Posts Tagged ‘Musical Instruments’

A Guide to Guitar Lessons for Beginners

by Payo W Perry

In the field of guitar lessons for beginners you’ll find many different products available, all competing for your attention. When you first start out this can seem a daunting prospect as its very difficult to know which road to take.

Traditionally a person would attend private lessons with a local tutor and this is arguably still the best method for learning to play guitar. Upon searching, however, you may find that there simply isn’t a guitar teacher near to you and just because someone is advertising guitar lessons doesnt necessarily mean they are a good guitar teacher!

The ability to teach guitar well to beginners is a skill and a talent. Quite often it’s possible to find someone who is an excellent guitar player but a terrible teacher!

If you can’t find the time to dedicate to a weekly lessons slot or perhaps can’t even find a local teacher the internet becomes the obvious answer for most. Guitar lessons for beginners features highly on a lot of guitar websites and some of the instruction is fantastic.

Online you can learn at entirely your own pace, repeat the video lessons as often as you like and choose your own daily time to make contact with the instrument. In all it represents a lot of opportunities to learn with minimum interference into your lifestyle.

Having said the above I should also mention that you have to choose wisely when it comes to beginner guitar lessons online. Some websites are truly great resources for beginners however others are truly bad! Poor quality lessons will frustrate you, slow you down and make learning guitar a constant uphill struggle. Youll quickly lose motivation, decide that you have no talent for guitar and quit. What a shame so please choose a good, modern method to learn guitar.

Whichever way you go, pay attention to your practice and make a firm commitment to being motivated to succeed. Those of you searching for guitar lessons for beginners will find a lot of resources out there just waiting to help you.

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10 Quick Tips for Ukulele Beginners

by Al Wood

Well, you’ve just got your very first ukulele. What are you going to do now? What should a beginner learn? How can they avoid getting bored with the instrument or stuck in a rut?

In this article, I’ll give you ten quick tips to make sure your ukulele playing gets off to a great start.

1. Spend as much as you can on a ukulele - having a nice ukulele will be much more encouraging than one that sounds awful whatever you do.

2. Learn three chords then start playing songs - once you start playing songs that people can recognize you’ll feel a lot better about your playing.

3. Learn how to tune up - It’s not the easiest thing to do, but absolutely essential. If you skip this, you’ll sound terrible no matter how much you practice.

4. Hold the ukulele right - start getting the good habits in right away.

5. Play with others - there are tons of ukulele groups around. If you can’t find one; start one.

6. Practice very slowly - And when I say slowly I mean snails pace. So slow that it’s impossible to play it wrong. When you can play it this slowly, gently increase the tempo.

7. Replace the strings - using a high quality string such as those by Aquila will improve the way your ukulele sounds. Particularly if it was fitted with low quality strings to begin with.

8. Steal ideas - it may seem a little like cheating, but listen to your favourite music, work out what they are doing and incorporate it into your own music.

9. Watch carefully - there are hundreds of ukulele videos online. Take a close look at the players you admire and how they play. How do they hold the ukulele? How do they strum? How do they sit? You don’t have to ape them exactly, but take pointers from what they do.

10. Love playing - if you don’t enjoy playing the ukulele, sooner or later, you’ll give up. There’s a huge array of music out there for the uke. Explore new avenues and new techniques. Have fun with your playing and don’t take it too seriously. After all, it’s called ‘playing’ music. Not ‘working’ music.

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How to Find the Right Guitar

by Matt Palinski

Looking around the internet and gathering information about your favorite guitar is sure to lead to some articles about which guitar is better in a head to head battle against the two most popular guitar companies: Fender and Gibson. However what you won’t find is a lot of information on how to find which guitar is best for you. It is important when making a purchase of a guitar or any instrument to find one that is best for you and your style of play. Be sure to dig as deep as possible when doing your research. Here is some more information on how you can do just that.

One of the best ways to gather information about your favorite guitar, or soon to be favorite guitar, is to get some information on your favorite guitarist. If you were to look at a wiki online about your favorite guitarist you are sure to find a lot of information about their guitar rig. While some artists are known for playing many different guitars, most are known for playing a distinct style or company of guitar which is emulated through their guitar tone. The difference in guitarists tone is usually very distinct from their guitar and the amp and even some outboard gear like pedals and sound shaping units.

If you dig deeper you will begin to find that there is almost a split right down the middle between these popular guitar tones in the world of electric guitar, with distinct variations. There is the Fender world, and the Gibson world. Many different models are available from each guitar company, but for the most part these two companies are the worlds leader in guitars in popular music. Even smaller companies and boutique guitar companies have sounds that will fall under the shadow of one of these two companies in sound and even cosmetic design of the guitars. Fender is known for its punchy sound that cuts through a mix quite well. Some would even call it twangy or more trebly than the competition. This is a sound that sounds great with clean tones and distorted rock tones. The Gibson line of guitars is usually known for having a thicker and heavier tone, as do the other models and variations available from Gibson.

The purchase of a guitar is something that can last a lifetime. It is best to take your time to ensure that the instrument you are buying is exactly what you are looking for and exactly what you desire in your instrument. There is more to it than just tone, but also the way that the guitar feels in your hands. Sometimes it’s the shape of the neck and the weight of the guitar; shape of the body style. If you are someone that plays different styles of music than you might want to consider having more than just one pickup so you can adjust your tone to different styles guitar playing. Having one pickup isn’t a bad thing, in fact the Les Paul Junior is an amazing guitar with many versatile tones that has only one pickup.

Again, your ultimate goal when shopping for a guitar is to find the best fit. You are not looking for which guitar is simply, better. While there is an abundance of online resources to aid you in your quest for the perfect guitar, there is really nothing quite like going out and playing the guitar with your very own hands. Although many vintage guitars that are available online can’t be played before purchase a similar guitar can be played at a guitar store prior to your online purchase of the guitar. Remember that if you purchase a guitar that you love to play, you are going to play it a lot more!

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