Posts Tagged ‘electric guitars’

Guitar Amplifiers

Friday, June 19th, 2009

So, you’ve gone ahead and bought yourself that swanky brand new electric guitar, which by the way cost you an arm and of course a leg, and now you are feeling like a heavenly cross between Joe Satriani (His Highness) and Steve Vai (His Majesty)! Of course, you are probably asking for too much if you wish to play like them, but that shouldn’t stop you from enhancing your guitar playing skills! This is where a guitar amplifier would come into play!

Guitar Amps - Guitar Amplifiers

So, what exactly is a guitar amplifier? Having made their first appearance in the early 30’s, Guitar amps have been in existence for well over 70 years now. The first few amps to come had very poor bass responses. However, over the years, the treble and bass responses were improved drastically and today, the guitar amplifier is greatly evolved what with guitar artists of the 60’s deliberately experimenting with their amps to create that special distortion effect.

From there on, amps have always been provided with certain preamp distortion controls. Distortion playing is considered to be one of the most important aspects of playing the electric guitar.

Different Types of Guitar Amplifiers

There are two basic types of amps, namely the vacuum tube amp and the solid-state amp. In addition, there are other types of amps that use a combination of the vacuum tube and solid-state technologies.

Most guitar amps, especially the cheaper ones, tend to use the solid-state technology, as they are easier and lighter to get repaired when compared to the vacuum tube type. On the other hand, many professional guitarists will tell you they prefer using the vacuum tube type because of its analog sensitivity that helps make the amp sound better.

Vacuum tubes and solid states are available either in a combo package or can either be packed separately. So, if you are not one of those overtly choosy guitarists, then the combo package should do for you. But if you happen to be looking for the right ’sound’, then you should probably ‘mix and match’ your speakers and heads for the perfect sound experience.

Working of a Guitar Amplifier

As the name suggests, a regular guitar amplifier would amplify the sounds that are fed into by the guitar, while at the same time driving the guitars loudspeakers. With the help of a guitar pick, the sound waves that are formed by the guitar strings are converted or transformed into tiny electrical signals and are eventually fed into the amp.

So, depending on how well the amp can work along with the signals emanating from the guitar, a guitarist can decide whether or not he needs to feed the signal into a pre-amplifier and then use the output of the pre-amplifier for feeding the amp.

Simply put, the guitar amp works in four different stages, which are:

  • The Input Stage – This is the stage where the amp accepts the input signal from the electric guitar or even from the pre-amp. Under normal circumstances, with the help of an input signal cable, there are input jacks that are installed into the amplifier. So, if the signals are too weak to be fed directly into the amp, the signal will first be made to pass through the pre-amp.
  • The Signal Modulation Stage – As opposed to common misconceptions, plain in and plain out is not the way that most guitarists like their sound quality to be. Everyone wants their guitar to sound funky, twangy, jazzy and even heavily distorted! To get these sounds, the input signal has to undergo modulation before it can actually be amplified. So for instance, if you want your guitar to sound heavily distorted like a heavy metal rock sound would be, the input signal would have to be fed directly into the modulation stage where it would probably undergo the necessary yet controlled distortion process. The same would apply for other sound effects like the reverb or even the ‘wah-wah’ sound.
  • The Signal Amplification Stage – To me, this stage is something like the ‘business’ stage of the amp. This is the place where the real sound amplification takes place! A good amp will diligently magnify any signal emanating from the Signal Modulation Stage. Thus, it is the ‘business’ or job of the amp to amplify the incoming signals.
  • The Output Stage – The last and final stage of a regular amp, the Output Stage is where the outgoing signal from the Amplification Stage is fed directly into the guitar’s loudspeaker.

Overdriving your Guitar!

The overdrive is a type of sound that is generated from a valve power amp and is a highly desirable sound. With so many output designs being created, there us a wide variety of trademark sounds being designed, and can be heard on many of our modern recordings. However, the only drawback of the valve powered amp is that it can only produce an overdriven sound in one volume, which is usually pretty loud!

So, if you are looking to be a good guitarist, you better do your homework on the guitar amps out there. Getting the best guitar amp is extremely important, that is if you want to have a predictable and reliable sound output while you are strumming away!

By Natasha Bantwal

Electric Guitar Amplifiers

As an electric guitarist, your guitar amplifier is one of the most important features in defining your sound, so be as picky as you can when it comes to choosing you amp.

How to record guitar on your computer | Lazarus Graveyard

As touched on above there are many hardware and software solutions for this – you can actually plug a microphone into your recording interface and use it to record your guitar amp – or you can use a hardware unit like the POD XTL.

Things To Know When Shopping For A Guitar Amplifier

Guitar amplifiers are a major part of your tone. Some amps can do many things well, while others excel at producing specific tonal qualities. When shopping for.

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Resonator Guitars – Spiders, Cones and Biscuits

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

More and more often these days, an instrument originally designed for one purpose or musical genre will be adopted for and adapted to a completely different area. This has been the fate of the resonator guitar, which was originally designed to be louder than a conventional acoustic guitar in order to ensure that the instrument could be heard above the horns and percussion instruments in dance orchestras. The resonator guitar, however, is possessed of a very distinct and original sound, and because of that, it has been adopted and integrated into the musical genres of bluegrass, country and blues music.

 

resonator guitar

The resonator guitar, or resophonic guitar as it is occasionally called, is an acoustic guitar that uses one or more metal cones (resonators) instead of the traditional wooden soundboard. These instruments can be divided into two subcategories, these being square-necked guitars and round-necked guitars. The former are designed to be played like a lap steel guitar (with a slide), while the latter can be played as either a conventional classical guitar or as a steel guitar. In addition to this division, there are also three main types of resonator designs: the “tricone,” the single inverted cone, and the spider-less single cone.

 

The original resonator guitar was developed during the early 20th century and in 1927, the first instruments were manufactured under the brand name National. These guitars were of the tricone variety, which means that they had three conical resonators joined by a T-shaped piece of aluminum called a “spider” that supported the bridge. A year later, one of the founding members of National split and began his own label, Dobro. That company released a competing resonator guitar that featured a single resonator under a distinctive circular perforated metal cover plate. The bridge rested at the center of this plate on an eight-legged aluminum spider. Finally, National countered with its own take on the single resonator model. This instrument used a wooden “biscuit” at the cone apex to support the bridge, rather than the traditional spider.

This quick succession of instrument innovations occurred over the course of about five years. At the end of that time, in 1932, the owners of Dobro gained control of National and formed the National Dobro Corporation. However, with the entry of the United States into World War II in 1941, all production of resonator guitars by the company ceased for a time. Since the end of World War II, the Dobro label has passed through various hands, all of which have used it to produce resonator guitars. Dobro is currently the possession of the Gibson Guitar Company. Today, common terminology uses Dobro to refer to an instrument with an inverted cone, while National generally means an instrument with a non-inverted cone.

 

 

As mentioned, bluegrass, country and blues are the usual territory of the resonator guitar. The first generally utilizes square-necked Dobro guitars, while the latter two favor round-necked National instruments. Because both styles of guitar may be played as a lap steel guitar, this is the most common position used by artists. However, round-necked guitars may be played in the traditional guitar position.

Author: Victor Epand

 

Acoustic Guitars – Variations On A Theme

In the resonator guitar the sound is produced by metal cones instead of by the wooden body of the guitar. The resonator did not help much with amplification but its distinctive sound has made it a favorite with bluegrass and blues.

National Delphi Resonator: Picking With Luke Winslow-King

The old school resonator cone technology has been helping guitar players be heard over horn bands for about a century now. It’s also nice for more intimate finger picking passages. Metal Finger picks can give you an extra edge too.

 

Best Thing In Town

The vibe of this song is laid back and even has an island music tinged feel to it complete with resonator guitars and even a mandolin! Something true punks I’m sure are shaking their head at, but then again Rancid defied that logic long.

 

 

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The Best Cheap Electric Guitars

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

You want to play electric guitar but you have a limited budget. Your first electric guitar needs to be cheap so you need to get some idea which is the best brand to buy. If you do not buy a good quality electric guitar your guitar playing learning curve is going to be that much more steep, and you are going to feel like a prize dumbbell telling people that your playing would be much better if your guitar was not such a pile of junk.

Let us set some ground rules. Do not buy a cheap guitar online unless the vendor is in your local area. Also, when we talk about cheap guitars we should be talking cheap brands, not old guitars of dubious quality and unknown condition. If there is a music shop or two somewhere close to where you live, they should be able to cater to your needs. There are a lot of deep mysteries connected with guitar playing but finding a cheap guitar is not one of them.

To start with, there are big brand name guitars that you may not be able to afford, and indeed it would be silly to pay a fortune for your first electric guitar, but there are copies of these famous guitars which you CAN afford. Amongst these copies of the big name guitars made by various guitar makers, are good and bad quality guitars, and you need to be familiar with the better quality makers of cheap guitars. Any guitar factory in Outer Mongolia can churn out realistic looking electric guitars but they may not be able to hold together for longer than five minutes.

So, let us first look at a few big name guitars. Fender, Gibson, Washburn. You recognize those names, right? Squier, Ibanez, Yamaha, Crafter. Do you recognize those names? They make cheap electric guitars some of which are copies of more expensive models. The basic difference between cheap guitars and expensive guitars is quality of materials. The reason you need to be aware of which cheaper brands to buy is that you do not want to go too far into the realms of cheap and nasty. Without wanting to influence you unduly, I think you could do a lot worse than buying a Squier Stratocaster for a first electric guitar. It is made by Fender, the makers of the original Strat.

Another thing you need to consider is the type of music you want to play. Once you start looking around at guitars you need to be aware of the sound. Right from the first day as a guitar player you should be listening to yourself making a sound that you are happy with.

One really cool thing you should be taking with you when you go looking to buy a cheap electric guitar is a guitar player. Even if it is one of the neighbors who bought a guitar years ago and never did anything with it, it is better than nothing. And then there’s the color. Your neighbor may be able to give you some advice on the construction of electric guitars or the benefits of this or that pickup, but only YOU can decide what color you want. When Mark Knopfler decided to buy his first guitar he knew he wanted a red one. It is an important consideration. You will not feel comfortable posing in front of the mirror with the wrong color guitar!

You will not be posing in front of the mirror? Oh . . . okay.

Author: Ricky Sharples

Best Electric Guitar & Accessories

Best Electric Guitar & Accessories. Find Cheap Electric Gutiar , Reviews from Amazon.com. Previous Entry · Add to Memories · Tell a Friend · Next Entry; Line 6 Spider III 15-Watt Guitar Combo Amplifier …

BUYING YOUR FIRST GUITAR

“Which is better to learn on… an electric guitar, or an acoustic guitar?” The answer to that question, despite what many would lead you to believe, is a little more complicated than “electric is best”, or “acoustic is best”.

Electric Guitar Nuts

How To Play An Electric Guitar? – Find The Best Source To Learn How To Play An Electric Guitar Learning how to play an electric guitar is the dream of every guitarist.

Tips for Beginner Electric Guitars

I’ve only gone through 3 guitars in my life, the first being a cheap Dean that I got for Christmas out of a Sears catalog. I then got an Ibanez 560 Frank Gambale model that I ordered from Suncoast music for Christmas when I was 16 or 17.  Depending on your budget, try to make the best decision based on quality vs. your personal budget.

Electric Guitars Cheap How To Buy The Best One

Make sure to do you research before buying an electric guitar. Some inexpensive electric guitars are of great quality,but is the seller going to give you.

 

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Acoustic And Electric Guitars

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

acoustic and electric guitars

 

Guitars can be divided into two broad categories namely acoustic and electric. But you can make an acoustic tone in an electric acoustic with the help of a processor. Once you plug in the instrument with the amplifier, you will get a perfect sound, actually you do not have any unplugged sound. The instrument can be electric as well as acoustic. And can be played acoustically or electronically. Pegs hold on to the acoustic strings and keep it attached. The saddle is situated on the bridge. Pickups The electrical sound on an electric and acoustic electric are produced by the pickups.

 

You can play, where the sound is produced by vibrating the strings, which is further modulated by the hollow body of the guitar. Many of the notes repeat themselves in several locations. Unlike the piano, the acoustic guitar is laid out in a way that is not linear. The strength and dexterity that the acoustic guitar demands is at first, alien to the fingers. The spanish guitar, also called the classical guitar, with six nylon or gut strings that resembles the Flamenco. You can buy a 6 string or a 12 string acoustic.

 

Solo pianists and solo acoustic guitarists have taken their lead from pioneers in the field like Mason Williams, George Winston, Michael Hedges and others. Vocals are usually recorded in mono, acoustic instruments could be recorded in stereo. Aside from the strain on the fingertips, another reason to begin playing with an acoustic instrument is that you are more likely to learn how to play correctly. If you decide to begin with an acoustic model, by the time your fingers have hardened sufficiently on the softer strings, you well be well on the road to knowing your chords.

acoustic and electric guitars

 

 

After school, there would be ample time to discover all the chords and enjoy the resounding flavor of notes that are emitted from the bass. Acoustic electric guitars use acoustic amplifiers, and, of course, acoustic instruments do not use amps. If you are interested in acoustic music, for example, then an acoustic instruments would be the correct item to purchase. An acoustic is that one that is not dependent on any external device rather uses a soundboard fixed on the front part of the body.

 

Sound Hole The sound hole can be found on the top center of the body of an acoustic or acoustic electric. The entire journey of learning how to play can turn out to be an absolutely enthralling experience provided you have the right kind of motivation and devotion. Whether you will opt for an acoustic or an electric largely depends on the what suits your needs best. There are also many tip books, which provide a storehouse of knowledge to the beginners. Many of the tips come handy and are quite helpful in making beginners learn the basics.

 

Some of the remarkable qualities of acoustic guitars are as followed Beautiful sound quality. There are several kinds of acoustic guitars, which come with different price tags. So it makes sense to go through some of the important acoustic playing tips that are going to make the learning of the basic techniques an absolutely fun filled experience. Learning the basics can also be an engaging process provided you take lessons from the right institution or person. Electric acoustic In these pickups do not produce a signal directly from the vibration of the strings, but rather from the vibration of the top or body.

 

Manufactures of acoustic and electric instruments, bass guitars and accessories, amplifiers, live studio sound equipments, microphones and lighting gears. The acoustic guitars was quite large and deep in contrast to most instruments and gave more volume, especially in the low register. The acoustic bass was introduced in 1972. Conclusion Acoustic instruments, which are an indispensable part of folk music and country music as well, are available in different types.

 

 

By: Ronald W. Firquain

 

 

Fender ESV 10E Ensenada Acoustic Electric Guitar Mint …

Fender ESV 10E Ensenada Acoustic Electric Guitar Mint. Jun 09, 2009 in Gibson Guitars. US 9.95. End Date: Tuesday Jun-09-2009 16:03:14 PDT Buy It Now for only: US 9.95. Buy it now | Add to watch list. Technorati Tags: Acoustic Electric …

 


The Acoustic Bass Guitar: A Relative Newcomer | Guitars On eBay

The modern acoustic bass is accredited to Ernie Ball of California, who was supposedly felt that since electric guitars had bass instruments, acoustic guitars should too. Regardless of his motivation, Ball went on to collaborate…

 

0Sec » Martin Koch – Build Your Own Electric Guitar [Video Training]

… of design to the final set-up of of solid-body, hollow-body and semi-acoustic electric guitars is covered step by step in this book. It contains a section about winding your own pickups and another on active guitar electronics. …

 


Acoustic vs Electric: The Age-Old Battle Rages On | bmmissions.org

There’s little difference between learning how to play the acoustic guitar and electric guitar. The biggest difference I notice is the attention you need to dedicate to room acoustics and the tuning of the guitar. 



Bass guitar or electric guitar? | Personalized Guitar Lessons

Hi, I have just started taking lessons of acoustic guitar last month. I got inspired to do this by listening to heavy metal. In the future I want to play in a band. I’m 14 years old. In september my parents promised me they are gonna …

 

 

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How Do Electric Guitars Work %u2013 All You Need To Know.

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

How Do Electric Guitars Work – All You Need To Know.

How Do Electric Guitars Work %u2013  All You Need To Know.

 

Guitars come in various shapes, sizes, looks and design. The music world has classical acoustic guitars, semi-acoustic guitars, electric guitars, hollow body guitars, jumbo guitars, ‘S’ hole guitars etc. Each of these guitars has its own characteristic generic looks, characteristic sound and tonality, which attract their own respective following. Overall, guitars can be classified into two broad categories: acoustic guitars and electric guitars.

 

How Does a Guitar Work?

To know how guitar work, let us first see what is common to the working of any guitar. Every acoustic guitar has a minimum of six parts – the guitar neck with guitar nut and headstock, fret board, tuning keys, Guitar Bridge, sound box and guitar strings. Each of these parts is crucial to the good working of the guitar and plays its own roles to dole out music.

The guitar strings are long strands of metal or nylon wire, which stretch along through the major length of the guitar. There are normally six strings in a guitar (for the most common six-string guitar). All of these six strings run parallel to each other and are interspersed with a small gap between them. There are the sound generators of the guitar.

Strings generate sound for the guitar by vibrating along their vibrating length. The guitar bridge on one end and the guitar nut on the other end fix the vibrating length of a guitar string. The strings are tied onto a guitar under tension. The strings are plucked by fingers or with a pick. The tension in the string (varied about with the help of tuning keys) makes the string to vibrate.

 

Up to this point, the working of all guitars is the same. What happens next is what categorizes whether the guitar is an acoustic guitar or and electric guitar.

 

Acoustic GuitarsHow Do Electric Guitars Work %u2013  All You Need To Know.

All guitars have strings that vibrate which are the principal sound generators of the musical instrument. If you pluck a string tied under tension (no, no! not on a guitar!) you will find that the sound produced is not what you will want to hear again and again as you would like to hear the sound of a good guitar.

 

Moreover, the sound from bare strings is very soft and you will barely be able to hear them. The sound has to be amplified so that people far and near can hear them. This is where the sound box from the acoustic guitar comes in. The sound box of an acoustic guitar is made as an hollow body constructed out of wood. It uses the ‘acoustics’ of the shape of the hollow body, material characteristics etc to amplify the sound generated by the string. The sound box of a guitar gives it its characteristic sound.

 

How Does An Electric Guitar Work?

Electric guitars amplify the sound generated by the guitar strings electronically. Instead of the sound box of an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar has pick-ups and other electronic components. The pick up from an electric guitar picks up the sound waves generated by the strings and converts them into their corresponding minute electrical signals. There are different types of pickups. Commonly used ones are magnetic pickups, piezo electric pickups, condenser pick ups etc.

The converted electric signal then passes through the various electronic components mounted on the guitar and finally into the sound amplifier which electronically amplifies the sound. The electronic components on the guitar modulate the converted electric signal to suit the guitarist. Most commonly found components on guitars are the volume control knob (which enables the guitarist to control the volume of the guitar sound) and tone control knobs (which enables the playing guitarist to determine the sound tonality).

 

 

By: Max Cane

 

 

Electric Guitar Genius Video – Heavy.com

Electric Guitar Genius. Check out this kid, he has some serious guitar playing skills. He must have been practicing Guitar Hero or something, because he is really, really good. This kid totally shreds his guitar. … March 11, 2009 please be advised that GWRL shall take whatever action is necessary to protect the reputation, trade marks and other intellectual property of GWRL. Yours faithfully. James Howell Legal & Business Affairs…

 

How Do Electric Guitars Work – All you Need to Know

Guitar workbrbrto know how guitar for the vibrating along their own characteristic sound from the principal sound of the same what happens next is made as an acoustic guitars.

 

Beginner Free Guitar Lessons That Really Work

It involves video beginner guitar lessons calculated to make learn the guitar fun and interesting. Whether you want beginner acoustic guitar lessons or beginner guitar lessons for an electric guitar, Jamorama gives the most value for your money and can help you develop the … The Jamorama Multimedia Course will effectively teach you everything you need to know to learn how to play guitar, from consummate beginner level,

 

Rocking Free Online Beginner Guitar Lessons

The Jamorama Multimedia Course will comprehensively teach you everything you need to know to learn how to play guitar, from absolute beginner level, right through to being a professional guitarist. Jamorama’s learning method is proven …

 

Electric Guitar Lessons Online – Guitars

Hopefully you have one in your life because someone else you know plays (or quit playing) and now you’re looking to either get your own or upgrade to a better axe. So how do you choose? Head straight to the popular guitar makers section. … Not that you need to buy it there – a lot of time you can find good deals online for both new and used equipment. You can keep coming back to electric guitar lessons online to help make …..

 

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Acoustic Blues Guitar

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Well, it is around the hundred year mark since the world first started noticing blues guitar players. Of course they were all acoustic guitar pickers then because they had very few places to plug their electric guitars in, but they made the best of what they had. Just as a basic first impression, I would say that blues guitar players kind of favor acoustic guitar every bit as much as electric guitar. A glaring example is the success Eric Clapton had with his Unplugged album, but there are plenty of other electric blues players who are on record playing acoustic guitar. Even Jimi Hendrix appeared on TV playing some acoustic blues songs.

Acoustic Blues GuitarAcoustic blues guitar was brought to the world by the likes of by Robert Johnson, Bill Broonzy, and Rev. Gary Davis. Fingerpicking acoustic blues uses your thumb to play the bass notes while the first and second fingers play the melody. Bear in mind that the thumb is responsible for keeping time, so it will take some time getting your fingers to work independently but it will be worth it. Rev. Gary Davis was an acoustic blues player who used his thumb to strum the chords and only his index finger to play the melody.

Lightnin’ Hopkins was another acoustic blues player whose style was out of step with fashion when he was trying to make his way as a guitar player in his youth. Hopkins grew up listening to music played by bands but he learnt to play the guitar in isolation from other musicians. So he developed a guitar style that imitated a band playing lead, rhythm and bass. He even provided his oWell, it is around the hundred year mark since the world first started noticing blues guitar players. Of course they were all acoustic guitar pickers then because they had very few places to plug their electric guitars in, but they made the best of what they had. Just as a basic first impression, I would say that blues guitar players kind of favor acoustic guitar every bit as much as electric guitar. A glaring example is the success Eric Clapton had with his Unplugged album, but there are plenty of other electric blues players who are on record playing acoustic guitar. Even Jimi Hendrix appeared on TV playing some acoustic blues songs.

Acoustic blues guitar was brought to the world by the likes of by Robert Johnson, Bill Broonzy, and Rev. Gary Davis. Fingerpicking acoustic blues uses your thumb to play the bass notes while the first and second fingers play the melody. Bear in mind that the thumb is responsible for keeping time, so it will take some time getting your fingers to work independently but it will be worth it. Rev. Gary Davis was an acoustic blues player who used his thumb to strum the chords and only his index finger to play the melody.

Lightnin’ Hopkins was another acoustic blues player whose style was out of step with fashion when he was trying to make his way as a guitar player in his youth. Hopkins grew up listening to music played by bands but he learnt to play the guitar in isolation from other musicians. So he developed a guitar style that imitated a band playing lead, rhythm and bass. He even provided his own percussion by slapping the body of the guitar.

Acoustic Blues GuitarThe secret to playing lots of acoustic blues songs is in learning a basic chord sequence. A one, four, five progression – for example C, F and G or G, C and D usually make an acoustic blues guitar chord sequence. Listening to the music of Mississippi John Hurt is a good way to get started on acoustic blues. His early career as a blues performer was hampered by his guitar and vocals being too subtle and expressive than was fashionable at the time.

You can do a web search for lessons on how to play acoustic blues guitar like the great bluesmen of the past, but as a general introduction to playing acoustic fingerstyle guitar, you cannot go wrong with the guitar technique known as "Travis Picking". The basis of this style is to use the thumb, first, second and third fingers of the right hand to pick the strings in a predetermined sequence while the left hand plays chords. This is the basic idea of the style, but once you can perform this kind of picking with ease, you will find that you will begin to develop your own musical ideas that allow you to depart from rigidly playing standard chords and the same right hand picking patterns. "Travis Picking" was made popular by Country guitarist Merle Travis and popularized further by Chet Atkins.

So we have covered the names and techniques of great acoustic blues guitar players and found a basic way of playing the guitar that will set you on the road to being a blues guitarist.
wn percussion by slapping the body of the guitar.

The secret to playing lots of acoustic blues songs is in learning a basic chord sequence. A one, four, five progression – for example C, F and G or G, C and D usually make an acoustic blues guitar chord sequence. Listening to the music of Mississippi John Hurt is a good way to get started on acoustic blues. His early career as a blues performer was hampered by his guitar and vocals being too subtle and expressive than was fashionable at the time.

You can do a web search for lessons on how to play acoustic blues guitar like the great bluesmen of the past, but as a general introduction to playing acoustic fingerstyle guitar, you cannot go wrong with the guitar technique known as "Travis Picking". The basis of this style is to use the thumb, first, second and third fingers of the right hand to pick the strings in a predetermined sequence while the left hand plays chords. This is the basic idea of the style, but once you can perform this kind of picking with ease, you will find that you will begin to develop your own musical ideas that allow you to depart from rigidly playing standard chords and the same right hand picking patterns. "Travis Picking" was made popular by Country guitarist Merle Travis and popularized further by Chet Atkins.

So we have covered the names and techniques of great acoustic blues guitar players and found a basic way of playing the guitar that will set you on the road to being a blues guitarist.

By: Ricky Sharples

Acoustic Blues

The Bennett Harris Acoustic Blues trio of guitar, fiddle, and bass presents a lively and memorable evening of Americana music.

Acoustic Blues Guitar 

Many people may remember the Grateful Dead and the legendary Jerry Garcia, this youtube video features the Dead Guitarists playing acoustic blues guitar, it’s from the early eighties. The Dead are big part of musical history.

The Acoustic Guitar

The Acoustic guitar still remains a very popular instrument. It is used in virtually every style of music-rock, pop, country, blues, you name it. Acoustic guitars are wonderful instruments for both beginners and professionals.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Early Design of the Electric Guitar

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

The Early Design of the Electric Guitar

 Originally guitars were all acoustic, and the volume achievable by such guitars was quite enough for the environments in which they were played. However, as music developed and the locations in which it performed grew larger, and with the introduction of accompanying instruments, it became necessary to increase the volume and sound of the guitar. Especially with jazz gaining in popularity, the brass instruments would simply drown out the guitar, and so solutions had to be found.

 

It was Les Paul, a major innovator in the world of guitars, experimented with attaching microphones to guitars, and this led to some of the earliest electric guitars, although these were generally simply hollow acoustic guitars with tungsten pickups. In 1931 these were being manufactured by the Electro String Instrument Corporation, and the design of an acoustic guitar with a hollow body and a tungsten pickup was devised by Harry Watson, and this model was called the Rickenbacker. This was officially the very first electric guitar, although still a very long way off the ones we see today. Although they were used, and popular, straight away, the first documented record of an early electric guitar being used in a public performance was in Kansas in 1932, when Gage Brewer helped to publicise this new type of guitar in a special Halloween performance.

 

The first recording of an electric guitar is often attributed to Eddie Durham, but in fact this is incorrect, and fifteen days earlier George Barnes, a jazz guitarist, recorded Sweetheart Land and It’s a Low-Down Dirty Shame in Chicago in 1938. It was Durham, however, who introduced the early electric guitar to Charlie Christian, who became one of the most significant influences for many decades on electric guitars in jazz music.

 

The Early Design of the Electric Guitar

 The electric guitar we know and recognise today usually has a solid body, although not always. The solid body electric guitar is made of wood – often a single piece where possible. The earliest solid body electric guitar was not made of wood however, and was in fact made of cast aluminium, with steel strings. This was officially named the Rickenbacker, but was more commonly referred to as the Frying Pan or Pancake Guitar for obvious reasons. The sound of this guitar was quite aggressive, with a very modern feel to its voice.

 

In the 1940s Les Paul was still developing ideas for the electric guitar, and in his own time he created the log guitar, which derived its name from the fact that it was constructed from a simple 4×4 wooden post, with a neck attached to one end. The pickups were home made, and there were two halves of the body attached purely for appearance sake. This guitar was patented, and was the first of its kind, although the Gibson Electric Guitar designed later by Les Paul shares no characteristics at all, and it seems to have been a one off.

 

The next major development in the world of the electric guitar was in the mid 1940s when Richard D Bourgerie, who was employed making electrical equipment during the second World War for the US military at the Howard Radio Company, created an electric guitar pickup and amplifier combination for George Barnes. Barnes in turn showed this new design to Les Paul who requested another be constructed for himself.

 

Today there seem to be as many different makes and models of electric guitar as there are players, and if you are entering the world of the electric guitar yourself for the first time, you may be slightly taken aback by the sheer range of options, features and designs available. Essentially, however, they all share more or less the same basic features, with a body that is either solid or hollow, usually six steel strings, and perhaps the biggest and most significant choice, the pickup. Depending upon the type of pickup, the guitar may well sound quite different, and this is perhaps the one place to look most carefully.

Author: Victor Epand

Does the type of guitar matter when learning how to play guitar …

But in the future, the type of guitar you use will depend on the music you play. If you are into shredding solos playing jazz or playing lead you are goign to need an electric guitar. 

The Early Design Of The Electric Guitar

Barnes, in turn, has shown that this new design a Les Paul that has requested another be built to have him. Today there seems to be many different makes and models of electric guitar …

Christian Womens Resources » Gibson Les Paul Guitars – Why Does …

The electric guitar craze started with the Fender Telecaster. In order to capitalize on this craze James Verdon who was the president of Gibson Guitar at the time brought on Les Paul as…

The Early Design Of The Electric Guitar

This was officially the very first electric guitar, although still a very long way off the ones we see today. Although they were used, and popular, straight away,

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