Archive for: May 2007

Guitar Music Got You Down for the Count? Say Uncle
Tired of the same old thing only different? Fret not - Uncles Moe and Monk to the rescue. The Uncles (no relation) have each released CDs bound to please jaded guitar music ears: Moe’s Town (Tone Center) from Uncle Moe’s Space Ranch and Uncle Monk’s (we’ve been offered a handsome sum to avoid the word epo_ymo_s) Uncle Monk (Airday Records). While with respect to genre and style the only thing the albums have in common is the word uncle, they do share one underlying trait - an earnest attempt to take things in a refreshingly new direction. From the review by Ignacio Gonzalez of Uncle Monk: “…if you’re not into bluegrass music, Uncle Monk is your best chance at exploring this time-honored genre - you’ll thereafter rarely exit a music store without checking the bluegrass section. Why? Well, consider that Ramones’ co-creator and drummer Tommy Ramone is one half of Uncle Monk.
From the review by Rich Murray of Moe’s Town: The music on this disc is hard to describe. This is not a typical fusion record by any means. Imagine if Buckethead joined Tribal Tech and you’ll start to get the idea. The music is a conglomeration of techno beats, funk grooves, industrial rhythms, metal riffs, samples, loops, cool chord changes, and loads of great guitar playing.
http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/003357.html

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How To Change Your Electric Guitar Strings
by: Mantius Cazaubon
Many guitarists, especially beginners, struggle with changing electric guitar strings. But it really is a simple exercise. Here’s a straightforward guide you can follow:

Tools.

You will need a small needle nose pliers to cut and bend the strings, and a string winder to help you wind the strings quickly.

Remove the string.

You should change each guitar string one at a time. That way, you will avoid warping the guitar neck, and you will be able to quickly tune the new string to the other strings.

I usually remove the 6th string first. Use your string winder and turn the tuning peg until the string becomes very slack. Now cut off the twisted end of the old string so that it slips easily out of the guitar. Then wind the top section of your string out of the tuning peg.

What you do next will vary depending on the type of electric guitar you have. The one I’m using, the strings go through the body. Remove the old string. Pay close attention to the way your old string comes off, and do the opposite when putting a new one back on.

Replace the string.

Now let’s put back a new string. Feed the string through a hole in the body of your electric guitar, or the tail piece. As said earlier, it depends on your particular electric guitar. Get the ball end of your string in place.

Now pull the string over the bridge, over the nut of the neck, and up past the tuning peg. Make sure it isn’t slack. The new string is very long so you will have to cut some of it off. Leave enough string for a few winds around the tuning peg. Two inches above the peg should work.

Pull the string through the hole of the tuning peg and begin winding it. The string shouldn’t be slack. To keep the tension, place your fingers under the string. With the guitar facing you, wind the tuning pegs on the left side clockwise. Wind those on the right side anticlockwise.

To speed up the winding process, place your string winder over the tuning peg and wind until the string becomes tight. Then take off the peg winder and use the tuning peg to tune the string.

Now that you’ve changed and tuned your 6th string, you can just repeat the process for all the other strings.

Breaking in.

Since the strings are new, they can stretch and go out of tune easily. They need to break in. You can speed up the breaking in process by stretching the string yourself. Give the strings a few gentle pulls or do some spirited strumming.

You will find yourself having to tune your guitar quite a bit after replacing your strings. But after one or two days everything should be okay.

About The Author
Mantius Cazaubon offers a buying guide to helping you choose an electric guitar that meets your needs on his site, http://www.electric-guitars-guide.com/

Article from: http://www.ArticleCity.com/

That’s really something you need to think about right from the start. Even if you want to be a solo guitarist, you want to put the idea of performance into your brain right from the get-go. It’s a whole different world playing while other people are listening. You have to have your guitar in tune and your amplifier and other equipment in working order. The fact that another human being has their attention directed towards you changes how you do things! Everybody has some experience with some kind of stagefright. We all mess up simple, familiar jobs or routines if we’re under scrutiny.
The sooner you get out there in some small way, the sooner you add this all-important element to your daily practice. You need to know what YOU need to be a guitarist outside of that cosy universe which is your bedroom.
If you feel that you just can’t wait to get out there and play for an audience, okay, but you’re still gonna feel some nervousness when you get onstage. For many performers it never goes away, but you need this experience for your growth as a musician. Practicing according to your body’s ability and learning about the special kind of memory your muscles have will help you prepare for the realities of playing the guitar in public.
So take whatever opportunities present themselves, and don’t worry too much about whether you’re “ready”.
If you’re nervous your audience will know it, and more often than not, they’ll be prepared to cut you some slack. Now’s the time to mention that you should prepare simple stuff for your first outings on stage. Be more inclined to UNDERestimate your abilities at first until you find your own real-life experience of performing in public. So maybe this is the most important idea in this post - get rid of the idea that you’re gonna impress the hell out of everybody right off the bat. It won’t happen and it doesn’t need to happen. This is about finding who you are, not reinforcing the legend in your own mind.