Guitar Tone

The other day I chipped the nail on my ring finger, resulting in a horrible tone from that finger. This is about the worst thing that can happen, and thank God I didn't have a concert coming up! That would be like a singer getting laryngitis right before a performance.

Yes, without good tone, there is no full musical experience for player or listener, and yet, many students really don't know what good tone sounds like. So, I thought I would use my mis-fortune for the benefit of others, and while I had to suffer a few days with a bad sound in my playing, I might as well use it to demonstrate the difference between good and bad tone.

Below, you will find a demonstration of good tone, done with my index finger, and bad tone on the same notes, done with my ring finger. The melody is from "Spanish Romance".

Getting good tone is related to the exact positioning and slant of the pick or fingers.

Good Nylon Tone (aahh!)	Bad Nylon Tone (ouch!)

Good Steel Tone (aahh!)	Bad Steel Tone (ouch!)

Let's review that all together:

Nylon Tone

Steel Tone

Fundamental aspects of technique, illustrated using classic songs you know and love (according to The Principles, of course!)

Powerful Secrets! to improve your playing!

Important info on reaching with the index or pinky, and its relation to arm position.

These are essential, and basic, techniques for the rock guitarist. Many people do them wrong, find out if you are one of them!

The classical and casual positions with electric, acoustic, and classical guitars.

There are always lots of questions about how to apply The Principles to a standing position. Here are pictures of me standing with an electric, and using different strap lengths.

Pictures of good left hand positions for various playing situations.

Video clips of the Walking Exercises from "The Principles".

Video clip of Foundation Exercise # 10, The 6 note Arpeggio".

See the proper form of this difficult chord.

There is much confusion as to the "correct" left hand position for guitar. That is because there is no such thing as THE correct left hand position for guitar!

Find out why you need to have those distal joints in shape for this chord, and also why you don't!

In 30 years of teaching, I have rarely (perhaps never) seen a left hand that wasn't crippled with bad form in one way or another, especially when it comes to doing major scales. This workshop student was no exception......

A common error in technique for students, and contributing factor to a lot of playing problems.

What does good tone and bad tone on an acoustic guitar sound like anyway?

Often, we must squeeze our fingers into some rather unaccommodating positions on the guitar. We know we are supposed to strive to get our fingers "right behind the fret" as we play, but, like so many things in life, we have to bend the rules sometimes (it ain't a perfect world!).