Posted on 25 July 2009. Tags: Hindrance, Learning Guitar, Time Constraints

Frank Foxx asked: What a place the world wide web is. So much information. So much knowledge. So much, um – stuff – to wade through.
To look at the many commercial guitar websites out there, you’d swear a Satriani was being born every minute. The sites scream out at you – “play like a pro”, “insider secrets revealed”, “master guitar in 30 days guaranteed”… Amazing. In fact, all the guitar systems out there seem to be “guaranteed”. But “guaranteed to” what? Have you play like a pro? Have you play a song start to finish?
Actually, they’re guaranteed to the extent that if you return them within a specified time-frame, you’ll be refunded your money. That’s it. That’s all. There’s no actual guarantee that you will play guitar. There can’t be. You’re a human being. There’s no guarantee on anything.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t aspire to learn guitar. It’s the most wonderful instrument in the world. Go into any local music store and watch the wizards wail, on electric or acoustic. Will you get there? That’s not certain. There are so many variables:
your natural musical inclination
your manual dexterity
your musical ear
Those are some of nature’s gifts (or lack of) which will affect the outcome. Then there are the more physical, down-to-earth factors:
your budget
your time constraints
the rest of your life outside guitar
Everyone would love to play the guitar at some point in their life. That’s a fact. The ultimate level of one’s success on guitar is dependent on all the above factors and more. Lessons are never a bad idea, if you can afford them. Practice, of course, is the only way to improve. Teaching aids such as those found on the internet can be a help. Watching guitarists (and musicians generally) in action can be an eye-opener and motivator. What it all adds up to is – there’s no guarantee.
But what about those novices or frustrated players who just can’t seem to find the zone? Where the very basics of the instrument seem to be a hindrance. All of the books, all of the coaching, all of the websites and their systems and aids, that don’t seem to help. Where progress is limited. Those are the ones I love to pick up. I’ve seen them all. From housewives, to six year-olds, to frustrated veterans, even good guitarists who just want to get better. I’ve got the way that is actually different.
My site has the same guarantee as everyone else’s – if you don’t like what you bought, return it and you’ll get your money back. What I also am able to guarantee is that my system, Guitar-eze, is truly easier. Especially at the outset, when most of your chords are played with one finger. Guitar-eze focuses on open-D tuning. You build from there; there’s way less to memorize, and less fingering technique to master upfront. It’s easier. Guaranteed.
Website content
Posted in Guitar Articles
Posted on 24 July 2009. Tags: Books, Decision 1, Guitar Player

Andreas Wahlstedt asked: Every aspiring guitar player faces the following question: “What’s the best way for me to learn guitar?” Should you should teach yourself or hire a professional? Which guitar courses are recommended most often? What about those Internet-based guitar training sites?
These are all valid questions because how you learn to play the guitar is just as important as what you learn to play. Teaching yourself how to play might work just fine if you’ve got a good ear and some previous exposure to music theory or proficiency on another instrument.
If you’re totally new to playing any instrument at all, though, it would be a good idea to get a teacher — or — join an online program where you can interact with multiple teachers as well as fellow students. In fact, I would recommend finding at least one ‘mentor’ or a ‘study buddy’ to learn with even if you lean towards teaching yourself.
Why?
In short, you learn more and make more progress faster than you would in isolation because you’ll be exposed to alternative ways of thinking about your approach to the guitar. Other players can share tips and techniques you haven’t seen before, as well as help you conquer a problem area that they’ve already mastered.
Ultimately, though, the question of how to learn guitar is up to you and your choice should be guided by consideration of your own unique situation. The following list of questions should help you make a solid decision:
1. How much can I afford to spend on lessons, books, etc, and how much am I willing to invest to get started?
2. How do I learn best? For example, can you pick up concepts easily just by reading about them, or do you prefer to have audio and video demonstrations you can follow along with?
3. Am I looking to learn a specific style of guitar such as Classical, Blues or Jazz? You’ll still need to learn basic music theory for any style of music, but you might want to look for instruction that focuses on teaching the theory in one of these contexts.
4. How much time can I devote to practice? This is really important if you’re thinking of hiring a guitar teacher. Most teachers will require you to master a lesson before moving on to the next one.
You’ll still be paying for those lessons even when you aren’t making much progress. So, if you’re strapped for time, I recommend investing in a home-study or online couse. This will give you 24/7 access to the information you need outside of your regular guitar lessons.
5. How ‘good’ of a player do I want to be? If guitar is just a hobby for you, then you’ll likely do well with just about any method of instruction. If you want to go pro or start a band, though, you should learn from as many different sources as possible.
Caffeinated Content
Posted in Guitar Articles
Posted on 24 July 2009. Tags: beginner guitar lessons, Electric Guitar, guitar, Guitar Articles, Guitar Course, Guitar Lesson, Guitar Lessons, Learn Guitar, learn guitar course
by Mike Jones
This article teaches you a nice little chord change for you to use over and over again. It can be used in many different situations adding another item to your bag of tricks that you should be building up over time. Even if you are not yet at a level to be able to play this piece you still need to keep it as you will be able to refer back to it when you are at a level to be able to play it. Your bag of tricks you will be building over time will be invaluable in times to come and will help tremendously in your quest to becoming a great player. This sequence is really effective but it does assume you have some understanding of playing the guitar.
Clarifying what I have just mentioned as I feel it is really important to understand is that if you are not yet at a standard to be able to play this sequence – don’t panic! Store this tip in your bag of tricks and at a later date when you ability improves you will be able to pull it out to use at will. From the FREE articles I will be posting over the coming weeks you will be able to throw lots of tricks into your bag to be used whenever you choose.
Ok, give this a whirl:
Play one bar with all down strokes and on the beat using an ‘A major’ chord in the open position using your 1st, 2nd and 3rd fingers.
Next lift off your 3rd finger to reveal the open B string (this chord is called Asus2) and play one bar.
Now, hold down using your 4th finger the ‘B string’ at the 3rd fret (1st and 2nd finger remain unchanged at the second fret throughout this sequence) and play one bar, this is an Asus4 chord. Then finish with one bar of ‘Amajor’ to complete this four bar sequence.
And thats it!
This is a really nice sounding sequence and can be used by the relative beginner. It arises in many, many songs and sounds really effective. Give it a whirl.
About the Author:
About The Author – Mike Jones: Mike has been playing and teaching guitar as a professional for more than two decades. Over this period of time he has developed an amazing speed learning professionalgram that takes the absolute beginner through to accomplished player in the shortest possible time. To get some FREE tips and tricks and to find out more visit Mike’s website at:
guitar lessons
Posted in Guitar Articles
Posted on 23 July 2009. Tags: entertainment, Guitar Lessons, instruments, Learn Guitar, Learn Music, music
by Ryse Edwards
When a beginners guitar lessons first start, it’s difficult for the instructor to go over all the “basics of the basics.” Not only are you wasting your 30 minutes to an hour that you’re paying for, it will mean many more lessons and more money. So for everyone needing the beginners guitar lessons, here’s a quick guide to help.
The acoustic guitar itself has been around for centuries, dating all the way back to the late 1700s. It took over 200 hundred years for the electric guitar to be introduced, around the 1930s. Obviously it doesn’t matter what type of guitar you’re going to play, it really all depends on your preference. The point is, no matter which one you choose, you’ll be a better musician if you know the parts of a guitar.
These beginners guitar lessons start with understanding the framework of a guitar. Things like the headstock, tuners, nut, neck, sound hole, body, and bridge will need to be memorized. Each one plays a crucial role in making great music with your guitar, but if one thing is missing then it all falls apart.
Another important feature you should know ahead of time is how to hold a pick. Beginners guitar lessons will normally start with you playing a chord, so make sure you know how to hold the pick first. We see so many people try to use their fingers, but in the end that just becomes extremely painful. In order to hold a pick, just make a loose fist with the thumb next to your index finger, and keep the knuckle of the thumb facing you.
Guitar lessons for beginners will also teach you how to tune the guitar before you play. You can find all kinds of videos on the Internet that can help you do it manually, as opposed to an electronic tuner.
The last thing that you should learn before taking beginners guitar lessons is the scales. This is pretty much what we were talking about above, except you’ll press the strings along the neck, so your fingers know which strings to hit. Your thumb won’t be a part of this until you become a professional, so just use it as support
Okay, are you ready to play your first cord? Just pull out some illustrated chord charts and follow the instructions. Memorize it all, and if you want extra practice, grab some of your favorite songs.
Remember, these are just the basics. There are still a lot of things beginners like you should learn, to play the guitar like a professional. The additional material can be quickly and easily learned with play guitar for beginners lessons.
About the Author:
Looking for
free online guitar courses? Then visit Ryse Edwards’ website now and find the top guitar courses online. Click
HERE now for more information.
Posted in Learn Guitar
Posted on 22 July 2009. Tags: Guitar String, Musical Instrument, Playing The Guitar

Nick seigal asked: TAB, which is short for tablature, is a good way for many people to learn to play the guitar. When learning to play the flute, piano, saxophone, violin, and other types of music, a person uses written music. However, the guitar is different in that chord diagrams are used instead. Now, some people have the ability to read chord music quite well while other people struggle. Because of this, a different method of learning was devised whereby a person can learn guitar TAB.
Tablature is simply a way in which a series of notes are written so a person can learn a riff or run on the guitar. For many individuals, the option to learn guitar TAB is a blessing, helping them learn quickly and with much less frustration. However, you need to understand that while TAB has many benefits, a few drawbacks do exist.
First, when playing the guitar, you are playing not only notes but also rhythm. With TAB, transferring information specific to an intended rhythm is difficult, if not impossible to do. For instance, if you play a musical instrument using sheet music, part of the music shows the rhythm so you know how fast or slow a song should be played. However, when you learn guitar TAB, this rhythm information is not there. For this reason, most people will choose a song they already know the rhythm to so all they have to learn are the notes.
A major difference in how a person would learn guitar with TAB is that the lines on the sheet music have lines that represent the guitar strings. In addition, the music would have dots on the lines, which is the appropriate finger placement. With this, you simple look at the fingers and place yours on the guitar string to match. Again, for many people to learn guitar TAB is the only way they can grasp this particular instrument.
Another important thing to know about TAB is that as you read the TAB, the line on the bottom is the sixth or deepest pitched string on the guitar while the top line is the first or highest string. You will also find when you learn guitar TAB that the dots may or may not be accompanied by a number, which is a reference to the fret on that particular string you need finger. For this, you would make the decision as to the finger used.
Then, as you learn guitar TAB, understand that if a song has two or more notes needing to be played simultaneously, they would show up on the TAB with one directly above the other. Additionally, when looking at a tablature, anything that shows up as an “O” means an open string or no finger placement on that particular string.
For most people who learn guitar TAB the beginning is a bit awkward and confusing but with time, it will soon become extremely easy. Many people learning to play guitar prefer this method for a number of reasons. In addition to being visually easier to learn, hundreds of TAB songs are now available online, giving them a much greater selection of songs to learn without having to pay for expensive DVDs, CDs or instructional material.
Create a video blog
Posted in Guitar Articles
Posted on 22 July 2009. Tags: Camp Songs, First Timers, Guitar Skills

Roland Jefferson III asked: If you are like similar to many first timers coming to understand how to learn guitar playing, you are likely sitting in front of your computer screen right now with your guitar sitting next to you dreaming of how you are going to impress your friends with something you are going to learn. First of all, you need to realize that the guitar in your hand is a very unique instrument and although you can’t make it sound nice now, keep plucking and finding ways how to learn guitar because it is an extremely rewarding thing to do for yourself and of course, for those infamous camp fire songs to strum around the fire at night.
How To Learn Guitar Techniques
Trying to figure out how to learn guitar techniques is an entire challenge all on it’s own because many different teachers teach many different techniques and when it comes down to the real bones of the situation, you need to do what you feel best suits you and not a specific technique that a certain person has taught you. When you are trying to understand how to learn guitar technique it is entirely possible that you will have to modify these techniques to comfort and ease.
Comfort and ease, does that sound odd to you when talking about trying how to learn guitar playing and techniques? After all, what does comfort and ease have to do with picking and strumming your new guitar, right? Plenty is the answer. Most people’s fingers are different lengths and what works for the individual with short, stubby fingers doesn’t work for the guitar player who has long, slender fingers. You will understand once you try to form a few chords and cry out, “this isn’t natural, my fingers don’t bend that way!” It is a normal reaction and takes place with most of us trying to comprehend how to learn guitar playing, picking and techniques.
Don’t Give Up
Don’t give up trying to figure out how to learn guitar because it is a long process and to be truthful, the best advice that any guitar teacher can give is the age-old line of practice, practice, practice! Only experience in playing your guitar is going to improve what you have so if you aren’t willing to dedicate a lot of practice time, chances are you are going to be one who gives in because it is just too hard for you and your fingertips are too sore.
Fingertips get sore but they also heal and at the end of trying to grasp how to learn guitar, you have some fantastic war stories about how your fingers would crack and peel they had such huge calluses on the tips. If you can tell this story while strumming a soft tune on your guitar, it is much more effective!
Caffeinated Content
Posted in Guitar Articles
Posted on 22 July 2009. Tags: business, computers, education, entertainment, family, guitar, Guitar Articles, hobbies, home, information, instruction, internet, lessons, music, music_and_movies, online, review, software
by Jonathan Crummey
After you decide the path you want to take to learn (online, self-taught ect..) there’s nothing wrong with dabbling in other paths too just to broaden your knowledge and learn a new tip or trick here and there. There are also guitar lessons for beginners online to consider that will usually start you out for free and are a great way to get started. These are great because they’re build by well educated instructors and your lesson is there waiting for you each time you log onto your course.
The first thing I will say to you is this: Unless you are practicing to be a professional, don’t pick up the guitar unless you actually want to. The most valuable part of a practice session is that you actually enjoy it. If you want to be in a band, or want to play on the jam circuit, then I would recommend picking up your guitar once a day and spending at least an hour with it.
If that describes you, if you are just learning the guitar or only recently desired to learn to play guitar, these sites are perfect for you. Oftentimes through these types of online guitar lesson sites that are geared to novices you can become exposed to a wide range of different techniques, including things like the funk-skunk. Beyond websites that are up and running to assist novices, there are interactive sites that can be a great resource for a person who is interested in learning basic or even more advanced guitar playing techniques.
In this regard, these interactive sites can be well suited to novices and more experienced players alike. Once again, as with other types of sites online, you can learn techniques like the funk-skunk on interactive sites that are running online today. Finally, there are online guitar playing communities through which people like you can learn a vast array of guitar techniques including such things as funk-skunk.
First of all, there are some smaller sites online today through which you might be able to find some individualized attention when it comes to learning the basics of the guitar, including finger picking. In some instances, you can access the guitar lesson opportunities that are available at this smaller venues for a most reasonable fee. Through these sites you many times can garner some one on one attention from an instructor that has an established track record with playing guitar.
Most blues men use E A and B, some prefer A D and E, or G C and D, played in the 7th. Bla bla bla sixth this seventh that augmented this diminished that. What the heck am I talking about?
Chances are though, you already have a guitar. It’s the weapon of choice of the heart broken isn’t it? You probably GOT a guitar because you were sad about something. Nothing like a six string box to pour your heart through. Something about the twang of the strings just tells you, yeah, I feel your pain.
To get some insight into the evolution of flatpicking guitar playing, it might help to look at how Doc Watson, whose guitar playing career began in the nineteen fifties, contributed to the use of flatpicking guitar in bluegrass music. It was simply that the band he was working with did not have a fiddle player and Doc was not able to become a good fiddle player himself. So because he enjoyed fiddle tunes, he simply learned how to play them on the guitar.
About the Author:
For the most up to date information abouthow to play the guitar online, this is the only resource you will ever need
guitar instruction dvd
Posted in Guitar Articles
Posted on 21 July 2009. Tags: Element, Guitar Course, Shaky Foundation

Dan Cannon asked: New guitarist often ask, what’s the easiest way to learn guitar? The short answer is always going to be with a competent guitar teacher. Since you’re asking the question, I’m going to assume that private lessons are not an option. What remains can be quite confusing and often frustrating. Let’s try to separate the good from the not so good options.
What’s the easiest way to learn guitar? Well that depends on what you mean by “learn guitar”. Are you interested in becoming a professional musician? Are you playing simply for personal pleasure or something in between? Your intentions or ultimate aspirations will have a significant impact on the course of action you take to mastery of the instrument.
If your goal is to primarily play for yourself, then the easiest way to learn guitar, if a teach is not an option, is going to be with the aid of a step-by-step quality guitar instruction course. This might seem like an obvious statement, but you’d be surprised at how many people simply watch a few online videos, learn a couple of chords and end up frustrated or quit playing, simply because they are unable to progress much further than beyond the beginning stage.
The reason for this is because he or she has not laid a solid foundation on which to grow. Think about it. How tall can a building get if built on a shaky foundation? Well it’s the same for learning guitar. You might be able to get away with learning a few chord progressions, but if you do not really understand the theory behind progressions, how are you going to write the melody and arrangement to that killer song you’ve always wanted to write?
The point is, with a thorough and complete, step-by-step guitar course, you’ll not only have the easiest way to learn guitar, but you’ll also be in a much better position to go much further with the instrument and in any direction you are interested in pursuing.
The other element to add to the complete guitar self-learner kit, is a scheduled.
You absolutely should setup a schedule of practice. Regardless of how short a duration the practice actually is, the important thing is to practice and do it regularly.
15 minutes per day of “qualitly” practice will take you a long way in getting over the initial newbie curve with the guitar. This means things like sore finger tips and clumbsy finger placement. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. It’s the quintessential right of passage with the instrument. The 15 minute schedule helps to lesson the blow of not being able to immediately play like Hendrix!
So there you have it. Give these two steps your best effort and you’ll be amazed at your progress.
Let’s face it, you’ve already made the investment in a guitar (and your time), don’t short change yourself by not making the final investment in a quality guitar instruction package that will pay for itself many times over and in many ways.
Website content
Posted in Guitar Articles
Posted on 21 July 2009. Tags: Band Practices, Garage Band, Guitar Video
Gabe asked: What video camera from Best buy under 300$ that will record good quality of a garage band and guitar playing?
Or if there is a better one at wal-mart/circuit city/ whatever that has good sound quality for recording loud guitar distortion noises/garage band practices that is under or near 300$, please post it here
thanks!
Caffeinated Content – Members-Only Content for WordPress
Posted in Guitar Questions and Answers