Musical Instruments

As promised, I am writing an article on how to play harmonics on a guitar. This can get a bit tricky, so stick with it and I’m sure you will catch on. Let’s get started.

I am going to expand on my previous article on guitar tuning by ear. This is a modification to it, and requires that you know how to use harmonics . If you have not already read my articles on...

Guitar soloing is an art that requires musical education and a lot of practice. Even the best lead guitarists achieved their skills by playing a lot of "runs" up and down the neck of the guitar....

The bow and arrow are among the oldest projectile weapons. The first bows were made of wood and sinew with wooden or wood and flint arrows. The length and tension of the bow determine how far its...

The power chord is one of the most basic and essential chords for any guitarist to know. This versatile chord can be used in any key and in any genre, but is most often heard in blues and rock...

Bluegrass and Americana musicians once had to make do with whatever instruments were available, or had to create some from scratch with household items, such as blowing into a jug to provide bass...

The Planet Waves Pro-Winder Tuner is a five-in-one guitarist's tool, featuring a string winder, bridge pin puller, string stretcher, string cutter, and chromatic tuner. The unit is designed to...

This is one of the best guitar lessons I have ever learned. Having an out of tune guitar while on the go can be a very frustrating thing if a tuner is not nearby. Being a guitarist for the past...

Tuning is somewhat of an art, and is obviously among the most important skills to perfect. Whether you own a Gibson or other guitar brand, tuning procedures are identical. Electronic tuners are...

The 1977 movie "Smokey and the Bandit" featured popular movie stars Burt Reynolds and Sally Field. Another actor in the movie is Jerry Reed, who also was an accomplished country music writer,...

The mandolin is a member of the lute family, and has been in existence since around 1700. Today, mandolins are used in many types of music, from traditional European music to American folk and...

Care of 12 string guitars is very similar to that of other guitars. Regular cleaning of the strings and body, storage in moderate humidity environments, and preventing prolonged exposure from...

When learning to play guitar tabs, it's important to know the letters of each string on the guitar. Learn to play guitar tabs with advice from a guitarist in this free video on the electric guitar.

Riffs and leads are the building blocks of rock music. In order to have a great song, an artist needs to incorporate both of the elements and use them to their full potential. Although there are...

Here is an easy way to play a C major chord on a standard six string guitar.

Here is how to play one of the most used rock chords on a standard six string guitar.

An arpeggio, when executed correctly, gives a distinct sound to whichever chord this technique is being applied to. The word arpeggio means "broken chord" in Italian, and that's exactly what it...

Playing an Eb (E flat) chord on the guitar can be a challenge to the beginner. But by referencing knowledge of other common chords, and a bit of music theory, playing Eb and other tricky chords...

Once you’ve learned to tune your guitar, and learned to play it, you may discover that your guitar plays out of tune as you move up the neck, even if it is tune correctly. Assuming that you are...

One of the more difficult aspects of picking up a guitar for the first time, especially a bass guitar, is tuning the instrument. While the instrument is certainly playable without it being tuned,...

Playing the banjo can be fun and exciting. Building your own banjo can make it that much more rewarding. You'll gain a better understanding of how your instrument works, and you'll have a better...

Well if your going to use that guitar, you're going to have to tune up first! This should make it pretty simple and quick to use a tuner to keep your guitar in standard tuning.

Playing the guitar is a skill that many covet, but few have mastered. Anyone who has attempted to pick up a guitar and play without lessons of some sort know that it can be very challenging. The...

Have you ever picked up an electric guitar that was in tune, fretted a chord, and it sounded out of tune? You promptly check the tuning again, only to find that each string is in tune. This is a...

Whether you are just learning new techniques or wish to broaden your solo or song melody abilities, harmonics can be a great way to add class and ingenuity to your playing. Used for tuning and...

Guitar strings vibrate on a number of frequencies to form a note. Guitarists play harmonics in order to force a string to vibrate at only one frequency. This creates a single note that more...

Here's what happens to a lot of would-be guitar players. They decide they want to learn, and they find a teacher through local ads. Then they start taking lessons. The teacher has studied music...

Harp harmonics is a technique for playing string harmonics on a guitar. The index finger of the picking hand is used to touch the harmonic node of the string. Striking the string produces the...

Classical guitar music is usually played on a classical-style guitar, which has nylon strings, a wider neck and a different body shape than steel-string acoustic guitars. However, classical music...

There are different types of slides one can go to when playing guitar, and each will give you different results. Knowing how to perform these different types of slides is to your advantage. ...

I am writing this with the assumption that you know the notes on the frets of a bass guitar. I have actually taught this pattern to someone who only knew the notes on the top string and they can...

I am writing this with the assumption that you know the notes on the frets of a bass guitar. I have actually taught this pattern to someone who only knew the notes on the top string and they can...

When stringing a violin, you'll start with the E string, which comes separately packaged and has a ball on the end. Find out how to string a violin with guidance from an experienced violinist in...

When changing violin strings with a fine tuner, remember that you'll almost always use the E-string because there is usually a builtiin fine tuner on it. Keep your violin in tune with guidance...

Hello avid musician! So you want to learn to play the Guitar. These blogs will give you the basic know how of how to do just that. This is Part 1, here we will learn the basics of a guitar...

Watching a listening to a good electric guitarist shred a solo, it may seem dizzying that she can string together the notes so quickly, but the sheer variety of scales on the guitar makes it much...

Have you ever wanted to play octaves on a guitar, but never knew how to? Well, in how to play octaves on a guitar, I am going to show you in easy to understand tab form just how to do it.

The smallest member of the ukulele family, the soprano ukulele is a versatile instrument. Like other stringed instruments, it requires tuning before each playing session. This four-stringed...

Open guitar chords are mainly played on the first three frets of the guitar. They are called open because strings that aren't being fretted (pressed to a fret by your finger) are...

Open guitar chords are mainly played on the first three frets of the guitar. They are called open because strings that aren't being fretted (pressed to a fret by your finger) are...

Open guitar chords are mainly played on the first three frets of the guitar. They are called open because strings that aren't being fretted (pressed to a fret by your finger) are...

Open guitar chords are mainly played on the first three frets of the guitar. They are called open because strings that aren't being fretted (pressed to a fret by your finger) are...

Open guitar chords are mainly played on the first three frets of the guitar. They are called open because strings that aren't being fretted (pressed to a fret by your finger) are...

Open guitar chords are mainly played on the first three frets of the guitar. They are called open because strings that aren't being fretted (pressed to a fret by your finger) are...

Many trombones are equipped with an "F-attachment" (sometimes called a thumb trigger), which is activated by a rotary valve. This valve allows greater range and greater agility in playing. The...

Playing a violin with your fingers instead of a bow involves a technique called pizzicato. With pizzicato, you use your right forefinger to gently pluck strings during specifically marked sections...

A berimbau is a traditional musical instrument from Brazil, widely used in capoeira, a dance-like Brazilian martial art. The construction of berimbau is not complex, and if you are a practitioner...

Open guitar chords are mainly played on the first three frets of the guitar. They are called open because strings that aren't being fretted (pressed to a fret by your finger) are...

The minor bar chords are an important addition to the major bar chords. They can add great depth to songs. There are two forms to learn. With practice, you'll be able to play along to the rhythm...

Chords are the foundation of music and one of the first things a beginning guitar player learns. Three or more notes played simultaneously on any instrument are called chords. There are many...