When it comes to live performances and studio recording, one item often goes overlooked. And the irony is that this single item can make or break any live musical performance. For dedicated guitar players, cables are often more important than any other component. Sure, your strings need to be stable, your amp powerful, and your …
Today, we’re taking a look at the best classical guitars. Let’s start with some background information. The classical guitar, also known as the Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music. It is an acoustic wooden guitar that uses various tone woods to produce a high-quality sound. The materials and methods of classical guitar …
Some people prefer to undertake maintenance and continued set up on their guitars themselves; others give it to a tech. Which is the better option is basically up to how technical and precise you are. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it is harder than it seems, and if you start adjusting truss rods …
All amplifiers are of course portable to a lesser or greater degree, but today, we are going to have a look at those specially designed to carry around with you. This could be to practice, possibly use live in the street or park, or keep at home for use or a dozen other applications. Today’s …
Best Portable Guitar Amplifiers In 2023 – Top 8 Picks Read More »
If you sift through acoustic guitar forums often, you may see a name that you’re not all too familiar with – the Seagull S6. While the company is certainly no Fender guitars in terms of popularity, they have a unique character all their own. It’s not very often that you see an inexpensive guitar that …
Before we get deep into our Sterling by Music Man StingRay Ray4 Review. It seems almost incredible that the Stingray first arrived in our consciousness just over 50 years ago. It made an immediate impact. Those bass guitarists who were playing, and aspired to play at the higher levels wanted to try it out. Some …
In terms of musical timescale, it hasn’t been that long that we have had to consider the bass guitars for kids. With the growth of jazz and blues and later skiffle, the bass was an almost overlooked instrument. Basslines were often played on a double bass or sometimes on a tuba. In fact, the tuba …
Are you looking for the best acoustic guitar under $300? If so, you could well be getting slightly overwhelmed with so many choices? Choosing a guitar that is the right fit can be a daunting task, especially when you have to take into consideration so many different factors. However, it just got a lot easier, …
Top 8 Best Acoustic Guitars Under $300 Recommended 2023 Read More »
We haven’t got to look too far back to find the Best Resonator Guitar. The Resonator was a 1926 invention and not earlier than that, as some have suggested. It rose to prominence in the Bluegrass and Blues genres, but outside of those environments, it was hardly known and by most ignored as a being …
Before we go searching for the best acoustic guitar pickups, it is interesting to look briefly at their development. Guitars have been around a while. Historically they came from Spain, probably from Malaga, in the 16th Century, but they were always a solo instrument. In the 1920s, it began its journey into mainstream music and …
Maybe not the first manufacturer you think of when you consider acoustic guitars. Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Yamaha, even Fender might come to mind first. Alvarez, though, has a big reputation in certain guitar circles. They were founded in 1965 as St Louis Music producing acoustic and neo-classical guitars. In the late 60s, they began an …
Epiphone are well-known for their electric and acoustic guitars, but they are also considered to be the budget range of Gibson. The subject of this Epiphone PR-150 review is a good example of this budget range idea. This is a shame because while they are viewed like that today, it hasn’t always been that way. …
Before we get to our Epiphone Hummingbird PRO Review, let’s consider that Epiphone is a brand name with a history going back many years that many are unaware of, and some just choose to ignore. Considered now as Gibson’s budget range, it is a similar situation to the Fender and Squier relationship. There is a …
All electric guitar strings are not created equal. There are plenty of criteria to differentiate between different strings. For instance, some are designed to be easy to play, or for increased longevity, others are designed purely on strength or even for cutting down on finger noise. Whatever your choice of string, regardless of their materials, …
Surprisingly, at under 500 dollars, there is a wide choice of acoustic guitars to choose from. You’d expect, at this kind of price point, a lot of well-made guitars. And you won’t be disappointed. The very best acoustic guitars under $500 are good quality instruments capable of producing high-quality sounds. So, if you’re a beginner, …
In recent years the selection of affordable acoustic guitars has grown substantially larger. Many new companies have sprung up from all around the world, and some companies have seen a resurgence in their relevance. With such a wide array of acoustic guitars to choose from, finding one that is right for you can be quite …
So what do you do? You are recognized as one of the top acoustic guitar manufacturers in the world, and you have a complete range of guitars. One thing you can do is to bring out a scaled-down version, which they did, the Baby Taylor. Designed for a learner maybe, as a travel guitar possibly. …
Schecter guitars might not be the first name that comes to mind when you think guitars. They were founded in the US in 1976 by David Schecter. Initially, they manufactured and supplied replacement parts for other brands. This included bodies, necks, pickups, bridges, etc. In fact, at one time, they had a range of over …
With everything in the world going wireless, why not your guitar? In case you didn’t know, the world of wireless has taken hold in live musical performance as well. In the past, these systems could degrade due to a little rain. However, the newest models offer excellent signal strength and stability. In fact, today’s wireless …
We are not going to return to the Gibson/Epiphone discussion. We have covered that in many other reviews. Suffice to say that now Epiphone has the license to produce ‘clones’ of Gibson guitars. Which they do in our opinion, very well. They are, therefore, a cost-effective way of going someway to owning a Gibson. Without …
Anyone who has been to a concert has seen guitar speaker cabinets in action. You can also find them in recording studios. Guitar speaker cabinets are paired with amp heads to provide more power, volume, and tonal definition. A cabinet connected to a separate amp head is noticeably heftier than a combo amp. For live performances …
It isn’t easy buying anything cheap, let alone a guitar. So often the people that want to buy the best cheap acoustic guitars under $200, are people that know the least about want to look for. Buying an instrument to ‘try out’ and see how they get along with it, before deciding whether to carry …
Top 8 Best Cheap Acoustic Guitars Under $200 of 2023 Read More »
When you put a musical group together, be it anything from a gentle jazz quartet to a screaming metal band there is something you cannot do without — the Bass guitar. Along with the drummer they are the engine room for the band and the louder it gets, the more vital they are. Bass guitarists, …
Best Bass Guitars To Buy of 2023 – Top 10 Ranked Read More »
It has been a long time since Epiphone genuinely had a better guitar on the market than Gibson. Owned by the same people in the 60s, they even had offices in the same building. But, their manufacturing was on different sites. And they had different management and sales teams and strategies. Gibson had its range …
Oscar Schmidt and his brother Otto were German immigrants to the US. They formed the company in 1871, but it wasn’t until 1911 that they were able to incorporate the business. Then they expanded very quickly to include a range of instruments and had a marketing strategy totally alien to us today. They had an …
There is a concept that sometimes proves to be right. And that is that the smallest things can sometimes be very important and have a lot of influence. That applies to the nut on the guitar. That’s why I decided to take a look at the five main types of guitar nuts. But before I …
You may look in a shop window and think to yourself that one guitar looks different from another. Apart from the obvious differences, the neck might be longer on one than on the others. Even if it’s longer, does it have the same number of frets? So, you might well then ask yourself the question: …
If I am to be completely honest about fretboard radius, in my early days, I never even considered it. I heard it mentioned, of course, but I was always confused about what it meant and how it was measured. Never once did anyone in a shop anywhere in London talk about fretboard radius and neck …
The tailpiece is an essential part of the build and design of many guitars. But you could argue that a percentage of guitars don’t even have one. Does a string-through-body guitar like a Strat or a Tele have a tailpiece? For those that do have them, each of the guitar tailpiece types can have various …
Guitar Tailpiece Types – The Four Main Types You Have to Know Read More »
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that we were lucky to even have a gig bag. Plus, for those fortunate souls amongst us who could afford a name-brand guitar, sometimes, you might get a case with it. But, not always. Certainly, the first two guitars that I bought saw me walk out of the …
Camping out and having a traditional campfire, maybe with some sausages or burgers cooking, can be great fun. It does depend a little bit on where you live, of course. A night under the stars with the campfire roaring is good if the weather is fine. Not so funny if you are suddenly deluged and …
Top 150 Best Campfire Guitar Songs of All Time to Play Read More »
Every new guitar player wants to be able to play something they know, and that makes sense to them. But they assume that most of these songs will be too hard for them to cope with. Understandably, that is the case with a large number of songs, but there are some famous & easy guitar …
145 Famous & Easy Guitar Songs With 3 Chords For Beginners Read More »
There is some discussion as to what a Parlor guitar actually is. But it is usually taken to be a small-bodied acoustic. I know that seems to be a little bit of a vague description, but as we take an in-depth look at the best Parlor acoustic guitars, you will see that even the manufacturers …
Top 7 Best Parlor Acoustic Guitars for the Money in 2023 Read More »
A guitar that has contributed a lot to music since the early 50s. And still, one of the most sought-after instruments there is. It doesn’t suit everyone, of course. And possibly three of the best guitarists we have seen in Beck, Gilmour, and Hendrix were all Strat players. Then add on Blackmore, Gallagher, and many …
At some point in most of our musical careers, be it professional or just playing for fun, theory has raised its head. If you can’t be bothered with all that, then you can get away with it to a certain extent on the guitar, especially if it’s rock guitar that you play. But playing piano …
Top 7 Best Guitar Music Theory Books for Guitarists in 2023 Read More »
