Guitar Lessons : A Guide to Your Options

So you want to play guitar? Guitar lessons, in some form or another, are a necessity for anyone wanting to learn to play the guitar. Established players also rely on guitar lessons to acquire new skills and move up to the next level. Finding the right lesson, course, or product sounds simple, but there are so many choices available that it’s a tough task to figure out what’s best for your individual needs. These guidelines will help you sort through your options and make a good decision.

Guitar Lessons- Private Instructor or Online?

The traditional way of learning guitar is by taking private lessons from a guitar teacher. The student typically meets with the instructor once a week for 30 minutes at a cost of about $15-25 per week. This is certainly a great option, and perhaps the best way to learn to play: under the personal guidance of a dedicated teacher. However, in many cases private lessons are not a good option due to the time, cost, and transportation factors involved.

The good news for guitar players is that there is a wide range of alternatives to private instruction. Guitar lesson and instructional books have been a mainstay for years. Technology developments then brought us lessons in the form of videotapes and DVDs, as well as multimedia software programs to run on the PC.

Today, widespread access to the internet has caused a major revolution in guitar instruction methods and availability. Now an abundance (some might say over-abundance!) of information on various guitar lesson choices is available in minutes through your favorite search engine. The array of choices is staggering, ranging from free online guitar lessons, to high-end distance learning guitar instruction leading to a certificate from Berklee College of Music,

Aside from better visibility into the options, there have also been tremendous advances in the technology used to develop and deliver the instructional material. Interactive video lessons in which the student controls the pace of learning and the tempo of the material are a good example of this. Online guitar lessons and products can be accessed immediately on the Web, either on-demand or downloaded to the local PC. This gives great flexibility on when and where to learn.

Guitar Lessons Options

Aside from private lessons, there are three basic formats of guitar lessons and instructional material.

Books- If you’re on a budget and like the idea of the portability of a book, this may be the way to go for you. Books often come with a CD to provide audio tracks. Typical Cost: $15-25

Video-based lessons- In my experience, pure video-based lessons are a good “icing on the cake” to help you learn, but not typically a good foundational guitar lesson program. They often lack supporting learning materials needed to be effective for baseline learning.

Multimedia Online Lessons- The Web, plus advances in the technology for creating learning material such as video, has really opened the door to some great multimedia guitar lesson programs.. These can be delivered and accessed on several ways: downloaded for use on your PC; accessed directly from your PC with a live web connection, or as a physical CD/DVD that you run on your PC.

Sorting through the many options can be made easier with information dedicated to this topic on various guitar websites, such as this online guitar lessons guide.

Wrap-up

For those wanting to learn to play guitar, or to play better, there is no better time than now to take advantage to the available online guitar lesson and learning options. The realm of guitar instruction is certainly one that has benefited from the Internet!

Look for the next article in this series:
“Guitar Lesson Tips: 10 Keys to Choosing the Right Guitar Lesson”

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Related articles on EzineArticles.com:

"Basic Guitar Chords: "How to Easily Master the Guitar Chords You Must Know"

"Guitar Chord Diagrams: An Essential Tool for Learing to Play the Guitar"

Copyright 2005 Peter Bussey of www.guitar-players-toolbox.com
This article can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire article and the resource box, with hyperlnks, are included.

Peter Bussey has been an avid guitar player for over 10 years. In 2004 he became Editor of The Guitar Players Toolbox, a website dedicated to helping advancing guitar players improve with practical tools, tips, and information. Visit http://www.guitar-players-toolbox.com for a variety of free, practical resources on guitar lessons, guitar chords, guitar chord charts, song chords, and more.

Beginner Electric Guitar Lessons - Learn and Play the Electric Guitar

The Internet has made life so much easier. No matter what you're looking for, you can almost guarantee that you'll find it online. If you've always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, you'll be happy to know that the Internet has plenty of resources to help you accomplish your goals. Looking for Beginner Electric Guitar Lessons online is extremely simple. Go to your favorite search engine and type in "Guitar lessons for beginners", this will bring up thousands of results, making it extremely easy to find great resources from the comfort of your own home. You can find free instructional videos online, find ebooks that are full of helpful tips and exercises, and many websites devoted to helping guitar players master their craft.

There are thousands of online lessons for beginners. One of the best things about learning online is that you get to learn at your own pace. Life is busy, it's sometimes hard to commit a certain day every week to have a guitar lesson. When you choose to learn online, it gives you the freedom to take lessons whenever it is most convenient for you. As the economy continues to get worse and worse, it's nice to know that most Beginner Electric Guitar Lessons online are free. People taking private lessons with an instructor often spend $15 to $50 per hour.

If you don't have a computer that you can use on a daily basis, Beginner Electric Guitar Lessons online may not be the route for you. Another great option is buying a Beginner Guitar DVD. This will cost money to start out, but if you're committed to practicing on a regular basis you can make it worth your while. If you're unsure of something you can re watch a section as many times as you want. Often when people take private lessons, they waste time and money, asking there instructor to repeat themselves again and again.

If you enjoy saving money, online guitar lessons are definitely the way to go. You can learn everything a beginner needs to know in a matter of minutes. Online lessons will teach you the names of all 6 strings, teach you how to hold the guitar and pick correctly, teach you how to play single notes, power chords, bar chords, and open chords. Beginner Electric Guitar Lessons have never been easier. If you've always wanted to learn how to play guitar, now is the time to do it.

Best of luck

Do you ever wish that you could be a great guitar player without practice? I remember wanting to play like the best in the shortest time possible, like in a few weeks! Luckily, I found a few courses that speed up the learning process and get you playing guitar in a matter of days. Visit my site to learn the best beginner electric guitar lessons and start impressing your friends by next weekend!

Tips For Choosing Your First Beginner Acoustic Guitar

Once you have decided that you want to learn the guitar, one of the most important decisions will be which beginner acoustic guitar you want to learn with. To help decide, first you need to think about the style of music you want to play. For instance, nylon-string classical guitars are best suited to playing Latin, softer pop/folk and classical tunes. On the other hand, you will need to look for a steel string if you want to play country or rock songs. If you are not sure, go to a guitar store and try a few different types to see which ones feel right for you. You don't even need to know how to play at this stage - just a gentle strum should be enough for you to know if you like the type of sound a particular guitar makes.

If you are taking lessons, your tutor may suggest that you buy a nylon-stringed beginner acoustic guitar. This is because the nylon strings are generally easier on the fingers. Of course, if you're learning to play guitar because you want to play like a rock star, nylon strings, or indeed the tone of a classical guitar is never going to sound right to you. If you already know you want to end up playing steel-string music, then you are better off starting with a steel string guitar. Your fingers will get sore at first, but the calluses will develop after about a month or two of regular practice. This advice works both ways. If you want to play classical guitar music, try not to let someone else talk you into learning with a steel-string.

If you want to buy a steel-string beginner acoustic guitar, the most popular type is the six-string dreadnought. Dreadnought guitars produce a sound that many beginners are comfortable with and they come in fairly uniform size ranges.

The type of wood your instrument is made from will also make a difference to the tone it produces. Most beginner acoustic guitars have a spruce top. Be sure to choose one with a solid spruce top rather than a plywood or two-piece top. The solid top will be more durable and will mean that it will more likely last the duration of your learning period. As for the back and sides, your choices will probably be mahogany, rosewood and spruce. If you're looking for a lighter tone, try guitars with a mahogany back and sides. Guitars with a rosewood back and sides will produce a heavier tone.

One thing you should look for in a beginner level guitar is that it has a relatively low action. The action is the space between the strings and the neck. If the action is too high, it can become a distraction and get in the way of your learning. Make sure you also get a good electronic tuner when you buy your beginner acoustic guitar. As you are likely to be just starting out, your ear will note developed yet. Tuning your guitar without having to fuss with it too much will increase the time that you will be able to spend practicing and playing.

Andy Turnbull is webmaster for an online Guitar Lesson Review Site, providing honest reviews of the best courses available.

Tuning your guitar is covered in the first lesson of this free five part training course. You can sign up here: free guitar e-course

Underground Method of Learning the Guitar Fret Board!

Many have come and gone, they have seen and conquered; yet there is one thing they have failed to achieve-knowledge of the guitar fret board (found on the top of the neck with metal bars across it)! Unfortunately whether you believe it or not, knowing your frets is the key to success.

Many guitar players always find it difficult to do so. One would think rocket science is a walk in the park just by the way they go about it. Frets are exactly that, frets! There is no need to fear them. After all, if one has no knowledge whatsoever, how do they expect to play chords?

Yes, you heard right, chords...one of the most petrifying words in guitarville. Frets and chords go hand in hand, if guitar is your thing, better learn or die a slow death. There are different suggested ways of gaining better knowledge of frets, the highly proclaimed being mentally.

MENTALLY

This employs the method of learning away from your guitar. You can learn a fret at a time (in your mind), memory cards or games, mnemonics. They all work; you just need to find which one is the easiest for you. Let us look at all these in detail starting with the mind method.

Learning With Your Mind

The mind is capable of a great many things; humans underestimate it way too much. The best way to go about this technique is to take each fret at a time. Make sure to know all the six notes (if using a six string guitar) on the fret by heart before moving on to the next. Keep doing this 'till you are done.

Memory Cards

This is a great way of going about it; you can even get someone else to hold up a different card each time. Each card has the number of a fret, for example the number three. When you get this card you have to say out the notes G C F A# D G respectively. It goes on like this until you get all of them.

By the way, you don't have to go and buy these cards; you can simply make some at home. No need to spend unnecessary money. (After all, we have too much to worry about with the high gas prices).

Mnemonics

Mnemonics are a sure fire way of learning to some degree. Mnemonics are simply assigning words to correspond with the various letters. An example of this would be the positions of the planets; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

This would become; My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nice Potatoes, get the point? You can assign each note with any word that you can remember.

What Next?

What next is that you go out and put what you have just learned into action. Knowing your frets will take time, but it is very doable. Don't be afraid of it, it is just the fret board and nothing else.

Samuel Malama is well known in the guitar world for the guidance that he offers to guitarists. Many have credited him for their success. Find out why 95% of guitar players quit within the first week of starting to play and why guitarists need guidance by clicking the link easy way to learn guitar or visit http://www.zoblazo.com/the-easy-way-to-learn-guitar/

View from the Blues Stage: Garage Band Evolution

Garageband Evolution -

Remember the garage band era? Summer nights in the 60’s, man, you could walk around your neighborhood and always catch a garage band concert—someone belting out "Hey Joe" (the Leaves version of course) or a scratchy vocal rendition of the Yardbirds’ "For your Love". We had a local concert area called "The Wild Goose" in a public park that had "Big Name Bands" like the Buckinghams, Baby Huey and the Babysitters, and the American Breed. Three bucks granted you the privilege of standing inside the fence, we always stood on the outside—that’s were all the action was anyway.

I saw a California band called "The People" (I love you) do a mind-blowing rendition of "I am the Walrus". Very Cool. I saw a young 17-year-old Steve Windwood belting out "Gimme some Loving" with The Spencer Davis Group. Someone said that his mother had to sign the record contract because he was under 18.

Music was everywhere--the car, the beach, and in the garages of America. It was so much more important then. We all knew which songs were in the "Top Ten". We listened to the radio like it was an auditory horse race; watching and waiting for our favorite songs to move up into the lead. Everybody had the dream of getting discovered—maybe even one day becoming a local hero and playing the Wild Goose who knows? In any event square one of that process was the workshop-stage known to our parents as the garage. I was lucky enough to have a garage band next door to me in Oak Lawn called "St. George and the Dragons". They helped create the whole garage band paradigm for me--the petty disputes over costumes, and where people would stand at seemed much more important than the music. Whatever they lacked in musical proficiency, they made up for in volume (when in doubt play louder). They named the band after the bass players guitar—a garage band special—the brand? St. George of course. Never seen a St. George instrument since.

My brother got bitten by the garage band bug and bought a guitar. A two pickup Tiesco Del Ray. He had a plan to form a band with a few of his friends but it never even gelled into a single practice session. I guess the majority of garage band plans make it about this far. Meanwhile I latched onto the Del Ray—life changed after that.

I of course played the garage circuit. My first band was called "The Elements of Tyme". I thought up that snazzy name. (Tyme with a Y for extra coolness--that's what we did in the 60's--the Byrds for example...). One of the guitarists in the band couldn’t play a note, but had to be in because his mom was a best friend of the drummers mom and they laid down the law that the kid stayed in. Period. Garage bands always had plenty of guitar players. Three, four, or even five six-string players was not uncommon. We let one guy in because he had suede "Monkee Boots". Sometimes that’s all you needed to be in.
We quit and joined bands on a daily basis, gaining and loosing vital concert equipment with each change, while continually striving to trade up both players and toys.

I bought my first acoustic a Norma Dreadnought just before I entered high school in 1968. An acoustic gave me the freedom from my tethered amp. I took that old jumbo box with me wherever I went. I hooked up with other acoustic players. One of the guys Ted had written a song called "I’ve been on that train"

I’ve been on that train

Searching for that girl

Searching for that girl that I will never know

And I’m crying

Crying

Crying baby for you.

It’s built upon alternating Cmaj7 and Fmaj7 chords and was hypnotically melodic.

Well if Ted can write songs we all could.

And that’s what we did. We started writing and recording on a reel to reel tape machine that one of the guys had. Soon we had a list of probably 50 or more songs. We called the band Woodlind. I don’t remember how we came up with the name, or why we chose it, but all throughout high school it was Woodlind. We played many small venues throughout those years, and had finally made it out of the garage.

By our senior year we decided to cut a double album of our best songs. We went to another (rich district) high school and got a small string section to orchestrate our songs. It was beautiful man. The songs became more technical and complex in nature. They also became more fun.

The 20th Century Cowboy

His harp in hand he plays the stars a tune

A drunken cowboy laughs beneath the moon,

says "whiskey's good to ease the pain"

been roaming 'round for days in a daze

he doesn't care...

We found a local studio: Pumpkin Studio’s in Palos. Run by local hero Gary Loizzo of the American Breed. We spent many months there laying down track after track on our double album. Pumpkin at that time only had four tracks, but Gary mixed the four down to a stereo left and right, and then we overlaid two more vocal tracks on the now empty tracks three and four. These again were mixed down into stereo left and right. Pumpkin was an excellent "Studio 101" course. We learned both the mechanics and protocols of music at an accelerated pace. Gary Loizzo was a great teacher, role model, and friend. Ted and I got jobs a the Harmony Guitar Factory at 44th and Pulaski to pay for the album. All day long I glued necks onto "Stella's" in order to pay for my work with "Norma"

By the time the album was finished, unfortunately so was the band. Squabbles over time, money, and artistic differences took its toll upon Woodlind. Ted and I did the last couple of songs as single person solo cuts. Both Woodlind and the album faded away.

I was on my own now; moved on newer things like college. There I met Bob. Bob is an incredibly talented guy, musically, and artistically. He's a phenomenal singer, a skilled craftsman, and an inventor (once he actually tried to build a working set of wings with the intention of flying--no kidding he made a working model with a two foot wingspan where the tips of the "feathers" spread out like a real birds wing--it was a work of art in itself).

Anyway Bob and I hit if off and began writing, playing, and eventually performing. He raised the bar for me on writing and performing. Other people became interested and once again an acoustical group began to form. I played the old Woodlind tape for everyone, and it was unanimous--we would once again play these songs--we would once again call ourselves Woodlind. Only these guys were top gun musicians. The music reached a wonderful level of precision and expression.

I got Ted back in and things were like old times, only much better. The band got Larger, it was now Bob , Ted , Joey Drada , Jim , Ken , myself, and Scott on drums. We began gigging fairly regularly. We got tighter and had a following. We even hired a sound technician--Jerry. There's nothing like a competent sound technician to present live material to an audience. If you don't have one, find one--sometimes it's a make or break decision.

Well it's a long story but for one reason or another (I'll just leave it at that). I moved downstate to Carbondale. Within months I lost contact with Woodlind. Bob told me that there had been many disputes after I left, and within a year, once again Woodlind decided to call it quits.

Jerry began a business plan to open a recording studio.
After a few years in Carbondale (read my novel) I returned to Chicago. Got a job with one of the original Woodlind members as a carpenter. Who would have known that after years I still had a cosmic link to Woodlind.
Jerry now had the business capitol to rent space, buy equipment, and build a studio. As fate would have it we bumped into each other just about the time he was ready to begin his venture. We talked and then cut a deal. I was to frame his studio in return for unlimited recording there. What a deal.

So we began. Jerry made me read several texts on the acoustic properties of sound so that I would understand why we were building the studio a certain way. Although technical reading for me at the time, I thoroughly enjoyed finding out about the mechanics of sound waves. I learned a great deal about the physics of space and sound.

We finished the studio (Jerry Called the Studio "Timbre Studios" now it's ARS Studios) and I stayed on as second engineer. For a while I lived in the studio. I learned signal routing, and signal processing. I learned to mike drums. We did all kinds of interesting things, like split the lead guitar into a "DI" box to the board, and have a shotgun mike setup 30 feet from the Lead amp. We would phase shift the two signals so that the delay in the air wouldn't muddy the sound. The result was a crisp (direct) sound that was fully developed (air). Very cool stuff. We mixed and measured sound--did you know that sometimes sound is only electricity until the first time you play it back?

We took the garage bands of South Side of Chicago and made 'em sound like they never had before--powerful, layered, equalized, logically panned, and most of all colored many wonderful sonic colors. I was learning right along with them. Each band had their own individual sonic equations to solve and a sound to "find". My job was to help them find that audio groove. I really loved doing that.

I loved the post session breakfasts. 5:20 am. Denny's. Sometimes chowing with the band while discussing the night's session.
The music industry has changed so much from those garage band days. It's big business today. Nobody will lay out any investment bread on a band until it's been thoroughly market tested. They say that Elvis was just starting out today he probably wouldn't make the cut. I don't know about that, but I know the days of the "One hit wonder" bands are pretty much over.

We live in an age of specialization. We have specialists handle everything. We drink gourmet coffee, and likewise are musical connoisseurs. The listening audience is much more sophisticated these days. They are not content to listen to a song on a two inch speaker at the beach--they want full fidelity, with auditing capabilities. It's all virtual--eighty percent of our music today is born and lives within a microprocessor of some sort. Music like all other information it really isn't music but rather a binary code of 0's and 1's. Just like this page you are reading!

Woodlind had it's 20 year reunion in the mid 1990's

Copyright (c) 2005 Gary Wesselhoff

Gary "g-man" Wesselhoff is an acoustic blues writer/performer woking the Chicago Metro area. You can contact him at: gman@gmanblues.com

Please Visit my site: http://www.gmanblues.com

An Introduction to the Acoustic Guitar

Acoustic guitar usually involve the following musical instruments:

Nylon and gut stringed guitars:

• Renaissance guitar

• Romantic guitar

• Classical guitar

Steel stringed guitars:

• Twelve string guitar

• Steel-string acoustic guitar

• Archtop guitar

• Battente guitar

Acoustic bass guitar

Russian guitar

Other instruments:

• Harp guitar

• Banjo guitar

• Guitar lute

Guitar can be divided into two categories, acoustic and electric

An acoustic guitar is not dependant on any external device for amplification. The shape and resonance itself has the ability to create acoustic amplification. Today there are many acoustic guitars available with built-in electronics and power to enable amplification.

Acoustic electric guitars

Some steel-string acoustic guitars are fitted with pickups as an alternative to using a different microphone. These are called electric acoustic guitars and are regarded as acoustic guitar rather then electric guitars. It should not be confused with hollow body electric guitars, which are more of electric guitars fitted with hollow sound chambers.

Free acoustic guitar lessons

There several free acoustic guitar lessons available online for beginners. The free guitar lessons are designed for guitarists of all playing abilities.

Acoustic guitar magazine

The acoustic guitar magazine is for acoustic guitar players, from beginners to performing as a professional. The magazine usually contains free acoustic and electric guitar lessons, tutorials and videos for both beginner and professional. Some of the great magazine includes Flatpicking guitar magazine and Acoustic guitar.

Vintage acoustic guitars

Veteran musicians know firsthand that vintage acoustic guitars simply sound and feel better than their contemporary counterparts.

Vintage acoustic guitar body shape:

Steel-stringed vintage acoustic guitars come in two general body shapes.

Flattop vintage acoustic guitars - As the name suggests, flattop vintage acoustic guitars feature a flattop body. If you play blues, folk, bluegrass, or rock, flattops, which were pioneered by Martin, will suit you best.

Archtop vintage acoustic guitars - In contrast, archtop vintage acoustic guitars have a curved top and a hollow body. If you’re a jazz or country player, then look for archtops, which were invented by Gibson. (The most sought-after Gibson archtops are the larger models dating from the early 1930s to 1959.)

Acoustic guitar notes

A musical note is a tone. However, a musical-note tone comes from a small collection of tones that are pleasing to the human brain when used together. For example, you might pick a set of tones at the following frequencies:

• 264 Hz

• 297 Hz

• 330 Hz

• 352 Hz

Acoustic guitar reviews

Yamaha LLX-500C Acoustic/Electric Guitar

Price ranges from $2,399 or higher.

The Yamaha LLX-500C is hand built in Yamaha’s Japan factory. Features include a solid spruce top, mahogany neck, and solid rosewood back and sides. The headstock and neck of the guitar are attractive trim in ivoroid binding, and the Yamaha name on the headstock just look great. Unlike many acoustic electric, the Yamaha LLX-500C sides are solid instead of laminated.
Guild F50R Jumbo Acoustic Guitar

Price ranges from $2,499 or higher.

The F50R is based on the original F50 specification from 1960s to 1980s. The Guild F50R features an ebony fretboard and a rosewood bridge. Neck dimensions include a 25.6-inch scale and a slightly narrower-than-normal width of 1.69 inches. The F50R does not lack for fine details - the fret board has eye-catching abalone and mother-of-pearl inlays and two racing stripes that run from nut to sound-hole.

Acoustic Guitar Tabs

Tablature is a form of musical notation, which tells players where to place their fingers on a particular instrument rather than which pitches to play. Tablature is mostly seen for fretted stringed instruments, in which context it is usually called tab for short. It is frequently used for the guitar, bass and lute. But in principle it can be used for any fretted instrument includes banjo and viola da gamba.

Acoustic Guitar Strings

Guitar strings are strung parallel to the neck, whose surface is covered by the fingerboard. By depressing a string against the fingerboard, the effective length of the string can be changed, which in turn changes the frequency at which the string will vibrate when plucked. Guitarists typically use one hand to pluck the strings and the other to depress the strings against the fretboard.

The strings may be plucked using either fingers or a plectrum. The sound of guitar is either mechanically or electronically, forming two category of guitar: acoustic or electric.

Samantha Clark heads consumer reviews at http://www.dealsdepot.com.au One of the web's most popular Online Shopping sites.

Guitar Accessories? Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar?

There are a number of guitar accessories that you might want to buy for your guitar. Guitar accessories are relatively cheap and if you are buying a guitar, you might be able to pick up a good deal if you want to buy a number of accessories as well.

Here is a list of guitar accessories to consider (in order of the most popular):

• Guitar bag or case
• Guitar tuner/pitch pipe
• Guitar strings
• Effects pedals/Foot Switches
• Amplifiers
• Guitar stands
• Plectrums (also known as picks)
• Guitar Leads/Cables
• Guitar straps
• Guitar Capo
• Guitar Slide
• Headphones
• Metronome
• Cleaning and maintenance (polish, nut file set, wrench set, fret file set)
• Footstool
• Stringwinder (also known as a pegwinder)
• Straplok set
• Power adaptor for effects pedals

Guitar Bags and Cases

If you plan on gigging a lot or travelling on planes/trains etc. I recommend buying a guitar case, otherwise a padded gig bag will do just fine. The Kinsman guitar cases and guitar bags are a very good quality and are also one of the most popular. The Kinsman guitar bags come in three grades.

1) Standard - hardly any padding and one small pouch for music books and accessories

2) Deluxe – quite well padded, with two pouches

3) Premium – extremely well padded, with large and small pouches and a shoulder strap.

The Kinsman guitar cases are made for Stratocasters, Telecasters, Les Paul shape, electric, acoustic or bass guitars.

Guitar tuner/pitch pipe

There are hundreds of guitar tuners to choose from on the market. The best brands in order of popularity* are:

• Korg
• Stagg
• Yamaha
• Intelli
• Seiko
• Qwik Tune
• Boss
• Ibanez

The two guitar tuners that stand out from the rest are the Stagg Automatic Guitar/Bass Tuner and the Korg GA-30. These two guitar tuners are sold more than any other guitar tuner on the market.

Guitar strings

It’s always wise to have a spare set of guitar strings to hand. You never know when one will brake and leave you in a difficult situation.
You will need to buy steel strings for electric, bass or acoustic guitars and nylon strings for classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitars

Here is a list of the top brands of guitar strings, in order of popularity*:

• Ernie Ball
• D’addario
• Martin
• Fender
• Elixir
• GHS
• Augustine
• Earthwood
• Dan electro
• Gibson
• Markley
• Newtone
• Savarez
• Rotosound
• Darco
• Dean
• Elites
• Thomastick
• Tonesearch
• Maxima
• Warwick
• Rickenbacker
• PRS
• Legacy
• John Pearse
• DR

Effects pedals

For some groovy sounds you will need to buy an effects pedal. The two most popular are the Jim Dunlop GCB-95 Original Cry Baby Wah Wah Effects Pedal and the Ibanez Tone-Lok Series SM7 Smash Box Effects Pedal.

Here is a list of the top brands in order of popularity*:

• Ibanez
• Jim Dunlop
• Korg
• DigiTech
• Vox
• MXR
• Yamaha
• Dan electro

Amplifiers

Amplifiers are used with electric guitars, bass guitars and electro-acoustic guitars.
You will need to buy a lead to connect up to your guitar.
There are many types of guitar amplifiers ranging from the smallest which is normally 10 watts up to 500 watts! or more:

Practice amps (these are normally quite small)

Standard amps (used for playing in bands or gigging)

Bass amps (used only with bass guitars)

Keyboard amps (used with electronic keyboards and stage pianos)

Mixer amps

Speakers and Monitors

Combo amps (also known as combination amplifiers)

Amp heads

Which brand of Amplifier do I choose?

There are a number of brands of guitar amplifiers, here is a list in order of the most popular*:

Marshall

Fender

Vox

Peavey

Laney

Line 6

Mesa Boogie

Kustom

Crate

Carlsbro

Ashdown

BB Blaster

Yamaha

Warwick

Dean

Crafter

Cruiser

Danelectro

All guitar amplifiers sound different. Some (like Marshall and Line 6) are good for Rock and Roll, others have a softer and less bright sound like the popular Vox amps and Mesa Boogie.

For beginners, I would recommend either the Peavey Backstage or the BB10 blaster amp.
The Peavey Backstage is by far the most popular and best value for money beginner’s guitar amp on the market.

Guitar stands or Guitar Hangers

There are lots of different types of guitar stands, it really depends on which stand is more suited to you.
There is the standard guitar stand, the universal guitar stand, the auto grab guitar stand, the double and triple guitar stand and the wall mounted guitar stand. The standard guitar stand is the most popular and comes in three different types: i) electric/bass, ii) classical and iii) universal.

The most popular* brands are:

Stagg

Hercules

QuikLok

Giraffe

Warwick

Fender

String Swing

Ibanez

Plectrums (also known as picks)

Plectrums are very cheap and can be bought individually, or in packs.
Most commonly you can buy plectrums on the web in packs of 6.
Guitar plectrums come in different gauges. Usually the thinner ones are
used with Classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitars, the medium gauges with Electric and Acoustic guitars and the thickest ones with Basses.

There are lots of brands of plectrums. The most popular* are:

• Stagg
• Jim Dunlop
• Fender
• Gibson

Guitar Leads/Cables

Guitar Leads normally come in different lengths: The most common is the 15 feet/4.5 metre leads. This length is ample if you are playing in a band.

Popular* brands of guitar leads/cables are:

• Ibanez
• Peavey
• Stagg

Guitar straps

If you want to buy a gift for a guitarist, there is nothing better than a nice leather guitar strap.

Levys and Gibson are the most famous brands of guitar straps, Levys have the most comprehensive selection.
Other guitar straps to look out for are Dickies and Wrangler.

Guitar Capo

A capo is a clamp that you can use on different frets of the guitar to change the pitch of the open strings. Each fret on the guitar is a half step. If you place the capo on the 1st fret, all of the open strings will sound a semi-tone higher than normal, this makes changing the key of a song easy.
Dunlop and Shubb are the most popular* guitar capos.

Guitar Slide

The guitar slide is a tube of some hard material about one to two inches long. Commonly, it's made from glass and metals. Each type of guitar slide has distinct characteristics, tonality, and overall sound. The guitar slide is pressed lightly against the strings so as not to touch the strings of the fret, producing a sustained tone which can be varied in pitch by moving the slide across the neck. A quick side-to-side motion is often used in this way to generate vibrato.
The most popular brand to go for is Dunlop.

Headphones

If you want to play at home but don’t want to disturb your neighbours, then a good set of headphones is recommended.
Any headphones will do, so take your pick from any of the following leading brands:

• Acer
• Acoustic Research
• Advance
• Advent
• Aiwa
• AKG
• Alpine
• Altec Lansing
• Amphony
• Apple
• Artwizz
• Audio-Technica
• Behringer
• Belkin
• Beyerdynamic
• Bluetake
• BoomGear
• Bose
• Bravo
• British Telecom
• Clarion
• Compucessory
• Cornbow
• Creative Labs
• Denon
• Design Go
• Direct Sound
• Dolphin Music
• Etymotic Research
• Fostex
• Franklin
• Gainward
• Gemini Sound Products
• Genius
• GN Netcom
• Grado
• Griffin Technology
• Grundig
• Hama
• Harman Kardon
• Hewlett Packard
• Jensen
• JVC
• Jwin
• Kenwood
• Kinyo
• Kondor Limited
• Koss
• Labtec
• Logic 3
• Logitech
• Macally
• Maxell
• Ministry Of Sound
• MM Gear
• Nady Systems
• Nesa Vision
• Nike
• Numark
• Olympus
• Panasonic
• Philips
• Pioneer
• Plane Quiet
• Plantronics
• Power Acoustik
• Pyle
• Pyramid
• Roland
• Rosen
• Samson
• Sanyo
• Sennheiser
• Shure
• Skull Candy
• Sony
• Stagg
• Stanton
• Starvision
• Technics
• Toshiba
• Trust
• Ultimate Ears
• Ultrasone
• Unwired
• Vestax
• Vic Firth
• Vivanco
• Wharfedale
• XO Vision
• XtremeMac
• Yamaha
• Zalman Tech

Metronome

If you want to play your guitar in time then you are going to need to buy a metronome.
You can choose from modern electronic metronomes or traditional mechanical metronomes.
Traditional metronomes look very nice and are made from either plastic or wood, they are also known as pendulum metronomes because the ticking sound is produced by a small pendulum that swings back and forth, much like the old Grandfather clocks. The Traditional wooden or plastic metronomes tend to be a lot more expensive than the electronic metronomes.

The leading metronome brands in order of popularity* are:

Wittner

Korg

Yamaha

Seiko

Qwik Time

Cleaning and maintenance (polish, nut file set, wrench set, fret file set)

To look after your guitar you will need to at least buy some guitar polish. Gibson produce a good guitar polish and also Doctor Ducks Axe Wax is very popular.
If you are serious about guitar playing then you might want to have a nut file, fret file or wrench set. You can keep your guitar in top playing condition.

Footstool

The guitar footstool is used mainly by Classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitarists.
Their style of playing and the way they hold the guitar makes the use of a footstool quite important.

Stringwinder (also known as a pegwinder)

If you have lots of guitars, own a guitar shop, or tune guitars on a regular basis, the guitar stringwinder comes in handy as a real time saver. Instead of turning the guitar pegs by hand, you can use the stringwinder to speed up the process.

Straplok set

For replacing the bolt that holds on your guitar strap.

Power adaptor for effects pedals

If you use effects pedals then you will need a power adaptor to connect to the mains.

*Please note that the above article makes references to guitar accessories listed in popularity order. The popularity order of these guitar accessories is taken from www.Soundsmusical.com – the leading UK musical instrument website.

I hope this article has been useful and you are now more informed about guitar accessories.

If you are ready to buy some guitar accessories you can find a comprehensive selection here: Guitar accessories, tuners, bags, cases, guitar strings, stands and more…

About the Author
Graham Howard is known as ‘The Music Guru’ and is the chief writer at Soundsmusical.com. Graham has spent his whole life in music. He has played various musical instruments to a very high standard, learnt to build pianos form scratch, tuned pianos professionally and run several music businesses. He loves to share with everyone his experiences and immense knowledge of music. Graham hopes that the above guitar article will help you make the best buying decisions. If you have any questions you would like to ask please email: henrygenry@hotmail.co.uk.

Guitar Neck Primer

Guitar fretboards and necks are pretty complex subjects. How a neck feels when you play it is based primarily on four factors - Profile, Scale Length, Fretboard Radius, and Fret Size. Most acoustic and electric guitar fretboards are curved from side to side. And, yes, acoustic and electric guitar fretboards are pretty much identical.

The neck of an acoustic guitar is usually glued to the body but some companies like Taylor bolt the neck onto the body. Electrics can have glued or bolt-on necks and the more expensive brands employ 'one piece' design, where the neck and body are both milled from the same piece of wood, then the "wings" of the body are glued on. Rosewood, sandalwood, maple and mahogany are best for making guitar fretboards. With bolt on necks, if the neck warps or becomes in any other way undesirable, it can easily be replaced.

A good design is one that allows the guitarist to play his or her guitar even in the dark, when they can barely see the fretboard at all. A guitar fretboard usually has 21, 22 or 24 frets. Some Parlor acoustic guitar fretboards only have 18 or 19 frets. Neck shape is a critical element in the feel of the guitar. Turn any guitar over and take a look at the fretboard from the bottom of the neck, and you should be able to see an arch going across the fretboard. Rounder fretboards (those with a smaller radius) make it easier to play chords, but make it more difficult to bend strings when playing lead guitar. Flatter fretboards make it easier to play lead and allow bent notes to ring freely, but some players find them less comfortable. Common radius range is from 7 1/4", which was common on old Fender guitars, to 12", to some very flat fretboards which range up to about an 18" radius. The Les Paul has a 12" radius and most modern guitars use a 12" radius. If a neck is too wide for a given string spacing, fretboard space is wasted and the neck will feel unduly large for the guitar. Some modern guitars, particularly hard rock style guitars, have gone to a flatter fretboard radius.

A fret (tang) is piece of wire that is hammered into the fretboard so that a specific note is played when a string is held against it. Fretwire is available in many different sizes but can be roughly grouped into two widths, medium and a jumbo. A critical fretwire dimension is the height of the wire. Many players feel the taller fretwire is much easier to bend strings on. Also hand vibrato, the shaking of a string or chord, is much easier to accomplish on a taller fretwire as there is less finger contact between the hand and the fretboard in such instances. Over the last few decades guitar players have tended to move toward taller fretwire.

Most electric guitars today are built in one of two common scale lengths, 24 3/4" and 25 1/2". Important to the feel of the guitar, in addition to scale length, is the geometry of the string spacing and neck width and depth. String spacing is very critical to the feel of a guitar and is determined by two measurements; the width of the bridge or saddles on the guitar body and the width of the neck at the nut.

If you have a neck that feels good to you, the other aspects of the guitar can be relatively easily changed. When a player develops a feel for a particular guitar, while the looks of that guitar and even the sound of that guitar are certainly important to the player, the truly important details relate to how the guitar feels under the player's fingers.

By MJ Krey
http://bigoldamp.com
The Big Old Amp is The Hard Rock News Source with articles, tips and tricks for musicians

History of the Acoustic Guitar

Did you know that when you picked up your acoustic guitar, you're picking up an instrument with 5,000 years of history attached to it? Acoustic guitars are descendants of stringed instruments that were found in a variety of cultures thousands and thousands of years ago. As civilizations merged and the world became smaller, the guitar began taking on a unified shape and style. Since then, there has been a lineal evolution of several hundreds of years of instruments that can be directly compared to today's acoustic guitars.

The Medieval Period

During the Medieval Period of European history, there were several different forms of guitars. These guitars had between three and five strings and were much smaller than the guitars we know today. There were variations of these instruments which had pairs of strings, known as courses. The popular guitars of this period were commonly separated into two groupings. The first, the Guitarra Latina was likely developed from Spain, while the Guitarra Morisca was brought to Spain by the Moorish culture.

The Renaissance and Beyond

While in the Middle Ages, the guitar instruments were not terribly popular, being overshadowed by other contemporary instruments, in the Renaissance the guitar began to take a real hold. It was in Italy in 1779 that the first six string guitar was created. Gaetano Vinaccia created this instrument in Naples. Following that, the man known as the "Father of Modern Guitar" made his permanent mark on the course of the guitar and how it would be designed and played.

Antonio de Torres Jurado made many key changes that in essence from the creation of what is known today as the modern classical guitar. Among these changes were the design elements that are recognizable as an acoustic or classical guitar today. The body was made larger and wider to help make sound travel farther and be louder, while the construction was also sturdier, more complete and more technically savvy.

The Acoustic Guitar

The instrument that Antonio de Torres created and made popular was the Classical guitar. The acoustic guitar is commonly misinterpreted as being the same as the Classical guitar. This is not true, there are many key differences in the design of these two separate guitars. The most important of which is that the acoustic guitar has steel strings, while the Classical guitar is strung with nylon strings.

The body was also made larger and sturdier still. The acoustic guitar was much better for performing in larger areas as it was increasingly louder than the Classical guitar; the two guitars also produce different ranges and textures of sounds which various styles of music correspond to.

The acoustic guitar was actually developed in America from European immigrants. The last major development of the acoustic guitar is the electrical-acoustic guitar. These acoustic guitars can be plugged into an amplifier for increased volume or can be left unplugged and played as is.

So next time you pick up an acoustic guitar, remember the history you hold in your hands.

Jay Villaverde is the owner of Vintage Guitar Center. A site dedicated to preserving the beauty and sound of vintage acoustic guitars You can find great deals on guitars from Gibson, Fender and many more manufacturers. If you love music and vintage guitars, this is a must see site.

Gretsch White Falcon Guitar - Rockers Rave about this One

The Gretsch white falcon guitar is top of the line - with a top of the line price. This is the guitar for professionals or long time accomplished amateurs with money to buy the best.

The price for a Gretsch white falcon guitar, with case, and before shipping costs, is well over $3000.

The Gretsch white falcon guitar is impressive. It has been described as one of the most strikingly beautiful guitars around, with a style that exudes luxury and top notch tonal delivery. This excellent instrument has long been used by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - way back when, in fact, they were just Crosby, Stills and Nash - as well as the long acclaimed AC/DC band. The Gretsch White Falcon has made an indelible mark on the history of rock and roll, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Its tones are rich and complex, thanks to its two highly sensitive Filltertron pickups. Its body, made of solid maple, is 17 inches wide and 2 3/4 inches deep. The hardware of the Gretsch White Falcon is gold. It has multiple bindings and a Bigsby vibrato that is top of the line.

Features of the Gretsch G7593 White Falcon include a headstock that is traditional Falcon, with a V shape, block position markers of inlaid Pearl, a gold-flecked fingerboard and headstock bindings as well as F-holes and bindings. Inlaid with gold spark, the Gretsch logo resides on the Gretsch white falcon headstock. Its pick guard is gold plexi. The Gretsch White Falcon also comes equipped with knurled knobs for strap retention and a truss rod that is adjustable.

Steve Morgan makes it quick and easy to find the best guitars Read expert information here.

Used Guitars For Sale Online

Are you a musician interested in buying your guitar? Do you have a very limited budget for buying you guitar? Are you not sure where to get the best deal for guitars? Then you might be interested in reading further. When people start learning a new instrument the first thing they would like to do is to own an instrument of their own. For instance, if guitar is your instrument then you would be preoccupied with the thought of owning a guitar. Yes, it is very important that you get a guitar of your own when you are learning to play the guitar. Without having a guitar of your own, you may not be able to practice the lessons. If you like to master any musical instrument then you must dedicate several hours to practice and the same applies to guitar as well.

It is not only beginners who would be interested in guitars for sale; it can even be an experienced guitarist who is interested in upgrading his or her instrument would be interested in guitars for sale. Sometimes people who would like to gift others too may be interested in buying guitars. Whether you are a beginner, expert or someone who wants to present a guitar to someone, if you have limited budget for that, then the best solution is to go for used guitars.

If you want to get an acoustic guitar then used guitar will be much better than new ones because used acoustic guitars have rich sound than the new ones. You will be able to produce the same rich sound in the new guitar only after a couple of years of playing. However, if you are interested in buying electric guitars then the quality of the sound produced will depend more on the sound system used to amplify the vibration. When you are searching for cheap guitars and going through the advertisements on used guitars for sale, you must pay attention to the description of the music instrument. You must pay attention to the following factors - number of years it has been used, type of guitar whether acoustic or electric, condition of the guitar, accessories that will come with the guitar and the cost. The fastest way is to check online for guitars for sale. If you spend some time, searching for used guitars for sale online you will certainly be able to come across number of cheap guitars that are in good condition in the shortest time possible. When you search online for used guitars for sale ads you should go through a number of guitars for sale ads so that you can get the best deal possible. When you are buying used guitars online, you need to understand that there is no fixed price and the price would depend on the owner of the guitar and the condition of the guitar. Unlike new products, comparing the cost of used guitars is rather difficult so you should use your discretion in judging which one to pick. To find more information on used guitars you can visit
http://www.woodyguitars.com

Randy T Slabey is author of this article on Used Guitars for Sale Find more information about Used Guitars here

History of BC Rich Guitars

BC Rich are a company specialising in angular and extreme guitar shapes best suited for heavy metal music. The company was started in around 1966 making acoustics and flamenco guitars. The founder, Bernardo Chavez Rico, made BC Rich’s first electric in 1969, but not with the extreme styling of later efforts, as there was no market for shapes like BC Rich would eventually make yet. In 1971 Rico’s first original design was launched, the Seagull. This guitar gave a subtle indication as to Rico’s future direction, with some small points on the single-cutaway body, and was quite successful.

The Seagull, and many of the future BC Rich guitars, was a neck-through design, which meant that the neck ran the entire length of the guitar, and the body consisted of two “wings” glued to each side of the neck. A similar design to the Seagull is the Eagle, from the mid-1970s. This has two pointed and curved cutaways and is still available.

The first extreme BC Rich designs were the Mockingbird and Bich, launched in 1976. When the first Biches came out, the guitar was only available as a ten-string model. It had a very extreme body shape for the time, with two short pointed horns on the top half and a very unusual bottom half with several cutaways. During his tenure in Metallica, Dave Mustaine used a Bich. The Mockingbird was slightly more restrained, with a shape slightly resembling a curvier and pointier Gibson Explorer. Over the years since its launch the Mockingbird has been very popular, with Slash of Guns N’Roses and Craig Chaquico among its famous users. In 1981 one of BC Rich’s most famous models was launched- the Warlock. This guitar is vaguely X-shaped and has two small, pointed cutaways which resemble horns. The guitar was originally less pointy when launched and over the years the shape has been slightly altered. The Warlock has been used by Lita Ford, Mick Thomson, Robb Flynn of Machine Head and Kerry King of Slayer. Another early-1980s BC Rich design is the Ironbird, used by Paul Stanley of KISS. All these guitars are still available.

BC Rich have also dabbled in making conventionally shaped guitars, including the EMI, Blaster, Warpig and Gunslinger models. These, however, have never been as successful as the more “metal-style” models.

In the late 1980s Bernardo Chavez Rico wanted to take a break from making guitars and licensed all the models to Class Axe, an American company who tarnished BC Rich’s reputation in the guitar market by making the guitars out of plywood and putting the guitars together very badly, with mistakes made in the shapes, construction, sanding and painting of the guitars. Rico then bought back the right to BC Rich guitars and resumed production in his California factory.

The 1990s and 2000s saw a new crop of threateningly-named models even pointier than the 1980s models. These included the Zombie, Draco, Ignitor, Beast (designed by death metal band Deicide’s guitarist Brian Hoffman), Warbeast (a mixture of Beast and Warlock).

BC Rich are also known for their endorsement deals with several important and respected hard rock and metal artists including Kerry King of Slayer (whose signature model is V-shaped and has extensive tribal graphic work over the body- he also has a signature model based on the Warlock), the late Chuck Schuldiner of Death (when Schuldiner died of cancer in 2001 BC Rich introduced a tribute model based on his preferred guitar, the BC Rich Stealth), Paul Stanley of KISS, and Paolo Gregoletto, bassist in Trivium.

Mark Flys is webmaster for the online guitar guide. The online resource for all guitar and bass information, online lessons, tabs and cheap instruments. http://www.onlineguitarguide.co.uk, http://www.guitarcollecting.co.uk

7 Reasons to Buy a Gibson Guitar

Buying a guitar is a big decision. Maybe you have stumbled upon this article because you are preparing to embark on a lifelong journey with guitar music and you want to pick the right instrument. Maybe you are a collector seeking to build your collection. Maybe you are a parent who is contemplating buying your child his or her first instrument. No matter how you came to this article you should know that it pays to do your research and it is my hope that this article will help you get started.

Please remember that these are only my opinions. I have no affiliation with Gibson. I am just a fan of their guitars. If you take my advice, be aware that you are doing so at your own risk and do not complain to me if you don't like your new guitar. It pays to do your research, but because you are reading this article, I think you probably already know that. Without further ado... Reasons to buy a Gibson guitar.

1. The Look. Many people say that Gibson guitars are some of the most beautifully crafted guitars in the world. This is, of course, a matter or personal preference but you cannot deny the beauty of a Les Paul.

2. Les Paul. This Jazz Guitarist/Inventor pioneered the manufacturing of electric guitars. He is now recognized as a household name because of his signature guitar which bears his name.

3. Jimmy Hendrix played a Gibson guitar. That's right. The guitar hero who is basically synonymous with the Fender Stratocaster played Gibson guitars before he played a Strat. Some of the notable models that Hendrix used were the SG Custom, the Flying V, the Les Paul Special and the Les Paul Custom.

4. Humbucker pickups. Generally described as being "warm, thick, or rich,"
these pickups give a gorgeous sound. Humbucker pickups are present on most Gibson guitars. Without getting too technical they cut out destructive interference and increase constructive interference which makes for a beautiful sound-to noise-ratio. Don't get it? Just go play one. You'll understand!

5. Fat Necks. Gibsons have notoriously fat necks. Some people like them and others don't. It is really a matter of personal preference and this author likes them! That's why they are in the "reasons to buy" section.

6. Resale Value. Gibson guitars are well-made. You can count on getting your money back for one if you ever decide to part with it. In fact, depending on how you treat it, it might actually appreciate in value.

7. If that's not enough for you, here is a list of some guitar players who have chosen Gibson guitars: Slash, Duane Allman, Jeff Beck, Buckethead, B.B. King, and Pat Metheny.

My name is Ryan Gloman and I have a passion for guitar and a passion for sharing information.

Buying guitar gear is exciting! Get the scoop on online dealers at this site They've got tons of useful information on prices, shipping fees, special offers and other good stuff to know.

1 Step Program to Achieve All of Your Goals

In Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen's original "Chicken Soup for the Soul," I am reminded of the short story titled "Another Check Mark On the List." This is a story about a 15-year-old boy named John who, on one rainy day, when it was too wet outside to play, he decided to write a list of goals. John continued writing until he had 127 goals. These goals included exploring the Nile River, climbing high mountain peaks around the world and learning 3 foreign languages. He also wanted to be featured in a Rose Bowl Parade and play several musical instruments.

Of the 127 goals that he listed over 60 years ago, John has achieved 108. If he lives to become 75 years old he will achieve 109 (he listed "live to see the 21st Century"). How did John achieve all of these goals? He wrote them down.

Step 1 Write It Down:

Write it down, write it down, and write it down!

Have you ever got to a point where you were going to write down a New Year's Resolution or some other goal you thought you wanted, only to find yourself procrastinate. One year later, did you need to achieve the same New Year's Resolution or goal? Why does this happen?

It happens because of that little voice inside of you that says, "I am not good enough or worthy enough to be in possession of the benefits derived from achieving my goal." "I have been programmed for failure."

I recently read a motivational quote that said: "If you can't write it down, you can't do it."

Let us think about that for a minute. Every day you may be compiling lists of things to do to run your household, perform your job, or plan your business trip or vacation. How many times do you really write down, exactly what you want out of life?

How many long term or short-term goals do you write down?

Now when thinking about what you want to achieve focus your attention on specific words and ideas relating to your goals. Give those words and ideas your complete attention as you write them down.

Did you ever write a letter, business report, or term paper and at times find your fingers flying across the keyboard?

Since written words are symbols of objects, ideas, or feelings, could the physical process of entering these words onto a page actually create a subconscious connection?

I believe it does. When you use language to communicate on paper, you need to process the information on a subconscious level.

The help you are getting while creating your list of goals is coming straight from your powerful subconscious mind. Why not take advantage of the power of your mind in achieving your goals?

Write your goals down in your day planner, write them down, and hang them on your walls. Write your goals on sticky notes and place them on your bathroom mirror or on your windows.

Every time you write your goals down, your body is moving towards them. The goals are getting clearer and clearer. The roadmap you create by writing goals down projects straight to your subconscious mind and is being acted upon.

A now popular syndicated cartoonist wrote down 15 times a day, every day the following sentence. "I want to be a syndicated cartoonist." He did this every single day, even when he did not feel like a syndicated cartoonist. Now, Scott Adams, the creator of the "Dilbert Cartoon" is a full-time, syndicated cartoonist, known the world over. Scott "wrote it down."

One way to state that goal in a more positive and immediate context is to say, "I am a syndicated cartoonist." Act as if you already are in possession of the goal. It takes a lot of pressure off you during your daily activities when you feel the new role. You then become comfortable with it.

Write your goals down everywhere. As you write them down think about John, the 15-year-old goal achiever from the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" story. Now that John is in his seventies, what advice would John have for you when you ask him, "What is the most important thing I can do to achieve my goals?"

Listen to John whisper in your ear these three words... write it down.

Wayne F. Perkins is the Stress Annihilator for sales teams and executives. Wayne helps corporate clients achieve their goals. "Annihilate Stress an Propagate Hope" http://www.stressannihilation.com Phone: 602-647-4280

Which Musical Instrument "Guitar" is Recommended for Beginners?

Which Musical Instrument is Recommended for Beginners?

*Will the instrument I choose be affordable?

*Which instruments are easy to learn and which are difficult to learn?

*Will it be a quiet instrument or a noisy one?

*If I don't choose a popular instrument will I be able to find a teacher easily?

*Is the musical instrument of my choice popular or is it an instrument that not many people play?

*How much will a lesson cost?

*I want to choose a musical instrument that I can play in a band. What instruments should I choose?

*I want to play a certain type of music. Which musical instruments are suitable for different styles?

In the following article I will be answering all of the above.

Here is a list of musical instruments to choose from listed in popularity, with the number 1 being the most popular:

1) Guitar

2) Piano

3) Keyboard

4) Drums

5) Violin

6) Cello

7) Flute

8) Saxophone

9) Clarinet

10) Trumpet/Cornet

11) Trombone

12) French Horn

13) Banjo

14) Recorder

15) Viola

16) Tuba

17) Oboe

You can see a list of all musical instruments here:
Musical Instrument Shop. Lots of information and choice. Buy Musical Instruments here

Will the instrument I choose be affordable?

If you want to buy a musical instrument but don't wont to spend too much money I would choose either a guitar, keyboard, violin, clarinet or trumpet. These instruments are the
cheapest to buy when starting out.

Which musical instruments are easy to learn and which are difficult to learn?

The easiest musical instruments to learn from the list above are: Guitars, Drums and Recorders.

Guitar

The guitar should be easy to pick a few chords and you can almost start strumming and playing a simple tune from your first lesson. It is best advised to learn the classical guitar first as it has nylon strings and will be easier on the fingers than a steel strung electric or acoustic guitar.

Drums

Drums are fairly easy to learn as well. The important thing is to feel the rhythm, once you have this, everything else should be easy to pick up.

Recorder

The recorder is probably the easiest of all musical instruments to learn. Most children at school take up this instrument before progressing on to the clarinet, flute or saxophone which is much more difficult to learn.

The most difficult musical instruments to learn from the list above are: Oboe, French horn, Trumpet and Piano.

The Oboe

The Oboe is probably the most difficult musical instrument to learn. It is very difficult to even produce a sound at first, let alone a musical note. This instrument can take many years to master

The French Horn

The French horn also takes quite a while to get the hang of. The sound is produced not only by blowing, but by creating an embouchure and buzzing the lips to control the air stream, which in turn creates the correct pitch to produce the note. Then the correct valves that correspond to the right pitch have to be learnt. The hand is also used to help the quality of sound by placing in the bell. Wow! Perhaps this is not a great instrument for beginners!

The Trumpet

The trumpet is considered difficult to learn initially because of the techniques needed (similar to the French horn but without using the hand in the bell). The difficult thing about the trumpet is trying to make a nice sound which can take a few years to perfect.

The Piano

Although it is easy to make a sound on a piano, just by pressing any note you sound like a professional, the piano is very difficult when you need to play more than one note at a time. All the above instruments require you to play just one note at a time but with the piano sometimes you need to use every finger and thumb at the same time!
You also need to learn two different clefs, and to learn to read this at the same time is not easy at first.

Will it be a quiet musical instrument or a noisy one?

Do you have neighbours that don't appreciate music? And they live right next to you with thin walls.
Do you want to play late at night or early in the morning
Are you embarrassed that you are not making a good sound yet, or you don't want people to hear what you are playing.

If any of the above is true, you need a quite musical instrument or at least one that you can play with headphones or adjust the sound electronically.

If you want to learn a quiet musical instrument, then choose one of the following: Guitar, Piano, Keyboard, Recorder, Clarinet or Flute.

The Classical guitar is very quite and delicate but not the electric or acoustic guitar which are very noisy when amplified!

You can plug headphones in to a digital piano or keyboard or you can turn the sound down. This is the ideal instrument to buy if you don't want to make any noise. The acoustic piano (also known as the upright or grand piano) is very noisy and should be avoided if you need some peace.

The Recorder is fairly quiet, apart from the high notes, so this instrument would be ok.
The Clarinet is a fairly quiet instrument. It does really depend on how it is played.
The Flute is also quiet but the sound can be a bit piercing on the higher notes.

If I don't choose a popular musical instrument, will I be able to find a teacher easily?

You can find a musical instrument teacher almost anywhere; there are literally tens of thousands in the UK.
You will almost certainly have no problem finding a teacher if you play the more popular musical instruments: guitar, piano, keyboard, drums or violin.

Is the musical instrument of my choice popular or is it an instrument that not many people play?

Please see the above list of musical instruments. They are listed in order of popularity, number 1 being the most popular instrument.

There are a few guides to find out if a musical instrument is popular. Just look at a symphony orchestra or a wind band and count the number of instruments there are and how many there are of each.
You will find that there are lots of violins and percussion (clarinets and flutes in the wind band case) which means that there is no shortage of people learning these instruments. You will also find that there is only one tuba, one oboe, a few french horns, a few flutes, a few clarinets etc. Of course this is only a guide, as some of the other popular musical instruments such as the guitar, piano and keyboard are not normally found in a symphony orchestra.

How much will a lesson cost?

Individual musical instrument lessons can cost between £8 and £20 for half an hour. Group instrument lessons £5 to £12. Popular musical instruments are normally cheap than not so popular instruments, normally because there is no shortage of teachers and competition tends to bring the prices down.

It is normally better to learn instruments in a group rather than learn individually. Group learning is much more fun as every one is the same level as you and you can share experiences together. Individual instrument lessons can be too serious for a beginner and can actually put you off learning music because of this. However, individual lessons are a must when you get to a certain level of proficiency.

I want to choose a musical instrument that I can play in a band. Which instrument should I choose?

The best musical instruments to learn if you want to play in band are: Guitar, Saxophone, Clarinet, Violin or Cornet.

This list might be considered a strange one, but let me explain the reasoning behind this.

*The guitar is second-to-none as a solo instrument for a band. If you are the lead guitarist (electric guitar), you get all the limelight. You can play great riffs from all the famous songs.

* The Saxophone is a great solo instrument and if you play in a jazz band or big band you get lots of solos to play.

*The clarinet is the king of the wind band; it is the orchestra's equivalent of the lead violin. In a wind band you get to play lots of solos and intricate melodies.

*The Violin is a fantastic solo instrument and orchestral instrument. Many of the great composers have written beautiful solos and melodies for this instrument.

*The Cornet is the king of the brass band. This instrument has one of the most delightful sounds of all. The cornet is given the lead role in a brass band and is featured in all the best arrangements. The lead cornet player gets to play many solos.

I want to play a certain type of music. Which musical instruments are suitable for different styles?

Here is a list of different music styles:
Rock, Classical, Pop, heavy Metal, R&B, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Carribean, African, Latin, Dance, Country, Rap, Hip Hop, Christian, Opera.
This list below would be endless if I went in to it in great detail, so here is a short list.

1) Guitar. The electric or bass guitar is suitable for pop, rock, R&B, heavy metal, R&B, Jazz and blues, the classical guitar for classical music, the acoustic guitar for pop and folk.

2) Piano. The acoustic piano is suitable for classical, jazz, blues and dance.

3) Digital Piano/Keyboard is suitable for pop music, dance, jazz and blues.

4) Drums are suitable for pop, rock, classical, jazz, African - well, almost everything!

5) Violin is suitable for classical, folk, country and dance.

6) Cello is suitable for classical.

7) Flute is suitable for classical.

8) Saxophone is suitable for jazz, blues, pop.

9) Clarinet is suitable for classical, jazz and blues.

10) Trumpet/Cornet is suitable for classical, jazz, blues and dance.

11) Trombone is suitable for classical, jazz and blues.

12) French horn is suitable for classical.

13) Banjo is suitable for country and folk.

14) Recorder is suitable for classical.

15) Viola is suitable for classical.

16) Tuba is suitable for classical.

17) Oboe is suitable for classical.

I hope that you now feel more informed and can make a decision on which musical instrument is best for your needs.
If you need more information about musical instruments I can recommend visiting http://www.soundsmusical.comthe top musical instrument shop in the UK - Soundsmusical.com
Happy learning!

About The Author

Henry Howard is a respected member of the music community. He is known as The Master of Music and has written many articles about musical instruments. You can reprint or reuse this article as many times as you wish, but keep my links intact.

History Of The Guild Guitar

Al Dronge and George Mann started the Guild Guitar Company in 1952. Their workshop was located in New York City and their first line of guitars consisted of a small selection of arch-top electric and flattop acoustic models. By 1955, Guild had introduced arch-top acoustics to their line up. Also in 1955, George Mann left the company and Al Dronge took total control.

To meet the needs of the popular Rock and Jazz musicians at the time, Guild made sure to build their guitars with carefully selected woods, top quality lacquers and hand wound pickups. This combination created a well-built guitar that produced appealing warm tones.

Business continued to grow and the demand for more guitars, lead to moving to a bigger factory in Hoboken, NJ. Guild continued to be successful throughout the 50's and 60's and caught the attention of great guitar players like Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Richie Havens, John Lee Hooker, Roy Orbison, Keith Richards, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.

By 1966 the Guild Company out grew its factory once again, so they moved to bigger plant in Westerly, RI. Guild was also sold in this year to electronics company Avnet Inc.

In 1995 the company was sold once again, this time to the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. They also moved their factory to Corona, CA.

This wouldn't be the last move for Guild because in 2004 they moved all of their acoustic production to Tacoma, WA due to the Fender buyout of the Tacoma Guitar Company. The Tacoma factory was a massive 42,000 square feet and by adding the Guild acoustic production there, made them one of the largest volume manufacturers of acoustic guitars in the United States.

Guild also produced some reissues of their popular 60's and 70's models that were sold under the brand names of Korea and DeArmond. The models that were included were Bluesbird, Starfire and Pilot Bass Series. Also in 2005, Fender came out with the Guild GAD Series acoustic guitars that were made in China.

Many talented and famous guitar players throughout the years have recognized the Guild guitar. Besides the ones mention earlier, some other Guild players are Bryan Adams, Johnny Cash, Sheryl Crow, John Denver, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Brian May, Slash, Bruce Springsteen, Stephen Stills, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tom Waits and Hank Williams III.

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Free Guitar Tablatures

Guitar tabs or guitar tablatures are of utmost importance to those who play guitar. Guitar tabs are one of the important components for learning new tunes. Usually the guitar tabs come with the lyrics of the song for which the guitar tab is played, and sometimes the interlude or prelude lead part of the music is given through these guitar tabs.

Depending on the nature of the guitar, i.e. a rhythm guitar, a classical guitar, a bass guitar, a twelve string guitar and so on, the guitar tabs vary as these guitars and their arrangements and frets vary in shape, size and purpose. However, a guitar tab is a system of notations, letters, symbols and other visual representations - instead of the traditional musical notation.

The sole purpose of a guitar tab is to give the direction to the player as to how to play a musical piece through a diagram of strings of the guitar. Guitar tabs or a tablature nonetheless consists of a diagram of strings of the guitar with finger positions indicated by numbers corresponding to the appropriate frets and sometimes with the numerical representations of the fingers.

Free guitar tabs are very important for those who are young enthusiasts and are keen on learning the new tunes and technicalities of guitar and especially those songs which have extensive guitar uses, both plucking and other types of fingering as well as lead parts. The Web is the biggest resource for gathering these free guitar tablatures and is much conducive than those costly books at the nearby music stations and book stalls. Free guitar tablatures are those available on the Internet that give oneself the freedom to explore and choose the song or the music he wants the guitar tablatures for.

Guitar Tabs provides detailed information on Guitar Tabs, Free Guitar Tablatures, Classical Guitar Tablatures, Bass Guitar Tablatures and more. Guitar Tabs is affiliated with Guitar Tabs.

The Beginner Or Frugal Shredder

Cheap electric guitars are a great solution for any beginner or cost conscious crusher. My first desire to learn to play guitar was when I was 12 years. I asked my mother with confidence to buy me an electric guitar, but was put off by the high price of the leading brands. My heart was set on learning to play, so he found a cheap electric guitar for sale at our local toy store.

It is absolutely a beginner guitar. The amplifier is built into the body of it. My first guitar teacher found amusing, never really seen one like that before.

I learned all the basics of playing the guitar. I spent hours alone in my room with her, and had blisters on my fingers to prove it. I showed my mom that the guitar was not something that was going to get bored with after a week and earned the right to connect into a real amp, a decision of his eardrums soon came to regret.

Cheap electric guitars are not just for beginners. I know a number of players are seasoned veterans who always find great deals on cheap electric guitars that give them the quality they demand.

Let's face it - the tools are expensive. Electric guitars quality easily cost over $ 1000, and even that is not a good amp. Passion for the guitar can easily burn a hole in your wallet to find a cheap electric guitar is worth the effort.

If you're starting to learn the guitar, thinking of buying and operating the best equipment is easy to get excited. But be careful with spending a lot of money on your guitar high level of error could be a beginner. The early stages of learning to play can be frustrating. When the gods like Eddie Van Halen guitarist Jimmy Page and make it look easy while you are having trouble laying down a bar chord, very soon be tempted to perform the classic "break the guitar."

Unfortunately, too many people frustrated with their start and give lessons in learning to play too soon. I strongly recommend his first electric guitar you buy a cheap electric guitar for that reason.

You can learn to play on a cheap electric guitar as well as you would if you bought an expensive. A cheap guitar can even be more appropriate for learning. The reason for this is that cheap electric guitars usually require more pressure to be applied with fingers to get the right sound output. This will strengthen your fingers faster, giving it an advantage over someone learning a premium model. When you make your first purchase expensive guitar, the strength gained will pay when you can play better than the average player.

for more info visit at http://www.shredderblog.net.

The Classical Guitar - A Rich Heritage

The "classic" or classical guitar that was first developed in Spain by Antonio de Torres, sometime during the 1800s, is considered to be the foundation stone and model for all modern guitars. Torres broke new ground in the world of guitar making by using an innovative "fan-strutting" technique that he applied underneath the top for better sound distribution and strength. His unique method is still the basic standard adopted by most luthiers today. He is credited
with improving the overall design, volume and tonal quality of the instrument, thus making Torres guitars a popular choice among classical guitar enthusiasts.

These guitars were originally strung with "gut" treble-strings (made from cat gut) and metal-wound silk bass-strings. As time progressed, the old strings were eventually replaced with nylon treble-strings and nylon steel-wound bass-strings which lasted longer and produced a better sound.

The classical guitar has a wider neck than the average steel-string acoustic guitar in order to facilitate finger picking. Each finger of the guitarist's right hand is identified with a letter from the Latin word which represents a particular finger.

P = Pulga (thumb)

I = Indicio (index)

M = Medio (middle)

A = Anular (ring)

Favorite woods used in construction often include Brazillian or Indian rosewood for the body, cedar for the neck, and silka-spruce or cedar for the top. Well made classical guitars produce a beautifully deep, rich, mellow tone. The sound resonates clearly through the woods and can be easily distinquished from the brighter tone of it's cousin, the steel-stringed acoustic. Because the strings are made of nylon, they are usually softer and easier to play as well.

The guitar probably originated from the "Vihuela," an instrument that was used during the 16th century to entertain royalty. Early songs were written in tablature and used for accompaniment as well as instrumental pieces. The classical guitar fell into a brief period of obscurity during the 18th century due to the increasing popularity of the piano, but this didn't last for long! Virtuosos such as Dionisio Aquado, Mauro Guiliani, and Fernando Sor began to appear on the scene, keeping the music alive by demonstrating their creative genius and technical skills. By the time the 19th century arrived, Fransisco Terrega was teaching a school of students and performing the works of great classical composers. Next in line was Andres Segovia of the 20th century who almost single handedly re-established the classical guitar as an important concert-hall instrument. He also went on to become the master-teacher of one of todays most popular classical guitarists- Christopher Parkening.

Many styles have since developed, either directly or indirectly, as a result of those who made the effort to preserve our classical guitar heritage. Techniques used for blues, folk, flamenco, rock and more can find their roots here. Tablature, scales, glissando (slides), tremelo, etc. are not new, they have been used for hundreds of years! Now it's up to us to keep this music alive, in our hearts and in our fingers, so that we too can share it with the next generation.

FREE Reprint Rights - You may publish this article in your e-zine or on your web site as long as you include the following

information: Kathy Unruh is a singer/songwriter and webmaster of ABC Learn Guitar. She has been writing songs and providing guitar lessons to students of all ages for over 20 years. For free guitar lessons, plus tips and resources on songwriting, recording and creating a music career, please visit: http://www.abclearnguitar.com

Guitar Gifts: 5 Tips for Selecting the Right One

It's time to start thinking about guitar gifts (already!). As the holiday season rolls around, I've noticed the impact on the guitar world. Big displays of guitar "starter packs" crowding the floor at the local guitar shop. The seemingly endless infomercials on the shopping networks of Esteban hawking his entry-level guitars. And the festive holly-covered banners splashed all over the landing pages of the big online guitar retailers. Is it just me, but didn't we just carve our Jack-O-Lanterns?

Any way, with the Christmas and holiday season upon us, what about guitar gifts for the aspiring (or actual) guitar players
on our lists? With that in mind I've put together some tips and specific recommendations for selecting guitar
gifts that will be appreciated.

A Wide Range of Choices

When it comes to guitar gifts, the good news is that there are many good choices at all price points, and many reputable
online retailers to buy from. The not so good news is that with all these options, it can be difficult to sort through them
and find just the right guitar gift. Consider these categories:

* Gear (acoustic guitars, electric guitars, amps, and guitar effects, etc)

* Beginners’ Guitar Packages- everything a beginner needs to get started

* Accessories such as tuners, straps, stands, etc.

* Online guitar lesson and instructional products

* Books and Videos

* Software

5 Tips for Selecting the Right Guitar Gifts

The main considerations in choosing guitar gifts are experience level, style of music preferred, and what gear and learning
material they already own. Try to find as much out about these as possible. Or better yet, get the lucky gift recipient to
drop a few subtle (or not-so-subtle) hints on what they want…”I want a standard Fender Strat in Blue Agave please!” If you
you really don’t have a good handle on any of this, no worries, here are some tips for different situations:

1. Discover Preferences- Learn as much as you can about the guitar player's stage of development, gear they own, and
musical styles they prefer, and tailor the gift accordingly. Consulting a
href="http://www.guitar-players-toolbox.com/guitar-gifts.html">Guitar Gift Guide will help you with this, as will checking with a family member or friend close to the lucky recipient.

2. Go with a Gift Certificate- Don't have a clue on what to get? No problem! When in doubt, give a gift certificate
for guitar gear, online lessons, or music. Price range: however generous you feel!

3. Give a Guitar Package- For a beginner who does not have a guitar , packages are available starting at about $100
that include a guitar and all the accessories needed to get going "out of the box" (including an amp if it's an electric guitar.)

4. Consider online lessons or instructional products- Every guitarist wants to learn new skills and move to the next
level. These include “Learn to Play” lessons, interactive lessons to learn songs, and in-depth lessons on particular
techniques. These are usually in the $20-40 range.

5. Books and videos are a good bet- For a reasonably priced gift, books are a great choice and can easily be
tailored to the recipient. Some categories: history of a style of guitar music (rock , blues, jazz); biography of favorite
guitar players; instruction books; guitar song (tab) books for a favorite band or style of music. Price range $15-30.

It is possible to select the right guitar gift. The key is to spend a little effort to find out about the recipient’s skill
level, gear they have, and musical preferences. If you don’t know much about guitar playing, or otherwise aren’t able to
pick a specific gift, a gift certificate for guitar gear, lessons, or other products should do the trick.

Copyright 2005 Peter Bussey of www.guitar-players-toolbox.com
This article can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire article and the below resource box, with active links, are included.

Peter Bussey is Editor of The Guitar Players Toolbox, a website dedicated to helping advancing guitar players improve with practical tools, tips, and information. Visit http://www.guitar-players-toolbox.com for more information on Guitar Gifts, as well as variety of free resources on guitar lessons, guitar chords, guitar chord charts, song chords, and more.

See additional Guitar Articles on Ezinearticles.com by Peter Bussey:

• "Basic Guitar Chords: "How to Easily Master the Guitar Chords You Must Know"
• "Guitar Chord Diagrams: An Essential Tool for Learing to Play the Guitar"
• "Guitar Lessons: A Guide to Your Options"

Resonator Guitars - Biscuits, Spiders and Cones, Oh My!

More and more often these days, an instrument originally designed for one purpose or musical genre will be adopted for and adapted to a completely different area. This has been the fate of the resonator guitar, which was originally designed to be louder than a conventional acoustic guitar in order to ensure that the instrument could be heard above the horns and percussion instruments in dance orchestras. The resonator guitar, however, is possessed of a very distinct and original sound, and because of that, it has been adopted and integrated into the musical genres of bluegrass, country and blues music.

The resonator guitar, or resophonic guitar as it is occasionally called, is an acoustic guitar that uses one or more metal cones (resonators) instead of the traditional wooden soundboard. These instruments can be divided into two subcategories, these being square-necked guitars and round-necked guitars. The former are designed to be played like a lap steel guitar (with a slide), while the latter can be played as either a conventional classical guitar or as a steel guitar. In addition to this division, there are also three main types of resonator designs: the "tricone," the single inverted cone, and the spider-less single cone.

The original resonator guitar was developed during the early 20th century and in 1927, the first instruments were manufactured under the brand name National. These guitars were of the tricone variety, which means that they had three conical resonators joined by a T-shaped piece of aluminum called a "spider" that supported the bridge. A year later, one of the founding members of National split and began his own label, Dobro. That company released a competing resonator guitar that featured a single resonator under a distinctive circular perforated metal cover plate. The bridge rested at the center of this plate on an eight-legged aluminum spider. Finally, National countered with its own take on the single resonator model. This instrument used a wooden "biscuit" at the cone apex to support the bridge, rather than the traditional spider.

This quick succession of instrument innovations occurred over the course of about five years. At the end of that time, in 1932, the owners of Dobro gained control of National and formed the National Dobro Corporation. However, with the entry of the United States into World War II in 1941, all production of resonator guitars by the company ceased for a time. Since the end of World War II, the Dobro label has passed through various hands, all of which have used it to produce resonator guitars. Dobro is currently the possession of the Gibson Guitar Company. Today, common terminology uses Dobro to refer to an instrument with an inverted cone, while National generally means an instrument with a non-inverted cone.

As mentioned, bluegrass, country and blues are the usual territory of the resonator guitar. The first generally utilizes square-necked Dobro guitars, while the latter two favor round-necked National instruments. Because both styles of guitar may be played as a lap steel guitar, this is the most common position used by artists. However, round-necked guitars may be played in the traditional guitar position.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums, keyboards, sheet music, guitar tab, and home theater audio. You can find the best marketplace at these sites for guitars, resonator guitar, Dobro, sheet music, guitar tab.

History of BC Rich Guitars

BC Rich are a company specialising in angular and extreme guitar shapes best suited for heavy metal music. The company was started in around 1966 making acoustics and flamenco guitars. The founder, Bernardo Chavez Rico, made BC Rich’s first electric in 1969, but not with the extreme styling of later efforts, as there was no market for shapes like BC Rich would eventually make yet. In 1971 Rico’s first original design was launched, the Seagull. This guitar gave a subtle indication as to Rico’s future direction, with some small points on the single-cutaway body, and was quite successful.

The Seagull, and many of the future BC Rich guitars, was a neck-through design, which meant that the neck ran the entire length of the guitar, and the body consisted of two “wings” glued to each side of the neck. A similar design to the Seagull is the Eagle, from the mid-1970s. This has two pointed and curved cutaways and is still available.

The first extreme BC Rich designs were the Mockingbird and Bich, launched in 1976. When the first Biches came out, the guitar was only available as a ten-string model. It had a very extreme body shape for the time, with two short pointed horns on the top half and a very unusual bottom half with several cutaways. During his tenure in Metallica, Dave Mustaine used a Bich. The Mockingbird was slightly more restrained, with a shape slightly resembling a curvier and pointier Gibson Explorer. Over the years since its launch the Mockingbird has been very popular, with Slash of Guns N’Roses and Craig Chaquico among its famous users. In 1981 one of BC Rich’s most famous models was launched- the Warlock. This guitar is vaguely X-shaped and has two small, pointed cutaways which resemble horns. The guitar was originally less pointy when launched and over the years the shape has been slightly altered. The Warlock has been used by Lita Ford, Mick Thomson, Robb Flynn of Machine Head and Kerry King of Slayer. Another early-1980s BC Rich design is the Ironbird, used by Paul Stanley of KISS. All these guitars are still available.

BC Rich have also dabbled in making conventionally shaped guitars, including the EMI, Blaster, Warpig and Gunslinger models. These, however, have never been as successful as the more “metal-style” models.

In the late 1980s Bernardo Chavez Rico wanted to take a break from making guitars and licensed all the models to Class Axe, an American company who tarnished BC Rich’s reputation in the guitar market by making the guitars out of plywood and putting the guitars together very badly, with mistakes made in the shapes, construction, sanding and painting of the guitars. Rico then bought back the right to BC Rich guitars and resumed production in his California factory.

The 1990s and 2000s saw a new crop of threateningly-named models even pointier than the 1980s models. These included the Zombie, Draco, Ignitor, Beast (designed by death metal band Deicide’s guitarist Brian Hoffman), Warbeast (a mixture of Beast and Warlock).

BC Rich are also known for their endorsement deals with several important and respected hard rock and metal artists including Kerry King of Slayer (whose signature model is V-shaped and has extensive tribal graphic work over the body- he also has a signature model based on the Warlock), the late Chuck Schuldiner of Death (when Schuldiner died of cancer in 2001 BC Rich introduced a tribute model based on his preferred guitar, the BC Rich Stealth), Paul Stanley of KISS, and Paolo Gregoletto, bassist in Trivium.

Mark Flys is webmaster for the online guitar guide. The online resource for all guitar and bass information, online lessons, tabs and cheap instruments. http://www.onlineguitarguide.co.uk, http://www.guitarcollecting.co.uk