I get a lot of people that ask me what kind of equipment I play on. I have a few guitars, a couple cabinets, and several pedals that I use. Since I have a home studio that I do all my recording in I have some other pieces of equipment and software tools to give me a variety of sounds.

I have a Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar that sounds great and I use a lot when recording. It has a very full sound that is very “hot” and is great for overdriving a good tube amp. Also, I play a Gibson SG standard. In live playing situations I actually prefer this guitar. It is not quite as “hot” as the Les Paul which means that I get less feedback on stage. My Fender Jaguar is even less “hot” but also has a thinner sound than either of my Gibsons. It is a white ’62 reissue and has a great sound for the right situation. It generally has a clearer sound and each string seems to cut through the noise a little better.

My amp is a Marshall JCM 2000. It’s a great amp that is really quite versatile. It has two channels, both of which have two settings. So I actually get 4 options for different tones. It is a 50 watt amp which I prefer to 100 watts because I can overdrive it harder without it getting too loud. That means that I can get the quality tone of the amp at a lower volume.

I have a ton of pedals but the ones I use most commonly are a tuner pedal (which you absolutely must have if you plan on playing live). It allows me to tune without anyone hearing me tune. It’s too unprofessional to be tuning through your amp on stage so don’t do it! I also play through a noise reduction pedal that helps to cut out any hum from my guitar. I have a Line 6 delay pedal that has about 16 delay preset options on it so there is a lot of variety. One of my favorite pedals is the Big Muff. It’s an overdrive pedal that sounds really full and gritty. It is an older pedal so it can be a little finicky but it sounds great.

I’ll be posting more about my studio setup soon as well so be looking out for that!

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What is tuning?

Tuning your guitar or any instrument is the most fundamental and important part there is to playing. If you are out of tune it doesn’t matter how good of a guitar player you are because it will sound absolutely awful!

Most people can hear a really bad singer and can tell that they are singing out of key. And usually you are embarrassed for them! If a guitar is out of tune it’s the same thing…basically the strings are singing in the wrong key and it will sound like one of those terrible singers you see on American Idol that get laughed off the stage.

All the strings on the guitar need to be in tune with each other and the other instruments in the band in order to sound right. Tuning simply gets all the strings to play together in the correct frequencies.

How to Tune:

There are a few different ways to tune a guitar. The most basic but the hardest is tuning by ear. To tune by ear you must have a reference note such as a tuning fork or a piano so that you can sound the note you want to match.

If you know where an A is on a piano you can tune your A string to that note and from there tune the rest of your guitar to that string. Tuning by ear is the most difficult way to tune because it takes practice to get to where you can tell if two notes are matching. Sometimes two notes can sound the same but in fact one is sharp (higher) or flat (lower) than the other note.

To tune by ear you need to find that reference note and match it with the respective string. So let’s say you have an E note. You can now match your low E string (the biggest string) on your guitar to that E reference note. Once you have it matched you can move on to the other strings and here’s how.

To tune the A string you just hold down the low E string that you just tuned on the 5th fret. You hold down and then play the low E string on the 5th fret because that is the exact same A note that the A string should sound like. So all you do is keep playing that A note on the 5th fret of the E string and then adjust the A string to sound exactly like it. With practice it will get easier and easier to match the 2 notes.

Next do the same thing with the A and D string. Hold down the A string on the 5th fret and match the D string to that note. Once they are in tune you are halfway done!

Now do the same thing on the D and G string. Notice how we are just working from the biggest string to the thinnest. You can go in the opposite order to but for now let’s keep going! Hold the D string down on the 5th fret and match the G string to that note.

Next is the only string where we move to a different fret. To tune the B string you will hold the G string down on the 4th fret and match that note.

Lastly, you will hold the B string on the 5th fret and match the high E string to that note. Now if you tuned it well you should be ready to rock!

The easy way:

Tuning by ear is very important to know how to do and is also a great exercise to help develop your pitch!

The way I prefer to tune is simply with a tuner pedal. You can plug your guitar directly into the pedal and stomp on it to stop the sound from coming out of the amp while tuning your guitar. I always feel that this is the most professional way to tune the guitar.

TIP: Do NOT tune on stage by ear! You can lose your audience and annoy them by taking a lot of time and making annoying noise trying to tune your guitar out loud by ear.

Using a pedal is more precise and allows you to cut the signal going to your amp so no one has to listen to you tune. Just bite the bullet and spend the extra $$ for a good tuner pedal.

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Recently I was lucky enough to be given an endorsement from Fender Guitars! I have always been a Gibson guy and still play my SG quite a bit but now I have a Fender in my guitar collection so I can change up the sound on different songs. Fender gave me a great looking guitar that plays really well and sounds awesome. It is a white Jaguar ’62 reissue.

I am excited about getting to take the new guitar into the studio soon with a new project that I’m working on. Myself and a friend of mine have begun writing and recording for a project we are calling “The Downtown Kids.”

Sometime towards the end of this year or early 2009 we will be a part of a movie being filmed here in Hollywood. We are also writing songs that will be included on the soundtrack which I’ll post as soon as we are done with the recording process.

Keep checking for those because I’m not exactly sure when we will be done.

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As a guitar player and teacher I almost always use guitar tablature. I don’t even know how to read sheet music to be honest with you and you if you are just starting out on guitar or want to learn, it won’t take long to find that most other guitar players don’t read sheet music either.

The reason is that guitarists around the world have come up with a better more practical way to read music in a way that is specifically intended for guitar players. Guitar tablature is the prominent way for guitarists to write and read music for the guitar without having to know how to read music in the traditional sense.

It may seem difficult at first but it will only take a little while to get used to it and it will soon become second nature. When I am teaching guitar lessons I tend to implement tablature because it shows the guitar student exactly where to play each note or chord on the guitar. On the guitar fingerboard it is possible and even common to be able to play an identical note and even chord on a different string or part of the neck. So tablature allows you to know exactly where you should be on the guitar neck.

Guitar tablature (tab for short) is basically a diagram and simple number system that will allow you to easily read and play any riff, song, or solo you can imagine on the guitar.

The Strings:

Here is an example of a blank guitar tab sheet.

E|———————————————————————————————————

B|———————————————————————————————————

G|———————————————————————————————————

D|———————————————————————————————————

A|———————————————————————————————————

E|———————————————————————————————————

The strings here are named to make it easier to decipher which string is which. The bottom string represents the low E string which is the biggest and thickest string on the guitar. All the strings go in the same order that they are on the guitar all the way to the high E string which is the thinnest string on the guitar.

Here is a diagram of a D major chord:

E|———-2———————————————————————————————-

B|———-3———————————————————————————————-

G|———-2———————————————————————————————-

D|———————————————————————————————————

A|———————————————————————————————————

E|———————————————————————————————————

The numbers here represent which fret you will place your fingers. As you can see, on the G string your will hold down the 2nd fret, the B string - the 3rd fret, and the E string - the 2nd fret. When all the numbers are in line or on top of each other like in this diagram it means that your strike all the strings at the same time and play them simultaneously. So in this diagram you would play the D major chord by strumming it once.

Here is an example of tab where you do not strike all the strings simultaneously:

E|———-2———————————————————————————————-

B|—————–3—————————————————————————————

G|————————-2——————————————————————————-

D|———————————————————————————————————

A|———————————————————————————————————

E|———————————————————————————————————

In the diagram above, you would strike each string individually. This is still a D major chord but you would play it one string at a time. So you would start on the high E string, then play the B string, and finally play the G string. The distance between the numbers on the tab will help you determine how long of a pause to take between playing each string.

Tab Symbols:

Here are some symbols that you will frequently see after numbers on the tab diagram:

h - hammer on, p - pull off, b - bend string, up r - release bend, / - slide up, - slide down, v - vibrato (sometimes written as ~), t - picking hand tap, x - play ‘note’ with heavy damping or do not play at all

Some of these terms we will cover in more detail later but for now it is good to have a reference so you know what they mean.

We will be using tab a lot while we learn how to play guitar so don’t get discouraged if it seems a little confusing. It gets easy and soon it won’t be any harder than reading a line in a book!

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There are many ways to learn how to play the guitar so let’s take a look at the most common. If you are wanting to learn how to play the guitar this article should really help you to decide which route to take that will work for you.

The first way to learn how to play guitar is by purchasing books. Books can give you a good visual “hard copy” of what you are learning to play. They usually include good chord charts that help you reference what chord you want to learn. While books can help in some ways, they have proved inferior to the other methods of learning the guitar that we are about to look at. There is unfortunately no audio or video to help you along and show you how to play the chords or lessons. My suggestion is save your money and skip the book learning.

Second, is learning via CD and DVD packages. These usually include a guitar book that give you an audio and video to reference what you are playing. Honestly, just stay away from CDs…If you can’t see how to play it you are going to learn improper techniques. DVDs are far superior since you get the “show-how” from the instructor showing you exactly how to play. Usually video lessons are organized into a much better and easier approach to learning how to play guitar. The downside with DVDs is that they are usually expensive and cumbersome. Besides having to wait in the mail (which can take 2 months!) you have to have a TV and DVD player handy. A much better start but let’s keep going!

Third, you can take guitar classes. Most schools and colleges offer guitar classes. You can probably find some music schools that give guitar classes in your area too. These can be good because you are seeing first hand how to play the lesson. The major downside to classes is that you don’t get to learn at your own pace and you can’t learn whenever you want because you are at the mercy of your class schedule. Since you are taking class with dozens of other students the pace is usually relatively slow so everyone stays caught up. This can really slow down your learning if you want to learn quickly and easily. Classes can also get very pricey!

Fourth, you can find a guitar instructor to take private lessons from. Obviously private lessons are the best route of the methods we have discussed so far because you are getting 1 on 1 teaching. If you find a good teacher, he or she can really help you learn to play guitar. Here’s the downside you may not know yet but I experienced myself. Private lessons are very expensive! When I was taking lessons I was paying about $300 a month for just 4 lessons. Also, I had to travel about 30 minutes each way to my instructors studio. And there were lessons that I left and felt like I had really only learned about 5 minutes worth of material. So I quit taking lessons when I felt like I was taking 2-3 hours out of my day and spending way too much money for a lesson that I couldn’t take home with me to practice.

Fifth, the way I find superior to all other methods is online video guitar lessons. Here’s my reasons why!

This method includes the text and video you need to see and hear how to play each lesson. Also, since they are online you can always pause, rewind, fast forward, and replay lessons as many times as you want at anytime! You can really go at your own pace, practice lessons as many times as you need to get it down perfect, and do it from your home without having to travel to and from lessons. Finally, online video lessons are much much cheaper than classes and private lessons and just as effective. Save the money, save the time, use technology to your favor and try online video guitar lessons.

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Hey everyone! Just a little update on what’s going on with me here in Los Angeles. I have been pretty busy lately with different music projects. My band, Shapes of Race Cars, during the whole month of October for a special Halloween show that we did at a college just outside of the city. We have been working with a new drummer which has been a good experience to see the subtle differences between different drummers. The show was a lot of fun and went really well. Since we were practicing 4 times a week to get ready for the show it took a lot of time out of my schedule but now I have time to get back to updating the website!

Here’s some things to look for in the coming days, weeks, and months. I am still updating the site all the time so keep checking back because I’m always adding more lessons, songs, articles, and blogs. One thing I’m working on is figuring out a lot more songs to teach you guys. There are some beginner songs, some intermediate level songs, and some more advanced songs that I will be teaching you. So keep practicing so you can get ready to learn some new techniques and dynamics of playing! Keep checking back because things will be moving quickly around here!

Also, I may also be teaching a couple of my own band’s songs!

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