Guitar Reviews

    modes (sounds scary, eh?) Not really. Music modes explained   Modes in music have been around for a long time, they are nothing new. They were formalized in the 1600’s and are used in all types of music and used by a wide variety of musical instruments. Should I learn modes? Learning modes allows you to colour any tune you are playing, or improvising, with feeling. It also allows the sound of the song to focus on a differing tonal centre. If your playing is beginning to sound boring and you feel you are stuck in a rut, this could another reason to study modes. Modes can be seen as scales within a parent scale. Many people use mode and scale to mean the same thing, however, this is not strictly true. A mode can be seen as a scale of it’s parent scale, derived from a different point in the parent scale. All modes are scales but not all scales are modes. The Blues Scale for example is not a mode. From the ...

    hold it correctly If you are going to play guitar for any period of time it is best that you are holding it in the correct position. This will prevent fatigue, aches and pains. You will also get a better sound from your instrument. You will have to consider if you are playing in a casual manner or in the ‘classical’ style, or if you prefer, or want, to stand up. Are you playing an acoustic guitar, or an electric? The two main things to consider when holding your guitar is your body position and the position of the guitar. Look at the picture of Jimmy Page above – This may be great for JP but, does this look like a comfortable position to you? So let’s consider what we need to do to get things right. As the song said - My Body, Your Body, Everybody (move your body) Make sure that if you are sitting down, and that the seat allows for you to play comfortably. Find a suitably firm seat with preferably no arms to int...