Happy New Year!
By Gerber | January 3, 2010
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Happy new year and best wishes for 2010!
You can expect more guitar lessons, reviews and guitar news from me this year.
What do you want to see on this blog? Let me know!
Gerber
Topics: News | No Comments »
Used ESP LTD Deluxe EC-1000 Electric Guitar
By Gerber | December 20, 2009
I just posted a review of ESP LTD Deluxe EC-1000 Electric Guitar in the review section. The conclusion was:
The ESP LTD Deluxe EC-1000 Electric Guitar
seems to be the perfect metal guitar, especially because of the EMG pickups. The guitar sounds great and has a beautiful finish. Highly recommended by a lot of guitar players.
Some of you might want to check out if there are any second hand guitars available. Here are some that can be found on eBay:
Topics: Used Guitars | No Comments »
John Petrucci Guitar Lesson – Under A Glass Moon
By Gerber | December 6, 2009
In this guitar lesson John Petrucci (Dream Theater) shows us how to play Under A Glass Moon (from Images and Words) on guitar. This is not for beginners. There seems to be slight delay in sound, but you should still pick up some good tips on how to play this song. Enjoy!
Part 1
Part 2
If you need the tablature for this song, you can find the sheet music for Images and Words at SheetMusicPlus.com.
Topics: Lessons | No Comments »
How to Play Don’t Cry by Guns N’ Roses
By Gerber | November 28, 2009
If you want to learn how to play Don’t Cry by Guns N’ Roses on your guitar, take a look at the following videos. If you want the same sound as on the record, you need to tune one step down (Eb-Ab-Db-Gb-Bb-Eb).
Part 1 of opening riff:
Part 2 of opening riff:
And here is a video of someone playing the solo:
If you need more info, check out the following products:
- Learn to Play Guns N’ Roses (2DVD) – This DVD set from Lick Library shows you how to play 5 songs by GN’R, including Don’t Cry.
- Guns N’ Roses Complete – Volume One
– The sheet music for a lot of GN’R songs, including Don’t Cry.
- Guns N’ Roses – Use Your Illusion I
– The sheet music for all songs from Use Your Illusion I, including Don’t Cry.
Topics: Lessons | No Comments »
Used Gibson Les Paul Studio Electric Guitar
By Gerber | November 22, 2009
The Gibson Les Paul Studio Electric Guitar was the first guitar to be reviewed in the review section. The conclusion was:
Although some users mention that the setup is not always perfect and some find the neck too fat, this guitar is still pure Gibson quality. The Gibson Les Paul Studio Electric Guitar is one of the most popular and best selling guitars on the market – a guitar you can use for playing different styles of music.
Some of you might want to check out if there are any second hand guitars available. Here are some that can be found on eBay:
Topics: Used Guitars | No Comments »
How to Play Comfortably Numb
By Gerber | November 21, 2009
David Gilmour is one of my favorite guitar players and the second solo in Comfortably Numb is one of my favorite guitar solos. David Gilmour’s guitar playing is legendary. Reviewers of music by other artists sometimes use terms like Gilmouresque or Floydian to describe his particular way of playing guitar. Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) once said that Gilmour can do more with one note than most other guitar players can do with the whole fretboard.
Here is a video from the master himself.
The next video shows you how to play solo #2 in 9 segments really slow.
And the last video even has tablature embedded in the video.
Topics: Lessons | No Comments »
Used Fender American Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar
By Gerber | November 15, 2009
A few weeks ago I posted a review of the Fender American Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar in the review section. The conclusion was:
The Fender American Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar
seems like a great guitar, a true classic.
This guitar seems to be suited better to playing blues and classic rock. If you are more into metal, you might want to go with the Gibson Les Paul Standard Studio.
Some of you might want to check out if there are any second hand guitars available. Here are some that can be found on eBay:
Topics: Used Guitars | No Comments »
John Petrucci Guitar Lesson – The Art of Crunch
By Gerber | November 8, 2009
In this guitar lesson John Petrucci (Dream Theater) shows us how to get a crunchy sound.
Here are a few of the tips he mentions in the video:
- You don’t want too much distortion, because you want the low notes to be tight.
- Try turning up the gain while playing so you can aim for the best possible sound.
- You might want to turn the bass on the amp down a bit (depending on the amp).
- When palm muting don’t be concerned about hitting all the strings at the same time. You can scrape the pick across the strings.
Watch the video below to learn more.
If you need more information on getting a crunchy sound, check out this page at Yahoo! Answers.
Have fun!
Topics: Lessons | No Comments »
Tips for Choosing Your Ideal Electric Guitar
By Gerber | October 31, 2009
Purchasing the right electric guitar will help you to enjoy your learning experience. Here are some easy to understand tips that will enable you to make a correct decision in purchasing your electric guitar.
Are all the guitars the same? No. There are many types of electric guitars available in the market.
Sound
The right guitar depends on the sound that you are interested in. While some guitars can easily switch between jazz, blues and rock without any perceptible difference, the others cater to only one type of sound. Choosing the sound that you want will simplify your purchase decision.
Neck
Besides the sound you also need to take into account the location of the neck on the guitar. The two most common types of positions are the “set-neck” and the “bolt-on” necks. The set-neck allows you to keep on playing longer than bolt-on. The meeting point of the neck and guitar is tighter to allow the sound to move freely between the two.
The only disadvantage of set-neck is that it is difficult to repair or replace once it is damaged. The bolt-on style is available with the cheaper versions of guitars. The design is simple, locking the neck in a slot of the guitar body. Musical experts consider that this type of neck style does not give good quality sound and cannot be played longer, but this is more due to type of materials used. If you dont mind spending money for a superior quality sound but not a durable electric guitar, go for a set-neck.
Frets
You can choose the electric guitar based on how wide and long the neck is. 21, 22 and 24 are the number of frets that you can get with the usual guitars. Stratocasters have 21 frets. This gives you a shorter neck but opting for large frets will let you play more easily. Jackson guitars have higher frets. The number of frets you should choose will depend on the number of notes you want to play. A higher number lets you play more sounds.
Have fun in choosing your ideal electric guitar!
Topics: Tips | No Comments »
Learn How to Play the Guitar Even If You Are Left Handed
By Gerber | October 25, 2009
Most individuals are right handed but it doesn’t really matter if you are a left handed individual. There are things that some right handed people can do that lefties can’t do but when it comes to playing a guitar, even left handed people can do it too as long as their determined and motivated.
To be more inspired, it might help if you know some famous left handed guitarists. Yes, there are actually many left handed guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Albert King, Dick Dale, and Paul McCartney. These guitarists used re-strung guitars as well as left handed guitars and each of them have their own styles when playing the guitar. You can find more about them and their playing style by reading magazines or simply surfing the net.
By knowing their stories, you will be motivated to learn to play guitar even if you are left handed. Being a lefty should not be a hindrance if you really want to learn.
If you are a beginner, you should know that you have several options to learn to play a guitar. First, you can use guitars that are used by right handed people. You don’t need to re-string it, simply leave the strings as is and then try to play the guitar upside down. Now this may seem difficult and so you can opt for the second option wherein you re-string a guitar.
However, this is not very easy if you plan to play an electric guitar especially when using the tone and volume controls. The best option for most left handed individuals is using the left handed guitar because you don’t need to re-string it or play it upside down.
As a beginner, a huge portion of your time will be spent in looking for the best guitar in your local music stores or even in online stores. You need to prepare some money when purchasing a guitar especially if you want a left handed guitar. You see, left handed guitars are rather expensive because these are specially designed for lefties. Go for quality guitars that are sold at a reasonable price if you don’t want to break your savings. But once you learn to play the guitar well, you can now experiment in using different guitars, even right handed re-strung guitars.
Beginners are advised to get left handed guitars to learn all the basics of guitar playing easily. You need to memorize all the notes, chords, and other guitar playing techniques. Strumming is also a problem for some lefties but with practice and patience, you can learn it fast. Depending on your learning attitude, you need to choose the appropriate learning method.
When learning to play a guitar, left handed individuals should always remember to purchase first a left handed guitar. You need to invest in a guitar so that you can practice more often and you don’t need to borrow one every time you want to play the guitar. Then, find the guitar learning method that suits you.
After doing these things, you can now start and learn how to play the guitar even if you are left handed. They sometimes say lefties are more creative, so this can even be an advantage in guitar playing.
Topics: Tips | No Comments »