How to Tune a 12 String Guitar

How to Tune a 12 String Guitar

The 12 string guitar came into its own during the folk music boom of the 1960′s. In its acoustic and electric forms, it was played to great effect by guitarists in many genres, such as George Harrison of The Beatles, and Roger McGuinn of The Byrds. The 12 string guitar is usually tuned to the same notes as the six string, that is E A D G B E. Instead of six single strings, it has six pairs – or “courses” of two strings. The key to the unique sound of the 12 stringed instrument is the difference in frequency…

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Tips on Using a Metronome for the Beginner Guitar Player

Tips on Using a Metronome for the Beginner Guitar Player

Using a metronome while you practice the guitar will help you develop your natural ability to keep the beat. Not many people who start to learn how to play the guitar have this ability to any degree, but with practice, it will begin to take its place in your playing. Many guitar students regard the advice to practice with a metronome as a technique that works for some people, but for others it stifles creativity. For beginners it is a method which will help everybody who uses it. Once you have gotten over the stage where it is boring and…

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A Diagram of the Parts of the Electric Guitar

A Diagram of the Parts of the Electric Guitar

The picture above shows the parts of the electric guitar. This explanation of the parts of the electric guitar gives you the basic knowledge you need before you start playing. The production, amplification and distortion of the sound made by the electric guitar is an art in itself, but the basic principles are easy to understand. The guitar in the picture is a solid body electric called a Stratocaster. The guitarist picks or strums the strings, and the pickups – microphones situated near the bridge – transfer the sound to an amplifier. The BODY of the guitar is made of…

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A Diagram of the Parts of the Acoustic Guitar

parts-of-acoustic-guitar

This is a picture of the parts of an acoustic guitar. The BODY of the acoustic guitar is the large part to which the bridge and neck are attached. An acoustic guitar body is hollow, and made from cedar or spruce – both of which possess the necessary acoustic and aesthetic qualities for guitar making. The HEADSTOCK at the top of the neck, holds the MACHINE HEADS which change the tension of the strings to get them in tune. The strings are anchored at the BRIDGE (which also transmits the sound to the body of the guitar) and are held…

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Blues Guitar – The Basics

Blues Guitar – The Basics

Blues guitar can be tricky because, for a simple style of music, blues generates a lot of heated debate on how to listen to it, how to play it, and who is any good at it. There is even argument about the blues guitar scale. The starting point for playing blues is a scale containing “blue notes”. An example is the E minor pentatonic scale with a flattened fifth. Using the I IV V progression, the chords would be E A B. There are many ways to approach blues guitar soloing, and one alternative to the minor pentatonic is the…

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Learning to play guitar without damaging your body

Learning to play guitar without damaging your body

Here’s a few tidbits from an old article that seems to have vanished from the internet, called “How to Fail at Learning the Guitar”: “If you’re just starting out on the guitar, it’s important to find one that’s either really cheap or really flashy.” “Cultivate poor posture techniques early on, so that they become a learned behavior.” “Practice irregularly.” “Start playing the guitar really fast before you’ve learned how to fret and change chords properly.” “Give up when your fingers start to hurt.” “Assume that you can learn how to play the guitar without anybody’s help.” “When you discover that…

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What Are Beginner Guitar Scales?

What Are Beginner Guitar Scales?

Well, really there are no beginner guitar scales, just guitar scales. They are all easy to play, but there are some that you should learn as a beginner in order to help you understand the guitar and music in general. It is very important to learn to play guitar scales since they are a fundamental element of music. Learning to play scales on the guitar will help your progress as a guitar player in a number of ways. If you would like to learn to write your own songs and to improvise guitar solos, an understanding of scales in guitar…

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