It really makes no difference how good a guitar player you are, if your instrument is not tuned up correctly you will never produce a good sound. It is, therefore, important that your learn how to tune your guitar properly very early on in your musical experience.

Those in the know will suggest you buy an electronic tuner and they are inexpensive and can save you lots of effort. They are particularly helpful when you are trying to tune your guitar and have lots of other background noise going on. However, it is still useful to know how to tune your guitar by hand.

Ideally your guitar should be tuned each time you use it and experts say it is important to “tune up” when tuning your guitar. This means increasing the tension of the string to the point where it reaches the desired tone. If you tighten it up to far you can easily loosen the tension off and begin the procedure again which is an easier method than trying to locate the correct tone from a string which is already too tight.

First of all eliminate any distractions and background noise and then start with the low E or sixth string. Obtain a starting point pitch from another already tuned guitar, a tuning fork, a piano or an electronic tuner. Turn the peg of your low E string slowly until it sounds exactly the same as this remembering the “tune up” rule as you go.

Then move along to the fifth or A string and, holding down the fifth fret of the E string and pluck and the open A string. Listen out for a pulsating or beating sound and adjust the A string until this disappears. Then hold down the fifth fret of the A string while you pluck it and the D string. Continue with this method and do the same with the G, B and E strings.

You can use a pitch pipe to tune your guitar if you wish and this takes very little effort. You simply need to blow through the relevant holes in the pitch pipe and adjust the strings of your guitar until they match up with the notes. You should start with the sixth E string and do the top E string before moving on to the others.

What could be simpler than an electronic tuner? This has a display screen which tells you whether the notes are in tune or not. You strum one string at a time, the tuner assesses the tone and lets you know whether it is correct or needs adjusting higher or lower to get it just right.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of MusicianHome.com, a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development.

There is something deliciously special about playing acoustic guitar songs. If you try you will see. Just try to hold one and you will experience something special. Have you ever dreamed of being the one holding the guitar around the campfire and playing that song everyone is singing? You can be that person too. Just give it a go and you will see how magic and powerful it is to play the acoustic guitar. Having a dozen people around you at the beach on a full moon being mesmerized by the lyrical power of the musical notes you are playing on the acoustic guitar, is something you cannot put into words if you have not experienced it.

Most people who are drawn to acoustic guitars, but who have never played guitar, are a little star-struck by them. They sometimes believe that the guitar is much more than what it is. Being able to produce music seems like magic in a way. Music is such a powerful, universal language that it can be overwhelming to think that you could make that happen. Feeling this way can make people feel skittish with an acoustic guitar and treat it too gingerly.

If you have never tried playing acoustic guitar before, you can be somewhat impressed by its majesty. However, keep something simple in mind: learning how to play acoustic guitar is like learning a new language: it is definitely hard at the beginning, each step requiring time and dedication, but it is definitely achievable. Little by little you are gaining more confidence and the acoustic guitar will quite naturally become an extension of your hands, musical notes flowing right through it like words flowing through a poet.

Acoustic guitars were created to be played. There are a lot of easy songs you can start playing on your acoustic guitar even though you are beginner. Some people think that the best acoustic guitar songs are the ones that are easy to remember, others think that they are the ones that are easy to play. I personally think that you need a combination of both. Here are some of my favorite acoustic guitar songs for beginners:

Riders on the Storm by the Doors

Happy Christmas by John Lennon

Tangled Up in Blue by Bob Dylan

Sitting on the dock of the bay by Otis Redding

There are a myriad of other songs you can play from John Taylor, The Eagles Joni Mitchell or Jewell. Playing the acoustic guitar is magic: give in to your temptation and take the step today!

You will never regret it.

Find out new tips to learn how to play acoustic guitar easily and start learning with video lessons now!

If your a beginning guitar player you may be wondering how to go about learning your new instrument. Well if you have done any kind of research on guitar lessons or guitar instruction courses you will no doubt realize there is a sea of information available.

Being a guitar player of the past 20 years I have come across countless methods on learning to play have seen less than accurate information regarding the instrument.

If you are thinking about buying a course ask yourself these questions.
-what kind of guitar music do I eventually want to play?
-what kind of learning methods do I respond to the best?
-where can I find information that will teach me the right way?

When you ask yourself these questions, you are really asking yourself, “what am I looking for and what will teach me the best way”

Finding the right course is vital to the development of a guitar student, not only will you progress faster, but you will not have to backtrack and re learn any bad habits you may have developed from learning the wrong way.

Luckily now thanks to the internet, there is now a wealth of information, some of it good and some of it great… and some of it blatantly wrong.

Back in the days before the internet if you wanted to play the guitar you could go one of two ways. Either you could learn by having an experienced player teach you, of if that wasn’t possible, you could buy a book and learn on your own.

These two methods are still great options, but they do have there drawbacks. Learning from a book is a great idea, however if you don’t actually have someone with you to show you exactly how the music is to be played, progress will be slow, reading information and using diagrams is great but it can never truly replace a real live instructor, which leads me on to the second point.

Finding a guitar teacher is far more ideal, but can be expensive, but what’s more concerning is the fact that many guitar “teachers” cannot actually teach. I have seen many great guitarists who call themselves guitar teachers, when all they can really do is confuse a poor student and show off.

Of course the other side of the coin is that there are many great guitar teachers out there, you just have to be careful at which one you decide to go with, if you have a guitar teacher already and are not making any progress, it may be time to find a new teacher.

The third option now are online guitar instruction courses. These in my opinion are ideal. Not only are they very inexpensive but using video,audio,interaction and knowledge forums is the best way to advance quickly.

If you are thinking about buying a guitar course then me advice to you, is to read up as much as you can about any particular guitar course you are thinking of purchasing, and not just recommendations on a sales page, but from actual people who have used the course and have benefited from it, that is a great indication that a guitar course works.

Dave is a guitar player and singer who has been teaching music the last 10 years. If your looking for proven guitar methods that work click the link below

www.Onlineguitarguide.com

There are a few important things you need to consider when buying an acoustic beginner guitar.

You think you have a financial situation that allows you to afford a high quality guitar for your first guitar? If you think you can do it then you should definitely go for it. Very often, the tone of the guitar is being reflected in its cost. With a good beginner guitar it should also be easy to play.

The Seagull S6 is undoubtedly one of the best options on the high-end, and it is going to cost you about $400-$500. Although it can be a bit expensive for some beginners, it is still an exceptional instrument for that price. Many professionals will keep their Seagull S6 long after they have piled up a large collection of other guitars. An equally good acoustic beginner guitar on the higher end of the price scale would be the Washburn D10S. It was voted #1 in Acoustic Guitar magazine for guitars under $500. A good number of people searching in this price range will like either the Seagull or the Washburn.

At a more affordable range, you can find the Yamaha F310, FenderDG7 and Takamine G-240. If you are looking for the least expensive acoustic beginner guitar, the Epiphone DR-100 is a good choice. Despite being a beginner instrument, the Epiphone DR-100 is very good value for your money and remains one of the best acoustic beginner guitars.

You should avoid buying the very cheap guitars you see at the local discount store as they are difficult to play with, even for experience guitar players. Their cheap quality means that there is often a lot of space between the strings and the neck, which entails an overly high action. It can be very annoying for a beginner.

Should you have less than $100 to spend, your best option is to purchase a second-hand guitar. The interesting thing is that second-hand guitars can also have their own personalities. If you see two Takamine G-240 in a shop, just try both of them. You must be able to have a “feel” for your guitar in order to make the right choice.
People often see guitars as human beings. You have to care for your guitar like you care for your own kid. If for whatever reason you don’t “feel” your guitar, pick another one.

The last thing you should consider is that you should always ask the salesperson at the music store to play the guitar you want to buy. A good salesperson will always help you choose the right guitar in the best possible way.

Find out tips to learn how to play acoustic guitar easily and start learning with video lessons now!

Without the correct preparation the fingers are likely become rigid and sore when playing the guitar. The fingers have to be flexible and capable of bending into unusual shapes in order to play certain notes and chords. The stiffer they become, we continue to force them to play, getting tenser as we go along which in turn affects our fingers. So is there anything we can do about this problem?

The answer to this question is yes. We need to ensure our fingers are properly prepared before we begin. An ideal way to do this is to perform finger exercises which will add strength to our fingers even whilst we are not actually playing the guitar. Normally quite difficult chords will be so much easier to play simply by using a soft rubber ball to carry out squeezing exercises to stop our fingers becoming stiff.

As well as strength, fingers need to be supple too and exercises such as typing or playing games using the keys of your computer keyboard will keep them moving. It is important to give the third finger more exercise as traditionally it is the weakest of them all. You will see proof of this fact when you place your hand palm downwards on a level surface and try to lift the third finger without moving any of the others. This weakness can be overcome by practicing using your third finger for tasks where you would normally use your index finger.

When you are watching TV make a point of wiggling your fingers by way of exercise. Let your fingers do the walking up and down the chair arm, put your hands into tight fists and then release each finger stretching it as you go. Take a few minutes to stretch your arms above your head and then allow them to drop by your side. With loose fingers shake your hands and feel the tightness fade away.

Just before you start playing your guitar, give your hands a good shake to get rid of any tension, then warm up by doing some scales. Start slowly at first, then speed up as you continue playing. If your hands or fingers are cold you should get them to the right temperature before you begin. You can do this by soaking them in a dish of warm water.

If blisters are a common occurrence after you have been playing your guitar, you should let them heal before plucking or strumming the strings again. There are plenty of other things you can be getting on with while you are waiting for your blisters to disappear such as brushing up on the theory of music. This means you will not waste your “out of action” time. Of course, you can avoid blisters by playing your guitar a little at a time to start with. Your fingers will harden eventually and you should have no problems in the future. You can always tap your fingertips on a hard surface whenever you get the opportunity as this will also help them to become firm along with exercising your fingers at the same time.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of MusicianHome.com, a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development.

Learning to play the acoustic guitar is great. Acoustic guitars bring the notion of uniqueness to a whole new level. Just give it a go and you will see. Just to see what you look like holding one. You are convinced that if you have the time to learn, you would be fine? You do not know whether it’s easy or hard to play the acoustic guitar but you have a musical ear? It’s time for you to take the step and begin your musical journey.

It is some achievement to learn to play the acoustic guitar and most of my friends who have never tried it do not know where to start. It is as if they were getting all shy when seeing one. When you start playing your first notes, you feel like there is no limit to it. It is only a mental cap to pass. Being able to step out of the comfort zone to challenge yourself is something you can do too.

However, just keep one thing in mind: learning to play the acoustic guitar is not similar to magic. When you pick up a new language at school, you go through this period of assimilating new rules and new patterns. At the beginning you find it hard and then, little by little, you become more comfortable with the tools you possess. Then, you start broadening and improving your range of vocabulary, expressions and sentence structures. The same is true with learning to play the acoustic guitar

Once you’ve got the idea of how to play basic notes and -hopefully not long after- how to read guitar tabs, do a web search for easy acoustic guitar tabs and pick out a very basic song that you know well and play around with it. Although reading and playing acoustic guitar tabs does take some getting used to, you’ll be surprised how quickly you can learn to play the acoustic guitar.

If you have a favorite song, being able to hear the song that you’re working on always makes it easier to learn. Even if you think you remember how it goes, listening to it while you’re learning it will help you with rhythm and detail.

Keep in mind that acoustic guitars were created to be played. There are a lot of easy songs you can learn, whether it is from The Eagles, James Taylor or Joni Mitchell. You will never regret the decision you have made to learn to play the acoustic guitar.

If you want to find out more about how to play the acoustic guitar, don’t forget to visit learn to play the acoustic guitar to get a preview of the video lessons !

If you don’t learn how to hold your guitar properly, you will not only feel awkward and uncomfortable but you are also likely to injure your hands and wrists in the long term. So if you want to become a budding guitarist, take note of the few handy tips detailed below.

When you practice, do so in the sitting position. You will be more relaxed and will not get tired as quickly as when standing. Make sure you get the most out of using the seated position by keeping your body upright and holding your guitar so that the back of it touches your chest. The neck of your guitar should be parallel with the floor. If, however, you prefer to stand, you will need a wide strap to spread the weight of the guitar and make it more comfy when you are playing. As an alternative to wearing a strap over your shoulder you could put one foot up on a chair or stool, thus creating a place for the guitar to rest.

Rest your right arm loosely over the guitar and your hand should naturally fall in front of the sound hole. This is where the sound comes from when you strum the strings of the guitar over the hole. If you are playing your guitar whilst seated, rest the instrument on whichever thigh feels the most comfortable. This is usually the right thigh for right-handed players and the left for lefthanders.

Your thumb on your fretting hand needs to rest at the rear of the neck of the guitar and when playing chords you will be aware that your thumb is pressed hard against the backside of the neck. You can easily discover which location suits you best by testing the various thumb positions when you are playing different kinds of chords.

Your left hand should be moulded to the curved edge of the neck of the guitar. Fingers on both hands will be curved at the knuckle points and the left hand fingers will be balanced at the fret board on top of the strings. When you are strumming it is best to move the wrist rather than the fingers. Once you have mastered the correct position, you will find that your playing methods will be much easier to learn.

For those of you who are left handed, there are guitars on the market specifically for left handed players or you can re-string a right handed instrument the opposite way around. As long as you remember that the thickest string needs to be the one closest to your face, it will work just as well as a left handed guitar.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of MusicianHome.com, a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development.

Recently, a nick scratch or whatever was noticed on a fret on my Fender Mexican Stratocaster. Before we start, it is important to mention that what is discussed today is not brand sensitive.

That article brings to mind an conundrum that concerned a nick on the fifteenth fret on a highly upgraded Mexican Stratocaster. It’s truly a special guitar.

This particular guitar has Texas Special pickups, a Vintage bridge/tremolo and Sperzel Locking Tuners. It is also set-up with extra low action for bending them strings.

No one likes an excuse. And I am not making one. I don’t remember banging or dropping or even smashing anyone or thing with it (and I don’t drink or do drugs), but I may have bopped it unknowingly. As a matter of interest, I am a product of the fifties and was a teenager in the sixties, so pardon me if I only have one point five (1.5) active brain cells that remember my past reasonably well!

To summarized the problem in short order, I noticed this scratch on the 15th fret the other day when I was playing and bending really hard above the 12th fret. It snagged or got caught on the fifteenth fret only when I bent the high E or B string one and a half notes and higher.

Realistically, I hate to break a string, however I’m used to that. Further more I change strings every week. More of an issue is hurting my fingers. A cut or scratch or rip job could lay me up for a while. I would probably loose my mind if I couldn’t play every day.

Basically you have four choices. #1 is to replace the fret/s. #2 is to buy a new neck and replace the neck. #3 is to use some J.B. Weld epoxy and carefully fill and finish it. #4 is, do nothing.

Four strategies. Which one is the best? Depending on your budget, and a few questions that may come up, like: are my other frets worn or in need of dressing up too? And can one fret be replaced without affecting the playing ability? Should I re-fret the whole neck? Can I use some J.B. Weld epoxy to smooth the fret?

Simply put, all strategies have a positive and negative side.

Most likely, you can buy a new neck and have it installed and set up for less than a fret job. A fret job can run three hundred bucks or more. I have seen new necks ready to bolt on for less than two hundred bucks. Even with labor, that is most likely the most cost effective way to go. Companies like Warmoth,
Stu-Mac and Fret Not Guitar Repair can provide you with so many neck options your head will spin.

Unless the guitar is of extreme value to you, either personally or monetarily, or it plays to sweet to change the neck, go for a new neck. If you are ready for a change or have tried a guitar with a neck shape you like, you probably should consider a new neck. Check the reserve of necks the above companies have to offer. You will want to call them and talk to an expert. It’s a complicated subject. You definitely want to get the right neck.

As an experiment, one time when I was more broke than I am now, I fixed a fret with a nick in it with an epoxy. J.B. Weld is the brand I used, but there are many good FAST DRY epoxies in the hardware store, marine store or auto parts house. Fast dry is important. Mix your epoxy properly and thoroughly and with a toothpick put a drop of epoxy and smooth it out as much as you can. This is absolutely temporary in terms of a fix. Strings will wear the epoxy in a short time.

Note: Clean the fret first with a non oily cleaner, not WD-40, but rubbing alcohol or anything that ends in “zine”. Be careful not breath it or get it on you.

Let the fast dry epoxy sit for a few hours and then, with a really fine sand paper such as 400 grit carefully sand the epoxy until it is smooth. Finish the fret job off by sanding with a 2000 grit wet or dry sandpaper for extra smoothness. It works, I still play that guitar regularly, but realistically the fret will need replacing in the long run, but it works in a pinch.

Well, hopefully, this clears up the mystifying and scary thoughts on what to do when you scratch a fret. The strategies listed all work, it’s in your court to make the final decision. Take time and study your subject, since it has been my experience that the more you know, the better decision you will make.

Enjoy.

For more information about Guitar Players Center Fender Guitars or Guitar Upgrades. Feel free to visit our website, ask questions, share it with others, make comments or simply enjoy.

After spending some time writing this article, I can see why you would want to stick your head in a hole when it comes to guitar necks. The array of choices is dizzying if you get very involved.

The Fender Stratocaster is the guitar neck we narrowed it down to. Why, because the neck bolts on and obviously unbolts to come off. What differences can we expect when it comes to mounting a guitar neck? The two methods of preference are, #1. Glued on necks as in most Gibson Guitars and #2. Bolt On necks as in most Fender Guitars.

Is one method of installation better? Other than the ease of exchange and variety of necks for a Strat, most of the preference is personal in terms of what type of guitar you prefer to play.

Bolt on necks are easier to replace and therefore more interesting to talk about. Fender Strats have bolt on necks. Using four bolts to secure the neck into the CNC (computer numerically controlled) or machined by a super accurate computerized tool, and then perfectly bolts to the body with four bolts as mentioned above. That sounds easy enough, that is if you go back with a stock replacement neck.

Simple enough, right? Now we can get dirty deep into Strat neck(ology). You want a custom neck, or something that fits your hands better?.

The array of woods available is surprising and interesting. Both in terms of type of wood and cost. The shapes or curvature of the back of the neck includes six to nine styles, at least for a Stratocaster. Wide and deep for giant hands (SRV had giant hands), check out the boatneck. Or a narrow V-neck such as the Eric Clapton Strat, for for others hand sizes as well. Size and contour has a lot to do with your music style, particularly if you play (farmers chords) which is where you are playing a barre chord, but using your thumb on the low E string.

Then one must deal with fret sizes. Ranging from narrow frets to huge super jumbo frets, which are my preference. Of less importance is the type of fret wire available. I definitely prefer standard wire, which is actually the same material as guitar string wire over the softer stainless steel or gold color fret wire.
Nut options should be limited to bone. It provides the best of all worlds.

The beat guitar-resource for explaining the anatomy of a neck, and some of the custom choices available including: the Binding, Conversion Necks, Finishes, Fret-board Extensions, Fret-board Radius, Heel Width & Mounting, Inlay/Custom Inlay, Neck Woods. Peg-head Veneer, Scalloping, Side Adjust Mechanism, Truss Rods and Tuner Holes better than Warmoth Direct.

I’m not telling you to buy from Warmoth, some of these stores may be better places to buy from in terms of pricing and availability from online guitar stores.

Just don’t doubt the difference you can make in terms of personalization, playability and comfort, not to mention sound when you get a rare opportunity to change your neck. One nice change is to make is to go to a reverse headstock. It changes the sound and playability since you have reversed the string lengths on a Strat when you do that.

Enjoy, read, and you be the judge.

Note: When looking for a replacement guitar neck, make sure the style of neck you are looking for will fit the guitar body you plan on attaching the neck too. Don’t be bashful, do a lot of research by emailing or phoning the company to get the feedback you need to have when replacing your neck.

For more information about Guitar Players Center Fender Guitars or Guitar Upgrades. Feel free to visit our website, ask questions, please share it with others, make comments or simply enjoy.

Have you ever wondered why you practice on your guitar? Is it really that important to practice? Let us take a look at your practice time!

When I started to play guitar I usually had my guitar laying on my bed so I saw it as soon as I entered my room. This made it impossible to forget playing guitar. Actually I liked it so I often took time to play short moments between other activities or when I got really inspired maybe playing for hours.

Maybe this can not be defined as actual practice time. I just played around but anyway I developed as a guitarist. Later on my guitar playing endeavors became more serious and I practiced with more concentration and purposefulness.

Let us talk about the more dreaded organized guitar practicing time!

I guess most people have experienced that they get better if they practice. You shape the physical facilities helping you to play the music you like. You can also develop your mental, emotional and spiritual capabilities depending on the way you practice.

But if you lack self-discipline?

Self-discipline is defined as the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you want it or not. It is something you can develop but there is one requisite. You must want to develop it.

Before you actually can develop self-discipline you have to set some goals. This is not so complicated actually. It is for example the act of thinking about why you are playing guitar, what you want to become as a guitarist and writing this done. When the wishes of your heart has become goals by being written down you can exercise self-discipline enough to accomplish the tasks that leads to your goal.

This long-term goal is a great help for you to find out what you should practice on right now. The things to practice on a weekly or daily basis are often referred to as you short-term goals. If you base you short-term goals on your long-term goals you will always have the confidence that you practice the things you have decided are most important to you.

Actually there are many guitar pupils who practice while they are doing other things like watching TV, eating, talking to people, etc. Maybe this type of practice is more like playing things you have learned already.

Your actual practice time will help you learn completely new things in the most favorable setting. This means for example:

1. A place without distractions. No sounds, TV or other things that can tempt your self-discipline.

2. A place with enough light to help you read sheet music, tablature or other things you are to practice.

3. A place with the necessary equipment. Of course your guitar and music books, music stand, paper and pencil, manuscript paper and most important, your written out long-term goals and short-term goals.

There are many things you probably wish and need to practice on a daily basis like improvising, scales, arpeggios, sight reading, composing and more. If you create a routine for the things you want to practice every day you will not have to worry over what to practice.

When your routine has become a habit you will find it much easier and enjoyable to practice. As you keep working on the same exercises over an extended period of time you will also be able to see progress and become more motivated.

I would like to testify that working with concentration on things you need to practice is a very enjoyable experience. It consists of the satisfaction of knowing that you are working at the best of your ability on things you like the most and seeing that you are actually on the way towards your goal.

Peter Edvinsson invites you to download your free guitar sheet music at http://www.capotastomusic.com