Something Different..

hello everybody

I hope you are all doin well and as happy as me. Today people as the title suggests i don't want to talk about guitar playing and the techniques and blah! balh! all my blog is about. I want to talk about real guitarists, oh dear god our rock idols like jimmy page,robert plant,james hetfield,kirk hammett, all these fellas, the accomplished guitarists who make a living out of doing what they love and at the same time reap millions with it. I often wonder is it just that all these guitarists were born to be great, sometimes i think that is true, they knew their destiny the moment they were born or maybe they were just too good to begin with. I fail to understand what the answers to these questions might be but i know one thing for ceratin-these guys are for real.

The next thought that comes to me about them legends is what kind of inspiration or what kind of talent does it take to become one of em. I know some guitar players who play really well but somehow miss out on making it into the big draw. Well all this leads to one question-what is the difference between the big guys and us?, now i understand all the facts straight, they have great talent, good music, good reputation, i get all that but however what i don't get is in the end what is required of every guitarist out there to become a legend. Whoever can figure out the answer i believe deserves to be called a legend of his own making.

Taking Care of your Instrument

The main factor by which all instruments suffer is basically the guitar action. Now the guitar action basically determines how high up the strings are actually from the fret board. The action of a guitar can guitar can get affected by several factors. One of the most common of them being humidity, some of you must have noticed during the summer time the strings on the guitar tend to rise up from the fret board. The humidity basically affects the wood part of the guitar and moreover lack of humidity can also result in swelling of the wood of the guitar. Therefore it is imperative to maintain a balance between the two. When a guitar is not going to be used for a prolonged period of time then it is best kept or rather preserved when the strings are in fact loosened. There is an enormous amount of tension from the bridge of the guitar stretching across the fret board towards the neck caused by the string itself. This tension would be reduced once we try and loosen the string a bit. Needless to say when the guitar is not being played it is best kept inside. If you feel that your guitar action is kind of high and you're experiencing difficulty playing then i would advise you to visit a local guitar repair shop which would be happy to oblige you. Once your action is repaired you must take care of the instrument thereafter to prevent the same from the happening again.

It's That Simple

I guess now that if you have been playing for a while, you would experience a feeling of well let's say saturation for the lack of a better word. I mean the most frequently asked questions by guitarist's who are learning and this is the fun part-to themselves is- How am i Doing?, am i doing well or do i suck at this?. Needless to say the answer to these questions mostly depends on the amount of time you put in. However sometimes even if you practice a lot you will feel as if you're getting nowhere and really don't know what to do about it. I believe this is the time that you should look out for some professional help. For example you could look up some tabs specifically designed to improve your playing and efficiency. I find this would help a lot really. The Ultimate-guitar.com
is a great site especially designed to help all guitar players, i feel one should surf through this site and check out the lessons available on the site to help you through your difficulties.

Basically i would suggest one to try and jam with the song itself. I feel if you are able to keep up with the song then you're doing quite well, if not hang in there and practice some more. It's that simple.

An Approach To Song Covers

I told ya all earlier to start playing with the help of your favorite song. In this post i would like to tell you about how to approach the same. Let us first examine what all we have, i got my guitar(acoustic or electric), i got the guitar pro software, i got the Pro tab of my favorite song and last but not the least i got the will. To put it in a nutshell-Ammo's packed and ready to fire.

I assume you all know how to read a guitar tab,if not no worries i shall make a post about it soon telling you the basics.

The first and foremost thing we gotta do is select a particular riff. Alright now play that riff on guitar pro and hear how it sounds, now read the tab and figure out the notes on the guitar(Tab reading basically). When you've got a hang of what note comes after what, this is when comes in the concept of "co-ordination".I know what your thinking, "Bah! That's obvious"!. Haha Yeah i know but it was important for me to mention this because you see co-ordination does not just imply that you have to play the notes such that it sounds like the riff. Trust me you will be able to match the sound of the riff but however it would only be somewhat similar. What im trying to say is that you should keep an eye rather an ear out for how long the sound of a particular note lasts. If you can get a grip on this it would lead to you sounding like the original riff rather than a cover. Moreover comes a concept of beats and the use of a metronome for the same but that's a tad advanced so we'll get to that later.


Now, well it's simple you keep practicing the same riff till you attain some sort of perfection and move on to the next one. Once you have completed say maybe five riff's, try playing all the riff's together continuously. Let me tell you this now that getting the hang of it is not just difficult but would drive you a little crazy at times so what im tying to say is you just gotta keep your cool and see it through.

This Picture Says It All ...

The Pinky And the Psychological Effect

I suppose now we all have gradually started playing and our fingers seem a tad more relaxed on the fret board, so now comes the time of the pinky(The baby finger). I believe most of us are right handed so our left hand does not really come to use in day to day life. Oh! do you disagree with me?!!, Start playing the guitar, realize how weak your left hand actually is and the weakest of all them fingers would be the baby finger, trying to strengthen it is not only tough but imperative.


When you're just starting and getting the feel of things i would request you all to make use of the pinky as much as you can. By this i mean if you can play a certain riff without the use of the baby finger-good enough but try to indulge the same anyway. This is because if when you would want to play advanced stuff later on you would not only benefit but would find it immensely easy.


Now coming to the next part of my post. Aah yes! the psychological factor. Alright now this would sound funny to some and would sound hilarious to all guitar players maybe but for the beginners i feel it is important to know. Okay here it is- You control the Guitar, the guitar does not control you. What im trying to say is that you must develop a sense of confidence while playing the instrument and try to avoid jittery nerves. Now if you can synchronize your guitar with your head (lol),,,i think you should do well.

Alternate Picking

Alternate Picking, according to me is the base of learning guitar and should be learn't at the very beginning so that you can adapt to it more efficiently. I really don't need to talk about why it is so important, suffice to say without it there is no learning.

Now what is "Alternate Picking". This is basically a method where you use your plectrum to strike a note through the string using the upstroke and down-stroke. In more simpler terms i mean you would have to strike the string using your plectrum downwards and upwards too.

Alternate Picking is most useful in playing guitar solo's and many basic riff's will require you to use the same.

The reason why i stress this should be started with at the beginning is because many people start out playing by only using down-strokes, so when they want to start playing more advanced stuff where alternate picking is required they have to start the whole process of learning it again for it will be a very tedious job for one whose accustomed to down-strokes and not to mention the amount of time you will waste in the process.

If you are still not clear about what alternate picking is i would ask you to refer to any you-tube videos which will depict the same.

Lastly let me sign off on this note, guitar learning is a complicated process at the beginning and let me repeat the beginning, once you get your fingers settled, you shall reap the benefits. I also want to emphasize the fact that it is imperative you do not give up at the start because the start is everthing and will be for a long time.