A Pinched Nerve Won't Stop me from Playing the Guitar.

Have you ever had a pinched nerve? Well, I have a pinched nerve, and when it gets aggravated, my right shoulder feels like an elephant is stepping on it, the pain is debilitating. After working hard for a living for 30 plus years as a transmission shop owner and rebuilder, I have a sore back. OK, a lot of people have back problems.

That being said, I’m in good shape otherwise and will continue to practice my guitar, play my guitar and speak on the virtues of certain top level guitar lessons for beginners courses.

Before I figured out it was a nerve, I visited an orthopedic surgeon I trust. He x-rayed my right shoulder and told me that my shoulder is structurally fine. Since I was not in pain at that moment he told me that if it continued to act up he will order an MRI.

Well I thought he took me a bit to lightly. Why would I spend doe out my pocket and not want to find the problem and fix it? Got me. Anyway, when I was in Maryland last week helping my Mom and Dad and Sister after the terrible snow storm, my shoulder acted up, I mean it was worse than a toothache deep in my shoulder. I lost some strength and range of motion in my right shoulder, for all practical purposes I was out of commission.

Finally it stopped hurting enough (after 2 days) in order to carry on and get back to Florida and call my doctor and make an MRI appointment (which I think he should have done when the x-ray showed nothing). So now I have to pay for another office appointment. I called yesterday (Monday 3/15/2010) and was promised a call back from his assistant for an appointment. I’m still waiting.

In a sense, it is good she has not called back yet. It gave me time to Google shoulder pain, diagnosis and treatments. After reading article after article, and personal stories, it started to become evident to me that this may be nerve pain from a herniated disc. In fact, the article on WEB MD specifically states that a damaged or herniated C-4 disc can cause xxxx-treme pain and muscle spasms in the deltoids muscle group and scapula.

That is exactly where it hurts and not only that I know for a fact from having my back examined 3 and a half years ago that I have a deteriorated C-4 disc in my back from working hard and being a physical person all my life.

I’m not a doctor, but I know one! My Dad.. Not being a doctor, I do know for sure that doctors have to operate with guidelines set by the insurance companies which dictate how long an office appointment can be. I understand, doctors are getting the shaft now. I’m pretty sure that once I mention that I had my back checked by another doctor in his practice and there are x-rays of my lower back that he can look at, he will put it together.

I’m not a doctor, but I deal in logic. Everything I read about my condition clearly points to a nerve issue. Logic says to go in that direction. I have plenty of money to get right to the point, diagnose the problem and present me with a plan of treatment. I don’t have enough time or money to be told I need to go to a pain clinic and then got to a neurosurgeon and so on and so forth.

Nothing is etched in granite, so I want an MRI. Then I want my options for treatment. I will go home and decide on what treatment is in my best interests. If I choose a treatment that he offers, I will gladly make an appointment get the job done. I’m not scared of treatments, I want to get the best repair possible and get on with doing the do. GuitarPlayersCenter.com

First record players, the gramaphone.

In 1877 Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. He had hundreds of patents for inventions, although I am sticking to recorded music, instead of the many other uses that Edison dreamed about. It was actually the first ‘talking machine’ that was designed original as a dictation machine.

We know that the turntables us older cats used in the 50’s, 60’s and up were instrumental in our ability to learn how to play the guitar. Surprising to hear that Epiphone was one of the small companies who started making phonographs after the turn of the century.

At first the sound quality was no so good, and was not good for dictation, if fact you had to scream into the recording horn for the machine to make a hard to understand recording. As the machines improved one of the areas of useage that of first use was to record classical operas singers on the machines and reproduce recordings. Some of the most famous singers of that era were signed to contracts by The Edison, The Victor and Columbia phonograph and recording companies.

The companies knew the value of locking up performers to long term contracts as long ago as the 1900’s. The factories turning out thousands of units a day employed as many as 10,000 workers. Contrary to our knowledge that Henry Ford invented the mass production assembly line, it was Tom Edison who figured that vibe out. He was a great business man as well as inventor.

As more and more people made this appliance a home product a new demand for different types of music was pushing the recording companies to include a different venue of music. The smaller companies actually had the most success at marketing new and different types of music first. As there was not rock and roll that far back.

But, the blues was live and well and Jass (as it was called back then) was starting to develop and become very popular. So the small companies were signing blues singers to their small label companies. As that started to grow, the big three followed suit.

It was first called the ”Crazy Blues” in 1917. First introduced commercially by W.C. Handy. Some of the names that recorded the Crazy blues in the 1920’s were, Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, recognizable names today.

The rest is history, and now a turntable and vinyl record is a thing of the past for most homeowners. One thing that records had and will always have over any other music is exact reproduction. The compressed forms of music nowadays, like mp3’s don’t provide the same pure sound to the audiophiles ears, like mine.

Music compression is a way of getting more music on a disc, DVD or whatever. However the process of compression loses lots of the high pitch tones and sounds that are hard to hear normally, and don’t deliver the sound quality of vinyl.

So in essence, recorded sound made it possible to bring the concert into your home, instead of having to attend a performance, which was the only was to hear a concert back then, you can only imagine the excitement of having the ability to hear thousands of recordings in your home at that time. We take it for granted.

Ref: America on Record by Andre Millard..I’m reading this book, I have not copied anything out of the book, I’m probably missing a lot, but these are my own words entirely. Danny

Technology runs wild nowadays, as you know I speak on guitar lessons for beginners a lot. DVD’s, I pods, and the technology today allows for more versatility than ever in teaching guitar. Why go to a guitar teacher once a week when you can take some top level self study guitar lessons for beginners at home, and learn faster. As for me, I live in Florida, I am not driving 100 plus miles for a concert and pay over 100 bucks, when I can ”adjust my attitude”, crank up the stereo and be there anyway! Enjoy. GuitarPlayersCenter.com

Left Handed Guitar & Right Handed Guitar

It has been said that everyone is born right handed yet only the greatest overcome it. I guess that’s true because some of the best guitar players such as Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Paul McCartney played left-handed.

If you are left-handed, you are among approximately 7.5% of the civilized world’s population. Maybe you have been learning to do things the opposite or backwards from the way everyone else does them. There are many web sites and groups specifically for you, and some of them have stores of ‘left-handed’ merchandise to sell.

So, you’re a lefty and you want to learn to play guitar. Do you get a left handed guitar or do you learn right handed technique? Most lefties think they should learn lefty, play lefty and have a lefty guitar. And if anyone has suggested you learn and master the guitar right handed, you have probably thought of their advice as confusing without a logical explanation.

I have discussed this with some of the best guitar teachers and guitarists I know. The preponderance of evidence suggests that If your naturally stronger, dominant and more dexterous hand is your left hand, and the right handed manner of playing is with the left hand on the fingerboard, do you really want to put your clumsy right hand on the fingerboard and only pick with plectrum or fingers, with your very precise and agile left hand? Anyone analyzing this impartially, has to say no! The real question is why don’t righties play lefty?

My former guitar teacher said he only taught one left-handed student which he allowed to play lefty while they worked together, and he told me that was because he had been playing the guitar for several years and was unwilling to switch. In retrospect, my old teacher felt that he should have insisted hemake the change. From that point on it was his practice that the rest of his left-handed students, including ones who began with other instructors, have learned to play right handed, and played exceptionally well.

There is an adjustment that left handed people have to make. It is the mental adjustment from reversing everything you were shown how to do by a right handed guitarist. It’s much easier said than done, but it is worth the adjustment. You can master the change in about 2 weeks, if you apply yourself to playing right handed with discipline and not intermittently revert to the lefty technique.

Basically it is a matter of muscle memory, as I have trained myself to use a mouse left handed and write left handed. I have also used many tools as a left handed person would use them when I rebuilt transmissions (for 30 plus years). Why? For the versatility. I become very proficient at anything I put my mind to. My wife likes my versatility!

After making this argument, if one still insists on learning and playing lefty, please take note, you cannot just restring a right handed guitar and play it backwards! There are left handed guitars for a reason. That reason is that the construction of a guitar, whether acoustic or electric, is predicated on the degree of tension on each string, the layout of the tuners, the necessary height and possibly the angle of the bridge and/or bridge nut and more factors. The interior bracing of a right handed acoustic guitar may not support the tension if it is restrung left.

Understand that the difference in the pounds of tension on the two E strings of an acoustic guitar is astronomical. The bass E string is loose and thick. The high E string is thin and very tightly strung to get it to proper pitch. A well made guitar is braced to compensate for those differences.

Let me add here, that you absolutely can’t use string steel strings on a nylon string guitar, or, nylon strings on a steel string guitar. The former will damage the guitar, I have repaired some nylon string guitars which pulled the bridge up by using steel strings.

Anyone have a point of view on this? I look forward to your input and experiences with playing left handed as opposed to right handed. Enjoy. GuitarPlayersCenter.com

First, I wanted to mention that I was originally taught by a direct disciple of Andres Segovia. I took several months worth of guitar lessons from a man named Aaron Shearer. Most consider Aaron Shearer the father on modern guitar lessons. Aaron shearer coached the likes of Charlie Byrd and Julian Bream. Well, I was transferred to a great classical guitar player and teacher who was recommended by Mr Shearer, George Yeatman, with whom I took strict highly disciplined guitar lessons from for 3 more years. Anyway, about the time I first heard Jimi Hendrix, the classical vibe abruptly ended. Classical guitar is not my vibe anymore, but everyone should know who Andres Segovia is.

Before you read the article, take a moment to watch and listen to this video. My dad and I saw Segovia about 5 times in concert when I was a kid in the 60’s. Enjoy..

While many refer to Andres Segovia as the father of the classical guitar, some may also refer to him as a Legendary King of the Classical Guitar just as Elvis Presley is considered the King of Rock and Roll, B.B. King is considered the King of the Blues, and Roy Acuff is considered the King of Country. The link between the four of these famous musicians is the fact that they were all important influences within different genres of music and had a passionate love for the guitar, which started at a young age and progressed with brilliant forms of success throughout the rest of their lives. Andres Segovia was a legend of success in so many ways, and his spirit today still continues to live and grow into an influential and inspirational success to admire and treasure for the years to come. At a very young age, he acquired an idea to pursue his dream goal to learn and master the guitar and sharing it with the world. In retrospect, his goals primarily consisted of teaching the study of the guitar to students at every university, have the guitar played anywhere and everywhere around the world including performing on a stage as a concert instrument, and to continue to share his passionate love of the guitar after his death (Bergstrand 1). The following biography timeline of Andres Segovia is repeatedly emphasized throughout this research paper in order to demonstrate how his successful accomplishments defeated the reasonable doubts of other people.
Andres Torres Segovia was born on February 21, 1983 in Linares, Spain. Thus, he is of Spanish descent. His full name consists of the lengthy title of Andres Torres Segovia, marques de Salobrena. The other part of his name Marques de Salobrena was given to him by the King of Spain, Juan Carlos, deemed him as a nobleman (Wikipedia 1). It was not until the age of four when he was introduced to the classical guitar by which �his uncle used to sing songs to him and pretend to strum an imaginary guitar in his lap� (Bergstrand 1). His profound interest in the classical guitar grew into a series of great expectations in the years that follow. Unfortunately, his parents did not support his love for the classical guitar. They wished for him to play an actual instrument that had potential such as the piano or cello, so they forced him to take lessons on both of these instruments. On the flipside, this did not halt Andres Segovia�s interest in the classical guitar, in fact, it increased it by encouraging him to rebel against his parents� wishes and follow his heart into mastering the classical guitar. Since his parents did not support his interest, Andres Segovia had a difficult time finding a teacher that would teach him what he desired to learn. Thus, with this in mind, he continuously taught himself. As a result of teaching himself, he developed different types of techniques that improved his performance on the guitar. One of his techniques is mentioned in the following quote, �Like the great guitarist, Miguel Llobet (who may have been his teacher for a short time) Segovia plucked the strings with a combination of his fingernails and fingertips, producing a sharper sound than that of his contemporaries. With this technique, it was possible to create a wider range of timbres than when using the fingertips or nails alone� (Wikipedia 3-4).
His parents were not the only ones who did not believe in his dreams of the future. Many people, especially teachers, thought that a classical guitar could never perform just as perfectly as a concert instrument such as the violin or piano could because it was simply not capable of doing so. Rather, no one had attempted to challenge the thought that it was merely impossible to convert classical music to play efficiently on the guitar. Denying the possibilities of the guitar in the classical music world also had a lot to do with its origin. During those times, the guitar was mainly associated within heavy ties of the gypsy culture as opposed to the classical culture. Thus, this is primarily why people frowned upon the idea of pursuing such an odd instrument. Andres Segovia ignored the discouragement from other people, and encouraged himself through the drives of motivation and determination to prove them wrong. All in all, he eventually proved them wrong.
During his older childhood years, he moved to Granada, Spain where he studied music on the guitar at the Granada Music Institute. His first performance in public took place in the city of Granada when he was only sixteen years old. Shortly after, he landed another concert in Madrid, Spain. These two concerts successfully opened the eyes, ears, and mind of the audience just enough to allow him to keep performing into a tour of concerts throughout the years to follow. The first guitar that he owned was created by the studious hands of Benito Ferrer. It was a relatively cheap version that was specifically designed for students to take lessons on. Andres Segovia decided to upgrade to a much nicer version than what he had, so he browsed around at a nearby store, which carried guitars from several local and famous guitar artists in 1912. He was immediately attracted to a Jose del Hierro, which he took into his arms for a test drive into the mind of a musical genius. The owner of the store, Manuel Ramirez, eavesdropped to the point where he could not believe what his ears had heard. With little effort, no doubt, and much generosity, Manuel Ramirez freely gave the guitar to Andres Segovia by wishing him well with good luck into the world of the classical guitar (Zondag 1). He used his new Jose del Hierro guitar to perform, precisely a year later, at his next concert in 1913. Many people within the audience of this concert had controversial opinions about that skills and talents that Andres Segovia possessed and performed with on stage. Some people were shocked and amazed by his outstanding efforts, while others were simply bombarded with handfuls of skepticism and doubt. When he was twenty-one years old, he performed at the Paris Conservatory in Spain followed by another performance a year later in Barcelona, Spain. It was not until 1919, when Andres Segovia left his homeland of Spain and ventured into other countries within South America in order to start sharing his music with the world. He had to start somewhere, so he kept moving around, back and forth between different countries within South America for a total of four years.
The decade of the 1920�s was merely the starting point of his career. During the year of 1923, he left his tour with South America, and took his continued tour of the world to the countries of Europe. Each time he performed at a concert, his face evolved into a familiar recognition that developed into a reputation of sincere respect. It was not until a year later when his performance in Paris, France set this idea in motion. People began to realize that Andres Segovia was more than a Spaniard guitarist because he had a combination of skills and talents that reflected his drive of motivation and determination to share his efforts with the world. Aside from developing different types of original techniques, he also used his visions to develop what is now known today as the classical guitar. He worked with a man by the name of Hermann Hauser Jr., who contributed his time and effort to create a guitar that Andres Segovia imagined to exist. Over the course of several years, the guitar was perfected into a beautiful classical guitar, in which consisted of a better style and sound. The style consisted of a new design, which was shaped differently in order to produce a different sound. Experimenting with different types of wood also contributed to different types of sounds. Andres Segovia developed the idea of using nylon strings, in which he decided to use on the guitar because they produced a relatively nice sound that could be heard loud and clear while also remaining light and calm. Basically, he had more control over the volume of sound with nylon strings than he did with the other types of strings that were previously used for the guitar.
On January 8, 1928, Andres Segovia made his way to the United States of America. He performed one of his first concerts in at Town Hall in New York (Answers.com 1). A year later he left the United States and began his tour, across the world in several Asian countries. �As Segovia traveled the world, he and the guitar became more and more popular. Composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos began to compose original pieces specifically for the guitar. With their dark and melancholy mixture of dissonance and cello-like phrasing, Villa-Lobos� compositions in particular, seemed to fit the guitar perfectly. Segovia had also begun to transpose the masterpieces for the guitar. In fact his transposition of Bach�s Chaconne, has become one of the most famous and difficult pieces to master. His transcription makes the Chaconne seem as if Bach originally intended it to be played on the guitar instead of the violin� (Bergstrand 1-2). Thus, in the year of 1935, he performed this piece for the first time.
Over the course of several years, he was remarried more than once, and had three children, one daughter Beatrice, and two sons, Carlos Andres and Andres. He had his last son Andres, when he was well over half a century old at age seventy-seven. His last wife was also much younger than half a century old at the age of twenty-two. Aside from accomplishing the goal of getting married and having children, he also published many recordings over the years and received numerous awards. He also completed his Doctorate of Music degree from Oxford University in 1974 (Answers.com 1).
Andres Segovia made up his mind at a young age to master the guitar. As a result of reaching this goal, he taught many master classes in different countries throughout the world. His master classes were only available by invitation only, so only the best were welcomed. �To be invited to play in master classes given by Segovia was, to say the least, an interesting experience. In a recital situation one saw him as a distant, commanding figure, but one who was perhaps always the servant of the public. To be suddenly there in front of him, playing, surrounded by some of the world�s best talent, was quite terrifying, as though you were trespassing in a very rarefied area, part of an enclave for those few minutes of agony which would determine whether or not Segovia accepted you as a worthwhile student for encouragement and guidance, or relegated you to the large shaking masses of no-hopers� (Mills 1). Andres Segovia has had the opportunity to teach several famous guitarists throughout the years, which consists of the following people who also took his master classes: John Williams, Esteban, Elliot Fisk, Oscar Ghiglia, Jose Tomas, Charlie Byrd, Christopher Parkening, Julian Bream, Carlo Pezzimenti, Michael Lorimer, Michael Chapdelaine, Virginia Luque, Alirio Diaz and Lily Afshar. Lily Afshar, who currently teaches at the University of Memphis, was and probably still is influenced and inspired by Andres Segovia.
For 90 years, he took an interest in classical music and was able to pursue it on the guitar. Even after the age of retirement, Andres Segovia refused to retire because he believed that he was still very capable of sharing his musical abilities with the word. With that in mind, he succeeded in playing guitar even at an old age. However, time eventually caught up to time on June 3, 1987. At the age of 94, he suffered from a heart attack and passed away shortly after. While he was born in Spain, he also died in Spain, specifically in the city of Madrid, where he gave one of his concerts there when he was sixteen years old.
Andres Segovia was more than just a man, who achieved and accomplished more on the guitar than what was expected of him. He started out as a student, who continued to advance in learning by the works of his own teaching. One day, he became a teacher, who taught his students what he figured out on his own and gained from other guitarists over the years. Thus, he was a scholar and a mentor. Aside from that he was a composer, who wrote his own music and transcribe and translated music from other composers such as Handel, Bach, and Beethoven. He was also a husband to three different wives and a father to three different children. Most of all he was a musician who mastered the art of classical music and had a hand in developing the art behind the classical guitar. He took what he knew from his own teaching and gathered what he learned from other guitarist.

Guitar Players, Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of my main influences and guitar players to listen and watch was one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation, coming from obscurity to immediate success in the early 1980’s. Mr. Vaughan was a technical guitar virtuoso who played with fingers of lightening and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix, one of the most significant of many influences on his playing. Essentially a blues master and traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by a smooth, long-solo of the Texas blues, phrase after phrase.

Stevie Ray, who was born in Dallas, was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan, of the successful rock band the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Stevie Ray never had a guitar lesson or Blues Guitar Lesson in his life. And it was through listening to his older brother’s collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others that he began picking up the instrument. Fairly accomplished by the age of 8, he became a part-time professional in his teens, playing with various Dallas-area bands in the late 1960’s and early 70’s. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Tex., where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975.

Two years later he put together a rhythm-and-blues revue, Triple Threat, with vocalist Lou Ann Barton, W. C. Clark on bass guitar, Mike Kindred on keyboards, and Fredde “Pharoah” Walden on drums, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving, more rock-blues band. The new group, Double Trouble, included the bass guitarist Tommy Shannon and the drummer Chris Layton. Double Trouble took its name from a song popularized by Otis Rush.

Word of mouth about Double Trouble’s abilities quickly spread outside Texas, and the unknown band was invited to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in April 1982. There SRV, playing a 1959 Stratocaster, created more than a sensation and attracted the attention of David Bowie, who invited him to play lead guitar on his album ”Let’s Dance.”

The Rolling Stones subsequently invited him to play in a private audition, and Jackson Browne offered him the use of his Los Angeles studio. John Hammond, the producer and talent scout, prodded CBS Records to sign the band, and he co-produced its first album, ”Texas Flood,” which was released in early 1983 on the Epic label.

The record was a success, selling more than 500,000 copies and winning two Grammy nominations, for best rock instrumental performance (Rude Mood) and best traditional blues recording. The band’s second album, ”Couldn’t Stand the Weather,” released in the summer of 1984, exploded on the blues side to include jazz and hard rock with a version of Jimi Hendrix’s ”Voodoo Chile.” It sold over a million copies and won the band a third Grammy nomination. The following year, the band won its first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording of 1984, for a track on an Atlantic Records anthology, ”Blues Explosion.”

Mr. Vaughan was developing as an excellent composer as well as guitarist, his 1985 album included three original songs. With that album, the group added a fourth member, the keyboardist Reese Wynans. One track from the album, ”Say What!,” won a Grammy nomination as best rock instrumental performance.

A Fifth Gold Album: In 1986, Mr. Vaughan and Double Trouble released a two-disk concert album, ”Live Alive,” which with sales of over 500,000, became his fifth consecutive gold album.

There was a three-year gap between ”Live Alive” and his next record, ”In Step,” which was released in the summer and won a Grammy for best contemporary blues recording. During that break the guitarist gave up drugs and alcohol. His abstinence was the theme of two of the new album’s songs, ”Wall of Denial” and ”Tightrope.”

Stevie Ray Vaughan took the basic 12 bar blues structure to new level. SRV will always be in the top two favorite guitar players of mine. The other qualifier is…Jimi Hendrix. Who is #1? Stevie Ray was one of the guitar geniuses that never needed guitar lessons. The geniuses provide us with new material to teach.

You know that the helicopter crash that killed Stevie Ray and 9 other people was pilot error. What a waste. The guy gets straight and then dies. Another great artist we will never know where he was going to. One thing about ir, there are plenty of Stevie Ray Vaughan imitators, and damn good ones too, but Stevie Ray invented the style we play. Thanks Ray. RIP. GuitarPlayersCenter.com

The first step is understanding what notes to plug into the 12 bar blues pattern. Thankfully it’s not very difficult to figure out. The 12 bar blues breaks the notes in a particular major scale (other scales as well, but for our example we’ll only consider major scales) into numbers.

What do I mean by numbers? Well each note in a given scale is given a number starting with the first note being #1 and the second note being #2 and so on to the end of the scale.

Here’s an example of what I mean using the A Major scale. For those that may not know the scale here it is:

A – B – C# – D – E – F# – G# – A

So the first note would be A, the second note B the third note C and so on down the line til we reach A again.

Once you know what notes are which number you’re ready to plug those notes into the 12 bar blues ‚Äúformula‚Äù. So here’s what the 12 bar blues pattern looks like:

1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 4 – 4 – 1 – 1 – 5 – 4 – 1 – 5.

So continuing on with our example using the A major scale we can come up with a 12 bar blues progression in the Key of A. What notes do we need? Well from the progression we see above we need the first, fourth and fifth notes from that scale which are A, D and E respectively.

So plugging the notes into the progression leaves us with a 12 measure blues progression that looks like this:

A – A – A – A – D – D – A – A – E – D – A – E

If we were playing 4 beats per measure then we’d start with 16 beats of A (4 measures x 4 beat per measure), followed by 8 beats of D and 8 more beats of A and so on.

Now you need to learn what chords are you playing for these notes and what style are you strumming. For that I’ve created a video lesson below for you to watch. Watching a video is better then me typing a thousand words when attempting to explain how something should sound. So take ten minutes and watch the video below and then go give it a try for yourself.

Want to sharpen you guitar skills? How you ever considered self study at home using a guitar instructional dvd? DVD instruction gives you the one-on-one feel of private lessons but you’re in control of when you learn and how fast you study. Guest author Ian Fraser.

Guitar Lessons for Beginners Learn To Play Guitar DVD's

Although I have been playing the guitar for a long time, I’m always seeking more learning information. It was becoming quite painful and creating too much anxiety spending so much time sifting through the endless learn to play guitar courses claiming everything from play like Jimi Hendrix in 30 days to learn to play easy guitar songs overnight.

When you start to tap the top level guitar courses you can buy online, the curve shortens and the mass quantity of crappy lessons are left behind in a molten mess. Where the curve ends, at the top, we only have a few worthy online guitar lessons for beginners on DVD course that meet all of the criteria. The lessons at the bottom of the curve simply are not up to snuff.

I’m looking for a certain type of lesson. I have been a student of the guitar since I was 11 years old. I’m 56 years old now. My first four years of guitar lessons were classical guitar. My last 5 years of lessons have been electric guitar. Some of my friends call me a purveyor of online guitar lessons. I really enjoy the few top level guitar lessons for beginners and generally buy the courses I think might have something to teach me.

Most people go to guitar lessons and sit there for an hour lesson or 30 minute lesson reviewing your lesson with your teacher. The first time you go over a new lesson with your teacher, it might make as much sense as blah blah blah, ooh ooh, ah ah, ?!??, E=MCsq, xyx, lmnop… I don’t learn anything the first time. Even if my teacher played the lesson with me 5 times, chances are I would leave missing something important. Having the lesson in front of me on dvd, and being able to watch it as many times as it takes me to get it is critical.

I really think that the days of actually driving to a guitar lesson four times a month and paying from $75.00 to more than $150.00 per month is going to decline in popularity, as home schooling becomes better and more popular.

I love having my guitar course and information right in front of my face and being able to replay it or look back as many times as necessary to understand it. That is real important to me, as I said earlier, I rarely remember anything the first time around.

I don’t think I’m the only one who would rather stay at home and learn how to play the guitar than traipsing around town to a music studio every week. Think about all the money you will save in the long-run.

Not that this is a cheap course by any standards, but over the long-run, this will save lots of money, making it a great value. It’s possible you may advance even faster, if you have a built in knack for playing the guitar, why hold yourself back by having a guitar teacher throttle your creative needs and unusual skills. If you are not gifted (like me) than you can take as much time to go over essentials until you get it. Remember it is not a race.

The last thing about this wonderful course is that there is no hassle money back guarantee if you don’t like the course, for any reason. GuitarPlayersCenter.com

Jimi Hendrix’s distinctive left hand technique with a right-hand guitar.

Jimi Hendrix with Fender Stratocaster

Funeral services began at 1 p.m. at the Dunlop Baptist Church (8445 Rainier Avenue S). The Hendrixes had requested a private funeral for friends and family only. The press and fans showed up, but respectfully stayed behind rope barriers. The Seattle police were there in case of trouble with crowd control, but the crowd remained quiet.

The Reverend Harold Blackburn officiated the service. A close family friend of the Hendrixes, Patronella Wright, sang spirituals, and Freddie Maye Gautier delivered the eulogy, reading the words to Jimi’s song, “Angel.” Dave Anderson, James Thomas, Steve Phillips, Eddy Howard, Donny Howell, and Herbert Price were pallbearers. They were all childhood friends of Jimi’s, with the exception of Herbert Price, who was Jimi’s chauffeur and valet from Hawaii where Jimi had been filming that summer.

Jimi’s dad Al, and his stepmother June, were there, as were Jimi’s brother, Leon, and his sister, Janie. Jimi’s grandmother Nora came from Vancouver with her boyfriend Doug. Frank Hendrix, Al’s brother, and Al’s sister in-law Delores (sister of Lucille, Jimi’s mother), and her kids Roberta, Dee-Dee, and Julia attended.

The Experience’s bass player, Noel Redding, and drummer, Mitch Mitchell, came. Michael Jeffery, Jimi’s manager, made all the preparations and had a guitar made out of flowers for the burial service. The great trumpeter Miles Davis attended as did Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman (b. 1935). Other attendees were: Eddie Kramer, chief engineer at Electric Ladyland Studios; roadies Eric Barrett and Gerry Stickells; blues singer Johnny Winter and his manager, Steve Paul, who was owner of the New York club, The Scene, that Jimi frequented; New York music writer, Al Aronowitz; Abe Jacob, who had done the sound for two of Jimi’s tours; Chuck Wein, who filmed the movie Rainbow Bridge in Hawaii; Tom Hulett, one of Jimi’s closest friends in Seattle, and who had promoted Jimi’s Seattle and West Coast gigs; John Hammond Jr., and Buddy Miles.

Eric Burdon, ex-lead singer of the Animals, and a good friend of Jimi’s, didn’t attend the funeral. He stated that Jimi hated Seattle, and he thought it was improper to bury him there.

Jimi was laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery in Renton (350 Monroe Avenue NE). Jimi’s mother Lucille (ca. 1925-1958) is buried there, as is his father, James Allen Ross “Al” Hendrix (1919-2002), his grandmother Zenora Hendrix (1884-1985), and his uncle Frank Hendrix (1918-1986).

After a chorus of “When the Saints Go Marching in,” Jimi’s casket was lowered into the grave. His gravestone reads: “Forever in our hearts, James M. ‘Jimi’ Hendrix, 1942-1970.”

A gathering was held at the food circus building (the Center House) in the Seattle Center, where Johnny Winter, Miles Davis, and Mitch, Noel, and Buddy Miles played music. The program director from KOL-FM radio station, invited by Tom Hulett, called to say he was going to be late because he was at the “food circus” with the Hendrix family. This went out over the air and fans began to come down to the center. Hulett spent a good deal of the day explaining that the family wanted to keep the gathering private. The fans cooperated.
Sources:

James A. Hendrix, as told to Jas Obrecht, My Son Jimi (Seattle: AlJas Enterprises, 1999); Jerry Hopkins, The Jimi Hendrix Experience (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1996); Walter A. Evans, “Peace in the Valley for Jimi Hendrix,” Seattle Post Intelligencer, October 2, 1970, p. 5; John Morthland, “Hendrix is Buried in Home Town,” Rolling Stone, October 29, 1970 in The Jimi Hendrix Companion, by Chris Potash (NY: Shirmer Books, 1996). By Alyssa Burrows, August 21, 2002

Sources:
James A. Hendrix, as told to Jas Obrecht, My Son Jimi (Seattle: AlJas Enterprises, 1999); Jerry Hopkins, The Jimi Hendrix Experience (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1996); Walter A. Evans, “Peace in the Valley for Jimi Hendrix,” Seattle Post Intelligencer, October 2, 1970, p. 5; John Morthland, “Hendrix is Buried in Home Town,” Rolling Stone, October 29, 1970 in The Jimi Hendrix Companion, by Chris Potash (NY: Shirmer Books, 1996). GuitarPlayersCenter.com

Looking for Guitar Lessons for Beginners?

Expectations, here is the most important statement about expectations ever, from a guy most folks have a least heard about “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings”. Does anyone know who said that? William Shakespeare. What that means is to learn to sight read music is not as hard as you imagine it is, especially if you use the right source.

After sifting through over 10 online guitar lessons for beginners, the last course I received with online guitar lesson DVD’s struck a note with me, literally, on learning to sight read music, almost immediately in the first guitar lesson DVD. I spent some time looking through my old Aaron Shearer learn to play guitar book, which is still popular today, and it did not compel me very much.

In the first lesson of the course, the instructor discusses reading tablature or tabs, and how to sight read guitar music. Like anyone in a symphonic orchestra can do, instinctively. The guitar instruction book put it in terms I understand completely, not a lot different than the way Aaron Shearer teaches it, for what ever reason, I immediately was able to pick up the very basics of sight reading the first notes on each string.

Putting things in terms we will understand is the teachers job. Not every one learns the same way. I don’t learn the same way, or as fast, as I did when I was 11 years old. Actually, I am capable of learning fast when information is presented to me in a way that I understand. Without giving up anymore in chapter one, this course is starting out perfectly.

You probably know I’m an intermediate guitar player. I don’t have any special talents or skills that I know of, other than I’m the hardest worker of all. Everything I do I use the best educational materials and information available and put it to good use. Some guitar information has no good use, and that’s good to know too. Why should you spend a fortune on online guitar lessons when I have gone to a great deal of trouble doing that for you?

I never tell a lie, and I would be a fool to spend my time reviewing online guitar lessons for beginners for nothing. I get a small compensation for every course that gets purchased through my site. It may pay my website expenses someday. The bigger deal is that this is a terrific guitar course for intermediate guitar players like me who want to learn to sight read music, or for someone who is looking for guitar lessons for beginners on DVD.

I am not so sure I need to review any more guitar lessons, this is the best so far. However, I will report very regularly as I go through the whole course. It is actually designed in bite sized chunks, allowing you to learn at your rate over approximately a years time span, depending on how much practice time you devote. Good luck and report back to me. Thanks and Enjoy. Danny
GuitarPlayersCenter.com

How many of you have ever restrung a 12 (twelve) string guitar? It is different vibe for sure. I just love the sound of a 12 string guitar. I don’t play acoustic guitars very often, usually when I do it is a 6 string acoustic guitar like our non-cutaway Tacoma KOA wood guitar. I’ll tell you this, if I get into acoustic guitars, it will be a 12 string cutaway, that is some blend of beautiful sounds that radiate out of this instrument. You got to have strong hands to play a 12 string guitar.

All I can tell you is that it is in about 40 years old and is in terrific condition. The guitar repairs I’m making are, one of my hand carved, polished bone nuts, and a good old fashioned neck straightening, fret leveling, trim and bevel edges of frets, and polish job. Restring, lube tuners and intonation.

This nut is the same length as a six string nut, but, it has 12 string grooves instead of 6, think about it. This requires making 6 sets of 2 grooves. Each set of string grooves has to be close enough to each other so the guitar player can push both strings down at once. But they can’t be too close or they may touch when they vibrate if the guitar is played with gusto.

It takes twice as long to cut the string grooves. Anyway, if you click the pictures they should enlarge. You can see where I have started the bone nut. The grooves need to be filed deeper to the proper specifications, but all are started. Cool, eh? There are some really dial template gauges you can use to mark where you want to cut the grooves in the nut. I recommend them highly to anyone who wants to fix their own guitar.

The stringing pattern is the same for most 12 string guitars.

The top string or low E, numbered or called the 12th string, then 11th comes next, etc. on down to the bottom string or #1 string which is the high E. You’ll also see the top string 12 is thinner than the next one 11 (see picture). Because the string is thinner, it is tuned higher. The same is true with the next 3 pairs of strings or the top 4 sets. The bottom 2 strings, the high E and B strings are the same gauges respectively.

Tuning is not too bad. An electric tuner helps a lot if you have one. The reason for the difference in gauges for the top four sets of strings is the same reason the guitar sounds so cool to lots of people. The Low E, A, D, G strings use the same basic gauge string you would use on a six string guitar, the second string, as in, the low E, A, D and G is they are one octave higher. The vibes between two different gauge strings, one that is one octave higher in the same key are some good sounding vibes.

Once you get the heavy gauge strings tuned to concert pitch and the high E strings and the B strings tuned to their respective keys, you have to then tune the thinner of the two top 4 strings one octave higher than the thick ones. Some folks can do it with out a tuner. Some folks use a tuners, and some of folks come by and let me give them a lesson. I hope you understand.

The only company I know of that places the strings on 12 string guitars differently, (thick on top) is Rickenbacker. If a guitarist wants to reverse the order on their 12 string guitar from the way it was designed from the manufacturer, be careful, the grooves in the nut will be back wards, the nut would have the wider for the thicker strings and narrower for the thinner string grooves backwards. Stringing it in reverse may cause problems. Also the intonation at the saddle and bridge would probably be off if it was accurately set up in the first place.

I hope you enjoy this, I’m making better pictures now. Maybe soon I’ll have the process of making videos down. I’m practicing making a guitar repair video, but have yet produce anything but a comedy! Stay tuned, I’ll be back soon with the finished job and some more pictures. GuitarPlayersCenter.com

Pentatonic Blues Scales

It is the end of a beautiful Florida day in February, and the cool day temperatures have felt good since I walked the dogs this morning. Now that the the day is growing old, it’s time to take it down from working hard. I finished rebuilding a transmission for a customer, and transmission work is hard work. It takes a lot of concentrated thinking, like playing the guitar.

I went into the garage after dinner, in the hope of enhancing my attitude. I sat on my chair with on of my favorite guitars, a reverse head Stratocaster in hand and a big cold glass of ice water near me (I’ not very exciting). I am there for one purpose, to express my feelings for the day using my favorite scale, the pentatonic blues scales. I had a good day, physically and mentally.

If you did not know, I am a transmission mechanic by trade. For 26 years I owned and operated the best (small) transmission specialty shop in the country. I sold it, land and building four years ago this month. Before the economy tanked. Rebuilding a transmission or fixing a guitar. Both require a high level of precision and cleanliness and care.

Anyway, I’m thinking all I need now is some bitchin’ music to help me get into the groove. Well, that’s an easy one for me, I listen to the same old thing every day. Same blues vibe, same blues guitar players. Sometimes some new artists and songs, like Magic Slim.

Give Me Back My Wig was written by Hound Dog Taylor. But I’m using the Magic Slim version to play with. I learned of the song from Stevie Ray Vaughan. I also play plenty of Jimi Hendrix licks and now I am putting them (licks from all the great blues artists) together in random order, never the same, but it sounds good to me.

The beats are etched in granite in my head from the constant act of listening and playing the particular brand of music called termed ”high energy string bending blues”, I made up the term! Every time I play my guitar, it ends up with me playing the blues. It is my automatic default setting.

This is the music I have been listening to all day, over and over. If I get tired of it, I turn on the heavy duty commercial free blues station. The rhythm is buried deep in my head and I’m ready to play the guitar. Every time I sit down and play my axe, and I’m feeling good, things seem to come together and I work on my songs and exercises for endless periods until it’s time to slip into playing what my heart feels. That is when time means nothing, I’m in the zone and nothing else exists right now.

I play the blues. Something from of every one of the above blues guitar legends starts to ooze out of me as my fingers and mojo continues to heat up. Why would I play he blues if I’m feeling so good? You don’t have to feel bad to play the blues. Anyway, we all have something in the back of our minds to worry about.

My dad is critically ill, and my mom lives in Maryland, all alone in a big house. They have been hit with the biggest snow storms on record. It is nearly impossible to get around now. My sister is the best, but people have been snowed in for a week now, and she could not get there. So, I have two difficult situations in the back of my head.

It seems like a strange combination to me, playing high energy blues takes a lot of energy, just watch SRV play the guitar, he works and sweats his ass off. The energy is passion if you ask me, and when I have the energy, regardless of the source, it shows in how well my random approach of using licks and turnarounds and scales from Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and the rest of them, sewing them together.

When my session ends, I feel amped up, playing the blues makes my soul feel alive, and it takes me a good hour or more to wind own for sleep, even the I hear the beats of my favorite guitar player ever, Jimi Hendrix, while I’m laying in bed until I fall asleep.

Playing the blues in my garage at night is a seasonal deal, until I can A/C the garage. It is too hot from June until November-ish. and to cold from December to late February. GuitarPlayersCenter.com Enjoy.

Stratocaster-Jeff's Favorite Guitar

Everything changes so fast in those towns. I have only been to New York once, and don’t remember much of it, but D.C. changes, it is in a constant state of construction and evolution. That statement leads me to the subject on my mind. Jeff Beck. When you talk about construction and evolution, Jeff Beck is always in that state of mind too. He is really interesting guy even if you eliminate guitars.

Considered to be the greatest living electric guitarist in the world. You can’t leave out Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy when you bring up great living guitarists.

I was reading an article in the New york Times last night about Jeff Beck and Guitar Hero, at the end of the post, Jeff Beck was my Guitar Hero. You probably know how much I think Guitar Hero sucks, if you are a regular reader.

I’m so refreshed that Jeff Beck, the man I have known about and listened to since the 60’s, telling Guitar Hero to bite off. I have vinyl records of Jeff Beck. One thing about Jeff Beck is that he is unpredictable and a man who does his own thing. Just because it is fashionable for rock stars and guitar players to make a pact with G.H., well, us guitar players know that is not even close to a replacement for guitar lessons.

I said it, ‘guitar lessons’, now here I go for a second….You know how I feel about guitar lessons for beginners too, since I write about that a lot now. It is pretty interesting stuff, mega online guitar lessons and who is just throwing up a site to make some doe, and who really has teaching the guitar down. Anyway, I enjoy it and if you are looking a guitar lessons for beginners course, I think this is a great way to learn and master the guitar.

Back on track. Make sure you read the Jeff Beck article in the New York Times, it is a very informing article for everyone, there was some good info I did not know of. Enjoy the article and Happy Valentines Day. GuitarPlayersCenter.com

My favorite Guitar player

To make it manageable, we have stuck to the blues and a bit of rock ( Buddy Guy qualifies for both). Sorry to fans of geniuses of extraordinary fusion technicians like Steve Vai or Joe Satriani.

Ranking the choices would be a losing proposition, leading only to usage of the words “what,” “who,” “moron” and “that is the wrong order”, in my online comment area. So consider these in no particular order, although I’m feeling pretty darn good about putting Jimi Hendrix at the top as the greatest ever – and that means the top of them all.

# 1 Jimi Hendrix No one rewrote the rule book so quickly and thoroughly. What he accomplished in four extraordinary years before dying at 27 can’t even be fathomed.
# 2 Jimmy Page You can tell from the first Led Zeppelin album, released in 1969, that this was a man with a vision. It’s hard to think of anyone who has explored the dynamics of the guitar – electric and acoustic – with such inspiration.
# 3 Duane Allman His shocking slide runs and muscular blues licks fueled the Allman Brothers before he, too, left us all too soon.
# 4 Buddy Guy Claims Clapton, while in Cream, was only doing what he had been doing for years. You don’t want to think about how many people “borrowed” from Buddy.
# 5 Stevie Ray Vaughan Who took the twelve bar blues and the blues scale to new heights.
# 6 Roy Buchanan Who played the blues from deep in his heart, took his life. The greatest telecaster player ever.
# 7 Carlos Santana Quite apart from his pioneering the blend of rock and Latin jazz, his beautifully structured, ringing solos bear constant revisiting.
# 8 Albert King, was not technically considered a great guitar player, but someone that everyone borrowed from, and a blues artist supreme.
# 9 Frank Zappa for a man with a rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief sense of humor, there was wit, beauty and a wide scope of musical knowledge in his playing.
#10 Eric Johnson Who plays everything with stunning ease and precision.

It was hard to come up with 12 guitarists. My musical interests are so narrow, all I usually can think of is about half of the 12 guitar players above. Anyway, we are talking about great guitarists. Guitarists like BB King play such sweet licks that some may consider him a viable candidate, but I think his real strong point and main instrument is his voice, and he uses his guitar to play a few licks in between. He sure has a sweet voice to go with his guitar playing though.

When I listen to Rockit 88 fm, which is a blues radio station in my area (no commercials), I hear so many excellent blues guitar players that literally makes me stop what I’m doing and go see who is playing on the radio/computer right now, only to find out I have never heard of them before.

For a lot of guitar players, these guys taught us. They were our guitar teachers, practically giving us personalized guitar lessons without them knowing it. Studying them everyday without the modern conveniences available to learn to play guitar. Easy it was not. But it stuck in our brains like some sort of permanent growth. Let me know who you think should be on my list. who you would like to take guitar lessons from. GuitarPlayersCenter.com

Couple of Points

Remember it’s important to use only the tips of your fingers when pressing down on the strings. Using the flatter part of your finger is going to blunt some strings. To ensure you’re using the tips also pay attention to how your thumb is positioned it should be positioned flush with the back of the neck.

The E major Chord

E — 0 –
B — 0 —
G — 1 –
D — 2 –
A — 2 –
E — 0 –

To play the E chord you use your first three fingers and position them as: 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the 5th/A string Your 3rd finger on the 2nd fret of the 4th/D string and your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the 3rd/G string. When strumming the E chord play all six strings.

The G major Chord

E — 3 –
B — 0 —
G — 0 –
D — 0 –
A — 2 –
E — 3 –

To play the G chord you again use your first three fingers and position them as: 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the 6th/Low E string, 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the 5th/A string and your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the 1st/high E string. Again strum all six strings at once. Be prepared to feel a little bit awkward when you try to place your 3rd finger down on the 1st string. This will take some getting used to.

Practice Tips

To build up the muscle memory for making these chords I suggest you practice making the shapes on the guitar neck without strumming and then squeezing harder then you normally would, hold it for a few seconds then release. Repeat this exercise and it will help your fingers become accustomed to the shapes they must make for the chords.

Take a moment to watch the video below, there’s more detail on how to form the shapes of both chords and a practice exercise at the end.

To learn more beginner guitar chords & techniques why not try a beginner guitar dvd? You can use it to learn from home at your own pace. Guest Author, Ian Fraser.

Morris Holt was born on August 7, 1937, in Grenada, Mississippi. He has made over 30 plus albums in his career and is still alive and playing the blues. I came across him as a way of learning to play “Give Me Back My Wig” Stevie Ray Vaughan style. I was interested in finding another version that was not tuned flat.

“Give Me Back My Wig” was written by Hound Dog Taylor and his version and Magic Slims version are very similar and not much different than Stevie Rays version. Stevie Ray took twelve bar blues to a new level. Improvement, that is not fair to say, I love the original versions, but SRV makes most songs sound better. What else can I say?

Magic Slim has a surprisingly uptempo style of guitar playing. At a time when guitar players like Albert King and Buddy Guy were leaving their impressions on young guitar players like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and plenty of great players we know of and unknown amounts of equally excellent guitarists we have never heard of.

I mention SRV a lot because Magic Slim has that upbeat electric guitar 12 bar blues tempo that a lot of the songs SRV played or wrote do. SRV really set off an era of great players using his style of play. I love it and work hard to play that style, anyone who plays like that knows how much practice and work that takes.

Since I’m sort of new to Magic Slim, I don’t have a lot more to say. Other than I recommend at least down loading one of his songs after you watch this video;

Finger picks, a Stratocaster, tons of funky and blues. He ain’t pretty, but what great music. The slide guitar player is cool too. I hope you enjoy and watch more of his videos. GuitarPlayersCenter.com