I’m A Guitar Player

Upgrading your guitar is a great way to get a huge improvement in sound and/or playability without spending the big bucks for the high-end model. If you’re really handy you can actually build your own guitar, but most people will want to start with a decent guitar and improve it.

As an example, the first thing I do to any guitar I buy is replace the nut with an Earvana compensated tuning nut. This is a fairly easy modification to make, takes an hour or less, and makes a huge difference in the sound of the guitar, especially with first position chords.

With electric guitars, the difference between the low-end models and the expensive ones is often the pickups. With modern equipment, it’s fairly inexpensive to turn out very nice bodies, necks, etc. and as long as they’re put together well, you’ve got the basis for a very nice guitar.

Check out the models from the big name companies that are manufactured in Korea or Mexico, for example. You can often purchase a guitar for a couple hundred bucks that is solidly built and just needs an upgrade of the electronics to be a really killer axe.

My wife bought a Fender® Stratocaster® guitar for me for one of our anniversaries some years ago. It’s a Standard or “Mexican” Strat®, as opposed to the higher priced USA model. It’s a well built guitar, but the stock pickups were lame.

So, I bought a set of DiMarzio® replacement pickups and dropped them in. One thing I didn’t understand at the time was that the DiMarzios are humbucking pickups in a single-coil configuration, so the wiring was completely different from the standard Strat® wiring.

The techs at DiMarzio® were very helpful. They sent me a wiring diagram and explained how to wire up the pickups the correct way to get the sound I was after. They also exchanged the middle pickup I’d bought for one that is wired correctly for my setup.

That involved buying a new pickup selector switch to replace the one that came with the guitar. Because the humbuckers could be split, and needed to be in order to get good sound in all the switch positions, the switch needed many more wiring options than the original.

With the help of the diagram and instructions, I was able to get everything wired up the way I wanted it and the guitar sounds great now! If I remember correctly, the switch, pickups, and a new pickguard cost me under $200 and a couple of hours of my time.

If you have basic soldering skills and can work a screwdriver, you can make these mods easily. You’ll find that there’s something very satisfying about playing a guitar that you’ve upgraded yourself.

I’m A Guitar Player

This is an unofficial list based on my observations over a number of years. They are in no particular order and the list could certainly be expanded considerably! These are just the ones I’ve seen most often.

• Playing over other musicians - this could also be titled “Doesn’t play nice with others.” People not used to playing in a band situation (and some who are!) will often play constantly through an entire song, stepping on vocals, others trying to take solos, etc. This is a really quick way to earn the ire of your fellow musicians. Listen to the rest of the group and try to find a place where your instrument fits into the fabric of the song. It’s not a contest to see who gets the most notes in. The idea is to create a musical experience that’s enjoyable for the players as well as the audience.
• Playing the same licks over and over - this really comes down to one word: listening! I can’t tell you how many players I’ve heard who know one or two bluesy-sounding licks and beat them to death in the course of a solo. For whatever reason, it always tends to be the same couple of licks only varying by instrument. Listen to the music! For example, the blues isn’t always the same three chords and the same three or four signature licks. There’s immense variety in most every genre of music. Your playing will improve 1000% by simply learning the subtleties of your favorite music and introducing more variety into your playing.
• Playing too loud or too softly - usually, it’s the opposite, but there are those who don’t play loud enough to be heard at all. Sometimes that’s a blessing, but if you’re going to get up there, at least be heard! I knew a guy who could cup a harmonica over a vocal mic and look like he was blowing his lungs out, but no one could hear him. How he did it I have no idea, but it was bizarre to watch. At least he wasn’t damaging anybody’s hearing that way! Cranking your amp to 11 in order to be heard over everybody can be hazardous to someone’s health, quite possibly your own!
• Buying too much gear - the musical instrument industry thrives on Gear Acquisition Syndrome, or GAS. Musicians, especially amateurs, believe that if they buy another piece of gear, preferably the exact model played by Joe Rockstar, they’ll suddenly become the player of their dreams. Sorry, folks, it ain’t gonna happen. If you have the money and love toys, go for it, but if you’re wanting to be a player, spend the money on lesssons and practice! You don’t need a zillion effects to play well. The effects only color your sound. If your sound sucks to start with, all the gear in the world won’t help that. Buy an amp big enough for your needs, but save the stadium stack for when you and your band hit the big time.
• Not practicing properly - many amateurs spend their practice time playing things they already know. While it’s good to run over your repertoire occasionally, the purpose of practice is to hone your skills. That usually means learning something new and perfecting it. Make it a goal next time you practice to learn something new. Do that every time you practice and you’ll be amazed at how far your playing will come in a relatively short time. Practice only makes perfect if it’s correct practice. I know it’s easier and sometimes more fun to play things that are easy for you, but you won’t grow unless you keep stretching your abilities. In the long run, it’s way more fun to look back and realize how far you’ve come than to be playing the same stuff a year down the road.

John Sawyer

This is probably the most commonly asked question when someone is just starting out with the guitar.  There is a bewildering number of choices in all price ranges, so the prospective player needs to answer a couple questions to narrow their focus.

First, what style of music do you want to learn to play?  If you want to shred like the metal monsters, you obviously don’t want a nylon string acoustic guitar!  The simplest thing to do is to check out the guitars played by the players you most admire and look at similar models.

Second, how much do you want to spend on a guitar?  The guitars played by the pros, generally speaking, will be way out of the budget range of most people.  The axes you see on stage typically cost thousands of dollars each.   The good news is that there are usually very similar models available for a few hundred dollars.  The differences are many, but basically, the major reasons why the pro models cost so much more are: better pickups and electronics, more expensive materials for the body and neck and much more attention to detail in the fit and finish of the instrument.

You want to buy as good an instrument as you can afford, for two reasons.  One, better quality guitars are easier to play meaning you won’t have to work as hard to get the sounds you want out of them.  Two, if you decide after a while that you want to trade up to a better guitar, or you give up guitar playing for whatever reason, you can sell a better quality used guitar more readily than a cheap one.

Keep in mind that having the exact same model as Joe Rockstar plays will not automatically make you as good a player as he is!  Buy one that looks like his if you want, but don’t break the bank until you know you’re going to stick with it for the long haul.

You’ve got a lot to learn before you’ll begin to push the limits of what a good inexpensive guitar can do.  Save some of your hard-earned cash for how-to-play courses and concert tickets!

I’m A Guitar Player

Tune your guitar by ear with this cool tuner! Click the desired string to sound the corresponding note.

Guitar Tuner courtesy of the folks at Wimpy Player

I’m A Guitar Player

Starter packages are great for getting everything a beginner needs in one bargain-priced bundle — but what if the bass you want doesn’t come in a package? Get this! We’ve put everything a beginning player needs — except for the bass — into this deal: a 10-watt Ibanez amp with a headphone jack; an electronic tuner, a cable, strap, gig bag, guitar stand — even an instructional book/video!

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The ZFX Stack Package software works as a standalone application or as a VST plug-in and provides dozens of models of guitar and bass amps, speaker cabinets, mics, and stompboxes. The software comes with the S2t USB audio interface ? containing a real 12AX7 tube which combines real tube tone with digital 12-bit/48kHz clarity as well as two XLR inputs, and onboard phantom power.

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The new ZFX Stack and Control packages from Zoom offer countless options for guitarists and bassists to creatively manipulate their sound with assistance from legendary guitar rigs. Used as stand-alone software or as a VST plug-in application for use in digital audio software such as Cubase, the C5.1T is a floor controller that offers a total solution for guitar and bass players.

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True guitar prodigies quickly emerge beyond their respective national scenes into the worldwide arena as a result of their exceptional talent and remarkable accolades. In light of his renowned abilities, Zoom has created the G1J signature effects pedal to showcase the varying tones of guitar virtuoso John 5.

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Giving body to the guitar sound and adding supple power and intensity — that is the task of the Energizer. Turning up the TUBE control to drive the 12AX7 produces warm crunch with rich harmonics. The BOOST control spruces up highs and lows, resulting in more transparency. Enjoy a powerful tone also when recording directly to a line input or via USB on a computer.

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G2.1u: Taking multi-effects to the next level Conventional floor-type multi-effect processors are designed to sound good when they are plugged into a guitar amp. Modeling processors are designed for recording in line. Until now, there was no product that could handle both scenarios with equal finesse.

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