By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Ian_Henman]Ian Henman
I don't know the exact numbers but I'd probably say that more people start out trying to learn to play acoustic guitar then electric. I say this from looking at the other guitar players I know, and thinking back to when I first started to learn.
What if you're just starting out, should you learn acoustic or electric guitar? Are there big differences? Is one easier to learn then the other? Will I get bored of one more then the other? What about switching part way through the learning process? These are all questions you should know the answer to before you set out to learn to play acoustic guitar, and I'm going to answer three of them in this article.
1.) Instant Gratification: Again my opinions coming through here, but electric guitar is more of a lead instrument. Meaning that most people learn to play solos and in bands when they learn electric guitar. In contrast acoustic is a great instrument to jam with others, learn songs on your own, and play and sing at parties if you want. You get more gratification on your own and faster when learning acoustic guitar.
2.) Cost: Now this isn't directly related to learning to play the instrument but it should be considered. It's generally less expensive to purchase an acoustic then it is to get an electric. Not that the guitars themselves are cheaper, but the accessories required to use them properly are different.
With an acoustic all you need is the instrument, a case, and maybe a tuner and capo. How ever when purchasing an electric you need the guitar and same accessories, along with an amp and patch cord. The amp can be half the price of the guitar again depending on what you buy.
3.) Changing Instruments: Trust me when I say it's easier to switch from playing acoustic to electric guitar. I personally consider myself to be an acoustic player, but I do own an electric and do use it sometimes when jamming. How ever when I was learning to play acoustic guitar I spent most of my time mastering chords so I could play songs, in contrast it's more technique and scales when learning to play electric.
There you have it, why I think it's best to learn to play acoustic guitar when starting out. Some will disagree, especially those that are die hard electric lovers. You make your own decision and no matter what you choose stick with it. It takes time to learn well, and consistency no matter what instrument it is.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ian_Henman http://EzineArticles.com/?3-Reasons-Its-Best-To-Learn-To-Play-Acoustic-Guitar&id=976813
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Electric Guitar Chords - Secrets to Playing Rhythm Guitar Revealed
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=John_Robert]John Robert
Playing chords on your electric guitar is quite different from an acoustic, especially when using distortion. To get the best sound out of your distorted guitar it is best to substitute standard open electric guitar chords with bar chords, power chords and simple triads. The aim of this article is to discuss the different electric guitar chords that sound really cool with distortion.
The first electric guitar chords you should use with distortion are bar chords. A bar chord gets it name due to the fact that the first finger will lay across the fret board covering all of the strings. To make a simple bar chord first look at how you would play an open E major chord. Now move that same fingering for an E major chord up the neck one fret and use your index finger to bar all the strings on the first fret. The advantage of using bar chords is that you can easily move this same pattern up and down the neck. Bar chords sound great on an electric guitar because you can easily keep any unwanted strings from ringing and causing feedback.
Some more electric guitar chords you may find useful are power chords. Power chords are made up of just two notes. Usually the a root note and a fifth. If you are a fan of Metallica then you will love power chords. Almost all of their earlier songs are played using these electric guitar chords. An example of a power chord would be to play the 6th string 5th fret and the 5th string 7th fret together at the same time. These two notes make up an A5 power chord. This same pattern can be moved anywhere on the neck. Try it you'll see what I mean.
Lastly, you can play triads, or three note electric guitar chords. Triads can be made up of the root, third and fifth, however many guitar players like to omit the fifth and use the seventh chord tone because it generally gives a more unique sound. A good example of a band who utilizes a lot of triads in their electric guitar chords is Opeth.
All three of the electric guitar chords above sound great with heavy or light amounts of distortion. Bar chords help stifle unwanted feed back and noise while power chords and triads are simple chords shapes that have a clean crisp presence. The electric guitar can be a completely different monster than the acoustic so take advantage of the electric guitar chords mentioned above to make up your own brutal riffs.
John Robert has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember and teaching for the last three years. His area of expertise is rock and heavy metal. You can learn more bone crushing [http://www.jam-o-rama.info]electric guitar chords and other rockin' techniques by visiting [http://www.jam-o-rama.info]Jam-o-rama.info
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Robert http://EzineArticles.com/?Electric-Guitar-Chords---Secrets-to-Playing-Rhythm-Guitar-Revealed&id=755036
Playing chords on your electric guitar is quite different from an acoustic, especially when using distortion. To get the best sound out of your distorted guitar it is best to substitute standard open electric guitar chords with bar chords, power chords and simple triads. The aim of this article is to discuss the different electric guitar chords that sound really cool with distortion.
The first electric guitar chords you should use with distortion are bar chords. A bar chord gets it name due to the fact that the first finger will lay across the fret board covering all of the strings. To make a simple bar chord first look at how you would play an open E major chord. Now move that same fingering for an E major chord up the neck one fret and use your index finger to bar all the strings on the first fret. The advantage of using bar chords is that you can easily move this same pattern up and down the neck. Bar chords sound great on an electric guitar because you can easily keep any unwanted strings from ringing and causing feedback.
Some more electric guitar chords you may find useful are power chords. Power chords are made up of just two notes. Usually the a root note and a fifth. If you are a fan of Metallica then you will love power chords. Almost all of their earlier songs are played using these electric guitar chords. An example of a power chord would be to play the 6th string 5th fret and the 5th string 7th fret together at the same time. These two notes make up an A5 power chord. This same pattern can be moved anywhere on the neck. Try it you'll see what I mean.
Lastly, you can play triads, or three note electric guitar chords. Triads can be made up of the root, third and fifth, however many guitar players like to omit the fifth and use the seventh chord tone because it generally gives a more unique sound. A good example of a band who utilizes a lot of triads in their electric guitar chords is Opeth.
All three of the electric guitar chords above sound great with heavy or light amounts of distortion. Bar chords help stifle unwanted feed back and noise while power chords and triads are simple chords shapes that have a clean crisp presence. The electric guitar can be a completely different monster than the acoustic so take advantage of the electric guitar chords mentioned above to make up your own brutal riffs.
John Robert has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember and teaching for the last three years. His area of expertise is rock and heavy metal. You can learn more bone crushing [http://www.jam-o-rama.info]electric guitar chords and other rockin' techniques by visiting [http://www.jam-o-rama.info]Jam-o-rama.info
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Robert http://EzineArticles.com/?Electric-Guitar-Chords---Secrets-to-Playing-Rhythm-Guitar-Revealed&id=755036
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Electric Guitar Lessons Revisited
Do you have an electric guitar under your bed silently reminding you of a dream which is for the moment, buried? Did you fantasize about fame and female attention or was your dream about the music? Did you believe you could make a lot of progress in your musical education without much effort? Maybe you even spent a little too much money on your first electric guitar, hoping it would somehow fast track the learning process.
Well the guitar by itself isn't really much help. The most effective input has to be from you, the aspiring guitar player.
But wait a minute! It was you who put the guitar under the bed, leaving it alone and wondering what it had done to incur your displeasure. What happened there? Why did you bury your dream? Did the fame and female attention arrive by some other route? Well obviously they weren't what you expected or you wouldn't be reading this. I think the issue is that you just need to look a little more closely at the process of learning the guitar.
The most obvious things to look at are firstly, did you give yourself enough time and space to practice, and were the guitar lessons you tried really suited to your needs?
If you live in a busy household you are going to have to fight for time and space. Your family or house mates may be willing to cut you some slack at first but the time will come when you pick up your guitar you will hear groaning noises from the people who a short time ago were so encouraging. You are going to need to examine your day. The hours you spend working or studying. The time you need for household chores. Are there TV programs you just can't do without? You need to include those. If you practice in the living room you need to do it when other people aren't using the area. You get the idea. If you end up with much less time to devote to guitar lessons than you thought you had, don't give up. Just use the time you have available. As your guitar playing progresses you will begin to make more time for yourself.
So what kind of guitar lessons do you feel you could derive the most benefit from? The fact is learning to play the guitar will flow much more smoothly if you feel comfortable and receptive. So give some consideration to what works best for you.
So let's look at the simplest solution - buy a guitar lesson book. Too simple? It might be all you need. Some people can't do without the input of a face to face teacher or the experience of seeing their guitar lessons on video, but there are many people who do quite well with printed instructions and music.
If you need a more intense experience, but you have a live guitar teacher near where you live then give online electric guitar lessons a shot. With online lessons, you just sit in your room and absorb the teacher's instructions, and then do your practice. No time wasted travelling to your teacher, and no putting up with a teacher you do not care for!
Some people do better without a teacher standing over them, encouraging them to play it until they get it right. Online electric guitar lessons are more student-friendly in this respect. You can approach any obstacles in your own individual way, in your own sweet time.
One of the most outstanding advantages of online electric guitar lessons compared to tuition with a live teacher is the expense. You can get even the very best lessons on the internet for a fraction of what you would pay your local guitar teacher!
You can also buy your guitar lessons in video format. Video lessons are available for students of all genres of guitar music whether they be beginners or advanced students. With videos you can review your lessons as many times as you want, and even if you lose your enthusiasm for learning the guitar, your video lessons will be waiting for you when your muse returns.
Well the guitar by itself isn't really much help. The most effective input has to be from you, the aspiring guitar player.
But wait a minute! It was you who put the guitar under the bed, leaving it alone and wondering what it had done to incur your displeasure. What happened there? Why did you bury your dream? Did the fame and female attention arrive by some other route? Well obviously they weren't what you expected or you wouldn't be reading this. I think the issue is that you just need to look a little more closely at the process of learning the guitar.
The most obvious things to look at are firstly, did you give yourself enough time and space to practice, and were the guitar lessons you tried really suited to your needs?
If you live in a busy household you are going to have to fight for time and space. Your family or house mates may be willing to cut you some slack at first but the time will come when you pick up your guitar you will hear groaning noises from the people who a short time ago were so encouraging. You are going to need to examine your day. The hours you spend working or studying. The time you need for household chores. Are there TV programs you just can't do without? You need to include those. If you practice in the living room you need to do it when other people aren't using the area. You get the idea. If you end up with much less time to devote to guitar lessons than you thought you had, don't give up. Just use the time you have available. As your guitar playing progresses you will begin to make more time for yourself.
So what kind of guitar lessons do you feel you could derive the most benefit from? The fact is learning to play the guitar will flow much more smoothly if you feel comfortable and receptive. So give some consideration to what works best for you.
So let's look at the simplest solution - buy a guitar lesson book. Too simple? It might be all you need. Some people can't do without the input of a face to face teacher or the experience of seeing their guitar lessons on video, but there are many people who do quite well with printed instructions and music.
If you need a more intense experience, but you have a live guitar teacher near where you live then give online electric guitar lessons a shot. With online lessons, you just sit in your room and absorb the teacher's instructions, and then do your practice. No time wasted travelling to your teacher, and no putting up with a teacher you do not care for!
Some people do better without a teacher standing over them, encouraging them to play it until they get it right. Online electric guitar lessons are more student-friendly in this respect. You can approach any obstacles in your own individual way, in your own sweet time.
One of the most outstanding advantages of online electric guitar lessons compared to tuition with a live teacher is the expense. You can get even the very best lessons on the internet for a fraction of what you would pay your local guitar teacher!
You can also buy your guitar lessons in video format. Video lessons are available for students of all genres of guitar music whether they be beginners or advanced students. With videos you can review your lessons as many times as you want, and even if you lose your enthusiasm for learning the guitar, your video lessons will be waiting for you when your muse returns.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Tips for Playing the Electric Guitar
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Dave_Lang]Dave Lang
The electric guitar is one of the most popular and universally used guitars today. It is showcased in every genre of popular music and is powerful in each due to it's flexibility as a musical instrument. If you want to learn how to play this great instrument, below are a few tips you will find invaluable.
Start with a nylon guitar first. When learning guitar, you should think twice about learning on an electric guitar. The steel strings of this style guitar can be very uncomfortable for beginning players. Furthermore, learning on an acoustic guitar makes one learn how to make good music without the effects and distortions of the electric guitar. Once you can play well without those things, then you can add them.
Another way to learn electric guitar is know your guitar well. If you already can play guitar and are looking to buy an electric then you should familiarize yourself with the differences between the electric and acoustic. Even if you play an old electric guitar and are looking for a new one, you need to consider the differences. You cannot simply plug the electric guitar into an amp and start playing; you need to know how to mix the sounds together well to create a good sound.
That brings you to the amp you need to make sure you are buying a decent amp. Even if your guitar is the best in the market, it will sound bad with a bad amp. Be sure to run a test of the amp in-store before you take it home. If you can, you should turn the volume all the way up and check the sound quality. Some amps have a built in effects option that can be turned on or off. This helps if you don't have the money to buy a separate effects machine.
The next thing you will have to do it to buy a good effects box. When playing an electric guitar, this is a great thing to have. Using an effects box, you can create a wide variety of music. When buying one, look for the following effects: chorus, reverb, amp simulator and easy adjustments modules.
Of course the best guitar, amp and effects box are useless without durable cables. If you go the cheap route and buy low quality, you will regret it as they will wear out and become useless very quickly.
In order to play the electric guitar well, it helps to listen to electric guitar music. Listening to the classic songs playing on electric guitar will give you a great idea of what it sounds like and what it is capable of playing.
Electric guitars play a good deal differently than their acoustic brothers. Certain skills needed for electric guitars are not needed for the acoustic and vice-versa. As with most things, the best way to learn is practice with the guitar you want to play.
Dave Lang is a professional musician of 12 years and a guitar instructor. For more useful [http://guitarprotege.com]guitar buying tips, as well as recommended [http://guitarprotege.com/beginner-electric-guitars.html]beginner electric guitars and [http://guitarprotege.com/beginner-acoustic-guitars.html]beginner acoustic guitars, visit guitarprotege.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Lang http://EzineArticles.com/?Tips-for-Playing-the-Electric-Guitar&id=923502
The electric guitar is one of the most popular and universally used guitars today. It is showcased in every genre of popular music and is powerful in each due to it's flexibility as a musical instrument. If you want to learn how to play this great instrument, below are a few tips you will find invaluable.
Start with a nylon guitar first. When learning guitar, you should think twice about learning on an electric guitar. The steel strings of this style guitar can be very uncomfortable for beginning players. Furthermore, learning on an acoustic guitar makes one learn how to make good music without the effects and distortions of the electric guitar. Once you can play well without those things, then you can add them.
Another way to learn electric guitar is know your guitar well. If you already can play guitar and are looking to buy an electric then you should familiarize yourself with the differences between the electric and acoustic. Even if you play an old electric guitar and are looking for a new one, you need to consider the differences. You cannot simply plug the electric guitar into an amp and start playing; you need to know how to mix the sounds together well to create a good sound.
That brings you to the amp you need to make sure you are buying a decent amp. Even if your guitar is the best in the market, it will sound bad with a bad amp. Be sure to run a test of the amp in-store before you take it home. If you can, you should turn the volume all the way up and check the sound quality. Some amps have a built in effects option that can be turned on or off. This helps if you don't have the money to buy a separate effects machine.
The next thing you will have to do it to buy a good effects box. When playing an electric guitar, this is a great thing to have. Using an effects box, you can create a wide variety of music. When buying one, look for the following effects: chorus, reverb, amp simulator and easy adjustments modules.
Of course the best guitar, amp and effects box are useless without durable cables. If you go the cheap route and buy low quality, you will regret it as they will wear out and become useless very quickly.
In order to play the electric guitar well, it helps to listen to electric guitar music. Listening to the classic songs playing on electric guitar will give you a great idea of what it sounds like and what it is capable of playing.
Electric guitars play a good deal differently than their acoustic brothers. Certain skills needed for electric guitars are not needed for the acoustic and vice-versa. As with most things, the best way to learn is practice with the guitar you want to play.
Dave Lang is a professional musician of 12 years and a guitar instructor. For more useful [http://guitarprotege.com]guitar buying tips, as well as recommended [http://guitarprotege.com/beginner-electric-guitars.html]beginner electric guitars and [http://guitarprotege.com/beginner-acoustic-guitars.html]beginner acoustic guitars, visit guitarprotege.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Lang http://EzineArticles.com/?Tips-for-Playing-the-Electric-Guitar&id=923502
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