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Jul 24, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
Any long-time guitarist will tell you, as you are starting out as a beginner, that the bits you have to look out for are the ones you wouldn’t predict. You’ll expect to make mistakes as you get used to the instrument, and you’ll expect to fall out with loved ones over your practising in the house. What you won’t expect are the bizarre little side-effects which befall most guitarists – but don’t much get talked about because they aren’t part of the glamorous image of guitar heroes. These are things that will genuinely surprise you. But when you think about them, they are perfectly logical.
For starters, you will be shocked at just how hard the skin on your hands, particularly your fingertips, will become. Even if you use a plectrum to pluck the strings, you will find that the fingerprints start to wear away as the thick skin comes into contact with the harsh strings on the instrument. And then there is what happens to your fingernails. There are few guitarists who have been playing for any amount of time that haven’t lost a fingernail or two. Some will certainly split, and one or two will blacken. Your best bet is to invest in some gloves for when you aren’t playing.
If you didn’t already have some sweet biceps, that’s another thing to look out for. When you are carrying a guitar around everywhere with you, and add to that an amp, then you will get a workout even if you don’t like the gym. You may not end up looking like an Olympic wrestler, but there will be a marked increase in definition in your muscles. Unless you get some roadies, of course.
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Recent Entries
Jul 10, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
Some of the most proficient guitarists in the world are not known to many people, because their versatility makes them ideal session guitarists or members of touring bands. If you can play the one style, but play it enormously well, then you’re one of life’s band members. But if you can play every style to [...]
Jun 28, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
Before they became one of the most famous bands in the world, Radiohead had a debut album called “Pablo Honey”. As well as the multi-million selling single “Creep”, the album featured a song called “Anyone Can Play Guitar” – something that a lot of frustrated musicians have since found to be slightly inaccurate. Much as [...]
Jun 16, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
One of the most popular video games of recent years, without a doubt, would have to be the Guitar Hero series. Considering the huge crossover potential between rock music and video games it is only a surprise that it has taken this long – with games in the series now devoted to bands such as [...]
May 16, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
Those of us who have entered a conversation about “the best” – whatever arena that thing or person may be the best in – have to accept that the most ferocious of all such debates is the one about the best guitarist ever. This is a debate that frequently ends in violence, particularly if the [...]
May 6, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
If you want to become a musician for fun, for profit or for any other reason, there is no escaping the fact that a little bit of money will need to be spent. Time and money are just two of the investments you will need to make to do it properly, and it is fairly [...]
Apr 27, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
There is a broad school of opinion that holds most of the music on the market today to be derivative, copied from famous acts of the past, not creative enough. When a new band pops up and becomes popular, there always seems to be a caveat attached by the sage music experts. “The Strokes? They’re [...]
Apr 11, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
The world of music can be a pretty nasty place when you start. Whatever people might say about it being tough and lonely at the top, what do you think Bono says to a bad review? Do you think Chris Martin or Jack White feel particularly slighted when people criticise their voices? No, they have [...]
Apr 11, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
There are, it cannot be denied, some guitarists whose talent is so clear and so pure that simply listening to what they create makes you want to applaud. Some riffs are so amazing that they make you want to sing, or dance, or jump about the room like a moron, and some [...]
Apr 1, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
There can be very few men in the world who will not admit – no matter how long it takes them – to having at some time in the past (many of them in the past half an hour if they are honest) standing in front of a mirror playing air guitar. Some will admit, [...]
Mar 19, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
There is an old parable which relates to humility and goes along the following lines. A training musician is visited by a magic genie who says he can give him a choice between two wishes. He can make him incredibly talented at playing his guitar but unsuccessful commercially, or incredibly successful without having any talent. [...]
Mar 8, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
One of the things that any self-respecting rock god must have done a few times in their life is one of the daftest things a musician can do – but apparently irresistible nonetheless. When you finish playing a set, you raise your guitar above your head, strike a pose and then smash the instrument against [...]
Feb 21, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
One of the most time-honored ways that people get started when learning the guitar is to buy a “primer” – a book which explains, often using pictures, how to learn the correct fingering techniques to get a tuneful sound from a guitar.
There is certainly a benefit to being ready to learn from such a book [...]
Feb 11, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
Everyone who loves guitar-based music thinks, however briefly, about how wonderful it would be to be able to make that music themselves. Some of us give up at an early stage, convinced that, like particle physics and fine art, the guitar is one of those things you can either do or you [...]
Jan 25, 2010 Guitar Articles Leave a comment
Posted by
Paul Gian
The first time you pick up a guitar and try to play it, you will probably not get very far beyond strumming the strings a couple of times and getting a noise that is on the very far outside wing of what is considered “music”. It’s the same for most guitarists first [...]
