First, some basic information about guitar strings:
1.) There are different strings for electric and acoustic guitars. They come in packages of 6 because there are 6 strings on a standard guitar. Buy your strings accordingly.
2.) There are different gauges (thickness) of strings. The thinner they are, the easier they are on your fingers, but they don’t sound quite as full or “deep” as thicker strings. If you are a beginner, stick with lighter gauge (thinner) strings until your fingers get used to it.
—–a.) Acoustic Guitar: Light, Medium, Heavy are the terms for thickness. Stick with light if you’re a beginner.
—–b.) Electric Guitar: 8’s, 9’s, 10’s, 11’s, 12’s are the terms for the thickness. 9’s or 10’s are what you probably want if you’re a beginner.
3.) Change your strings often, and more importantly, learn to do it yourself. It will save you money.
4.) A pack of strings will cost you anywhere between $4-$12 or more depending on the quality or brand.
Ok, so now the opinion section:
What brand should I buy, and from where?
1.) RotoSound strings. They’re an epic company based in the UK and make high quality strings that are perfectly priced. StringsAndBeyond.com is the best Guitar Strings website.
Much Respect,
The Musician’s Toolbox
This article will attempt to explain the circle of fifths from a “practical use” standpoint as it pertains to chords in a diatonic function, and will not be an exhaustive, theoretical explanation of the circle of fifths. That’s what wikipedia is for.
No, no, this article will give you the visual cues you need to understand something about the relationship of chords as it appears in the circle of fifths. You will start to realize what it means to play “in a key” like in Back To The Future, when Marty McFly tells the band, “Alright boys, this one’s a blues riff IN B, watch me for the changes, and try to keep up.” Good thing Marty took the time to learn guitar chords.
What does it mean to play, think, or otherwise understand the concept of playing “in a key?” The circle of fifths provides the answer:
Pizza.
Well, that’s how I see it anyways. The proverbial slice of musical pie.
Look at the image below, and what you will begin to see is the arrangement of chord relationships as a slice of pie. Any chord found within the slice of pie is “in the key” of the upper middle letter. The example below shows the chords “in the key” of C.
Again, since everything in the shaded area “surrounds” the letter C, we say that this is the key of C. You could play any of these chords in any order and it would sound pretty good. That’s because each chord belongs to the key of C. It’s like all of the words in a sentence being in the same language, they make sense.
Here’s a picture of the key of E. It’s the same concept, but “different language.” The musical sentence will still make sense, but you’ll be speaking the key of E.
This simple visualization has many practical uses, for example, let’s say you’re writing a song, but you’re stuck on the three chords you already wrote for the chorus. How can you easily choose a good sounding chord for the verse or the bridge?
1.) Find the main chord you’re using in your song in the circle of fifths chart
2.) Visualize the slice of musical pie around that chord
3.) Choose any of those chords you haven’t used and see if it sounds good
Here’s another example, if you’re into listening to music and want to understand more about it.
1.) Google any song with the keywords “chords lyrics” added to the song title.
2.) Click on one of the search results.
3.) Look at the chord symbols above the lyrics
4.) Find those symbols on the circle of fifths chart and see if you can find the slice of pie that the song belongs in.
Usually, a song will either begin or end on the chord of the key that the song is “in.” Furthermore, you’ll start to see that the majority of songs out there mostly stay “in” a certain key. Sometimes you might see some “foreign” chords in the song, but hey, music is a great way to celebrate our differences, right?
So there you go, a simple way to visualize the circle of fifths.
The Musician’s Toolbox, LLC is looking forward to working with The Musician Network, www.tmntv.com an up-and-coming internet TV network that appeals to musicians. The Musician’s Toolbox will most likely provide content like, “The Riff Of The Day” or something to that effect. This is great for us because it will allow The Musician’s Toolbox to become exposed to a wider audience, and it will allow us to create new content that will be useful to the watching public.
The Musician Network is somewhat “under construction” but is getting ready to officially launch this summer. Now you can say YOU heard about it first.
I’ll keep everyone posted as the details materialize.
Much Respect,
Andrew Wonacott, President
We’ve struck up a partnership with StringsAndBeyond.com, The world’s largest online store for Guitar Strings and Accessories with fast, friendly service and FREE shipping on all orders over $35! 1-877-830-0722.
Take a minute and soak that domain name into your brain. Tell your peeps about it.
Andrew Wonacott, President
The Musician’s Toolbox, LLC
There are several elements that combine to make a great song. Of course, musical “taste” is all subjective when you boil it all down, but for the listener, it can be extremely useful to know WHY it is you like a song beyond the words: “I like it,” “I don’t like it.”
This article will by no means be definitive or exhaustive, (that’s scholar talk for RIGHT), but it will attempt to give you, the reader, a taste of what to listen for in the music that you love.
1.) Nine times out of ten, it’s the rhythm that makes a song catchy. Think of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. It’s main theme is only two notes, but the rhythm is what makes it memorable. When you are enjoying a great song, pay attention to the rhythm. It’s probably the beat that’s captured your attention.
2.) Repetition. Our brains aren’t very smart. In order for something to register in our brains as “cool” it has to be repetitive. When you are listening to a great song, count how many times a lyric or musical phrase repeats itself in that 3 to 4 minutes. You’ll be surprised.
3.) Clarity. In a great song, you should be able to hear all the parts distinctly and the music shouldn’t be “clouding” up the song. In other words, a great song usually leaves enough room for the singer to sing his / her message without drowning them out.
4.) Structure. This is probably the most valuable part of a great song. While the durations of each section of a song might be longer or shorter, they are usually arranged like this:
Short Intro
Verse 1
Chorus
Verse 2
Chorus
Bridge or Solo
Chorus
Chorus
Listen to your favorite songs and discover that most of them probably adhere to this structure. There’s method to the rules. It’s the rules that usually help a song to communicate clearly. If you are a budding songwriter, LEARN GUITAR CHORDS as fast as you can and keep it simple. (see #3 again).
Again, this isn’t supposed to be some authoritative article on what a good song should be, but it will hopefully get you thinking about WHY a good song is a good song and give you something to chew on while you listen to your iPod.
