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How Often Should You Change Your Guitar Strings?

Friday, May 18th, 2012

Are you wondering how often you should be changing your guitar strings? It’s a common question for beginner guitarists, and it goes hand-in-hand with general guitar maintenance. Read on for some great advice from one of our office rock stars, Megan L…

Learning how to take care of a guitar can seem like a mysterious and difficult undertaking. When I was first learning to play, I was surprised at how much care and attention goes into keeping this instrument sounding great. Between tuning, cleaning and changing strings, at times I felt more like I had invested in a strange new pet than of a guitar. Over time, I found that learning when to change my strings actually made my guitar sound a lot better, which helped me to become a more confident player.

Many factors go into determining how often you should consider changing your guitar strings. Dirt and oil from your hands can build up on the strings, causing the sound to become sort of flat or dead. (Learn how to clean your guitar strings here!) Strings stretch out as they are played and eventually do not hold tune well any longer. Additionally, steel strings can rust, which not only affects the sound of your guitar but also makes it kind of gross to play.

If you are playing for several hours every day, you might want to change your guitar strings as often as once a week. If you aren’t quite ready for that much string-changing, washing your hands before you play can help reduce the amount of dirt and oil from your skin that gets onto your strings. However, if you have extra sweaty hands when you play, you might want to change your strings a bit more often. If you notice your guitar doesn’t hold tune as well as it used to or the tone sounds less rich, you might notice a vast improvement if you just change your strings. Personally, I like to change my strings a day or two before a performance. Not only does it make my guitar sound better, but it helps me feel more prepared to succeed.

– Megan L., TakeLessons staff member

Thoughts, questions, or want to share your own tips? Head on over to our Facebook page and leave a comment! Want to get more expert advice to help with your guitar playing? Sign up for email updates here!

You might also like…
- Do You Have the Right Strings On Your Guitar?
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Photo by meddygarnet

Tags: Guitar maintenance, Guitar strings
Posted in Guitar | 1 Comment »

Mastering the Art of Zen Guitar

Monday, May 14th, 2012

Billy Joel once said “I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everybody loves music.”

Today, we encourage you to think about why you play the guitar. Dreams of shredding on stage with Steve Vai aside, most musicians would cite the emotional connection to music as a big motivator.

Guitar practice, after all, is like a form of meditation; think about it: there’s a reason that art and music therapy have become a booming industry. The ties between human emotion and music are unmistakable. (Need extra proof? Check out this video of a nursing home resident and his reaction to music from his era.)

Many spiritual advocates encourage the act of living “in the moment,” a mindset that will help you leave the past behind and stop worrying about the things you can’t control in the future. For some musicians, getting “lost” in the music is natural. For others, it may take some practice.

So how can you add a little zen to your guitar playing? Here are some great tips for a zen guitar practice session, as originally published on Guitar Habits, one of our favorite guitar blogs:

Solitude
The best way to practicing this way is in solitude. Tell your family when and for how long you are going to practice. Ask them to give you some privacy for the time being. Find yourself a room in the house where you can have some peace and quiet. Create your own sacred hide out where you can play your instrument, where you can practice without distractions (turn off all electronic devices) and work on becoming a better guitar player or songwriter.

Slow down
Slow is the way to go. When you practice licks, solos, chord progressions, or anything at all, you first need to practice things slow. We are all eager to play faster, but we also need to play fluently. Your fingers and your brain need to get used to new moves and shapes. Be patient and take your time. Concentrate on clear notes, steady rhythm and guitar fluency. Make sure you can play things perfect slowly and then build up speed gradually.

Pause
Take a moment to breathe and release the tension from the muscles in your fingers, hands, arms, shoulders and back. Let them rest for a few minutes. Go through a small relaxation exercise for great results: Focus on single parts of your body and relax them one by one.

Self-fulfilling prophecy
You design and live the life you create. Buddha said: “All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” Therefore banish all negative thoughts like: “I can’t do this,” “This is impossible,” and “No way this is going to work.” If those lines enter your mind you will just say to yourself: “I let you go now.” Replace that with positive, motivational and inspiring thoughts like: “I will get there,” “I’m becoming a better player with each workout,” “I’m working on something cool here” and “Practice makes perfect.”

What do you think of these tips? Are you “zen” in your guitar playing? Stop by our Facebook page and share your thoughts with the community!

Learn more about guitar – sign up to receive email updates with even more expert tips and advice!

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Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography.

Posted in Guitar, Inspiration & Motivation! | No Comments »

Predicting the Future: 3 Simple Visualization Strategies

Monday, May 7th, 2012

Here at TakeLessons, we’re big fans of visualization. It’s great for helping you reach your musical goals (or any kind of goal, at that!), as well as a method of practicing without actually needing your instrument (See: 5 Ways to Practice Without Your Guitar).

On the other hand, for some musicians it’s all too common to mistake visualizing for… well, daydreaming. If you sit down and close your eyes, intending to memorize a piece of music, make sure to catch yourself if you start thinking of other things – other (unrelated) goals, your concert tickets this weekend, or what you’re going to have for dinner tonight, for a few examples.

In order to really help you succeed with your visualization strategies, we found these 3 great tips over on the Classical Guitar blog that are right on the money. Check out these strategies and focus on one at a time. Spend a good chunk of time on the technique, and who knows – you might find yourself a visualization convert:

1. Visualize the Piece
This is the most basic of visualization techniques. Simply find a quiet place and visualize the piece you wish to mentally rehearse. See your fingers moving and hear the piece in your mind’s ear. At first it’s okay to move your fingers a bit while visualizing, but try to ween yourself off of that habit as soon as possible. Since you’re not allowing your fingers to go on auto pilot and finish the piece for you, this sort of visualization will greatly enhance memorization.

2. Visualize the Performance
For those of us don’t play a concert every week, stepping on stage can be terrifying. Another mental rehearsal technique is to imagine yourself on stage. More importantly, imagine yourself after the performance. Imagine the feeling of success. See yourself walking on confidently and walking off after the successful performance. Capturing these feelings of success before the concert can play a critical role in building your confidence before even setting foot on stage. (This is an excellent strategy for overcoming stage fright!)

3. Think Ahead of Your Hands
The final method is so effective you’ll wonder if you accidentally sold your soul for more guitar skills. This method should be done while playing or practicing, and is essentially thinking and looking ahead of your hands.

After your left hand plays a note, your eyes should shift to the location(s) where the finger(s) will be placed next. Imagine your left hand in this new position–see it there with your mind’s eye. Unlike the physical preparation of your fingers, this practice method deals with mental preparation.

For more tips, continue reading the article here.

Your turn: what visualization techniques help you the most? Share your own experiences – head on over to our Facebook page and join the discussion!

Want to learn more? Sign up for email updates to learn more guitar tips and tricks!

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Tags: Guitar exercises
Posted in Guitar | No Comments »

The 7-String Guitar: How to Navigate That Extra String

Monday, April 30th, 2012

If you’ve already mastered guitar chords and guitar chord transitions on your normal, 6-string guitar, why not take it up a notch? Experimenting with a 7-string guitar can be a great way to enhance your skills and try something new, once you’ve been taking guitar lessons for a while. The seventh string will extend the bass range of the instrument, adding dimension that’s perfect for certain styles of music like heavy metal (Steve Vai, Korn and Megadeth have all experimented) and jazz (George Van Eps, notably).

However, even though it’s just one more string, the transition can be tricky for some. If you’re already a music theory pro, you may be able to determine on your own how to use that extra string. Other students may need a bit more direction. To help you get started with the 7-string guitar, here are some awesome tips from Tom Hess over at Shredaholic:

Avoid Overuse Of The Low B String

The first thing a guitarist typically does when he/she gets a new 7-string guitar is immediately start playing around with the new string. In most cases, making ‘heavier’ sounding guitar riffs often becomes the main purpose that guitar players choose to pick up their 7-string over their 6-string. This is definitely one of the coolest aspects of playing 7-string guitar. However, the problem is that players often end up in a habit of playing the same style of guitar (rhythm) every time the lower pitch range is used. This will make your guitar playing turn stale very quickly. In order to fix this, focus on incorporating the other strings into your rhythm guitar playing. This will balance things out and keep your music interesting.

Use A Lead Guitar Playing Style On The Low B String

Due to the lower pitch range that comes with the added string, most guitar players consider the 7-string guitar to be geared toward rhythm playing. This causes them to mostly ignore also expanding their ‘lead guitar’ techniques onto the low B string. As a result, these musicians totally miss out on all the interesting new guitar licks that can be made. If you are not confident in your abilities to play lead guitar or use the low B string, find a guitar teacher who fully understands how to teach 7-string guitar and can show you how to effectively master these areas in your playing.

Use The Low Range To Add Depth To Your Chord Progressions

The 7-string guitar can be used to create many interesting chords that are not possible on a 6-string guitar. In most cases, musicians will use the 7-string guitar to play in a metal style; however, you are not limited to this style alone. The 7-string guitar can be played in a wide variety of musical genres. With the addition of the extra seventh string, you can give basic guitar chords a much more interesting sound. The coolest part of this is that you can use the low B string to essentially play standard guitar and bass guitar simultaneously!

Continue reading the article here.

Readers, what do you think? If you’ve played a 7-string guitar, what did you think of it? Leave a comment below or stop by our Facebook page and let us know! Like these posts? Sign up to receive updates right to your inbox! Click here to subscribe.

You might also like…
- Give Your Guitar Strings Some Love Today
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Photo by germanium.

Tags: 7 String Guitar
Posted in Guitar | No Comments »

5 Quick Fixes to Improve Your Guitar Playing

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

These days, there are so many ways to go about learning the guitar – YouTube videos, e-books, regular books, iPad tutorials, DVDs, audio lessons and more.

Although it might sound easier, learning to play guitar without the trained eye of a teacher can leave you with a higher chance of learning bad habits and poor technique. And the longer you play with those bad habits, the longer it may take to progress. In order to combat these beginner guitar mistakes, the best thing to do is work with a private teacher who can help you identify them. Many of these simple mistakes have less to do with specific techniques, so they’re often overlooked.

There are however, some “quick fixes” you can start working on to instantly improve your playing. Here are a few to start working on before it’s too late, as featured on Guitarnoise.com:

1. Worry more about posture than looking cool.
Playing well starts with paying attention to the basics. And nothing is more basic than how you hold the guitar, whether you’re sitting or standing while playing. Whenever you’re having trouble playing a chord cleanly or making a switch from one chord to another, you can often correct this by simply correcting your posture or position while holding your guitar.

2. Strum with the wrist, not the whole arm.
Keeping the beat and playing steady, confident rhythms is essential for any guitarist, even those who only want to play leads and solos. But most beginners, especially those who’ve only seen guitarists on videos, think that strumming involves an incredible amount of energy and a wild flailing of the arms. Nothing could be further from the truth.

3. Get rid of your chord charts as soon as you can.
The sooner you memorize your basic major and minor chords, the sooner you can dispense with chord charts and as soon as you do that you’ll find that you have more time to enjoy playing! There will always be new chords to learn, but do your best to memorize all the chords you’ve played as soon as possible. And the best way to do that is to practice chord transitions.

4. Use your ears instead of your eyes.
Music is aural, not visual. Professional musicians will invariably tell you that listening and ear training is the most important talent for any player to develop. Rhythm is something you feel and hear. Relying on your eyes to tell you when a chord change occurs will almost always put you behind and off the beat. Work on first using, and then trusting and developing your ears, and leaving your eyes behind for a while. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you start to make more progress.

5. Learn whole songs.
What would you say about a cover band that only played the first few bars of every tune they started? Would you pay to see Neil Young play just the start of “Cinnamon Girl”? Or imagine going to see Metallica and having them play only the introduction of “Enter Sandman”. People listen to musicians to hear songs, whole songs. So while it can certainly be satisfying to learn a particularly difficult introduction or guitar fill or solo, don’t settle for learning just one part of any song. The art of making music comes from playing the whole piece.

Readers: what other “simple” changes have helped your guitar playing? Leave a comment below or stop by our Facebook page and share your thoughts! Like these posts? Sign up to receive updates right to your inbox! Click here to subscribe.