December 31, 2007
Start-Playing-Guitar.com's 'The Bridge'
Volume 2, Issue 12: Great Resources
New Content on Start-Playing-Guitar.com
Hands On Review of the BOSS DR-880 Rhythm Machine
Though it's tempting to describe the DR-880 as a drum machine, the additional features (bass guitar, amp effects, patterns, songs, tuner, tap-tempo, and more) make it clear why they called it a Rhythm Machine. If you want a flexible practice machine, or if you need a stand-in drummer or bass guitar player for stage, the DR-880 can fill the bill. Read more...
Work In Progress:
Coming soon to the web-site!
- Scales: What they are; Why play them; and How to get started.
You hear so much talk about scales, but you quickly realize that people play them for a variety of reasons, they play a variety of scales, and they build on each other. Where to begin? This article will pierce the veil and make scales useful to you.
- A Guitar Pro 5 Hands-on review.
The folks at Arobas Music finally got their Mac-act together and released a copy of GP-5 that works with the new OS-X Leopard operating system. The Hands On Review should be done by the time you read next month's installment.
| SIDEBAR: Keep up to date with all the changes by subscribing to our RSS feed (click to open a window of help and subscription instructions). It will keep you up to date with new pages and other special announcements. I will not overload you with every grammar-fix, new image, or other minor mod. |
Other Great Web Resources
Like everyone else, I scour the Internet frequently to seek new tips, insights, and tools for learning guitar. I've shared some of those with you in the past. This month, I'd like to share a few more that I rely upon, or have found useful in understanding more about this great hobby:
- JGuitar.com
- A Brain Workout
- A Note And Chord Transposition Tool
- More Guitar String Info Than You Need?
One of the best online chord dictionaries is provided by jguitar.com.
Enter the chord name into the search box, such as Em or Dm7, and the most frequently played open version instantly appears. Want to see more versions of the chord? Click on it! Lots of options appear. When I clicked on Dm7, for example, jguitar.com provided 22 chord shapes to choose from.
When you're ready to try your hand at improvising, click on the link for "scales that sound good" with your chord. Choose a scale from the list of many, many options to see the scale layed out on a fretboard.
If you want to learn the fretboard, notes, intervals, or a whole slew of other music and music theory related concepts, head over to Ricci Adams' MusicTheory.net.
In his senior year of high school, Ricci Adams began imagining a tool that could help people understand music and music theory. Those thoughts led to his web-site, launched in 2000. There you can find lessons on basic music theory (staffs, clefs, notes, durations, scales, triads...), Trainers (reading notes on ledger lines, identifying notes on the guitar fretboard, recognizing intervals...), and a set of Utilities (chord calculator, staff paper generator...). Remarkably, Ricci provides all lessons for download (simply click on the Downloads tab across the top of his content).
If you're not fluent with yout fretboard (who among us is??), you can spend hours with his Guitar Trainer.
According to the web page, you'll "never get the wrong chord or note again when transposing" if you print out and construct the Chord/Note Transposition Wheel. You may have flashbacks to grade school, but it really works!
The folks at JustStrings.com have an extensive glossary to explain just about everything there is to know about string composition, the instruments they're made from, and the tone you can expect.
Go For A Big Finish!
I hope you've enjoyed this issue of The Bridge. See you next month!
Steve
Steve@Start-Playing-Guitar.com