For my free inquiry, I have chosen to learn guitar. It has been a dream of mine for a long time to write and sing a complete song from start to finish. I am an audio-visual technician. Music has always been a part of my life. Right now, I understand music through wavelengths. I can tell you that the boxy sound you hear out of most powered (amp built-in) speakers is probably in the 200-400hz range. I can also tell you what microphones generally work better with what voices (Ex: SM58 with loud singers, rappers mid-range vocalists, Beta 58 or Sennheiser e945 for crooners or breathy singers with a higher pitch). What I don’t know is the notes singers are singing, or guitars are playing. I can tell you a range in Hz but not in the musical alphabet. My hope is with this inquiry, I’ll be able to learn a little more about the music theory side of music and improve my skills on the acoustic guitar. I’ll be using an old Yamaha FG-300A as my weapon of choice.

Photo by 一诺 赵 from Pexels

Before I get too deep into the lessons, I’ll be learning, here’s info on the guitar and my instrument, who I will refer to anthropomorphically as Figgy. 


What is a guitar?


“An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument[1] in the string family.[2] When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, resonating through the air in the body, and producing sound from the sound hole” (Acoustic Guitar, Wikipedia)

Dominic Alves – https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4080/4874707116_48eaf6611d_b.jpg

Figgy is a bit of a mystery. Through my google searches and cruising of various forums, I believe that my guitar was a starter-level guitar produced between 1991-1993 for around 200 bucks. It was named after Yamahas beloved FG300, which, according to my incredible sources of various guitar forums, was a top-line model from the late 1960’s – early 1980’s. Though apparently, they bear no relation.

In regards to the start of this musical journey, I have signed up for lessons so I am hoping to use what I learn in my lessons as a launching board for what I talk about each week with this inquiry. I will draw in sources I use to bolster my knowledge and I will also try and link to some of my favourite online musicians, guitar teachers, and youtube music analysts.

Until next time,

Cheers!

R