Fender guitars have unveiled two fantastic Iron Maiden signature model guitars.

First up is the Fender Steve Harris Precision Bass guitar which features an alder body, one-piece maple neck with medium jumbo frets, Seymour Duncan® Basslines Quarter Pound split-coil Precision Bass pickup, chrome Badass II® bridge, chrome pickguard, and his signature Rotosound® flatwound strings and Royal Blue Metallic finish.

“It’s always been Fender Precision Bass guitars for me, whether recording or playing live,” said Harris. “I only endorse things I use, so it makes sense to have my own signature model!”

And second up is the Fender Dave Murray Stratocaster guitar which features an alder body, one-piece satin-finished maple neck with a soft “V”-shape and medium jumbo frets, DiMarzio® PAF® 36th Anniversary DP103 neck pickup, vintage-style Strat® middle pickup, DiMarzio® Super Distortion® DP100 bridge pickup, American vintage synchronized tremolo, signature chrome pickup covers, one-ply white pickguard, and Black thin-skin nitrocellulose lacquer finish.

“I have always enjoyed the versatility that you get from playing Fender Strat guitars,” said Murray. “This signature guitar plays and feels just like my original, with exception that it’s LOUDER! My thanks go out to Fender for putting this together. I’ll be taking this guitar out to play on the next tour.”

More info is at www.fender.com (in the Products section)

Have you ever looked at a page of guitar tabs and wondered what those printed symbol meant? If you happen to be a novice guitar player, you may be new to the guitar tablature. Learning the guitar chord theory is important in learning how to play the guitar. Through your guitar lessons, practice music pieces are given in music sheets that have guitar tablature instead of the traditional musical notes sheet. As a beginner, you may get overwhelmed by the need to understand the symbols in the chord theory. But the truth is, learning guitar chords is not that difficult.

On the average, it only takes two hours to learn the basic rules of the chord theory. To be able to get grips with the symbols used by the theory, your guitar instructor will introduce you to the key signatures and their meanings. A thorough lesson on the meaning and use of sharps and flats along with chord names, chord construction, intervals and triads is included on any formal guitar lesson. Learning the guitar chords allow the student to tune in with the music pieces that the instructors present for practice. Learning the sharps and flats enables the students to easily understand and tune in with the notes that are used in common triads of the minor and major musical scales. Lessons on keys, scales and triads fill follow.

Along with the theoretical lessons on the guitar chords and on the elements of guitar tablature are certain activities that will put all these elements into practice. As the instructor introduces you to each of the guitar tabs, he will also instruct you on how to make the sound or tune that correspond to each of the guitar chords. To prevent getting overwhelmed by everything that you just have learned, you can start by trying out the fret positions that the chord instructs. For example, in doing a C, you may be presented with 10 different fret positions that will produce the C sound. Take note of the fret positions on which you are comfortable with and stick to it so you will be comfortable moving from one chord to another.

Practice makes perfect. Aside from learning and memorizing the meaning of the symbols and elements of guitar chords, their application is essential in actually learning to play the guitar. You can even practice silently doing the chords as you watch TV or as you hand out with friends. The television and your conversation with your friend will prevent you from looking down on your hands. Practicing fret positions with your hands establishes muscle memory, which allows your hands to be flexible in changing from one chord to another. More practice and you will eventually be able to do the chords correctly without looking.

Working out your knowledge on guitar chords take time, patience and a lot of practice. To optimize learning potentials, opt to do shorter and more frequent sessions learning the guitar chords. This allows your brain to better memorize chords and fret patterns.

Tags:
Guitar,
Music General,
Music Theory,
Musical Performance

Source: Musical Performance

The biggest, most anticipated and unrivalled guitar event of the year, The London Guitar Show launches on the 11th June to seriously Blow your mind! The four day show will bring, excitement, celebrities, inspiration and transform ExCeL into the coolest hangout in London!

We can now announce a truly world class line-up of acts to entertain, inspire and wow the crowds starting with the Master Guitar Virtuoso himself, Steve Vai, who is to bring his Alien Guitar Secrets master class to the show. This is a 3 hour unique experience and once in a lifetime opportunity to hear Steve discuss music theory, guitar techniques, the music business, and most importantly, techniques on how to discover and unlock personal musical identity.

Grammy award winning and undisputed king of country picking guitarist, Albert Lee will be playing London Guitar Show. With his unique sound and style, Albert’s has worked with some of the world’s top artists from Eric Clapton to Bill Wyman.His own solo career with the Hogan’s Heroes, has seen him win countless awards and nominations.

Also confirmed is the critically acclaimed band, Swans in Flight. Their debut album launched in spring 2008 and was recorded exclusively using acoustic guitars, featuring thirteen guests ranging from JamesLoMenzo (Black Label Society/Megadeth), Kip Winger (Alice Cooper/Winger) to Phil Johnston (The Robert Plant Band). The band have already played a range of major festivals and they’ll be bringing their guitar charged rock to the London Guitar Show with special guest bass players Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy/Whitesnake) and the King of Metal funk, TM Stevens (James Brown,The Pretenders).

Continuing the tradition of staging a wide variety of killer guitarists, Jan Akkerman will be astounding the audience with high-speed pyrotechnics and distinctive sound. He’s been top of his game for decades playing in Dutch band Focus and then going on to work with everyone from BB King to Ice-T!

Truly unmissable will be one of the world’s best players, UK guitar legend Phil Hilborne with his band featuring Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain. They will once again hold court on the main stage on Saturday and Sunday for an amazing concert and Steve Vai will join Phil & Nicko on stage for a couple of tracks of jamming therapy.

It doesn’t stop there as we are proud to be staging the final Guitar Idol, the world’s biggest online talent search to find the hottest undiscovered guitarists on the planet. Following 2008′s spectacular final where the winner flew in from Brazil, this final is the chance to live the dream after many of the finalists from 2008 attracted recording, endorsement and lucrative tour deals. Check out http://www.guitaridol.tv for the latest news and follow the heats on who’s going to have the honour of playing at the London Guitar Show!

New to this years show, will be a chance to have a free guitar lesson in association with the Institute for Contemporary Music Performance (http://www.icmp.uk.com/), and the organisers will be announcing an action packed schedule of seminars, workshops, artist signing sessions, instrument demonstrations and celebrity appearances. Already they can announce an opportunity to meet editors from the UK’s top selling guitar magazines Mick Taylor (Guitarist), Neville Marten and Jason Sidwell ( Guitar Techniques), Stephen Lawson ( Total Guitar ).There will be a new retail section offering the chance to buy the very latest gear, plus an exhibition of over 300 companies of musical equipment, including a New! British Builders section, where you can see some amazing hand build guitars and drums from the UK’s best builders.

The London Guitar Show is part of the UK’s Biggest Music exhibition, The London International Music show, which includes Drummer Live, Unplugged and Sound Recording and Technology Show. It takes place at ExCel London (http://www.excel-london.co.uk/) now firmly established as one of the UK’s premier (and largest) exhibition venues. For more information about the show and to buy tickets see http://www.londoninternationalmusicshow.com/

For more information, visit their web site at http://www.londoninternationalmusicshow.com.

Guitar Hero: Metallica. Check out the facial expressions!

Metallica is digitized through motion capture into their upcoming music game Guitar Hero: Metallica