Video Question: Nails

June 20th, 2008 - Art Snyder asks, "I recently switched from Classical to Electric...do i need to keep my nails the same as in Classical playing...A" Return to Video Q&A Listing


Length: 1.45 | Instructor: Brad Henecke Another benefit of being a member of JamPlay is the video response section. Our expert staff fields questions from our members and provides video responses each week.

Other Video Responses:

Chord Songbook - February 20th, 2008 (2 minutes, 70 seconds)

Mogs asks, "Hi wonder if you can help please. I've only been playing guitar for a few months and still mastering the basic chords. Somtimes this gets a little boring so I try learn a popular song to add a little fun to my practice sessions. The problem I have is how to read chord songbooks. For example I have a Johnny Cash Song 'Ballad of A Teenage Queen' the intro is written in the book as: CAPO 1ST FRET [A] Dream on, Dream on, [D] teenage [A] queen [D] Prettiest [A] girl we've [E] ever [A] seen. I understand the capo part and have it set up correctly. My question is how many times do I strum the chords ? Looking at the above is it, (A) on 'dream' only or (A) on 'dream' and 'on'. I kind of get it if theres only one word after the chord but when theres two or three I'm not sure wether I strum on each word even though it doesnt show the chord before each word. Hope this is not a silly question, but would really appreciate your advice. Thanks Mogs PS. The site is fantastic, its given me so much motivation to keep on with the practice sessions." View Response

Where to go and Genre Picking - December 5th, 2007 (4 minutes, 80 seconds)

Phi716 asks, "I have two questions. Once i have gone over the classes the instructors have, and really picked up on how to play the guitar, other then the obvious anwser of, keep practicing, where do you go from there? Do you just start learning songs, try different things, I don't know. I have learned a lot and I feel right now my guitar learning is at a slow down. I'm just wondering what to really do to get better. Or is the anwser, just keep practicing? My other question, when picking genre's. I am learning a lot from them, but would it be better to learn the finger picking and the speed and accuracy stuff first, then move to genres? Would it make it an easier transition being pretty good at those then learning the actual genres? Sorry for the two questions, love this website, it has helped me a lot. Thanks for all the help." View Response

- July 11th, 2008 (2 minutes, 00 seconds)

Dmander asks, "Hey, I've had an idea on putting a tremolo bridge on my Epi Sg. I was wondering if you guys think thats a good idea or if it would be better to get a guitar that comes with it." View Response

Backing Track Questions - August 28th, 2008 (1 minutes, 55 seconds)

Plugy asked Hii i wanted to know if the backing track that brad uses a lot the one in lesson seven that he jams to and introduces the lesson with is available to download there is one in the supliment for the lesson but not the same as brad plays i would like to get this so i can follow the lessons as close as possible to Brad." View Response

Guitar Action - April 28th, 2008 (2 minutes, 13 seconds)

Jdemail78 asks, "I hear a lot about guitar action but I'm not really sure what is good or bad. I had purchased an acoustic guitar that I believe had very low action (strings were very close to the neck of the guitar) and it was very easy to play but it ended up having some issues with fret buzz and other ringing sounds that I did not like and could not get corrected at the local guitar shop. I've since replaced it with a little bit better guitar and I no longer have any fret buzz nor do I have any ringing sounds but it seems like the action is higher (strings are much higher off the neck of the guitar) and therefore, for me as a beginner, it is harder to play. My question is when it comes to an experienced guitar player (which I am not...yet...) is it good to have a guitar with higher action or lower action? What would one typically prefer? Do really nice expensive guitars come with very low action making them easy to play but don't have any buzzing issues or is it a case where as you get better, higher action is ok because your better at fretting chords and notes? My curiosity with this comes from a hope that the guitar I have now, with it's strings higher off the fret board, will slowly become easier to play as I get better and I'll become ok with the higher action because it does sound better and cleaner than the one I had with the lower action. Also, please correct me if I have the "high action" "low action" descriptions backwards." View Response