Buying your guitars.

Hey guys! How are u doing?

I got a question from a guy withnick name Stephen of Ibelin:
"Dude , where to get a cheap and reasonable electric guitar, been wanting to jam for along time but don't know how much or what kind of electric guitar need to get , thnx,"

So, i like to answer the question here hence hoping it also helping you guys.

Actually there are a lot of music store that sells a lot of guitar at a lot of price range. I totally believe that as normal people like us we want something cheap and but with good quality of making and sound.

Before we start going to buy a guitar I suggest you need to know what guitar specification that u need.

I m more talking about to choose electric guitar. Let say you are more playing ryhthm guitar with less solo and less playing the tremolo. THen, u dont need the floating bridge and locknut. Also, 3 single coil pickup will do. I believe u dont need 24 frets fingerboard. Just get the 21 or 22 frets will be sufficient. This kind of guitar normally suits u if u play sone kind of light and easy type of song.

But if you play some rock, or heavy metal, or do some critical solo from top to bottom neck, with bone crushing power chords, and whack the tremolo like hell. I believe u need a 24 frets fingerboard with floating bridge doesnt matter it is floydrose underlicensed with lock nut. The pick up might have humbucker. this is my choice too. with humbucker-single-humbucher types of pickup..

The brand?

There are a lot of brand. I believe different brand has different characteristic with with different value. Also with the brand we know the average price.

But if, talking about cheap guitar with reasonable brand and quality. I suggest Ibanez. coz there are also made in CHina. The price is cheaper due to currency rate and also cheap labour cost, also due to less transportation charges etc etc. may be in malaysia we can go to Bentley for easy reference. Or CK Music for Craftman guitar. or BCRICH and Samick at DOREMI. or YAMAHA for YAMAHA guitar, they sells others though.

Sometimes any other brands also quite okay, depends on your preference, the name like Squire, Epihphone, SX, or whatever la... gives u a good choice.

Any other place? yes... I like to go for second hand guitar for some reason, I found some consider good second hand guitar at the place like Cashconverter and Buy,sell&trade. The reason is some times i can find a good guitar with a good sound that i can afford. but the problem is sometimes it has a little defect but still we can do some maintenance to make it better. The good thing is we can bargain, the more problem and defect with that second hand guitar the lower price we can get. If you are lucky u can find the brand like FENDER, Ibanez, GIbson, Kramer, Jackson, Hamer.... and more.

For example, this picture: is the guitar I bought second hand, but its consider antique. Ibanez Blazer series, Made in Japan in the year 1982 to 1984. Reasonable price and the sound is good.

So, make ur choice. Hope it helps.

Take care of your AXE and FX

Hello guys....

Gosh!!! I didnt go for jamming for almost 2 month already, that because of the fasting month and the month of Eid. I have to respect it and also busy visiting friends and relative or they visiting me.

So, yesterday I spent the whole morning by playing my guitar in my room. I have 3 electric guitar now in my room... When i took one of it, the fender stratocaster-mexican 1996. i found that the strings are rusty. hmmm..... Well. Thats because i forget one thing! I didnt take care of it since my friend used it in a function last september.

May be on that moment his hands was sweating or wet when played my strat. A bit frustated coz i dint take care of it. So, I believe thats the lesson I learn and want to share with you guys. Take a good care of your AXE and FX. coz that the thing that u will be frustated enuff when they are not in good condition.

Not just for the string, but may be on the paint, the fret wires, the bridge, the pickups, the humidity, maybe the temperature.

Most guitarists agree that we need to wipe the strings and body with clean and dry towel. Then put it in the case. And the best case that protect your AXE is the hard case, or some people use the term Coffin case. It is quite expensive compare to the gigbag or soft case. But to tell u, it really protect your guitar.

But if u can only afford the softcase or gigbag, its okay. it protect ur axe anyway, from scratch and direct heat. But remember dont lean your guitar neck to the wall... it may make ur neck 'bowing'.

And for your FX, try not to let it just like down after playing, its good to cover it. If it has some case put it in the case. Take off the battery if not being used or else the battery will be running out. some FX just need to plug off the cable to safe the battery. Put the FX away from possibility of something fall on it or people walk on it. Dont ever spill water on it or put it on the wet floor.

There are some other ways to take care of your axe. I will tell about it some other times later...

See you!!!!

C is Simple

Hi there,

I have problem with my ADSL modem and network card, was struck by the thunder lightning. The service provider just exchange the modem and I changed the network card my self. Phewww...!!!!!! Sweating, man!!

Okay that's another story. Lets talk about the guitar tips. for today I like to tell you guys that C is simple. The chord is simple to remember, the key of C is very simple to remember and the Scale of C is very simple.

Let's start with the chord of C. Most people who started play the guitar already know how to grip the C chord. But if you just feeling begin to play the guitar can check on the internet. Is very simple chord. Like this picture:

A little bit further, for the key of C. There are 7 notes in the scale of C, those are C, D, E, F, G, A and B. See, if you re-arrange them, it will be A B C D E F and G. Such and easy and simple interval to remember. Try to identify these notes on your finger board and try to do some riff on the scale.

A little bit advance, for the relatives chords playing in the key of C is:

1. C

2. D minor

3. E minor

4. F

5. G

6. A minor

7. B

All these chords are consider simple chords to play. easy to remember, If you creative enough you can try to arrange those chords in some pattern so it will be sound so rhythmic and nice to play.

Thats the tip for today, Remember! C is simple.

Warm up

Hello guys!

Today i like to tell you that to do a ginger warm up is important before u start playing your guitar, no matter where and when. It is is good for your finger muscle and also can help you to gain fluency, speed and accuracy on the guitar neck

You gain the most out of these exercises if you use a metronome. Start slow and built up the speed. Don't force yourself into a tempo that you're not ready for. Make sure your arms and wrists are relaxed. Failing to do so may result in a RSI like tendinitis (wrist inflammation).
Just to make sure we understand eachother in terms of finger naming:

Warm Up Exercises
This first exercise helps to develop your fluency, speed and left hand-right hand coordination. Start slow and build up the speed. Use fingers 1, 2, 3 and 4 of your left hand, don't skip the little finger. Use a pick and do alternate picking. The exercise doesn't stop at the end of the tabs, continue for the rest of the neck. Be RELAXED!

Wishing u all the best.

...

Start to KISS!!!- Keep it Simple, Stupid!!!

Hmm.....!!!

I remember one time ago. When I taught a guy in a tutorial session, I asked him, "what song do u really want to play?". He replied, "Fade to black, Metallica..."

Well, for me it is a good song, some people can play this song easily. But not for this guy, he is really a rookie, he cant play that song, he needs to play more simple thing. And, more simple arrangement and movement.

So, if u want to play something that really big stuff, but suddenly u stuck and cant do the chords or smoke ur finger with the solo. It's time to start KISS!!! Keep it Simple, Stupid!!! (My ex-boss influence to use this terms, he he. Thank you Mr Terrence)

There are a lot of song we can choose. One great example is the Zombie-Cranberries. Even i use this sond as case study for most of my student in the class. It use simple chords and also simple solo. Only using E minor, C, G and D. And these chords is easy to grip and fast to change ur finger position from one to other. The solo part: only a few note to remember.

Then, form time to time try to find other song, and go out learn something new, try something new.

Okay guys!

Practice, practice and practice

Hello there,

THis afternoon I was practicing alone in my bedroom. Plug my guitar to the multieffect and put my handphone on. Palying note by note until i sweat my self. In fact, malaysia's climate is hot.

Okay, okay!!! Thats a boring story.

Now straight to the tips.

If you are serious in playing a guitar u need to practice, practice and practice. Like the wisemen say, practice make perfect. Take a time that u are really free and practice. I know most of you just playing the guitar as hobbiest. So do I take your time.

The question is when and how long to practice?

My suggestion is to practice everyday. May be the first thing in the morning or in the evening. It doesnt matter. But how long? i heard that a pro practice for 8 hours a day. So can u do that? ask ur self. 8 hours means like working hour. in average hobbiest play about 1 hour per day.

Start with simple movement to warm up your fingers and hand muscle. Actually there are excercise lesson , try to find it in the web.

So now. keep on practice. DUDE!!

Note: Picture was taken in 1995.

The Fire Starter.

Hi, all, thanks for visiting.

I creat this blog as suggested from my closed frend @ band vocalist. He said to me that I should share my knowledge and experience in playing music especially electric guitar for years since the age of 13; now I am 33.

So, first of all i would like to say that there are a lot of things that I need to learn about blogging but thats a minor issue.

As I started to play guitar during my teenage time with my friend while sitting on a bench every body were taking turn to play the accoustic guitar. That's a boring process of waiting coz imagine I had to wait my turn to play, furthuremore I was in 5th que. Each person plays about 20 minutes. AArgghh!! That's so .... F**king boring Man.....

Since that incident I decided to have my own guitar. Just any guitar that i can afford, and I did got it some time later. I solved my taking turn problem, i had my own. not a good one, coz it was belonged to my elder brother not being taken care. even left in the rain once. its ugly. but i was proud to had it, though.

So u guys, u should begin to be a guitarist by having ur own guitar.

Have fun