photo credit: o2ma

There are a bunch of free online guitar tuners out there, and for me, there are two types of tuners. There are those that play a note, or a sound file that you match with your guitar by ear and there are the tuners that ‘listen’ to the sound coming out of your guitar and tell you to either tune up or tune down.

Personally when it comes to online guitar tuners I’m a little miffed why they can’t be the second, more interactive type of guitar tuner. I think I might have to have a talk to some flash developers about that and see if I can get one put up on this website.

But for now, here are the best free online guitar tuners I have come across (ones that play a tone and you tune your guitar by ear).

Giesen Tuner
Chord Book Tuner
Hot Frets Tuner

Plus there’s a whole host of Guitar Tuners just like this that are available for download on the PC, Mac or Linux. You should be able to find a bunch of free guitar tuners, but if you get stuck just give me a yell and I’ll do a post with links to some of my faves.

Cheers!

Bookmark It

The tabs will open up in a new window so you can play along to the song below:

Hey There Deliliah @ Ultimate Guitar

Have fun playing this beautiful ballad, you’ll find its one of the easier songs to play, and if you learn the lyrics people will pick up what you’re playing straight away. Instant Guitarist Indeed!

Let me know if these tabs are correct, or if you find better ones,

Bookmark It

Ok, so I’m going list the electric guitar solos (sorry, no acoustic ones this time around, I’ll try find a way for you to listen to them online, then give you all the resources you need to practice them until you can play them drunk.

7. Island in the Sun by Weezer

It’s pretty easy to find the video clip for Island in the Sun, the hard part is finding JUST the solo. So I’ve got the full video linked to here (it will open in a new window), you just need to fast forward to 1:55 which is just a couple of bars before the solo kicks off, you’ll know you’re in the right place if you see a gigantic bear licking River in the back of the head.

Btw, I can’t embed the video here because it’s copyrighted

Now that you’re familiar with the solo I want you to take a look at the tabs for it, click here to load them up in a new window.

6. Californication by Red Hot Chili Peppers

This guy does an awesome job of breaking it down for you and showing you exactly how to play this solo, the only thing I’d recommend is listening to the solo before and after so you get the context and timing right.

Oh… here’s a link to listen to the full version of Californication (Apparently you have to be in the US to watch it due to Copyright restrictions… what a load of shit!)… Songza to the rescue!

5. When I Come Around by Greenday

If you don’t already know the song, start listening to it now:

And open up the tabs to the song here… try and read the tabs in time with the music to get a good understanding of how the solo is structured. One thing tablature lacks is the ability to show time… which is also one of its advantages.

Oh, and this song is tuned down half a step, so you might want to try it after the other ones.

4. Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana

Umm, here’s the song:

Here’s the tabs

Now get to work! Oh… and here’s a series of videos showing you exactly how to play it:

3. Money by Pink Floyd

Believe it or not, this is actually a pretty easy guitar solo, maybe not as easy as the ones above, you’ll want to learn this in parts, there’s a lot to remember but when you start chunking it down you’ll be able to nail it.

It’s a real shame this video is so out of sync… you get the feeling its fake… but its not.

Click here to open up the tabs in a new window.

2. Fade to Black by Metallica (The beginning Solo)

Check out this dude nailing the solo to Fade to Black… he’s got a good backing track too (and some nice guitars!)

This one is also kind of long, but worth the time. Click here to open the tabs in a new window.

1. Live Forever by Oasis

This is a pretty good rendition of the solo in Live Forever… Check it out to get a good idea of what you’re supposed to do, and what it sounds like:

And check out the guitar tabs here.

So that’s it! I hope I gave you some cool resources and things to practice tonight, let me know how you get on in the comments section.

Cheers

Bookmark It

Parts of an Electric Guitar

There are numerous websites that go into detail about the different parts of an electric guitar, I don’t think you’re a beginner reading this, or if you are you’re a very ambitious beginner so I’m just going to link to a website showing you the different guitar parts rather than rattle them off here:

Anatomy of a Guitar

Where to buy Guitar Parts

zZounds - Guitar Parts
Get all your standard guitar parts here, see below for more specific websites dealing with the actual electronics in the guitar.

Elderly Instruments - Guitar Pickguards
I noticed this website had a pretty good range of pickguards, more so than the other websites I’ve been looking at. Check them out!

Good websites to visit to learn more about How to Make an Electric Guitar

Building a Solid Body Guitar
I think this gives the best overview of how to build an electric guitar with step-by-step photo’s, its lacking in text to be a complete guide but still pretty good to get started (Especially if you’re new to all of this).

Instructables - Build an Electric Guitar
Gives you some idea of the tools needed to build an electric guitar, the step-by-step photos help. This guy has built some pretty amazing guitars using the method he describes.

Rick Eesley - How to Build a Guitar
Rick really lays it on the table for you in this home do-it-yourself tutorial, he lists the parts he bought, the prices and where he got them from and shows you each step he took. He’s also added a lot of descriptions for each step, making it a valuable resource for anyone wanting to learn how to make an electric guitar.

Manchester Guitar Tech - Building from a Kit
It is possible to buy a kit from which you can build your own guitar, I’ve always steered clear of these sorts of things but in the interest of making this a valuable resource I thought it would be prudent of me to omit it.

Project Guitar - Building an Electric Guitar
This website is well worth bookmarking, it has links to a bunch of articles and step-by-step tutorials that people have put together for you, also links to a forum in case you get stuck. If you bookmark two websites today make sure its this one and my one

Some Videos Showing You How to Make an Electric Guitar

Part 1 of Building a Van Halen Classic

Building a Les Paul style Guitar - Part 1

Designing Your Guitar

When it comes to building your own electric guitar you have a lot of freedom when it comes to designing it. You can have a strip of wood coming through the middle of the body, you can have intricate artwork on the pickguar, body and/or neck. Just check out this website: Pick Guard FX -> Scrap Book

Electronics

Although the Stewart-MacDonald website seems to be pretty good for everything you need to build an electric guitar, I just wanted to highlight how good their selection of Electronics were… you know the parts like the pick-ups, pre-amps, wires and switches and stuff.

So check out their range (including Free Information on “Understanding Guitar Wiring”) at:

Steward-MacDonald -> Electronics

The Raw Materials

I searched for this kind of stuff a couple of years ago and came up blank. There was just no-one supplying the raw materials (pre-cut) to make an electric guitar with.

However, now we have a website for everything, and I managed to find a good looking supplier, I suggest you check them out if you want to break out your elite woodworking skills and really make an electric guitar from scratch!

Here’s their website:

USA Custom Guitars -> DIY

Summed up

If you’re thinking about building your own electric guitar, or are already in the process then please bookmark this page now. There is no website in particular that will give you all the information you need, each will give you something new to think about and a new piece of the puzzle that you will have to fit together yourself.

Bookmark this post now and keep visiting it while you’re building your electric guitar.

Let us know how you get on!

Bookmark It

Learning how to play slide guitar is one of the most humbling experiences you can have, next to learning the guitar in the first place.

I’m going to show you how to play slide guitar by giving you an overview of the steps involved, some killer tips on slide guitar, where to get slides from, songs you should listen to and videos showing you exactly how to play slide guitar.

So, where to begin?

What is Slide Guitar?

Slide guitar is where you put something over one of your fingers and slide it over the strings to produce a vocalized sound from your guitar.

I say “something” because you can literally use anything from a bottleneck to a custom built slide bought from an online store.

You’ll get varying tones from the different materials you use and the different length, diameter of the slide.

Slide guitar is probably best known for its role in blues music, you’ll find a lot of slide guitarists play blues, and are famous for doing so.

How to Play Slide Guitar

Let’s cut to the chase and watch a video of some very good slide guitar… this is heavy stuff.

Ok, so how do you play slide guitar like that? Well first there are a few steps you need to follow to get setup

Step-by-step guide to slide guitar

1. You need to change your tuning from the standard EADGBE to DGDGBD, this is so wherever you are on the fret board you can always voice a chord with your slide. Otherwise you have to do some funky fingering to dampen the strings you don’t want to play
2. Put the slide on your finger, you can experiment with whatever finger you like but most people tend to use their pinky, which keeps their other fingers free to play chords.
3. You’ll need to know what string you’re playing over with your slide, so try let the tip of your pinky finger come out just enough so you know which string you’re over.
4. The slide is always kept at right angles to the strings… remember that or you might get some not-so-nice sounds coming from your guitar
5. As you can see from the video above you only cover the strings needed with your slide.
6. Only press lightly on the strings… this is evident from the video

More tips for playing slide guitar

Use heavy strings and high action — for a good idea of how your guitar should be setup take a close look at the video above, try maximize it in your window so you can see just how high off the fret board those strings are (and how thick they are).

Try out different slides and different materials to find the right tone for your style of playing.

Where to Buy Guitar Slides

I find the selection just outstanding at Musician’s friend, here’s a link to their slide collection: Buy Guitar Slides.

Otherwise head down to your local music store, they’re pretty much everywhere you might have just missed them last time you were down there. They’re cheap too so there’s no real excuse for not getting into slide guitar… especially when you can use things around the house….

Check out this guy, he’s fully talented, and in this video he goes through a range of different things you could use instead of shelling out for a slide.

Pretty crazy huh?

Some songs you should listen to

Bookmark It

Here’s the basic B Chord Guitar Chart, the correct terminology would be the B Major Guitar Chart, but that sounds too boring!

And here are some photo’s to give you an idea of how a B Chord looks in real life:

Start of by barring the second fret from the second string down, you’ll be barring it at the B note, but the open string is called the A string. (As in E A D G B E).

Now with your 3rd finger barre from the 3rd string down, all the way to the bottom, if you strum the second string to the second from the bottom string you’ll now be playing a B Guitar Chord. However when you’re starting out there’s often not enough power in your fingers to hold all the strings down without hitting some dead notes.

So here’s what I do, just use your second finger to help your first finger barre all those strings… it’s a simple fix for this common problem.

So there you have it I hope you enjoyed your B Chord Guitar lesson

Oh right, but I forgot to tell you about the other place you can play a B Guitar Chord…

On the 7th fret! Yep, that’s also a B root note so you’ll be able to play a 6th string barre chord and get a b chord out of your guitar. So here’s the low down on how I form a B chord on my guitar at the 7th fret:

As you see I’m starting off by barring the entire 7th fret with my 1st finger

No put your 2nd finger on the 3rd string from the bottom and push down hard. Get ready to put your 3rd and 4th fingers on strings 2nd and 3rd from the top. Here’s the photos.

If you want to supercharge your own guitar skills and get yourself to a professional playing level in no time, visit this site:

Best Guitar Course

Bookmark It

photo credit: MooreALX

To properly understand how the guitar creates chords, and how scales are formed along your guitars neck you’ll first need to know the notes on the guitar neck.

On a 6 string guitar with standard tuning (90% of the market) the notes on the guitar neck start with an E on the top (thick) string when the string is played open (no fingers pressing down).

If you press down on the first fret on the top E string you’ll now be playing an F, this is because as you move one step up the fret board, you also move one note up the musical scale.

Take a look at the standard 12-step musical scale (starting on E)

E - F - F# - G - G# - A - A# - B - C - C# - D - D# - then back to E

The notes on the guitar neck for the top E string look exactly like this pattern, and repeat when you get past the 12th fret.

The next string down is usually tuned to A, so that when you play it open the A note will sound. Try applying the above pattern to the A string, remember than when you press down on the first fret you’re moving one step up the musical scale, in this case you’ll move up to an A Sharp (A#).

Hope this clears up some of the questions you might have had about notes on the guitar neck.

Bookmark It

Tickets start from 12.50 (pounds) for a 1 Day pass for an Adult. There is 1 day for Acoustic guitar and 1 Day for Electric guitar, I’d recommend going to both if you have the time and money (20.00).

Check out the website at: http://www.drumcompany.com/Guitarfest/Guitarfest_home.html

Bookmark It

Guitars for Girls! Rock on, if you haven’t checked out what this crowd is up to then now’s your chance to get the inside scoop on the Los Angeles guitar makers - Daisy Rock. They’re producing hot pink guitars and other guitars for girls.

Providence Journal

Guitar makers strike softer chordBaltimore Sun,?MD?- 43 minutes agosquealed 13-year-old Hiiaka Kaneao, pointing to a sparkly, hot pink, star-shaped bass guitar hanging inside a pink fur-lined booth. …GUITAR GODDESSES Monterey County Herald

technorati tags:girls, guitar, pink

Bookmark It

World Record Attempt!! 44 hours of solid guitar playing! He must have some extroadinary finger stamina, I know my fingers and arms get sore after about 5 hours of playing. Post me a comment, let me know how long you play for, before you start getting sore

technorati tags:gutarist, world, record, guitar

Bookmark It