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Posts Tagged ‘Acoustic Guitar’

All-Time Best Guitar Collection - Easy Guitar Songbook

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by Kim Clarebrooke

If you have made the decision to take up guitar playing, then the next step if going to be choosing a guitar that you can learn on. You will have a handful of choices, from the electric, bass to the acoustic guitar. It will all depend on your personal preferences though.

Try to ask yourself what fits your taste for music. Are you more on the heavy metal side or just plainly characterized by the Spanish feel? Choosing depends on the type of music you listen to or appreciate.

Every beginner has some confusion in selecting the best guitar they could get. The complexity in buying a guitar is as hard as choosing who is prettier, Angelina Jolie or Jessica Alba? To get over with the hassle, below are some tips on picking the best type of guitar that would fit your desire for melody and tune.

Play the music you love. In fact, it is the music that we listen to that influences us to play something. When you hear the strumming of a guitar, do you consider yourself listening to the lighter side of things or more on the hard core part?

Check how much you will be able to spend on a guitar and then ask yourself if it is worth the savings. Try to question your better judgment on how to determine a cheap, yet good quality guitar. If you have a limited amount on your hand, go with the one that matches your money.

If you are choosing to get an electric guitar, you will have to spend more money as you will need to buy an amp and a guitar chord also. For this reason you may have to save money for awhile, or ask the seller if they have any type of payment plans that you could make to purchase the guitar of your choice.

There are many features also on guitars. Some may have more frets than others, allowing the guitar to hit higher pitch chords, while others might be better for harmonics. For practice and learning purposes, you do not need something that is extremely loud yet.

With all of the choices of different types of guitars out there, you will often second guess your choice after you buy your first. Just remember, you can always get another guitar, it does not hurt to have an acoustic and electric guitar in your music room.

Still stumped? Ask around, friends you might have that play guitar. There are also many online communities where you can ask members what guitar they started off with, and whether or not they recommend it.

Fender Starcaster Acoustic Guitar Pack with Accessories - Natural

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Amazon Price: $129.95

by Scott Forrester

Some people may think otherwise, but in truth learning to play the guitar is pretty easy. The only thing that you need to do is learn where to start, and the proper place to start is by learning the different parts of a guitar. By doing this you will learn the way it works, and then you’ll understand the importance of aspects such as string and pick selection. There aren’t that many parts in an acoustic guitar, so we’ll go over them fast:

1. The body of the guitar is the big part that you need to worry about. This is where the strings are, and it is the largest part. It has a hole in the center which creates the so und that you hear when you actually play the instrument.

2. Behind the pick hand at the end of the body you will find the bridge. This is the area in which the strings are attached to the guitar before making contact with the hole, and making their way up the neck. On the majority of acoustic guitars, you will find that this bridge is composed of wood.

3. The next part to concern yourself with is the neck. Where is the neck? It is way on the other end of the guitar. It’s very hard to miss because it’s the only part on the guitar that’s long and skinny. The strings of the guitar travel up the neck and attach themselves to the tuning keys.

4. In order to make different notes and sounds with your guitar, you need to place your fingers behind the frets. The frets are the golden bars running across the neck, and there are normally twenty four of them.

5. The next part is the nut; this is a divider that goes between the neck and the head stock. Normally this is grooved and keeps the headstock from sliding about while you play your guitar.

6. The headstock is located at the top of the neck. You may not know it by name but if you have seen a guitar you know exactly what it is. This is where the tuning keys are, and they are used to keep the guitar sounding right.

7. Tuning keys are the metal tabs which you’ll see on the headstock itself. This is where the other end of the strings is situated, and you can use the tuning key to change the tone. This is usually referred to as keeping the guitar tuned.

So those are the basic parts of the guitar. After you have learned that you will need to learn to keep good posture while playing, that way your instrument will sound great when you play! Next we will tell you exactly how to accomplish that.

For right handed players: The first thing that you need to do is sit down, and make sure that one of your knees is slightly raised to support the guitar. Hold the neck with your left hand, and strum the guitar with your right hand. This is a standard posture that nearly all guitar players use, and if you’re still not entirely comfortable, you can use a strap to secure the guitar.

If you are not right handed, then you are obviously left handed, and there is a specific way to do that as well. You need to make sure that you are comfortable first of all, and because of that you are free to sit in any way you want. All you need to do is reverse the posture of the right hand player and everything will be fine, just try it out a little, try a few different cords, and see what feels right.

Jasmine Takamine S35 Acoustic Guitar, Natural

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Retail Price: $169.00

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by David Johnson

In this essay, I am going to apply a number of the Principles of Correct Practice to a technical area that is of major concern to players. For beginners, it poses one of the most challenging difficulties, and an incomplete appreciation of it’s difficulties dogs many an advanced player (sometimes without them being aware of it).

Of course you will be working on many guitar skills: various guitar techniques, chords, scales, soloing, etc., but don’t neglect other skills that are not guitar specific like, ear training (also called aural skills), songwriting, improvising, creativity, reading, music theory, etc.

The way you view yourself (as an artist and not merely someone who owns a guitar and plays it sometimes) is very important to the way you will think about what you are doing musically. The way you see yourself will also effect the results you will get as you are expressing yourself.

You need natural talent to be a great (or even a good) musician?. Don’t believe this. It is true that some people possess more natural abilities in one or skill or another. For example, some athletes are naturally fast sprinters. Others are great marathon runners. Others can swim faster or longer. Others can jump higher. Others are stronger. Others are smarter. Others have faster reflexes. Others can through a football better. Others can shoot a basketball better, etc.

As I have said, some people become paralyzed, afraid to play, afraid of undoing work done in practice sessions by what they do when they play. And for those who play professionally, it is of course, absolutely necessary that they continue to play, even if they are doing “remedial” work on their technique.

Teaching yourself is the best way to be original?. This is so obviously false its hard to believe that anyone could actually believe it – yet some people still do. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking this is the best way to learn.

So you can barely squeeze in any time at all in a day to practice, huh? There are many of us that share the same dilemma, but by knowing what to practice in those short moments of time you can maximize your effort. For example, if you only have ten minutes in between jobs, or other things you need to do, here is a list of some of the things you can do:

I believe “Self Expression” is the pinnacle of all art. Anything less, “is less” in my opinion. I’m not going to debate that view or try to persuade any of you to also believe it. Instead I am going to assume you already hold that view and discuss ways in which I may be able to offer you both philosophical and practical advice.

Guitar For Dummies Acoustic Guitar Starter Pack (Guitar, Book, Audio CD, Gig Bag)

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Retail Price: $159.99

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by Jaspal Egdaire

As a beginning guitarist, have you ever thought of quitting your guitar? Why your guitar sounds bad no matter how good you squeeze the fretboard? Why your fretting fingers can’t stay longer on the fretboard without having pain?

Some people think that a budget acoustic guitar is good enough for beginners because if they decide to quit they don’t lose much money. This maybe half true but sometimes people forget that beginning guitarists often stop playing because they feel they can’t take the pain anymore without realizing that they picked up the wrong axes.

Cheap guitars are OK as long as they meet the condition below:

Check for warped guitar neck. Press one string at the first and 12th fret and look at the gap between the string and the frets on the fretboard. You should see a little tiny gap only between them.

The next important thing is to find a guitar within your budget that has a good playability. Good playability means it should feel comfortable in your hand. Getting a right guitar will help eliminating the unnecessary muscle tension because the strings tension is softer. You should be able to play any chords on the fretboard at any place without sore fingers.

A guitar with good playability normally has a low action. Action is the distance measured from the top of fret #12 to the bottom of the 6th string. Try to get an acoustic guitar with action 3mm to 4mm.

The other important thing to check is intonation. Good intonation means you will get any note at any place on the fretboard tuned right. Have you experienced out of tuned notes when you press your fretboard but when played open chords the pitch is perfectly fine? This is a good example of bad intonation. If you can’t tell the difference between good and bad tuning you can always use a guitar tuner.

It is quite difficult to find cheap guitars that can meet those criteria, especially for beginners. Get an experienced friend to guide you in the guitar store and let him/her recommend some guitars for you to try. Choose one that feels right in your hand and don’t pay attention too much on the guitar appearance. You don’t need a fancy good looking guitar. It may fool you easily.

A budget guitar that meets the basic criteria above is worth buying. With very limited budget you can’t expect much but you won’t get a crap guitar either if you follow this guideline correctly.