"Music Nomad The Guitar One" on Cleaning and Polishing Guitar

Part of owning a guitar is to keep the guitar in clean and tidy condition. With this in mind I went to the guitar shop where I bought my Epiphone and Takamine acoustic guitars and looked for a good guitar cleaner and polish. Since I am new to guitar cleaners, I asked the sales person and he recommended product called Music Nomad The Guitar One Polish. I purchased the product he recommended and when I reached home I tried this product on my Takamine acoustic guitar and I was really impressed with the results. It was also very easy to apply and there was no residue build up.

This Music Nomad The Guitar One Polish made my guitar so shiny and free from finger prints. Take note that this is not to be used on bare wood such as the fret board and guitar bridge but can also be used on machine heads or tuners. Since this polish will make everything glossy, this is not to be used on any matte finished guitars. Aside from guitars, this can also be used to clean or polish other musical instruments to make them glossy.  Please watch my video below to learn more and see the actual demonstration.

Grow Old with You (Adam Sandler) Guitar Tutorial

After talking with my friend about my guitar journey,  he recommended that I play or do a tutorial video on how to play "Grow Old with You" by Adam Sandler.  At first I was hesitant as I haven't heard that song.  Then, I watched a couple of videos, as well as the movie which used this song as the main theme, then I eventually liked the song and started learning it on guitar.  First I learned the chords, then I followed the melody.

So after I learned to play this song, here is another fingerstyle guitar tutorial that I made. This time I showed how to play "Grow Old With You" by Adam Sandler. Adam Sandler sang this song in the hit movie The Wedding Singer, which he co-stars Drew Barrymore. This is just a basic guitar fingerstyle for beginners and I think it is easy to follow. Just concentrate on the chords and the tune of the melody. I derived the melody notes from the chords. Please feel free to view my video tutorial.




I have also written guitar tablature or guitar tabs for this song.  This is just basic arrangement and great for beginner guitarists.  This guitar tabs is free to download.

Download tabs here:  Grow Old With You TABS

My Takamine G Series G340S Acoustic Guitar

I went to the guitar shop and tried to test some acoustic guitars on display as well as check out what is on sale.  I immediately focused my attention on the dreadnought acoustic guitar made by Takamine.  I asked the salesperson if I can play with the guitar.  The person agreed and gave me some insights about the guitar.  The guitar was Takamine G-Series G340S.  I played with the guitar and I loved the tone and feel.  Until such time that I could not resist anymore,  this Takamine G340S ended in my living room that afternoon.  I made a basic guitar review and had given basic guitar specification on this video. Just like my Epiphone AJ220S, this guitar also has a solid spruce top. It has great tone and sustain. Another thing I liked with this instrument is that it is easy to play.  Although, the action is a little bit high for me but that can be easily be adjusted. The guitar came with D'Addario EXP16 Phosphor Bronze coated steel strings. Please feel free to watch my video and hear the sound of this Takamine G-series guitar. 


Takamine G340S NS Specifications
Body Shape: Dreadnought
Top:  Solid Spruce
Back: Mahogany
Sides: Mahogany
Finish: Natural Satin
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Sound hole inlay: Abalone Ring
Tuners: Gold Plated

How to play "Bayan Ko" - Acoustic Guitar (Cover) Fingerstyle Tutorial

This time I made a basic fingerstyle guitar tutorial of the famous patriotic Philippines song entitled "Bayan Ko".  The original song was said to be written in Spanish by a Filipino poet. 


Here is the Filipino lyrics of the song:


Ang bayan kong Pilipinas,
lupain ng ginto't bulaklak.
Pag-ibig na sa kanyáng palad,
nag-alay ng ganda't dilág.
At sa kanyáng yumi at ganda,
dayuhan ay nahalina.
Bayan ko, binihag ka.
Nasadlak sa dusa.

Ibon mang may layang lumipad,
kulungin mo at umiiyak.
Bayan pa kayáng sakdál dilág,
ang 'dì magnasang makaalpás?
Pilipinas kong minumutyâ,
pugad ng luhà ko't dalita.
Aking adhika,
makita kang sakdál laya.


And below is the Spanish version:


Nuestra Patria Filipina,
cuya tierra es de oro y púrpura.
Tantos tesoros guarda en su lar
que tientan al hurtador.
Y es por eso que el anglosajón
con vil traición la subyuga,
Patria mía en prisión
sacúdete del traidor.

Aún el ave libre en su volar,
llora cuando en la jaula está,
cuanto más nuestra Patria de amor
al verse sin paz ni dignidad.
Filipinas de mi corazón
tus hijos jamás permitirán
que así te robe
tu bienestar y libertad.

The Climb (Miley Cyrus) Guitar Cover - Basic Fingerstyle Tutorial

This video is a basic guitar fingerstyle tutorial of the song, The Climb. I am not an expert nor professional guitarist. This is just a simple way to share my hobby with others. I am sorry for the background noise in the recording as this was recorded in my living room with all windows open. I played the Epiphone AJ220S acoustic guitar when recording this video

I have written the guitar tablature for this song.  If you are interested to have a copy, you can download the free guitar TABs by clicking the button below.

By the way, this song, The Climb, was originally performed by Miley Cyrus and this was sung in the Hannah Montana The Movie.  Checkout the album Hannah Montana The Movie to hear the original song and learn what other great songs are included in the album.

Epiphone AJ-220S Guitar Stock Strings VS D'Addario EZ900 Bronze Strings

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I replaced the stock strings of my Epiphone AJ-220S acoustic guitar with D’Addario EZ900 Extra Light strings.  The stock strings for this acoustic guitar had light gauge and the replacement strings set that I purchased was extra light gauge.  I wanted to test and feel the difference in string tension.  I wanted to go for thinner strings as I haven’t played for a very long time and my fingers get soar easily with higher tension strings.

Here is the video when I did the string replacement. This was my first string replacement on this acoustic guitar. I think the strings were not yet properly stretched when I took this video and the guitar was not perfectly tune.  I have to admit it that I still need a lot of practice on guitar restringing and need to learn proper technique as well.  

D'Addario EJ40 Silk and Steel and EZ900 85/15 Bronze String Comparison

I started playing a little bit more of my Epiphone AJ220S guitar. From stock string, I replaced the strings with D'Addario EZ900 85/15. However, the tone of these strings was not really for my taste. It seemed to be to bright for my taste.  But of course, it really depends on the players preference.  Some guitar players like warm tone, while others like it bright, and some players prefer well balanced tone acoustics. And it also depends to the type of music that they are playing.  The playability of these string set is quite good since this set is extra light. They were easy on my fingers.

After a few weeks, I decided to replace them again with another set. This time I tried the D'Addario EJ40 Silk and Steel strings. The sound from these strings was warm and mellow. This was what I wanted to hear that time, especially on guitar plucking or fingerpicking. It was easy to play as well and the tension seems to be very low. One thing I do not like was that this set had less volume compared to other strings I tried before. And I do not think these strings were good for strumming. You can hear the difference on this video. Feel free to watch it.

Planet Waves (D'Addario) Acoustic Guitar Ratchet Capo

Since having this Epiphone guitar, I played it every day as I enjoyed the great sound coming from this guitar. Then I came across one song that it was not so easy for my pitch.  I am not a singer thus I had only a very short range.  I tried to do some chord variations until I reached the perfect pitch for me. However, this happened not only on one song. And I realized that the easiest way was to use a guitar capo.
I purchased one, D'Addario Planet Waves ratchet capo and I showed it in the video below.

In this video I tried the Planet Waves capo on my Epiphone AJ220S acoustic guitar. The product worked for me. It was easy to use and it was of good quality.  Only thing that I did not like about this ratchet-style capo was that, you have to be careful in installing it. Otherwise, it bends the string a little bit down and your guitar is out of tune while capo is on. Other than that, it is great.  The capo held firmly and sound with capo was impressive. The capo is very light, thus no extra weight on the guitar neck. It is very easy to install and to remove, plus the price of this capo is very affordable.

Epiphone AJ-220S VS Acoustic Guitar Review and Demo

I purchased this guitar after my old guitar broke down.  This guitar has amazing tone.  A lot of Epiphone AJ220S owners love their guitars.  For a very reasonable price, you really get more what you paid for.  Epiphone guitars are made by Gibson family.


Here is the description from Epiphone about AJ220S:

The AJ-220S has a unique bell-like shape, a larger lower bout, and a small round upperbout which gives this new addition to our Advanced Jumbo family of guitars a unique voice. And the AJ-220S is made with Epiphone’s century’s worth of experience in crafting world-class guitars that are meant to be played.

Acoustic guitar players know it’s difficult to find an instrument that has both a deep bass tone and crisp loud projection. On a small stage with an acoustic band and little amplification, a good acoustic guitar should be able be heard and anchor a band. The AJ220S’s strong and balanced tone will make other acoustic players who have spent much more on their guitars wish they had gone to Epiphone instead. Like all our Epiphone acoustics, the AJ220S is legendary for being easy to set up and for staying in tune so no matter how much playing time you have, it's ready to go.

Specifications:
Shape: Acoustic Jumbo
Top: Solid Sitka Spruce
Body: Select Mahogany
Neck: Mahogany, glued, Dove-Tail Joint
Neck Profile: Slim Taper™
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Fingerboard Inlay: Perloid Dot Inlay
Scale: 25.5"
Nut: 1.69"
Hardware: Nickel
Machine Heads: Premium Tuners
Color: VS (Vintage Sunburst) 
Other Color Available: NA (Natural)

Easy Guitar Tuning using Android App in Samsung Galaxy Smartphone

As part of the Smartphone trend is using various Apps.  One of these is the use of a guitar tuner App.   In this video I demonstrated on how to use a guitar tuner App or application to tune my acoustic guitar.    The name of the App I used here was Pitch lab.  It was easy to use and I was able to tune my guitar in just a short while.  Check out the video and learn how to do it yourself.  Now, since most of us have Smartphone, there is no more reason that we cannot tune our own guitars.

This is a sample tuning on my old RJ Guitar. I used an Android App on my Samsung Galaxy Ace.  Unfortunately, this guitar did not last long after taking this video as the bridge was pulled off from the guitar body.   But basically, this started my guitar journey.

This blog is about my hobby, which is guitar playing.  I show in this blog my guitars, some videos of my guitar fingerpicking basic tutorials and anything I encounter about my guitars.