Guitar Accessories
April 2nd, 2010 | Author: guitarman
Though a guitar could be played on its own, there are a assortment of common accessories employed for holding and playing the guitar.
Slides
A slide (round metal bar, neck of a bottle or a knife blade) is used in blues and rock to produce a Glissando or ‘Hawaiian’ outcome. The necks of bottles were frequently used in blues and country music. Contemporary slides are made of glass, plastic, ceramic, chrome, brass or steel, depending upon the weight and tone wanted.
An instrument that is played entirely in this manner, using a metal bar slide, is known as a steel guitar or pedal steel. Slide playing to this day is very popular in blues music and country music. Some slide players use a so called Dobro guitar.
Capotasto or Capo
A capo, short for capotasto, is employed to change the pitch of open strings. Capos are clipped onto the fret board with the help of spring tension, or in some models, elastic tension. To elevate the guitar’s pitch by one half steps, the player would clip the capo onto the fret board just beneath the first fret.
Its use permits players to play in different keys without having to change the chord formations they use. Because of the simplicity with which they allow guitar players to shift keys, they are occasionally mentioned as “cheaters” or the “hillbilly crutch.” Classical performing artists are known to use them to enable modern instruments to match the pitch of historical musical instrument such as the renaissance lute.
Plectrum – Guitar Pick
A “guitar pick” or “plectrum” is a small piece of hard material which is commonly held between the thumb and first finger of the picking hand and is applied to “pick” the strings. Though most classical players pick exclusively with their fingernails, the “pick” is frequently used for electric and steel-string acoustic guitars. Though nowadays they are primarily plastic, variants do exist, such as bone, wood, steel or tortoise shell.
Tortoise shell was the most commonly used material in the former days of pick-making, but as tortoises and turtles turned more and more threatened, the practice of utilising their shells for picks or anything else was prohibited. Tortoise-shell picks made before the ban are oftentimes sought after for a supposedly superior tone and easiness of use, and their scarcity has made them precious.
Guitar Picks come in numerous shapes and sizes. They vary from the small jazz pick to the large bass pick. The thickness of the pick a great deal influences its use. A thinner pick .2 and .5 mm, is commonly used for strumming or rhythm playing, whereas thicker picks, between .7 and 1.5 mm are generally used for single-note lines or lead playing.
Thumb picks and finger picks that attach to the finger tips are occasionally employed in finger-picking styles on steel strings. These permit the fingers and thumb to engage independently, whereas a flat pick necessitates the thumb and one or two fingers to pull strings.
Capotasto, Capo, Slides, Plectrum, Guitar Picks
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: Expression of Love for Music.
