A Real Guitar Hero Has This Skill - Do You?

by Donovan Lanier
So you went from mastering the video game to playing guitar for real, but don't think you are ready for a record deal just yet. This article will tell you what you absolutely must learn to earn the credentials of a real "Guitar Hero."

What you learn in this brief article will enable you to amp up your credibility as a musician, gain deeper respect from your band members, and win the hearts of your fans. Keep reading to discover how to go from "Guitar Novice" to "Guitar Hero".

There are countless guitars in homes across the nation, but there are comparatively few true guitarists. What is it that separates the hobby musician from a true guitar player? The biggest difference is that serious players have the ability to play by ear the songs they hear. They can discern notes and chords from things listened to on their CD's or on MP3 players, then mentally transcribe the song and play it themselves.

Think about all those aspiring musicians out there who are dependent on the guitar tablature printed in magazines or downloaded from the worldwide web. Imagine an aspiring "Guitar Hero" going in for an audition and being asked to play back a piece of previously recorded music he's just heard. His reply? "Sure, ok.... where's the tab?" He would be laughed right out of the building! Would you blame them? Don't get me wrong, guitar tab is a good place to start, but serious musicians understand that they must progress beyond that point.

The Bottom Line is: If you want to be seen as a serious guitarist, then you must commit to ear training.

Ear training is the cornerstone of a good musical career and can not be ignored if you want real credibility. Ear training shows a level of professionalism and dedication not seen in the hobby player. The good news is that with the right training, you can cultivate this skill and use it to your advantage. Learning to play by ear will take your music and technical abilities to new heights.

Do yourself a favor and commit to developing the ability to play music "by ear". Earn yourself the right to be called a "Guitar Hero". The resource links will point you in the right direction.

20 Essential Acoustic Guitar Tips for the Beginner

By: Ralph Serpe

Acoustic guitar lessons online are not difficult to come by. There are many sites offering free tips and lessons for the beginner, but it can be rather difficult sifting through pages of content to find direct answers to some of the most basic questions beginners have. I researched many of the frequently asked questions that beginners have and created this list of quick acoustic guitar lessons and tips to make life a bit easier for you. I do hope this helps.

1 - Learn how to play the acoustic guitar with both your fingers and your pick. Practice using both. This will make you a more versatile player.

2 - Learn how to use a capo. A capo is a clamp that you can apply to different frets of your guitar to change the pitch. You will definitely need to become familiar with this wonderful tool. If you do not already own one, head out to your local music store and buy one today.

3 - Make sure you choose the right guitar for your size. Guitars come in different sizes from classic to jumbo. It is very important that you find a guitar size that you are comfortable playing.

4 - Learn how to change your strings and change them often. If you do not know how to change your guitar strings yet, stop what you are doing and search for articles and videos online right now. This is very important.

5 - Wash your hands before you play and clean your strings after you play. Dirt and oils from your fingers and hands can wear down your strings.

6 - Build up those calluses. Many beginners complain of pain in their fingertips when first starting out. This is normal and will go away after you have been playing for a little while and start to form calluses. The more often you practice the faster you will build up calluses.

7 - Learn how to tune your guitar. Make sure your guitar is in tune before you start every practice session. Tuning your guitar is really quite easy. You can either purchase one of those small battery powered guitar tuners, or you can tune your guitar online. Just do a search at your favorite search engine using the key phrase "online guitar tuner" and you will find many helpful sites on this topic.

8 - Use YouTube to find free acoustic guitar lessons. Everyone is now familiar with the site YouTube. They have a huge variety of free lessons. Two providers of free lessons that I recommend you check out are: "Next Level Guitar" (goes by the user name "rockongoodpeople") and "Justinguitar.com" (goes by the username "JustinSandercoeSongs"). They offer some of the best free online acoustic guitar lessons. Highly recommended.

9 - Find a good guitar teacher. While it is possible to learn at your own pace at home using free lessons online, books and home study courses, nothing will replace a guitar teacher. A guitar teacher will help keep you from forming bad guitar playing habits and praise you when you are making progress.

10 - Stretch and warm up your hands and fingers before each playing session. This is important. Proper warm up and stretching exercises are essential in helping you avoid injury and improving your guitar playing. For more information on stretching and warm up exercises, do a search on Google using the key phrase: "guitar warm up". You will find plenty of tutorials on this subject.

11 - Learn music theory. I know music theory can be boring and difficult, but it is essential learning if you want to become a good guitar player.

12 - Learn about the parts of your guitar. Spend as much time as possible familiarizing yourself with all the various parts of your guitar and how it is constructed.

13 - Learn how to practice. This may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many guitarists are not practicing correctly. There is definitely a right and a wrong way to practice. Make sure you understand how to make the best out of your practice sessions.

14 - Keep your finger nails on your fretting hand trimmed. Your fingernails on your fretting hand must be kept short. If not, they will most certainly make playing more difficult as they will prevent your fingers from pushing down the strings properly.

15 - Don't over do it. If you are experiencing any pain or discomfort during your playing or practice session, then stop and take a break.

16 - Try and learn something new. If you continually do the same thing, day after day, then your guitar playing will become stagnant and you will not progress.

17 - Join discussion forums online. Search for guitar discussion forums online and begin discussions with experienced and professional guitarists.

18 - Listen to a variety of different music. Not just your favorite styles either. You would be surprised at how much this can influence your guitar playing.

19 - Learn alternate ways to tune your guitar. Not every song is played in standard tuning.

20 - Go to live performances. This will give you a chance to get up close and personal with the musicians enabling you to see first hand how a professional plays.

The Essentials of Buying a Used Guitar

by: George Stanley

Buying a guitar can be a sizable investment. Like other items, the better the guitar the higher the price. A cheap guitar, whether used or new, will probably disappoint you at some point in time. If the cost of a new guitar is simply out of your price range, try visiting the local pawn shops to see what they have to offer.

One thing to think about, however, if you are going to visit a pawn shop, is how knowledgeable the owner is about guitars. Does the pawn shop owner play guitar, or do they just deal in guitars for some quick cash? If you can find a pawn shop operated by an honest guitar player, you are truly in luck!

One particular place to always inspect when considering a used guitar is the spot where the heel of the neck joins the body of the guitar. A lot of tension is placed on the guitar from the strings and the weakest point is where the neck and body connect. Over time, the glue becomes loose and the neck separates from the body at the heel.

Sometimes, just leaving a guitar in a hot car trunk can soften the glue enough for this damage to take place. The bad news is that this repair is not a simple, easy job for a luthier (guitar repairman) to correct. So be sure to look carefully at this area before buying a guitar as many pawn shops do not offer any sort of guarantee for your purchase.

Look the guitar over for other signs of repairs, too. Anywhere the instrument is glued should be looked at carefully. Some acoustic and semi-hollow body guitars split around the edges of the body.

Another part to be aware of because it can wear out is the tuning machine. The tuning machines are what keeps the guitar in tune. If they are not tight or they wiggle you might want to look at another guitar. However, the tuning machine can usually be replaced without any great skill, but check on the prices for the tuning machines before you buy. You might even be able to use this as a bargaining tool to get a better price.

Brand name can indicate a high quality used instrument, but there are many well known guitar manufacturers that also produce low end guitars. So, do a little research about models. For instance, you might track down a certain model number and with some online research, find out that a guitar you thought to be only about ten years old might really be about 35 years old. Or you may find out that the name brand guitar is priced high at the pawn shop, but actually the guitar is a low end model that you could buy new for the same price.

About The Author George loves to play guitar and is basically self taught. He has created two sites to help budding guitarist. The first deals with How to Read Guitar Notes athttp://www.HowtoReadGuitarNotes.com and the second shows How to Read Guitar Chords at http://www.howtoreadguitarchords.com . Visit the author's web site at: http://www.howtoreadguitarnotes.com

The Blues Solo And How To Approach It

by Ricky Sharples

You want to get off to a good start as a blues guitar player, you will need five notes. Well, five notes in any key. The five notes you will need is a scale called the minor pentatonic. If you are playing in the key of E the notes you are going to be using are E G A B D. The minor pentatonic scale and the changing relationships between those five notes will enable you to give your guitar playing the distinctive blues flavor. Get to know this scale by experimenting with simple tunes. You can make them up for yourself and play them up and down the guitar neck. As you spend some time playing your own tunes you can listen to CDs of the great blues guitarists. Get familiar with how you are using the five notes of the minor pentatonic scale and see how the guitarists of the twenties, thirties, forties, fifties and sixties used them. See how those old bues guitar players played inside the scale and how they ventured outside it to add some spice to the blues. Listen to how they used slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs as well as up and down picking. If you like the licks you are hearing in the work of the great blues guitarists, teach them to yourself. You need to be careful here. Your aim is not to duplicate note-for-note the licks of the greats, but you need to tap into the mood of their playing and see how it connects with your mood. Don't be afraid to leave some empty spaces. You don't have to fill your blues solos with notes. Next, you can start getting into mixing the major pentatonic scale with the minor pentatonic. You will find that blues guitar players of the past did that to great effect. So, still playing in the key of E, but now mixing the minor and major pentatonic, you get the notes E F# G G# A B C# D. An important element of blues music is the flattened fifth note. It can be overused, so just look at it as another tool to help you learn to speak blues. So with the flattened fifth added, your notes are E F# G G# A Bb B C# D. Now you have a bunch of notes that, played one after the other, will sound pretty ordinary. Go back and start experimenting with those notes. Make up some more tunes. Listen again to the big-time blues guitar players. Learn which notes are your bread and butter and which of these notes are to be used a little more sparingly. If you want a little help to start you off, try using licks in the major pentatonic scale over the I and V chords. You might notice your minor notes go well with your IV chord.

Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog which contains all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, and how to learn guitar scales. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Guitar Plectrums & Guitar Strings

There is a wealth of guitar accessories available and many manufacturers make the same type of product. Many products come do the same thing but have large differences in price point so this can sometimes be confusing for many new guitarists. The old saying "You get what you pay for" does ring true in some circumstances but the volume and quality of guitar accessories available are ever becoming harder to distinguish. For example: If you were buying a product made of a solid wood, this would cost much more than a product made of plywood, why? Simply because the raw materials are more expensive. The guitar accessories I am going to talk about are guitar plectrums and guitar strings. Guitar Plectrums (Picks) are usually small triangular pieces of plastic that you use to strike the strings of your guitar with. Plectrums have many different thicknesses, materials, and sizes that all factor into the job they do, these variants create a different sound. More thinner and flexible plectrums generally are best suited to playing rhythm guitar, as they pass the strings quickly with less resistance. You’ll also hear a lot more of a flicking sound (a little like a scratch) as they pass over the string that is to some, desirable. This only really happens with the thinnest of plectrums. The thicker picks can be used more for lead guitar playing, as they produce a good amount of attack. They generally produce a more even sound and you get less flicking sound as they pass the strings. However, the sound you produce will differ, dependant on how hard your plectrum grip is. If you have a rigid grip a thinner plectrum may be beneficial as trying to play fast with a thick plectrum could be tricky. The plectrums I use are the Dava Control’s. The have a thinner central area that alters how hard the pick is dependant of how close to the tip you hold it. So I suppose you could call it a combination thickness plectrum. Guitar Plectrums only cost a few pence anyway so I would recommend getting a few different ones and try them out to see what you like best. Guitar Strings come in different gauges, the first question you will be asked when you go into a music shop to buy a replacement set of strings is "what gauge do you want?" String gauge affects the tone and the playability of your guitar. If you have a higher gauge string, there is greater tension. Heavy gauge strings generate a higher volume, however the greater the tension, the more finger pressure is needed to fret the strings properly. One major benefit of higher tension strings is that they vibrate in a shallower fashion, which allows closer adjustment to the fret board before getting string buzzes. A pretty standard Acoustic guitar string gauge is 12-54, and 9-42 on electric guitars. Altering your string gauge may require adjustment to your guitar in order to maintain the same action (Height between the string and fret board). On the flip side, lower string tension will cause the strings to lie lower which may result in buzzing, but if you already have a high action then you could solve that problem with a new set of strings. I actually prefer a medium gauge (a set of 10’s) string as it produces a more reliable string bend. The ones I use are the D’addario XL’s 10- 46 (regular light gauge) on my electric guitars and on my acoustic guitars I always use Brass wound D’addario EJ16 Light (Gauge 12-53). Brass strings produce a rich bright tonality that lasts well.

Created by JamesBB.com, the online guitar lessons resource site. We provide a wealth of knowledge and experience to all levels and ages of guitar player. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Beatles For Classical Guitar

One of the big events in fingerstyle guitar playing many years ago was the publication of a music book called "Beatles For Classical Guitar". This was the world's first attempt to mix the simplicity of the Beatles' tunes with the complexity of classical guitar technique. One of the first things that fingerpicking guitar players who were not trained in classical guitar playing noticed was that the fingerings to some of the tunes were much more difficult to execute than they had been used to. But no pain, no gain. The trickier arrangements indicated how much more musical richness had been found in these more complicated arrangements of familiar songs. Some guitar players thought that a book of classical guitar arrangements of the work of The Beatles was just a gimmick. They expected that a minimal amount of work went into these arrangements just to produce popular music for the "egghead market". In fact the songs are all substantial arrangements that many classical guitarists find extremely satisfying to play. People who loved the Beatles' music found that the songs had not been rendered unrecognizable in the process of arranging them for fingerpicking. The songs were arranged for guitar players who could read standard musical notation and they were not the kind of arrangements that could be played right through on sight the first time you saw them. The pieces asked you to pay some attention and make some effort. Once you get the feel of the way the songs have been interpreted you can let your familiarity with the songs guide you as you play. Some guitar players are going to feel cheated by the fact that there are not tabs but the pieces are a bit too complicated to be translated into tab effectively. Guitarists who are used to playing using sheet music will be gratified that the music is not made more complicated by the addition of a tab line. Here is the list of songs: Across The Universe Ask Me Why Come Together Cry Baby Cry Day Tripper For No One From Me To You Hello, Goodbye Here Comes The Sun I Don't Want To Spoil The Party I Will I'll Follow The Sun I'm A Loser I'm Happy Just To Dance With You I'm Only Sleeping I'm So Tired In My Life The Long And Winding Road Maxwell's Silver Hammer No Reply Nowhere Man P.S. I Love You Penny Lane Something Things We Said Today This Boy (Ringo's Theme) Two Of Us While My Guitar Gently Weeps Yesterday You're Going To Lose That Girl You might be surprised by the inclusion of some of the tunes in a collection of guitar solos. So go ahead and try them out.

Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog which contains all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, and how to learn guitar scales. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Write Music That Appeals To Peoples Emotions

By: Richie Gilbert

Whether you choose to write music first or start with the lyrics, please remember one thing: The melody is always king! I want to explain why I believe that statement to be true. I know when it comes to songwriting all of the elements must fit together just so. There has to be a perfect marriage of lyric, melody, structure and feel. That is the hallmark of a great song. But I have heard too many songs that seem to focus primarily on the lyrics. The writer has poured out his or her soul to create a truly touching and beautiful story. Then those wonderful lyrics are paired with a mediocre, or even (gasp!) boring melody. The result? A mediocre, boring song! Those lyrics might work wonderfully on their own. But a monotonous unimaginative melody drags them down. Appeal To The Emotions As a songwriter, writing melody that appeals to the emotions of your listeners should be your top priority. Why? Because it's the melody that our brains latch onto first. A melody on it's own can make you cry, laugh and everything in between. It truly can be a direct communication to the soul. An interesting mood-evoking melody commands our attention. It makes us sit up and take notice. Only then do we start to pay attention to the storyline. To the lyrics. And if those lyrics are top-notch: Bingo! You've hit the jackpot. Write Lyrics As Good As Your Melody Now, this scenario can also be looked at from the opposite side: You write music that is truly inspiring. You then settle for the first lyrics that pop into your head. You don't bother rewriting those lyrics. You figure that since they fit the melody and tell the story they are good enough. I did this for years! And I was always secretly embarrassed by my lyrics. As songwriters, we must strive for that perfect balance. And it takes time and effort to master. (I'm still working on completing my apprenticeship!) Work On Your Weakest Skill If you only want to write music or you only want to write lyrics, that's okay. Collaborating with writers who excel at what you do not is a great way to write songs. If you love to write melody, find yourself a great lyricist. Or vice-versa. Most of us are better at one aspect of songwriting than we are at others. For me, it's always been writing melody that seems to come naturally. As a lead guitarist I usually opted for the slow, melodic, soulful lead over the fast shred. Through the years I've written quite a few instrumentals that I am proud of. Lyrics have always been a struggle for me. That's why I tend to spend a lot more time working on the words to my new songs than I do the melody. But I spend quite a bit of time on writing melody too! Because I understand how important a great melody is. Listen To Your Melodies Listen to the melodies you are writing. Are they as strong as your lyrics? Perhaps more importantly, can they stand on their own? A melody should be able to stand on it's own. It should be moving, interesting, somewhat predictable and a little surprising at the same time. I say somewhat predictable because we need familiarity. If every line goes off in a completely different direction you will lose most listeners. People must have something that they can grasp onto immediately. Especially in the chorus. So go and write music that moves you. If you do this, you can be sure that it will move others too. Happy melody writing!

Richie Gilbert has been passionate about writing songs for many years. He spends too much time in his home recording studio, and is active in pitching his songs to music publishers. To learn more about the craft and business of songwriting, please visit his website at http://www.inspired-songwriting-tips.com Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Learn To Play A Guitar For Free - Assembling Your Tools

By: Ricky Sharples

When you decide that you want to learn to play guitar you are starting out on a journey. Every day you need to continue and you need to be able to practice and experiment without the help of a teacher who is being paid to keep you on track, correct your mistakes and reassure you when you are feeling like you are getting nowhere in your guitar playing. So you need some tools that you can get from the internet for free and you need to remember to use these tools, otherwise you will find your guitar playing getting stale or stopping altogether. Let's start with the next best thing to having a teacher helping you. Guitar forums. There are lots of them on the net, some specializing in particular guitar playing styles, some with boards for focusing on aspects of guitar that need special attention. The members of guitar forums are a mix of newbies and seasoned guitarists. They all have one thing in common in that they have been where you are now. They know the difficulties of learning the basics of guitar and they are more than willing to help new guitarists get over the first bumps on the road. Forums are driven by member participation, so once you join, you will find that there is a place for newcomers to introduce themselves. You would usually go to that thread and write a little about yourself and then visit the other threads to see what the forum has to offer you. The next thing you need to do is find yourself some videos to watch on sites like YouTube. To take advantage of the enormous number of guitar video lessons available for free on the internet, you need to be very focused on what style of music you want to play. Have a list of songs and start looking for videos that teach you to play them. As you go along you will also get to know the names of some guitar playing techniques that you need to learn and you should look for video lessons on these. There is no guitar technique that is really hard to learn; they all just take practice. The thing is though, explaining how to do them is not too easy. With learning to play guitar a video is worth a thousand words. As you get to become clear on what kind of guitar music you want to play, you can do internet searches for tabs and chords for your favorite songs. There are many sites that archive free guitar tabs and you will have no trouble finding and downloading the material you need to get you started on playing. One thing to remember is that sometimes when a guitarist posts a video on YouTube he will provide a link to his own site where he has made tabs available for you, so check out the info printed alongside the video. The rest of the tools you need are bits of software that are essential for helping you learn to play guitar. You can get free metronomes and guitar tuners from the internet. You just download them for free and install them. If you do a search for them the first results you get are usually the big software download sites, so you should have no problems with viruses or spyware. There are also guitar tab editors that you can get for free or on a trial basis. Some of the trials are unlimited timewise but some of the features are disabled. Tab editors enable you to read the tabs and hear the tablature as MIDI files. GuitarPro is a good one that is free and you will find many GuitarPro files for songs and instrumental pieces in all guitar genres.

Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog which contains all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, and how to learn guitar scales.

The Burning Desire To Play Jazz Piano

by: Peter Hostage

Exploring jazz Piano

The professional jazz pianist is expected to know the styles and techniques developed through the history of jazz. What sets the jazz musician apart is the need for excellent improvisational skills in melody and harmony.

The element of improvisation in jazz piano gives the pianist a sense of freedom of expression not found with other styles of music. Though the pianist must know "the rules," those rules can easily be broken in an artistic and creative way. How the jazz pianist applies or breaks those rules becomes part of their own personal style.

Jazz Piano Styles

When you discover all the different styles of jazz piano, one can begin to appreciate the variations in rhythm and discern between the different feelings that each type can offer a listener.

Below are brief introductions of the four main jazz styles and how they relate to piano jazz as we have come to know it and love it today.

Early Jazz

Piano has been an important part of jazz music since its beginning in the 1890's. Before jazz became widespread, Ragtime enjoyed popularity as one of the first music crazes of the modern era.

During this Ragtime era, piano music was the one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the U.S. The ragtime craze helped to fuel the sales of pianos, especially in the North.

Jazz developed as various styles of African-American music mixed and mingled in New Orleans in the first decades of the 20th century. Blues, spirituals, ragtime, band music, and European music melted together to form what is called America's first genuine original art form. What separates Ragtime from jazz is the fact that jazz is not notated, and ragtime doesn't "swing".

Storyville was an area of New Orleans where some local places showcased small bands, and some that would just have a solo pianist. As World War I broke out, Storyville was reported as a threat to the health of or soldiers, and closed it was down. Without this venue, many of those musicians looking for work elsewhere. Jazz was soon off and running, the craze was ablaze.

Stride Piano

In the 20's, a new jazz piano style started to emerge. Stride had the bass/chord left hand pattern of ragtime, but the swing of jazz in the right hand. The pianist performed all the elements of a band: the rhythm, the bass, the chords and the melody, usually at a frenzied pace.

The style evolved from the solo pianist's desire to keep the party going. The outlets these parties provided were the main source of entertainment for many Americans.

Swing Piano

In the swing era, which lasted from the twenties into the forties, sometimes the pianist played only sporadically and sparsely, adding an extra "frill" on top of the arrangement. At the time, swing was the most popular music in America.

Be Bop and Hard Bop

The Be-Bop era evolved as a reaction to the tightly controlled arranged sound of the swing bands. There was a major change in the evolution of jazz piano. The pianist didn't have to keep playing a steady rhythmic beat, but could now convey the rhythm and harmony by just using parts of the chords. The melodies became more angular and soon became featured in New York City, mostly in the clubs on 52nd St.

In the mid fifties, jazz saw new styles emerging. The pianists could use all of the techniques in jazz to develop a style, including elements of stride, swing blues and gospel.

Moving Forward

Since the early 60's, jazz piano has taken on many facets. Jazz has become wide open to interpretation, and the contemporary jazz pianist is able to grasp inspiration from many avenues.

Yes, jazz piano does pull at the heartstrings of many of us. I suggest you take some time each day to find your “jazz ear” so that you are able to feel the passion that jazz will add to your lifestyle.

With such an array of styles to emulate, and have fun with, many inspired listeners soon develop a passion to learn how to play the piano for themselves. There is nothing more satisfying than feeling the jazz beneath your fingertips.

The cost of a jazz pianist is not about the expenditure money for lessons, it's more about the time that you spend dedicating yourself to learning jazz piano, and having fun on your journey. The benefits are too great to go into on this brief article. Let’s just say, it’s definitely worth it all.

About The Author Peter Hostage is a pianist and singer specializing in jazz, blues and swing. Peter shares his passion and knowledge on his website, http://www.teach-me-piano.com. Visit his site where you, too, can learn to play jazz piano online.

Acoustic Guitar Dvd Lessons : The fastest way to start playing

by: Tavares Gooden

Now, There are lots of free resources on the web to get you started such as websites like about.com and ehow.com that can help with chords and notes and such. It can be free, but that doesn't mean that it's quality information that will build you into a well rounded musician. Use your best judgment and you should be fine.

With these you can learn picking patterns that you can apply to any songs you learn. You will also be able to pick up tabs for bluegrass fiddle tunes you can learn to play on the guitar. You can sing the blues. SECOND rule: Get a GUITAR Blues accordion players just don't make it big you know? Ever heard of a blues cellist? Me neither. These days, the easiest way to do that, to start your blues guitar lessons, is to get acoustic guitar dvds lessons instead of hiring a teacher. There's probably a dozen or more other programs you can download that will show you the blues scales (or jazz scales, rock scales). They run about $20 to 50, depending on how in depth and how much you want to learn (still cheaper than hiring a tutor)

Here's a few suggestions from a wide range of artists and genres. "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell, "More Than Words" by Extreme, "Under The Bridge" by Red Hot Chilli Peppers, "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles, "House Of The Rising Sun" by The Animals, "Wild Thing" by The Troggs and "Runaway" by The Corrs. These are songs that everybody in the world knows the words to, or at least they can fake it.

The guitarist could be heard playing the odd bass run but apart from that he was in the background. These are songs that everybody in the world knows the words to, or at least they can fake it. Some artists that are always popular at singalongs are James Taylor, Leonard Cohen and Greenday. Oh, and maybe Suzanne Vega. Billy Joel's "Piano Man" and "Captain Jack" are songs that get a crowd going but maybe you need some advanced skills for those, so get acoustic guitar lessons dvd

You can be as basic or as flashy as you like because the songs stand up by themselves with just basic accompaniment or you can use any of the classical guitar style arrangements that you can find in music shops. Practice doing alternate up and down strokes slowly and smoothly using a metronome to keep time. For bluegrass picking use a heavy gauge pick but as with everything, you should try different ones out till you find what's right for you. You will see and hear that a lot of bluegrass guitar playing consists of the guitarist playing bass notes and strumming in between.

Now, this is the point where practicing the guitar can be like a diet...it works for a little while, and yet you eventually fall back into the old habits that you are used to. Dieting is not what we want here. Look, you need to get yourself guitar for dummies dvds to show you the scales. They won't help your broken heart, they won't BUY you a guitar...but if you got those first two covered, then all you need to do is learn the scales right? Don't turn your guitar practice time into extended guitar solos. If you have a track of say, six minutes at your disposal, use it to practice licks and short solo breaks, the age of the twenty minute solo is long gone.

About The Author Everything they never told you about acoustic guitar revealed! For more insider tips and information be sure and check out acoustic guitar dvd lessons Visit the author's web site at: http://acousticguitarlessonsdvd.wetpaint.com

Learning The Guitar Online - The Facts

by: Liam Gibson

From absolute beginners to seasoned players, the internet has opened up a whole new media for those who wish to play the guitar. Many people today are utilizing the easy availability of online sites in order to learn to play the guitar.

The media of the streaming video has allowed people to learn from the comfort of their own front room, at any time of the day or night, whenever they like. Not only that, but it has blossomed into a huge industry - there are a massive amount of sites that you can visit that promise to teach you a very high standard of guitar tutorials. In this article, we will explore some of the advantages of the online tutorial, and some of the things that they can offer you if you are considering learning to play the guitar.

1) Its convenient

You really can learn wherever and whenever you want. Just as more and more everyday experiences are becoming more and more convenient (such as grocery shopping, for example), and learning the guitar is no different. We are lucky to live in such a time when the easy availability of goods and services is part of our social make-up.

Now you can learn for a few minutes at a time if you so wish, and even fit learning to play the guitar around other activities. Traditionally, guitar students would commute to an instructor's studio - taking into account the journey time and travel inconvenience it usually meant putting an evening or an afternoon aside for a lesson.

2) You get to choose your instructor

Instead of just taking lessons from someone who is closest to your home or more convenient for you to get to, this way you can take a look at their biographies, sample lessons and other relevant details. This is a huge advantage, as you will be learning from someone who best fits your particular needs. With the majority of online tutorial sites, you can select from a variety of instructors.

Taking lessons from two or three instructors will give you a good sense of balance and you may even learn better doing it this way - don't have to stick to just one instructor. Some of them are more hands on, whilst others favor a more visual approach, it's worth trying out different instructors to find one that best suits your learning style.

3) Flexibility

Rather than in a one-to-one situation where you often find that you can only learn what the instructor wants to teach you, you have the flexibility to choose what you learn. With an online program, you get to learn what you want to learn.

4) Affordability

The whole business premise of the online tutorial is that they can provide more lessons for less money. In order to learn to play the guitar, a lot of people don't want to spend a whole lot of money. The math is relatively simple: if 100 members of a particular site pay $10 each, then the site generates $1000. This revenue can then be used to film and produce even more lessons.

For a one-on-one instructor, you will realistically be expecting to pay something in the region of $40 per half hour lesson. Therefore, the value of the online tutorial becomes clear - you can get full membership to a lot of the sites for the same price (around $40), which will give you an almost endless amount of lessons.

The only significant downfall when it comes to online learning, is that there is no-one there to ask a question to when you get stuck. It can seem a little frustrating at times when you come across something that you don't understand. This, however, is a pretty small disadvantage when you consider all the benefits of learning to play the guitar online.

About The Author Liam Gibson of http://www.ReviewsMetro.com/learnguitar, specializes in helping aspiring guitarists get the info that they need to make the right choices. Liam, a stage guitarist himself, leads his team of guitar experts to constantly review new courses and products in the market and make sure you get the best value products that work for you. Check out his honest and unbiased independent reviews of the best guitar courses and products at http://www.ReviewsMetro.com/learnguitar. You can also get his free guitar lessons online there too.

Learn To Play Blues Guitar Solos And Make Them Yours

By: Ricky Sharples When you first think about learning to play blues guitar solos you will be faced with wanting to play the blues like the guitar players of the past, but at the same time you don't want to just play their material note for note. The sooner you get rid of the idea that you have to be original right off the bat, the sooner you will be really original. By learning the riffs and licks of B.B. King, Eric Clapton or Duane Allman you are giving yourself something to play. And as you play this music that other guitar players have recorded, you are developing your own style. You don't have your own voice to start with, you need to play other people's stuff to develop yourself. So put aside your ideas that guitar players start off with their own material, and start learning the solos of whatever guitar players you admire from their records. Learn simple licks at first. The first thing you might discover that surprises you is that the solos of the great blues guitarists is not rocket science. Great music does not have to be hard to play. So you don't need an amazing guitar technique to start learning blues but you do need to work on how you play. For this you need to record yourself playing. Do it often and listen to it closely. The way you sit or stand as you play, the way you hold the pick, the amount of force you put into your strokes and whether you use up or down strokes. All of these things are important to whether your playing sounds right. If you think you need improvement, get some advice. Ask other guitar players what they think. Do some busking, get some reactions from your audience. Record a video of your playing, post it on YouTube and get some comments. Go on guitar forums, post the link to your video and ask for feedback. But before you do any of that, you need to have some basic guitar chops. I said before you don't need an advanced technique, but you need to be good enough to play with a little authority. You need to pass your enthusiasm for the music onto your listeners. If you are hesitant and worrying about making a mistake, you need some more hours of practice till you get past that stage. One thing blues guitar solos are not is the guitar player's effects and equipment. If you want to use a certain sound for your playing, that's fine but when you are learning solos, concentrate on learning the music, do not worry about the sound at this stage of your learning. After all, when Eric Clapton stopped playing through Marshall amps or using the wah-wah pedal, it didn't mean he had stopped playing the blues. So a certain guitar sound does not make the blues.

Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog which contains all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, and how to learn guitar scales. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

How To Fix Acoustic Guitar Buzz

By: Gyorgy Huba

There are many bits on an acoustic guitar that can rattle against each other to make a buzzing noise. Most can be easily fixed once you become aware of them but tracking that guitar buzz down can be a problem if you don't know where to look. The first place to look for the cause of buzzing guitar is the guitar player. If you are not pressing down on the strings with the correct amount of pressure, the strings will buzz or sound muffled. This might not be entirely your fault if the guitar's action is too low. If the strings are too close to the frets you will get a buzz that no amount of pressure on the strings will fix. To fix low action on an acoustic guitar is a matter of going to a guitar store and getting a bridge bone that will lift the strings higher. If the notches in the guitar nut are too deep this will also cause buzzing but that is the least likely cause unless someone deliberately cut the notches deeper. If the slots in the nut are too wide, this will also cause a buzz. A quick fix for low action is a match stick slipped under the bridge bone. If you find the guitar too hard to play now, it's because you have made the action too high. If the guitar is old, you may have frets that are too worn. This will make the strings buzz against the higher frets. All the frets on the guitar need to be the same height. If you are using strings that have balls on the ends, check that the balls are tight up against the bridge. If you find one that is not, unwind the string and reseat the ball so it is snug. The loose ends of nylon strings can also buzz against the bridge so if you have a classical style guitar, check the ends of the strings lying against the bridge. The machine heads - the tuners at the top of the neck - can become loose with age, rattle around. It is probably best to not get involved in repairing them. Just buy a new set. If you have checked all these parts without identifying the cause of the buzz, take your guitar to a luthier or a local guitar dealer to get it checked out. Sometimes there can be loose parts on an acoustic guitar that are not readily accessible that might need some guitar surgery to fix.

Newbie guitar players are flocking to Guitar How-To for the free articles, tutorials and videos on every aspect of guitar playing you can think of. Fast track your guitar expertise now at http://guitar-how-to.com/ Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

A New Way to Read Tabs?

by: Jonathan J. Brett

Recently, I read an article written by someone called the “Guitar Tab Guru” about using a form of TAB that uses letters rather than numbers. He said it was a variation of Lute Tabs, where letters represented the fret positions rather than numbers. (He explained it as a=1, b=2, c=3, etc.) His method, however, used letter names to coincide with the proper note positions on the fret board, such as an F being where an F is located (ex. First fret, first string) and a G being where a G is (ex. Third fret, third string). He then divided the fret board into three separate sections to learn, so that once memorized, the guitarist would be able to locate all of the natural notes on their fret board. Once you can locate the natural notes, the sharps and flats are easily found by raising or lowering the note by a fret accordingly.

I found this article to be particularly helpful in that naming the notes on the fret board has always been a challenge for me. It’s not often that a guitarist is quizzed on note locations, but on rare occasion I have needed to find specific notes that I simply couldn’t locate easily. I could find the notes given enough time to figure it out, but every time wished I could do it automatically, without hesitation. This was particularly embarrassing when I first started teaching guitar lessons, and I had students who could name notes better than I could! I have gotten better, but have always seemed to struggle with this facet of my playing and teaching.

The Guitar Tab Guru article was actually quite helpful to me, helping me learn the troublesome spots higher up the neck. I actually recognized the patterns that he used as modal scales, something that I am quite familiar with. This made learning this technique much, much easier, and I would recommend reviewing your modes first to help you along the way.

The first position uses the Phrygian mode, and uses open strings for the lowest notes. The second position is at the fifth fret and is the Aeolian mode, and the third is at the tenth fret and uses the Dorian mode. For anyone not familiar with these modes, please research them and learn them, as they are very helpful in learning the notes on your fret board this way. This may seem like a lot of work, but it really is relatively easy. I know that www.guitartabguru.com has a lot of other articles about everything guitar, so maybe you could even find one on there.

Once you can identify the notes on your fret board, you will find that you can create more interesting music, as you can quickly come up with the proper notes for any song you are playing, changing positions all up the fret board. I hope you find this information infinitely useful! To check out the article yourself go tohttp://www.guitartabguru.com/Exclusive-Guitar-Tab-Guru-Article.html .

Happy Practicing!

About The Author Jonathan J. Brett is a guitar instructor and business owner. He has recently been asked to be an editor for www.guitartabguru.com after submitting articles on numerous guitar related subjects.

3 Reasons Why You May Not Be Getting Big Results From Taking Guitar Lessons

by: Tom Hess

Have you ever tried taking guitar lessons and ended up quitting in frustration, because you felt you weren’t making enough progress? Or perhaps you have considered taking guitar lessons but because someone you know had a disappointing experience with a guitar teacher, you began to doubt if lessons are worth investing your time and money. This perception prevents you from getting all that you want from your guitar lessons.

There can be many reasons why people quit guitar lessons. Sometimes it is because the teacher failed to inspire you, or because the lessons weren’t focused enough on your specific musical goals, or because the teacher was only mediocre and didn’t know how to help you achieve a specific result. (To avoid this problem download this free guide about how to choose a guitar teacher:http://www.tomhess.net/HowToChooseAGuitarTeacher.aspx) However, another (often misunderstood) reason might be that your own approach to guitar lessons wasn’t as effective as it needed to be in order for you to make real progress.

After teaching tens of thousands of music lessons to all types of guitarists and also mentoring guitar teachers around the world on how to teach more effectively, I began to notice similar and consistent patterns used by most students for learning to play guitar.

I also noticed that the specific approach the students applied to studying with a teacher had a direct influence on their progress. Very often 2 different people can get very different results by studying with the same guitar teacher, because the ways in which the students approached the learning process in general are very different. For example, one student believed that he knew better than the teacher did about how to reach his musical goals and resisted some of the instruction his teacher was giving him. It later became very clear to him that he did not know better. Click on the link to hear his story about how he failed to improve his guitar skills:http://tomhess.net/GetGuitarLessonsMistake.aspx. The other student soaked up everything his teacher was instructing him to do and quickly became a world class guitar virtuoso.

I have found there are 3 types of students who become easily frustrated with their guitar lessons. As you read the rest of this article, be honest and ask yourself if any of these 3 descriptions sound like you. I’ll be the first to admit that at one point I had the characteristics of each of the “ineffective student behaviors” presented below. Looking back many years later, I now understand that one of the reasons why it took me as long as it did to master the guitar (more than 20 years), was due to my own inefficient approaches to learning when I began the journey.

The “Teach me something new today” student type.

You may think it is common sense that guitar lessons should consist mainly of presenting new content, and expect that the guitar teacher’s primary job is to show you things that are “new” to you. However, if we examine this approach a bit deeper, you will see that focusing “only” on seeking out new information will not bring big results long term.

First of all, too much new content quickly leads to overwhelm and burn out (and does not allow enough time to apply the information you are learning). This feeling of overwhelm is what causes you to become frustrated and quit lessons (or worse yet, quit guitar). Second, simply “learning new things” does not lead to mastery. I have had many students come to me being able to do some cool things on guitar. For example, they may have good technique, or a good understanding of how music works, or have good ears. But more often than not, their ability to APPLY and INTEGRATE what they “know” to playing music was very poor. At this point, “learning more new things” is not going to help these students to significantly advance their guitar playing. Simply being “aware” of a concept is not enough. You don’t truly “know” something until you can apply and integrate it with your other musical skills fluently.

This type of training in applying and integrating what you know is probably the single most valuable thing you get out of music lessons and is one area of musical development that is almost universally lacking in many guitarists. This results in massive frustration and disappointment that many guitar players often experience (but often do not realize WHY they are frustrated).

When you take lessons for the first time, you may think that it is great that your teacher shows you something new in each lesson. But if your teacher does nothing else than “show you things”, then as more lessons go by, you will start to notice that you are not really making any significant progress (because no application and integration is taking place). Most people will quit lessons at this point, and will continue to perpetuate the myth that guitar lessons are ineffective, without really understanding the real reasons for their lack of progress.

The type of student who is only interested in learning new things, typically does not stick with guitar lessons for very long. If a guitar teacher begins to talk about a concept the student may already be familiar with, the lesson is perceived to be a waste of time. Because these students may have heard about this concept from somewhere else, they believe that they “already know it”.

Of course, receiving new information is a part of any comprehensive lesson plan (and certainly you will learn a lot of new things by taking lessons), but it is the order in which this information is presented, and the way you are trained to USE, APPLY and INTEGRATE that information that makes guitar lessons with a good teacher so valuable. If learning “raw data” in a linear fashion (and practicing) was all it took to become a great musician, then anyone could buy some books and after studying them for a few years and practicing on his/her own become a highly advanced guitarist. Of course most of the time, this doesn’t happen.

The moral of the story here is to remember that you came to your teacher to learn and grow as a guitar player. In order for this to actually happen you will need to have some patience through the process and realize that sometimes when you ‘think you know something’, you in fact may not really know it yet to the point that you can apply it and integrate it with your other musical skills.

“The Perfectionist”

The next type of student wants to master every little thing their teacher presents in a lesson (or that they discover on their own) before working on anything else. While on the surface this seems like a good idea, it is far from the most efficient approach to becoming a great musician. Learning music is best done in a non-linear approach, meaning that multiple things should be worked on simultaneously without stressing out about totally mastering everything in a linear order. Discover more about why the typical linear approach guitar players follow often fails in this video about how to master the guitar: http://www.tomhess.net/LinearVsGeometricApproach.aspx.

I like to compare learning music to baking a cake. You don’t make a cake by cooking one ingredient at a time and then finally putting them together when each one is ready. If you baked your cake in this way, it would take you a long time to finish and more importantly the cake would not taste as good as when the ingredients are cooked together!

The same goes for musical skills. If you waited until you became a great virtuoso master of technique before beginning to work on (mastering) music theory, then turning to songwriting, and then switching to improvising, it could take you many decades to finally become really good and your skills would not likely be integrated together. What I recommend to you is to follow a non-linear approach (as described in the video above). When learning a new skill, don’t wait until you completely master it; only make sure that you have the fundamentals down and begin immediately to look for contexts to apply it. Then work on integrating this new skill with everything else that you know how to do/play. Application and integration are unique skills that must be practiced separately. This key link will enable you to go from being “the student” who is able to “do lots of things” on the guitar, to becoming a great player who can use all of his musical skills to achieve complete musical expression.

This (non-linear) approach will also prevent you from getting out of balance with your skills and at any level of your musical development, you will be able to apply and integrate everything you know. It is important to note that a ‘non-linear approach’ is not an ‘illogical’ approach. So if you are looking for a systematic and logical approach to learning guitar, you should understand that this systematic, geometric (non-linear) strategy IS in fact the most effective, most efficient and most logical path possible.

The challenger

This personality type often comes out in a player who has been playing for a while and has studied with other guitar teachers in the past. This student may come into their first lesson full of preconceived ideas about what lessons should be like, and dictating to the teacher what and how to teach. I should clarify here that I am not talking about asking questions when you don’t understand something or telling your teacher about your goals. There is a big difference between doing that, and trying to dictate to the teacher what and how to teach. If the student knew that much more about teaching than the teacher, then the student would BE the teacher, right? If you know how to successfully learn guitar on your own and you are TRULY happy with your progress without a teacher, then maybe you don’t need guitar lessons. But if you seek help from a qualified guitar teacher, this means you realized that whatever you were doing on your own wasn’t working as well as you wanted it to. Therefore, you should accept the fact (or at least the high probability) that your guitar teacher knows many times more about guitar playing and teaching guitar than you do and can successfully teach you to play well. (Otherwise, why would you give the teacher your money?) Of course not all guitar teachers are the same, and some are much more qualified to teach than others. If you follow the advice I give in the guide for choosing a guitar teacher, you will be sure to find the best teacher for you.

I always tell my students that in order for them to receive the most benefit from working with me, it is their job to articulate to me their specific musical goals and list their musical challenges. Then it is MY job to come up with the most effective strategy possible to solve their problems and get them to their stated goals as quickly as possible. But in order for that to happen, they need to have faith in me as a teacher, and commit themselves to moving forward together through the learning and training process. My most satisfied and advanced students all followed this advice.

If your guitar teacher has already created many great musicians, chances are, he knows what he is doing and will be able to help you as well. But his ability to help you will be limited (and the process will take much longer), if you constantly challenge everything he tells you to do. Again, asking questions about something you don’t understand is normal, and is part of the learning process. But creating the overall lesson plan is your teacher’s primary responsibility, not yours.

If you recognize yourself as one of the student types described above, think about your current approach to learning guitar and change your mindset. On the surface it may seem like a small action to take, but the difference this can make to your guitar playing may be greater than you have ever even imagined before!

Want to know how to choose the right teacher for you? Download the free guide on how to choose a guitar teacher: http://www.tomhess.net/HowToChooseAGuitarTeacher.aspx

About The Author Tom Hess is a professional touring guitarist and recording artist. He teaches guitar players around the world via online guitar lessons (http://tomhess.net/CorrespondenceGuitarLessons.aspx, Visithttp://www.tomhess.net to get free guitar playing tips(http://tomhess.net/FreeGuitarPlayingTips.aspx), assessments, surveys, mini courses and more.

Practical Sheet Music: Music Teachers Resources

By: Earl Marsden

Are you a music teacher who has been dedicated and committed into passionate yet effective teaching to future music specialists? Do you have such passion and heart for teaching music to all learners as well as the beginners? If yes, you certainly have to be informed and updated with the latest music teachers’ resources, trends and techniques. In this page, you will learn the importance of virtual sheet music as one of the innovative and efficient music teachers’ resources. Sheet Music Defined Primarily, sheet music is defined as either manually or digitally printed form of musical notation. In the advent of internet and technology, access to musical notation may also include downloading from online sites and presentation on computer screens – modifying the traditional medium of sheet music. Sheet music generally refers to the print publication of commercial music in concurrence of newly released films, show, record albums and other music-related events. Uses of Sheet Music As sheet music can be handed out as individual pieces or collections, it is being utilized as a record, a guide, a means to perform or any musical pieces. Understanding sheet music demands a special form of skill and literacy – the ability to read and get familiarize with musical notation. That is why it is important to your music students to get into both modern and conventional sheet music as well as acquire the necessary skills to adopt and apply such beyond the learning process. Effective Sheet Music 101 As people always settle and go for convenience, it will also be applicable to integrate the use of Internet and other means of technological innovation into a variety of teaching and learning strategies. Sheet music may now be accessed virtually either through downloads, video streaming and many others. This will surely make your students in music be more inspired to learn their musical pieces as well as stay more motivated in participating in their activities in the music classroom or studio. As each sheet music now comes in different formats, types and styles, each learner will certainly appreciate your resources and strategies. These kinds of sheet music – modern or classical can also be good for beginners as they come in categorized and organized packages: per instrument or by complexity. Music teachers may now search on the net the latest sheet music available as well as the corresponding effective and efficient trends and methods to teach each. Sheet music is considered as effective music teachers’ resources and tools that students will surely look forward to and enjoy. Both inspirational and instructional, music teachers’ resources must be comprised of fun, entertaining and motivating techniques and tools that are all aimed towards the betterment of each music student. Nowadays, there have been a wide variety of available software and reliable websites that can help most music teachers around the globe reach academic superiority. So, what are you waiting for? Click your way to digital sheet music and music teachers resources to give your students what exactly they deserve – working all the possibilities towards the excellence to music education. Enjoy each musical teaching and learning experience today!

More articles about sheet music and teaching tips may be found on this music teacher’s resources. – Earl Marsden Music Teacher Articles Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com