Play what you sing, sing what you play

Once you can do this, So many have come to me to learn the kinda ultimate skill , "guitar soloing" and thought one can be master the mentioned skill overnight and it's only partly true.

YES !

You may learned it overnight but to solo like Van Halen? In your dreams bro...

You can only understand the soloing concept but far from really understanding the meaning,feel of Improvisation . The note choices the modes the tri tone substitution .

And yes it may seems to be intimidated , but its true to the bone. In order to solo like yngwie malmsteen, you need years of experience on improvisation or learn the top 100 best solo's of all time. But don't give up yet, if they can solo so can you. You only need to start now.

First all you need to do is be able to play the basic of guitar, means playing chords and single notes. Then practice singing what you play, make try to match what you play to what you sing. The. Idea is to sync your mind with the guitars note with your hands or fingers as the bridge.

The idea is simple, if you can't sing what you play. You don't know what you are doing at all.

So try....... and see if you are playing what you can sing..

Acoustic Guitar FAQ..

Dudes!!

How r you guys....??
Doing good? Rocking out? or Having a blasting time playing your Guitar?

Well, i have a story to tell. One of my students here in MSA is so into his guitar that he broke his guitar's neck during the night, lol.. because he slept with his guitar.....Fell and there you go....
HAHAHAHA funny, (i do slept with my guitar when i was young,oppss...)

OK, i have many questions about acoustic guitars lately...

How to buy a good acoustic guitar?
What is Solid top?
What is Quilted maple?
IS the bigger the body the better?
What is jumbo size?
What are nylon strings?
What is Parlor guitar?
Is there a 12 string guitar?


So i hope i can clear some of these things out, coz yes i answer all of them because i 'm consider a Guitar freak that take the guitar trivia very seriously... I mean VERY VERY SERIOUS.
HA HA HA..OK!

Solid Top:
SOlid top means that the top of the guitar body i mean the soundboard is made of a solid wood, which also means that it is a whole piece of wood originally and not laminated wood. Laminated wood = plywood of woods that glued together. So solid spruce ( wood from a pine like tree) are the famous tops that is used for acoustic guitars. The longer you use solid tops it will likely to have better tone as the wood gets older like wine... So the glue of laminated wood will cut the mid of tone sounds and imagine if you have an all solid construction of guitar. You'll move a tree when you play the guitar!!...

12 strings:
The mystery of the 12 strings, No you do not need 8 fingers to play the 12 strings. It is just 6 strings divided into 2 finer strings. So you will fret 2 strings together as you would fret 1 string in a normal 6 string. You will get a chorus like sound when you play the 12strings.you Dig?

Jumbo body & Parlor:
We have a few famous body type of acoustic guitars, we have a Dreadnought, 38" , Cutaways, Jumbos and Parlors.. Of course there are more, but these are the famous ones. Jumbos will have a big bottom body and parlors are small medieval type of guitars. SO every different shape will give you a different tone.

Quilted & flamed Maple Tops:
Just like solid tops, it is a decor top of the guitar. Just like the ones use in PRS's electric guitars. Like Tiger stripes = flame maple. Some guitars have quilted maple sides and backs and uses a spruce solid top. A very very beautiful combination. Makes any GAS infected personell drool over each guitar they see and hope one day of a huge guitar collection.

Truss Rod:
A metal stick inside your neck , you use it to setup the neck's tension. When your guitar go buzzing like a bee, it's time for a setup and adjust the rod. But pls bare in mind if you make big adjustments you might break a neck...Ouch..!

Tips on buying a Good Acoustic Guitar:
1) Make sure the guitar is not pregnant when you are going to buy it.- Some guitars are poorly kept or being kept too long with high tension on the strings.The bridge may seems like being pull off,hence the guitar body looks pregnant.

2) Low Action: -Pls do not buy a high action guitar. Might hurt your fingers and it will be like fighting Tyson when playing it...

3)Look out for the solid top if it mentioned, Look at the sides of the soundhole. You can see the grain all the way in if it's a solid top. If Not , Dont Get Conned!!

Well ...Thats all i can help on the input of buying and clearing some Acoustic Guitar WOnders...

Hope it helped and if you have any more questions pls do drop me a mail here...

musicstaracademy@gmail.com

Or just post it at Facebook...

So long!!

  Ok check this out...
You GOT SEE BEFORE 
7 string Classical guitar meh???
Kena pawn right???

Guitarist Not A Guitarist?

Taking guitar lesson for 2 years, memorize all common chord shapes, practice scales up and down the fretboard everyday. Still not a guitarist? Still can't perform or telling people you're good at playing the guitar?

Still doubt with yourself about if you really can play the guitar after all this? Thought about you're not born to play it?

Have you ever run those words through your head sometimes?

recently i have a student, just came to me about a few months ago. He have been changing guitar teachers because he thought that the problems he is having is simply because the teacher is just not good enough.

Partly true , i saw him as a guitarist with many musician problems.

As mentioned, he is well equip with chords , scales and some pop tunes. But as i look into those musician eyes, i saw him trapped.

Trapped by his own mind. After the few lessons i gave him, is not to improve him but for me to analyse his problems. the problems that is preventing him from excelling to be better, to improve.

I found out and i told him in the previous class,

I told him, the problems is not with your teachers. All that they taught you , you can perform well. The only stone stuck in your drain is your mind. I also found out that he have no favorite music, he does not listen to music much and only listen to the radio once in a while while in a car.

How can you play music if listening to music isn't one of your hobby?

All those are major problems, you may need to feed your ears in order to be creative and musical. Music IS a listening art. Why would you want to even play the guitar if you don't listen to music?

Ah HA!!!

I found the answer...... He said he saw a guitarist in a concert on television  , soloing his best on the guitar. That inspire him to pickup the guitar, and now he realize that he have forgotten about it when started learning.

Your first inspiration on picking up the guitar is very important, that determine and keeps your desire running while learning and playing music in your life.

He start learning and listening to music since that day, i expose him with many guitarist and different genre of music. He improve rapidly and most important he enjoyed more than before.

In MUSIC STAR ACADEMY we don't only give lesson, we cared if you don't enjoy the way you should in music. 

SO call us : 0123607139 - Dennis , 0166322678 - Teck Chai

We are always here to help you!!~~

Pedal Or Not??

Pedal? Multi-effects? StompboX? Wah? whammy? Delay?........
Ok, i'm very sorry i didn't update the blog and keep you cool guys waiting and wondering where have MSA blogger went. I was kinda BZ with MSA, more customers = more time needed to spend = less time to blog..LOL
Back to Topic before i go wander around to other stuffs....Oh ya... PEDALS!!
You may have 2, you may have 5 or you may have 50...
It's all the gadgets guitarist or bass player need to satisfied their lust to have the PERFECT TONE!! The Perfect SOUND! the Perfect Whatever the creative music hears in his or her head..
How many do you have?
Me? i used to have 25 of them.... sold them off...down to 5 and wanting more...LOLZ

Ok...what's the big deal about this post??

I recently got a question on MSA's Facebook, A guy named Lim Mingqin ask about "Bass Muff or Bass Blogger?" 

So i am going to answer that question in this post and share with all of you coz i think it's an interesting subject. Most people i know bought effect pedals even they don't know what it can do and what it's doing. They bought it for the sake of buying it, coz it's a trend to have some of these...

Well that's a sad thing to know.

1st we need to know what it is? It a box containing electronic components to change or alter the sound impulses to a desire Freq or any modification of the sound wave that it's unusual. Like a distortion pedal, emulate a burst/cracked up amp sound by expanding the sound wav to high and over the normal freq causes it to crack. then you have modulations like chorus/phaser/flanger and stuff which they control and mod the sound wav.

2nd we need to that in the real world we have tons of pedal available for purchase, but the questions is always which is the BEST PEDAL? There's NO BEST PEDAL, every pedal from every brand is unique. It all have certain tone or sound, coz the components used are different , the PCB board design are different . unless the China ripped of pedals...LOL.

SO for your answer my good friend, i can only let you know what Big Muff is and Bass Blogger have to offer and you need to make your decision, Big Muff is design based on the legendary overdrive sound of the British Big Muff for guitar, as if you use it on the bass you will get the bottom cut of, so Electro Harmonix build one for the bass like a big muff but with the bottom end uncut, so bass player can enjoy the sound of a big muff bass guitar.(= overdrive sound like a British amp/dirty) Bass Blogger in the other hand is a new tech from Electro Harmonix, this pedal you get both overdrive and also a fuzz, as they will not build the same sound pedal as both is from the same brand, this pedal is more boosted and able to crack and fuzz higher than the bass muff(=overdrive & Fuzz/dirty + higher driven sound). EZ to say that the bass muff is a vintage car and bass blogger is the modern sport car. Both is high in price and in trend but the different is the people that like it.. Some people like vintage cars and some like sports car, both is great but you need to know what type of bassist you are, metal? rock? or versatile?

if for me, i'll get the Bass muff this week and Bass blogger next week, the reason is that I'M a JUNKIE....

Anymore QUESTIONS? ask ask ask.....

   Check out some pedal boards i googled....

Guitar Hero > Any Good?

Heard this game before? Play this game before?

Before answering PLS watch this video BEFORE you go any further!!

Amazed? Ok in the game there's no nude dude like in this trailer.

When i first got this game it was in the Playstation console. Guitar Hero with a Mohawk guy on the cover. So i load it and started playing. Wow, i played the game for hours like there's no tomorrow. It's basically a rhythm based game where you press the buttons according to the screen telling you when to press it on tempo emulating the guitar notes while your hero is performing behind.

It's so fun cause you got Pantera's Cowboys from Hell! , Dragonforce's Through The Fire & Flames and hell all the songs that will keep your Mojo driving.The later series of the game let you customize a guitarist and also customize your very own guitar from the wood to finishes. For a hardcore Guitarist like me, This game is THE ONE !

The Question

Is it good? Rumors said that it's gonna kill the new generation to stop learning to play the real guitar.

Will it?

Well if you ask me. I think it's going to increase more guitarist in future. This game is exposing the young kids how is it like or how cool it is when you play the guitar. It's something that you can't tell anyone with words. How can you tell someone your feeling when you nailed down a hendrix's tune? Or how you feel when get to solo or while soloing a Van Halen's song? When you get real high tapping triplets on 240Bpm on a heavy metal backing track? 

You CAN'T. You need to do it to feel it.You need to cut into your own skin to feel the pain. Words can't do it alone. When kids play GUITAR HERO, they felt it. They will one day transfer that if not 100% but 60% to the real thing. Jamming on the real thing. 

Frankly, after playing Guitar Hero 80's Rock myself. I learned all the cool songs in the 80's that i never knew.

Then i try it on my guitar. Exposed to me then increase my vocab in music.

How Cool It That?

Playing VS Practicing

 Some students and fellow guitarist asked me why, why ,why ,why ,why they can't seems to improve in their playing? Why i can't get the sweep picking like Malmsteen after hours hours of guitaring ? and i get a lot of , I can't do it. I'm just a normal guitarist, i can't play like that. This is the best i can do.
Let me clarify on this...

All Guitarist Can Do What Others Can!!


The secret behind it? 

From my opinion, It started of from the state of mind.

?????????????????????????????????

Don't understand ? Let Me say it again

It started of from the state of mind.

Everything starts from your mind, = your thinking. How you think and believe.
If you think & believe you can sweep like malmsteen , sure you can after some serious practicing. If you don't believe, you will not ever get there even if you practice for 50 years. Self confidence i would say. Dig it?

After you got your mind set, the second thing is to understand this 2 terms correctly in English.

 Playing Guitar and Practicing Guitar.

Playing Guitar,

Is when you just pickup the guitar and strum or doodle of some tunes in your head. Randomly going through what comes to your mind , translating ideas from mind impulses to the sound of picked/strummed guitar strings. Nothing serious, challenging the creative mind.
What this improve?
Song writing, creative exercises, the interest of the guitar, to be spontaneousness.Create human guitar connections.    


Practising Guitar,


An organize schedule of improving tech or song reps. Practice on given exercises planned to improve a certain skill. Serious. Result based. Building memory to your finger muscle brains and articulations.
What this improve?
Your desired skill/tech/song reps. 

So what did common guitarist don't understand?


Let me tell you what common guitarist suffers from.
They started of practicing what their guitar tutors gives then after they got the 1st 2 to 3 skills they than turn from practicing to playing. 


Lack of determination?


Try applying what i said and observe. Try think practice than playing for now.
Set a goal and be like this...

SO take your time and till then... check out this Blues Singing Poodle.

Slide Along Side

(Recommneded to play the video while reading for max effect) :)

SLIDES......

Have you used them before? Tried one in your fingers? sliding them on your strings?

If i ask 10 guitarist here in Melaka, almost all of them are strangers to slide. Yes they knew what it is, what does it do and stuffs but not many seems to know how to use it. Heck i don't think they even own 1. 

The method used in playing slides are very different from the normal finger fretting way of common guitar playing. You fret a note play it and you have fingerings to remember and chords in standard tuning. Ok here's the catch, most guitarist here are lazy and afraid to tune their guitar to open tuning. Again , i don't think most of them know about open tuning. Open D, open G , coz most folks here don't know. Ignorant? I don't wanna answer that, i'll just say "hey, they just not expose to that". In playing slides, you now need to be on the fret not between anymore, the phrasing would need to change coz your sliding not fretting.  It's more organic here,   if you wanna play by books it's difficult coz now you need to use your ears just like a violin player.. Haha pawned, for the average guitarist that have years depending on the frets to tell them which note they are on. They can't seems to do it, then they choose to forget it and close it. For us in MSA, we actually teach slide guitar playing .... coz we can..(and i know they are slides player out there but unknown)

And i'm talking about playing slides to the songs of Elmore James, Muddy Waters and other great blues musician that started off playing with slides.

We have different type of slides to choose from, all differ from how they produce the tone. Steel slides, Ceramic slide, glass slides and the famous medicine bottle slides. Many more materials in producing slides. Lap steel guitar? That's too far for explanation, i don't think we have one in Melaka...LOL

FOr you guys who are interested in slide guitar playing , i would recommend to hear Derek trucks from Allman bros and also Warren Haynes. Elmore James, Muddy Waters and they will led you to more great slide guitar players.

We are selling also, the medicine bottle slide at RM25/=

Come get one and SLIDE ALONG SIDES!!!!

Wanna Update on Our MSA since it's now

4 MONTHS old... HURRAY!!!!!

Yes, we sold off our amps and guitars and now we are waiting for new stuffs to come in. More and more students and Later we are holding guitar forums!!!! Stay Tune!!!!!

Guitar's Core >> The Wood - body

From time to time, I got many students asking me about the guitar. What is it made of? Wood. Wood from a tree. The same wood you have in your furnitures. Your chair , table, cupboard...blablabla.
Ok . Why is it so expensive since it's only wood. Ah ha.... now they started thinking. Guitars are made of carefully chosen wood. Not the normal poplar you get in woodwork shops. (But nowadays China guitars uses poplar because it's cheap.) The wood commonly use in guitars are expensive, thus the price after it's been fully made into one.
The common wood used in branded guitars are:-

1) Basswood - more mid/inexpensive/widely use in Ibanez
2) Alder - more high and low/telecasters
3)Swamp Ash/Ash - USA wood/more mid & low
4)Mahogany - Thick sound/Strong low & mid lows.
5)Walnut - brighter/hard/strong mids.

6)Koa - upper mids/darker
7)Korina - super mahogany/sweet mids
8) Soft/hard Maple - brighter in mids/korea
9)Spuce - more high & lows.
10)Lacewood - brighter than Alder, richer than maple.

These are just common ones. The price will shoot up if the Koa is from a rare Japanese 1000 years old tree. Different wood body will influence the sound and tone of the guitar.This is the main important of the wood, the better the wood the better the cut the better the quality all contribute into the sound that the guitar will produce. Vai even said the body has a pitch, and the neck too. The combination of the neck and body will somewhat produce an interval. If the combo is a consonant it will sustain better , if dissonant vice versa. If Octave the better. All depends on the luthier. On how he wants the guitar to be.

One more cool thing about guitar bodies are, we have tops and base. Common tops are maples. Either a flame maple top/Tiger flame maple or Quilted maple , this add the difference in wood tone and of course the guitar looked fabulously awesome.
The wood that China ripoff guitars uses are mainly poplar, just like the cheap furniture you have in your house. The wood produce no tone, Flat and poor sustain. SO pls, stay away from them. RM250 for a jumpstart. Pls.... ROTFLOL

You can google around and look for more information what wood gives you what tone in detail.
WHY PRS guitars are expensive? They have employees to personally choose the wood to be use. Every wood have to be unique and top quality.

Cheers!~~~~

Guitar Lesson Number 1

It's about time i have this free online guitar lesson like every Guitar blog should have.
I wanted to do this ever since geocities started to host free website for noobies like myself.LOL
So for you all that wanna take the next step after Air Guitaring, Get a guitar and start Real Guitaring with Music Star Academy's Free Online Lessons!!!!!

Step 1) Get A Guitar - Doesn't matter what type, acoustic? classical? electric? just get one. But don't get a toy guitar or something that looks like a guitar but not playable. Go to a guitar store and get an entry level or Beginner's guitar. It wont cost you much. When you get it, make sure you can have it in standard tuning. If you have a friend to tune ,good. If not get a tuner and ask the store guy to teach you.With the power of Youtube, find a guitar tuning video. Not that hard with a tuner.
Getting your guitar in tune is the first most important thing to do.

Step 2) Guitar Anatomy - Learn it, know what is what. Headstock, tuning peg , bridge , soundhole, bla bla bla. If it's on your guitar, get to know what it is called and what does it do. You're a guitarist , when someone ask you what does the black thing on the end of your guitar do? you answered " Huh? i also don't know" , what a shame. ROTFLOL

Step 3) Holding the guitar - Learn the position of holding the guitar, the important thing here is comfortability. Make sure you're comfortable, if it's not. You're probably holding it the wrong way. Then , Learn what your right hand and left hand do. Right hand for strumming/holding a pick. Left hand holds the chord on the fretboard. Leftys vice versa.



Step 4) Learn Them Chords - This step, you will need to spend some time doing them. A chart is provided here, learn to hold all of them/ memorize them. then try changing them, from one to another as much as you can. Know them by name. This is where separate the ones that have passion in learning the guitar or the ones that have none. It's not easy but hardwork and passion will get you through. The more the better for now. Print it out. Practice whenever you can.
numbers on the black dots indicate your right hand fingers exclude the thumb. The line on the left = to the 6th string on the guitar/thickest string.

Till Lesson Number 2

Cheers~~!!