How Often Should I Change My Strings?

As a music teacher, I often get asked this question. Changing strings is one of the facts of life that comes along with the game of playing guitar. In my experience, it's always best to play with fresh strings because you'll sound better, won't struggle as much, and have increased enjoyment on the guitar! Obviously, it is not always possible to change strings on a frequent basis due to time and the expense. Performing guitarists usually change strings before every show! But here are my general guidelines that tell you when you need to take break from practicing, get out the string winder, and refresh your guitar:

1) If the bass strings sound dead and are discolored
2) If the treble strings have little grooves/indentations where they hit the frets. You can check this by sliding a nail across the string. You'll feel little "potholes" in the strings.
3) If you just can't get the guitar to tune well.
4) If you play almost everyday, then a set of strings will probably last about one month.

Lastly, I will say this. You will use much less energy and effort when playing with fresh strings. New strings are loud and more flexible - therefore you don't have to push as hard to get a nice sound. Hope that's helpful and happy practicing!

What goes into recording a solo guitar CD?

It has been a long-time goal for me to release a classical guitar CD. And after playing guitar for about 20 years, I've felt it was about time! But recording a solo guitar CD was no easy task and I'm still a bit amazed that it's actually finished. Let me elaborate....

First there's the issue of choosing a well-balanced program for an album and getting those pieces to a "recording-ready" level. There's definitely plenty of time involved in that process - hence the 20 years of playing =). Once I chose the repertoire, it was a matter of polishing the musical details and staying in performance shape for the lengthy recording sessions that went into the late hours of the night (like repeating the same piece for 4-5 hours straight!). In this regard, while classical guitarists look like they just sit on a chair and move their fingers, there's actually a great deal of athletic preparation involved behind the scenes such as keeping physically fit, eating right, getting adequate sleep, and of course, regular routine practice.

Then there's the issue of finding a quiet place with great acoustics to record. Luckily, Vince Go, the masterful recording engineer, has access to an amazing church in San Bruno - it's the perfect place to record guitar... with one exception - the San Francisco Airport is not too far. So, there were plenty of times (during the perfect take) when we'd be interrupted by a huge jet rumble overhead.

Then there's the challenge of maintaining the same overarching sound throughout the album, since it's so easy for one's sound to change. There are several factors here - temperature of the room, age of strings, length and smoothness of nails, dryness of hands, distance from guitar to microphones (Vince even had the tape measure out many times), etc., etc...

After all the raw takes for the CD are completed, the next phase is mixing - which basically involves finding the best work for the album. It's a very slow process that takes months to complete.

Once the final mixes were created, I think the entire Bay Area heard my cheers! At that point, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The mixes were off to the mastering stage, the final process involving levels, compression, and EQ. And after that, off to the printers.

Again, can't believe it's done!

Launch of New Site

I'm very excited of the launch of my new website and release of my new CD. Thanks to Vince Go and Teresa Tam for all their hard work!