If you’ve been on a search for iconic guitars, you might find that it ends at Telecaster guitars – the models of Fender-made electric guitars that have been around since the 1940’s and 1950’s. Through a simple, solid-body design and a sharp electric sound, the Telecasters quickly put their mark on music through artists such as Buck Owens, Eric Clapton, and George Harrison, who played the Telecaster frequently on the Beatles’ “Let It Be” album.

But what exactly makes this such a special guitar, and what made it stand out during the initial releases in the middle of the 20th Century?

The History of the Telecaster Guitar

If you look at at a typical Telecaster guitar, you’ll see that there’s nothing particularly revolutionary about its electric, solid-body design. That’s because this kind of electric look and sound is part of what drove the electric guitar to its current status as king of the rock world.

Produced by Leo Fender and his company, the first Telecaster actually appeared in 1949 – and it would be this design that would bring the solid-body electric guitar out of obscurity and finally make a mark on the world of music.

Through models like the Esquire and the Broadcaster, produced in mass quantities through simple processes – similar in many ways to early automobiles. This allowed for greater popularity of the solid-body electric guitar, and additionally allowed for easy repairs to be made at music and guitar shops.

The Value of Telecaster Guitars

With many brands of Telecaster guitars no longer produced, though playing a significant role in the influence of the electric guitar and on music history in general, you can imagine the value of some of these Telecaster guitars. While new guitars could cost you anything from several hundred to thousands of dollars, you might find that the price escalates for the limited-edition vintage guitars that don’t have a lot of copies.

Finding a Solid Telecaster Guitar Online

If you’re interested in acquiring a Telecaster guitar for yourself, the best place to start is eBay!  In fact, you don’t even need to visit eBay, as we’ve brought all the bargains to you right here, on this site. Check out the range of Telecaster Guitars for sale. When you’re comparing offers, make sure you do research on the prices of these guitars so that you know you’re getting a good deal. It’s also a good idea to review seller feedback before you make a purchase.

 

There are a lot of people out there with Telecaster guitars – why can’t you be one of them?

 

The piano is one of the best musical instruments to take up.

It teaches you ambidexterity, chords, melodies, dynamics – just about every musical principle you can think of.  So if you’re thinking about taking up the piano, you’re doing good so far, simply by choosing a great instrument.

But what about the piano teacher?  Can you really expect to hire someone and have everything mesh together, or do you want to make sure there aren’t any notes out of place?  Before you hire someone to teach you piano, here are three characteristics you should strive to find them.

1.  Your piano teacher should be fairly strict.

Although you might find a recommendation from places like Essortment that warn against strict teachers, you will want a piano teacher who has standards and wants to enforce them.

This doesn’t mean they should slap your hand every time you miss a note, but they should be holding you accountable for a certain amount of practice each week and they should be willing to challenge you to push your limits.

If your piano teacher isn’t a little strict, you’ll find it easy to lag behind in your practice.  You need something to work towards, and your teacher should be setting those goals along with your input.

2.  Your piano teacher should be knowledgeable.

If your piano teacher is able to look at a composition and teach you all about it, then you’ll gain a greater understanding and even appreciation of all of the artfulness you’ll want to put in your playing.

A piano teacher that isn’t very knowledgeable about the piano might be able to teach you something because they know more than you, but they should hopefully have a solid musical foundation that allows them to implant that same kind of foundation in you.

3.  Your piano teacher should be fairly personable and easy to get along with.

Although this isn’t necessary for you to become good at the piano, it will be necessary for your sanity!

There are stories about strict piano teachers who didn’t like to talk a lot, and they can really help you improve.  But it’s nice to have somoene you simply get along with teach you piano because, after all, you will be spending a good amount of time with them.

In addition to some basic requirements you expect from anyone you pay money – like qualifications, experience, and references – the above requirements should help you understand what to look for in a good piano teacher.

It’s a good idea to go ahead and see if you can work with more than one over a period of a few trial lessons in order to see who you prefer – see if you can work out those arrangements with potential teachers.

Learning music isn’t always easy – in fact, for some people, it’s kind of like learning another language.

That’s why so many people turn to music teachers in order to learn them.  After all, isn’t learning an instrument just like any other kind of learning, like taking French lessons?

The obvious debate that always seems to arise is whether or not you should teach yourself or take lessons.  In this article, we’ll weigh the pros and cons of each strategy and give a recommendation you can take to the bank.

First, let’s take a look at music lessons.

There are obvious benefits for taking lessons with a formal instructor.  They’ll keep you accountable, for one: by having a lesson every week or even more frequently, you’re forced to practice just to keep up, and you have to continue to concentrate on your instrument just by virtue of meeting with your instructor.

Music teachers can also point out your weaknesses that you might not have been able to discover by yourself.

On the other hand, music lessons are costly

If you’re on a budget, just buying the instrument itself might have taken a few months of scrimping and saving.

Even if you do buy someone’s music teaching services, there’s no guarantee that they’ll actually help you – it’s a classic case of “buyer beware.”  Check out About.com’s look at the cost of Piano lessons.

When it comes to teaching yourself, there are some advantages.

You have the advantage of paying nothing except your time.  You also have an advantage of setting your own schedule and being able to conduct your “lessons” in the comfort of your own home.

You can even practice in your pajamas!  We’re guessing most music teachers wouldn’t appreciate that.

There is a trade-off in quality if you don’t have the discipline to continue practicing regularly.

For one, you may not even know how or what to practice.  For example, simply looking up guitar chords online might help you figure out which finger goes where, but you won’t be sure if you’re really doing it right without an outside perspective.

Ultimately, an ideal solution is to integrate a little of both.

If you’re hiring a music teacher who freelances, try to work out something affordable, where he or she will review your practice every month rather than every few days or every week.

They can help direct you about what areas you should focus on, while you can still avoid much of the cost of having more regular lessons.

Your ability to maintain discipline will be vitally important here – with or without a teacher.

We live in the age of mobility:  we expect to have GPS maps of the world downloaded into our smart phones, to e-mail clients from a beach in the Caribbean just as well as a beach, and we expect to take it all with us in one small, simple place.

Oddly enough, much of our music gear has gone the opposite way:  synthesizers and studio equipment can’t exactly be hauled away in a purse.

So if you want to produce a sound from anywhere, you’ll need a “mobile” instrument, just like they had in the good old days.

So which are the best ones?

The harmonica.

The harmonica is one of the great pocket instruments, and there’s a reason the familiar sound is so frequently associated with frontier life:  it’s so easy to bring along!  True, the harmonica doesn’t have a whole lot of range when it comes to producing timbre, but sometimes you have to sacrifice sound for mobility.  How small do they get?  The smaller harmonicas can look more like USB flash drives rather than musical instruments.

The acoustic guitar.

True, the acoustic guitar is lunkier than a harmonica, and it won’t exactly fit in your pocket, but it’s still a simple instrument that can produce a familiar sound that people love to listen to.  There’s a reason it’s a favorite of street musicians.  They’re usually light-weight, fairly easy to learn, and you can tune them yourself.  No batteries required!  A kazoo is more “mobile” than an acoustic guitar, but there’s a good chance people would rather listen to the guitar.

The accordion.

Okay, bear with me.  The accordion is essentially a wind-powered portable keyboard, and it’s hard to find a keyboard that you can bring with you.  You can’t exactly lug a piano with you on vacation, so if you want to satisfy those itchy piano fingers, there’s nothing for you to do.  Unless you bring an accordion.  Accordions can be carried around and even danced with, if you’re into that whole “polka” scene.

The recorder.

Similar to a flute, the recorder is actually slightly more mobile because it doesn’t have to be carried in a case – you can simply leave it somewhere (preferably clean, of course) and pull it out when the time is right.  It’s also easy to play – not quite as easy as the kazoo, but it sounds a lot more pleasant.

 

When you want a certain musical instrument, where do you go?  It’s a simple question, but the answer might be a little more complicated than you bargained for.  As it turns out, there are all sorts of different types of musical instruments, with different outlets and chains that supply them.  If you want a guitar, you might head to Guitar Center.  If you want a specific bass guitar that they don’t carry, you might have to head elsewhere.  So how do you really figure out the best music gear outlet to shop at?  Here are some tips.

First, if you have an interest in a type of musical instrument, try to find a good outlet like the aforementioned Guitar Center.  Guitar Center features a low price guarantee.  So even if you do find the same guitar for cheaper elsewhere, you can enjoy that low price with the service and promptness of a larger outlet.  Make sure, however, that you read the fine print when it comes to these low price guarantees before you go off searching the web.  You’ll want to make sure you can really pay them the lowest price.

Next, you’ll have to consider specialty items, such as musical studio recording gear.  You won’t be able to find sophisticated recording gear at your neighborhood music retailer, but if you head online, you should be able to find a number of online stores that carry it.  Start off by searching for the product you’re looking for in quotes.  For example, enter a search for a “DigiTech Vocalist Live 2 Harmony Processor.”  Then take a look at the places that carry it, looking for the best deal and the company that appears to have the most reliable service.

If you’re still stuck, you can always try finding a used instrument forum.  eBay is one of the world’s largest marketplaces for just about anything, and all the items on this site are fetched directly from eBay.  Enter in a direct search (in the above box on the right) for the product you’re looking for.  You can also browse individual categories on the left sidebar or at the top menu to view similar products to the one you want.

If you’re not sure about what exact musical equipment or instrument you want, start off by simply browsing some of the larger outlets to see what’s available.  Don’t take the first price you see – instead, search further until you find something that you can afford.

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That old, withered drum set has been sitting in your garage for years now, and you’re not even sure if it will sound fresh when someone takes the time to play it.

So you give it a little test and, sure enough, it still works!  Sounds like it’s time to sell your used music gear to the highest bidder.

But what if your music gear hasn’t been collecting dust for years?  How do you know when it’s time to sell it?  You can start by considering some of the following key points:

Do you still use your instrument or piece of equipment?

This seems like an obvious question, but it’s one you’ll have to ask yourself.  Do you still use the musical instrument on a regular basis?  If you do, then it definitely still has value to you, and you don’t need to sell it.

If, however, you find that a new instrument or piece of equipment has replaced an old one, it might be a good idea to sell!  Yes, even if you still use that equipment every once in a while.

Is your instrument or equipment in selling condition?

Sure, you want to clear your studio space, but just because you want to sell something doesn’t mean there’s someone out there who wants to buy.  At least at your price.  Before you go to Cash Converters or a musical pawn shop, take a look at your used equipment and ask yourself if you would buy it used.

If not, then you’ll want to clean and/or repair it.  If it’s beyond repair and you really need to clear some space, consider simply giving it away to someone who finds it interesting.

How much money can you get for it, and why?

There are some instances when you might consider selling musical gear that you still use.

For instance, if you’re struggling financially and can’t make rent this month, you may have to get rid of that gear in exchange for some quick cash.  If this is the case, you’ll want to focus on the gear you use the least and the instruments you don’t enjoy so much.

If someone offers you a great price for a piece of your equipment, you may want to consider selling even if you want to keep it.  Why?

There’s a possibility you can do something better with the money, like buy an equivalent replacement for less.  This would allow you to keep the leftover money as profits.

There are plenty of reasons to part with music gear, so in order for you to know when it’s time to sell, you’ve got to examine your own.  Don’t sell just to sell; sell for a purpose, whether that is creating space, giving a friend a discount, or simply getting some cash.

 

Huh?  Electronic drums?  Don’t you mean “which is better – the electric or acoustic guitar”?

Nope.  In the world of drums, there is often a heated debate which takes place between two essentially different forms of drums sets:  the electronic and the acoustic drum sets.

These two sets can be vastly different, even if they are arranged to produce the same sounds and feel the same to play.  Which kind of drum set is better for you?  That depends on your needs.

If you are practicing drums and don’t want to keep your parents or neighbors up all night, the electronic drums are the choice for you, though they can often be expensive, so you’d better be sure that you want to stick with drums for the long haul.  Electronic drums can be attached to headphones that will produce a full drum sound in your ear while simply leaving the “tapping” to the rest of the world.  Neat, huh?

If your passion for drums emphasizes performance, you’ll often want to go with acoustic drums.  Performing your drums means you’ll need a lot of variety in terms of volume and expression, and only acoustic drums have the capacity – at least, at this point in our technological development – to provide those.

Also, keep in mind that acoustic drums are often less expensive than electronic drums.

If you like to record your drum material, electronic drums may be the choice for you.  You simply hook them up to your computer to record.  Acoustic drums, meanwhile, will require specific microphone placing so that you can record the live sound onto your computer.  Electronic drums will also give you a wide range of different drum types and sounds to try out when recording.

If your only issue is price, you should be able to find cheap, used acoustic drums available.  It’s similar to the acoustic vs. electronic guitar debate, in which acoustic guitars are generally cheaper and easy to find used.

What type of drum set is for you?  It depends on your needs.  Which type of drum set is better?

That depends on your tastes.

For now, it seems appropriate to say that one type of drum set is suitable for certain environments and needs, while another type of drum set is better for others.

The debate rages on!