Acoustic Guitar

Posted by Guitar Harmony on 12:34 AM comments (0)

When you happen to pick which type of acoustic guitar to acquire in order to play your music, you have a variation of choices of style. You can make a choice from Jumbo, Spanish, Classical to name a few. The focus on this talk is on which style of strings you put on there, that is Steel or Nylon strings.
Looking at nylon initially, these tend to be softer on the fingertips and have a more tender delicate twang from the sound. In that sense I would advise that nylon strings are the ideal choice for a learner guitarist as for the first few months you will find the tips of your fingers will eventually be rather tender. Your body will respond to this by developing tougher skin on the fingers you put to work on the fretboard to make chords and in turn will assist you in the future when playing steel strings which are tougher.

The other reason for selecting nylon strings would be if you are looking to play a certain genre of music. For example, classical music and certain genre of Spanish guitar songs favour nylon strings, classical music in the past has been unwilling to accept the guitar as a part of an orchestra and debate has been continued for centuries with no real agreement. As it stands it is on occasion used but mainly on nylon stringed classical guitars only.

A nylon stringed guitar can be tricky to change strings as at the bridge end, close-by the sound hole the strings have a tendency to be placed on with a looping and intertwining manner as opposed to the simpler plastic rod on the bridge of a steel stringed guitar. For that rationale I would suggest you see a person who is an expert in the field when replacing strings if you are not familiar with them.

The steel string variety is a more up-to-date invention, in fact it was introduced as late as the 20th century in a widespread capacity. Nowadays they tend to be favoured by rock and pop contemporary bands due to the crisp sound they generate which can be used towards a more edgy penetrating sound.
Another argument why they are favoured among modern musicians is that for live performances when playing in a full band with drums, bass, keyboards and other instruments the steel strings can be used alongside a pickup which will translate the vibrations from the manipulation of the strings and then can be changed into an electrical signal, then it can be amplified within a guitar amp and this warm personal sound of an acoustic guitar can be projected to hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people in an audience at a show.

In summary, nylon strings are a great selection when you are playing music of a definite style as brought up earlier or if you are a novice looking for a gentle way to become involved in guitar playing and composing, if you are performing to a louder crowd you may boost sound by using a microphone but if you are looking to play music on a louder, more penetrating way then steel strings are the newfangled and more technologically suitable way to bring your sound to yourself or the fans you are performing to.
Best One Entertainment is the provider of live bands to the North West and UK-Wide. We also offer advice on the site for the planning and organisation of your day.

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Bass Guitar Basic Lessons

Posted by Guitar Harmony on 12:46 AM comments (1)

Bass is often one of the most over-looked instruments in a musical group. Many audience members have no idea what a bass even is. Despite this fact, bass is probably the most critical instrument in a group. It is rare to find a performing band without a bass player. As a budding bassist, you should be happy to know there is always a high demand for bassists—especially good ones.

The Responsibilities of the Bass Player

Traditionally, the bass performs two basic and vital functions within a band or group:
  1. Bass provides the rhythmic foundation.
  2. Bass provides the harmonic foundation.

The Rhythmic Foundation

The rhythmic foundation refers to the consistent pulse of the music. A skilled bassist supports the group by providing a good-feeling, steady pulse. Most music that is well received has a steady rhythm, or beat, to it. This is the responsibility and priority of the bassist. Listen to the following recording. Notice how you can tap your foot to the rhythm of the bass. That is the pulse the bass creates.

The drummer, when present, also aids in providing the pulse. However, don’t be mistaken that it is the drummer's job to create the pulse and you are only along for the ride. Your sense of rhythm must be very solid and independent of anyone else in the group. Each group member should have good rhythm independently while playing together as a whole.
Your rhythmic skills are the most important thing for you to master as a bassist. It doesn’t matter how perfect your choice of notes is. If your notes are in the wrong place rhythmically, it won't feel or sound right.

The Harmonic Foundation

Most people realize the bass player helps with providing the rhythm. A lot of people don't realize the other important function the the bass player — supporting the harmony.
Harmony means together. In music, harmony is the playing of several different notes at the same time. Sometimes one person alone, such as a guitarist or pianist, creates this harmony. Other times several people, such as an orchestra, rock band or a barbershop quartet, create the harmony together.
The bass plays a powerful role in how we hear harmonies. When we hear several notes played at the same time, we hear them all relative to the lowest sounding pitch — the bass note.
The following examples let you hear the powerful effect the bass note has on the harmony. In each example the same two notes are played on the piano while the bass plays a different note creating a different musical effect.

The bass player's second major traditional role is to properly define the harmony by supplying the correct foundational notes.

In Summary

As you continue studying music, you will learn that music is comprised of three main elements—rhythm, harmony and melody. The bass lays the foundation for two of these three elements. Studying bass means to study rhythm and to study harmony, and the techniques to create them on the bass.
Bass is a very powerful instrument. A good bassist can often rescue a mediocre group, while a bad bassist can easily destroy a great group. Use your bass-playing powers for good, not evil. Learn about rhythm. Learn about harmony.


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Guitar Harmony

Posted by Guitar Harmony on 12:33 AM comments (0)

Harmony is often used in orchestra and classical music, but on guitar it can be used for two or three guitars to play on each other. Many bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax etc use it and so do solo guitarists like Steve Vai. If you ask someone about harmony, they might tell you and it will probably make you think it's hard, in actual fact it's really easy. Harmony is when one instrument plays so many intervals above another eg. one guitar plays a 5th above the other.

Lets say guitar 1 plays this riff 

E----------------------------
B----------------------------
G----------------------------
D----------------------------
A-----7----8-----10----8-7~--
E--0-0--0-0--0-0---0-0-------

If guitar 2 was to harmonize (for example in 5th's) it would play this

E----------------------------
B----------------------------
G----------------------------
D------9---10---12----10-9~--
A----------------------------
E--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--------

I find that to harmonize something in 5th's is easy because...

E-----
B-----
G--9-- 
D--9-- 
A--7--
E-----

The chord shown is an E5, the seven in the chord is the root note (the tonic) the first nine (on the D string) is the 5th and the second nine is the octave. If you were to play the the seven in a note sequence, to harmonize it in 5th's, you take the 5th (the first nine) and use that for the harmony part. you can do this for any note if you want to harmonize it.3rd's.
3rd's are kind of the same except you need to remember what key the note is in if you want to harmonize it, eg in the c major scale:

C D E F G A B C 

C=major D=minor E=Minor F=major G=major A=minor
B=diminished

So if you played C note and harmonized in 3rd's you would play a major 3rd (in this casethe note would E). If we harmonize the first riff we used in 3rd's, this is what we would get:

E--------------------------
B--------------------------
G--------------------------
D----5----7-----8----7-5~--
A--------------------------
E-0-0--0-0--0-0---0-0------

So bascially all you're doing is taking the note and playing whatever the interval is above it. here is a list of different intervals to use. How to use:

5th's.

C D E F G A B C 
G A B C D E F G

On the top row, pick out the notes you are going to harmonize, then take the notes underneath the notes you have picked and those are the notes you would play to harmonize them. eg to harmonize the notes C E G, you would play G B D. List of intervals (5th's listed above)

3rd's

C D E F G A B C
E F G A B C D E

7th's

C D E F G A B C
B C D E F G A B

4th's

C D E F G A B C
F G A B C D E F

2nd's

C D E F G A B C
D E F G A B C D

6th's

C D E F G A B C
A B C D E F G A

8th's (octaves)

C D E F G A B C
C D E F G A B C

One last thing, if you forget these, this is all you do to work it out. Write down the notes C D E F G A B C on a bit of paper and then if you want to harmonize in sevenths for example, you start on C and count seven along which would give you B and keep doing it, but when you come to the last C in the list you go back to the beginning, but miss out the first C and go onto D. Eg. E harmonized in 7th's would be D because you miss the first C the second time you count the notes well there you go, harmony explained, hope it helps, this is a really cool thing to use in a band if you have 2 guitarists.

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Guitar Strings Lessons (Without String Locks)

Posted by Guitar Harmony on 12:27 AM comments (0)

Welcome to the first lesson on stringing your guitar properly. This is a fairly straightforward task, but there are some tips that can be helpful in this area. In these lessons we will discuss some dos and don'ts of stringing your guitar, including some information on string-locks.

A little about string locks

First off, I'd like to say a few words regarding string-locks. Don't use them! String locks are a horrible idea that will only complicate everything from stringing to tuning to breaking strings. Not every guitar has these, but many with fancy tremolo units do. String-locks are the little clamps that tighten down on the strings to "lock" them in place. Though this might sound like a good idea, lets look at some of the reasons why it isn't.

Reason #1 - stringlocks are designed to keep your guitar in tune which would be fabulous except for the fact that most tuning problems are a result of the strings stretching and not slipping on the tuning posts. The locks won't help in this area. I'll show you a technique for locking the string in at the tuning post so that it doesn't slip, curing this problem while avoiding reason #2.

Reason #2 - stringlocks crimp the string, causing a weak spot in the string where you lock it. I am sure many of you have experienced strings breaking right where they go into the lock which is not a good thing. This happens because of the locks weakening the string where they are crimped, causing you to suffer more string breakages.

Reason #3 - it is much more difficult to change strings when using these locks, and takes much longer. When you break a string on stage you need to be able to replace the string as quickly as possible, and the job is twice as fast without these locks getting in the way. Having to search for your allen key or proper tool to use the locks in the middle of a show is a big no-no, you should be able to change strings quickly and easily without any special tools. Seems kinda silly that you would take twice as long to put a new string on only to weaken it and have more chance of it breaking as well.

Reason #4 - fine-tuners are great, when they aren't your only option. If you use stringlocks, how many times have you run out of adjustment on your fine tuners? When your strings are locked at the nut, you can't use your tuning posts. This can be a serious problem in the middle of a tough show where you have stretched out your strings enough so you run out of fine tuner adjustment. And guess what, you can't loosen the locks to make an adjustment for it because of the weak spot in your string from the lock, and trying to unlock and retune will certainly end in a broken string. I don't know about you, but I like to be able to tune my guitar when it needs it.

I should note that string locks are made for heavy tremolo use, and if you are one of those people who like heavy tremolo like diving until the strings fall loose on your guitar, you may be one of the few who should use these. Most people do not use the tremolo that much though, and the bad far outweighs the good here for most people. If you are a performing pro who uses heavy tremolo, then my advice would be to have a guitar that uses stringlocks just for those songs. This makes life much easier and you aren't dependent on your strings for the whole show anyway.
All in all, it is much better to use a nice locking technique at the tuning post so they don't slip and leave these string locks to the few people who really need them. Now lets move on to the next lesson where we will cover actually stringing your guitar up properly, since this has grown into a full lesson on the drawbacks of stringlocks.

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Introduction - Welcome To Music Theory Lessons Online

Posted by Guitar Harmony on 12:23 AM comments (0)

Welcome to Theory Lessons Online, featuring some of the best music theory lessons anywhere on the Internet. At this site you can find lessons ranging from simple beginner lessons all the way up to advanced music theory for professional guitar and bass players.
My name is Dave Allen, and I have designed this site because I felt there was a need for quality guitar and bass lessons online. I have been answering questions for guitar players and bass players online for a long time now, which led me to search for a good site on the Internet to help them. I was amazed at the lack of quality guitar or bass lessons available on the web. I simply could not find any, except for a few sites offering lessons that were at best very confusing and far from thorough.

Learning The Right Way

One of the problems I have always noticed about many music lessons is that the first thing they do is give you a big chart full of chords. This is plain backwards, and I will tell you why. To be able to understand chords and when to use them, you must first understand how the notes relate to each other. Learning the scales and theory behind them allows you to understand where the chords come from and how they should be used. Without understanding the scales and how the notes relate to each other, you couldn't possibly understand chords or how to use them. This is just one example, and there are many.

K.I.S.S.

I hope that this site will help people find some of the information they are looking for without being any more confusing than necessary. If you have already tried to learn music theory you know that this stuff is confusing enough without anyone making it worse. In my 13 years of teaching music theory lessons, I have studied to figure out just what students needed to allow them to play guitar or bass the way they wanted to, without all the complicated things they would never use. Over the last 13 years I have developed a course that is both fast, and accurate (not all this opinion based stuff you see elsewhere).
I believe that this is the finest course available, and I sincerely hope that it helps you reach your goals. I am available to answer e-mails if you have questions that are not answered in the course. I do ask that you please check the terms page, and the faq's page as well as reading the lessons carefully before e-mailing me for assistance. If you cannot find the answer to your question either in the lessons or elsewhere, I will be glad to personally respond, as well as make the necessary changes to the site to make sure those things are answered in the course. I will make every attempt to make this the absolute finest guitar and bass lessons site on the Internet.
Start at the beginning no matter what experience you have and at least read through the lessons from the start. You will find everything to be much easier that way.

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Guitar Fundamentals (For Beginners)

Posted by Guitar Harmony on 12:10 AM comments (0)

Guitar Fundamentals One is our guide for the Absolute Beginner. Guitar Fundamentals One takes you from the moment you pick up the guitar all the way to the formation of full major chords. No previous knowledge is required or expected. All lessons have been tested to be truly step by step, at the exact level of difficulty required to encourage rapid skill building.




Picking up where Guitar Fundamentals One left off, Guitar Fundamentals Two helps you become a well-rounded beginning guitarist. Guitar Fundamentals Two covers scales, reading music, minor chords, basic song structure, and barre chords. The lessons are more difficult, with the speed slightly increased to build skill. At the completion of this course you will have a strong foundation to pursue any musical style in our thousands of lessons.

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Guitar Harmony (How To Play)

Posted by Guitar Harmony on 11:44 PM comments (0)

Harmony is what makes music cool. A melody line is nice, but adding harmonies to it can take it from pleasing to an extremely emotional, uplifting swell of sound. Harmony is also the basis for chord structures in music, and there are many different modes of harmony that can be applied to give a range of different sounds and feelings. For now, let us just stick to the basics.



Instructions

Things You'll Need:

  • Guitar tuned to standard tuning
  • Guitar pick

    How to play guitar harmonies

  1. First, we'll be starting out with a basic melody in the key of E minor harmonized in major thirds. With your pick, pluck the notes E, G flat (also known as F sharp, or F#) and G. In order to do this, you must pluck the high E string openly for E, fret the note behind the second fret for the G flat and then behind the third fret for G. This is to be done all on the same string, and is the key melody.

  2. On the same string we'll be starting at G, this time playing G, A, B. In order to do this, you must fret behind the third fret for G, the fifth fret for A and the seventh fret for B. This is the harmony to the key melody, and is a major third, because G is three notes up from E in the musical alphabet and is major because of its "happy" sound.
  3. At this point you and a friend can play the melody harmonized together, each by playing one of the melodies described in the previous steps. If you want to play them by yourself, there's a little more to it.

  4. In order to play this harmonized melody by yourself, make sure that if you're using an electric guitar, the amplifier is on the clean channel; the distortion will force dissonance between each of the melodies. Play the key melody on the B string by fretting the first note (E) behind the fifth fret, the second (G flat) behind the seventh fret and the last (G) behind the eighth fret. You will have to use your ring finger to do this while you play the key melody with your index finger at the same time. The notes have to ring out at the same time for the harmony to sound properly.

  5. After you're comfortable with this, you can start experimenting with different harmonies. The most common ones are thirds, as above, and fifths, which means instead of counting up three notes, you count up five. Harmony is easiest if you stay in the key of A minor; every harmony note is a letter in the musical alphabet (A B C D E F G). If you start at A and want a third, you can play a C or an F. The same goes for any other kind of harmony.


Read more: How to Play Guitar Harmonies | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5675274_play-guitar-harmonies.html#ixzz13FyskJIa

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