Have you ever done any of the following?

1. Made excuses for not practicing because you didnt have time?
2. Practiced the same licks and exercises that you did last year?
3. Felt like you had hit a brick wall in your progress?
4. Felt unsure as to what to practice?

Unless your name is Steve Vai, chances are youve done at least one of the above!

They are all symptoms of having a lack of vision.

What do I mean by vision? Vision in this context is having a clearly defined picture in your minds eye of how you would like to play. It must be a crystal clear, exciting and inspiring picture!

Without an absolutely clear picture of what you would ideally like to sound like, you will not know what you need to practice in order to realise that vision. You will also probably lose the drive and motivation to practice daily for many years until you can play like your vision. You may even start using the losers mantra which is I dont have time to practice.

Exercise One:
Think about how you would like to play in 10 years time. Close your eyes and try to see yourself playing exactly how you would like to play. Write down what you see now.

Make sure that it is detailed. What techniques are you a master of? What songs can you play? What bands are you in? How many students do you teach? How does it feel when you play like you do?

Exercise Two:
Now write down what areas of your playing you will need to start working on in order to reach your vision. What techniques do you need to start practising? What chords do you need to learn? What music theory do you need to start learning about? Do you need to start doing ear training? What books, teachers, CDs and other tools will help you realise your vision? How much time every day do you think you will need to practise in order to play like you want to play?

Exercise Three:
Spend 10 minutes a day for the next 30 days imagining yourself playing exactly how you would like to play. Do this with your eyes shut. Dont worry, it wont make you want to start eating tofu or go around the neighborhood hugging trees!

At the end of every time you do this, write down one small new detail about your vision. By the end of 30 days you should be feeling so excited that you’ll want to practice 24/7!

Copyright2005 by Craig Bassett. All Rights Reserved.

Craig Bassett (The GuitarSolutionsExpert) is a professional guitarist, guitar tutor and author.
http://www.pentatonic-guitar-lessons.com

More articles at database for articles

To achieve musical goals, as with anything else, our attitudes and habits need to support these goals. In other words how we take care of things matters. For example I wouldn?t take care of my cactus plant the same way I care for my cat. My cat needs water and also to be petted. Obviously I couldn’t apply those same habits of care to my cactus without killing the cactus or myself! Similarly many children in piano lessons are not getting the proper care and feeding every piano student needs to benefit from their lessons.

The dream of learning to play piano is a valuable one for children, but it can?t be achieved without appropriate guidelines and good habits that will support this goal. Piano lessons provide so many benefits to children such as improved math skills,improved reading skills, and improved overall educational progress. It is sad, however, that many children in after school programs offering piano lessons fail to learn because their parents see all after school activity as simply babysitting.

Parents who view after school programs this way are basically digging holes for their children to fall into whenever they allow their children to volunteer for activities that not only require commitment and dedication from their child, but also demand parental commitment and support.

Children need boundaries to protect them in an environment where they can learn from their mistakes within limits. In this way failure is not an option. Children who are not afforded appropriate boundaries throughout their educational experience repeatedly fail and often wonder why? Instead of building on a history of success and positive experience, they are left with a history of failures to guide them.

Not all parents who have their children in afterschool music programs, however, view it as babysitting. Many parents who have their children in after school keyboard classes also enroll their children in private and group piano lesson programs outside of school. Why? Because when they see other children who are unsupported in their child?s after school piano program they assume the piano teacher isn?t giving real piano lessons. The truth is they are real piano lessons. The problem is they weren’t supported by a community of music values shared by all. This may not be surprising to you and you may be thinking that you really can’t do anything about this. But let me tell something else that may surprise you, which you can do something about!

Many school principals do not view their after school programs as a part of ?real school!? This attitude is very prevalent in our public schools and is a contributing factor for why children in after school programs may not be getting the care they deserve. For example, all real children benefit from real piano or keyboard lessons in a real community of support. But no child really benefits in a educational community of indifference.

Make sure the principal at your elementary school knows you care about the quality of your child?s after school activities. For example, ask your school principal what boundaries they have personally put in place to ensure reasonable student success rates in their afterschool music activites. Such boundaries for piano programs would involve rules and guidelines for students and parents to follow that are appropriate for this activity and that preserve its integrity for all children. These might include such things as

Children who sign up for piano lessons need to:

1. Come to their lessons regularly.
2. Bring their music books to class with them.
3. Play in the school’s piano program recital to earn an award certificate or trophy
4. Show good citizenship

These are not difficult rules to enforce and would go a long way toward protecting children in after school music programs and improving their overall educational achievement.

For great home piano activities parents can use to help children ages 5 to 11 develop their musical talent, visit Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources You?ll find a treasure box filled with piano resources to create an exciting musical adventure for your child – right in your own home! Visit their website and subscribe to their f?ree internet newsletter so you can download f?ree piano sheet music and mp3s of original piano compositions.

These exciting stories, games, piano lessons, and inspirational gifts feature the Piano Adventure Bears, Mrs. Treble Beary and her new piano student, Albeart Littlebud. Young students follow along with Albeart to learn what piano lessons are all about in a fun way that kids readily understand appreciate. Click here to visit PianoAdventureBears.com For a wealth of information about piano lessons, visit tallypiano.com

The origin of hip-hop can be traced back as far as the ancient tribes in Africa. Rap has been compared with the chants, drumbeats and foot-stomping African tribes performed before wars, the births of babies, and the deaths of kings and elders. Historians have reached further back than the accepted origins of hip-hop. It was born as we know it today in the Bronx, cradled and nurtured by the youth in the low-income areas of New York City.

Fast-forward from the tribes of Africa to the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica in the late sixties. The impoverished of Kingston gathered together in groups to form DJ conglomerates. They spun roots and culture records and communicated with the audience over the music. At the time, the DJs comments werent as important as the quality of the sound system and its ability to get the crowd moving. Kool Herc grew up in this community before he moved to the Bronx.

During the late sixties, reggae wasnt popular with New Yorkers. As a DJ, Kool Herc spun rhythm and blues records to please his party crowd. But, he had to add his personal touch. During the breaks, Herc began to speak to his audience as he had learned to do in Jamaica. He called out, the audience responded, and then he pumped the volume back up on the record. This call and response technique was nothing new to this community whod been reared in Baptist and Methodist churches where call and response was a technique used by the speakers to get the congregation involved. Historians compare it to the call and response performed by Jazz musicians and was very much a part of the culture of Jazz music during the renaissance in Harlem.

Hercs DJ style caught on. His partys grew in popularity. He began to buy multiple copies of the same albums. When he performed his duties as a DJ, he extended the breaks by using multiple copies of the same records. He chatted, as it is called in dance hall, with his audience for longer and longer periods.

Others copied Hercs style. Soon a friendly battle ensued between New York DJs. They all learned the technique of using break beats. Herc stepped up the game by giving shout-outs to people who were in attendance at the parties and coming up with his signature call and response. Other DJs responded by rhyming with their words when they spoke to the audience. More and more DJs used two and four line rhymes and anecdotes to get their audiences involved and hyped at these parties.

One day, Herc passed the microphone over to two of his friends. He took care of the turn table and allowed his buddies to keep the crowd hyped with chants, rhymes and anecdotes while he extended the breaks of different songs indefinitely. This was the birth of rap as we know it.

Hip-hop has evolved from the days of the basement showdowns to big business in the music industry. In the seventies and eighties, the pioneers and innovators of the rap record was the DJ. He was the guy who used his turntable to create fresh sounds with old records. Then, he became the guy who mixed these familiar breaks with synthesizers to produce completely new beats. Not much has changed in that aspect of hip-hop. The guy who creates the beat is still the heart of the track. Now, we call him the producer. Even though some DJs work as producers as well as DJs (quite a few start out as DJs before they become producers), todays title DJ doesnt carry the same connotative meaning it did in the eighties. Todays hip-hop producer performs the same tasks as the eightys DJ.

More articles at articles database

If you are an indie-artist like myself, then you probably realize how important it is for you to get your music heard. In order to accomplish this you will need to get as much exposure for yourself as possible.

Thankfully the internet offers many opportunities to do just that and much of it is free! But before you can take advantage of these opportunities, you will first need to record some of your original music. This can be done in any number of different ways. The choice you make will likely depend on your budget, preferences, time, and technical ability. Here are some recording options you might consider:

1. using a professional recording studio
2. using computer recording software such as CakeWalk
3. using a multi-track recorder, or other type of recording device

After you’ve recorded your songs you will have the ability to copy them from your CD onto your computer. The next step will be to convert each of the song files into an mp3 format.

Once your songs are available as mp3′s you will be able to upload them onto any music site that offers free hosting for your songs. One of the sites that I am currently using to do this is Soundclick, but their are many other sites as well.

The nice thing about Soundclick is that it’s absolutely free. Once signed up, you are given a place where you can tell others about yourself and your music. Your visitors can listen to, or download, any mp3 song file you decide to make available to them. It’s completely up to you. You can even have your songs added to their free online radio station so you can see how well they do in the charts. Besides the great free services that are offered, the serious artist may also choose to purchase a more aggressive advertising campaign if they want to.

Soundclick recently added a new feature that allows the indie artist to sell mp3 song files either one at a time, or as a complete album. Though Soundclick receives a certain percentage of the profit from each song sold for this service, you can establish your own price and it’s free to set up. This is a cost effective way for the indie artist to promote their music because it saves on the expense of creating, packaging, and marketing CD’s while gaining the potential to reach a far greater audience with your music via the internet.

Anyway, if you want to see how it all works just click the link at the end of this article. Then scroll down the page until you see the blue banner link that says: Soundclick . Clicking that link will take you to my own indie artist page where you can check out all the various features they have to offer. Then, go ahead and take the plunge yourself. Just click here and get started today. You’ll be glad you did.

Kathy Unruh is a singer/songwriter and webmaster of ABC Learn Guitar. She has been writing songs and providing guitar lessons to students of all ages for over 20 years. For free guitar lessons, plus tips and resources on songwriting, recording and creating a music career, please visit:http://www.abclearnguitar.com

The origin of hip-hop can be traced back as far as the ancient tribes in Africa. Rap has been compared with the chants, drumbeats and foot-stomping African tribes performed before wars, the births of babies, and the deaths of kings and elders. Historians have reached further back than the accepted origins of hip-hop. It was born as we know it today in the Bronx, cradled and nurtured by the youth in the low-income areas of New York City.

Fast-forward from the tribes of Africa to the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica in the late sixties. The impoverished of Kingston gathered together in groups to form DJ conglomerates. They spun roots and culture records and communicated with the audience over the music. At the time, the DJs comments werent as important as the quality of the sound system and its ability to get the crowd moving. Kool Herc grew up in this community before he moved to the Bronx.

During the late sixties, reggae wasnt popular with New Yorkers. As a DJ, Kool Herc spun rhythm and blues records to please his party crowd. But, he had to add his personal touch. During the breaks, Herc began to speak to his audience as he had learned to do in Jamaica. He called out, the audience responded, and then he pumped the volume back up on the record. This call and response technique was nothing new to this community whod been reared in Baptist and Methodist churches where call and response was a technique used by the speakers to get the congregation involved. Historians compare it to the call and response performed by Jazz musicians and was very much a part of the culture of Jazz music during the renaissance in Harlem.

Hercs DJ style caught on. His partys grew in popularity. He began to buy multiple copies of the same albums. When he performed his duties as a DJ, he extended the breaks by using multiple copies of the same records. He chatted, as it is called in dance hall, with his audience for longer and longer periods.

Others copied Hercs style. Soon a friendly battle ensued between New York DJs. They all learned the technique of using break beats. Herc stepped up the game by giving shout-outs to people who were in attendance at the parties and coming up with his signature call and response. Other DJs responded by rhyming with their words when they spoke to the audience. More and more DJs used two and four line rhymes and anecdotes to get their audiences involved and hyped at these parties.

One day, Herc passed the microphone over to two of his friends. He took care of the turn table and allowed his buddies to keep the crowd hyped with chants, rhymes and anecdotes while he extended the breaks of different songs indefinitely. This was the birth of rap as we know it.

Hip-hop has evolved from the days of the basement showdowns to big business in the music industry. In the seventies and eighties, the pioneers and innovators of the rap record was the DJ. He was the guy who used his turntable to create fresh sounds with old records. Then, he became the guy who mixed these familiar breaks with synthesizers to produce completely new beats. Not much has changed in that aspect of hip-hop. The guy who creates the beat is still the heart of the track. Now, we call him the producer. Even though some DJs work as producers as well as DJs (quite a few start out as DJs before they become producers), todays title DJ doesnt carry the same connotative meaning it did in the eighties. Todays hip-hop producer performs the same tasks as the eightys DJ.

More articles at article database

If you are looking for free music downloads eMusic lets you download free music online. This digital music download service has a variety of options for a music download site. One of them is 50 free music downloads , a great incentive to test drive this program.eMusic is a website for sampling and purchasing music in the MP3 format, which has become the standard in digital music download distribution. With their direct relationship with leading artists and exclusive licensing agreements with over 600 independent record labels, eMusic is able to offer an expanding collection of over 100,000 digital music downloads for purchase – individual tracks for 99 cents each or entire downloadable albums for $8.99

eMusic features top artists in all musical genres, such as:

* Alternative (Bush, They Might Be Giants, Violent Femmes, Frank Black)
* Punk (Blink-182, Pennywise, Rancid)
* Jazz (Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Concord Records)
* Blues (John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Buddy Guy)
* Hip Hop (Snoop Dogg, 50 cent, Kool Keith, The Coup)
* Country (Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline, June Carter Cash)
* Rock (Phish, Elvis Costello, Goo Goo Dolls, David Crosby)
* World (Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn, Lee Scratch Perry)
* Vintage Pop (Liza Minnelli, Eartha Kitt, Judy Garland).

Since it was founded in January 1998, eMusic has established itself at the forefront of how music will be discovered, delivered and enjoyed in the next decade. In addition to having the Internet’s largest catalog of downloadable MP3 music available for purchase, eMusic operates one of the most popular families of music-oriented Web sites – including: RollingStone.com, eMusic.com, DownBeatJazz.com and IUMA

Find top independent artist’s

Purchasing a classical guitar can be a difficult task particularly if you are not yet an accomplished player. Here are some tips and hints on finding a good quality classical guitar whether it is in the hundred dollar range or the thousand dollar range.

If you are have ever gone into a well stocked guitar shop you have no doubt been confused by the selection of guitars. There are literally hundreds of shapes, sizes brands and types of guitars. And the price can range from a hundred dollars to several thousand. .If you are a beginner, judging the sound quality can be difficult to do because your ear is not yet highly trained. Here are some tips to help you make a good choice.

When in a guitar shop and looking at the guitars you should always ask a sales person to help you. This way you can take guitars down and play them. If you cannot play very well you should ask the sales clerk to play for you so you can get a feel for the sound of the different guitars. If the sales clerk doesnt play you should ask if there is someone working in the shop that does play. As a last resort you should even ask other customers in the store. Not listening to the different guitars is like shopping for a car but never test driving any of them. Guitars have very different feels and tones and you should listen to a lot of them to get a sense of what you like. Dont be bashful in this respect. Guitarists are usually a very gregarious bunch and a guitarist will almost always jump at the chance to play for someone else. If you dont yet play well and you cant find somebody to play for you I recommend you not purchase a guitar. You should come back another time when someone is available to play or you can bring a friend who knows how to play.

Check the size and shape of the guitar

Classical Guitars, of course, come in different sizes and shapes and you should sit with a wide variety of them to get a feeling for what is comfortable to you. Your body shape has an effect on this. If you are over six feet tall the smaller guitars might not be comfortable for you and the fret board may be uncomfortable for your hands. So even if you cant play music you should always hold and sit with the guitars to get a sense of how the different ones feel.

Check the mechanics and playability of the guitar

Here are several things you should do when considering the purchase of a classical guitar.

1. Play every note on every string all the way up and down. Listen for frets that dont play properly. They will give a rattling sound and if this occurs on any fret at all you should put the guitar aside and try another one. This is a sign of inferior quality. Every string should play cleanly on every single fret.

2. Check the action of the strings against the frets in terms of how much pressure is needed to play notes and chords. You should play bar chords all the way down the frets to insure good pressure. If it is too hard to press the strings in order to make a clear chord this could be a sign of an inferior guitar.

3. Play harmonics on the strings. This is an excellent test of the quality of the guitar. Playing harmonics is the technique of plucking the note with your right hand and only lightly touching the string with your left hand. Test the harmonics of all the strings on the 5th, 7th, 12th and 19th frets. If you do not know how to play harmonic notes ask the sales clerk to help you.

4. Examine and test the tuning pegs. Do they look clean and sharp? Wind and unwind them while watching and feeling for smooth turning motion.

5. Visually examine the whole guitar. Look it over very carefully from front to back and top to bottom. Are there any small cracks? Are the frets firmly installed into the fret board? Are there any cracks or glue exposed around the bridge?

6. Tap on the front of the guitar (The sound board) in a variety of different spots. Does it have a rich echoing sound or are there spots where it sounds dead and limp? The internal structure of the classical guitar is very important for the sound and important for the longevity of it. Dull thud sounds could be an indicator of an inferior instrument.

7. Examine the details. Look at the purfling around the edge. This is the decorated pattern that goes around the full body where the soundboard or face meets the sides of the guitar. Is it accurately laid in? If this has variations and inconsistencies it is a good sign that the guitar is of inferior quality.

8. Dont hesitate to take a good look inside the guitar sound hole. You will see wooden braces in there. Do they look straight, accurate and well placed? If you see sloppy globs of dried glue around these braces it could be an indicator of inferior craftsmanship.

9. Remember that there are three distinct areas you must consider when purchasing a classical guitar: The Look, The Feel, and the Sound. If you keep all three of these things in mind and carefully examine the guitar in relation to these you will be able to choose an instrument that will bring you a lifetime of trouble free playing enjoyment.

A Classical Guitar is a purchase that can give you a lifetime of enjoyment and you should consider the purchase carefully. Even if you dont plan on playing every day you should buy an instrument that is of good quality so it will maintain its sound quality for a lifetime. And to do this you dont need to spend thousands of dollars you just need to know how to identify a well made guitar.

More articles at articles database

Guitar playing can be your passion, your obsession, your profession or your hobby. Owning a guitar of your own is every guitarist?s dream. But buying one can be quite expensive. In that case, an easy and affordable alternative is to buy a cheap electric guitar.

The cheap versions of electric guitars are almost same as the expensive ones and also produce a similar sound. The only difference is the quality of wood and strings used to make the guitars. Otherwise, the cheaper versions are just look-alikes of the expensive ones, and it?s hard to find any difference in the two. If the two are kept beside each other it would be difficult to tell them apart; even the sounds produced are similar.

Only a very experienced and highly professional guitarist who has tested his hands on almost all types of guitars can tell the difference. The cheap electric guitars are a good deal for beginners, amateurs and kids, before buying a more expensive model. When you go to buy a cheap electric guitar don?t go by the looks, since they can be deceiving and you might end up buying useless stuff. Take a good look at the product. Check the controls, nuts and bolts, pickups and playability. To buy some really interesting electric guitars you can go on online and have a look at the products available with different dealers, and then contact them. Or, you can go to some reputable dealers in your own town and buy cheap yet good-quality guitars.

Electric Guitars provides detailed information on Electric Guitars, Acoustic Electric Guitars, Cheap Electric Guitars, Electric Bass Guitars and more. Electric Guitars is affiliated with Piano Lessons.

I’m not going to kid you; playing Jazz Guitar is extremely difficult at best and almost downright impossible at worst. However there are things you can do to improve your improvisation skills and feeling and we’ll discuss them throughout this multi part series so look for additional parts in the near future.

Practice

What can I say about practice? Just do it and do it often! Do it everyday. When you think you have done enough do it again.

I am not just talking about picking up the guitar and playing a few songs I am talking about real practicing for the environment that you will eventually be playing in which is, of course, in an ensemble with other musicians who we hope will always be better than you.

Here are the basics…

When practicing always use a metronome!

If I didn’t make that part clear perhaps this may help: ALWAYS USE A METRONOME!

If you feel that you don’t need a metronome stop reading this article, stop practicing and go get some ice cream because you will get the same or even better results and you certainly will enjoy yourself a whole lot more in the process if you do. If you are committed read on.

Still with me?

When using your metronome try to feel your timing on different clicks. For instance for a swing feel have your metronome click on beats 2 and 4 rather than 1 and 3. This will give you an instant swing feel and also take away that nasty crutch so you are forced to know where beat 1 really is.

We never, ever, want to rely on our drummer, who may be in the middle of a complex experimental improvisation just when you need him/her the most, to tell us where beat 1 is. How many times have you been in that situation?

Sound simple? It is!

Sound easy? Try it for a month and you let me know how it goes.

Let’s delve into this a little. When practicing using this technique of displacing metronome clicks for beats try these: practice a 3/4 tune using the metronome clicking once per measure and only on beat 2. Then switch to only on beats 3. See how the feeling changes. Practice it, learn it, feel it and then you can start to own it.

If you want to get fancy place the metronome to click every fifth beat while you play a tune in 3. This will shift the accents and feeling from bar to bar and will also allow your brain to break free from it’s learned behavior which is designed to make you not want to think.

What did you say?

That’s right! More times than not the human brain is your biggest enemy. It always seeks comfort and practicing in the fashion described above is not at all comfortable for your brain. In these cases I recommend telling your brain what my son often likes to say, To bad…, so sad!

We as musicians need to experience and comprehend the natural tendencies of the brain’s normal behavior so we can learn to truly challenge ourselves to open up our minds to the gargantuan creative possibilities that await us when we do. This doesn’t happen by accident nor does it happen by itself nor will it come easy. It takes an extreme effort on our parts.

Whether you have your instrument with you or not you can practice your timing. If you get a small battery operated metronome, which I recommend, you can bring it with you when you are driving back and forth to work. Practice the above examples in your car while singing. Don’t worry if you can’t sing you are trying to own these feelings and if you can’t articulate these feelings with your voice you will never truly own them.

I have outlined several examples for displacement of beats. The idea is simple enough so that you can come up with more deviations on your own and you should keep changing them when you practice.

The point here is that true understanding and your eventual ownership of various beats and feelings associated with them do not reside strictly inside those beats and feelings. By looking only inside the beats you are shutting off all creative thinking that is necessary to truly exploit their full potential.

Real understanding resides outside and you must find out what that means. To truly find it you must force yourself and be willing to look everywhere else but the beats themselves. This simple metronome technique will get you started and point you on your journey to achieving that goal. Don’t limit yourself to applying this technique only to timing but that statement is for another part of this series.

Have fun, practice and always play your heart out!

John Belthoff is a Professional Audio Engineer and an Avid Web Developer who plays and also teaches Jazz Guitar in his spare time. His latest projects include the Internet Production Guide and he owns a small Asp Hosting Company. You can contact him at his personal web site Studio JB.

Purchasing a classical guitar can be a difficult task particularly if you are not yet an accomplished player. Here are some tips and hints on finding a good quality classical guitar whether it is in the hundred dollar range or the thousand dollar range.

If you are have ever gone into a well stocked guitar shop you have no doubt been confused by the selection of guitars. There are literally hundreds of shapes, sizes brands and types of guitars. And the price can range from a hundred dollars to several thousand. .If you are a beginner, judging the sound quality can be difficult to do because your ear is not yet highly trained. Here are some tips to help you make a good choice.

When in a guitar shop and looking at the guitars you should always ask a sales person to help you. This way you can take guitars down and play them. If you cannot play very well you should ask the sales clerk to play for you so you can get a feel for the sound of the different guitars. If the sales clerk doesnt play you should ask if there is someone working in the shop that does play. As a last resort you should even ask other customers in the store. Not listening to the different guitars is like shopping for a car but never test driving any of them. Guitars have very different feels and tones and you should listen to a lot of them to get a sense of what you like. Dont be bashful in this respect. Guitarists are usually a very gregarious bunch and a guitarist will almost always jump at the chance to play for someone else. If you dont yet play well and you cant find somebody to play for you I recommend you not purchase a guitar. You should come back another time when someone is available to play or you can bring a friend who knows how to play.

Check the size and shape of the guitar

Classical Guitars, of course, come in different sizes and shapes and you should sit with a wide variety of them to get a feeling for what is comfortable to you. Your body shape has an effect on this. If you are over six feet tall the smaller guitars might not be comfortable for you and the fret board may be uncomfortable for your hands. So even if you cant play music you should always hold and sit with the guitars to get a sense of how the different ones feel.

Check the mechanics and playability of the guitar

Here are several things you should do when considering the purchase of a classical guitar.

1. Play every note on every string all the way up and down. Listen for frets that dont play properly. They will give a rattling sound and if this occurs on any fret at all you should put the guitar aside and try another one. This is a sign of inferior quality. Every string should play cleanly on every single fret.

2. Check the action of the strings against the frets in terms of how much pressure is needed to play notes and chords. You should play bar chords all the way down the frets to insure good pressure. If it is too hard to press the strings in order to make a clear chord this could be a sign of an inferior guitar.

3. Play harmonics on the strings. This is an excellent test of the quality of the guitar. Playing harmonics is the technique of plucking the note with your right hand and only lightly touching the string with your left hand. Test the harmonics of all the strings on the 5th, 7th, 12th and 19th frets. If you do not know how to play harmonic notes ask the sales clerk to help you.

4. Examine and test the tuning pegs. Do they look clean and sharp? Wind and unwind them while watching and feeling for smooth turning motion.

5. Visually examine the whole guitar. Look it over very carefully from front to back and top to bottom. Are there any small cracks? Are the frets firmly installed into the fret board? Are there any cracks or glue exposed around the bridge?

6. Tap on the front of the guitar (The sound board) in a variety of different spots. Does it have a rich echoing sound or are there spots where it sounds dead and limp? The internal structure of the classical guitar is very important for the sound and important for the longevity of it. Dull thud sounds could be an indicator of an inferior instrument.

7. Examine the details. Look at the purfling around the edge. This is the decorated pattern that goes around the full body where the soundboard or face meets the sides of the guitar. Is it accurately laid in? If this has variations and inconsistencies it is a good sign that the guitar is of inferior quality.

8. Dont hesitate to take a good look inside the guitar sound hole. You will see wooden braces in there. Do they look straight, accurate and well placed? If you see sloppy globs of dried glue around these braces it could be an indicator of inferior craftsmanship.

9. Remember that there are three distinct areas you must consider when purchasing a classical guitar: The Look, The Feel, and the Sound. If you keep all three of these things in mind and carefully examine the guitar in relation to these you will be able to choose an instrument that will bring you a lifetime of trouble free playing enjoyment.

A Classical Guitar is a purchase that can give you a lifetime of enjoyment and you should consider the purchase carefully. Even if you dont plan on playing every day you should buy an instrument that is of good quality so it will maintain its sound quality for a lifetime. And to do this you dont need to spend thousands of dollars you just need to know how to identify a well made guitar.

More articles at articles database