Guitar_Techniques : Advanced Guitar Techniques
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The guitar is a versatile musical instrument that allows musical creativity to be expressed very well. Picking notes and strumming chords is great for learning, but it starts to sound mechanical. Here are a few advanced guitar techniques and tricks to make your music more vibrant. As you learn, you will notice that your favorite guitarist uses these very same techniques! Click to view the Basic Guitar Lessons if needed.
The Bend is by far the most used guitar trick in the book. As this picture shows, the trick is to push the string with your fingers while fretting it (bending the string). Usually you bend strings with your ring finger, using your middle and index fingers to help. The string tension increases, changing the sound of the note. If you pick the note and then bend the string, you get the classic wail of the Blues guitar.
Guitar tab notation is shown here, bends are indicated with an upward arrow (and may also state how much to bend FULL, 1/2 etc). Pushing the string up a little (half bend) will change the sound by one fret (half step), pushing it more (full bend) will raise the pitch by two frets (one step), and once your fingers are stronger - pushing the string all the way will raise the pitch by three frets (one and one-half step). Be warned however, bending strings can be PAINFUL at first, so practice lightly till your fingertips get de-sensitized.
The Hammer On is another popular trick. When a note is following a previous note by one or more frets, instead of picking the second note - slam your finger down on the next required fret (while holding the previous note). This changes the note to the fret you have hammered on, and gives a forceful tone to the change. The complementary technique to this is the Pull Off, which works in reverse. When you have a note that precedes a previous note by one or more frets, fret the second note while keeping your previous finger down (don't pick the string) - then forcefully "pull" back the previous finger. The trick is to remove the finger rapidly so it doesn't muffle the string vibration - the result is a forceful note change to the next note. In guitar tab, hammer on and pull offs are marked with an arc linking the frets - if its going to a higher numbered fret then its a hammer on, if its going to lower numbered fret its a pull off. A combination of both the hammer on and pull off is called the Trill - where you rapidly hammer on and pull off on the same fret several times (keeping the first finger in place throughout). This creates an undulating sound that combines both the notes.
A very common technique to break up a monotonous stretch of music is the Vibrato. At any point where a note is held (usually for more than one beat, though it works on single beats as well) - instead of leaving your finger on the fret to hold the note, rapidly wiggle the finger (up and down, or side to side). This adds a wavering quality to the note and gives it some feeling. There are many ways to add vibrato, in fact it gives many guitarists their "trademark" sound. BB King for example, does what (as in defining something, WHAT is) is called the "Butterfly vibrato" where he extends the other (unused) fingers and wiggles his entire wrist.
Palm Muting is another way to get distinctive sounds out of your guitar. Although it works best on an electric guitar with distortion effects - it can also be used on acoustic guitars. Simply allow the palm of your right hand to touch the strings while you are strumming or picking the strings - this creates a flat sound or thump (depending on your gear). On some acoustic guitars that have excessive bass (the fat E string sounds too loud), you can partially palm mute by only touching the high E string - this will reduce the bass effect when you are strumming chords.
Guitars are normally tuned to E-B-G-D-A-E notes - however you can also use Alternate Tuning. This changes the open notes for one (or more) strings, completely changing the sound and of course the way you play notes. One popular alternate tuning is the Drop D tuning, where the high E string (fattest E string) is tuned down to D instead of E. Some rock and blues songs use alternate tuning - if you are trying to play one of those songs from tab or sheet music, it would be almost impossible to do so without changing the tuning of your guitar.
Normally you can fret upto 4 strings with your four fingers on the left hand, but some chords require you to fret all six strings (such as the F chord). In order to do this, you have to use your index finger to form the Barre or Bar - and lay it flat across the strings and push down. This trick also allows you to create alternate tuning on-the-fly, since your finger behaves like the nut at the top of your guitar neck. You can form all kinds of chords behind the bar, and it is very popular in many songs. Barring with the finger can be tricky, so metal or glass Slides are available to put over your finger - and it makes things a little easier. Some formats of music (and even some guitars) are built entirely around slides, and is called Slide Guitar.
These are only a few advanced guitar techniques, click if you need a refresher on Beginner Guitar Lessons.
Here is a picture of a typical electric guitar with its parts marked. Click if you want to jump to the Acoustic Guitar Parts or to selecting an Acoustic or Electric Guitar. Scroll down for detailed information on the electric guitars parts.
There are three main sections zoomed in the picture; the Headstock, the Neck, and the Body. The headstock holds the Tuner Posts around which the strings are wrapped and terminated. The Tuners are knobs that increase or decrease the tension on the string wrapped around the tuner posts (tuning the sound made by the strings). Note that some electric guitars may have different looking tuners, and some may even have three tuner keys on opposite sides. Even though they may look different, they work in the same manner. The Nut guides the strings to the tuner posts and maintains the height of the strings.
The length of the Neck depends on the scale of the guitar and the number of frets it has. The back of the neck could be "C" shaped, or "V" shaped (sideways < if you compare it to the letter C). The front of the neck is the Fingerboard or Fretboard, that contains the Frets embedded in notches along its surface. The Strings run down the neck over the frets. The height of the strings over the frets is called the Action; if the action is too high the strings are harder to press down, if the action is too low the strings may rattle against the frets muffling the notes. The neck usually has "dot" markers on the top and the side facing the player, showing the position of the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th (which has two dots), 15th, 17th, 19th, 21st, and 24th (which also has two dots) fret. Note that , you know, not all electric guitars have 24 frets. Those guitars that do have 24 frets will have smaller spacing between all the other frets, which is may make things a little difficult for large hands and fingers.
The body of the electric guitar has one, two or three Pickups under the strings. These electro-magnetic coils "pickup" the vibration from the strings and send it to the amp. There are two varieties of pickups, single-coil and humbucker (dual-coil), and electric guitars have different combinations of these pickups in the three possible positions - closest to the neck, in the middle, and furthest from the neck. A Pickup Selector Switch allows you to choose which pickup will be active, some models even allow you to select combinations of pickups for unique sounds. The strings terminate in the Bridge, some versions also have a Whammy Bar to create Tremolo effects (by rapidly pushing the bar in and out, changing the angle of the bridge). Volume and Tone control knobs are also present on the body, allowing you to make minor changes to your guitars sound without having to fiddle with the amp. A Cable Connector allows you to connect a cable from your electric guitar to your amplifier or effects pedal.
Click if you want to jump ahead to selecting an Acoustic or Electric Guitar or to Buying an Electric Guitar.
There are many different acoustic guitar bodies available today. The most important deciding factor would be the style of music you hope to accomplish, secondary to this would be comfort, and lastly aesthetics. The guitar has to sound right, feel right, and look right - when its in your hands!
Auditorium: One of the largest guitar bodies being made today. As the name implies, the sound emitted should fill an auditorium. Keep in mind, larger bodied guitars lose their projection capability, the sound seems to become lost in the larger cavity of the instrument. Yes, it will have a large sound, and tremendous bass response, but seems to lose in projection. Great for fingerstyle.
Grand Concert: A Grand Concert size is more balanced, designed to minimize overtones on stage, does not have a boomy bass or the usual reverberation found in Dreadnought-sized guitars.The Grand Concert seems to have a more focused sound than an Auditorium size, if you're looking for a bigger sound, and are not concerned as much about projection, the Auditorium size will fill your needs, the Grand Concert is slightly more balanced with more projection due to the slightly smaller body size. Both the Auditorium and the Grand Concert are designed for Fingerpicking first, flatpicking can also be accomplished on both sizes, however, for bluegrass flatpicking, settle for nothing but a Dreadnought. Excellent for fingerstyle, still works for flatpicking outside of bluegrass.
Dreadnought: Originated around 1916, uses the standard X Bracing. This is the size of choice when flatpicking, characterized by a booming bass and tremendous projection, the Dreadnought is the guitar (also called the AXE since the shape of electric guitars are somewhat axe-y) of choice for all Bluegrass guitarists. This size guitar also serves well for backing up fiddlers due to the booming bass end. The Dreadnought is the most popular sized guitar made today (and yesterday). Many popular artists have used the Dreadnought to good effect both in fingerpicking and flatpicking idioms. Just the same, this wouldn't be the ideal choice for the serious fingerpicker. Even so, the Dreadnought would be the most versatile guitar to fill most any medium and style of music played. First choice for flatpicking, works well for fingerstyle too, the most versatile guitar for all mediums and genres.
Orchestra: Little larger than the 00 and 000 models described below, the OM shares many of the same characteristics as the 00 and 000 models. New variations are now available, such as the OM Jumbo which larger than the standard OM but smaller than the Dreadnaught.
Smaller bodied guitars include the OO and OOO styles. These guitars offer tremendous balance from bass to treble. And, they also have amazing projection. They do not have any bottom end to speak of, but, this would be the trade-off for projection and balance. Great for fingerstyle and seems to have a more trebly tonal range, a great guitar to offset other Dreadnought guitars within a jam session.
The final size, which isn't a steel string design, is the Classical sized guitar. This body size is specifically designed for nylon strings and is almost always fingerpicked. On rare occasion, players will flatpick this style of guitar - such as Willie Nelson and Jose Feliciano has aptly done. And, when guitar is played in an Orchestra setting, the nylon is the guitar of choice.
There's also the question of shallow or deep, all Dreadnoughts, and Classicals, have a deep body, more depth adding to the overall cavity of the instrument - this usually contributes to a deeper resonance and more resounding bass shallow guitars, those with less depth on the body, will have more projection and focus while also having a better balance from bass to treble. Shallow body styles are normally found in the Concert size or OOO/OO sizes.
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