Archive for the ‘Acoustic Guitars’ Category
Do you play an electric guitar? Do you play a bass guitar? If you answered yes to either of these questions, do you own more than one electric guitar or bass guitar?
If you answered yes to the last question you will find yourself among the majority. I don’t know why, but owning electric guitars by the handful is a pretty common thing. Playing guitar if fun, owning guitars is addicting. Many people that play have the electric guitar they started with and have added to it different style electric guitars, acoustic guitars, and even bass guitars, yes that’s right I said bass guitars. It’s not uncommon for someone who plays guitar to acquire a bass guitar.
If you find yourself owning just one guitar my words to you are “Let’s get with it” you have a lot of catching up to do.
There’s nothing wrong with the sound of electric guitars if your going to play good old rock and roll, however there are times when acoustic guitars are better suited for songs.
The soft tones that are achieved from acoustic guitars make them a must to own of you’re a serious guitarist. A few songs that come to my mind that are made just for acoustic guitars are “Annie’s Song” by John Denver, and “I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song” by Jim Croce. I urge you to look up these songs and try to imagine them being played with a solid body electric guitar, you can’t do it. The same can be said for a song like “Smoke On The Water” by Deep Purple, can you imagine what this song would sound like being played on an acoustic guitar, I don’t think so.
There is a place in music for both electric guitars, and acoustic guitars, some songs can be played on either one, while others are meant to be played on one or the other.
Playing electric guitar has been one of the best experiences of my life. I not only learned something that I can use my entire life, I also learned something that has inspired my daughters to learn.
Bass guitars, electric guitars, or even acoustic guitars are symbols of our family having fun together. It doesn’t have to have that polished sound to it, we’re not professionals, it just has to make you feel good. We share each others music which brings their music into my life, and likewise they get to share my music, which they have found to be pretty good.
The family rewards from playing guitar outway any bad times that families usually experience, I encourage you to start a family tradition of playing electric guitars to enhance your family life.
Do You ever listen a CD of your favorite band and wonder if they are really as good they sound in the studio controlled version that you are hearing. I like comparing the recorded version of a song to that which is recorded live, I like to hear the similarities and the differences to see if they are better, the same, or worse.
I particularly like when a band lays down their electric guitar packages in favor of acoustic guitar packages. The acoustic guitar sound you hear is the talent of the band without all the sound altering electronics.
The radio show The Acoustic Storm is aired every Sunday morning and features songs by the artists that made them famous, however the songs are done acoustically. Songs that you are used to hearing on a classic rock station like “Radar Love” by Golden Earrings being done live and with acoustic guitars really changes your perspective of the band.
If you plan on playing music professionally an acoustic guitar is as essential as an electric guitar. Having both of these weapons in your arsenal assures you of being able to play songs with the correct instrument to create the right mood.
As with electric guitars, all acoustic guitars are not created equally. Depending on how much you want to spend, the on board equalizers that are built in to acoustic guitars to make them electric come with 3 to 6 band equalizers to enhance your sound.
An acoustic guitar package that includes a New York Pro acoustic guitar with a quilted top is just the thing you need. Not only does it have a gorgeous finish it also has a five band equalizer with phase and chorus. Don’t be intimidated by the equalizer, the best way to adjust this or any other equalizer is to put on a happy face, meaning a good place to start adjusting for your sound is to place each slide of the equalizer so it looks like a happy face. Like I said this is just the starting point, fine tune each band till you get the sound you are looking for.
In order to hear what you are playing with an electric guitar you need a guitar amplifier. If you only play acoustic guitars without an on-board equalizer and pick-up and plan on playing any affair you still need an amplifier along with a microphone in order to be heard.
Depending on what guitar you play you need to know all guitar amplifiersare not the same. You can go from entry level amps of 10 watts that are considered practice amps and are relatively inexpensive, to intermediate amps from 20 watts on up with some models offering effects such as reverb.
Your standard amplifier can be used for many different types of music, you can find these amps being used for rock, country, and blues. Amplifiers with a preamp channel with things like distortion effects and tone filters are used when playing hard rock. Acoustic amplifiers are best used with acoustic guitars as the distortion rate is very low and is ideal for acoustics.
There are some songs that are just not made to be played on an electric guitar. Acoustic guitars give a softer more personal sound, especially when playing some love songs.
Jim Croce was an American singer songwriter who unfortunately died in a plane crash in 1973. His album “I Got A Name” was released in December of 1973 and featured several hit songs. The song that sticks out on this album for me is “I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song”.
The way the story goes he wrote this song to his wife after they had an argument one night and sung it to her the very next morning. I had the privilege of hearing him and someone else (I don’t remember who) perform this song, it was like dueling guitars, except instead of dueling each acoustic guitar was complimenting the other.
Do you ever go surfing around the net searching for videos from your favorite band? During your search have you ever come across the word unplugged?
Any time you see the word unplugged it’s that song being played using acoustic guitars without the use of electric guitars. Whether or not you are a fan acoustics it is worth a listen, and I do mean listen. Songs played like this are made to be listened to and enjoyed. You’ll find no effect pedals here, no feedback from amplifiers, just honest music played without the aide of electronics.
If your someone who only thinks songs are to be played with an electric guitar then this is a real eye opener, if your someone who enjoys playing an acoustic guitar this is a way to songs to your library that you didn’t know could be played like this.
In today’s musical experience everybody wants to play an electric guitar, and nobody wants to play an acoustic guitar. A closer look at acoustics and you might just change your mind.
Acoustic guitars come in a vast price range, this is because of the amount of work that can go into one of these beauties. Entry level you won’t find any bells and whistles, just a plain acoustic. The finish will be OK, but it might not have an on board equalizer to make it electric, and you won’t find any in-lays on it. The higher up in price you go you will find some outstanding finishes, as well as some great in-lay work on the body and sometimes on the neck. The higher up you go you will also find a better on board equalizer ranging from 3 band to 6 band.
One thing you can find today is acoustic guitar packages in most styles and price ranges giving you greater versatility.
Skiffle music can be traced to being a big influence on music in the UK. The Beatles are among those whose backgrounds were filled with blues, jazz, folk and country.
When you listen back to the music of the 60’s The Beatles were not only top shelf when it came to vocals, including back-up vocals, they were also superior instrumentally. Nothing reflected this more than the drum playing of Ringo Starr, the lead and back-up vocals of John Lennon, as well as his rhythm guitar backing up George Harrison. Bass guitar was handled by Paul McCartney.
Their broad music genre backgrounds are quite evident when you listen to their use of acoustic guitars some songs, to make them an mellow and easy to listen to. George Harrison in my opinion was often overlooked back then because he style was not fast or flashy like other guitarists of the time. He is ranked #11 as one of the all time greats. He had a picking style that was more like a plucking technique like Chet Atkins or Carl Perkins, it gave him a country sound.
Paul McCartney’s bass guitar lines and Gorge Harrison’s acoustic and electric guitar playing were innovative and ahead of their time in the 60’s. Nothing is more evident of this that George’s guitar playing on “Till There Was You”, and “All My Loving” written by Paul. It was written as a country western song, when you listen to it the first thing you hear is an outstanding bass line by Paul, next is John’s rhythm guitar played like other pop songs of the day, third thing is George’s lead guitar played in a Nashville style.