Paul Chase is an internationally known artist, author, innovator, visionary and guitarist. He is the founder and CEO of  Graphicguitars Inc., fine art guitar paintings, prints and posters. He received a Bachelors degree in Art and a Masters in Communications. He has taught art in high schools, vocational/technical school, and at the college level for over 30 years. Paul is a distant relative of the “other” famous American artist Georgia O’Keeffe (and they are both developed their art “roots” in hometown Sun Prairie, WI) and his large close up guitar images reflect her large close up flower series. Pauls art is available for purchase online here at Rock N Roll Vintage.

Check it out!

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

I am having problems tuning my 12-string guitar. How do I do it?

Answer. Even though it may look like a big challenge, ‘standard’ tuning a 12-string guitar is actually quite easy. For the bottom four strings (four thickest) you will tune each pair of strings to the same note but the thinner one will be tuned an octave higher.

An octave is the interval between a note and a note with the same name either higher or lower, example: E4 – E5. The top two strings (two thinnest) have both strings tuned to the same note at the same pitch so they sound exactly the same.

Sounds simple? In theory it is, however when strings are tuned in octaves it is easy to hear slight mistunings. For this reason it is important to tune your strings perfectly when you are tuning a 12-string. Also sometimes you may have a problem keeping some of the strings in tune as the some of the smaller strings are tuned quite tightly. For this reason it can be a good idea to get the best quality strings you can when stringing up a 12-string. Ask your local dealer about strings, hopefully they can help you out.

Hope this helps for now and good luck getting your guitar in tune!

Posted by Dan Orr

While developing a clear picture of what you sound like is important you should never take that to mean being closed-minded about other styles and their techniques. It is important to try to develop an individual sound, but you should spend at least a portion of your time listening to other types of music.

In your musical life you will probably change styles at some point. This is natural and it is a sign that you are developing as a musician and as a guitarist. Some people begin playing folk music and Bob Dylan songs and end up playing hard rock, and vice-versa. So while you should have an idea about what you want to sound like be open minded about changing.

What do I want to sound like? This can be very difficult or very easy depending on the individual. Some people are inspired to play the guitar like an individual or a band. For these people their style will generally mimic their favorite player. Also if you’re fond of a particular style you can learn the songs and techniques that fit that style.

For people who don’t particularly want to sound like anyone there is a bit more work to do to find and define a style. The best way to do this is to listen to a lot of music and try and play as many different styles as you can and see what you find the most enjoyable and rewarding for you.

Finding a sound that suits you can take some time. For some people this could be years. For others it could be a split second decision that comes from hearing a particular player. For others it may take some serious listening to a lot of different music to decide what they want to sound like.

Once you have decided on your style then it is time to learn how to play like that. The best way to do that is learn songs that are classics in the genre you want to emulate. This means learning a few of the most popular songs from that style and becoming familiar with the techniques used in this kind of song. It is a good idea to learn songs by a few different bands instead of just one. This is so you get exposed to a few different playing styles.

Related to this is using the right kind of guitar for the style you want to play. You don’t need to be too worried about playing the exact same axe as your favorite player. However you should have a guitar that is common with players of the genre you are trying to emulate.

It is a shared belief amongst the entire Jamorama Team that it is never too soon to start writing your own songs. Even if you can only write the most basic songs it is worth trying. You should try and add elements from the songs you have learned. You may find yourself writing stuff that is quite derivative initially, but that’s OK. Just keep working on your playing and trying to get the sound that you hear in your head into your hands and played on the guitar. Don’t get frustrated if you have trouble. Some players spend their entire life trying to get the sound they want. Writing your own music is very rewarding and will give you another direction in your musical life.

1) Do Your Homework
When you’re buying a guitar you have to do your homework. As a beginning guitar player it’s easy to get confused with all the information and advice that is available. There are a lot of places you can get information and you should check them all. Guitar magazines are a good place to find prices and reviews on different models of guitars. You can also get information at your local music store. Another great tool is the internet – you can get information on the manufacturers, search for other guitarist’s reviews and opinions and find the best prices online.

Remember that a lot of the information and opinions that you will find will be biased. A salesman in a music store wants you to buy the brand of guitar that HE SELLS, so make sure you read reviews and opinions from independent sources.

2) Stick to Your Budget
Once you’ve got the background knowledge that you need, you should make a short list of guitars that you are interested in and set a budget for yourself. THEN STICK WITH YOUR BUDGET! Don’t let salespeople talk you into spending more money than you planned.

Research price differences on the internet with a trusted site like Ebay. You could buy new or used but again, it is worth finding out how much the same item generally costs.

3) Play it BEFORE Your Buy It
Trying out the guitars you have short listed can be intimidating for beginners. It is important to remember that you are not in a guitar store to show everyone how good a guitar player you are – you are there to decide whether the guitar on your list is right for you.

One of the most important things about a guitar is how it “feels” when you play it. There are also mechanical things to check. Check the frets for buzzing by playing each one. Make sure that the neck is not warped by looking down it as if you were sighting a gun. Check that all of the volume and tone controls work.

4) Borrow Someone Else’s Experience
It is also a good idea to take an experienced guitarist along with you when you are looking at guitars. Not only will they be able to offer helpful advice, they will be good moral support when it’s time to pick up the guitar and play it in public.

Good luck with buying a guitar!

smoking kills

Gangstaz…..they`re getting older by the minute!

After last weeks biscuit tin expose today’s magnificent “homewares” based guitar art comes courtesy of the fine, fine craftsmen at Daddy Mojo!

If you have a penchant for the ostentatious and chocolaty flavours of the Republic of Cuba’s most famous export, hand rolled upon the thighs of young Cuban virgins then light up another top ranking stogie because when you’ve finished that box the fellas at Daddy Mojo can turn it into a world of acoustic delight worthy of any bluegrass, cotton-pickin’, square dancin’, chicken pickin` jamboree!

Just in case you’re wondering, the cigar box guitar is a primitive chordophone whose resonator is an empty cigar box. Because the instrument is (more traditionally) homemade, there is no standard for dimensions, string types or construction techniques.

Many early cigar box guitars consisted of only one or two strings that were attached to the ends of a broomstick that was inserted into the cigar box. Other cigar box guitars were more complex, with the builder attempting to simulate a traditional string instrument such as a guitar, banjo, or fiddle.

Cigar boxes in their current form did not exist exist prior to the 1840s when cigar manufacturers started using smaller, more portable boxes with 20-50 cigars per box.

The cigar box guitars and fiddles were also important in the rise of jug bands and blues. As most of these performers were black Americans living in poverty, many could not afford a “real” instrument. Using these, along with the washtub bass, jugs, washboards, and harmonica, black musicians performed the blues.

Each Daddy Mojo Cigar Box Guitar has it’s own unique sound and personality; they are made by hand one at a time in our small workshop in Montreal, Canada. They’re small, portable and almost indestructible…and let’s face it, they look cool as hell and attract major attention!

Daddy Mojo is proud to offer Paypal as an easy way of purchasing your custom cigar box guitar online — you do not need a Paypal account to take advantage of this new feature.

The Daddy Mojo Blog is here and the website is here.

Just to whet your appetite here are a couple of you tube videos from the Daddy Mojo website and they’re as strange as a fish!

Now,
if you’re a road rebel, a rouseabout and a rollingstone or just a good old fashioned hobo riding the rails then get your laughing gear around these sweet babies…

That`s right, when you wanna throw down The Chew Tobacco Rag around the old campfire, these smoking weed tins are ‘jes’ what you need!

SMOJO,

who are based in the U.K., make a a great range of smoke tin amplifiers just for the blackteeth connoisseur.

And they also make a few cigar box guitars too for that fashionable black lung look! These things sound absolutely SMOKIN’…like an egg fryin on a hot rail !

Well Folks, that’s just about all for now, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and it has inspired you to consider
looking into some more unusual guitars or instruments as well as given a little insight into the early history of the jugband blues phenomenon. There are some amazing modern day jugbands on you tube so check them out.

Even better though, I recommend looking out for an old gramophone player and getting yourself a collection of 78`s – they offer some of the hottest jazz and blues on the planet. As well as Doo-wop, Rockabilly and the humour of big band leaders such as Phil Harris, Spike Jones,

Here are Benny Goodman and Lightnin Hopkins cookin’ up on the shellac!!

Cheers,

Jake Edwards.

Which is the right way to learn?

With the explosion of the internet and the vast cornucopia of you tube videos, tablature sites and other resources available online it’s easy to forget that one of the key skills for any musician is the ability to listen. Before the internet came along most of us learnt from records – through attempts to emulate or approximate the playing of artists we enjoyed listening to. Not from the internet but through learning songs from records and playing along with them.

Eric Clapton, no fool when it comes selecting his musical sources, has consistently reiterated that he listened and learnt his trade from artists such as Freddie, B.B. and Albert King for example. He didn’t use tabs – he learned by listening. Nuances come across in listening: listening cannot be written down; and while tablature can be a fast shortcut to playing a piece of music there is an invaluable experiential quality to be gained from using your ears.

Because listening is exactly what you`ll be doing when you’re playing along with a group or in the studio it’s a very highly valuable exercise for any guitarist. The particular qualities of any high calibre guitarist cannot be expressed in tablature form. What makes a guitarist exceptional is the  combination of technique, timing, phrasing and tonal quality that they bring to their playing – facets that your ear alone can pick up.

It takes a long time but its worth taking the time to train your ear through replicating the sounds that you hear on records. To begin with you`ll struggle and find it difficult, but over time the process will become easier.

Being an imitator is the first step along the road to becoming a creator but there are ways of imitation. Looking up the tab on the internet is the fast easy way, but if you really want to develop then use your ears as well. Remember though the sound you`re really looking to find is the sound of yourself.

Remember if you have purchased Jamorama you’ll also have the GUITEARIT ear training software specifically designed for guitarists and it’s a great place to start training your ear in preparation for rocking out to your favourite songs and records. Groovy.

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

Boss have put together a basic interactive online pedal board that can help you configure and chain together some effects and sounds. If you are new to pedals then this is a great place to start. If you just want to listen to some great effected guitar then there is some awesome effect laden Ozric Tentacles and Steve Hillage space rock to listen to on our blog here!

It’s no substitute for heading down to your nearest guitar dealer and playing Stairway to Heaven for four hours but it might help get you in the mood.

Click here or on the picture to launch!

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

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Just check out some of their incredible work in this gallery! As you can see these guys can do just about anything including light emitting skulls,  chrome, mirrors, lazers, diamante type stuff and much much more!!!!

The Sims guys are based in Ashford Kent in the U.K..

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

Just connect the shiny red GuitarPort XT to your Windows® or Mac® machine with the included USB cable and connect the stereo output on GuitarPort XT to your computer speakers, headphones or stereo. Fire-up GuitarPort software, plug in your guitar and you’re ready to go!

If you own an iphone the world is your lobster ; sorry…er…oyster….because now you can dial up some serious guitar tones and rock out wherever you are on your iphone!!

iShred

iShred from Frontier Design is yet another guitar simulator for the iPhone, this time with an eye towards electrics, complete with stomp boxes and pedal effects. Unlike a lot of the other guitar apps out there, though, iShred looks fairly practical to use as a real instrument, allowing you to assign up to 10 chords to buttons at the top of the screen, leaving your other hand free to pick or strum. It’s the only practical way to do it—as cute as it may be to try to play chords on a virtual fret board, it’s nearly impossible to do so with any accuracy on the iPhone’s wide touch screen. iShred is $5 from the App Store.

Pocket Guitar

PocketGuitar turns your iPhone into a virtual guitar. Choose from six instruments — Acoustic-Electric Guitar, Electric Guitar, Classical Guitar, Muted Guitar, Electric Bass, and Ukulele — then press and strum the strings to play. Even apply different effects such as Distortion, Chorus, and Delay. Not only can you play your own songs, but you can even play along with any stored music you have on your iPhone too – that`s right you can jam along man!!

Keep it groovy!

Cheers,

Jake Edwards