One way to supply additional humidity to your guitar is through a device known as a guitar humidifier. These devices are designed to release humidity inside the guitar through the sound-hole. Sound-hole humidifiers all utilize some type of water reservoir with an absorbent medium such as a sponge, water absorbent floral foam or absorbent polymer. The medium is then surrounded by some type of cover which holds the water absorbent medium in place and restricts the flow of water evaporation from the medium. To get inside your guitar, they slip between your guitar strings and are held in place there. Depending upon the brand of humidifier you purchase, it may or may not touch the wood inside your guitar. Dampit is designed to lie inside your guitar, while Planet Waves and Oasis are completely suspended from the strings.

Water holding capacity and the restrictiveness of the outer cover are the greatest factors in determining how often you will need to refill the device. Needless to say, you can’t stick a quart container of water inside your guitar, but there are several humidifiers that will hold an ounce (30 cc’s) or more such as Oasis or Planet Waves. If your guitar needs several cc’s per day of water vapor, a humidifier that holds only 5-10 cc’s will need to be refilled every few days.

Planet Waves and Dampit utilize holes in the outside membrane to release water vapor. Oasis uses a fabric which allows the water vapor, but not the water, to pass through the material to keep your guitar humidified. One downside to evaporation holes is the risk of water leakage. Very careful handling can minimize, but not eliminate this risk. Oasis is a water-tight, sealed unit which eliminates the risk of water leakage.

When to refill your humidifier is one of the great mysteries which have been solved by Oasis. Since Oasis is a flexible sealed container, is shrinks as the water inside of it evaporates through the fabric. When Oasis begins to look like a prune, you need to refill it.

All of the sound-hole humidifiers work. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. As with any new product you purchase, please read the directions carefully before use product you purchase.

No related posts.

Metronome

If you want to play your guitar in time then you are going to need to buy a metronome.You can choose from modern electronic metronomes or traditional mechanical metronomes. Traditional metronomes look very nice and are made from either plastic or wood, they are also known as pendulum metronomes because the ticking sound is produced by a small pendulum that swings back and forth, much like the old Grandfather clocks. The Traditional wooden or plastic metronomes tend to be a lot more expensive than the electronic metronomes.

The leading metronome brands in order of popularity* are:

* Wittner
* Korg
* Yamaha
* Seiko
* Qwik Time

Cleaning and maintenance (polish, nut file set, wrench set, fret file set)

To look after your guitar you will need to at least buy some guitar polish. Gibson produce a good guitar polish and also Doctor Ducks Axe Wax is very popular.
If you are serious about guitar playing then you might want to have a nut file, fret file or wrench set. You can keep your guitar in top playing condition.

Footstool

The guitar footstool is used mainly by Classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitarists. Their style of playing and the way they hold the guitar makes the use of a footstool quite important.

Stringwinder (also known as a pegwinder)

If you have lots of guitars, own a guitar shop, or tune guitars on a regular basis, the guitar stringwinder comes in handy as a real time saver. Instead of turning the guitar pegs by hand, you can use the stringwinder to speed up the process.

Straplok set

For replacing the bolt that holds on your guitar strap.

Power adaptor for effects pedals

If you use effects pedals then you will need a power adaptor to connect to the mains.

*Please note that the above article makes references to guitar accessories listed in popularity order.
The popularity order of these guitar accessories is taken from http://www.Soundsmusical.com – the leading UK musical instrument website.

I hope this article has been useful and you are now more informed about guitar accessories.

If you are ready to buy some guitar accessories you can find a comprehensive selection here: Guitar accessories, tuners, bags, cases, guitar strings, stands and more…

About the Author

Graham Howard is known as ‘The Music Guru’ and is the chief writer at Soundsmusical.com. Graham has spent his whole life in music. He has played various musical instruments to a very high standard, learnt to build pianos form scratch, tuned pianos professionally and run several music businesses. He loves to share with everyone his experiences and immense knowledge of music. Graham hopes that the above guitar article will help you make the best buying decisions. If you have any questions you would like to ask please email: henrygenry@hotmail.co.uk.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Henry_Howard

Related posts:

1. Guitar Accessories – Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar? Part 1
2. Guitar Accessories – Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar? Part 2

Guitar stands or Guitar Hangers

There are lots of different types of guitar stands, it really depends on which stand is more suited to you.
There is the standard guitar stand, the universal guitar stand, the auto grab guitar stand, the double and triple guitar stand and the wall mounted guitar stand. The standard guitar stand is the most popular and comes in three different types: i) electric/bass, ii) classical and iii) universal.

The most popular* brands are:

* Stagg
* Hercules
* QuikLok
* Giraffe
* Warwick
* Fender
* String Swing
* Ibanez

Plectrums (also known as picks)

Plectrums are very cheap and can be bought individually, or in packs. Most commonly you can buy plectrums on the web in packs of 6. Guitar plectrums come in different gauges. Usually the thinner ones are used with Classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitars, the medium gauges with Electric and Acoustic guitars and the thickest ones with Basses.

There are lots of brands of plectrums. The most popular* are:

* Stagg
* Jim Dunlop
* Fender
* Gibson

Guitar Leads/Cables

Guitar Leads normally come in different lengths: The most common is the 15 feet/4.5 metre leads. This length is ample if you are playing in a band.

Popular* brands of guitar leads/cables are:

* Ibanez
* Peavey
* Stagg

Guitar straps

If you want to buy a gift for a guitarist, there is nothing better than a nice leather guitar strap.

Levys and Gibson are the most famous brands of guitar straps, Levys have the most comprehensive selection.
Other guitar straps to look out for are Dickies and Wrangler.

Guitar Capo

A capo is a clamp that you can use on different frets of the guitar to change the pitch of the open strings. Each fret on the guitar is a half step. If you place the capo on the 1st fret, all of the open strings will sound a semi-tone higher than normal, this makes changing the key of a song easy.
Dunlop and Shubb are the most popular* guitar capos.

Guitar Slide

The guitar slide is a tube of some hard material about one to two inches long. Commonly, it’s made from glass and metals. Each type of guitar slide has distinct characteristics, tonality, and overall sound. The guitar slide is pressed lightly against the strings so as not to touch the strings of the fret, producing a sustained tone which can be varied in pitch by moving the slide across the neck. A quick side-to-side motion is often used in this way to generate vibrato.
The most popular brand to go for is Dunlop.

Headphones

If you want to play at home but don’t want to disturb your neighbours, then a good set of headphones is recommended.
Any headphones will do, so take your pick from any of the following leading brands:

* Acer
* Acoustic Research
* Advance
* Advent
* Aiwa
* AKG
* Alpine
* Altec Lansing
* Amphony
* Apple
* Artwizz
* Audio-Technica
* Behringer
* Belkin
* Beyerdynamic
* Bluetake
* BoomGear
* Bose
* Bravo
* British Telecom
* Clarion
* Compucessory
* Cornbow
* Creative Labs
* Denon
* Design Go
* Direct Sound
* Dolphin Music
* Etymotic Research
* Fostex
* Franklin
* Gainward
* Gemini Sound Products
* Genius
* GN Netcom
* Grado
* Griffin Technology
* Grundig
* Hama
* Harman Kardon
* Hewlett Packard
* Jensen
* JVC
* Jwin
* Kenwood
* Kinyo
* Kondor Limited
* Koss
* Labtec
* Logic 3
* Logitech
* Macally
* Maxell
* Ministry Of Sound
* MM Gear
* Nady Systems
* Nesa Vision
* Nike
* Numark
* Olympus
* Panasonic
* Philips
* Pioneer
* Plane Quiet
* Plantronics
* Power Acoustik
* Pyle
* Pyramid
* Roland
* Rosen
* Samson
* Sanyo
* Sennheiser
* Shure
* Skull Candy
* Sony
* Stagg
* Stanton
* Starvision
* Technics
* Toshiba
* Trust
* Ultimate Ears
* Ultrasone
* Unwired
* Vestax
* Vic Firth
* Vivanco
* Wharfedale
* XO Vision
* XtremeMac
* Yamaha
* Zalman Tech

To be continued – Part 3

Related posts:

1. Guitar Accessories – Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar? Part 1
2. Guitar Accessories – Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar? Part 3
3. Guitar Capo

Here is a list of guitar accessories to consider (in order of the most popular):

* Guitar bag or case
* Guitar tuner/pitch pipe
* Guitar strings
* Effects pedals/Foot Switches
* Amplifiers
* Guitar stands
* Plectrums (also known as picks)
* Guitar Leads/Cables
* Guitar straps
* Guitar Capo
* Guitar Slide
* Headphones
* Metronome
* Cleaning and maintenance (polish, nut file set, wrench set, fret file set)
* Footstool
* Stringwinder (also known as a pegwinder)
* Straplok set
* Power adaptor for effects pedals

Guitar Bags and Cases

If you plan on gigging a lot or travelling on planes/trains etc. I recommend buying a guitar case, otherwise a padded gig bag will do just fine. The Kinsman guitar cases and guitar bags are a very good quality and are also one of the most popular. The Kinsman guitar bags come in three grades.

1) Standard – hardly any padding and one small pouch for music books and accessories

2) Deluxe – quite well padded, with two pouches

3) Premium – extremely well padded, with large and small pouches and a shoulder strap.

The Kinsman guitar cases are made for Stratocasters, Telecasters, Les Paul shape, electric, acoustic or bass guitars.

Guitar tuner/pitch pipe

There are hundreds of guitar tuners to choose from on the market. The best brands in order of popularity* are:

* Korg
* Stagg
* Yamaha
* Intelli
* Seiko
* Qwik Tune
* Boss
* Ibanez

The two guitar tuners that stand out from the rest are the Stagg Automatic Guitar/Bass Tuner and the Korg GA-30. These two guitar tuners are sold more than any other guitar tuner on the market.

Guitar strings

It’s always wise to have a spare set of guitar strings to hand. You never know when one will brake and leave you in a difficult situation.
You will need to buy steel strings for electric, bass or acoustic guitars and nylon strings for classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitars

Here is a list of the top brands of guitar strings, in order of popularity*:

* Ernie Ball
* D’addario
* Martin
* Fender
* Elixir
* GHS
* Augustine
* Earthwood
* Dan electro
* Gibson
* Markley
* Newtone
* Savarez
* Rotosound
* Darco
* Dean
* Elites
* Thomastick
* Tonesearch
* Maxima
* Warwick
* Rickenbacker
* PRS
* Legacy
* John Pearse
* DR

Effects pedals

For some groovy sounds you will need to buy an effects pedal. The two most popular are the Jim Dunlop GCB-95 Original Cry Baby Wah Wah Effects Pedal and the Ibanez Tone-Lok Series SM7 Smash Box Effects Pedal.

Here is a list of the top brands in order of popularity*:

* Ibanez
* Jim Dunlop
* Korg
* DigiTech
* Vox
* MXR
* Yamaha
* Danelectro

All guitar amplifiers sound different. Some (like Marshall and Line 6) are good for Rock and Roll, others have a softer and less bright sound like the popular Vox amps and Mesa Boogie.

For beginners, I would recommend either the Peavey Backstage or the BB10 blaster amp.
The Peavey Backstage is by far the most popular and best value for money beginner’s guitar amp on the market.

To be continued – Part 2

Related posts:

1. Guitar Accessories – Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar? Part 3
2. Guitar Accessories – Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar? Part 2
3. Guitar Amplifiers

What is the difference between acoustic and electric guitar amplifiers?

Acoustic guitar amplifier is usually designed to produce clean and transparent sound with no coloration given by the power amplifier; however some modern amplifiers now are also equipped with digital effects such as feedback suppressor, reverb and compression to improve the sound quality.
Electric guitar amplifiers have more additional features such as distortion effects, pre-amp and tone filters to give different sound output. Your electric guitar can scream like hell but it can also give a very clean sound, depending on how you set the amplifier. My Roland Cube has acoustic guitar simulator in it so you can make your electric guitar sounds like acoustic guitar. To me the sound output is still too ‘digital’ compared to the real one, but it can always be used to play rhythm.

Which one is better, tube amp or transistor amp?

Tube amp is more expensive than transistor or solid state amp. When  overdriven tube amp give warmer tone which is preferred by some musicians especially the blues or rock guitarists. For beginners I recommend solid state amplifier. Just find a beginner package that suits your budget.

Should I buy a guitar amplifier with built in guitar effects or buy separated guitar effects?

Being confused by the guitar amplifiers features you may end up buying a wrong amplifier. When I first purchased my Roland Cube I thought I made a wise decision but now I think that it would have been better for me to buy a separate set of guitar effects because they are easier to carry and to operate for gigs.

How to choose a good guitar amplifier?

Unfortunately you have to test some guitar amplifiers by yourself before you make decision to buy. One amp may sound good to me but not to the others and vice versa, it’s all about preference.

To Your Guitar Success,

-TJ-

Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin

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1. Electric Guitar Parts
2. Guitar Accessories – Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar? Part 1
3. Guitar Tuner and Guitar Chords Chart in a Box

OK – enough excuses – what the heck is guitar capo anyway?

A guitar capo is a device clamped on the guitar frets to alter the open strings pitch or chords. Please see the picture below if you haven’t seen it. Note that it’s my old plastic capo so most likely you won’t see this type available any longer:

Here is how I installed it on the neck of my guitar;  picture is taken from the rear side:

And a picture shot from another angle:

Finally here is the picture taken from the fretboard side. I clamped the guitar capo on the second fret, changing the strings tuning from E – B – G – D – A – E to F# – C# – A – E – B – F# in open string position. Remember that shifting one fret means raising the pitch by a half step? In this example I clamped the capo two frets away from the guitar nut, thus increasing the pitch by one full step. That’s how E turns out to F#, B to C#, etc.

Can you tell me what chord I showed on the guitar fretboard? Looking at the chord shape it is definitely G7 but now it turns to be A7 because we already raised the pitch by one full step.

From the example above you can see that a guitar capo will let you play the open string chords you are familiar with and at the same time giving you the flexibility of altering the chords pitch by clamping it onto the guitar fretboard at certain positions.  Move and clamp the capo to the fifth fret (you should clamp it as close as possible to the fret) and play open string G, C and D chords. What chords are you actually playing? Your mind is still considering them as G, C and D chords but actually you are playing C, F and G chords ….

Cool?

To Your Guitar Success,

-TJ-

Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin

Related posts:

1. Guitar Fretboard – Basic Tutorial
2. Guitar Fret – What You Need to Know
3. Guitar Accessories – Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar? Part 2