RECORD YOUR MUSIC

If you’re looking for a way to record your music, you might consider getting a small digital recorder. They provide a quick and easy way to capture your tunes without a lot of fuss.

Acoustic Guitar magazine recently printed an article highlighting the virtues of the Zoom H2 Digital Recorder. According to the author, Douglas Baldwin, the Zoom H2 “functioned superbly- recording transparently, with high fidelity and negligible distortion.” He put the Zoom through several different tests and found it captured sounds “extremely well”, concluding that it was a very capable tool for recording live performances, song ideas, or practice and rehersal sessions.

The Zoom H2 features 4 mics with a 360 degree recording radius for surround sound, as well as being able to isolate front and back. With the push of a button you can record, then listen to playbacks with headphones, or transfer them to your home audio system, Mac or PC. Accessories include carrying case, tripod stand, USB cable, earbuds, mic clip adapter, AC adaper, an 1/8 inch to RCA cable, plus a 512-MB SD card which provides up to 138 hours of MP3 recording. You can even use the H2 for recording directly to your computer.

Apparently some people don’t like the way the H2 feels, but they’re quick to recognize the Zoom provides many great features for a nice low price. All in all, the Zoom H2 Digital Recorder sounds like a pretty good “musicians tool” to me, especially if you’re looking for a way to record those new song ideas so you don’t forget them. The way my memory has been lately, I better get one right away!

Until next time…

Keep practicing!
guitarcoach

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GUITAR HERO

The other day I was in a store and noticed some kids gathered around a computer monitor playing a video game called Guitar Hero. As far as I could tell, it didn’t appear to have anything to do with learning how to play the guitar. But that didn’t seem to matter because the kids were really into it. Not much later I discovered that one of my own guitar students loves to play this new video game too.

The good news is, there is now a Guitar Hero Tab Book available for guitarists who would like to learn how to play the song tracks included with this video game.

 Gutar Hero  
   Tab Book  

Not having played Guitar Hero myself, I can’t really comment on it’s inherent value or lack of it. However, I have learned that since it’s release, players have purchased more than 5 million new songs via “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” video game, while other competing digital music services are struggling to make a buck. According to one online source “downloadable tracks for games like ‘Rock Band’ and ‘Guitar Hero’ are flying off the digital shelves.”

For me, the phrase “Guitar Hero” conjures up images of someone like Jimi Hendrix who could play hot guitar licks behind his back, or with his teeth. Something quite unique and extraordinary in and of itself. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine recognized Hendrix as a true guitar hero when they placed him first in their list of the top 100 guitarists of all time.

Here’s a free tab file if you’d like to try playing one of his songs:

Spanish Castle Magic

I must say, being able to push a button faster than anyone else, in order to acheive the highest score on a video game, somehow seems to pale by comparison.

Until Next Time…

Keep practicing!
guitarcoach

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THE GUITARIST’S GUIDE TO SCALES

Minor Pentatonic Scale

A lot of people get confused when it comes to scales because most books, magazines, and other instructional material on them make them out to be more complicated than they really are.

Scales are the building blocks of music. They are a sequence of notes that provide a road map for just about everything including chord construction, chord progressions, songwriting, and soloing. Understanding scales is about as essential to a guitarist’s survival as water is to a fish.

Below is a link to an introduction to scales for the guitar, plus you’ll get a detailed look at the open C scale pattern. You’ll learn the answers to burning questions, such as: “What’s the most commonly used guitar scale?”, “How many scale patterns do I need to learn?” and much more!

Click below to access it:

The Guitarist’s Guide to Scales

I hope you enjoy it!

Until Next Time…

Keep practicing!
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STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN

Stevie Ray Vaughan was born in Dallas Texas on October 3, 1954 and is remembered by many fans for his awe inspiring speedy fingers. Vaughan started playing guitar by ear when he was only eight years old. He never learned how to read music, but by the time he was thirteen he was already playing the club scene where he had the chance to meet many of the blues guitarists he admired.

Stevie loved to play the blues and his skill began to attract the attention of such notable artists as Johnny Winter, David Bowie and Jackson Browne. His wife claimed that he used to play guitar in his sleep with “his fret hand and pickin’ hand moving hard and fast…” He used to dream that Jimi Hendrix was teaching him how to play “secret chord changes”. The only trouble was, he couldn’t remember the lessons after he woke up!

He soon realized that he would need to figure things out for himself, and that he did. He was ranked #7 in the Rolling Stone magazine list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

on August 26, 1990, after his band finished playing a show  with Robert Cray and Eric Clapton, Vaughan boarded a helicopter headed for Chicago. It crashed into a ski slope only 0.6 miles from where the concert had taken place. Stevie Ray Vaughan, along with the pilot and three other members of Clapton’s crew, were killed.

In 1991 a compilation album called The Sky Is Crying was released. It spans most of Stevie’s performing career and features ten tracks originally recorded between 1984 and 1989. Below is a free tab file  of Stevies song by the same title, if you’d like to give it a try.

The Sky Is Crying

Stevie was the type of guitarist who played with all his his heart. He once said: “that’s what the music was for… it was for love.”

Until next time…

Keep practicing!
guitarcoach

Free Guitar Tips