Archive for December, 2008

How Do Electric Guitars Work – All you Need to Know

Sunday, December 21st, 2008
Max Cane asked:


Guitars come in various shapes, sizes, looks and design. The music world has classical acoustic guitars, semi-acoustic guitars, electric guitars, hollow body guitars, jumbo guitars, ‘S' hole guitars etc. Each of these guitars has its own characteristic generic looks, characteristic sound and tonality, which attract their own respective following. Overall, guitars can be classified into two broad categories: acoustic guitars and electric guitars.

How Does a Guitar Work?

To know how guitar work, let us first see what is common to the working of any guitar. Every acoustic guitar has a minimum of six parts - the guitar neck with guitar nut and headstock, fret board, tuning keys, Guitar Bridge, sound box and guitar strings. Each of these parts is crucial to the good working of the guitar and plays its own roles to dole out music.

The guitar strings are long strands of metal or nylon wire, which stretch along through the major length of the guitar. There are normally six strings in a guitar (for the most common six-string guitar). All of these six strings run parallel to each other and are interspersed with a small gap between them. There are the sound generators of the guitar.

Strings generate sound for the guitar by vibrating along their vibrating length. The guitar bridge on one end and the guitar nut on the other end fix the vibrating length of a guitar string. The strings are tied onto a guitar under tension. The strings are plucked by fingers or with a pick. The tension in the string (varied about with the help of tuning keys) makes the string to vibrate.

Up to this point, the working of all guitars is the same. What happens next is what categorizes whether the guitar is an acoustic guitar or and electric guitar.

Working of Acoustic Guitars

All guitars have strings that vibrate which are the principal sound generators of the musical instrument. If you pluck a string tied under tension (no, no! not on a guitar!) you will find that the sound produced is not what you will want to hear again and again as you would like to hear the sound of a good guitar. Moreover, the sound from bare strings is very soft and you will barely be able to hear them. The sound has to be amplified so that people far and near can hear them. This is where the sound box from the acoustic guitar comes in. The sound box of an acoustic guitar is made as an hollow body constructed out of wood. It uses the ‘acoustics' of the shape of the hollow body, material characteristics etc to amplify the sound generated by the string. The sound box of a guitar gives it its characteristic sound.

How Does An Electric Guitar Work?

Electric guitars amplify the sound generated by the guitar strings electronically. Instead of the sound box of an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar has pick-ups and other electronic components. The pick up from an electric guitar picks up the sound waves generated by the strings and converts them into their corresponding minute electrical signals. There are different types of pickups. Commonly used ones are magnetic pickups, piezo electric pickups, condenser pick ups etc.

The converted electric signal then passes through the various electronic components mounted on the guitar and finally into the sound amplifier which electronically amplifies the sound. The electronic components on the guitar modulate the converted electric signal to suit the guitarist. Most commonly found components on guitars are the volume control knob (which enables the guitarist to control the volume of the guitar sound) and tone control knobs (which enables the playing guitarist to determine the sound tonality).



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Types of Guitars

Saturday, December 20th, 2008
Ian Williamson asked:


Guitars are the most common instruments played by many music lovers of all ages. Even kids can easily learn to play the guitar. Choosing the right guitar is very easy. There are many types of guitars that can go along with any kind of music. All a guitar player needs to do is identify the kind of music he prefers to know which type of guitar is best for him.

The following are the most common types of guitars.

Classical Guitars

Classical guitars are the father of all guitars. They have been used for many genres and all kinds of music. Classical guitars come with nylon strings which give the guitar a unique and colorful sound. The sizes of classical guitars have been standard for many years. Classical guitars that are of the finest quality are made with spruce or cedar tops. The guitar is able to produce various sounds even with the use of fingernails.

Electric Guitars

Electric guitars are the next most common guitar especially in the 20th century. Electric guitars are known as the main attraction of rock music. These guitars have been famous since rock music was introduced and blend very well with jazz, pop and even blues music. The main difference between other guitars and electric guitars is that they are played with amplifiers because they are unable to produce sound without amplification.

Steel Guitars

Steel guitars acquired their name because they are literally made of steel. These types of guitars are played horizontally. A guitar player may place the guitar across his knees or legs or on a stand. The pedal steels of these guitars are the ones responsible for their unique sounds.

Bass Guitars

Bass guitars are similar to electric guitars. However, there are also variations in these guitars such as the acoustic bass guitars. Although bass guitars fall under the family of guitars, the sounds they produce are very distinctive and separate from any other guitar. The reason is that bass guitars usually have four strings unlike standard guitars that have six to twelve strings.

Many other guitars may be found on the market. There are also the archtop guitars, twelve strings guitars, solid body guitars and the resonator guitars. All these types of guitars produce different kinds of music that can satisfy the taste of many music lovers. All a person has to do is identify his taste for music to be able to decide which guitar is perfect for him and his music.



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How to Pick Your First Guitar

Saturday, December 20th, 2008
Fred Peters asked:


Do you want to pick your first guitar? Picking your first guitar can be a difficult choice. There are so many guitars to choose from. Do you buy an acoustic guitar? Do you buy a classical guitar? Do you buy an electric guitar?

Buying your first guitar is an awesome experience. No instrument is cooler to play than the guitar. The guitarist is always the star of the bank. And let's face it, chicks dig them.

It is important to know how much money you can afford to spend before you start looking for a guitar. If you go to a local guitar store without a clear budget in mind, you will continue to pull the more expensive ones off the shelf. But, for a beginning guitar player, you don't need a really expensive one. You can probably get a good first guitar for around $300 to $500. Online you can also find some great deals on used beginner guitars.

Guitars have a beautiful sound and are a lot easier to learn how to play than most think possible. However, before you go out to buy one you need to know these tricks and tips to make sure you are getting the best guitar for your money. Online guitar stores are a great place to find the best guitars at the lowest prices. However, before buying a guitar online, I think that you should visit your local guitar shop so that you can look at the guitars in person and up close. You will want to see how the guitar feels in you hands, how it looks, and how it sounds. Take the guitar off the wall, plug it into an amp, grab a pick and start strumming. You should also look at buying an acoustic guitar. This is the best way to find out what guitar is the right one for you.

If you are having trouble narrowing down the guitar you want to buy, here are some good recommendations. For acoustic guitars, I love Takamine guitars, Martin guitars, Ovation guitars and epiphone guitars. For electric guitars, I would check out Ibanez guitars, Fender guitars and Gibson guitars.

Once you have found the guitar that you want to buy, check out the online stores to see if you can find one at the best price. I cannot stress enough the power of online stores. The prices are almost always lower.

Remember to look at some online guitar stores to find great prices on beginner guitars.



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Guitar – What Guitar Should I Buy?

Thursday, December 18th, 2008
Peter Edvinsson asked:


If you have come to the conclusion that you want to play guitar the next step will be to choose a guitar to buy. There is a variety of instruments out there at different prices. Let's look at your choices.

What types of guitars will you find in a guitar shop?

1. The classical guitar. The classical guitar or Spanish guitar has nylon strings which produce a soft and mellow sound suitable for classical guitar music and for accompanying soft songs with finger playing.

Personally I have grown up with the Spanish guitar in my home as my father was a guitar teacher and we had a lot of guitars in our home all of them with nylon strings.

I have played a lot of styles with Spanish guitars like blues and rock music. Yes, it is possible to bend the nylon strings on a classical guitar when you play blues if you get used to it!

2. Steel-strung flat-top guitars. The steel-strung guitar is very good for strumming with a plectrum and for playing solos.

Nowadays I play steel-strung guitars a lot both with right hand fingers and with a pick. I like the crisp sound from the steel-strings. The drawbacks with this types of guitars are that they can be hard to play if the strings have too high action.

3. Electic guitars. An electric guitar has electromagnetic pickups transforming the vibrations from the strings into currents that in an guitar amplifier becomes sounds.

In this type of guitar the direct sound from the guitar is not important which makes it possible to have light gauge strings that are easy to bend. This makes it easier to play blues licks for example.

I usually play on an American Stratocaster because I like the crisp, clean sound and I can play different types of music on it. There are a lot of different types of electric guitars to choose from.

Nowadays you can find inexpensive electric guitars of good quality for example Ibanez or Yamaha guitars that are easy to play. I have a rather inexpensive Ibanez guitar that is very easy to play.

If you are a beginner wanting to start to play guitar my advice would be that you ask an accomplished guitar player to help you choose the right guitar for you. Even two guitars of the same model can differ in playability and tone.

I would also suggest that you buy your guitar in a music shop with experienced musicians and guitarists that can help you find out the best guitar for you.

I would also suggest that you buy an electronic guitar tuner to help you to always have your guitar well tuned. There is no guitar that is nice to play if it is out of tune.



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History And Types of Guitars

Thursday, December 18th, 2008
Roberto Sedycias asked:


The guitar (violao) is a musical instrument that utilizes strings to produce sound. Usually, guitar is made with six strings, but four, seven, eight, ten and twelve string guitars are not rare.

Guitar (violao) is considered as an instrument in many forms of music like blues, country, flamenco, rock and even pop. Acoustically playing, the guitar involves production of the tone by vibration of the string and modulation by the hollow body. Electronic manipulation can also be done on the tone using an amplifier.

Combinations of various woods, with either nylon or steel strings are used for the construction of guitars. The person who makes and repairs string instruments like guitar is called a luthier.

History and development of string instruments similar to guitar (violao) can be traced back to at least 5,000 years. In those days, when synthetic material was not available for making guitars, a guitar was defined as `a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard, ribs, and a flat back instrument, most often with incurved sides`.

There are two major types of guitars:

Acoustic guitar (violao): A soundboard (present in the front of the guitar body in the form of a piece of wood) is used to produce the sound from this kind of guitars. No external arrangement or device is needed to produce sound. This makes the acoustic guitar quieter than other commonly found band or orchestra instruments and often an external amplifier is used to make the guitar sound audible and to match the sound of other band instruments. The latest range of acoustic guitars come with a host of pick-ups for amplifying and modifying the raw guitar sound.

Within the acoustic guitar type, the sub-categories include: Classical guitars; Flamenco guitars; Steel string guitars (include the flat top or `folk` guitar); Twelve string guitars; Arch-top guitars; Renaissance or Baroque guitars; Resonator, resophonic or Dobro guitars; Russian guitars; Acoustic bass guitars; Tenor guitars; Harp guitars; Extended range guitars; Guitar battente.

Electric guitars: Electric guitar bodies are solid, semi-hollow or hollow. The sound produced is little and low without amplification. An amplifier forms an integral part of electric guitars. Vibrations of steel strings converted into electric signals by electromagnetic pick-ups are fed in to an amplifier using a cable or radio transmitter. The sound is often modified either using electronic devices or through distortion of valves naturally. The pick-ups here are of two types: single line or double line, each can be either active or passive. Electric guitar sound is most commonly used in jazz, rock-n-roll and blues style of music.

Construction of the guitar (violao) is based on whether the player is left-handed or right-handed. Usually, players use their dominant hand to pluck the strings. For most of the people, it is the right hand. The other hand of the player is on the frets for depressing and gripping guitar strings.

The various major guitar components include: headstock, nut, fretboard, frets, truss rod, inlays, neck, heel or neck joint, strings, guitar body and pickups.

There are certain accessories that might be helpful while playing a guitar (violao). Accessories like: Plectrum - also called the guitar pick, is used for picking the strings. It is made of a plastic like hard material; Slides - used for creating glissando effect in blues and rock genre of music. Neck of a bottle, knife blade or round metal bar, any of these can be used as a slide; Copatasto - it is used for changing pitch of open strings.



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Buying Guitars. Steps to Think About

Monday, December 15th, 2008
Robert Wittert asked:


When You Play The Guitar!

If you want the ultimate, amazing sounds when you are playing the guitar then no doubt about it, you have got to have an amplifier for your guitar playing experience! An amplifier will give you the guitarist, the ability to stand out more when playing for a crowd, the other instruments will not be so loud, that they totally end up drowning your sounds out. An amplifier will also allow you the ability to create some really amazing special affects when you are playing guitar, along with always having a more controlled, smooth sound, when playing the guitar. Ofcourse obviously, you will also have a tremendous amount of volume, which everyone loves. The sounds that you can create will be mind blowing, compared to playing the guitar without an amplifier.

Keep in mind when you are out shopping for the perfect amplifier that you do not need to purchase the first one that you come across and always, no matter what, try out the amplifier, before you take it home! It depends on which type of guitar you are playing as to what kind of amplifier you will be needing for your purchase. Each one may sound a little bit different. Some amplifiers may not give you a crisp, smooth, loud sounding guitar, as you are hoping for, because it may not be compatible with your guitar that you are using. Take your guitar with you, everywhere you go. Just in case you are out one day and decide to go into a music store to purchase an amplifier for your guitar. This way, you will have it with you so that you can try it out with that amplifier before you decide

on purchasing it or not.

Volume is key when you are playing the guitar, so having the correct amplifier is a must when it comes to creating those unbelievably, outrageous, loud tunes! You will know right away if the amplifier you are looking at buying is right for you or not, if when you crank it up, it begins to sound poor, like crackling or unclear, you will know to look for something different for your guitar. There will many different types of amplifiers to choose from when you are out on your search for the perfect amplifier for your guitar playing fun. Bigger is not always better when it comes to purchasing the best amplifier, you will find that many smaller amplifiers have the ability to offer you the best quality sound. You want good, quality sounding volume so that you can play your little heart out and know that everyone in the audience is enjoying themselves and what they are hearing.

Amplifiers will change your guitar playing experience completely. Once you have the wonderful experience of playing your guitar hooked up to an awesome amplifier, you will never go back to playing guitar with one. The sounds are amazing and incredibly loud, which is what every rock star wants!

Guitars are favored instruments by almost all musical performers today. Anywhere you go, you will find this instrument or one of its relatives. With the ability of creating dashing sounds or emotional undertones, the guitar is the all round choice for any music lover. Guitarists like Jimmy Hendrix and Eric Clapton brought this instrument to the masses.

The electric guitar uses an amplifier to produce louder sound. This guitar has a base and is fit for rock groups. Then there is the Spanish guitar can be played with only strumming the strings. No extra amplification is required. It is lighter in tone than the electric guitar.

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Let us now look at how we can buy a guitar. Always a safest option is to physically inspect and purchase the product from a nearby store. However if you purchase online then keep in mind the following factors. Ensure that the guitar is shipped by a reputable packing and mailing agency. These agencies will also give you the option to call them up and have them inspect your product.

Go to reputable sites and verify your retailer. If you are purchasing from a private individual, be extra careful. It is always advisable that you buy from a big store that has reputation. Remember, that the retailer has to give you a 30 day money back option. It is necessary for all retailers to do this, although unfortunately they do not all do it. You need to see how the instrument plays so if you do order online be sure that you can return it if it is no good. For any music lover can tell

you that simply playing different models of the same instruments in a store gives out different quality.

How do you become a top quality guitarist? Decide what type of guitar do you want to play. There are many types in various categories and a good choice has to be made in the beginning. To avoid confusion, select the simplest instrument first. The Spanish guitar or a simple acoustic should be fine.

Finding a good teacher is important. The teacher must have good communication skills with positive attitude. He or she must understand that guitar is not am easy instrument to learn by any means and it will take the student some time to get use to the various aspect of the instrument.

The next step of course is practice. Without proper practice and exercise, a guitarist can not develop his or her skills and muscles in the arm. This leads to pain and frustration later on. IT also reduces the playing time of a musician.

Following these simple steps can stop you from suffering a great deal while mastering the guitar once and for all.



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Buying your First Guitar

Monday, December 15th, 2008
thoughtoverload.com asked:


There are hundreds of choices in buying a new guitar, but not all of them are good. I'm sorry to all you folks out there looking for great bargains, but you get what you pay for. You aren't going to find a great guitar that a professional would even think about owning for $100 at your local guitar center, it's just not the way the market works.

If you are a beginner with a normal pocketbook, you should buy a medium priced guitar. You don't know if you're going to say "Screw it!" after a few weeks or months, so it is best that you don't put too big of a dent in your wallet for something that ends up collecting dust in your closet. I won't tell you to buy a cheap one because if your guitar is absolute shit, you're much more likely to give up because you aren't getting that sound/playability that you should have. Also, cheap guitars lose their resale value pretty much as soon as you pay for it, but more medium/high priced guitars do not. Some may even grow in value over the years.

If you are planning to get an electric as your first guitar, I highly discourage you from doing so. Guess what you need with an electric? An amplifier. A good one will cost you a pretty penny. A bad one will make a crappy sound, which may lead you to give up. So, what's the solution? Learn on an acoustic. That's right folks, you heard right, learn on an acoustic. Acoustics are usually more difficult to play than electrics (yes, that is IN DEED a good thing!). Your fingers will hurt, but that's a sign of building those finger muscles that any guitarist should have. Those finger muscles are harder to obtain when learning on an electric, because they're easier on you. If you learn on an acoustic, your first words when playing an electric will be "Holy crap! This is easier than I thought!"...maybe not that much excitement, but you hopefully get the point. Now, I know that some are reading this who are completely devoted to getting an electric as your first. I'd just like to remind you that virtually all forms o f music utilize the acoustic guitar in them. Yes, that includes rock.

Another benefit of acoustic guitars is their portability. You can take the acoustic guitar anywhere you want, and you don't need a power source...or to lug around an amplifier with a bunch of cables. An acoustic guitar is an all-in-one learning machine, while an electric is a semi-complex system.

Now, if you unfortunately have a habit of giving up as soon as you've determined that you "can't do it", then you may want to learn on an electric.

Acoustic Guitars - Acoustic guitars, besides being a better choice for learning with, are easier to choose from in that there aren't so many options. With an electric, you can change things out to radically change the sound. Plus, if the amplifier you try it with sounds terrible, a great guitar will sound terrible along with it...leading you to make an incorrect choice.

Acoustic Guitar Size - There are many sizes of acoustic guitars. How the size affects the sound is quite simple: larger guitars have more bass (they sound deeper).

Steel Stringed versus Classical - Two main categories of acoustic guitars exist: steel stringed and classical. Steel string guitars have steel strings, classical guitars have nylon strings. They both make different tones, which you will have to hear for yourself at a guitar store. The necks on classical guitars are generally wider, also - which should affect your choice if you have small hands.

Acoustic Guitar Construction - One of the first things to look at is common sense structual integrity. If the guitar seems as though it will far apart as soon as you drop it (you will eventually), don't buy it. In guitars, it is better to be safe than sorry. Cheaper guitars have plywood (AKA laminate) backs/sides/tops. Most of the sound from an acoustic guitar comes from the top, so it is best to get a guitar with at least a solid top (plywood doesn't sound as good). The more expensive the guitar is, the more solid wood it has, generally speaking. If you have a deep wallet, go ahead and buy an acoustic guitar with all solid wood.

Make sure that the neck is straight by looking down it from the headstock.

Then, make sure that the guitar is tuned (if you don't know how to, ask a salesman...they will help, they want you to buy their guitars). Strum it a few times, and even to the untrained ear it should be apparent as to if it has a good tone to it. Be careful with this though, don't strum one guitar and say that you'll buy it because you happen to like it. You need to compare it to all the other guitars, in all price ranges, so that you get a good idea as to where it stands among them.

What's it for? - Now, decide what the hell you are going to do with the guitar. Are you going to record with it? Play live with it? Or just sit on your porch and play songs with your friends? For recording, it is best to get a guitar with a bright tone (high pitched), as bassy guitars will sound very muffled through a microphone. For playing on a stage, you want to double check that the guitar is made well. A guitar that is played live often takes a beating, so you don't want it to snap in half in the middle of a show. For playing just for fun, it's pretty much up to you: what sounds the best to your ears?

Hey, guess what? You've (hopefully) bought yourself a good guitar that will become one of your closest friends through the years. Don't forget to name it!



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Why Left Hand Guitars?

Sunday, December 14th, 2008
Gaskell Guitars asked:


We all know that there are less left handed people than right handed people in the world. Analysts calculate that 1 in 10 human beings are left-handed. This means the total amount of left handers living in the world is over 600 million. According to Scientific estimates, there will be a billion left-handed people living on planet Earth by 2020. Another interesting fact is that the number of left handed people born in 2005 were double those born in 1990.

So while the left handed population appears to be multiplying as time rolls on, there is a contrast of trend happening in another area: availability of left handed musical instruments, specifically left handed guitars. This is not new News. Left Hand guitars have always been in short supply, but to be fair, many major manufacturers have tried to accommodate left handed players by providing at least a basic range of lefty guitars. Probably if there had never been a Kurt Cobain, or a Paul McCartney or a Jimi Hendrix, everyone today would be playing right handed guitar regardless of what hand they used to write with!

However, there is a real DANGER occurring here. A recent survey of left handed school children concerning left handed guitars showed a staggering group view that playing left handed guitar was “too hard” or “not worth the trouble” and hence out of defeat, the majority of these children feel obliged to deny their left handedness and start learning to play guitar like “everyone else.” I suspect that these survey results probably do not differ from survey results that might have been obtained in the 1990s, or 1970s or 1960s. Strangely, the 1980's was the only era when there appeared to be a “better selection” of left handed guitars than prior and recent times. For example, the last time the Gibson Explorer was made in left hand was in the mid 1980's. It has never been available as a production left handed model since.

Left Handed guitarists wanting an Explorer guitar do have a new choice: Gaskell Guitars, the only left handed guitar manufacturer on the planet that makes left handed guitars in the models that are not available in left hand elsewhere. The Gaskell “Classic” is an Explorer-esque left handed guitar, easily available, from Gaskell Guitars in Australia. Gaskell Guitars are becoming popular in Europe and USA in addition to Australia and New Zealand. Let's not go into agreement with left handed guitarists becoming a “dying race.”



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The Secret To Maximizing Your Guitars Potential

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
Daniel Lehrman asked:


Poorly setup guitars really make playing the guitar a bigger challenge. As if it is not an endless challenge itself. But why make it more difficult? As you probably know by know, the faster you learn to play brings you more personal gratification and desire.

What is 'guitar setup'? Basically it means to have the specifications adjusted to the actual factory standards or your personal specs. Simply put, a set-up includes:

#1. adjusting the height of the strings over the neck

#2. making sure your frets are level or the same height all the way up the neck

#3. intonation

#4. adjust and lubricated all remaining components, in general.

The purpose here is to help you to have a guitar you can play to it's max potential. Hopefully without confusing anyone or using unusual terms that don't really mean anything to you. As a matter of interest, I have rarely handled a new guitar, especially Gibson Guitars, that are really poorly set-up from the factory. Realistically speaking, it it a real mystery as to why more time is not spent setting up the guitars at the factory.

The Fender and Squier line of guitars seem to be the best set-up guitars from the factory, especially the Artist Series and Custom Shop series, and sometimes they leave a lot to be desired. I don't really want to beat down any brand of guitar, it is not personal.

That being said leads me into the fact that every guitar a guitar store unpacks should be set-up before it is shipped or sold. Due to many conditions, it is not realistic for guitar retailers of any type to set-up every guitar. With the low profit levels guitar dealers are saddled with, it is not economically possible.

Regardless of whether it is new or used, once your guitar is properly set-up and adjusted, you may not recognize it in terms of how well it plays and just as important, how excellent it now sounds. It does not matter what your feelings were in term of playability and tone, your mind will be changed and blown.

I got lucky, my teacher of many moons is not just a brilliant teacher, he is a bona-fide Guitar Hero. He has 51 years of playing, including a music education at Berklee School of Music. FYI, that is one of the top two leading music schools in the world. Period. Richard Mac plays at a level only achieved by guitarists like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson and other players in that class, although he clearly has his own vibe.

Back to the subject, my score from Richard, other than teaching me to be a pretty good player (always getting better) is all about guitar set-up. He is sick about having every one of his many guitars set-up before he even plays it. Since I am his disciple, I now set-up every guitar I own immediately upon arrival. Believe this, I bought an Eric Clapton Custom Shop guitar a few years ago and set it up immediately. Actually it was well set-up from the Fender Custom Shop, but It had to checked and set-up perfectly.

The point is that if you buy a Mexican Standard Stratocaster and set it up properly, you have a guitar that plays as good as an American Standard Strat at four to six hundred dollars less. Same thing with an Epiphone guitar. Why buy a poorly set-up Gibson Les Paul for a few thousand bucks when you can buy an Epiphone guitar for less than half that price and have a better playing and sounding guitar?

Lets get down to brass tacks. A good guitar set-up is less than a hundred bucks. Believe me, that is a steal. A lot of precision work along with some expensive tools go into a set-up. Not to mention the 'love' built in by the luthier or guitar maker. I spent a lot of my life rebuilding automotive transmissions, and anyone in the know, knows they are precise and delicate. Guitars take the same delicate precision and time to make right. Don't take my word for it, cough up the bucks and at least try it.

Not mentioning the many upgrades possible would be a disservice to you. If you had designs on upgrading your pickups or adding a TBX active tone control, locking tuners or whatever you can imagine, this is a great time to do it. Like I said, you can change the entire vibe of your guitar by locating a well trusted guitar maker/luthier.

For more information and ways to get a good set-up, and other cool guitar upgrades or modifications contact Guitar Players Center for a competent luthier who has the experience. Point of importance, don't just shop by price, not every guitar maker/luthier is the same. Get a reference first, it's the 'love' that counts most, not the cost.



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5 Tips For Choosing The Right Electric Guitar

Monday, December 8th, 2008
Al Wielder asked:


Purchasing an electric guitar is very exciting and fun. The process can be made more efficient by following several basic guidelines and using several tips provided below. Are you new to guitars and ready to make your first electric guitar purchase? Are you a seasoned player who owns several guitars and you find yourself adding to your guitar collection? No matter which category you find yourself in, getting the most from your instrument purchase is very important. It is also important to understand the types of electric guitars available.

The choices include:

1. Solid Body Electric Guitars 2. Hollow Body Electric Guitars 3. Semi Hollow Body Electric Guitars 4. Acoustic/Electric Guitars 5. Pedal Steel Guitars 6. Hawaiian Style Lap Guitars

Guitars, and particularly electric guitars are not created equal. There are many brands of electric guitars to choose from. Making the right choice when purchasing a guitar will depend on some basic factors, including:

1. Your particular situation

2. The specific application when using the guitar.

For example, if you are a beginner, there is little reason to consider investing several thousands of dollars into a pro level guitar such as a custom Les Paul or a Paul Reed Smith. Another example regarding a specific application would be if you are a traveling musician. Traveling guitarists may want to consider a slightly less expensive guitar to take on the road while saving their finest instrument for a studio environment. Regardless of your situation or the application, the bottom line is there are several factors to consider. Understanding your position as a potential guitar buyer will help you make the right decision and ensure that you make an informed purchase.

Here are 5 tips to help you in choosing the right electric guitar.

Tip 1. Evaluate your level of committment to the instrument and the art of music.

Before you choose your electric guitar be sure you understand the level of committment that you are prepared to invest into the instrument. Electric guitars can be expensive and understanding the level of dedication you plan to invest in the instrument should play a vital role in choosing your guitar.

Tip 2. Identify your particular application for the instrument.

If you are a beginner and just learning to play the instrument, your application will be quite different from an intermediate or advanced guitarist who is adding to their collection. Determine your particular situation and application for the guitar you will purchase. Consider whether or not you will be keeping the instrument at home or frequently traveling with it. For example, if you plan to keep the instrument at home for recreational use, you may want to consider including a less expensive case for the guitar. Road cases can be costly and will not be neccesary if you do not travel with the guitar.

Tip 3. Identify your budget and include patience regarding your guitar purchase.

Many aspiring guitarists have wandered into the local music store only to be overwhelmed by the vast choices and different price ranges of guitars. As with any purchase, pre-planning and understanding your budget is critical. Prices for electric guitars range from a few hunderd dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. If you are serious about playing the guitar, selecting your instrument will be one of the most important decisions you make. Be sure to take ample time during this stage of the process. Patience is more than a virtue when selecting your guitar.

Tip 4. Consult a professional to get tips on guitar quality and performance.

It is a good idea to take the time to visit several musical instrument dealers in your area. Retail guitar shops will be more than happy to help you understand what to look for when buying an electric guitar. Get several opinions if you are new to guitars. Most guitar outlets will have seasoned players on staff who will be happy to impart their experience and wisdom. Ask questions. Find out what you need to consider when selecting an electric guitar. Getting several opinions in this area will shed light on the overall picture and will be very beneficial information when it comes time to buy.

Tip 5. Include additional items and training resources to help you get started playing the guitar.

Once you have made the right guitar purchase, be sure to have additional items on hand that will be vital to the process of learning. You will need an extra set of guitar strings, some extra picks, a tuner and a stand for your guitar. It is also very important to purchase some beginner books that include chord charts, guitar tab and chord progression exercises.

Learning to play the electric guitar is fun and exciting. There are few things in life that will provide the relaxation and feeling of accomplishment you can experience by becoming proficient with guitar chords, guitar tabs and guitar chord progressions. Applying the knowledge you gain from the right learning resources to your favorite style of music is very rewarding. Carefully select your electric guitar. Be sure to practice to develop skill, musical knowledge and basic music theory concepts. Apply what you learn on a daily basis and you will be amazed at the progress you will make with your new electric guitar.



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