Hello friends, I know it's been a while but I'm back, and I bring with me a very profound declaration: I like flatwound strings.
For those of you who don't know, flatwound strings are wound with steel ribbon instead of wire, making for a smoother slide and less string noise. They are sooooooo comfortable; it's like giving your fingertips a massage while you play! Sure they're not quite as crisp and sustain-y as traditional roundwound strings, but they do sound great. Don't listen to any of those stuck up ninnies who insist that flatwound's are only for jazz, they can give you a great rock tone too! And did I mention how friggin' cool it feels when you play. Trust me, go out today and pick up a set to try on one of your guitars. Several companies make them and they range in price. Yes they're a bit more pricey than regular strings but none of fortunes will fall significantly over a few bucks. If you don't like 'em then that's ok too, but you owe it to yourself to give it a go. Until next time, adios -Mikey
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“So David”, Al asked me last week, “why do we have flats and sharps?” Well the reason we have these is because our 'system' of Western music is comprised of both whole steps and half steps. That's the way it evolved from Gregorian chant. (For we fretted instrument players, a whole step is two frets and a half step is one fret. It's a whole step from fret 1 to fret 3 and a half step from fret 1 to fret 2.) So why are flats and sharps important ….? Well, to start with we need flats and sharps in order to have half steps and we need half steps in order to make music that sounds 'right' to our traditional Western ears. OK, guitar players, try this: starting with C on the 2nd string first fret and staying on the 2nd string, play every other fret (whole step) until you reach C on the 13th fret. How does that sound? Doesn't it make your ears want to hear some half steps somewhere in there? Also as a result of the evolution of 'Western" music is the fact that the intervals of fourths (C to F) and fifths (C to G) became very fundamental to Western music. (Without those intervals we wouldn't have all the three-chord songs that are so near and dear to our hearts.) You simply can't get from either C to F or C to G without using a half step. Think that's complicated? Then don't ask me about double sharps and double flats! So that's it; Western music 'needs' half steps … and you need flats and sharps to create them in every key but C and A minor. -david The capo is one of the most essential tools for a guitarist. I might even go so far as to say that a capo can be as important as a tuner! The ability to play songs in any key while utilizing open chord voicings is crucial as a songwriter, and ultimately, due to the way a guitar is tuned, there are certain licks and melodies that simply cannot be played correctly without a capo! The term “capo” is derived from the Italian words "capo tasto" which means head fret. This makes sense, as a capo's function is essentially to move the first fret anywhere you choose on the fingerboard. Early capo designs that were widely used throughout the 60's and 70's utilized an elastic band that stretched around the neck of the guitar securing a bar over the fretboard. Though these classic elastic band style capos are not widely used anymore, the basic functionality of any capo remains the same: to hold the strings down anywhere on the fretboard. These days, the most common capos used are built by companies like Shubb, Kyser, Paige, and G7th. Modern capos range from simple in design to more elaborate. The G7th Performance 2 capos for example, have a very sleek, space age appeal, while also being highly functional and easy to use. I recently started using this capo and have been very happy with it so far. One bit of advice I would offer to those of you who are thinking about getting a capo is to avoid the "economy" models, while these will typically save you a few bucks, they are generally not built well and require extra time to put on and take off -- not good if you are in the middle of songs and want to avoid that awkward stage silence! For $20 you can get a great capo that will last you years -- or as long as it takes you to lose it! -McCoy McCoy Tyler is a salesman at Sylvan Music with an aptitude towards acoustic guitars, amps, and pickup systems. When he's not spouting musical knowledge on the sales floor, he can be found doing some hot picking and sweet singing with his group The McCoy Tyler Band.
My wood working skills don't stop at the shop. On my day off, I mounted a new mail box at the house. Ok, you caught me, it's metal. The mailman will leave me a dark chocolate raisin cluster when he see's this. It's the deal we have. Till next time! - Al There's been a lot of hubbub over balanced tension string sets lately. What the hell are they? Can you even tell the difference?? I'm going to attempt to give a simple explanation of balanced tension sets and offer a bit of insight into their growing popularity and what makes them such a hot topic in the string world. There are two basic components that make up a steel string: a core and a wrap. When you look at the two smallest strings on an acoustic guitar, you are basically looking at an unwound core string. Wild, huh? Those naked little B and high E strings look just like their four bigger brothers minus that shiny bronze wrapping. Now, when we talk about tension on a guitar we are pretty much talking about lateral tension -- that is, the force that the individual strings exert laterally across the neck and soundboard of the instrument. [Note: this differs from instruments with floating bridges (mandolins, banjos, arch top guitars, etc.) where downward, or vertical tension becomes more important -- for more on this check out Siminoff Strings]. Now given the two basic components of a steel string, what would you say determines lateral tension? Well, if you guessed the wrapping, I'm happy to say you are absolutely wrong...It's the core, of course! A string's core determines its lateral tension -- remember that! D'addario Balanced Tension sets are developed with this in mind: each core string is made to expend an equal amount of lateral tension, thus creating a more "balanced" feel and sound across the strings when they are strummed or plucked. In theory, this should make for a better playing experience. But who am I to say? Pick up a set and see for yourself! -McCoy McCoy Tyler is a salesman at Sylvan Music with an aptitude towards acoustic guitars, amps, and pickup systems. When he's not spouting musical knowledge on the sales floor, he can be found doing some hot picking and sweet singing with his group The McCoy Tyler Band. This is a question that comes up at least every other time that I set up an acoustic guitar. WHAT IS INTONATION? I made a little sketch of a compensated saddle and now I will explain the physics. Lets assume your scale length is 25," the vibrating string on the high 'E' should measure at 25 and 3/32". The additional length is added because when you push down on the string, it's no longer a straight line, so we compensate for that by moving the saddle back 3/32". The 'B' string diameter increases by .004 to .005 of an inch (depending on the chosen string gauge). This string has less elasticity, so when it's pressed it needs more length to achieve the desired pitch. The 'G' string diameter moves up .007 to .008" but it's a wound string so it's tension is only determined by it's core which is similar to the high 'E' string. The remaining strings are also wound and the compensated saddle slowly moves back to accommodate the thicker strings. Playing in tune becomes paramount as your ear develops and intonation will become more important on your way to perfect pitch. I hope this helps, till next time. Al Sylvan Music carries almost every stringed instrument imaginable. But here’s one that just wouldn’t fit! It’s the Octabass.
First introduced around 1850 in Paris, it has three strings, and is essentially a larger version of the double bass. Because of the extreme fingerboard length and string thickness, it requires the musician to play it using a system of hand and foot-activated levers and pedals. The pitch of the Octabass’s highest string is the same pitch as the lowest note of a modern double bass with a low C extension. The lowest string is tuned to C, 16.25 Hz, one octave below the lowest note on a piano. By the way, you can see an Octabass at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ. It’s a great museum with an amazing collection of musical instruments from all over the world. You don’t have to be an ethnomusicologist to be in awe of this incredible collection. -David Have you ever thought, "I'd love to play guitar but I'm afraid of steel strings touching my delicate, soft skin?" Well, good ol' Mikey's got the answer for ya': Use a slide! It's easy, accessible, fun, and it's sure to broaden you're ability and approach to playing guitar. Though often used as an additional tool in a guitarists arsenal, most folks don't know that playing with a slide was actually born out of necessity. Back in the 1920's Tennessee, a man named Cletus Earnest Henry McCracken was playing around with his guitar while maintaining his daily ritual of draining as many bottles of wine as he could muster. Sure enough, about halfway through the day he wound up getting his left ring finger stuck inside the mouth of a wine bottle. After, he and his drinking buddies tried desperately to pull it off to no avail, he figured he'd just break the bottle. So he whacked the bottle on the rail of the nearby train tracks and it broke. Well, most of it broke. He looked down to find that the neck of the wine bottle was still stuck on his dang finger! "Aw, to hell with it," he said. "Let's keep pickin." And with that he picked up his guitar and commenced to sliding his bottlenecked finger up and down the strings and, wouldn't you know it, it produced a not altogether unpleasant sound. Cletus' eyebrows arched upwards! "I reckon I like this here sound!" As he continued to slide his finger along the strings he exclaimed "By golly, I've invented a new kind of playing! I think I'll call it 'broken-bottle-stuck-on-yer-finger style!'" Before long, word spread of Cletus' 'broken-bottle-stuck-on-yer-finger' style and soon people just took to calling it slide. Now you can follow in Cletus' footsteps, but it's much easier to just go to your local shop and buy a pre-made glass or brass slide. So go on and get yer' slide on! -Mikey Disclaimer - This story may not be true
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