Guitar_Techniques : Advanced Guitar Techniques

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.

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.

Palm Muting is another way to get distinctive sounds out of your guitar (some call it a GAT) . 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.

These are only a few advanced guitar techniques, click if you need a refresher on Beginner Guitar Lessons.

The guitar creates its music from the vibration of its strings. Each string vibrates at a different frequency based on its thickness and length, thereby making different sounds. Additionally, by pressing down a string at a fret (the metallic bumps that run down the length of the guitar's neck), you effectively shorten the length of that string, changing its vibration and its sound. There are two broad families of guitars: acustic guitars and Electric guitars. An acoustic guitar is constructed in a shape that reflects back the sound of its vibrating strings, amplifying them "acoustically". An electric guitar makes no audible sounds, its vibrating strings are detected by electro-magnetic coils called "pickups" - and the electric signal is sent to an "amplifier" (amp) which converts it to sound and amplifies it as well. A hybrid of both these guitar types is the Acoustic-Electric guitar, which is an acoustic guitar with built in pickups. Acoustic-electric guitars can be heard without an amp, but it can also be plugged in if a higher sound volume is desired. The next pages have information on Acoustic Guitar Parts and Electric Guitar Parts.

Most modern music consists of three main elements; lead, rhythm, and bass. Bass is often provided by drums (the beat), and also can be played by a bass guitar that has 4 strings (but we are not going to discuss bass guitars at all). Lead is usually provided by vocals (the singing) and often also with a lead guitar (although, any musical intrument can be used to play lead). Rhythm is best described as the background music that rhythmatically establishes the "sound" of that particular piece of music, and is often provided by a rythm guitar and/or a piano (keyboard). If you examine your favorite music group or band, at the very least you will find a drummer and a bass guitar player providing bass; a piano/keyboard player and a rhythm guitarist for rhythm; and a singer and lead guitarist for lead. When one plays music alone, you really can't have that band sound (unless you're Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins). Mostly, we sacrifice the bass and just sing for lead and strum the guitar (or pound on a piano) for rhythm.

There are numerous variations of guitars. One of the most popular is the twelve string guitar. As the name suggests, the 12 string guitar has 12 strings instead of the usual six. Each of the traditional strings is paired with a duplicate string, so it sounds as though two guitars are being played simultenously.

The Dobro guitar or Resonator guitar has a metal resonator cone instead of a sound hole, this produces a funky metallic tone often seen in country music. Some Dobro guitars have necks with a square cross section (square necks) and very large frets, these are played with the instrument flat on your lap, with a glass or metal slide and are often called Slide guitars. There are also acoustic and electric guitar variants with 7 strings instead of the usual six, called Seven string guitars. The next pages have more detailed information on Acoustic Guitar Parts and Electric Guitar Parts; followed by suggestions on choosing to learn on an Acoustic or Electric Guitar.

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.

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.

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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