Guitar newbies tips #5 - Sweep picking

In this 3  "Lick of the Week" videos, Mr Ziras will be teaching Sweep picking and also Minor and Major Arpeggios. There are some technical words used in the videos. I will just post 1 video, and you guys can view rest of them at Youtube.



Youtube Link 1: Sweep Picking: Major Arpeggios Youtube Link 2: Sweep Picking: Major+Minor Arpeggios

Help and Tips:


1. Sweep picking basically is just like strumming.
2. 1st video, he will be playing Aminor Arpeggios : Amajor, Cmajor, Emajor
3. Legato : Italian word which mean "tied together". It is simply hammer-ons or pull-offs instead of picking.
4. Rolling Finger. This video (link) explain it all. Just a simple lifting or placing finger or different string.
5. 2nd video, he will be playing Amajor Arpeggios : Amajor, Csharp, Emajor
6. Triplets : Three notes per click of metronome.
7. 3rd video: just combining both minor and major arpeggios, creating different sound with chord progression.

credit to Mr Ziras

Hope this helps, good luck and happy strumming =)

Guitar newbies tips #4 - Guitar Pro 6

Hey guys. Find this new torrent website with free Guitar Pro 6 ready to go (full crack, and bunch of seeders). This all-in-one guitar software is all you need for advance playing. About 1.75G (1.7G of sound banks) in size. For more information and help on installation, you can click this link to go to the website forum: btjunkie.org. Happy downloading! =)




DOWNLOAD LINK: Guitar Pro 6 Torrent

*Guitar Pro is a multitrack editor of guitar and bass tablature and musical scores, possessing a built in MIDI-editor, a plotter of chords, a player, a metronome and other tools for guitarists and musicians

GUITAR PRO 6 Screenshots

 

Guitar newbies tips #3 - Alternate picking

It's been a while since my last post. life gets really busy doing final year project and also involved in regional acm-icpc programming contest.
so, in this #3 lesson, and upcoming lesson, i am going to use videos from youtube. let me 1st introduce you guys to  Theodore Ziras. you can read more about this guy at his facebook (link). This Athens dude's have bunch of videos on youtube which he named it "Lick of the Week". I have been following his videos a while and find out that most of them are very useful. For "Lick of the Week" only, he have at least 100 videos, which started with easier part, and become harder as it goes high in number. You also can subscribe him if you like to.

So, what i am going to do, is to explain (some part only) and to give some tips or even some useful link for better understanding and learning process.

Help and Tips:

1.  Mr. Ziras did mention about AEOLIAN SCALE which is ABCDFG. Now before you go any further, you must know the basic of guitar like the name of notes in every fret's. It will take some time before you remember all of them. In this video, he start with A notes on E string (small E) & 17th fret. As you can see, there are also another A notes but it is in 5th fret.

2. METRONOME. There are plenty of free metronome software on the internet. here is one of them. METRONOME. Metronome create clicking sound to create a timing for your guitar playing. the "bits" things that he mentioned about is the speed of metronome. The higher the bits, the faster clicking sound will be produced.

3. CHORD PROGRESSION is a series of musical chords. He uses Aminor, Gmajor, Fmajor and Eminor to create chord progression as a backing track to play with his lesson. You can get the software here. CHORD PROGRESSION. 


4. Listen for his advice on bad things you should not do.


credit to Mr Ziras


Hope this helps, good luck and happy strumming =)

Guitar newbies tips #2 - Tuning your guitar's

Tuning your own guitar's is a first lesson to become a guitarist. With the help of electronic tuner, tuning nowadays become very easy and much more precise. In this post, i will share some of the tips on tuning your guitar.

Basically, there are 3 types of tuning: (read first from thickest to thinest strings):

1. Standard tuning: E-A-D-G-B-e (used on most guitar chord)

• Example of song for standard tuning: The Redjumpsuit Apperatus - Your Guardian Angel

2. 1/2 or Half step tuning (Drop D#): D#-G#-C#-F#-A#-D# (# is also pronounce as sharp)
    1/2 or Half step tuning (Drop C#): C#-G#-C#-F#-A#-D# (just change the starting D# with C#)

• Example of song for 1/2 step tuning: Chris Daughtry - Over You
• It's depend on the chord writer's him/herself whether to use drop D or C. But usually, most of the chord use drop D.

3. 1 or full step tuning (Drop D): D-G-C-F-A-D
    1 or full step tuning (Drop C): C-G-C-F-A-D

• Example of song for 1 step tuning: Bullet For My Valentine - Road To Nowhere

Guitarist tune their guitars to 1/2 or to full step down to create a deeper and heavier sound. Usually it is for rock and metal music. With the help of electronic tuner, this should be an easy job. But let say that u didn't have an electronic tuner.There are few things u can do to get urself a tuner. first u can go to youtube and type keyword "guitar tuner". You can even try to google to find the tuner software. The main idea is to find video or software that produce the sound needed so that u can hear and synchronize the sound of your guitar with the sound produced from the video/software.

• here is an online software to produce standard tuning (EADGBe) sound: Standard Tuning Tuner Application
• from youtube: Half Step Down Guitar Tuner
• from youtube: Full Step Down Guitar Tuner

Hope this helps, good luck and happy strumming =)

Guitar newbies tips #1 - ROLAND 5A Micro Cube & SX 10A amp

hey guys! Yep, in this very first post, i would like to share my personal POV for both amps based on my experience.

The 1st contender: SX GA-1065 10A amp

10 Watts of power through a specially design 5.5" speaker. Master Volume Control. Two Band EQ with Bass and Treble controls. Weight of amp: 6.5lbs. Overall dimentions: 9 3/4" wide x 10 5/8" high x 5" deep bla bla bla bla~

COMMENT:


With the price of RM240 or less, some call this amp a must for every beginner. I say, this amp is a nightmare for any newbies who try to explore more. when i first bought this one, i was like "OMG, built-in distortion = no need to buy pedal!" & "OMG, only 3 knobs = easy to config (even at that time, i dunno what suppose that means)". since it was much cheaper compared to other amps, i was convinced by the shop owner to buy wah2 pedal which cost me extra RM1++ for delay effect which this amp doesn't have.

My 1st point: The speaker itself. Yes it can go loud, but when it does, it sounds quite awful.

2nd point: The distortion. This amp provide ready-to-go button which u can easily turn on distortion by pushing the button. Sadly, the distortion sound effect is not that good which mean you shouldn't expect to play a7x or bfmv songs with this amp.

3rd point: When the speaker, and the distortion doesn't seems to work as expected, i tried to adjust the bass & treble controls... and the result: only slight different changes on sound.


The 2nd contender: ROLAND 5A Micro Cube

Ultra-compact DSP guitar amp with 5-inch/2-watt low magnetic leakage speaker Runs on battery or AC power (adapter supplied) and includes carry strap 7 COSM guitar amp models including JC-120 and a special mic preamp model 6 DSP effects: chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo and separate Delay/Reverb New Digital Tuning Fork with support for flat tunings up to 2 semitones Recording/Headphones output and stereo Auxiliary input for CD players, etc

1. Input Jack – This is where you connect your instrument or microphone to the battery amp.
2. Type Switch – You can select from the following seven amp types with killer BOSS effects which are included on this Roland battery amp.
   • ACOUSTIC – The original amplifier model gives you a dynamic acoustic sound when an electric guitar is plugged into this battery amp.
   • JC CLEAN – This is a model of Roland’s famous JC-120 Jazz Chorus guitar amplifier. The ultra-clean, ultra-flat sound offers a smooth clean electric guitar tone – This becomes more effective when used in combination with external effects which can be easily plugged into the Roland Micro Cube battery amp.
   • BLACK PANEL – This is modelled on the classic Fender Tin Reverb amplifier, used in a wide variety of musical styles, from country to blues, jazz and rock. Exhibiting rich lows and bright high end, once again a standard feature on the Roland Micro Cube battery amp.
   • BRIT COMBO – This is modelled on the Vox AC-30TB, the rock amplifier that created the Liverpool sound of the 60’s. In this battery amp it can produce a broad range of sounds, from clean to overdrive, with increased distortion and greater power in the low-mid range when the amplifier gain is boosted. The Roland Micro Cube battery amp offers these features whether plugged into the mains or used as a pure battery amp.
   • CLASSIC STACK – This is modelled on the sound and response of a Marshall JMP1987. The legendary JMP1987 is renowned for its smooth tone and presence-perfect for classic and hard rock.
   • R-FIER STACK – This is modelled on the MESA/Boogie Rectifier. This super high gain amp is capable of producing slash metal, grunge, and a whole wide rage of other lead sounds. Giggle inside as the crowds watch with amazement how such sounds are possibly achieved from a battery amp that is so small and obviously made for busking.
   • MIC – This position is selected when a microphone is connected, whether attached to the mains or as purely a battery amp.
3. GAIN Knob – Adjusts the sensitivity of the input jacks.
4. Volume Knob – To adjust the volume.
5. Power Indicator – Indicates when power is on but when operating on battery power only, the unit’s indicator will become dim during playing when battery power gets too low.
6. TUNING FORK Switch – This switch plays the modelled tuning fork sound to use as a reference pitch when tuning. We don't believe we have seen this before in a battery amp.
7. KEY Switch – This selects the tuning fork pitch which can be dropped in ½ steps (semi tones) i.e. A, Ab, or Abb, A = 440 Hz
8. Tone Knob – Dependant upon which direction this control is turned you get a brighter or milder toner.
9. EFX (Effects) Knob – Use this knob to select either chorus, flanger, phaser or or tremolo.
   • CHORUS – In this effect a slightly detuned sound is added to the original sound giving the sound greater breadth and fullness.
   • FLANGER – This creates a flanging effect that creates a sort of spinning sensation with the sound.
   • PHASER This effect adds a variable phase-shifted signal to the direct sound, giving sound a swirling character
   • TREMOLO – is an effect that creates a cyclic change in volume.
10. DELAY/REVERB Knob – Adjusts between Delay and Reverb.

COMMENT:

This amp can easily be bought around KL with the price range of RM400 or less. High quality sound, superb delay & efx, and lots of gain. I must say this is the best all-in-one, with affordable price amp. With this thing, you can play from jazz to rock only by switching the knobs!


CONCLUSION:

Okay lets say that you are totally a new guitarist wannabe, i have 2 tips for u guys:

1. Go for guitar package. Usually it will cost u around RM590 or less (guitar+cheapshot amp(SX amps for example)+cable+tuner+picks etc.), and never ever bought specific pedal (distortion/delay etc.) unless u are planning to get better amp thats has no those specific build-in effect.
2. For those who can afford more, do some research on guitar price. Google, and compare the price. You can try to get the cheapest desired 2nd hand electric guitar from this 2 sites: mudah.my & lelong.my if u can. Else if u prefer, u can always find guitars in most music stores. For newbies, any guitar will do as long as u got proper amps(micro cube will be the best choice), 2 set of cables (1 for amps, 1 for tuner if necessary), an electronic tuner, & few different size of picks. That will do for a kick-start. 

Hope this helps, good luck and happy strumming =)

first post? do i really need to do this???

"hey what's up? This is my first post and... whatever"