argument rough draft

Acoustic guitar or electric guitar?

 

. The history of the guitar can be traced back over 4000 years, making it a very early ancient instrument. Some people claim that the guitar is a development of the lute, or even of the ancient Greek kithara which both were fretless stringed instruments. At 3500 years old the oldest guitar ever found was obviosly acoustic and came from Egypt. The guitar was made of beautifully polished cedarwood and rawhide and was found on an archaeological dig. It can be seen today at the Archaeological Museum in Cairo. The modern guitars we have now are versions of these that have been greatly modified. Adolph Rickenbacker is the inventer of the first modern amplified electric guitar. It was a semi-hollow body guitar with sound holes.  Les Paul came up with the first solid body electric guitar and from there just as many changes were made to the electric guitar as the first known acoustic itself. When considering buying a guitar, one of the first things to consider is wether or not the guitar you will be spending your time learning on will be electric or acoustic Asking the question acoustic or electric is like asking a person if they want to bow hunt or hunt with a gun. Now im not a hunter, but I know that because of the compaired difficulty, it must feel a lot better to bag a kill with a bow. Just as it is with learning guitar, it is with almost everything you learn. And I know that learning on an acoustic before an electric is the best thing to do. The acoustic guitar is always ready and waiting like a loyal dog in the corner of your room using its eyes to beg you to play with it. A rough day has gone buy and you need to relax and take your mind off the stress and there it is. A buddy calls and wants to jam out some tunes with you and all you have to do is move the jacket over in your backseat of your car a little so you can store your guitar. Maybe you have been on your feet all day and just want to sit down. The acoustic is made to fit the shape of your body so that it will always be comfortable with a few adjustments. Electric guitars can be heavy and awkward shaped. You might never get used to it stabbing you in the side and pulling your shoulder as it scolds you with your mistakes loudly so all can hear. Remember! you can only put so much distortion on that thing before it sounds like pure static. Then you can be as bad as you want. No one will hear. If a person was to purchase both an electric and an acoustic and place them in the same room they would notice a few things right from the start. You most likely spent more money on your electric because of its needed components and equipment. Your mom is complaining that the electric bill went up because you keep leaving your amp on. You scared the neighbors. Jeez... You better pick up that acoustic and let everyone rest. It hurts as you dig your fingers into the strings. It is almost just as unforgiving as the electric but it is the clear choice. I have moved a lot in my life and found a new home. The one thing that I never forget or get rid of is my acoustic. I can remember sitting in my new apartment on the floor before anything was unpacked. Just looking at the blank white walls and the empty space. The smell of freshly used cleaning supplies and the occasional smell of touch up paint. The dead silence mixed with the ocasional neighbor sounds. My new journey fresh on my mind. Looking over at the boxes and replaying how many layers of stuff there is sitting ontop of more stuff. Then I look over and see a guitar case. What a great way to start my new journey. Acoustic guitarists must keep the rhythm of the song going throughout. A lot of electric guitarists pull out solos and no one knows what's going on or whether or not it's being played correctly. Electric guitarists can afford mistakes on stage whereas acoustic guitarists cant. The sound of an acoustic guitar is delicate and precise and pleasing to the appreciative ear. I have heard bands playing electric with the distortion turned up so damn high you cant even tell what chords are being played! If you are going to write a song acoustic guitar is essential.

"The reality is that when you write a song, you should be able to strip away all the instruments and just have a voice and an acoustic guitar. And the song will be good." Dweezil Zappa.

"If you cant play it on an acoustic guitar or a grand piano then its not a real song" Christopher Cross.

"To stand up on stage alone with an acoustic requires bravery boardering on heroism boardering on insanity". Richard Thompson.
 
 

 http://www.guyguitars.com/eng/handbook/BriefHistory.html

Dan Cross on the history of guitar. www.aboutguitar.com

www.Ultimateguitar.com

 

 



Argumentation Brain storm

After taking the week to eat turkey and think about my final essay, I have dicided that I will write my argumentation on Laminated body acoustics and solid wood body acoustics. Facts about both. I will focus on why solid body guitars are better. I will begin with a breif history on acoustics and some reasons. I might end with a really general open ended statement as not to upset people. And then site my sources.

Argumentation/pros: Solid wood is more resonant than Layered wood. Solid wood last longer and can take more of a beating, Solid wood has much better acoustics and transmits sound more crisply for longer, more pronounced vibration, better appearence.

Argumentation/cons:  Solid wood can warp, more affect from humidity and temp, scratches can be harder to polish, back of guitar neck can be hard on the hands, can be harder to keep clean. price. everyone needs a practice guitar

Conclusion:  Solid wood is better, why. site sources.

Cause and effect

                                                 Learning to play acoustic guitar is good for you.

          When I was young and starting to find an interest in playing guitar, My dad told me it was a

good idea because it might help with my Attention disorder. People with add have toubles paying attention to things because they are easily distracted. It is the hardest to pay attention to things that you don't care as much about. I find that it is easy to pay attention to playing guitar just because playing guitar is easy to get into.  As I grew up and continued to play and

learn guitar, I found that it helped me with so much more than that. Because guitar is played with the

hands it helped me with my hand eye coordination and made me more ambidextrous. Also, It gave me callus's on my finger tips, which helped me to be able to pick up hot pizza and not get burned. I also became more socially active. By wanting to show people what I had learned on guitar, I was forced to get out more. And so it begins, I have played for large groups of people a lot and have gained self confidence from that. Growing up I've always heard people say that learning to play guitar is a good way to "pick up chicks" I feel that there is some truth to that. But only because it forces you to be social and more confident. I have also heard that learning to play an instrument helps to increase the amount of grey matter in your brain and help with memory and creativity.  I would have to say that I agree. I could say with absolute certainty that learning to play the acoustic guitar is only beneficial to people in many ways. And for the most part with only a few exceptions, I believe it is never to late to start.

Response to "Why I Blog" by Sullivan.

Response to “Why I blog” by Andrew Sullivan

 

Andrew Sullivan makes a lot of good points in his writing about blogs. I now understand where the term to “Log something” comes from. His definition of the origins of logging things ties into blogging in my opinion because we, just like the mariners, are throwing something out there to look back at and see how far we have come. I enjoyed this reading a little bit. One of my favorite lines was when Sullivan wrote “Blogging requires an embrace of such hazards, a willingness to fall off the trapeze rather than fail to make the leap.” This stuck out to me as a key point. Another key point that Sullivan makes is that “The key to understanding a blog is to realize it’s a broadcast, not a publication. If it stops moving, it dies. If it stops paddling, it sinks.” This line really helped me to understand blogging. After reading all of Andrews writing, I couldn’t help but feel pushed away from the idea of blogging in my future. I don’t feel like I need to tell the world how I feel. I don’t believe I really have anything super important to say to strangers on a daily, monthly, or even yearly basis. I tend to be a more private person. I often look at all this technology and the shrinking of the world and its mysteries and wish it away. It’s almost like nothing surprises me anymore. And that is sad. Also, I don’t take criticism very well. :)

Process Analysis

                                 Teaching acoustic guitar.

       When a person picks up an acoustic guitar with the desire to learn how to play, it may seem difficult to figure out where to start. The possibilities are seemingly endless. This is when a teacher is needed to guide you through the beginning stages. There are several ways to start learning how to play an acoustic guitar and I believe that none of them are wrong really. I do however have my own method for teaching a person from scratch. I call it "the fun way."
        It is extraordinarily easy to become bored when learning how to tune your guitar or how to play a scale from scratch. This is where I feel that I lose most people when teaching guitar. First impressions are very important. As with teaching almost anything, if the first impression of your course and teacher is one of boredom and monotony, you will find yourself drifting away from their instructions and lectures.
          The first step is to find out what your student knows about guitar. Get a good feeling for how skilled they are. And from that you will be able to set the pace. The first thing you do, is ask what kind of music the person likes. If you dont already know a song by the artist, you can ask them to play a song on their phone or computer or something. Then you listen to the songs, and find a song or part of a one that you believe your student is capable of playing. Ask them if they want to learn that song or that part. If you are picking just a part of the song, make sure you pick the beginning.                                                                                                                                                                    The easiest way to show them how to play is to have two guitars. You will then sit in a chair facing them  creating a mirror image. Be very patient and slow with the person. You will notice that they are having trouble with parts of the chords or notes. Just show them again and explain more thoroughly how to hold the fingers and move about. Once you are certain that they know what strings to press, you tell them you have to go do something. Like find a book or make a phone call. (I consider myself good at reading people, and I know that a person usually feels judged or uncomfortable when I sit in the room listening to mistake after mistake.) When you come back you will know how motivated your pupil is. People usually learn a part of a song and play it faster and faster as they become more confident. If this is what they wish to do, remind them of the actual tempo of the song. Or set a metronome so that they can play faster or more accurately.
            By this point in time, the person who you are teaching most likely has sore finger tips and needs a break. I usually tell them to wash their hands so that they can feel the pain in the tips of their digits. And so they grow calluses faster. Explain that after only a few more practice sessions it will no longer hurt. While their hands are drying, you can begin to teach them how to tune harmonically.  
     When your student is leaving, it is in my opinion very important to produce an assignment or project. Set a time and date for the next class if you have not done so already. It never goes the same way twice when teaching guitar. People are all different. But after teaching enough times you will find your own favored and effective way. Thank you for listening to mine.

Illustrative

                                                                      A good hobby.

  
    Playing an acoustic guitar is one of those hobbies that you don't pick up right away. It's not like a video game that you can set to easy mode when you're having difficulties on level seven. Or like the all to famous and favorite past time of the American population "watching people do things on tv" I feel that playing Acoustic guitar is one of those things that you have to force yourself to do. It's like seeing a person skate board down the street and saying to yourself  "I want that too." "They make it look so easy". So you get one, try it, and fall on your bottom. Now, some people might just put that skate board up on the wall in a cool spot while they heal from the wounds of failure. And they might never pick it up again... Or they will...Other people would stay outside, bloody and bruised trying to figure the dang thing out! I have seen all kinds of successful and un successful attempts at playing guitar.
      A lot of time and emotion goes into playing any instrument, and if your not ready for that investment, it can become a stale burden. It may not be easy, but it is well worth it. I find that playing guitar is a great way to releive stress or anxiety! And if you just took 20 mins out of your facebook or tv needs, you would benefit greatly from learning. Playing Acoustic guitar like most hobbies, can be a very social, competitive, relaxing, or rewarding experience.
     I have this friend who wanted me to teach him how to play guitar. I guess after seeing or hearing other people play acoustic, he wanted in on all the fun. I remember I gave him one of my old acoustics as a gift and a way to start playing. he was so excited! I remember seeing him go through the same phases that I went through when I started playing. He would become frustrated when he couldn't play what I was showing him. And he would put the guitar aside and change the subject. It was very important at this point that I put the guitar down as well. I had learned from past lessons that people can easily become "put out" by you if you "show off" So we would talk. I would try to keep the topic of our conversations directed towards guitar and music. Eventually the night would come to an end and my friend would go home. It was out of my hands at that point. But as it turned out, when he went home he would play for hours! And he would learn songs, chords, scales and not show or tell  me that he knew them. He would stilll come over for lessons, and learn all he could from me. He started getting real good, better than me. He got in some bands, played out at bars and to this day I dont ever see him without a guitar in his hands on his back or in his car. I noticed a change in his behavior too. He became more confident. He was happy more and seemed relaxed all the time.
   I am not saying playing acoustic guitar is the best hobby in the world. But if you dont have a hobby, maybe you should give it a try?

Description

    
                                                                    The Guitar Shop.

     I took my time in that dimly lit guitar shop. I had taken a friend with me to sort of look over the acoustic guitars and possibly purchase one that day. I was taken back by the smell of the shop. Its kinda like the smell I remember from being a child and opening that plastic case to a new action figure. That, mixed with the smell of fresh wood and steel. I glanced around at all the electric guitars stood up by stands on the floor and hanging from racks in the air. I slowly walked to the right while taking it all in and making my way to the next room.
     The light became brighter in the acoustic room. At least it appeared that way. The smell became sweet and earthy like a rare insence from a hippie shop. The shapes and colors of acoustics changed so slowly as I made my way around the room, that I could hardly tell unless I looked back at where I started. Or found a unique reference guitar. I saw and heard a few people sitting down trying out different acoustics. Not really playing anything specific that I could pick out, but the sound was blending into a range of humming and twanging that filled the room. I can't remember the first guitar I picked up that day. But I remember the last. It was an acoustic electric Martin with a built in fishman tunner. It had a lightly finished all spruce face with no pick guard. A rose wood neck that was cut perfectly flat on the top so if you looked down at it you could see each slat of wood that made it up. The place where the neck curves and meets the body in the back looked like the pattern you see from a fresh cut peice of salmon. A high finish was used on the back and sides of the body that was a light and dark brown mix in a streak pattern. It reminded me of a brown recluse spider for some reason. It smelled almost minty. I was so lost in the guitar and the atmospher that I forgot about everything. I sort of became sucked into it. My friends voice woke me from the trance.
      I didn't buy the guitar that day. It was all I could think about for the next week or two. I couldn't wait to go back and buy it. And I am glad I did.
      
      

Narritive Essay Draft.

                                         Little Chute Wi. s                 

 

         It was seven years since I saw my half sister Amanda. One day, I got in touch with her over the phone and we were reunited. She told me she lived in Little Chute WI. And that she had two kids and a husband now. She said that she really wanted to see me and meet my girlfriend Leah Ann, and just hangout again like we used to. I agreed. But it seemed really far away, and we were both so busy. so we never made the plans. It wasn't until after my girlfriend made arrangements for us to go see a  concert in Milwaukee, that I realized how close we would be to Little Chute! I called my sister and we marked it on the calender. 
             I remember being out to see Bush, Chevelle, and Filter play at the Rave. I consider it to be my first "real" concert. It was truly an awesome experience!  We stayed at a hotel in Milwaukee after the concert and the next morning left for Little Chute. I was so distracted by the good time that I was having, and the sites to see on the drive, that I forgot to even think about what I might talk about with my sister or her husband who I had never met.           
             Finally, we arrive... I called my sister and told her that we where in Little Chute and needed final directions on how to find her house. She told us how to get there and we pulled up in a matter of minutes. Amanda greeted us out in her front yard. I was so nervous and excited! We greeted, laughed at nothing for a second, and she took us around to the garage to meet Jake. 
                 We ducked our heads to walk under an old white, dented up half opened garage door, and peered into the dimly lit mess of bad ass car parts surrounding a bad ass car. Under the hood of the car stood one of the biggest, meanest looking guys I had ever seen.   "Jake this is my brother Ben and his girlfriend Leah Ann."  Jake didn't even look up.  "Hey...."  I felt awkward and anxious. I needed to hear words, so I just started in, "Hey man this is a real nice car! Look at all this stuff! Dude your a big guy! I bet you could be a bouncer or sumthin!?" He looked up for a second and chuckled a little, " Yeah...."  Then Amanda Chirped up, "" Hey are we still having Kal and the others over tonight?"  He said yes and we went inside.
          We caught up a bit and went into the living room so Jake could put on some music and show us his pistols and MMA pictures. Then Amanda and Jake had their friends come over. We all decided to get some beer and go out in the back yard to gather around a fire pit and socialize. It was at least an hour of them talking to each other and catching up with each other. They were big strong people with strong attitude and strong interest  in cars, drinking, and fighting. I was running out of material to talk about and things started to get awkward again. Small talk was going nowhere, and Being that My girlfriend and I were the only new thing for them, attention became  directed at us. ..I'm not real into cars, I don't like fighting, and I am not a big drinker with a bunch of relevant inside jokes and bar stories. So conversation began to grind to a halt. Then Amanda came back outside with more people and more beer. She must have picked up on the thick air of awkward silence surrounding that fire and made an attempt at breaking it.  " Ben, do you still play guitar? Because Jake has this old acoustic upstairs!" "Jake can he play it?" Jake looks me and says "Yeah if he can, that thing is from the 60's and hasn't had the strings changed in at least 15 years!." They all looked at me, and after a lot of laughing and hesitation on my part, She went in to get it.
           It was unreal. The amount of age that this thing had was incredible. It had no distinguishing marks or indications as to what kind of acoustic it was. The strings where rusted and dusty. As I tuned them into an understandably low drop E tuning, I held my head back as far as it would go, half expecting the strings to snap back lacerating my jugular and causing me to bleed out! Finally, the high E  Done. I made a bar chord and strummed the guitar. I looked at Leah Ann, She nodded in approval and made a big smile. I looked around the fire at the growing group of people, all staring and waiting.... " So what do you guys wanna hear?" 

Welcome to my first blog!

                                    Acoustic guitars

           Welcome to my blog about acoustic guitars! I chose this topic because it is the easiest for me to write about. I have been playing acoustic guitar for 13 years. At the least I play guitar for 30 minutes a day. At the most I play the whole day from morning till night. I play all sorts of music and not even half of what I play is music that I like. I enjoy mixing songs together and translating hip hop or rap into acoustic guitar.  My whole family plays instruments and they used to be in a family band from the mid 80s to the early 90s called "light House" So it was only natural that when I turned 14, I got an acoustic guitar for my birthday. I didn't know it then. But that was by far the best gift I ever received.