STUDENT NEWSLETTER 21 January
2007
I hope this letter finds you all happy, healthy, and warm. Remember that this cold weather is tuff on plants, pipes, pets, and guitars. The dry air plays havoc on a guitar. Especially the high end acoustics. Protect your investments! Guitar humidifiers are available at Musicians Friend. Go to the link at the bottom of this page. Inexpensive and can save your axe.
A new student sent me a funny video from U Tube. Warning! This is for the advanced students only! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bexIdm0awwo I will be constructing one of these as soon as possible!
How good is your musical education?
Check out the list of music terms and see how much you know.
GLOSSARY OF MUSICAL TERMS.
How many of these terms did you hear from me? Ooops! Did I leave out klangfarbenmelodie?
Check out the new cool chord and lyric
site: CHORDIE.COM It is
the best yet! You can even transpose your music into all 12 keys!
How cool is that? VERY!!!
Life is too short to not play a great guitar. If you can hear, see, feel the difference between Snapple and Shinola then you should get as good of a guitar that you can find. It is not easy to find a good guitar because there is so much tempting snapple out there. Who ever thought up skulls and crossbones on guitars should get some kind of award for coming up with that marketing bonanza!
Chet Atkins says that you will never make a beautiful sound if you do not know what one is. At some point musicians apply more time working on their tone and sound than they do their ability. Ability takes so long! But you can purchase an instant better sound!
At the private guitar lessons the students play thru my amp and have the same effects I have so that we sound the same. Same volume. Many times a student will ask why their $250 Stratocaster does not sound as good as my $2,500 Stratocaster. Many factors in choosing the right Stratocaster. I am using the Strat as an example because it is the most popular guitar with the most options. At one time there was only one Stratocaster model. Now there are 80+!
You get what you pay for.
$150 - $350 Flat out beginner minimum. DO NOT BUY YOUR GUITAR AT TARGET!!!!!!!!
$350 - $1,000 Intermediate level. No nitro, stock plain pick ups. Average sound.
$1,000 up Professional level. Nitro. Best sound.
If you do not know the difference in quality levels you should go to the Guitar Center and try an expensive guitar and see what it sounds and plays like compared to the cheaper version. It will be very obvious. Now go over and see if they have any pre 1965 Fenders ($20,000) range. Sight to behold. When I was in the Navy these guitars were only $100. Hard to ignore the investment potential of a guitar considering the past ten years. Not to mention how great they play and sound. HUGE HUGE difference.
General rule about all guitars (with the exception of Spanish classical guitars) are made in the good old USA. Everything else is a knock off, corner cutting, imitation, no where near as good, non professional, hard to tune copy. But they are cheap. Cheap materials. Cheap labor. Cheap sound. All in an effort to save what will amount to one soda a day for the next two and a half years.
You deserve a great guitar to spend the rest of your life with. Or until a better one comes along!
The most common reason I hear for the CGS (cheap guitar syndrome) is for health reasons. They tell me their wife will kill them if they bought an expensive guitar. Just Ebay off some junk and raise the funds by jettisoning off the junk you are not using and get something you will use everyday. When I spot a great guitar I do not want to set it down for fear someone else will get it. It is very easy to sell a great guitar if you find a greater guitar you like better! I promise you that WILL happen. There are millions of guitars out there.
The search for the perfect tone never ends. But after years of consideration, trial and error this is my rig more or less. It is not easy to find the original vintage stuff anymore, so this is the new equivalent.
Every bit of my new gear comes from MusiciansFriend.com for the past seven years. Best prices, selection, and return policy there is. AND they bring it to your door! If you click thru to MUSICIANS FRIEND .com from this web site to buy something, I get an advertising credit and it does not cost you a penny extra! Musicians Friend is where I get all my new gear. Click on the bar below to go there. If the bar does not appear on your browser go here and click on the MusiciansFriend bar at bottom of that page.
Always Stay Tuned. A lot is going on around here!
Rock On,
Joe "TheGuitarman" Pacciano, C.G.P.
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