Guitar Lovers

My dad was a musician back when he was young and he met my mom at one of his gigs back then. He was in a jazz band in college and while they were playing in a bar near the school of my mom, they met and they never parted ways ever again. After they graduated from college though and started a family reality came in for my dad and quit his band. He had a regular job and was contented in raising his children and being a good husband.

Once when I was helping in spring cleaning I saw a stack of cheap jazz CDs in the attic. My mom told me that my dad collected them back when we were in middle school. She didn’t know why he stopped and just let the CDs gather dust. I took them out of the boxes, looked for rarer but cheap CDs in music stores and I placed them in our living room. When my dad saw it I saw how touched he was with the gesture.

When I was young I always wanted to play guitar but my parents said it cost too much money, so I just let it go and went in the back yard to play a neighborhood baseball game. Back then we did not have the resources such as the Internet, video, DVD, etc. Now with these resources, free guitar lessons can be found and you can use them on a regular basis and practice on your own. Free guitar lessons are usually  taught by professionals, and they’ll cost you hundreds of dollars less than live lessons and you don’ have to leave the house to get them.
With our busy lives; jobs, school, kids, friends, sports and hobbies, if you were to schedule a live guitar lesson and then canceled it because something came up, the teacher would be annoyed and would probably charge you the full amount. If you take free guitar lessons instead, you don’t have to worry about the instructors and charges because you didn’t show up. You can take a lesson when it works for your schedule, and it won’t cost a thing. You could actually take a lesson while on vacation or out of town for other reasons.
Another problem with taking a guitar lessons is that you don’t have time to practice for the lesson and the teacher won’t be happy and you will cost you again for the same lesson because you didn’t practice what you were taught. But you take guitar lessons online, there is no one to say anything to you and you can go at your own pace. You can also take any lesson you want for no cost.
A lesson without a live teacher allows you to move as slowly or as quickly as you want. With these guitar lessons, there is not a teacher to dictate what you will learn that day. If you’re catching on quickly, you can skip lesson, and if you’re having a hard time you can go at your own pace, take a break between lessons or even take a week or month off until your want to get back into it again.
One of bad things of taking free guitar lessons is that if you have a question you may feel like you don’t know who to ask. However, you could go to a local establishment to hear a band, most the time for free, and talk to the guitar players after the show. Once they know your questions, most of the time they would be happy to help you out, because they will there at one point also. You can also go to a guitar player’s forum for similar questions or post a question of your own. Guitar players are generally a close group of people and they will treat you as part of there family.

For those of us who don’t know a lot about music, shopping for the musician on your holiday gift list can be a difficult task.  Here are a few ideas sure to please an up and coming rock star or music enthusiast:

• Guitar Amps – most guitarists who are just starting out won’t own an amp, and several who have been playing for a long time will have an older or decrepit model due to their more expensive price tag.
• Music Sheets – designed for whatever instrument your musician plays, finding instrumentals for their favorite music is sure to be a hit this holiday season.
• IPod – great for inspiration, and for listening to their own music while the other parts of life beckon their attention.
• Microphone – having vocal as well as instrumental talent is important for getting noticed early in your career; a microphone is sure to get your musician motivated on improving their vocals and their talent as a whole.

The violin is a four-stringed instrument that is played in a wide variety of musical genres, including classical, jazz, folk, and rock and roll. In fact, a fiddle is actually just a violin being played as a folk instrument. The violin has long been one of the most important instruments in classical music because its tone stands out above other instruments, making it optimal for playing the melody. It is also extremely agile when played by an expert, allowing him to execute rapid and difficult sequences of notes.

Unlike a guitar, a violin has no frets to stop the strings, so a player must know exactly where to place his fingers on the strings to play well. If you’re a beginner, you can use tape or white-out on the fingerboard to mark proper finger placement. However, this is sometimes discouraged because it trains the player to play based on sight rather than sound. Also unlike the guitar, the violin is played with a bow that usually consists of a stick with a ribbon of horsehair strung between opposite ends. Rubbing the horsehair over the strings makes the noise you hear when the violin is played.

Digital Audio Workstations

Most home studios these days are based around computer Digital Audio Workstations, which combine tracking (recording), audio editing, effects and processing, and mixdown features into one convenient package. These amazing software tools are superpowerful, but all that power can come with the price of complexity. Here are some tips for getting more out of your Digital Audio Workstations.

22. Custom Templates
Sessions with preset tracks and input assignments will get you started quicker.
Remember Tip No. 1 about making it easy to get your studio recording? The same applies to your DAW. You can set up your own templates—empty sessions with tracks already created and assigned to inputs and outputs—so that all you have to do is plug in a mic, arm the track, and hit Record. This saves time and makes the path from inspiration to recording much faster and easier.

23. Optimize Your CPU
Disable background programs you don’t need.
Computers are complex beasts. Often there is a lot going on that we aren’t aware of. Unfortunately, all of that stuff that we’re unaware of saps power from your computer’s ability to play tracks and run plug-ins. Go through and disable any background programs and processes, such as antivirus, backup, and anything else you don’t need that could sap power away from recording and process audio. In many cases, you’ll be surprised how much CPU power you make available to your DAW.

24. External Hard Drives
Record your tracks to a dedicated hard drive.
In most cases you’ll get better results if you record audio tracks to a dedicated hard drive, rather than to your computer’s system drive. With the system drive, there’s always danger of the system interrupting for some reason. Plus, you’ll generally have more room and a faster response with an external FireWire or USB 2.0 drive. You’ll also want another external drive for backing up all your files for safekeeping.

25. RAM-tastic
Add more RAM for better performance.
The number one way to increase your computer’s power is to add more RAM. RAM is the memory that your machine uses to load the operating system and any programs, as well as data that is being processed, off the hard drive. In my opinion, 1 GB of RAM is the minimum amount you should have for basic recording, and I highly recommend at least 2 GB. If you’re running virtual instruments (software synths and samplers), 2 GB is the minimum, with 4 GB being much better. You’ll be surprised how snappy and fast your computer feels when it has enough RAM to function well. (Always check your software’s minimum system requirements for the amount of RAM the manufacturer recommends.)

26. Sampling Rates
If you can hear the difference with a high sampling rate, use it. If not, save your hard drive.
Should you use a high sampling rate, say, 96 kHz, even if your recording is going to end up as a CD or an MP3? For a rock, pop, or similar recording, I don’t hear much difference. For a solo steel-string or classical guitar piece or an intimate, acoustic jazz recording with great mics, preamps, and converters, there may be a subtle improvement. But don’t take my word for it. Try recording the same tracks with high and standard sampling rates, then compare. If your ears hear a difference, go for the high rate. If you can’t tell which is which, save the hard drive and computer resources

by Jamey Andreas

If we are dedicated to our growth as artists who play the guitar, we must be very smart to get the best out of ourselves. Part of the difficulty in doing so lies in combating the forces and conditioning of the world around us. The world around us tends very strongly to condition us in ways that will lead us far from our goals as artists, as people who have the power to express a deeper level of reality and convey that to other people through their art, in our case, music and the guitar.  One of the most destructive mindsets we can have is a hurried and worried attitude about our daily work, our daily practice. We are conditioned in our schooling, and later in our life in the working world, to a fearful attitude which tells us we need to perform to a certain standard, or else! We need to get those high marks, or else we fail our class. We need to finish that project, finish that report, or else the ax will fall!

This is why we have the word “deadline”. It means “if you do not finish this required work on time, you’re dead!”

Some people become so used to this feeling that they begin to believe they “work best under pressure”. They need to feel they have a gun pointed at their head, so they believe, to even get any work done!

Well, I want to tell you that if you wish to develop as an artist, you must get very far away from this belief system. You must discover a whole new way of motivating yourself to perform that does not depend on the fear of some terrible thing happening to you.You must find a way to give yourself completely to your daily work, your daily practice, that is motivated onlyby the pleasure you are getting from every moment of every day’s practice.

I have often had a student tell me that the reason why they did so poorly on the 4 different things I gave them to practice was becausethey were worried about”getting everything done perfectly in time for the lesson”, so they rushed through the material, hurried and worried. Of course, rushing through the material meant they missed just about everything that was important, like the fingering, and whether or not they were actually able to play to a steady beat, or even whether or not they were playing the correct notes! And as far as being aware of all body tensions, forget it!

So, I have to break the news to them that their entire week of practice was worthless, and must be done over. I also have to explain that the very attempt to “get it perfect” is what lead them to “get it very imperfect”.

Understand this: there is no such thing as perfect. “Perfect” by itself, is not a goal that your mind can grab hold of and set itself to accomplish. The word “perfect” must be used in connection with a given, knowable, and obtainable goal in order to do us any good. Otherwise,”perfect” is a big fat scary word that can only be used to intimidate and rattle you so much that you will probably accomplish very little.

We must learn to think in terms of goalines, not deadlines, when we practice. Week by week, you or your teacher must set out the proper “next goal” for you to accomplish with any given piece of music you are working on. For instance, if I am working on a scale with a student, I will say something like “next week, I want to hear this scale at 60 to the quarter note, withyour fingers working exactly the way I have shown you. I want you to work it up every day using the Basic Practice Approach, to that speed throughout the course of the week. Don’t worry about any faster speeds, just get it as perfect as you can at that speed”.

If it is a song, or a solo that needs to go at 120 bpm, I might set out the goals this way:

1st week: get the notes and the fingers right. Start to walk through the notes no tempo, and discover the most challenging parts, and start to analyze why they are difficult, and what you are going to do about it.

2nd week: test yourself by playing small sections of the music at 60bpms, taking 4 clicks for each note. Make sure all the movements can be done smoothly at this speed. If they can’t, there is no chance of being able to do it any faster. Then, start to work those sections up in speed using the Basic Practice Approach.

3rd week: begin to play to the actual rhythm of the music, giving all the notes their true rhythmic value, not all equal time as before. Discover where the problems are now. Start to work on them, and find what tempo you can play everything at with no mistakes, section by section.

4th week: here, I will begin to assign specific tempo goals for different sections, as I see the student is ready to accomplish those goals.

All along the way, I am giving out other goals as appropriate. “Your pick is going too far out from the string on your up-pick on that scale. Fix it this week with correct practice.” The next week, when that student walks in, I look at the notebook to see what goals I have given, and I’d better see at least some movement toward that goal.(The worst thing a student can do is not look at their notebook, not look at the goals I have set forth.)

This constant process of setting the nextappropriate goal, and setting it out clearly along with making sure themeans to accomplish itare understood, is what brings constantprogress in our study ofthe guitar. The lack of doing so is why there is so little progress for so many people.

People often go for avery inappropriate goal. If they are working on a fast solo or piece, they try to play it almost right away just like the guy on the record, whoprobably spent ten years practicing it before recording it! By reaching for this very advanced goal right away, we usually guarantee failure and frustration. Progress as a guitarist, as Segovia said, is a step by step process, and no step can be missed. If I am standing on the ground looking at a staircase going up, and I try to jump up to the 10th step instead of walking up the first nine, what do you think will happen? I will fall flat on my face or fanny, and may be too black and blue to make another attempt.

And yet, that is what many people do when practicing guitar. They do it because of two reasons, the same two reasons responsible for most of what is wrong with the world: ego and ignorance. Don’t be this way. As far as ego, remember this: be humble, don’t stumble. Don’t try to play that solo at 120bpm right away. Spend a monthgetting it perfect at 60. That way, thepath to getting it at 80 is simple. Then 100 and 120 will follow, and be solid, not shaky.

As far as ignorance, I often tell students “the only reason you are practicing badly is because you actually think, deep inside, that you WILL learn this music successfully doing it your way, and skipping so many steps. You are wrong, you won’t. And your faulty playing, when put to the test, is the proof. When you become wise enough (and honest enough) to see the truth of this, you will practice correctly.”

When attempting to set the next best goal for yourself in any situation, ask yourself this question: “if I apply everything I know, up to this moment, about guitar and how to practice, and I apply it to this music I am working on, AND I give it my very best effort, what level of improvement can I reasonably expect?” Ask yourself this question, and pick short term goals, ones that can be obtained in a week to a month.

If you are practicing your lesson material during the week and you start to feel pressured to “get it right” in time for the lesson, don’t start hurrying through things and getting sloppy just to cover everything. Adjust your goals. Forget that scale for this week, and just work on those chord changes. Re-focus your goals and re-focus your efforts. That way, at least you will accomplish something instead of nothing. Better to juggle 3 balls in the air successfully than to drop 5!

Remember, the achievement of each goal IS the way to reach your final goal, just as taking each step up the stairs is the way to the top. Have fun, and don’t make yourself crazy. Even if you do progress correctly, as you should, people move at different speeds. I tend to work hard and move fast, but I like to sit on the steps every once in a while, and just play my guitar while I look around!

 Nowadays with the popularity of the internet and high speed
  internet access, learning how to play guitars with videos are a
  fun way to learn.  Video guitar lessons are popular because they
  are very affordable and you can take them whenever you please.
  Video has the advantage that you can both see and hear what you
  are supposed to be doing.  Video lessons also offer the advantage of being able to skip past
  things you already understand, allowing you to focus on new
  learning.  With video based guitar lessons, it’s possible to
  rewind and replay any sections that you wish to review.  When
  learning how to play guitar with video is combined with a good
  set of written material then you have the best lesson system
  outside of a personal tutor.

  Online guitar lessons are made to allow you to have a great time
  while you are learning to play the guitar.  Online lessons are
  often more dynamic and successful in keeping you focused than a
  theory book especially if you are learning how to play your
  guitar with video clips.

  It can be very time consuming searching for the best system to
  learn guitar. There’s so many options, you look around a few
  websites, Google online guitar lessons and end up more confused
  than ever. Most sites offer a free sample course, this is often a
  good way to get a feel of how each company the task of teaching
  guitar.

  Take your time and check out how the sampler course is
  structured, does it offer you step-by-step instruction? Does the
  course progress slowly or is it simply snippets of random
  information, licks and tricks? It it fun? Are the chord shapes
  easy to play?

  Today, if you’re considering learing guitar online, your guitar
  course should be a full multi-media program, i.e., written text,
  audio and video clips. Learning how to play guitars with audio
  and videos is much more fun than tediously working your way
  though a thick, boring theory book.

  Video lessons are usually rather easy to understand and are
  available to you to play over and over until you have mastered
  that level.  Lessons for the intermediate guitar player: scales,
  chords, modes, arpeggios, everything is there for you to select

  Good quality online lessons are designed around how you want to
  learn, in the style you want to play from rock and metal to folk
  and blues.

  If you are looking for beginner guitar lessons online it takes a
  bit more precaution than having private tuition at a local guitar
  centre or home visit.  As always the buyer must beware, there are
  many online guitar courses that are very limited and the quality
  is often so poor it actually ends up confusing and slowing your
  guitar skill development dramatically.

  Guitar lessons can only produce successful results when the
  people offering the guitar lesson course are 110% committed to
  producing a first class eductational system whereby the student
  grows gradually into music while at the same time having fun on
  their instrument.

  Online guitar lessons give you the flexibility to learn when and
  where you want, at your own pace, using material targeted just
  for your needs.  With proper online lessons your learning
  material it is always there at your disposal night and day,
  whenever you want to take your guitar skills to a new level.

Know the secrets of the guitar masters. The guitar effect pedal is an innovation in music artistry. Transform the sound of your guitar into different kinds of instruments and effects. The reverb effect prolongs the melodic tones to several bars. The wawa effect was made popular by Chet Atkins that allows the sound into “wawa” eclectic sound.

The foot pedals amplify your guitar licks into crescendo mode and they can multiply the effect to make it sound like more than one guitar is playing. One click on the device will change an electric guitar’s sounds into that of an acoustic classical guitar. This amazing device will amplify your guitar skills to make you sound like a guitar master.