Focusrite are famous for their high-quality external USB audio interfaces for Macs and PCs. Especially their preamps get consistently good reviews as being especially clear and defined. After much research I decided to put a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 on my Christmas wishlist.

During the autumn of 2012, Focusrite has released another interesting interface called the iTrack Solo. It’s pretty much a standard Focusrite USB interface like the 2i2 or the 2i4, but with just one input – a combined instrument cable/XLR connector like on all their other devices. What makes iTrack Solo stand out though and what’s given it its name is that it has an iPad connector as well as a USB connector. And of course it connects digitally to the iPad using the docking port, rather than analog like som earlier audio interfaces for iPad and iPhone.

If you want to record on your iPad and on your computer, this could be a really interesting option. This is probably the most advanced audio interface for iPad around. I’ve decided, however, it’s not the optimal setup for me, for a number of reasons:

One instrument input is not enough, I really like the option of two simultaneous guitars (for jamming).
No MIDI.
No iPhone support – I use my iPhone with my guitar all the time
No balanced outputs
I already have to great iPhone/iPad interfaces (one Apogee Jam and one GuitarJack).
But for someone with an iPad and no decent external interface for their computer, this could be a great alternative.

SPECS FROM FOCUSRITE.COM:

2 in / 2 out USB audio interface
96 KHz, 24-bit conversion
1 Focusrite microphone preamplifier
Silver “soft-touch” aluminium unibody chassis

FRONT PANEL

1 microphone input – XLR
1 Instrument input – ¼’ unbalanced
2 Gain knobs
2 Gain halo signal indicators
48V Phantom power switch
Direct monitor switch
Large monitor level dial (controls headphone and line level outputs)
USB Connection LED indicator
Headphone output – ¼” TRS Jack
REAR PANEL

2 unbalanced monitor outputs – RCA Phono
DEVICE LINK port (to connect iTrack Solo to iPad)
USB 2.0 Port
Kensington Lock slot

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1) Determine whether you have the skill level instrumentally to teach others to play the guitar well and properly. Contact a teacher yourself to see if they think you are ready to teach guitar lessons to another.

2) Go to a few guitar lessons and make notes of how they teach. Think about which aspects of the lesson you like and which aspects you disliked. Then integrate the aspects you liked into your own lessons.

3) Begin gathering materials for lessons from music stands, music books, CDs of concerts or examples. Determine where you will have your lessons. Decide if you will rent a space at a music store, teach at a university or out of your garage.

4) Decide on a fair rate according to your years of experience playing and teaching. This rate can vary from city to city. Usually teaching fees range from $10-$200 a lesson, depending on your notoriety and skill.

5) Advertise your services through word of mouth, newspaper classified ads, magazine ads and school bulletin boards. Consider where you advertise and what type of student you want to work with. If you advertise on college boards, you can get anyone from experienced players to hobbyists.

6) Gather a few students and spread your good services through word of mouth. Hold recitals and opportunities for your students to display their talent and your good teaching abilities.

See Original Post At: http://www.ehow.com/how_2085453_be-guitar-teacher.html

G&L is a guitar design and production company founded by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Dale Hyatt in the late 1970s. Fender sold his company named Fender in 1965. He designed and produced instruments for Music Man in the 1970s through his company CLF Research. When relations with Music Man soured, G&L was created to continue operations outside of Music Man. The G&L name comes from the initials of George (Fullerton) and Leo (Fender).

G&L instruments are similar to the classic Fenders, but with some modern innovations. They are built at the same facility on Fender Avenue in Fullerton, California that produced the early Music Man instruments. G&L instruments are not widely distributed but are highly regarded by many musicians and collectors. The relatively small scale of production further allows for more custom options than are possible on larger production lines.

After the death of Leo Fender in 1991, Fender’s wife, Phyllis Fender, passed the management of G&L to John C. McLaren of BBE Sound. George Fullerton remained a permanent consultant until his death on July 4 2009, and Leo’s wife Phyllis remains as Honorary Chairman of G&L. In a print advertisement for G&L, Leo Fender claimed the G&L line of instruments were “the best instruments I have ever made.

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Here are two great mobile applications you should give a try if you like guitar. Whether you’re a beginner or experienced guitarist, these apps will be not only fun but also essential tools to keep in your pocket.

1) Jimi Guitar is already one of the most acclaimed guitar apps on Android market. It has a variety of play modes and a smart user interface that make it enjoyable even for non-musicians. The free play mode changes your phone into a virtual guitar with authentic sounds that you can pick from nice acoustic and electric instruments. While it won’t replace your real guitar, it will be cool to play with when on public transport for example.

The chord mode lets you play effortlessly various chord progressions, including custom chords that you can choose from a complete dictionary. The song mode accompanies you while you sing your favorite songs, displaying the chords and lyrics as you play along. It has a powerful search engine that will find almost any song that can be found on the internet. Amongst other features, you will also find a handy guitar tuner, a capo, and many other options.

2) Jimi Tutor is the latest app in Jimi’s family and is an invaluable tool for all those who want to learn new guitar tunes and licks. Its visual mode is an alternative to tablatures which is not only easier to read but also surprisingly effective. You can import all your tab files (supported formats include Guitar Pro and Power Tab) or let the search engine find almost all the titles that you can think of.

Slow down the tempo, or activate the step-by-step mode, and let the colored dots guide you. Jimi Tutor’s tactile mode is also very useful when you don’t have your real guitar in hand: you learn the fingerings by playing them directly on your phone screen. It’s like having a personal (and extremely patient) tutor always on hand to boost your guitar skills.

Jimi Guitar and Jimi Tutor are both available on Google Play Store and other Android markets. Each app has a free but limited lite version, and a full version that is well worth the price of a guitar string!

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The guitar is an ancient and noble instrument, whose history can be traced back over 4000 years. Many theories have been advanced about the instrument’s ancestry. It has often been claimed that the guitar is a development of the lute, or even of the ancient Greek kithara. Research done by Dr. Michael Kasha in the 1960’s showed these claims to be without merit. He showed that the lute is a result of a separate line of development, sharing common ancestors with the guitar, but having had no influence on its evolution. The influence in the opposite direction is undeniable, however - the guitar’s immediate forefathers were a major influence on the development of the fretted lute from the fretless oud which the Moors brought with them to to Spain.

The sole “evidence” for the kithara theory is the similarity between the greek word “kithara” and the Spanish word “quitarra”. It is hard to imagine how the guitar could have evolved from the kithara, which was a completely different type of instrument - namely a square-framed lap harp, or “lyre”.

It would also be passing strange if a square-framed seven-string lap harp had given its name to the early Spanish 4-string “quitarra”. Dr. Kasha turns the question around and asks where the Greeks got the name “kithara”, and points out that the earliest Greek kitharas had only 4 strings when they were introduced from abroad. He surmises that the Greeks hellenified the old Persian name for a 4-stringed instrument, “chartar”.

The earliest stringed instruments known to archaeologists are bowl harps and tanburs. Since prehistory people have made bowl harps using tortoise shells and calabashes as resonators, with a bent stick for a neck and one or more gut or silk strings. The world’s museums contain many such “harps” from the ancient Sumerian, Babylonian, and Egyptian civilisations. Around 2500 - 2000 CE more advanced harps, such as the opulently carved 11-stringed instrument with gold decoration found in Queen Shub-Ad’s tomb, started to appear.

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Nowadays we can now replicate many Vintage Tube, Solid State and Hand Made Amplifiers in software and hardware with varying levels of success and realism. We can add vintage Stomp Box effects and we can even cut/paste our music to save playing em twice !! All this is available with just a PC, half decent sound card, sequencing software of hosting VST Plug Ins and a guitar (most any guitar). Notice I make no mention of an amp - this is because we can bypass the amp in this day and age and do it all on the PC - I am NOT saying you WONT ever need an amp - I own a Marshall and will NEVER sell it - that said, you can try the following ideas and techniques and see if you like the results. It’s a helluva lot quieter for the average recording musician in a home studio, cheaper than buying a stack of amps and easier on the player with mouse clicks changing your entire rig!!

The aim of this wee article is to show you can get some real nice guitar tones without spending a penny. I own a VAMP and I use it for a lot of my recording efforts but I also use a number of FREE VST Plug-In’s which also give me some very nice tones. I’ll be showing you where to get these, how to use them and some techniques I use to get some sweet sounding guitars in my songs - the main basis of most of my compositions as I am an out and out ROCKER at heart!

OK, let’s start with some Amplifiers and classic Stomp Boxes. Visit www.simulanalog.org - here you can get classic Amp Sims including the fantastic JCM900 and Fender Twin. There are also a number of vintage “stomp box” effects including the classic “Tube Screamer” and a number of Boss effects which are all modelled on the real thing with the aim of creating a sonically perfect representation for the purposes of science - yes - this entire project was run by some audio gurus who wanted to prove it could be done more realistically than commercial counterparts. Enjoy the fruits of their labour and drop them a note of thanks if you use it to any great degree….a nice bunch of (Clever) folks!

Next, check out the Kjaerhus Audio site and download ALL their “Classic Series” plugs: www.kjaerhusaudio.com - here you will get the best “work horse” plugs for free. They give you Flangers, Chorus, Delay, Reverb and many more with LOTS of presets you can run straight from the plug. I use these frequently, particularly the EQ, Chrous and Delay plugs on a clean acoustic and will be using these forever more due to simplicity of use and cost - namely - more excellent FREE plugs!

Finally, check out the following site and look under the free effects for guitar - www.kvr-vst.com - this site has ABSOLUTELY every plug in one could ever want. Here you will get everything and I mean everything. Any effects you can imagine - there are so many I wont list em but you will find this an invaluable resource when it comes to plug-ins. They also carry DirectX stuff for the non-VST enabled apps and they offer Virtual Instruments too. Plunder as you see fit - you’ll soon be overwhelmed by the range on offer…enjoy!

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Introducing a new twist on a legendary guitar. Over 20 years ago, Ned Steinberger revealed the Steinberger GL guitar, the first all graphite composite electric guitar. With its unusual headless design, it was quite a hit for years. The LBG guitar is the next generation of carbon graphite guitar, and at 4.5 pounds it is almost half the weight of the 8 pound Steinberger GL. As with the GL, the LBG’s body and neck is a single slab of carbon graphite, with a cover plate to keep the pickups from falling off.

The LBG guitar has a clear and airy resonance that is even on all notes across the fretboard. The sound of the GL is very “accurate” and “defined”, with lots of control over the vowel effect after the note is picked; the LBG guitar is more resonant, and sounds less “dense”. When holding chords, the notes seem to bloom over time. Put another way, if you blend a GL with a Parker, you will get an LBG, with the Parker adding the “ariness” to the GL sound. The neck profile is like a Moses but a tad wider, not like a Newburgh GL/GM.

The guitar has an ergonomic knee contour that helps angle the neck to a comfortable playing position when sitting. When standing, there is no neck hang: the guitar is very evenly balanced. It has similar edge contours as the GL so you don..t end up with any uncomfortable feeling with your right arm/hand.

Musician Dave Rowe had this to say about them:

When Jon first pulled out the guitars at my studio, I was immediately taken by the resemblance to the GL, but with the modified bottom bout—hey look mom, no leg rest! I’ll never forget the first time I picked up an L series Steinberger and was astonished by the heft of the instrument relative to its diminutive size. This experience was exactly the opposite of that! When Jon first handed the guitar to me, I believe the words out of my mouth were, “Holy-sh*t, what’s this thing made of?” The guitar is incredibly light, at 4.5 lbs. it really doesn’t seem like it could possibly be taken seriously…until you plug it in. From lightweight guitar to heavyweight tone. It can sparkle and growl. With a list of possible pickup configurations longer than my arm, Jon’s guitars will surely be a prized part of any guitar arsenal.

One of the buyers had this to say about the guitar:

Tonal quality of the guitar is excellent. I’m a mid and high person so the lighter low end of this guitar, even with a powerful JB, fits my taste. I once put a P-rail on my wooden-bodied headless but gave up after 30 minutes as it sounded unclear. The graphite body make this pickup sound surprisingly airy with clear contour even in the front. In fact P-90 setting of P-rail sounds so sweet on this guitar!

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How many million guitarists pick up an acoustic guitar and use it to perform, compose, practice, teach, or simply to relax in a single day? But most of us never really stop and think about how the guitar in our hands was actually transformed from a tree into a musical instrument.

To get an appreciation for the artistry and science that go into making a modern-day acoustic guitar, I spoke with Chris Wellons, Vice President of Manufacturing for Taylor Guitars, based in El Cajon, CA. I felt like I was back in school as Chris walked me through the process of how Taylor builds their acoustics – finishing and shipping 600 instruments a day (140,000 annually) at their two manufacturing plants.

The main Taylor plant is in El Cajon, and a second plant in Tecate, Mexico makes many of their entry level guitars. A lot of time, effort, and passion goes into ensuring that every Taylor guitar is beautiful and sounds great, and with proper care and maintenance, will be reliable and playable for a lifetime.

“It all starts from the tree,” Chris says. “We source wood from all over the world, including Central America, Africa, and Alaska. We work hard to educate our suppliers on what it takes to qualify as a ‘guitar tree.’ Most mills take all the wood available from a grower and cut it up. They look at the sheer quantity of wood, purchase it and find uses for it. It’s estimated that guitar makers use less than 1% of all the timber that is harvested worldwide, so we are a small segment of a large industry, but one with very specialized needs. At Taylor, we are committed to finding environmentally responsible growers and the types of trees that best meet our needs.”

While responsible sourcing plays an integral part in Taylor’s operations, quality grain is equally important. “Decisions about the wood we acquire often center on grain structures,” Chris explains. “For instance, when we look at koa wood, we often start by selecting logs and splitting them to see the face and determine what the grain pattern will be from a particular log. Then we can determine how to keep the figure and grain patterns exposed so as to give a guitar the maximum quality, strength and beauty. Our goal is to build heirloom-quality instruments, and to do that, carefully selecting and milling the lumber is essential.

“Once we’ve acquired the wood, we look at the raw material and lay out various guitar shape patterns against it and ask ourselves, ‘What would fit that piece of wood?’ Of course, we’ll need a guitar top, back, and sides to make one of our acoustic instruments. Once we’ve decided how best to use a particular piece of wood, we re-process it through our milling process, which involves kiln drying the wood to shrink the cellular structure.”

“From there, the wood goes to our acclimation room, where the temperature and humidity are stable year round. How long it stays there varies on the wood’s moisture content; ideally we want it to be between 6-10% moisture content before it’s ready for the next stage. The acclimation time can vary between two to six weeks. You have to remember that we are working with a living, breathing piece of wood. If the wood is too wet, it will eventually begin to dry, shrink and crack. That’s why throughout our entire building process, we keep humidity at a constant level.”

Once fully acclimated, the wood pieces selected will make their way to the laser room where on one of three lasers, a guitar top, back, and sides will be cut. Using a fiber-optic laser and computer programming to cut the shapes out, the laser machines provide accuracy down to 1/1000th of an inch. Once completed, the guitar top and back make their way to a different building for bracing, another detailed process.

“We bring the wood that has been selected for the top to our bracing area which has fans constantly blowing stable temperature and humidity-controlled air across the wood. In the case of our Sitka spruce tops, we have a certain weight and measurement as our goal, and by exposing the tops to this environment, the wood may both shrink and lose weight, or it may grow. Twenty-four hours in this room is the minimum, but it may take two or three days before the top is fully stabilized and all tension has been released. Then we’ll glue the bracing to each top and back before it joins its sides to create a guitar body.”

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Epiphone is one of American’s oldest and most revered instrument makers and since 1873, Epiphone has made instruments for every style of popular music. The name evokes both history and the spirit of invention. Epiphone has been an audible (not to mention visible!) presence in every great musical era from the mandolin craze of the early 1900s to jazz age guitars of the 1920s. From swing era archtops through post-war pop, jazz, r&b, and early rock n’ roll. From the “British Invasion” to heavy metal, punk, grunge, and thrash. And now, in the 21st century, new Epiphone technical breakthroughs such as the ProBucker™ pickup, series parallel switching, built-in KillSwitch™ pots, the Shadow NanoFlex™ and NanoMag™ pickup systems, and premier acoustic/electric guitars with the eSonic™ preamp have brought the historic name to a new generation. The story behind Epiphone’s improbable rise from a small family repair shop to a world-wide leader in the manufacture of quality instruments could easily be transformed into the great American novel. But our story is true. The Epiphone tale begins in the mountains of Greece and threads its way to Turkey, across the Atlantic to the immigrant gateway of Ellis Island, and into the nightclubs, recording studios, and coast-to-coast radio broadcasts of Manhattan in the 1920s and 30s. It’s the story of craftsmanship passed from father to son and the ceaseless American drive for innovation. Just a decade after Epiphone published a 46-page catalogue that included acoustic archtops, flattops, basses, electric guitars, banjos, and amplifiers, the company would be bankrupt and sold to a longtime rival, Gibson. Today, Epiphone is once again an innovator in guitar and instrument manufacturing. The variety of musicians that walk through Epiphone’s history is equally remarkable. Jazz greats like George Van Eps, country pioneers like Hank Garland, bluesman John Lee Hooker, and scores of mandolin, archtop and steel guitar players used Epiphone instruments daily over nationwide broadcasts. There are unlikely heroes and tinkerers in the Epiphone story too, like guitar pioneer Les Paul, who worked nights in the Epiphone factory to create “the Log”, his primordial version of what would eventually be called the “Les Paul.” Beatles’ bassist extraordinaire Paul McCartney choose an Epiphone Casino as his first American made guitar and John Lennon and George Harrison quickly followed. The Casino appeared on every Beatles album from Help through Abey Road. And today, Epiphone can be heard on albums by Gary Clark, Jr., My Chemical Romance, Joe Bonamassa, Zakk Wylde, Machine Head, Dwight Yoakam, The Strokes, Slash, Jeff Waters, Paul Simon, Radiohead, The Waco Brothers, Lenny Kravitz, and Paul Weller. If a time machine could transport today’s Epiphone players to Epiphone’s Manhattan showroom of 60 years ago when it was a gathering place for all the Big Apple’s best players, the generations would agree that Epiphone has always been the House of Stathopoulo, and today is still innovating, still delighting musicians, and still frustrating competitors with daring designs and superb quality. “Epiphone always made a good guitar,” Les Paul once said. And that after all, is what all musicians are looking for.

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This guitar was featured on the History Channel’s “Pawn Stars” when Les Paul’s Nephew took it in to, and I can’t believe he did this, sell it…
The guitar was then put up on ebay where it sold for $110,000 which to be honest I think is pretty cheap considering what an incredibly rare guitar this is, you don’t see Les Paul’s personal guitars pop up for sale very often!

For The History On The SG Click On GIBSON SG

(Source: tigergroves.wordpress.com)

Of the many solidbody guitar models produced in the last 60 years, few have enjoyed the popularity and longevity of the Fender Telecaster. Shortly after its invention, the Telecaster became a main staple of blues, country and rock musicians alike. The instrument has endured the test of time as the electric guitar of choice by players worldwide.
The first Telecaster, actually called the “Broadcaster,” and was designed by Leo Fender in California. Initially, Gretsch owned the rights to the instrument, but Fender improved his design and re-released the first Telecaster in 1951. It has been known by its nickname, the “Tele,” ever since.
As the world’s first mass-marketed solid body electric guitar, the Tele has gained so much favor with musicians because of its light weight and body-friendly contours. It is extremely easy to play and handle from a sitting or standing position. Telecasters feature two pickups, and the body is a single cutaway with an eight-screw pick guard.
In the 1970s, when Telecasters were manufactured in Mexico and Japan, the company began making them with two humbuckers. Minor cosmetic changes have come and gone over the last 60 years, but the basic Tele design remains the same as Fender’s prototype.
Fender manufactures various types of Telecasters, including the Artist series, the Vintage series, American Deluxe, American Standard, the Classic, and a few Special Issues. New Telecasters range in price from about $690 to $2,500, direct from the manufacturer. Vintage model prices can be lower or even higher.
The Telecaster sound has been described as “twangy,” hence its popularity with blues and country artists. The solid body of the Tele prevents feedback problems, and creates a clean, electrified tone.
During his 1960s stint with the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton played a Tele. Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders is also a Telecaster player. Other famous Tele aficionados include Jeff Beck, Jeff Buckley, Bob Dylan, Waylon Jennings, George Harrison, Freddie Mercury, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Tom Petty, Keith Richards and Pete Townshend.

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In 1950, there was a big boom in the world of music when the Fender Telecaster (electric guitar) was introduced in the market. Another breed of guitars led the world of music after this with Gibson Les Paul. As the name suggests Gibson is the leading musical instrument manufacturer and Les Paul was one of the most respected guitarists in history. Les Paul has been known for his innovation in musical instruments and it was for this reason that the president of Gibson Company, Ted McCarthy, got Les Paul to be a consultant for Gibson. Les Paul made a solid body prototype, which was known as The Log. Les Paul had approached Gibson in the year 1945 with this prototype but this idea was refused, but then again in 1951 Les Paul and Gibson worked together and Les Paul’s innovative idea gave birth to a marvel that rocked the music world. The line of models for the Gibson hollow-body electric guitars provided ideas to create Gibson Les Paul, which differed from Fender in having a more curved body and a glued-in neck. There are different controversies regarding the role of Les Paul in Gibson. One of the controversies is that the president of Gibson Corporation approached Les Paul and asked him for the right to print his name on the headstock of the guitar so that they could increase the sales of that specific model and name it Gibson Les Paul. It was also claimed by McCarthy that they only had discussions with Les Paul regarding the tailpiece and fitting of a maple cap over the mahogany body for increased density and sustain. Les Paul also wanted the new model to have a gold finish but the Gibson gave flame and tiger maple finishes for it to compete with the Fender. The Les Paul guitar started out with two models, the regular model, which was then nicknamed as the Goldtop and the other was the custom model in which up gradation of the hardware was offered with a black finish. There was a constant improvement seen in the pickup, body and hardware patterns that truly pulled lots of guitarists towards it. There are different features that distinguish the Gibson Les Paul from the rest of the brands. Gibson Les Paul is known for mounting of its strings, which are always mounted on top of the guitar body and not through the guitar body as was seen in the Fender’s models. Gibson Les Paul has offered a wide range of decorative models, customized hardware, and electric pickup options. The humbucking pickup completely eliminated the 60-cycle humming that previously beset the amplified guitars.