
from its basswood body. The guitar features a bolt-on neck
(mahogany) and a rosewood fretboard. A tune-o-matic bridge with
stopbar tailpiece are standard, as are dot inlays.
A 3-way selector switch along with master volume and tone
controls allows you to set your sounds. The guitar's
specifications include a 24-3/4" scale and 1-5/8" nut width.
Upon our first review, we did have to make a few little
adjustments such as intonating the guitar, adjusting the action,
and tightening up the tuners. The pickup selector was also a bit
scratchy.
After we took care of these minor problems, we were extremely
pleased with the overall quality of the guitar. The finish is
moderately thin, so you do have to be cautious, but the wine red
finish was well done overall.
We were encouraged with the action and tones, which are simply
superb for a guitar as budget-priced as the Les Paul Special II.
We did observe a couple of dead spots on the neck, but what do
you want for $170? We still enjoyed the instrument very much.
Given its price, we strongly recommend the Epiphone Les Paul
Special II for anyone seeking a budget-level instrument that is
both playable and good-sounding.
About the author:
If you are looking for a great price on a guitar for beginners
or for a wonderful budget-priced guitar, you should definitely
consider the Epiphone Les Paul Special II. For the
absolutely lowest prices, look no further than http://www.raysguitarshop.com">Ray's
which offers the best prices on all used and new electric and
acoustic guitars on the Internet.
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