Don Chance Guitar Page

This page is a compilation of sites I have bookmarked over time and other stuff I have added as I began working on this page.  No claim of quality either on this page or any of these links is expressed or implied.  In fact, dubious quality is everywhere on the Internet and maybe even here.

If you have any suggestions, email them to me at dchance@lsu.edu.  However, I may or may not add them, so don't be upset.  I have gotten some interesting emails, including some from professionals.  I would REALLY like to hear if any serious musicians find this page helpful.

Chord Finders

The following are sites that enable you to look up chords.  Unfortunately, these sites are of varying quality.  I rarely find that I can rely on any one site.  I must admit, however, that there is some clever material on here.  Too bad they couldn't all merge into one.

Tabs

These sites contain a massive collection of songs in which individuals, mostly rank amateurs have provided tabs and/or chords to popular songs.  Like the rest of the Internet, there is no quality control, and I mean that in a big way.  While occasionally you may find that someone has done a good job tabbing or figuring out the chords to a song, the number of mistakes is massive.  Some of these kids cannot even tell the difference in sound between a D and a Bminor.  What's even worse is the number of occasions in which some idiot tabs a few measures and then writes something like "I think that's pretty close.  You can get the rest." or "That's all I've got right now.  I'm tired.  I'll try to do the rest later."  Nonetheless, I find myself referring to tab sites often.  If you know the song well enough and if your ear can tell when something doesn't sound quite right, you can usually filter out the trash and use the small amount of material here that's quite good.  Of course, in that regard, even semi-professionals mess up.  I'm reminded of what Paul McCartney said when he saw an advertisement for a guitar school that promised to teach "the special tuning used in Blackbird":  "Well, I'd sure like to know because I play it in standard tuning."

***NEW COMMENTS ON TAB SITES***

Recently, two organizations representing the sheet music industry (the National Music Publishers Association and the Music Publishers Association) have thrown their weight around like an 800-pound gorilla to attempt to squash any sites that provide tabs.  Thus, they have successfully shut down the above sites.  They claim that publishing tabs is a copyright violation.  I cannot imagine anything being any more wrong than this.  An individual publishing his own interpretation of a song is hardly a copyright infringement.  And, as noted above, many of those interpretations are incorrect.  All the more reason why no one would confuse these amateur tabs with real sheet music or real tabs provided by the publisher, which always appear above or below the actual music lines.  I am using this forum to voice my objection and to encourage others to avoid buying sheet music wherever possible.  I realize there may be some sheet music you have to buy.  Just remember when you do, you are helping this industry stomp out freedom of expression on the part of the thousands of amateur guitarists out there.  You are helping these 800-pound lawyers, I mean gorillas, to stop every teenager who identifies the first four notes of "Stairway to Heaven" and wants to share it with the rest the world, who already knows how to play the entire song.  Just think of how many copies of StH sheet music isn't sold because that kid shared his interpretation.  How many?  None, zero, zilch, nada. 

Sheet Music

***PLEASE READ THE ABOVE ENTRY UNDER 'TABS'.  As a result, I no longer include links to sheet music sites.

Guitars

Listed below are links to over 100 manufacturers of guitars.  Some of these companies are owned by other companies within the same list (e.g., Gretsch is owned by Fender, Epiphone is owned by Gibson) but I list them separately because they have their own web sites and are distinctly different guitars.  (Well, ok, some Epiphones are practically the same as some Gibsons.  Lighten up.)  Some of these companies are small operations that make only custom guitars.  Also, some of these companies make electric guitars as well.  For companies that make only electric, see the list that follows this one. 

If you're an independent luthier or a full-blown factory manufacturer and are not included here, please send me an email and I will add you.

Here are some companies and luthiers that make only electric guitars (to my knowledge):

Burns
Daisy Rock
ESP
Floyd Rose
Parker
Renaissance (Rick Turner)
Silvertone
Stewart
Andrew Wright

Strings

Of course, many of the large manufacturers such as Fender, Gibson, and Martin make excellent strings.  For some good material on guitar strings, see www.stringitup.com. 

Speaking of strings, there must be as many ways of stringing a guitar as there are guitars.  When I bought my Martin, I tried to string it the way the Martin manual said to do it.  It worked, but frankly it looked like crap, and I was embarrassed at what the guitar technician must have thought when I brought it in for some minor repair work.  I checked out a number of Internet articles on how to string a guitar, and I must admit, nothing beats this one.  It's neat, tight, and simple.

Books

OK, I know there are probably more guitar books than there are guitars.  Here are a few of my personal favorites.

Magazines

My preference being acoustic, I recommend these.

Guitarists

Obviously this is not an extensive list.  There are just too many.  My personal favorites are listed below.  They're not all on the list so much because they're great guitarists (surely debatable on some) but because of what they accomplished with the guitar, i.e., the total package of songwriting, vocals, performance, etc.  I may add some from time to time as I think of them and get more familiar with them.

Amplifiers

Of course many manufactures make excellent amps, though most are geared for electric guitars.  The following manufacturers make models specifically for acoustic guitars (though most make them for electrics as well):

Miscellaneous

Stuff that doesn't fall in the categories above.

For anyone interested, feel free to read my product review of the glider capo.

Advice for New Guitarists

I know there are plenty who will disagree, but spare me the lecture.  Read this list all the way through, especially the last item.

My Guitars

I broke down and got an electric.  This is my Telecaster purchased in 2004.	My Takamine EG535C 12-string purchased in 2005.	My Epiphone EJ200, which I received as a gift in 2007.

And last but not least, my Deering Goodtime-2 banjo and Morgan Monroe Mandolin

And Finally

A rare photo from my teen years.  That's me on the right at about age 16 playing a Fender Music Master through a Fender Super Reverb amp (not visible).  I'm not left-handed.  The photographer developed the negative reversed.  But doesn't the left-hand look kind of give it a Jimi Hendrix-Kurt Cobain panache?  Yeah, right.

Return to Main Page

Last updated:  July 6, 2008