Guitar Lessons in 2010 Have some Great Options
Posted by Elizabeth Gibson | Filed under Self Improvement
Guitar lessons in 2010 are going to be better than ever. From the ever-popular Jamorama online course to the step-by-step lessons on DVDs from Legacy Learning Systems, the choices are getting better and the programs are getting better too. Jamorama has made some awesome changes in the selections they offer - they even added a DVD version of their course for those who find the downloads a problem.
Online lessons or downloads of videos for learning are here to stay, but with many people preferring to use their new wide-screen TVs to view their guitar course, the DVDs remain a popular and beneficial choice. Why would DVDs be better? For one, you don’t have to view them from a computer, any DVD player will do. Also, you can view them on your television instead of your computer screen. This means you can set up a more comfortable spot to do your lessons (and possibly look forward to learning even more).
Why I think many people choose guitar lessons on DVDs is the fact that they want to get away from their computer to practice their guitar lessons. With DVDs you can take them to whatever place you have a TV and DVD player, or you can take them over to a friend’s place. They even can be carried along with you on a vacation.
I am not saying that online lessons are not good - they are great! Some can be confusing though if the program is not designed well. For example, some don’t make it clear enough which lesson to take when. All in all, for a beginner guitar player, any of the well-known lessons are a good start. And it is nice to know there is a choice between online or DVDs for those who don’t have a newer, faster computer.
Learn and Master Guitar on DVDs and CDs is most probably the top selling course on disk. With the many lessons (on 20 DVDs) and the 5 Jam Along CDs, plus a workbook, student community online and a money back guarantee, this course has been very well planned out and designed. It’s not cheap, but you do get what you pay for (in the best sense of that saying).
One of the top download sites is Jamorama. They have made a few changes for 2010 that are pretty exciting. The Standard course (which they are well-known for) is still being offered at a low price - an excellent choice for a total beginner. The great news is the new Deluxe Edition, designed for those who are looking ahead to being an intermediate or advanced guitarist (or for those who already play but want to improve and polish their skills). It has specific tips of playing acoustic guitar and the Deluxe edition will also allow you to learn riffs and electric lead guitar licks, as well as learn even more songs. And, the other new offering from Jamorama is their Hard Copy Edition which gives you all of the great downloads on DVDs. All three of the choices from Jamorama come with bonus guitar software programs - and the Deluxe and Hardcopy Editions include an additional bonus.
Either way you look at it, the money you will have to spend on guitar lessons is not nearly as costly as the blood, sweat and tears or the dedication and time you will spend learning. Your commitment is the real ingredients that you will need to invest so that you can learn to be a great guitar player.
Get inspired about learning guitar atGuitar Lessons for Beginners, a blog by Elizabeth Gibson. It’s dedicated to helping you find the best beginner guitar lessons online or on DVD
Tags: guitar lessons, music, online guitar lessons, Self Improvement
Stupidly Easy Guitar Lessons
Posted by Johnny Torzoni | Filed under Arts & Entertainment
Beginning to play a musical instrument and especially guitar is one of the most rewarding things one can do. Music is one of the few mediums that can totally cross language and cultural barriers. I love the power ripping through the amp when you strum out a bar chord on an electric. Or singing out songs over your acoustic for family and friends. Actually being able to play songs and even compose your own is an indescribable feeling. So here are some easy guitar lessons to get you going.
So a quick message to all the beginners out there. This does take time and patience, do not give up. I will never forget grabbing my first guitar for the first time knowing I would be jamming to my favorite CDs immediately. Boy was I mistaken. My fingers couldn’t even get one note right and a chord, not even a chance. I didn’t quit, I adjusted my goals and stuck to it.
For most people, playing the guitar for the first time is not simple, your fingers most likely will not go where you want them to. So you need to do drills to get them better. No secrets here to playing guitar, just training and repetition. I’m not the first person in your life to tell you this, practice makes perfect. This first stage of guitar is about getting your fingers strong and bendable. It can become tedious sometimes so I would work in front of the TV until I improved.
Getting both hands to play nicely as one is also going to take some time so don’t get dispirited. At first your fingers tips will hurt, practice through that pain for as long as you can, don’t just take a breather right away . Before you know it the calluses on your finger will develop and you will be practicing for hours. The worst part of starting with the guitar is this just starting out phase. Please just stick with it and battle through it, the rewards will be immeasurable.
So let’s start with your strumming hand. This is your picking hand and your rhythm hand. You can use a pick or your fingers. Practice picking slowly and steady, alternating down and up. Start slow and play along as you tap your foot to keep in time. Down, up, down, up, down, etc. alternating slowly. Don’t rush this, build up speed as you get comfortable. Practice this on 1 string then move on to 2 strings, then 3 strings and so on as if you were practicing chords. When beginning or practicing in front of the TV you can mute the strings with your other hand to really pay attention to the rhythm.
Ok how about that fretting hand. This is the hand that is going to pick out the notes to be played. This is the hand that also may start to hurt and the hand that doesn’t seem to know what it is doing when first beginning. Again take it slow, take it steady, and please be patient. We need to get all four fingers working with each other. Now it is easy to skip out on the pinkie training because they are the hardest, do Not do this. If something feels uncomfortable when playing guitar it just means you need to practice more.
So here is the nitty gritty drill to get you smoking on that fret board. On fret 1 of your low E string press down firmly with your pointer finger. Continue pressing and add your middle finger to fret 2 on the same string. With your other fingers firmly on the fret board add your ring finger to fret 3. And of course the pinkie on fret four . The picking should be a down, up, down, up alternating for each finger. You then simply back up this process by lifting your pinkie first, then ring, etc So playing fret 1, 2, 3, 4. And back down again four, three, two, one while you alternate your picking.
Start this exercise slow and get it precise, do it until your fingers are bleeding. Then as it gets simpler build up your speed. Practice this on all strings, all over the fretboard. This will unlock your fingers and really get them going. Get this down pat and exact then build up. Guitar is my obsession and hopefully this can help you on your way. It truly is an amazing instrument. Videos and photos will really help burn these concepts in your brain. Check out these easy guitar lessons.
Click here for crazy easy guitar lessons with streaming video
Tags: acoustic guitar lessons, Arts & Entertainment, easy guitar lessons, guitar, guitar for beginners, guitar lesson, guitar lesson video, guitar lessons, guitar lessons for beginners, guitar tabs, online guitar lessons, shred guitar
Teach Yourself Acoustic Guitar: Country Music Guitar Lessons
Posted by Dan Donaldson | Filed under Arts & Entertainment
It has become such a popular item on the Internet today and is accessible for everyone, young and old, novice or experienced. I am talking about country music guitar lessons. So let’s look at a few aspects that will guarantee to delight you. We will focus on some individual styles and also discuss the telecaster.
You might not know this, but a very interesting style of playing took hold during the blues and rock eras of music. It is known as the bottleneck style because of the way players expressed their lyrics by sliding objects along the strings, which produced human sounding voices.
People just loved the way the guitar would sound when an object would slide along the strings of the guitar which made a wailing and whining sound. From here the sounds become more like a singing voice than an instrumental voice.
Interesting to note that the players back then used actual bottle necks placed on their first and second fingers. They would slide the glass along the strings producing really unique sounds. Some preferred using steel blades or knives. Many guitarists would also place the guitar down on their laps as it was easier to slide.
Another style of playing the country guitar is using the “chicken picken” technique. Walon Jennings started it by pulling the strings with his right hand finger while at the same time damping the strings with his left hand. Today many lead guitarists use this technique when doing solos. Of course there are many different styles to play a guitar and no doubt you will find your own unique style. It is important for you to be comfortable with the guitar and the sound.
Should you want to take country music guitar lessons, it would be helpful for you to learn about the typical sound that is associated with country guitar music. Rock and roll has as many sounds as there are guitar players, but the country music guitar has its own distinct sound.
Most country musicians choose to stay with these sounds and they are clear and simplistic in nature. To this end they all swear by the Fender Telecaster guitar. This beautiful piece of art, also fondly known as the “Tele” has a sound that would make any aspiring player notice it. The design itself is amazing as it was the first electric guitar to be manufactured and sold on a big scale.
If you are looking for quality country music guitar lessons, you need go no further than your own computer. With the abundance of resources available online, it is not difficult to learn how to play country music guitar quickly and easily and it is possible for you to learn to play virtually any guitar song you hear with the right online instruction. In fact, with many online instruction programs, there are free country music guitar lessons which can start you on your way to becoming a pro.
You can easily teach yourself acoustic guitar using online country music guitar lessons. The best courses provide expert videos which will take you from being a beginner right through to playing some of the most advanced guitar around. With the right online program, you can truly Play Country Guitar and become the country guitar player you always dreamed of.
categories: guitar lessons,country music,acoustic guitar,guitar,DIY,country guitar,music lessons,arts and entertainment,entertainment,music
Tags: acoustic guitar, Arts & Entertainment, arts and entertainment, country guitar, country music, diy, entertainment, guitar, guitar lessons, music, music lessons
Where Did Blues Guitar Originate From?
Posted by Zack Roberts | Filed under Arts & Entertainment
The blues is a form of music that can be vocal, instrumental (blues guitar) or both. It utilises the ‘blue’ notes which are accomplished on a ‘minor pentatonic’ scale almost all the time, otherwise recognised as the blues scale.
Blues music was inferred from the African-American communities in the U.S. out of job songs, spiritual songs, field hollers, chants, shouts and elementary ballads that rhymed. A lot of aspects of the blues are indicitive of African roots
The call-and-response aspect of the music came straight from African origins and there were a lot of licks that would get duplicated thrice or more. This later developed into a line repeating twice and then on the third time around there would be an ‘answer line’. You will be able to still discover these features of early blues in modern day music, especially hip-hop.
The term ‘The Blues’ refers to the ‘blue devils’ which signifies down spirits or unhappiness.
The blues guitar brings a essential role in blues music as well as modern-day music. It has influenced Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Bluegrass and even heavy rock genres The original blues of the early 1900’s, otherwise known as “poor man’s blues” was usually associated with hard times, oppressiveness from white folk, cruelness of the police, gambling, economic depression, floods, magic, farming and dry periods. This music was fueled by a lot of brokenheartedness and anger. Typically a lost loved one or an overall harsh surrounding prompted the lyrics and the tone of the blues guitar.
After the world war, you start to see blues songs that were about relationships and sexual activity. Also, wit was elaborated to the mix. Here is a funny example:
“That must be your woman, cause mine don’t look like that… I said That must be your woman, cause mine don’t look like that… Have you seen my baby? She’s so big and fat…”
The blues guitar style came forth from the American South’s instruments of the time which were the banjo and the Diddley Bow. This was a home made one stringed instrument that was favorite in the early 20th century. Figures such as Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Son House and Blind Willie McTell were a part of the delta blues style which used a lot of finger picking techniques and slide guitar innovations.
Eventually, after WWII ‘electric blues’ became increasingly popular where the blues guitar was played on electric guitars as were the bass guitars. This was most prevalent in the Chicago area.
The history of blues guitar and poor man’s blues is rich with culture and chronicles of good times and bad. I could go on for days about the history of the blues guitar but let’s make this part 1 so you don’t fall asleep on me!
Are you a blues musician? Get over 50 acoustic blues guitar backing tracks at 50 Blues Studios. Listen to samples of electric blues guitar riffs and licks and jam with a professional blues band at your own time and speed.
Tags: arts, Arts & Entertainment, blues guitar, blues guitar backing tracks, blues guitar lessons, entertainment, guitar, guitar lessons, Lifestyle, music
