www.premierguitar.comPG’s Rebecca Dirks is on Location at the 2011 Montreal Guitar Show where she visits the Ruokangas Guitars booth. In this segment, we get to see and learn more about the Unicorn, Mojo, Hellcat, and Steam Bass. For more Montreal Guitar Show videos or to view Premier Guitar’s COMPLETELY FREE digital edition magazine, be sure to visit http
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So, you want to learn to play the guitar? Congratulations, you’re now at the beginning of a fun and rewarding journey.

The first thing you now need to do is make an important decision – what type of guitar is the right one for you? Well, it all depends on the type of music you want to play. Are you into Rock or blues, metal, country, funk, etc.? Whichever type of music you prefer, there’s pretty much a range of guitars to suit it.

As an example, if you enjoy listening to harder rock, like metal, then buying an electric guitar by such companies as Ibanez, Washburn or Jackson would be ideal. However, if softer rock is more your thing, a guitar by Fender, Gibson or Yamaha would be the better choice.

The best thing to do after having done a little online research is to pay a visit to a guitar store and get a hands on feel of some. I’d be lying if I said you only buy guitars based on their make, they’ve got to look and feel comfortable too.

The majority of guitar playing professionals opt to stick with one make or model of guitar. Players like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton primarily played Fender Stratocasters throughout their careers. Slash from Guns n Roses plays a Gibson Les Paul, as does Jimmy Page. I’d suggest looking up all your favourite guitar players online and finding out what type of guitar they typically use, then go and try those out in the store.

Another piece of advice is to look out for and ask the store employees about the ‘action’ of any guitars that interest you. This term refers to the space between the strings and the neck. Basically, the higher the action, the harder you have to press down on the string, and the harder the guitar will be to play.

A fair percentage of guitars are made with an action that is too high for the those just learning to play the guitar to get to grips with. Should you get one like this, it’s quite possible that playing will hurt your fingers so much that you’ll feel like giving up after a couple of weeks. Don’t worry though, let the sales assistant know that you’re aware of this issue and they’ll show you guitars with actions that are well matched to your playing ability.

If you’re looking to learn more check out Guitar Lessons LA or Guitar Lessons Seattle.

How to Play Guitar for Beginners

The internet is a truly magnificent and wonderful learning resource. Young people today don’t all appreciate how lucky they are to have the worlds knowledge and skills at their fingertips via the internet.

I started playing over thirty years ago with Bert Weedon’s famous ‘Play in a Day’ book, back in the 1970s. In those days I couldn’t afford guitar lessons so I would watch guitarists very closely at every opportunity.

Modern technology has revolutionised the way that people learn to play the guitar. There are so many excellent guitar tuition DVDs that can be played over and over again, unlike a face to face guitar lesson. And the internet is the most ideal way to distribute and deliver some fantastic guitar tutorials.

There are an abundance of guitar teaching websites but my favourite place for guitar tutorials is Youtube. You can find instructional videos on everything from choosing guitars to making your own electric guitar. There are plenty of videos that will help those who are just starting out with the guitar and lots more that are ideal for people like me, who’ve been playing for a while but want to learn more techniques and tunes.

Learning some new techniques, tunes and licks has become my favourite hobby. If the weather is bad then you will generally find me learning a new tune or two from Youtube. I think that my guitar playing skills have improved more in the past five years, thanks to Youtube, than it did in the prior twenty years.

Another useful feature is that the system is interactive. If I find a video of someone playing a piece that I like I can easily make it one of my favourites and maybe leave a comment for the performer to see. Also, I like to ask the odd question and invariably the person who created the video will respond with an answer. Its a bit like having any number of great guitarists as personal guitar playing consultants.

These days I can’t help but feel a little jealous of the young people who are just starting to play guitar. I like to think that if I had been born at a time when the internet was available, providing this wealth of incredibly valuable instruction and guidance, who knows, I might have become the next Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan.

If you’ve decided that you want to take up the guitar, but prefer to live in the engine room of any band by playing the bass, then you are obviously a lover of rhythm, rumble, and live musical atmosphere. The bass guitar, together with the drums, is the rhythm section of any band and so it will be important to develop a good sense of timing and beat.  Choosing the correct instrument is important, as is dedication to practicing in order to become an accomplished bassist.

Iconic bass guitars like the Fender Precision not only drove many a jazz, rock and surf band but became as recognisable as the screaming lead instruments.  Unlike lead guitars, where most novices are advised to start out with an acoustic, prospective bass players will probably go straight to a four sting electric bass guitar. Some great brands for starter deals include Washburn, Squier and Epiphone. These companies produce guitars that look good and play great for the price. Fretless, acoustic and five-string basses each have their own type of sounds and can be very powerful and sonorous, but they are very hard to learn compared with four string electric basses. Most tutorial books or CDs for beginners are written for the four-string fretted bass.

You can buy a second hand bass guitar.Most used equipment drops in price over the years and can offer better quality and sound for the same price as a new bass.Many other used instruments have poor sound quality and setup with unreasonably high action, or simply do not hold tune correctly.Always check a second hand instrument for damage and play it (or have someone else play it) before buying it.   The time and effort you would have to put into carefully selecting a used bass guitar is substantial, and it’s probably safer to look at some of the quite reasonably priced electric guitars and bass starter packages from well known brand names.

The Behringer bass guitar pack for example includes the guitar and a dedicated bass guitar amplifier, gig bag, cable, an adjustable strap and picks. The Ibanez GSR190J 4-String Bass Guitar Pack also includes a 10 watt amplifier and accessories at a very affordable price.  Or you could go straight to Squier Precision bass guitars.  They are the worlds best-selling bass because of their excellent value. They feel good, sound good and fit the needs of any starting-out bass player on a budget.

Whichever purchase route you take, always try before you buy.Most guitar shops will let you plug in and play around with any instrument so you can check how it sounds, looks, and feels in your hands. Do not buy something used without playing it first unless it comes from a reputable source you trust and has some sort of return policy. There are very reputable and well established Internet-based music stores that can generally offer better deals than high street retail but be very cautious about buying instruments on Internet sites such as eBay.Bring someone along who is an experienced bassist and let them play the instruments you are considering buying.

There is a confusing variety of acoustic guitars as well as an array of electric guitars to choose from.  A beginner is hard pressed to know where to start.The only advice they get may come from a shop assistant who’s desperate to shift the item that’s been sitting in the corner for months or push the brand that gives the best commission.So, where do you start when choosing a guitar for a beginner?

You may ultimately dream of becoming a guitar hero and rock god, but electric guitars are probably not the best choice to start out with.There are some neat electric guitar packages available, like the Fender Starcaster Strat and Amp set, which contains everything you need to start playing.The Fender Starcaster electric guitar and the Fender SP-10 practice amplifier are excellent value and well made, but for the out and out novice it’s probably best to look at an acoustic, steel strung guitar.

Why suggest acoustic?  Steel-strung acoustic guitars are excellent to learn on, are Ideal for solo or group work, and appropriate for a wide range of styles.  They are very portable and of course don’t require amps or associated equipment and so should be less expensive than an electric guitar package.But less expensive should not imply cheap.

Cheap acoustics tend to sound terrible, and that will discourage practising.  With budget acoustic guitars, the ‘action’ (how high the strings are above the fretboard) may well be too high, making it difficult to hold down strings, or it may be too low, causing notes to consistently buzz.They often have cheap ‘machine heads’ (the bit you attach the strings to and tune the guitar with) that wear out quite quickly.   You do get what you pay for, but there are some really good value starter packages available.

The Fender CD60 for example has features you’d expect in much more expensive acoustic instruments, including a spruce top, mahogany back and sides and die-cast tuners.The pack includes a tuition DVD, Electronic Tuner, Acoustic Guitar Strings and a selection of Guitar Picks. The Ibanez V50NJP Jampack acoustic guitar package is another well priced and made starter set that includes a gig bag, electronic tuner, guitar strap and picks.  How well you know the brand will give some reassurance of quality – Fender guitars, Ibanez, Epiphone and Ashton are all respected makes.Try to avoid really cheap packages with brand names you don’t know.  Ideally, if you are buying new, make sure the guitar is checked out by someone knowledgeable and if you’re buying second hand take a seasoned player with you.

The replica or tribute phenomena in music can be taken either way.Some tribute bands are manned by decent musicians, in a few cases probably better than the originals they mimic.  That’s almost certainly true with the dozens of Status Quo tribute acts out there!Replica guitars are also a burgeoning music industry business.  Some tribute acts take things to the extreme of insisting on using their hero’s original instruments if they’re still available, or getting replicas if they’re not.

Guitars are more than just a musical instrument.They are also cultural symbols, fashion statements and badges of personality.Replica guitars have a mixed reputation and many people don’t want to see further than the logo stamped on the headstock.  Cheap Chinese copies have flooded the market and their quality is certainly dubious.  However, very high quality replicas of vintage guitars do exist. Fender is a favourite target for these lovingly created copies, based on the 1951 Telecaster (originally called the Broadcaster) and the 1954 Fender Stratocaster.
In its prime, the Strat had a contour body of swamp ash, one piece maple neck and three pickups.  In 1960 Fender bodies changed to alder as standard and the slab board necks were manufactured up until mid 1962 when a curved board was offered. In 1964 the curved board was replaced with a veneer when the CBS Corporation purchased the company leading to a well documented decline in quality. So replica Fender guitars made today may actually be better quality than post 1964 originals!

The Tanglewood RVB-2  60s Beatles style violin bass is another good example of just how good replicas can be. Based on Hofner’s 500/1 ‘Beatle Bass’, The RVB-2 recreates a vintage semi-hollow tone ideal for ’60s style pop/ rock, blues and jazz, without breaking the bank! It has the same vintage features as the Hofner: rosewood fingerboard with pearloid dot inlays, maple neck, floating wooden bridge and pearloid pick guard. Of course, the pickups aren’t the Hofner stamped ‘Staple’ humbucking pickups, but the two toaster appearance mini-humbucker pickups work just as well in achieving that Beatles un-EQ’d classic pop sound.  So don’t dismiss electric guitars just because they are replicas.Just like the tribute bands, sometimes these guitars can be as good as, if not better than, the original.

What’s a fair price for a good electric guitar?You’ll get a decent Fender Telecaster for anything from £550 to around £1,000 and you might have to fork out between £3,500 to £5,000 for a Gibson Les Paul.Would you believe £25,000?Yup, twenty-five thousand pounds.That’s the asking price on what is a beautiful instrument from the hands of Paul Reed Smith – the PRS Paul’s 28.Paul Reed Smith is hand making just 28 guitars, of which 20 are for the US and only eight will be available for the rest of the world.  The only guitar in the UK is available through a company called Digital Village.

PRS electric guitars are the creation of the eponymous Paul Reed Smith, who made his first guitar at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and he carried on building guitars after he finished college.He made them one at a time, one every month.  Smith would often bring his guitars backstage at concerts, and eventually got his break when Derek St. Holmes, of the Ted Nugent Band, agreed to try out the second guitar Smith had ever made. Smith then contacted Ted McCarty, former president of Gibson and creator of the Explorer, ES-335 and Flying V guitars, who became his business advisor.  The result of their collaboration is reflected in the current line up of PRS guitars, which includes electric guitars utilising a vast range of exotic materials such as elaborately figured tone woods and intricate shells for inlays.

The PRS Paul’s 28 Electric Guitar is the is first guitar for almost a decade that has been hand made by Paul Reed Smith himself, hence the price tag of £25,000.It’s got one of the curliest tops PRS have ever made and a rare tiger -striped mahogany back that was hand-selected from an entire warehouse of wood.An extremely rare Pernumbuca Neck combines with an exotic black Rosewood Fretboard, a dark Mexican Rosewood Headstock veneer, and rippled Green Abalone, Paua Heart, and Mammoth Ivory “Celtic Cross” inlays.

Paul Reed Smith spent several years refining all of the parts and processes that went into this instrument:  the wood drying methods, the colour “Burnt Gold” (PRS has been working on this stain method for the last two years), the very special paper-thin nitrocellulose finish, the pickups (PRS proprietary 1957/2008 pickups made from PRS’s rare magnet and wire supplies), the nut, the tuning pegs, the frets, the glues…everything.  Smith even spent two years researching the materials for the case. Paul Reed Smith personally supervised the work picking out all the woods, re-carving the body to original specs, carving the neck by hand, stained it, played and adjusted it until it was perfect.  Run of the mill (if you can use that phrase) guitars from PRS usually range from £300 – £6,000

Over the years some guitar names have come and gone, but there are those that certainly stand out from the rest. These are the brands that big named guitarists seek out because they enjoy playing them and they are the ones that beginners dream of. From Fender to Gibson, depending on what you are looking for in a guitar you can usually find it in the most popular and famous guitar brands.

Among the leaders in the modern “mass market” for guitars is Yamaha.They produce a wide variety of styles in electric and acoustic guitars featuring original designs and copies of popular vintage models.  Many of the most famous guitarists in the world will play nothing but Yamaha instruments  and renowned Yamaha players include reggae great Bob Marley, jazz master Al Di Meola, Stax/Volt house guitarist Steve Cropper, Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music), Paul Barrere (Little Feat) and Al McCay (Earth, Wind & Fire). Yamaha is also one of the most common brands chosen by beginners.

If you judge fame by popularity and iconic status, then not many electric guitars can compete with Gibson and Fender. Gibson dates back to the late 1890′s and is one of the most revered makers whose range includes the famous Les Paul electric guitar.  Fender also has a long history that began in the early 1950′s and saw the introduction of guitars  that are cultural symbols like the Stratocaster, much beloved by Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix,   and  the Telecaster embraced by Jeff  Beck and Keith Richards. If you are the lucky owner of one of the early Stratocaster’s then you not only have a beautiful axe, but you’ve also got a guitar worth a huge amount of money.

Ibanez may  sound like it ought to focus just on Spanish guitars, but it has achieved popularity by producing reasonably priced copies of popular electric guitars. With models inspired by the Les Paul and Stratocaster, they make guitars that are affordable and look great. Now Ibanez are doing their own thing incorporating more unique elements into their original designs like new body shapes, flatter fingerboards and slimmer necks.

The are many types of guitars and they have different sounds and uses. The basic types of guitars are few compared to the many various shapes and sizes guitars.

Classical Guitars

It is fitting to begin with the classical guitar as its history goes back thousands of years and from this type of guitar comes all other guitars.With the classical guitar, the music can be as delicate as it can be sophisticated due to the wider neck and ease of play

Until the invention of nylon, guitar strings were made from animal intestines.The nylon guitar string operates under much less tension than does a steel guitar string.The tone of a classical guitar is softer than a typical steel string guitar.

Acoustic Guitars

Acoustic guitar simply means the guitar needs no external amplification.The striking of the strings combined with the vibrating of the guitar body, provides the sound.Wood has always been the material of choice for guitar makers or luthiers.Acoustic guitars are easy to play and make a good first choice of an instrument on which to learn music.

Electric Guitars

The electric guitar uses electronics to make the sound of the strings heard.An electric guitar can be simply an acoustic guitar with an added sound hole pickup.Some of the famous makers of electric guitars are Fender and Gibson.

The invention and evolution of the electric guitar has changed the very face of music.

Electric Bass Guitars

The electric bass guitar handles the notes below the standard guitar.

The electric bass guitar generally has four strings although it may have 5 or sometimes six.The Fender Jazz Precision Bass is the standard of this type of guitar.

Acoustic Bass Guitars

Although familiar to the fans of Mariachi music, the acoustic bass guitar is not widely known or used.To hear the sound of the strings in an acoustic bass guitar you must have a large body on the guitar.

One of the best ways to start your music study is to begin with a guitar