Guitar-music-my soul

Learning to play an instrument is not easy and requires a lot of time and discipline. You want to optimize your practice conditions to learn as fast and easy as possible. A decent standard guitar with a good sound is the first thing you need. Anything less will make learning more difficult, slow down your progress and will make you believe you just don't have the talent or the discipline or the patience to learn it. My first guitar was a borrowed guitar from the music school. At the time I could not hear when a guitar was out of tune but even my totally untrained beginners ears could hear that it was an awful guitar. It sounded dark, flat and ugly and I was embarrassed to bring that to my teacher. Needless to say how frustrated it was to learn to play on it. Despite the guitar I practised every day, my parents saw that I was serious and three months later I had my own guitar, a brand new nylon string classical Yamaha guitar. Choose your instrument with care. So how do you go out and buy a good standard guitar without having to spent a ton of money not knowing where the threshold is between a good guitar and one of poor quality? Don't just go out with a couple hundred dollars choosing a guitar within that budget. The price of a guitar goes from a hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. Obviously the more expensive the better the guitar but for six to seven hundred dollars you can buy a decent one that goes a long way. It's is not cheap but far from expensive and it's worth saving until you have the money because over time a good guitar will become a better guitar while a bad guitar will never be a good one. What makes a great instrument - Things to look out for. If you have untrained ears ask someone with experience to go with you. You want to make sure that the guitar doesn't have invisible damage or issues.

• Check the tuning : Tune the guitar or ask someone to tune it for you. If a guitar has tuning issues it will definitely go out of tune within fifteen minutes of playing on it.
  

• Check that all pickups work : Plug in the guitar and try every pickup setting using the switch. You should hear a clear difference in tone. There is a tone knob. Make sure it's all the way open(turn clockwise)while you check the pickups. Turning it counter clockwise will filter out the high frequencies.

• Check the neck : If you can't play yet you don't know what feels comfortable and what doesn't but you should be able to easily slide up and down the neck. Doing so let your fingers and thump hang over the edges onto the fret board to check that frets don't have any sharp edges sticking out. It shouldn't hurt.

• Check the pretuning : Guitars are pretuned in the factory. What does that mean? The pitch of the harmonic on fret twelve should be identical to the open string. If that is not the case the guitar cannot be tuned properly.

• Check the frets : Turn the guitar horizontal holding the lower end of the body near you face so you can look down the fretboard. All the frets should be parallel. This is most often the case but double check.

• Try several guitars : If you have set your mind for instance to buy a Fender Stratocaster tryout a few guitars. Every single guitar sounds different. You might prefer a black guitar but find that you really like the sound of the blue one.

Buying the right guitar may not be an easy choice for you. It can be so frustrating and exasperating that sometimes you will just feel like buying the next guitar you see just so that you can stop your search once and for all. Worse if you the easily frustrated type, you may even feel like giving up the idea of learning how to play the guitar altogether.

• Every person will have a different set of criteria when choosing a good guitar. However, chances are that you may not always be able to satisfy all of them at once. Just have a little patience and look around as much as you can so that will not regret later that you have bought a wrong guitar. Don't just buy the first guitar you see, visit as many guitar stores as you can just to get an idea of what is on offer.

• You probably will have friends who are experienced guitarists, so go and ask them for advice on how to choose a good quality guitar for you. Someone who has been playing the guitar for sometime will be able to show you where to choose the best guitars for the best price. Better yet, ask them if they are willing to accompany you to check out the guitars.

• If you aspire to be a proficient guitarist, buying a guitar not suitable for you would not only get you shortchanged but it might also disillusion you and dampens your enthusiasm. For this reason, it is always recommended that buy your guitar from reputed brands such as Yamaha, Ibanez, Fender, Gibson, Ovation and Martin just to list a few of them.

• You don't have to get embarrassed when trying out and testing the guitar at the shop since you will be the one who is paying for the guitar. When inspecting a guitar, lookout for sloppy gluing and also make sure that the guitar has a good solid top.

• Play the guitar as loudly as you want to because this is the best way of listening to its tonal quality. Play on every fret on the guitar neck to make sure that there are no fret buzzes. Also never pay the listed price for a guitar, so do some hard bargaining with the sales staff and you may get a handsome discount.

• If buying a brand new guitar is out of your tight budget, you may wish to consider getting a good quality second hand guitar. This is also an option especially so if your enthusiasm on being a guitarist is just a passing fad.

Do you want to know about the popular brands of electric guitars?

There is a long list of popular electric guitar brands. Information about some of the most popular ones among them is given below.


Fender:

Fender is a very renowned name in the arena of electric guitars. Mr. Leo Fender introduced this company in the year 1946. For times, Fender has supplied series of brilliant electric guitars. Their guitars are used in every genre of music. Like, rock, pop, rock and roll etc. They have got different models of electric guitars like, VG Stratocaster, American Deluxe telecaster, Showmaster FAT HH (Flame Ash Top), Showmaster QMT HH (Quilt Maple Top) etc.

Ibanez:

Ibanez is another popular brand of electric guitars. Mr. Hoshino Gakki started this company in 1978. Ibanez have a varied range of electric guitars. Like, Ibanez RG220, Ibanez IJX40, Ibanez GRG170DX, and Ibanez SZ320 etc. Ibanez has made some brand new guitars in 2007. They are, Xiphos XPT700 (X Series), V Blade VBT700 (X Series), RG 8 String RG2228 (RG Series).

Gibson

This is one of the best among popular brands of electric guitars. Mr. Orville Gibson founded this company in 1902. Some brilliant models of Gibson electric guitars are, Gibson ES175 Reissue Electric Guitar, Gibson ES137 Custom Electric Guitar, Gibson Standard SG Electric Guitar, and Gibson SG Standard Left Handed Electric Guitar.

Washburn:

This company was started in Chicago, in the year 1883. From then on it has not stopped creating quality guitars. Washburn WI66PRO Idol Pro Electric Guitar, Washburn HB30 Hollow Body Electric Guitar, Washburn WI64DL TBL Electric Guitars are some of their high in demand guitar models.

Yamaha:

Yamaha is a very old and reputed company. They are somehow different from other popular brands of electric guitars. This company is in the instrument circuit since the end of 1800. But at that time they used to make organs. In 1900 they made piano. And in 1942, they started making guitars. Their guitars are very much popular and loved by various musicians all over the world. Some very popular Yamaha electric guitar models are, Yamaha AES420 BL Guitar, Yamaha AES420 RM Guitar, Yamaha PAC012 Pacifica Electric Guitar Pack BL, and Yamaha PAC012 Pacifica Electric Guitar Pack DBM.

ESP:

ESP is a very famous brand now. E.S.P. stands for Electric Sound Products. At first they used to make replacement parts of other guitars. But from 1976 onwards they started making guitars. ESP LTD Standard M100 guitars, ESP LTD H200 , ESP LTD Standard EX50, ESP LTD Deluxe EC1000 etc. These are some popular brands of electric guitars. These brands of guitars are useful, user friendly, stylish and of good quality. Sometimes they are a bit expensive. But it is worth spending handsome amount of money for real good brands. Overall these brands are very famous and they have a reputation to keep. So you can rely on them and can believe that they won't let you down.

Joseph "Satch" Satriani (born July 15, 1956 in Westbury, New York) is an American multi-instrumentalist, known as an instrumental rock guitarist, who has been nominated for Grammy Awards. Early in his career, Satriani worked as a guitar instructor, and some of his former students have achieved fame with their guitar skills. Satriani has been a driving force behind other musicians throughout his career, as a founder of the ever-changing touring trio, G3, as well as performing in temporary positions with other musicians.

In 1988, Satriani was recruited by the The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger as lead guitarist for the singer's second solo tour. Later, in 1994, Satriani was the lead guitarist for Deep Purple. Satriani worked with a range of guitarists from many musical genres, including Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Larry LaLonde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Brian May, Patrick Rondat, Andy Timmons, Paul Gilbert, Adrian Legg, and Robert Fripp through the annual G3 Jam Concerts.

He is heavily influenced by blues-rock guitar icons such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, possessing, however, his own easily recognizable style. Since 1988, Satriani has been using his own signature guitar, the Ibanez JS Series, which is widely sold in stores. He has a signature series amplifier, the Peavey JSX, and a signature Vox distortion pedal, the Satchurator. He is currently the lead guitarist for the supergroup Chickenfoot.

Technique and influence

Satriani is recognized as a technically advanced rock guitarist, and has been described as a virtuoso. by some publications. He has mastered many performance techniques on the instrument, including legato, two-handed tapping and arpeggio tapping, volume swells, harmonics, and extreme whammy bar effects. One of his trademark compositional traits is the use of pitch axis theory, which he applies with a variety of modes.[citation needed] During fast passages, Joe favors a legato technique (achieved primarily through hammer-ons and pull-offs) which yields smooth and flowing runs. He is also adept at other speed-related techniques such as speed picking (a rapid form of alternate picking) and sweep picking, but does not often use them.

Satriani has received 15 Grammy nominations and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. Many of his fans and friends call him "Satch," short for "Satriani".

An influential guitarist himself, Satriani has many influences, including jazz guitarists Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, Allan Holdsworth and Charlie Christian, and rock guitarists Jimi Hendrix and Ritchie Blackmore.

Equipment

Satriani has endorsed Ibanez's JS Series guitars, and Peavey's JSX amplifier. Both lines were designed specifically as signature products for Satriani. The Ibanez JS100 was based on and replaced the Ibanez 540 Radius model which Satriani first endorsed. However, Satriani uses a variety of gear. Many of his guitars are made by Ibanez, including the JS1000, and JS1200. These guitars typically feature the DiMarzio PAF Pro (which he used up until 1993 in both the neck and bridge positions), the DiMarzio Fred (which he used in the bridge position from 1993 to 2005), and the Mo' Joe and the Paf Joe (which he uses in the bridge and neck positions, respectively, from 2005 to present day). The JS line of guitars is his signature line, and they feature the Edge Pro, which is Ibanez's exclusive vibrato system, although he's always used the Original Edge unit on his guitars. The guitar with which he was most often associated during the nineties was a chrome-finished guitar nicknamed "Chrome Boy" (this instrument can be seen on the Live in San Francisco DVD). However, the guitar used for most of the concert was in fact a lookalike nicknamed "Pearly", which featured Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickups.

Satriani uses a number of other JS models such as the JS double neck model, JS700 (primary axe on the self-titled CD and seen on the 1995 tour "Joe Satriani", which features a fixed bridge, P-90 pickups, and a matching mahogany body and neck), JS6/JS6000 (natural body) , JS1 (the original JS model), JS2000 (fixed bridge model), a variety of JS100s, JS1000s and JS1200s with custom paint work, and a large amount of prototype JSs. All double locking bridges have been the original Edge tremolo, not the newer models, which point to a more custom guitar than the "off the shelf" models. Joe played a red 7-string JS model, seen in the "G3 Live in Tokyo" DVD from 2005.He also has a prototype 24-fret version of the JS which he has used with Chickenfoot.

Satriani has used a wide variety of guitar amps over the years, using Marshall Amplification for his main amplifier (notably the limited edition blue coloured 6100 LM model) up until 2001, and his Peavey signature series amps, the Peavey JSX, thereafter. The JSX began life as a prototype Peavey XXX and developed into the Joe Satriani signature Peavey model, now available for purchase in retail stores. Joe Satriani has used other amplifiers over the years in the studio, however. Those include the Peavey 5150 (used to record the song 'Crystal Planet'), Cornford, and the Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ (used to record the song 'Flying in a Blue Dream'), amongst others.

His effects pedals include the Vox wah, Dunlop Cry Baby wah, RMC Wizard Wah, Digitech Whammy, BK Butler Tube Driver, BOSS DS-1, BOSS CH-1, BOSS CE-2, BOSS DD-2 and a standard BOSS DD-3 (used together to emulate reverb effects), BOSS BF-3, BOSS OC-2, Barber Burn Drive Unit, Fulltone Deja Vibe, Fulltone Ultimate Octave, and Electro-Harmonix POG (Polyphonic Octave Generator), the latter being featured prominently on the title cut to his 2006 Super Colossal.

Satriani has partnered with Planet Waves to create a signature line of guitar picks and guitar straps featuring his sketch art.

Although Satriani endorses the JSX, he has used many amps in the studio when recording, including the Peavey Classic. He used Marshall heads and cabinets, including live, prior to his Peavey endorsement. Most recently Satriani used the JSX head through a Palmer Speaker Simulator. Joe Satriani has also released a Class-A 5-watt tube amp called the "Mini Colossal".

He is currently working with Vox on his own line of signature effects pedals designed to deliver Satriani's trademark tone plus a wide range of new sounds for guitarists of all playing styles and ability levels. The first being a signature distortion pedal titled the "Satchurator", and recently, the "Time Machine" which will be a delay pedal, with more to follow in 2008, including a wah pedal called the "Big Bad Wah".

Paul Brandon Gilbert (born November 6, 1966 in Illinois, USA) is an American musician. He is well known for his guitar work with Racer X and Mr. Big, as well as many solo albums. He also joined Joe Satriani and John Petrucci on the 2007 G3 tour.

He has been voted number 4 on a list in GuitarOne magazine of the "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time", as well as a spot in Guitar World's 50 Fastest Guitarists of All Time list.

Influences and Style

Talking about his influences, Paul mentions many different artists, including: Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony Iommi, Alex Lifeson, Jimmy Page, Robin Trower, Judas Priest, Akira Takasaki, Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, Van Halen and The Ramones. Paul has stated many times that he was heavily influenced by his uncle Jimi Kidd who was instrumental in getting Paul interested in playing the guitar. He is also a great fan of The Beach Boys and The Beatles. He states on the Space Ship Live DVD that George Harrison is one of his favorite guitar players. Guitar World magazine declared him one of 50 of the world's fastest guitarists of all time, along with Buckethead, Eddie Van Halen, and Yngwie Malmsteen.

Gilbert composes music in a wide variety of styles including pop, rock, metal, blues, funk and european classical music, but is perhaps best known for his versatility and speed, which helped him be named as one of the "Top 10 Shredders Of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine.

Gear

Paul Gilbert primarily uses his Ibanez PGM signature series guitars, identified by their unique painted "f-holes". Although earlier PGM models featured the Ibanez Lo-Pro/Edge double locking tremolo system, many of his guitars (such as his main PGM300) have since been modified to accommodate a fixed bridge, hence the Ibanez PGM301 series. Along with his signature guitars, Gilbert often uses his sticker-covered "Dino" Ibanez RG750, in addition to a wide variety of Ibanez solidbody and semi-hollow electric guitars. Recently, Gilbert has been using Ibanez "Fireman" (a reversed-body Ibanez Iceman with single-coil pickups and an extra cutaway) guitars, which he designed himself.

Regarding amps, Gilbert used ADA preamps and rack effects units early in his career prior to switching to Laney amplifiers. He praised the Laney amps as having "the best natural distortion of any tube amp ever heard". Since the G3 2007 tour however, Gilbert stated that playing with Joe Satriani and John Petrucci inspired him to take a closer look at his own guitar sound. As a result of his search he found the Marshall Vintage Modern series. He currently uses the Marshall Vintage Modern 2266c combo amps. Paul uses Jim Dunlop Tortex picks, of which he prefers the orange (.60mm) picks.

Paul used the following effects as of his tour of Europe in 2008 (he used 12 effects in total):

* Homebrew Electronics Bajo Mos
* Homebrew Electronics Detox EQ
* Tc electronics nova delay
* Homebrew Electronics compressor retro
* MXR phase 100
* BOSS Digital Delay DD-3
* Ibanez Airplane Flanger
* MXR Blue box
* Homebrew Electronics THC chorus
* Robert Keeley Nova Wah LE
* Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress
* Korg Pitchblack tuner

In 2009, Ibanez released a new PGM model, the Ibanez PGM401, which is rather different from most of Paul's previous models, with an ash body (most of his previous models were made of basswood, although his PGM800 guitar was made of lightweight ash (a similar but different wood than that used in the PGM401), Trifade Burst finish, Cosmo Black hardware and a regular headstock replacing the reversed one of the previous models. Also, rather than the DiMarzio PAF Pro, Tone Zone and Super Distortion pickups used in his previous models, the PGM401 comes with Paul's favorite humbucker model for the past five years, the DiMarzio Air Classics, arranged in a dual humbucker arrangement. Paul has stated that he had the bridge pickup moved 1 mm closer to the neck, which he said results in a warmer and thicker sound, particularly for the high notes he often uses in soloing. The F-holes are 3% smaller, to make the look more balanced with the pickup mounting rings. But perhaps the biggest difference from other current Ibanez guitar models, is that the PGM401 uses the old late-1980s neckjoint, which is thicker than the current neckjoints on other Ibanez guitars.

Guitars

Ibanez PGM Models and variations

* PGM3
* PGM30
* PGM100
* PGM100RE
* PGM200
* PGM300
* PGM301
* PGM400
* PGM401
* PGM500
* PGM600
* PGM700
* PGM800
* PGM900
* PGM10th
* PGM90th
* PGMFRM1

John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist and songwriter best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Along with his bandmate Mike Portnoy, he has produced all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. Petrucci was named as the third player on the G3 tour six times, more than any other invited guitarist. GuitarOne ranked him as the 9th Greatest Shredder of All Time. In 2009 he appeared in the No. 2 position in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.

Musical style

Petrucci is respected for his variety of guitar styles and skills. One of the most notable of these is his high speed alternate picking which, as he himself claims, requires a "strong sense of synchronization between the two [playing] hands." On one of his guitar lesson videos he states that James Hetfield of Metallica had a great influence on him. He has performed alongside such other players as Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Paul Gilbert on the G3 tour six times

Endorse

John is a long time Ernie Ball/Music Man endorser who proudly has a 6 and 7 string signature model guitar with called the "John Petrucci BFR". He is also an avid and loyal user/fan of Mesa Boogie amplification as well as a devoted DiMarzio and Dunlop endorser. You can catch John regularly doing clinics/master classes for Ernie Ball and Mesa Boogie in diferent locations throughout the world.

Guitars

• 1 Musicman JP BFR Rubyburst Baritone
• 1 Musicman JP BFR Walnutburst Baritone
• 1 Musicman JP Stealth 7 String
• 1 Musicman JP BFR Blackburst 7 String
• 1 Musicman JP BFR Tobaccoburst
• 1 Musicman JP BFR Dargie Delight II
• 1 Musicman JP BFR Silverburst
• 1 Musicman JP BFR Cherryburst
• 2 Musicman JP BFR Blackburst
• 1 Musicman JP BFR Rubyburst
• 1 Musicman JP Blue Sparkle Doubleneck

• DiMarzio Crunch Lab (Bridge)
• DiMarzio LiquiFire (Neck)

• Ernie Ball

• Jim Dunlop JP Shield Black Jazz III

• Mogami
• Neutrik

Steven "Steve" Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 in Carle Place, New York) is an Italian American instrumental rock guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, producer, beekeeper, and actor. After starting his professional career as a music transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, Vai would also record and tour in Zappa's backing band starting in 1980. The guitarist began a solo career starting in 1984 and has released 13 solo albums as of 2008. Apart from his work with Frank Zappa, Vai has also recorded and toured with numerous musical artists including Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake. Vai has been a regular touring member of the G3 Concert Tour which began in 1996. In 1999 Vai started his own record label Favored Nations with the intent to showcase, as Vai describes: "...artists that have attained the highest performance level on their chosen instruments."

Playing style

Vai is widely recognized as a highly technically advanced rock guitarist and has been described as a virtuoso in the world of guitar music. His 1990 album Passion and Warfare and the ballad For the Love of God in particular received a significant amount of press and are often cited by critics and fans alike as amongst his best work to date.

Vai's playing style has been characterized as quirky and angular, owing to his technical ability with the instrument and deep knowledge of music theory. He often uses exotic guitars; he plays both double and triple neck guitars, and is regarded as the first to use the 7-string guitar in a rock context.[citation needed] Along with Ibanez, he designed a signature 7-string guitar, the Ibanez Universe.

Equipment

Vai is an accomplished studio producer (he owns two: "The Mothership" and "The Harmony Hut" and his own recordings combine his signature guitar prowess with novel compositions and considerable use of studio and recording effects.

Vai also helped design his signature Ibanez JEM series of guitars. They feature a hand grip (fondly referred to as a "monkey grip") cut into the top of the body of the guitar, a humbucker-single coil-humbucker DiMarzio pickup configuration with several different types of pickup including Evolution, Breed and EVO 2. He also uses the Ibanez Edge and Lo-Pro Edge double-locking tremolo systems (the current production JEMs have the newer Edge Pro), as well as an elaborate and extensive "Tree of Life" inlay down the neck. Vai also equips many of his guitars with an Ibanez Backstop, a tremolo stabilizer that has been discontinued. Lately Vai has also equipped some of his guitars with True Temperament fretboards in order for his chords to sound completely in tune. Vai also has a 7-string model designed by him named Ibanez Universe. The Universe later influenced the 7-string guitars used by Korn and other bands to create nu metal sounds in the late 1990s. He also has a signature Ibanez acoustic, the Euphoria. Before Ibanez, he briefly endorsed Jackson guitars, but this relationship only lasted two years.

Steve Vai has also worked with Carvin Guitars and Pro Audio to develop the Carvin Legacy line of guitar amplifiers. Vai wanted to create an affordable amp that was unique, and equal in sound and versatility to any guitar amp he had previously used. Over his long musical career, Steve Vai has used and designed an array of guitars. He even had his DNA put into the swirl paint job on one of his signature JEM guitars, the JEM2KDNA, in the form of his blood. Only 300 of these were made. Nowadays he mainly uses his white "Evo", a JEM7V, and his "Flo", which is a customized Floral Jem 77FP painted white. They are both inscribed with their names in two places, mainly in order to allow him to distinguish between the guitars he uses onstage. "Flo" is equipped with a Fernandes sustainer system.

He also has a guitar named "Mojo" in which the dot inlays are blue LED lights. Additionally, he has a custom-made triple-neck guitar that has the same basic features as his JEM7V guitars. The top neck is a 12-string guitar, the middle is a 6-string, and the bottom is a 6-string fretless guitar with a Fernandes Sustainer pickup. This guitar was featured on the G3 2003 tour on the piece I Know You're Here. Vai's effects pedals include a modified Boss DS-1, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Morley Bad Horsie, Ibanez Jemini Twin Distortion Pedal, TC Electronics G-System, Morley Little Alligator Volume pedal, Digitech Whammy, and an MXR Phase 90/Phase 100 on the Passion and Warfare album. His flight cases are labeled "Mr. Vai", or latterly, "Dr. Vai". He used a number of rack effects units controlled via MIDI, but used a floor-based TC electronics G system instead for the Zappa Plays Zappa tour.