Guitar Fundamentals

The best way to learn to play an instrument is to KNOW your instrument. And for those who are not interested in learning how to play, it is insightful to learn about how a guitar works, in order to appreciate how a wooden structure with strings can produce music.

The most important part of the guitar is arguably the stringing. Most guitars have six strings, and they must be tuned to certain notes in order to properly play songs. For the sake of simplicity, I'll only be discussing standard tuning on a six string guitar. Each of the six string is ordered from thickest to the thinnest. Starting with the thickest string, the progression goes E, A, D, G, B, and e. If you are having trouble remembering the order of strings, here is a sentence I was taught that will remind you of the proper order: "Eating Apples Daily Gives Big Ears."

Each string is stretched over the fretboard, also known as the neck of the guitar, where one can find the frets.  The frets are the metal pieces that cross the neck of the guitar at certain intervals. This is what allows guitar player to select different notes per string. The player places finger on the string, in between two frets. If enough pressure is applied, the fret "pinches" the string at the frets location. When a string is stuck without any fingers pressing on the fretboard, it is referred to as an open note. However, when the string is pinched at a specific point, the string plays a different note. In case you forgot your high school physics, the longer a string is, the lower the frequency of its movements up and down when struck. A shorter string will have a higher frequency, therefore producing a higher note. When a string is pinched by a fret, the string is only allowed to vibrate from wherever the fret is located, down to the base of the string. The lower on the neck the fret is, the higher the note. This is why those crazy solos that rock stars are known to play are situated near the bottom of the guitar, because that is where you can play high pitched melodies and scales. 

There exists overlapping of notes across the neck of the guitar. A note on one string can also be played on the next string over, but the fret that is pressed down will be different. As such, one can play a riff or melody in the mid section of the fretboard/neck, and also be able to play the exact same riff (same notes) on a different section of the neck. The fret numbers will be different, but if the strings are tuned correctly, notes can be played in parallel sections of the guitar. 

Band (continued)

After a rather disastrous performance at Culture Day, Rodrigo (guitarist), my brother (bass), and I (lead guitar) wanted to continue learning songs and jamming at my house. There was one problem though; We didn't have a reliable drummer. The previous drummer Paul, who played with us for our first performance, didn't own a drum set. The trio that remained continued meeting at my house for jam sessions, where we would practice our favorite songs and gain cohesiveness. This is when we started to narrow our sound to one specific genre. Our first cover song "Reptilia," is considered alternative rock. We liked the song, but we wanted something heavier and more distorted. We gravitated toward a more metal sound, focusing on bands like Metallica and Black Sabbath. In fact, the first couple of songs we learned were strictly Metallica, because the songs had dual guitar parts, and cool bass lines for my brother to play.

The first song we really mastered was "For Whom the Bell Tolls." The song was heavy and sounded awesome. Another bonus was the tempo of the song. Most of Metallica's music tends to be fast-paced with complex solos courtesy of Kirk Hammet (lead guitarist - Metallica). This particular song is a lot slower, with the song parts broken into manageable sections for us to practice. Even the solo is simple in comparison to other Metallica songs, which allowed me time to really prefect it. All three of us began to sync our tempos with each other, and the song would sound just like the original recordings. As a result we began attempting harder songs such as "Seek and Destroy" and "The Four Horsemen."

Even with the three of us getting a lot better, we still lacked a drummer who could complete our band. The newest class of freshman in 2009 also included a guy named Cody. He owned a drum set, and we approached him to see if he would like to play Metallica covers with us. Coincidentally, he also was a huge fan of Metallica, already knowing how to play some of the songs we were practicing. With the inclusion of Cody, we actually had a real band. We practiced long and hard, and put on a couple of shows. We reattempted the annual Culture Day performance, performed for the school's talent show, and played at an off-campus venue for a friend's senior project. After a while, our schedules conflicted too much, and we pretty much went our separate ways. I'm still grateful for the experiences, and if I ever got the opportunity to join another band, I would not hesitate.

Band

Once I started getting a feel for my guitar, I knew that I wanted to play in front of an audience. It was an ambitious endeavor to embark on, especially since I had only started playing a couple of months beforehand. I felt that if I had a performance to look forward to, it would give me incentive to perfect a song or two.

Up until then, I knew bits and pieces of certain recognizable songs. I knew "La Bamba's" main riff, as well as the chord progression for "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath. However, I never actually learned an entire song the whole way through. As a result of timely coincidences I ended up striving to play for an event called Culture Day. Culture Day, which was an event held by my high school, showcased the talents of alumni as they perform dances, songs, and poetry. Anyone could enter, and I realized this was the perfect opportunity to perform before an audience. 

I would need other band members in order to enter the performance, and I began approaching people who may be interested. The first band member was my brother Eduardo. Luckily, my brother owned a bass guitar, and he played it rather often. We learn riffs together for songs we both enjoyed, and we decided on The Strokes "Reptilia" as the song we would perform. A classmate of mine also played guitar, and when I mentioned interest in performing for Culture Day, he jumped at the chance. The song required two guitars anyway, so it was a perfect fit. Lastly, we needed a drummer. No one knew of any experienced drummers, and I kept asking around hoping to catch a break. Finally, a friend named Paul expressed interest in drumming. He said he didn't own a drum set, but he could learn the song using someone else's equipment. 

The group was complete. 

While the guitarists practiced every week at my house, we entrusted Paul to learn the song and have it ready to go on Culture Day. Meanwhile, I focused on learning the solo for the song. It wasn't long, but at the time it was very complex. I nailed the solo after many tries, but it was still rather sloppy. When Culture Day finally arrived, we all went out and did our best. 

And that's when everything fell apart. Paul actually learned the song by playing Guitar Hero using a fake drum set. Come showtime, he couldn't keep the beat without someone else providing a metronome by clapping. The guitars were too loud compared to the bass, and when I performed the solo, it came out choppy, sloppy, and rushed. 

Even still, the rush I felt was gripping. I loved performing in front of people, and although we kind of bombed, it was one of the funnest times I have had.

Origin story

Q. Why did I get into guitar?
A. Two things: My father introducing me to rock music, and video games.

Rock n' Roll

When I was growing up, music was all around. I've loved it as far back as I can remember. My mother usually played Spanish love songs whenever she drove my brother and me to school. Every. single. morning. Sometimes she would change it up and play cassette tapes of her favorite English songs. I still know all of the words to Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

My father, on the other hand, kept the radio on 107.7. I was bombarded with bands from the 70's and 80's. Def Leppard, Black Sabbath, Queen, and other great bands and rock anthems filled my head. My dad had a cassette tape of AC/DC, one of his favorite bands. "Highway to Hell" and "Back in Black" became staples during long road trips, and my dad would sing along and make up lyrics since he only knew the chorus. Soon enough, I became fond of rocking guitar solos. Squeeling notes and shredded musical scales left me in awe. I imagined myself on stage rocking out and doing what the rock stars do. But I feel that perhaps I became oversaturated at some point during my preteen years, because I started disliking rock music and gravitated toward hip hop music instead.

Video Games

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater defined my childhood. I owned every title in the series, except the first one. That was only because my neighbor had it, and I would just play it at his house. My brother and I played THPS every chance we could get. I wanted to emulate the way the skaters dressed, how they talked, and how they acted. The soundtrack was very influential as well. Throughout the series, each title had a diverse soundtrack that had a mix of rock songs, heavy metal, punk, rap, rap-rock, ska, and other genres. There was the option to customize the playlist during gameplay, and I remember censoring all the songs I wasn't fond of. Usually the hard rock or surreal ska music, leaving me mostly with rap and hip hop. However, there were a few non-hip-hop songs that really piqued my interest: AC/DC's "TNT," The Dead Kennedy's "Police Truck," Rage Against the Machine's "Guerilla Radio," among others. I left these songs on my strictly hip hop playlists as the exceptions. It seems that even though I listened to hip hop primarily, I never really stopped liking rock music, although I refused to admit it to myself.


The real breakthrough happened when Guitar Hero became the next big craze. The titles didn't catch my attention at first, because I still wasn't too interested in rock music. One day while at a friends house, a group of my friends were playing Super Smash Bros until we got bored. Then the host pulls out the guitar controller and suggests we play some GH. I was reluctant, but the other guys were up to the idea. Democracy being the beautiful system it is, soon enough it was my turn to hold the plastic, replica Gibson SG. After a couple of songs and getting the hang of it, I had a change of heart: "Ok, maybe this is sort of cool..." Fast forward to my birthday that year, and there I am unwrapping my own copy of Guitar Hero 2. Before I knew it, I was striving for 100% completion on the Expert difficulty of my favorite songs.

The Real Deal

I caught electric guitar fever. Next, rock songs invaded my mp3 player. After a while, my father noticed my renewed interest in rock, and asked why I didn't pick up a real guitar instead of smashing some buttons on a fake one. He said that if I put enough time into a real guitar as I did with Guitar Hero, I could be like the lead guitarist of AC/DC. I laughed it off as a joke.

Then Christmas came.

Walking into my bedroom, my mom came up behind me and covered my eyes. When she let go, before me  stood my very own electric guitar. My dad made me promise him one thing. "Don't play with it for a couple of days and then forget about it. I don't want to see this thing gathering any dust."

I still haven't broken that promise. As long as I have fingers, I will play them to the bone.