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7 Rules For Every Guitar Player
Learning guitar is an uphill battle, but learning to be a better guitar player involves serious discipline. Once you have developed a good set of skills on the guitar it is important not to let these skills go to your head. These 7 rules will not only help you improve your playing, but also help you to become a more manageable musician to work with.
1. Tuning - Never play a guitar that is out of tune. If you are out of tune, people are going to notice. Electronic tuners are available for less than $30 these days and can help you out in a jam.
2. Keep strings new – Change your strings when your guitar wont stay in tune or if they begin to sound ‘dead’. Some electric guitar bridges need to have their intonation adjusted regularly. This is best left to a qualified professional
3. Know your strengths and weaknesses – It is equally important to know what you are not capable of as it is to know what you are capable of. It allows you to practice more efficiently when you are aware what areas of your skillset need polishing.
4. Play the guitar within your ability – In plain english: Don’t bite off more than you can chew. No two guitarists are the same. There are several areas of guitar that different players excel in. Don’t try to play like somebody else, especially if they are using a technique you are not familiar with. When push comes to shove, stick to the rhythm chords.
5. Take care not to overplay the notes – The listener is always able to hear the sound that was not meant to be played. When Eric Clapton slides his fingers along the strings from one end of the neck to the other, you do not hear a sound.
6. Know your parts front to back – Don’t just learn a riff and start playing. Knowing both the chord being played and the key of the song will allow you more flexibility when it comes to adding solos, fills and harmony.
7. The song comes first – Many guitarists are under the impression that they are the center of attention and turn up way louder than the other instruments. They goal for any musician in a band is to blend with the other instruments and compliment the song as a whole. You can’t do this if you are the only one anybody can hear.
Recording Guitar – How to Mic a Guitar Amp
In the last decade, there have been great advances in guitar related technology, particularly in the areas of amp, cabinet and stomp-box simulation. In the past, a great guitar sound was reliant on having a solid amp, a quality microphone and a decent studio or room. These days, with a simulation unit such as a Line6 pod, and a PC,you can digitally record a convincing guitar sound in your own bedroom. This has been a God-send to musicians who don’t have the money to acquire an expensive amp, or don’t have a studio to be able to crank that amp to the kinds of volume needed to capture a classic guitar tone. Although this approach produces a very realistic replication of a guitar amp, the purists will always insist on the superior warmth and presence of sound physically blasted out of a speaker.
When it comes to miking a guitar amp, there are quite a few slightly different approaches. It is standard practice to use a dynamic microphone. Dynamic microphones are robust, cheap, do not require a separate power source and are great for close proximity miking. This is because they can can handle the high sound pressure levels blasting out from the speaker. 2 of the most commonly used dynamic mic models are the Shure 57 and the Sennheiser MD421. Condenser microphones on the other hand are sensitive, expensive and need a power source. These are also very useful for recording guitars, but it is more common to set them farther back, away from the amp so they can capture the sound and ambiance of the room. Guitar amp cabinets are composed of different numbers of speakers, usually 1,2 or 4. The speakers themselves may all sound slightly different, so it’s worth experimenting by listening to the sound of each speaker miked separately.
These are the most commonly used techniques in miking guitar amps:
1. Using a single dynamic mike close to the speaker.
The microphone is placed facing directly at the speakers center, so that it is almost touching the grille cloth. Keeping it at that proximity, the mike can then be moved along the radius of the speaker, from the center to the edge. Varying where along the radius the mic is placed, will affect the tonality of the recorded sound. Placing it in the middle will result in a bright, punchy sound, whilst the closer the mic gets to the edge, the darker the tonality produced.
2. Using a single dynamic mike, 6 – 12 inches from the speaker.
Use the same technique described in the first example, but position the mike further away to capture room ambiance. This will also result in a more developed sound.
3. Using multiple close dynamic mics.
Recording the amp with different mics and blending the sound will result in more dynamic, richer tone. A good idea is to try placing one dynamic mic dead-center to a speaker and another on the edge. You could also try putting mics across multiple speakers if you have a cabinet with more than the single speaker. It’s also worth tilting one of the mics slightly off-axis, as this will give another variation to the sound.
4. Combination close and distant mics
If you own a decent condenser microphone this method is ideal. Place the dynamic mic(s) close to the amp as described in the example above. With the more powerful and sensitive condenser, position it anywhere from 6 inches to a few feet away. It will probably take some experimentation to find the best result. With the separate signals you can then choose to blend them or keep them on separate tracks.
5. Front and Back miking of open-backed combo amps
Place a dynamic close as described in method 1 or 2. Then place a condenser a small distance behind the amp as opposed to in front as described in the previous example. It’s usual to blend the 2 sounds, but keep in mind that this is an advanced technique, and it can introduce phase issues which take some audio engineering skill to deal with.
When recording your guitar sound, it’s best to try to record as “dry” as possible. The reason for this is that once the guitar signal has been recorded with the effect, it’s impossible to remove it. You could be in a situation where the guitar track is recorded with an effect and then in the final mix-down, the track doesn’t fit in with the rest of the instruments. Of course this does assume that you have the outboard equipment and ability to add quality effects to the final mix. But it is a good concept to keep in mind and most rudimentary recording set-ups feature some kind of effects send channel. This basically means that you can plug your dry recorded guitar track into an external stomp-box or effects unit and re-record the result to a new track. It gives you much more control over the finished product.
Guitar Amps And Your Guitar – What You Need To Know
The guitar is among the most widely revered musical instruments today. Whether you attribute its widespread popularity to the affection women seem to feel for guitarists or some other consideration, the guitar is a fashionable instrument. There are a multitude of musical bands on the planet playing rock, heavy metal, and many other musical styles. But most have one thing in common and that is the use of guitars.
Bass guitars, acoustic guitars and electronic guitars are among the numerous types of guitars. Each has its own unique qualities. An acoustic guitar, for example, requires no amplifier but an amplifier is absolutely necessary with an electric guitar. It is needed to enhance the sound of the guitar. That is why it is called an amplifier.
There are many types of guitar amplifiers or better known among musicians as, “guitar amps”. Some amps include processors and some are just simple amplifiers. Amplifiers can vary from low to high output. When playing different genres of music (e.g. pop, rock, heavy metal, etc.), the guitar begins to need different types of amplifiers.
Some musical compositions require high treble sounds. For them, the use of conventional guitar amps is suggested. However, if a guitarist plays heavy solos pertaining to rock genre, then he must use heavy amplifiers which have built-in distortion effects and microprocessors for producing different types of sounds. That’s just one example of a music genre for which a different type of amplifier is used.
There are a wide variety of guitar amps on the market these days to match the equally large selection of electric guitars available. The amplifier you purchase depends on the style and quality of music you’d like to play. Also be sure that when picking an amplifier for a bass guitar, you choose a bass amplifier.
It will be simple to select the perfect guitar amplifier case if you know exactly what features are important to you. One key factor is only purchasing a case from a well-known, established manufacturer. If you are going to be playing your guitar inside, you should select a 40-watt amplifier. On the other hand, if you have to play at an outdoor venue the better choice would be high-output guitar amps. Taking your type of instrument, playing style/genre, and location into consideration will enable you to select a guitar amp tailored to your specific needs.