New answers tagged guitar
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You could add some trills for variety on repeated sections. Not too much, just enough to break the monotony and give the song some variation and build anticipation. A slowing of the tempo to draw attention to key points can also make pieces like this come alive.
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You could vary how you break the sections into phrases. The limiting cases would be to play the entire phrase staccato and then play it legato, but you could also make similar variations in the interior of the section.
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I personally enjoy the G6th tuning (D G D G B E). The D and G notes seem a tad repetitive at first, but it adds a lot of interesting variance in the tone. It is acclaimed by some Gilmour fans because it is versatile for Gilmour-style solos or for chords, allowing not only the primary triads of G (D G D) and E-Minor (G B E) but also a plethora of other ...
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This warm up exercise helps stretch your fretting hand. I found a picture that explains http://www.fretjam.com/image-files/hand-stretch3.jpg Push as far as you can and use all three crooks of fingers.
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I saw some really good answers and I agree with some of them.
My favorite warm up practice helps strengthen all my fret hand fingers, as well as providing coordination with pick hand and fret hand.
Starting on the
low E string 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
then the A 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
then the D 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
continue through all six strings and back up again.
Next ...
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I use arpeggios: major 7, minor 7, and dominant 7 in 5 positions (essentially CAGED). Go through the circle of fifths, playing major 7ths in one of the 5 positions; repeat for other positions; repeat for minor 7 and dominant 7. Practice with a metronome, and gradually increase speed (over weeks/months/years).
At the moment, I'm also working on tremolo ...
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Sometimes a scale can be called "related". For example, there is the major diatonic scale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatonic_and_chromatic consisting of eight notes. On a piano, this is easy to remember. The C major scale is all the white keys. C to C is 7 notes plus the octave.
The related or 'relative minor' can be counted 3 steps backwards.
C - D - E ...
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Some amps may be more versatile, some amps may have a particular sound you want or open new opportunities. If you like the sound you are getting and it is loud enough for your current needs, then you don't need a better amp. You might want a better amp, but that is something that never goes away, no matter how much you spend or how fancy your amp is.
If ...
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Alternative string choices for Acoustic Guitars… Hmmm…
Acoustic Guitar Types?
Steel String Acoustic Guitars?
Go for it! Nashville tuning rocks! That's how Alex Lifeson gets that super cool shimmery layered chorus effect on so many of the Rush albums (and many other players too, Pink Floyd, The Stones, Kansas ...
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If you want a great acoustic tone from an acoustic guitar you're just not gonna get it with electric strings, particularly light-gauge electrics. The overall sound is more tinny, the G string has a particularly tinnier quality due to being plain rather than wound, and the bass response of the entire instrument goes way down due to the significantly thinner ...
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I always try to have about 4 inches worth of string wrapped around the peg. There are further things to do, such as locking tuners and tying the strings, but I find that having sufficient windings (but not too many) should be enough.
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C major and A minor scales contain the same notes, but those notes take on different roles.
The root note is the "home" of the melody - often the melody begins or ends on the root note, but even when it doesn't, you should be able to hear how the melody feels "resolved" when it's on the root note.
C is the root note of C major. A is the root note of A ...
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The "lazy" way to play ordinary slash chords, is for something chordal in the mid-range (like a guitar, or right hand piano) to play the chord above the slash, and for something monophonic in the bass range (like a bass guitar, or left hand piano) to play the note below the slash.
I wonder whether an adaptation of that would apply here. The mid-range ...
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Possibly the chord marked is not just for guitarists. To get a good voicing, the notes need to be spread over maybe 3 octaves - not easy on a guitar.With clashes like G and Ab and D and Eb,the notes won't sound good next to each other, on any instrument. When they're nearly an octave apart, they often sound great.As there are 7 notes anyway, at least one ...
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Unless you have a seven string guitar, this chord is impossible to play on guitar if you want all chord degrees represented. Since it is a G-minor chord over an Fm7, you can really think of the total composite chord as an Fm13, which is a pretty standard jazz chord for guitarists. . . or any jazz player for that matter.
What notes you leave out in part ...
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i have to agree with @Chipsgoumerde, a reference point is always very helpful when picking (if pick or finger) the simplest reference is (as mentioned) the pinky.
i once also was only comfortable with my hand in the air, right now i rest my full right side of my hand on the bridge, if single-picking and my pinkie, ringfinger and middle-finger on strings 1,2 ...
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Go back to the fundaments - practice your hammer-on and pull-offs. Get it solid. Make them sing! Ensure that the attack volume of these notes is equal to normal attack volume you usually do. Only the nuance of the ASDR should change, not the actual volume of the produced notes. This ensures you've got the right technique to really nail down (pun ...
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To some extent, muscle memory will come into play and your finger, whether there is a fret there or not, will "know" where to go.
If the instrument isn't properly adjusted like normal for intonation then you'll have you wander more for the correct pitch.
A half hour with a strobe tuner (meaning, something accurate enough to warrant the time with it) and ...
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Here is a great exercise I used to give to students as they get started doing hammer-ons and pull-offs, just pick it the first time and make a trill drill out of it.
Starting in the first four frets, where the 1st finger is on the 1st fret, 2nd finger on the 2nd fret, 3rd finger on the 3rd fret, and 4th finger on the 4th fret: Do every possible combination, ...
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You can make sure that you're in the ballpark using traditional intonation techniques. Play a 12th fret harmonic on each string, and compare that to a 12th fret "fretted" note. I say "fretted" because, well, there are none. You get the idea.
Use a tuner, and just ensure that you are in the ballpark when fretting right on the 12th fret line (if you have ...
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When I was a kid I learned to play piano first, then a bit of trumpet, then picked up guitar in my teens. Piano taught me to read scales, and I learned a bit about how melody and chords work. Guitar is my favorite, and I played it in jazz, country and rock bands for years.
I decided to take some music theory classes at the local community college, which, ...
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You are playing a guitar. All the notes on your guitar (piano etc) are in a scale - the chromatic scale. From my outside perspective if you play some notes together it is a chord, and if you play tunes on a restricted set of notes (ie not playing all the notes) that would be a scale. If you use the same set of notes again you will save time by giving the ...
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Practice your guitar in bed at night, with the lights off, and try to find the same note over and over consistently. This will help map your physical muscle memory to your guitar.
Secondly, take the chord you know the best, like an Am or EMaj or CMaj usually. Finger this chord to the best of your abilities without looking, only by feel. Strum it a few ...
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Start small and work your way up.
Start with a hammer-on, for example, on the A string between frets 7 and 9, between index and ring fingers. This is probably the easiest place to trill, at least it is for me.
Get that hammer-on good and solid. Try your best to make it faster.
Once you master that hammer-on, immediately do a pull-off, and let the lower ...
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Trills are (unfortunately) one of those things that only constant repetition will aid.
Your body is not naturally used to the movements required for trills. When you constantly practice them, your brain will eventually pick up on the movements and it will become natural to you. Note, by "constant", I don't mean a two hour crash course session playing ...
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There are many websites with specific picking exercises, but you don't really need them. What you do need is to decide on a set of notes, and play along with a metronome to help you learn timing. Starting off slowly and bringing the speed up as you can pay each arpeggio exercise perfectly is the way to do this.
An example exercise is this one from ...
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A really good example might be Steve Vai - he is a master of the long, fast move or slide to a specific fret.
With my current band, I wear a very restrictive mask with laser diodes shining out the eye holes, so my vision is extremely curtailed.
To manage moves up and down my fretboard I use three techniques:
a rapid slide (muted or unmuted) lets you ...
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If you look at blind guitarist Raul Midon, you can tell is counting fret with his finger very rapidly when he has to do big jumps. For smaller jumps, just feel where you have to go in relation to the previous chord.
I've also heard that French songwriter and guitarist George Brassens use to...saw marks into the back of the neck to have tactile points of ...
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There's a box of questions here, without a strong theme. I'll pick off what I can.
For most circumstances, the difference between a rhythm and lead guitarist is artificial, because most of the time, the lead guitarist is also playing behind a singer or other instrumental player. The number of musicians who only play lead and never have to support another ...
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This is not an unusual idea. Any 4-string bass should be easy to set up for B-E-A-D. You (or a qualified guitar repair technician) will need to file the string slots in the nut to make them wider to accommodate the thicker strings, and you will need to adjust the position of the bridge saddles to achieve proper intonation. You may or may not need an ...
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I'm addressing only your first paragraph. Assuming you want to stay pentatonic for now, and know the box in A based around the 5th to 8th frets, this should help. The box below that has basically two notes per string, as the box you know. Each higher note on each string is the SAME note as the lower one in your known box.So you already know HALF of it !! ...
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I think a good instinctive understanding of harmony is important, and one good way to get there is to work out chord progressions yourself.
Start with simple three-chord rock'n'roll standards. Assume that you're working with the root, the fourth and the fifth, and it's just a matter of working out which order to play them. Start in A, so you're working with ...
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I think there's some possibility for confusion of terms because lead and rhythm means different things depending on what precise area you're talking about.
In a rock band, there's usually a division between the rhythm guitar whose job is primarily harmony and chords (the left hand of the piano) and the lead guitar whose job is to play little melodies and ...
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Your question covers several different topics but I think what you're interested in is Harmony. This is a very vast subject. As for the importance of what you lack as a rhythm guitarist, it largely depends on the style you play.
Lots of artists just don't know what they're doing when writing stuff and just happen to know empirically what goes well with ...
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If you don't have a lot of experience in shaping and setting of the saddle, there are plenty of aftermarkets out there, usually much better than the original material (and eco-friendly) that are compensated and have the proper radii for most common acoustic manufacturers.
A saddle that is pre-shaped will nearly "drop-in" to your current setup and more than ...
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Proper adjustments over time will never hurt an instrument, and may indeed make them play better and last longer. Each instrument needs to be set up from time to time, and someone who really knows what their doing and can "read" what the wood does or may do over a course of a year will provide a great instrument no matter what original condition or price ...
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Some use thumb, some do it the 'orthodox' way.Whatever works ! However, it sounds like your span is on the small side, like mine, so it's going to be difficult.Try using the index finger somewhat like a barré.It'll certainly work on the chord part, and on the other,a bent index will probably do the job.Your hand anatomy is different from other's - we're all ...
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There are two opposing schools of thought as regards thumb-fretting. Many use it, citing Jimi Hendrix and others, but others say it isn't the way it "should be done"
My take is- do it if it works for you. On my 7 string I use it on some occasions where a barre wouldn't work but generally I find my hands aren't quite big enough to do it comfortably. For ...
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Different answer. I used to use a Tascam,and the chain was gtr - Tascam - amp., which is probably the path you mean. Yes, it'll work.The CD player in the Tascam will obviously let you play CDs,and you can plug the output from mp3 etc. into 'line in' on the Tascam. Be aware that the balance between inputs may be possible but you'll need to change the gain ...
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Your simplest option would be to replace the amp with one that has an aux in.That way, the impedences for gtr. and mp3 or whatever are better balanced, and individually controllable for volume, tone etc.Provided you eq. your own amp, the sound will not be as awful as suggested - guitar amps WILL produce clean sounds when the gain is not excessive.Or, find ...
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The USB guitar link is for recording your guitar into a computer. Useful, but not relevant to your needs here.
To play something like a CD player through a guitar amp, it is sometimes enough to connect the headphone output of the CD player, to the instrument input of the amp. You will need to turn the headphone volume right down, and turn down the ...
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In short, yes! There are tonal differences between the two. Minis will have more mids and highs than the regular humbucker. This is due to two reasons. The first is the width of the pickup. The small width means that it will pick up a shorter length of the string, which translates to shorter frequency wavelengths (higher frequencies). The other factor ...
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Aside from looking at how to attach the strings on the bridge side of things (nylon strings are almost always traditionally tied on to a pass-through of the bridge), the real problem may be binding in the nut. Nylon strings are significantly larger than steel strings and the nut slot on a steel string guitar may not compensate for this drastic difference in ...
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Firstly, on a technical level you should always change your entire set of strings in one sitting versus changing only a string that breaks or sounds bad unless you're in the middle of a gig, practice session, etc; but afterwards change your strings starting with low E (6E) and then A & so on.
Secondly, to address everyone's concern about being able to ...
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There is a type of nylon string set that is designed to be installed on a guitar with the kind of bridge with bridge pins that you find on a steel-string guitar. Look for "folk guitar nylon strings with ball ends".
But if you use them, you'll certainly need professional work done to adjust your truss rod and to modify your nut and possibly your bridge ...
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Most Modern guitars have a truss rod in the neck which means that tention or lack thereof is not an issue for bending or snapping - especially if applying nylon strings to a steel string guitar. Neither is the attachment of strings because ball end nylon folk strings are available. The real difficulty is the with of the neck and the depth of the string ...
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