What’s The Difference Between A Classical And A Flamenco Guitar?

This question is often asked and for good reason I think, both types of guitar have a lot in common and appear to be very similar however upon closer inspection you’ll find that there’s actually quite a lot of differences between them too.

Both types of guitars are strung with nylon strings, are acoustic based and look quite similar,

Woods Used In The Construction

Different kinds of woods are typically used in the construction of classical and flamenco guitars. Flamenco guitars for example favor spruce as it tends to project sound with a sharper and louder attack. This is obviously important as the guitarist needs to cut through dancers, hand claps and singers in a typical flamenco live music performance.

Spruce wood is a yellowish color so you’ll often see that genuine flamenco guitars are not a deep, dark brown like classical guitars made more from rosewood but instead they are a lighter and more yellowish in appearance.

The Sound Characteristics Of The Guitars

Classical guitar are designed for sustain. It’s desirable to have the notes carry for as long as possible once they are hit. Spanish flamenco guitars on the other hand are designed to project sound rapidly, loudly and to decay fast. Much of the music is rhythmical so this is a classic example of how the style of a musical genre can value and favor certain characteristics of sound over others while another musical genre can value the opposite.

The Shape Of The Guitars

Now we’ve already stated that both classical and flamenco guitars look quite alike and indeed they do however when you look closer you’ll see that flamenco guitars are actually a lot thinner than their classical counterparts. This again is to achieve a projected and punchier sound.

Where To Learn Spanish Guitar?

My recommendation goes to this site for Spanish guitar lessons. It’s focus is upon beginners and the format is all in video supported by course books. I’ve heard a lot of good feedback about it.

Barre Chords Or Power Chords? Which Are More Difficult On Electric Guitar?

It is probably quite an even race when it comes to the question of whether or not barre chords, the traditional client normally associated with acoustic guitar, are more difficult to learn and master the power chords which are almost exclusively used on electric guitar.

In the end it probably makes the difference at all, this is because both kinds of chords are equally important to learn. I do not know of any accomplished guitarist who is not equally proficient in both barre chords and power chords. There are able to play both with equal ease and mastery.

Power chords are mostly employed with a distorted guitar sound and in fact there are many bands who write entire records using nothing but power chords. Such bands fall into the categories of Nirvana or Green Day. Other bands write with a far higher level of sophistication musically speaking and employed many different kinds of chords and harmonic tonalities which in turn require you to be able to play a wide range of different shapes up and down the full range of all the guitar fretboard.

Any time you cannot perform a particular technique of guitar there is always some kind of musical limitation being imposed upon you. While I wholeheartedly agree that not every guitar player is meant or should be expected to have perfect technique you should at least try as best as you can to technically master the instrument you intend on creating music on.

If I were teaching someone else to play electric guitar as a beginner I would start them on power chords and after a few weeks give them my best barre chords tips. To me this feels more like a natural progression as power chords probably to provide the students with a valuable steppingstone towards barre chords eventually.

Learning New Guitar Styles

I’m a big believer that every guitarist should expand their playing knowledge and range of influences through learning how to play other styles of music on guitar. I recently took up my old nylon string guitar and took to this site aprender a tocar la guitarra in a attempt to play the kind of music I was hearing in old Mexico black and white movies.

I fell in love with that old fashioned sound and wanted to learn more so I did some research and found some great courses online where I could quickly start producing it myself.

When you break out of your standard way of playing and venture into other influences it’s not so easy at first but it’s well worth sticking with it. What you’ll learn will make you a much better player and really broaden your musical horizons.

The better you are technically on guitar the easier you’ll find it to do this.

 

Guitar Techniques

Guitar Techniques – Pull Off

Let’s face it, you can’t move on to a more advanced level of guitar playing if you don’t master guitar techniques. They are the bread and butter of every guitar player. There are no guitar players that became professional that didn’t know any guitar techniques. They all bow down and succumbed to the forces that draws them in into learning it. so if you consider yourself a guitar player, even if you are still a beginner, this is the rites of passage, this is the only way in. get inside the game by learning these guitar techniques.

Guitar Techniques – Pull Off | Start

However, you can’t learn it all at once. Just like any other new information, you can only digest so much, a specific amount of information; you can’t learn it all at once. That is also the proper way of learning things; you must not rush in to learning all the stuff at once. It would mix up everything that you would have to learn and you wouldn’t be able to process it in your head properly which would eventually result in you learning nothing at all. That is not what you should aim for and not how it should end.

Guitar Techniques – Pull Off | How to do it

Here’s a guitar technique that you could get your hands on. This technique is called the pull off. It’s pretty much like the opposite of the hammer on. The technique is done by pulling of the string using either your right or left finger to make a note sound off. That is how you do a pull off. Now, usually, it is paired with the hammer on. Now try doing it slowly at first and gradually gain speed when you get used to it. That’s how you learn guitar techniques.

Alternative Tunings

Alternative tunings are not for alternative music, despite of the name. These are guitar tunings other than the standard E tuning. There are lots of different tunings that you could do with your guitar. First, why do you have to tune your guitar differently? Well, the answer to this question, based on my opinion, is that it is because there are certain songs that artists make that are much more comfortable to play on a certain tuning or it sounds much better if it was played on that certain tuning. So if you want to learn more about this subject, this is the place to be. I have just the right type of information that you need to know about this subject matter and I am willing to share it with you. This would save you the trouble of finding it somewhere else. So sit back, relax and enjoy the post.

I couldn’t actually list down all the known alternate tunings in the world but I could give you the most common:

  1. Drop D tuning – you do this by dropping the lower E string down to D.
  2. Standard Eb – drop all the strings one semitone down.
  3. Drop C# – drop all the strings on semitone down, then drop the low Eb string down to C#.

Proper Bending Technique

Do you feel that your bending technique is feeble and you can’t seem to reach specific notes? Maybe there is something wrong with how you do it. You should know that there is a proper way to do it. If you are interested, then this article could fill you in. I have just the right information that you need to know about the subject matter and would definitely give you an idea on how to do it properly. This would save you from the trouble of not improving which could be the reason for you to quit playing the guitar and we don’t want that to happen. Read this article and by the time you finish this, you would be bending properly, of course, that includes a supple amount of practice. So read on.

Bending needs finger strength and proper hearing. First, to support your fingers while bending, use the ring finger as the main finger for bending. Then use the index finger and the middle finger as support. Push the string with the ring, and support the push with the index and the middle. Now, make sure that you hit the exact note that you were supposed to reach to avoid out of tune bends.

Guitar Licks

What are guitar licks? Don’t worry; you don’t have to use your tongue on this. It is not either a technique. It is not a secret, however, if you really want to know more about this, today is your lucky day because I might have all the necessary information that you need to know about licks. These information would definitely save you the hassle of searching for it elsewhere on the internet as the internet is filled with information that is unreliable and we don’t want that. That is why, we compiled and researched these information and packed it in to a single post, a favor from us to you. By the time you are done with this, you will be on your way to rock and roll greatness. So sit back, relax and enjoy this post.

A lick is a solo that is improvised. It is a musical phrase, and sometimes, it is taken from a melody. Most licks include guitar techniques with the, that is why guitar players look for these licks to practice with. It is good to do some lick practicing to allow you to get used to the guitar even more. So if you want to improve, practice licks.

Left Hand Basics

If you want to know more information about the basic left hand techniques, here’s something to help you:

Basically, there are two neck playing positions or ways to hold the guitar.

  1. Classical – this is perhaps the most versatile position that you could use. It allows your fingers to run easily on the fretboard because it requires less effort. Usually, people who aim for speed and shredding uses this.
  2. Baseball Bat – this is commonly used on blues and rock, one that uses lots of bends, vibratos and other chords that requires this kind of grip. Doing bends needs force and strength that is why the best way to execute this is to use this type of grip.

To exercise your fingers and spreading your stretch limits, try spreading your fingers on the fretboard. Place your index finger on the third fret and stretch till your pinky finger reaches its limits. This is the first thing that you could do as a beginner, conditioning your fingers to get used to the fretboard and allowing it to maximize its reach. It doesn’t matter if you have small hands; the idea is to increase your dexterity and agility to improve your left hand skills.

Custom Guitars

Some people love the stock features on their guitar. They are already contented with what they have. But other guitar players, like me for instance, wants more on my guitar. I know I could push my guitar a little bit further by modifying it, or I could take out some features which I deem unnecessary. Either way, guitar customization is a legit thing that you could do to configure and customize your guitar to your own preference. I, for example, have two custom guitars that I had customized with the help of a friend who knows a lot about this.

  1. Fender Telecaster 61 – I had this guitar scraped off the color to reveal its natural wood and have it aged, burned slightly then smoothed. Then, I removed the single coils, tone controls and replaced it with a single atomic Humbucker and a single volume control. I also had the neck change with a mark less two piece neck, maple and rosewood fretboard combo.
  2. Gibson Les Paul Standard – I did the same with my Les Paul. I had it scraped, aged and burned, removed the neck pick up and tone controls and left a single volume control for a single burst bucker.

Repertoire

For many years, there are lots of guitar players, beginners usually or students that couldn’t play a whole song. Even though they had proper lessons, all they could play are bits and pieces of songs and this is not music at all. You cannot play bits and pieces; you should know the whole song. This keeps them from progressing because one of the indications of a good guitar player is that they could actually play and finish a song and raise it up a notch, up to a level which we musicians call as a performance level. It’s like saying that you could play it, keep going through the whole song without failing

Now, if you want to know how to fix this problem, there is only one answer. Repertoire. You must have a repertoire. These are a group of songs that you feel confident playing. Something that you could whip out and play whenever someone asks you to and not just pieces or parts of songs, something you can play from start to beginning. This is refined or tested through playing it in front of people or audience.  For musicians like me who performs regularly, we have a repertoire large enough to play like 45 songs per night.

Violence at the warped tour

The rock band Alesana claims that pennywise got himself dropped and then assaulted their manager and made a mess out of their tour bus last Sunday evening in Denver.  It was later confirmed by a Shawn Milke that too drunk members of the band penny wise attacked their tour manager and the band.  They also said that they were not a violent band and they have always been nonviolent to other people and bands as well and they do not encourage are willingly participated in any activities that promotes violence.  That two members from pennywise just went in and entered their tour bus and weed out any words opted began attacking them and destroying anything in their path.  Anyway, the police came after a while and to control the situation and everyone was subdued and later on they realize that there was a mistake.  Pennywise was just in the wrong place in the wrong time.  Both the bands dropped charges in calm down and nothing else was seriously damage except for few bumps and everyone was sorry for what had happened they said it was purely unintentional.  So that’s that and no harm done and in a few years time they will sit down and a beer and laugh about it.

SIX STRING THEORY

guess what I’m listening to right now… the new Lee Ritenour album, the Six String Theory. This is a wicked album for guitar aficionados all around the globe. Goes from rock, blues, country, jazz/fusion, acoustic, and classical/flamenco. How’s that for a guitar album? It crosses every guitar music boundary and it features some of the biggest names in guitar history (those who are alive, at least). And they don’t just put them on the record; he actually brought them together in person. Lee Ritenour, BB King, George Benson, John Scofield, Steve Lukather, Slash, Vince Gill, Pat Martino, Neal Schon, Mike Stern, Joe Robinson, Guthrie Govan, Shoun Boublil and Tomoyasu Hotei. Damn it, this is just too much. It’s just pure guitar orgasm. If you really want to listen to guitar goodness, rock and roll and all that guitar stuff that you always crave for, this is perfect, man. Especially, the bluesy – rock track with Slash in it, it’s simply off the hook. This is no one man show; this is the world of guitar players around the globe, the greatest name, playing like they mean it.

Man, it’s an honor to hear this album and to acquire it. So if I were you, grab a copy now.