Author Archives: Chad Crawford

About Chad Crawford

Chad Crawford is a lifelong guitar enthusiast and guitar instructor at Palmetto Music Institute providing private guitar lessons in Greenville, SC.

Managing Musical Frustration

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By Chad Crawford, PMI Guitar Instructor

The most significant barrier to eventual success with the guitar is not talent, time constraints, or the quality of a given program of instruction. It is rather this: giving up! There are many reasons why folks give up on a particular course of study, but we see that over time there is a short list that covers most aspiring guitarists who drop out. Of all the motivation killers that assail aspiring guitarists, frustration is the most deadly. Many is the unfortunate guitar gathering dust in the corner due to the catastrophic frustration of a promising student. Let’s take a look at how folks reach such a high level of frustration that they give up, and see if we can find solutions to ease the pain down to manageable levels.

It is very important for every aspiring guitarist to recognize that we all grapple with frustration as we strive to improve our skills. This is a normal part of the process.

Defining the Problem

Let us start by considering what frustration is. It is a feeling of discomfort that arises when we feel what we want is being thwarted. With guitar in particular, we can get very frustrated over three things.

  1.  We are trying to improve on a certain skill or set of skills, and we do not feel we are making any progress despite persistent commitment of time and effort.
  2.  We feel that others are making faster progress and begin to question our “talent” for guitar.
  3. We compare ourselves to those who are more advanced than us and doubt that we could ever play at that level. Let’s discuss these individually and apply a dose of reality to counter the feeling of frustration.

 

Examining the Details

“I am not making any progress.” As a teacher, I can tell you that this is only true for people who are not studying and practicing. Anyone who is making an effort to improve is improving to some degree. I have students with a wide range of commitment levels, and even the ones who practice very little or none outside of my studio still make some progress over time. For those who genuinely follow my practice recommendations, they improve significantly faster than those who do not. As with anything, you will get out of it what you put into it.

Progress comes in increments, and we often do not see the progress because we wrongly measure our progress by how we feel about our playing. If last week it felt like we were not playing like we wanted to play, and this week it feels the same way, then we conclude we must not be making any progress. However, our feelings during the process of mastering skills are not a good measuring line by which to judge our progress. There are several more realistic ways to measure progress: metronome drills, comparison to what we were able to do six months ago, and frank feedback from a teacher or other ongoing observer. If you are measuring your progress by how frustrated or not frustrated you feel about your playing, you are setting yourself up in a Catch 22 spiral into quitting. So … stop doing that.

It is important to make note here about the phenomenon of “plateaus”. For most of us, including myself, a chart of progress would not show a straight upward sloping line. Rather it would show a squiggly line of ups and downs with a general trend upwards. On that line there will be flat spots … plateaus where it seems we have come to an end of our ability to advance any further. Sometimes these spots can be tenacious, lasting for months. These plateaus can definitely be a motivation killer, especially for intermediate level players who know that they know what to practice and how to practice it. Then we back off our practice routine, which causes our skills to fall off, reinforcing the notion that we have reached the end of our “talent”. Our thinking becomes a proverbial self-fulfilling prophecy, and next thing we know the guitar is in the corner serving as an expensive hangar for clothes that did not make it all the way to the closet. The important thing here is to be aware that these plateaus are coming so that when it hits you know it is just a passing stage. If you persist through this, the progress will show on the other side of the plateau.

“It seems to me that my abilities or progress rates are significantly below that of others.” There are a number of reasons why one may feel this way. It may be true, in which case you may need to make some informed changes to your approach, or increase the amount of time you are investing in practice. It may be that it is untrue in that you are making comparisons that are inaccurate or incomplete. For example, let’s say two students start at the same time, and after some period of time student 1 is more proficient in applying scales to creating soulful solos. Student 2 may look at this and think he is not doing well. However, it may simply be that Student 2 is more interested in playing chord rhythms with even flow and good timing, and so has spent more time on that skill, and is in fact better at it than student 1.

Assuming you are engaged in an effective practice routine, what someone else is doing is completely irrelevant to your goals. I don’t mind telling you that I am not the most naturally talented guitarist in my circle of musician friends, and I have observed many others over many years who make faster progress than I do. I have also observed many of those more “talented” guitarists quit, whereas I did not quit despite periods of frustration. Their seemingly superior natural abilities (which actually probably had more to do with greater practice time) lost way to my persistence. Now I can play rings around many of those folks. Not that I am interested in competing with anyone. The point is, their abilities did not intimidate me into catastrophic frustration, but merely served to demonstrate to me what could be done with the guitar if I was willing to do the work.

“I am not able to play like (insert name of your guitar hero here).” I will share a personal story here that illustrates the point I wish to make. Back in my “bedroom warrior” days, I had a couple of friends who I used to jam with routinely. Back then I knew only a half dozen open chords and some popular power chord riffs. It so happened that one of my friends and I were hanging out on one occasion and he started giving me a hard time about his superior guitar skills. He was just cutting up, but in my youthful pride I did not like it. It was mid summer, and I rashly challenged him to a guitar duel around Christmas. In desperation, I went to a local guitar shop and picked out a book on music theory (just by blind luck, it happened to be a really good one). After digging a bit, I figured out that the Minor Pentatonic scale was the one I needed to play rock solos. So I bared down on that scale for six months. Come Christmas time, my friend was quite surprised when I unleashed a barrage of Minor Pentatonic riffage on him in front of our “judge” (another mutual friend). I won the contest. The moral of the story is, I could have achieved that level of skill years earlier if I had just made the effort. That was an important lesson for me. It changed my whole perspective on guitar, as I had believed I had little “natural talent” and would never play as well as my friends. I realized I had been in possession of the potential all along. I just needed to do the work to make the potential a reality. Now I am able to play advanced instrumental pieces from the guitar heroes of my youth. The frustration that accompanies wrestling with new skills never goes away completely, but it does not have to be an insurmountable barrier to success. Continuing on despite feelings of frustration is simply a part of the work that we must all do to succeed.

Conclusion

Are you struggling with catastrophic frustration? The kind that makes you feel despondent when you think about picking up your guitar? I have also felt that way at times, as do all aspiring musicians. There are solutions that will get you back on a path of progress toward your goals. Find a good teacher with a solid program and students who can actually play. Set up a good practice routine, follow instructions, believe in yourself, and be patient. If you do these things, your success as a guitar player is inevitable. Don’t give up!

 

Copyright © 2005 Palmetto Music Institute. All Rights Reserved.

Practicing Guitar vs. Playing Guitar

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By Chad Crawford,  Guitar Instructor, Greenville Guitar Lessons

Practicing guitar and playing guitar are not the same thing, and it is important to understand the difference if you want to maximize your progress. While playing guitar is the end game of practicing, and we need to spend plenty of time playing, practicing is the means to the end of playing. It is essential to practice well and not allow playing to take over during what should be practice time. Although this may seem obvious on the surface, it is very easy to fall over into playing while trying to practice. Here we will look at the differences and consider how to avoid this pitfall.

So let us consider the differences between the two and how to avoid mixing them up. Playing guitar is the broad application of all our knowledge and technique skills into making music. Practicing guitar is deliberate focus on a narrow range of knowledge and technique skills with the specific goal of cultivating improvement in those specific areas. While playing, we focus on all that we can do. While practicing we focus on what we can not yet do, or do as well as we would prefer.

Here are some steps you can take to ensure that you are practicing instead of getting stuck in a rut by playing through your practice time:

  • 1. Consider where you are, where you need to be, and how to get there – if you have no master plan for reaching your musical goals then you can be sure that your practice time will consist of merely playing what you already know rather than making specific improvements in those things that will allow you access to the next musical level. To devise a master plan you should look to the music you wish to play and find out what kinds of chords, rhythms, and scales/arpeggios arise in that music. You need to master those things to play that kind of music.
  • 2. Define goals for every practice session – if you practice with no particular goal in mind then you will get exactly where you planned to get – nowhere. In every practice session you should have a plan to work on improving specific aspects of knowledge and technique according to your overall master plan. Committing your plan to paper will aid you greatly in keeping it in view as you practice.
  • 3. Focus on specific aspects of knowledge and technique during practice – when you are for instance practicing the scales you need for your preferred musical style, focus specifically on timing, note articulation, resolving notes, technique (relaxed fingers!), two hand synchronization, and eventually speed. You may have to break these goals down across several practice sessions per week so that you can devote adequate time and attention to each. Playing licks that you already know, or mindlessly wandering up and down through scales, is not practice. That is playing and it will not help you improve nearly as much as practicing.
  • 4. Push yourself to do better than yesterday – profitable practice does not come from merely repeating what you did yesterday. It comes from making it a point to do better than you did yesterday. Doing better than you did yesterday does not come from merely accepting the vague proposition that you will try do better today then you did yesterday. It comes from focused attention to the minute details of your playing, such as striving for better note articulation of scales, faster chord changes, or deliberately playing with less overall muscular tension than yesterday.
  • 5. Maintain your attention on the details – it is very easy to allow your mind to wander off when you are doing repetitive aspects of your practice routine. Focus yields much greater results, and focus is an ongoing choice because the mind tends strongly toward wandering off from one thing to another. Choose to keep your mind focused on the details of what you are working on.
  • 6. Include some playing time in your musical endeavors – it is pointless to pursue music if it is going to mean nothing but practice. Allow yourself some time within each practice session, or a few times a week if that works better for you, to just play without being overly concerned about the perfection of the details. Perfect the details during practice, and then relax and let your hands do their thing when you play. During playing time, do whatever is the best you can do and don’t allow mistakes to rob your enjoyment of it. Just play and enjoy what comes out well. As you progress through diligent practice, you will find that your playing includes increasingly fewer mistakes and more enjoyment. It is a process. Give it time.

    • Copyright © 2005 Palmetto Music Institute. All Rights Reserved.

    Mastering Musical Memory

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    By PMI Guitar Instructor Chad Crawford

    One of the greatest areas of struggle for most guitarists is remembering the numerous chords, scales, chord progressions, and other odds and ends that we must employ to reproduce our favorite songs or to improvise. While there is no way to make memorization of large amounts of information easy, there are things we can do to make it more predictable and consistent and thus produce better results and faster progress in our playing.

    Psychologists advise that lifestyle greatly affects memory. While this article is specifically directed at musical pursuits rather than memory in general, it is worth mentioning that a healthy diet, regular exercise, and adequate sleep allow our memories to function at their maximum potential. If you want the best results from your musical endeavors, take good care of yourself!

    For us musicians, we need to focus specifically on two components of memory: procedural memory and declarative memory. Procedural memory, for our purposes, refers to that aspect of recall pertaining to executing physical tasks. In musician lingo we often refer to this as muscle memory. Declarative memory is that aspect of memory that allows us to recall facts and figures, such as chord shapes, scale patterns, and the intervals of the root notes of chord progressions. So now that we have a view of the two aspects of memory we need to master, let’s look at some specific strategies.

    Improving Muscle Memory 

    1. Repetition – there is no substitute for repetition. You may have heard something of the old adage among guitar players about “playing until my fingers bleed”. While this may sound like a ridiculous hyperbole, I have in fact literally practiced extreme bends for certain licks to the point that one of my fingernails began to separate from the nail bed and seep blood. While I don’t recommend this, it does illustrate the point that repetition is the key to muscle memory. The more you repeat good executions of a given technique, the better you will play it. This is also incidentally one of the keys to overcoming “stage fright” – embed your skills so deeply into your muscle memory that you can execute them accurately regardless of any distractions.
    1. Consistency – you will get much better results from your muscle memory by practicing a moderate amount of repetition daily as opposed to trying to cram in a large block of repetitions on the weekend or the day before your next lesson!
    1. Focus – repetition of slop leads to playing slop. It is extremely important to pay attention when practicing scales, for instance. Be sure that you are relaxed and using the most efficient motions possible for each note. When you are learning something new it is important to practice it at a speed that will allow you to play it accurately and efficiently. That often means “excruciatingly slow”. If that is what it means then do it that way. You will never have speed without slop until you thoroughly train your muscle memory to execute the required motions as efficiently and accurately as possible. Then gradually increase speed, maintaining a balance between speed and accurate execution.
    1. Test – it is critical that you push the limits of your muscle memory by testing it routinely. Once you have learned a scale pattern then work on playing through it without looking at your fret hand fingers. Likewise, once you have learned a new chord then get started with applying the chord in a chord progression without looking at your fretting hand. Observe mistakes, correct them, and repeat. This will greatly increase your speed in mastering technique.

    Improving Recall

    1. Focus – as with muscle memory, focused attention on the details of new information will greatly increase your ability to recall that information. While this may seem obvious, it is important to be aware that we all have a tendency to allow our thoughts to drift randomly. For maximum understanding and recall it is imperative to willfully interrupt the random flow of thought and focus your attention while trying to digest new information.
    1. Focus – see item 1. This is so important that I am repeating it to help you remember it!
    1. Relation – as often as possible, try to relate new information to things that you already know. For instance, if you know the first position A Major chord shape then it is not so difficult to recall that the A7 is simply A Major minus the middle note. Likewise, all of the A form bar chords are an offshoot of the A Major chord shape, so if you know the A Major well enough then the various bar forms are not so hard to remember.
    1. Isolation – break complicated sets of information into parts and memorize the individual parts first, then assemble them into the complete set. For instance, with a new scale pattern memorize the notes on two strings. Then move to the next pair of strings, then the next. Then go back and put them all together into the complete pattern. For a tablature score, learn one line. Then move to the next and learn that one. Then play the two together. Then learn the next line, and then add that to previous two. Repeat until the song is complete. Then repeat until your fingers bleed!
    1. Consistency – as with muscle memory, recall responds well to repeated exposure to the same information. This is why it is much more productive to practice a half hour a day than to run practice marathons on the weekends.
    1. Vocalize – where feasible, find some way to say out loud what you are trying to memorize. Speaking things aids the memory in storing them. Example: when trying to memorize notes along the fretboard, say the notes out loud as you are playing them. This will greatly speed up your ability to recall the names of the notes.

     

    Following these recommendations will greatly increase the rate of speed of your mastery of all things guitar. We all struggle with memory, but these strategies will assist you in increasing the rate at which you conquer various elements of musicianship. Remember this: never give up!

    Copyright © 2005 Palmetto Music Institute. All Rights Reserved.

    The Guitarist’s Best Friend (and worst enemy)

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    By Chad Crawford, Guitar Instructor Greenville Guitar Lessons by PMI

    Aspiring guitarists grapple with a number of challenges in perfecting the craft. From memory failure to reluctant hands, we all struggle with predictable challenges along the path to mastery. Some of these issues are inherent flaws in the human machine about which we can do little but struggle. Others are more within the realm of our choosing, and choose well we must if we wish to have the best possible results for our efforts.

    Among the numerous assets we have to help us overcome barriers to progress, none is more potent than the power of habit. Mastering the guitar is very much a matter of cultivating good habits, both mentally and physically. Contrarily, allowing bad habits to persist will torpedo our efforts. Unfortunately the default setting of the human machine is toward counterproductive habits. On the other hand, through exercise of our will we may choose to cultivate good habits that support musical excellence. So we must persist in a productive practice routine with various repetitive mental and physical exercises such that basic skills like chord changes, scales, and rhythm patterns become habitual. Once these things become habitual we can then keep them habitual with only a bit of routine maintenance, and then we are free to focus on the more exciting and gratifying subtleties of making good music.

    So let’s take a look at a list of techniques and strategies that will assist you in cultivating good habits. These are not randomly selected tidbits, but rather key areas of fundamental knowledge and technique where I observe students struggling time after time. You can use the power of habit to help you get these fundamentals out of the way as soon as possible so you can move on to more interesting things.

    1. Practice Scheduling – set up a designated place where you will practice. Keep your guitar handy on a stand and your practice materials and metronome already out or readily accessible. Make an effort to practice at the same time of day as much as possible so that it becomes a habit, where you then feel uncomfortable if you don’t get started at the appointed time.

    2. Fretboard Note Recognition – set aside some time each time you practice to target some area of the fretboard for note memorization. Break this formidable task into small chunks according to various schemes of dividing the fretboard such as notes along one string, one fret, etc. Make it a habit to memorize the notes along any one such scheme every week.

    3. Chord Changes – changing chords quickly and accurately is the most significant barrier that beginning students struggle with, and one of the more frustrating. It is one of the keys to making really satisfying music, so it is important to get this under control as quickly as possible. Many students tend to develop a habit of stopping at chord changes and allowing themselves ample time to change chords. While this is impossible to get around at first, it quickly becomes a habit that persists long after the student is actually able to change chords without losing time. Avoid this trap by always making the effort to target the first beat of a measure for having your chord change complete. Be there on the 1 count!

    4. Chord Strumming Technique – while focusing on changing chords, many students fall prey to a weak pick attack consisting of a half-hearted push of the pick through the strings along a short pick stroke. Cultivate a habit of starting each downstroke at the top of the guitar body and follow through to the other side of the guitar body. Then reverse this for the upstroke. Do not push the pick through the strings as this sounds harsh and unpleasant. Perform the pick stroke with a lively snatch of the forearm, allowing the relaxed hand/wrist to follow along, and drag the pick quickly and lightly along the top of the strings. This is not going to happen by accident. Force it until it becomes automatic.

    5. Playing Scales with a Legato Feel – when practicing scale patterns always allow the previous note to run into the next note with no silence in between. This means you must maintain pressure on the previous note and snap your fingertip onto the upcoming note while simultaneously making the pick stroke for the new note. Pay attention to this important detail and keep paying attention to it until it becomes a good habit!

    6. Playing Phrases in Time – to get started with solo phrasing, always play your scale notes on the beat and resolve on the first beat of the underlying chord change. This may be obvious to the mind, but getting the fingers to cooperate does not happen automatically. It is very easy and very common to get absorbed with fingering notes and lose track of the timing. Make it a habit to pay attention to the beat while phrasing, and play your notes on beat.

    Habits can work for you or against you. Ensure that they work for you by diligently following the tips above every time you practice. Cultivating good habits will greatly increase your rate of progress.

    Copyright © 2005 Palmetto Music Institute. All Rights Reserved.

    Practicing for Maximum Results

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    By Chad Crawford, Guitar Instructor Greenville Guitar Lessons by PMI

     If you have been playing guitar for any length of time then you know by now that the one supreme key to results is this: practice! However, it is possible to practice routinely and still get poor results. How is this? It is by practicing the wrong things, in the wrong order, and in the wrong way.  So how can you know what to practice, what order to practice it in, and how to practice for maximum results? Follow the recommendations below to make the most of your practice time.  

    What to practice: 

    Playing guitar is a complex combination of mental and physical skills. In order to master the subject we need to break it down into manageable pieces. What specifically to practice is too big of a subject for a short article. However, what we can do here is narrow down the possibilities. The most important thing you need to consider is your goals. If your goal is too generalized it will not help you nail down what you need to practice. For instance, if you set an overly broad goal such as, “I just want to be able to play guitar,” this is not going to help you identify what information you need to learn and what techniques you need to master. If you are not sure about your goals then you should give some thought to what kind of music you like to listen to. Then you must identify what you must learn to do to mimic this kind of music. Those are the things that you need to practice. Make a list of those things and then go to work on them every time you practice. Do not get bogged down in practicing one technique or one song. Practice a variety of things pertinent to your goals.  

    A common problem I see among aspiring guitarists is the tendency to want to know and master everything about guitar. While the idea is not a bad one in theory, the reality is that music has been under development for several thousand years. It is a huge subject. Some universities offer doctorate level programs in music. As a hobbyist you do not have time to master “everything” about guitar. You are going to have enough on your hands just to master one style and play fluently in two or three related styles. So don’t waste your time learning exotic scales and chords if your intent is to play popular radio songs. Learning obscure modes is not going to make you a better player if you are still struggling with applying the pentatonic scales. Master the basic chords, scales, and techniques and then work on applying them effectively. Once you have reached a level that you can enjoy playing the basics then it is time to work on the more complicated stuff, and then only if it is applicable to your goals at that point. 

    At the other extreme is the tendency to want to learn only bare minimum requirements for playing specific songs. There is a bit of controversy in the music teaching community as to whether learning specific songs is a good approach to musical mastery. I think learning songs can be very helpful to mastering knowledge and techniques on the condition that the songs are incorporated into a balanced program of learning music in general rather than just learning the bare minimum information and techniques to play the specific songs. Taken by itself, learning songs is a dead end that leaves many aspiring guitarists frustrated and burned out. Don’t let this happen to you!  

    How to practice: 

    One of the recurring problems I see with students of guitar is the tendency to get into a self-defeating routine with practice. It is not that a practice routine itself is problematic. Practice certainly does need to be a routine undertaking. The problem develops in that practicing specific exercises becomes a matter of mindlessly running through the same material with no specific mental focus on improvement. Practice becomes an exercise in repeating the same stuff from yesterday in the same way. This is the number one issue I see that impedes progress. When you practice any skill, it is important that you focus on doing it better today than yesterday. Whether it be memorizing some chord, scale, or song, or improving the speed or finesse of chord changes or scales, it is important to push yourself to make an increment of progress every time you practice something!  

    Another common problem is the tendency to rush through practice. While speed is essential in executing chord changes and phrases, you must balance speed with accuracy. Rushing through every exercise as fast as possible will only delay your progress. Make the effort to ensure that your execution is accurate as well as fast. This often means that you will have to slow something down to a tempo that may be completely unrealistic for actual playing and then practice at that speed until you can execute the technique fairly well. Then gradually increase speed as you are able.  

    Finally, be sure to practice as often as possible! Learning guitar is all about memory in terms of both mental recall and physical muscle control. Every day that you do not practice you lose a bit of recall and muscle memory. That is just the way the human machine functions and there is not much we can do about it. Therefore, it would be best to practice every single day. However, this is not feasible for many hobbyists. In this case, make it a point to practice more days than not … at least five days a week.  

    Follow these guidelines to ensure that your practice routine is leading to progress rather than frustration!

     Copyright © 2005 Palmetto Music Institute. All Rights Reserved.

    Unlocking Your Creative Muse

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    By Chad Crawford, Blues & Classic Rock Guitar Instructor, Palmetto Music Institute

    Among the challenges we face as developing guitar players, cultivating a sense of artistic creativity may seem among the most formidable. Many assume that creativity is a mysterious insight arising from the recesses of the fortunately gifted minds of a select few. In fact creativity is not a mystery. As with all things musical it responds to focused effort to cultivate it.

    So how do you get from having “no creativity” to the point of being able to write songs and play improvisational solos?

    First let us address the occasional Mozart who shows up with tremendous innate musical abilities. There is indeed a phenomenon of natural talent, but for most musicians, other artists, engineers, inventors, writers, etc., natural talent is not in fact the key to creativity. So the Mozart’s are irrelevant in terms of understanding how a person of typical native ability can develop creative prowess. Forget about natural talent, and most importantly don’t fall for the common misconception that creativity is something that you either have or do not have as a result of inheritance.

    Now let us consider what creativity actually is. Is it really assembling something out of nothing in a mysterious seizure of inspiration from quarters unknown? No! Even Mozart had to sit with paper and pen and work his inspirations into orderly, flowing pitch and time relationships. Consider this quote from prolific inventor Thomas Edison, whose record on creativity speaks for itself: “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration“.

    Creativity is neither an unknowable mystery, an accident, nor a fleeting peek into the ethereal mists. It is rather a predictable result of a process involving mastery of the fundamental elements of an endeavor, and then applying those fundamentals in such a way as to generate beauty of function and form. Notice that I did not say anything about creating something from nothing, or even something totally new. Creativity does not mean creating something from nothing. It means assembling the known into that which effectively solves problems or manifests beauty. It is well within the reach of anyone willing to apply themselves to the process.

    Now let us consider how this applies to music, and specifically to guitar. Music is fundamentally two objective phenomenon: pitch relationships and time relationships. Musicians assemble these relationships in such a way as to create the more subjective phenomenon of an emotionally satisfying flow of tension and release. This does not require the creation of anything new, but rather a well developed awareness of how pitch and time relationships work together to create a satisfying flow of tension and release.

    So let’s break it down now even more specifically to the things we need to have mastery over in order to make music that satisfies us and our intended audience.

    1. Know your notes on the fretboard – everything we do as musicians involves assembling notes in melody (one after another) or harmony (in unison, such as a chord or double stop) with reference to a tonal center (key). If you do not know the notes then you are limited to playing by patterns or by ear. While playing by patterns and by ear are useful tools, if you wish to cultivate maximum creativity then you need to allow yourself as many options as possible. If you can visualize the letter names of the notes you are playing then it is much easier to choose resolving notes for phrases, or make useful alterations to chords to achieve just the right shade of mood.

    2. Know the names of the notes in the Major Keys – the Major Scale is the starting point for all we do. Everything else is an alteration of some sort to a Major Scale. If you know the names of the notes in the key you are playing, and can also see them as you play them on the fretboard, these together will give you a great deal of power to achieve a desired musical effect without having to always guess your way through things with experimentation.

    3. Understand Intervals – intervals are the building blocks of the pitch aspect of music. A thorough understanding of intervals will allow you to know what effect a note is going to have before you play it. If you know your intervals then you will be able to create musical effects at will, alter scales and chords to create precise shades of emotion, and transfer musical ideas from one key to another with ease.

    4. Understand the effects of the basic divisions of the beat – along with pitch relationships, relative timing between pitch events is one of the fundamental components of music. A good set of timing relationships by itself is very powerful (think of a powerful drum intro that sets the mood for a song). If you understand the basic divisions of the beat and how to modify them to tastes then you can create strong shades of mood at will.

    5. Understand scale harmonization – knowing how to translate a particular scale into chord sequences will enable you to assemble pleasing chord progressions in a matter of moments. Knowing the chords in the key and the notes in the chords will also give you a lot of useful options for resolving solo phrases.

    6. Listen to a lot of music – musical inspiration is often a residual effect of exposure to other music. Saturate your creative muse with immersion into a wide variety of music, and pay attention to the individual details such as the vocals, drums, and bass. In doing so you will cultivate a deeper intuitive understanding of music, much as a child learns to speak by regular exposure to speech.

    7. Start from the known – creativity is often a matter of slight alterations to common ideas. Learn the signature licks, chord types and sequences, and rhythmic ideas of the masters of your preferred style. Then experiment with alterations until you uncover ideas that express what you wish.

    8. Constantly refine your technique – if you have ever wondered how an accomplished guitarist can play something very simple and yet have it sound very beautiful and powerful, the trick is in the technique. What many experience as a “lack of creativity” is in fact a lack of technique refinement that will make an otherwise great idea sound lifeless or even just plain bad. Technique development is not just a matter of mere repetition. It is essential to pay attention to the quality of sound (a.k.a. “tone”) during technique development practice. Don’t rush through technique exercises with the goal of merely getting them over with as quickly as possible. Listen carefully to the small details. Strive to improve the quality of sound resulting from each pick stroke.

    If you are breathing then you have creative potential. If you cultivate the appropriate knowledge, technique, and persistence then you can be sure that your creative muse will show itself. Get to work!

    Copyright © 2005 Palmetto Music Institute. All Rights Reserved.

    Killer Expectations

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    By PMI Guitar Instructor Chad Crawford

    Learning to play an instrument well is a challenging endeavor, but it is within your grasp. As with any significant endeavor, there are numerous side roads that can waste your time or bring you to a dead end. Some of these are technical issues pertaining to musical knowledge and physical technique. These are usually readily apparent … such things as not knowing chords and scales or not being able to get your fingers to execute the required movements. These types of issues are straightforward to address with information and exercises. It is the more subtle human nature responses to the process of learning that are the most dangerous to your aspirations as a musician. Here I will address one of the most common enemies of musical aspirations … the “killer expectations” trap.

    I call them killer expectations because they tend to kill motivation by bringing undue frustration and other emotional ills into the process of learning guitar. It is important to have goals and to strive for progress. However, for an aspiring musician with no prior musical experience it is very easy to fall prey to an inaccurate sense of how fast one should make progress or fulfill short term goals. The potential problem with establishing expectations is that the guitarist who spends most learning and practicing time working alone, or only with a teacher, has no real sense of how long it takes to master various elements of musicianship. I have observed a common tendency in guitar students to set expectations that are unrealistically high, and then evaluate their current performance as “lagging behind” compared to these expectations. So let’s see if we can establish some informed guidelines that will help in establishing realistic expectations.

    First, let us consider the popular notion of “positive thinking”. I have experienced the same kinds of ruts and roadblocks that all developing guitarists grapple with. The critical difference between myself and many of my peers who also dabbled with guitar over the years is that I made up my mind I was going to do this, and then I went and did the work and never stopped doing the work. There is a variant of positive thinking ideology floating around that deems thinking positively as the end rather than the means. Choosing a positive attitude is a vital part of the process of achievement, but it is only a part and by itself has no power at all to deliver results. You have to do the work! When you begin to do the work you are going to experience the same temporary barriers as have I and anyone who has ever set out to accomplish something significant. That is where positive thinking will pull you out of the ditch. You must choose to have faith in the fact that you are going to succeed! This is not blind faith … it is an informed faith based on the fact that every musician who has ever trod this path has experienced the same challenges. Those who persisted succeeded, and thus they have already proved countless times that your success is inevitable if you persist in doing the work. That is a realistic expectation!

    Goals are imperative in any endeavor, and music is no exception. If you are a hobbyist guitarist, consider that your goals should not be the same as one who is aspiring to a career as a professional musician, and in particular it is probably not realistic for a beginning hobbyist to set a short term goal of playing guitar as fluently as Joe Satriani or Brad Paisley, for examples. This does not mean that you might not aspire to learning a few of their songs in due time, but it is not prudent to set goals at the outset that require five hours of practice seven days a week for ten years. Rather, your initial goals should be along the lines of mastering the basics of rhythm and lead guitar pertaining to the style you wish to play. This is well within the reach of a hobbyist, given sufficient time and good guidance from an effective teacher.

    Now let’s consider the big question that seems to bring the most unease to students of guitar: “How long is this supposed to take?” Maybe a more specifically relevant question is, “Is my progress rate normal?” Do you see the potential problem with that second question? The problem is that without a great deal of experience observing the progress rates of beginning musicians, you may have, lingering below your conscious thought level, an incorrect notion of what a “normal” progress rate is. If that notion is impossibly unrealistic, and you continually measure your progress against that impossible standard, then you will always measure up as “behind” regardless of how well you are actually doing. Consequently, you will always feel some sense of pressure and angst in your endeavors to improve, and you will not be able to find any satisfaction in the small victories that are in fact marking your steady progress. This will steal your enjoyment of learning guitar, and it often ends in a guitar gathering dust in a corner. Don’t let this happen to your guitar!

    Here are some solutions to killer expectations…

    1 – Consider whether or not you have any expectations of your progress rate. If you find that you do, then consider the basis for your expectations. If your basis is that you are an experienced guitar teacher and thus have observed over and over how long it takes the average guitar student to meet specific goals, then you may be confident that your judgments regarding your own progress rate are on target. If you have any other basis than experience or the counsel of someone who is thusly experienced, then your expectations may be unrealistic and not helping you in any way. If so, then you will serve yourself well in discarding them.

    2 – Recognize that comparing your progress to others or to any arbitrary standard does not help you in any way. Progress rates vary widely due to a variety of factors such as previous musical experience, ability to commit time to practice, frequency and duration of lessons, complexity of the style you are seeking skills in, and so forth. Even if you had a friend with the exact same circumstances as you who seemed to be making faster progress, it would do you no good whatsoever to reflect on this. The only measure that will help is this: assuming you are following the directions in a good program of instruction and that you are practicing regularly, do you know more and have better technique than a month ago, six months ago, a year ago, etc.? If so, then you are on the right track.

    3 – Be fair to yourself in measuring your progress. If you have been working on a new exercise for a week or two and you play 9 out of 10 notes correctly, your grade at that point in time for that exercise is 90, rather than the big fat ZERO that most give themselves when they make a mistake. Learning guitar is a process of accumulating 90’s over time. Never stop shooting for 100, but don’t give yourself an F when you have earned an A. Take note, all students of music have inherent strengths and weaknesses in various aspects of musicianship. Do not allow yourself to evaluate your overall progress as musician solely on the one or two areas where you struggle the most.

    4 – Give yourself time. There is no way around this, so when you see an ad on the Internet offering overnight skills you can know that you are gazing down a dead end road. Learning music is like gardening in that you plant seeds of knowledge and technique, water them with practice, and then cultivate them to maturity through repetition. Some methods are faster than others, but it is going to take some time no matter which path you take.

    5 – Finally, slow down! One thing I see that comes up over and over is that students attempt to play exercises at speeds that are beyond their current skills. This does not help your progress and in fact is a detriment to it. Practicing slop ends in playing slop! Most of the time you should practice things at speeds that allow you to execute them with accuracy and good timing, and then gradually speed up over time. Constantly attempting to play things at speeds that are beyond your current skill level will always leave you feeling frustrated. It is a trap. Avoid it. There is a time to work on speed, and that time is AFTER you have developed the ability to execute things well.

    For my clients …

    If you are not making progress I will let you know. It is not because I want to beat anyone up over their progress. It is because I have an ethical obligation to inform you if you are squandering your time and money with guitar lessons. When this has come up over the years it is always due to one or more of these three things: persistently missing lessons, not following the instructions, or not practicing regularly. If these do not apply to you, and I have not otherwise advised you that I have concerns with your progress rate, then you may assume that your progress rate is as it should be.

    If you have, or find in the future that you have, concerns with your progress rate then bring it to my attention. We will then determine together whether it is a problem with unrealistic expectations, or rather a real problem in your knowledge base, technique, or practice routine. In the latter cases, I will offer appropriate guidance toward a solution. Your ongoing feedback is a critical part of the process, so don’t feel like I am going to be offended if you express concerns over your progress rate.

    Follow the steps outlined above to rid yourself of the undue frustration that follows killer expectations, so that you can enjoy the process of learning guitar!

     

    Copyright © 2005 Palmetto Music Institute. All Rights Reserved.

    How to Overcome Stage Fright

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    After working diligently to hone your chops you attempt to play in front of a friend, family member, or maybe your guitar teacher. You find that all of a sudden you can’t remember what to play, or your fingers just won’t do what you are telling them to do. You may find that your hands shake. Some people even experience nausea. Psychologists call this phenomenon “performance anxiety”. We musicians call it “stage fright”. It is very uncomfortable and frustrating, and you may be inclined toward giving up music if you can’t find a way to get around stage fright so that you can enjoy sharing your music with others. After all, in the end music is a means of communication, so it defeats the whole purpose if you can not share it with others.

    Fortunately, stage fright is something we musicians along with other public performers such as athletes and public speakers have learned to manage. It may never go away entirely, but we can learn to control it so that it does not cripple our efforts. Since this article is directed at hobbyist students of guitar, I am going to limit discussion to those elements pertinent to hobbyists.

    Stage fright is a “phobia”, or “irrational fear”. It is extreme dread of humiliation that will accompany failing in front of others. Let us not pretend that concern with performing poorly in front of others will not be embarrassing. However, when we allow emotion to run rampant and magnify the concern to extremes, we then cross the line into being irrational and become physically and mentally crippled by overpowering reactions to the emotion of fear. Here is how it works: we get ready to play something under observation. We become aware of the possibility of making a mistake. At this point we are still rational. Then the emotions flood in: humiliation and dread. Under the influence of these emotions, we become even more sensitive to the possibility of making a mistake. This affirms the emotions of humiliation and dread and the emotions become stronger and cross over into irrationality. Another part of the mind picks up the powerful emotions of impending doom and perceives this as a danger warning. This triggers a “fight or flight” response. We lose partial control of our thoughts to the processing of instinctive fear responses. The body tenses up and the mind attempts to focus on the source of danger and the easiest escape. Now we are distracted mentally and also physically tense all over. At this point we may be resigned to the fact that our performance is not going to be at peak because we have become partially crippled by our body’s automatic reactions to fear. It is a snowball effect, from initial perception of risk to manifestation of confusion and physical tension. It all happens in a split second, before we even have a chance to strike a note on the guitar.

    The important thing to note here is that the stage fright response begins with thoughts, drags the emotions along, and then the emotions trigger the instinctive responses that interfere with performance. We want to break into this process at every point possible and try to reverse it, control it, or squash it by every means available. Let’s start with thoughts …

    Strategies for dealing with the thought element of Stage Fright …

    (1) What happens if someone sees you make a mistake or perform at less than your best? Well, you won’t get full credit for that great stuff you pull off while jamming alone in your bedroom. That’s kind of annoying and unfair, isn’t it? You may experience the discomfort of embarrassment. Is that really such a big deal as to allow it to trigger the same response as if an angry bear were chasing you? Of course not. It is not that big of a deal, especially when you are performing for your guitar teacher where it is fully expected that you are going to make many mistakes on a routine basis.

    As an experienced musician with a trained perception of pitch, I can tell you that even acclaimed professional guitarists make mistakes in their live performances. You and I are going to make mistakes also. Just accept it, and more importantly just learn to play past the mistakes. Just get back on track as quickly as you can and keep playing. Don’t ever quit trying to improve and eliminate as many mistakes as possible, but accept the fact that mistakes are going to happen and they do not mean your entire performance is a failure. The fact is, if you keep playing through most people will not even notice your mistakes! So don’t give them way more attention than they deserve. Make it a habit to mentally mark mistakes for additional work later and immediately focus your mind back on the next note!

    (2) If you are worried about what others think of your skills, stop it. Most people are not thinking about you. They are thinking about themselves. That’s the way people are. Some people are just determined to criticize, and so they will, no matter how well you play. Do your thing and forget about what anyone thinks of it. Yngwie Malmsteen is one of the top guitarists alive right now, if not THE best. Most people have never heard of him. Among those who have many of them are not moved by his music even though they may acknowledge his mastery of the instrument. I know of many outstanding guitarists who have amazing skills that I admire, but their music itself does nothing for me. No matter how good you are, you are only going to connect with a small fraction of the people who ever hear you play. So it makes no sense to give too much thought to how any one person is going to react to your playing. It is a total waste of your mental powers to think on such things. If these thoughts arise, cast them aside.

    (3) Master the material you intend to play for others. If you know the song and have repeated it enough that it is automatic for you, your mind and hands will deliver even if you are under stress. Think about it. You had to learn to walk and talk. Now you can do both even under the most extreme distraction. They are automatic for you. Make your guitar skills the same through diligent practice.

    Strategies for dealing with the emotional element of Stage Fright …

    (1) Understand that stage fright is normal. It happens to all of us. It is not some unusual thing you are  wrestling with, and it has nothing to do with your “talent” for music or lack thereof. It is a typical response to stress and it is possible for you to learn to control it, no matter how powerful it may seem to grip you at first.

    (2) Play in front of others. Now if you just started lessons two weeks ago it’s not time for you to play in front of others. Be reasonable about this. Learn some songs. Practice them until you can get through them most of the time without any major train wrecks. Then play them for others. Start a band with others near your skill level. Join local amateur musician clubs. Play for your family. You will undoubtedly experience stage fright in these situations. However, every time you expose yourself to it you will gain a measure of strength against it, just as your finger tips build calluses against the guitar strings. Eventually stage fright will fade to something far less powerful and thus you will find it easier to manage.

    (3) Master the material you intend to play for others. If you know the song and have repeated it enough that it is automatic for you, your mind and hands will deliver even if you are under stress. Think about it. You had to learn to walk and talk. Now you can do both even under the most extreme emotional inflammation. They are automatic for you. Make your guitar skills the same through diligent practice.

    Strategies for dealing with the instinctive element of Stage Fright …

    (1) When you feel your hands freezing up and your mind is drawing a blank as to what to play, remember that you are ultimately in control of your mind and your body. Instinct is powerful but you can learn to override it. Force your mind to calm and focus on controlling your hands and your thoughts. Relax your muscles. Concentrate on the chords or scales you need to play and push everything else aside. This is going to be tough at first, but keep at it and you will get better with practice.

    (2) Master the material you intend to play for others. If you know the song and have repeated it enough that it is automatic for you, your mind and hands will deliver even if you are under stress. Think about it. You had to learn to walk and talk. Now you can do both even under the most extreme distraction. They are automatic for you. Make your guitar skills the same through diligent practice.

    Stage fright is an inevitable aspect of the journey toward musical mastery. Don’t run away from it .. run into it and conquer it. Give yourself time. You may have noticed that in all three areas of attack, the last strategy is the same paragraph in mastery of your material. That was not an editing oversight. As with all things musical, results follow one simple rule of thumb: practice, practice, practice!

    Demystifying Guitar Amplifiers

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    Guitar amplifiers come in many brands, shapes, sizes, power levels, and with varying features. If you are new to guitar or even somewhat experienced, you may be overwhelmed by all the options. Here I will seek to organize your choices into categories that you can understand, so you can zero in on just the right amplifier for your needs.

     

    We will start with a bit of general knowledge of guitar amplification. The wonderful sound that comes out of your amplifier begins with a tiny electromagnetic impulse in your guitar’s pick up coil(s). This tiny, constantly varying impulse imposes an electronic signal at the guitar’s output port which travels along the cord into your amplifier. The amplifier receives this signal and sends it through several stages of amplification to produce a signal powerful enough to drive your speaker(s).

    The amplifier will typically consist of two overall stages of amplification: pre-amp, and power amp. The pre-amp stage is the one that receives the input from your guitar and processes it into a larger signal with tone alterations for presentation to the power amp stage. The pre-amp is where the amplifier allows you to alter specific tonal features such as bass, mid range, and treble, as well as apply built-in effects such as distortion (a.k.a. gain) and reverb.

    The job of the power amp stage is to pick up the output signal from the pre-amp and magnify it up to a power level sufficient to drive your speakers via an output transformer. The purpose of the output transformer is to match the electromagnetic characteristics (impedance) of your amplifier’s power stage to the electromagnetic characteristics of your speaker(s), so that the amplifier will couple the maximum amount of available power to the speakers.

    On some more elaborate amplifiers you may be able to pick off the signal at various stages of amplification for additional processing and/or routing. Many amplifiers have an effects loop which will allow you to insert patch cords that will route the signal to an external effects processor and then back into your amp. Some amps also have a patch port between the pre-amp stage and the power amp stage that allows you to completely separate the two stages. This would allow you for instance to use the pre-amp stage from one amp to provide a signal to the power stage of another amp.

    Combo vs. Head/Cabinet

    Guitar amps come in two basic physical configurations: combo and head/cabinet. A combo (short for combination) amp has the electronic circuitry and the speaker(s) all in one convenient box. Alternatively, you may wish to keep your amplifier itself separate from the speakers so that you have tonal options by matching up different amplifiers and speakers. In this case you would want the amplifier in a box by itself. We call these amp-only boxes amplifier heads, or head for short. So we attach the head via a speaker cable to a separate box that has only a speaker or multiple speakers. This is why many amp heads have several speaker output ports, so that you can use the head to drive speaker cabinets of varying impedance.

    The most popular head/cabinet arrangement you should understand is the half-stack. The half stack is a head sitting on top of a large speaker cabinet with typically four speakers, usually 12 inch diameter speakers. The name half stack is a derivative of the stack, an amp with one head sitting atop two speaker cabinets with four speakers each. Hence the name stack – it is literally a stack of big boxes. A stack is a big, heavy, and loud amplifier arrangement that is only needed for the largest of venues, either a large arena or outdoors. A half stack, while still bulky and loud, is more manageable and thus is suitable for a wider variety of venues.

    The combo amp may contain one speaker of sizes from 4 inch up to 12 inch. Some combos contain two twelve inch speakers, and some contain four ten inch speakers. More speakers means more power, and also more bass response. My rule of thumb … for good tone I recommend if the combo amp has only one speaker to stick with amps that have a 12 inch speaker, with the exception for the combos with four 10 inch speakers such as the Fender Super Reverb.

    Take note of this: you do not need a half stack to achieve high volume levels. A good quality combo with two 12 inch speakers will produce volumes comparable to a half stack of similar power. For large live venues the sound that the audience hears is coming through the much louder P.A. system anyway, via a microphone on the guitar amp speaker. I have played outdoor venues with a combo with only one 12 inch speaker miced to the PA, and it sounds plenty loud. The reason I need a half stack for some situations is mostly so I can hear my guitar on stage over the drums, plus I prefer the more robust bass response of a 4×12 cabinet. In one instance I attended a jam session with my 80 watt combo with one twelve inch speaker along with another guitarist with a 50 watt Marshall half stack. Although he had more bass response with his 4×12 speaker cabinet I had no problem matching the Marshall’s volume with my little 1×12 combo, with volume to spare.

    Tube vs. Solid State

    Guitar amplifiers come in two primary electronic platforms: tube and solid state. You need not be an electronics guru to understand the critical difference: sound quality. Solid state amps use modern electronic transistors to amplify your guitar signal, while tube amps use the older vacuum tubes for signal magnification. Solid state amps are typically very rugged and reliable, and they are usually less expensive than a tube amp with comparable power and features. Tube amps are relatively fragile, expensive, and require more maintenance. So why do the majority of accomplished guitarists prefer tube amps? It is because of the additional characteristics that tubes add to the signal, which produces a certain quality of sound (tone) that guitarists prefer. Tubes add harmonics and compression in a way that solid state amps thus far have not been able to match, so guitarists stick with the traditional and outdated technology because the sound results produced by tubes is more attractive than the price and reliability advantages of the solid state amps.

    It is important to note here that you need not purchase an expensive tube amp for practicing in your bedroom at low volumes. The advantages of a tube sound do not really show themselves at very low volumes, so there is no sense in spending the money and dealing with the maintenance hassles on a tube amp unless you are going to play with a group and in an environment that allows you to turn up. Solid state amps can produce very good clean tones and decent distortion tones, so they are fine for learning guitar,  routine practice, and playing small low-volume venues with cleaner guitar tones (although I prefer a tube amp for any kind of live performance).

    Fender vs. Marshall Tone

    There are two basic guitar amplifier architectures on the market, both based on amps designed around specific power stage tubes. One is the Fender sound which is a clean tone based on the 6L6 tube. The Fender amps are coveted for pristine clean tones at higher volumes (a.k.a headroom – the amount of volume an amp can produce before distorting). The Fender sound is great for Blues, Jazz, and Country styles. The Marshall amps are based on the EL34 tube which produces a desirable distortion or break-up at moderate volume levels. This makes them desirable for any kind of guitar music that features distortion, such as rock or metal. Since most guitarists use additional effects pedals to add various effects, there is some overlap between these tones. Most tube amps on the market today are some kind of imitation or derivative of the Fender or Marshall amps. Another popular tone is the EL84 tube tone associated with the classic VOX amps and often used on lower power tube amps. The EL84 tone has a sharp bright treble response and less bass response than the physically larger 6L6 and EL34 tubes.

    If you want to know whether your amp is a Fender or Marshall type of amp, just check the power tubes. However, every amp consists of many components and built-in tone coloring characteristics, so you will not be able to know for sure what an amp sounds like without actually playing through it. There are many good quality amps on the market today besides Fender and Marshall. Let your ears be the judge. I prefer the tone of a Marshall, although I have heard great sounding tones coming from many other amps.

    Amp Simulators

    Modern computer technology has brought us guitarists the ability to include computers in our arsenal of music making tools. Popular simulators such as Guitar Port, Amplitube, and Guitar Rig allow us to plug our guitar into our computers via an interface box and play through the computer. This is a great tool for practicing, as the simulation software will allow us to mimic a wide variety of tones from different iconic amplifiers and effects, all with just a few clicks of a mouse. For practicing guitar and learning about various amps and effects, this is the best thing that has happened to guitarist in decades. These simulators, in conjunction with other computer programs, also allow for pro-quality recording of your playing right in your bedroom, at volumes that will not disturb your neighbors or even the people in the next room.  Assuming you already have a computer, these simulators are not nearly as expensive as a real guitar amp of good quality, so I highly recommend a simulator program for those new to electric guitar. After spending some time with a simulator you will have a better idea of the tone variation among the popular amps, so you will have a better sense of what you are looking for when you go to invest in a real amp.

    Miscellaneous Considerations …

    Guitar amps often have multiple channels to allow you varying tonal options from the same amp, from pristine clean to raucous distortion. In addition, each of these channels will usually have separate volume controls and maybe even separate input (gain) and output volume controls. Finally there will be one master volume control that controls the final output volume of the amp regardless of which channel you select. It is important to understand that there is a significant difference in volume from your guitar when you are playing rhythm versus solo. The multiple channels allow you to change for instance from a clean or slightly distorted tone for chords, to the richer harmonic content and increased sustain of distortion for playing individual notes of a solo. You will lose a significant amount of volume from the guitar when you change from playing chords to playing individual notes, such that if you set your amp up during sound check to match the band volume when you are playing chords, when you go to play solo at the same volume you will be drowned by the band. So you must set the volume on your solo channel significantly higher than that of your rhythm channel.

     

    It is important to note that the amp tone will change drastically as you increase the volume. For instance, at low volumes the bass response will be weak so that you have to turn the amp up to get a balanced sound across the frequency spectrum. The electronic components will affect the tone to different degrees at different power levels. Power tubes deliver a certain coveted distortion that only appears when the tube is pushed to higher power levels. Speakers have a certain inherent stiffness so that they will only yield their best tones when pushed into lively motion to a certain degree (speaker excursion). Altogether, what this means is that the best electric guitar tones often come at the price of higher volumes. It is a never ending quest for guitarists to coax a good tone from our electric guitar amps at lower volumes, especially with distorted tones. It can be done, but it will take some time and effort learning how to tweak your amp.

    Any given guitar amp is going to produce a wide variety of tonal qualities based on the options available on the amp, the guitar and effects plugged into the amp, and importantly the playing characteristics of the player playing through the amp. Pros often have their amps modified away from the manufacturer designs. So just because a certain guitarist you enjoy uses a certain kind of amp, that does not necessarily mean you will be able to reproduce their tone easily by purchasing the same amp. Before you rush out and buy the same amp as your guitar hero, be sure you play through a number of amps first. It may be that you will find your preferred tone coming from a box that you wouldn’t have expected.

    Beginner’s Guide to Guitars, Strings, & Picks

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    If you are new to guitar or even somewhat experienced, you may be overwhelmed by all the options regarding types of guitars, strings, and picks. After you read this brief article you will be an expert on guitar hardware!

    There are two basic categories of guitar: acoustic and electric. We will discuss the nature and purposes of each below.

    Acoustic Guitars

    Acoustic guitars have a large hollow wooden box for a body, with a round hole or some other kind of opening to naturally amplify the sound of the strings. There are two main types of acoustic guitars: classical and folk. The classical guitar, as the name implies, is meant for playing classical style music. You can identify these guitars easily by the presence of three nylon strings which look like clear plastic. The folk guitar uses steel strings, with the larger strings also having a bronze wrap. Folk guitars are typically larger than classical guitars and have a more narrow neck to facilitate chords. Folk guitars are louder and have brighter tone than classical guitars. While either of these type of guitars may come equipped with an option for electronic amplification, we still consider them acoustic guitars.

    The dobro or resonator is a specialty acoustic guitar which uses internal metallic plates to amplify the sound of the strings. While it looks much like a standard acoustic guitar, the playing techniques and sound are different enough that many consider the dobro a different instrument from a traditional guitar.

    Electric Guitars

    Electric guitars come in two main varieties: solid body and hollow body. The hollow body has open chambers in the body with holes, similar to an acoustic guitar, for naturally amplifying the sound of the strings. Despite the opened chambers, they are not nearly as loud as a true acoustic guitar and thus require amplification to be of any practical use. They have a warm (less treble) sound quality which is great for blues, jazz, and other clean (non-distorted) tones. Due to the resonant chambers they tend to present feedback (prominent squealing sound) at moderate amplifier volumes.

    The solid body guitars have, as the name implies, a completely solid body section with no open resonant chambers. Some solid bodies have internal resonant chambers with a view toward enhancing sound quality, but these chambers will not be opened to the air so they provide no sound amplification and no feedback problems.

    Before we go farther with discussing solid body guitar types, let’s take a moment to consider several very important factors in guitar construction: pickups, neck profile, and frets.

    Pickups are coils of wire wrapped around magnets. The magnets generate a magnetic field and the coils pick up variations in the strength of the field through electro-magnetic induction. When we strike a metal guitar string placed within the field of pick up, the string vibration disturbs the field. The coils pick up on the changes in the magnetic field and generate a tiny electronic signal, which we send out to an amplifier through a cable.

    There are two main types of guitar pick ups: single coil and humbucker. Single coils have one coil of very thin wire wrapped around a series of magnets, usually one magnet per guitar string. Arranged so that each magnet is directly under a string. Single coils produce a sound that emphasizes treble and bass frequencies. They tend to pick up electronic noise such as radio frequency signals generated by appliances and lights.

    Humbuckers are made of two magnet/coil sets merged into one big coil. They tend to produce a stronger signal which is helpful with distorted guitar tones. They also have a built-in tendency to reject extraneous electronic signals so they do not make as much noise as single coils. They generally have a more balanced frequency response than single coils so that they do not emphasize treble and bass frequencies like single coils.

    Neck Profile refers to the depth of the neck and the radius (curvature) of the fretboard. A low number radius like 9 means the neck is relatively curved which is helpful for making bar chords since it fits the shape of the hand well. Necks with a more flat fretboard will have a higher radius number such as 14. These necks will also tend to have less depth from the fretboard face to the back of the neck. These flatter necks are more helpful for playing scales and arpeggios. A Compound Radius necks have a radius that changes from curved near the nut to flat near the body, so that you can make chords easily near the nut while also having the advantage of flatter neck above the 12th fret for facilitating fast scale runs and extreme bends.

    Frets come in different sizes and materials. The standard fretwire alloy supplied with most guitars is reasonably durable and provides a well-balanced tonal quality. Stainless steel frets last longer than typical frets but cost more and tend to emphasize treble frequencies. Medium jumbo sized frets are suitable for most hobbyists. For progressive rock, metal, or other high-speed styles, the larger jumbo frets will serve better for high speed scales, sweep arpeggios, and extreme bending.

    Most solid body electric guitars bear a similarity to one of two iconic electric guitars: The Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul. The standard Stratocaster features three single coil pick ups, a 25.5 inch scale length (measurement from nut to bridge), and a spring-action floating bridge with a bar for activating the spring action. The floating bridge allows you to apply a pitch variation to the strings through pushing and pulling the bar. The longer scale length means the strings are tighter and the frets are a bit farther apart, so Stratocasters are a little more challenging to play. The body wood is typically alder which enhances the single coil tendency toward emphasizing treble and bass, giving the Stratocaster a bright, glassy chime in the treble range combined with rich, deep bass response. The neck pick up provides a more balanced overall tone which is good for playing cleaner tones, while the bridge pick up provides a more treble enhanced tone which is useful for distortion sounds. The middle pick is reverse wound from the neck and bridge, providing a tone that is in between the neck and bridge in terms of treble enhancement. The reverse winding of the middle coil provides noise cancellation similar to a humbucker whenever the middle coil is activated at the same time as one of the other coils.

    Many modern rock guitars are spin-offs of the Stratocaster, often called “super-strats”. The super strats will have more pointy bodies and head stocks, with flatter neck profiles and humbucker pick ups to facilitate high distortion, high speed rock solos.

    Gibson Guitars designed the Les Paul around a dual-humbucker pick up configuration, with a shorter 24.75 inch scale length. The humbuckers deliver a strong signal for maximum distortion, while still yielding a great balanced tone for cleaner sounds. The mahogany body tends to de-emphasize treble, leading to a tone that many guitarists describe as “darker”. The shorter scale length means the frets are closer together and the strings are not drawn as tight, so these guitars can be a bit easier to play than the Stratocasters, especially for smaller hands. Like the Strotcaster, the pick up closer to the neck will provide a balanced tone which is great for clean sounds, and the neck pick up will provide more treble clarity which is helpful with distortion tones. The Les Paul also features a fixed bridge for more stable tuning and better sustain than Stratocaster type guitars.

    If you are new to guitar and not sure what kind of guitar to start with, I recommend solid body electric guitars for all students of guitar primarily interested in styles other than classical. Solid body electric guitars have small, flat bodies, thin necks, and pliable strings, which altogether makes them easier to play than other types of guitars. After developing a certain level of technique proficiency you will then have a better experience of playing other types of guitars. Both Fender and Gibson offer entry level, low cost Squier and Epiphone versions of their higher end guitars, for very reasonable prices in the range of $100.

    Strings

    Strings come in different sizes and materials. Bronze strings are for acoustic folk type guitars, and nickel-plated steel is for electric guitars. Thin strings are more pliable and easier to bend, so they are helpful for beginners and those who wish to play at very high speeds. Thicker strings provide a more balanced overall tone with better sustain. String sets with a .010 gauge high E string are a good balance between tone and playability. I use Martin .010 Gauge strings for my acoustic guitars, and D’Addario XL .010 gauge strings for my general purpose electric guitars.

    The term “action” refers to the height of the strings above the frets. Lower action means less pressure and less time to fret a note, so it may seem to make the guitar easier to play. The trade off is more fret buzz, more difficulty with bending, and more difficulty with sweep picking techniques. The manufacturer specified string height is typically a good balance.

    Picks

    Picks also come in many materials, shapes, and thickness. A floppy pick leads to weak pick attack and reduced speed and control. For bronze string acoustic guitars, I use a medium gauge pick of .8 mm for a good balance of control and playablity. For electric guitar I use thicker and more stable heavy gauge 1.5 mm large triangular picks by Clayton. A larger pick will provide more surface area and thus better grip and less unwanted shifting. Different materials provide varying grip, tone, and response. I prefer large, thick acetyl picks for a good balance between durability, grip, and tone. Picks are cheap, so you can afford to experiment to find the one that suits your best.