Why your music teacher can’t tell you what guitar to buy

As a guitar teacher I teach a lot of beginning guitar students. All of these students are eventually faced with the decision of witch guitar to buy. Maybe it’s their very first guitar or they started out on some cheap crappy guitar and now they want something better. The question of “can you recommend a guitar for me to buy” is sure to pop up sooner or later from these students. 

Basically, they want me to recommend a specific brand and preferable also a specific model. Most beginning guitar students don’t feel, they possess the knowledge or skills to pick out their own guitar. This question is fear based at its core. Fear of making a bad purchase, loosing money and not getting a good guitar, but it’s also a fear of simply being in a guitarshop and “exposing” that they are newbies on the guitar. That is the real reason, they want me to recommend a guitar, but the problem with recommending a guitar is twofold. 

For one, we are all different individuals so the guitar that fits me in terms of size, sound, playability and so on, may not be a good fit in any of the categories for you. And secondly, even though a brand has a good reputation and creates a lot of quality guitars, there is always the risk, that the specific guitar you consider buying is flawed in some way. So even if I did recommend a guitar, there is no guarantees, you wouldn’t buy a bad guitar. The real value for you as a student is to learn how to evaluate a guitar and this article will give you the main points. 

Objective and subjective criteria

The objective criteria are simply “does the guitar live up to standard” meaning, does the guitar work as it’s supposed to. There is a ton of easy accesable knowledge on this online. Simply go to yourtube and write “how to buy (insert whatever guitar you consider buying)” and you will get a lot of help. You have to learn what to check for and how to do it. Then you have to go practice it on real guitars without actually buying anything yet. This will boost your confidence, when you eventually are going to go buy a guitar.

The subjective criteria

This is all the “difficult” questions. Do I like the guitar?, does it sound great? play well? and so on. These are all the questions, that beginning guitar players feel, they can’t answer. The truth is, they are the only ones who CAN answer that, as this guitar is for them. We are only judging what you think of the guitar and not how it compares to some kind of arbitrary standard. You are the one who are buying the guitar, you are the one who will be playing it and therefore, only your opinion matters. Start assessing guitar and ask your self three question. Do I like the way it looks, do I like the way it sounds and do I like the way it plays. Rate the guitar on a scale from 1-5 in all cases and you will slowly begin to pinpoint what you feel about a certain guitar and this is what builds your confidence. What you feel, is the truth about that guitar for you and the only difference between a newbie and a pro buying a guitar, is that the pro has learned to trust in whatever they feel or think about a guitar. This is what you need to develop as well. When you have done this, you will never have to ask advice on buying a guitar again.

About the author: Janus Buch is the head teacher and founder of Bredballe Guitarskole in Denmark. Bredballe Guitarskole is located near Horsens and we offer a wide verity of programs to take your guitar playing to the next level. A lot of guitar players find them selves stuck in a rut when it comes to their progress. Even though they do practice and spend a lot of time on youtube lessons, they don’t feel like they are getting anywhere. If this sounds like you, we are able to help you. If you are native to the area, seek you Bredballe Guitarskole for the best value for money guitar lessons in Horsens.

Essential Items You Need When You Buy Your First Guitar

When you purchase your first guitar, you should plan on buying a few other things too. These essential items make starting to play and care for your guitar much easier.

1. Pen and Paper

Pen and paper is a simple thing that is often overlooked. As you learn, you want to get in the habit of writing everything down. You will learn much faster if you write out chords and scales yourself instead of just printing diagrams you found online or constantly looking at books. 

Notebooks are also a great place to keep a list of what you would like to learn to play or any musical ideas you have. Keeping a practice journal will also help you see all your progress.

2. Picks

You can never have too many picks. Losing and misplacing picks happens to everyone who plays the guitar. Beginners should try picks with different thicknesses. Most beginners like the feel of medium picks. Many guitar players like thicker picks once they have some experience playing. It is OK to try picks made from different materials and different sizes. Finding a pick you like using usually takes some time and comes down to personal preference.

3. Tuner

You will want to tune your guitar every time you play it. An out-of-tune guitar sounds awful and is no fun to play. There are many different tuners, but all you need to get started is a cheap clip-on tuner like a Snark.

4. Extra Strings

Strings will break. It is not a big deal, but you want to be prepared and have extra strings handy. Even if you are lucky and don’t break any strings, you will want to get in the habit of changing your strings every three or four months. A fresh set of guitar strings will make your guitar sound fantastic.

5. Metronome

Learning how to play in time is essential. The sooner you learn how to use a metronome, the better you will sound. A trained teacher will be able to help you learn how to use your metronome properly.

6. Case

You want to have a safe place to store your guitar. A hardshell case is the safest way to transport and store your guitar. A case allows you to control the environment for your guitar, protecting it from drastic temperature changes, humidity, and dust. You can keep your guitar on a stand or wall hanger, but make sure it is not stored in direct sunlight or by a heat source.

7. Cleaning Cloth

You can buy a cleaning cloth or use a soft material like a t-shirt. Wiping down your guitar after using it will help it look better and make your strings last longer.

8. Amp (optional)

As a beginner, all you will need is a small practice amp. You want to be polite and play at a reasonable volume initially. Many of the sounds that a beginner guitarist makes are not pleasant, but that is just part of the process. Playing through an amp will help you learn how to mute unwanted noises and control what sounds come out of your guitar. You can always buy a bigger amp once you are ready to start playing in a band or doing solo performances.

 About the author: Brian Fish is a professional guitarist living in Northeast Ohio and is an expert guitar instructor at  Guitar Lessons Geauga.

3 Things I Did That Made Learning Guitar Harder And Take Much Longer

By Maurice Richard

Now that I have learned to play guitar at a good level I can look back and reflect and realize I could have made it much easier on myself.

My goal today is to help you avoid the things I did that made learning guitar harder for me and will do the same for you.

I have been teaching guitar for many years now and I see people that still make the same mistakes.

You would think the internet would have made things easier but from my side of things I think it’s made things worse.

Here are 3 things I did wrong that made learning to play guitar much harder than it should have been.

1. I Tried To Teach Myself

That was the biggest mistake I made by a long shot.

Sure, I eventually figured it out, but it took years to get to a place where it should take months.

Because I chose this way to learn I ended up taking a very very long time to get where I am today. I still managed to develop my skills to a high level but they could be so much better by now.

Now, it’s not like I did not want to have someone else teach me or that I did not want to pay for that, I actually had no clue you could get guitar lessons.

Everyone I ever knew how knew how to play taught themselves and so I thought that was the only way to do it. I was clueless!

Do not make the same mistake. Find someone to help you as soon as possible!

2. I Used A Low Quality Acoustic Guitar

This really slowed me down.

Using a low quality guitar is a sure way to get frustrated and slow down your progress.

The guitar I used to learn with was free, but it cost me a lot. What am I talking about? It cost me years of progress and a lot of frustration.

Imagine trying to ride a bike that has mostly seized bearing in the wheels, with pedals that are just a little too far away and a seat that is slightly too high.

Can you learn to ride on such a bike? I am sure it is possible but it will be very difficult to make any progress and could take along time. That’s pretty much what happened to me with this guitar. It was THAT bad.

Even though I was determined to play guitar I did end up quitting/stopping several times out of sheer frustration. I even started to think I did not have the skill or talent to ever learn.

Fortunately, the desire was very strong and I never totally gave up trying.

If I was to start all over I would do it with an electric or at the very least a high quality thin-body acoustic guitar. I highly recommend this for you!

3. Hired Untrained Guitar Teachers

When I finally clued in that you could hire people to teach you how to play guitar I did not do it right away.

I had other priorities and for whatever reason, I honestly can’t remember why, I chose not to get a guitar teacher.

It wasn’t until I started to put my kids into music lessons that I finally decided to give it a try.

I found out very quickly that not all guitar teachers are the same and that they do not always know how to help someone reach their specific goals. My experience was not good.

I later found out these guitar teachers were not trained. They were really good guitar players but they did not learn how to teach from anyone and just tried to figure it out on their own.

That would explain things.

One Thing I Finally Did To Help Me Learn To Play Well

Yup, I made a lot of mistakes trying to learn to play guitar. I’d like to say I made them all but that would not likely be accurate. But I made more than my share of them!!

Once I did that long enough and got so frustrated that I was ready to quit guitar for good, I finally sought out a great guitar teacher.

It was out of desperation because in the back of my mind I suspected I would just find more of the same teachers I had already had experience with.

Fortunately, that was not the case. This time I sought out someone who had a lot of experience teaching a lot of students already. Someone who had helped people like me and which implied he could help me.

After some time, I found what I was looking for. This teacher understood me, could relate to me and my struggles, was trained as a teacher and had already helped many others do what I wanted.

So, I signed up and the rest is history! He is still my teacher today and my playing keeps improving!

You need to find this kind of teacher!

About The Author:

Maurice Richard is a professional guitar teacher that operates out of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He has been a member of an elite guitar teaching mentorship program since 2007 and has taught many people how to learn to avoid things that make it harder to learn guitar.

A Good Way To Understanding Rhythm Notation

Ever thought to yourself ,is rhythm notation is important to learn? Today I’m going to talk about how to understand certain rhythm notations. First, let’s talk about quarter notes, a quarter note is a note that has a value of one beat. Here is an example of what quarter note looks like:

So now we’ve talked about quarter notes, let’s take a step back and talk about whole notes. What is a whole note? A whole note is a note that has the value of 4 beats, this means you play the note and let it ring for 4 beats.

  =    

You’re probably wondering, why rhythm notation is important. A couple of things that make rhythm notation so important are, you will know at the exact time when a note needs to be played, this will make it so you don’t have to keep listening to that part of that song that you’ve been trying to nail for weeks. Also over time, when you learn enough rhythm patterns will be able to pick them out of your favorite songs. This in terms, means that you will be able to learn songs much faster.

Here is what is called a half note, a half note is a note that has a value of 2 beats.

   =   

A way to look at this is to take the duration of a whole note and cut it in half that’s how long you should play a half note for. Next, let’s talk about eighth notes, eighth notes are a subdivision of a quarter note. What that means, is two eighth notes equal one-quarter note, here is an example below.

   =   

Now we’re going talk about time signatures, today we’re just going to talk about 4/4 timing, this also called common time. So let’s talk about the top number, the top number four means there are four notes in a measure and the bottom number means what kind of note value gets the beat, which in this case, the note value is a quarter.

Let’s talk about now another time signature that is very common, this is called 3/4, this time signature is known for having a waltz type of feeling. The top number means there are 3 beats in this measure and bottom means the value of those beats are quarter notes.

One last thing I want to talk about today is quarter rests. What is a quarter rest? A quarter rest is a period of silence that lasts the same length as a quarter note.

So why is this stuff above important? All of the things that we talked about today is important because it all relates to rhythm and understanding how to read rhythms. Rhythm is by far one of the most important subjects in music. So here is an exercise you can do and you won’t even have to have your guitar to do it. Take the material above and write out as many variations you can think of.

About the author, Zach Payton is a guitar teacher based out of Lewiston Idaho, that likes helping his students become musicians.

Your first Steps On Guitar PT 1: Playing Basic Songs

By Chris Glyde

When it comes down to it, your goals will determine the subjects that you will need to focus on. So, if you’re a beginner guitar player, the best thing you can do is to create a mental image of what it is that you want to achieve. This article will be addressing one particular goal that most beginners have, which is to be able to play some easy chord-based songs.

This is an important article for everyone, because every song has chords in it, no matter how simple or complex. If you have a desire to play lead guitar, I will be addressing that in another article entitled “Your First Steps On Guitar Pt 2: Learning Lead Guitar.” Just search for my name and the title of the article, and it should be easy to find.

The point of this article is to provide you with an outline for what you should be working on first in order to help you reach these milestones towards becoming the player you want to be (in this case, putting chords together and playing some basic tunes). It’s not going to instantly provide you with all of the details to master each of these subjects. Instead, you can consider it a map. It is then up to you to take action and find the information that you will need to master these subjects.

If you want to get the most out of this article and your time when playing the guitar, I would create a checklist with all of the information listed below. As you begin to memorize, learn, and master these skills, simply check them off the list to record your progress. This will be a great way to track your progress and keep you motivated.

Here are the subjects you will need to familiarize yourself with and master:

1) Chords: Open chords, Power Chords and Integrated Shapes

Chords are the subject that most students need help with. Your job at this point will be to memorize all the basic open chords, the one basic power chord shape (this is the shape you can find in any punk tune, for example, although it’s also used in more than just rock music), and then practice playing those types of chords together as a unit. When you get this down, you will really be ready to play some songs. In order for these chords to be mastered, you must be able to switch between them smoothly and effortlessly. If you still have to think about fingering patterns, then the chords aren’t yet fully mastered. Again, just to be 100% clear, these chords aren’t mastered if you need to think about them. Playing them should be effortless.

2) You can play rhythm structures that include eighth notes, quarter notes, and the four basic

16th note shapes and rests (eighth note rests and quarter note rests).

Reading rhythmic notation is very important. This is not the same as reading music.

Would you like to know how you should strum the guitar? Would you like an easy way to know when you’re playing on the wrong beat? Would you like a leg up on just about 90% of all other guitar players? Great! Then you will want to learn rhythmic notation. This will make your guitar playing career much more fun, entertaining, and fulfilling.

If you’re unsure what these rhythmic structures are, you can find them explained in just about any book about playing the guitar. I suggest you go take a look and read up on this subject. If you’re not confident that you can figure out rhythmic notation on your own, invest in a teacher. This will save you a lot of frustration, and a lot of time.

3) Arpeggio Shapes

Chords are two or more notes played at the same time. Arpeggio shapes are simply chords played one note at a time and then letting them ring together. When learning arpeggio

shapes, you will still have to learn the physical aspect of chords, but you will also need to learn a different picking technique. You will need to have a clear understanding of how to pick these notes differently than you would with regularly picked notes.

I hope you’ve learned a lot from these articles, and I hope that they have at least given you a basic understanding of the first steps you should take to move forward as a guitar player. There are lots of goals to choose from, so when you’ve accomplished one goal, choose a new one!

Make your own map and move forward toward becoming the guitar player that you want to be.

About the Author

Chris Glyde is a guitar instructor who takes pride in helping his students become the player they’ve always desired to become and guiding them by helping them design their own guitar playing maps. If you live in Rochester, New York, check out Rochester Guitar Lessons.

Using Chromatic Passing Tones In Your Lead Playing

By Matt Chanway

Playing lead guitar is one of the most fun things out there. Especially as you begin to get a handle on some scales and some common lead techniques, you can really start to wow people with the music that you create through lead improvisation. People say that the time of the guitar hero has come and gone, but there are few people that are not impressed by a well-played guitar solo.

A common question students have once they’ve cut their teeth a bit playing lead guitar, is that their solos still sound a lot like scales, and less like actual music. Now, I could write a book on this subject, and that may happen in the future, but there are many, many ways we can liven up our lead playing and make it dynamic and interesting. I’m going to focus on one technique for today though – chromatic passing tones. ‘Chromatic’ means “add colour,” and that is exactly what chromatic passing tones do. By definition, when we add an extra note to a passage that is not a part of the scale or mode we are using to improvise, we are adding a chromatic passing tone. They are commonplace in jazz music, but great guitar players in all genres use these to add some variety and, well, colour to their playing. Since this is just a short article, I’m going to outline three scenarios where chromatic passing tones can have a very cool sound, and give some specific accompanying examples as well.

Example 1 – Using The Flattened 5th As A Passing Tone

The flattened 5th, when played on its own in relation to a root note, can have almost a cartoonishly evil sound to it. But when used properly, it gives us a very cool, bluesy type of sound. A lot of guitarists are familiar with the flattened 5th in the context of the blues scale, but we can also use it in a lot of modal contexts as well. For example, here are some fingerings of the E Dorian and E Aeolian modes, with the flattened 5th added – you can create some very cool licks with these…

Example 2 – Using Chromatic Notes To Connect Arpeggio Tones

This approach to passing tones is a little less targeted than adding a specific passing tone to a scale (such as the flat 5th), but is very cool in its own right. If we take any arpeggio, we can use chromatic passing tones to connect two tones of the arpeggio, such as the 3rd and 5th, or 5th to 7th, and such and so forth. In this example, I am showing a Cmaj7 arpeggio with chromatic passing tones connecting the 5th and 7th intervals of the chord.

Example 3 – Connecting the Minor 7th and Root Notes of a Minor Scale

This is a great trick to add some unpredictability to your solos. Here we are going to add a chromatic passing tone just before the root note, which will add a little bit of suspense before resolving a phrase, or you can use it to create faster licks as well. Here, it’s shown in a short A Blues scale phrase. However, this passing tone can be tactfully used with any scale that has a minor 7th interval within it.

Example 4 – Approach A Chord Tone With Chromatic Passing Tones

If you’ve studied with me in the past, you’ll know I tend to go on a lot about stable and unstable notes to resolve phrases on when soloing. If you have a note that you know you want to end a phrase on, playing some chromatic passing tones (regardless of what the actual intervals of the passing tones end up as) can be a great way to add some tension and release to your lines. This example ascends up an E natural minor scale pattern, and uses chromatic passing tones to reach the flat 3rd, G.

There you have it. By no means a comprehensive look at the topic, but some licks and ideas to get you playing some more colourful phrases. Have fun!

Matt Chanway is a professional guitarist and teaches guitar lessons in Langley, British Columbia.