A 4-Step Guide to Cleaning Your Guitar

In an earlier article, we spoke in detail on ways in which you can take proper care of your guitar. One of the things discussed in that write-up was how to clean your guitar and keep it dust and grime-free.

While most guitarists or wannabe rock stars out there might dig the dirty ‘grunge’ look of guitars, cleaning your guitar is essential. First off, it is important from a hygiene perspective, secondly, it protects the guitar and the wood used from damage, preserving its look and more importantly its tone, and thirdly, it protects the guitar from any long-lasting damage or the need of repairs. 

Cleaning your guitar keeps it free from dust, dirt, grime, body oils, grease buildup, and other pollutants. It also protects various parts of the guitar, in particular the finish.

It is generally recommended to clean your guitar once a week or at the very least, once a month, but it all comes down to how often you play it. 

Here is a step-by-step guide on properly leaning your guitar:

1. The body – First off, remove all of the guitar strings order to clean and polish the fretboard and the body of the guitar. Start by using a cloth or a duster to thoroughly clean off any dust from the surface of the guitar first.

Most guitar bodies have a lacquer finish or similar synthetic coating which protects the wood and preserves the shine and the finish of the wood. Once you guitar is clean and free of grime and/or dirt, use polish to preserve and protect the wood. You can pick up one of the many aftermarket guitar cleaners/polishes/kit, such as the ones by Gibson or Fender (or this cleaning kit by Dunlop). Alternatively, you could even order online. However make sure it’s a non-abrasive cleaning/polish solution. Take a soft cloth (such as a microfiber cloth) and proceed to clean the guitar by dabbing the cloth in the cleaning solution, but making sure that you don’t use the solution excessively.

Polish your guitar’s body as often as possible – preferably once every week. Hit your local guitar store and pick up any one of the easily available non-abrasive guitar-polishes (or order online). They can be had for pretty cheap, and usually do the trick as they preserve your guitar’s finish. Avoid using household cleaners as they’re abrasive and will certainly ruin the finish.

2. The fretboard – Make sure that the strings have been removed before you proceed with cleaning the fretboard. Use a dry cloth first to wipe off any dust and easily-removable dirt and grime, before using the cleaning liquid.

Spray some of the liquid on the fretboard and rub using the cloth. When you get to the frets, ensure that you clean them thoroughly, as dirt and grime has the tendency to stick in the corners on either side of the frets.

For dirt that’s unreachable or cannot be cleaned using a cloth, I recommend using something that is slightly sharp such as a strong toothpick, a toothbrush, a credit card or maybe even a blunt knife. Don’t apply any excessive force when doing this, as you do not want to damage the instrument’s finish.

Sidenote: you can also use lemon polish to clean the fretboard of the guitar.

3. Every time you play, natural/body oils and grease from your hands and fingers are transferred onto the strings upon contact. These oils combine with dust to form grime, which corrodes and wears out the strings faster than usual. This buildup also adversely affects the sound of the guitar. Clean your guitar strings by wiping them down, using a soft cloth (microfiber cloth), or cotton. Doing so will clean them from body oils and dirt which might have accumulated during playing.

4. Restring the guitar after you’re done (preferably with a new set of strings). Make sure that you keep it away from dust, away from direct sunlight, and away from a place where it might be vulnerable to drastic changes in temperature or humidity. If you don’t plan on playing the guitar for a couple of days or more, put it away in its case.

In addition to my post on taking care of your guitar, LearnGuitar.org here has a pretty impressive guide on how to take care of your guitar.

If you don’t have a case, I suggest investing in a hardshell case immediately. Prices range for $20 to $300, but not only do these do a tremendous job of protecting your guitar when it’s not being used, it’ll come in handy when you travel with your axe.

Change your guitar strings every 1-3 months – depending on how often you play – and clean the guitar using the steps mentioned above every time that you do so.

Guitar-Playing and Practicing Tips for Beginners

Learning to play the guitar is a tough and a challenging job; it is a skill that requires a lot of patience, hard work, dedication, commitment, perseverance and some more patience.

If you’re a beginner guitar player, here are a few tips and tricks that should really help you with your guitar-learning, and should also allow you to become an accomplished guitar player much quicker than your peers, allowing you to fulfill that dream of becoming a rock star one day.

1. Choose the Right Teacher/Mentor: First things first, I personally believe that it is essential to be able to choose the right teacher or instructor for yourself when it comes to learning the guitar. Yes, I know that many good guitarists out there are self-taught guitarists/musicians. However choosing a teacher – someone who will also be a mentor for you – will allow you to grow and develop as a guitarist as well as a musician in a much better way. A teacher will be able to hone your skills in a better way, point-out and rectify any mistakes that you might be making in terms of your guitar play, introduce you to guitar music theory, and you’ll eventually discover that you’re able to make much better, more quicker progress.

Private lesson are great, however they can be a bit expensive. Some private teachers charge as much as $60-an-hour, which can go on to be thousands of dollars for a whole course and of course, the pace at which you learn the guitar. If budget’s an issue, you can even look in the yellow pages or on Craigslist for Skype-based lessons, instead of opting for private lessons which might be expensive.

Personally, I recommend going for a good, proven online guitar-teaching course such as those offered by Jamorama or JamPlay (reviews here and here). They are as effective as private lessons, but signing up for these usually costs significantly less. Both of these are proven winners in my book, and I personally recommend going for any of these - preferably one that suits your needs in a better manner.

2. Choose the Right Guitar: I cannot even begin to stress how important it is to choose the right guitar when starting off. A good teacher or an instructor would be able to guide you when it comes to choosing your gear. First off, decide whether you want go for an acoustic guitar, or an electric-guitar-based setup, depending on the kind of music you want to play and the sort of artist you see yourself become. Secondly, don’t buy cheap.

Choosing your first axe is very important and crucial – because your first guitar will be something that you’ll not only be stuck with for a long time, choosing a bad guitar as your first axe will only put you off practicing and choosing the right guitar will encourage you to play it as often as possible, which is something you’ll need to do often, as you’ll soon discover that…

3. Practice Makes Perfect: This might be pretty obvious, but practicing as often and as regularly as possible is vital. It’s like going on a weight-reduction regime, or going to the gym to tone your body: in order to see some real and tangible results, you’ll need to practice, A LOT! Try tailoring your practice sessions with the view of improving a specific skill, or a specific portion of your guitar-play. This is also why it is important to choose a good guitar; you’ll be spending a lot of time with your guitar.

It is important to ensure that each practice/jamming/playing session is preceded by a proper warm-up in order to avoid any strains or injuries. And it is equally important to ensure that you actually enjoy these practice and jamming sessions, instead of them become a chore or just ‘something that you have to do’. Once again, ask your instructor for guidance in this aspect, or look online.

Ensure that you make your practice time count!

4. Warming-Up: Warming up before playing is crucial, and something which usually goes amiss with a lot of guitarists out there. Believe it or not, particular parts of your body will be undergoing a tremendous amount of stress and wear when you play the guitar. In order to avoid serious long-term injury, it is essential to warm up prior to playing the guitar, in a similar way to how an athlete warms and loosens-up. A swimmer never dives right into the water as soon as he comes out of the locker. Similarly, a sprinter never starts running immediately after he ties his laces.

Loosen up your hands, wrists, fingers (together and each finger individually), and your elbow and shoulder joints as well. There are plenty or pre-performance warm-up regimes on the internet that you can choose from. Alternatively, you could just stretch these parts of the body in order to loosen-up and get some blood running. In addition, make sure that your body isn’t tensed up or anything. This is something that can be hard to do if you’re playing live in front of an audience, however it is important to relax. Start off nice and slow with the guitar, by playing something familiar.

5. Use a Tuner and Practice Using a Metronome: In the beginning, it would be impossible for you to be able to tune a guitar. Even the more seasoned guitar players use tuners. You could opt for a chromatic tuner, or get an guitar-tuning app for your smartphone. Chromatic ones obviously work better, are more accurate and can be had for pretty cheap.

In addition, I highly urge all new guitarists to practice using a metronome. Metronomes are great devices as far as technique is concerned, and will probably end up becoming the most important accessory, apart from the tuner. Timing, as you’ll discover, is a large part of being a good guitarist, and that is where a metronome comes in. They allow you to play more accurately, evenly and quickly, in a shorter span of time. You can set the tempo of a metronome according to your preference. As a beginner, you might want to start off slowly, and gradually increase your speed as your progress (remember, it is important to walk before you can run!). Since the tempo on metronomes can be set and changed easily, it allows a novice guitar player a lot of freedom to play at a comfortable speed. If you don’t learn timing in the beginning, it will continue to be an issues throughout your musical career, and probably something which troubles you in the long run.

6. Play All Kinds of Music: While it is true that you should spend the most amount of time playing and practicing the music style that you’re interested in, variety in this aspect is important. Variety makes guitar playing more interesting and fun. Besides, the best musicians and entertainers out there are the ones who have variety in their musical styles. Being able to do a wide variety of different skills will improve you as a guitarist, and make you a more diverse musician.

7. Seek Inspiration: Especially from those better than you. It could be your teacher, someone in your class, your music idol(s), a friend… anyone. Learn through observation and by watching. Ask these people for advice and tips. Spend as much time in their company as you possibly can (don’t be too clingy though). Connect with them through social mediums such as Facebook and/or Twitter. Being in the company of people who are better than you will be the best form of inspiration and motivation, as these will be people who you look up to, and who inspire you to become a better musician.

These are just some of the things you can do in order to improve your guitar play. I recommend going through this list of 101 Guitar Tips for Beginners as well. Good luck, and rock on!

Proper Guitar-Holding Technique

In this post, we’ll be looking at the proper way to hold the guitar. This is something that a fair amount of musicians struggle with. It also remains an area many musicians and guitarists rarely pay any consideration to. Ultimately, the end up doing it incorrectly and it becomes a part of their guitar-play, and a bad habit.

Holding the guitar in an improper manner has several disadvantages. An improper technique will most certainly hamper your progress, and will almost always prevent you from becoming a good guitar player. In addition, it will also cause problems as far as hitting particular chords and notes are concerned, as it causes problems with speed and dexterity.

It will also prevent you from being relaxed and comfortable during jamming, gigs or performances. This is essential, as being relaxed during playing allows you to continue playing for hours on end without getting tired or overly-fatigued.

But perhaps most importantly, an improper guitar-holding technique will tire you quickly, and cause stress-related injuries (such as Repetitive Strain Injury, or RSI) in the long run as well. This has happened to a lot of people that I personally know; they’re unaware that they’re holding the guitar incorrectly, and end up developing injuries like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. These injuries are extremely painful, and can only be fixed by surgery. For instance here is a post on ErgonomicGuitar about a guitarist's battle with RSI.

Prevention, as they say, is always better than cure!

For starters, check the way that you’re holding the guitar. It would be a good idea to sit down on a flat chair, with your legs in a comfortable 90-degree position, and place your guitar in your lap with the strings facing away from you. The chair (or your seating area for that matter) is essential as an improper seating position, or one in which you have to slump over the guitar will cause back problems, apart from making it a harder task to be able to play the guitar. I personally recommend hitting your local guitar shop and investing in a chair, as it is something that will determine whether you’re able to practice the guitar in a comfortable position or not.

Use the grooves in the lower-side of the guitar body in order to comfortable place it on your lap; the curve should comfortable fit on the leg. Right-handed guitarists would want to place the guitar on their right leg.

You might also want to tilt the guitar back a bit in order to be able to see your hand on the fretboard. Some guitarists tilt it too much, which is inadvisable. Anywhere between 10-30 degrees would be fine. In addition, the head of the guitar should always be higher than the body. Having the head below the body is another mistake that many beginner and seasoned guitarists seem to make. It only makes the guitar harder to play, and forces you to unnaturally bend your wrists in order to access the frets with your finger. Remember to keep your wrists as straight as possible, otherwise you’re at risk of strain-related injuries.

The way you hold a pick also has a significant impact on how well you play. Most guitarists hold the pick between their thumb and first finger, while others might use two fingers and the thumb, or the thumb with the second finger. Some people anchor the palm of their hands on the bridge, others use their little finger for the same purpose. While none of these are incorrect, it is important to choose a pick-holding technique in which you feel the most relaxed and comfortable. I personally discourage guitarists from anchoring their picking hand in one place, it is better to let it move about freely over the strings. Avoid any picking position which might cause excessive tension in any single part of your body.

As far as your fretting hand is concerned, the same applies: avoid playing in a way which causes unnecessary tension. Avoid gripping the neck very tightly, as it will make it much easier to move your fretting hand over the neck, with the use of any unnecessary muscular tension. As with you picking hand, avoid bending your wrists too much when it comes to your fretting hand; in fact, keep your wrists as straight as possible. Ideally, you would want to fret using the least amount of force, and have as les of the hand come into contact with the neck as possible. Doing so would reduce the amount of friction, hence reducing strain and giving you a lot of freedom and ease to move your hand quickly from one fret to the other.  

Using your guitar while standing up requires you to do pretty much the same. One different is that you’ll be required to use it with a strap, which means that guitar will be straight against your body and you won’t be able to lean it. It is still important to keep the guitar head above the body, and to adjust the strap so that the guitar remains in a comfortable playing position – it shouldn’t be too high or too low.

Start changing the way you play the guitar now by adopting some of these best practices, all of which will allow you to become a better guitar player. Use a mirror or record yourself playing in order to see how you play and determine if you’re doing something incorrectly as far as your guitar-playing technique is concerned. Make sure you’re not tensed up when playing and try to relax your muscles and your body instead. Healthy guitar-playing will not only allow you to become a better guitar player, it will also ensure that your body remains healthy and in top shape, and that you are able to play the guitar for many years to come!

Tips, Tricks and Pointers for Playing Live

Playing live can be tough. As someone who’s done it quite a few times now, it can be an exciting yet daunting prospect. Playing in a large space and being in front of a large group of people takes some guts, and a fair bit of confidence!

It is also one of the best things in the world, especially if you’re able to nail the performance. The feeling that you get after coming off a great performance is unlike any other! However great live performances can take a turn for the bad real quickly right on the stage. The sound isn’t right and not in tune, your timing is all over the place, and your finger coordination is poor to say the very least.

While most musicians tend to blame their luck or their fortune, or the fact that they were ‘having an off-day’, the fact is that if you do your homework before the gig, you can turn in flawless performances effortlessly each and every time! Here’s how:

1. The age old adage ‘practice makes perfect’ gets thrown about quite a lot, overused at times, however in this particular case, it couldn’t be more crucial. I cannot stress enough on how important it is to practice as much as you can prior to the performance – even if you’re a seasoned guitarists who’s done it a 100 times. Practicing allows you to go into the performance all ready, primed and prepared for it. This will automatically inspire confidence, knowing the fact that you have covered all your bases and that you have nothing to be worried about. Going into performances without adequate practice is like going into an exam without studying at all, or going to war without weapons. Want my advice, sign up for an online guitar-learning course such as GuitarTricks, who have tons of practice lessons (5000 lessons in total) in their database! (Bonus Tip: Practice standing up, in order to prepare for the performance).

2.  Determine the play list and the order immediately after landing a gig, so that you can have everyone concentrate and practice on those tracks. This will allow you to determine if the playlist would really be a good fit for the gig, and if they work in succession or not. During practice, you can change things around if need be – practice is the time to do that, not when you’re on the live stage!

3. Read your equipment well before the performance – if you’re reading this, for you it will probably be your guitar(s). Clean the guitar, remove finger stains, grease, oil build-up and /or any dust off the guitar. Change the guitar strings. Check the guitar for tuning, intonation or any tonal issues. Check your amp, and most importantly, your cables. Preparing your instruments for the gig is just as important as your own preparation – an improperly tuned guitar, old cables or a faulty amp can very easily ruin an otherwise good performance and I say this from experience. It might be wise to invest in new equipment if need be, especially good-quality amp cables, and guitar strings. And always, ALWAYS keep spares – even a spare guitar if you possibly can. Stopping mid-performance because you broke a string can be embarrassing. Buy a cheap spare electric guitar, you can find plenty of good deals online and if you can’t, borrow one.

4. Practice on stage as early and as often as possible. This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the stage and its surroundings, and get more comfortable. If you can get access to the stage a couple of days prior to the gig, that would be ideal, but even if you can get on stage a few hours before the performance and before people start rolling in might just do the trick. Doing so might give you a ‘home advantage’ (a commonly-used term in sports) when it comes to performing live. Set everything up as you would for the performance – with the drums at the back, and the bass guitarist and vocalist along with you. Move about to see which side of the stage you’ll be comfortable in. Above all, make sure that you get to know the people who handle sound at the venue. Speak with them about the sound, and if you need to do any adjustments as far as your guitar’s concerned. Ask for tips.

5. If you end up making a mistake on stage, or screwing up mid-performance, just be cool about it. Continue playing, and never look at each other. Continue like nothing happened because chances are no one really noticed it, or even if they did, no one will really remember one insignificant screw-up at the end of the day. Never stop, or start over. Above all, concentrate on your guitar-play, and what’s to come, instead of thinking about the mistake, as doing so will only mess up your concentration and make you more error-prone and vulnerable to slip-ups. As a musician, it would be wise to accept and make you peace with the fact that you are going to make the odd mistake on-stage; it’s a part of the deal.

6. Never attempt to do anything on stage that you didn’t practice prior to the gig, or aren’t sure if you’d be able to pull it off. I’ve seen many guitarists attempt complicated solos that they quite clearly weren’t familiar with playing, weren’t at all capable of playing, or weren’t proficient enough to play. I can tell you that doing so will result in embarrassment. Know you limitations.

7. Avoid drinking or doing drugs before the performance. Most musicians tend to use these as a way to calm their nerves. Almost all big rock acts out there do it. I advise against it, because if you do, your performance might sound good…only to you!

8. Warm-up before performing. I cannot stress more on the importance of warming up, and having a good warm-up regime prior to playing. From Metallica, to Iron Maiden, to John Mayer, to ACDC – every major artist or band does this. For instance Metallica starts off all their performances with a slow solo of one of their tracks. It is an essential part of any live gig, and while I cannot go into warming-up techniques and details in this particular write-up, I recommend checking out this excellent, comprehensive About.com link on the importance of warming up before playing the guitar.

A Beginner’s Guide to Acoustic and Electric Guitars

Acoustic and electric guitars are two of the most common types of musical instruments out there, however both sound very different and look pretty different too. Here is a newbie-friendly ‘beginner’s guide to acoustic and electric guitars’:

Acoustic Guitars

We start off with the good old acoustic guitar – one of the most common, instantly-recognizable musical instruments in the world, a musician’s best friend and a ‘campfire classic!’

Gn’R’s Slash once said ‘There’s no lying with the acoustic guitar, there’s something very pure and humbling about it.’

All acoustic guitars are wooden guitars, and are constructed using different kinds of woods – most commonly Spruce, Rosewood, Mahogany, Maple and Ebony.

Most acoustic guitars feature steel-strings, and are hence also sometimes referred to as steel-stringed acoustic guitars. You have the choice to play an acoustic guitar with either your fingers, or a pick.

Acoustics are also referred to as hollow-body guitars. An acoustic guitar’s sound is produced as a result of the string vibration, and the hollow body of an acoustic guitar acts as an echo chamber. Hence acoustic guitars have the ability to produce their own sound, and unlike electric guitar, do not need to be hooked up with amplifier (more on that in a bit).

Acoustic guitars are excellent for parties, road-trips, jamming with friends, campfires or gatherings, as they can produce their own sound and are not dependent on electronics for the purpose. They are also much more portable than electric guitars.

Some acoustic guitars – called semi-acoustics or acoustic-electric guitars – have electronics onboard. Even though they produce the same sound as any other acoustic guitar and can be used as stand-alone instruments, having electronics onboard allows for them to be hooked up amplifier – useful when playing in a large place, for instance.

Adele’s Someone Like You, Wonderwall by Oasis, John Mayer’s Neon, Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours, and Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters are good examples of popular songs played on (or which prominently feature) acoustic guitars.

For beginners, I personally recommend starting off with acoustic guitars. Acoustic guitars are relatively cheaper, are not reliant on electronics, are very portable and also help beginners build finger strength – making the transition to acoustic guitars much easier.

Electric Guitars

Electric guitar look, feel and sound completely different from acoustic guitars, but are just as popular, well-known and instantly-recognizable musical instruments as their acoustic counterparts, if not more.

When you first pick up an electric guitar, you’ll notice a few things immediately: electric guitars produce no sound of their own, are considerably heavier than acoustics but with thinner bodies, feature a lot of knobs and different electronics on them, have a much lower action (distance between the neck and the strings) than acoustic guitars, and features much thinner strings as well.

Electric guitars are almost entirely dependent on amplifiers and effects processors in order to produce their sound. Electric guitars have electromagnetic ‘pickups’ on their bodies. These magnetic devices pick up string vibrations and convert these vibrations into electric signals, which then pass through the amp in order to produce the sound that one hears on the electric guitar. The size, type (quality), number and shape of these pickups might vary – and it is precisely these factors that might very well end up determining the quality and the cost of the guitar – however the function of the pickups is always the same.

Knobs on electric guitars allow for easy control of volume and tonal settings. Most electric guitars use steel-strings, which can be played using a pick or simply your fingers.

Because the sound of an electric guitar is amplified, this means that thinner strings can be used with electric guitars. Coupled with the fact that electric guitars have a much lower action than acoustic guitars, this makes them much easier to play than acoustic guitars, especially for beginners who might have trouble with finger strength and the ability to hold strings down.

Apart from an amplifier, electric guitars can (and are often) hooked up with different effects processors. Often times, most of these effects come built-in with the amps, although standalone effects processors – or effects pedals – are also used. These allow the player to virtually be able to change the sound of an electric guitar to anything he or she wants – a process known as adding an effect. The most commonly-used effect is distortion.

Because electric guitars are always required to be paired up with amps, this makes them much less portable than acoustic guitars. Electric guitars also need to be close to an electrical outlet at all times. In addition, all the extra accessories, and the fact that electric guitars might feature expensive electronics, means that they are usually much more expensive than acoustic guitars – which could be an important consideration for a beginner guitarist.

Famous electric guitar songs include, well, anything you hear from Metallica (most notably, Master of Puppets, One and Fade to Black), The Trooper by Iron Maiden, ACDC’s Hells Bells, Gn’R’s Sweet Child O’ Mine, and Creed’s Higher, to name just a few.

Your Decision

So there you have it, some of the main differences between acoustic and electric guitars.

As a beginner, whether you go for an acoustic guitar or an electric one, it pays to be well-informed before making the purchase, as it allows you to make an informed and educated decision. At the end of the day, whether you decide to go for the standalone, much more portable and cheaper yet harder-to-play acoustic, or the easier-to-play but the more expensive electric guitar is totally your call.

Go for the instrument which is the best fit for the kind of music you want to play, the kind of artists that inspire you, and the kind of guitarist you yourself see becoming down the road. In addition, enroll for a guitar learning program such as JamPlay (reviewed on PlayGuitar.org), no matter which guitar you choose. Guitar lessons such as these provide some excellent sets of tutorials, suited to both kinds of instruments.

Tips for Taking Proper Care of Your Guitar

Most acoustic and electric guitars are durable instruments that can take a few knocks and a fair bit of punishment too before they break down. However as a musician, it is extremely important to take good, proper care of your guitar, which includes cleanliness, regular and periodic maintenance, not exposing the guitar to temperature changes and travelling with guitars in the proper manner.

Doing so will allow these guitars to remain in top shape for a long time, and deliver playing enjoyment for many years.  

Temperature and Humidity

Acoustic and electric guitars are constructed from natural wood. Wood reacts to changes in temperature and humidity, and it is hence important to keep your guitar in a place where it is not exposed to drastic changes in temperature and/or humidity; it should be kept in a place where both remain constant. This means keeping it away from things that get hot (radiators, heaters, ovens, machinery and electronics, exhausts, etc) or things that get cool (on the floor or against the wall, near air-conditioners or leaving them outside at night.

Guitar wood absorbs moisture and hence swells in humid conditions. This affects the guitar’s playability, tone and sound and its finish might even develop cracks. The joints held together by glue might also give in. On the other hand, dry conditions cause the wood to shrink and crack. Once again, very dry conditions too adversely affect the guitar’s intonation, sound and playability.

I personally recommend keeping the guitar in a case, preferably a hard-case, and using a room humidifier (like the ones present in guitar stores) to maintain the humidity of the place where your guitar might be present. The ideal humidity range for guitars ranges from somewhere between 40% to 60%. I also recommend investing in a guitar stand, rather than keeping your guitar on the floor or leaning against the wall where it might be prone to temperature changes or maybe even a knock.

Avoid keeping your guitar in a basement or an attic, or even inside your car. It is essential to be able to protect the guitar from drastic temperature changes. Refer to this in-depth temperature and humidity guide for guitars.

Travelling With a Guitar

It is extremely essential to be careful when travelling with your guitar, especially if you’re travelling via air. Guitars can break pretty easily, thanks to rough airline baggage handling. And this comes from someone who’s had a beautiful Ibanez RG crushed to pieces!

For starters, if you’re a frequent traveler, invest in a solid, sturdy case, preferably an all-metal case such as this Deluxe Electric Guitar Hardshell Case. These hardshell cases can take a serious knock or two and will protect your guitar against all sorts of knocks and stuff during travelling – at a price which doesn’t break the bank. You can also buy flight-cases which are much more expensive, however much stronger and sturdier than hard-shell ones.

However I still recommend checking alternative ways of transporting your guitar, over checking it in as baggage. Ask your airline if any special arrangements can be made for fragile musical instruments or not. Some airlines might even allow you to bring the guitar on the plane and stow it in the overhead space on top of your seat.

As a last resort, you can always buy an extra seat on the airplane for your guitar, if you can afford to do so.

In addition, always loosen the strings on the guitar (or take them off completely), so that the guitar is not exposed to string tension when undergoing changes in temperature and humidity. A hard-shell/flight-case will protect against this, as most flight cases are airtight.

Strings

Nowadays, the most common types of strings are either nylon or steel-based strings. With the passage of time, strings break or simply lose their tone, sound and intonation, and will hence need to be replaced with a new set of strings. It is important to know which kind of strings your particular guitar uses, as replacing the strings with the incorrect type can result in tonal issues as well as physical damage to the guitar.

It is also important to determine the gauge (medium, heavy, light gauge and so on) of the strings before buying them, as different gauges have totally different sound and feel. Lighter gauge strings obviously have a lower tension and are hence easier to play, but harder to keep in tune, and produce a much lower volume and sustain as compared to heavy gauge strings. Similarly, nylon strings also have different ‘tensions’ and different tensions affect the same attributes of your guitar as nylon string gauge.

I personally recommend changing guitar strings on a fixed basis, regardless of how frequently you play the instrument. Strings on an unused guitar become hard and consequently may bend the guitar’s neck. Guitars strings that are used lose their brightness and tone and hence should be changed. If you are unfamiliar with the process of removing and replacing the strings on your guitar, I suggest letting the salesperson do it for you.  

Cleaning the Guitar

Remember that polishing the guitar is not the same as cleaning it.

Over time, a combination of dust, sweat, body oils, grease and other pollutants will require you to clean your guitar. It is important to do this often, depending on how frequently you play and the environment in which you play the guitar.

Remove the strings, use a combination of a damp cloth and a vacuum to remove dust and grime from the surface of the guitar. Use a toothbrush, a credit card or something slightly sharp for those hard-to-reach places such as the spaces between the frets. However be careful here, and NEVER apply excessive force.

You can use any of the widely available commercial cleaners out there for the purpose. But like before make sure it’s a solvent and abrasive-free solution.

Guitar Finish

After cleaning your guitar, it is recommended to finish off with a layer of polish. Polish protects the finish of the guitar, particularly the body, and brings out the shine.

Most guitars are coated with multiple layers of lacquer. Lacquer-based finish is thin but very durable. You can preserve this finish by keeping it clean and wiping off any sweat, perspiration or fingerprints with soft and slightly-damp cloth.

Alternatively, you could turn to one of the many easily-available guitar cleaners out there, however steer clear of those with solvents, silicones or any abrasives as they will most certainly damage the finish of the guitar.

3 Outstanding Resources for Learning the Guitar Online

Here is a list of some of the best guitar-learning online resources out there:

1. LearningGuitarNow.com

If you want to play like Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Johnny Winter, BB Winter, or Dickey Betts, well, LearningGuitarNow just might be the best resource for you!

A goldmine for blues guitarists, LearningGuitarNow is a guitar lessons website which is solely aimed at blues and slide guitarists, and is therefore suited more to the intermediate and advanced players as opposed to beginners. While it does have a Beginner’s Guitar eBook, which is a $19.97 purchase, most of the stuff on the website is made up of ‘slide and blues guitar lessons for the advancing guitarists’, as the website says.

All of the lessons on the website are video-based (video podcasts) and all videos are hosted on Youtube. Lessons are broadly split into two categories – free and premium lessons.

The free lessons include 64 video podcasts (and counting) on blues and slide guitar, with each lesson of course being video-based. These lessons will teach you the blues and slide guitar the way Clapton, Allman and Trucks used to play. Once again, the lessons are really aimed at people who have proficient and have a good command over their guitar-playing skills.

Apart from videocasts, free lessons also include articles on recording your guitar, tutorials (consisting of articles and blog posts) on learning to develop a blues/slide guitar tone, and also some free blues backing tracks – with full band instrumentation.

We then move on to the premium lessons. These premium lessons includes stuff like blues guitar lesson packs, slide guitar lesson packs, and full courses teaching you how to play blues and slide guitar, complete with DVD sets.

I suggest heading directly to Lessons Guide under Premium Lessons in order to see a list of all the DVD-based premium lessons. These lessons have been divided into 4 broad categories – (i) a Blues bundle based on 16 DVDs which includes all of the blues lessons, (ii) a Master Slide bundle on 14-DVDs which of course has all the slide lessons, and (iii) a ‘Play Like’ 6-DVD pack (which includes lessons on playing like blues great such as Eric Clapton, Dickey Betts and BB King).

But there’s more – you can even purchase the ‘Everything Bundle’, which as the name implies, is the entire collection of DVD lessons on blues and slide guitar – a massive 52 hours of lessons, among other goodies!

You can also purchase individual DVDs if you’re looking for something specific, or if you’re looking for a particular lessons, instead of the complete course.

DVD lessons will set you back by anywhere between $20 - $400, and also come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You have the choice of purchasing physical DVDs which will be shipped to your doorstep, or you can download files directly on your computer if you have a fast-enough internet connection.

2. JamPlay.com

A feature packed website, JamPlay is a great resource for aspiring guitar players, and musicians who are looking to improve and enhance their skills. They claim to be ‘offering the best guitar learning website’ out there, and from what I’ve seen, it’s not far from the truth!

The website is quite literally a goldmine. Features include (i) a community made up of just under 200,000 guitarists, (ii) in excess of 2000 guitar lessons on playing jazz, rock, country or death metal, all in HD, (iii) more than 50 professional guitar instructors to choose from, each specializing in specific genres which allows you to choose according to the genre you might be interested to learn

We first look at the lessons – which have been divided into categories according to proficiency, genre and songs. Yes, you can even choose from a list of songs to learn from! You can also choose to learn specific skills such as speed, lead, music reading, theory and improv, song writing, rhythm and ear training. Furthermore, you can even learn a style, which is essentially learning different genres – blues, rock, country, jazz, folk, r&b, and classical, to name just a few.

Other features include stuff like interactive games which aid an aspiring guitarist with fretboard memorization, music notation, note identification and pitch recognition, as well as access to comprehensive chord, scale, lick & riff, and jamtrack libraries.

All things considered, JamPlay has got to be one of the best guitar learning websites out there. Membership is pretty cheap at 20 bucks-a-month, and yearly access costs $139.95. These are prices for access to the goodies available on the JamPlay website. You can even opt for DVD-based lessons as well as in-person lessons which cost around $40 per hour. 

Jamplay offers interactive online guitar lessons – both via text chat as well as through webcam – for 10 hours daily. I have nothing but good things to say about JamPlay, it is such a feature-rich resource and one of its stand-out aspects is that it has something for everyone. Regardless of what kind of a guitarists or guitar player you are, I strongly recommend getting the yearly JamPlay membership as it has to be one of the best value-for-money guitar-based websites out there.

(PS. Alternatively, I also suggest going through this detailed and in-depth review of JamPlay as well)

3. JustinGuitar.com

JustinGuitar is the brainchild of a London-based musician Justin Sandercoe, an accomplished and experienced guitar teacher for many years now, a singer-songwriter, and a performance artist who has also toured and performed with many musicians from all over the world.

The first thing that stands out about Justin’s guitar-learning website is the fact that everything on it is totally free. Yes, there are over 500 lessons on the website, all of which are free, unlike many of the other resources out there. There are free lessons on basic skills, lessons which allow you to work on your technique, chords, rhythms, scales and arpeggios, to name a few.

You can also choose to learn songs (such as Killing Me Softly, Working Class Hero, Hallelujah and more), solos, riffs and licks. Alternatively, you can look at lessons according to several genres – rock & metal, blues, folk, and jazz.

As I mentioned earlier, everything you come across on the website is free of cost (apart from the stuff on the online store, more on that in a bit). Howe Justin manages to keep all lessons free is pretty simple – he uses a donations-based system which he calls the ‘honour system’. This means that essentially anyone who can afford to make a donation on the website can do so, allowing Justin to be able to charge nothing for the lessons. Alternatively, you can head over to the online store, where you can purchase stuff like eBooks and DVDs on playing the guitar, and a wide range of accessories like JustinGuitar-branded tees and mugs. You can also buy Justin’s album ‘Small Town Eyes’ from here.

JustinGuitar is one of the best free guitar-learning resource out there. I highly recommend you check it out – because its good and it’s a free – and I strongly urge everyone to donate whatever they can on the website, so that the lessons remain free for everyone.