When you are learning a new skill in a new field you will be introduced to habits most people have, particular things which are done simply because they work. Learning to play the guitar is very similar in this respect: Certain chordshapes are being used in particular ways, simply because they sound good when played in that way. Each style of music seem to have its own approach when it comes to using chords and how to play them, and what kind of sound to use them with when playing these chords.
Once you have been playing the guitar for a while and have more experience under your belt it helps to have a look at the cliches, understand them, be aware of them and know how to break them or use them for your own purposes.
For this short article I want to highlight the powerchord and how to break free from its particular useage.

Most of you will have heard of the term powerchord, it is simply two notes put together to give you a strong sound which will work in a lot of musical styles. The two notes being used are usually the Root and the fifth. Some guitar players like to use three notes, in cases like this most players will go for: Root, Fifth and an Ocatave above the Root. Personally I like the lean approach of the the two note powerchord: Very smooth for moving around on the fretboard while still giving you enough power in the low end.
 
Are powerchords only used in Heavy Rock and do you really need to use distortion to make them come alive? No, you can use them on acoustic guitar, you can use them in any setting. Whenever you have the need for a strong backing with low notes, powerchords will give you what you need.
The advantage of a powerchords is that the chord is neither major or minor, and therefore it can be used in any musical setting. Great in cases you are not sure about which chords are major or minor, you can always fall back on powerchords. True, but they will only give you a certain sound, and if you use them too often your sound may get a little stale, but that observation goes for many chordshapes: It is always a good idea to vary your shapes with whatever you play, as long as it can support the song you are playing you are doing fine.

Hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie

Delay and Reverb are often used for guitar to thicken up the sound. You can play with the settings of your reverb (or delay) to get a particular sound, some settings may make your guitarsound more midrangy, while others may add more brightness or add a bit of fullness to the overal sound.

What is possible for guitar is also possible for vocals. There are these moments when you think your voice sounds too thin, you can work with the EQ settings on your mixer, you may try even various microphones to see which one gives you the best sound. If you still feel there is something lacking why not add some extra reverb to your vocals. You may even use the pedals you use for guitar to add some reverb to your vocals. Here are a few pointers you may find helpful:

                     @ To create a natural sound do not add too much reverb.
                    
                     @ Work with the overal mix: Listen to the sound of guitar, bass and drums before you add any reverb. Your vocals need to ride over the mix smoothly. If you do it right you will not even notice the reverb, You will only notice it when you sing without having any of the other instruments playing. A lot of people make the mistake to add too much reverb (or delay) with the result it makes the mix sound unnatural. Of course, you can go this way if you want it as special effect, but try not to add to much reverb if you strive for a natural mix and voca lsound.

                     @  The amount of Feedback from your delay will thicken up the sound, the amount of Time for the delay will add brightness to the sound. Work with the settings to achieve a natural sound.

                      @  Different rooms may ask for different settings, be aware of this. Settings which work for rehearsal room may need some tweaking when you play in another room (or venue)

Happy experimenting.
Eddie

There are these moments when the sound of your amp and guitar is not enough: The sound could benefit from some extra thickening. Most people thicken up their sound during recording by double tracking: Record one part, and record same part again on another track. During mixdown both guitartracks can be used to create a fuller sound. One track may get some extra bass, or brightness from the EQ to add extra fullness and spark to the overal guitarsound.
All very well, but what can you do during rehearsals and gigs to add more body to your exhisting guitarsound you may wonder?
Why not try the same approach:?

Use a Y box (or cable): This box will spit your guitarsound into two signals, one signal is sent to your amp while the other signal is sent to the mixer. The source sent to the mixer is your direct guitarsound. This sound will be the fullest.
Next you can use a microphone to take the signal of your ampspeaker into the mixer, or you could use the line-out at the back of your amplifier.
Personally I like Line-Outs, as there are no extra microphonestands to bother with, also no extra microphone (which sometimes gets knocked over accidentily)
Line-Out signals may be a bit thinner compared to signal from microphone, but remember, your direct sound and line-out are mixed together to create one guitarsound. The overal sound should be thicker and stronger.

In case you use a lot of pedals you will need to place the Y box at the end of your pedalchain, this to make sure the sound of your pedals is also going straight into your mixer.

Experiment to see what work for you, but overal you should get a stronger and fuller guitarsound which may work better in the mix of bass and drums.

Happy experimenting.
Eddie

There are these moments you work on one song and you wonder: “How would this song sound if I fingerpick the chords instead of strumming them?” “What about if I use distortion instead of clean sound for the backing?” “What about playing the chords higher up the fretboard using a Capo?” When you try any of these variations changes are you will be changing more than just the way where you play the chords. Before you know it, the feel of the song has changed and the song may sound like something completely different.

When you are just starting out with writing you are probably happy to keep your songs the way they come out in the first place. Once you have been writing for a little while you may enjoy the experience of playing around with your songs to give them a different feel or to put them into a different style. There are those songs where you know they will work in a different settting, while others may look less obivious for the treatment of a different style.

Being able to put your songs into different styles will open your eyes to different possibilies for your song, it will also turn you into a better songwriter. Try it to see if it works for you.

Hope to see you next time,
Eddie                 

Been using the Shure SM 58 for some time without really thinking about it? Do you like it. It is common believe the SM 58 is quite good for vocals, robust microphone which sounds and feels good. True, but the microphone may also add a bit of brightness which you may not like at all times.

 

To change the tone of your microphone you may want to use EQ settings on your desk, but really the tone starts with your own voice and the tonality of the microphone. What about trying various microphones to see how they suit your voice?

If you have several microphones you may use for your bandpractise, why not use the SM 57 for voice? But it is a guitar microphone you may say. A micorphone does not mind what sound source it is amplifying, just try it and see what the results are. The only thing you need to be careful with is sensitive microphones: You do not want to damage them by putting them infront sound sources which cause sudden volumebursts as this could be harmful for that particular microphone.

When you try the SM 57 for vocals you may find it a tad smoother, maybe lacking some power (not as bright as the SM 58) but it may be just the ticket for your voice to tame that brightness.

You can even experiment with bassdrum microphones, some of them may be smooth and not having the treble the SM58 does have, they may also lack that bassboost when you sing close up into the microhone. Both the SM58 and 57 do have that ability, this is sometimes what you may like, other times you wish the microphone would preform in another way.
The point is, try to find out what works you by looking at what you like about the sound of your microphone.

In case you only have one microphone, try working with the EQ on your mixer (or use an external EQ), also look at reverbs and delay as they will also have an effect on the tone of your voice. Using some EQ and reverb may give you the ability to cover up some of the brigthness of a particular vocal microphone.

 

Keep experimenting and hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie

Most people who take up the guitar usually only want to learn to play the guitar, it is the playing of the instrument they are mainly interested in. Once people have made a start with their guitarplaying, can play a few chords, play the odd riff they start to realise that those chords will come alive when somebody sings along with them.
When I ask people if they sing they often laugh and say something like: “Yep in the shower” I know, most people are not happy telling anyone they like to sing, especially when they never thought of themselves as singers.
As time goes on most people actually will make a start with their singing but most of them are not aware that their guitarpractising can also give them ideas how to work on their singing:

                       Pitch:

If you have not done much singing this may be a problem for you. Pitch is basically the abiltiy to sing a note back which is being played. You can use your guitar to practise this skill. It does help to know what kind of voice you have: Try singing low notes, is this comfortable or would you like to prefer to sing a bit higher?. Sing in the range which is comfortable for you, especially when you are starting out. Once you get more experienced you can work on the range: Your voice works like a muscle which means you can expand the range to sing lower or higher notes.
For now you can just grab a single note anywhere on the fretboard and try to sing this note back comfortably.
Once you can do this, imagine a note, sing it and then use your guitar to check if you are actually singing that note or maybe another one.

                    Melody and Chords:

The downfall of the guitar is, you can only play one idea at once, not like on a keyboard where you can hold chords and play a melody (tune) at the same time. You can use the guitar to play chords and use your voice to sing melodies. You can start singing something very simple, like only a few notes and then play one chord and sing these notes over this chord.

You may first like to play a melody on the guitar, then sing this melody back with your voice. Being able to sing melodies back will help you remember songs, it also makes working out songs by ear much easier.

                 Harmony:

Once you get comfortable with singing the main melodies of your favourite songs you may want to try singing some harmonies ( notes which embelish the main melody or backing of the song) To practise singing harmonies you can play a chord, and try to sing back one of the notes of the chord. When you try this for the first time you may want to sing back the rootnote of the chord as the root is the most noticable note in the chord. Singing the rootnote at first may be good practise. Once you can do this comfortably try singing different notes of the chord. After a while you may start to enjoy the experience, as it can be quite pleasing to sing back harmonies with your own guitar playing.

              Technique:

Do you play scales on the guitar? What about singing scales with your voice, or actually sing along with your guitar playing. It is a good habit to sing along with whatever you play on the guitar, after a while it will become second nature which will only help you with your overal musicianship.
A voice does not have frets, which means you can sing notes in between the frets: You can grab a note and sing this note while going up (or down) with your voice, you can go all the way up(or down) an octave –or maybe even up two octaves–

Keep working on your singing as it will get better and you will enjoy the sound you are making.

Hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie 

In the 80s and early 90s there was a shortived bluesrevival: Some of the guitarplayers from the 60s and 70s made new albums which contained mainly blues songs. People like Gary Moore found new fame with his album “Still Got the Blues”, Eric Clapton recorded some acoustic versions of his earlier hitsongs and if we track back a few years we find someone like Robert Cray who was crafting catchy bluessongs songs with a prestine clean guitartone. For this article I will look at some of his early songs and what kind of guitartone he uses.

“Right Next Door” was probably Robert Cray biggest, global hit: 

When you watch the video you will notice the Fender Twin Reverb amp, a great amp to amplify those fantastic clean tones of the Fender Strat. Robert Cray uses for this song one of the In-Between-Settings of his pick-ups, which creates a great contrast with the sound of the chords of the backingchords. For the backing the middle pick-up is being used. Together with the sound of the bass and the keys you get a rich tapestry which is very inspiring to play melodic ideas over.
One of the keyelements of Robert’s guitar playing is melody: His solos are not just riffs, there are melodic ideas which connect each other to create a story. The guitarplaying is backed up by Robert’s singing which is as powerful and emotinal as his guitarplaying.

Robert Cray’s songs sound almost like Pop songs, not very different from Eric Clapton’s approach: Play strong guitarlines over catchy songs which appeal to a larger audience, songs steeped in the tradition of the blues but also borrow heavily on what is current at the time.

Here is a good interview with Robert, interview covers how much time is involved in making music, touring and rehearsing, there is mention of Eric Clapton, there is talk about guitartone and Fender Stratocasters and more.

Here is a good video Robert Playing acoustic guitar: You can hear his playing, it is just him, acoustic, his fingers, his singing and a bassplayer who helps him out:

Enjoy and hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie

The most memorable guitarplayers are the ones who play one note and upon hearing that note you know who they are. For this article I want to give you a few ideas about how you can do to create you own guitarstyle.

Creating your own identity on the guitar does not come overnight. It does help if you can identify other guitarplayer by their sound and choise of notes. Once you are aware of what makes certain players sound the way they do, you can start to play with your own sound and tailor it towards what you like.

                      Identity through “Sound” or “Choise of Notes”:

When it comes to the electric guitar, players have a choise over sound and notes. Some guitarplayers may find it easy to play particular notes which stand out, notes which are not that obvious in the way they are being used. Other people may prefer to work with a particular sound which becomes part of their identity. Sometimes players may even combine sound and choise of notes. Someone like Dave Gilmour may be an example of such a guitarplayer.

Overal, what you see is that the older guitarplayers of the 1930s up and till the early 50s usually had their style based on the choice of notes. Sometimes the type of guitar they used may have been part of their identity as well, Django Reinhart is one of those who comes to mind.

Once we have come into the early 1960s technology starts to play a bigger part in guitarplayers style, players like Jeff Beck started to build up their identity through the use of effects and usual sounds.

                  What Can You Do?

When you read any of this you may wonder what you can do for yourself in this maze of guitarplayes and their own, unique style? Being aware of what is going on is one thing, study as many guitarplayers as you can, listen to various recordings from different periods in their lives and try to understand why they sound the way they do.
When it comes to your own playing, it is good to be able to mimick other guitarplayers, but you need to walk a balance between what you copy and what you feel is your own. Once you are aware of what it is that makes your own sound you need to embrace it and make it stronger and better, and be able to do it at will at any time of the day, within any song you play.

                Songwriting and Style:

Sometimes a unique style of playing can come through songwriting, particular songs will ask for particular ways of playing the guitar. Again, it is possible to combine the two of them: The more unique your own guitarplaying is, the easier it will be to create unique songs.
The overal idea is to work on your own guitar playing and your songwriting all the time. Once you get into the zone most of what I mentioned above will second nature.

Happy Playing and hope to see you soon again,
Eddie

Once you have those first few chords and songs under your belt you want to get them to sound better.
A common mistake for beginners and intermediate players is to keep their guitarplaying at the same level: Once the song starts it will stay where it is. What about giving those songs and chords a lift ?—–Start playing quietly and then build up the dynamics of your playing—- by doing so your playing will become more lively.

 

      The Actor in You

Performing music is nothing more than acting. You will get better at it the more you do it, but there are quite a few things to you can do to improve your playing (and singing): Try to exaggerate your dynamics, you may think that you go over the top, but in reality it will make the song sound much better and your audience will enjoy your performance even more. You want to avoid playing to much at one level as this will make your playing (and singing) stale. A lot of this depends on your personality and each performer will use dynamics in their own way. Listen to your favourite guitar player to see how they go about getting their playing more dynamic.
The guitar is a hard instrument, no like any windinstrument where dynamics are more natural. The guitar will only let you go so far before the sound breaks up and your notes will sound distorted because you play too hard. You need to walk a fine balance between playing too hard and too quiet. Once you have the touch try to bring your playing up and down. Think of what you like to hear when you listen to songs. When you play yourself try to imagine how people will hear your playing.
The whole dynamic issue is something which will come with time, but being aware of it does help and will improve your playing quicker.

 

Happy playing and hope to catch you soon again.
Eddie

Rhythm guitar playing is not really any different from playing solos on the guitar, but let me leave that discussion for somewhere else, for this blog I will concentrate on the art of playing rhythm guitar and how you can improve your own rhythm playing.

Rhythm guitar playing is nothing more than holding down the chords of a song with a particular rhythm. When playing a song you do not have to stick to one rhythm all the way through the song, listen to songs you like, do most of them have just one groove, or do they have different parts in them which use various rhythm parts? Guitar playing is not really any different: See youself as a drummer in a band, for the intro of the song you are lightly playing the Hi-Hat, for the verse you may have a heavy feel on the snare while the chorus receives the heavy cymbol treatment.

You may say at this point: “Playing drums on the guitar?” “Where is the snare, I only have six strings here?” Various chordshapes give you different sonic possibilities, you can also mute your strings while you strum to mimick a more rhythmic approach of playing the guitar. Listen to some funk and soul, and try to hold down the rhythm of those songs while using the muted strums. It will open up your eyes (and ears) to what you can actually do with your strumming.

Most beginners and intermediate guitar players seem to build up a repertoire of strums and variations and they will use these for any song they want to play. Good, but what about listening to the song and let the music decide what kind of strumpattern you need to play? This may be more a natural way of how to approach your rhythmplaying.

When it gets to playing solos working with the rhythm and how to hold back on particular beats within the songs is a very effective way to start building up your solo, but  let me leave that discussion for the material of another blog.

 

Happy Strumming and hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie