This is an article I found online yesterday and wanted to share it with all of you.
The Guitar's Advantages Over Other Instruments
By Phil Stimac
The most obvious advantage the guitar has over other instruments is its portability. Unlike a baby grand piano, you can easily pack your guitar around on your shoulder in a carrying case. I bought my first guitar when I was a sophomore in high school. It was a Stella, purchased for twenty-nine dollars from George Porcella, the proprietor of Porcella's Music Store in Gilroy, California. Since then, I have owned, sold, traded, pawned or lost a dozen or so more.
My love for the guitar soared in 1978 when I first heard world-renown classical guitar master Andres Segovia's The Intimate Guitar album. I listened to it on the recommendation of a teacher I had just begun taking classical lessons from in Santa Cruz. Capitalizing on the guitar's ability to produce both melodic and harmonic sound, Segovia was able to make his guitar sound like two separate instruments. In addition to being the world's most recognized classical performer, Segovia did much throughout his life to increase the popularity of his beloved instrument. He produced instruction books and materials, transcribed classical music to fit the guitar and held concerts, seminars and workshops throughout the world.
Prior to that time I began studying classical guitar, I had been able to play folk and country songs in the style of Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson using three simple chords. My newly learned music theory, coupled with a more developed ear, opened up a new world of learning and enjoyment for me. The right and left hand techniques used in guitar playing gave my body a better sense of balance and integration than playing a wind or brass instrument.
The guitar offers players the opportunity to experiment with techniques and create different styles and picking patterns, from Flamingo to Travis picking. Likewise, you can change and invent new musical styles by changing the type or thickness of your strings. You can also change guitar types from a classical nylon string, to a steel string acoustic. Electric pick-ups as well as electric guitars with amps and foot pedal attachments allow the player to increase volume and add special sound effects. Guitars can be played with a pick or with a variety of finger-pickings styles.
Still, the guitar has other has advantages too. Unlike most brass and wind instruments, you can play complex four, five and six note chords on a guitar. Although the use of a capo is frowned on by classical players, its use in other styles gives players the unique ability to quickly change keys to adjust to a singers vocal range or preferences.
This versatile instrument is also one of the few you hold over your heart. To the serious player like myself, this not only enhances the tone you produce from the strings, but makes your playing one with your voice.
Phil Stimac teaches guitar and songwriting. He also designs and manages blogs for artists and people in business. Phil is also CEO of The Elite Lawyers and Judges Whistleblower Network of America, and consultant to Ave Paz, Inc.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
New Christmas site
I have a new site selling guitars, amps, keyboards and much more just in time for Christmas. Go see http://rockyschristmastoychest.com
and find out what big savings you can have on
Les Pauls, digital recorders and a whole lot more....
and find out what big savings you can have on
Les Pauls, digital recorders and a whole lot more....
Friday, August 20, 2010
New Music Store Comin for Christmas This Year
I bought a domain name and opened a little online store for XMAS
the link should be working soon at Rocky's Christmas Toychest
Come see the amazing values I have on guitars, keyboards, digital recorders and more.
the link should be working soon at Rocky's Christmas Toychest
Come see the amazing values I have on guitars, keyboards, digital recorders and more.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Improve your playing part one
Do you want to improve your guitar technique, play guitar cleaner, eliminate sloppy playing and unwanted string noise? Sloppy guitar technique is a very common problem. Many guitarists have been asking for solutions. This article will help you to improve your guitar technique.
There are 5 main challenges that electric guitar players must overcome in order to learn and master guitar technique. These 5 guitar technique challenges are divided into 3 groups:
1. Awareness
2. Sounds you 'want' to hear (the notes you are attempting to play cleanly)
3. Sounds you do 'not' want to hear (the sloppy sounds you sometimes hear such as unwanted string noise)
Today we will take a look at the first two groups. In Part 2 of this article series we'll focus on the last group of guitar technique challenges.
Focused Awareness - Many guitar players are not fully aware of every imperfection in their guitar technique. Some of these players do sense that 'something' may be wrong, but are not sure about exactly what their specific guitar technique problems are. Obviously, you cannot effectively correct a technical problem until and unless you know exactly what it is.
There are 2 main ways you can approach this:
1. Record yourself playing a something you want to improve on. Listen back (carefully) at 25%-33% speed so that you more easily identify any unclear notes, excess string noise, scratchy noises between the notes, inconsistency in your pick attack, etc.). You may or may not be able to hear everything on your own (many people simply can't yet) and you may or may not be able to 'correctly' identify the cause of each imperfection present in your guitar playing. If you can that's great, but if you're not sure then...
2. Work with a guitar teacher to evaluate your playing and use that feedback to begin the process of making any necessary changes to your technique. Not only will a good teacher help you to play clean by telling you 'what to do', but also because he will hear problems that you may not really be hearing.
IF you have an excellent ear, you should be able to identify the fine details of your problem, if not, work with your guitar teacher.
Articulation - The First Half of Two Hand Synchronization
The second step is to focus on your articulation. Articulation is the first half of two hand synchronization. To play cleaner you need your hands to fret and pick each note at precisely the same time (simultaneously).
There are 3 critical things you need to do to improve your articulation:
1. Use a clean guitar tone when practicing (no distortion and NO effects!). Distortion and effects will mask any imperfections in your articulation, so do not practice with them when focusing on "Articulation" (the rules will change when we talk about "The Release" in the next section).
2. Play loud enough so that you can truly hear what is happening as you are playing.
3. When you are practicing something slowly MAKE SURE that you do NOT change ANYTHING about how you approach and articulate each note. Fact is, most guitar players actually play very differently when playing slow compared to when playing fast. If you change anything in the way you are articulating the notes (such as playing with a lighter touch, using a weaker or stronger pick attack, changing your hand position, pick angle etc.) you will NOT fully improve your technique because the sound you make when playing will be different and therefore harder to detect and identify any problems with your articulation.
The Release - The Second Half of Two Hand Synchronization
The third step toward cleaner playing is 'the release'. For most guitar players 'the release' is the hardest problem to detect and correct. That's generally because once players articulate a note cleanly, they ignore what immediately comes after (small sloppy noise in between the notes or 2 notes slightly 'bleeding' together.
And practicing your guitar with a 'clean' tone (no distortion) - as described above when focusing on articulation - almost always masks problems in the release phase of playing a note. This is why many people think their guitar playing sounds pretty clean when practicing without distortion but sense something is wrong when later playing with distortion... but they are not sure what the problem is... or worse, they actually do not hear the problem at all (but other people do). This is why focused awareness is so critical.
I use multiple steps to help my guitar students fully solve this problem (not all of which can be fully demonstrated or expressed in an article), but here are the absolutely necessary steps toward correcting problems with 'the release'.
1. Practice your guitar WITH distortion (but NO EFFECTS!) now. (Notice, this is the exact opposite advice I gave you to identify and correct 'articulation' problems above).
2. Again you need to play your guitar loud enough to hear precisely what is coming out of your amplifier (other noises in the room can mask the subtle things you need to be listening for).
3. Practice slow (but as stated above, do NOT change ANYTHING in the way you articulate OR RELEASE a note compared to when you are playing fast!).
4. Listen for any subtle noise in between notes (you will probably notice a 'scratchy sound' just before you play the next note). If you have a hard time hearing anything then record yourself and listen back to the recording at 1/4 or 1/3 speed (I guarantee you will hear this short scratchy sound now!)
5. Now that you know what to listen for, you will probably notice it all the time whenever you listen very carefully... and THEN you are ready to being to correct the problem...
Fact is there can be several reasons why your guitar playing may not be clean during the release of a note, but the most common cause is this: When you release a note your brain is probably telling your finger to 'lift off' (make an upward motion away from the string you just played). This can cause all sorts of nasty technique problems (fatigue, slower guitar playing speeds, and sloppy guitar playing... among other things).
The solution is to stop your brain from sending your fingers instructions to 'lift off; of each note and instead to simply 'relax'. When your finger relaxes it will naturally, immediately and effortlessly 'release' the note you just played. There are 2 main benefits to this:
1. Because the motion is effortless, you can play faster and for a much longer time (and most importantly) with greater ease.
2. Because your brain does not give the finger the instruction to make a 'lift off' motion this actually prevents your finger from moving (or preparing to move) prematurely (which is a major cause of the sloppy 'scratchy sound' that may be present in your guitar playing.
It is now very important to realize two things. First you CAN solve these problems and improve your guitar technique. Second, it won't happen over night, this will take time and some consistent practice (possibly over several weeks or longer). But the benefits of being able to play guitar clean are well worth the patience required.
In Part 2 of this article series we'll focus on the last group of guitar technique challenges.
Get 15 more guitar playing tips to immediately improve your guitar playing.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=T._Hess
Tom Hess author.
Learn how to play amazingly with Guitar Tricks online guitar instruction!
There are 5 main challenges that electric guitar players must overcome in order to learn and master guitar technique. These 5 guitar technique challenges are divided into 3 groups:
1. Awareness
2. Sounds you 'want' to hear (the notes you are attempting to play cleanly)
3. Sounds you do 'not' want to hear (the sloppy sounds you sometimes hear such as unwanted string noise)
Today we will take a look at the first two groups. In Part 2 of this article series we'll focus on the last group of guitar technique challenges.
Focused Awareness - Many guitar players are not fully aware of every imperfection in their guitar technique. Some of these players do sense that 'something' may be wrong, but are not sure about exactly what their specific guitar technique problems are. Obviously, you cannot effectively correct a technical problem until and unless you know exactly what it is.
There are 2 main ways you can approach this:
1. Record yourself playing a something you want to improve on. Listen back (carefully) at 25%-33% speed so that you more easily identify any unclear notes, excess string noise, scratchy noises between the notes, inconsistency in your pick attack, etc.). You may or may not be able to hear everything on your own (many people simply can't yet) and you may or may not be able to 'correctly' identify the cause of each imperfection present in your guitar playing. If you can that's great, but if you're not sure then...
2. Work with a guitar teacher to evaluate your playing and use that feedback to begin the process of making any necessary changes to your technique. Not only will a good teacher help you to play clean by telling you 'what to do', but also because he will hear problems that you may not really be hearing.
IF you have an excellent ear, you should be able to identify the fine details of your problem, if not, work with your guitar teacher.
Articulation - The First Half of Two Hand Synchronization
The second step is to focus on your articulation. Articulation is the first half of two hand synchronization. To play cleaner you need your hands to fret and pick each note at precisely the same time (simultaneously).
There are 3 critical things you need to do to improve your articulation:
1. Use a clean guitar tone when practicing (no distortion and NO effects!). Distortion and effects will mask any imperfections in your articulation, so do not practice with them when focusing on "Articulation" (the rules will change when we talk about "The Release" in the next section).
2. Play loud enough so that you can truly hear what is happening as you are playing.
3. When you are practicing something slowly MAKE SURE that you do NOT change ANYTHING about how you approach and articulate each note. Fact is, most guitar players actually play very differently when playing slow compared to when playing fast. If you change anything in the way you are articulating the notes (such as playing with a lighter touch, using a weaker or stronger pick attack, changing your hand position, pick angle etc.) you will NOT fully improve your technique because the sound you make when playing will be different and therefore harder to detect and identify any problems with your articulation.
The Release - The Second Half of Two Hand Synchronization
The third step toward cleaner playing is 'the release'. For most guitar players 'the release' is the hardest problem to detect and correct. That's generally because once players articulate a note cleanly, they ignore what immediately comes after (small sloppy noise in between the notes or 2 notes slightly 'bleeding' together.
And practicing your guitar with a 'clean' tone (no distortion) - as described above when focusing on articulation - almost always masks problems in the release phase of playing a note. This is why many people think their guitar playing sounds pretty clean when practicing without distortion but sense something is wrong when later playing with distortion... but they are not sure what the problem is... or worse, they actually do not hear the problem at all (but other people do). This is why focused awareness is so critical.
I use multiple steps to help my guitar students fully solve this problem (not all of which can be fully demonstrated or expressed in an article), but here are the absolutely necessary steps toward correcting problems with 'the release'.
1. Practice your guitar WITH distortion (but NO EFFECTS!) now. (Notice, this is the exact opposite advice I gave you to identify and correct 'articulation' problems above).
2. Again you need to play your guitar loud enough to hear precisely what is coming out of your amplifier (other noises in the room can mask the subtle things you need to be listening for).
3. Practice slow (but as stated above, do NOT change ANYTHING in the way you articulate OR RELEASE a note compared to when you are playing fast!).
4. Listen for any subtle noise in between notes (you will probably notice a 'scratchy sound' just before you play the next note). If you have a hard time hearing anything then record yourself and listen back to the recording at 1/4 or 1/3 speed (I guarantee you will hear this short scratchy sound now!)
5. Now that you know what to listen for, you will probably notice it all the time whenever you listen very carefully... and THEN you are ready to being to correct the problem...
Fact is there can be several reasons why your guitar playing may not be clean during the release of a note, but the most common cause is this: When you release a note your brain is probably telling your finger to 'lift off' (make an upward motion away from the string you just played). This can cause all sorts of nasty technique problems (fatigue, slower guitar playing speeds, and sloppy guitar playing... among other things).
The solution is to stop your brain from sending your fingers instructions to 'lift off; of each note and instead to simply 'relax'. When your finger relaxes it will naturally, immediately and effortlessly 'release' the note you just played. There are 2 main benefits to this:
1. Because the motion is effortless, you can play faster and for a much longer time (and most importantly) with greater ease.
2. Because your brain does not give the finger the instruction to make a 'lift off' motion this actually prevents your finger from moving (or preparing to move) prematurely (which is a major cause of the sloppy 'scratchy sound' that may be present in your guitar playing.
It is now very important to realize two things. First you CAN solve these problems and improve your guitar technique. Second, it won't happen over night, this will take time and some consistent practice (possibly over several weeks or longer). But the benefits of being able to play guitar clean are well worth the patience required.
In Part 2 of this article series we'll focus on the last group of guitar technique challenges.
Get 15 more guitar playing tips to immediately improve your guitar playing.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=T._Hess
Tom Hess author.
Learn how to play amazingly with Guitar Tricks online guitar instruction!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Hooray! Jeff Beck is coming!
Next week marks the arrival of the new Jeff Beck album, and three weeks from today the man himself is playing down at the river for Memphis in may. This will be the first time since 1995 that he's played here and the third time in all that I've seen him live.
I highly recommend to anyone reading this to go and get the new album next Tuesday as soon as the store opens!!!!
I highly recommend to anyone reading this to go and get the new album next Tuesday as soon as the store opens!!!!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Best Learning Course is Jamorama by a Landslide!
In doing my research for products to promote to
aspiring musicians I kept coming back to Jamorama.
What is great about it is you can start
on the level most appropriate to your playing level and progress
as you go and upgrade at the same time.
By using easy to follow video tutorials, the speed at which you will
learn is sped up considerably. I learned the hard way, lifting the needle
off the record and repeating till I had the phrase or lick down. Today's
technology eliminates that "old school" method entirely, although you could
still use it, but why would anyone want to?
Come check it out today at Jamorama
and see for yourself!
Fill in the subscribe form on the right and receive my newsletter
featuring all the latest guitar playing news!
aspiring musicians I kept coming back to Jamorama.
What is great about it is you can start
on the level most appropriate to your playing level and progress
as you go and upgrade at the same time.
By using easy to follow video tutorials, the speed at which you will
learn is sped up considerably. I learned the hard way, lifting the needle
off the record and repeating till I had the phrase or lick down. Today's
technology eliminates that "old school" method entirely, although you could
still use it, but why would anyone want to?
Come check it out today at Jamorama
and see for yourself!
Fill in the subscribe form on the right and receive my newsletter
featuring all the latest guitar playing news!
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