David Hodge

It may not seem like it at the moment, but spring’s a-coming! and for some of us, that means tending to the garden. Ian from the Canadian province of Alberta has decided it’s also a good time to read up on playing his electric guitar:

And what better way to wish him even more success with playing than to send Ian an autographed copy of my latest book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar?

As you hopefully know by now, Guitar Noise is giving away two autographed copies of my latest book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar each month throughout the rest of 2011. To enter this giveaway, just get yourself a copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar and simply take a picture of yourself, with the book, someplace relatively picturesque. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background, but try to be creative. As the saying goes, and as Paul literally did, you don’t have to go any further than your own back yard! Paul Hackett and I will be selecting two photos a month and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures are chosen.

Just send your photos to me at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and be sure to include an email address where you can be reached, as well as a mailing address. And please put “Picture Book” in the subject line of the email.

What you may not know, since it just started this month, is that we’re expanding the rules of our contest a bit. If you’ve got one of my books already, say this latest one, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar or even The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Bass Guitar and you’d like to win a different one of my books, then just take a photo of yourself with the book you’ve got! And when you’re notified about winning, you can let me know which of the three books you’d like.

Our next lucky winner will be announced right here on March 15. We’re looking forward to hearing from you and, as always, we wish the best of luck to everyone who enters!

And if you’d simply like to buy a copy, feel free to click on the link right here on my blog. If you’d like an autographed copy, just write me directly (dhodgeguitar@aol.com) for details.

And my thanks, by the way, to all those who have already bought a copy as well as to those who have taken the time to write and post reviews. I truly appreciate your making the time to do so.

Peace

Hello

And thanks for writing. I can definitely answer your question with some degree of certainty, but I will also tell you that this is one of those questions where people do have varying differences of opinion, and sometimes quite strong opinions at that. And usually, as is the case with most differences of opinions, these feelings are often based on some instance of personal experience. Someone might have a guitar that he or she keeps in open G all the time without any kind of problem at all. Someone else might have a guitar that he or she retuned to open G at one point and it caused no end of grief in terms of retuning, or perhaps some greater calamity was involved. It’s always good to ask ”why” whenever you receive an answer that seems based more on an opinion than anything else.   

Be that as it may, you should have no trouble keeping a guitar at open D or open G for any length of time. Forever, if you so desire. Neither of these tunings involves tuning strings higher than they would be if they were tuned to standard tuning, so you’re not causing undue stress on the neck or on the saddle (if it’s an acoustic guitar).

Open E and open A are a whole ‘nother kettle of fish. Both these open tuning involve tuning a number of strings higher than they would normally be. Because guitars are designed for standard tuning, keeping these strings high than normal for an extended period of time (extended usually meaning “days” and not “hours”) can cause unwanted stress on your guitar.

This discussion is also common among people who own twelve-string guitars, by the way. One faction will say that you should keep your twelve string tuned a half-step or full step lower so as not to stress the neck. The other side says it’s perfectly fine to keep it in standard tuning all the time. There are valid arguments for both sides and usually it becomes a matter of personal taste and experience.

There are some factors to keep in mind, though. (aren’t there always?) as laws of inertia apply here. If you keep a guitar in open G  or open D for an extended period of time, your instrument is going to go through a period of adjustment should you decide you’ve got to play it in standard. It may initially not hold its tuning and need some bit of adjustment until the strings get used to being stretched to normal tension again. As silly as it may sound, if the strings are old or have worn spots, you run the risk of breaking them when you retune up to standard. Constantly putting your guitar into an open or alternate tuning and then going back to standard does put wear and tear on your strings. So it’s a good idea to have spares handy.

I hope this helps. Thank you once more for the email and I look forward to chatting with you again.

Peace 

 A belated Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone!

And a hearty to congratulations to Mitch of South Carolina, our February 15 winner of an autographed copy of my latest book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar! 

As you hopefully know by now, Guitar Noise is giving away two autographed copies of my latest book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar each month throughout the rest of 2011. To enter this giveaway, just get yourself a copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar and simply take a picture of yourself, with the book, someplace relatively picturesque. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background, but try to be creative. As the saying goes, and as Paul literally did, you don’t have to go any further than your own back yard! Paul Hackett and I will be selecting two photos a month and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures are chosen.

Just send your photos to me at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and be sure to include an email address where you can be reached, as well as a mailing address. And please put “Picture Book” in the subject line of the email.

What you may not know, since it just started this month, is that we’re expanding the rules of our contest a bit. If you’ve got one of my books already, say this latest one, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar or even The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Bass Guitar and you’d like to win a different one of my books, then just take a photo of yourself with the book you’ve got! And when you’re notified about winning, you can let me know which of the three books you’d like. 

Our next lucky winner will be announced right here on the first of March. We’re looking forward to hearing from you and, as always, we wish the best of luck to everyone who enters!

And if you’d simply like to buy a copy, feel free to click on the link right here on my blog. If you’d like an autographed copy, just write me directly (dhodgeguitar@aol.com) for details.

And my thanks, by the way, to all those who have already bought a copy as well as to those who have taken the time to write and post reviews. I truly appreciate your making the time to do so.

Peace