March 29, 2014

Treasure

Here is the page where I tell you about music I’ve been listening to, new artists I’ve been checking out and great video clips.

What treasure will you find?

How about this guy!

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Check out Joe Maphis and a very young Larry Collins. Amazing stuff.

 

 

 

Logo-white

Posted by in Artists, Video and tagged as , , , ,

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March 27, 2014

The embarrassing plectrum.

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is nothing more embarrasing than standing in front of a festival audience of 100 thousand people, going for the mega solo and ……..ping! Your plectrum jumps out of your fingers into the 3rd dimension. Where else would it be? You look down and it’s nowhere to be seen. And you look for your roadie (sorry, I meant guitar technician) and he’s busy taking down the email address of a beautiful blonde.

Plectrum slider

So what is the solution? (more…)

Posted by in Discussion, general, Lessons and tagged as , , , , ,

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March 18, 2013

Players

Some of my favorite players, and therefore some of my influences, are not technically very good!! There, I’ve said it.

They are not technically proficient so they compensate for lack of technique by being CREATIVE. And that’s my kind of player.

For example, I’m a big fan of Marc Bolan. Now, nobody would put him up there with all the great guitar gods, but just check out tracks like “Elemental Child” or “Mambo Sun”. Really great guitar music.

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan

And what about some of the old blues players we look up to? Many of them had no formal training and were not particularly proficient players. So what made them GREAT players? I think it was “feel”. They didn’t need to play a flurry of notes in order to make a statement. If 2 notes did the trick, that was good enough for those guys.

And in the field of folk music, often “simple” is best.

On the other hand, I’ve seen players who are unbelievably fast, have all the music theory, know all the tough chords etc, who leave me cold because there’s no passion in their playing.

What do you think? What is it about your favorite guitarist that sends a shiver down your spine? Let us know.

 

 

Posted by in Artists, Discussion, Female Players, Guitars and tagged as , , , , ,

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March 18, 2013

Equipment

One of my favourite pieces of gear is my old Ebow. These days it comes in 2 varieties.

EBow

The name Ebow is a shortened form of Electronic Bow. It’s inventor, Greg Heet, wanted it to enable guitarists to create unlimited sustain. I’ve used mine on countless recordings. Once, on a German session, I was able to create the sound of an orchestra by doing a vast amount of harmonised overdubs.

It can be used in all sorts of ways. Soon I’ll be posting a video of great Ebow techniques. In the meantime, here is the official Ebow website.

www.ebow.com

 

 

Posted by in Ebow, Electric, Gear, Guitars and tagged as , , , , , ,

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March 18, 2013

Back in the Day.

Did you know modern guitar has very ancient roots? There are 3000 year old stone carvings showing stringed instruments that can be seen as the ancestors of the Strat and Martin, but the origins could be older than that. And many different cultures have contributed to the story.

Greece, Persia, North Africa, India, Scandinavia, Germany, Spain. All of these countries and civilisations have used stringed instruments not dissimilar to the guitar to make music. (more…)

Posted by in Acoustic, Electric, general, Guitars and tagged as , ,

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March 15, 2013

Billi Blog

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March 15, 2013

Learn

New Courses

Course 1: Absolute Beginner Guitar

by Billi Stryng 10 Lessons in

This course is for absolute beginners and will prepare them for more advanced techniques. You will learn some basic skills and you will learn to play some simple tunes and chords. But you will need to practice to get things right! And don't forget, playing guitar is a FUN thing to do.

Featured Courses

Course 1: Absolute Beginner Guitar

by Billi Stryng 10 Lessons in

This course is for absolute beginners and will prepare them for more advanced techniques. You will learn some basic skills and you will learn to play some simple tunes and chords. But you will need to practice to get things right! And don't forget, playing guitar is a FUN thing to do.


Posted by in Blues, Folk, Lessons, Rock Guitar and tagged as , , , , , ,

March 15, 2013

So You Wanna Be A Guitar God?

You’ve come to the right place!! Do you want learn to play guitar from scratch or improve your existing skills? Maybe you’d like to have a go at some new styles of playing. Billi will teach you. I intend to create 10 teaching courses for players of different abilities, from absolute beginner to advanced level. I’ll also be putting up specialist courses in folk and blues etc. Each course will consist of 10 lessons, with course material you can download and a quiz to see just how much you’ve learned!. 

Do you want to check out guitars and equipment? It’s all here ! You might even get to win something amazing in one of my competitions. 

Want to find out about some great guitar heroes? Check them out here?

Looking for great video clips and interesting artists. Go to my treasure section.

Want to discuss all things guitar with like minded friends? Speak up here.

And, of course, you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

You can contact me here if you have any questions or if you want to say anything about the site.

 Billi-back 2

Posted by in Acoustic, Artists, Discussion, Electric, Guitars, Lessons and tagged as , , , , , , ,

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