We here at Guitarzzz.com know that things get overlooked easily when it comes to owning and playing a guitar. Sometimes it’s tricks of the trade that many people just don’t know of, other times it’s general maintenance that one simply forgets to do.

So we thought we’d make an easy How To Guide on looking after your guitar. Some of these apparently procedures might seem anal-retentive, but trust me, it will definitely ensure your guitars standard in the long run. You’ll notice that it’s more often than not rather trouble-free, uncomplicated tasks that make sure your guitar remains in tiptop condition throughout your time as a budding rock star.

• The easiest (and most often overlooked) step is rather straightforward. Wash your hands! Every time you handle your guitar without washing your hands, you’re transferring all the oils and muck your hands have encountered directly to your fret board.

• Make sure you clean your guitar properly before putting it in its case. This entails wiping off any excess dust and oil smudges. It’s a really good idea to invest in a proper hard-shell case and to not use the leather carry case varieties. The latter does not protect the guitar from most bumps and allows for a rather high humidity level within the case. If you own a hard-shell case, make sure to buy a humidity capsule (available at any decent music store) to ensure a regular humidity level within the case.

• On the topic, when not playing your guitar, keep it in your case. Having your guitar out for prolonged periods exposes it to any unwanted weather conditions such as direct sunlight and temperature and humidity changes. Remember, a guitar is made from wood, which is easily influenced (expanding and contracting) by temperature changes.

• Play your guitar everyday! It’s the easiest and most sure proof way to keep it in a desirable condition. Think of starting an engine after a few months of it sitting idle. Not good!

• When changing strings, never ever change them all at once. Doing so can damage the neck in a very bad way due to unequal tension. However, try to change your strings on a regular basis rather than hardly at all. Also, make an effort to tighten all strings, pins and screws.

• Never wear a belt buckle or anything similar that might scratch a guitar while playing. This is a very easy way to send your beautiful guitar straight to Ugly Land where all the dinged up, scratched guitars live.

• If you’re planning on travelling with your guitar, make sure to loosen the strings if it’s going to be packed away for long periods of time. Also, wrap a towel around the neck to protect the machine heads and fret board.

These are just simple, seemingly common sense tips that can go a long way into protecting your shredder but you’d be surprised how few people actually consider them when handling a guitar. So remember to just take simple precautions and you can be playing away for years to come! It might be a good idea to keep your guitar out of little kids hands too!

I’ve been milkin it lately. I will most certainly get into some more “advanced” lessons and techniques, but I’d like to get this little lesson out of the way. You’d be surprised how many people do not know how to read guitar tablature. Approximately 400 people search the web every day on “how to read guitar tabs”. New guitarists are born every day and don’t know how to read them : ) So here’s how!

The Basics

Here’s an example of what blank guitar tabs look like:

There are 6 lines. Each line represents a string on the guitar. Your skinny E string is the top line, and your fat E string is on the bottom line.

Here is what guitar tablature looks like with notes:

Listen to audio

The numbers on the lines(strings) tell you where to place your fingers on the fretboard. “3″ on the bottom line (fat E string) means you should hold your finger down on the 3rd fret of your biggest E string and pluck the note. Same thing goes for all the other strings and numbers.

Slides, Vibratos, Bends Etc.

Guitar tabs also have symbols to indicate string bends, vibratos and slides along with other techniques. Here’s an example of what you may find. The “p” means pulloff, the “~” means vibrato, the “/” means slide up, and the “^” means bend up:

Listen to audio

Chords

Here’s an example of the chords A minor, F and C

Listen to audio

And there’s your basic lesson on reading guitar tabs. It’s very simple indeed! I’ve included sound audio examples under all 3 tab examples.

I’m the kind of guy that does not enjoy notes being played at the speed of light all the time. I love slow, melodic and meaningful guitar licks from time to time. So you have to switch it up. Almost anyone can play slow. But do you have what it takes to have a mach 1 guitar solo?

It’s important to be able to play smoothe when you’re playing fast. Accuracy is very important. Here’s a nice exercise tool to help you build up your speed and accuracy.

This tool is called a Metronome. I’m going to show you where you can download one for free to use at your desk:

1. Download the free metronome software
2. When it finishes downloading, right click the .zip file and extract it. If you can’t do that, then double click the zip file and look over to the left of the window and click “extract all files”. When it’s extracted, double click the .exe file to start the installation process.
3. All done!

Here’s a simple exercise that you need to do while using the software you just downloaded. Set the speed on the metronome low to start out. (about 40 or 50 beats per minute). Now follow the below tablature and use upstrokes and downstrokes on each note. Hit the “1″ fret with a downstroke, then hit the “2″ fret with an upstroke, “3″ with a downstroke, and so on. Set the time signature on the metronome to “none”.

and so on up and down the neck..

Let’s say set your metronome to 50. You need to pluck 4 notes in between each beat. Pluck the very first note at the same time as the first beat. Then lightly pluck the other 3 notes before the next beat comes.. and so on with the rest of the strings! I hope I’m not making this more complicated than it actually is. It’s quite simple. I’m just terrible at explaining.

As long as you’re not completely new at guitar, you’ll probably do just fine with the metronome set to 90 or 100 right now. You should to slowly increase the speed as you progress and get faster. Remember that you need to be able to play the scale smoothely too.

You should also change the scale up some so that your fingers do not get so used to playing those same consecutive notes in a row

Example:

Not quite as easy after doing the first tab exercise aye? ; )

Ya don’t have to dive straight into that. Spend time on the simple one. Then move on to another scale and increase the speed of the metronome when you feel you’ve mastered a certain tempo. You can use the pentatonic and other scales too. If you spend massive amounts of time practicing like this, I GUARANTEE that your speed and smoothness will increase day after day. Guitarists like Steve Vai have done similar exercises.

I think we all find ourselves in a position where our guitar skills are not progressing. We get this attitude as if we’ve “learned enough” or some people feel like they know it all. Then you watch someone else play that can just rip it up, and then you give yourself a smack on the head. “It’s time to start practicing again!”

Here’s a few tips you can use when you feel like you’re kind of stuck. Feel free to leave your own tips in a comment!

1. Seek out new songs and learn them - Why play the same songs over and over? Start looking for some new music and artists that can inspire you. You can discover new licks and then turn them around. Don’t let those fingers get used to going to the same fretboard positions. Then all your solos will start sounding the same. Find new music!
2. Find yourself a new tone - Lets face it, when we’re not happy with our guitar tone, we’re not that excited about picking it up and playing. Try finding a new guitar or amp. Or maybe treat yourself with some new effects pedals. This can encourage you to pick up your instrument more often. At least for a little while, then it’s time to buy something else. muhaha : )
3. Jam with fellow musicians – This is important. If you continue to be a “bedroom player”, then that just means you’re missing out on learning from other musicians. Get together with some players and exchange licks and ideas.
4. Record yourself – This is definitely something you can have a good time with. buy some cheap recording gear and start recording your ideas and playing them back. Get creative.
5. PRACTICE – There’s chords out there that you do not know of. Learn them. Work on your speed and accuracy by doing exercises. I have a speed exercise coming up in a new post that you may want to check out.

That’s about all I got for now. What do you like to do when you feel like you’re slacking?

I thought I would give a few how-to’s on how to relic your very own guitar. Today’s quick lesson is on aging the hardware of the axe. This is probably something you don’t think about when you think about relic-ing your guitar. Ya just want to get straight to peeling and scratching the paint of your guitars body! But having a relic Strat body and shiny new hardware is not very believable. especially when you’re playing with some older fellas!

I had totally forgotten where I learned this method, but It must have been about a year ago.

Note: If you screw up anything on your guitar during this process, it is not my fault!

It’s a pretty simple method. The very first thing you need to do is take the hardware off your guitar that you want aged. Bridge, tuners, screws and all that. Now we can get to the good stuff. Muratic acid is the main ingredient for aging your hardware. So grab a bottle at your local home depot or other home store.
-Get a thick plastic container that is about 12 inches wide and 12 inches long (12 x 12) with a lid that fits on it.
- Cut/drill some small holes into the lid. Space them out from each other by an inch or two.
- Now pour about 2 inches of the muratic acid into the container. Put the lid on top.
- Set the hardware on top of the lid.
- Now cover the container with the hardware on top with a black plastic trash bag
- That’s it. Let that sit over night.

Also, do not forget to wear some sort of mask when fooling with the acid, because it is kind of strong and smelly.

When you check on it the next day to see what it’s done to the hardware, you can either leave it longer if you want it aged more, or you can go ahead and take the hardware and rinse it all off with some soap and water. also, you should oil up parts that move, like the tremelo where the whammy bar goes.

There ya go!