Sunday, November 16, 2008

click here for The Online Guitar Tuner

Here is an online tuner with which I can can tune my guitar

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Session 3: Breathless By The Corrs

Breathless:

Here is another easy song to play, mostly with regular chords. However, the challenging part about this is playing with a couple of bar chords and I have also played the intro with a couple of notes. Here is what my sister and I sound like:




The chords to this song are:

Breathless - The Corrs

N/C
Go on, Go on, leave me breathless... (c'mon, c'mon, c'mon)

Intro:
B B B B (with riff)
B F# C# G# F# (with riff)

Verse:
B F#
The daylights fading slowly,
C# G# F#
But time with you is standing still,
B F#
I'm waiting for you only,
C# G# F#
The slightest touch and I feel weak,


Pre-Chorus:
E F# G#
I cannot lie,
E F# B
>From you I cannot hide,
E F# G#
And I'm losing the will to try,
E F#
Can't hide it, can't fight it,

Chorus:
E A B
So go on, go on, leave me breathless,
E A B
Tempt me, tease me, till I can't deny this
E A B
Loving feeling, make me long for your kiss,
E A B
Go on, go on, yeah, c'mon.



This is what the Corrs sound like:





Session 2 She will be loved By Maroon 5

She will be loved is not a challenging song at all, its all about rhythm with a few easy chords. Here is what I sound like with my sister on vocals, just after 3 tries.












Here are the chords;


Bm                            A
Beauty queen of only eighteen
Bm A
She had some trouble with herself
Bm A

He was always there to help her
Bm A
She always belonged to someone else

Bm A
I drove for miles and miles
Bm A
And wound up at your door
Bm A
I've had you so many times but
Bm A
somehow I want more

D5 A
I don't mind spending everyday
Bm G5
Out on your corner in the pouring rain
D5 A
Look for the girl with the broken smile
Bm G5
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
D5 A
And she will be loved
Bm G
She will be loved
(Repeat same rythm)










This is what the original song sounds like.




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A chart of a few guitar chords















My aim is to learn all the majors, minors, sharps and 7's for A-G.

THE WAY TO READ THIS CHART.
There are six strings, the left most vertical line, corresponds to the top string of your guitar and the bottom is the right most string. The dot on the grid tells you what fret and string to hold on your guitar, fret 1 being the first horizontal line from the top. If there is a number besides the horizontal line, e.g.; 4 then the top column would correspond to the fourth fret on your guitar.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE



Crazy little thing called love by Queen is one of my favorites and I thought I would play part of it.

Here are the chords to the song.
D                         G    C           G
This thing, called love,i just cant handle it,
D G C G
This thing, called love,i must get round to it,
D Bb C D
I aint ready, Crazy little thing called love.

Repeat Chords for Verse 2:
D
This thing(This Thing) called love (Called Love)
G C G
It cries (Like a baby) In a cradle all night
D
It swings (Woo Woo) It jives (Woo Woo)
G C G
It shakes all over like a jelly fish,
D
I kinda like it
Bb C D
Crazy little thing called love

Chorus:
G C G
There goes my baby, she knows how to rock and roll.
Bb E A
She drives me crazy, she gives me hot and cold fever,
F
then she leaves me in a cool,cool sweat


After practicing for about 20mins this is how I sound.

Here is the original song:


Friday, September 26, 2008

Strings

Gauge:
The tone of a string depends on its weight which is related to the thickness gauge. Thicker,
heavier strings require more tension for the same pitch and are harder to hold on a fret board. Thicker strings produce a thicker tone. Therefore different string gauges require different tuning.

Here is a list of different gauges you can get:

Name

1
(e)

2
(B)

3
(G)

4
(D)

5
(A)

6

(E)

Extra super light (8-38)

.008

.010

.015

.021

.030

.038

Extra super light plus (8.5-39)

.0085

.0105

.015

.022

.032

.039

Super light (9-42)

.009

.011

.016

.024

.032

.042

Super light plus (9.5-44)

.0095

.0115

.016

.024

.034

.044

Regular light (10-46)

.010

.013

.017

.026

.036

.046

Extra light w/heavy bass (9-46)

.009

.013

.021

.029

.036

.046

Medium (11-49)

.011

.014

.018

.028

.038

.049

Medium w/wound G string (11-52)

.011

.013

.020

.030

.042

.052

Heavy (12-54)

.012

.016

.020

.032

.042

.054

Extra heavy (13-56)

.013

.017

.026

.036

.046

.056


The physics behind the guitar













The guitar has been around in one form or another for centuries, but the principals behind how it works can be in use in musical instruments ever since the first cave man pulled the string on his bow and noticed a sound. A guitar is simply an expansion of this idea to create a series of strings tied taught, and placed over a large hollow body to resonate the sounds. There are also various styles of guitars all which have different sounds, the two most common in acoustic models being the classical, or nylon string, and the folk, or steel string. Each has their own unique sound from the materials of the strings, and the composition of the bodies, as well as the air between them.

There are six strings on a guitar, each with an open notes of E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, and E4, each with corresponding frequencies of 82 Hz, 110 Hz, 147 Hz, 196 Hz, 247 Hz, 330 Hz .

These frequencies represent the root tone of each string. What makes a guitar sound the way it does is the overlay of various frequencies on each string, or the overtones present. These patterns of overtones and their strengths is what makes a guitar sound different from say, a trombone. In addition, this exact patterns of overtones is impossible to repeat, and so every instrument will sound different, and in fact every note as subtly changes from the exact location on the string where it is plucked to the force, direction, and the age of the string both off and on the guitar all have small effects on the sound.

These strings then transfer their sound into the body of the guitar where they set up an internal resonance in the air chamber made by the body, and cause the back plate and face plate to vibrate. These vibrations cause the air to compress and rarify making the compression waves in the air that our ear interprets as sound.