Folk Guitar Songs And How They Help You Learn Guitar

Sometimes trying to learn guitar is compared to learning a new language but this is really not true. You can't start off learning a language with the shortest words or the funniest phrases but an easy way to learn guitar songs is by starting with the ones you most like and the songs with the simplest chords.

So what is the best way to get a collection of guitar songs to learn? There are plenty of books available for you to buy on line or at your local music store that contain anthologies of guitar songs belonging to a wide range of musical genres. The trick is to use your own tastes as a guide only - but not to make the final choice.

An anthology of folk songs containing numbers like Nine Hundred Miles, Where Have All The Flowers Gone?, Worried Man Blues, Little Boxes, Foggy Foggy Dew and Clementine may be too old fashioned for your musical tastes but the muscles responsible for changing chords aren't going to know about that.

Collections of folk songs are compiled by guitar instructors who are following a plan of learning groups of chords over time using several songs. This enables a guitar student to get used to chord changes involving a definite number of chords before moving onto another group. For example the song This Land Is Your Land may not be one of your favorites but it's a great way to learn the chords G, C and D.

If you start your collection of guitar songs with songs that you personally are fond of you may be making your progress as a guitar player more difficult than it needs to be. With a collection of easy folk guitar songs that have been chosen with the gradual introduction of the guitar to a student in mind, you have teaching material that will get you playing the songs you like in a short amount of time.

Using easy guitar songs in this way might diminish the enjoyment of learning the guitar a little but it won't put unnecessary obstacles in your way. So you still get to have fun while you learn guitar without risking becoming disillusioned with yourself as potential guitar player.

If you can choose a collection of easy guitar songs, your learning experience will be much more enjoyable if you can then find on YouTube some free video clips of guitar players performing some of the songs you've chosen. Failing that you can look for audio of the songs to buy or borrow. Whatever you do is don't belittle the collections of easy guitar songs that you see online or in the stores. They may not have lasting interest for you but they will help you to learn guitar.

By: Ricky Sharples

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The Birth Of The Electric Bass Guitar

The electric bass guitar is fairly easily identifiable because the overall shape is quite different to the standard electric guitar. An electric bass guitar usually has a body which is much larger in size than a standard electric guitar, and the neck is often much longer, with the scale length used for the frets much larger too. The overall size of an electric bass guitar is the most obvious distinguishing feature that makes it easy to spot, but of course its extra size can cause trouble for beginners. If you are looking at buying an electric guitar, and are considering the bass version, then it will be important to try out one such example first. The physical size may, in some cases, prohibit effective use, and a standard sized guitar may prove to be a more suitable alternative.

An electric bass guitar usually has four strings which are tuned to the same pitch as the double bass, or in some cases the strings are simply tuned to be one octave lower than the lowest four strings of a standard guitar.

For the last fifty years, the electric bass guitar has been the instrument of choice for producing the bass notes in most popular music, causing a dramatic decline in the popularity of the double bass for such music. The electric bass guitar has proven to be a very popular instrument, not only for use within popular music, but as an instrument in itself, often used for solo performances. In particular, jazz, funk and rock styles often feature an electric bass guitar solo, or prominent performance within a piece.

It was actually back in the 1930s that the electric bass guitar was born, with Paul Tutmarc's invention - originally referred to as a fiddle. It comprised of four bass strings, had a body and a fret board - and was played horizontally. Named an electronic bass fiddle it proved to be very popular, and because its manner of playing was more similar to that of a guitar, it meant that it was easier to pick up by guitarists than a fiddle would have been for them.

Although Tutmarc's fiddle marked the dawn of the electric bass guitar, it took about twenty years for the idea to take hold, and be developed by Leo Fender before it became a popular instrument. Fender created the Precision Bass, and took the rough form of a Telecaster with a single coil pickup. With four steel strings the instrument became popular with many well known bands and groups of the fifties, and it was at this point that the bass guitar became popular worldwide.

Following closely behind Fender was Gibson, whose bass guitars were generally smaller then fender's, and incorporated a humbucker pickup rather than the single coils. Gibson's most famous creation was the Thunderbird with a 34 inch scale, and duel humbucking pickups located halfway between the neck of the guitar and the bridge - a more usual position.

Today, electric bass guitars can be bought in a range of styles and shapes, although still generally larger than the standard electric guitars. For complete flexibility, however, you could always consider a duel neck guitar - with one being a bass, and the other a standard six string guitar!

About the Author

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums, keyboards, sheet music, guitar tab, and home theater audio. You can find the best marketplace at these sites for electric bass guitar, bass guitar, sheet music, guitar tab, and home theater audio.

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Classical Guitar: The 4 Important Elements

The classical guitar is one of the most important instruments of the renaissance period and even in the contemporary times, it is considered as one of the finest musical instruments. If you have been thinking of picking up some lessons in classical guitar then you should go ahead because the entire process of playing this instrument is an experience in itself.

Some experts believe that if you can play the classical guitar to perfection then you can play any other type of guitar from rhythm to lead. Talking of rhythm, it is one of the four integral elements of music while the other three are timbre, dynamics, and pitch. Most people have a fair idea of rhythm and pitch because we are used to listening to music on television, radio, computer, internet, and live concerts as well. But you might be quite unfamiliar with dynamics and timbre. So let us take a look at what these 4 elements really are and why they are important in classical guitar.

Pitch
Pitch is mostly used for the purpose of tuning the classical guitar. The pitch of a guitar can be changed if you make any changes at the head of the guitar also known as the headstock. The headstock is the thin end of the guitar all the strings are tied to a screw. The traditional layout will have 3 strings on one side and 3 strings on the other also known as the 3+3 tuner layout. By playing the strings in different parts of the guitar or the fret board, you can take out high or low pitch sounds, which will come into play in the advanced classical guitar lessons.

Rhythm
The rhythm is at the heart of guitar playing because it consists of a single beat or a multiple beats. So when you hear a particular tune on a guitar then it is not really a tune, it is a rhythm. In a particular music composition, you will be playing several different types of beats or rhythms.

Dynamics
Dynamics is sound related and refers to the change in the volume or intensity of the sound coming out of your classical guitar. For example: if you pluck a string lightly then the intensity of the sound will be low but if you pluck a string hard then the sound will be loud and bold. Dynamics are used to highlight a particular section of a classical composition.

Timbre
Technically speaking, Timbre is defined as the actual quality of sound that is brought out by the harmonic content of that particular sound. To make it sound simpler, timbre is like adding color to your composition and is caused only when the strings vibrate. To an extent the type of timbre depends a lot on where you touch the string or pluck it to make it vibrate.

Here are some tips to determine if the classical guitar lessons are good or not:
- The lessons should include familiarizing with the classical guitar
- The lessons will start with the basic understanding before jumping to scales and chords
- The lessons should be easy to understand for a beginner

About The Author:
Guitar Lessons Singapore is the Only Guitar Agency In Singapore. Master The Guitar Quickly And Easily. Fun & Inspiring Guitar Lessons. Call Audrey @ 6844 8985. Learn more at http://www.guitarlessonssingapore.com

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Rock Guitar Licks

Many guitar players find themselves in a rut at times not knowing how to get out. Guitarists can spend months upon months in the dreaded rut, even years if nothing is done about it. Sometimes guitar lessons can make things worse, depending on the situation.

One of the main symptoms of being in a rut is the feeling of playing the same things over and over. Some people also describe the rut as just an un-inspirational time period. Both are true.

However, either way there IS a remedy. The remedy comes in a one two punch. It’s designed to bring back the inspiration and sharpen you skills to a fine point.

You see, as you get better on the guitar, (over the course of time) you don’t realize it instantly but you actually begin to outgrow what you’ve learned to a point of mental starvation, and the toughest thing to get beyond is the fact that it can be happening and you don’t even know it.

The learning process usually happens at a slower pace, so you don’t notice yourself bottoming out from lack of substance.

Solution:

You need to gather up five to ten really cool guitar licks that were well though out, and learn them. The thing you want to do is remember the techniques of the licks as you play them over and over.

Now, as you really start to see the techniques of the licks, start to change notes in the in the variations using the exact same techniques. Even if you only change two notes, your going to have a completely different sounding lick, based off of the technique you were using. This is super cool. I'm telling you this works great!

You’re now able to split many other lick techniques into several other sub-licks spawning from the one main lick you learned. This will really start to develop all kinds of new ideas including many more immediate licks on command. It will totally fire up your inspiration because you now have all this new musical phrasing and cool sound scapes to utilize within your music.

REMEMBER: You need quality guitar licks and techniques to begin with; this guarantees everything that spawns from it will be just as killer as the original rock guitar licks.

Once you get these killer rock guitar licks and techniques, you want to be sure and learn one lick at a time very slowly. The point is to burn each lick into your mind one at a time.

Again, this will insure you get the maximum out of your development phase. It goes quickly because it's fun and inspirational.

Play each lick no less than 100 times in a row. Watch every move your fingers make. As you continue on, you'll notice your mind start to expand on the initial guitar lick without you even trying. It’s like magic!

You have everything to gain by learning a few new killer rock guitar licks. 100% Risk-Free Guarantee!! You can also learn how to improve your speed picking skills. Keep a positive attitude and great things will begin to happen.

About the Author

Bob Molton is a Professional Rock Guitarist and has developed blogs on Rock Guitar Licks, http://rockguitarlicks.blogspot.com Guitar Speed Picking, http://www.topfuelguitar.com and Guitar Lessons http://guitarlesson123.blogspot.com

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The Difference Between Electric Guitar Bodies And Acoustic Bodies

Because electric guitars are quite different in the way that they produce the sound, the body of an electric guitar is built quite differently to that of an acoustic or classical one. On a classical guitar, the strings, when plucked or struck, resonate, vibrating the air inside the body cavity. This hollow body cavity vibrates with the sound of the strings, and amplifies the notes. On an electric guitar however, the sound is amplified only by an external, electronic amplifier, and so the body of an electric guitar is usually solid, since no air vibration or cavity is needed. Indeed, without the external amplifier the sound of an electric guitar on its own is fairly pitiful. The body of an electric guitar is usually made of wood, although the pick guard is normally plastic.

Prior to the 1970s guitars were often made from a solid piece of hardwood, but in the last thirty or forty years, the worldwide stock of hardwood has been so depleted that finding a piece large enough and suitable for a guitar body is not only difficult, but exceedingly expensive. Therefore, today, most electric guitar bodies are made from at least two pieces of hardwood, with a seam that connects them together running down the centre of the body. The hardwoods most often used for constructing the body of an electric guitar include maple, ash, poplar, basswood and mahogany, all of which provide a solid, firm body that is unlikely to warp or bend as a result of either humidity, or the constant pressure of the steel strings. When you look at a guitar, it is not always obvious what type of wood is used, and this is because the normal hardwoods, by the very nature of being hardwood, are less patterned.

To create a visually striking and attractive appearance, designers and manufacturers of electric guitars usually apply a very thin piece of a more attractive wood to the outside of the body, to create an attractive wood finish, whilst still retaining the solid hardwood body. Typically these veneer coverings of wood, which are usually glued to the main body, are made from such woods as maple, which usually produces a very striking flame effect, and guitars that use this flame appearance through the use of maple are called flame top guitars or simply 'flame tops'. Because a number of other pieces of the guitar need to be attached very firmly to the body of an electric guitar, the hardwood is usually gouged or routed to accept these other elements being slotted in. For an acoustic or classical guitar, the inside can be accessed to attach braces to increase the firmness of these extra components, such as the bridge and neck, but as an electric guitar's body is entirely solid, this is not possible.

Today, there are some electric guitars being made which do not use wood in the construction at all, and instead are using modern alternatives, usually synthetically produced. These alternatives to wood include carbon composites and even plastic based materials such as polycarbonate. In some instances electric guitars have been made with aluminium based alloys, which whilst very strong, is also extremely light. Electric guitars, more than most other types of guitar, are usually decorated and designed as much for appearance as sound quality, and so the body of an electric guitar is often lacquered and polished to a high sheen, to either bring out the wooden effect, or to simply produce an even more vibrant appearance. Often electric guitar bodies are decorated with extravagant designer labels or motifs to create a strikingly visual instrument, as well as one strong enough to withstand heavy use.

About the Author

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for electric guitars, classic guitars and flame tops. You can find the best marketplace at these sites for electric guitars, classic guitars and flame tops, sheet music, guitar tab, and home theater audio.

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How To Choose An Electric Guitar

For a music aficionado, the electric guitar is the instrument that offers the greatest thrill. Many classes offering courses in guitar playing have sprung up. Hence purchasing the right electric guitar will help you to enjoy your learning experience. Here are some easy to understand tips that will enable you to make a correct decision in purchasing your electric guitar.

Are all the guitars the same?

No. There are many types of electric guitars available in the market. The right guitar depends on the sound that you are interested in. While some guitars can easily switch between jazz, blues and rock without any perceptible difference, the others cater to only one type of sound. Choosing the sound that you want will simplify your purchase decision. Besides, the sound you also need to take into account the location of the neck on the guitar. The two most common types of positions are the "set-neck" and the "bolt-on" necks. The set-neck allows you to keep on playing longer than bolt-on. The meeting point of the neck and guitar is tighter to allow the sound to move freely between the two.

The only disadvantage of set-neck is that it is difficult to repair or replace once it is damaged. The bolt-on style is available with the cheaper versions of guitars. The design is simple, locking the neck in a slot of the guitar body. Musical experts consider that this type of neck style does not give good quality sound and cannot be played longer, but this is more due to type of materials used. If you don’t mind spending money for a superior quality sound but not a durable electric guitar, go for a set-neck.

What are frets?

You can choose the electric guitar based on how wide and long the neck is. 21, 22 and 24 are the number of frets that you can get with the usual guitars. The guitars from Stratocasters have 21 frets. This gives you a shorter neck but opting for large frets will let you play more easily. Jackson guitars have higher frets. The number of frets you should choose will depend on the number of notes you want to play. A higher number lets you play more sounds.

About the Author

Click for great electric guitars advice or recommended used guitars advice. For great general interest information go to www.fopple.info.

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You Might Be In Danger Playing Guitar

Imagine this…

You pick up the guitar one day. Start playing your favourite song, and all of a sudden you feel this pain in your wrist. It's a sort of pain that distracts you from your playing. You think to yourself "I'll toughen it out it'll probably go away tomorrow", and continue to play some more. You continue to play like this day to day, and then you notice that the pain keeps getting worse. You wonder to yourself "Will this pain ever go away? I hope so." The problem is, this might not be just a pain that will go away. It might be a pain that will cause serious injuries such as tendonitis.

Tendonitis is a serious injury that causes inflammation of a tendon. When you over stretch your tendons it begins to tear which leads to swelling. This is very dangerous because tendons are hard to heal, and will unlikely heal to the original strength. A lot of times this pain is caused by not stretching before you play. Stretching plays a big role in guitar playing. When you stretch your hands, fingers, wrists, and arms you widen the range of motion of your joints. Which will also enable you to play more effortlessly, and faster. When you play without stretching you have limited joint movement. Which means that your hands and wrists won't be as flexible as if you were to stretch before playing.

Here are a few stretches that you can do before you play:

* Place the palm of your left hand to the inside of your fingers on your right hand. Push with your left hand so your fingers are going towards your forearms until you feel a burn in the wrist. Hold for 10-15 seconds. Now do the other hand. You can also do each finger individually.

* Extend your left arm fully across your chest, and with your other arm pull your left arm towards your chest. Hold for 10-15 seconds.

* With your left palm push the inside of your thumb towards your forearm, hold for 10 seconds.

* Extend your arm behind your shoulder by holding your elbow with your other hand. Pull until you feel a burn. Hold for 10-15 seconds for each arm.

* Thoroughly massage your hands and fingers individually. This is a crucial step. This will really relax your hands.

Not only should you stretch just before you play the guitar, but also any other time you get the chance. Guitar is not the only place that you can get an injury such as tendonitis. You can get it from exercise or physical work. Always stretch before doing a lot of movement that's involved in working and exercising. If you start to feel pain, STOP PLAYING. This is a danger sign to a minor or serious injury. Just give it a rest, and if the pain continues consult a doctor. Remember, it's all about having fun.

About the Author

Mike Morin is the writer of the Awesome Guitar Lessons Newsletter. Awesome Guitar Lessons provides free guitar lessons to new and experienced guitarists. Also, up to date information on guitarists around the world. Click Here ==> http://www.awesomeguitarlessons.com

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Guitar Accessories: More Than Just Icing

Accessories, as any good fashionista will tell you, can either make or break an outfit. Now I'm not suggesting that a guitar played with last year's guitar pick simply isn't worth the effort, or that red guitar straps are the new black. However, guitar accessories do have one thing in common with their fashion counterparts-each is designed to help the user get the most out of his or her instrument or outfit, as the case may be.

There is actually a rather long list of guitar accessories available to the discerning guitar player. These range from various types of guitar supports to amplifiers to nail kits. Yes, nail kits. Hey, all that plucking and strumming can be murder on your cuticles. Suffice it to say, there are enough guitar accessory options to ensure that anyone, be they novice or master, can at least look like they know what they're doing with their guitar.

Some accessories allow the artists to increase the variety of sounds that can be created by the guitar. For instance the capotasto, or "capo," as it is more commonly called, is used to alter the pitch of the strings. This accessory is clipped to the fret board through either spring or elastic tension, and the use of one allows the artist to play in different keys without having to change the chord formations. Because of the ease with which they allow guitar players to change keys, these little gizmos are sometimes referred to as "cheaters."

A plectrum, commonly referred to as a guitar pick, is a small piece of hard material used to "pick" a guitar's strings. While most classical players prefer to use their finger nails (hence the nail kits), the guitar pick is commonly used amongst electric and sometimes acoustic guitar players. It is usually held between the thumb and first finger of the picking hand and is generally made of plastic, although bone, wood, steel and tortoise shell picks can also be purchased. The guitar pick comes in many shapes, sizes and thicknesses and varies depending on the application. Jazz picks are usually small and agile, whereas those intended for base guitars are generally larger.

A guitar accessory does not even need to be specifically designed for the guitar; it can be anything the artist uses to alter the instrument's sound. The term "slide" in guitar lingo can refer to the neck of a bottle, a knife blade or a round metal bar that is used to create a glissando, or a gliding transition from one pitch to another. Such accessories are commonly used in blues and country music and sometimes in rock. Some guitars are even played exclusively with a slide, and these instruments are referred to as steel guitars.

Then there are those accessories designed to help with the logistics of playing the guitar. Guitar supports, for example, are an alternative to the commonly use footstool. This device lifts the guitar from the player's knee, allowing the artist to keep both feet on the ground. Guitar armrests are designed to support the picking arm as it drapes over the guitar's body. And the traditional guitar strap, of course, simply helps the guitarist by supporting the instrument when he or she is in a standing position.

About the Author

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums, keyboards, sheet music, guitar tab, and home theater audio. You can find the best marketplace at these sites for guitars, guitar accessories, plectrum, pick, capo, slide, sheet music, guitar tabs, and home theater audio.

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Using An Isolation Box When Recording Guitar

Most guitarists know that to hit the “sweet" spot of your amplifier it has to be a fairly high volume, but the question is; how do you achieve those high studio volumes when you're living in a house with other people or in an apartment block?

Well, there are a few different ways. One is to create some sort of isolation box and place your amp inside it. The other method is to move your amplifier to another room or closet and deaden the sound with blankets. But, why not have the best of both world, and place your amplifier in an isolation box, in another room.

What's so great about isolation boxes? -

- They allow you to really crank up the volume without annoying the neighbours

- Roommates and housemates will hear the amplifier at only a moderately loud level

- Simple and easy to build

- Cheap

- Fits any room, such as a closet

- Control your environment - most professional studios are acoustically and scientifically design and treated which costs enormous amounts of money. You can acoustically treat an isolation box for a fraction of the cost, giving you the perfect environment to record in.

An isolation box is basically a simple 4-sided wooden box, big enough to fit your amplifier inside. The walls of the isolation box should all be coated with acoustic foam, have a hinged lid and small hole for cables. If you find the type of flooring you have (carpeted, tiled etc) is adding or taking away from the sound you can always stand the amp on a blanket or some more foam.

Construction Tips -

Use 1.5" thick particleboard (as thick and as many layers of wood as you can afford). Some stores do not have 1.5" particleboard or MDF. However you should be able to 1" particleboard at a common store, call around to your local hardware store or wood yard - you'll find many will cut the wood to your desired dimensions.

Make it around 6ft long, 3.75' tall, 3' deep - check what size is required for a 4x12 cabinet. Bigger is generally better as it allows you to use different or more than one amp, and also allows a lot of space your micing should you choose to use more than one microphone.

With any amplifier or cabinet you put in the isolation box you're going to want to mount it off the ground. The reason for this is, some frequencies can be amplified through the ground causing the microphone to pick up the sound again. If you lift it off the ground a little you'll hear a truer representation of what your amplifier is doing.

Both Musicansfriend.com and Markertek.com have a great selection of acoustic foams. The brand Auralex have some great offer's offer at Musicians Friend.

Remember to drill a hole big enough to fit your cables through. As an added layer of sound proofing you may want to place a thick blanket over the entire box or place the isolation box inside a closet.

About The Author:
Ian Marples has been playing guitar for over 10 years, and now runs the website http://www.uncleslinky.co.uk to help other guitarists learn how to succesfully record music at home. For similar information to this article subscribe to his FREE Newsletter by sending a blank email to homerecording@uncleslinky.co.uk

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Different Types of Guitars

The guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments, and it has earned a world-wide fame throughout the decades for its melodious sound and tone. These amazing instruments are found in a wide variety of sound quality, playability, and in terms of overall appearance. There are different types of guitars, each of which are chosen depending on certain factors and convenience of the professional guitarist, or the aspiring guitar players.

The first major variety in the list of the many types of guitar includes the Acoustic guitar. There are scores of guitars under the brand Acoustic, varying widely from one another. An acoustic guitar is made of a wooden structure, fixed with a soundboard, and it is free from any external inclusion. The sound emerging from this category of guitars is generally softer than the other instruments included in the orchestra bands. However, they can be accordingly amplified and modified with the needs and requirements of the musician or that of the band. There is, again, a broader variety of these acoustics that include classical and flamenco guitars, steel string guitars, and many more to be discussed. The category extends to both amplified and non-amplified guitars that are used in the different registers, such as the acoustic bass guitar.

Designed exclusively for the execution of a solo polyphonic melody, the magical guitar produces music similar to that of a pianoforte. The finely placed nylon strings on the guitar sound melodious with any music, from jazz to classical. The modern forms of classical guitars were pioneered by Antonio Torres Jurado. There is a roster of classical guitars classified distinctively according to their functions and usages. These include the tiny requinto, the larger guitarron, and many more. The requinto is a well-famed type, found mostly in the Latin-American nations as an associated part of the guitar family.

There are also the more reformed and simplified versions of the classical guitars. The Renaissance and Baroque guitars are smaller in size and are comprised of only four to five courses of strings attached to it. Often used in an ensemble for rhythmic purposes, these two types are quite common in musical performances. While the Renaissance guitar is comparatively simple and plain, the Baroque guitar comes highly embellished in the on its entire structure including the neck and body.

Included among the many other guitar types are the Portuguese guitars, the twelve-string guitars, which are exclusively meant for their traditional Fado song, the Archtop guitars, the Flat-top (steel-string) guitars, the traditional seven-string Russian guitars with an open G major tuning, Acoustic bass guitars, Tenor guitars, Harp guitars, the smaller Guitar battente, extended-range guitars, and the resonator, resophonic, or Dobro guitars.

The electric guitars have become one of the most common and significantly used instruments in any musical ensemble or performance. These guitars basically use electronic pick-ups to amplify the sound and vibration of the strings. They come in a solid or semi-solid structure, and do not use much of the body structure to produce sound. They use amplifiers to produce the maximum amount of sound that is emitted from the instrument.

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History And Use Of The Bass Guitar

The bass guitar has been derived from the double bass, which was used in the late 1950's. Having 4 strings, these instruments add the lower tones to a musical performance. Experimentation with the bass had started as early as the 1920's. It wasn’t until the 50's however, that a proper bass instrument was formed.

In the mid 20th century jazz became popular. As double bass's were used those days, they were often not heard due to the lack of amplification. The drums, banjos and other instruments in the band drowned out the sound of the bass. Until the 1950 when the first electric bass came into existence with modern amplification techniques.

The bass guitar is played like all guitars with the player holding it close to his body in a horizontal position. The strings are plucked with hand or with the plectrum. In the 1970's, the slapping technique became popular.

Today, the bass guitar ranges from 4 strings up to 11 strings. The 5, 6 and 7 strings providing the mid range while the 11 string starts from a lower than human hearing going up to a very high active. Electric bass guitar players use various configurations. These changes are made by using preamplifiers and speaker sets. Signal processors are also varied to provide new soundscapes.

In night clubs, combo amplifiers are used. These amplifiers are fixed with single loud speakers to make them portable and effective.

The body of the instrument can be of wood or graphite. A wide range of finishing is applied to make it look good. IT can be colored or simply clear white. The work done on the body is fine engineering and delicate balances have to be maintained.

A hot debate rages on what to call this instrument. For non musicians, the term bass guitar is common, while hard core players like to call it electric bass or simple electric bass. Slowly but surely however, this instrument has gathered a large following which likes to use its own jargon.

The electric bass is a part of modern country music, post 1970 jazz and funk. Used mainly to provide backing, it adds a depth to the music. This instrument has added a whole new color to our musical pleasure. In sole music particularly, the bass guitar is effective.

Are sound effects used? Well, yes and no. As the bass guitar sets the tone for the rest of the band, sound effects are not often used, unlike electric guitars. Modern bands however have started experimenting with distortion units to add a new flavor to the bass and low key that they provide behind the music.

As we go into a new century, electric bass's become more and more popular. All bands use it today to add a subtle background. Many groups like U2 even use it to give a haunted feeling increasing emotional attachment with the music. Newer techniques have made this instrument a crucial part of any musical group today.

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