Choosing a musical instrument is a very personal decision. The musician needs to hold and play the instrument before buying it and should be able to play well enough to know how hard or easy a particular instrument is going to be for him or her to play. Just as the brand name, color, style, fabric and a host of other criteria come into play when deciding which clothes to buy, so it is with musical instruments. The make and model of an instrument represents a particular genre or style of music. For instance; a Gibson Les Paul guitar is used by hard rock bands, the Gibson SG is used by sixties style rock bands and psychedelic bands, the Rickenbacher 12 string is famous as a folk rock guitar. The Fender Stratocaster is a classic rock guitar and surf music guitar. The Danelectro Baritone is the classic sixties surf guitar. The Gretch is a country guitar and the B.C. Rich guitars are popular for Heavy Metal. Of course, these are generalizations but the beginning musician needs to have a clear idea of what kind of music he or she wants to play and what kind of genre their band will be. The amplifiers, although important, do not contribute to the uniqueness of the sound as much as they once did since now effects units, sold as small foot pedals, can give the player a wide variety of sound effects and simulate the sound of many guitar and amplifier combinations.
One important aspect of being a musician is equipment maintenance. Since staying in tune is still a bit of a requirement, here are some pointers: Use a tuner. There are many good, inexpensive electronic guitar tuners available these days so there is no excuse for an out of tune performance. Sometimes, however, the guitar may seem in tune when you’re playing down on the neck but out of tune when you play higher on the neck. This is because the neck is out of alignment or the strings need to be calibrated. If the neck is out of alignment the truss rod that runs up the center of the neck needs to be adjusted and it should be taken to a professional guitar tech. Most music stores can recommend a good tech if they don’t employ one themselves. If your strings need to be “strobe tuned” a professional should also be called on but with an electronic tuner, you can do some adjusting yourself. The basic idea is that the strings should be the same distance from the twelfth fret to the nut (the bar where the head joins the neck) as they are from the twelfth fret to the bridge. That’s what those little screws are for at the bridge. Using an electronic tuner, you start by hitting the harmonic on the 12th fret by putting your finger on one string at a time at the 12th fret but do not depress your finger. Strike the string as you quickly pull your finger off the string. It may take a little practice but you should hear a ringing sound. The tone from this harmonic is cleaner and purer that the actual note. Tune the guitar to that note then press your finger down on the 12th fret and play the note. If it is out of tune you will need to turn the screw at the bridge slightly and continue to tune between the note and the harmonic until they are both in tune.
A lot of hard rock guitar players sand the varnish off the back of the necks of their guitars since the heat of stage lights as well as the heat coming off their hands heat up the guitar necks and they will actually warp slightly. This is why you may be perfectly in tune back stage but after ten minutes onstage you’re out of tune. Sanding off the finish with a fine grain sand paper until the guitar neck feels like a baseball bat allows the wood to breath and it handles heat a lot better.
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