Nic Lubber is apparently new to Youtube. He has five videos up and they’ve all been uploaded in the last three weeks. So I can’t give you much more information than these are some really good fingerpicking Christmas tunes. Watch and enjoy!. If you’re inspired check out our Christmas guitar song tabs.
Carol of the Bells (inspired by Trace Bundy’s version)
O Holy Night
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
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Guy Fenocchi has just released a new Youtube video featuring an original jazz guitar solo. This is a 48 measure solo that’s played over a 12 bar blues in F. Because of the length of the solo, we’re only demonstrating it and including the tab. As opposed to our other lessons where we provide note by note instruction. It’s an experiment in delivering longer free lessons that we hope you enjoy. You can find the tab here.
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Changing the strings on your guitar can be a daunting task as a new guitarist. Over the years most people develop their own routine and/or pick up tips from other guitarists. But it’s hard to know if what you’re doing is correct or an old wive’s tale. In the following video David Doll who is billed as a “Martin Guitar Craftsman” shows you the process that C.F. Martin uses to string of all it’s new guitars. So the next time you restring your guitar, you can do it with a little more confidence. I’ve transcribed some of the “how to” and tips information below the video.
- Find a clean flat surface like a table to use as your work area. Place something soft on the surface for the guitar to rest on.
- You don’t have to remove the strings one at a time. It’s okay to remove all of the strings. Which also makes it easier to wipe down the fretboard, change a battery, etc.
- When adding the new string, have the ball end of the string with the curved edges running vertically (see picture). The better fit with the groove of the bridge pin cuts down on extraneous vibrations and noise.
- Pull up on the string as you push the bridge pin down into place
- Position the holes of the tuning machine so that they face down the neck
- To judge the amount of lag to leave in the string, pull the string to roughly the opposite side of the neck
- Pull the excess string under the string, towards the neck, and then out. Pull it tight and then wrap it back over the string. You can then pinch the string at the excess point. This process helps keep the string securely in place.
- While winding the strings, keep tension on the string by holding it securely in the nut slot.
- Clip the string as close to the tuning machine as possible
- Once you get the guitar close to pitch, stretch the strings by pulling straight up on them
- You may have a loose fit (sometimes happens with older guitars) with the ball end of the string and the bridge pin. The Martin Marquis strings have a cloth winding at the end that may produce a snugger fit.
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Last week Youtube relaunched their Music section. To publicize the upgrade they temporarily sported a guitar themed Youtube logo on the site. The music section now features specifically highlighted videos, more recommendations based on what you’ve been watching, a top 10 list, and concerts that are coming to your hometown (with related videos of those bands). It’s not earth shattering but I do appreciate it.
If you haven’t already, you can check out the Freeguitarvideos.com Youtube Channel. It’s been a great way for us to show our lessons to wider range of guitarists. To date we have around 29,000 subscribers and 25,391,107 total upload views. Those are still mind boggling numbers to me.
Our most recent Youtube video is actually hosted on a different channel. Guy Fenocchi had a chance to demo a Soloway Guitar. We filmed it in studio and gave it to Soloway to post on their channel. Check out the guitar and Guy’s tribute to Barney Kessel doing Autumn Leaves.
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Clawhammer is one of the three main styles of banjo. Dixieland Banjo uses a four string tenor banjo and mostly a strumming of chords. There is Scruggs style which uses a five string banjo and the thumb picks down while the fingers pick up and is usually played in a roll pattern. This is the style of picking you hear in traditional bluegrass songs like Rocky Top, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, and the faster section of Dueling Banjos. Clawhammer banjo also uses a five string banjo but a different picking style all together. Both the thumb and fingers only play down strokes. Variations on clawhammer depend on whether the thumb or figners are playing the melody notes and whether a high drone note is incorporated. You can actually see a pretty good example from a song Steve Martin included in his act in the 70′s.
Clawhammer guitar is just an adaptation of the banjo picking style. You would normally play it in an open tuning and it’s played with an aggressive and loud approach. You can read more about it in this really good post. I say all of this to set up the video below of clawhammer guitar that I stumbled across. The guitarist is Bruno Esposito who plays as the Lone Wolf One Man Band (Facebook or Reverb Nation). I just love the sound of this. It has an old timey style to it mixed with rockabilly tempo.
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