Cleaning Your Guitar Strings - A Safe Method

You may be intrigued by chemical sprays promising safe and effective cleaning of your strings and guitar fretboard. There have been sprays to "make your strings last longer", sprays "to make you play faster". Don't play around with any of these. There's a better way:

1) Get yourself a brand-new, still-in-the-package pair of white tube socks from the clothing store, all-cotton. They often come in giant super-packs. That will last you a while. Give some of the extras to your friends.

2) After each time you play the guitar, gently wipe the strings with one of the clean socks. Keep the other sock around as a spare.

3) Do not grind the dirt and oil from the strings into the guitar neck. Rather, grab each string and form something like a "sock tunnel". Have at least some part of the cotton underneath the strings at all times. Move the sock up and down the strings the long-way, like a subway car going up and down a train track. You can even pull the string up a few millimeters from the guitar neck while you are doing this. The main idea is to travel the stock over the strings, not grind the dirt into the fingerboard.

4) Gently wipe off any residual dirt on the fingerboard with the sock, using a clean part of the sock. Try not to grind the dirt into the edges where the frets joint the fingerboard. You can pull the sock between the strings and the fingerboard. You can also gently move the strings out of the way to carefully access different parts of the fretboard. Again: lightly.

This simple procedure can extend the life of your strings to a surprising extent. Even if your hands are as clean as you can make them before playing, still make a point to give your guitar the "sock treatment." Every once in a long while, you can think about a formal fretboard cleaning. This should preferably be done under the blessing of an experienced guitar tech. Not the company trying to sell you chemical sprays- the friendly guitar tech guy at your local music store. But for day-to-day, month-to-month care and maintenance, the sock treatment can be just what the doctor ordered.

There is one final point to this: getting out of the habit of being cheap. Repeat to yourself ten times out loud: "Strings wear out, they don't last forever." Strings are a disposable asset, they are part of the cost of business of playing guitar. Changing your strings is measured in weeks/months.. not months/years. If you are playing like crazy on an electric guitar, it's not unreasonable to change the strings twice per week. That's not a misprint...twice per week. An acoustic with a few hours of weekly playing activity can probably go about 4-8 weeks before the strings start looking/sounding like they may need to be retired. Even with regular cleaning, your strings will die. It's O.K. It's not as bad as a pet hamster dying! Pay attention to the super sales at the music stores, and stock up your strings in bulk.

In summary: regular, careful chemical-free cleaning and frequent string changing will help keep your guitar in fine playing condition. And it will keep those horrible sprays from ever entering your mind.

How to Play Guitar Without Hurting Your Fingers

Successfully playing guitar is within the grasp of most students, yet many beginners give up way too quickly. The most common things people will blame their lack skills on is that they have no time to play or that playing hurts their fingers. With the fingers, the problem is that they just don't practice enough and the time, well you only honestly need 20 minutes every couple of days. With a private instructor you would need a lot more time but with online guitar courses you skip to the lesson plan you were following and just continue from where you left off.

Learning how to play guitar chords is one of the most important things for beginners to grasp. Not only are chords important tools for increasing your finger strength and dexterity, they can also provide a foundation for learning, and playing songs. You have to learn the most common guitar chords, as a guitar player chords are your bread and butter. They form the basis of almost every song and are the building blocks for most of the things that you will learn on the guitar.

If you don't already know, a chord is a combination of at least two notes that are played simultaneously, creating a fuller, richer sound than can be achieved by playing each note individually. While most chords involve at least two notes played concurrently, some may use even more. Online guitar courses can easily show you how to play chords and then they will teach you some songs that only use those chords, so you can start playing songs immediately.

Before trying anything else you must learn some basic chords first. You can learn strumming patterns with no knowledge of any chords and even with your guitar out of tune. There are many sites offering free tips and lessons for a novice, but it can be rather difficult sifting all the way through pages of content to find direct answers to a number of of the most basic questions beginners have. Online guitar lessons do cost money but a fraction of what person instruction cost and there is less pressure on you and a lot more time...no driving anywhere.

I researched many of the frequently asked questions that beginners have, such as should I use a pick or my fingers? what is that clamp thing? are all guitars the same size?... So I shaped this list of quick tips to make life a bit easier for you. I do hope this helps.

Learn how to play the guitar with both your fingers and your pick. Practice using both. This will make you a more versatile player.Learn how to use a capo. A capo is a clamp that you can apply to different frets of your guitar to change the pitch. You will absolutely need to become familiar with this wonderful tool. If you do not already own one, head out to your local music store and buy one today.Make sure you choose the right guitar for your size. Guitars come in different sizes from classic to jumbo. It is very imperative that you find a guitar size that you are comfortable playing.Learn how to change your strings and change them often. If you do not know how to change your guitar strings yet, search for articles and videos online that can teach you how. This is very significant.Wash your hands previous to your playing and clean your strings after you play. Dirt and oils from your fingers and hands can wear down your strings.Build up those calluses. Many students that quit complain of pain in their fingertips when first starting out. This is normal and will go away after you have been practicing for a little while and start to form calluses. The more often you play, the faster you will get those calluses.This article has been viewed 0 time(s).
Article Submitted On: March 22, 2011

Tips on How to Build a Relationship With Your Music Teacher

It is a teacher's duty to dedicate himself towards the education of all his pupils, without exception. Still, there's something to be said for that extra boost you get from having a strong relationship with your teacher. Maybe it's the extra care or extra time, but it's something extra, however hard it is to quantify. We can all reflect on being at school and having a teacher who made a real difference for us, and frequently it was a teacher with whom we had a strong relationship. There's obviously a personal element to it, but at its core the best relationships between teachers and students relate to the subject matter. The same is true of music teachers, and there's lots of things to keep in mind to ensure you have a most positive experience with your teacher.

The most important element is that you take your studies seriously. Your teacher knows he has a job to do first, and he can't be seen to be friends with someone who is failing or neglecting his studies. You will put him at ease when you show him the progress you make each week, and if this is impossible, that you are working diligently to improve. Little things like showing him how organized your music notes are demonstrate that you care about the work he does. This provides a good platform for a relationship.

For whatever reason, musicians usually have strong senses of humour. Maybe there's some correlation between taking delight in using language skillfully and their strengths in music, but it's frequently the case. Have a couple jokes ready for your teacher. Sharing a laugh with anybody is a sure-fire way to warm relationships, but it's especially time-efficient when you have a half hour or hour segment. It goes without saying it should be a good joke, and if you trust your judgement, making it appropriately bawdry is a quick way to accelerate warmth and increase trust. So long as you're comfortable telling such jokes.

Perhaps you can teach him something about music and increase his musical repertoire. Expand his borders by requesting to learn music he doesn't know. Teacher's get tired of playing the same songs all the time, and showing you listen to obscure music suggests you're more interested in the subject. He'll enjoy knowing this. He'll be grateful if he ends up liking the music also. Many teachers are open minded and enjoy a wide spectrum of music. Don't let one kind of music you know they like convince you they don't like something widely different. And in any case, don't be afraid to put forward the music you love most-that's the reason the lessons are happening in the first place.

Lastly, be punctual with appointments and payments. So long as you stick to these fundamental things the teacher will be able to cope. Most teachers love their work! Just be gracious and studious and there ought to be no problems at all.

The Yamaha YAS-23 - It Just Feels Right

I've played Yamaha saxophones long before I wrote this Yamaha YAS-23 Review and if you've ever played a Yamaha saxophone you know why they're so popular and sell lots of them. Although I still prefer the sound of a Selmer, but Yamaha saxophones have certain playability factor that makes them feel right.

The Yamaha YAS-23 alto saxophone is a highly recommended horn for any beginner or even intermediate looking for a good quality, well playing saxophone.

Now the Yamaha YAS-23 isn't the best model they make, far from it. It's still a Yamaha though and there's a certain amount of integrity and quality this company is known for. Because of this, there are still some comparisons that can be made between the YAS-23 that retails brand new for about $1500 to the models they sell in the $4000 range.

Some of the differences won't have a huge impact on a player that's just starting out for several reasons:

Quality

The quality of some of the materials such as tone hole pads, rods, and finish aren't as good as the professional models but longevity isn't what the student models are made for. Yes these parts will wear out a lot sooner but can easily be replaced as needed and last for several more years and generally speaking, long enough for any beginner.

You'll also notice just by looking at this sax that the quality of the lacquer isn't as nice, and the keys and rods are silver and not gold.

Also these "cheaper" parts won't make a noticeable difference in sound or performance for the beginner to intermediate player.

High F#... Naaa!

Some models have a high F# key but not the Yamaha YAS. Having a high F# can make it easier to play the note, that's why it was invented. My first sax didn't have one either and it took some time to develop the technique to produce a high F# that was in tune.

When I got a saxophone that did have that key I found it a bit easier to get the note in tune but I'll argue that I made good improvement while working on my tone and embouchure up there without the high F#, so going without in this case isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Best thing to Take away from this Yamaha YAS-23 Review... It Just Feels Right!

The Yamaha YAS-23 is much like all other models by this manufacturer and that is they just "feel right"... and that's very important! You know what that means when you try playing many different makes and models.

Some feel like they were made by someone who wasn't a player because of the spacing between some of the notes for example, or the height of a particular side key. These are things that affect our speed and playing comfort... just doesn't feel right.

Yamaha's designs seem to have the comfort and playability that seems to come more from a player's perspective... it just feels right!