Learn to Play Guitar Like Zz Top’s Reverend Willie G

 

Billy F. Gibbons is the kind of guy that is irresistible to watch and hypnotic to hear when he’s on stage with his 1959 Gibson Les Paul electric guitar known to the blues and rock world as “Miss Pearly Gates.” Gibbons, recognized also as “Reverend Willie G.” is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the band ZZ Top. While he has achieved his infamy through his music, he is also an ordained minister with license to perform weddings in 49 states. Anyone that would like to learn to play guitar like the Reverend ought to know that his distinctive sound is the result of using a quarter or a peso as a guitar pick and his masterful use of harmonics.

Gibbons was born and raised in Houston, Texas and is touted to be one of the finest blues-rock guitarists to emerge from the state, alongside the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan. He had musical influences in his early years; his father, Fred Gibbons played the piano and gave him appreciation for classical and country sounds. The family’s Afro-American housekeeper introduced him to the blues.

In 1963 at the age of 13, Gibbons received a Gibson Melody Maker electric guitar with a Fender Champ amp and commenced to emulate the new sounds of rock n’ roll bursting from the TV and radio through Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Jimmy Reid. Gibbons was favoured while in his band, Moving Sidewalks by one of history’s all-time favourite guitarists, Jimi Hendrix. When the band folded in 1969 he pushed his way permanently onto the music scene when he hooked up with fellow Texans, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard of American Blues to form ZZ Top.

The band was named after the blues master B.B. King and was initially Z.Z. King. The band members shortly changed it to ZZ Top so it didn’t sound too much like their blues hero. Despite the fact that ZZ Top has sold in the range of 60 million records, one of the most memorable moments Gibbons recalls was an early performance when he was relatively unknown.

“Perhaps one of the first performances where the curtain opened and we were greeted by the one paying customer of the evening. We looked at each other, and then launched into the show. Played the first set, took a break, went out and bought the guy a Coke and went back and completed the night. We’re still friends with the guy!”

Many aspiring blues guitarists have attempted to mimic Gibbon’s eccentric style over the years but it can be frustrating to make it sound as good as the master. Fortunately for us, there is a guitar tuition program available that features Billy Gibbons breaking down his techniques into easy to follow steps. Online guitar lessons give you the chance to begin practicing his famous blues riffs at a slow pace until you can really get going. Gibbons followed some of the greatest musicians in the country while developing his unique style and now technology has made it a simple approach to learning from the genius that changed the course of music history.

 

More Learn To Play Guitar Articles

Discover To Play Guitar Like a Pro

The guitar is a very appealing musical instrument.

It is straightforward to understand the recognition it enjoys, because regardless of the musical genre, the guitar regularly plays a necessary part in any song. The lead vocalists in most well liked bands also plays the guitar. So, if you’re one of the hundreds that want to learn to play guitar, keep reading.
But learning how will need many things from you, so think conscientiously,

If you learn to play guitar it will be difficult if you can’t handle the following facts,
* If you make a decision to learn to play guitar, as with any instrument it will require some time and money.

* Learning to play guitar is not very easy ; no short-cut exists to let you to play like a professional, there are no necromancy spells or brain implants either.
* Learning how to play guitar will take time and you shouldn’t expect to pick up a guitar and have it mastered within a week. You should be expecting to put the work into it and that implies you’ve got to practice. You need to find out how to tune your guitar, learn straightforward chords, then learn how to play simple songs and enhance from there. You’ll experience days when you’ll wish to smash your guitar against the wall out of pure disappointment.

Attempt to imagine your guitar hero giving up the 1st time they ran into difficulty while learning. Would they be a star now, maybe not? If you have pragmatic expectations about how hard it can be to learn to playguitar ; the time commitment ; the forbearance to overcome any difficulty you will encounter while learning ; then you’re potentially prepared to learn how to play the guitar. To Learn to play guitar efficiently can be attained by trying online guitar courses and many of those sites offer everything you need in one convenient place.

Naturally, the better quality sites will charge money for the material, however the relative cost is insignificant compared to the cost of lessons. And naturally, you’ll be in a position to learn to play guitar at a time that suits you from the comfort of your own house.

More How To Play Guitar Articles

Learn the guitar chord sequence and strumming for this classic Crowded House song. Good one for transcribing too so I just give you the chords in the wrong order first – then you can stop it if you like and work it out yourself – then come back and check it with me after Taught by Justin Sandercoe. Full support at the web site where you will find hundreds of lessons on a wide range of subjects, and all the scales and chords that you will ever need! There is a great forum too to get help, no matter what the problem. And it is all totally free, no bull. No sample lessons, no memberships. Just tons of great lessons To get help with your lesson look up the number at the start of the video title (like ST-666 or whatever) on the Lesson Index page. www.justinguitar.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

www.guitar5day.com Guitar Lesson: Quick and Easy Blues Riff Learn How
Video Rating: 3 / 5

GuitarPlayerU.com http Beginner Guitar lessons on how to play a blues shuffle. Improve your guitar playing with this Easy and fun video.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Is a Free Guitar Course Worth the Price

It is very difficult to find anything of value for free.  The old saying, “There is no such thing as a free lunch” is quite true.  Unfortunately in today’s marketplace, whether online or on Main Street, the word free is usually an enticement that means you are going to have to somehow spend money to get whatever it is that is advertised as free.  This is not a bad thing, just a basic marketing technique.

There are many online guitar courses available today, some of them are very good, and there are some that not so good. I have found that most of the better online programs do offer free lessons to introduce you to the course in hopes that you will, after trying out their free guitar lessons, buy the course.  The free guitar lessons are usually quite basic and contain just enough information to whet your appetite and introduce you to the training methods that will be used in the paid version of the course.  

Supplying an option for an introductory free guitar course or lessons is a pretty good incentive and will probably entice the serious consumer who is on the fence about which course or program to buy.  I know this because I recently purchased an online program that offered free guitar lessons, and that played a part in my decision.

As I mentioned earlier, I found three very good programs online, and each one offered free guitar lessons.  Although all three programs were top notch, I considered each of these courses unique because they each had different formats as far as the delivery of instruction was concerned.

The first program, which is actually the one that I purchased, is called Jamorama and is a downloadable course that includes instructional e-books and videos.  It is very affordable, quite well done and the best course of this type that I have seen.  It was a great choice and has been a great program for my daughter.

The other two courses were similar in many respects.  They are both, in my opinion, aimed at the more serious guitar players that realize that learning guitar is a lifelong pursuit.

One program offers 24 free guitar lessons with no other commitment required.  This program is called Guitar Tricks and it is a membership site offering very good instruction by many accomplished guitar instructors.  Their content and lessons are fresh and updated almost daily.  They charge a small monthly fee for a good product and you can cancel at anytime.

Learn and Master Guitar is the third program and is definitely not for the casual guitar player.  This is an award winning program that is well organized and covers all aspects of guitar instruction.  The course is physically huge.  You will receive a complete lesson book, up to 20 instructional “session” DVDs, and 5 play along CDs, and there is also more material available online.  They have a member forum, very good support and a can be contacted easily by telephone.  Their staff is courteous and knowledgeable.

Perhaps you are just looking for free guitar lessons, or you already have some experience and want seriously improve your guitar playing.  Whatever your reasons, one of these programs will definitely fit your needs and budget.

More Free Guitar Lesson Articles

www.nextlevelguitar.com Click thelink above to receive free exclusive videos, newletters, and lots of free guitar and music goodies from Next Level Guitar. In this lesson we teach beginners all about open chords and tips on changing chords made easy and getting these chords comfortable – you can do it! Many more full on video lessons at the full on instructional website at: www.nextlevelguitar.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Andy Timmons As guitarist for pop-metal band Danger Danger, he toured the world opening for Kiss and Alice Cooper, sold over a million records worldwide, and had two #1 videos on MTV, plus amassing a discography that includes 7 solo releases that range from blazing guitar instrumentals, to blues, and even a Beatles/Elvis Costello-inspired collection of pop tunes. As a session player, he’s been highly featured on CDs by drumming legend Simon Phillips, a live CD with Olivia Newton-John (Andy has been her music director/guitarist for several US tours), two internationally acclaimed CDs by Kip Winger, recording sessions for Paula Abdul, Paul Stanley, and countless radio and television jingles. He has also played alongside many of his heroes such as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani (as a regular guest on their G3 tours in Dallas), Eric Johnson, Steve Morse, Mike Stern, Ace Frehley, Ted Nugent, and Pierre Bensusan, as well as some of his fave ’60′s singing stars such as the Beach Boys, Lesley Gore, and Gordon Waller (of Peter and Gordon fame!) Andy’s musical career began in his hometown of Evansville, Indiana at the age of 13 with his first band, Taylor Bay. Early on, I realized that making it in a rock band was such a long-shot, that I better figure out other ways of making a living playing guitar. I began reading about players like Steve Lukather and Larry Carlton who made their living as session musicians. This really appealed to me, since I really loved a wide variety of musical …
Video Rating: 4 / 5

www.Guitar-Gurus.net I learned how to play guitar over at Guitar-Gurus.net Practice hard and sign up over at http , that’s how I did it. Oh yeah, and it’s free! The original professional guitarist known as JerryC plays Canon Rock. Arranged by JerryC ******************************************************* HEY! If any of you Canon Rock fans have a Canon Rock cover then shoot me a video response request and I’ll be glad to add it. I love hearing all of the different versions there are and all of the people that have taken the time to learn this song. I think it’s great! So once you’ve finished learning this song, make a video, post it on youtube and I’ll add your cover to my responses here! Thanks for all of the support and I can’t wait to hear your cover! ******************************************************* For everyone that would like it, here you go. The back track to Canon Rock www.youtube.com Now you can stop asking me for it. ******************************************************* Since my message in the video apparently wasn’t enough, I’ll just add this here for all to read. The person in the video playing guitar is JerryC. The uploader of this video is Maes67, a person completely different from JerryC. Please stop sending me fan mail, any kind of request, or questions on how to play this song because I may not reply or I may even insult your intelligence for not knowing how to read. Thank you and rock on JerryC fans.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Watch Dave Haywood illustrate how to play Lady Antebellum’s latest single, “Need You Now,” on guitar. September 27, 2009
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Learn To Play Guitar for Beginners: A Lesson in Chords

Before you start instruction with any play guitar for beginners material, you should know a few things first. For example, do you know exactly what makes up a song that is played on a guitar? If you said notes, you are correct. Ifnot , now worries. That is why you are a beginner for now… but not for long.

Notes make up the foundation of another critical part of any guitar song which are theChords. Most guitar songs require you to know some chords. Chords are just a series of notes that are played in unison, and they sound very melodic when played correctly.

Now, any type of play guitar for beginners lessons you take will usually start you off with the easy to learn chords. The easiest guitar chords are G, C, D, and A. These are easy because they will not require you to use many fingers. In fact, these chords only require you to use three of your fingers. Trust me, that is as many as you need to begin with.

You achieve playing chords by pushing down on the strings at the fret on the guitar neck.The fret is the metal bar that divides the string down the neck of the guitar. Then as you push down on those strings, you strum the strings located in front of the hole in the guitars body. It is usually a good idea to start to learn to play guitar easily on an acoustic guitar first. Once you master the basics, you can then move on to an electric guitar, if you want.

Here is a good learn to play guitar for beginners tip in regard to chords. Do not press down on the strings too hard. Most beginners make the mistake of pushing down too hard. You have to find the right balance of pressure. This may take a little practice and time to get used to. If you press down too hard, or not hard enough, the chord will not sound right. Your figure will also hurt for a while until you build up calluses. This is normal.

While playing the guitar, leveling down the wrist of the left hand (or right hand if you are left handed) is also advisable. This will put less strain on your hand. Many beginners do not follow this step and that is why the guitar makes a buzzing sound, rather than a good tune. It can also lead to pain and cramping in your hand. This is why proper technique is so important.

Beginners should practice the songs that have less chord movements, like the chords that touch almost the same fret. There are plenty of these types of songs out there. Finally, try practicing with your eyes closed. Most professional guitar players very rarely look at the fret when they are playing. If they do look at the fret, it is usually because they have to play a complicated chord and they are making sure their finger placement is correct.

You should be able to memorize the hand movements of all chords. The finger and hand positions should become second nature to you. The secret to be able to play the guitar perfectly is by practicing every day. It also helps if you have excellent play guitar for beginners resources to use to learn how to play properly.

Find More How To Play Guitar Articles

How to Succeed With Beginner Guitar Lessons

Beginner guitar lessons are a great place to start; but it takes more than just lessons to be a successful guitar player. You can listen to the music in your spare time, watch videos demonstrating how certain chords are to be played, practice in your room, but these things alone are not enough. A truly great guitar player needs some real live experience out in the world.

One can read notes, practice chords, and study certain techniques on the guitar, but playing guitar in front of an audience is very different. It is like studying for a written exam and then having to stand up in front of class and explain everything you knew and studied for in such a way that the other students will not fall asleep. There are many obstacles along the way.

It is quite likely that you will not make the cut in certain bands, or in certain venues – especially if you have not played in front of an audience before (not including your family and closest friends). Taking beginner guitar lessons is a great way to begin. Work hard and practice often and you will be at a good place. But take opportunities that come your way to play in front of others. It gives great experience, which will in turn allow you to feel more comfortable next time you end up playing your guitar for others.

Another great reason to have real world playing experience is so that you will be able to interact with other guitarists. Some may be more experienced and will have some good tips for you. Others will be near your level; the two of you will be able to interact, share advice, tips and ideas that you have had. And you may even be able to work with newer players who are still up and coming in the world of guitar.

This is a lot to think about for new guitarists. If you are overwhelmed by the idea of playing in front of an audience at this point – don’t sweat it. You are likely still too new to the guitar to worry about getting involved in different gigs around town. And that is okay. However, thinking down the road a bit, it would be a great idea for you to get involved with a group or a venue outside of your bedroom. But make sure you go through some guitar lessons for beginners first. Succeeding at guitar is like going up the rungs of a ladder. You have to start at the bottom.

More Beginner Guitar Articles

Learn To Play Guitar Online

The review deals with each book separately and recommends purchasing them in a specific order to grow your knowledge in step with your building experience.

Learn To Play Guitar Online

Kevin O’Connor of London Power has created a series of books under the main title of “The Ultimate Tone.” These books are truly unique and carefully tailored for the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) guitar tube amp hobbyist and boutique amplifier builder. The books have a home-made ‘feel’ as well… all the illustrations are done by hand and the books are photocopy-printed on 8.5?x11? paper and bound with plastic spines and clear plastic covers. There are six books in the series now with the most recent being released in the late spring of 2008. You may want to buy the entire series all at once and get a modest savings, but I think you should consider buying them one at a time and digest as you go, building projects along the way. A key point though… you don’t necessarily want to buy them in numerical order. I recommend the following sequence:

 

The Ultimate Tone Volume 3 – Generations of Tone The Ultimate Tone Volume 5 – Tone Capture The Ultimate Tone Volume 2 – Systems Approach to Stage Sound Nirvana The Ultimate Tone Volume 4 – Advanced Techniques for Modern Guitar Amp Design The Ultimate Tone – Modifying and Custom Building Tube Guitar Amps The Ultimate Tone Volume 6 – Timeless Tone Built for the Future Today

 

Play EXISTING riffs and patterns with speed and accuracy click here

The Ultimate Tone Volume 3 – Generations of Tone

This is the most important book in the series for the beginning tube amp builder.

Chapters 2 through 4 lay down the foundation of good DIY tube amp construction, filling you in on good electrical connections, grounding technique, lead dress and other wiring techniques, and mechanical layout including assembly methods like terminal strips, turret and eyelet boards.

The subsequent chapters each pick a particular ‘iconic’ amplifier, each iconic amplifier being a prototypical example of amplifiers of its class, and they are examined in detail as to the circuit topology, peculiar tonal characteristics that result and fatal flaws that the product is notorious for. Kevin provides the original schematics and then shows how you can apply the techniques detailed in the earlier chapters to improve the performance and reliability of the icon without harming the tone. The schematics are redrawn, layouts are provided and mechanical solutions are worked out to make each chapter a complete, self-contained, build-it-yourself amp project.

This process is repeated for several variations of the Champ in chapter 5 (this chapter greatly influenced my own single-ended amp project), then in quick succession: the Bassman, Plexi, 800, Bull Dog, AC-30, Portaflex, SVT, Bass Master, Custom Special, Guitar Mate, Herzog and Laney amplifiers are dealt with.

If you can only buy one book for your DIY guitar amp hobby I’d heartily recommend this one.

The Ultimate Tone Volume 5 – Tone Capture

Volume 5 picks up where Volume 3 left off, with a project-oriented approach and some sophisticated DIY tube amp solutions for guitar and bass.

The book starts off with a chapter overviewing vacuum tube operation called ‘tube tone,’ followed up by a chapter on guitar electronics and pickup characteristics.

The next two chapters are small projects: Sigma for effects switching and Triple-X for amplifier switching.

Chapters 5 & 6 are on transformers… important components but it made me yawn, sorry.

Starting with chapter 7, all the stops are pulled out and you are in project heaven… Major (200W), Soma 84 (EL84 amp), Standard (the London Power Standard Preamp from 1995 coupled to a 50W amp using four power tubes), Doppelsonde (mixing power tube types), AX84 (discussion on the original goal of a very low output power amp), Kelly (50W from 4 6V6s), and several other projects of lesser scope.

One favorite project I did was based on Kevin’s reworking of the HotBox tube preamp pedal from Matchless in chapter 16. I built this pedal in a truly “true point-to-point style” (meaning terminal strips) in a tube pedal enclosure from Doug Hoffman, substituting a Baxandall tone stack and reworking the preamp values to be more Dumble-esqe (non-HRM type).

What would you do to match an amplifier to Yngwie Malmsteen’s style? See chapter 18, ‘Swede.’

The Ultimate Tone Volume 2 – Systems Approach to Stage Sound Nirvana

Volume 2 is not project oriented. The bulk of the book, chapters 2 through 5, deals with power supply tricks and a comprehensive overview of power amplifiers, including tube, solid-state and hybrid power amps. Chapter 3, on tube power amplifiers, has some very practical information on mods and fixes to Marshall and Fender bias circuits.

I like the 1st and last chapters of Volume 2 the best. The first chapter is a short discussion of sound stages and how you might setup your gear on stage for the best audience/band experience. The last, chapter 6, is called “Pillars of Tone” and in this chapter the major contributors tone at the block-level of a guitar tube amplifier system design are discussed one by one and Kevin provides some very valuable insight into tone shaping throughout the preamp/amplifier.

The Ultimate Tone Volume 4 – Advanced Techniques for Modern Guitar Amp Design

This is the book you’ll want to buy if you feel the need to get deeply involved with the power scaling technology that Kevin has developed. Power Scaling, coined and trademarked by Kevin, is the way you can get aspects of power amp distortion (as opposed to preamp distortion) into your tone at bedroom volume levels. Volume 4 is not DIY project oriented but explores the issues, including attenuation, power scaling (both down and up), sag, and power management, tackled by modern guitar tube amp designers.

That said, the second-to-last chapter in Volume 4 might be important for a broader group of enthusiast builders… design philosophy. In this chapter Kevin provides a hierarchical design process that could be used to make key decisions on how you approach your next project.

The Ultimate Tone – Modifying and Custom Building Tube Guitar Amps

There is no volume number in the title of this book, it was the 1st. Personally, I bought it for completeness. I specifically wanted to have the ‘perfect effects loop’ information, although the loop itself is incorporated into a project in Volume 5. TUT also has some excellent material on reverbs and signal switching methods that is not explained in the other volumes. The first half of TUT introduces/overviews tube amp systems, power supplies & grounds then focuses on preamp and power amp modifications to commercial amplifiers (e.g. Marshall / Fender)… if you are totally new to tube electronics you may want to buy this 1st volume at the same time as Volume 3.

The Ultimate Tone Volume 6 – Timeless Tone Built for the Future Today

In many ways, Volume 6 is a continuation and extension of the material in Volume 4, where Power Scaling is introduced.  In Volume 6 a new ‘direct control’ version of Powerscaling is featured which was introduced in Vol 4 but flushed out with comprehensive circuits and applied to ‘sag’ and sustain control as well in Vol 6.  The new scaling circuits have many advantages for a DIY builder like greater noise immunity and less sensitivity to layout, etc.

I applied the new DC Power Scaling to a Trainwreck clone project and was really impressed with the improvement in ‘playability’ at lower volumes… the unmodified Trainwreck Express circuit is just too loud for domestic use, needing to be cranked to get the sweet tones it is renowned for.

One of the chapters in Volume 6 is dedicated to the Dumble amplifiers… something I was really looking forward to since many of my hobby projects focus on those circuits.  I found this short chapter to be a good introduction to the overall architecture of the Dumble amps, written from the point of view of the evolution from the early modified standard amps that Alexander Dumble started out doing, but I felt the chapter fell short in discussing some of the more important subtleties of the later Dumble models.

Volume 6 also has lots of other material in it, including a great tutorial on designing really high output power amplifiers and a great chapter on high gain amplifier designs with real-world circuits referenced and detailed.

In Summary…

Kevin’s books have a very empirical approach. He encourages you to set aside convention in some instances or not be afraid to try combinations of tubes or even pulling tubes and in all cases clearly explains why it is o.k. and points out any reasons why it wouldn’t be o.k. All the examples in the books are very practical and he certainly has the DIYer in mind as he is writing.

Kevin’s body of work is truly encyclopedic in nature, and considering that, one feature sorely lacking from his books is any kind of indexing… this is aggravated by the fact that Kevin constantly refers to previous writings rather than repeat himself in a new volume, and it is very difficult to put your finger on the reference even with the other book in hand. Perhaps search engine technology, like Google’s ability to search protected content, could be put to good use in this case and provide a kind of ‘auto-index’ on the web of all of Kevin’s books without actually giving away the book itself. Or better yet, how about an e-book format of Kevin’s entire collection of TUT books… I think all of the e-book readers include searching capabilities… and Kevin’s hand-drawn schematics would probably scale adequately and be very readable on the e-paper displays these devices feature.

CREATE patterns and riffs anytime of the day or night Click here

Find More Learn To Play Guitar Articles