From absolute beginners to seasoned players, the internet has opened up a whole new media for those who wish to play the guitar. Many people today are utilizing the easy availability of online sites in order to learn to play the guitar.

Not only that, but it has blossomed into a huge industry – there are a massive amount of sites that you can visit that promise to teach you a very high standard of guitar tutorials. The media of the streaming video has allowed people to learn from the comfort of their own front room, at any time of the day or night, whenever they like. In this article, we will explore some of the advantages of the online tutorial, and some of the things that they can offer you if you are considering learning to play the guitar.

1) Its convenient
We are lucky to live in such a time when the easy availability of goods and services is part of our social make-up. You really can learn wherever and whenever you want. Just as more and more everyday experiences are becoming more and more convenient (such as grocery shopping, for example), and learning the guitar is no different.

Traditionally, guitar students would commute to an instructor’s studio – taking into account the journey time and travel inconvenience it usually meant putting an evening or an afternoon aside for a lesson. Now, however, you can learn for a few minutes at a time if you so wish, and even fit learning to play the guitar around other activities.

2) Choose your own instructor
The biggest advantage of this, of course, is that you can find someone who is specific to your needs. The majority of online tutorial sites give you the advantage of being able to choose from a wide variety of instructors. This means that instead of just finding someone who is close to your home, you can browse through a number of biographies and see sample lessons before you decide.

Take a look at a few different instructors so that you can find one that best suits your particular style – do you prefer a hands-on or more visual approach, for example? You do not have to stick to just one instructor – in fact, by taking lessons from two or three instructors you get a great sense of balance, and a lot of people can lean a lot faster this way.

3) Its flexible
When you choose an online program, you are in the driving seat, and you get to learn what you want to learn! The courses are completely flexible in that you can choose what you want – in a more one-on-one situation you will often fin that you are learning only what the instructor wants (or is able to) teach you.

4)    Affordability
The math is relatively simple: if 100 members of a particular site pay $10 each, then the site generates $1000. This revenue can then be used to film and produce even more lessons. The whole business premise of the online tutorial is that they can provide more lessons for less money. In order to learn to play the guitar, a lot of people don’t want to spend a whole lot of money.

A lot of the websites offer membership for around $40, which represents great value for money when you consider how many lessons are open to you when you join up. With a one-on-one instructor you will be looking to pay something between $30 and $60 per half hour lesson. So the value of the online training is clear.

The only significant downfall when it comes to online learning, is that there is no-one there to ask a question to when you get stuck. It can seem a little frustrating at times when you come across something that you don’t understand. This, however, is a pretty small disadvantage when you consider all the benefits of learning to play the guitar online.

Copyright 2009 Liam Gibson of ReviewsMetro.com

We have assembled the best ways to keep your guitar in perfect condition – follow these tips and your guitar will last as long as want it to! In order to enjoy the full life and playability of your instrument, it is paramount that you keep it is the best possible condition. Often, it can come secondary to playing, but if you want to continue to play for a longer time, then keeping it in the best condition is vital.

·    Post-practice
All you need to do is as soon as you have finished practicing, take a soft cloth and gently clean the strings. A common problem amongst guitarists is the deterioration of the strings. If they start to rust they become much rougher, and also will be more likely to cut into your fingers. If your fingers are cut, then you are not going to be able to play as well, so it’s vital to make sure you don’t get to this stage.

Another good idea is, before you case your guitar, to apply a layer of conditioner. You can pick these up for less than ten dollars, so they are relatively cheap and are great for preventing the oxidization of the strings which causes them to rust. This very simple action will rid your strings of all the dirt, oil and sweat that accumulates.

·    The fretboard
There can often be an accumulation of dirt and grease around the fretboards, just as there is on the strings. If this is left unclean, it can lead to serious damage for your guitar, compromising the integrity of the instrument. When you next change your strings, simply clean the fretboards with a damp cloth.

·    Polishing
By paying attention to the body of your guitar, you are more likely to sustain the overall life of the instrument. The body of the guitar can often be neglected, as people tend to focus on the strings and the fretboard. Polish it regularly with a lint-free cloth, using only guitar-specific polishes. Some more widely available household polishes arte too abrasive, and can cause damage.

·    Storage
For ideal conditions, you should be looking at storing your guitar at around 50% humidity and a temperature of around 25 degrees C. Your guitar is a very sensitive instrument, and is extremely sensitive to the environment in which it is stored. Wood is a porous substance, which means it can absorb moisture. Whilst most guitars are tolerant to a range of temperatures, excessive moisture will cause swelling which in turn causes the wood to warp and affects the overall sound.

·    Scratches

It may sound obvious, but you’d be amazed at how many people have made this mistake! Before you even start to play, make sure you have removed all your jewellery and other accoutrements that may damage your guitar. The obvious things are things like bracelets and rings, but I have also seen expensive guitars scratched badly by something as simple as a belt buckle!

It’s not really rocket science – and if you treat your guitar with the respect that it deserves then you will find the rewards are much higher. You can prolong the lifespan of your guitar by applying simple common sense in the majority of cases.

Copyright 2009 Liam Gibson

A lot of people want to play guitar because they think it would be fun to learn to play the songs of their favorite artists. There are many ways to learn guitar nowadays, but what is the most best way to get started so you can start playing as soon as possible?

I too had this same motivation when I started to play guitar about five years ago.  At the time, I wanted to be able to play some guitar songs and show off to all of my friends.  So I did some research and found a good guitar teacher who could give me private guitar lessons.  This worked out okay in the beginning, and I learned the guitar basics in my first month.  However, private lessons are quite expensive and after the first several lessons I decided I wouldn’t be able to afford it anymore.  Plus, it was such an inconvenience to keep my appointments twice a week and go over to his house for lessons. 

I still wanted to learn guitar though, so I decided to start learning on my own, using the best guitar courses I found on the internet. After just a little bit of practice, I began to master the basic guitar chords and I was able to recognize them by ear.  Most popular songs are made up of the same 3 or 4 basic chords that you learn from the beginning.  Once, I got the fundamentals down, soon I was able to play my favorite songs just by listening to them first.

It is amazing to see how many guitar playing tutorials there are on the internet these days.  The best part is that many of these great guitar tutorial sites are absolutely free.  You can find how to videos that show you all the important guitar playing techniques right on Youtube.  If you have questions, then join one of the many guitar forums and you will find several experts able to answer your questions.  All these guitar teaching resources make learning to play your favorite guitar songs easy and convenient.  Playing the guitar is such a fun hobby, and it never gets old impressing your your friends and family with your guitar playing ability.

What makes Jimi Hendrix’s sound easily recognizable from Carlos Santana? How can you easily tell metal from funk, even if let’s say the metal player and the funk player are playing the same song (very unlikely, but bear with me here)? The answer: guitarists use effects to color their sound and give it a kind of modification suited to the type of music involved.

Normally these effects can be housed separately in small effects pedals, or in multi-effects hardware, or built into amplifiers, or simulated in computer software. They can be used singly, or you can turn on combinations of effects to get a particular sound. Let’s try to identify the types of guitar effects available so you know which one is perfect for achieving the sound you want.

Distortion effects are popular in genres like rock, metal, etc. This is what produces the heavy, rough, raw sound you hear in these genres. Distortion effects can be divided into categories like overdrive/distortion (this is the well-known rough sound), fuzz (which is used to copy the sound of a vibrating torn speaker – thus being “fuzzy”), and high-gain (the thick, loud, “chugging” sound used in heavy metal). Almost all rock bands have these as a given, and is a good, basic investment.

Filtering effects are effects which shape the sound by enhancing or minimizing certain frequencies. Here you can find equalizers (similar to how normal equalizers work), and wahs (a foot-operated pedal that lets through increasingly higher or lower frequencies by rocking the pedal). The wah pedal is named because it sounds like a person saying a long “wah” when rocked (the low frequencies are the “w-“ and the high frequencies are the “-ah” part). You can hear this mostly in funky grooves.

Volume effects are just that, they modify the volume in different ways. Examples of these are volume pedals (these are just volume knobs in the shape of a pedal which you can rock back and forth), tremolos (which is used to copy the sound of a volume knob being turned up and down quickly, making the tone “fluctuate”), and compressors (used to preserve a certain volume level as the signal gets louder).

Time-based effects take a sound signal and copy it, making a kind of echoing sound. Delay pedals can change the delay time between the original sound and the copied sound, up to very long delay times, making a rolling echo-like sound (a notable user of delay effects is U2’s The Edge). Reverb pedals, however, copy the sound produced in a large space, where little echoes pile up and decay quickly. Aside from distortion effects, these are also popular, and may be an essential part of your rig.

Modulation effects are effects which actually change how the sound sounds. Examples of these are phase shifters (which makes a sort of whooshing sound by copying the original signal and then putting it out of phase regularly), flangers (which create a kind of speeding-up or slowing-down sound), chorus pedals (copying the sound of several guitarists playing at the same time), and rotary speakers (copying the sound of a signal going through spinning speakers, making a kind of wavy pitch-changing effect). These types of effects are used to create those experimental, space-age-sounds.

Pitch shifters change the pitch of a signal, then combines it with the original sound so that it sounds like two guitars blending together in harmony. It can even be used as a bass guitar if you set it one octave lower than normal, or produce a video-gamey sound if set one octave higher.

You can experiment with combinations of pedals and connect them in chains to figure out what type of sound you want to create. After a while you can tell which effects were used in your favorite songs, and I hope this introduction can help you on the road to creating your own sound, and adding new dimensions to your musical adventure.

Simple Video Guitar Lesson

It is not easy to learn an instrument. It is important to make sure you have solid self discipline and apply yourself. You must develop a good work ethic because much of your practice Will be away from your teacher. To help you in your journey of learning your instrument here are seven habits that will help you along the way.

• Don’t put it off. When you practice, there are always a set number of task you need to do. It is easy to put off playing until tomorrow, but you shouldn’t do this. Begin practicing as soon as possible because it is so important to practice.

• Stay in touch with other musicians. Contantly play with others as much a possible to keep yourself motivated to improve.

• Keep going. To develop your playing keep on learning new skills so you will not get stuck in a rut.

• Use what time you have properly. if you don’t have a regular practice time then it is just about impossible to be consistent. Make the time to practice on a constant level so you can become a good musician.

• Have a good work environment to practice in. It is important to have a good place for you to practice. An environment that is clean and quiet is essential to practice so you can fully concentrate on what you are doing.

• Be comprehensive. You should never stop striving to become a complete musician. This is why it is good to keep list of all that is required to be a complete musician.

• Know your own work habits. Everyone learns differently. In order to adjust your practice, this is the reason to maintain it.

These tips will help you in your practice I hope. Maintaining good self-discipline is a matter of good planning and goal setting.