Hand Strengthening: A Guidelines to Help and Protect Your Hands

Hands may have the smallest muscle in our body, however, it has a significant role in our life. Like the musician, they are prone  to have a hand injuries. This hand strengthening exercise and guidelines are designed to improve strength of muscle of hand and finger. This activity will help prevent injuries.

It’s a squeeze and release procedure that are very easy to follow. The more you do the exercise, the stronger the tougher hands you get. Basically hands are on of the important parts of our body that we should protect. Strengthen hands also improve the grip strength as you do he daily routine exercise or your hands, wrist and fingers. But be sure and be careful not to overextend the exercise to the point you feel pain.

 

Strengthening Hands and Arm

Maintaining strength in hands and arms are a good idea to avoid many injuries because of lack of proper hand training. It’s very easy to do some exercise and increase your range of motion. Simple stretching would be a good start and you shouldn’t feel pain. Hold and release your finger should do the trick. As you do it, you are strengthening your hands and arms at the same time relaxing it and keeping the flow of blood circulation in motion.

 

Strengthening your Fingers

Squeezing an exerciser in your hand is the proper way to strengthening your finger. All you have to do is grab a ball like a tennis ball or  a stress ball and put into your palm, then squeeze tightly and then release, by doing this routine everyday at 2-4 times a day you will have a strong fingers. If you reach the desired strength that you want, just do it once a day to maintain the desirable strength does exercise every day.

 

Hand Injury Prevention

Warming your hands and fingers before doing everything can help to avoid hand injury. Making your hands and finger to loose by stretching for a 1 – 2 minutes will lower the risk of having an injury.

 

Wrist Injury Prevention

Repetitive  stress injury (RSI) or carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the injuries cause by rubbing your hands repeatedly or the nerves in the hand squeeze or press together. Proper position of hands is the best way to prevent injuries. Many people who use their hands in their jobs like typists, assembly line workers, tailors musician and people who use their hand at work have a high risk of having wrist injuries There are special gloves that help avoid this and give extra support to position your wrist in a proper way. This also warm your wrist that help and improve the circulation of blood.

 

Why Warming Up?

Warming up loose and lessen the serious risk of having hand injuries. Warming up with these exercise instructions as said above  will assure to have enough blood circulation in your hands and fingers. It  can also prevent hands from getting cold that makes cramps. It can increase the range of motion reflexes of your hands, including your wrist and fingers.

 

Acoustic Guitar Care

Acoustic Guitar Care could give you an edge how to prolong your guitar instrument. Here are some few background tips:

  • We know that the guitar is made of wood, a thin one, this wood can be easily broken or damage without proper care. Unbalance temperature surroundings can affect the instrument structure.
  • When in the low cool room air temperature, the moisture of the wood expands and may cause damage to the guitar but not permanently. While in hot or high temperature the moisture of the wood dry out causing for it to have cracked and the glue joints will be lessened that may cause the opening.
  • Be advised that hanging the guitar onto the wall is not recommended, the rapid changes of temperature of the wall may also damage it. It’s best you put it in a guitar case when not using because humidity is less in a smaller place. Whether the temperature is overheating or freezing always makes an effort to protect your guitar.
  • If the instrument is broken, repairs should be done by an authorized repair person.

 

Cleaning the Instrument. A warm, damp clothing is the best cleaning material for the instrument. The guitar is coated with the highest-grade finish and it is very sensitive that even perspiration can damage it, so keep it dry. Avoid using any liquid solutions (it will just damage the coating ), just to keep your guitar clean and shiny.

Recommendation:  The guitar string can be cleaned with a soft cloth, this is enough to remove the skin oils before putting it into storage.

 

Tuning Guitar as Maintenance. Every machine or mechanical things need some tuning by the use of a toothpick. Just put some petroleum jell at the toothpick to lubricate the tuning machine, however, don’t do this too much to avoid dust which will make the machine less durable.

Recommendation: Lubricate one or two times a year for an open type of tuning machine.

 

Bridge and Endpins. The bride is the part where the strings are being put and lock by a pin notch. Make sure that the pin slot is properly aligned with the strings and the ball end is tightly pulls before you put the pin notch.

Recommendation: Check the pin notch once in a while to make sure it won’t loose from the Bridge.

 

The Strings. Although there are different types of strings, it is a general advice to use lighter strings set to play your guitar easier, hence you have to adjust the bridge saddle to avoid fret buzz. As you play your guitar, you will notice that the sound eventually loses its tune or out of its melody.

Moisture from the human skin can also damage the strings, making it worn out, corrosive and dirty.  When this happens, it’s time the strings should be replaced.

Recommendation: It is best to replace t whole set of strings (not only one string) to avoid the unbalance sounds of your guitar.

 

Traveling Guitar with Care. The guitar is one of the musical instruments that travels more than the other instruments that can be carried to travel, actually,  more than the other instruments in the world. If you are traveling by car or any land transportation, make sure you don’t put your guitar in the trunk. The heat of the trunk is unstable that it may go higher in temperature that may damage your instrument, putting it in the back seat is much safer.

If you’ll travel via airplane, hand carry is advisable. Fragile things should be carried by hand, which include a guitar. Doing this will avoid damage due to mishandling if put with other baggages.

 

Using Strap on a Guitar. Guitar straps can also damage the finish of your guitar. Some synthetic strap contains a solvent that makes the material so soft, make plaint and flexibilities that may cause the damage. Don’t let strap in contact with the guitar finish.

Recommendation: Best that you always remove the strap after use to avoid damage.

The Sound Holes of Acoustic Guitars

One will notice that traditional acoustic guitars have a rounded hole in the middle called soundhole. Soundhole is the part of the guitar where the air pressure (both inside and outside of the cavity of the guitar) will equalize when the top vibrated by the strings. The sound produced will be muffled when the guitar cavity is a close system.

The size of the soundhole should be big enough to match the air displacement of the guitar volume when it is played. The size of the instrument should be directly proportional to the opening of the sound hole.

Does soundhole needs to be round all the time? The round shape is often chosen for the soundhole because it is an easy design to work with, it allows for easy repair when needed (such as loosed brace or installing a pickup system). If the soundhole is not at the center of the guitar and not rounded, expect the repair bill to be high. Often times, the repair need to remove the hand string entirely to have the full access to the interior of the instrument.

Double Sound Hole

The famous double sound hole was made around 1920 by Francisco Simplicio. He had proved the disadvantage of the traditional sound hole position have weakened the acoustic guitar’s  top and the sound it produced. By applying the two sound holes on both sides, the fingerboards will be extended by two octaves and there will be an improved bass range sound.

Repositioning the sound hole on both sides of the fingerboard has an impact on the sound it produced. It can enlarge the vibrating top part of the guitar. With the proportion of the width or length and thickness of the top, the sound may become:

  •  In some level, You’ll notice the flexibility of the top part just like a traditional guitar. Although you can also notice to obtain a high mass of the top surface, thus giving you a way to maintain without loosing the approach and responsiveness.
  • It can also increase the volume and responsiveness with control on the sound.
  • With this design the Helmholtz frequency can be adjusted in a lower level which can give an impact with regards to the instrument’s tonal character.

Expert Luthiers on Alternative Soundholes

Decades ago, everyone saw the changes on famous design guitar builders like Lloyd Loar, D.F. Martin and more. But you can observe that most people require the centered round sound hole of the top, on the flattop guitars and an f-hole on either side of the bridge on the arch-top guitars.

But this doesn’t stop the experienced and respected Luthiers to continue to gaining experiment with the different soundholes locations of the instruments they are creating. Several manufacturers are embracing these concepts, to give acoustic guitars and basses unique sound holes.

Multple smaller soundhole are often combined with the complex arch-top guitar body can produce a bright and clear sound.

The “Paisley” soundhole, developed by Tacoma Guitars. They put the soundhole on the left side of the higher part of their “Wing Series” guitars, thus requiring less bracing to be able to support the hole design.

Soundpots are the holes placed on the top of the acoustic guitars facing the upward playing position. They support the main soundhole and this will help the players monitor the sound they produce.

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The Right Kind of Acoustic Strings

Learning to play a guitar is as important as choosing the right string for your acoustic guitar. There are things to consider before picking the type of string, first you need to know the type of acoustic guitar you already have. First, let us talk about the type of acoustic guitars:

Dreadnought. Usually medium gauge strings best fit this acoustic style guitar. The shape of this acoustic guitar is much boarder so it can bring out more of the bass sound from the medium string.

Grand auditorium. On this style of acoustic guitar, the light gauge strings will suit it.

One should remember when getting a string, the higher the string gauge the more tension it will be on the neck of the guitar. This means that the medium gauge has a higher tension compared to the lighter gauge string. Think about the playing-style you want to engage into. Ask yourself if you are more of a strummer or a fingerpicker. If you are a fingerpicker, it is best for you to have the light strings. They are easy to play compared to the medium strings.

Most beginners use lighter strings. If you are more of a strumming type, the medium is good for you. Although, the medium strings can give your fingers a hard time, so it’s alright to still choose the light strings if you want to. There are people who combine the light and medium in their acoustic guitar. You can put the light strings on the bottom three while the medium gauge strings on the top three strings. Make sure when you combine this type of gauge strings, you are able to play with finger picking and strumming as well.

The sound you want to employ is another thing you need to ask to yourself. You will notice that the medium stings will produce a bolder and deeper sound compare to the light strings. The medium string is inclined to produce the bass sound, while the light strings can sound more on the brighter and high sound.

Construction Materials for Acoustic Guitar Strings and their Sound Characteristics:

Brass. It produces the jangling, bright and metallic character sound. Bronze. This can give you a ringing, clear and bright tone, but it can wear-off quickly since it’s the effect of bronze’s oxidation.

Silk and Steel. This is famous to the fingerstyle and folk guitarist players. It has a steel core covered by copper, silk, nylon wire wrap on the lower strings. This is softer to touch and has a delicate tone.

Phosphor Bronze. This can produce a darker and warmer tone than the bronze. The quality sound is a bit crisp, and due to the phosphor in the alloy prolongs its life.

Polymer-coated. Its corrosion-resistant and some are with color for visual appeal. Less maintenance and have no bright reflection due to the coated strings that can give a warm look.

 

Below are the common acoustic strings designation and characteristics:

Moderate or Light Tension

• Less projection and volume.

• Easy on fretting (particularly on guitars with a higher activity).

• Good for legato techniques.

• Buzzing on frets are common

• Minimal marked-approach on Note Body

 

Medium or Normal Tension

• This is the balance characteristics between the low and high tension strings commonly produced when stricken.

 

Hard/Strong or High Tension

• Difficult fretting (particularly on guitars with high action).

• Good for strong-rhythmic playing.

• Good Projection and volume.

• Possible concern will be bridges, necks and top bracing with delicate instrument.

Guitarist Hands – Calluses and FingerNails

If you are a guitar player, your guitar is not the only one that needed TLC, Your hand plays a valuable part also. Whether you are a beginner, seasonal or regular player of acoustic guitar, you may realize now the changes your hands and fingers have to go through to achieve the playing skills you want.

Playing acoustic guitar can give fingertips sores and you can’t escape this. The adjustment of the hands and finger muscles have to go through, are part of routine one should learn when playing.

Knowing how to care for your hands will allow you to make your learning process easier and minimize the pain.

 

Calluses

This is the thicker or hard skin formed at the tip of the finger tips, when you continually use a pressure or friction on the strings, this is where calluses will slowly form. Actually, gaining this kind of skin at the finger tips are the goal of most guitarists. Calluses can help protect the inner fingertips while playing the guitar strings, so one can make the fretted notes.

Expert says it would be faster to build calluses by washing your fingers with rubbing alcohol (2-3 times /day). Once you gain calluses, all you need to do is maintain them so you can continue learning to play the guitar with ease.

 

Maintain the Calluses for inner protection of your fingertips:

• Continue playing the acoustic guitar on your usual schedule.

• Don’t worry if the calluses will flake, this is normal. Just keep on playing and it will come back.

• Don’t wash or let your fingers soak in water too long. Water will make the calluses soft and can be taken off. Shorter showers and wear gloves when you need to wash something.

• When your hands are wet, allow it to dry-up before you play the guitar to avoid from breaking the calluses.

• If you are not playing for a while, you can maintain the calluses by pressing the fret finger on the rim of the soda can or anything like it.

Pain is a normal thing when your fingers and hands are in the process of adjustment. The witch hazel is said to help your fingers relieve pain. Soaking your fingertips until the pain goes away.

 

Finger Nails To Care

When learning about the finger-style guitar, your finger nails have an important role in this part. You can them for picking and strumming the strings. Due to these unnatural activities for the finger nails there are possibility that i could split, chip, crack, or just break. This means it is essential to protect your fingernails so you can be an effective guitarist.

Using the fingernails for strumming or picking when playing a guitar can give the guitarist the feel of the strings and the sounds they are producing. But on the other hand, they have to face the damage it can do to their fingernails.

 

The Different Method to Protect your Finger Nails (Strumming/Picking) when playing guitar:

• Use file at the edges of your fingernails. This can minimize the breakage and chips that could happen.

• Cover your nails with reliable nail polish (not all nail polish can do this effectively), apply it 2 to 3 times. Make sure you cover in and out of the nails to protect your fingernails. If you regularly play the guitar, make sure you apply it every 2-3 days. Once done with the nail polishing give it 4 minutes to dry up and cure your nails by dipping them in a very cold water for half the time. This will keep the polish-on from 3 to 4 days. Allow the nail polish to dry up to 2 hours before playing.

• Artificial nails can also help to protect your nails from the strings and an be used for finger picking.

• You can use a product for strengthening the nails, to avoid the damage. You can search online or go to the pharmacy.

• Eating healthy food, drinking 8 glasses per day and sleeping 8 hours during night time can also give your nails and yourself a boost for health.

• Use plastic, or meal fingerpicks that fit the ends of your fingers for plucking he strings for, you can give you the advantage of not damaging your nails.

How You Can Tune Acoustic Guitar in Easy Steps

While it’s fun and enjoyable to learn how to play the acoustic guitar, it is not without its frustrating moments. Hearing the guitar play sounds out of tune is definitely one cause of frustration. Actually, when you first pick up a guitar, it’s nearly impossible to play anything on it that sounds good. Most new guitars are not properly tuned. Hence, even if you know the basic techniques to play a decent song, it would never come out right. Obviously, it’s important to tune acoustic guitar first before you’re able to play acceptable music. When a fine-tuned guitar and your guitar-playing skills combine, there’s no doubt that everyone would listen in awe.

Of course, if you’re new with your acoustic guitar lessons, it would be impossible to understand how tuning works and how it’s done. The first thing you need to realize is you need to tune your guitar each time you use it. Guitars have the habit of going out of tune on its own very quickly. Perhaps too much strumming on the strings can affect the tuning. Therefore, if you practice your lessons quite often, your guitar is bound to become out of tune. That’s why it’s important to tune your guitar regularly and as soon as you notice a difference in the sound coming out from it. You need not worry that tuning your guitar would take too much time, leaving you with little to devote to your lessons. It only takes a couple of minutes and if you were already adept with tuning, you’d be able to do it in a matter of seconds.

What else do you need to know about how to tune acoustic guitar? Well, if you were tuning the guitar for the first time, it would be a good idea to use another source for your reference pitch. You will use this source to set the initial pitch and work your way into tuning the rest of your guitar using that one note. In order to set the initial pitch, you could use a pitch pipe, tuning fork, a piano, another guitar, or any other options. The important thing is the source should be able to give you the perfect pitch, as this would set the tone of your guitar. You could also try the fret method, which is the time-tested way to tune your guitar.

The fact is there are sites that teach how to tune acoustic guitar online. However, for your benefit, here are the basic steps:

  1. Take your index finger and push down the sixth or E string found on the fifth fret. On the fifth fret, you would see a dot (marker). Make sure to play in the space between the two metal bars. It’s important to push down hard to produce a clear note. Afterward, compare the pitch of that note you played (this is usually the A note) with the fifth or A string played with open fingers this time (this means you would release your hold on the string). Obviously, when both actions produce different sounds, you need to adjust the fifth or A string.
  2. For the next step, you need to push your index finger down on the fifth or A string at the fifth fret (the D note) and change the fourth or D string to produce the same sound.
  3. Repeat the same procedure, playing the fourth string this time, which is still on the fifth fret (note G). You also need to tune the third string with open fingers until they sound the same.
  4. For the third string, you would hold your index finger down on the fourth fret (note B) and repeat the same techniques as in numbers one through three.
  5. Finally, play the second string on the fifth fret (we go back to note E), and do the same things as above while making sure the result produces the same sound.

If you find the above steps a tad complicated, you can always tune acoustic guitar tuner style. What does that mean? Well, there are electronic tuners sold in most music stores. Such a gadget can help you tune your guitar without difficulty. Nevertheless, if you feel strongly about tuning your guitar through hard work, then you can just use a tuner to fine-tune your guitar. With a fine-tuned guitar, you would be able to play the sweetest music.

Simple Tips When Learning to Play Acoustic Guitar

One can learn many musical instruments, but when you learn to play acoustic guitar, it’s a completely different story. Something about the acoustic guitar makes it different from the rest. Perhaps that’s partly due to its versatility. Nowadays, you would see people mastering the art of playing electric guitars. Nevertheless, even before the advent of these guitars, acoustic guitars have already made their mark in the world of music. Unlike the electric guitar, the acoustic one has a hollow body and doesn’t make use of amplification to produce sound. Instead, it relies on natural sound produced by strings when its vibrations bounce inside the guitar body’s hollow cavity. Aside from that main difference, an acoustic guitar differs from an electric guitar in that it’s very simple. You don’t have to plug it into any electronics to produce amplification.

Most people who are trying to learn how to play acoustic guitar often end up frustrated. That may be because they fail to pay heed to things that could help make the lessons easier. That’s not to say that acoustic guitar lessons are difficult. It’s far from it. The only time the lessons become tricky is if the student fails to put his heart and mind into the lessons. Otherwise, a person can pretty much breeze through the lessons. If you desperately want to learn how to play an acoustic guitar, you need to practice often. The key to not losing focus when practicing is to play along with your favorite song. You would be surprised at how wonderful a motivator your favorite song can be when you’re still trying to learn the ropes.

Supposing you already know how to read chords, the best thing to do is to browse the Internet for the chords of one of your favorite songs. As much as possible, you need to start with a song that has a simple chord progression. Once you have picked a song and downloaded the chord charts, you may start practicing how to play acoustic guitar chords. Nevertheless, it would be wise if you start a system for learning. What does this mean? You can sum the answer up in one word – discipline. If you really want to learn how to play the guitar, you need to set the right time and place for you to learn even the simplest of chords. It would also be a good idea if you give yourself a timeframe to complete one course. For instance, give yourself two weeks to learn the basics. Three to four days of practice in a course of one week is good enough.

You also need to make sure that your guitar is tuned properly. Some people commit the grave mistake of “playing” an acoustic guitar without even knowing that each guitar string needs to be tuned to a specific pitch. When you tune your guitar, you need to make sure you get it exactly right. If one of strings is off pitch, no matter how good you play, the sound won’t come off as good. Buying a pitch pipe could help you set your guitar in tune. Keep in mind that tuning the guitar is done from string to string.

It’s easy to play acoustic guitar as long as you’re using the right plectrum or pick. Many who are just starting to learn how to play usually ignore the pick. They have no idea that it contributes a lot to guitar playing. Guitar picks are available in various gauges, and this determines what kind of sound you would be able to produce with each strum. If you use a very thin pick, the sound would be much softer than if you use a thick pick. Other people opt not to use picks and just use their fingers. It’s actually the guitar player’s choice.

Those are just some of the ways that can help you as you learn how to play the guitar. So as not to become overwhelmed when practicing, try to limit the lessons to twenty or thirty minutes each day. One hour a day may be a bit too much. You may practice as little or as often as you please, making sure you practice at the same time every day. Invest on guitar and chord books other than downloadable chords and tabs. Before you know it, you’ll learn to play acoustic guitar songs like a pro.

Why Choosing Electric Acoustic Guitar Is a Good Idea

You have two options when buying an acoustic guitar. You can buy the traditional one, or you may choose to buy an electric acoustic guitar. What makes these two different? Well, with a traditional acoustic, you need to use a separate microphone to amplify the sound. On the other hand, with electric acoustic, pickups are already fitted in the body. These pickups are also referred to as piezoelectric pickups, which are the same as the under saddle pickups used in amplifying acoustic guitars. The pickups work by creating a signal when you strum the steel strings of the guitar and these vibrate.

Nevertheless, electric acoustic guitars actually look the same as traditional ones. These are also made of wood and have six strings. Each piece features a sound hole, as in normal guitars, which amplify the sound vibrations caused by the string. However, you can plug it in an outlet to produce sounds that resemble that coming from a traditional acoustic with the touch of an electric guitar. If you unplug it, it goes back to playing the same sound you can get from an acoustic guitar. In effect, it’s like getting two kinds of guitar in one instrument. Your mood would dictate whether you would opt to plug it in or leave it as it is.

There are many electric acoustic guitars available in music stores and certain online stores. If you were interested in learning more about these, it would be a good idea to read electric acoustic guitar reviews. Such reviews would allow you to compare different brands, features, and specifications. It would also be a good way for you to find out what other people think about this particular type of acoustic guitar. An in-depth understanding of each feature, as well as how this can affect the sound that the guitar produces, would definitely help you make sound decisions especially when you’ve convinced yourself that an electric is much better than the traditional one.

Some of the best brands of electric acoustic guitars are Gibson, Yamaha, Ibanez, and Squier. Even if such guitars have electrical amplification features, these are still acoustic guitars at heart. The piezoelectric pickups in an electric acoustic guitar do not generate sound from the strings themselves but from the guitar’s body. Keep in mind that an electric acoustic has steel strings. Hence, these aren’t as pliant as nylon ones. When you pluck a steel string, it effectively vibrates the air around it. The shape of the body of the electric acoustic captures the air vibrations and amplifies these naturally to create musical notes. Since the walls of the guitar body are flexible and thin, the vibrations of the air also create light vibrations in the body. Consequently, the piezoelectric pickups detect these vibrations. What’s noteworthy is the sound that resonates still closely resembles the sound of an acoustic, albeit made better with electronic amplification.

You’re probably wondering why you should opt to invest on the best electric acoustic guitar. Well, assuming you’re way past beginners’ lessons, you would definitely want to be given the chance to show everyone the fruits of your hard work. An electric acoustic allows you to perform with far greater versatility and flexibility. People who use electric acoustic guitars have discovered that they can create a fascinating mix of styles. Just imagine, you can play purely acoustic music one moment and switch to electric mode where electrical effects combine with natural acoustic sound. Obviously, your audience would be thrilled at the awesome sound played before them. You could even get away with a song that’s normally played on a purely electric guitar and no one would notice the difference.

Indeed, there are many reasons why owning an acoustic electric guitar is a good idea. It allows you to explore worlds you may not have imagined possible if you only rely on the traditional acoustic type. You would definitely be putting your money to good use if you invested on one. You would be inspired to improve your guitar-playing skills with the right instrument. It’s like getting two instruments for the price of one. If you know how to use your money practically, then you wouldn’t have a hard time choosing between the two.

How to Prepare Yourself for Acoustic Guitar for Beginners Lessons

Why do some people prefer acoustic guitars to other instruments like the piano, for instance? One reason is the versatility of an acoustic guitar. It’s also portable, so you can play it whenever you like and wherever you are. Some people learn how to play through books while others scour the Internet for online lessons. Still, others buy or download tutorial videos that provide acoustic guitar for beginners lessons. What’s great about taking guitar lessons is once you learn the basics and start plucking an entire song on your guitar, you can pretty much play anything. You can start playing the blues, ballad, pop, jazz, and even rock tunes. That’s how versatile an acoustic guitar can be.

If you really want to learn how to play the acoustic guitar, you need to have self-discipline. This involves setting up a system for learning that you would follow. Just as it is with everything, you need to have focus, discipline, and the determination when learning how to play the acoustic guitar. Hence, you need to set aside time every day for practice. If you’re practicing in the house, choose a favorite spot where you can lay all your guitar books and chords open as you play. Some people try to practice a few hours each day, but this routine proves to be overwhelming for others. In your case, it would be wiser to dedicate 20 or 30 minutes each day so you wouldn’t be overloaded with information.

When studying how to play acoustic guitar for beginners, you also need to have a definite period in which you would have mastered a particular course. For instance, if you’ve barely started with your lessons, you can give yourself around two to three weeks to master the first lesson. If studying the lessons on consecutive days is too much, try to do three days a week while making sure that the interval is not spaced too far apart. That way, whatever you learned previously stays fresh in your mind. This method of practicing would definitely get the friction out of learning the basics. Rather than develop a feeling of distaste over the simple lessons, you’d heighten up anticipation and learn without commitment.

It would also be a good idea to watch videos. You can buy or rent these videos or opt to download these from the Internet. Why would you want to watch tutorial videos? Well, as a beginner, it’s likely that you will find yourself struggling with a particular note. There’s bound to be one note that you can’t seem to play correctly no matter how hard you try. Usually, this is where learning acoustic guitar for beginners becomes frustrating for others. However, you don’t want to be a flash in the pan. You don’t want to build anticipation, only to find the enthusiasm waning after several lessons. With a video tutorial, you would get a systematic instructional on how to read chords, locate the appropriate chords on your guitar, tune your guitar, and play an entire acoustic song. You can definitely learn a lot from these videos and video sharing websites.

Even if you’re a beginner, it’s safe to assume that you have your share of favorite acoustic artists. After all, it’s impossible to embrace a love for the instrument if you didn’t have inspiration. Try to take advantage of the Internet by searching for a tablature (tabs) that your favorite artist transcribed. Nothing beats the feeling of having to learn the instrument from no less than your favorite artist. In addition, some artists upload videos of themselves playing the acoustic guitar. What you can do is search for a video of an artist covering a famous tune (perhaps one of your favorites) on the guitar. Try to watch the artist carefully, taking note of each pluck he makes on the strings. Before long, you would have adopted the playing style of the artist and incorporating your own brand to your music.

Of course, it would be impossible to put all these into practice unless you get your hands on good acoustic guitar for beginners. The Internet is a great place to look for acoustic guitars that would be perfect to start your lessons. Remember, learning how to play the guitar is easy even if you don’t have any background knowledge. By following the simple steps outlined here and instilling within you the determination and discipline, you’ll be able to play the acoustic guitar with much expertise in no time.

How to Select a Bass Acoustic Guitar

One of the most popular types of guitars is the bass acoustic guitar, which has a hollow body made of wood that is similar to a bass guitar. The only difference is that it’s larger than an acoustic guitar with steel strings and produces a louder and brighter sound than a classical guitar. Normally, an acoustic bass guitar has a solid top, solid back, and solid sides. Usually, guitar makers use cedar and spruce to construct the solid wood top while the back and sides are made from mahogany, maple, or rosewood. This is the same instrument used by most folk and country music artists. Nevertheless, even rock and pop stars are now using this type of guitar.

Like typical acoustic guitars, an acoustic bass guitar is fretted. Frets are the raised metal strips you see on the fingerboard underneath the strings. What is the purpose of frets in a bass acoustic? Well, the frets divide the fingerboard into semitone divisions. Unlike traditional acoustic guitars that have six strings, the bass acoustic only has four strings tuned to notes E, A, D, and G (these are an octave lower than the lowest four strings of the traditional acoustic guitar). Similar to the electric acoustic guitar, a bass acoustic has a pickup, which could be either magnetic or piezoelectric. This means an acoustic bass may be amplified if the guitarist so desires, although it’s much preferable that acoustic bass guitar players never go without amplifiers.

Before you finalize your decision to buy an acoustic bass guitar, it would be a good idea if you pored over several aspects that may have a bearing on your decision. For instance, you need to know that the sound that the bass acoustic guitar would produce would highly depend on the shape of its sound box and the wood used to create it. The guitar produces crispier tones when lightweight wood is used to make it compared to the moody, deep sounds produced when heavier woods are made to construct the guitar. Hence, if you’re buying a guitar with the intention of playing it along with other instruments, you need to choose carefully to ensure that it blends well with the sound of those instruments.

It’s important to be an intelligent buyer who chooses what he wants based on what he knows. One thing you need to keep in mind is that guitar makers choose woods according to the sound velocity properties of a particular wood. As an example, mahogany wood is known to bring out strong solid tones when used as the guitar top. It can also accommodate higher ends of the sound range. Conversely, tops made of rose wood are light; thus, clear and light sounds are produced. Furthermore, since rose wood has very high velocity sound index, it’s perfect for a wide variety of uses in creating a guitar. Guitar players have attested to the fact that a bass acoustic guitar with rose wood top is very playable.

Once you have chosen the perfect wood for your guitar, the next thing you need to consider is the number of frets. Bass guitars usually have 21, 22, or 24 frets. If you’ve been playing the guitar for a long time already, then you probably know the right number of frets that suit your playing style. It would also be a good idea to hold the guitar just to see how it sits in your hand. This is important since the neck of acoustic bass guitars don’t have a standard shape. It could go from oval to round, with flat variations somewhere in between. The sound that guitars emit relies heavily on the tuning heads at the top of the neck. Therefore, you ought to check if the tuners are easy to turn, keeping in mind that good tuners always account for perfect pitch. It would also do you good to pay attention to the fingerboard, checking to see if it’s coated. A bass acoustic guitar with a coated fingerboard would allow you to get the maximum vibrating sounds as you work your hands up and down the neck.

These are some of the things you need to keep in mind when selecting the ideal acoustic bass guitar to suit your needs.