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Adjusting your guitar Tuning Heads

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Adjusting your guitar Tuning Heads/machines is another excellent way of keeping your guitar in tune. This is part of my ongoing series of posts that highlight how to troubleshoot what you can do to keep your guitar strings in tune and for good overall guitar maintenance.

Over the lifespan of your guitar, the tuning heads will vibrate and loose that snug fit they once had when they were brand new. This could be caused by many factors. For example putting your guitar into it’s case and carrying it around or accidentally dropping it from time to time could cause the tuning heads to loosen.

Just a side note here, one time I ran over my very old acoustic with my car! When I reluctantly opened it, it was fine and still in tune. Another great reason why you should always purchase a very strong guitar case!

One of the easiest way of rectifying the problem of loose tuning heads is by bringing out a pocket-sized screw driver, either a Flathead or a Philips will do, and tightening the screws that hold the tuning heads to the head stock. Sometimes companies use a hexagonal socket set or wrench. The most common size is 7/16 – 10 mm.

First tighten the Tuning Head mounting screws on the back of the headstock with your screwdriver, this is fairly simple. Remember righty tighty and lefty loosy! Now we can turn our attention to the front of the headstock.

installing guitar tuning heads This is when we bring out our socket or wrench set. By glancing down directly at it, locate the bolt which is on top of the grommet or washer at the base of the peg post on the front of the headstock. Now with either the wrench or socket set, find the right sized one that will fit tightly on the bolt. Here we will turn your tool very carefully to right. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN. To make things easy for you, remove the string that you are working on first.

You may have completely different tuning heads then the ones that I have just covered. Some tuners may be adjusted by just pushing the grommets back into place. Once again, remove the string that you are working on first. If there is only one loose, then you might as well take the time to check the other ones while your at it.

If you’ve attempted to adjust your tuners and your instrument is still going out of tune too frequently, then maybe you should replace them all together. I have never ventured into doing this before so it maybe wise to contact your local luthier for advice on this one.

If you have a head stock that is made of wood, it sometimes shrinks and cracks due to lack of proper humidity inside the guitar case. This is a fantastic reason to get a acoustic guitar Dampits for your acoustic or classical guitar! It’s also a great gift you someone. I strongly insist that you purchase this product. It helps keep the humidity levels just right so that the wood on your acoustic guitar stays intact.

I hope this post has cleared up any questions that you may have about this very common topic and hope that you find it useful.

Keep on Jammin’





Bruce Cockburn tribute at this years Luminato Festival

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Bruce Cockburn to play at this years 2010 Luminato Visual Arts and Fashion Programs Festival in Toronto!

Cockburn’s showcase will also feature singer-songwriter Michel Rivard and guitarists Michael Occhipinti(please check out High Romance) and Colin Linden(some great guitar playing on Big Mouth). Luminato will pay tribute to the Canadian’s greatest singer/songwriter/guitarist Bruce Cockburn at its annual Canadian Songbook event, set for Massey Hall on Wednesday June 16, 2010 at 7:30 PM.

Bruce will be on stage with a stunning assortment of musical talent celebrating his contribution to music. Hawksley Workman, Margo Timmins, Michel Rivard, Michael Occhipinti and Colin Linden. If last years tribute show to Neil Young in any indication of what this years show will be like then it will be a must see event! Also last years Luminato attempted, with your truly in the audience, to break the Guinness World Book of Records for the most guitarist in a musical ensemble. We played Helpless from Neil Young.

The show is called The Canadian Songbook with tickets starting for $55-125 (Cdn). Hope to see ya there!

Keep on Jammin’

Do we really need guitar teachers?

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Do people, those who want to learn how to play guitar for the first time, honestly need teachers to show them the way? Well most new guitarists feel that they can learn this very tricky art form on their own. On the internet there are some fantastic sites out there that can steer you in the right direction. Locating good guitar sites is the first big obstacle to overcome in this process. To those of you who just want to pick up the guitar for their own enjoyment, then this is the way to go and hats off to ya!

After a while of checking out sites and finding which one that works well for you at the beginner level, you should then start to think about getting a guitar teacher that is right for you. I think that you should search for great instructors in your area on line or better yet, ask some of the guitar players that you know where they took lessons from and get their true feelings about their teacher.

I was fortunate enough to be blessed with a natural ability to both play and picking up songs by ear at an early stage in my development as a guitarist. I was also blessed with having FABULOUS parents, who both supported my love of guitar, that gave me the financial backing in which to do so. They honestly watched my progression and my level of interest very closely. After proving to them that I could advance to the next level of playing they/we proceeded forward.

Everything came to a head for me when they found the best and most influential teacher that I ever had in Brantford. His name was Chris Peterson. He didn’t push me too hard, he saw the flaws in my techniques and was not afraid to tell me. He had this great quiet demeanor about him that I really respected.

The best starting point in finding a proper mentor for you is to get one that shares the same style of music that you both like. If you choose to sign up for lessons at a local music school, then go and talk to some of the guitar players who are just waiting around for their lesson to start and ask lots of questions about how they like the teacher and if the teacher shows a genuine interest in the students well being as a player! This will really pay off well for you later on down the road.

Plan a meet and greet with the perspective teacher, always money well spent. This will show them that you are interested in their ability to teach and this is also something that a good teacher likes to see in a student. Tell them what you want to get out of lessons and what little things they will show you that will help you out in your journey.

Having a good teacher correcting your path to becoming a good/great guitarist is very essential! If this person does not show you tons of technique then get ride of them! What I mean is not only finger but hand positioning of BOTH HANDS for example. If they just fly through lessons with you, always looking at the clock waiting for their break before starting the next lesson then F–K THEM! (hope my mom isn’t reading this post or out behind the shed I go!!!) Find a teacher who challenges you in nice ways. MOST IMPORTANT, never let teachers talk down to you! Your guitar ego is very sensitive during this phase of your development, so don’t wait too long to turf this clown if this is the case between you and your instructor! If you wait too long in an abusive relationship like this, you will give up because you feel like a failure and that is not what you’ve signed up for!

So I hope that I was helpful for some of you new guitar players that are serious about taking it to the next level of guitar playing.

If your interested in guitar lessons at the level that I am referring to in this post, then write me back and I’ll see what I can do. I tend to have 5 students at one time. If I have too many then I feel like some manufacturing plant for guitar players! I use this approach because I also love to watch the learning progression of people. The best thing about teaching to guitarist his the look in their eyes when they finally pull off a song that they never thought that they could play! It’s just good karma baby!!!

Keep on Jammin’

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