BUYING GUIDES..since 1995
|
GALT HOME:
Internet Guides - Finance - Audio/Video - Travel - Household/DIY - Health - Cars - Fashion - Sports - Entertainment - Cell Phones |
| MENU: Technology and Internet Guides | Travel | Health | Household | Sports ...independent online guides since 1995 |
Electric Guitars and Acoustic GuitarsWho hasn't dreamed of picking up a guitar, strumming a few chords, and breaking into a major power peformance onstage? The humble guitar got its start probably sometime in the 14th century, became more popular in the 16th and 17th centuries, and obtained its modern form in the mid to late 1700s, less a few modifications made by Jimi Hendrix in the 1960s, though the first electric guitars appeared in the 1930s. Normal acoustic guitars derive their sound from the tones produced from plucking or strumming the strings, and the resonance created by the hollow body of the guitar. Electric guitars normally have a solid body and use electric pickups to relay the string sounds to an amplifier, boosting and manipulating the sounds along the way if desired. Below we will look at what the best guitars are, the popular brands and guitar makers, how to shop for a guitar online, and where to get free guitar tablature so you can play the songs you want.
Buying a GuitarBefore you can take guitar lessons, you need a guitar -- and the question is, electric or acoustic? An acoustic guitar is often associated with classical music, folk music, and country music. But an acoustic guitar makes a great learning tool, giving you a feel for the touch and sound of the traditional instrument. You can also get an acoustic guitar with an electric pickup on it, so you can plug it into an amplifier when you want some louder effects. One of favorite online guitar store sites is SamAsh.com. They carry a full line of acoustic and electric guitars, solid body and hollow body, steel string, 12 strings, speakers, amps, effect pedals, stands, cases, and more. You can pick up an acoustic/electric guitar for pretty cheap - they have the Carlo Robelli W-4102EQ for $120, with a spruce top and rosewood fingerboard and a built-in EQ-505R preamp, and chrome tuners. This is a good looking, affordable guitar, fine for any beginner. SamAsh also offers some nice packages, like the Fender DG-8 Acoustic Guitar Pack. For $199, you get the DG8 Fender Acoustic Guitar, a gig bag, polish, cloth, picks, tuner, string winder, extra strings, and instructional book. They carry all the major guitar brands - Fender, Ibanez, Washburn guitars, ESP, Paul Reed Smith, Gibson, Dean guitars, etc. For a low-cost electric starter guitar, check out the Brownsville GG1 (nice glossy black). For just $139, this dual humbucker single-cutaway makes a great sound and has a good heft to it. It has a bolt-on mahogany neck, 22 fret rosewood fingerboard, and a TOM style bridge.InstrumentPro.com is another good site for browsing or buying a guitar online. A Fender Squier Bullet Rosewood will set you back just 99 bucks, and gets you a 21 fret maple neck, chrome covered tuners, and three single coil pickups. This is probably the best cheap Fender out there. Of course if you are looking to go all out and money is no object, you can check out the Ibanez K7 for just $1500, or the Ibanez PGM301WH Paul Gilbert Signature Electric Guitar for just $1179. The last one we recommend is ZZounds.com - they have a nice selection, good prices (even a low-price guarantee), and best of all, a 30-day Hassle-Free Money-Back 100%-Satisfaction Guarantee - you know you can shop safely with them and be happy with your purchase. With over 400,000 guitar customers, you are in good company. Free Guitar lessons OnlineIt's tough to just pick up a guitar and play - some people start out that way, but most people get guitar lessons, either informally from a friend or from a professional musician. A great online guitar lesson site is GuitarLessonWorld.com. They start with the basics, including graphical introduction to the guitar, guides on stringing and tuning, fretboard help, information on reading standard notation and tablature, how to play chords, etc. They have strength and speed exercises, and 50 different online lessons you can work through, from fingerpicking, to Circle of Fifths, to jazz progressions, to harmonics, to the major scale. Great site to get going. GuitarNoise.com also has a large section of free online guitar lessons. For beginners and intermediates, they offer lessons like Improving Your Chord Changes, Fretboard 101, and Easy Guitar Riffs. You can also find some DVD courses that walk you through basic guitar - showing finger positioning, teaching basic chords and standard notation, and much more.Free Guitar TablatureOne thing all guitar players look for online is free guitar tab, or guitar tablature. What is a guitar tab? Tab or chord files are printed musical notation for stringed instruments, with 6 lines representing the 6 guitar strings, and numbers showing which fret position on that string is depressed to get the desired note or notes. If you have the tab for a certain song, you can learn how to play it pretty easily. For a good free guide to reading tablature, check out http://www.olga.net/faq/tabbing.php. It walks you through the basic of tablature, how to read tablature, and how to write it. The Online Guitar Archive, OLGA.net, is not just a tab reference site, but a great free tab archive as well. The guitar tabs are all submitted from other guitar players, and they are free to download, print, or view as you like for your own personal use. OLGA has been around since 1992, one of the grand-daddies of the Internet. They have an alphabetical archive of just about every group or artist you can imagine, and almost any song. Want some Led Zeppelin tablature? They've got about 40 of their songs there, in multiple formats and versions. Blink 182? Got it. Jimi Hendrix? It's there. Rolling Stones? Yep. GuitarTabs.cc (also known as Guitar Tab Universe) is another good site for free guitar tablatures. Ozzy, Pearl Jam, Johnny Cash, ZZ Top, Pink Floyd Tabs, Metallica, linkin Park, Nirvana, Green Day, ACDC, its all there. They have bass tabs as well, with easy "Top 100" tables to get you some ideas on where to get started. They also have a community rating systems which is nice, helping you avoid poorly written files. Ultimate-Guitar.com is a complete guitar-centric site, with rock news, reviews, and such, but they also have a large free tab section. I like the layout and design of their site the best, and find the quantity and quality of their tabs to be top of the line. They also offer lyrics with most of their tabs as well, making it easier to match up with the song you are trying to learn.
Do you have a quality site or product that belongs in this guide? We are always happy to evaluate or review new products and websites. Feel free to contact us at the email address below and let us know about you. If you have a demo product you'd like us to look at, please contact us before sending anything. Thank you.
Send email to: galtemail (@) yahoo.com
|
