Beginning blues guitar lessons is also a great way to really start understanding and
making sense of scales, starting with the major and minor pentatonic scales of course.
Its one of the best and easiest forms of music to train yourself to solo with, but there
is one problem. Because the blues is so enjoyable to play, a lot of guitarists find themselves getting stuck with in the genre. This isn't to blame blues music, as this can happen with any genre that you pursue. However, if you find yourself in this position, this may be your first time experiencing something that is difficult for more experienced guitarists to get past.

You will learn much from this style, including phrasing, but perhaps you will soon find
your musical ideas getting stale. What you do is try to incoporate what you are learning about a style such as the blues, and apply it to another type of music. Going from blues to Latin is definitely one of the best moves, because the dorian mode, which is commonly used in Latin music and the pentatonic scales go so well with each other. If you don't know what I'm talking about then perhaps you've heard of Santana? what a great sound! Imagine getting into something kind of borderline.

From here you could keep expanding and learn so much about music, but the point is that you have to take it one step at a time. Figure out what makes one little difference
between two styles of music. Then decide what IS common between them. Its very possible to cross styles, get out of a rut, discover so much about how music works, and further develop your own sound and style. Beginning blues guitar lessons is a great way to accelerate your playing, but remember that unless you want to play the blues your
whole life, that you'll need to nudge yourself in order to get going with something new.

There is no problem to learn and master guitar, but you really need to have an understanding of several styles of music. By taking this on upon yourself, you will truly learn and master guitar and be able to think outside of the box.

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Mastering blues guitar and other styles

While you can learn a lot from watching videos on the web about guitar basics you can also get lost in a hurry. This article will explain the best method of using online guitar lesson videos to teach yourself how to play guitar.

Free Isn't Always Best

I know YouTube has thousands and thousands of guitar videos on it. How ever it's next to impossible to string together a set of videos that can teach you all the basics, and then move to more intermediate concepts. What seems to happen is someone gets an idea to put together a set of basic guitar lessons, starts but then get's bored before they finish them.

Rather then using free guitar lesson videos I'd suggest you consider a membership website that offers quality content for a small monthly fee. You'll find it much easier to learn guitar as a beginner if you're following the same instructor each time.

Explanation is Key

Video quality is important it's not the only thing you need to consider when you're taking guitar lessons online. I would much rather sacrifice a small amount of quality for a teacher that explains things better. It's true most of us learn better by listening and watching then by reading, this is especially true for guitar, but if a concept isn't explained well, or the video doesn't show close ups of left hand technique on the neck you might get frustrated when you can't duplicate what you just watched.

Look for a Lesson Plan

Having a straight forward lessons plan to follow as a beginner guitar player is the biggest advantage you can have. Like I mentioned earlier about the YouTube videos, you have no way of knowing what to learn next when you're surfing aimlessly around YouTube. Instead look for online guitar lessons that have a straight forward plan for what order you should watch their video lessons. This will save you a lot of time and frustration as you learn.

To learn more about beginner guitar lessons visit our website. We've compiled a list of guitar lessons and tips along with reviews of the best guitar lessons available online and offline.

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Post from: Guitar

Online Guitar Lessons: Your Guide to Choosing the Right Videos to Learn Guitar

By limiting yourself to working with only so many exercises you will have a heads up. Unfortunately a lot of guitar players try to tackle simply too many exercises. If you limit yourself to two to three exercises then you will see them through and practice them more.

When it comes to guitar finger strength, taking it slow is a must. This is because there are so many movements going on with the fingers that its important to not leave one out. For instance when you walk, in order to take a step, your leg must make several motions to snap your foot out their and touch the ground. Your fingers are no different, except that you may trying to work them up to a super sonic speed, and in which case taking things slowly enough to train those little movements is ten times as crucial now.

Working with a metronome is something that is often thought of for just training the right hand or the two hands together, but using this for fretting hand finger strength is also important at times. You don't have to do this constantly and make guitar playing boring, but if you choose to - please do so on a clean setting with no distortion, or an acoustic. Instead of focusing on the hand all together, give each finger a lot of attention when its up to bat.

You can learn and master guitar with the right system, but figuring out the system to learn and master guitar is difficult without the right knowledge. Luckily, there are people who can help you learn guitar correctly.

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Finger strength for guitar players

There are many ways to learn the guitar chords either by purchasing a software that can teach you the whole procedure of How to play the instrument or by hiring any personal tutor to teach you or through any coaching manuals available on internet. But these things are helpful only when you are having enough funds to afford them because these instruments are costly to buy and other thing is the required time that you can give. Once you learn it and you are able to play them then you except the tutor and others there are online guitar chords that can help you in a better way. Online guitar chords that are available on net can help any of you in more efficient manner and provides many options to the player of guitar chords to improve his skills and to get in touch with new advancement and how to operate them. Practicing these things is the main key point that helps you to operate them correctly and also to understand them in better way with the help of online guitar chords and others.

Along with this to learn any type of music there are different approaches or different methods that people are having on the basis of their opinions. Concerning about playing guitar chords, there are two types of approaches that is being used. First one is to learn how to play music and the second one is about ‘pitch’ training and ‘ear’ training. Learning music means how to compose it and play different type of music because innovation is must when you are involved in music and training which is very necessary and is not easy to be perfect in them. It is very important to learn different chords that are present on guitar. It needs the dedication in you to learn the instrument and need to be more focused. Though online guitar chords are present to help you the way you want but first you need to be clear with the basic components of it and once you learn the chords which is very important than you are free to learn the different notes that are present on music sheets. Until you are not finding the structures on the guitar chords, you cannot get the real feel of them. The way you learn is more important than other things if you are learning it in correct way may reach to a level of perfection otherwise you are wasting your time.   

You would like to learn to play guitar, but you don’t know how to play guitar chords?
Here is the solution – online guitar chords!

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Essential Guitar chords and scales

You can use scales and modes and treat them as exercises for increasing your finger dexterity, your picking, whether it be finger or flat picking, and your musical reflexes. If you are interested in approaching scale practice from the angle of learning musical theory so that you can write awesome songs, then take it easy. Getting too wrapped up with theory will turn your playing stale, but in small increments, scales can give you a great understanding of the fretboard.

I would suggest only working with one scale or mode at a time, and to make sure that you have a good understanding of how it works, and the patterns before moving on to a new one. When it comes to memorizing a scale, there's quite a bit to tackle, so don't be afraid to spend as much as a month on one scale or mode, because if you learn it - you might as well make it stick.

Be mindful of the patterns and shapes. A lot of people don't realize it, but there are some common shapes that are privvy to certain scales. Try to look for these as they can also act as fretboard "landmarks" so that when you get good at soloing you'll know your way around a lot better.

Take your time with scales and you will surely learn and master guitar. Don't expect to get them over night, because it can take years to learn and master guitar playing, and always experiment with scales as you learn guitar.

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Using guitar scales to improve your playing

There are a few stages of guitar learning that everyone goes through and each one of these relate to different levels of skill. Certain things you will learn quickly and others will take longer. For example, if your final destination is the ability to strum sing-a-long songs on the beach or around the fire you'll reach your goal faster than the guy who wants to play speedy metal solo's.

Here's a breakdown of the stages of guitar learning and the approximate time it might take you to get there.

Playing Basic Chords - This is usually the first benchmark most new players reach: The ability to strum and switch between the basic guitar chords. At this point you don't necessarily have the chords memorized and aren't able to play many songs, but you're managing to fret and strum them. This level can be reached within one week.

Playing easy songs - You've mastered more guitar chords and have been practicing them enough that you've got most of them memorized and are able to strum and switch between them without too much hassle, and without looking at the fretboard when you do. This means you can play songs! This level can be reached in two to three weeks of daily practice, though for many it might be longer.

Playing Barre and Power Chords - We're moving right along and you're advancing to a level where most self-taught guitarists never go. Barre Chords are much more difficult than open chords and learning these takes extra practice and a whole new set of strength in your fretting hand. It's possible to play most barre chords in two months, quicker for some who practice a lot.

Fingerpicking - The ability to pluck individual strings and play simple riffs (short solo pieces on individual strings) is a new skill your strumming hand needs to learn. This can usually be achieved in two to three months if you start to learn and play easy guitar tabs.

Lead Guitar - A Lead guitarist is the person who's got the audience at his beckoning. Playing solo's and using techniques like slurring, sliding and vibratois a whole new set of rules and I'd give it three to four months. This might be way off depending on what kind of music we're talking about - playing acoustic solo's might take less time, but metal solo's will take significantly longer.

The improviser - A guitarist that can improvise riffs and solos in the middle of a live song, has moved from the realm of amateurship to being a semi-pro. Depending on how much talent you have and what your musical background is, this might take anything from six months to a year.

Please note that these time lengths are given as a very broad estimate and aimed at people with little musical experience. If it takes you longer than a week to learn the basic chords, don't get upset. These times are not set in stone and you have to learn and develop at a pace that's natural and comfortable for you!

Leon Potgieter is a musician with many years of live performing experience. His website http://www.pluckandplayguitar.com is the ultimate online portal for absolute beginners wanting a no-fuss, hands-on approach to learning the world's favourite stringed instrument.

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Learning guitar – How long does it take?

Click here to learn electric guitar online for free!

if you're impatient to start you might check out YouTube. If you are just beginning with the electrical guitar try a search for'basic guitar lessons'. And make the effort to just watch the guitarists giving the lessons on video. Spend a couple of days or a week doing this for an hour or two and you will be shocked at how much you have learnt. When you're taking a look at lessons to learn electric guitar on the web don't worry if you don't like what you see. The video lessons on YouTube aren't to everyone's taste - especially someone just attempting to learn the basics.
When you take your first lesson your teacher will show you the correct hand positions and the proper way to hold the guitar. That way you do not commence your life as electric guitar player with bad habits, most likely laying the foundation for injuring your wrist or arms later. You might answer adverts in your local paper but I believe a advice from someone who already plays guitar is better.

when you're browsing the free electrical guitar lessons on the web take note of the sort of info you can get without paying. If you go with free lessons when you first start playing the electric guitar, quite possibly even after some months you'll still not be playing a total song. Free guitar lessons cannot give you the thrust to set up a practice regime for yourself and to systematically learn chords in different positions on the guitar fretboard, practice chord progressions, and then put this data into practice with some of your favorite songs. An electric guitar is not easy to carry around but it's's best to take your own guitar to your lessons. So it could be easier to learn electric guitar online.
When it comes to learning songs you can make great use of the free tab sites on the web. A number of these sites have tabs for music that you can't get in music shops. You may also try the assorted guitar tab groups on MySpace. Some of the free tab sites online also have free lessons. If you do a little looking you could find out about the diverse parts of your electric guitar and how to utilize them like whammy bar technique or the simplest way to play harmonics.

Dana is the author and owner of dozens of research sites. She spends much of her time researching products and posting results for all the viewers.

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Learn Electric Guitar- The Basics

If you are really new to playing the guitar, you may want to consider picking up a set of stickers that you can place on the frets that tell you the notes. Who ever invented that was ingenious, because it really does help out a lot of newer players.

Don't be afraid to be reliant upon your inlays, which are usually going to be little dots or etchings set into your fret board. You will find these marking the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 17th, 19th, and 20th frets. Break the fretboard down into smaller sections, by either learning the notes or frets one string at a time, or learning patterns across all the strings in 5 fret blocks.

Its been proven that the slow you take things on a mental level when learning guitar, the faster you will be able to compute the knowledge that you are learning. If you have diagram of a guitar neck available, it helps to make copies of it and then practice writing the names of the notes and fret numbers in repeatedly, just like you would do if you were practicing your signature. It also helps to use a certain colored pen or marker for certain notes, and keep the pattern  consistent.

In all, learning guitar geography isn't all that bad or complicated, but it does require a little work put in each day in order to learn and master guitar. Learning the guitar is an ongoing process, so don't ever let it get you down.

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Advice for how to learn the guitar fretboard better

Is playing a guitar big deal? One will need to have a proper sense of music, along with some proper techniques and then it is not that difficult to learn this instrument.

Here is a list of ways for you to follow and fulfill your dream of being in a music band and creating music by a guitar.

Acquiring knowledge from beginner's guide books

If you’re born with exceptional musical talent with good sense of music and with very sharp ears, then this method is enough for you to learn the “basics” of a guitar.

However, personally I don’t support this, simply because acquiring knowledge from books that too about chords from the diagrams and notes won’t make you learn the real thing.

You might get bored at the end of the day and will not even think of how to learn to play guitar.  Practical lessons differ from theories as far as music is concerned.

Appointing a qualified private music tutor

One of the best ways to how to learn to play guitar is by appointing a private tutor to teach you the basics of a guitar.

This method is however a bit more expensive than the others. You can indulge yourself if you have enough money and time.

Learning from the Internet

This is the easiest way to learn anything nowadays. One will find plenty of guitar lessons that are available on the internet.

The best part is that these lessons are even downloadable and also come for free.

The thing to remember while downloading is that a good course must contain materials that include audio and video files for you to learn the lessons in a step by step procedure.

Thus your question “how to learn to play guitar” is answered.

If you are wondering how to learn to play guitar online, i highly recommend the Jamorama guitar playing course. Check out my in depth Jamorama review and learn more about this online guitar playing course.

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Post from: Guitar

How To Learn To Play Guitar – 3 Ways To Learn Guitar Playing

• First of all you must learn Open Chords. They use open strings as well as pressed notes and are commonly used by guitar players of all styles simply because they are great. Practice a few of them each week and, once you get them to sound good on their own, practice the chord changes without loosing the beat. You should be done in a month learning them all and they will enable you to play quite a few tunes.
• You then need to start focusing on strumming and bring some feel into your music. You should be playing always on the beat at this stage with a down-stroke and, as you get into it, start using occasional strums on the up-beat using up-strokes. Following this tip - down-strokes on the down-beat and up-strokes on the up-beat - will help you keep your timing.
• Put what you have learned into practice and start playing a few songs that use open chords. You'll find many songs in the modern catalogue that meet this criterium and a good idea would be to find the records and play-along with them. This is such a great exercise as you will be practicing with the pro's and that will help you in your learning. 
• Learn all the 7th & sus Open Chords and start using them in your playing. 
• Now it's time to start learning a few fingerpicking patterns. This technique is commonly used by electric and acoustic guitarists alike in ballads and uptempo songs. Fingerpicking makes you use your fingers to pluck the strings instead of a guitar pick and that has a very distinctive feel. 
• In the end start playing more difficult chords like F and the Barre Chords. The E & A shape Barre Chords are definitely more demanding than the Open Chords but will enable you to play any chord all over the fretboard of the guitar.

Thank you for reading my article I hope it helped you understand better this topic. Just remember if you follow these guitar instructions you are set for a good start but it's advisable that you find a good course that can guide you apply them.

Good luck and remember to have fun!

Antonio is a professional Guitarist/Composer|Teacher. He has collaborated with many platinum selling artists and composed for National TV & Radio. He has a Free Quick Start Guide learn acoustic guitar

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Guitar Instructions: Do you want to learn acoustic guitar?

Famous guitarists of the world display their skills and they can teach you a lesson or two in the trick of the trade. Problem for most of the aspirant guitarists is that they cannot get in touch with the world class renowned guitarists easily. They are celebrities and not available off hand. Learning the skills of guitar playing in direct contact with them may not be possible. That is why becoming ultimate guitarist is much harder than it looks. In such cases a feasible alternative would be free music downloads. Hearing such music can really help you to learn the tricks. Of course one has to be careful otherwise one can become confused.

When no other answer can solve anyone’s problems, a number of concepts and theories can help break through the barrier keeping you away from reaching the full potential. It is not required to become a genius for reaching the heights of guitar skills. One attribute that is essential is your interest and the other would be your skills. In addition to your interest you also require communication skills. Unless you are passionate about music you can never be a skilled guitarist. People who do not get to that level are normally apathetic and lazy. Guitarist who dares to challenge themselves may often suffer the risk of failing. In the end most of the guitarists lose their battles suffering from low self esteem and quit. It is therefore better to go for the free music downloads.

They will be sort of tutorials that will help you in getting the best results in learning the tips and tricks of playing guitar with aplomb. Not that the budding guitarists are not taking risks. They are taking ample risks. Yet they are not able to reach the desired heights because they do not know the essence of the musical systems. Right from the acquisition of the first skills through the acquisition of superior levels they can help you. Once again the problem remains affordability. If you try to get the best results it may not be possible for you to get the music for such purposes paying the costs.  Fact remains that when direct methods of success are not readily available at hand indirect methods could do and in such case free music downloads can really help you.

The website bearshare.com has an excellent database of information relating to free music downloads. It provides the aspirant musicians and a guitarist with sources for obtaining such free music downloads of best musicians across the globe helping them in their endeavor of becoming skilled musician.

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Post from: Guitar

Free Music Downloads: Easiest Ways Of Improving Guitar Playing Skills

Click here to learn electric guitar online for free!

If you'd like to learn electric guitar, you are going to first have to select which type you need to play. Selecting this route will permit you to select a five-, six-, seven-, or even twelve-stringed instrument. Similar to a regular bass or acoustic guitar, the electrical guitar comes in diverse styles with different string options.

This will enable you to read sheet music, even if you have not heard the music before. While this is a slower process, the foundation you are laying for future guitar success is bigger because you will have already mastered reading music. Many guitar enthusiasts, who simply want to learn the electric version for fun almost never choose to learn how to read music. Instead, they typically learn the four-stringed electronic guitar in chords, which lets them'play by ear'. A four-stringed instrument is made up of regular note progressions, and switching in and out of different chords as well as training your left hand to switch and hold a chord in a certain fret as you strum in rhythm to the track of your choosing is a lot simpler.

The electric guitar is a great choice for those who want to play rock and roll, jazz, blues, and even modern versions of classical or up to date music. If you haven't purchased an electrical guitar yet, then you'll need to consider what version you'd like. Some models have hollow bodies, while others are solid in their make up. A regular solid electrical guitar emits the sound without any kind of resonation before it hits the amplifier.
When you learn electric guitar its as fun as learning how to play a regular bass guitar. For those needing to learn the basics of guitar playing then an instructor could be the most suitable option. But , if you simply want to learn for fun, practice using a four-stringed instrument by learning how to play in chords and strum according to what you hear. Best of luck as you learn electric guitar!

Free Lessons to Learn Electric Guitar
.

Dana is the author and owner of dozens of research sites. She spends much of her time researching products and posting results for all the viewers.

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Lean Electric Guitar- Free Lessons

02/29/04 Back Catalog Article wanted by readers

When you hear the name Dan Torres and pickups in the music industry, ears tend to perk up or pickup, that's a joke get it.I know a bad one. And pickup makers like Seymour- Duncan and Di Marzio tend to take note. Introduction of this article and information on Dan Torres the amp and pickup Master from California, is by Canadian Guitar Player Music Consultant Dee Curtis.

The first time I heard of Dan Torres was when I was out in Los Angeles in the early 80's with a group of musicians, who were talking about Dan Torres who was and still is a guitar moding guru,moding their amps and guitars for them.

These guys back then got in touch with Dan through an ad in (Guitar Player) when mail order was the rage in the music business. So I sent away for some info on how to hop up your guitar and do mods to your amp, through his free brochures, and wound up getting some reprints of his articles which were in (Vintage Guitar).

I had a bit of electronic know how at the time which was helpful but nothing with tube amps. But through some of his articles I started tinkering with The capacitors and resistors in the amp head along  with changing tubes, to reshape the sound coming through the cab. I wound up using his Midrange tone control switch on every guitar I    had back then. Currently I'm not using them and I miss them.Dan is one of the top experts on amp and guitar modification and one a lot of top musicians use.  

Very recently, I contacted Dan about my (Sovtek Midget Combo Amp) and asked him what tubes he recommended because the Sovtek was sounding a little dark to me. I had some feedback from Sovtek on this and made some mods, but it was still sounding too dark.

I love the amp, but I wanted more sparkle and cleaner tones. Dan suggested I try( 6L6 GC Tubes) which will give me clearer top end and less mid-range and darker tones. I have them on order now and I know it'll sound beautiful.

Now, anyone who's a guitar or bass player I implore you to get Dan Torres book (Inside Tube Amps), which is literally the bible on tube amps, and it's  in laymen terms so anyone can understand how to--mod their amps or guitars.

Mark Grove: We first started this article with an intro on how Dee Curtis was first introduced to the amp and pickup master himself Dan Torres, but we'll end this section where we originally wanted to go, and that's talking about Dan Torres take  on restoring pickups and the fact he was  one of the first techs to start rewinding pickups for musicians in California. Dan also has a line of single coil and custom made pickups, along with new ones called (Torres P90's) and custom Humbuckers -- as well as SRV midrange and blues pickups.

This man is the master of pickup tone control along with other gurus like  Bill Turner (EMG founder and current resident pickup expert for Fender. In this interview with Dan Torres we'll venture into Pickup restoration and how to keep those vintage pickups just"hummin" along.

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.torresengineering.com">www.torresengineering.com</a>  This is a "uber cool" site for players

I know another bad line. Dan is also known for his amp and guitar building kits which are popular for the more astute musician. This will be an interview you'll want to archive in your e-mail or site, so  get ready to be amazed by Dan Torres fellow musicians. Canadian Guitar Player talks to Dan Torres about the intricacies of pickup         restoration and when to toss that old heap.

M.G: At what point has a regular or vintage pickup for that matter outlived it's usefulness sound wise and mechanically?

D.T: Currently, since the beginning of magnetic pickups, virtually none of them have actually worn out. Even the earliest pickups, unless damaged, are still functional sound wise and mechanically.

M.G: What's the most common form of pickup wear and tear that has to be addressed when restoring a pickup?

DT: Most common wear is user wear. Pick damage to the top of the pickup, getting jabbed with screwdrivers, stripped screws and results of mistreatment. Magnets and hardware may rust quite a bit from an instrument that is allowed to get damp. Rust can push magnets out of contact with the pole pieces, causing the pickup to stop working correctly.

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.torresengineering.com">www.torresengineering.com</a>

M.G: Is re-magnetizing a pickup important to gain back the original sustain and solid string pull?

DT: This is a very tricky question as the target tonal character of our most popular guitars (and pickups) is based on those instruments being old at the time they were used/recorded. That is--one does--not seek out a 1959 Gibson Les Paul with Patent Applied Hum-bucking  pickups to play "how high the moon" (a Les Paul hit of the 50's) they seek it out to play "Sunshine of your Love" (Clapton" or "One Way Out" (Allman Bros”)

The guitars that are the most treasured were in their "second life" as used instruments picked up by the young musicians of the mid  60s' from pawn shops,    etc. as very inexpensive, used, good sounding guitars. Therefore, the original  magnet strength - that is the magnet strength when this particular guitar was manufactured in 1959, is not the desired "effect". The desired sound is the       "old guitar" heard in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and today.

A lot of effort has been put into demagnetizing magnets or finding old ones. Currently my collection of patent applied for original Gibson magnets sell for   $150+ per magnet if I will let go of any of them. (only about six left.)

M.G: Does the magnetic field become weaker over time yet produce mellower and fatter tones?

DT: This is easy, yes. But the magnet field has quite a long life. Even the oldest pickups we commonly see, such as the "Charlie Christian" pickup found on the 1939 Gibson with cobalt magnets still have more than enough flux to this day. Jazz Great Barney Kessel used to bring in his far-too-famous Gibson with the Charlie Christian pickup.

Those huge, very old magnets were still very strong and the best pickup (he had several) was very high impedance, 10,000 ohms. This pickup sounded absolutely wonderful, a magical musical instrument. A lot of experimentation was done in the 80's by many pickup manufacturers, with stronger or exotic magnets.

But the point of diminishing return was reached instantly. Stronger magnets may produce a louder pickup with more output, but the excess string pull caused damping, pulling the strings out of pitch so the pickups had to be placed quite a ways below light gauge strings, canceling out most of the improvement. The exotic magnets did not sound as nice as the wider flux range alnico or ceramic magnets.

M.G: Do hum-bucking or single coil's wear down faster and why?

DT: A tough one. Single coils, such as Strat pickups die more frequently, but usually due to damage. It is not hard at all to wear through the top of a strat pickup cover and damage the coil. P-90 type single coils use hum-bucking magnets (2) and have a plastic coil form, so we have a cross over in pickup structure between the hum-bucker and P-90.

The cylindrical magnets of the Strat and Telecaster pickup have a large amount of flux and will last several life times if they are not damaged. The earliest guitars still sound spectacular. Jerry Garcia replaced his DiMarzio hum-bucking pickups frequently saying they had worn out, but these pickups have been moving around here in the San Francisco Bay area, and do not seem to have lost anything noticeable. But musical perception is far, far more sensitive then any instrument.

Not hearing  them brand new makes it impossible to hear what Jerry heard. By their nature, single coils may wear down faster as the magnets are more subject to the real magnet killer, shock  being hit by the pick, strings etc.

M.G: With your handling some of todays top players pickups, do they think twice about throwing out their singles or hums, or even going to a different company for restoration?

DT: I usually encourage pros and amateurs to consider keeping vintage pickups in place if they are providing the type of tone they want. I find if the guitar feels right, but doesn't sound right, hand wound or new  pickups from ourselves and or all the other manufacturers can be selected along with appropriate potentiometers, tone controls, etc.

To fine tune the guitar to do exactly what one wants without butchering  a fine vintage guitar, many pros are choosing new guitars, or fine quality imports (Ibanez, Aria, Cort etc.) so they can make as many changes as they wish and have several identical guitars on hand without the super high cost of vintage instruments. Restorations are done if pickups have been severely damaged, are dead or partially dead, or in some cases--when they just look ratty, ugly.  

Rust can be removed and/or new pole piece screws and studs fit to hum-buckers, delicate work with steel wool can clean up strat--tele magnets. Most restorations are to dead vintage (valuable pickups) getting them back to life without losing their inherent musical character.

Broken coils are the main problem by far. With a very good eye, steady hand, and knowing exactly what to look for, the broken coil wire can be located and reattached without losing any more than one or two ohms of a 5,000 ohm pickup.  

The most difficult part of this process may not be finding the broken wire. It is treatment of it after finding it. Usually you only have one chance. The wire is coated with insulation that must be removed before you can re-solder to it.  Since the wire is thinner than a hair, and in some cases one is working with just 1/16 to 1/8 in of wire. This is delicate work.

M.G: What is the most common type of pickup that is replaced?

DT:Currently it is running about 55% strat--tele type and 45% hum-buckers, but it shifts constantly pretty much keyed by the current popular guitars in use on TV, Concerts and other media.

M.G.: Is restoring pickups for the most part something you should leave to luthiers or guitar parts restoration specialists?

DT: If the pickup has high value, yes, get someone with experience. A good eye, practice, and knowing what to look for can rescue a $200.00 Patent Applied for that may be totally destroyed by an inexperienced (or unsteady) hand trying to fix a broken coil wire. attention to detail will bring the pickup back to life as it should be.

M.G.: When restoring a pickup are single coils or hum-buckers easier to restore?

DT: Single coils are usually easier - they are simpler, everything is out in the open and easy to see, there are no layers of age-old tape to peel off,(a real difficulty with old hum-bucking pickups.)  But -"funky" type single coils. Harmony,  Silvertone, Danelectro, Kay etc. are REALLY hard to restore as they are often made on a budget.

Cardboard coil forms, glue and masking tape are all used in assembly pretty difficult to dig through. Some of these old inexpensive guitars do not even have coil forms. Just  a coil of wire and magnet. It is often hard to tell what it was supposed to be in the first place!

M.G: Are there any special ways of repotting, re-magnetizing or rewinding a pickup to actually improve it's tone and sustain in regards to string pull?

DT: I would not say "special ways" as much as the application of very good technique in all these technologies. Potting or repotting in wax (or lacquer) has to be at the right temperature so the wax soaks the whole coil, but not so hot it melts a coil for  tricky re-pots.  But once you have it right it is easily repeated.  

This will prevent microphonics, allowing the pickup to perform at a much higher volume level without squeal. Re-magnetizing may improve or restore the tone of a damaged magnet. Shock can demagnetize the magnet enough so it does not produce a signal. In this case re-magnetizing will bring it back to life.

Often more powerful magnets, such as Alnico 5 are demagnetized or redone to a lower "aged" level, to reduce string pull and get the effect we hear from vintage guitars.

A fairly effective process that may well increase sustain of a given pickup. But with our stock of new Alnico 2 magnets, it is often easier to just install a lower flux Alnico 2 magnet in place of an Alnico 5 for the lower magnetic pull, sweeter tone. Pickup winding is another story. Most of the "classic" guitars made in the 50's had hand wound pickups to some degree.

In a conversation with Doc Kauffman, Leo Fender's original partner he told me it was quite some time before he and Leo thought " maybe we should measure these pickups?"

In winding a pickup to get a good vintage tone a "scatter wound" technique works the best.The wire is not laid down absolutely perfect, but somewhat random, filling the coil by eye as it spins. This gives the pickup a more harmonic tonality - not so perfect is often more musical. Hum-bucking pickups, having two coils, are essentially unbalanced in the original Gibson Design. Each coil has a different iron load, therefore a different impedance. If the coils themselves are also not exactly equal, there is an effect of, again, less perfection  and more harmonic quality due to the slightly different tonalities of each coil.

Additionally the distance between the two coils picking up the guitar string signal at different locations (called phase cancellation) gives the hum-bucking pickup its distinct character. These factors can be manipulated to vary the pickup's tonality to very extreme extents.

DiMarzio is quite skilled at developing more and more new sounds from techniques like this,(and many others.) Observation of dozens of real  Patent Applied for Gibson Humbuckers,show coils that are "pretty close" but not exact when read with Digital Vom Meters,which were not available when they were made.

M.G.: When wiring a pickup are there techniques used to give your guitar a tone based on the type of music you're playing?

DT: This is one of our specialties. Besides all the variations in pickups we have discussed, we introduced the concept of varying the potentiometers to decrease or increase the load on the pickup, vastly changing the frequency response, gain and tone.

We also make a range of passive midrange controls that can be applied to any guitar to give the musician still farther range of tones from the "same old" pickups. One can start with new or custom pickups and optimize them still further for their use, or work with existing pickups by varying  the  volume controls, tone controls and wiring harness.

M.G.: Do higher prices for vintage pickups make it more attractive to restore the originals?

DT: Certainly, and  my customers, friends, are always on the lookout for guitars that "don't work". Restoration often does not cost much and we have about 90% success on dead pickups. The balance are rewound. Very few are discarded, maybe 2 a year out of hundreds. Finding a dead pickup and having it restored or even rewound is certainly the least expensive way to get "the sound".

Dan Torres

Mark Grove-CGP

To contact Dan Torres for amp or guitar pickups mods:

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.torresengineering.com">www.torresengineering.com    
</a>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark Grove,music industry writer from Canada.I write how to material
for musicians on guitar and gear tips,music business and artist
profiles.

We also offer an article writing service for musicians called:
The Musicians Instant Press Kit.

http://canadianguitarplayer.blogspot.com

Our site is called:Canadian Guitar Player

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/dan-torres-on-guitar-pickup-mod-and-restores-1384374.html

Post from: Guitar

Dan Torres on Guitar Pickup Mod and restores

Acoustic guitar is famous to most artists these days. This can be played solo and results to acoustic songs. Acoustic songs are loved by most audiences because of the distinct tune. One will likely watch someone to play this.

You can bring your acoustic guitar anywhere. It is light and not bulky. You can play it in front of your friends or classmates. If you want have a jamming session with your friends, sure you can bring it along with you.

Acoustic guitar is also easy to play. One does not have to go for much preparation with this type of guitar. It is ideal for beginners to use this first. You can even use your hand to control the volume. Acoustic guitars are training your hands perfectly well so you can be good enough in time you want to play the other guitars.

Acoustic guitars are also suitable for the majority music styles. You can certainly bring into play any songs you want. Mostly, acoustic tabs are available anywhere.

We can say that acoustic guitar is much cheaper to have than the other instrument. Mostly, everyone can afford this. Definitely you are going to become skilled at it without spending much money.

Acoustic guitars have an edge over the other so you better start now playing it.

Are you looking for more information on learning acoustic guitar? Visit http://www.onlineguitarlessonsvideo.com today and start playing a guitar today!

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/why-acoustic-guitar-the-best-for-you-1363581.html

Post from: Guitar

Why Acoustic Guitar The Best For You

Seriously, the sooner you start learning real songs, the sooner you can begin to identify the similarities and trends that will allow you to learn more songs faster. Check out this short list of easy songs for guitar beginners.

1. "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones

When I was 15, the first band that I performed with covered this song and boy, is it easy. This classic tune by The Rolling Stones only has one riff for the entire song, but you're sure to see people get up and dance when the first few notes start going.

2. "Mary Jane's Last Dance" by Tom Petty

Tom Petty has a way of taking simple songs and turning them into hits, and "Mary Jane's Last Dance" is one of them. The main riff contains only three chords so when you learn those, you look like enough of a guitar professional to fool your friends.

3. "Basket Case" by Green Day

You can't meet any guitarists these days that don't know at least one song by Green Day and "Basket Case" is a popular one. This one features a few power chords with roughly only two riffs to the entire song.

4. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan or Guns and Roses

The two versions of this song are not so different in rhythm and structure, but you can pick between an indie or classic rock approach. It's another four chord banger with a few simple lead riffs that can get your fingers use to playing solos.

5. "Country Roads" by John Denver

"Country Roads" is a great campfire tune to have ready when you're out in the summer. Again, the chords are not difficult, but being able to sing along with the changes might give you some trouble if singing isn't your forte.

6. "A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White" by Underoath

For metal heads and hardcore kids, most of the songs from Underoath's popular album "They're Only Chasing Safety" contain fast power chords that will give you a lesson in tempo and rhythm. Check out "A Boy Brushed Red..." and you can also tighten up your palm-muting skills.

This is just a short list of easy songs for guitar beginners, but if you look and listen long enough, you can find literally hundreds of songs for someone just starting out. Try out a few of the songs on this list and start building your song library.

Kyle Hoffman is an experienced guitarist of 8 years that loves to play as a hobby and perform live on stage. If you're looking for a solid foundation and valuable tips to playing guitar the RIGHT way, visit How To Guitar Play as part of Kyle's popular guitar blog, How To Guitar Tune

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/6-easy-songs-for-guitar-beginners-1351313.html

Post from: Guitar

6 Easy Songs For Guitar Beginners