L'attirail

Deciding between an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar is one of the many hard decisions in the world of guitar playing, If you are one of the many who are torn between choosing which is better or perhaps best to learn you are often lead to ask people for opinions and advice where you get lead to fiery debates that throw words like “electric is best” or that “acoustic is best”.  Although the many opinions and advices of other people have credible stands and may be very believing, it is still best to find an answer to this doubt yourself.  The best way to start knowing is to get to know some basic information about both acoustic and electric guitars and what perhaps makes them differ from each other.

Acoustic Guitar

This is probably the type of guitar people commonly see when there is “plucking” music or an acoustic song.

Acoustic guitars have six steel strings.  The sound of the guitar differs from the rest by making the sound produced by the string more projected compared to other types.  That is why it works great with acoustic songs and heavy plucking involved.  Striking the strings of this guitar, you will notice that it produces a rather louder sound.  Even though acoustic types of guitars are often associated more with mellow music, they are actually applicable and appropriate to all styles – even with heavy metal.  Read more...

Ever looked at your guitar and wanted to throw it in the bin?

I’ve been there! I know exactly how you feel, believe me! There are times I want to scream in frustration because my fingers will not do what my brain is so blatantly telling them to do!

But then, I’ve been playing for years and sometimes I still get that. I still sometimes feel like I could throw my guitar out of the window. But I never have. The reason? Well because I love music and believe that harming a musical instrument is something akin to sacrilege. Sad I know, but then, thats me.

Mentality

To begin playing guitar, you must approach it with the same mindset as you do your career. To do well and succeed, I must work hard, while at the same time, I must have fun! Remember that playing guitar is not all about work. Sometimes it’s nice just to pick up your guitar and lazily strum a few songs, be it alone, or with your friends.

Practice

Practice makes perfect.

Yes it does. That old cliche was repeated to me by my teacher time and again. Work the scales, work the scales, she used to say. But the reasoning became clear after only a couple of weeks (even though she carried on telling me for years!). When you have practiced scales for a couple of weeks, you will find that the first ones you started with are imprinted in your mind, much like your computer login information. It just sticks.  Read more...

When people hear the word guitar, they may think of brands such as Ibanez, Fender, Gibson, Yamaha, and Martin. However, the Taylor acoustic guitar is one of the most popular and best sounding guitars on the market today. If you have ever played or heard one yourself, you know exactly what I am talking about.

The Taylor acoustic guitar was created by Bob Taylor back in 1974, when he was only 19 years old. At that time, he was working for a guitar manufacturer called American Dream. When the owner of that company decided to sell, Bob Taylor jumped on the opportunity as fast as he could, knowing that the guitar industry is where he wanted to continue his work. He named the company Westland Music Company (because it was located in the western United States.

Nowadays, there are two factories in which a Taylor acoustic guitar is created, run by around 550 employees total: one in El Cajon, California, and the other in Tecate, Mexico.

Taylor does manufacture a few solid body electric guitars, but their main focus is on acoustic guitars.

There are currently several series of Taylor acoustic guitar available on the market today, from the 3-series through the 8-series, as well as the 810/910 and LKSM models. These guitars are available in four different styles, including dreadnought, grand concert, grand auditorium, and grand symphony.  Read more...

Acoustic seals are a form of door seal that are designed primarily to prevent the passage of noise into or out of a room. They work by sealing off air gaps so that the noise is unable to pass through any open gaps. One of the beneficial side effects of having acoustic seals installed in your home is that they also prevent the passage of dirt, dust, and even smoke through the same gaps. Acoustic seals can be used in residential, commercial, and retail properties to great effect.

Acoustic seals are a form of door seal that are designed primarily to prevent the passage of noise into or out of a room. They work by sealing off air gaps so that the noise is unable to pass through any open gaps. One of the beneficial side effects of having acoustic seals installed in your home is that they also prevent the passage of dirt, dust, and even smoke through the same gaps. Acoustic seals can be used in residential, commercial, and retail properties to great effect.

Sound Escape

Sound is most commonly lost through the door seal around the top, bottom, and sides of a door. Even the slightest gap that is left allows sound to travel from one area to another and without adequate sealing this will continue to be the case. No amount of soundproofing in the room, under the floors, or anywhere else around the area will fully prevent the escape or entry of noise.  Read more...

History of the acoustic metamaterials

Acoustic metamaterials actually began with electromagnetic metamaterials, and the construction of materials to control electromagnetic radiation before that.

Maxwell’s equations which predicted the existence of electromagnetic radiation propagating at the speed of light, by James Clerk Maxwell, were made public in 1865. In 1888 Hertz had demonstrated generation of electromagnetic waves, and showed that their properties were similar to those of light.

Before the start of the twentieth century, many of the concepts now familiar in microwaves had been developed. The list includes the cylindrical parabolic reflector, dielectric lens, microwave absorbers, the cavity radiator, the radiating iris and the pyramidal electromagnetic horn. Round square and rectangular waveguides were used, with experimental development anticipating by several years Rayleigh’s 1896 theoretical solution for waveguide modes.

Many microwave components in use were “quasi-optical”. Oliver Lodge first introduced the term – quasi-optical. A treatise on microwave optics was published by Righi in 1897.

Hertz had used a wavelength of 66 cm; other post-Hertzian pre-1900 experimenters used wavelengths well into the short cm-wave region, with Bose in Calcutta and Lebedew in Moscow independently performing experiments at wavelengths as short as 5 and 6 milimeters.

Jagadish Chandra Bose used waveguides, horn antennas, dielectric lenses, various polarizers and even semiconductors at frequencies as high as 60 GHz. In 1898 he tried to develop and did experiments with “constructed” twisted elements.  Read more...