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.