Q: What kind of guitar should I buy?
A: There's no single right answer, but most guitar teachers recommend that aspiring players begin their studies on the acoustic guitar. The string spacing on an acoustic is typically wider, affording easier access to individual strings (particularly when playing fingerstyle picking patterns in which several of the fingers on the picking hand are used individually to strike the strings, in lieu of a pick), and the typically thicker gauge of the strings requires young players to develop stronger fretting technique. The acoustic guitar is a self-contained instrument; there are no cables to plug in, no amplifier controls to adjust and no electricity is needed. This makes the acoustic a more suitable instrument for many social situations — a sing-along by the campfire, for example.
Still, there's something to be said for the notion that acoustic and electric guitar are two separate instruments. If your tastes lean more toward Jimi Hendrix (or, for that matter, Korn, Metallica and Limp Bizkit) than John Lee Hooker, an acoustic guitar may not be what you're looking for. No matter how hard you try, you'll never make an acoustic guitar crunch, grind and squeal like an electric. However, it's also worth noting that achieving the sound you're looking for on an electric guitar can be a lot trickier than it appears. An overdriven electric guitar can be an unforgiving thing; minor inconsistencies in technique (like the noise your fingers make as you reposition your hand to change from one chord to another) may be magnified to an unnerving degree.
Q: How can a little electronic keyboard sound so much like a real piano?
A: Today's portable keyboard instruments are capable of creating astonishingly realistic replications of familiar but complex sounds — such as a grand piano — thanks to a sophisticated technology known as multisampling. In multisampling, a highly accurate digital recording, or sample, of an instrument is made for each of many different tonal ranges — for instance, there might be a representative sample for each octave of a piano's keyboard. When assigned to the corresponding keys on a portable keyboard and played back, these multiple samples produce a far more realistic representation of the tonal characteristics of the instrument across its range than would a single sample that's pitch-shifted up or down. In the case of high-end instruments like Yamaha's Portable Grand series, the samples are recorded in stereo, adding to the spaciousness and realism of the replicated sound.
Q: What's MIDI all about?
A: MIDI (an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a specification first defined in the early '80s to enable keyboards and computer equipment to "talk" to one another. The specification defines numerical control values for various aspects of the musical "event" that occurs when a key is struck, including voice designation, pitch, duration and intensity. These control values are generated by a MIDI during performance, and can be transmitted to other devices via a system of MIDI In, Out and Thru ports. MIDI values can be used to enable a keyboard player to simultaneously trigger sounds from several MIDI devices using a single keyboard, or the stream of musical event data can be recorded in a sequencer, which in turn can play back the sequence on any MIDI sound source.
General MIDI, introduced years after the publication of the original MIDI specification, establishes greater compatibility among the various manufacturers of MIDI music equipment. Among other refinements, General MIDI defines a set of 128 standard voices to which all General MIDI-capable instruments adhere. This ensures, among other things, that a sequence recorded on one keyboard will generate compatible instrument sounds when played back on another: for instance, a piano part will be played back as a piano sound, not a horn section. The two piano sounds may not be identical, since one synthesizer may produce its piano voice differently than another, but wild disparities in timbre are avoided.
Q: What is the distinction between "polyphonic" and "multitimbral" keyboards?
A: The two terms are easily confused, but the key to keeping them straight is to understand the concept of a voice. A voice is any given sound, comprised of a sample or oscillator tone that's dynamically and harmonically filtered to generate a refined waveform, that your keyboard makes when a key is pressed. "Polyphonic" refers to the number of keys you can play simultaneously, with each key producing that one voice at a specific pitch. A keyboard that is "16-note polyphonic" would allow you to play 16 sustained notes simultaneously using one voice — for example, a piano. By contrast, "multitimbral" refers to the number of discrete voices a keyboard can simultaneously produce, independent of the number of keys pressed.
The 16-note polyphonic keyboard referred to in the previous example might also (but need not) be "6-voice multitimbral," meaning that it is capable of reproducing the sounds of a piano, a flute, a bass guitar, a trumpet, a violin and a kazoo at the same time, either at the same pitch or different pitches. Multitimbral keyboards are especially useful in combination with sequencers, which allow you to record each instrument's melody separately and then play all the parts back as components of a full arrangement, like an orchestra.
Q: Can I get music in the form of software that my keyboard can play, much like a player piano reads a scroll?
A: Yes. There are hundreds of sites on the Web that offer music from a wide variety of genres (pop, rock, country, classical, swing, show tunes, even metal) for download in the form of Standard MIDI files. These files make use of the General MIDI specification to replicate sounds from the recorded versions of songs you're familiar with (vocals are typically replaced by a melodic synthesizer sound selected by the author of the file), allowing your MIDI keyboard to be used like a jukebox.
Rather than actual audio data, Standard MIDI files contain control information that tells your keyboard which sounds to produce, at which pitches, in what order and for what duration. The process is analogous to a player piano reading a scroll of hole punches, only much more sophisticated and flexible. Since only control information is included, Standard MIDI files are much smaller, and can be downloaded much faster, than comparable .wav or MP3 audio files.
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Q: Can I use a portable keyboard as a tutoring tool to help teach me or my child how to play?
A: Absolutely. In fact, many manufacturers design them with this purpose in mind, incorporating sophisticated educational features to make it easier for youngsters (and late bloomers) to learn concepts of melody, harmony, fingering, accompaniment and musical notation. Yamaha's newly upgraded Yamaha Education Suite 2 tutorial package adds built-in lessons and even includes an automated grading function to help chart students' progress.
Q: What kind of strings should I use?
A: If you're playing an acoustic guitar, it depends very much on what type of music you want to play. If you're interested in folk, classical or flamenco styles, you'll probably prefer nylon strings for their sweet, mellow tone. If country or rock is more your bag, then steel strings (which can actually be made of nickel, bronze or any of several different alloys) will probably be more to your liking. They are durable, project well and, with proper care, will retain their bright, shimmering tone for a long time. Steel strings also lend themselves more readily to string bending, a technique that's much more prevalent in popular music styles, because they won't roll laterally under your fingers the way nylon strings sometimes can.
Q: How often should I change guitar strings?
A: A lot of top professionals typically change their strings before every performance, whether onstage or in the studio. However, there are differing schools of thought on this subject. Other players believe that strings reach their peak only after they've been "broken in" for a few hours or even a few days, and still others (including some legendary guitarists) swear by strings that are as old as the hills. Ultimately, it's a matter of personal taste — but strings cost money, and you probably won't want to change them more often than necessary. As a general rule, if your fingers get sticky or dirty when you play, or if your guitar begins to sound dull or lifeless, it's probably time to change your strings.
When you do change strings, it's usually a good idea to change them all in one sitting. A new string in the midst of a set that's been on the guitar for months can stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. It may feel tighter and sound louder than the other strings, and will typically project a proportionally greater amount of high harmonics, resulting in a tone that's overly bright or harsh and doesn't blend well with the other strings.
Q: Should I consider a 3/4-size guitar?
A: A 3/4-size guitar may be worth considering for a number of reasons. First, it's more compact, lighter and more portable than a full-size instrument — something to think about if you plan on strapping your guitar to your backpack for frequent campfire sing-alongs. A 3/4-size model may also be a good choice for younger players whose hands are too small to confidently wield a full-size guitar. Aside from the difficulty of navigating the larger neck on a full-size instrument, a big part of playing the guitar is just feeling comfortable holding it against your body; if it's too bulky, the discomfort can be distracting and frustrating for younger players.
Q: What is overdrive and why do guitarists like it?
A: Overdrive (also known as distortion — there's actually a technical difference between the two effects, but guitarists typically use the terms interchangeably) is the effect created by a guitar amplifier whose preamp section is being pushed beyond its limits. The resulting harmonic distortion of the original guitar signal generates a sound that's fat, crunchy or fuzzy and sustains much longer than a clean guitar sound, and many guitarists love it because it exponentially increases the expressive possibilities of the instrument. The effect of an overdriven preamp can also be simulated by any of a large number of "stomp-box" devices designed for this purpose.
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Q: Where did karaoke originate?
A: As with most cultural phenomena, the history of karaoke is foggy, but it is generally agreed that the commercialization of what we call karaoke began in Kobe, Japan, more than 20 years ago. The Japanese have a highly social culture; they like parties, and public singing is accepted and encouraged at celebratory gatherings. Unlike Americans, the Japanese don't typically get self-conscious about singing in front of others. In Japan, whether or not one can carry a tune is secondary to the simple joy of celebration for its own sake. However, contrary to a popular American myth, the word "karaoke" is not Japanese for "tone deaf." It's actually an abbreviated compound word: "kara" (from karappo, meaning empty) is combined with "oke" (the abbreviated form of okesutura, meaning orchestra).
Q: What kind of music can I get for my karaoke machine?
A: Karaoke has become wildly popular all over the world, so there is no shortage of music for your new karaoke machine. Whatever you like to sing — be it rock, pop, folk, country, bluegrass, or whatever else strikes your fancy — if it's available in recorded form, you can probably find it in a sans-vocals version for your karaoke pleasure. What's more, thanks to karaoke's universal international popularity, there is karaoke music available from all over the world. Ever had a hankering to sing a Vietnamese pop song, or maybe an Indonesian lullaby? Well, here's your chance.
Q: How will I know what words to sing?
A: Through the magic of a disc format called CD+G (compact disc plus graphics), a single karaoke CD contains both the music (in both original and sans-vocals versions) and a graphic file that displays all the correct lyrics on any TV screen. The words are highlighted on the screen at the appropriate time to sing them, so even if you're a little shaky on the lyrics to a song, you can still belt it out like a pro. It can be surprisingly educational, after years of thinking you had the words to a given song nailed, to find out just how wrong you really were.
Q: Is a lock function an anti-theft device?
A: Most consumer karaoke equipment is designed with smaller gatherings in mind. A typical machine may have an audio output power rating of between 4 and 10 watts per channel, which can get surprisingly loud (maybe louder than you'd like, until you get used to letting it all hang out) but won't carry a large room filled with party guests and conversation. If you want to break the ice at larger functions, look for a machine that includes auxiliary outputs that will permit connection to a more powerful audio system — a larger stereo, for instance, or even a full-blown public address system.
Q: What's the difference between a sampler and a synthesizer?
A: The line between the two technologies has become blurred in recent years. In a literal sense, a synthesizer is an instrument that generates all of its sonic raw material electronically, by means of a series of oscillators, amplifiers and filters, whereas the term sampler refers to a device that digitally records real sounds (e.g., piano, violin, bass guitar, snare drum) and plays them back at different pitches. However, many modern electronic keyboard instruments now use these digital recordings (or samples), rather than the cold, synthetic tones of an oscillator, as the source material from which lusher, more complex sounds are fashioned.
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