How to Play Electric Guitar: Lesson One - Learn Electric Guitar Parts

How to play electric guitar - parts of an electric guitar
The first thing I want you to learn are the parts of the guitar. Check out the diagram below for an overview.

As you can see, it all starts with the headstock right at the top. This describes the part of the guitar that is attached to the slimmer neck of the instrument. Then there are the tuners. As the name suggests, the tuners are used to tune the instrument, or to adjust the pitch of each string. After the tuners, we move on to the nut. This is found between the headstock and the neck of the guitar. It is sometimes made of plastic or bone and contains six small grooves to guide each string up to the tuners.

In learning how to play the electric guitar, a lot of focus will be placed on the next part we shall talk about, none other but the neck of the guitar. This is where you will be placing your fingers a lot and holding different positions to create different notes.

The neck of the guitar is attached to the body. On the body of your electric guitar, you will find pickups. These are almost like microphones. They pick up, or capture the sound of the instrument so they can be amplified. (If you've got an acoustic or acoustic/electric guitar, your guitar would come with a sound hole. This hole is found on the body of the guitar and is meant to amplifier the sound of the guitar.) Electric guitars replace this part with pick-ups.

There's a pickup switch located on the body of the guitar used to select different pickups for different tones and sounds.

Next in line is the bridge of your guitar. It is a piece of hardware attached to the body of the guitar. The strings run from the tuning pegs to the bridge.

Then there's the tremolo (aka Whammy Bar). This is a bar connected to the bridge of the guitar. By moving the tremolo bar up or down, you can move the bridge, thus changing the pitch.
On the body of an electric guitar, you will find volume and tone control knobs used to adjust guitar volume and tone.

Before you begin the actual process of learning how to play electric guitar, let's talk a little more about the neck of the guitar. In particular, we shall focus on the frets. What are these? These are strips of metal running along the surface of the guitar's neck. Guitarists also refer to the space between two strips of metal as a fret. So the fret can mean two different things. If you want to learn how to play electric guitar, you must first know these parts. Take time to learn them because they are important for understanding subsequent lessons.

Beginner guitar tips

The next 6 postings will have some beginner guitar tips.
Whether you have already played the guitar or just starting out, have a look to see wat new things you can learn.

That sums up the F1

That sums up the F1 suspension postings.
I'll try looking for some new postings later on in the year.
Stay Tuned.

F1 Suspension Trends

Heres an article I found regarding F1.
It's written by Peter Wright

Tyres-suspension-aerodynamics-chassis: one integrated system, made up of highly inter-dependent parts, that determines the performance of any racecar, except when maximum power or maximum braking is applied. If one part is changed, the effect ripples around the others until a new order is arrived at, where the whole is back in optimised harmony. This year a major player - the tyres - have, and continue to undergo substantial changes, while the other parts struggle to keep up.

The suspension determines the attitude at which the tyre is presented to the track, and the vertical load on it, both quasi-steady-state and oscillating due to track undulations. It also feeds back to the chassis the loads that the tyres generate in response. In turn the chassis responds, taking up an attitude that, in turn, determines the aerodynamic loads on it and alters the attitude and loads on the tyres. Both messages and responses, from chassis to tyres, go by way of the suspension and are shaped by it.

The tyre war between Goodyear and Bridgestone is fast changing both the construction of the tyres and the forces that they are able to generate through the development of tread compounds. Tyre characteristics and their interaction with the dynamics and aerodynamics of a car are not a precise enough science, even in Formula 1, to look at the characteristics of a new tyre and dial straight in the appropriate changes to the suspension etc. that are needed to re-optimise the whole system. Instead the engineers must dig deep into their boxes of tools and go round and round the loop of changes until they find out just what the new tyre wants, and tune out the negative side effects of those primary changes. If they are lucky, the changes will be within the adjustment range of the suspension geometry and spring and damper settings. If not it may require a whole new geometry (new pickup points in the monocoque or on the gearbox, or new uprights) or, worse still, a different weight distribution or aerodynamics.

In V7N3 I described how suspension engineers were equipping themselves with the option to run a third spring and/or damper on either axle, in order to separate out roll characteristics from those controlling vertical motion. Behind this trend there is a more fundamental suspension/tyre issue that really came to a head when Jacques Villeneuve joined Williams last year.

Since running active suspension, Williams had been pursuing a policy of developing suspension and aerodynamics to allow the suspension to be as soft as possible for mechanical grip. Active suspension had allowed the compromise between suspension stiffness and controlling the ride height to be resolved in the favour of both features. Since it's ban in 1993, they have worked hard to ensure that the aerodynamic demands did not limit how soft the suspension was set up. In early 1994, when Senna first drove for them, the FW16 initially possessed less than ideal aerodynamics, preventing Senna from dominating in the way that people had expected. The problem was identified and resolved and, guided by the smooth driving style of Damon Hill, they have set the standards for both high and low speed grip since that time.

For Villeneuve ultimate grip is less important than the ability to place the car exactly where he wants it, when he wants to. For this he needs a highly reactive car, and that means one that has stiff suspension. It is a question of achieving a balance between the greatest potential performance and realising as much of that potential as possible. Conventional theory indicates that ultimate grip comes from varying the load on the tyre as little as possible i.e. a softly sprung and optimally damper suspension. If the oscillating load has an amplitude equal to the steady vertical load on the tyre, the load will be zero, once per cycle. At that point the tyre cannot grip, and will slide. The analysis becomes very complex at this stage, but in essence the conditions at the contact patch are "stick-slip", rather than steady "sticking". Oscillating loads of the same magnitude as the steady load are common on a stiffly sprung car at low speeds, and this condition usually appears to reduce the grip.

However, there are characteristics of the tyre that, under certain conditions, prefer the "stick-slip" situation. For a start, it heats up the tyre faster and, when optimum tyre temperature is not attainable, may raise the temperature and so achieve higher grip. For Qualifying, when overheating the tyres is not a terminal problem, many drivers stiffen the suspension compared to race settings. Forcing a race compound to behave like a qualifying one, by treating it harshly to achieve optimum temperature, and a more responsive car are both desirable for a single quick lap. For the race however, drivers tend to adjust to a smoother driving style, and a set-up that looks after the tyres on a car that is heavy with fuel, is of paramount importance.

There are two aspects of the tyre war that emphasise these differences. Firstly, the compounds being developed are more marginal, and so need careful treatment during the race. Secondly, with two types of rubber from different manufacturers, scattered in small lumps all over the track, there is a real problem with tyres picking up this incompatible debris and ceasing to perform as advertised. A stiff car, which is more aggressive towards it's tyres, seems to have less problem in scrubbing off any pickup. A typical case of real life interfering with theory, and one that keeps the race engineers busy during the free practice periods, changing springs and damper settings to suit track, tyres and driver.

Most of the top teams develop their own dampers, working with damper manufacturers to make the more specialised cylinder and valve components. Because there is still considerable mystique surrounding damper technology, details of what goes on inside them is well guarded. Apart from the introduction of the third damper, described in V7N3, there are two main areas of damper R&D. The first is to develop a development tool or procedure to assist in the quick setting up of dampers, and their associated springs, for a given circuit. The rate at which circuits are being altered and re-surfaced these days means that databases, gleaned in the preceding years, are not much help. After the 50% wind tunnel, the next "must have" is a 4-post, electro-hydraulic, road simulation rig. With the car placed on it, and aerodynamic loads imposed via two further servo-actuators, it is possible to excite the suspension with an actual track profile, at any simulated speed. The ability to measure any parameter and study particular conditions in the laboratory is a valuable tool in understanding suspension dynamics and validating models. In particular, it can be used to study the second issue:

Without active control, it is not possible to change the damping to suit varying conditions. With rising rate suspensions, the stiffness increases as the suspension is compressed by the aerodynamic downforce and ideally the damping would increase too. For a long time, a way of achieving this has been sought and a clever mechanism is bound to appear soon, if it has not already done so.

Two regulations new this year, have had an influence on suspension linkage design. In 1996, Tyrrell decided to test the FIA's interpretation of "aerodynamic effect", in regard to components that moved relative to the entirely sprung part of the car. They made the entire top front wishbone into a streamlined shape, forcing a new regulation to define suspension linkages as having no greater aspect ratio (defined, in this case, as chord to thickness ratio of a transverse section) than 3.5:1. There is a sufficient aerodynamic advantage in streamlining the linkages, especially the top one, that there became an even greater reason to manufacture them from individually shaped CFRP mouldings, rather than standard section streamline, steel tubing.

There are a number of constructors however, who prefer to retain steel for most if not all suspension members, adding a CFRP sleeve to streamline them. This may have something to do with the second regulation, which states that the forward, bottom wishbone strut must be the strongest in tension, and be able to articulate, without necking out the inner joint, at least 60� or until the wheel hits something solid on the car (i.e. the side impact structure for the front wheel). This regulation is a reinforcement of the need to try and prevent the front wheel striking the driver's head, in the event of a front/three-quarters impact into a barrier. CFRP linkages tend to shatter in an impact, and are unlikely to retain the wheel. Steel with sufficient ductility stands a chance, and provided that the front lower link is intact, will stop the wheel swinging up into the cockpit. It has not been possible to define a test that will ensure success under all possible types of impact, and so a sensible requirement has been stipulated. Only time will show whether it is the right one. Once again one is reminded that safety is a statistical science, based on experiment.

F1 Suspension System

F1 Suspension

Unless formula one car suspensions have an incredible stiffness, these are one of the most important things to make a car drivable. It is probably one of the most difficult things that can be set on a car, and influences understeer and oversteer hugely. As tires are the only contact between the car and the road surface, you can image how important it is to keep the tires as good as possible on the track, no matter what bump or speed the car may encounter.
Forces to cope with

Weight transfer is the general term for most forces a car undergoes in any change of condition. It is a shifting of loading on the four outmost corners of the car. Acceleration means load is transferred to the back of the car, the opposite occurs when braking. In corners, most weight becomes lying in the two outside wheels. These kinds of weight transfer can be expressed and calculated with the following formula:

dW = (m * h * a) / t

with dW symbolising the total weight transfer due to an acceleration a (m/s�),
a total vehicle mass m (in kg),
h the height is the height of center of gravity,
t is the track width. (For longitudinal weight transfer, use wheel base instead of t).
Different types of weight transfer:
Heave is the motion of the chassis when all four wheels go up or down in unison i.e. when a car drives through Aux Rouges at Spa, that car is pushed down onto the track, due to the surface which is basically a narrow valley. When thus driving over a hill, the opposite occurs and the car wants to fly away.

Pitch is when the front and rear of the chassis go in opposite directions, either up or down. This occurs at braking when the car seemingly bends forward, or accelerating so that the car want to raise its nose.

Roll is a side-to-side movement of the car. The suspension on the outer side of the car compresses while the inner suspension extends. This occurs during cornering.

Warp is the movement of the diagonally opposed wheels in opposite directions i.e. the front left suspension compresses as the right rear extends.

Yaw is the rotation of the car in a horizontal plane around a vertical axis. This occurs during cornering.
Weight transfer has to be absorbed or taken up by the suspension system, otherwise it will be expended at the tire contact patch meaning a loss of adhesion and a spin-out. How this weight is divided between the front end suspension and the rear end suspension is a relationship known as "roll couple distribution".

The above picture shows the virtual front of a formula one car without its nose. I must say virtually, as in reality, the rockers (see further) cannot be seen when taking off the nose, as they are placed a little deeper into the chassis.

Pushrod and pullrods are the diagonal bars between the car's body and the upright (where the suspernsion arms are attached to the wheels, near the brakes). There is always one for each wheel, but a car does not have pull and push rods at the same time. That would be completely useless, as these arms just do the same, it's only another way to get the same effect. The difference can be found in its name, as the pull rod pulls the rocker, while the push rod pushed it. On the picture we have push rods (when the wheel is pushed up, due to a burb or something, the push rod pushed the rocker up) connecting a rocker in the upper part of the chssis with the lower upright. A pull rod goes the other way, connecting a rocker located low in the chassis, with the upper site of the wheel, almost where the upper suspension arms meet the upright. Pull rods were first brought to Formula 1 by Gordon Murray with Brabham in the 70s but now all formula one teams make use of the push rods, as pull rods are quite hard to implement in a high nosed car. The advantages of a pull rod lie in the possibility to make the nose lower, assemble most suspension parts lower to the ground and thus lowering the height of the center of gravity.

Rockers are also known as bell cranks or linkages. This is the lever that translates the push\pull rods motion into the rotary force on the torsion bar and the up\down motion of the damper. the rocker also has mounts for antiroll bars and sensors for wheel travel. The rocker translates the wheel movement onto the dampers with a multiplicator. The movements of the damper are thus larger than those of the wheel itself. That means if a wheel moves 1cm, the damper will undergo a movement of about 2 to 3 cm (these are only estimated numbers). It's partially this principly of multiplicating the movement onto the damper that causes the enormous stiffness of the suspension.

On this particular drawing you can also notice the torsion bar passing trough the middle of the rockers. The torsion bar is thereby fixed onto the chassis, allowing the rocker to rotate around it. When a wheel pushed the rocker up, it twists and pushed the damper down.
As you can also see on the picture, both rockers on each side are connected with each other with an anti-roll bar (roll : see types of weight transfer). Anti-roll bars resist roll by twisting themselves, acting as torsion springs. The anti-roll bar should be handling approximately 50% of the front roll resistance, with the other 50% split between the front springs. To avoid some misunderstandings, a roll bar has nothing whatsoever to do with spring rate. Changing bars can only make the front end stiffer or softer in terms of roll rate and not spring rate.

The springs or torsion bars are the parts of the suspension that actually absorb the bumps. In simple terms, the softer the suspension on the car, the quicker it will travel through a corner. This has the adverse effect of making the car less sensitive to the drivers input, causing sloppy handling. A harder sprung car will have less mechanical grip through the corner, but the handling will be more sensitive and more direct, ideal for circuits such as Monaco where the drivers must be inch perfect between the barriers.

Shock absorbers on the other hand dampen the motion of suspension. They do not absorb impacts, but damp the motion of the vehicle. As the name itself says, it particularly acts on the first impact, while the springs work during all the event. If you would have a car with springs, but no or bad shock absorbers, you will keep bumping up and down for a while, and in corners, a wheel might get off the ground a lot easier, because the opposite wheel bends down too much. Shock absorbers are thus tie-down devices for springs which control the springs' oscillation. Oscillation is the up and down movement of a spring, and unless it has a damping device on it, the spring will oscillate infinitely until internal friction in the spring stops its movement. Shock absorbers can be adjusted for "rebound' and "bump".

F1 springs are made by specialist companies like Eibach, with springs often designed in part by the F1 teams to suit certain characteristics.

Packers or bump rubbers can be used to prevent the springs or torsion bars compressing too far. This allows the suspension to be soft, and preserverves the car to hit the ground due to the high downforce. These packers should although not come into play in corners, because if the suspension is that soft that it leans on the packers in a corner, no more energy is dissipated into the suspension, which results in decreased grip. They are useful on modern cars to preserve the wooden plank under the car, the rules stating that no more than 1 mm can be worn during the race. (Hence Schumacher's exclusion from Spa 1994)

Formula 1

The next couple of posts will concern Formula 1 and its suspension system.
I find this really interesting since I am on the Formula SAE team at my school.
Stay tuned for the next ones.

Thanks

Thanks all for reading these stories
I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted.

Story 5-Fiction

Enjoy,
The Mouse,
by Saki

Theodoric Voler had been brought up, from infancy to the confines of middle age, by a fond mother whose chief solicitude had been to keep him screened from what she called the coarser realities of life. When she died she left Theodoric alone in a world that was as real as ever, and a good deal coarser than he considered it had any need to be. To a man of his temperament and upbringing even a simple railway journey was crammed with petty annoyances and minor discords, and as he settled himself down in a second-class compartment one September morning he was conscious of ruffled feelings and general mental discomposure. He had been staying at a country vicarage, the inmates of which had been certainly neither brutal nor bacchanalian, but their supervision of the domestic establishment had been of that lax order which invites disaster. The pony carriage that was to take him to the station had never been properly ordered, and when the moment for his departure drew near, the handyman who should have produced the required article was nowhere to be found. In this emergency Theodoric, to his mute but very intense disgust, found himself obliged to collaborate with the vicar's daughter in the task of harnessing the pony, which necessitated groping about in an ill-lighted outbuilding called a stable, and smelling very like one - except in patches where it smelled of mice. Without being actually afraid of mice, Theodoric classed them among the coarser incidents of life, and considered that Providence, with a little exercise of moral courage, might long ago have recognised that they were not indispensable, and have withdrawn them from circulation. As the train glided out of the station Theodoric's nervous imagination accused himself of exhaling a weak odour of stable yard, and possibly of displaying a mouldy straw or two on his unusually well-brushed garments. Fortunately the only other occupation of the compartment, a lady of about the same age as himself, seemed inclined for slumber rather than scrutiny; the train was not due to stop till the terminus was reached, in about an hour's time, and the carriage was of the old-fashioned sort that held no communication with a corridor, therefore no further travelling companions were likely to intrude on Theodoric's semiprivacy. And yet the train had scarcely attained its normal speed before he became reluctantly but vividly aware that he was not alone with the slumbering lady; he was not even alone in his own clothes. A warm, creeping movement over his flesh betrayed the unwelcome and highly resented presence, unseen but poignant, of a strayed mouse, that had evidently dashed into its present retreat during the episode of the pony harnessing. Furtive stamps and shakes and wildly directed pinches failed to dislodge the intruder, whose motto, indeed, seemed to be Excelsior; and the lawful occupant of the clothes lay back against the cushions and endeavoured rapidly to evolve some means for putting an end to the dual ownership. It was unthinkable that he should continue for the space of a whole hour in the horrible position of a Rowton House for vagrant mice (already his imagination had at least doubled the numbers of the alien invasion). On the other hand, nothing less drastic than partial disrobing would ease him of his tormentor, and to undress in the presence of a lady, even for so laudable a purpose, was an idea that made his ear tips tingle in a blush of abject shame. He had never been able to bring himself even to the mild exposure of open-work socks in the presence of the fair sex. And yet - the lady in this case was to all appearances soundly and securely asleep; the mouse, on the other hand, seemed to be trying to crowd a wanderjahr into a few strenuous minutes. If there is any truth in the theory of transmigration, this particular mouse must certainly have been in a former state a member of the Alpine Club. Sometimes in its eagerness it lost its footing and slipped for half an inch or so; and then, in fright, or more probably temper, it bit. Theodoric was goaded into the most audacious undertaking of his life. Crimsoning to the hue of a beetroot and keeping an agonised watch on his slumbering fellow traveller, he swiftly and noiselessly secured the ends of his railway rug to the racks on either side of the carriage, so that a substantial curtain hung athwart the compartment. In the narrow dressing room that he had thus improvised he proceeded with violent haste to extricate himself partially and the mouse entirely from the surrounding casings of tweed and half-wool. As the unravelled mouse gave a wild leap to the floor, the rug, slipping its fastening at either end, also came down with a heart-curdling flop, and almost simultaneously the awakened sleeper opened her eyes. With a movement almost quicker than the mouse's, Theodoric pounced on the rug and hauled its ample folds chin-high over his dismantled person as he collapsed into the farther corner of the carriage. The blood raced and beat in the veins of his neck and forehead, while he waited dumbly for the communication cord to be pulled. The lady, however, contented herself with a silent stare at her strangely muffled companion. How much had she seen, Theodoric queried to himself; and in any case what on earth must she think of his present posture?
< 2 >
"I think I have caught a chill," he ventured desperately. "Really, I'm sorry," she replied. "I was just going to ask you if you would open this window." "I fancy it's malaria," he added, his teeth chattering slightly, as much from fright as from a desire to support his theory. "I've got some brandy in my holdall, if you'll kindly reach it down for me," said his companion. "Not for worlds - I mean, I never take anything for it," he assured her earnestly.
"I suppose you caught it in the tropics?"
Theodoric, whose acquaintance with the tropics was limited to an annual present of a chest of tea from an uncle in Ceylon, felt that even the malaria was slipping from him. Would it be possible, he wondered to disclose the real state of affairs to her in small instalments? "Are you afraid of mice?" he ventured, growing, if possible, more scarlet in the face.
"Not unless they came in quantities. Why do you ask?" "I had one crawling inside my clothes just now," said Theodoric in a voice that hardly seemed his own. "It was a most awkward situation."
"It must have been, if you wear your clothes at all tight," she observed. "But mice have strange ideas of comfort." "I had to get rid of it while you were asleep," he continued. Then, with a gulp, he added, "It was getting rid of it that brought me to - to this."
"Surely leaving off one small mouse wouldn't bring on a chill," she exclaimed, with a levity that Theodoric accounted abominable.
Evidently she had detected something of his predicament, and was enjoying his confusion. All the blood in his body seemed to have mobilised in one concentrated blush, and an agony of abasement, worse than a myriad mice, crept up and down over his soul. And then, as reflection began to assert itself, sheer terror took the place of humiliation. With every minute that passed the train was rushing nearer to the crowded and bustling terminus, where dozens of prying eyes would be exchanged for the one paralysing pair that watched him from the farther corner of the carriage. There was one slender, despairing chance, which the next few minutes must decide. His fellow traveller might relapse into a blessed slumber. But as the minutes throbbed by that chance ebbed away. The furtive glance which Theodoric stole at her from time to time disclosed only an unwinking wakefulness.
< 3 >
"I think we must be getting near now," she presently observed.
Theodoric had already noted with growing terror the recurring stacks of small, ugly dwellings that heralded the journey's end. The words acted as a signal. Like a hunted beast breaking cover and dashing madly toward some other haven of momentary safety he threw aside his rug, and struggled frantically into his dishevelled garments. He was conscious of dull suburban stations racing past the window, of a choking, hammering sensation in his throat and heart, and of an icy silence in that corner toward which he dared not look. Then as he sank back in his seat, clothed and almost delirious, the train slowed down to a final crawl, and the woman spoke. "Would you be so kind," she asked, "as to get me a porter to put me into a cab? It's a shame to trouble you when you're feeling unwell, but being blind makes one so helpless at a railway station."