Guitar Tips

Use a capo and save yourself a lot of trouble. A guitar capo is especially helpful to singers who wish to sing in a different key. The capo allows you to immediately play in a different chord without learning the whole song over again.

GUITAR GIFTS - Guitar T-shirts, Stickers, Hats, Keychains, etc.

Guitar Tabs - Take the time to learn guitar tablature. There are thousands of guitar tabs on the net to thousands of songs. Check out 411tabs.com, a portal that links to all the major guitar tab sites.

Keep your fingernails trimmed so that you can play clearer notes on the guitar.

Strumming Tips - First and foremost, think like a drummer when strumming. Ultimately, you have to keep good time. Practice with a pick on a corrugated piece of cardboard. Listen to the rhythm and make sure you have that down before transferring this over to a guitar.

Having trouble hearing a chord of a song? Listen to the bass line. Often the bass line is the root note of the chord you're trying to figure out.

Spice up your guitar playing with special effects units, slides, and the like. Use creative micing techniques, and practice being a showman. Are you exciting to watch on stage?

Practice good form. Don't play with your guitar hung down near your knees. This serves to do nothing but hinder your ability to perform at an optimum level.

How often do you change your strings? Did you know that this is one of the quickest and easiest ways to make your guitar sound better? Be sure to change your guitar strings way ahead of the gig so that they have time to stretch in.

Dedication is key to learning to play the guitar. It takes a lot of time and practice to learn to play. The more determined you are the better guitar player you will end up being.

There are lots of ways to learn how to play the guitar. You can learn with the help of books and DVDs. Or you can enroll in a guitar-playing class at a local music shop.

It is beneficial when learning to play the guitar to gain knowledge of guitar concepts and proper playing techniques.

Start with learning the basics – basic cords C, A, G, E and D - strumming patterns – terminology - which string is which. These are the things that you will build on to get to playing songs.

When you go to concerts of your favorite musicians, watch how they play. If you can, and are close enough, watch their fingers as they move across the fret board.

Consider using an amp that uses tubes at some level if you can afford one. The maintenance is more costly, but the payoff in sound quality is worth the cost over a solid-state amplifier.

The easiest way to tune your guitar is to use an electronic tuner. You simply plug your guitar into the tuner and then read the gauge to know when each string is in tune. They are a relatively inexpensive but invaluable tool for any guitarist.

E, A, D, G, B, E. If you're a guitarist, you know that those are the notes that a guitar's open strings are customarily tuned to from low to high. Don't be afraid, however, to experiment with alternative tunings.

Whether you like jazz or not, you'd do well to give a listen to Stanley Jordan. He has taken the methods of Wes Montgomery and George Benson to a whole new level, and increased the vocabulary of the guitar in general. Not only is he amazing technically, but he is incredible musically.

When playing, jazz, experiment with the volume knobs. Many jazz guitarists playing a solid-body electrical like to turn the guitar all the way up and then turn the amplifier down to a low volume in an effort to sound more like a hollow-body electric guitar.

Think that a new guitar is the way to go? Think again. Unlike many things, a good guitar will only get better with age if it is cared for well. This is why the instruments of professional classical guitarists and string players are often hundreds of years old. The wood becomes more resonant over time. So, for the same price you may pay for a sub-standard brand new guitar, you can likely find an older one that is a much better instrument.

Pedals. They're cool. They're fun! They're like having toys to play with. Just don't let it get out of hand. It can be distracting if a guitarist is always messing with a board of pedals. Rule of thumb - only use a pedal if the sound it creates is serving the music.