Beginner Electric Guitar

Badabing, badaboom!

Beginner Electric Guitar has been up for a month now (more than a month really), and it only has six posts, as I’ve counted just before I wrote this post.

During the last month I hadn’t really enough time to write blog posts, as there were simply a helluvalot of things I was doing. Aside from keeping our house tidy, listening to some music (covers), and surfing the net.

and… and.. and…

Oh… okay, I admit it. I was careless .

I forgot about the blog.

I forgot to keep it updated.

I forgot to write something on it.

I forgot…

And I only remembered to visit the blog yesterday.

Yes, I’ve been really careless, and I’m sorry.

So, I visited the blog yesterday, and looking at it I thought, “It looks bad! The theme / color scheme was not at all tidy.”

So I went searching for a more pleasant-looking theme.

I found one, yes, but it needs some modifications.

So I used my recently acquired WordPress Theme Modification skills, to make the blog look like it does while you read this.

I chose green to be the main color of the blog, because I think green means fresh, new, something like that.

And to celebrate the NEW Beginner Electric Guitar, and the Christmas season as well, here’s a Youtube video I saw just before I began on this post.

This is a version of White Christmas by some guy who dedicates this to his father(who is celebrating his birthday, 3rd of December).

Hope you like it.

And oh, for more of this, or news and updates that involve electric or acoustic guitars, either subscribe to the rss feed (via a reader or email) or subscribe to my friendfeed (see the sidebar for info).

That’s it.

What can stop you from learning an electric guitar?

Today electric guitar players are considered – in some places – dumb, stupid, and many similar adjectives I wouldn’t bother writing.

Today most people are more pessimist when it comes to learning new things. Thoughts like: “Ahh there’s just too many guitarists today, that if I start learning the instrument now, I won’t ever be like them. They’re so good, and that is because they’ve been playing for years, blah blah blah…”

Today most people want things to happen as fast as their instant messengers.

Today…

But none of these can stop you.

Only, you need to have an undying determination(as stated in yesterday’s post), and a very firm reason why you want to learn an electric guitar.

I’d just like to repeat, NOTHING can stop you from learning an electric guitar, unless you yourself give up…

Thank you for reading.

—- Question? Comments? Suggestions? Violent reactions?

Please leave a comment below so that I’d know what’s on your mind.

Okay so I’ve stated in a previous post, that someone who’s beginning to play an elecric guitar needs a decent guitar in order that she/he won’t be disappointed and forget about the guitar, let alone learning how to play it.

I was and am not saying, however,  that you need the best electric guitar out there.

You never “need” that to produce good music. You may want the best electric guitar, but you don’t need that.

All you need, if you really want to “learn” an electric guitar, same with any other things, is 1)a good instrument, and 2)you.

What’s that mean?

Having a fairly good guitar, coupled with full determination to learn it, is the best combination, ever.

Your time, effort and attention is needed.

The process of learning a guitar can start out as a hobby, but it does not have to end at that. Learning is endless. The more we learn, the more there is to learn. You can start by simply staring at your guitar for about less than a minute everyday for one week. But you don’t want to do the same thing the next week, or the next, or the next.

Improvement.

If you are serious is learning something, it is imperative that you realize that it could be hard. But hard as it may be, you have decided to learn, and thus, you are a hundred percent or more willing to learn, no matter how hard it could be, no matter how rocky the path may be.

Calluses.

I looked at my fingers, then realized, the calluses at the tip of my fingers – the left hand – have become so thick, really thick.

Now does that make sense?

For me it does.

These calluses made my fingers resist pain while playing my guitar. If I didn’t have these – as I did when I was beginning to learn a guitar – give me two minutes and I’d give up playing the instrument. It hurts like hell. I’d feel like some knife is cutting my fingertips, that’s how hard it’d hurt.

I experienced that. Seriously, it hurts.

But…

I wanted to learn a guitar, and I didn’t just want to learn it, I wanted to be good if not great at it.

So what happened?

I continued playing even if it hurts a lot.

Idiot?

Yeah I think I am, but I did that, and on my mind forged was this: “If I do this for just an hour or two today, tomorrow the pain’s gone. I’ll do this until calluses appear on my fingers. Then I won’t feel the pain anymore”.

And guess what?

I found out two things – one right, and one wrong – about what I was thinking.

Right: When calluses appeared my fingers hurt no more. Yay!

But, wrong: The pain of an hour or two’s guitar playing in one day is still there the next day.

So did I skip days?

Of course I did!

I didn’t wish for self-torture, plus I was just a kid!

Now how does that connect to you learning your guitar?

Calluses are similar to what you get when you overcome a certain problem, or a big trial, or a very unfortunate event. In the same way that calluses make guitarists stronger when it comes to resisting pain in their fingers, the lessons you learn from conquered problems or trials or unfortunate events, also make you stronger, better.

Calluses are like rewards.

But what do I have to endure to have this reward?

I assume you already know. If not, re-read my story above.

So, what did it take me to really learn a guitar?

I didn’t have a great guitar. In fact I just had a simple guitar(I started on an acoustic, and I hope you know how that differs from starting with an electric), but what I equipped myself was determination.

I was so determined to learn the instrument.

—–

Ask yourself these two questions.

1) What makes me want to learn a guitar?

2) Am I determined enough to learn a guitar?

If you’ve got good answers, then go on, continue(I’d help if you want me to), but if it took you an hour, and you’ve still got “maybe…” answers, then maybe it’s not yet the right time for you to learn a guitar, but don’t give it up yet. There’s a reason why you have that guitar, and you’re yet to figure that out.

Good luck!

Thank you for reading.

—- Question? Comments? Suggestions? Violent reactions?

Please leave a comment below so that I’d know what’s on your mind.

Here are some basic parts of an electric guitar that I know.

Well, I don’t really know whether they’re basic or advanced or whatever, but they’re parts of the electric guitar.So, let’s just say “Here are the parts of an electric guitar.”

Fine with you?

Fine with me.

Okay, so we start from top to bottom.

First is the headstock. It is that piece of wood attached to the top of the fretboard. It holds the tuning pegs.

The tuning pegs are what keep your guitar in good sound, in good tune. The tuning pegs are those six(or seven for others) pegs align through the headstock.

The truss rod is a rod made of metal that runs along the inside of the neck. This is only visible on some instruments, so I’d rather not talk about this very much.

The nut. I call this the 0th(zeroeth?) fret or simply fret 0, because it goes before the 1st fret, but that’s just for me. I don’t know if the same is true for others. The nut is that small strip of plastic, corian, graphite, bone, stainless steel, or other semi-hard material. It is found between the headstock and the neck. As I see, and I bet you too, it is there to align the strings properly.

The long part of the instrument, which I used to call the arm, is actually called the neck. (I still think it’s closer to an arm than to a neck, except to a giraffe’s  neck of course.) On the neck is the fretboard, which is composed of frets and fret markers.

The frets are those metal ridges along the guitar where you press the strings on to produce different notes. (Don’t press your fingers exactly above the frets, though, We’ll tackle this later on.)

The fretmarkers or inlays can be found on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 17th, 19th, and 21st fret. These are mostly filled circles-big dots, but come in different designs on different guitars, especially the custom-mades.(Am I right with the plural?) Why are they there? Fret Markers indicate which fret is where on the fretboard. They can make it easier for a guitar player to know where to go. The neckjoint is that point at which the neck meets the body of the guitar. In electric guitars, the neck is mostly bolted and glued to the body. I don’t have the image because the neckjoint is found at the back of the guitar. I assume you know already what the purpose of this is.

Okay, so we go to the body. This is what makes your electric guitar as heavy as it is. The body is the part of the guitar which holds the pickups, the bridge, strap holders, strings, the volume/tone controls, the pickup switch, and the tremolo inputs. It is made of some type of wood, and comes in different colors.

Pickup. I hope I make it this time. The magnetic fluctuations in the area around it is picked up by the pickup. Ahh, I’m still having difficulty explaining this, so please bear with me. It is located above the body, under the strings, pretty easy to find, eh?

The pickup selector switch, located near the pickup and the volume/tone controls. Toggling this switch can produce different types of sound. Try to experiment, and choose what sound you like.

The volume/tone controls / control knobs, as the name implies, control the volume, and the tone. For home use, minimal volume is recommended, unless there are no other people in the neighborhood except yourself. Again, experiment with the tone control to get what your ears desire.

The bridge is the part where the strings lay at the body end of the guitar. I don’t know much about the bridge, but basically that’s it.

There are electric guitars that have a tremolo arm, which is sometimes called a whammy arm or a vibrato bar, or simply trem. This is a lever that is attached to the bridge and it is able to tighten or slacken temporarily the strings. In that way, the pitch of the strings is changed.

And in case you’re wondering what that thing where you plug your cord is, it is called an output jack. So, that’s very well it.

Thank you for reading.

—- Question? Comments? Suggestions? Violent reactions?

Please leave a comment below so that I’d know what’s on your mind.

Now we go to choosing an electric guitar for you. If you already have one and do feel comfortable about it, then I would not mind if you skip this part (not that I’d know if you do skip this part, I wouldn’t).

For a beginner, it is not, contrary to what a couple of people I know say, enough that you get just the inferior quality. This is especially true when you’re a beginner in electric guitar playing. You don’t want to be “turned-off” with your guitar, and suddenly forgetting – or even hating – guitars, or music.

You may click here to go to Amazon and browse for good brands such as Gibson, Ibanez, Yamaha, Martin, and Taylor, and Fernder of course.

Any guitar from the brands said above, with prices ranging from $200 to $500 can be considered of good quality. A good tip: If there’s a music shop or guitar shop near you, go visit the shop, try the different guitars there, and see for yourself what you really wanted or needed. Your guitar will be your partner in crime, so be very careful with this process, unless you’re wealthy and can afford to buy anything you want.

Remember, contrary to a wand (in Harry Potter), you choose your guitar, the guitar does not choose you. Does that make sense?

Ahh, don’t mind it.

Movin’ on, about the list of guitars above, I didn’t realize, until the moment I’m writing this post, that I’ve already played two of the guitars above. That was when I was in high school. That was just a few months ago, however. It was a school event, and my band played some intermission numbers. There was no other word for it, it was COOL!

Anyway, back to the topic. so after you’ve got yourself a decent guitar, your next task would be to find an amplifier.

Now the same philosophy with your first electric guitar is to be applied. You don’t want a beginner amp. I said that because the term beginner has some negative connotations.

And because I want you to get the most out of things, to the best of my ability and knowledge, I researched about it.

I then came upon this site which, to my opinion, has the most basic design, but on the other hand, has the most comprehensive information about guitar amplifiers.

Specifically I read the page about one man (a beginner, he calls himself) who seeks advice as to whether it is possible to run an electric guitar into his stereo system. Also, he wants to know the risks of doing so, if possible?

I was amazed at the answer given by Michael Hoffman, the man behind the website.

He said there are no risks for plugging a guitar into a home stereo, but he asks to look for some issues like level mismatch, blowing a speaker, signal issues, equalizer issues, impedance stuff, the loss of treble, and the speaker issues.

He also gives out what he calls a “classic chain for a real guitar sound”, and aside from that, and this is totally fantastic, he gives a template setup for very authoritative sounds at home volume.

Best of all, he agreed with the statement that those who are starting to play guitars are not supposed to buy beginner stuff!

So, if you’ve got that burning desire to master an electric guitar before giving it up, go find yourself a good guitar, and a nice amp.

Here’s the link to Michael Hoffman’s website (it’s been up since 1997, so whatever he says, is actually harder to ignore than to believe):

Amptone

and the link to the specific page I was talking about:

Home Stereo as Amplifier – Amptone

You may want to go to Amazon to buy the items you want.

(Later I’ll be having a page on this blog that features all the “recommended” items, so watch out for it!)

==Alternatively==

If by chance, you are as poor as I am, or not really that poor but cannot afford the “high-class” items, and really you are determined to lear an electric guitar, there are a lot of options.

You could check your friends if they have the instrument, then ask them if you could borrow it regularly for a matter of hours maybe, just so that you could learn to play the guitar.

Also, if you’re at school, and you really love music, join the Music Club. I’m 90% positive they let members use musical instruments for free.

Another is, go find your family tree, or just ask your parents if any of your relatives have the instrument, then tell them you want to borrow it because you want to learn how to play it.

There is no stopping a musician, actually there is nothing that’s gonna stop anyone from doing anything they want when they want it badly enough, unless what they want is against the law of human and/or of nature.

so, with that, I hope you learned something (really I do), and I’ll write again, soon.

As of the moment, if you need to say something, or if there’s a problem, or anything, just leave a comment. I can’t always promise the answer that you want, but I’ll make sure I’ll answer you.

I really can’t remember the first time I played a guitar. Maybe I was seven, or eight at that time, and it was my father who taught me to strum those strings and place my fingers on that fretbaord. Aside from guitars, however, I was also taught basic keyboards(organ for some), and integrating one with the other has become my habit until now.

But…

Enough with my story, we go to the topic.

There are different types of guitars out there. I categorize them into six: acoustic steel-stringed guitar, classical guitar, acoustic-electric guitar, acoustic bass guitar, electric guitar, electric bass guitar.

An acoustic steel-stringed guitar is a hollow-bodied guitar, which can produce an audible sound without the need for an electronic amplifier. The quality of the music produced with this kind of guitar is based on the type of wood used, and the shape of the body. A good set of strings may produce a better sound, also. This is best for those who play as a solo in a cafe or a quiet environment, as the music will be felt much in such surroundings.

A classical guitar is also a hollow-bodied guitar, and being so, it can also produce an audible sound without an amplifier. The major difference between a classical and an acoustic steel-stringed guitar is the string type. While, living up to its name, an acoustic steel-stringed guitar uses steel strings, while a classical guitar, uses nylon strings. Also, this type of guitar has a wider neck. Very similar to an acoustic steel-stringed, this also is best played in a quiet environment. Be of knowledge though, that because of the fact that this type has nylon strings, and a wider neck, it is much tougher – or challenging for others – to learn or play this instrument.

There is not very much to say about an acoustic-electric guitar as it simply is an acoustic steel-stringed guitar, with an electronic pickup system incorporated. One who performs in a wider audience need the pickup system in order that everyone – and not only those near him – can hear his music. (This type was the first I played, and still the one I like, until now, because it’s a crossbreed of the acoustic and the electric guitar. Cool!)

How about acoustic bass guitars? I don’t know when they came to exist, but that’s because I’m an idiot. The first time I saw them (about a year ago), I was surprised, and amazed! Again, I’m an idiot so I don’t know when exactly did they first come to existence, but just seeing the instrument on a shop near us, I imagined how it’d be to play such an instrument. Well, basically, a bass guitar supports the other guitars by providing the bass of a specific chord, or simply providing the bass. This makes the sound more complete to one’s ears. They can be picked(using a pick, of course), plucked, or slapped(which is my favorite, though I’ve been unsuccessful in this). However, most of the bass guitars I’ve used (because we exchange instruments in my ex-band), are electric bass guitars, which need an amplifier, but can really produce a heart-thumping drive.

And here goes the electric guitar.

Now, what about the electric bass guitars, eh?

Well, I already included the definition of an electric bass guitar in the definition of an acoustic bass guitar, didn’t I?

If things confuse you, let me have a word. Comment below and I’ll see what I can do.

Okay, we go back to electric guitar, which maybe, is the major reason you came upon this blog.

An electric guitar, by simple definition, is a guitar with a solid body. This instrument relies heavily on an electronic pickup system and an amplifier for its sound. The guitar pickup is an electromagnetic device that is used to increase the volume of your guitar. It’s that thing with six circle-shaped metals straightly aligned. Ahh but of course, I am an idiot, that’s why I cannot explain very well what a pickup is, but if you bought a nice electric guitar from a trusted brand, you can be assured that it has with it a good-sounding pickup, so no need for customization, no need to fuzz. Next, the amplifier. A guitar amplifier, or simply “amp”, is what uses the small amount of energy sent to it through the pickup and converts this energy into a larger amount.

Quite hard to understand, eh?

I know. All my life I’ve been experiencing this difficulty in explaining stuff. (Maybe that’s the reason she left me…) But, but, picture it this way.

You are holding a microphone to your mouth. The mic is plugged into a sound system, or a player which has an input.

Ready?

Your mouth is the guitar strings.

The microphone is the pickup.

The sound system, or the stereo player, is the amplifier.

Okay?

When you say something, the sound is received by the mic and is then received by the sound system, which makes your voice several times louder.

The same process is done when you pluck or strum your electric guitar. The sound is received by the pickup, and is then received by the amp, which makes it audible enough.

Whoo! I wish I had that right.

That’s about it for now.

Next post, buying your first electric guitar.

(Note: The processes described above will never work if 1)the amp is turned off, 2)the cord/s is/are unplugged, or 3)there is no power source.)

The question is: Are you really an Electric?

I want to know. Leave a comment below, and we’ll start the discussion.