What's New?             FOR SALE page             Copyright Notice

My interests include electric guitar, playing live music, writing MIDI sequences, programming in Visual Basic, dabbling in electronics, with a casual interest in popular science. I learned my craft with curiosity, trial and error in times before the Internet when much of this information was held secret by the experts. I have many years of experience in these fields, and use these Web pages to share my knowledge freely.

This site is offered in the hope that readers will better understand electric guitar technology, leading to creative use of your musical tools. Of course, only practice will improve your musical vocabulary and articulation. These pages have been online, without advertising, since the mid 1990's and I'm delighted to observe a significant improvement in general knowledge of guitar technology since that time. Of course, I don't pretend to take all the credit for that, but I do believe I've contributed.

It's probably inevitable that musical advertisements continue to claim their gear contains magical properties that will transform you into a guitar hero. Quite simply, just because a piece of gear may happen to be built identically to one allegedly used by a particular guitar legend (often conveniently now deceased), it will NOT make you instantly play or sound like him or her. It will give you a sound that may or may not suit your own style, abilities and other gear.

So please read and enjoy. I've attempted to describe this technology in lay terms and avoid technical jargon as much as possible. I've also attempted to write as objectively as possible, however, I expect you'll soon note my preferences for hearing tone from all components in the signal chain: the guitar, amplifier and speaker. This requires subtlety, restraint and control: less really is more. Those who've been around a while have had the privilege to witness many guitarists mature in their playing and tone with that exact formula.

Click on any of the topics at the left or below for more!

• Electric Guitar - Introduction, my favourite players and why, favourite guitars, and more!
• Guitar Amplifiers - How they're designed, what's special about them, valves vs transistors, some overdrive circuit ideas.
• Guitar Effects - An explanation of all the popular ones, recommended placement order, etc.
• Guitar Pickups - How they work, how to get the most out of them alone and in combination, and some wiring ideas.
• And even 免费的pc加速器 - Interesting & Frequently Asked Questions, my top solos, player and guitars (and why), as well as an index to popular schematics on my site.
• 电脑加速器永久免费版
• pc永久免费加速器 - A guide on how to interpret chord notation, lots of different scales and a guitar scale calculator!
• MIDI Music - A guide on MIDI messages, General MIDI, message tables and a circuit for a PC-MIDI interface.
• JV & XP Synths - Information for owners of Roland JV and XP synths .
• Top 10 Band Tips - My thoughts on how to have fun in a successful band.
• Popular Science
• Calendars & Easter Information - History, Easter definitions and myths, dates, FAQ and algorithms.  Also, a perpetual calendar.
• Einstein's Relativity Theory - A non-jargon explanation in words and pictures, with some interesting relativity facts.

I welcome site suggestions and feedback: Email GM Arts

What's New

top

• May 10  New guitar scale calculator to show fretboard postions for over 40 common scales.
• May 10  Some additions and clarifications on the 免费的pc加速器 pages and a new page for Scales & Modes.
• Apr 10  Some additions and clarifications on the 求电脑免费的加速器.
• Mar 10  Some more wiring ideas on the pickup wiring page.
• Nov 09  New page on Easter Sunday date FAQ .
• Nov 09  Explanation of how humbuckers buck hum on the combining pickups page.
• Oct 09  Lots of new pickup wiring ideas and tricks on the pickup wiring page.
• 电脑下载加速器永久免费版  More explanations on how just about every component in the guitar signal chain modifies the raw guitar tone on my electric guitar page.
• Oct 09  Upgraded site to PHP/SQL with new menus, search function, a new style and current HTML standards. Also moved to a new web address: pc永久免费加速器 so please update your favourites if you use them.
• Sep 08  New page on gear, dialling in tones, and getting your own tone. Also retired a couple of pages on the old Roland GP-100 processor.
• Aug 08  Long overdue updates to the digital modelling page.
• Mar - Apr 04  Still making minor clarifications based on email discussions. Many thanks to those involved! The most recent have been my revision of the decibels being generally perceived as twice as loud and the acknowledgement that popular astronomical interpretation of Vernal Equinox is the March Equinox, even though Vernal means springtime, and the spring Equinox occurs in September in the Southern hemisphere.
• pc端如何上外网  Several minor clarifications to the calendar pages.
• 21 Jan 02  Minor revision to my generic overdrive schematic on the pc端如何上外网 page.
• 6 Jan 02  Revised the guitar chord pages with lots of new chord diagrams.
• 11 Jul 01  I've decided to spend more time pc永久免费加速器  from the PC, so I have a new email policy.
• 13 Apr 01  Added 10 of my favourite solos with sound clips on a new My Favourites page.
• 29 Mar 01  A couple of new items on the FAQ page.
• 31 Jan 01  Added several new pages with info on Roland JV & XV synths.
• 31 Oct 00  New links to interesting sites on my Pickups page.
• 13 Aug 00  Updated my own generic overdrive schematic on the Overdrive and Distortion page.
• 29 June 00  Major reorganisation of the Calendar and Easter dating pages. Added new information on calendar history.
• 海豚加速器破解2022  Simplified tables on the Perpetual Calendar page.
• 5 June 00  Added Fender and Marshall tone EQ charts to the Amp Basics page. Also added a new page on amplifier 蚂蚁vp(永久免费).
• 22 May 00  Added amplifier pictures on the Amplifiers page and valve pictures on the Valve vs Solid State page.
• 16 May 00  I guess that enough people are using the latest browser versions to warrant using cascading style sheets on my site. The most visible difference is that links show in different colours when you hover over them with the mouse pointer. I hope you like the more interactive 'feel' of the site!
• 6 May 00  Clarified some wrong definitions of Easter found on the Internet and even in encyclopaedias on my 免费的pc加速器 page.
• 1 May 00  Added some information about piezo acoustic pickups on my