Are you new to guitars and ready to make your first guitar purchase? Are you a seasoned player who owns several guitars and you find yourself adding to your guitar collection? No matter which category you find yourself in, getting the most from your instrument purchase is very important. It is also important to understand the types of electric guitars available.

The choices include:

1. Solid Body Electric Guitars

2. Hollow Body Electric Guitars

3. Semi Hollow Body Electric Guitars

4. Acoustic/Electric Guitars

5. Pedal Steel Guitars

6. Hawaiian Style Lap Guitars

Guitars, and particularly electric guitars are not created equal. There are many brands of electric guitars to choose from. Making the right choice when purchasing a guitar will depend on some basic factors

Here are 5 tips to help you in choosing the right electric guitar.

Tip 1. Evaluate your level of commitment to the instrument and the art of music.

Before you choose your electric guitar be sure you understand the level of commitment that you are prepared to invest into the instrument. Electric guitars can be expensive and understanding the level of dedication you plan to invest in the instrument should play a vital role in choosing your guitar.

Tip 2. Identify your particular application for the instrument.

If you are a beginner and just learning to play the instrument, your application will be quite different from an intermediate or advanced guitarist who is adding to their collection. Determine your particular situation and application for the guitar you will purchase. Consider whether or not you will be keeping the instrument at home or frequently traveling with it. For example, if you plan to keep the instrument at home for recreational use, you may want to consider including a less expensive case for the guitar. Road cases can be costly and will not be neccesary if you do not travel with the guitar.

Tip 3. Identify your budget and include patience regarding your guitar purchase.

Many aspiring guitarists have wandered into the local music store only to be overwhelmed by the vast choices and different price ranges of guitars. As with any purchase, pre-planning and understanding your budget is critical. Prices for electric guitars range from a few hunderd dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. If you are serious about playing the guitar, selecting your instrument will be one of the most important decisions you make. Be sure to take ample time during this stage of the process. Patience is more than a virtue when selecting your guitar.

Tip 4. Consult a professional to get tips on guitar quality and performance.

It is a good idea to take the time to visit several musical instrument dealers in your area. Retail guitar shops will be more than happy to help you understand what to look for when buying an electric guitar. Get several opinions if you are new to guitars. Most guitar outlets will have seasoned players on staff who will be happy to impart their experience and wisdom. Ask questions. Find out what you need to consider when selecting an electric guitar. Getting several opinions in this area will shed light on the overall picture and will be very beneficial information when it comes time to buy.

Tip 5. Include additional items and training resources to help you get started playing the guitar.

Once you have made the right guitar purchase, be sure to have additional items on hand that will be vital to the process of learning. You will need an extra set of guitar strings, some extra picks, a tuner and a stand for your guitar. It is also very important to purchase some beginner books that include chord charts, guitar tab and chord progression exercises.

About: The author is passionate about musical instruments. He is pursuing a course in music recording. He recommends this online music store for getting familiar with all the products related to music.

If you like to learn to play guitar, the best way to do so is to visit The Guitar Classroom and get yourself some online guitar lessons.

The guitar is an instrument that is more than 5000 years old. Traces of this instrument can be discovered in ancient central Asia. It has given a charm and beauty to many cultures. In the medieval Spain, playing the guitar was the favored form of offering courtship.

The journey of the guitar has been a long one. Historians believe that the lute could have been a predecessor of the guitar and that the Europeans transformed it so that it was different from the Moors. What ever may have been its history, guitar enjoys a warm place in our hearts. Through its melodious strumming, tears or laughter can be generated. One can dance or sleep. Hate can be banished to give place to love.

How does it work? The guitar has many strings that need to be strummed to give forth sound through its sound box. It has a Headstock at the top of the guitar. Behind are located the machine or tuning heads. They help in adjusting the pitch and quality of the strings of the guitar of the guitar. A tightening gives a deeper sound while loosening gives forth a lighter sound. The nut on the other hand is located where the headstock meets the fret board and is made out of ivory plastic or bone. It also determines the sound of the strings as it is on the endpoint of the strings tension.

The fret board is a piece of wood that stretches across the neck and it is flat in classical guitars while curved in electronic guitars.
Frets are metal strips placed along the fret board to adjusts and help in setting up the notes. The guitar has also a truss rod, which runs along the inner neck, which can be readjusted, by a bolt or nut.

What is a neck of a guitar? The tuners, headstock, strings, frets, fret board and truss rod all together join to a long piece of wood is the neck of the guitar. This piece of wood is then joined to a carefully crafted body. The body determines the quality of sound from the guitar. It is made with care and requires a lot of effort. Only 2 to 3 MM thick, it is braced with many internal braces for the best performance.

With its wonderful sound, the guitar has entertained many. This instrument became very popular during the jazz age. Singers like Sinatra made guitar a main part of their music. Later on, folk singers like Neil young and Simon and Garfunkle made guitars a part of everyday people.

The guitar has always enjoyed a place in our hearts. Through its different variations like electrical guitar, violin and banjo’s, it has won over a great following. In the 19th century, this was the sole means of entertaining people in the mining camps while people were away from their homes in California. Soldiers also used guitars in the wars for their pleasure and so it has continued. Guitar is the best friend when you have no one else. The singing and playing of Erik Clapton can never be forgotten can it now?

The Guitar Classroom offers online guitar lessons in a wide variety of guitar styles. So visit The Guitar Classroom if you like to learn to play guitar

The Gretsch White Falcon

The Gretsch White Falcon is a visually unique guitar which was commercially introduced in 1955. While it has seen vast and substantial changes to its body shape and features through the years, and is currently offered in several styles, the White Falcon has always maintained a striking and unmistakable presence and has become a highly recognized piece of Rock history.

The White Falcon is best known for its large 17-inch size and distinctive appearance, with gleaming white paint, copious gold trim, and a falcon in mid-flight engraved on the gold pick guard.

In early 1954, Gretsch marketing strategist Jimmie Webster sought to design a guitar to top the top-of-the-heap Gibson Super 400. He wanted a ‘Dream Guitar’, and gained his inspiration by walking through the immense Gretsch factory and watching the construction of the staggering diversity of musical instruments the company produced. From the banjo production line, Webster recalled the engraved pearl inlays that adorned the fretboard and headstock. Many of Gretsch’s drums were covered with thick sparkly gold plastic that could also be used as binding on guitars. The combination of these eye-catching features with an immense 17 inch wide by 2-3/4 inch deep white body and highest quality gold-plated hardware rendered ‘The Cadillac of Guitars’, the White Falcon. It was unveiled at the NAMM show in July of 1954 and was displayed as ‘The guitar of the future’. Gretsch initially had no plans to actually manufacture the model. It was supposed to be a showpiece, much like GM’s Motorama ‘Dream Cars’ of the day.

The volume of questions sales reps received about the eye-catching instrument led to a reevaluation of this position, and the White Falcon hit stores in 1955. As the company’s new high-end guitar, Gretsch marketed it as ‘the finest guitar we know how to make – and what a beauty!’ A high caliber player could walk away with the White Falcon for $600 at that time ($4123 adjusted for inflation); this price tag was the second largest on the market, after the $690 Gibson desired for their Super 400CESN.

So popular was the White Falcon (and other Gretsch models of the time) that this era in Gretsch guitar history is frequently referred to as ‘The Golden Years’. Through the ’60s, Webster continually ‘improved’ the Falcon with more features, including a Stereo version. By the late ’60s, the Falcon was covered with controls and knobs. It has also switched to a twin-cutaway body beginning in 1962.

With over a decade of accomplishment, Fred Gretsch retired in 1967 and, upon such, sold his company to Baldwin Manufacturing. Baldwin would have trouble understanding guitars in general and the White Falcon in particular, which disastrously failed to evolve smoothly out of the rockabilly era. Most who were inspired by the new hot guitarists Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and other musical greats were turning to Fender, rather than Gretsch.

To make matters worse, the rapidly deteriorating Baldwin Manufacturing experienced two destructive fires at its new Arkansas plant in 1973. Gretsch limped through the 70s’ and finally closed production in the 80s’. Falcons soon became instruments only collectors owned and swiftly became forgotten altogether. In 1989, Fred Gretsch III resumed control of the family business and began making guitars again. These instruments are based on classic Gretsch designs, including the venerable White Falcon.
From its introduction in 1954 through today, the White Falcon has always been known for its white finish, ebony fingerboard, 17 inch wide hollow body, gold-plated hardware, engraved gold pick guard, and gold sparkle binding.

Notable White Falcon Players

You probably do not own a Gretsch White Falcon guitar, but what ever guitar you do own, you can get your online guitar lessons from The Guitar Classroom, so you can learn to play your guitar like a professional guitarist, and maybe get yourself a beautiful Gretsch White Falcon

The Guitar Training Course is a guitar courses available in The Guitar Classroom

I think online guitar lessons is by far the best way to learn to play guitar, maybe a private guitar teacher is better, but very expensive.

The huge advantage online guitar lessons have over other guitar learning methods is the price. Online guitar lessons are very cheap, especially if you consider what you are getting for your money.

Most lessons come with lots of video lessons, audio samples and it is common practice to give a whole lot of extra’s with the guitar course, software to help you with your guitar study like a digital metronome, to help you to stay at the right speed.

Another advantage of our online guitar lessons is the fact that they are available right away, no matter what time or day it is, you pay and you download your guitar lessons straight away.

And last but certainly not least there is the 8 weeks guarantee, it is mentioned before on this blog, but this is a huge benefit of our online guitar lessons. What ever sort of guitar lessons you take, most will not give you back your money if, for what ever reason, you do not like the lessons.

All in all we would advice you, if you want to learn to play guitar, to have a look at the online guitar lessons available in The Guitar Classroom.

59es Gibson Electric Guitar

The electric guitar is a guitar with steel or nickel strings. The vibration of these strings is picked up and converts into an electrical current by so called pickups, and then amplified.

In 1931 the Rickenbacker company was the first to make electric guitars, this were normal hollow bodied guitars with tungsten steel pickups.

The first solid body electric guitar was made by Les Paul, but the first successful solid body electric guitar was the Fender Esquire, made in 1950.

The electric guitar played a major role in the development of musical styles such as blues, rock and roll, rockabilly and blues rock.

In the Guitar Classroom you will find electric guitar lessons

The guitar is descended from a couple of old instruments, among them the old Roman cithara, the four string oud from the Moors, and the Scandinavian lut, or lute.

In the 13^th century there were 2 types of guitar, the Moorish guitar with a rounded back and pretty wide neck, and the Latin guitar which looked already like the modern guitar.

In the 15^th century these instruments had developed in to something called guitar. Some instruments were played with a bow; this of course led to the development of the violin.

In the next centuries the guitar developed into what we now call an acoustic guitar, it is only in the 20^th century that the development of the electric guitar took place.

Visit The Guitar Classroom if you want to learn to play guitar