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