How do I restring my guitar?

Hey there,

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that the last post was all about how often you should change your guitar strings.  Well, there's a lot of different answers to that one. If you haven't seen my post, check it out by clicking here.

Similarly, how you restring your guitar is a subjective matter - let alone the type of strings you use...

I found this video on youtube and it is a great tutorial - Dave makes it look easy!  And I love the string winding power tools.

Tim and Dave from Martin

Happy to hear what you think of his technique... I think his way is the best way...

How often should I restring my guitar?

One of the most common questions I get asked is 'How often should I restring my guitar?"

Source: www.audiogeekzine.com

Well, without trying to over-complicate a pretty straightforward question there are a few qualifying questions that will help you make up your mind;

1. How do the strings sound?  
2. What do they look like?
3. How much do you play?
4. When was the last time you changed them?
5. What kind of strings are they?

However, before I start, if you have broken a string, don't just replace the broken one.  Take the opportunity to replace all of them.  A broken string is basically telling you that the strings are ready to go.

Also, if you're having trouble keeping your guitar in tune, it's more likely to be due to the tired, worn out strings than your guitar.  Save the trip to your local guitar tech until you've restrung the guitar.

Ok, so here we go...

How do the strings sound?
Play a nice big open E major chord and have a listen to the tone and sustain of the strings. How'd they sound? If the sharpness or bite of you low E string (the big, thick one) is gone and sounds dull and kind of flabby, then it's time for the strings to go.... This is especially evident in an acoustic guitar.  If there's no sparkle left in the E and B strings (the thinner strings), then it's time for the strings to go...New strings will sound brighter than strings that have been on your guitar for months (years?).

Source : Free Guitar Strings for life...

What do the strings look like?
If they still look a bit metallic and shiny, they are fine.  If they're dark with things growing on them, it's time for those bad boys to go.  Run a pick along the underside of the string and a combination of rusty string and dried sweaty, grimy, yuckiness comes off then it's time for the strings to go.  Some folks reckon taking the strings off, boiling them and then reusing is the way to go.  I'm not convinced this works, but at Project Resonate they like it, click the pic for more info....

How much do you play?
Well.  Play your acoustic guitar 8 hours a day for a month and you will certainly need to change your strings once a month. If you are an occasional player (1 hour a week), I'd say that depending on the type of strings and guitar, you'll only need to change them once or twice a year.

When was the last time you changed them?
If you can't remember, I'd say it's time to change them.  What is a good idea is to keep the empty string packet, write the date you put them on and keep the packet in your guitar case.

What kind of strings are they?
Today there is a massive range of guitar strings available.  The newest innovation is coated guitar strings.      Now, pretty much every string manufacturer puts out a range of both coated and traditional strings.  What's a coated string? Good question, it's a guitar string that has been treated with a polymer coating, often Teflon.

The coated string stops grime, sweat and oxygen from attacking the strings and so keeps the strings sounding brighter for longer.  I've found that an additional benefit of coated strings is reduced finger squeak.  Meanwhile, the manufacturers also claim reduced fret wear and better tuning capability.

This is a great thing for acoustic strings in particular as grime, sweat and oxygen can stop acoustic strings from sounding bright in a matter of days.

So in summary, restring your guitar if... the strings break, sound dull, look dirty/corroded, are from the previous calendar year or you can't get the guitar to stay in tune.

I always welcome any feedback!  Always interested to hear your point of view....
Cheers,
Simon
www.simonmorel.com

6 String Deals - A Great Guitar Blog...

Every so often I'll post some content from another site in the guitar blogosphere...

Today it is 6 String Deals.

A friend of mine put me on to it and they review weird and wonderful fringe guitars - no Fender, Gibson or Taylors here.  Better yet, the guitar reviews are review affordable, individual guitars from new and established guitar makers.

This review of the MusicVox Space Cadet is typical and it sounds great...  Let me know if you get one, I'd love to give it a try, doubt they'll be stocked at Billy Hydes any time soon....

Cheers,
Simon

Musicvox Space Cadet

September 20, 2012Leave a commentGo to comments

The Musicvox Space Cadet is a beast, and I mean that is the best way possible.

Looking like a Les Paul mated with a Telecaster and created a new species of 6 stringed goodness, the Space Cadet still manages to create an identity all its own.

Made by the wonderful boutique guitar company from New Jersey that gave us the Space Ranger ( Musicvox-see earlier review,) The Space Cadet is a bolt-on, solid body , two humbucker, 6 string slab o’goodness.

I unpacked the guitar, slapped on some new strings and took it to practice. I tuned it once.

Two and a half hours later, I unplugged it and placed it back in its gig bag- totally satisfied with the experience of playing. The bridge pickup through a minimal amount of gain produced a meaty sound while retaining enough brightness to cut through and give my guitar placement in the rather loud room mix.

It is not often that a guitar moves into main instrument status after one playing session, but I am satisfied and trusting enough of this beauty to play it this coming weekend at a rather large festival.

I cannot recommend this instrument enough. If it fits your budget- it will meet your needs.

If you buy one- tell ‘em we sent ya….

6stringdeals.com review:

For $829.00 you are getting a guitar that hangs with the best of the overpriced American Made guitars. Bonus fact: this one looks cooler.

4 Chords and the Truth

It never fails to amaze me that there are so many amazing (and not so amazing) songs written with just four chords. When you start really thinking about it, what's more astounding is that new, individual songs are written every day with the same four chords.

Yet they don't all sound the same. You can even play the same four chords, in the same order, at the same tempo, however, if you put a different melody on top, change the rhythm or move the accents and it'll sound completely different.

There's no better online example than this funny and very entertaining video by 'The Axis of Awesome', an Aussie musical comedy trio. Sure they've transposed some of the songs to make their point, but it pretty clearly demonstrates that there are a lot of possibilities with 4 simple chords (I, V, vi, IV - or more simply put in G major - G, D, Em, C).

Then there are some songs don't bother with even four chords. Off the top of my head, here are some famous tunes with three chords ...

- Abracadabra - Steve Miller Band (Am, Dm, E7),
- Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley (A, D, E)
- All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan/Hendrix (C#m, A#, G#),
- Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival (A, D, G),
- Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol (A, E, F#m7)
- La Bamba - Los Lobos/Richie Valens (C, F, G)
- Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something (A, D, G)
- Red Red Wine - Bob Marley, UB40 (C, D, G)
- Wild Thing - The Troggs (A, D, E)
- All Shook Up - Elvis Presley (A, D, E)

And then two!

- Eleanor Rigby - Beatles (Em, C)
- Jambalaya - Hank Williams (G, D7)

And then only one chord....

Get this party started - Pink (Bm)...

Now, go try them out!

How do you remember all the chords?

My wife Amanda is a extremely talented singer, musician and songwriter.  She writes a great blog all about music too... She wrote an absolute cracker today, and it applies just as much to learning songs on the guitar as to remembering lyrics, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Check out her blog at amandaeaston.blogspot.com.au and her website at www.amandaeaston.com.

How Do You Remember All the Words?

Hi there,

Remembering all the lyrics to a tune, in the right order and attached to all the right notes can be a challenge! Over the years I've developed a technique that works for me and now, depending on the complexity of the song, it can take as little as half an hour to get a song into my noggin. Although I do believe it takes two performances of the song to get it to really stick. You have to break its cherry before a real live audience and then bed it down, so to speak. 

Anyway, I recently read something to suggest some scientific justification for my technique so thought it was worth sharing. I am reading 'The Talent Code' by Daniel Coyle. 
Through his study of 'talent hot spots' around the word, he has come up with some of the secrets to effective learning. He comes to the conclusion that talent is more grown that born. 

We all know that repetition is important when we're learning something but that's not the sneaky little key. It's all about making mistakes. Hey I'm good at that! Your mind needs to be tested on what you're learning, making errors and fixing them. If you just sing along to the voice on the original track you're not ever truly being tested and it will take quite a long time to get the song words to stay put. 

Here is my technique:
1. Get a recording of the song you need to learn 
2. Get a backing track of the same song, in the same arrangement (itunes or www.karaoke-version.com are good)
3. Put the two tracks on a CD, playlist etc
4. Press play and repeat as necessary. You'll learn the song by listening to the original singer and the backing track will be testing you each time.
5. When you're comfortable, sing it for your flatmate (without looking at the lyrics of course)
6. Then sing it for the postman.

If you can do numbers 5 and 6 without any mistakes, then it's in baby!


The Talent Code also talks about a sweet spot. What you are striving for has to be only just out of reach - not miles away. It might be too big a task to do the whole song at one time. Break it into manageable bites - verses, choruses, 'la la' bits etc. 

Like that smart ancient guy once said 'The longest journey starts with a single step'.
Cheers,
Amanda"

How do I buy an electric guitar?

I often get asked for advice on how to buy an electric guitar.  Which one is the best one? How much will it cost?  Any particular brands?

Well I was going to write an article on that and out of interest I googled 'How do I buy an electric guitar?' and about one million links appeared, all with good info (I'll put some of the links at the end of this blog).  So instead of rehashing a pretty well worn topic, I went to have a cup of tea.

As I let the tea cool, I thought about my first electric guitar, how I don't have it any more and a familiar feeling common to many guitar players hit me.  Guitar Sale Regret.  

At about a quarter the way through my cup of tea, I started thinking about how I'd decided which electric guitar I wanted when I started out.  The pre-buying experience was a bit like this great clip from Wayne's World, though at my local store they wouldn't let me actually play one - the shop owner and I knew that there were a lot of 4 hour Saturday shifts at the local department store between me and an electric guitar.

Like Wayne from Wayne's World, all guitarists craved an American made guitar.  It was a given that the quality of US made instruments was far superior to guitars made elsewhere and of course that made them super expensive and super desirable.  When you add in the mix the small chance that the single guitar shop in my small town in the UK would actually have a US-made Fender in stock, my quest seemed hopeless.

Mexican Fender Factory - Image:  ©  Brian E Harmon Jnr

Fortunately for guitar players the situation today is very different.  I think the cachet of the US-made guitar is diminishing as guitar players realise they can get as good, or nearly as good instruments for a fraction of the price.  The build quality of instruments from other countries has dramatically improved, so much so that international and domestic competition has driven the price of US-made guitars down and now they're cheaper than ever.   It is safe to say that the bang your buck makes today is loud, clean and clear, looks good in sunburst, has a straight neck, a clear finish and good components.

How did this happen? Well Fender, Gibson et al. all started to make guitars in different locations with accordingly different price tags -  the good thing is that the products coming out of, for example, China, is actually very good.  The factories where the guitars are made under licence from Fender, or whoever, have strict quality control and use good components.  When I think of the variety, quality, availability and affordability of entry-level guitars today, then add in the open-all-hours store that is the internet as a multiplier, then there's never been a better time to buy a guitar.  I certainly don't care that much about where guitars are made any more. My wall has guitars from America, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and China.  Amplifiers too.

Halfway through my tea, I started thinking why I had wanted a Stratocaster so badly.  Actually there were two reasons: Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.  They were my favourite guitarists.  I'd recommend the same approach to you.  

Also consider this, and I know it kind of sounds obvious, different electrics make different types of sounds.  Like the sparkle on Apache by the Shadows?  Get a Stratocaster.  Love the grit of Led Zeppelin's Heartbreaker?  Get a Les Paul. Want to play that great G7sus4 chord at the beginning of Hard Day's Night? Get a Rickenbacker.  I think the main thing is, if you like a particular band or artist's sound, why not just copy them?  When they originally chose their first guitar, they were probably trying to emulate their heroes too.  

White 80s Fender Stratocaster....regrets, regrets...   © Ian Lange 

So, the first electric I owned was a white Fender Stratocaster.  Just like the one in the photo.

It was white (like Jimi Hendrix's) and it was a Fender Stratocaster.  A Fender.  Did I say it was a Fender? The best thing, apart from the sound, how it looked and how loud it could be, was that it said Fender on the headstock.  Instant cool.  I really never should have sold it.

And by the time I'd finished the tea? Well, I'd come up with the idea for this article and a few others....blogs coming up will cover guitar family trees, what guitar is on that song and my own and others' stories of Guitar Sale Regret.

Oh and here are some of those links on 'How do I buy an electric guitar?'.  

Cheers, 

Simon

eBay's electric guitar buying guide

Amazon's guitar buying guide

Dan Cross' Guitar Buying Guide

Sweetwater Buying Guide

Robert Diz's Guitar Buying Advice

It's all in the......timing....

Timing has an enormous affect on how good you sound as a guitarist. Just like other aspects of musicality, timing is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice!

In order to improve your timing, it is important to understand that every beat can be played in three different ways:

• before the beat, 
• right on the beat, 
• after the beat. 

This following simple exercise will help you recognize your timing pattern. It is very simple, yet very effective. If you want to get the most out of this exercise, you should record yourself and analyse the results.   There's a vioce record on most mobiles

1. Set your metronome to 60 BPM and start your recording device 
2. Pick up your musical instrument 
3. Play 60 short notes (or up and down a scale), try to hit each note exactly on the beat 
4. Play back the recording and mark how many beats you hit exactly on the beat, how many before the beat and how many after the beat. 

You will soon notice your tendencies. Some musicians tend to rush, when others tend to drag. The more you will focus on this simple exercise the better awareness to timing you will have and it will naturally be reflected in your playing. I recommend spending 5-10 minutes every day practicing this exercise.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The first post hey?  I thought we'd start with what'll be an irregular theme in the blog, practice tips.  It is the most fundamental thing about learning the guitar.  Regular, focussed, efficient, methodical, fun, rewarding practice.

I remember how much my fingers hurt after getting my first steel stringed guitar, but loving the sound of it.  I remember sitting downstairs at home when I was a kid, going over and over Stairway to Heaven until I could play along with the cassette.  And I certainly remember the eureka moment when instead of shutting the door to avoid the sound of my 'playing', Mum walked through the room and left it open!

It's unfortunately true that no matter how much money you spend on gear and lessons, time spent obsessing over tone or perfecting your guitar face (check out B.B. King nailing it), unless you spend time practicing, and practicing deliberately, you won't improve.

http://egotvonline.com/2011/08/10/30-awesome-guitar-faces/ 

So here's your new practice regime, try it see how you go.  Each practice session is made up of 3 sections, a technical exercise, your newest song and finally repertoire.

The best way to practice these things in is...

1. Technical exercise (10 mins)
2. Newest song (20 mins)
3. Repertoire (as long as you like)

There's a reason behind the order....  If you run a technical exercise first (let's say a major scale exercise), it's going to act as a warm up for your fingers, this then gives you a greater ability to tackle the new song you are learning.  As a reward for being a good student you get to practice your repertoire - that is all the stuff you can already play.  Practicing in this order means you leave the practice session feeling good and are more likely to want to practice again!

Now, let's imagine you start with repertoire, that goes well and then you try the new song.  It doesn't go so well because you haven't warmed up all your fingers.  You end up getting frustrated and put the guitar down and watch TV - and you didn't even practice your scales!

An even worse scenario is that you start with the newest piece, get frustrated, give up, watch TV and don't feel like picking the guitar up as regularly.

So, I hope that helps.  Love to hear what you think!

PS ever hear about 10,000 hours?  Well, check it out....