Changing Guitar Strings

Changing guitar strings is very important, because it is where the notes of our guitar comes from. There are actually tons of guitar strings available these days, and they only differs in very little tonalities. Choosing the guitar strings will depend on the player, and we are free to explore.

Anyway, when is the right time we need to change guitar strings? Actually, it is very simple. If you notice the difference on the intonation on any fret, then that is the time you can change them. Others actually only change their guitar strings if they are not already playable and full of nasty rust. There are times that out of tuned strings can be cured by adjusting the saddles of the guitar. However, if the guitar cannot identify the notes anymore, then change the strings.

There are two ways on how you can identify the out of tune guitar strings. First of all, is by hearing the notes. If you are already a good guitar player and you have played for a very long time, then it is easy for you to notice that. You can as well use a tuner, and most tuner nowadays can determine the intonation of each strings.

There are also different timelines on when you will change the strings. Basically, it all depends on how the guitar is played, whether, etc. There times that strings can be replaced as fast as one week or two days, or maybe shorter. There are as well times that you will need to replace them after two months or so. It depends, and it is only a matter of having a good hearing.

DD-3 problem solved!!!

The Boss DD-3 is a great pedal, and I only found it that way when I solved my problem about it. Delays are one of the best effects pedal, and of course, we need to learn on how to use them properly. Most delay pedals I have used gave me some problem that I know many of you encountered already. The first lesson I have learned is to don't throw a pedal when it does not worked for you. Instead, test it ten or twenty times, and soon you will find their use. The first time I got the DD-3 I want to throw it out the window, because I thought it, was a junk and was a waste of money. However, I realized that I already bought it, so I juts planned of finding its use on my pedal board. Luckily, I found it very useful.

Anyway, you will get problem with your delay pedal if you will place it before the distortion pedal. Never do that my friends!!! Remember that a delay pedal will repeat any notes that are passing through its system. When a distortion is placed after that the distortion pedal will boost the signal "with its repeats". The result is a set of notes having almost the same amplitude. The best thing to do is placing it after the distortion pedal or in the effects-loop (which is ideal).

Now, the DD-3. I experienced a lot of trouble on that certain pedal. It repeats the signal with a nasty noise on all of its repeats. The secret is on the settings of your distortion pedal, the treble. Distortion pedals do have treble, and for others the tone knob. All you have to do is to decrease the treble, and that will solve the problem. DD-3 cannot handle signals with high treble. The next problem would be, "how about playing metal?" Yes, definitely you can do use a DD-3 as well. Boosting the treble should be after the DD-3 pedal. You can use something like an equalizer pedal or the equalizer in your amplifier. Just remember to always place your DD-3 before any pedal that will boost the treble frequencies. I hope this short advice of mine will not make you throw your DD-3 pedal.

Guitar Chords

I am sorry guys, because I think I forgot this topic for a while. However, it's never too late, so now let us check the guitar chords.

Anyway, guitar chords are very important simply because it is the pattern that we should be following when playing guitar. Well, it is really great if we can read the actually notes, like the ones used by pianists. The guitar chords as we know it comes with lines and dots. This is probably the simplest way to look for the notes that our fingers should follow.

Basically, a guitar chord chart has sets of notes from A to G. From A to G, there will be variations, which will give you their Majors, Minors, 7th, 6th, Sus, Dim, etc. The best way to learn this is to follow what it tells you to do. A good example is the Amaj. Every chart you will see on a guitar chord chart has six vertical lines, which represents the string number. From left to right it simply means string 6 to 1. Another is the lines arranged in horizontal, which only indicates the frets and downward means towards high notes. The next thing would be the numbers on the top o the guitar chord chart. Number 1 is referring to your index finer, then 2 is your middle finger, 3 for ring finger and 4 for pinky or baby finger. If you ever see a strong line on the top or rather a bold line then it only means that you should start doing the chord on the first fret. Otherwise, it will be indicated at the side of those lines on what position you will be starting the guitar chords. Nevertheless, it is granted that you have your guitar, of course. Without the guitar, it is very hard to understand this.

Anyway, the chord of Amaj is (as you can see on the image below) starts on the first fret. However, you will start pointing your fingers after it. In the case of this image, there are no bold lines or strong lines above it, and yet you will start on the first fret. The thing is, it doesn't have any number on the side of the chord either. It is then considered on the first fret, and this is another way of determining where to start the guitar chords. As you may notice, there is also a letter "X" on the sixth string. This only means that you shouldn't be including that on your strum. And the "0" only means that it is an open note where you should include it to the set.

Another example is the Gmin, and notice that it is set to start on the third fret, which is indicated by the number 3 on its side.

Well, these are only examples of guitar chords, and they have the same concept on how to learn. There are tons more, and you can even create your own. I hope this helps to you fellow newbies out there. Thanks. Enjoy. =)

Compressor Pedal

As newbies, you may be asking what is a compressor pedal, and what it can offer to our guitar tone. First of all, a compressor pedal is a pedal that will put all the string volumes into equilibrium. Each string of the guitar differs in volume actually, and this what cause you to learn dynamics. Learning on how to do dynamics is really a big help, and it will create great guitar sounding. However, there are times that a guitarist would want compression on his or her sound when it is needed, like maybe on rhythm sections.

Many guitarists do use a compressor pedal on their guitar sounding because of its ability to introduce sustain. It can actually amplify the guitar's sustain, and this what gives guitar tones last longer than without one. Of course, a good setup of guitar and using other pedals can also add sustain. However, the compressor pedal does it actually, and it intends to give you that on a snap.

Sometimes too much of everything is not good. What I am trying to say here is too much compression will decrease the signal attack. It is better to set your compressor pedal into the setting you want as minimal as possible. You will set it just enough to balance the volume of all strings.

A good example of compressor pedal is like the one made by MXR, the dyna comp. It has been uses by different guitarists all over the world including those famous ones, and even today. The dyna comp is a compact-designed compressor pedal that does great compressing sounding to your guitar. It got only got two knobs, the output and sensitivity knob, and a good mixing of the two can introduce a great sound. Dyna comp runs on 9V DC, and I think the company already gave it an input to run on AC to DC adapter. Anyway, you can try that, but of course, you can also do test all the pedals a music store does have and buy one that will suit your taste.

Best distortion pedal

Many newbies are asking if what is or are the best distortion pedal. Even I asked the same question a long time ago, simply because I have many reasons. I guess many newbies have similar reasons why they asked that certain question.

Reason #1. I don't have the budget to buy more than one distortion pedal.
Reason #2. I don't have a decent amp (tube amp), all I have is a hybrid.
Reason #3. I don't know which one simply because I want to copy the sound of my favorite guitarists.
Reason #4. I totally don't have any idea, because good sources of information like the Internet are not yet available.

These are some of the reasons, and I am definitely sure that there are tons more.

Anyway, choosing the best distortion pedal is not exactly based from your idea of copying others' tone. What I am trying to say here is, you must be creative. Create your own tones, and be unique. That is the first thing actually. After your struggle of creating your own sound you will then notice that you need a distortion pedal that you like. Well, at first I thought this was not possible, but you can actually try those ones in the music store. Alright, again I am saying this to you guys, "buy at least something half-decent guitar devices". The reason why is very simple, and it is they sound better "period".

Well, the store will let you test their pedal, of course, test them with a lot of care. If you break it then you will pay for it, so please be very careful. Now, if you don't find a pedal that will sound nice to your ear then go to the other store, then to another. Music is a continues search for almost anything with regards to it, so please be patient. This is true, and it happened to me back then.

If you find great one, then it is the best distortion pedal for you. Basically, every distortion pedal sound has distinctive tonality. Just make sure that the tone will match what you are up to. Guys, this is my opinion on how you will find the best distortion pedal, and I hope it helps.

Best boost pedal

This is really a question, and we (newbie) should know what to be picked precisely.

First of all, what is a boost pedal? A boost pedal is a pedal that pushes the guitar signal higher. At some point, guitar signal is boosted very hard, and it becomes distorted. These are the overdrive pedals, which do intend to do so. For rock and metal genres this is great, because they want that kind of thing. Some of the examples are like the Boss OD1 and MXR ZW-44.

On the other hand, there are also genres that want something else, which is the clean boost. For this, you can use a pedal that is made just for that. Actually, I know one, and it is made by Dunlop. It is the "Line Driver", and it is excellent for clean boosting. It gives a boost without coloring your tone. This is also great to place on your pedal board to minimize the signal lost along the path.

Now, how you will choose the best boost pedal? It is very simple actually, and it is up to you. If you are into a clean guitar type of genres, then you go for clean boost. Otherwise, you can go for the other pedals for distorted tones. There is no better way of doing your selection rather than testing them all yourself. Music stores do give chances to customers to feel their products. You can freely test all of them, and if you don't find one then say thank you and leave. This is the best way, and of course try getting at-least those half-decent pedals.

Metal guitar Tone | How it's done?

I know a little secret on how you can make your guitar sound metal. It is only a matter of being creative for what you have, like out from your stomp boxes. Well, you may say that you can easily buy a high gain pedal, and you can already have a metal tone. Yes, it is great. However, we need more than that. If you have a tube amp then it would be easy, all you need is an overdrive pedal, and you're done. You can do that, if you have the budget to buy a decent tube amp. This is a "newbie" site, remember? So I will show you how you can get a metal tone from half decent stomp boxes, and with a solid state amp.

First of all, you need a distortion pedal, and it would be best if you have a high-gain distortion pedal. Some of the examples are the distortion made by Boss, BlackStar and Electro Harmonix. Anyway, a high-gain pedal already has high-gain output. We all know that metal guitarists have this creamy and muddy sound, and we want to get that sound somehow. Of course, we cannot get that out from those pedals, but we can get close to that.

The next thing you will need is an overdrive pedal. An overdrive pedal is a boost pedal that will help push the signal. Good examples of overdrive pedals are the ones made by Boss, MXR BlackStar, Ibanez, etc. Put the overdrive pedal before the high-gain distortion pedal, then to the amplifier. This is similar to the image you are seeing below. If you have a Reverb and Delay pedal then it would be even nicer. All you have to do now is set the equalizer to the settings good to your ears.

From my point of view | The difference between Overdrive and Distortion pedal

A lot of beginners are asking what the difference between an overdrive and distortion pedal is. Basically, an overdrive pedal is adding little dirt to your guitar tone. On the other hand, a distortion pedal can give you a big amount of gain that will make your tone a lot dirtier.

An overdrive pedal is used to add a little dirt to the guitar tone or give a boost to an already dirty signal. For all we know, guitar amplifiers do have this crunch feature that will make your guitar sound dirty. You can use an overdrive pedal to boost the signal even more producing a creamy tone, and muddy tone for metal sounds. Of course, you need to first have an amp from those high-end ones. I am talking about those tube amps, and they actually produce great tones.

Anyway, the distortion pedal can give your guitar massive amounts of gain that will give your guitar a muddy tone as well. The tone will also be creamy but not that creamy as the combination of the tube amp and overdrive pedal. Most of the time distortion pedals are used on amps that are made with solid state components. I am talking about those solid state amps. They cost a lot cheaper compare to those tube ones. Well, it is your choice, and it is up to you to what you want actually. If you can produce great and distinctive sound out from a solid state amp then go on. By the way, experimenting is the best tool to lead you to your tone destination. 

Distortion pedal | Schematic

My early days of being so deeply interested in music, which until now I am, I was thinking of making some schematic diagrams of some of the popular guitar pedal effects. Well, until now I am still making that certain thing, and I was just searching for ways on how I can share them to guitar stomp boxes' die hard fans.

Now that I found a great way, I am sharing them to you. Of course, I will be giving them one by one because I am still checking each of them if they will pass the oscilloscope.

Anyway, many newbies are looking for quality distorted sound. They want their guitar to sound dirty even if they only have a cheap but nice guitar amp. Surely, you can do that by using a distortion pedal. A distortion pedal is a stomp box that will give your guitar a massive amount of gain. Distortion pedals actually act as saturated valves that gives those creamy and muddy tones. Different manufacturers do have different tonal qualities for distortion. The best way to find one is by going to the music store, and testing the pedals. (I can't give you reviews of them right now, because I am still lacking of resources.) Well, testing them pedal to pedal will give you ideas on what are their differences. Many guitar players do this actually, and it is the best known way of doing so. Okay, so I have given you details on how, and I hope this help you guys out there.

Right below is an image of a schematic diagram of a good distortion. I managed to get one, and I have drawn its schematic. I know that many of you like to have one, "the cheaper way", so here it is. All you have to do is go to the electronic shop and buy those components, enjoy!!!

The first post | My point of view about Music.

I believe that music was created to everyone. I consider this as a tool to share anything that has something to do with one's feelings, emotion, thoughts, etc. I am also thinking that many musicians are thinking the same way as I am. This is a passion, and this is a crusade to promote a certain language that everybody will understand.

Music comes in many different genres, and this is a good thing actually. Not only it will create options, but also is making the world of music a lot colorful. Some of the examples of what I am talking about are genres like rock, RNB, metal, hip-hop and classic. Those are just examples, and definitely there are tons of them, and even more there are also sub-genres for each of them. It will only depend on the musicians and listeners to choose whatever they want. Well, I prefer those rock and metal genres, and they are good to my ears.

Music is something that is free, and you can choose to whatever instrument you want. You can even create music out from things you can't imagine can create good notes. Some musicians actually used instruments out from scrap materials like from water pipes, pot-shaped percussion, etc. They are free to do so, and they are creating wonderful notes. We can say that music is like a water pump, and you are getting your water from the sea. The resources for music are vast and seems endless. It is all about being creative and passionate. I believe that when you have those two criteria, then you can make something out of them.

Anyway, on my succeeding posts, hopefully, I'll be discussing a lot about music and about instruments we can use to make music. I will also be discussing accessories, especially for guitars, like stomp boxes and multi-effects pedals. I will as well include some tips on how you can build one, by giving you some advices and of course their schematics. Thank you very much, stay tuned for more music "newbie" things.