If you have an interest in learning to play bass guitar, you will find it to be a very rewarding instrument to play. The bass guitar player is an important member of the band. The quality of the group’s playing depends largely on how well the bass player keeps in time. Not only are the demands heavy but the rewards are great. It only takes a short time to get up and running as a bass guitarist and once you have learnt a few basic bass lines and worked out whether you are a plectrum player or a plucker, you will be able to start improvising your own bass licks.
There are two ways to learn bass online. One is to take advantage of the many free bass lessons on the web. These online bass guitar lessons will help you to understand how the place of the bass guitar in a band, music theory, reading sheet music and tabs as well as giving you basic rhythms to play. Some of the bass lessons you find will have some kind of interactive component where you can play along with riffs or a backing track.
Of course, many of the bass guitar lesson sites are offering paid courses, but there are also some good free lessons. If you do a search for “online bass guitar lessons” (without the quotes will give you more results) you will be able to compare the various paid lesson courses for bass guitarists, and you will get a chance to compare them with the free courses. If you decide to learn to play bass guitar for free you will probably need to find yourself some free bass guitar tabs on the internet. There are many places that offer bass tabs for popular songs. Another option for the bass guitar student on a budget is YouTube. If you go looking for online bass lessons on video you will probably find about a thousand clips, all offering something of value to the beginner.
As a bass player you must learn to play in time. A newbie guitar player can spend years playing guitar with the tempo and timing all over the place because he does not have to play with other musicians. The bass guitarist’s job is to play in a band so the sooner you get any little rhythmic or timing peccadillos ironed out, the better. For this you will need a metronome. Type “free metronome” into a search engine, find one you like and bookmark it if it is online, although there are metronomes you can download for free. The same goes for a tuner. There are quite good bass guitar tuners online. You will also be able to find free backing tracks for guitar online. Playing along to these is a great way to get the feel of playing in a band. You can tell the program what chords to play and the time signature, and you can play along to the looped track online or download it in mp3 format. For more inspiration find video clips and mp3’s by leading bass guitar players like Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, Waylon Tisdale, John Pattitucci, Mike Mason or Miroslav Vitous.
Ricky Sharples
Guitar Hero has become a cultural phenomenon in the world of computer video games. The guitar, software, and accessories are availabe in all gaming platforms including Wii, Playstation, Xbox, etc. Guitar Hero is a series of music video games published by RedOctane, in partnership with Activision. The series is notable for its use of a plastic guitar peripheral to simulate the playing of music, represented on-screen by colored notes that correspond to fret buttons on the controller.
Heidi Klum Guitar Hero
Their has recently been a controversial advertisement with model Heidi Klum playing Guitar Hero in her undergarments! The games support individual play as well as cooperative and competitive modes for two players. The series has used a range of both licensed and independent rock music tracks from the 1960s, throughout the decades to the present, including many master tracks from the bands. In total, six games have been released for video game consoles. Games have also been released for mobile phones and the Nintendo DS handheld gaming system.
History
The series was originally developed by Harmonix Music Systems from 2005 to 2007. Then development duties of the series were transferred to Neversoft, whose first effort, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was released on October 28, 2007 in North America.
The Guitar Hero franchise has become a cultural phenomenon, making many appearances in popular culture, and the games have become extremely popular as party games and hobbies. The series has sold 23 million units, earning $1.6 billion in retail sales.
Guitar Controller
Guitar Hero is unusual because it comes packaged with a controller peripheral modeled after a black Gibson SG guitar. Rather than a typical gamepad. This guitar controller is the primary input for the game. Playing the game with the guitar controller simulates playing an actual guitar, except it uses five colored “fret buttons” and a “strum bar” instead of frets and strings. The development of Guitar Hero was inspired by Konami’s GuitarFreaks arcade game, which at the time, had not seen much exposure in the North American market; RedOctane, already selling guitar-shaped controllers for imported copies of GuitarFreaks, approached Harmonix about creating a game to use an entirely new Guitar controller.
The concept was to have the gameplay of Amplitude with the visuals of Karaoke Revolution, both of which had been developed by Harmonix. The game was met with critical acclaim and received numerous awards for its innovative guitar peripheral and its soundtrack, which comprised 47 playable rock songs (most of which were cover versions of popular songs from artists and bands from the 1960s through modern rock). Guitar Hero has sold nearly 1.5 million copies to date.
Guitar Hero II Release
The popularity of the series increased dramatically with the release of Guitar Hero II for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. Featuring improved multiplayer gameplay, an improved note-recognizing system, and 64 songs, it became the fifth best-selling video game of 2006. The PlayStation 2 version of the game was offered both separately and in a bundle with a cherry red Gibson SG guitar controller. Guitar Hero II was later released for the Xbox 360 in April 2007 with an exclusive Gibson X-Plorer guitar controller and an additional 10 songs, among other features. About 3 million units of Guitar Hero II have sold on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360.
The final game in the Guitar Hero series to be developed by Harmonix was Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s for the PlayStation 2, which was released in July 2007. This final game version, changing the visuals from Guitar Hero II, and shortening the song list with no bonus songs was not as well received by reviewers.
Transition
Transition Both RedOctane and Harmonix were experiencing changes in 2006. RedOctane was bought by Activision in June while it was announced in September that Harmonix would be purchased by MTV Networks. As a result of the two purchases, Harmonix would no longer develop future games in the Guitar Hero series. Instead, developing would go to Neversoft, a subsidiary of Activision known for developing the Tony Hawk’s series of skateboarding games.
Neversoft
Neversoft was chosen to helm the Guitar Hero series after Neversoft founder, Joel Jewett, admitted to the RedOctane founders, Kai and Charles Huang, that his development team for Tony Hawk’s Project 8 went to work on weekends just to play Guitar Hero. In 2007, Harmonix and MTV Games released a new music title through rival publisher Electronic Arts, called Rock Band. It expanded upon the gameplay popularized by the Guitar Hero series by adding drum and microphone instruments, allowing players to simulate playing songs as bands, though this functionality has now been implemented in Guitar Hero World Tour.
Guitar Hero III:
Legends of Rock was released in late 2007 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, and Mac platforms. The title is the first installment of the series to include wireless guitars bundled with the game and also the first to release a special bundle with two guitars. The game includes Slash and Tom Morello as playable characters in addition to the existing fictional avatars; both guitarists performed motion capture to be used for their characters animation in the game.
Guitar Hero III World Tour (aka Guitar Hero IV)
Guitar Hero World Tour, previously named Guitar Hero IV, is the fourth full game in the series and was released on October 26, 2008 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii. Analysts had expected that future Guitar Hero games in 2008 would include additional instrument peripherals to compete against Rock Band. Guitar Hero World Tour was confirmed as in development following the announcement of the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games in December 2007. Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick announced on April 21, 2008 that Guitar Hero World Tour will branch out into other instruments including vocals. Guitar Hero World Tour includes drums and is packaged with a new drum set controller. A larger number of real-world musicians appear as playable characters, including the great Jimi Hendrix, Billy Corgan, Sting, and Ozzy Osbourne. Guitar Hero World Tour also features the creation of custom songs that can be shared with others.
On September 4, 2007, Billboard announced that the band Aerosmith was “working closely with the makers of Guitar Hero IV, which will be dedicated to the group’s music.” On February 15, 2008, Activision announced that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, an expansion game to the series, would be released on June 29, 2008.
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is developed by Neversoft for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, while the Wii version of the game is developed by Vicarious Visions and the PlayStation 2 version is developed by Budcat Creations. The game features a track selection composed of 60% of Aerosmith songs, with other songs from Joe Perry’s solo work or artists that have inspired or performed with Aerosmith, including Run D.M.C. Also in the works: Activision’s 2008 SEC filings cited that they plan to release Guitar Hero: Metallica by the first quarter of 2009.
By all expectations Guitar Hero will once again be the number one selling computer video game of the year in 2008. The Guitar Hero phenomenon lives on!
Paul E Steinberg
The guitar makes a great accompaniment instrument for instrumental duets with a melody instrument. If you are interested in playing with other musicians like this the collections below will give you a great repertoire for playing with flute, violin, or harmonica. Build your accompaniment skills and repertoire and you will always be in demand by instrumental players.
The guitar and the flute have been musical companions for a long time and in many parts of the world. They make excellent sounding duets that can be played in numerous styles.
* Celtic Music for Flute and Guitar, Allan Alexander and Jessica Walsh, ADG Productions
This is a collection of twenty folk pieces originating mainly from Scotland and Ireland. The songs span 400 years of folk music as well as five original pieces written by Allan and Jessica. The learning process is eased by an accompanying CD showing how the pieces should be played.
* World Music for Flute and Guitar, Allan Alexander and Jessica Walsh, ADG Productions
This musical journey takes you to the four corners of the globe. There is standard notation and tab for guitar and a separate pull-out performance part for the flute melodies. You can listen to examples of the pieces on the CD that accompanies the book.
* Flute and Guitar Duets for Any Occasion, Mark Hanson, Accent On Music
This is a varied collection of duets in classical, folk, Celtic and jazz styles. The music ranges from easy to challenging playing levels in standard and tab notation. The accompanying CD provides stereo recording with flute and guitar on separate channels so you can practice even when your partner isn’t around.
The fiddle is another instrument that works well with the guitar. It has been widely used in many styles of folk music. The song books below give you several styles to try.
* The Latin American Fiddler, Edward Huws Jones, Boosey & Hawkes
The exotic blend of Latin-American music with its Spanish, African and indigenous influences is great fun to play. This intermediate level collection of violin songs includes chords that can be played by guitar or piano.
* Jazz, Blues and Ragtime (Violin Edition), Edward Huws Jones, Boosey & Hawkes
This collection of favourite jazz and blues songs is suitable for all playing levels. It includes easy violin parts and guitar chords, as well as more sophisticated string arrangements for more advanced players. Songs include ever popular hits such as The Entertainer, Take Five, Makin’ Whoopee, House Of The Rising Sun.
* The Christmas Fiddler, Edward Huws Jones, Boosey & Hawkes
It’s always a good idea to have a few Christmas songs to play. This collection includes seven hundred years of songs from the medieval Song of the Ass, through traditional carols such as Away In A Manger and O Little Town Of Bethlehem through to the modern Sleigh Ride.
The harmonica is an ever popular instrument that has often been associated with the guitar in folk, rock and blues. Give your rock guitar skills a workout with these titles.
* Pop Rock Favourites For Harmonica, Bobby Joe Holman, Hal Leonard
Seventeen pop rock hits arranged for harmonica with guitar chords and tab. Pretty Woman, Blueberry Hill, Yakety Yak and Runaway are among the titles in this collection.
* Beatles Greatest Hits Harmonica Songbook, Hal Leonard
27 Beatles songs arranged with melody line, harmonica notation, guitar chords and lyrics. Performance notes are given for each song. Favourite hits include Eleanor Rigby, Get Back, Help, Let It Be, Michelle.
* Blues Harmonica Collection, Hal Leonard
Practice the classic sound of blues guitar and harmonica with forty classic blues tunes from the likes of Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin’ Wolf.
Instrumentalists with melody instruments will be delighted to have an accompaniment to play to. If you want to make yourself a useful and popular guitarist who’s always in demand spend some time to learn an accompaniment repertoire. You’ll have far more people wanting to play with you than the guy playing flashy guitar leads.
Ismail Mohd
Maybe you have thought about computer guitar lessons. If you could order your own tailor-made guitar lesson course for your computer, what would you request? It might help to think about the basic requirements of computer guitar lessons. Basically your lessons need to show you how to hold and play the guitar, how to read guitar tabs, sheet music or both, and some way of checking your progress. So let us look at some of the computer guitar lessons out there and see how they fulfill our requirements.
Learn And Master Guitar has a one-hundred page book, twenty DVDs, five CDs featuring backing tracks plus they offer free support. The structure of this course follows the basic principles of all computer guitar lessons: you have your learning material that you get from the book and from the DVDs, and you practice what you have learned using the backing tracks as a guide and reality check on your emerging guitar skills.
Another computer guitar course is called Amazing Guitar Secrets. Once again you have a book and DVDs containing your guitar lessons and backing tracks to play along with. You can track how you are progressing using a section of the book which allows you to have a visual record of what you have learnt.
If you have been looking around for computer guitar lessons you have probably come across Jamorama. Jamorama is for the guy who does not take music particularly seriously but thinks it might be cool to be able to play some songs and riffs on the guitar. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. To be fair, Jamorama does give you plenty of substantial material in the books, audio and video which you download to make you a “real” guitar player should you so desire.
The three guitar lesson courses I have mentioned are meant to be shipped to you in printed form and on discs or downloaded and kept on your computer. There is another alternative: the membership site. The most comprehensive and so far the most successful is Jamplay. With Jamplay you get access to a number of guitar teachers who are experts in their own style of music. These teachers are videoed giving lessons illustrating techniques and how to play particular songs. The lessons cover all stages of guitar learning. So with Amazing Guitar Secrets, Jamorama and Learn And Master Guitar you get to keep all the guitar lessons at your house, your Jamplay membership gets you access to any improvements, revisions and updates that occur. Jamplay also has progress reports, a forum and support through video answers to your questions. Jamplay is probably the most economical option as you can pay by the month, and your fees drop drastically if you pay by the quarter or annually.
I should mention that none of the above computer guitar lesson courses lack for quality. The printed material, downloadable audio and video, CDs and DVDs are all first class. The difference between the methods is the varying approaches to the guitar.
Ricky Sharples
Maybe you have thought about computer guitar lessons. If you could order your own tailor-made guitar lesson course for your computer, what would you request? It might help to think about the basic requirements of computer guitar lessons. Basically your lessons need to show you how to hold and play the guitar, how to read guitar tabs, sheet music or both, and some way of checking your progress. So let us look at some of the computer guitar lessons out there and see how they fulfill our requirements.
Learn And Master Guitar has a one-hundred page book, twenty DVDs, five CDs featuring backing tracks plus they offer free support. The structure of this course follows the basic principles of all computer guitar lessons: you have your learning material that you get from the book and from the DVDs, and you practice what you have learned using the backing tracks as a guide and reality check on your emerging guitar skills.
Another computer guitar course is called Amazing Guitar Secrets. Once again you have a book and DVDs containing your guitar lessons and backing tracks to play along with. You can track how you are progressing using a section of the book which allows you to have a visual record of what you have learnt.
If you have been looking around for computer guitar lessons you have probably come across Jamorama. Jamorama is for the guy who does not take music particularly seriously but thinks it might be cool to be able to play some songs and riffs on the guitar. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. To be fair, Jamorama does give you plenty of substantial material in the books, audio and video which you download to make you a “real” guitar player should you so desire.
The three guitar lesson courses I have mentioned are meant to be shipped to you in printed form and on discs or downloaded and kept on your computer. There is another alternative: the membership site. The most comprehensive and so far the most successful is Jamplay. With Jamplay you get access to a number of guitar teachers who are experts in their own style of music. These teachers are videoed giving lessons illustrating techniques and how to play particular songs. The lessons cover all stages of guitar learning. So with Amazing Guitar Secrets, Jamorama and Learn And Master Guitar you get to keep all the guitar lessons at your house, your Jamplay membership gets you access to any improvements, revisions and updates that occur. Jamplay also has progress reports, a forum and support through video answers to your questions. Jamplay is probably the most economical option as you can pay by the month, and your fees drop drastically if you pay by the quarter or annually.
I should mention that none of the above computer guitar lesson courses lack for quality. The printed material, downloadable audio and video, CDs and DVDs are all first class. The difference between the methods is the varying approaches to the guitar.
Ricky Sharples
Maybe you have thought about computer guitar lessons. If you could order your own tailor-made guitar lesson course for your computer, what would you request? It might help to think about the basic requirements of computer guitar lessons. Basically your lessons need to show you how to hold and play the guitar, how to read guitar tabs, sheet music or both, and some way of checking your progress. So let us look at some of the computer guitar lessons out there and see how they fulfill our requirements.
Learn And Master Guitar has a one-hundred page book, twenty DVDs, five CDs featuring backing tracks plus they offer free support. The structure of this course follows the basic principles of all computer guitar lessons: you have your learning material that you get from the book and from the DVDs, and you practice what you have learned using the backing tracks as a guide and reality check on your emerging guitar skills.
Another computer guitar course is called Amazing Guitar Secrets. Once again you have a book and DVDs containing your guitar lessons and backing tracks to play along with. You can track how you are progressing using a section of the book which allows you to have a visual record of what you have learnt.
If you have been looking around for computer guitar lessons you have probably come across Jamorama. Jamorama is for the guy who does not take music particularly seriously but thinks it might be cool to be able to play some songs and riffs on the guitar. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. To be fair, Jamorama does give you plenty of substantial material in the books, audio and video which you download to make you a “real” guitar player should you so desire.
The three guitar lesson courses I have mentioned are meant to be shipped to you in printed form and on discs or downloaded and kept on your computer. There is another alternative: the membership site. The most comprehensive and so far the most successful is Jamplay. With Jamplay you get access to a number of guitar teachers who are experts in their own style of music. These teachers are videoed giving lessons illustrating techniques and how to play particular songs. The lessons cover all stages of guitar learning. So with Amazing Guitar Secrets, Jamorama and Learn And Master Guitar you get to keep all the guitar lessons at your house, your Jamplay membership gets you access to any improvements, revisions and updates that occur. Jamplay also has progress reports, a forum and support through video answers to your questions. Jamplay is probably the most economical option as you can pay by the month, and your fees drop drastically if you pay by the quarter or annually.
I should mention that none of the above computer guitar lesson courses lack for quality. The printed material, downloadable audio and video, CDs and DVDs are all first class. The difference between the methods is the varying approaches to the guitar.
Ricky Sharples
If you want to learn to play the acoustic guitar you should be working towards being a versatile musician. There are around a dozen alternative ways to finger any open chord that you know. You can buy a chord book or download some chord charts from the internet and then you can experiment with different chord fingerings. Listen to how they sound with other chords. See how they sound as a backing to your singing. Once you start fooling around with chord shapes you will open up a new side to your musicianship, making you a better accompanist and pave the way to your being able to write your own songs.
Practice is important with the acoustic guitar. If you are rusty it shows more readily than with the electric guitar. For your own progress as a guitarist you would benefit by practicing for at least half an hour a day, seven days a week. Aim for that amount, and if you have to because of other commitments, make do with a little less. Regular practice not only keeps your fingers in playing condition but it also trains your ear, even if you do not intentionally work on it. As your ear for music develops you will be more able to pick up new music you hear on the radio, and your ability to improvise will start to grow.
As an acoustic guitar player you can easily carry your instrument around from place to place, so why not practice while you are watching TV or doing something else that leaves your hands free? Muscle memory needs very little attention from the thinking part of the brain once you have your chord shapes memorized. You can practice chord changes on the acoustic guitar just using one hand. Imagine how many times you could go through the changes for a three chord song during the course of a movie. The fact that you are not using both hands does not let you off your obligation to your back and arms, though. You must always practice in a position that does not strain your body.
While we are talking about chords, let us take a look at how you handle bar chords. On the acoustic guitar bar chords require some practice. There are ways of putting off the practice needed to execute bar chords, for instance you could use power chords or simplified chords on the treble strings. Or you could learn bar chords right from the beginning and eliminate all the stress and worry and procrastination involved in delaying something that is, after all, an important part of learning to play the acoustic guitar. So when you learn your basic open chords like E major, G7 and A minor, start to practice the F major chord. This gives you one of the basic chord shapes that can be moved up the fretboard to play more chords. Not only that, the initial effort to learn bar chords can be put in learning the F shape alone. When it comes time for you to move the A major shape up the fretboard, you will find the effort is nowhere near as great.
Ricky Sharples
So, you want to learn how to play the blues? Feeling down and out, and just want to make your guitar wail? Learning the basics of the blues is easy! You just need to understand the most common key signatures, chord progressions and riffs used in the genre.
Let’s start with key signatures. You can, of course, play blues music in any key you choose. However, the most common keys used in blues are the key of E and the key of A, both in the ‘open’ position.
Why?
Think about the stereotypical blues sound for a moment: duh-da-duh-da-duh-da-duh-da. You’ve no doubt heard it before. It’s often referred to as the ‘walking’ blues because the rhythm is similar to someone walking at a steady stride. Some historians say it’s supposed to mimic the sound of a horse trotting along.
That ‘walking blues’ rhythm is created by playing a two note progression. In the key of E, for example, you play the low, ‘open E’ note simultaneously with B and then with C# (Db) on the fifth string:
When you move through the progression to play a measure on A, you just move your index finger over one string, so that you play the ‘open A; simultaneously with E and then F# (Gb) on the fourth string.
It’s a lot like a bass line, and the open position of the root notes for two of the dominant chords in the key make it dead simple to play.
Speaking of chords and progressions, let’s talk about the common progressions used in the blues. Most blues progressions rely on 3 chords: the ‘tonic’, fourth and fifth - otherwise known as I-IV-V. In the key of E, a I-IV-V progression would use the chords E, A and B.
You’ll also hear these progressions described in terms of the number of measures, or ‘bars’, involved. You can have 8, 12, 16 and even 24 ‘bar’ blues progressions! The 12-bar blues progression has been the basis for thousands of songs.
The number of ‘bars’ refers to the number of measures within the progression when playing in regular 4/4 time. If you played a 12-bar progression in E, the chord changes would follow this pattern:
4 measures of E
2 measures of A
2 measures of E
1 measure of B
1 measure of A
1 measure of E
1 measure of B
When you reach those last measures of E and B, you usually have a special riff known as a “turn around”. Instead of playing the chords, you can play a quick scales or slide riffs which emphasize that the progression is about to cycle back to its beginning.
A lot of times, you’ll hear the ‘interval slide’ on E, which leads the listener to expect the V/Dominant or ‘B’ chord to come next and resolve the progression. The scale ‘runs’, on the other hand, are often done on the V to lead the listener from the resolution back to the root note..
Let’s look at both types of turn-around.
The scale-based turn-around is something you’ll hear guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan use frequently. One of his favorites is a 4 note run like this one: G-A-Bb-B. You can emphasize the resolution to the fifth (B) by doing vibrato on the note to hold it out to the end of the measure.
The ‘interval slide’ is a turn-around that can be played, for lack of a better description, both forwards and backwards. You can create an ‘ascending’ sound or a ‘descending’ sound that leads he ear towards the V-chord.
Starting from the fourth fret: place your middle finger on the third string at the fourth fret (¾) and your ring finger on the first string at the fourth fret (¼). The notes involved here are B (middle finger) and G# (ring finger).
Now, what you do next is slide down the neck while holding your fingers in the same pattern, until you get to the bottom (first fret). Once you reach the first fret, you’ll want to lift your ring finger so you can play that open E string. You’re simply moving the ’shape’ down the fretboard so that you play the following intervals:
B/G# to Bb/G to A/F# to G#/E
You can sound these notes simultaneously by plucking them with your thumb and index finger, or you can pick them in succession.
If you pick them, you’ll want to play around with your picking pattern to find out what sounds best to you. Many blues players pick the notes in the following pattern:
B-G#-B to Bb-G-Bb to A-F#-A to G#-E
In order to play this run in ascending fashion, just reverse the process. Start from G#-E, then slide back up the fretboard the same way..
Keep in mind there’s an almost infinite variety of ways to mix these elements. Heck, we haven’t even covered ‘blue notes’ or pentatonic scales or how to bend your strings for that bluesy sound!
The blues may appear simple on the surface, but there’s real artistry involved when it comes to combining these common motifs into new and interesting forms. Hopefully, the basics we’ve covered here will get you on the way to playing the blues like a lonesome soul on a stormy Monday!
Andreas Wahlstedt
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/learn-to-play-blues-guitar-343883.html
For many guitar students DVDs are the ideal way to learn to play guitar. DVDs make more noise and hold the attention better than books, plus they are easier to store. But in general, most people who want to learn to play the guitar would prefer a video of their teacher showing them how to play. Plus the kind of graphics available on DVDs are much more guitar newbie-friendly when it comes to learning chords or tabs. There are many DVDs out there that say they will teach you guitar but I prefer three that have actually been around for a few years, and I thought I would share them with you.
“Learning Guitar For Dummies” has been on the market since 2001. Most people approaching learning guitar for the first time would be attracted to any teaching method that is “for dummies”. The title promises easy step-by-step instruction. This DVD does not disappoint. For a start you are not required to learn to read music to become a well qualified guitar player using this method. You are taken through the basic steps of setting up the physical skills like fingering chords that are needed to learn to play the guitar and then you are given the opportunity to use your own musical creativity as you learn to play some simple pieces. Anyone who already has some experience on playing the guitar might find this DVD a little slow in pace but for the raw amateur, it is ideal.
“Fender Presents: Getting Started on Acoustic Guitar - A Guide for Beginners” is more of a major work for any student who feels that he wants to take his guitar playing to the limit. The DVD is complete with backing tracks using real instruments instead of MIDI so you can get the feeling of playing along with a band, and 3D graphics are made good use of in the section that takes you through the basics of which string is which and learning to play basic chords.
Once you have moved out of the beginner stage the DVD takes you through soloing techniques, using a capo and some fingerstyle playing. The teacher, Keith Wyatt knows what he needs to do to explain how to play guitar in a clear, easily understood manner. This DVD id for the ambitious acoustic guitar student who does not want to have to buy another DVD after learning the basics.
“Fender Presents: Getting Started on Electric Guitar - A Guide for Beginners” is of the same quality as its acoustic guitar counterpart. The attention to detail and the sense that I, as a guitar learner, am important stand out as the DVD helps you learn to play guitar. The section dealing with teaching you to become an electric guitarist teaches muting, arpeggios, string bending, solo playing, the differences between country, rock and blues, plus the care of your guitar and amp.
The Fender DVDs offer the ultimate solution if you want to learn to play guitar, but “Learning Guitar For Dummies” has a lot to offer the newbie who wants to learn to play guitar on DVD but wants to do it in baby steps.
Ricky Sharples
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/learn-to-play-the-guitar-on-dvd-690658.html
One of the best ways to get a woman’s attention is to serenade her with a song using an acoustic guitar. It is an affective way of touching a woman’s heart and showcasing a man’s talent and sincerity.
However, learning how to play acoustic guitar is not easy as it looks. It takes time and a lot of effort to memorize the chords and to master the riffs of the songs. A serenade with mediocre accompaniment of an acoustic guitar can sometimes render the whole presentation a flop and ends up miserably for the man who was serenading.
There are several ways with which you can master acoustic guitar like the great guitar legends such as Andie Mckie, Tommy Emmanuel, Kurt Cobain, Derek Trucks and many others.
One of these is by taking special lessons which is often offered in schools or companies selling musical instruments. If you have no money to go for guitar lessons and believe that you can learn this on your own, there are several books and magazines providing the basic and even advance techniques in playing the instrument.
The internet is also a really convenient and good source of information on how to play the acoustic guitar. Aside from written tutorials, there are flash videos like in YouTube showing the viewer how to play the song. Sometimes, it even includes the tablature on the screen simultaneous with the tutorial.
The only drawback about learning lessons online is that the lessons that can be learned are in bits and pieces. Thankfully, there are many other online acoustic guitar courses you can take online. These offer the complete guitar learning package and the cost is very affordable.
Ricky Lim
