The Guitar Magician

Learn to Play the Guitar

Can you learn to play the guitar? Of course you can! Young, Old, man, woman, girl or boy. You can learn to play the guitar and you
should! If you feel you have no musical talent at all don’t worry about it. Familiarity itself will increase your ability.

One of the best ways I know of to learn the guitar is TO USE IT !. Thats right…touch it, feel it, hold it, strum it, tune it,
play it, clean it, restring it, play catch with it, whatever you can anything but USE it.

The most fun comes from playing songson your guitar below you will find a simple beginners version of “Brown-Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison> It has the words (lyrics) and the Chords to the song.
It is a fun song to play (guys if your girlfriend has brown eyes you got it made! And for the rest of you
HINT: just say the color of her eyes where brown usually goes she’ll love you forever!)

All you need to play the song is how the play the G, C and D chords There is an Em chord in there you can use it or skip it.
(If you sign up on www.guitar-magician.com you will receive a video lesson showing you how to play these chords.)

You learn to play the guitar taking one step after another. Learn the chords then play the Song.
you might have to concentrate and work hard to start with but it gets easier sa you go.

Enjoy the Song.

(what follows is simply an illustration of how the song can be played. It is not a representation of or in no way meant to imply that this is exacty the way the song was recorded or written by Mr. Morrison)

Have fun!

BROWN-EYED GIRL
by Van Morrison

G C G D
Hey, where did we go days when the rain came

G C G D
Down in the hollow playing a new game

G C G D
Laughing and a running, hey hey Skipping and a jumping

G C G D
in the misty morning fog, with our hearts a thumpin’

C D G Em
and you, my brown eyed girl

C D G D
You, my brown eyed girl

BRIDGE:

D
Do you remember when we used to sing

G C G D
Sha la la la la la la la la la la tee da…Just like that

G C G D G
Sha la la la la la la la la la la tee da…la te da

2nd Verse:

Whatever happened to Tuesday and so slow
Going down the old mine with a transistor radio
Standing in the sunlight laughing hiding ‘hind a rainbow’s wall
Slipping and a sliding all along the waterfall
And you my brown eyed girl
You my brown eyed girl

3rd Verse:
So hard to find my way Now that I’m all on my own
I saw you just the other day My, how you have grown
Cast my memory back there Lord Sometimes I’m overcome thinkin’ ’bout it
Makin’ love in the green grass Behind the stadium
With you, my brown eyed girl
You, my brown eyed girl

REPEAT BRIDGE AND END

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Almost every interview or article I have ever read dealing with a guitarists work, eventually leads to the subject of “Tone”. And rightfully so.

Definition
Tone [French. ton; German Ton; Italian-Spanish tono]:(3) the character of the sound achieved in performance on an instrument (The Harvard Dictionary of Music).

In other words it is the way the note sounds, the quality of the sound, the color that it has, the pleasantness or harshness or fullness, the brightness or bite that the note might possess. It is what makes you either like it or hate it.

It has been argued that you can take fancy licks and lightening speed and that they will fall by the wayside when compared with Tone. Tone is what makes an artist instantly recognizable from the first note that you hear. Tone is the signature sound of your favorite guitarist. It is why some guitarists play vintage Fenders and others love their Rickenbackers.

You can directly influence the Tone of your playing regardless of the type of guitar set up you own, Acoustic or Electric. Of course if you play an electric guitar their are the tone and volume settings on the guitar as well as the numerous settings on the amp. And you can spend hours and hours experimenting with them and having a blast.

But beyond that comes the way you pick the notes, where on the guitar you pick them and your decision on which note on the neck to play.

When picking the notes try different methods such as different thicknesses of flat pick. Instead of using flat picks use your thumb and fingers. Use your fingernails or a plastic thumb pick and metal finger picks (banjo or lap steel style). You can even slap them the way a Bass player does. (This works great for playing harmonics). Each of these picking methods produces it’s own ” Tone” .
Now try picking the notes at different locations on the guitar. Pick the strings up against the bridge of the guitar. Pick the strings directly over the sound hole (on an acoustic guitar) or try picking right up against the neck to body joint of the guitar.

The difference in Tone is amazing.

Now try combining the different picking methods (flat picks / fingerpicking styles) with the different locations ( bridge / neck joint etc.)

Doing this you will find new “sounds” that you really like. Welcome to the world of Tone.

Part of the subject of “Tone” that is important enough to take up on it’s own has to do with which note at which position on the neck you choose to use at any given moment in your playing. The guitar is interesting as you can play a particular note at numerous places up and down the neck of the guitar.

All the great players seem to have a knack or talent for hitting the exact right note ant the exact right time. You can only play something on an instinctive level if you “know” it to begin with.

Learning all the notes up and down the neck of the guitar is of vital importance in creating not only an awesome piece of music, but in developing your own signature sound or Tone!
I have researched and found an easy to use system for learning all the notes of the guitar very quickly. I highly recommend that you use this system. It will jump start your guitar playing. You will become a better guitar player very quickly.

Click here and Get started now.

Have fun playing and remember Tone is King !!

The Guitar-Magician.com

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Do you know how the guitar got it’s name? Do you know where the guitar originally came from ? Do you know what the oldest guitar still in existence is? Do you know when then first “modern” style guitar was made. Do you know when the first electric guitar was patented?

I was just reading a great article at Wikipedia about all this information. It is really interesting to see the different evolutions the guitar went through and to see that it has always been a very popular instrument .

And here is a bit of trivia: The man that patented the first electric guitar also founded (according to the article) a very famous guitar company. Which company do you think it was?

I have always found that the more you know about a particular subject the better you are at doing something with it. The same applies to the Guitar. To become an accomplished guitar player you should learn as much as you can about the guitar including it’s evolution, it’s construction, the various ways it can be tuned, the various designs and styles of guitars and what style of music they are best suited for.

Learning the basics of playing is also very important (Duh!). The basics include: learning the guitar chords, learning picking techniques, both fingerstyle and with a flat pick, learning the guitar scales, Learning the circle of fifths, learning the notes on the fret board cold…

Go and look over the articles at wikipedia, they are full of information on the guitar. and also get your self some training materilal to learn the basic skills needed to play the guitar. I have found a program that will teach you alot of what you need to know about the basics notes, chords, scales etc. and many of the items are free.

Click this link and it will take you there so you can get stated with the program right away!

Good luck and happy playing!

For more articles on guitars and guitar playing go to The Guitar-Magician.com.

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Yes, You read that correctly. That’s what Eric Clapton paid for 6 vintage
Stratocasters and Telecasters in a Nashville guitar shop back in 1970. I was just reading about this in an interesting story on the Fender website.

Three of these guitars he gave as gifts to friends George Harrison, Steve Winwood
and Pete Townsend. Eric then took the other three guitars and using the body from
one, the neck of another and the electronics from one and built his famous “Blackie”
Fender Strat.

Blackie has probably become one of the most famous guitars ever used by by a
Rock or Blues Guitar player.

This caught my attention because I knew that Stevie Ray Vaughn had also “built ”
his famous Stratocaster from different vintage guitars as well. What is interesting is
that where Clapton had chosen a V-shaped neck for his Strat, Stevie chose an
Oval-shaped neck for his Guitar.

For comfort, control and precision guitar playing the neck and fretboard are the
focus. There are other ingredients in this mix: the fretboard itself, the size of the
frets, the radius of the fretboard and of course when it comes to playing or learning
the guitar one must also “know” all the notes and where they are on the fretboard.
Because this is so important to playing or learning the guitar I researched and found a system that you can use to learn the all the notes on the fretboard very quickly and easily.

It is a very good system, easy to use and very inexpensive. I highly recommend that you get this system right away. You will see a big improvement in your ability to play your guitar from the very beginning. Click right here and I will hook you up right away.

For more articles about the guitar go to my website Guitar-Magician.com.

That is a good and timeless question. I have some suggestions:

1. Have a friend that plays guitar show you a few chords and some songs to go along with them.
2. Go online and search for the song lyrics,chords and guitar tab to your favorite songs. Because you are already familiar with the songs you can work out how to play them rather quickly!

These are both good solid workable ways to get started. By doing this you will build up familiarity with the guitar. You’ll get used to holding and strumming, you’ll start to see some patterns in the way certain chords are grouped together and you will start to feel comfortable with your guitar.

It is important to start with simple tasks at first and then increase the difficulty of the tasks a little bit at a time as your knowledge and ability increases. This holds true for both the electric guitar and the acoustic guitar.

Once you are a bit familiar with the guitar and know some simple basics like being able to tune your guitar correctly and finger and strum a number of the basic chords easily it is time to move to the next step.

Next is to start learning some guitar techniques. This is true even if you decide not to take professional guitar lessons.

You need to learn some right hand techniques such as different strumming patterns, flat picking styles and some basic finger picking. You also need to learn left hand techniques such as hammer on, pull off, and bending notes. A good way to learn these skills is to get some Guitar Tabs to follow.

One of the best things you can do as early as possible in your guitar playing career is to learn all of the notes on the fret board of the guitar. Remember every chord, every melody, every lick, riff etc. on the guitar is made up of the notes on the fret board and the sooner you KNOW THIS COLD the better off you will be.

Playing the guitar is FUN! It should always be fun. Practice your techniques, learn the fret board, play your favorite songs, even make up your own songs, but by all means have fun !

I know it might seem overwhelming when I say learn every note on the fret board but it’s a lot easier than it sounds! On my website www.Guitar-Magician.com you’ll find a lot of very helpful tips on playing the guitar.

For more information on learning the fret board Click here to check it out.”

The Guitar-Magician!

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A few hints on kicking it up a notch.

Whenever you feel like you’ve hit a plateau in your guitar playing use the following tips to move your playing up to the next level

The first is to use a metronome. The regularly maintained beat will help you refine your timing and bring it completely under your control. Use the metronome as a tool to increase your dexterity and playing skill as well. When you have a guitar piece mastered at say 84 Beats Per Minute, crank up the metronome try 104 then 144 Beats Per Minute and so on. Do the same with scales until you can rip though them with ease. Believe me this will bring you to a new level for sure.

The second is to try a new tuning for your guitar. There are many ways to tune your guitar besides the typical EADGBE. For instance try, my current favorite, DADF#AD (open D tuning) or DGDGBD (open G Tuning). The world of open tunings will bring a whole new creative experience to you. They’ll make you think and try new fingerings and positions and the sound will knock you out!

The third is to learn a whole new aspect of the guitar. For instance if you have been mainly a play by ear guitarist change it around decide to learn all the notes on the fret board at every position on the neck by name. If you have been mainly an acoustic guitar player buy yourself an electric axe and learn to play some Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughn tunes. Stretch your boundaries reach out farther. The world of guitar is Huge, expand your horizons.

The fourth tip is this, join a band or find a guitar playing partner. There is nothing like working with another musician or group of musicians to put your attention on what really sounds good and what you just think is awesome when you are playing alone. Being part of a band or a partnership will bring your playing to a whole new level and it is a hell of a lot of fun.

There you have it, four quick tips on taking your guitar playing to a whole new level

Visit my website www.guitar-magician.com. There is a lot to learn about the guitar and we do our best to help you learn it all. See you there!

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What are guitar Tabs? Tabs (short for tablature) are a great simple way to “read” where the notes of a song are even if you can’t “read music”.

Tablature is drawn as a chart using the fret board of the guitar as the background. Six lines are drawn on the chart to represent the guitar strings. Small circles with numbers in them (representing the fret at which the string is fretted) are placed on the “strings” in the sequence that they are played. This allows the player to see at a glance where his fingers should be in order to play the next note!

It is a very simple and powerful tool for playing guitar. Guitar chords are indicated by a vertical line of these small circles showing that all the notes are played simultaneously, hence the chord.

There has always been controversy surrounding the use of tablature and currently there are many sites being shut down because of this controversy.

There are many that contend that a guitar tab is the property of the person that notated the tablature. Others insist that the use of tabs violates the copyright of the material (songs) it represents.

It is definitely a heated debate that has raged for years. Who is right and whis is worng ? I don’t know.

But I do know that Guitar tabs are a very effective way of leanring your favorite guitar parts!

Thank you for reading about Guitar tablature. On my website www.Guitar-Magician.com you’ll find a lot of very helpful tips on playing the guitar.

For more information on learning the fret board Click here to check it out

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Congratulations! You are going to buy your First Guitar. This is exciting. The guitar is a whole new world of fun, excitement and creativity. I am very happy for you. There are many great memories ahead of you. Have Fun!

With as many models of guitar that exist, choosing your first guitar can seem to be an overwhelming task. Do I choose a Gibson, Martin, Taylor? How about Fender, Yamaha, Takamine, Guild, Ovation? Should I but a Vintage guitar a used guitar a cheap guitar?

Don’t Fret (Yikes! bad joke).

While the proven brands (like those I mentioned above) are the best known, there are also literally hundreds of “house brands” in guitar stores as well.

Where do you start?

In my humble opinion there are Four Important points in selecting your first Acoustic Guitar, keep it simple, read the steps below then go pick out your first guitar you are in for lots and lots of fun. Good Luck!

1. You have to really like the way the guitar sounds. Play a few guitars or have the salesperson play a few for you. Listen to the way they sound. Some are loud, some have a mellow wooden quality, and some are as clear and crisp as mountain air. They are all good and in time you may even opt to own one of each. But for now let’s stick with your first guitar. When you hear a guitar or two that you really like proceed with the following steps.
2. The guitar must be comfortable. Have a seat in a chair with no arms take hold of the guitar and place the bottom curve of the guitar(if you are right-handed) on your right thigh (if you are left-handed) place the bottom curve of the guitar on your left thigh. Now ask yourself these questions: Does it feel comfortable ? Does your strumming hand drape comfortably over the front of the guitar? Does it feel too big? Does it feel too small? Are you having to compensate by bending over too much or having to sit much too stiffly? If the guitar is not comfortable do not go to step 3 regardless of what you are being told. Try other guitars until you find one that meets your comfort level only then go on to step 3.
3. The neck of the guitar must be easy for you to wrap your hand around comfortably. There are many shapes of guitar necks and many widths. The Senior most Important thing in buying your first guitar is that it must be easy for you to wrap your hand around comfortably. When you find a guitar that is comfortable ,check the height of the strings from the fret board. Too high and they are very difficult to press down and play. Too low they make ugly buzzing and clunking sounds. Sometimes the guitar shop you are buying from will have a capable maintenance and repair department that can set up your guitar perfectly for you but as these setups can sometimes be costly it will depend on the quality of the guitar you buy. This leads us into the final step.
4. The guitar must be within your budget ! Contrary to popular belief you do not have to spend lots and lots of your hard earned $ to get a decent starting guitar. My daughter surprised me with a guitar she purchased for $100. I was ready to take her back and set the clerk straight for selling my daughter a $100 guitar. “ He ripped her off!” That is what I was thinking. Well she brought it in to me and I must say it is better than many guitars I’ve seen for $200 to $300.

So there you go grab your cash in hand and go get yourself your first acoustic guitar. You have years of fun and satisfaction ahead of you!

Visit my website www.guitar-magician.com, for many helpful hints, advice and technical data on playing the guitar. See you there!

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