2008-01-03

Jazz Guitar Scales

Learning the Jazz Guitar Scales - Basic How-To's
Art and Culture

When learning to play jazz guitar, you’ll have to master learning the scales. Most jazz guitar players are led to believe that all they need to do is learn how to finger the scale and that’s where their learning ends. When it comes time to play solos and improvs, they get frustrated because they find it hard to just play. The real problem is not that playing an improvisation is hard or beyond their skill. The real problem is that they haven’t learned to master the scales as they thought they had.

Basically, there are five skills that need to be mastered because they set the foundation for your improvisation and solo play. If you don’t master all five skills in your jazz guitar lessons, then you will have a difficult time doing the improvisation because you don’t truly know the scale and as a result won’t have a feel for the scale. The five skills are: ears, eyes, intellect, fingers and application. Let’s see how they can work for us.

How-to #1: Learn to hear the sound of the scale so that when you hear a tune, you know what notes they are. This is an amazing skill that most people don’t develop because they rely on music sheets, fakebooks and their teachers.

How-to #2: Learn to see the scale on the fretboard. Your eyes will help you develop technically correct hand and finger positioning technique when playing the scale.

How-to #3: Learn to play scales from any position on the fretboard. Know your gypsy jazz guitar inside and out. Once you learn the finger positions for a scale, practice playing the scale starting from the different notes.

How-to #4: Learn the music theory behind the scale. Know the notes, the tones and where the scale can be played in an improv.

How-to #5: Learn to use the scale in a musical way. Many jazz guitar players don’t know where a tune might fit into a short improvisation. Mastering this area definitely will take some work, finding out what works and what doesn’t.

People can play music, but there are many people who don’t know how to feel their way around a fretboard. They get lost without a music sheet and you and I both know that these players can’t perform a solo at all. Instead of focusing on which jazz guitar amp to buy, work on honing your craft and working more closely with mastering the scales. Once you’ve thoroughly learned this technique, you’ll be playing improvisations and solos like you’ve always dreamed of doing!

About the Author You probably know that gaining a complete mastery of guitar scales is essential if you want to improvise jazz solos fluidly. To discover an unusual but very effective way that you can do this, please visit http://www.guitarscalemastery.com/letter/

Related Articles - Jazz guitar amps, learning to play jazz guitar, jazz guitar lessons, jazz guitar players, gypsy jazz guitar,

Guitar Lessons

Preparing for Your First Beginner Guitar Lessons
by: Kirk Downing
Beginner Guitar Lessons - An Introduction
The first essential requisite to taking a beginner guitar lesson is to possess your own guitar. How many guitarists do you think started learning the instrument by borrowing others' guitars? None, practically! The logic to this is simple - practice is an important part of the learning process, and having your own guitar makes practice an easy task. You do not necessarily have to buy yourself an expensive instrument; you can even buy a second hand one and graduate to a better guitar once you are familiar with how to play it.

Once you have bought yourself a guitar, you can actually start taking beginner lessons. Beginner lessons are guitar classes taught to newcomers so they are familiar with the basics of the guitar and how to play it. The first thing you will be taught is not how to play the instrument, but what the different parts of the guitar are.

All websites providing online beginner guitar lessons start their teachings from this point. This makes sense because it is not a good idea to learn a musical instrument without first knowing its various parts. Along with knowing each part of the guitar, you also have to learn the functions of each individual part. Knowing the different parts of the guitar and their functions familiarizes you with the instrument.

Basic Steps to Beginner Guitar Lessons

After teaching you the different parts of the guitar and their functions, the next thing beginner guitar lessons teach you are the names of the different strings on the guitar. The strings create the sounds on a guitar when you strike them. After you have learnt about the strings, the next step in a guitar tutorial for beginners is to learn the different ways you can play the guitar - standing, sitting, etc. - and the postures involved.

While learning about the postures, you will also learn how to hold the guitar, and the correct positioning and grip for both your hands. Once you are through with these basics, the next thing that you can learn in beginner guitar lessons is actually how to use the guitar - how to form the different chords, how to hit the strings so you get the proper sound, etc.

Beginner Guitar Lessons - Guitar Theory is not a Prerequisite!

There is one school of thought that emphasizes the need to know guitar theory while taking beginner guitar lessons. The logic for this is simple: once you know the basic theory, it becomes easier to learn the chords. However, this is not a mandatory practice; in fact, many online guitar tutorials do away with the need for knowledge of guitar theory as a prerequisite for learning the chords and other complex things about the guitar.

Basically, the need for guitar theory knowledge depends primarily on your level of interest in the instrument. If you are planning to take up playing the guitar full-time, it makes sense to know the theoretical aspects as well. However, if you are taking it up as just something you want to learn so you can play some of your favorite numbers, then it makes sense to just go ahead with the online tutorials alone and learn the different chords.

Now that you have a solid game plan, it's time for you to get out there and start taking your own beginner guitar lessons!

Play Acoustic Guitar

Learning to Play Acoustic Guitar For the Beginner

by: Ralph Serpe

The very first step toward learning to play acoustic guitar is to develop confidence and to destroy that "I can't do it" mentality. Your biggest obstacle in your acoustic guitar playing is not going to be money, time, or the absence of a good teacher. The biggest obstacle is going to be you. You are your own worst enemy. Once you learn how to tame the negativity inside, you will be that much closer to becoming a good acoustic guitar player.

Frustration is normal during the learning process. Learning anything new is not meant to be easy. Resistance is what helps us grow. So the next time you are working on a scale, or chord progression, and you find yourself fumbling or messing up, don't throw down the guitar with frustration, instead welcome the challenge and have patience in it.

YOUR FIRST GUITAR

Buying a first guitar is an important step for the beginner guitarist. You should have a good understanding of the acoustic guitar as a whole as well as a good idea of what your goals are as an acoustic guitar player. By educating yourself in these areas, you will be able to make an intelligent purchase that can provide you with years of enjoyable playing.

There are two kinds of acoustic guitars that you can purchase and they are your classic or nylon string guitar and your steel string guitar. One is not necessarily better than the other as it is really a matter of personal taste, but each guitar does have its own unique feel and sound. The classic or nylon guitars produce a round or dull tone, where as the steel string guitars are much different, producing a bright tinny or metallic sound. You will certainly develop your own preference the longer you play, or like many guitarists, you will enjoy using both. Only time will tell.

Another thing you will have to consider is the body style of your acoustic guitar. Acoustic guitars come in a variety of different body sizes from small to jumbo. Each size has its own distinct sound. Smaller body guitars have more treble and midrange sounds and are much easier to hold. Lead guitarists tend to favor smaller body guitars because they tend to have a more balanced sound to them and are easier to make out when playing with other musicians in a band. Your larger body guitars have more bass and are more difficult to hold. The only way to really know what body style is right for you is to try one out for yourself. Your best bet is to find a guitar that you are comfortable holding and playing. Guitar playing is challenging enough in the beginning and you do not need any added difficulties.

Guitar quality will differ depending on the model and brand. Sometimes two instruments of the same make and model can differ as well. It is therefore important to try out as many guitars as possible within your price range. It is also recommended that you bring along an experienced musician when you go guitar shopping. An experienced guitar player will be able to better judge the quality of a guitar.

Buy the best guitar that you can afford. Many of the guitars that sell for under $100 are poorly made for the most part. If you cannot afford to spend more, then save up and wait until you can. A well made guitar will be easier to play, more appealing to the eye and more responsive. If you enjoy playing your instrument more, you will then be more inspired to play. You can find a fine beginner acoustic guitar for under $500. Some brands to look into are Seagull, Martin, Yamaha, Fender and Ibanez to name a few. You may also want to look into the used acoustic guitar market. You may be able to find some real gems out there at great prices, but you have to be very careful with used guitars. Make sure you take an experienced guitar player with you if you decide to buy a used guitar.

LEARNING & PRACTICE

There is probably no substitution for a good guitar teacher, but it can be rather expensive over time, so many guitar players are left with no other choice then to learn on their own. For those of you who may not be able to afford a professional instructor right now, below are some guidelines for helping you get the most out of your practice time.

Practice as many days out of the week as you can for at least twenty to thirty minutes, more if possible. The more often you play the faster you will learn. Be careful not to overdo it though and take breaks of course. Your brain can only absorb so much information before it needs a break and your hands and the rest of your body need time to recuperate as well. When you practice do not rush through any of your exercises. Twenty minutes of quality focused practice is much more effective than an hour of sloppy practice

Study Your Instrument

Take some time to learn more about the parts of your acoustic guitar. Learn about how it is constructed and how all the parts work together to produce those beautiful sounds that you hear.

Learn How to Tune Your Guitar

You can find free step by step guides online for tuning your acoustic guitar. Make certain that you spend time learning how to do this. Purchase a guitar tuner at any local music store and practice tuning your guitar with the guitar tuner. When you begin to develop a better ear, try tuning it without the guitar tuner. Then use the guitar tuner to check and see how accurate your ear was. This will help you develop a good ear.

Learn the Right Posture

If you are accustomed to just grabbing your guitar and sitting down to play in any old position, then you are at risk of injuring yourself and developing bad playing habits. Make sure you understand the correct way to sit and hold your instrument for optimal performance.

Learn Your Chords & Scales

Learn as many different chords and variations of the same chord that you can and practice your scales. This will give you a well rounded familiarity with the frets on the guitar and it will build up strength in your fingers and hands.

I hope this article has helped with your acoustic guitar learning. Keep a positive attitude and practice! Before you know you will be playing acoustic guitar like a pro. I wish you well. God Bless.

2007-12-28

Takamine ES-31C

Product: Takamine ES-31C Jasmine
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 03/30/2005 at 05:14am
by Anonymous
Features : No Opinion
- Acoustic electric with cutaway
- Made in Indonesia
- 21 frets
- Tone and volume EQ
- No accessories
Sound : 7
With acoustics I usually play classical type songs, and some stuff like Elliott Smith. This guitar sounds pretty nice. But not as good as everyone else is saying. But I think 99% of Harmony Central reviews are WAY too generous.. It could be a little louder in my opinion. The strings need to be changed immediately. Plugged in it sounds good, but the EQ knobs do very little unless its all the way off or on. For the money it's quite nice. So I'll give it a 7.
Action, Fit, & Finish : 7
The action is a bit high, but it's not too bad. I guess I got lucky, considering I've heard a lot of complaints about others. The intonation and everything else was fine. My biggest complaint is the wood that the fretboard is made of. I don't know what it is, but it feels really gritty. Bends feel SO rough.
Reliability/Durability : 7
I haven't gigged with it, and don't plan to
...I don't see why it wouldn't be though. The tuners could be better, but they stay in tune good enough for me. Customer Support : No Opinion
I haven't delt with the company.The store I bought it from are complete douches, though. I won't be shopping there anymore.
Overall Rating : 7
I've been playing about 3 years. I don't have any other acoustics to compare it to. If it was lost I think I'd save my money a little longer. It's not a bad guitar...especially considering the price. But there's a lot of things that could be better about it.

2007-12-27

Improvising Jazz Guitar

Improvising a Song on Your Jazz Guitar
Art and Culture

1) Know the genre you want to learn for improvisation.

One of the best ways to find out the genre that appeals to you is by listening to a few styles (i.e. jazz, blues, rock, folk, country, pop, etc.). The ones that stick in your mind are the ones to start off with. Like with anything you learn, learning becomes easier when you’re interested in it. As you listen to the various styles, one thing to keep in mind is that the blues genre relates to most all the other genres. For that reason, if you learn to improvise in the blues genre, it will ultimately end up helping you improvise across all the genres.

2) Build up a foundation of jazz guitar licks and riffs.

Successful players have built up a memorized library of licks and riffs. During their jazz guitar lessons, they have absorbed and practiced these licks from a variety of sources so that when it comes time to perform solo or lend an improvisation, they are ready to practice and apply what they have learned. Improvisation becomes easy because they know how to blend tunes on their gypsy jazz guitar.

3) Knowing the scales is the foundation for improvisation.

No jazz guitar player can improvise without knowing their instrument and how to craft the melodies together. When learning to play jazz guitar, you can’t ignore this important step. You don’t have to learn all the scales. In fact learning just a few scales like the major scale and the blues scale will be sufficient for a lot of improvs and solos. For example if you can see a lick in and filter it through the major scale, you’ll have mastered what makes a jazz guitar player a jazz guitar player and your audience will appreciate your talent and effort!

4) Transcribing tunes are a great source for improvisations.

Transcribing involves learning a tune by ear and then working it out in different chords if you choose. Transcribing really helps any serious player and should be a regular part of their solo practice. It involves trial and error practice where you’ll discover what works for you and what doesn’t work.

5) The best part is hearing yourself play.

Inspire yourself during your improvisation by recording yourself (you might also consider hooking up jazz guitar amps). When you listen to the recording, you’ll be able to hear even better the areas that need work. At the same time, you’ll also hear the areas that work very well and demonstrate the progress you’ve made as a jazz guitar player.

Improvisations and solos are like a string of musical ideas that you have gathered along the way through your learning career. You’ll get these “musical ideas” by learning and mastering the scales, learning to key licks and riffs and by transcribing tunes that you enjoy. You’ll soon see your creativity and skills take off!

About the Author You probably know that gaining a complete mastery of guitar scales is essential if you want to improvise jazz solos fluidly. To discover an unusual but very effective way that you can do this, please visit http://www.guitarscalemastery.com/letter/

Related Articles - Jazz guitar amps, learning to play jazz guitar, jazz guitar lessons, jazz guitar players, gypsy jazz guitar,

Fender Guitar

The World Of Melody Awaits You
Hobbies

"Fender" is the dream of every lover of the guitar. It's one of the most popular guitars, being used by many guitarists. Before going to buy one of the various types of fender guitar, let us take a overview of the Fender musical instruments corporation.

Arizona is the home of this guitar manufacturer. The wild success of Fender's "Stratocaster" and "Telecaster" guitars has helped it's rise to fame. A solid body is a feature of both of these electric guitars. Even though many popular brands of electric guitars are on the market today, the reputation and likability of Fender guitars is without comparison.

The most popular Fender guitar to date is the Fender Stratocaster. This is a solid-body electric guitar with a maple neck. The fret board of this guitar is made of maple, rosewood or ebony. This amazing guitar boasts of three single-coil pick-ups. The Fender Stratocaster is a versatile guitar as it allows the player to produce a large variety of tones. This guitar has been associated with music greats like Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and many more guitar legends.

The Fender Telecaster electric guitar has two single-coil pick-ups. The Telecaster is well-known for it's huge, clear sound quality. Even though it's been almost 60 years since the Telecaster was introduced, it still known by millions because of its crystal clear sound. The Fender Telecaster has been the instrument of choice in the development of many lovely melodies.

In 1950 Fender designed the "Fender Esquire" guitar as part of their line of electric guitars. The Esquire is a solid body guitar with one single-coil pick-up. Even though the Esquire was a fairly simple guitar, audiences were impressed by its perfect tone and melodic sounds.

If you know the type of sound quality you want in a guitar, then it's not hard to select a Fender guitar to meet your needs. Fender electric guitars are available worldwide, plus there are many online music stores where you can purchase your chosen musical instrument. By buying a Fender electric guitar you'll be able to create a melodic aura which will captivate your audiences and make your performance a most memorable one.

The Guitar Center showcases dozens of Fender guitars as well as and hundreds of other electric guitars.
Related Articles - fender guitar, electric guitars, musical instrument,

Acoustic Guitar

Acoustic Guitar
by: Kevin Brown

If you have not had the luxury of going out and purchasing a brand new acoustic guitar before then there might be a few things that you need to know before you do so. Many people do not realize that there is more to buying an acoustic guitar than meets the eye. It is not all about the look of the guitar it is really about what’s in the guitar, what it’s made of that makes the guitar special. A good tip to start this session off is to only buy an acoustic guitar that is made out of dried wood; everything else will not last and will give off poor sound quality.

If you are thinking about buying a guitar off of the internet then you really need to pay attention to what you are buying, I know from experience you need to read the fine print and make sure what you think you are getting is really what you are getting!

One of the biggest things you need to make sure that you pay attention to when looking to purchase an acoustic guitar is that bridge of the guitar. If you are not sure what the bridge is I can explain that to you as well. Think of the bridge as a megaphone for the sound of the guitar. Basically what it does is takes the vibrations form the strings when they are plucked and it amplifies the vibrating surface of those strings, thus creating more sound, the sound that you hear when you play. The big thing to look for is to make sure that the acoustic guitar bridge is also made out of dried wood. You can get some pretty cheap guitars on the market but that is because the bridges are also cheap and thus you get what you pay for, a cheap sounding instrument.

The next important thing when buying an acoustic guitar is to make sure that the body of the guitar is made out of dried wood. I know a lot of guitars out there can look amazing and be all shiny and beautiful but make sure that the look of the guitar is not what persuades you to make the purchase. You can get a great looking guitar for cheap but you will be disappointed when you try to do more than just look at it, it will sound like garbage. The higher the price of the guitar the better the wood that was used to make the body, remember that.

Don’t rush when trying to pick out a good acoustic guitar, take your time and play the instrument. If you can’t play it because you are buying online then look for reviews, find someone who has played it and see what they thought of the instrument. If you follow these tips when going out and getting that brand new acoustic guitar you are sure to grab a wonderful piece of wood that will last you a lifetime and sound great for many more!