Hope you all had a great week!
This week’s article is all about how to maintain your guitar.
Believe it or not, no guitar is ever manufactured perfectly.
There are dents, the action is too high, it’s too hard to push the fingers on the strings…
Even the frets may be dirty from all the wear-and-tear of the store.
So here are 6 tips on how to maintain your guitar, so that it is squeaky clean and easy to play.
Wash your hands
We often forget of all the things that we touch before we practice guitar. Think of all the food that we’ve touched, the surfaces that we may have grazed at work, the drinks that we may have held in our hands.
By washing your hands with soap before playing, you remove all the dirt from the day, and preserve the quality of each guitar string as you fret.
Cut your nails
Long nails affect your fretting hand and its’ ability to ‘curl’ and sound all guitar strings. Long nails also has a roll-on effect on how you mute open strings as well. For your strumming hand, make sure that you also trim your nails. Unless you aspire to be a flamenco / classical guitarist (and require fingernails to act as picks), shorter nails will help you in holding the guitar pick (plectrum), and transition between multiple finger-picking patterns.
Wipe your strings
After each practice session, your sweat stays on each guitar string. Over time, the dirt forms to either erode the nickel from each guitar string, or ‘clumps up’ on irregular frets. Wiping the strings down before and after practice can help you develop proper technique, especially with bending.
Polish the fretboard
As your guitar get played more often, dirt may gather around the frets. By polishing the fretboard with a microfiber cloth and a bottle of lemon oil, you will ensure that your frets are clean.
Remove dust
Dust may form around the body of the guitar, notably the pickguard, pickups and bridge of the guitar. Using a microfiber cloth to remove dust makes the guitar look awesome. For electric guitars, you may also find that removing dust around the pickups makes the guitar sound brighter, and the tone less damp.
Re-string your guitar
If you gig once a week, you may need to change your guitar strings every month.
If you practice guitar 3 days a week for 20 minutes each, you may have to change your guitar strings after every 3 months.
And subsequently, if you barely ever practice guitar, or it is a second-hand guitar sitting in the closet, you should inspect the state of the guitar strings, and change the guitar strings immediately after seeing dust or dirt.
Bring your guitar to the studio, and consult Fabio or Justin on whether your guitar is ready to have new strings. We will be happy to re-string it for you.
And there you have it!
6 simple tips on how to maintain your guitar for beginners.
They say practice makes perfect, but preparation and care is equally as important.
A good-looking, well-maintained guitar can help you stay motivated, focused and confident going into your next rehearsal or performance.
If you liked this article, please share this link with someone that you know.
We are also considering a group workshop on all things ‘guitar tech’– maintenance, tone and pedals. If you are interested, please email us a reply “I’m interested” at support@leadersofrock.com
Until next time, keep on rockin!
Team Rock