Archive for May, 2010
I started my music career in the mid 60′s, where I played bass guitar and was lead singer in several bands. I have played in clubs, at parties, and even played a charity dance for the handicapped in New York City.
My regular job took me away from music for 30 years and when I retired I turned to the two things I love most, woodworking and music. As far as the woodworking goes I have my own cabinet shop on the property where I get to build custom furniture, and complete kitchen cabinets, I have even built a couple of sports bars in the area.
As much as I love woodworking it is something that I can’t share with everyone which is why I started a music store that specializes in selling guitar packages. As much as I would like to sell top of the line electric guitars, I realize the cost would be more than a lot of you would like to spend. I have found that most of the knock off guitar manufacturers quality is really quite good. Glen Burton guitars, New York pro guitars, and Stadium guitars which are made by the New York Pro guys are good examples of electric guitars that won’t disappoint you with their sound and won’t break the pocket book either.
I have been blogging for some time now and it’s no secret my favorite instrument is the bass guitar. It is for this reason that I have come up with what I like to call my favorite bass guitar package, which is my favorite bass guitar players.
I put Paul McCartney at the beginning of my list. His early songs with The Beatles revolutionized the way bass guitar is played. His style wasn’t flashy but his bass lines were, he employed a bass style that made me say to myself, hey I can do that, and I did.
James Jamerson is another one that let his bass guitar do his talking for him. He was basically a session musician who played on just about every famous song that came out of Motown along with The Funk Brothers. His bass playing some suggest is what molded Motown into the power house it was to become. He like McCartney got away from just playing root notes and bass patterns that were repetitive, in its place he would play a bass guitar that was more improvisational, “For Once In My Life” by Stevie Wonder is a great example of this.
Learning how to play the electric guitar or any other instrument for that matter is not the easiest thing to do or else everybody would do it. With a little imagination a custom electric guitar package is possible, even for players like us that don’t have the means to spend thousands on top of the line electric guitars and guitar amplifiers.
Yesterday’s blog I wrote how Jimi Hendrix who was left handed played a right handed Fender strat turned around and restrung for a left hander. He did this to enhance his sound. His choice of a Marshall amplifier was also carefully selected to further enhance his sound which relied on what I like to call a controlled feedback.
Terry Kath who was the guitarist for Chicago in the 60′s and 70′s until his death in 1978 played a Fender Telecaster with one of the pick-ups changed to a Gibson pick-up. When asked why he did that his answer was so he could change his sound from a Fender to Gibson without changing guitars.
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.
Fender and Gibson are two of the higher end mass producers of high end electric guitars. Of all the different model guitars that have been, and still are produced there are four models that have past the test of time, for Gibson it is the Les Paul (LP) and the SG, and for Fender it is the Telecaster and the Stratocaster.
Unlike the flat tele the strat had a double cutaway and contoured body. The bridge pick-up on the strat was slanted towards the high E string. This was designed that way to give a bright trebly sound.
Jimi Hendrix’s electric guitar package of choice was a Fender Stratocaster turned upside down and a stacked Marshall guitar amplifier. Instead of using a left handed electric guitar he would take a right handed strat turn it around while correctly placing the strings as they would normally be for a left hander, this gave his low E string the bright sound that was meant for the high E string, in return this gave his high E string a mellow sound. This gave him a completely unique sound.
I have enjoyed playing bass guitar for over 40 years. While taking lessons and practicing are essential for playing guitar well, there is another factor that is overlooked in the learning curve.
There is a lot that can be said for being in a band, or even jamming with a different group of guitar players all the time. I remember when as a teenager I used to get together with quite a number of bands in the area just to jam. Besides the obvious advantages to your playing that comes with being in a band, you get to try other musicians electric guitar packages. We used to try each others guitars all the time, we would even step in behind the drums to try them.
When it came time for any of us to get our next guitar package, we had the advantage of knowing what we wanted, because we had already played it.
Whether you realize it or not everyone who plays an electric guitar and has a guitar amplifier has got an electric guitar package. Everything you have acquired that concerns your guitar is part of your package.
It’s quite common to have purchase everything separately, especially if your in my age category where there was no such thing as purchasing a complete guitar package. Musical instruments have come a long way since the 60′s, the color choices are many, as is the amplifier selection, tuners and the rest of the things you might need. With either bass guitar, acoustic guitar, or electric guitar packages it’s possible to get everything you need at the same time.
Most professional musicians through the years have developed their own sound with the help of their electric guitar packages. They try different things until they find the particular sound they are looking for.
Of course professionals have a bit more money to spend on their instruments than you or I do, but to some degree we can still learn from them, and do the same things they do.
With the price of knock offs you can own several types, and makes of electric guitars. Don’t overlook purchasing a second or third electric guitar package, this will not only give you another type of guitar it can also give you a different size guitar amplifier. By using the lesser amplifier as a pre-amp it can expand the many sounds that you can achieve.
I have played bass guitar since the mid 60′s and I think it is the most exciting instrument to play. For those of you just starting out playing bass there are some things about amplifiers you should know about.
Because of the low frequencies that bass guitars produce bass amplifiers are built differently from guitar amplifiers. The speakers that are used for bass use heavy duty drivers, some professional bass players use a sub-woofer from a PA cabinet paired with the speakers from their bass amplifier to give them more powerful lows. You will also find the construction of the speaker cabinet is larger and more sturdier that that of a guitar amplifier. Bass amplifiers also have a limiter circuit to stop the main circuitry from overloading and causing damage to the speakers.
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 amplifiers are 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.