Friday, May 31, 2013
What Kind of Guitar Pick Should I Use
Whats the difference in picks?
There are tons of choices when it comes to guitar picks. Different thicknesses, shapes, materials, themes, and who knows what else. Ive seen picks made of metal, plastic, tortoise shell, wood, rock, and even had students use a piece of a milk carton or a coin! Well cover the important differences, then its up to you to decide. Since picks are extremely cheap, the best advice is to buy an assortment and see what you like.
Shapes and sizes. Triangles, teardrops and ovals. Those are the basic shapes and there are variations. A lot of people use a triangle shaped pick with rounded corners except for the point. The main thing is to not get one thats real big or real small. After youve experimented with different picks youll probably find one that you like more than the others.
Thicknesses.
There are almost as many thicknesses as there are shapes and sizes! They vary from simply light, medium and heavy, to thousandths of an inch. My personal favorites are Jim Dunlop nylon picks with a .073 or .088 thickness. They have little bumps on them to help you grip them which is great if you play outside when its hot and humid. Plastic picks tend to slip and become more pliable in the hot weather. Again, try various picks to see which ones you like best. My advice to my students is to not get one thats real thin or real thick to start with. The thin ones tend to make a slapping sound when you play and the real thick ones can cause your wrist to hurt.
Pictures, cartoon characters, famous people. There are lots of people who collect picks since theyre inexpensive and its fun to find something different. Weve had Star Wars, The Simpsons, South Park, Elvis and many other souvenir type picks. A personal favorite that I own is from Chuck Berry. It has a picture of Chuck on one side and "Roll Over", in honor of his song Roll Over Beethoven on the other side. Finger picks and thumb picks. If you play banjo or use your fingers to play, youll also need a couple or 3 finger picks and a thumb pick. Like their flat pick counterparts they also come in gauges and different materials. Again, theyre relatively cheap so see what you like best. Most people use a plastic pick on the thumb since metal on the thicker, wound strings tends to sound raspy. So take a trip to your local music store and let the experiment begin. If youre in doubt ask your guitar teacher or a guitar playing friend for advice, but be warned that youll get lots of different opinions.
There are tons of choices when it comes to guitar picks. Different thicknesses, shapes, materials, themes, and who knows what else. Ive seen picks made of metal, plastic, tortoise shell, wood, rock, and even had students use a piece of a milk carton or a coin! Well cover the important differences, then its up to you to decide. Since picks are extremely cheap, the best advice is to buy an assortment and see what you like.
Shapes and sizes. Triangles, teardrops and ovals. Those are the basic shapes and there are variations. A lot of people use a triangle shaped pick with rounded corners except for the point. The main thing is to not get one thats real big or real small. After youve experimented with different picks youll probably find one that you like more than the others.
Thicknesses.
There are almost as many thicknesses as there are shapes and sizes! They vary from simply light, medium and heavy, to thousandths of an inch. My personal favorites are Jim Dunlop nylon picks with a .073 or .088 thickness. They have little bumps on them to help you grip them which is great if you play outside when its hot and humid. Plastic picks tend to slip and become more pliable in the hot weather. Again, try various picks to see which ones you like best. My advice to my students is to not get one thats real thin or real thick to start with. The thin ones tend to make a slapping sound when you play and the real thick ones can cause your wrist to hurt.
Pictures, cartoon characters, famous people. There are lots of people who collect picks since theyre inexpensive and its fun to find something different. Weve had Star Wars, The Simpsons, South Park, Elvis and many other souvenir type picks. A personal favorite that I own is from Chuck Berry. It has a picture of Chuck on one side and "Roll Over", in honor of his song Roll Over Beethoven on the other side. Finger picks and thumb picks. If you play banjo or use your fingers to play, youll also need a couple or 3 finger picks and a thumb pick. Like their flat pick counterparts they also come in gauges and different materials. Again, theyre relatively cheap so see what you like best. Most people use a plastic pick on the thumb since metal on the thicker, wound strings tends to sound raspy. So take a trip to your local music store and let the experiment begin. If youre in doubt ask your guitar teacher or a guitar playing friend for advice, but be warned that youll get lots of different opinions.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
The Major Scale and minor Scale
Hi,
Today I like to explain a little bit about the major Scale relatively to the minor scale.
Dont you guys know that there are 2 scales thats the same? I mean one major scale that similar to one minor scale. It has guys. believe. For instants let me tell you that G major scale is similar to E minor scale. and also D major and B minor. F major and D minor, C major and A minor
But how this things happens?
As a principal there are 7 notes in natural major scale. For easy reference lets use the scale of C. THe notes contain in the scale of C are:
C D E F G A Aand B
and the scale of A minor is: A B C D E F and G. if you can see the 2 scales has the same note, so it is similar. The only different is the starting note C and A both for C scale and A minor scale respectively.
I give you some other scales that similar:
C# and B flat minor scale.
D and B minor scale.
D# and C minor scale
E and C# minor scale.
F and D minor scale.
F# and D# minor scale.
G and E minor scale.
G# and F minor scale.
A and F# minor scale.
B flat and G minor scale.
B and G# minor scale.
So for me it this thing help us to remember either the major or minor chords. Its similar.
Have fun.
Today I like to explain a little bit about the major Scale relatively to the minor scale.
Dont you guys know that there are 2 scales thats the same? I mean one major scale that similar to one minor scale. It has guys. believe. For instants let me tell you that G major scale is similar to E minor scale. and also D major and B minor. F major and D minor, C major and A minor
But how this things happens?
As a principal there are 7 notes in natural major scale. For easy reference lets use the scale of C. THe notes contain in the scale of C are:
C D E F G A Aand B
and the scale of A minor is: A B C D E F and G. if you can see the 2 scales has the same note, so it is similar. The only different is the starting note C and A both for C scale and A minor scale respectively.
I give you some other scales that similar:
C# and B flat minor scale.
D and B minor scale.
D# and C minor scale
E and C# minor scale.
F and D minor scale.
F# and D# minor scale.
G and E minor scale.
G# and F minor scale.
A and F# minor scale.
B flat and G minor scale.
B and G# minor scale.
So for me it this thing help us to remember either the major or minor chords. Its similar.
Have fun.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Minor Scale Introduction
Hi,
Actually there 3 types of minor scale, namely:
1. natural minor
2. Harmonic minor; and
3. Melodic.
As a good guitarist we need to know three of them. Because the more song we want to play the more scales we need to know. Better we start to learn the Natural minor. May be you read my previous post that each scale has 7 notes. same goes to this Natural minor scale has 7 notes.
The question begins. What are the notes we need to use. Let see the pattern of natural minor:
1. W - H - W - W - H - W - W; or
2. 2 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 2;
3. T - S - T - T - S - T - T
Let us take a note to start constructing the scale using the above mentioned pattern. The note B might be a good example: it will be: B - C# - D - E - F# - G - A. Or what we can say:
B is the 1st note
C# is the 2nd note
D is the 3rd note
E is the 4th note
F# is the 5th note
G is the 6th note.
A is the 7th note.
Maybe you can study the pattern and construct the natural minor scale starts from the other note. We learnt the B natural minor scale. Just and idea given try to construct the C natural minor, then raise it a half tone to C# natural minor, then raise it another half tone.. and so on. you will get it, familiarise it.
But dont forget to do it using the alternate picking.
Thank you
Actually there 3 types of minor scale, namely:
1. natural minor
2. Harmonic minor; and
3. Melodic.
As a good guitarist we need to know three of them. Because the more song we want to play the more scales we need to know. Better we start to learn the Natural minor. May be you read my previous post that each scale has 7 notes. same goes to this Natural minor scale has 7 notes.
The question begins. What are the notes we need to use. Let see the pattern of natural minor:
1. W - H - W - W - H - W - W; or
2. 2 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 2;
3. T - S - T - T - S - T - T
Let us take a note to start constructing the scale using the above mentioned pattern. The note B might be a good example: it will be: B - C# - D - E - F# - G - A. Or what we can say:
B is the 1st note
C# is the 2nd note
D is the 3rd note
E is the 4th note
F# is the 5th note
G is the 6th note.
A is the 7th note.
Maybe you can study the pattern and construct the natural minor scale starts from the other note. We learnt the B natural minor scale. Just and idea given try to construct the C natural minor, then raise it a half tone to C# natural minor, then raise it another half tone.. and so on. you will get it, familiarise it.
But dont forget to do it using the alternate picking.
Thank you
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Smooth Jazz Tone On a Solid Body Guitar
Hollow-body or semi-hollow electric guitars used to sounds more warm and open, than solid-body constructions. It's a big advantage for many blues and jazz players. However, having a solid-body axe is not a problem on the way to get a nice, warm, jazz tone.
I'm the one of those, who play jazz on solid body guitars. It's because I like the tone dynamic and comfort of this kind of constructions. I have really smooth, jazz tone with my SG (yes, I'm using SG to play jazz).
So, how to get that smooth, warm tone on a solid body guitar?
Read more »
Monday, May 27, 2013
Concentrate On The Music Not Your Hands
Focus on the music.
Beginning guitar students tend to watch their hands instead of the music. This usually happens when theyre close to having a piece of music memorized. As their confidence in the song grows, they tend to watch their fingers, look up to see where they are, and then get lost.
Dont practice mistakes.
Listen to yourself perform the song and watch for trouble spots. While I dont advocate watching your hands, I also dont advocate never looking at them. If youve made a mistake, stop, look at your hands and reposition your fingers. Narrow down the trouble area, and slowly and deliberately play through the passage several times. Dont try to speed up until you can play that section perfectly.
Dont go too long without listening to the song.
With You Tube, DVDs, CDs and iTunes available, theres no reason to not have a recording of the song youre trying to play. Listen and/or watch so youre sure you understand what the song is supposed to sound like. Its best to do that when youre not trying to play along. Youll be surprised at what repeated listening can do for you. It helps develop your ear and lots of times youll hear things you missed when you listened earlier.
Play the song for you guitar teacher so you can gauge your progress.
I have students question why I make them play what theyre working on, and the answer is quite simple. We want to correct mistakes, check fingering, and hear how things are progressing. When I took up banjo playing after years of concentrating on guitar, I made the mistake of trying to learn a song I didnt have a recording for. I practiced it for months, then when I tried to play it with others it turned out that I was adding extra notes. I actually quit playing the song for several months and concentrated on listening to the recording when I wasnt trying to practice the banjo. Only after I could visualize how the song went did I go back and re-learn it.
Beginning guitar students tend to watch their hands instead of the music. This usually happens when theyre close to having a piece of music memorized. As their confidence in the song grows, they tend to watch their fingers, look up to see where they are, and then get lost.
Dont practice mistakes.
Listen to yourself perform the song and watch for trouble spots. While I dont advocate watching your hands, I also dont advocate never looking at them. If youve made a mistake, stop, look at your hands and reposition your fingers. Narrow down the trouble area, and slowly and deliberately play through the passage several times. Dont try to speed up until you can play that section perfectly.
Dont go too long without listening to the song.
With You Tube, DVDs, CDs and iTunes available, theres no reason to not have a recording of the song youre trying to play. Listen and/or watch so youre sure you understand what the song is supposed to sound like. Its best to do that when youre not trying to play along. Youll be surprised at what repeated listening can do for you. It helps develop your ear and lots of times youll hear things you missed when you listened earlier.
Play the song for you guitar teacher so you can gauge your progress.
I have students question why I make them play what theyre working on, and the answer is quite simple. We want to correct mistakes, check fingering, and hear how things are progressing. When I took up banjo playing after years of concentrating on guitar, I made the mistake of trying to learn a song I didnt have a recording for. I practiced it for months, then when I tried to play it with others it turned out that I was adding extra notes. I actually quit playing the song for several months and concentrated on listening to the recording when I wasnt trying to practice the banjo. Only after I could visualize how the song went did I go back and re-learn it.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Treble Bleed Switch Volume Pot Mod
In this post, I will show you how to make a switchable guitar treble bleed prevention circuit. It's based on a push-pull volume potentiometer, a capacitor and a resistor.
Diagram:
Read more »
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Major Scale A lil Step Ahead
Hi,
I still want to write more about the major scale. Hence, today I am very happy coz my friend namely Ponco Satrio. A very good guitarist originally from Indonesia willing to share his video regarding the E major scale classical style.
Look how firm his picking and fingering. Maybe some of you feel this video quite fast. Then you should try to play it slowly.
Anyway. Thanks to my friend Ponch(Ponco Satrio)
I still want to write more about the major scale. Hence, today I am very happy coz my friend namely Ponco Satrio. A very good guitarist originally from Indonesia willing to share his video regarding the E major scale classical style.
Look how firm his picking and fingering. Maybe some of you feel this video quite fast. Then you should try to play it slowly.
Anyway. Thanks to my friend Ponch(Ponco Satrio)
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