Ebay Musical Instruments
{$musical instruments}
All about Gibson Guitars. Trivia for Guitar Players. by Terry Booth
Gibson Guitars are a big force in the Guitar World. Gibson Guitars was originally formed by Orville Gibson who began his career making carved archtop mandolins in Kalamazoo, Michigan in the 1890s. Gibson transferred the same skills to making the first of the carved archtop acoustic guitars of the early 20th century. Gibson Guitars have now been a major producer of electric guitars and acoustic guitars for over 50 years.
One of the first developments initiated by Gibson Guitars was the adjustable truss-rod that lies inside the neck. This remains in almost total use today as it gives strength to the neck and also allows you to adjust the relief of the neck.
Another development of Gibson Guitars is the original shape “f” holes that we still see today in semi-acoustic guitars. Gibson also began using the floating pick guard. These two items gave a definite look to the first, (and following), big bodied archtop guitars.
In the 1930s, Gibson began to experiment with electrifying and amplifying the sound of the guitar. The initial ES range of electric acoustic archtop guitar was a big leap forward. The ES stood for Electric Spanish. The term Spanish was simply to distinguish it from the popular lap Hawaiian guitars of the time.
With the increasing popularity of electric or amplified guitars, the top end of the finger board could now be heard. Gibson Guitars had the idea to introduce the cut away stlye in the body shape. This was to be forever used in future electric guitars and many acoustic guitars and led to the world of the lead guitar hero.
Gibson Guitars had a good deal of success with the ES 175, electric guitar although it was still a hollow bodied archtop. The market however was excited about Fender’s 1950 Telecaster guitar so Gibson had to start some more development work of their own. In 1950 they released their first solid body in the form of the Gibson Les Paul Standard electric guitar.
In the early 1950s, it was not only Fender and Gibson Guitars who were putting research into the concept of the solid body guitar. Bibsby guitars were also carrying out some work as were Rickenbacker and National.
Les Paul was one of the foremost guitarists of the time. His real first name was Lester. Paul had himself been tinkering with the idea of solid body guitars. His first concept model was referred to as the log guitar. He approached Gibson Guitars with his ideas in the 1940s but was rejected outright. Once Fender released the Telecaster, Gibson went back to Les Paul and asked him to work with them.
Gibson and the other guitar companies wanted to pursue the solid body concept because it provided some unique benefits. The hollow bodied guitars had suffered from feedback when under amplification and this was certainly a sticking point. The solid bodies did not suffer as much from this. The solid body guitars also provided wonderful sustain of the pure natural sound from the strings. The solid bodies were lastly much easier to produce.
The first Les Paul Standard guitar was released in 1952. Les Paul received an endorsement contract for a 5 year period which was worth 5% of retail sales. The first Gibson Les Paul cost $210 and was referred to as the Gold Top.
Gibson Guitars like all companies appreciated the need to move with new products. In 1958, Gibson introduced the sunburst appearance of the Les Paul Standard which proved very popular. This guitar in particular is now a collector’s item. 1958 was also the year, that Gibson added the extra cutaway to the body shape of the Les Paul Junior and Les Paul Standard. This would soon lead to the SG model which simply stands for Solid Guitar.
At the same time, the general guitar playing public were getting interested in the look of their guitars and not just the sound and feel of the guitar. In response to this Gibson introduced some crazy shapes which were to fill a future niche market. These shapes were the legendary flying V and the Gibson Explorer. The double necked guitar was also produced at the same time. Gibson Guitars have since remained a force for guitar players worldwide.
Author: Terry Booth has always been keen on Gibson Guitars since being given his first instrument, (a Japanese Les Paul copy) as a young child. Visit Terry’s website GuitarPlayersWorld.com
Article Source: http://www.earticlesonline.com/Article/All-about-Gibson-Guitars–Trivia-for-Guitar-Players-/294494
{$musicial instruments}
Drum Practice: 4 Things To Do In Every Session by Dan Brown
If you want to increase your level of drumming fast you obviously need to practice as regularly as possible.
Since many drummers find it difficult to find time to practice for long periods of time, they don’t practice at all. This is “all or nothing” thinking and leads to failure in everything it’s applied to.
Here’s a fact: It’s better to practice your drums for 5-20 minutes everyday than one or two hours on just one day per week. The key is getting into a habit of quick, regular drum practice sessions. It’s the repetition of these short practice sessions that will propel your drumming to new levels rather than the infrequent, marathon sessions.
So, be encouraged if you feel like you don’t have enough time to practice your drums. Just carve out 5-20 minutes three, four, or more days per week! That’s all. Once you do that, you can get down to business.
Here’s four things you should include in every one of your short drum practice sessions…
1. Practice two or three drum fills that you have heard and really liked.
Practice these drum fills over and over and try not to stray from them and go off on something else. The temptation to do so is definitely there because practicing fills is a lot of fun. Stay focused until this part of your practice session is through!
2. Work on memorizing one of your favorite songs.
It’s amazing to me why so many drummers do not do this. Maybe they think they are copying someone else’s style and they feel guilty, I don’t know. What I do know is, memorizing your favorite songs is a great tool that most drummers should utilize for three reasons…
a) it helps you to continue to be a good time keeper,
b) it helps you to get a feel for where to put fills and where not to put them in your own songs,
c) and it’s just plain fun.
3. Practice with your metronome.
This part of your drum practice session is the most intense and requires the most discipline simply because it tends to not be much fun. Even though it may not be much fun, it is definitely necessary and shouldn’t be left out!
Set your metronome to 60 beats per minute and play your bass drum to it. Then add the hi-hat by alternating three beats per bass drum beat, then four, and then six. After practicing that at 60 beats per minute, increase your metronome to 80 beats and do the same thing, then again at 100.
Drumming along with a metronome will improve your time keeping dramatically.
One thing that helps you get past the unpleasantness of practicing with your metronome is to do this exercise first and get it over with. But, whether you choose to do it first or not, just do it!
4. Work on your known weaknesses.
Whether you feel your left hand is holding you back, or your left leg is a problem, get them up to speed with everything else so your whole body functions as one.
For example… if you’re right handed practice riding your hi-hat with your left hand for a while. Also, practice crashing your cymbals with your left hand. If you have a double bass drum set or a double kick pedal invest some time just using your weak foot.
Conclusion…
When you organize your drum practice sessions by breaking things down into small bite sized pieces it becomes do-able and fun. Just remember, “all or nothing” thinking leads to failure! Simply carve out 5-20 minutes three, four, or more days per week.
Here’s another tip, if you find it difficult to find enough time to practice all four things I have mentioned in this article in any one session, split them up by alternating two of them in alternate sessions.
Dan Brown has been drumming since 1976. Get his FREE report
“Mind Your Drumming: 10 Attitudes That Will Make You a Star”
when you subscribe to his FREE Weekly Drum Smart Newsletter…
http://www.dbdrumtips.com/freenewsletter.html
Article Source: http://www.earticlesonline.com/Article/Drum-Practice–4-Things-To-Do-In-Every-Session/38091
