I would like to begin by saying whether you have an electric guitar, bass guitar or acoustic guitar use caution when changing out the strings. To make changing the strings easier it is recomended to have an electric guitar tuner and wire cutters. Although it is not necessary but it helps if you have a string-winder also (a string winder is a device that will aid in winding the string at the tuning peg).
The big difference in changing guitar strings on an acoustic guitar rather than a an electric guitar is that the strings are held in place at the saddle by pins. First remove the old string by releasing the tension at the tuning peg, lifting the tuning peg lift the ball end of the string out of the hole.
Replacing the string is done by reversing the steps for removing it. The one thing you must keep in mind is after putting the ball of the new string into the hole you must pull the string tight towards the tuning pegs while you are pushing the pin tight, this keeps the top of the loop against the pin allowing you to correctly tune the string.
Everyone has a particular band they really like. Listening to them from one song to another you often hear the electric guitars like you have never heard them and wondered how they got that sound.
There are many factors or guitar accessories that give them the sound they achieve. Quality cables are often overlooked as something that can give you better sound, bad cables can distort the sound by driving the mids up at the same time driving the the highs down.
There are many different pedals that can have an influence on the sound you are hearing. Fuzz, wah-wah, volume, tone, are just a few pedals, there multi function pedals, tremolo pedals the list goes on.
As yo advance in your music career you might want to try a few of these to enhance your sound.
I have bee playing bass guitar for 45 years, some of it has been on stage but most of it has been just for me. I took lessons when I was in Junior High School which was followed by being a member of several bands.
In my 20’s I had to give up playing bass professionally in lieu of a full time job, it was a difficult thing to do. Although I gave up playing in bands I still played for me, if I heard a song on the radio I was interested in I would learn it and play it.
I now play for the enjoyment of it, it’s relaxing and it’s fun. For anyone reading this blog your never too old to learn, whether it’s an acoustic guitar or you pick yourself up an electric guitar package, do it for yourself you’ll be glad you did.
The other day I was out driving in my GMC pickup truck, and being a guy when my classic hard rock radio station cut to a commercial I began scanning the other stations I have program to see if they had something I might want to listen to. It happened when I mistakenly put on my daughters station 98.3 out of Augusta Ga.
I heard this great song but had no idea what the name of it was or who sang it, so I left myself a message on mt IPhone. When I got home I immediately started looking for the song, I finally found it, the name of the song was “Need You Now” by “Lady Antebellum”. They are a country music group with this being a cross-over song.
The song is very addicting, hearing it makes you want to listen to it over and over. The lead vocals are done by Hilary Scott, and Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood is responsible for backup vocals along with piano, and guitar.
The rcorded version of this song is exactly what you heard on the 43rd Annual CMA Awards which to me is most excellent. The song features great vocals along with terrific harmonies. The back-up bands bass guitar line has a subtle but driving sound, also the lead guitar being played on a telecaster electric guitar makes great use of a slide, which can be heard throughout the song.
As if the song was great enough what really sold me unselfishly Dave who also co-wrote the song has probably the best tutorials on “You Tube” that you will ever see. Using a Gibson acoustic guitar he takes you through what the cords are along with a close-up of his fingers on the fret board, he shows you how to play it.
Experienced and beginner guitarists can both benefit from this video.
Growing up in Queens which is a Borough in New York in the 50’s nd 60’s I was like every other boy in the neighborhood, playing stick-ball, softball, basketball, handball just to name a few activitie. I entered my teens around the time of the British invasion, thus being a big fan of The Beatles (as you can tell if you follow my blogs).
This was probably about the best time in Rock and Roll as the influence of The Beatles branched out to many other bands or the time and it was like an electic guitar war, and it really expanded the horizons of rock that made it what it is today. In Junior High School at the time my friends, my brother and I decided to form a band, but first we had to learn how to play. Each of us took an instrument, mine was the electric bass guitar. I took lessons and bought my first bass guitar and bass amplifier with money I made from my paper route.
Within a few years we started our band and had a decent sound. From there I went on to be in several bands one of which was a group of us from the dance band in school, it was a 9 piece band with a terrific sound.
I am now 57 years old soon to be 58, I no longer play any of the sports from my childhood but I still can play bass. As a parent I now pass this along to children, no matter what you do if you learn an instrument you will take that skill with you for life.
Rock and roll has been around for a little over 50 years. From Elvis Presley twanging his acoustic guitar shaking his hips in the 1950’s, to the 60’s and 70’s bringing us The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who.
Rock has given us many great front men like Freddie Mercury with Queen, Jim Morrison of The Doors, and of course Ozzie Osbourne just to name a few. Rock has also afforded us the pleasure of some extraordinary musicians like Mark Knopfer with Dire Straits who plays an electric guitar a finger picking style that most would use on an acoustic guitar, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton and many more, names that are still familiar today.
Many of the bands and single artists like Elvis can be heard today and are still popular, not just with men and women in their 50’s and 60’s but by kids and younger adults also. This is possible because these were skilled artists with a sound that was unique to themselves, they weren’t lifted to star status based on a popularity contest like so many so called artists and bands now-a-days.
Fifty years has brought us these great musicians, but can they endure another fifty years, that’s what they are gonig to have to do, There’s noone within the last twenty years that’s qualified to carry rock any further. I guess AC/DC can never retire and The Who will wind up doing the half time show for the Super Bowl about every ten years.
Did you ever purchase something just to find out you need something else to make it work properly? Like buying a hockey puck without a stick, or a hockey stick without a puck. How about purchasing an IPOD alone that didn’t come with ear buds or some other device to produce the sound.
The same thing applies to purchasing a guitar. Whether it be an electric guitar, or even an electric bass guitar, without an amplifier the results would be same you can practice for yourself with the guitar but it would be awfully hard to hear anything without a bass amplifier or guitar amplifier.
From a logic’s stand point it makes much more sense to purchase an electric guitar package or a bass guitar package. Your wallet will thank you for this also as it is less expensive to buy a bass or electric guitar package. Along with an amplifier you would receive a guitar tuner ( also a necessity ), your guitar isn’t any good if it is not in tune ( bet you didn’t even think about that one ),
OK so you have been in the market for a new electric guitar, or bass guitar, or you already own a guitar and would like to upgrade to a better model. This task while enjoyable can be very nerve racking.
There are two decisions facing you, one is what body style are you looking for, the other is the price you would like to spend and the price that you can afford.
If it’s an electric guitar your looking for there’s the stratocaster, telecaster, LP, or possibly even the semi hollow body jazz guitar just to name a few styles. Bass guitars have there own choices, it can either be a J-Bass, P-Bass, there’s an LP bass, or violin bass.
After you have decided what your new guitar is to be, your faced with checking out the price for your new instrument against the amount you have set aside for it, if the two don’t match what do you do? How about purchasing a knock-off guitar that looks like the higher price guitar. One with a terrific finish, one that sounds OK stock but you can also gut and finish with parts from the higher price guitar. You can buy pick-ups, switches, volume and tone knobs to make the cheaper guitar look and sound like the more expensive guitar.
Now that you have learned how to adjust the saddles on your new bass guitar you should take the following steps to set what is called intonation. Intonation is the term that refers to the open note on each string should be the same as the note on the 12th fret.
This is not as scary as it sounds, and like adjusting the saddles on the bridge is a very easy fix. At the very end of the bridge there are screw adjustments that will draw the string either in or out to adjust the intonation.
You will need a philips screwdriver and a bass guitar tuner like the one you received with your bass guitar package. Place your tuner on the head of your bass guitar and play the open string, lets say the A string tune the string so that it is dead on then play the note on the 12th fret, the notes should be the same, if they are not in tune adjust the screw until they are the same. After you are done with the first string do the same thing with the rest.
You just received the new bass guitar you ordered by mail and can’t wait to get started playing it. You are all excited opening the box, you undo all the packing and carefully take it out of the box, put your strap on it and start to play.
In playing a note on the first fret you notice the strings are high and it is very difficult to play or there’s a buzz on the string. You try the next string and find the same, you discover all the strings have the same problem, don’t be alarmed this is not an uncommon condition, and is easy to remedy.
On the bridge of your bass guitar there are barrel like pieces that the strings sit on these are called saddles. These saddles need to be lowered if the strings are too high, or raised if you are getting a buzz.
The saddles are easy to adjust, do one string at a time then adjust the remaining strings the same way. If you are raising the saddles don’t forget to let up on the string tension with the tuning peg, and don’t forget to tune your bass guitar when you are finished. Lots of luck, I know you can do it.