11 September

How To Connect A Guitar To A Computer

How To Connect A Guitar To A Computer
So many players want to record guitar playing on their computer. Digital recording is more popular than ever for pros and amateurs alike. But there are some things to be considered when you connect a guitar to a computer; mostly how you want to connect the instrument, and the quality of the recording you hope to capture. The type of guitar computer interface you choose will greatly affect the sound of the electric guitar through the computer and the overall recording you can expect.
While it is possible to play guitar through a PC just by plugging it in, this basic approach is likely to be fine for most though many players don’t like sacrificing a good sound for the ease of quick setup. Electric players need a ‘high impedance’ input to get their electric guitar to connect to a computer, and though most computer soundcards come with high impedance inputs, these inputs are usually not strong enough to get a good guitar signal or in the long run, for recording guitar effects for PC. This lower ‘impedance’ can cause noise problems too. A player can avoid all this of course by plugging the guitar into a ‘line-in’ jack, instead of the ‘mic-in’, but then the all-important preamp is needed.
Almost any one attempting to connect a guitar through their computer or familiar with recording a guitar into a mixing consol should be familiar with a preamp. The preamp does exactly what its name implies, it ‘amps’ the signal before it goes into the plug-in. Therefore your guitar’s signal will get that extra boost it needs when you record guitar on a pc or into any other device that is not an amp. There are plenty of external interfaces that combine computer soundcards with a preamp. Or if you like more components to you set-up you can always buy a preamp separate from your sound card. There are a lot of stand-alone vintage preamps out there that will not only boost your signal, but warm your sound before it goes into the ‘cooler’ digital domain of your pc.
It’s not only the pristine quality of digital that makes recording guitar on a pc so much fun, it is also portability. With very little equipment you can put down a riff (or an entire song actually) into a laptop! And added to all this wonderful technology is the fact that there are so many recording guitar effects for pc now on the market, a player can access different amp sounds and settings, effects. Well after you have wrestled with how to connect a guitar to your pc and have recorded a strong signal, you can call record guitar effects with pc during recording or in post-production.
Of course information about how to connect your guitar to a pc and the wonderful wide world of effects is available through an on-line pc guitar tutor and websites devoted to digital recording. You can even purchase a computer guitar tuner (some programs include a free computer guitar tuner) so everything you will ever need is self-contained in your rockin’ pc! Some players are even recording parts, then downloading and sending these pieces of tunes to musician’s half-way across the world.
The possibilities really are unlimited for the guitar player who says: ‘I want to connect a guitar to my pc’; he or she will be amazed at the varied and easy results they can achieve when they simply start recording guitar on a pc.
Brad Finley is senior editor of Free Guitar Lessons.
Website provides free guitar lessons and instructions for all level guitar players. Click for more Free Guitar Lessons
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9 September

Guitar Lesson - How To Practice Guitar

Guitar Lesson - How To Practice Guitar
If desire is the most important part of learning guitar(without it you wouldn’t have even started), then concentration is the most important part of practicing guitar.
I often say to people that 20 minutes of focused practice can beat, hands down, 2 hours of ‘normal’ practice, or just goofing about.
Many people are discouraged when they are told how much time they must put into practice. The truth is, you don’t have to practice all the time to be a good guitarist.
(I’m not saying you shouldn’t have time to goof off and play around. But if you want to improve quickly, you must keep playing guitar and practicing guitar separate.)
Let me tell you now, it isn’t how much time you put into practice, it’s the quality of the practice that matters.
When I play guitar, I play to have fun, I play to perform for people, and I play for the fun of playing! That’s why I started learning guitar in the first place.
But when I practice guitar, I focus and concentrate on what I’m trying to achieve, and I work on the goals that I want to complete.
You see, if you completely focus on one thing you are more likely to do it well.
This may sound simple too to some. Some of you may be thinking ‘this is great, I only need to practice 20 minutes a day and ill improve more than I would if I practicing 2 hours a day’.
Well that’s not exactly true.
Its how focused your practice is that counts, not how long you practice. Can you really focus for 2 hours?
Let me give you this small example to illustrate my point.
Picture a red triangle inside a black box.
Close your eyes, and keep that image in your mind for 5 seconds without letting a single thing distract you no other thought must enter your mind for that 5 seconds?
How well did you do? Be honest with yourself.
This isn’t an easy thing to do. Most people find this difficult at first. Its difficult to keep a focused mind like this.
I hope this example has shown you that it’s not that easy to keep focused attention

7 September

Guitars

Guitars
Guitars are music instruments that are very versatile; most musicians around the entire world use them because they find a guitar to be very easy to play.
They are also the most commonly chosen instrument for a student to start playing their way into music, mostly because it takes very little time to learn how to play it, and of course because it is not rare to be able to find a decent guitar for a very convenient price (unlike other instruments as pianos, for instance).
Today, all music shops offer a very wide variety of guitars, suitable for almost any musician, from beginners to masters. The most popular, however, are these two kinds of guitars: Acoustic guitars and electric 6-strings guitars.
Some very specialized vendors have started selling other classes of guitars; usually adaptations of the classical guitar made by different cultures all around the world. In these vendors’ shops, regular customers (mostly collectors) are able to buy guitars such as the Mexican ‘guitarron’, a huge guitar used by ‘Mariachis’, or as the ‘guitarra criolla’, an Argentinean adaptation of the 6-strigs classical guitar, used by Tango orchestras and also by the famous ‘gauchos’ (the south-american version of cowboys).
Another advantage of guitars is that, once you learned the basics of music composition, you will find it easer to move into more complex instruments, such as violins, and keyboard instruments; which are more difficult to use as the first contact with music practicing.
Beyond all that, the key to guitar’s success (they are the most used musical instrument worldwide, and has been for a very long time) is what matters the most: its sound. The beautiful sound a guitar produces can be compared to the sound produced by instruments that are much more expensive, rare and hard to learn. That is what keeps a good guitar above the rest.
Tamara Williams is a successful author and contributor to Guitars which is dedicated to providing useful guitar help, tips, information on products and services for guitar players.
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