New guitar cover! Bon Jovi - When We Were Beautiful

Hello guys!

I have recorded a new guitar cover. It's "When We Were Beautiful" From Bon Jovi's latest album, "The Circle". Check it out! :)





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Cheers!//Kristofer

What does actually a "Guitar Technician/Guitar Tech" do?

Hello dudes!

Tomorrow I will be of with the band Dead and Living to Västerås in Sweden. I will act as there guitar technician during there show. Check out the bands myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/thedeadandliving

If you play a lot live, or maybe play in a "bigger" band, you probably already know what a guitar tech is. But just in case if you don't know. I will tell you some about it.



Here is an outake from Wikipedia about Guitar technicians:

A guitar technician (or 'guitar tech') is a member of a music ensemble's road crew who maintains and sets up the musical equipment for one or more guitarists during a concert tour. Depending on the type and size of band, the guitar tech may be responsible for stringing, tuning, and adjusting electric guitars and acoustic guitars, and maintaining and setting up guitar amplifiers and other related electronic equipment such as effect pedals.

Once the guitar equipment has been set up onstage, the guitar tech does a soundcheck to ensure that the equipment is working well. If there are any problems, the guitar tech will replace or repair the faulty components or equipment. Since guitar techs need to soundcheck the instruments and amplifiers, they must have basic guitar-playing skills, a musical "ear" for tuning, and a familiarity with the way guitars, amplifiers, and effect pedals are supposed to sound in the style of music of their band.


Guitar techs learn their craft either "on the job", by working in a range of music, sound engineering, and instrument repair jobs; by completing a guitar repair program at a college or lutherie school; or from a combination of these two routes. The salaries and conditions of work for guitar techs vary widely, depending on whether a guitar tech is working for a minor or regional touring bar band or a major international touring act.



So a guitar tech does actually do that tuning/stringing work during, before and after the gigs. A pretty big responibility, but what the heck! It's all fun :)
If you want to read more about guitar technicians, click here!


Did you enjoy reading this post? The you might want to read:
3 ways to get a "FAT" metal guitar sound
and
7 tips to make the time "on the road" golden!



Do you like this blog? Then subscribe!




Cheers!//Kristofer

Win A FREE T-Rex Monster Pedal!

Hello guys!

A guy called Milan Polak have announced a new competition at his Youtube site, where you have the chance to win a free T-Rex Tonebug Overdrive. Maybe not the best looking pedal, but what the heck! It still sounds like a MONSTER! Check out the video below, or go to his youtube page for more info. http://www.youtube.com/user/MilanPolak





If you like this post, check out this other guitar competition: Win endorsements!


Do you like this blog? Then be sure to subscribe!





Cheers!//Kristofer

New poll!

Hello guys!

A new poll is up, and the question is.....
Whats your favorite music genre?

The Poll will be up for one week. So go and answer it right away!



If you like this blog, be sure to subscribe!





Cheers!//Kristofer

Did you know that....#5

Did you know that....the correct order to put your pedals in, or at least, in most cases the best way to put your pedals in, are:

Guitar
-----
Filter effects (like wah-wah and phaser)
-----
Compressor
-----
Distortion/Overdrive
-----
Equalisers
-----
Pitch effects (like whamy pedals, and octave pedals)
-----
Modulation effects (like flanger and chorus)
-----
Level controllers (like boost pedals, limiters, noise gates and volume pedals)
-----
Echo effects (like delay and reverb)
-----
Amp


If you want to read more about how to put your pedals in the right order, click here!


Did you like this post? Then check out the other "Did you know that...."

If you like this blog, don't forget to subscribe!





Cheers!//Kristofer

3 ways to get a "FAT" metal guitar sound.

Hello guys!

It's been a while since the last post. I have been really busy in the studio. So i thought i could talk about some of the problems and solutions i have gone through the last two weeks.

The band i have recorded with is a band called "Bermuda". They play, or should i say we play (i'm only a stand-in guitarist), melodic death metal, and which of course needs a FAT rythm guitar sound. Problems often occures when recording the guitars because of different reasons. So here comes some tips from the coach :)  This is for you who dub the rythm guitars at least two times, which i think most of you do?

1. Try to use different guitars when recording. If you only use one guitar, it can sound pretty weird because that your two(or more) rythm guitars sounds to equal.

2. Also try using two amps, if you have two great amps of course! This is because of the same reason as above.

3. Be sure that you tune in the same way all the time. Believe it or not, but there are at least two ways of tuning the guitar. You can tune while you hitting the string as hard as you doing while playing the riffs in the song, or you can tune the guitar when the string has rung for a little while. You will probably have to swap between theese two ways of tuning depending on what kind of things you are playing. So in other words.....
Tuning sucks :( haha!

The first time this problem accured for me was when recording guitar with my other band Inferior, and i couldn't understand why it sounded out of tune, but in the end I understod that it was the two ways of tuning problem.


Did you like this post? Then i think you would like to read 10 tips to be a better guitarist/musician


If you like this blog, please subscribe!




Thats all for now!//Kristofer

A masterpiece!

Hello guys!

Anyone here listening to Bon Jovi? I'm a big fan of  Richie Sambora (guitarist of Bon Jovi), and if you havn't heard that guy play guitar, i suggest you to CLICK HERE to listen to some Sambora solos!

I just had to post you this video of Jon and Richie playing "Livin on a prayer" and "Wanted dead or alive" , live, and acoustic. This videos incorporates both great singing and great performance, and of course really great guitarplaying! So this 6:52 minutes long video is definitely worth watching!







If you like this blog, don't forget to subscribe!





Cheers!//Kristofer

Guitarist to check out!

Hello guys!

Today i have a new guitarist for you guys to check out. The guitarist is Shawn Lane. That man actually had it all! He could play fast, he could play slow and with a LOT of feel and attitude! Really amazing. So you peoples who are anti-shredders don't look away already!

Check out theese videos:







If you wan't to read more about Shaun, click here!

Shaun's website

R.I.P March 21, 1963 - September 36, 2003


Do you like this post? Then go and check out the other Guitarist tips.


If you like this blog, don't forget to subscribe!





Cheers!//Kristofer

Did you know that....#4

Did you know that..... the two companies that popularized the solid electric guitar was, Gibson in collaboration with Les Paul, and Fender by Leo Fender. This was after World War II, but it was as early as 1931 when George Beauchamp did the first successful magnetic pickup for a guitar, and put i on a "frying pan guitar".

Do you want to read more about the history and development of guitar, click here!


Did you like this post? Then go and read the other "Did you know that....."



If you like this blog, be sure to subscribe!





Seee yaaaa//Kristofer

Poll results and new poll

Hello guys!

Last weeks poll of "Whats the best amp company?" has now ended, and the winner is.........

Marshall!

Closely followed by Peavey, Fender and Mesa Boogie.

A new poll is up, and this is a interesting one!
The question is "A well respected and well hated man in the guitar business is Yngwie Malmsteen, What do you think of that man?" You can answer this poll untill next sunday.

Here's a video for the all the lovers, and underneath that, a video for all the haters.





You can read more about old polls here


If you like this blog, be sure to subscribe!



 
Cheers!//Kristofer

7 tips to make the time "on the road" golden!

Hello guys!

I just found this great tips for bands being "on the road". It's from the great guitar blog "Guitaro Jam News". This is for all of you guys who gig a lot, but also for you who doesn't gig at all, because it tells a lot about respecting your bandmates and so on. Really great reading!

Here's an outtake:

Hello, er, um…” (pause and look down at set list) “Flint, Michigan! Are you ready to rock?!”

Well, it sounds like you’ve done it. You’ve taken that giant leap of faith, piled in a van with your band mates and hit the road. You’re all so excited and everything is going perfectly…except for your drummer’s BO…and your singer’s insistence on singing the falsetto portion of “Bohemian Rhapsody” in your cramped, non-resonant living quarters ad nauseam…and your keyboardist’s musings on the musical legitimacy of 80’s synch-pop…and your guitarist, drooling on your shoulder.

Though becoming touring road warriors is not a perfect science, there are things that everyone can do in order to live together in a less stressful environment. The following are tips on how to co-exist with your band of brothers and how to bring about a little Kum Ba Yah on the road.

Click here to read the article.
 
 
If you like this blog, be sure to subscribe!
 




See yaaa//Kristofer

Lick of the day #3

Hello guys!

Lick of the day #3 is finally here! Comment the video and tell me what you think of it, and if you learned something from it! You find the link to the tab and backing track below.






A minor pentatonic scale position 1:

I---5-8------I
I---5-8------I
I---5-7------I
I---5-7------I
I---5-7------I
I---5-8------I


Download the tab and backing track: http://www.2shared.com/file/8220641/38e90a0b/Lick_of_the_day_3__tabbacking_.html

You will need winrar, or something like that,  to download this file.


Did you like this post? Check out the other "Lick of the day"

If you like this blog, don't forget to subscribe!





See yaaa!//Kristofer

Last day to vote for "Best amp company"

Hello guys!

There should have been a new "Lick of the day" today, but my computor isn't with me today....so it will be delayed one more day. Sorry!

Tomorrow is the last day to vote for "The best amp company" so if you havn't voted, go do it right away! It will be a close one this time, cause there are three companies in the lead right now:)


If you like this blog, be sure to subscribe to it!




Seee yaa tomorrow!//Kristofer

Check out this blog!

Hello dudes!

Check out this awsome guitar blog! You can learn a lot from this guy! It's the Rock House Method Blog!
http://rockhousemethod.blogspot.com/


And don't forget to come back later today for a new "Lick of the day"!

If you like this blog, be sure to subscribe!





Cheers!//Kristofer

Looking for backing tracks?

Hello!

First of all, i told you that there was going to be a new lick of the day today, but because of some more computor troubles it will be delayed untill tomorrow. So remeber to check by tomorrow, i think you will like this one!

Have been looking for some free backing tracks recently, and been frustrated because you couldn't find any? Then look no further! Because it's right under your noose.
Check this site out: http://www.guitarbackingtrack.com/
It has everything from Gary Moore to Cannibal Corpse! That's cool!

Btw, follow me on twitter! http://www.twitter.com/Kriiiistofer


If you like this blog, don't forget to subscribe!





Cheers!//Kristofer

Check this out!

Hello guys!

I have had a lot of computor problems today, but its all great now:)

Today i want you to check out this awsome guitar blog, it's for all of you crazy f'***ing shredders out there!
I know you will like it!
http://truthinshredding.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow i will be posting a new "Lick of the day"! So come back tomorrow for a great guitar lick to learn!

Cheers!//Kristofer

Guitar competition!

Hello!

The Monkey lord (http://www.youtube.com/user/RobChappers)is up for something new guys!

Today he launched a competition for all the guitarists around the globe. He teams-up with Faith guitars and Shadow electronics and they bring you the chance to win an Official Guitar and Pickup Endorsement deal plus £2000 (Euro2250 / US$3000) worth of great prizes. Isn't this AWSOME!? So go and make a entry for yourself!

Check out the video or go to this adress for more info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY1ruSvY7Oc


Read more about Rob Chappers other competitions: Riff Competition


If you like this blog, be sure to subscribe!





That's all for now!//Kristofer

Did you know that......#3

Did you know that.....The two things that holds the strings in place on the guitar is called the bridge and the nut. The bridge is in the bottom and the nut in the top. Check out the picture at the side!

Click here if you want to know more about the parts of the guitar.

Here's an excerpts from wikipedia about the bridge and the nut:


Nut
The nut is a small strip of bone, plastic, brass, corian, graphite, stainless steel, or other medium-hard material, at the joint where the headstock meets the fretboard. Its grooves guide the strings onto the fretboard, giving consistent lateral string placement. It is one of the endpoints of the strings' vibrating length. It must be accurately cut, or it can contribute to tuning problems due to string slippage, and/or string buzz. To reduce string friction in the nut, which can adversely affect tuning stability, some guitarists fit a roller nut. Some instruments use a zero fret just in front of the nut. In this case the nut is used only for lateral alignment, the string height being set by the zero fret.

Bridge
The main purpose of the bridge on an acoustic guitar is to transfer the vibration from the strings to the soundboard, which vibrates the air inside of the guitar, thereby amplifying the sound produced by the strings.


On both electric and acoustic guitars, the bridge holds the strings in place on the body. There are many varied bridge designs. There may be some mechanism for raising or lowering the bridge to adjust the distance between the strings and the fretboard (action), and/or fine-tuning the intonation of the instrument. Some are spring-loaded and feature a "whammy bar", a removable arm which allows the player to modulate the pitch moving the bridge up and down. The whammy bar is sometimes also referred to as a "tremolo bar" (see Tremolo for further discussion of this term – the effect of rapidly changing pitch produced by a whammy bar is more correctly called "vibrato"). Some bridges also allow for alternate tunings at the touch of a button.


On almost all modern electric guitars, the bridge is adjustable for each string so that intonation stays correct up and down the neck. If the open string is in tune but sharp or flat when frets are pressed, the bridge can be adjusted with a screwdriver or hex key to remedy the problem. In general, flat notes are corrected by moving the bridge forward and sharp notes by moving it backwards. On an instrument correctly adjusted for intonation, the actual length of each string from the nut to the bridge saddle will be slightly but measurably longer than the scale length of the instrument. This additional length is called compensation, which flattens all notes a bit to compensate for the sharping of all fretted notes caused by stretching the string during fretting.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you liked this post, I suggest you to read the other Did you know that.....

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//Kristofer

Want to win 4 effect pedals?

Hello guys!

Anyone heard of a dude named Rob Chappers? He has a riff competition at his youtube site where you can win guitar effectpedals worth $400!! The effectpedals are G-LAB and AMT . Go and join the competition for yourself, but hurry-up last day to enter is October 1. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKwscUBRj3I

I have record a contribution too, and here it is!




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//Kristofer

Did you know that......#2

Did you know that.....both minor and major chords only consists of three notes, and thats why they are called triads.
A major chord consists of: The root, a major third and a perfect fifth (like A C# E).

A minor chord consist of: The root, a minor third and a perfect fifth (like A C E).

Any questions about this? Send me a comment, or mail me @ kristofer_strandberg@hotmail.com


If you liked this post go and read the other did you know that...
and 10 tips to be a better guitarist/musician

If you like this blog, be sure to subscribe!





See yaaa//Kristofer

New series! Did you know that.....

Hello dudes!

Today im kicking of a new series of posts, and they are called "Did you know that......".
"Did you know that....." will give you a new post everyday,which tells you some new "good to know" stuffs about the guitar.


Enjoy!


Did you know that..... an interval in the "music theory language" is a relationship between two notes, and that every step has it's own name. Like the distance of seven half-steps(like A to E) is called a "fifth".
That's the interval we play when we play powerchords!
I will be talking more about intervals later on.

If you liked this post, I think you want to read this:
10 tips to be a better guitarist/musician

Come back later for more cool stuffs about guitar! And be sure to subscribe to the blog.






Cheers!//Kristofer

Poll

Hello!

Last weeks poll of "What else do you play?" has ended. And the results are......

33% of you said that you also were doing vocals
17% of you said that you didn't played any other instrument
15% of you said that you either played bas, drums or piano
5% of you said that you played some other instrument

A new poll is now up and running, and the question is. "What's the best amp company?"

If you like this blog be sure to subscribe.




//Kristofer

Best of the week! (#39)

Hello guys!

Today i will give you a list of the most viewed posts during the week that has been.

First of all there has been a poll about what other instrument you play else than guitar. The poll will end tonight, so if you haven't voted, go and do that now!

There have also been a "The 3 most annoying things with playing guitar" post. A little funny one, haha:) Go and check it out, and if you like, post a commentand tell me what you think are the most annoying things with playing guitar.

I have also made a guitar cover of the Testament song "Musical Death". Check out the video by clicking HERE.

There have also been a great band for you guys to check out, the band is "Behemoth". Go and read about them by clicking HERE.

Thats all for now guys, check back tomorrow for a new poll!

If you like this blog, please subscribe!




//Kristofer

Band to check out! (Behemoth)

Hello!

Today i'm going to give you a band tip. This one is for fans of extreme metal, like me:) Band of today is Behemoth! A band i think only getting better and better and better. Behemoth plays some kind of a mix beetween black-metal and death-metal, and are one of the pioneers of the genre.

There are some really cool guitar stuff in Behemoths music. Lots of odd chords and harmonies, and of course crazy wicked riffs and solos!! Nergal (lead vocals and guitar ) also has a really great voice, and when you blend that with the voices of Orion(bass) and Seth(guitar) it just sounds perfect!

I also think they make some of the most awsome musicvideos in the world! Wich really are right to the point. So let theese two videos speak for itself.

There latest singel "Ov the fire and the void" from the album "Evangelion" and "At the left hand of god" from the album "Apostasy".

If you wanna know more about Behemoth then click here to get to their myspace site
or
Read an interview with Nergal by clicking here


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Cheers!//Kristofer

New Musical Death Cover!

Hello dudes!

It' time for the long awaited cover of Testament's Musical Death! 3 years ago i recorded a cover of the song, wich i don't like nowdays. So i decided to record a new one. I really love this song, and of course the whole band,Testament, with Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson.
Click here if you want the tab.






Be sure to check back in a short while for a video lesson of the sweeps in the song.
If you liked this post, be sure to check out this post to: Eerie Inhabitants
And subscribe to my blog!




CHEERS!//Kristofer

The 3 most annoying/boring things with playing the guitar!

Hello!

Its time for "The 3 most annoying/boring things with playing the guitar!". Haha! If you have 3 other hate things about playing guitar, send me a comment and tell me! Here's mine!

1. The most boring thing with playing guitar is....changing the god damn strings! Especially when you have a floating bridge, like i have on my Ibanez Rg guitar. It's so boring, and take to many hours to get all the things right.

2. When you think you have done everything right, but its sounds like shit anyway!

3. When you break a string on the guitar, or even worse...When another person breaks one of your strings! Because then you need to do number 1 again.

Haha! Why all this anger? I was changing the strings of my Ibanez today, and the guitar just got fuck-up after I had changed them. Like it always does. So you have to adjust it for hours and hours and hours.

If you want some guitartips instead of this, just click HERE!


Well thats all for now, I'm in the making of some new videos stuffs, so be sure to check by tomorrow, or even better! Subscribe to the blog.





Cheers!//Kristofer

Poll and some news

Hello dudes!

I have had a busy weekend. Started of with a gig, as a stand-in guitarist to the band Bermuda on Friday, and then a writing session with my band "Inferior" on Saturday. I also got my new "Line 6 pod studio ux1", which im really happy about! I bought my copy at Thomann. I'm going to make a review of that one later, when I have tested it a little bit more:) I have also started to record a new version of Testament's Muscial Death which i talked about a while ago.

The last weeks poll of "How long have you been playing guitar?" is now ended, and the results where.

50% of you said that you had been playing for 1-3 years.
22% of you said that you had been playing for 4-6 years
11% of you said that you had been playing for 10+ years or less than a year.

A new poll is up-ruuning and this weeks question is:
What else do you play? (than guitar)

See yaaa!//Kristofer

Chord of the day #2

Hello!

Chord of the day is back! If you havn't checked out #1 you can do it HERE.
Todays chord is Dm9. A Dm9 contains of 5 notes (D E F A C), but in my chordform I have deleted the fifth(A). Instead the E is doubled. This chord is kind of a jazzy, and can be found in many bossa nova songs and so on, but it also can be used in pop songs etc. A m9 chord has a really laidback sounds, or what do you say? I really like the sound and use this chord a lot, its pretty easy to fret too, because you dont need to barré any finger, its just one note per finger.

Here's a chordform of the Dm9:





I have made a music exemple too. As usual I play the chord first, then I play a little sequence where I use the chord, then I improvise over the sequence. Todays sequence is, Dm9 Gm9 A7#5b9, and its in the style of bossa nova.
DOWNLOAD MP3 FILE HERE!
If you have a chordform or something and you cant figure out what the chord is, or maybe if you wanna know a way to use it. Send me a mail or comment and tell me:)
Kristofer_strandberg@hotmail.com
If you like this be sure to subscribe to the blog.

//Kristofer

New guitarist to check out!

Hello dudes!

Guitarist for today is Alex Skolnick. Alex Skolnick has, since the first note i heard him played, been a BIG inspiration to me. The first notes i heard from him was actually The intro to "Eerie Inhabitants" by Testament, the metal band Alex plays in. I have made a cover of that intro. Its like 3 years ago though, so i probably play it better today:) Anyway, here it is.





Why i got so stuck with him is maybe because, like i heard someone else said. "His songs are like a song within a song with their own movements and sections". He really builds his solos up in such a awsome way. Also nowdays, he plays both Thrashmetal and Jazz, just like me:)
So here is a video with him in Testament, and one with his jazz trio. The Testament song is "Electric Crown" wich features one of my favorite solos with Alex, the solo kicks of at 3:04.
The Alex Skolnick trio song is Western Sabbath Stomp.










For more info about Alex Skolnick and his music go to this links:
http://www.alexskolnick.com/
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Skolnick
http://www.testamentlegions.com/

If you liked this post, Read this!
And don't forget to subscribe to the blog.





Cheers!//Kristofer

Best of the week!

Every Tuesday, I will give you a list of the most checked-out blog entries during the last week that has been.

I posted a new feature called "Lick of the day"
Lick of the day #1
Lick of the day #2

i also posted a feature called "Chord of the day #1"
Chord of the day #1

A well-read post was "10 tips to be a better guitarist/musician"
10 tips to be a better guitarist/musician

There also were a guitarist to check out (Guthrie Govan)
Read about Guthrie




Seee yaa tomorrow!//Kristofer

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Video answer to Lick of the day #1

Some days ago i got a video answer on youtube to "Lick of the day #1".
So i thought that it would be fun to post it here:) Feel free to do the same yourself!

This is "untroubled"(Per), on youtube:






Cheers//Kristofer

Lick of the day!

Have you seen lick of the day?

If you havn't, go and check them out at:
http://theguitaristsplace.blogspot.com/2009/09/lick-of-day-1.html
http://theguitaristsplace.blogspot.com/2009/09/lick-of-day-2.html




//Kristofer

10 tips to be a better guitarist/musician

Words of widom! Haha!

1. NEVER, be afraid to ask someone about something you wonder about, even if you think the person are much better than you or maybe not as good as you at guitar/music . You can always gather information from all musicians you meet. And remember to really gather all information you can find. Try to always be open minded.

2. There are many important things in music. Think about these words, and think about how good you are at them, and how you incorporate theese things in your playing.
Knowledge of your instrument, technique, rhythm, sound, dynamics, sensitivity, phrasing, articulations, and of course! HEARING, the most importans part of music.

3. "Practise has to do with preparing yourself for real music" - Mick Goodrick

4. Playing faster isn't really all about to move your fingers faster, its to do the motion smaller.

5. Try to listen to music you never heard before, and don't get stuck in one genre. Good music comes in all genres. Lately i have been listening to a lot of Turkish music. Thanks Namık:)

6. Aim to stand up more when you practice at home, and in the rehearsalroom. Remember that in at least 99% of all the your gigs you'll be standing up when you're playing. A lot of players stand for the first time on stage, and wonder why it feels so different.
When i started to play with my band, I couldn't understand why my picking technique got so weakened when playing live, so i blamed it all on nervousness . In reality, at least 80% of the weaken picking technique depended on that i couldn't play the things when standing up that i was playing when i was sitting down.

7. Try practising without the guitar. Visualise the fretboard and scale patterns, appreciating chord formulae and how they work without actually playing! You can also do some ear traning. If say, you are going with the train or bus or whatever. Record some chords on your mp3 player, and see if you can recognize what chord you are playing. Do like this: Play a chord, wait 5 seconds, and then say the name of the chord. Don't care about the pitch of the tone, we talk about that another time!!

8. When learning a piece of music, do it in steps. Don't do everything at the same time. Try to begin by just listen to the song and write down a formula. Like this:
Intro
Vers
Pre-chorus
Chorus
Bridge
etc......
Then start working out the parts. Also think about what "sound" the guitarist have, and if he uses any effects or so.

9. Practise on your vibrato! Vibrato is a thing many guitarists forget. It doesn't mather how great your other techniques are, if your vibrato sucks, it won't sound any good. So go and listen to other guitarists and try to imitate their vibrato. Some players with outstanding vibrato is: B.B King, Eric Clapton, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jeff Beck etc...

10. One thing that helped me to develope my playing a lot was learning the theory behind it. I don't say that to play good you have to know music theory, but i say that it can help you a long way on the road of being a better guitarist.



I hope these tips will give you some inspiration, and if you have any questions about them, mail me at: Kristofer.strandberg@gmail.com , or throw me a comment here on the blog.





Cheers!//Kristofer

Poll

The poll about "What's your favorite guitar label?" has ended, and the results are......



First place: Fender with 40% of the votes

Second place: Ibanez with 26% of the votes

Third place: Jackson with 18% of the votes

You also gave Gibson and Esp 13% of the votes, and other guitar labels 18%.



A new poll is now up and the question is. How many years have you been playing guitar?




Cheers!//Kristofer

Last day!

Today is the last day to vote in "Whats your favorite guitar label?" poll. So if you havn't voted, go and do it right away!

Don't forget to check out Lick of the day #2 too
http://theguitaristsplace.blogspot.com/2009/09/lick-of-day-2.html




//Kristofer

Lick of the day #2

Hello dudes!

LICK OF THE DAY IS BACK! If you have any comments about lick of the day, feel free to send me a mail to Kristofer_strandberg@hotmail.com or throw me a comment here on the blog!





I see at this lick as Steve Vai meets Andy Timmons lick, because it has a sus2 feel and a blues feel at the same time.
The lick is based around D major except at the end where i use the note F, wich i put there to get the bluesy sound. It's a lot of slides in this lick, so don't hurt your fingers, like i did! haha.
I play the lick in 100 bmp in the fast tempo, and then just play it at half speed in the slow tempo(50 bpm). I also played the lick over a Dsus 2 pad, to really get the sound out of the lick.

If you want to download the tab and the pad you can do it here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/279089183/Lick_2.rar
You will need some kind of winzip/winrar to open it.




See yaa!//Kristofer

Guitarist to check out!

Hello!

Im gonna give you a guitarist tip. It's Mr. Guthrie Govan, a completely guitar genius! His technique, bends, vibrato, note choice, everything is perfect! So if you havn't checked out this guy. Go and do it right away! Guthrie also writes columns in guitar magz, like Guitar Techniques, a mag i subscribe to.

This is a version of him playing a song called Fives:


You can also check him out at: http://www.guthriegovan.co.uk/

And if you are lucky enough and living in the U.K, you can go and see him do clinics and stuff.
I know that there are at least one going on pretty soon at Bailbrook, Bath. 17&18 oct. It's with Guthrie and Jason Sidwell.
More info at: http://www.guitarbreak.com/




Thats all for now//Kristofer

Chord of the day #1

Hello dudes!

Maybe at this point you have been watched my first video post, "LICK OF THE DAY"?
If thats not the case, check it out at:
Lick of day 1

After making that one i thought, "why don't make a chord of the day too?" so.. here it is!

Chord of today is a Amaj7sus2. A Amaj7sus2 contains of 4 tones(A B E G#). In my chordform, i have put the A and B after eachother in the same octave. This creates a nice sound because of the A and B being so close to eachother. I think of this chord as a pop/jazz chord, because it works great in both genres because of the maj7(G#) that creates the jazzy sound, and the sus2(B) that creates the laidback popsound.

Here's a chordform of the Amaj7sus2:



I made a sound example too. First you'll here the chord being played. Then you'll here me use the chord in a nice little sequence, and finally you'll here me play a little "melody" over it.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE!




//Kristofer

Lick of the day #1

Hello dudes!

This is the premier of LICK OF THE DAY!
If you have any comments about lick of the day, feel free to send me a mail to Kristofer_strandberg@hotmail.com or throw me a comment here on the blog!



Its basically a speedy triplet lick in E minor (On the video you will hear it as D minor, because my guitar is tuned down a whole step), and it fits awsome in any rock/metal song wich is in the key of E. I use alternate picking throughout, except the bends, so no legato here.

If you want to download the tab you can do it here: http://rapidshare.com/files/277733916/Lick_1.rar

You will need some kind of winzip/winrar to open it.




See yaa!//Kristofer

My 2:nd guitar

My 2:nd guitar is a Ibanez Artcore AF-125. It's a hollowbody guitar and again a Ibanez! The guitar is made in general by maple and with some layers of bubinga (African Rosewood). Bubinga is a tree from western Africa, and are light red to violet in color, and have often purple stripes, as you can see in the picture.

The guitar is provided with two Ibanez IBZ super'58 custom humbucker. Its has a really nice warm tone in the neck pickup, and you can get a really cool funky sound with the bridge pickup.

I use this guitar when i play jazz, and i'm really into Pat Metheny stuff, so if you wanna have that sound, this guitar is awsome! Just add a touch of delay and a nice valve amp.

I also use flatwound strings wich give the guitar an even warmer tone, and slides both sounds awsome and are easy to do.

Check out my other Ibanez guitar at:

http://theguitaristsplace.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-guitar.html

//Kristofer

Lick of the day!

Hello!

Tomorrow i'm gonna start a new feature @ The Guitarists Place.
I will call it "LICK OF THE DAY", and it will be exactly what it says. I will post licks or exercises in a videoclip, and then you will be able to download them in a guitarpro file and/or in a textfile as a tab. So you can play it for yourself! Sounds good huh?! ;)

Thats all for now!

Cheers!//Kristofer

Musical Death

I have got a lot of comments and mails about my version of "Musical Death" by Testament on Youtube. The questions most peoples ask are "Can you send me a tab of that?" and "Can you show these sweeps in a slower tempo?". I recorded my version like 3 years ago, so it's far away from being a perfect one. So today i decided to record a new one in a near future and to tab the song for you guys! and also....make a video where i show the sweeps in i slow tempo.
So while waiting for the new one, here's my old version:




//Kristofer

Eerie Inhabitants

This is a old clip of me playing the intro to the song Eerie Inhabitants by Testament.
Don't mind the fuck-up on the last note:)






//Kristofer

My guitar

This is one of my electric guitars, its a Ibanez Prestige 1550 bk. I have 4 Ibanez guitars btw!

The pickups are Ibanez own pickups. V8 in the bridge positions, V7 in the neck position, and a S1 between these. Not the best pickups so i have been thinking about changing V8 to something else. The S1 has a pretty cool sound though. It sounds kind of a "Strat" like, or almost like an acoustic guitar.

The Neck i a "Wizard" neck like they call it, and i LOVE it! Really good for peoples like me who like thin/fast necks.

It has a Floyd Rose bridge, cant remember the model of it though.

More about Ibanez guitars at: http://www.ibanez.com/

Here are some pics:

And yes i love the colour blue...

And in action;)

//Kristofer

Hello!

My name is Kristofer Strandberg, and i'm a 21 year-old man living in Karlstad, Sweden. I have been playing guitar since i was about 10 years old, and have done it ever since!
I play guitar in a thrash/death metal band called "Inferior". Check it out at: www.myspace.com/inferiorswe
i have also been stand-in guitarist for a band called Sparzanza. Check it out at: www.myspace.com/sparzanza
and here's my own myspace
www.myspace.com/kristoferstrandberg

In this blog i'm going to talk about everything that has to do with guitars and music i have come across.
I'm also going to give some video lessons. Send me a comment or mail if there is something you want me to talk about in a lesson.



CHEERS!//Kristofer