Barrington Bay Music Club continues to grow.

Thank you to all who have joined the Barrington Bay Music Club.  We have topped 100 members so far, and it just keeps growing.

Remember, membership is free, and you can join by coming into the store and filling out the Membership Form, or apply online Barrington Bay Music.  If you sign up online, your card will be here waiting for you.

April Special

This month's special is "camp" guitars.  These guitars are being discounted because they are used or have minor cosmetic damage to them.  Nicks, scratches, small dings, things that impact the look of the guitar, not the way it plays or sounds.

We have 4 guitars available and in stock.  All 4 play well and sound good, and since they're a little damaged, you don't have to worry about taking your "good" guitar to the camp or cottage.

So if you're looking to get a cheap guitar for the camp or cottage, or just want a low priced guitar to learn on, come in and see our selection.

Jam Sessions

We've now completed three cycles of Jam Sessions; these get better and better.

We have decided to continue the jam sessions for the next few months.  The current schedule is as follows:

Acoustic Jams: 

            April 15th

            May 6th

            June 10th

Electric Jams:

            April 29th

            May 20th

            June 24th

Tell your friends, and invite them out to a jam session.  Come out yourself and bang away on your fiddle, learn something new and meet new friends and players.

Pictures are available for viewing on the BBM website Barrington Bay Music Jams Gallery (we are looking into the possibility of video taping a jam, and placing the video on the website in the future as well.)

Guitar Chops

I was going to showcase a different technique, but decided that there is so much more to know about classical-styled finger-picking that I'll teach some more on that.

This month we are going to focus on finger picking chords.  Finger picking a chord is called an arpeggio.  An arpeggio is a broken chord where the notes are played or sung in succession rather than simultaneously. The word comes from the Italian for "in the manner of the harp."  Now while traditionally an arpeggio is successive notes, there is no reason why they can't be played out of order.

Arpeggios are used a lot in music either to accentuate a chord and give it that "rippling" effect, or through "sweep picking" where the player would pick the chord with a sweeping motion of the hand, leaving enough of a break to define each note rather than just strum all the notes simultaneously.

The following examples are two different patterns used for arpeggios.  With all the examples, let the notes ring throughout.

Ex. 1 - This is the exercise from the February 2007 newsletter.  This is an example of a traditional arpeggio.

Ex. 2 - This is an example of a more traditional arpeggio. Note:  The fingerings noted with the letters below the staff are a guideline only.  Feel free to use whatever combination of fingers works best for you.

            Ex. 1                                        Ex. 2

e :-0--|---------0---------0---------0-|---------0---------|-------

B :-0--|-------0---------0---------0---|-------0---0------|-------

G :-1--|-----1---------1---------1-----|-----1-------1----|-------

D :-2--|----------------------2--------|---2-----------2---|-------

A :-2--|------------2------------------|--------------------|-------

E :-0--|--0----------------------------|-0------------------|-------

              p  i m a  p  i m a  p  i m a   p i m a a a m i

Ex. 3 - This is a different arpeggio pattern where the notes are not in successive order, and use the G# on the third string as a pedal tone.

Ex. 4 - Shows a different picking pattern.  This one uses a plucked root note teamed up with another note.  This pattern gives more of a feeling of movement by adding the second root note 1 beat before the next measure.

            Ex. 3                   Ex. 4

e :-0--|----------0---------|--------0----------|-------------------------

B :-0--|-----0-------0-----|-0-------0---0----|-------------------------

G :-1--|---1---1---1---1--|---1-------1---1--|-------------------------

D :-2--|--------------------|-----2-------------|-------------------------

A :-2--|--------------------|-------------------|-------------------------

E :-0--|-0------------------|-0-----------0----|-------------------------

             p i m a p i m a     m i i a m i m i

                                         p               

As with all these patterns, try moving them from chord to chord, making sure to play the root note of each one.  The root note is generally the lowest sounding played note in the chord (eg A "C" chord is named for it's root note C played at the 5th string 3rd fret.)

Tech Talk

This month we'll talk about the different types of pickups and the different sounds they produce.

There are a number of factors that determine how a pickup sounds.  Basically guitars are 99% of the time made of the same things: resonant wood(s), strings, hardware, and pickups.  Each of these components plays an important role in formulating the tone and determining how your instrument will sound.  But check this out – if you’ve got an instrument that looks right and feels right, but doesn’t sound right to you, then the pickups in that instrument are not the right pickups for you.

So what makes a pickup sound warm and smooth, or harsh and trebly, or chunky?

The answer is the materials used to make the pickup.  There are a few common items in every pickup.  A magnet, pole pieces, and coiled copper wire.  By changing any of these you change the "sound" output produced by the pickup.

Let's discuss some of these differences.

            The Coil

As we discussed in the last newsletter, a pickup coil is merely a long strand of insulated copper wire, wound thousands of times around a bobbin (or coil form) that has magnetic pole pieces at its core or a bar magnet at its base. Use of  several types of insulation and several gauges of wire gives you different tonal qualities.  The different sizes and shapes of the bobbins have an impact of determining how the pickup will transduce the string vibration. For instance, a narrow coil that’s close to the pole pieces, like a Fender styled single coil, results in extended treble response. A P-90, on the other hand, is shorter and fatter, yielding a more midrange intensive tone. A humbucking pickup generally follows the same shape and configuration as a P-90.

            The Number of Turns in the Coil

The number of turns of copper wire wound around the bobbin greatly affects the performance of the pickup and the overall tone of your guitar. A pickup with lots and lots of turns will have high output, but this output will come at the expense of dynamics and high end. A pickup with way too many turns will actually lose output due to resistive losses caused by excessive impedance.

What this means is that if you wind too much wire around the magnet, the magnet may not be strong enough to force the electrons in the wire to move as well or as strongly and creates a weaker sound. On the other hand, an under-wound pickup will come across sounding thin and weak. Getting the right number of turns for a great-sounding pickup is as much art as it is science.

            D.C. Resistance and Resonance Peak

The gauge of wire and the number of turns on the coil each play a part in defining the D.C. resistance. D.C. resistance is resistance to the flow of direct current. Generally, the more turns of wire, the higher the D.C. resistance, the higher the output and the lower the treble response. For single coils, the D.C. resistance generally ranges from around 6.5k for a vintage tone, to 15k for a high output tone. For humbuckers, the range is around 7.5k to around 16.5k.

Though it may seem that this is the clear-cut way to determine what kind of pickup is best for you, remember this is only one of several variables that aid in determining the tone or voice of a pickup.

Resistance to the flow of alternating current is called impedance and it changes with frequency. The frequency where a pickup’s impedance reaches its highest level is called the resonant peak. Generally speaking, the higher in frequency the resonant peak, the clearer and brighter the pickup’s tone.

Following this guideline, a "vintage" style of pickup either single coil or humbucker is going to have a lower D.C. resistance (6.5K - 7.5K) and a higher resonance peak, while a "hot" model of pickup will have a high D.C. resistance and a lower resonance peak.

Also a pickup designed for the bridge position is going to be wound "hotter" than it's neck position counterpart due to the fact that the string vibrations at the neck are significantly stronger than those at the bridge.

            Magnets

The magnet brings life to the pickup. Two different magnet materials are generally used: Alnico and ceramic. Alnico, an alloy which includes aluminum, nickel and cobalt (“AL-NI-CO”), tends to have lower string pull and creates a softer magnet field which improves sustain and helps smooth out the tone. There are two different strengths of Alnico magnets, Alnico II (2) and Alnico V (5), used to create two totally different tones. Alnico 2, which is slightly weaker than 5, tends to have a smoother, warmer, rounder tone with softer attack. Alnico 5 has a brighter, more dynamic tone with a tighter bottom end than 2.

Ceramic magnets are a blend of magnetic iron and rare earth materials like barium or strontium, which is formed into bars under high pressure and intense heat. If you are looking for power and extended range in your tone, ceramic is the way to go. Ceramic creates a magnet field more powerful than that of Alnico and is more resistant to environmental aging. Ceramic magnets are used in some hotter pickups like the Seymour Duncan SH-13 Dimebucker, the Seymour Duncan single coil sized humbuckers like the JB Jr., and bass pickups like active soapbars, because it produces a more aggressive tone with a punchier bass end and enhanced upper mids.

            Summary

Understanding the relationship between d.c. resistance and resonant peak is a great way to discern the “voice” of a pickup. But of equal importance, is understanding how the magnet of the pickup matches with the various types of tone woods used in guitars. Ask yourself this: is my guitar naturally bright sounding or warm sounding? Bright sounding guitars will have a tendency to have a pronounced high-end detail; and warm sounding guitars will have more emphasis in the lower-midrange. Certain woods, like mahogany and rosewood, will often create a warm sounding guitar. Other woods, like maple and ebony, will make a guitar bight sounding. What kind of wood is used on your guitar? Here’s the trick: you can balance a bright sounding guitar with a warm sounding pickup. And vice versa. Alnico 2 has a characteristic warm tone with soft attack. Generally, this means it usually works well with bright sounding guitars. Alnico 5 and ceramic generally have a brighter tone than Alnico 2, which make them well suited to warm sounding guitars. Keep in mind that these are general guidelines.

For more information on pickups, drop by the store and we'll do our best to answer all your questions, and offer suggestions on the best pickups for your particular guitar.

Next month we'll talk about the differences between active pickups and the more common passive pickups.

Rentable Space

I've been approached by a local band to know if I'd be willing to rent out the store (after hours) for practices.  I haven't made a final decision as of yet, but I'm curious how many bands are looking for jam/practice space and whether this would be worthwhile.

If you or your band are looking for a place to jam or practice, contact me through the store or the website with your information and preferred days, and if there's enough interest I'll draw up a schedule and fee structure.

Barrington Bay Music
(902) 637-1691