Jazz has long at the epicenter of American music. It originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions.
According to A New History of Jazz by Alyn Shipton, from its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music. Its West African pedigree is evident in its use of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swung note.
However, Art Blakey has been quoted as saying, “No America, no jazz. I’ve seen people try to connect it to other countries, for instance to Africa, but it doesn’t have a damn thing to do with Africa.”
Regardless of what you connect as the origins of jazz, you will, no doubt, also attribute its impact on a variety of other sub-genres. From big-band in the 30s and 40s to bebop, Latin, funk, and hip- hop – jazz has left an impression.
Naturally, it is then acceptable to see why so many aspiring guitarists want to learn jazz. This is especially true of people who have a deep rooted appreciation of music and belove the improv nature of this amazing genre.
Every guitarist has his or her own style. Some are very traditional, like true “modern rock” or “metal” guitarists, while others find one style they like and add bits of influence from many other genres into their music.
That’s the beauty of music. There is no limitation.
If you would like to make jazz your style, than you must first understand the basics, theory, and common practices of this special genre.
The jazz guitar can be a tough style to learn because it has a very distinctive sound to it. Whereas rock guitar and other styles utilize reverb and distortion to alter the sound of the instrument, jazz guitar is renown for its smooth sound. Thus, you must be able to hear the strings, not gain or distortion.
Improvisation, as previously mentioned, is not only a trademark but key element of jazz guitar. Improvisation is of course, a difficult skill and one of the few that is very hard to teach. For example, the most famous jazz guitarists such as Charlie Christian, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, and George Benson were already blessed with a natural ear for improv.
Improvisation is much more of a natural talent or skill than it is something you can acquire, however it is possible to heighten your senses to it by having an advanced understanding of scales, chords, and keys. These three elements are absolutely essential, as the leader of a jazz band will often call out a different key on the fly and expect everyone else in the group to immediately follow suit.
Learning different types of chords and scales is absolutely crucial. Chords like sustained chords and augmented fifths are simply regular chords with a note or two added and are great places to start with the jazz guitar. Also, individuals should practice scales beyond the regular pentatonic and chromatic scales to increase versatility.
At first glance, mastering the jazz guitar may appear a daunting feat and rest assured, it is a large challenge. However, it’s not impossible and with an advanced understanding and focus on chords, scales, keys, and improvisation, you too could become the next great jazz musician.
The majority of artists throughly believe that their own instrument is an essential element of the music experience. The “one size fits all” mentality does not exist in the musical world. We’ll leave that to baseball caps.
Rather, the musical instrument you play is completely central to you – the artist. Aside from the artist’s need to have a guitar that feels suitable within their hands, the instrument must also communicate the correct mindset of one’s music. The challenge, thus becomes for the musician to transform what appears to be a guitar, like any other guitar, into one that complements the distinctive style and reflective tone of the artist.
Keep in mind that the ideology of a “customizable guitar neck” is more appropriate for the moderate to advanced player. Most standard guitar necks are adequate for the typical guitarist. However, when those same guitarists begin to advance either in interest or skill, some desire for a more custom-made piece.
Customizing the guitar neck is popular among guitarists largely due to the fact that it’s rather easy to accomplish and several different varieties exist.
Among the most popular and easiest is to merely switch out a neck plate. The World Wide Web is filled with a nearly endless supply of neck plates, which when combined with your local music shop, is likely to have something for you. Yet if the abundance of guitar plates available on the Internet is still not enough, a few will opt to completely customize their plate from a specialty store.
Note: A few guitarists, especially those with famous vintage guitars, are frequently blessed with an already distinctive and recognizable guitar neck plate.
If you really have an artistic side, some will take the customizable approach a step further by manually painting the guitar neck. This is a very rewarding experience, especially if you do the procedure right. Should you be experienced, prepared, and confident enough to carry out this task, consult the proper ways to paint the guitar neck. In any event, the musician must be certain that the proper kind of finish is utilized on the guitar, in order to preserve the correct tone.
If you still do not feel comfortable with the whole “I’ll just paint it myself concept,” several guitar shops will be willing to carry out your “dream project.” Stop by your local music shop when you get a chance and ask about what they will do for “custom guitar neck creations.”
You will find that most, if not all guitar shops, will offer some type of guitar customization and should have plenty of terrific ideas for the guitar neck specifically. Provide them with the exact theme or details you want. Maybe you’re favorite band is The Rolling Stones and the shop could find a way to incorporate their famous tongue logo onto the neck?
The options are literally endless.
So if you have a birthday (or even Christmas) coming up soon, why not splurge a little and treat yourself to a brand new look? The beauty of guitars, perhaps more than any other instrument, is the numerous ways they are designed, constructed, painted, and even bruised through the years of playing.
Did you know an artist will make 95% of his or her revenue on stage?
The importance of a fantastic stage presence is vital to say the least. Yet, according to Alex Boye of Expert Village, the “talent” is often overlooked.
Before we get too detailed, one may ask, ‘What really is your stage presence?’
Good question.
One source defines your stage presence as “a performance skill—a quality defined by a performer’s ability to command the audience’s attention through projection, focus, attention, expression, confidence, and so on.”
Note the emphasis on “command.” A great entertainer will command the audience’s attention and thus win over their hearts. Consequently, the goal of this article is to learn how to command the audience. You do that and you’ll be fine.
Confidence. As Alex Boye said it, is extremely important. If you have it, you can “get away with a multitude of sins.” If you lack it, you’ll be lucky to survive before getting booed off stage.
Now, this may sound really easy but anyone who has been on stage before will beg to differ. When you are in the spotlight, in front of hundreds (if not thousands) of fans, your legs will begin to shake and your heart will feel like it’s about to pound out of your chest. This is common. It’s natural.
Everyone has nerves before they take the stage. Some may be more “natural” at having a great stage presence but nobody is perfect. Some of the world’s greatest performers will even tell you that a few butterflies before a show is a good thing. So do not run away from your nerves but embrace them.
My college speech teacher told me that you may “feel like crap” when you’re performing in front of others, but how you feel rarely translates to how you actually look. That is why so many speech classes in high school or college will tape the speech. It’s highly likely that the student will feel like they did a horrible job, but once they see the performance, they will agree that it actually was not as bad it may have initially appeared.
Stage presence is actually an acquired skill that will improve with practice. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world has access to the city’s venue each week with thousands of fans. Thus, one must practice alone in front of such bizarre “audiences” as a mirror. You may look silly, but you can learn a lot by practicing in front of a mirror.
If you are a guitarist, it’s highly likely that you perform with a band. Sharing the stage with others may take some of the individual pressure off of yourself. However, the guitarist and singer (or singer/guitarist) are two of the most important positions in a band. Fans really dig the singer and they really dig the guitarist. Consequently, you must find an individualistic stage presence while matching with that of the band.
You need to command the audience, elude confidence, and without a doubt play good music – but one thing you no not want to do is act like a phony. You can spot a phony from a mile away. They try to “over do it.” Some may say, on the other hand, that a great stage presence is 100% natural and derives from playing music that you love and are passionate about. So just be natural. It makes for a great debate.
I believe it’s somewhere in between. A great live band has a stage presence that is both natural and well rehearsed. They know when to “stick to the script” and when to improvise.
Aspiring guitarists and bands can learn a lot from some of the greatest live bands of all-time. AskMen.com recently put together a top ten list and the number one spot belonged to Queen. As the web site accurately put it:
“Simply one of the greatest performers of all time, Freddie Mercury’s passion and theatrics could not be matched when he was up on stage. Singing himself beet-red in the face and acting out every lyric as if his life depended on it, seeing Mercury perform was a revelation.”
Spin.com begged to differ and placed U2 at the number one spot. Regardless, you can learn several tricks from many of the artists on these lists.
The guitar is truly a beautiful instrument. Not only does it sound amazing, but the appearance is nearly as sacred. However, the beauty of the guitar does not come easy. Guitars take money, resources, and time to build. Yet, hundreds if not thousands of individual parties complete this task each year.
If you have ever had the itch to build your own custom guitar, the point of today’s post is to give you a little background into what you will need and what it will take to accomplish this feat.
Tools
For a fantastic video demonstration of the tools you’ll need to build a guitar, check out the video below…
Types of Wood
Now that you have a solid understanding of the tools you’ll need; the next step is to select a type of wood. The most important part of building a fine instrument is the material, and for the guitar, that material is the wood. The finest guitars are made from solid pieces of some of the best pieces of wood in the world. Cheap guitars are built from laminate woods, or plywood covered with a laminate wood veneer. A quality instrument is always built from only the finest solid woods such as:
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood, like the name implies, derives from trees that grow in the forests of Brazil. Because of deforestation and overexploitation, the wood has now became illegal to ship outside of the United States. Due to its rarity and terrific acoustical properties, Brazilian Rosewood is one of the most coveted materials for the back and sides of a fine guitar.
Hawaiian Koa
Hawaiian Koa is a beautiful golden brown wood that has long been considered a prized wood. Natives often made canoes and furniture from the Koa, however guitar enthusiasts seek the wood for another reason. Hawaiian Koa provides a very warm and rich sound, making it ideal for acoustic performances. Unfortunately, just like the Brazilian Rosewood, Hawaiian Koa is really rare and hard to purchase.
Bubinga
Bubinga is an African wood (often called African rosewood) and another prized material for fine guitars. Bubinga is available in a variety of colors including reddish hues, reddish-brown hues, and even a brownish violet hue. Bubinga is also used in other instruments such as harps, basses, and even drums. The wood provides a mellow, dense, and well-rounded tone for a guitar.
Design & Planning
You must understand a few important rules to building guitars before you can design the guitar. The first and most important is the scale length. The scale length “is the length the string travels between the nut at the top of the fretboard and the bridge at the mid section of the base of the guitar.” In order to determine the scale length of your guitar, the individual must measure from the front part of the nut (where it meets the fretboard) to the center of the 12th fret on the neck. Then, the individual must multiply that length by two. For more information on this step, Click Here!
As with any major construction project, it’s always best to pre-plan your design concept in order to ensure that some mistakes are avoided later in the construction phase.
Ready for More…
If constructing your very own custom guitar is something that you’ve always wanted to do and the above information did not steer you away – what is stopping you from creating your very own guitar?
Instructables has a very informative piece on building your own guitar. The article breaks down the process into each step while providing additional information and diagrams. Click Here!
Also, Expert Village’s partnership with Frank Pope of FBI Guitars provides a very detailed account of the guitar construction process. Click Here!
We all take up the guitar with the idea that someday we can play our own music. At first, the guitar is broken down into its sheer basics. Then, we slowly progress into chords, “hammer-ons”, “pull-offs”, and all the other skills needed to play along with popular songs. However, you’re never a “true” guitarist until you can play your own material.
Welcome to songwriting and the guitar; your guide to not only making great music, but great music that highlights the guitar. Writing songs takes a lot of time and effort. It’s true that practice will make you better, however some people are just born with a “natural ear.” They know what sounds great and when to incorporate it into the song.
In terms of songwriting, too many people focus on the finished product before they take into account all the components of songwriting. In order to master the craft of songwriting (and it is a craft), one must first master the basics. The song is generally broken down into different sections or components. When these components are fused together, a song is born. Your job is to combine all of them into a single masterpiece.
I like to compare a good song to a shake. The banana may taste alright in itself, but when you blend it with some berries and cream; the end result is a fantastic tasting combination. Thus, you may have a talent for writing lyrics, but the lack of a good sound will dull out the content. Here are the basics components of songwriting:
The first section of the song that the listener will hear is called the verse. The verse is the heart of the song, because it informs the listener what the song is about. A talented songwriter has the knack for creating a captivating sound along with imagery and details contained in the lyrics. The verse usually keeps a very natural and steady melodic flow, thus allowing the listener to connect with the lyrics.
The verse generally leads into a bridge and/or chorus. Some songwriters also refer to this part of the song as the “hook.” The chorus is the emotional high point of the song. The chorus is often repeatedly three to four times throughout the song, so it’s often very catchy and easy to sing along with. The chorus sums up the entire theme of the song. The chorus also differs melodically than from that of the verse. The main focus for the melody of the chorus is to create a bit of contrast between the verse and the chorus. This will give the listeners something to look forward too, but also will give them a sense of tension and release.
Songwriters love to mix the guitar into both the verse and chorus. Sometimes the guitar merely serves as a rhythmic backbone, while other times the guitar leads all the other instruments in the melody. The power of the guitar is also effected by the genre in which you play - as it will take much more precedence in metal/rock, when compared to country for example. Metal and Rock are renown for the guitar solo. Is is here where the guitar really takes off into an independent journey which represents both creativity and skill.
If you really want to become a master songwriter on the guitar, one should learn from the experts. Dial into your local radio station and listen to what’s hot. Songs are played over and over again on the radio because they are hits. Why are they hits? Because the songwriting is phenomenal and has the ability to connect with the audience. Aspiring songwriters should also reference music theory and the basics in order to gain a true understanding and appreciation for music. Also, Ultimate-Songwriting is a terrific one-stop reference.
The 12 bar blues in the most basic form aren’t difficult. Sure some of the great blues guitar players use a lot of technique, but in the basic form any beginner can understand the theory behind it. In this beginner lesson I’m going to show you how to find the chords that go into making up a 12 bar blues progression, the pattern and way to play those chords and also a couple of tips on where to find the chords on the neck.
So before you can start playing anything you need to know what chords you’re going to be putting together. Since the 12 bar blues is a simple pattern you can learn it’s easy for you to determine what chords you must play in a given key.
You need to find the first, fourth and fifth notes that are in the scale for the given key you want to play in. If you know your scales well then this won’t be a problem, if you’re a little rusty on this no problem the net has all the resources you need. The first note is just that the first note in the scale and so on each note counts up one as you go down the line.
Once you’ve figured out which notes are what number and you’ve chosen the first, fourth and fifth notes we can plug those in as chords in the following 12 bar blues pattern:
1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 4 – 4 – 1 – 1 – 5 – 4 – 1 – 5
The 12 bar blues always follows this same pattern above. The numbers of course correspond to chords that we find in the first part of the article. Each number stands for one measure, and there are 12 in all making it the 12 bar blues. The length of a measure could vary, if we assume we’re playing 4 beats per measure then we’d give each chord 4 beats for each bar.
Let’s look at a short example of how to piece together a 12 bar blues progression in the key of A.
We need to first start with the A major scale. The scale looks like this:
A – B – C# – D – E – F# – G# – A
Picking out the first, fourth and fifth notes gives us A, D and E respectively. Next we add those to the 12 bar blues pattern we learned above, and it provides us with a progression that looks like this:
A – A – A – A – D – D – A – A – E – D – A – E
Finally take a few minutes to watch the lesson video below. I walk you through the 12 bar blues in the Key of A and show you where on the neck to play these chords and what feel you should give your playing. Once you’ve finished that I urge you to go grab your own guitar and give it a try.
Want to sharpen you guitar skills? How you ever considered self study at home using a guitar instructional dvd? DVD instruction gives you the one-on-one feel of private lessons but you’re in control of when you learn and how fast you study.
When we start to learn guitar the thing on our minds is almost always chords. We want to learn to play songs that we know and we know that learning to play chords is what will get us there.
Today I’m going share with you some beginner guitar chords you can learn quickly. All three of these chords are three string chords, meaning they only require you to strum 3 strings and that’s it. So lets get going.
C Chord
E — 0 —
B — 1 —
G — 0 —
D — X —
A — X —
E — X —
A quick note about what the guitar tab means above. The X’s mean you do not strum that string, the 0’s mean to play that string open and a number refers to a particular fret that you press when strumming the 3 strings.
For this three string C chord you are pressing down on the first fret on the B string and playing the G and E strings open.
G Chord
E — 3 —
B — 0 —
G — 0 —
D — X —
A — X —
E — X —
To play the three string G chord you play the G and B strings open and the 3rd fret on the high E string.
D7 Chord
You will find the D7 chord a bit more challenging then the G and C chords we covered first. Why? Because you have to press on a fret on the three bottom strings at once.
E — 1 —
B — 2 —
G — 1 —
D — X —
A — X —
E — X —
For the D7 chord you must place your second finger on the 1st fret of the E string, your third finger on the 2nd fret of the B string and your first finger on the 1st fret of the G string.
This will feel uncomfortable at first but focus on using the tips of your fingers and keeping your thumb on the back of the neck. I give more explanation in the video below.
After watching the video below grab your guitar and give these three chords a try. Don’t get discouraged if at first you find it difficult, also don’t try to immediately switch between them while strumming. Before you trying strumming them and switching between chords ensure you can easily make the shape and strum the chord on it’s own.
To learn more beginner guitar chords fast why not try a learn to play guitar dvd? Self study dvd courses teach you beginner guitar skills at your own pace from the comfort of your own home.
A lot of beginner guitar players like to jump in and learn to play chords. While that can be fun it doesn’t always provide you with the foundation needed to grow as a more advanced guitar player. I feel it’s important that beginners learn to play the notes on each string first before they begin chords. After all everything, chords and scales, are made up of notes.
This post is going to cover how you can find the notes on each string following an easy to understand pattern. We’ll first discuss the concept of half and whole steps and how this translates to the guitar neck, then we’ll talk about the spacing between each of the 7 musical notes and finally I’ll show you how to find those notes on the guitar neck.
After you read this post I suggest you watch the short video at the end. It explains this post in more detail and gives you a solid example you can follow and try on your own.
Whole and Half Steps
The idea of whole or half steps comes from the piano, unfortunately we’re playing the guitar so we need to understand what that means in terms of a guitar neck. Thankfully it’s quite easy. The guitar neck is divided up in frets. Each fret denotes one half step, so a whole step would be two frets.
Understanding this is the first step to finding the guitar string notes. The second step is understanding how many steps are between each note A through G.
Space Between Notes
We’re only going to worry about the spacing between the 7 major notes A through G. There are sharps and flats in between there but that’s for a more advanced lesson . The spacing between most notes is one step, or two frets with a couple of exceptions. The spacing between B and C is only one half step as well as between E and F. Below is a listing of the space between notes both in steps and frets.
A to B = Full Step or Two Frets
B to C = Half step or One Fret
C to D = Full Step or Two Frets
D to E = Full Step or Two Frets
E to F = Half Step or One Fret
F to G = Full Step or Two Frets
Now that you understand the spacing between notes we can look at some examples on the guitar neck.
Starting with Open String Names and Notes
A quick refresher on the string names, starting from the top Low E we have, E, A, D, G, B and E. The names of the strings also denotes the note when played when you strike that string in the open position (no frets pressed down).
So a quick example on the lo E string.
Starting open we have an E, so if we refer to the listing I gave above what comes next?
That’s right an F note, and the spacing between an E and an F is?
That’s right, only one half step it’s one of the exceptions. So we go from open up one half step to the first fret and that’s an F note.
The next note is a G note, and the spacing between an F and a G is one full step so this time we go up two frets, or to the 3rd fret.
Let’s do one more.
We go from the G back around to an A. What’s the spacing? One full step, so we slid up two more frets to the 5th fret on the low E string and that’s an A note.
Hopefully you can see where I was getting these spacings from, don’t worry if it’s still a little unclear, the video below will explain in more detail. Take a few minutes to watch the video below it will explain all of this in more detail. After watching I urge you to grab your own guitar and give this exercise a try.
Like to learn more great beginner lessons like the notes on each string? Why not try a self study course to learn at home? You can learn more about a program designed to be used at home here in this Learn and Master guitar review. It’s a 25 disc set designed to help you learn from home on your own time and terms.
As a beginner learning to play the open major chords is a very big accomplishment. It opens a door to learning to play some popular songs and even write some of your own. When you want to stretch your legs a little further you need to enter the realm of barre chords.
Learning the same major chords at different positions can be a little more difficult. After all there are a lot of frets and a lot of note combination’s to choose from.
In this post I want to introduce you to a unique system that is sure to help you find, play and memorize several versions of all seven major chords on the guitar.
The CAGED guitar system is a method of finding 5 different versions of all 7 major chords using familiar chord shapes from the open position. As the name might have given away those shapes are from the C-A-G-E-D major chords.
A quick example: If you barre the 5th fret and play an E chord shape you have an A Major chord.
The system works like this. Using those 5 chord shapes you can find five versions of each major chord at different locations on the neck. You do still need to find those variations and if you want memorize them, but this system makes it a lot easier to locate them.
I’ve created a brief video below that explains the CAGED guitar system and also provides a complete example of finding four different variations of the E chord using the D, C, A and G chord shapes as barre chords. Take a few minutes to watch this video and then grab your own guitar to give it a try.
Interested in learning more guitar tricks and techniques like the CAGED system? Not interested in taking private guitar lessons? Why not try a learn guitar dvd course? Learn at your own pace from the comfort of your own home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP2REjVaxZg/0.jpg" alt="YouTube Preview Image" />
. The spacing between most notes is one step, or two frets with a couple of exceptions. The spacing between B and C is only one half step as well as between E and F. Below is a listing of the space between notes both in steps and frets.
