AXL Jacknife
Looking a bit like Flying V that was given a makeover by medieval armorers, the Axl Jackknife ($299 retail/$224 street) sports decent fretwork, a good setup, and feels surprisingly light and nimble for a guitar of its proportions.
It’s a good sounding guitar, too, with a voice that’s as fat and squawky as you’d expect from a slab-bodied P-90 ax. The Jacknife is a good rock guitar for the money, and the fact it’s almost impossible to play sitting down shouldn’t be an issue to the players who will be attracted to it. The only weirdness we encountered was a reversed pickup selector, which activates the neck pickup when switched to the “down” position. Read the rest of this entry »
Randy Rhoads was a classical guitar teacher. In collaboration with Bob Daisley, he and Bob composed some of the greatest music of Ozzy’s career many songs of which Ozzy still plays today in his live set.
Randy Rhoads is also famous for the “Randy Rhoads V” guitar, a guitar Randy designed and had built by Charvel back in 1981 and 1982. The CEO of Charvel at that time, Grover Jackson, went on to produce Randy’s guitar under the brand name Jackson (apparently the reason for choosing the Jackson branding was that Grover had thought that the Randy Rhoads model might be too radical and didn’t want to risk branding it as a Charvel.)
The Randy Rhoads V guitar was the guitar that put Jackson fully on the map. It was Jackson’s first production model. Prior to this time Charvel was a parts supplier for a few retail musical instrument shops, and they made the odd guitar here and there.
Tragically Randy’s career ended on a fateful day in 1982 when the plane he was a passenger in crashed, killing all on board. Further, he never actually saw the final production model of his design, what would come to be known as the “Randy Rhoads V” by Jackson Guitars.
Charvel and Jackson guitars were built in the same factory until 1986 and then the company was sold to Japanese manufacturer AMIC in 1989. Charvel’s ended up being exclusively made in Japan until 1991 while Jacksons continued to be made in California Although the Charvel name had faded away by the end of the century, Jackson/Charvel would see new light when it was purchased by Fender Music Corporation in 2002.
Today, the Randy Rhoads V is still produced by Jackson Guitars, but now that Jackson is part of Fender, all Jacksons are manufactured in the Fender plant in Corona, Ca and Jackson is of course, now subject to the company directions of the parent company, Fender Musical Instruments. It appears from spending some time on the new Charvel website, that Grover is indeed alive and well and lending his wisdom and hand to the revival of Charvel guitars and in a video clip credits Fender for aiding in these new directions.
The Randy Rhoads V guitar available from Jackson comes in various colours and schemes and there are models which are variations of the original. Some of these variants were brought about by later artists who have released their own signature variations of the Randy Rhoads V. One thing though… the left handed option of the Randy Rhoads V is very, very limited. A few colours, and that is it. One model only. Jackson’s budget range of guitars (made in Asia) don’t even allow for one left handed Randy Rhoads V.
At Gaskell Guitars (http://www.gaskellguitars.com) , located in Sydney Australia, we make only left handed guitars. We make a Randy Rhoads V model as a production model. We offer all colours through our custom options AT NO EXTRA COST. Our stock, production model comes in black and the original Randy Rhoads White and Gold scheme. We only cater for the left handed guitarist. We are trying to prevent the left hand guitarist from “always getting the short end of the stick.” Check us out. In many cases, what we offer make dreams come true!
Acoustic guitars have a rich history. It had changed its design many times. Acoustic guitars are 5000 years old. Spain has a big contribution in its development.
The earliest form of modern acoustic guitar is the Cithara. Romans introduced this instrument in Hispania. After this, Moors developed the shape and made it a four-string instrument. But in Europe, the six-string lute guitar was very popular.
A Spanish guitar like instrument called Vihuela was introduced later in the 16th century. It’s body looked like guitar, but it had to be tuned like Lute.
Modern acoustic guitars are of various types. Like, twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, still guitar etc.
Given below are some of the popular names and description of acoustic guitars.
- Renaissance and Baroque guitars: These guitars are very similar to the classical guitar. But they are smaller and quieter than classical guitar. Their strings are paired up like twelve string guitar. But they do not have six courses of strings like twelve string guitar. They have only four or five courses of them.
- Classical guitars: Classical guitars are made of nylon strings. That’s why they are also known as nylon string guitar. Playing system of the classical guitar is somehow different. Fingers play it. Plectrum has no role in this specific playing process.
- Portuguese Guitar: This guitar is used in Portugal. This guitar is playing their traditional Fado song. This is guitar is a Portuguese twelve string guitar.
- Flat top guitar: This guitar is almost like classical guitar. But it is larger than classical guitar. It has got still strings. Still string produces louder sound. This guitar is used with varied kind of music like, jazz, bluegrass etc.
- Arch top guitar: This instrument is very much inspired from violin. This too is a still stringed guitar. Lloyd Lure invented this guitar this guitar is very much popular among the jazz guitarists.
- Twelve string guitar: Twelve-string guitar is a still stringed guitar. This guitar is made of six courses of paired up strings. This guitar is very popular in rock and roll, folk and blues music.
- Russian guitars: This is a seven-string guitar. It is a Russian guitar. This guitar is tuned in open G Major.
- Acoustic Bass Guitar: Strings are made of steel. Have only four strings.
- Guitar battente: have four or five metal string. Smaller than classical guitar. Used to accompany with voice in Calabria (Southern Italian region).
Apart from these there are other sorts of acoustic guitars also. Like, Extended range guitars, Harp guitars, Tenor guitars, Dobro guitars etc.
Acoustic guitars are very interesting instrument. The best thing about them is, they are absolutely hassling free. They are very easy to carry. And you can create magic with them in a family gathering also.
Mesa Boogie
For professional tuning, you MUST use electronic guitar tuners. These devices allow tuning with the use of pedals, little boxes, or rack mounted units. There are a number of manufacturers who specialize in these sophisticated gadgets
ELECTRONIC GUITAR TUNERS
• Boss, a division of the Roland Corporation (big japanese company), employs its proven technology in musical equipment and accessories to develop sophisticated tuners - known for their accuracy and superb functionality. One of its renowned inventions is the TU - Series tuners technology, which incorporates tuning accuracy in an ultra convenient tompbox design…ideal to take them into the guitar case everywhere.
• Korg. This world’s favorite tuner started introducing excellent tuners in 1999. It came out with the DT-7 GUITAR/BASS chromatic tuner, the first guitar tuner to feature the legendary Buzz Feiten Tuning System. The critically acclaimed DT-7 could be one of the most accurate tuners in the market ever, featuring an ultra - wide tuning range. Later on, Korg introduced the extremely flexible GT-12 GUITAR & BASS chromatic tuner and the OT-12 designed for Orchestra.
Other models that came out were Korg GA30 Guitar & Bass Tuner which features a pitch reference tone and quinta-flat tuning while maintaining functionality and convenient tuning functions in Ultra - Compact bodies.
The Korg CA30 Chromatic Tuner and the Korg TM40 Chromatic Tuner/Metronome; Tuner with Metronome which can function simultaneously or independently, its large LCD-type needle delivers both the accuracy of an LCD and the excellent visibility of a needle indicator. It also has LED indicators that show pitch deviation or blink to indicate the tempo, thus, making the TM-40 a highly visual tool. The superb functionality and the highest accuracy have made Korg tuners a worldwide favorite.
• String Master, is another respected manufacturer. String Master produced the world’s first motorized guitar tuner featured in the Guitar One and Guitar Player Magazines. This guitar tuner is very innovative, convenient and could be the friendliest tuner ever invented
• The Qwik Tune QT-11 is the next generation’s automatic guitar tuner. Featuring an electronic pitch pipe with an internal speaker it plays E, A, D, G, B, and E tones for tuning reference. It also includes an Off-Meter tuning mode, which detects the string which the user is trying to tune (even if the guitar is severely out of tune). This portable battery operated Guitar or Bass tuner features an ‘electric pitch pipe’ that plays the note for the user. The user can tune each individual string while the display tells her/him which string is being tuning and whether the note is sharp or flat. The highly sensitive built-in microphone & spèed metering allow easy tuning.
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TUNING WITH COMPUTER SOFTWARE
Tuning via use of software abounds. Free or for a fee you can find various guitar tuners in the internet. These softwares eliminate the need to tune a guitar with an instrument or the conventional tuning by ear. All you have to do is to listen to the sound from the software, play it on your guitar and adjust the tuning machines tension until your guitar produces the same note as the tuner software.Keep in mind that the basic requirement in tuning is to get the same note as the tuner, not the sound because the difference in thickness of strings may cause varying frequencies and sound…just listen to the pitch.
Listen to the tuner and tune your guitar until you hear almost the same sound, though, it might be deeper. This is specially true when you get new strings and tune your guitar immediately after putting them on. Your stings have to adjust to the pressure applied to them so initially your guitar will not make the right tuning, it will sound detuned. But after exposure to a certain limit of stretch, they will hold on to a certain tone. Tip: Tune your guitar and leave it alone for a few hours then tune again and…that’s it. After each playing session the strings tend to mantain the pitch with better accuracy and stability.
One of the common (and free) tuners available in the internet is the DGT or digital guitar tuner. DGT is windows software, which allows you to accurately tune your guitar using direct input or microphone. Another free software is AP Tuner3 which supports an improved detection algorithm for low notes for bass and piano. It has a helpful Harmonics Graph window to see the harmonic content of any note. PitchPerfect can also be downloaded for free. It also provides a highly accurate professional tuner with a very simple to use interface. There is more flexibility in the PitchPerfect software because it automatically detects the note you’re playing and therefore, you’re not limited by standard tunings.
Apart from free downloads on your personal computer,you can also download tuners on your pocket PC or on your ipod. An example of this is the 4Pockets Guitar Tuner. Because it can be downloaded on your pocket PC, you can take the 4Pockets Guitar Tuner with you on your gigs . A high precision real - time guitar tuner,this Guitar Tuner can accurately determine the frequency,musical note and octave for each of your strings. The ability to estimate the note and octave makes this a very useful tool in musical notation and musical learning.
The iRocker is another convenient set of tools for guitarists which you can load on your iPod. iRocker is produced by Talking Panda,the makers of iBar.A great help for beginners, the iRocker includes not only a virtual book with 200 chords and fingerings but likewise a guide to scales. It also provides 5 different chord progressions/riffs that you can play along. Moreover, it contains a set of guitar tuning recordings with a variety of tunings and a basic 10 - speed metronome.
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WICH TUNER IS RIGHT FOR ME?
Your choice of tuner would depend on your needs – amateur or professional use. You might use a tuner for practicing at home or gigs with friends or you might need the tuner for a larger audience - like performing in a big concert. Regardless of your need, convenience and accuracy, tuners are of foremost importance…you can avail of a wide range of guitar tuners, free or for a fee.
Many left handed people newly learning to play guitar end up learning to play right handed out of frustration. Many experienced left handed guitarists have simply become apathetic and given up looking for that which is abundant for right handed players. Not only is there a limited range of guitars, but the resources for learning are also pretty limited. This situation is the same in every country in the world.
It is not hard to understand. Of the world’s population, left handed people are a minority compared to right handed people. Within this minority there is a further minority of left handed people who play guitar left handed. Despite the small percentage of left handed guitarists, there have been a number of iconic left handed players who have made a huge impact on the music scene. These include Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Tony Iommi, and Kurt Cobain.
Many of the big guitar manufacturers do not offer left hand versions of some of their popular guitars. to be fair, US guitar manufacturers, have been facing harder and harder times, year after year. We all know that ALL industry (that is trying to do the right thing and being honest) is suffering and this is proportional to the decline of education (kids can’t learn, can’t hold jobs), the rise of drugs (thank you psychiatrists for getting rich by doping a whole generation into a state of useless-ness while brainwashing parents into believing frying kids brains with drugs is good) and increase of social hardship due to the world economic crash that’s going on (thanks Oil companies, banks, and government suppression) So it is tough for all.
Some guitar manufacturers offer left handed versions of their guitars through their Custom Shop. And although this is an attempt at service, the costs and waiting times can be quite painful.
Well, not any more! GASKELL GUITARS is a small Australian guitar manufacturer that makes only left hand guitars. Gaskell guitars are high quality, yet affordable instruments, that can be gigged with as they are or further upgraded or modified and still come in well under the cost of a custom shop order for the same kind of instrument!
Being situated at the “bottom of the world” and to some degree away from the noise of the collapse happening in other continents, we are able to operate intelligently and with focus on producing well-made, high quality left handed guitars that are not available as left hand models by original manufacturers.
Go to : http://www.gaskellguitars.com
You will find left handed guitars that you have not seen before in left hand and probably never thought you would! Some dreams do become reality.
Acoustic guitars
Acoustic guitar is independent of any external device to be heard. The acoustic guitar is more sober than other instruments commonly found in bands and orchestras. To play within such groups the sound is often externally amplified. Acoustic guitars, which are available today, feature a variety of pickups. This enables the player to increase and adjust the raw guitar sound.
Prominent subcategories feature within the acoustic guitar group
Classical and flamenco guitars; steel string guitars, that comprise the folk or flat top guitar; arch top guitar and the twelve string guitars. There are unamplified guitars also in the acoustic guitar group.
Such types are designed to play in various registers such as the acoustic bass guitar. The tuning of the acoustic bass guitar is similar to that of the electric bass guitar.
Classical guitars
These are normally strung with nylon strings, to be played in a seated pose and are used to play a variety of musical styles together with classical music. The classical guitar is designed in such a way that it allows the execution of solo polyphonic arrangements of music
Portuguese guitar
The Portuguese guitar is a 12 string guitar used in Portugal for the customary Fado songs.
Archtop guitars
Steel string instruments feature a violin inspired f hole design where the top (and often the back) of the instrument are engraved in a curved rather than a flat shape.
Flat top (steel string) guitars
Here the body dimension is typically considerably larger than a classical guitar and it has a narrower, resistant neck and stronger structural design
Resonator, resophonic or Dobro guitars
The hum of the resonator guitar is created by a metal resonator fitted in the middle of the top.
Tenor guitars
Some classical guitarists call the Niibori prime guitar a Tenor Guitar on the grounds that it sits in pitch between the alto and the bass.
Harp guitars
This consists of a usual guitar, with additional harp strings strung on top of the six normal strings. The instrument is generally acoustic and the harp strings are adjusted to lower notes than the guitar strings, for an added bass range.
Acoustic bass guitars
This type has steel strings or guts strings in it and often has the same tuning as an electric bass guitar.
12 string guitars
Instead of having only six strings, the 12 string guitar has six courses made up of two strings each, like a mandolin or f lute.
Electric guitars
Electric guitars are the types, which have solid, semi hollow, or hollow bodies, and generate minute sound without amplification. The electromagnetic vibrations of the strings are converted into electrical signals, which are supplied to an amplifier via a cable or radio transmitter. Sound outputted is regularly modified by other electronic instruments or the natural distortion of valves (vacuum tubes) in the amplifier.
Vintge Guitars
I love guitars, and there’s nothing like a new electric guitar with a proper set up! I like the tone, the way it feels in my hands, and the way that I can make a guitar sound “right” for any kind of music that I play. Whether it’s jazz, blues, country, hard rock, R&B leads, guitar chords, or just working on guitar tabs, all it takes is a flip of a switch, some prep, a couple twists of the knobs, neck alignment and I’m right where I need to be. I’ve bought a lot of guitars over the years, and discovered that taking that beautiful new Strat or Tele guitar out of the box was always just the first step in finding the guitar that fit in my hands the way that I imagined that it would when it first caught my eye. After a close inspection I found that my new guitar wouldn’t be quite gig ready until I did all of the little subtle tweaks, repairs and modifications that would make it play just the way I wanted it to when I got it out onto the gig. I’d dress the frets, get the intonation just right, tweak the pick-ups, customize the configuration a bit, and before you know it, I’d be playing a guitar that felt like it was made to be in my hands. Playing music is always fun, but when I’m on the gig with a guitar that feels just right … it’s just pure guitar joy.
After a while I thought; “Wouldn’t it be great to be able to buy a guitar that felt gig ready right out of the box?” As wonderful as that idea may seem, in reality it’s almost impossible to pick up a guitar in a music store “off the rack” and have it play right. It just doesn’t happen. There are many things that need to be done to “prep” the guitar before it’s ready to play. At Haywire Custom Guitars (http://www.HaywireCustomGuitars.com) we recommend and perform all of the following in prep for a guitar purchase before it leaves the bench at the workshop. For our purposes here I will focus only on electric instruments for now. First, let me pose a question to the beginning through the advanced guitarist. What Is Guitar Intonation and why is it important? Do you know?
Intonation is the accuracy in which an electric guitar or bass can produce a fretted note and the most important issue with any instrument. Setting the intonation on a guitar is the act of adjusting the length of the strings (by moving the bridge saddles) to compensate for the thickness of the string and the stretching of a string due to pushing it down to the fret board to produce a note. To adjust the intonation of your guitar or bass guitar, you move the bridge saddles toward or away from the fret board until the 12th fret note and its harmonic are equal in pitch to the same open-string note, which are exactly one octave apart. Accurate intonation is critical to pitch quality. Pitch quality is essential to “in tune” playing. Poor pitch quality=”out of tune” notes which in turn = poor musical presentation. Wouldn’t you or the salesman want to present your musical talents in the best way possible? Of course, you do.
Now, it is not necessary for a guitar player to know this at all. It is essential however that the guitar possess this quality and maintain as close to perfect intonation as possible. Buying on looks alone can be very disappointing. If however, you like an instrument for the looks but realize that you will need to have it worked on to get it playable then that is a savvy notion. It’s best to speak to a luthier or guitar builder previous to any purchase. It’s akin to asking a mechanic which car he would recommend-before you walk into the show room. In this way you can benefit from his first hand knowledge and experience and not have to go it alone. After all he sees the ones that breakdown more often than you or the salesman do.
Below, I have outlined the essential adjustments to be performed prior to purchasing and playing a guitar under optimal circumstances.
1. 4-axis Alignment of the guitar neck. The guitar neck is checked and adjusted to insure that it is true and straight to insure proper alignment on all axis. This step insures proper action and allows for more accurate and easier guitar tuning, playing and set-up in the following steps.
2. Inspect and Lube the guitar tuning gears
Each tuning gear is adjusted so that there is no play in the mechanism. They are then lubricated to insure smooth and even movement to make your guitar tune accurately.
3. Potting the guitar pickups. Dip the pickups in hot wax to reduce squeal and unwanted guitar feedback.
4. Prep the guitar body. Upon installing the guitar electronic components, great care is taken to insure that all wires are properly routed, spaced, and grounded to insure years of trouble free service with your guitar.
5. Level and polish the frets. This insures that all of the guitar frets are level, eliminating any possibility of fret buzz due to unevenness.
6. Radius the guitar strings. Most guitar necks have a contour over the top of the neck called the “radius”. Adjust the strings to make sure the height of each string follows the contour of the guitar neck.
7. Adjusting the overall guitar string height and the action. Once the string contour and radius of the guitar strings is set, it’s time to adjust the overall height or “action” or distance of the strings from the top of the frets to the bottom of the guitar strings.
8. Set the guitar intonation. This step should be done twice. The intonation is normally set two times with a 24 hour period in between to allow the new guitar adjustments to properly re-seat.
If these steps are performed before playing your new guitar then, you won’t be disappointed. Your focus can then be on the music and not the problems of the instrument. If it is “set up” properly a player will not have to “get used to” it. Everything on it will feel natural and fall right into place and the music can flow.
In summary, Guitar purchase “off the rack” can be a real disappointment. A thoughtful purchase should include consideration in buying a “custom” or “Gig-Ready” electric guitar versus a “pre-fab” instrument built on a production line. Custom guitars are individually built for a specific customer and will have all of the above necessary operations performed. All the guitarist needs to do is-Play! Sincerely, Rick Mariner http://www.HaywireCustomGuitars.com
Rick Mariner - Owner and founder of Haywire Value Priced Custom Guitars (http://www.HaywireCustomGuitars.com) and a member of The Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans (A.S.I.A.) as well as a guitar player. Rick holds a bachelors degree from University of Maryland and a Masters degree from George Washington University.
Rick developed an 8 - Point “Gig- Ready” guitar process that allows for Haywire Custom Guitars that are “GIG-READY”.
With many years of development and guitar set-up experience, we pride ourselves in helping to build you the “Just Right” Haywire guitar at prices well below market and “set up” to playing perfection.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Mariner
Rick Mariner
http://www.HaywireCustomGuitars.com
Guitars made to fit the female form are becoming more fashionable than ever. The first time I picked one up to play I noticed it weighed less and had a nice but smaller feel that adapts well to a smaller hand without loss of tone or sound quality at all. I would not hesitate to recommend this sort of guitar to anyone who is smaller than the average man, including the up and coming virtuosos, and rock stars; children. Although your favorite nephew may not appreciate a pink guitar like the Squier Hello Kitty Electric Guitar.
Playing an instrument that feels right may help you to achieve your emotional and creative goals more easily. Wrestling with a guitar that is too big or heavy takes away from the concentration and comfort needed to perform at a high level.
The major players in bringing Girls Guitars to the public are limited, but include Squier, Gibson. Epiphone, Luna and Daisy Rock. These are just a few of this type of companies known to this author, catering to this new niche. There are a range of models to fit taste preferences as well as budget. It should be noted that Luna, which is one of the smaller companies listed above is owned by a woman who is an artist whose bass player mother inspired her to create a guitar to better suit her mothers needs. It is clear in looking at a Luna guitar that it is a beautifully crafted instrument.
Lets get to it, here are my personal picks for the best guitars for smaller players:
1. Luna Muse Parlor Acoustic Guitar is a brilliant acoustic guitar that is beautiful in design and is very comfy for any player. This is a particularly *affordable model, and plays easily and has great tones, including some very pleasing deep bass tones. It has a lovely soft matt finish, and some clean well crafted celtic knot style wood inlays in various places, as well as moon phase inlays of pearl (pearl like appearance) on the fretboard. The tuners have a really lovely matt grey metal finish. This guitar plays like it wants to be played.
2. Luna Andromeda Phoenix Bass Guitar. It is noticeably lighter in weight than the majority of bass guitars I have examined with out losing any of the tone and pop heard from any good bass guitar. It is also a very affordable guitar.
3. The Squier Hello Kitty Stratocaster Electric Guitar is an extremely affordable solid body electric guitar, The friendly face of Hello Kitty is painted on the custom kitty head shaped pickguard on either a bubble gum pink or a black Stratocaster style guitar. This is a decent first guitar for an aspiring rock star gal in your life. Squire also makes an even less expensive Hello Kitty Mini Stratocaster Electric Guitar. It is smaller, has three single coil pickups, a 20 fret neck, and simpler Hello Kitty Graphics on the guitar body. It comes in black and Pink.
4. Daisy Rock Candy Series Daisy Rock Guitars guitar company was established in 2000 by Tish Ciravolo. The company manufactures and markets guitars designed specifically for girls and women. The Daisy Rock Candy Series includes several models of solid-body electric guitars with a single-cutaway body, similar to the body outline of a Gibson Les Paul or Paul Reed Smith single-cut guitar. They sound great and are easy to play. A top quality guitar that allows you to express yourself with great clarity.
5. Daisy Rock Short Scale Guitars. The Heartbreaker Short Scale is proof evolution still is alive in guitar design with a uniquely cut feminine body and a 22-1/2 scale neck making the guitar comfortable for smaller guitarists while still holding on to the the soul of a rocking guitar. Top quality features include a rock maple neck, basswood body, beautiful pearloid heart inlays, and shiny chrome hardware.
6. Minarik Inferno Electric Guitar Endorsed by Shred-mistress Rynata. It has an unusual body design and top notch electrics along with beautiful hardware, manufactured using advanced design techniques. Most women players agree that it has a great feel and super tone.
7. Gibson Les Paul Goddess delivers the same pure tone of a traditional Les Paul in a light, streamlined body. Comfortable enough to play for hours, tough enough to shake the house down. Typical Gibson quality and sound. Uniquely crafted light weight mahogany body with a figured maple top & narrow nut. The slim 60s-style neck is really slippery along with hi powered translucent 490R & 498T humbuckers you can wake up the neighborhood. The slim reduced body size is designed for optimum fit and performance for smaller body sizes. This is a real top line guitar for serious players.
8. ESP Horizon 3 Girl Electric Guitar. The ESP Horizon 3 Girl Electric Guitar is an unbelievable custom axe that incorporates a breathtaking emerald green see-thru finish over a figured maple top with an anime girl graphic. It’s an excellent partner to the sleek Horizon 3 body, with it’s scalloped double cutaways, large upper horn and jet black headstock that follows the body’s curves. This guitar doesn’t stop at great looks. . In addition to the maple top, the Horizon 3 Girl features a solid mahogany body and maple neck to ensure great tone and sustain. Two EMG81 humbucker pickups means this young lady has a very powerful voice, one that will growl on your chunky chords and wail high and clear on your solos. All of the hardware is black including high quality Sperzel tuners, a tone-enhancing Gotoh bridge, volume & tone knobs and a 3-way pickup switch. This guitar is an amazing high quality guitar for the accomplished player, or performer.
9. Epiphone Emily the Strange SG Electric Guitar. The limited-edition Epiphone Emily The Strange G-310 SG features Emily’s face and other graphics from the Cosmic Debris character including, of course, one of Emily black cats. This axe delivers everything from warm distortion to all-out scream with 2 hot-wired humbuckers. Crafted with select hardwood body, bolt-on mahogany neck, and rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays. Also features tune-o-matic bridge, stopbar tailpiece, and chrome tuners.
10. Taylor Baby Taylor Mahogany Top Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar is a 3/4 scale guitar. It has a perfectly symmetrical design and is like a full sized guitar. it is not designated as a womans/girls guitar, however it’s unique size and the usual superior Taylor quality will surprise smaller people with it’s perfect sound and feel. The Taylor Baby Taylor is a great slightly smaller guitar at an affordable price .
11. Fender Custom Shop Bonnie Raitt Model . This particular guitar is excellent. It is one of the sweetest guitars I have ever played. It is a Stratocaster in every way. Primarily, the biggest difference between this Strat and a stock American Strat is the nice narrow neck and terrific manufacturing job performed in The Fender Custom Shop. This guitar is not in production now, and must be acquired used. It is a great find if you come upon one.
*GPC defines affordable as any guitar which costs under $550 when new.
Mesa Boogie
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.”
By Justin Sours
http://www.guitarmadeez.com
Practice how you play
When you practice guitar chords, scales, songs, etc., make sure that you focus on quality and not quantity. The guitar sounds a lot better if all the notes in a chord ring or you hit every note in that scale with perfect timing instead of rushing through a scale or playing a chord and having some notes be muffled. Just remember to focus on playing things slow and with good technique (This is Key!). Learn whatever you are trying to learn slow and then increase the speed little by little until you get where you want to be. That’s how you guitarists learn to shred or solo extremely fast. They start playing a scale or riff slow and then gradually speed it up with a metronome.
Keep your guitar out of the closet or storage
This is probably one of the biggest mistakes that a person learning guitar could make. KEEP YOUR GUITAR OUT IN THE OPEN!!! Keep it next to your bed or in your family room on a stand or anywhere where it is out of the closet or out from under the bed. If it’s out in the open, this will force you to play it and force you to mess around and practice.
Memorize the fret board of the guitar
Memorizing the fret board of the guitar can turn out to be an interesting task. There are little tips and tricks that allow you to find notes really fast. The reason why all guitarist who would like to get good should memorize the fret board is because it allows you to play create chords in different shapes, find notes in different areas of the neck and allows the guitarist to familiarize and open up to playing in different parts of the neck. Memorization of the fret board is also very beneficial in soloing and improvising.
Jam with other people with different styles and techniques
You will not believe how much your guitar playing will improve when you jam with other people. If you ever feel like you are reaching a “plateau” (you feel like you’re not getting any better) in your playing, jamming with other people will definitely open you up to new tips and tricks. There’s always something to learn from someone else that plays guitar no matter how good or bad they are. Also, everyone’s individual style is different and the more open minded you are to other styles, the better player you will become.
Listen to new types music and try to play it
I know it’s hard, just force yourself to do it. When all else fails go back to the basics of music. A great way to do this is to listen to some classical music for inspiration. Elton John is an amazing musician and he says whenever he reaches a dull moment or block in his playing, he refers back to church hymns that he learned when he was younger.
Read guitar magazines
Guitar magazines have allot of cool stuff, but they also have allot of filler. The one thing I hate about guitar mags is that they are extremely complex (not for beginners). The articles, stories and advice are cool but some of the lessons are intense! The advanced guitar lingo having to do with intervals of certain modes and technical guitar talk gets to me sometimes. It’s nice to know that stuff but ehhhhhhh….. It can be boring.
Go to concerts
Nothings more inspiring then going to a concert and seeing someone rock out on stage and totally impress the crowd. I remember a couple of years ago; I went to Vans Warped Tour. Immediately after the show, as soon as I got home, I ran to my room and tried learning allot of the songs I had heard. When I saw The Eagles back in October of 06′, I couldn’t stop learning all their songs. It’s amazing to be extremely inspired and motivated once again about playing guitar and going to concerts definitely rejuvenates my interest in playing guitar.
Buy concert DVDs
If you’ve never seen any ACDC music video or concert DVD…. then we definitely need to talk. Angus Young is an amazing guitarist and It’s just amazing to see that this scrawny little Australian guy can play like he does and with such attitude and soul. Seeing that guy rip up the fret board definitely shows us that anyone can play guitar… all it takes is practice, discipline, motivation and commitment. Concert DVDs are great because they show you up close and in really good quality what exactly a guitarist is playing, unlike music videos where bands just dance around and they add in the music later. Concert DVDs are filled with raw footage of guitar playing at its best.
Always use your guitar strap
This is another biggie. When first learning how to play guitar, I never wore my guitar strap. I ended up paying for it later and basically having to relearn guitar standing up instead of sitting down. If you always play with your guitar strap on, there will be no difference to you while playing either sitting or standing. Playing with your guitar strap will also allow you to get to the “show-off” level so you can impress all your friends earlier.
A lot of people who use guitar straps find that they fall off very easy or tend to drop the guitar. There are many different types of locking mechanisms out there (I currently have two guitars that use the DiMarzio locking mechanism and it works very well)). Go to your local guitar shop and check all of them out and see which one fits you best.
Play with passion (slash)
Have you ever heard a guitar player who is a great player, but you feel that there is something missing…… THERE’S NO SOUL!!! Soul is the emotion, the love, the purpose behind guitar playing. Listen to that same talented yet boring guitar player and then compare him to Gun’s and Roses guitarist or Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash. Every solo that Slash plays has so much soul, so much emotion, and so much purpose. What I want you to do is Google “Slash - Godfather theme video” or get on Napster, iTunes, kazaa, etc. and download it. This video is nuts!! Slash plays with such a great amount of solo that it’s amazing. I really don’t know how to explain exactly how to add soul into your playing, however I will tell you that you will understand if you choose to stick with guitar and stay committed to the instrument. It’s basically playing to express yourself and not to just play because you have to or don’t want to but feel you should.
Watch the clips of legendary guitar scenes or solos
Here’s some instant inspiration…. Go to yahoo or Google and click on the “video” tab above the search bar and type in anything having to do with guitar solos. You will find some amazing solos along with amazing guitar tricks. One really cool guitar clip I remember is of this Asian guy playing the super Mario brothers theme for Nintendo. That guy can play that song like you wouldn’t believe. There’s so much inspiring guitar playing footage out there. It’s everywhere and anywhere you look, especially online. Also, checkout the movie with Ralph Maccio from the 1980’s called “Crossroads”… there’s some amazing guitar playing in it.
Try tabbing out songs by ear
This is extremely helpful. Tabbing songs by ear develops your musical ear very quickly. Choose one of your favorite songs and sit next to your cd player with a guitar and a piece of paper and try to figure out the chords in the song first, and then try to figure out the riffs within the chords. Once you find out the overall “key” of the song it’s easy to figure out all the riffs and chords.
Take a college music course (Beatles, history of rock and roll)
While I was at community college for two years studying to get my Associates Degree, I had taken a “History of Rock & Roll course”. This course was extremely interesting. There was so much music that this class opened my eyes up to. I gained so much more appreciation for the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who and many more bands of that era. Those bands really did change music forever. I definitely recommend taking a class like this anywhere you can; it will definitely open up your eyes to some great music out there and help you grow as a musician.
Read biographies of guitarists you appreciate
Some musicians out there have led incredible lives. The majority of them come from nothing and in the end, become legendary guitar gods. Look at Johnny Cash; he was a rural country boy that grew up almost penniless and turned into an amazing musician through inspiration and practice. There are so many interesting stories behind bands and musicians. Here’s some that I find interesting (off the top of my head): The Beach Boys, Def Leppard, Metallica, Van Halen, The Beatles and Thin Lizzy. Do some research online and try to mirror yourself with these artists. It will give you a whole new thought process to playing their songs and guitar in general.
“Steal” riffs and ideas from other guitarists
I know it sounds bad but every great guitarist does it. Clapton stole the “crossroad blues” from Robert Johnson and the Beatles used some of Elvis’ ideas and expanded upon them. Every musical generation steals ideas, riffs, chord progressions from the generation before and when it comes to music… its ok. I find this to help guitar players progress a lot, especially if you reach a plateau. One of the biggest things that helped me expand as a guitarist is to learn all my favorite solos by my favorite artists. Once I had learned them, I would play the same solo over different progressions in the same key and then play the same solos in different keys all around the neck and in different scale positions. Once I did this, I had “unlocked” all of the licks in the solo and I’m now able to use them in whatever I play. Just like how in video games you unlock new characters, levels and secrets throughout the game… you do the same in music. From there you can constantly expand upon your lick directory.
Play in front of others
This is one of the hardest parts about performing music. Playing in front of others is something that just takes time. Remember to relax and don’t think about everyone watching you. Just focus on you and the instrument. The more you play in front of others, the better you will get. Everyone’s first time playing in front of others can be pretty gut wrenching. Just remember that it gets easier every time and that you’ll get through it just fine. What you can also do is videotape yourself playing and then put it on the internet. Lots of people including myself put videos on Youtube.com or other online video sites and its up to the viewers to judge. Some people will rip your playing apart but most will applaud you for trying and really like it. The way I look at it… “Led Zeppelin didn’t write songs that everyone liked… they left that to the Bee Gees” - Wayne Campbell (Wayne’s World)
“What if I screw up”? Who cares?! In music, everyone screws up while playing music. When big bands record in studios they spend days, sometimes even weeks recording tracks so that they turn out absolutely perfect. What really creative people do when they screw up is to elaborate on the screw up. If you hit a wrong note, maybe trying hitting the note again within the rhythm of the song and maybe it will sound good.
The Internet and Youtube are valuable tools…
Eric Clapton learned guitar by listening to old Robert Johnson, BB King and many other great blues records on a turntable and then trying to mimick the same sounds on guitar. Eddie Van Halen would be in his room with his door closed for days just messing around with different sounds that a guitar can make just by moving his fingers around in different shapes and seeing what they sound like. Alex Van Halen (Eddies brother and drummer for Van Halen) would go on dates and leave the house listening to Eddie whale away at 5:00pm and then come home to Eddie still whaling away at 2:00am. These artists didn’t have the internet! They had a cassette player or record player and plenty of time on their hands. We’re incredibly lucky today to have such great resources like youtube.com and the internet in general. Youtube.com is great for learning how to play guitar. You can find lessons, people covering songs, tips and tricks and just about anything that you need to get off on the right foot when it comes to playing guitar. The great thing about Youtube guitar lessons is that “they get to the point”. No BS. Each lesson is usually under 5 minutes and they give you great info very fast, because who wants to watch a 30 minute video. Guitarists attention spans aren’t that long, I know mine isn’t. And Finally, you have the internet. The internet has absolutely everything you could ever possibly need, including Youtube.com, lessons, information, ultimate-guitar.com (for tabs), guitars101.com (for any other type of help that you may need), etc. The possibilities are endless. The point is that learning guitar today is and should be way easier than learning guitar in the past due to the great resources we have.
You can learn any riff from any song no matter how crazy or how fast…. just slow it down
Any riff is learnable, you just have to slow it down to a pace that you feel comfortable with, learn it, and then gradually speed it up. There are numerous programs out there that allow you to do this. One very popular one is called Transcribe. You can import any .mp3 file and then control the speed of the song. Practice the riff over and over and gradually raise the speed. If you can’t play the at a given speed, then slow it down 1%, if you can play it and feel comfortable with how you played it, raise it by 2%. Doing this will allow you to master any riff, any song, anything!
Try learning the difficult songs or riffs that you’ve always wanted to learn, no matter what level you are at and no matter how hard the song is…
This is what makes guitar fun, seeing your improvement (ie. Quick Results). I remember trying to play songs that were at my level when I first started playing guitar. Stuff like : The Animals - House of the Rising Son, and Don Mclean - American Pie. I could play them ok, but they weren’t really songs that I had started playing guitar for. I wanted to play Metallica’s fade to black and Eric Clapton’s Crossroads. I put the other two songs aside and started working on the new ones that had inspired me to play guitar. I had spent weeks and months on them even though they were outside my playing level. I was determined to learn them. I kind of wanted to be one of those guys that can’t play anything else, just cover songs note for note. If I couldn’t play any other song aside from the super hard ones note for note, I’d be happy. So I spent so much time learning these songs, and I could play them…. ok… not great…. However, when I went back to playing House of the rising son and American Pie, I could play them 100 times better. I played them like a pro. Its kind of like…. as long as you challenge yourself, you’ll get better. You play with musicians that are better than you… you’ll get better. You lift more and more weight than your used to… you get stronger.
A great musician once said…..
A great musician once said that as soon as guitar becomes a chore and isn’t fun, that’s the moment that you should put your guitar down. Come back to it later. Now this doensn’t mean that when your first learning guitar and you get frustrated, you should put it down and forget it. Sorry, this rule only applies to guitar players who are advanced or who have been playing for a while. It sucks and is frustrating for everyone at first so you have to stick with it. The overall point is, guitar playing should be fun. Don’t turn it into a chore or a task.
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