Archive for October, 2007

Guitar blog A blues scale is C Country scale

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 30 2007 | acoustic guitar, guitar, normal tuning

Ever wonder how the country guitar players make it sound so easy and so right,  playing over  a simple chord pattern like

C F and G or C Am F G.  Wonder no more. Play this scale over the top of it

 It’s an A blues scale starting on C …it works, easy guitar stuff…

Guitar blog download guitar tab free A blues scale

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Download free tab of A blues scale in pdf

Basix[R]: Scales and Modes for Guitar - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Basix[R]: Scales and Modes for Guitar By Steve Hall And Ron Manus. For Guitar. Guitar Method or Supplement. Basix[R] Series. Book & CD. 64 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (16768)
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The Blues Scales - Guitar Edition - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
The Blues Scales - Guitar Edition (Essential Tools for Jazz Improvisation) Written by Dan Greenblatt. Instructional book and examples/accompaniment CD for guitar. 88 pages. Published by Sher Music Company. (SR.BSGT)
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Guitar blog free Tab E blues scale

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 29 2007 | acoustic guitar, guitar, normal tuning

Free guitar tab. E blues scale over 3 octaves for acoustic guitar

 to download click on the link below

E blues scale over 3 octaves for acoustic guitar

free Tab and music notes of E blues scale

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Blues/Rock Soloing for Guitar (A Guide to the Essential Scales, Licks and Soloing Techniques) - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Blues/Rock Soloing for Guitar (A Guide to the Essential Scales, Licks and Soloing Techniques) Taught by Robert Calva. Instructional book and accompaniment CD for guitar. Series: Hal Leonard Musicians Institute Press. 48 pages. Published by Musicians Institute Press. (HL.695680)
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Scales Over Chords - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Scales Over Chords (How To Improvise…And Never Play Bad Notes!) Written by Randy Lee Vradenburg, Wilbur M. Savidge. Instructional book and examples/accompaniment CD for guitar. 159 pages. Published by Praxis Music Publications. (MS.BS70297)
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Chord Chemistry - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Chord Chemistry Written by Ted Greene. Instructional book for guitar. 114 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (AP.EL02778)
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Free Guitar TAB E Blues Scale

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 28 2007 | acoustic guitar, guitar, normal tuning

Here  is a simple blues scale to be  used over an E Blues .  It has a minor 3rd, meaning the 3rd note of a normal E scale is flattened to G instead of G sharp.  It also has a flat 5, a B flat as well as a B natural ( neither sharp nor flat).  Tote that it uses a flattened 7th, a D natural instead of the D sharp that is the 7th note of a standard E scale.

I have uploaded a file in PDF format for you to download and print out, or virw on the screen, it will give you a better print than trying to print the image.  To download, click the link Free download TAB E Blues Scale for acoustic guitar

How to play an E Blues Scale on the guitar

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Pentatonic Scales for Guitar - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Pentatonic Scales for Guitar (The Essential Guide) Written by Chad Johnson. Instructional book and examples/accompaniment CD for guitar. 40 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (HL.695699)
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Scale Chord Relationships - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Scale Chord Relationships (A Guide to Knowing What Notes to Play - and Why!) Written by Jeff Schroedl, Michael Mueller. Instructional book and examples CD for guitar. 40 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (HL.695563)
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A Guide To Chords, Scales & Arpeggios - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
A Guide To Chords, Scales & Arpeggios By Al Di Meola (1954-). Instructional book for guitar. 110 pages. Published by 21st Century Publications. (HL.604042)
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Guitar Grimoire - Scales & Modes - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Guitar Grimoire - Scales & Modes Written by Adam Kadmon. Instructional book for guitar. 211 pages. Published by Carl Fischer. (CF.GT1)
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E Twelve Bar Blues TAB and Music notation

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 26 2007 | acoustic guitar, guitar, normal tuning

This is a simple 12 bar blues TAB for acoustic or electric guitar.  There are few interesting fingerings in this arrangement that are worth learning, especially the hammer ons on the 3rd and 4th notes of each bar.   Also the use of open strings in bars 10 and 11.  Practice this slowly and concentrate on keeping a steady rhythm throughout.  Then experiment with it, make it musical. The most important thing is to make it feel musical

E Twelve Bar Blues TAB and Music notation
Click on the link below to download FREE TAB AND NOTATION:

E Twelve Bar Blues TAB and Music notation pdf free download

12-Bar Blues Riffs - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com 12-Bar Blues Riffs 25 Classic Patterns Arranged for Guitar in Standard Notation and Tab. By Dave Rubin. Guitar Collection. Softcover with CD. With notes and tablature. 32 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (699622)
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12-Bar Blues - The Complete Guide For Guitar - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
12-Bar Blues - The Complete Guide For Guitar Written by Dave Rubin. Instructional book and accompaniment CD for guitar. 61 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (HL.695187)
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Playin' The Blues - Book/CD - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Playin’ The Blues - Book/CD By Robben Ford. Instructional book and examples CD for guitar. 64 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (AP.REHBK004CD)
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12-Bar Blues Solos - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
12-Bar Blues Solos 25 Authentic Leads Arranged for Guitar in Standard Notation & Tablature. By Dave Rubin. Guitar Collection. Softcover. With notes and tablature. 32 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (699765)
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Between the Strings: The Secret Lives of Guitars - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Between the Strings: The Secret Lives of Guitars 100 Stories of Life with the Guitar. By John Schroeter. For Guitar (All). Non-fiction. John August Music. All Styles. Book. 352 pages. Published by John August Music. (20913)
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DADGAD Country Blues Scale

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 24 2007 | DADGAD, acoustic guitar, guitar

Download the free TAB and music notation of a simple country blues scale in DADGAD open tuning.

This is what I refer to as a country blues scale.   It is basically a B minor Blues scale but  is very useable over a common chord pattern pattern in D suc as D , G A7  etc.

I have put a few musical twists in it instead of just having an ascending then descending to make it more musical to play

DADGAD country blues scale free tab and music notation

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DADGAD country blues scale free tab and music notation in pdf

Country Blues Guitar in Open Tunings - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Country Blues Guitar in Open Tunings Taught by Stefan Grossman. For Guitar (Fingerpicking). Solos. Grossman-Gtr Workshop. Blues. DVD. Duration 101 minutes. Published by Grossman’s Guitar Workshop. (GW969DVD)
Level: Intermediate.
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FOR MORE DADGAD - Check out Laurence Juber’s and Artie Traum’s DVD’s  or the Acoustic Master Class series below 

Exploring DADGAD Guitar - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Exploring DADGAD Guitar New Sounds, Textures and Repertoire. By Laurence Juber. Homespun Tapes (Instructional). DVD . With notes and tablature. Published by Homespun. (641722)
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Essential DADGAD for Beginners - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Essential DADGAD for Beginners 3-DVD Set. By Artie Traum. Homespun Tapes (Instructional). DVD . Published by Homespun Video. (641614)
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Acoustic Masterclass Series: DADGAD Guitar Solos - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Acoustic Masterclass Series: DADGAD Guitar Solos For Guitar. Guitar DVD. Acoustic Masterclass. Acoustic. DVD. Published by Alfred Publishing. (908113)
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DADGAD Blues TAB Free

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 22 2007 | DADGAD, acoustic guitar, guitar

Here’s a nice simple Blues that I wrote this afternoon in DADGAD.  If you download the pdf and like it please let me know.

DADGAD Blues free download TAB and music notation arrangement

 Click on the link DADGAD Blues free download TAB in pdf

The Guitar TAB and Music Score software that I’m using is very very powerful. Click on the image below to find out more, it’s also a learning tool, plays midi, exports pdf, allows you to write in any tuning. It will save you hours of messing around.

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DADGAD D Blues scale - 3 octaves

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 20 2007 | DADGAD, acoustic guitar, guitar

Here’s a DADGAD D blues scale more of a rock style fingering

NOTE: you’ll se that I have named this as Minor Blues, it is still usable over a normal blues D, G A seventh chords.  Over the D and the G chords try using the F# note as well

 Download the free acrobat reader printable version by clicking on the link DADGAD D Blues scale for acoustic guitar in pdf

DADGAD D Blues scale - 3 octaves blues gittare

If you really are interested in developing as a guitar player, you need good resources, I’ve been playing almost 40 years and am still willing to learn. For a good range of blues sheet music go to my other site thebluesguitar

411,000 sheet music titles - Shop Now!
101 Must-Know Blues Licks - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
101 Must-Know Blues Licks
Blues Rock Guitar Soloing (DVD) - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Blues Rock Guitar Soloing…
Me and Mr. Johnson - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Me and Mr. Johnson

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DADGAD Gypsy Rover for Acoustic Guitar TAB and DOTS

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 20 2007 | DADGAD, acoustic guitar, guitar

DADGAD Acoustic fingerstyle arrangement for guitar in TAB and music notation. e.g. music dots

I arranged this old folk song the Gypsy Rover in DADGAD tuning. It’s a free download in acrobat reader format .pf file.  Click on the link DADGAD Gypsy Rover Acoustic Guitar to download

This is a simple arrangement that could easily be built upon.

DAGAD Gypsy Rover Acoustic Guitar

I use Guitar Pro software to write my tabs and notation, see the link below. The beauty of this software is that you can write it in TAB anb it will automatically write the dots.  If you are not a strong music reader it will help you develop music notation skills.  I’ve played guitar for almost 40 years and wish that it had existed years ago.  Check it out, it will change your musical life.

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DADGAD Amazing Grace - Bluesy TAB -Notation

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 19 2007 | DADGAD, acoustic guitar, guitar

DADGAD arrangement of Amazing Grace.  I decided to arrange this song with a bluesy feel to it in 4/4 time. To write the notation the exact way I play it would take far too much time to write and probably very hard to read, this is a rough estimate.  Think Blues when you play it. This is a fingerstyle arrangement, could esily be modified for plectrum guitar

 DADGAD Amazing Grace - Bluesy TAB -Notation

 Download the acrobat reader version. Click on the link

 DADGAD arrangement Amazing Grace .pdf for acoustic guitar

If you feel you are not quite ready for learning DADGAD and want to sort out the basics of playing guitar and fill in the musical gaps check out the Acoustic Guitar Lessons link

Celtic Instrumentals for Fingerstyle Guitar - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Celtic Instrumentals for Fingerstyle Guitar (DVD I: DADGAD Tuning) Taught by Al Petteway. Instructional video: DVD for guitar. Series: Homespun Tapes. Published by Homespun Video. (HL.641740)
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DADGAD Jazz Blues for Acoustic Guitar

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 19 2007 | DADGAD, acoustic guitar, guitar, guitar site goal

DADGAD Jazz Blues is a variation of the last Blues.  I’ve still got the Blues so I thought I’d keep uploading these blues as a free download.

 DADGAD Jazz Blues for Acoustic Guitar

To download the pdf acrobat reader file click the link DADGAD Jazz Blues for Acoustic Guitar

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Fingerstyle DADGAD Blues TAB and Music notation

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 18 2007 | DADGAD, acoustic guitar, guitar

I still had the blues this evening. so I wrote another simple blues, play it slow. It’s got some great little twists at the end of bars 9 and 10.  Enjoy it and build on it.

Fingerstyle DADGAD Blues

Download the free pdf version of FINGERSTYLE DADGAD blues it’s free no strings attached but if you record it please let me and my solictor know.  :-)

It’s standard twelve bar pattern.

Enjoy

Essential DADGAD for Beginners - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Essential DADGAD for Beginners By Artie Traum. Homespun Tapes (Instructional). Dadgad. DVD . Published by Homespun. (641608)
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DADGAD Blues Song in TAB and Music Notation

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 17 2007 | DADGAD, acoustic guitar, guitar

When I woke up this morning I had the blues, literally.  So I thought the best thing to do is do something to change my mood.  The best way I know of is to do something for other people.  So I wrote a simple blues pattern in DADGAD. 

DADGAD BLUES SONG TAB and NOTATION

It’s got a couple of interesting little stretches. There are a million ways of extending this blues and turning into a useable piece of music.

Here is the printable PDF to download DADGAD BLUES TAB and NOTATION in the key of D

I use Guitar Pro software to write my tabs and notation, see the link below.

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DADGAD - Eastern Scale

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 16 2007 | DADGAD, acoustic guitar, guitar

DADGAD tuning.  Eastern Mode

Today I bought some software to help me create TAB and music dots and I’m pretty excited because I’ve been able to throw together a simple scale in TAB and music dots in about five minutes in both image and PDF (Acrobat Reader) format.  This is the beginning of a long line of uploads. 

 So the scale below is for those of you that play in DADGAD tuning, a very sweet and popular tuning around since Davey Graham came back from Morooco some years ago and has been popular with guitarists that open tune their guitar ever since. 

 It has an Eastern texture, if you play it with that feeling it will, it’s the flat 2nd, the E flat that automatically takes you East. The Major 7th , the C sharp is a very nice note to relax on, a bit of sustained vibrato here is very useful.  For those of you that are familiar with the Oud, you’ll probably understand this mode / scale a little more. 

These type of scales don’t need a lot of chords moving behind it getting in the way.  In Indian music only the 1st and 5th are used as harmony.

I use fingers 1 and 2 to play the first 2 notes and  finger 4 to play the 5th fret.  From then on I just relax my hand back in and fret normally until I hit the top string, the high D ( formerly known as the top E).   Take your time and really get ‘inside’ this mode. Download the PDF version of the DADGAD EASTERN SCALE

DADGAD Eastern Mode

Don’t underestimate the amount of music in this scale

The Guitar TAB and Music Score software that I’m using is very very powerful.  Click on the image below to find out more, it’s also a learning tool, plays midi, exports pdf, allows you to write in any tuning. I’ll do a full review in a few weeks.

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Greatest Acoustic Guitar Albums

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 13 2007 | acoustic guitar, guitar

I was just on another site that had the top 100 acoustic guitar albums listed. http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_albums-acous.html 

The top ten were:

 1. Aerial Boundries - Michael Hedges
  2. 6 & 12 String Guitar - Leo Kottke
  3. Beyond Nature - Phil Keaggy
  4. The Legend of Blind Joe Death - John Fahey
  5. Guitars and Other Cathedrals - Adrian Legg
  6. Walkin’ The Strings - Merle Travis
  7. Only - Tommy Emmanuel
  8. Breakfast In The Field - Michael Hedges
  9. Guitarist - Laurence Juber
10. Whiskey Before Breakfast - Norman Blake

Also the top 10 guitarists

 1. Michael Hedges
  2. Leo Kottke
  3. Chet Atkins
  4. Phil Keaggy
  5. John Fahey
  6. Adrian Legg
  7. Merle Travis
  8. John Renbourn
  9. Bert Jansch
10. Tommy Emmanuel

It’s hard to measure a top ten,  but it’s always interesting to get an idea of who rates highly.

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The Music Of Leo Kottke - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
The Music Of Leo Kottke By Mark Hanson. For Guitar. Book and Audio CD. 48 pages. Published by Music Sales. (AC72672)
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Leo Kottke Transcribed - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Leo Kottke Transcribed By Leo Kottke. Guitar tablature songbook and examples CD for guitar. 62 pages. Published by Accent on Music. (MS.AC72680)
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Norman Blake's Guitar Techniques - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Norman Blake’s Guitar Techniques DVD 1: Songs, Instrumentals and Styles. By Norman Blake. Homespun Tapes (Instructional). Bluegrass. DVD . Published by Homespun. (641604)
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The Norman Blake Anthology - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
The Norman Blake Anthology Artist Norman Blake transcribed by Steve Kaufman. For Guitar (Flatpicking). Transcribed solos. Bluegrass & Country. Book. 200 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc. (96641)
Level: Intermediate.
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Guitar Capo

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 13 2007 | acoustic guitar, guitar

How to use a capo - shubb

Picture of a Shubb Capo

I was reading a post on another blog last night http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/ yesterday and Rob had written about capos.   It prompted me to discuss how I use capo because I don’t know anyone else that has the same approach as I do.

 To bring you up to speed in case you are a little bit ‘fuzzy’ on how they work:

Everyone’s voice is different, there are 12 possibilities for a singer to choose from once a guitar is tuned up properly.  A capo  enables a guitar player to play simple open chords, C, G , D, Aminor etc but be at the correct pitch for a singer to sing along with. 

If someone played a C chord shape without a capo it’s obviously a C chord, no rocket science here.  But once the capo is added at the first fret and the chord is played it becomes a C sharp (C#) chord.  If the capo is moved up a fret it becomes a D, one more fret it well be D sharp and so on.  What we are taking about here is THE SOUND YOU HEAR and not the shape you are playing.

 I have an odd way of using a capo. It has come about because I like my guitars to be in tune (silly idea eh?).  What you find is when you place a capo on the neck of a guitar it can put the guitar out of tune in some (many) cases.  This is because the tension of the capo against the strings can shorten the length because of the height of the frets, this means that some strings will suddenly go sharp (higher).

 I use a Shubb brand, for me they are the best.  But the odd thing is I use their capo designed for 12 strings, they are a bit wider, and I put the capo on upside down.  My reason for this is because I find that it’s better to have the open end of the capo closest to the bass strings and the closed end near the high strings. I can tweak the tension of it more finely this way, and have it a touch looser than putting it on the correct way.

 You’ll find there is ‘right spot’  to put your capo, it’s often half way between the frets, this creates less tension than putting it close to the fret.  For beter intonation when you play a guitar it’s better to play close to the frets on most guitars.

 A capo is a tremendous invention, you to learn a song in 2 keys and have the possibilty of playing with any singer at all.

 Check out David Wilcox, he’s mastered the art and also uses half capos. He’s also brilliant at open tunings as well.  His first solo album ‘How did you find me here’ was rated by Acoustic Guitar magazine as one of the best 10 acoustic singer /guitar albums ever made.  I agree totally on this point.

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Guitar tips

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 11 2007 | DADGAD, acoustic guitar, guitar

Guitar Tip number 1:

Playing guitar for many years has enabled me to discover a lot of a little things that will help guitar players learn the guitar.

One thing that I do, it’s only something that I’ve started recently, and a number of 12 string guitar players do this as well, is to tune the guitar down a semi-tone.  NOTE: a semi-tone lower means one step lower .

If you were to use a guitar tuner, the notes would be E flat, A flat, D flat, G flat, B flat and E flat.

The positive side of this is it will take some of the tension out of holding down the strings. Yes, in time you can develop a stronger technique, but in the initial stages just get some music coming out.  You may also find in some cases that it may suit your voice better than the standard tuning, but this in itself is a long conversation that I won’t get into now.

Guitar Tip number 2 and a half:

 If you want to develop a good right hand for fingerstyle guitar, get hold of some simple classical guitar right hand exercises.  10 minutes everyday of this will help you gradually develop a good strong fingerstyle technique.

The secret to practicing is to do it with joy, don’t make it hard work. If you make it hard work you’ll always be struggling to get a reward for your hard work, as if it owes you something.  If you start getting stressful about practice, stop and do something else, but at the same time you will benefit from have a steady routine of simple exercises to work through.  I’ve tried lots of different ways of learning the guitar, some leave you dry and empty if you’re not careful.  You’ve got to ask yourself regularly, ‘Am I enjoying this?’, if not, find another way of practicing.

Not everything that you read or see by another more experienced, or even less experienced guitarist will be useful, but carefully consider what different players tell you in books, articles and web sites, take what you find useful and learn as many things as possible.

For guitar lessons click on the Acoustic Guitar Lessons link

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Beginning guitar secret

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 10 2007 | acoustic guitar, guitar


A lot of guitar players when they first start out learning guitar, get what I call ‘bad advice’ from guitarists that can already play.  Often the advice is well intentioned but that doesn’t mean it’s good
 
Here’s what happens.
People that have been playing a long time forget what it’s like to be a beginner and how difficult it is to hold down the strings of an acoustic guitar.  

My approach is different to a lot of other teachers and this doesn’t bother me if they disagree because I’ve taught lots of people and I from my own personal experience, I know what works, I trust my own experience .  I have a very analytical mind and have carefully studied many aspects of why people aren’t learning or become frustrated with the learning process. 
 
It’s quite simple when you think it through; the reason why people can’t hold the strings down is they are just too heavy.  A lot of guitar salesman and fellow guitarists will tell new guitarists to put medium or sometimes light guitar strings on a guitar.  The reason for this is they say a heavier string will give you a better tone and volume and often guitar manufacturers setup their guitars with those gauges of strings.  I go for extra lights and highly recommend them when you are starting out.  The main thing when you start out is to get a bit of music coming out, something that inspires you to go ahead. If you want to get a better tone and volume that can come later, you can gradually work up to heavier strings.  And yes, if you do go for a lighter string, you may have to have a minor neck adjustment done to the neck of your guitar by a guitar repair shop (read as: a small turn of a nut on the end of a metal rod that runs up the inside of the neck of your guitar), this is not rocket science and a careful guitar technician can do this. 
Also, using a lighter string is useful for players who generally play electric guitar; the fingers become a lot weaker from playing electric all the time.  In fact I know a very good acoustic guitar player that plays John Renbourn style of open tuning guitar and he uses electric strings, and weirdly enough it sounds great.  I find them a bit light but it works for him. 

 
When you start out you need to be inspired and you need to be able to inspire yourself by feeling like you are making progress and it’s not good if it feels like an up hill battle just to get a sound out of the guitar.   
 

Another thing to do is relax; so many teachers are saying ‘use pressure’ to hold down strings.  This creates tension.  Just relax into it, it will become much more enjoyable

– keep music live -
Tony Hogan  

For guitar lessons click on the Acoustic Guitar Lessons link

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how to buy an acoustic guitar

Posted by plantrubba on Oct 08 2007 | acoustic guitar, guitar

Gibson acoustic guitar

Help on buying  an acoustic guitar

The joys and sufferings of someone that knows a lot about them

Buying a new guitar these days can be a daunting experience for anyone, especially if you care about the music you play.  As I just got a new guitar it’s a great way to start my brand new blog from scratch.  My other blogs will continue covering the topics that they always have.

I’ve had a lot of experience with guitars over the years, almost 40 years to be precise.  This ranges from playing 12 hours a day, building acoustic and electric instruments, being a guitar addict, professional musician and teacher of hundreds of players. So for me, to buy a guitar after owning numerous others is a combination of exciting and annoying.

Firstly the exciting = a new guitar means new musical possibilities and a new sound, as every guitar has its own personality and somehow forces us to play a certain way if we want it to and allow it to.

Secondly annoying = a new guitar means, running around from shop to shop, checking out magazines and the Internet and mainly trying to feel OK with the idea that some guitars are way over priced for what you get.

I was looking in the $1000 US, possibly more or les, depending on what was on offer.  Trying to put a dollar value on sound is difficult.  The price range I mentioned felt adequate to get what I wanted. 

What I wanted was a guitar that:

• Felt like a real guitar
• Played like a real guitar
• Was well finished
• Possibly with a pickup – not a major factor
• Easy to play
• Sounded nice in my hands
• Sounded nice from across the room
• Versatile to play fingerstyle or plectrum guitar
• Not a dreadnaught
• Smaller body

It was important to sort one out as quickly as possible due to time constraints.

What wasn’t important to me:

• The brand name
• Country of origin
• Sparkly bits
• Salesman that talk crap
• Advertising hype
• Uninformed opinions

Reasons for buying a new guitar:

• I walked into a guitar shop and picked up a guitar because it looked nice I played it for an hour and went wow, this is beautiful, then said “what brand is it?”,  and it turned out to be a guitar that was built in Vietnam but set up by Gerrard Gilet an Australian luthier of note.  The idea of a guitar made in Vietnam hurt my head a lot but I had just played it for an hour, made music on it and thought about buying it.  Not being an impulsive buyer, I said ‘thanks nice guita’r and walked away confused.
NOTE: Apart from my first guitar a Riviera in 1971, I’d grown up playing a Gibson gold top Les Paul with mini deluxe pickups, an ES 175 Gibson, a Gibson 335, a Fender Strat…

• My main acoustic a handmade Gurian cutaway 27 years old

• My second acoustic is one I built at a guitarmaking workshop with Barry Kerr from Woodtone guitars 13 years ago, it’s a dreadnaught

• I needed a new sound from an acoustic to help push ahead in my playing because I’m moving into new acoustic areas

• I love to create music

• Good musicians need good instruments and are inspired by them

DREADNAUGHT:

This is a dreadnaught sized guitar, named after an old battleship.

Martin dreadnaught acoustic guitar

Why I didn’t want a dreadnaught:

I have one. I find smaller bodied guitars often sit nicer in a mix with other instruments.  Also I find dreadnaughts take up a lot of space in the frequency range when playing with others; I prefer a bit more musical breathing room and like to give others a bit more musical space.  At the same time they are a classic sound, and you’ve got to have one somewhere in the house.

THE DILEMMA: The price range I was looking in is a gray area.  Do you go for a bottom of the range in a more famous brand or the top of a range in a lesser known brand?

THE HUNT: I did a lot of web searches to see what was out there. I started looking around and narrowed it down to Taylor, Martin, Larivee and considered a Breedlove but had never played one. I felt one of these brands would be ok, but was open to anything that was solid and musical.

I ended playing quite a few guitars once I went into some shops.  Some Tanglewoods, but the ones I tried, there must have been about 7 or 8, didn’t suit my style.  The Tanglewood that I liked had a very nice sounding Cedar top, and if it had of had a neck that I liked, I could have lived with it. http://www.tanglewoodguitars.com/

Tanglewood TW55 acoustic guitar

Note, I’m not saying here that I disliked the guitar; I’m saying it’s about personal preference, the guitar was excellent.

A FIND:

A guitar that I really liked was a small bodied Yamaha, when I told a few of the salesman that I had liked a Yamaha I found, think they thought I was stupid or didn’t really know about guitars.  But if they had heard me play it for one and a half hours they would have probably understood why I liked it.  One thing that I did like was the construction of the neck; it had five pieces of laminated timbers, it was solid and the workmanship was better than most that I found, excluding the guitars by Graham Hollingworth.  I liked the laminated neck, I do a lot of open tunings and change tuning a lot, I like to know the neck is going to be stable.  Many of the Yamaha’s that I have seen are geared for a rock market, this one is not, it is more for fingerstyle.  I also tried some flat-picking, it was sweet.  If I was buying two guitars instead of one, I wouldn’t hesitate in buying the Yamaha, and no I don’t get a commission from them for saying that.  The sound was warm, bright and very, very musical.  Over the years I’ve seen a lot of Yamahas and they have generally been quite playable, regardless of price range and regardless what other people say, I trust my experience.

Yamaha hand made acoustic guitar Lj6 for guitarists

The Yamaha was an LJ6 and very reasonably priced, it didn’t have a pickup, I’m not sure if it a current model. The International Yamaha site has very little info on the L series handmade guitars; there are only a couple of pics and none relevant.  If you can get your hands on one of their handmade guitars (?), give them a try.  I was very surprised at the quality.

What I like

I need to pick up a guitar and have it play music straight away, I don’t like having to work to make music, that’s a very old idea that doesn’t suit me, it’s like saying you have to work to make money, people that make money big money don’t work for it, it works for them. 

ABOVE AND BELOW PRICE RANGE:

I made sure I played dearer and cheaper guitars to get a feeling of the differences when moving up or down in price range.  Be aware that looking up in price range can be a little disheartening when you come back down to the price range that you’ve set, sometimes it’s worthwhile having a bit of a break after doing this, go have a coffee and have a reality check on what you want and why you are buying.  But it is very important to get a feel of what’s in the next price bracket, sometimes it’s better to hold out a fraction longer, increase the cash flow a little, and other times you may find you can’t justify moving up in price.

What’s interesting when you look at guitars is that the different guitar players that work in shops are very opinionated, it’s important not to be swayed by their opinions; people like to convert you to their way of thinking. In my case I’m not overly concerned about the salesman’s opinion but will listen for any good advice, because the industry has changed a lot and now there are guitars that come from everywhere that can make good music.  I’ve played long enough to know what I like to play, but if salesmen say things like ‘the neck falls off easily’ and you keep hearing it in every shop, maybe it’s worth listening.  A few years ago I was helping a friend buy an acoustic, one of the guitars hanging on the rack had the bridge coming loose, this was on a reasonably famous brand as well, what made it worse was they didn’t really even seem to care when I told them, we bought elsewhere. 

What I was finding in my travels was that many guitar salesmen are prepared to talk down other brands. This is called switch selling; it’s a bad business practice.

MARTINS

I tried a couple of Martins, I like Martins, as do most good acoustic guitar players that I know, everyone has copied Martins for years, what does that tell you.  The Martins I tried felt OK, they were small bodies, the sound was reasonably musical but they had no binding on them, I don’t particularly like that look but that’s a personal preference.  The price range that I was looking in, the shop where I was didn’t have a suitable instrument for me but as I said I like Martins very much, especially the 000’s and if you after a Dreadnaught, Martin are the industry standard.

To check out some martin guitars for sale click on Martin Guitar link below, but don’t forget to come back and  complete reading the information in this article. Martin Guitar

Martin Acoustic guitar picture

GIBSONS

I learnt to play on Gibson’s; I tried one just above the price range I was looking for. The neck felt a bit dry and needed a good play and had been sitting on the shelf for too long, but the sound was very nice, it was easy to play.  I spoke to the salesman about trying to justify another $1000 for it, and in the end it came down to him saying it was an investment, I’ll agree on that but I want to play music. If I want to invest, there are many other better ways of investing.

see picture at top of page of Gibson Acoustic guitar

To simplify this article, I’ll tell you what happened next.

I rang a music shop called BillyHyde’s that had Taylor’s, Breedlove’s and a few other brands in the price range that I was looking in. Two years ago, if you said to me I’d buy a guitar on the web without playing it, I’d have said you were crazy.  But to date, I’ve bought two, because I’ve told them what I want. And if I’m not happy I’d send them back until they got it right.

The salesman Brendan was very helpful, although he had different taste in guitars than me; he managed to convey what the guitars he had were like, he liked the guitars I don’t and viscera versa, although we agreed to dislike one particular brand.  You don’t have to agree with another persons taste, if they are straight with you, it’s possible to get the right information and base your decision on the information. He got one of the other guitar techie guys to check out the guitar I was interested in. 

BREEDLOVE Atlas AC25/SR, PLUS

 Breedlove acoustic guitar ac 25

I ended up settling on a Breedlove. They looked good to me, although I’d never played one, the reviews seemed OK and they get a mention in Acoustic Guitar magazine regularly. From a (graphic) design point of you they have very nice lines. 

When I opened the case, I was initially disappointed. I tuned it up and it felt a bit stiff, but to be honest if I travelled a thousand kilometres in a case I’d feel the same.  The Breedlove’s are supposed to be set up in the factory, the setup was just ok.  But I’m being a little hard on them here, it’s a long journey.  I generally use extra lite strings; this had mediums or some other wire that I consider too heavy for a guitar.  But that’s what most people like, isn’t it, I still can’t work out why, so many players struggle to play properly and their guitars are unplayable.  I started using extra lights in the early seventies because I liked the fast playing like Philip Catherine, Larry Coryell and John Etheridge and I couldn’t achieve the results I wanted with a heavier string gauge.

Secondly I generally tune all my guitars down a semi-tone because it suits my voice.  And thirdly, last year my twelve year old son broke one of my fingers when we were wrestling over a football.  So my criticism is harsh.

I scooted into town and bought an extra lite set of strings, strung the guitar up and weirdly enough it held its tuning on the second time I tuned it up.  Considering the humidity of where I live and the fact that it had travelled from different climate, this is impressive.

As soon as the new strings are on and tuned up, I always stretch the strings by holding the them down on the frets with my left hand and pulling the string away from the soundboard with the right hand, I work my way up the neck, this works for me and worked with this guitar, and when I reach half way I swap hands… stretching with the left, holding down with the right.

STAY IN TUNE TIP

If you want your guitar to stay in tune, BB King has a method, it’s opposite to what most players do; he winds the whole string around the tuning peg.  I do this on my electrics; it works well if you bend a lot.  On acoustic I play a lot of chords and prefer to stay clear of bending.

CHANGING STRINGS

I was initially worried about how the guitar would react to the lighter strings but it seems fine.  When I first played the guitar with the heavier strings there was a buzz at the twelfth fret on the 6th string.  I felt extremely annoyed by this but it seems to have settled a lot, but once it settles I set it up properly.

The sound of the guitar is exactly what Brendan the salesman said, good clear highs, good lows and when I asked him about the middle’s his response was intelligent. He said, “If you want an acoustic guitar to sit around playing acoustically, you’ll need to pay a lot more money”.  I understood what he was saying.  Generally when I work live with my guitars and plug in, the first thing I do is pull the middle frequencies down, otherwise it gets too muddy.  But the middle on this guitar is quite nice; the sound is very balanced and very, very good for fingerstyle.  Brendan told me the techie guy loved it, what he forgot to tell me is that is a beautiful guitar. It’s a fraction harder to play than my Gurian but the tone is sweet and a little bit of a challenge is good.

Good for strumming and singing

Although I don’t do the strum-a-long, sing-a-long thing that a lot of players do, this guitar would be perfect for that sort of thing E.G. Play G chord strum for a while , play a C add 9 then play a D add 9 and back to the C add 9…sort of stuff…the rock ballad.

Good for Flatpicking

When I was playing it last night I found myself going back to playing plectrum guitar.  I ran through a few Bluegrass tunes to check how fast the guitar runs and how it responds to a plectrum. Bluegrass is the best method of developing a right hand technique without having to play hours of modes and scales, a lot of the minor tunes are incredibly sweet. It’s nice for that, not a classic dreadnaught sound but it responds very well to vibrato and the neck is fast and very easy to move around swiftly. It’s possible to play single lines on this guitar the sound of the guitar is strong and clear enough to hold its ground unaccompanied, this is a very good sign.

About the guitar

The guitar doesn’t have a scratch plate, I’m going to leave the jury out on that one, I may put a light scratch plate on it at some point as my right hand nails scratch the top a bit around the sound hole, and I’m not sure on the logic here.

It has a Sitka spruce top, there are a few squiggly patterns here and there in it, I assume Breedlove put there best looking soundboards in their dearer guitars, but it’s a nice looking top and the end result is a great sound emanating from it.  The back is Rosewood and sides are Rosewood ply, the fingerboard is Rosewood, as is the bridge.  I like the bridge not having pins, I can’t stand having to pull pins out to change strings; the cutaway is nicely curved. It’s easy for your pinkie to reach up to the top A note without even thinking.  The electronics are fine and it was possible to get a musical sound out of an amp almost immediately without even messing around too much.  I hate acoustic guitar electronics and cringe when I hear a lot of recordings where they just plug straight in, a lot of the younger players don’t hear a problem with it but the older ones that have played acoustic for years have a lot of trouble with it.  In one of my other guitars I have a Dana Bourgeois system that sounds very good.  I haven’t miked it up yet, but based on the principle that it sounds nice across the room and near by, setting it up for recording should be a no-brainer and  recording directly from the pickup mixed with a mike it will be easy to get a good more than acceptable sound recorded.

For Rock Players

I’m confident this guitar would be fine for rock players that want a sweet sounding acoustic and break out a little further musically, a lot of the acoustic guitars I’m seeing out there are like electric guitars with acoustic bodies, they are a good compromise but it’s nice to have a guitar that sounds like an acoustic guitar, and also I think a guitar like Breedlove will help your ear develop a little, all good guitars do.

In summary

Buying a new guitar is always a great experience; I love this one already and am looking forward to what great music lies ahead.  Ultimately there are lots of great guitars out there now, but I recommend before you buy another one at least try a Breedlove.

Click on the acoustic guitar link below to check out a range  of Taylor, Martin, Tacoma and Takamine Acoustic Guitars

 PLEASE NOTE:  I personally don’t have the ability to sell you some of the guitars that I like, but I am still going to recommend them anyway.

 In the future, this blog will cover things such as:

Exotic scales
Open tuning
Extending a Blues
Chord Construction
Reading music made easy
Arrangements of tunes
Getting your thoughts sorted to play better guitar
How to cope with musical criticism without throwing objects

and many other things that people either don’t tell you about or don’t know exists

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