Online Guitar Lessons are becoming more and more popular everyday. With the Internet now almost anyone can get access to anything in seconds, and guitar lessons are not the exception. They are very looked for because of the fact that you can go to your very own “guitar school” or “music school” in your pajamas, you don’t get to see anyone and nobody gets to see you.

Another big reason why online guitar lessons are so popular is because of their low cost. Usually a private teacher can cost you anywhere from $30.00 to $100.00 an hour, or higher sometimes, and with the online methods you only have to pay either once or a ridiculously low monthly subscription fee in comparison with a private tutor.

I’m going to mention the obvious, another feature that online guitar lessons have is that you can pause and rewind the video or the DVD and you get the chance to see how its done a million times, I know, It happened to me and still happens when I begin to learn a new solo.

So, what are your benefits? Well, besides the ones mentioned above:

• You have the chance to try the courses for free before buying one, well at least some of them.

• You are able to learn at your own pace, and that is extremely important; by using the videos you can actually take your time with no pressure, and by doing this, you do not feel the frustration that other people might feel in a classroom filled with guitarists.

• If you feel that a lesson is too easy for you, you just move or jump to the following one and begin working in the next level, by doing this, you are learning faster than if you were taking classes.

• There is no risk because most of the time they offer a solid money back guarantee, giving you the opportunity to use the training and if you don’t like it ask for your investment back, just like a shoe.

On the other hand, my way to see it is that the guitar lessons online put 50% of the training, the new guitar player brings the other 50%, this means that the lessons are excellent, but they are not magical, it requires work hard, sacrifice, time and a lot of practice, specially when you are starting.

The ingredients for an awesome guitarist are excellent guitar lessons and the will to be the best.

Have a nice day.

Looking for a couple of FREE guitar lessons? check http://www.guitarlessonshowtoplay.com and get ready to jam!

The beginner-level instrument market is a moderately tough niche to crack. There’s no dearth of beginner-level musical instruments, and you can even purchase them at major retail merchants such as Wal-Mart or Target.

However, the old adage “you get what you pay for” applies when purchasing a instrument at the same place you can buy motor oil. Obviously, it’s challenging to buy a good, novice instrument without wasting your money.

You should look no further than the Epiphone Les Paul Special II, which costs less than $170. Though it’s patently a guitar aimed at the budget market, you still get a lot of bang for the dollar.

The Epiphone Les Paul Special II is a noteworthy entry into the budget instrument market with its solid playability and full sound.

The Epiphone Les Paul Special II sports two open-coil humbucking pickups (the 700T and 650R), which transforms the acoustic tone from its basswood body. The guitar boasts a bolt-on neck (mahogany) and a rosewood fretboard. A tune-o-matic bridge with stopbar tailpiece are stock, as are dot inlays.

A 3-way selector switch along with master volume and tone controls permits you to set your sounds. The guitar’s specs include a 24-3/4″ scale and 1-5/8″ nut width.

Before we could really put the guitar through its paces, we had to make some minor readjustments, such as setting the intonation and action properly. The pickup selector needed some contact cleaner to remove some scratchiness, and the tuners also needed to be tightened a touch.

However, these troubles were relatively modest. Overall, we were quite happy with the quality of the Les Paul Special II. The finish (wine red) looks genuinely nice overall, but it is a touch thin, so you have to try not to nick it too bad.

Overall, both the sound and the action were very solid, particularly for a sub-$200 guitar. The neck did have a couple of dead spots, but that’s to be anticipated for budget guitars. It’s still a wonderful instrument for the money.

Especially considering its low cost, we think the Epiphone Les Paul Special II is a outstanding guitar for the beginner or someone looking for an inexpensive practice instrument.

If you are looking for a great price on a guitar for beginners or for a great inexpensive guitar, you should definitely consider a Epiphone Les Paul, particularly the Les Paul Special II. For the absolutely lowest prices, look no further than Ray’s Guitar Shop, which offers the best prices on all new and used electric and acoustic guitars on the Internet.

No matter what key you are playing in, knowing which frets to use on the guitar is pivotal in your playing ability. Memorizing scale shapes is a great way to remember where your fingers should go.

What is a scale shape?

Scales shapes are patterns created on the fretboard when you play out a scale. Before we get into scale shapes, you need to know that major and minor scales are derived from a series of major and minor intervals. This means that there is a sequence of intervals used in building any scale. These are as follows:

Major: M M m M M M m
Minor: M m M M m M M

Now the relation between a major or minor interval to the fretboard, is

One minor interval= 1 fret
One major interval= 2 frets

(for the sake of this exercise: — represents a string; | represents a fret; and the capitol letter at the beginning represents which string)

Now if we were to play our scale on one string, we would get:

Major: 2:2:1:2:2:2:1
Or E |–1–|—-|–2–|—-|–3–|–4–|—-|–5–|—-|–6–|—-|–7–|–8–|

Minor: 2:1:2:2:1:2:2
Or E |–1–|—-|–2–|–3–|—-|–4–|—-|–5–|–6–|—-|–7–|—-|–8–|

But playing on one string can be very limiting, we want to be able to utilize the entire guitar right, meaning all of the strings, and that is where scale shapes com into play. A major scale shape plays that same sequence, but utilizes all six strings.

A major scale shape on the guitar would look like this:

E ||—–|–7–|–1–|——|—–|
B ||—–|–5–|——|-6—|—–|
G ||–2–|—–|–3–|–4–|—–|
D ||–6–|—–|–7–|–1–|—–|
A ||–3-|–4–|——|—5-|—–|
E ||—–|–1–|——|–2–|—–|

And a minor scale shape would look like this:

E ||——|–1–|—–|–2–|–3–|
B ||——|–5–|–6–|—–|–7–|
G ||–2–|–3–|——|–4–|—–|
D ||——|–7–|—–|–1–|——|
A ||——|–4–|—–|–5–|–6–|
E ||——|–1–|—–|–2–|–3–|

Carlton Heywood is a music enthusiast, check out more lessons like this here, view some of the free video lessons, or click here to sign up for a completely free guitar tutorial.

You’ve just purchased a set of guitar plans and are ready to get started building your guitar. But you don’t want to cut or damage your original paper plans to build the templates. What do you do?

Yes, you can easily make extra copies by going to a copy store but some of those drawings have copyrights attached to them, and we do not want to infringe on those laws. This simple yet traditional procedure of making templates will work in any situation you are in and in your own shop.

Materials You Will Need – Here are the things you will need to create the template. You probably already have them on hand.

• A pair of scissors or hobby knife for cutting
• Charcoal pencil or colored chalk for carbon copy
• Masking tape
• A pencil to trace and mark
• Template material like thin cardboard or a thick poster board.

Step 1 – Prepare to transfer the guitar shape to the poster board. This technique is called making a carbon copy. Take the guitar plans and place it face down over a white surface on a table, if you can not see the lines clearly then take the plans and put it face down on a lighted background. This can be on a lighted table or against a window in you shop during the day. The point is that you want to clearly see the lines on the front when looking at the backside of the plans.

Step 2 – Trace over the lines. Using the charcoal pencil or colored chalk begin to trace or mark over the line of the guitar shape and sound hole. This does not need to be pretty or precise just make sure it is thick in width and over the necessary lines. When you are done take a tissue paper and lightly wipe off the excess charcoal or chalk.

Step 3 – Now you are ready to make your carbon copy. Position the poster board (or thin cardboard) securely on a table. Then overlay it with the guitar plan with the charcoal side face down making contact to the poster board. Next, secure the guitar plan to the poster board with the masking tape. Begin easily tracing over the guitar shape and sound hole with your pencil. There is no need to press hard because the charcoal will transfer with just light pressure.

Step 4 – When you’re done tracing over the guitar outline, gently remove the tape and lift the plan away from the poster board. Now that the outline is visible on the poster board, take a minute to darken the line with your pencil.

Step 5 – Now it is time to cut out your template. Using a pair of scissors or a hobby knife, cut out the shape of the guitar. Take time with your cutting to avoid any rough edges. Remember, this is your template, and you want it nice and smooth.

Your guitar template is now complete just repeat the process for the neck, bracing patterns, side panels, and other templates as you have need of them.

For more great tips and articles on guitar plans and guitar building, visit http://www.cadguitarplans.com.

Rickey Brunet, founder of CAD Guitar Plans, provides digital guitar plans for Luthiers and guitar hobbyist.

For a selection of digital guitar plans and other instrument plans, visit CAD Guitar Plans. You’ll find guitar plans for classical, acoustic, electric, bass, and archtop guitars, as well as ukulele and banjo plans.

What is Beat-matching?

It is the art of mixing two musical compositions together seamlessly by speeding up or slowing down one of the songs to align their rhythms.

Basically, you need to be able to hear whether the beat you are adjusting is faster or slower. In order to do this you need skill which comes from an ear for tempo and lots of practice.

A good DJ knows how to beat-match, and I’m going to share with you 7 steps to getting started.

Step 1:

You need to have a way to listen to one track in the headphones while another track is playing on the main sound system.

Step 2:

Play a track though the sound system.

Step 3:

Find another track in your headphones you want to beat-match with the one playing. (This is done on a DJ mixer by turning on the Cue for the track you want to listen to.)

Step 4:

Find the first beat of the track you are going to mix in, and hold it right there. If you’re using turntables or CDJs you can just grab on to the top of the record or CDJ to essentially pause the track where the beat begins.

Step 5:

Listen to the beat playing through the main speakers. Wait for it to get to the first beat of a cycle. (Music in 4/4 timing usually is all built around cycles of 4 and 8 counts. ie. 4 beats in a bar, and 4 bars segments that lead to builds and changes in the music.) When you feel the music hit on the first beat with a crash or whatever, that is right when you want to play the beat you are mixing in. (in your headphones only)

Step 6:

Immediately after releasing your hold on the record or CDJ, you must listen closely in your headphones with one ear to detect whether the beat you are mixing in is going slower or faster than the one already playing. If it’s going slower then adjust the pitch slider, and maybe even give it a little push to help it catch up to record A faster. If it’s going faster than record A then turn down the pitch slider on the turntable or CDJ accordingly to make it the same speed. You may even want to touch the side of the turntable plate or CDJ to slow it down faster.

Step 7:

Once you have the beats aligned perfectly (or close to anyway), move the cross fader on the DJ mixer to the center with the bass cut on the beat you are mixing in. (you don’t want the basses of both tracks going at the same time) Then when it seems like the right moment switch the basses either slowly or fast and the switch over to the next track on the first beat of first cycle.

This articles was written by DJ Story who has been a DJ/Producer since 1999, and you can see beat-matching examples in his Electro House mix videos on his website. Make sure to explore IntuitiveBeats.com for updates, tutorials, and music downloads.