Mokless Girgis Blog

Author: Kirk Downing

Playing Guitar - How Easy Is It?

There is more to playing guitar than just learning the basic chords and strumming along to your favorite tune. If you have the talent, determination, and ability, you can make playing guitar a very profitable career option. However, that path can accommodate just a few of the most dedicated souls. Therefore, for most of us, playing a guitar remains a great hobby, at best.

Regardless of whether you are thinking of playing guitar professionally or as a hobby, it is best to undergo the complete learning experience - not just about the different chords and grips. Let us take a look at a critical aspect of playing the guitar - tuning it.

Playing Guitar - The Importance of Tuning

A very important aspect of learning how to play the guitar is to know how to tune it. A guitar usually goes out of tune ever so often, owing to a number of external factors - the quality of the guitar, the weather, etc. An out of tune guitar will never produce the exact sound required.

Visualize this: Your friends have gathered at your home for the evening. They know you are learning the guitar, and want you to give a small demo of some of the stuff you have learned. You are eager to show off your knowledge and newly acquired skill to your friends. You pick up the guitar and sure enough, it is totally out of tune. You have no clue how to tune it. What do you tell your friends?

Did you know?

A variety of different tuning methods are used today. The most common by far is known as “Standard Tuning” (EADGBE)

Things to Know About Tuning Before You Start Playing Guitar

Playing guitar so you produce the right sound depends, to a large extent, on how well you tune your guitar. There are several different ways to accomplish this task. Universally, tuning the guitar involves using another source of sound at the same pitch as the reference pitch. The sound you reference your guitar to is usually the E note. The E note of your guitar should sound exactly the same as the in-tune reference sound source.

Initially, playing guitar can seem a much easier task than tuning it; the best option available would be to get a hold of a friend who plays the guitar to tune it for you. If this option is not viable, an even easier option for tuning is to use a reference source that produces a fixed sound for each note, and does not go out of tune. You could use a pitch pipe or, even better, an electronic tuner or a synthesizer/piano, both of which are sources that produce fixed sounds for each note that do not go out of tune.

Author: Brian Murphy

Guitar Synthesizers have been around for years. I remember seeing a picture of Pete Townsend of The Who back in the early/mid-seventies with an ARP.

Since then it has come a long way and still needs tweaking but it is usable.

The technology is there. Use it. If you do not, you are missing a lot.

Checkout Pat Metheny and others.

You can’t just plug your guitar’s output into a box and get great synth sounds. You need a 13-pin connection. This is achieved by using a specially designed hex pickup that attaches to your guitar (Roland, Axon) or use a guitar that has it built -in already. The guitar option also comes in two versions-Hex pickups or piezo. The hex pickup is the same as the external pickups. The piezo version has piezo transducers in the bridge. The piezo built -in version is better, more accurate. It will also gives you an acoustic sound via the piezo transducers. This is a great option to have because you can have an acoustic sound through an amp without bringing an extra guitar to the gig or rehearsal and you can combine this sound with the electric tones and synth sounds. This is huge sound on stage!

Coming from the pickup is a 13-pin din cable that plugs into a converter box. Again, Roland and Axon are the main companies with Axon being on the cutting edge for midi conversion

Depending on the box, you can get some with sounds, without sounds or USB connection for computer recording.

Once you have this setup, you would have to tweak the settings in the box to how you play. Each guitar player is different. Each guitar is different. One guitar player could use different techniques (finger picking, hard picking, very soft picking, tapping, etc). Sensitivity, tuning, feel/picking are some of the settings to look at.

Imagine recording a guitar track, then adding piano, bass, drums, strings, sax and more right from the guitar. Using a 13-pin guitar to access synth or samples sounds opens a whole world for expression, composing, recording, inspiration and more. It allows you to control software sounds in your computer that you already have but can’t use unless you play keyboard.

Author: Carlos Semilla

Here are some pointers to help you on your journey in learning to play the piano:

1. Take some lessons with a good classical teacher.

2. Use the Hanon exercises (especially the scales and arpeggios) to gain finger dexterity and to know the correct piano fingering of the scales and arpeggios. Always use a metronome when you’re doing these exercises to develop your sense of timing. If you don’t have a metronome try putting an accent on the “one” count of every sixteenth note (e.g. ONE,two,three,four; ONE,two,three,four… etc… ).

3. After learning the basics/rudiments of playing the instrument, find another teacher who can teach you how to play the chords (a good jazz piano improvisation teacher will do!) and how to improvise.

4. Master the five qualities of chords (major seventh, dominant seventh, minor seventh, half-diminished, and the diminished seventh) their inversions, arpeggios and scales.

5. Try to apply what you are learning to your favorite songs especially jazz standard songs even to some classical music pieces. You can use songbooks, fake books, real books and music sheets, which are readily available at your local music stores or online.

6. Listen to all types of music and try to transcribe phrases/passages/riffs/licks or songs that interests you. Listen to piano players - the way they play, improvise and learn from them. Try to read their biography to learn how they study, practice, who influenced them and their achievements. I believe these can help to make you a well-rounded piano player.

7. Play with other musicians or join a band in your school or in your neighborhood.

8. Try to sing the melody of the song you are playing (you might have a hidden talent in singing) or if you are improvising, sing (scat) what you are playing.

9. Buy some piano lesson books, magazines, piano lesson videos, piano lesson software or CD-ROM.

10. Practice, practice and practice!