Ethnography

Metacognitive Analysis

Omar Reyes

Professor Sean Pessin

English 114B

May 1, 2013

Metacognitive Analysis

Over the course of a few weeks I have had the chance to experience the making and updating of a blog. A blog is a website where one shares their opinions and ideas to a worldwide audience on a regular basis and they can be about pretty much everything you want it to be. The subject of my blog was something I do feel strongly about and it was guitar maintenance, along with a few summaries/analysis about the problem with the arts in public schools and how their budgets are being cut. Guitar playing is something I have held and still hold near and dear to my heart so I decided to make guitar care my main subject.  After I had gathered the sufficient amount of information about guitar care I was then told to write a “hybrid essay.” A hybrid essay is not an ordinary essay because it uses poems, pictures, and several other things that aid in the actual essay without the use of formal text. So, I decided to use pictures in my hybrid essay, and the subject was about how the parts of a guitar function like a human body. The various intricate parts are vital to each other as human organs are. I showed example of what the functions are and why they are important for a guitar to function properly. I emphasized the fact that if one part is not working then the whole guitar itself begins to fall apart, literally. The way I used the pictures was to show what the parts looked like and what some aspects of it represent, along with captioning under it to show why I put the picture there to begin with. I used many types of pictures such as, guitar designs, famous guitar players, logos, electronic schematics, and many guitar parts to show a reader how they look like without actually explaining the whole thing. I also provided examples of what a specific guitar part represents, for example in my essay I compared the electronics in the guitar body to a human brain. They are similar because it is where the main electrical components are and both are intricately designed to do various things for specific parts. Although the human brain is obviously a lot more intricate than the wiring of a guitar, it was just a small comparison between the two. Now again I really emphasized the fact that all the parts of a guitar are vital to each other like a human body’s. For example, the truss rod is like the back bone of a guitar because without it a guitar’s neck would warp, be out of balance, perform horribly, and would just “kill” the guitar. A guitar without a truss rod would affect various parts of a guitar like the neck, bridge, headstock, strings, and sometimes the body, like a human’s body would fail if it were missing a vital organ but it will affect other organs as the “organs” of a guitar affect each other. I concluded my essay by stating that one who is a dedicated guitar player should care for their guitar and run maintenance regularly to maintain all the parts in working order, which was the whole reason of my blog on guitar care. Overall this was a great learning experience because not only did I get to experience the making of a blog but I also learned many guitar care tips and tricks that I had never heard of before. I enjoyed sharing different pieces of information about guitar care whether people cared or not and I supplied enough information to get a newbie started in maintaining their guitar. 

Hybrid Essay: Not so Different

Omar Reyes

Professor Sean Pessin

English 114B

April 24, 2013

NotSo Different

In my blog I discuss the various parts of a guitar. I show their importance as well as their functions. A guitar is an instrument that functions almost like a human body. If one thing from theguitar doesn’t function or is broken, then the guitar is deemed useless in mostcases. From aiding in support to the actual sound of the guitar the wholeanatomy of a guitar is sometimes intricate to most people. The various partswork together and keep the guitar running just like a human body. If you arecareless about your guitar and don’t maintain it, your guitar works at minimumperformance and it eventually wears out. Like a human body, if you don’t takecare of yourself your body feels tired and you get sick and it “wears you out.”Various parts and tools symbolize different body parts like bones, organs, face,etc.

The neck, it providessupport, the ability to mix chords, and aids in keeping the tension of thestrings held together with the headstock and its tuners that hold the string inplace. Without the neck the guitar is useless and it is one of the most vital“organs” of the anatomy of a guitar.

The body is like thehead of a guitar. If the body is not present, the guitar is not considered aguitar. It holds the many important electronics that allow the sound to beprojected using an amplifier. It is also holds an important feature to many,which is the finish and the shape of the body. The body is the most artisticpart of the guitar and shows its beauty.

The bridge, located onthe body, aids in the elevation of strings, support, and tension. Without thebridge no sound is produced and as always useless. Its metal alloy materialmakes it strong and the bolts on each side hold it in place. There are manytypes of bridges but they all do the same thing which is to maintain thetension, support, etc.   The main source of the tension created is in thethree springs located inside the guitar body (the back). These springs regulatethe height of the bridge and carry most of the stress that the strings put onwhen tuning/restringing.

Think of cleaning a guitarlike taking a shower, if you don’t clean your guitar it gets mucky and itactually even begins to smell a certain way due to the grimy metal pieces.These go hand in hand with a human body although it is obviously worse forhumans.

Restringing your guitaris like a monthly or yearly body flush, where you release all the unwantedchemicals in your body that hold you and your health back. A new set of stringsrepresents a new cycle for the guitar and a fresh start like a body would feelafter the flush. The tuning of your strings daily can represent your daily doseof vitamins and minerals that keep your body healthy. If your guitar doesn't get that tuning done often it wears the wood and the sound of your guitar wouldbe very bad such as a unhealthy body would.

A truss rod is like thespine of the guitar as it holds the neck at a certain angle to keep it nice andcurved to get the best sound of your guitar. Just like a over curved spine, anover curved truss rods causes problems to the whole guitar like the spine wouldaffect the body.

The pickups are themagnetic force on the body that helps project the sound of a guitar onto anamplifier like the vocal chords allow us to talk, speak up, and gives us ourown unique voice. With aid of the volume knobs that represent the control youhave of the volume of your voice.

Frets on the guitarneck guide you to play the specific notes or chords and it allows theimagination to flow using the different mixture of notes that the frets allowyou to memorize and write down easily with either notes or tabs.

The wiring in the bodyof the guitar can represent the brain because it is the main source where thespecific electrical components of the pick-ups are located as well as theelectric components for the volume knobs, input jack (jack where you plug inthe instrument cable), and tone knobs.

The hardware locatedall over the guitar, which are the screws, nuts, bolts, washers, etc.), arelike the bones of the guitar because they give support to the guitar and ifthey were not present then the guitar would fall apart. As well as the glueused in various places throughout a guitar like the neck, piling of the wood toactually make the guitar, headstock, etc.

The finish of a guitaris the first thing that catches a player’s eye. There are various intricate andplain designs that give a guitar its own personality. It may as well be one ofthe most artistic features of a guitar, from its designs to its color it givesa guitar that aesthetic touch almost all people love.

The brand of a guitarrepresents the way a human being is raised they in a way go hand in hand witheach other. If a guitar is badly made and rushed then it will not sound as goodas a guitar that is made with “love.” The guitars that are made well using thebest wood as well as made slowly and carefully end up being the most beautifulsounding guitars and most expensive.

Amplifiers are like thevehicles that drive the sound through the speakers as well as sends differentsignals that create different sounds. With the aid of an instrument cable ofcourse, this can represent the key for the ignition because without it nosignal or sound will be projected through the amp. It also has a complicatedset of electronics inside that represent the motor of a car because of itsintricate wiring that if damaged is very difficult to repair without aprofessional.

But the most importantpart of the guitar is the player. The player is the main source of note making,control, and maintenance in general. The player provides all of the above andmore, you could think of the player as the doctor, the source of creativity andsound production of the guitar. It is like the face of a person because of allits features. The body is like the head and with the finish its face is seenwhich can be beautiful, horrifying, or in middle just like people see otherpeople.

There are various aspectsof a guitar that makes its anatomy a similar to that of a human because oftheir functions that are necessary for a guitar to keep its “health” to topperformance and its vitality running over the course of years. This whole thingmay seem a bit exaggerated but it is only symbolism of how a guitar works andhow its parts work together to keep it running like an organism’s body does. Thisis why maintaining a guitar is important because just like a human body orother organism, if the body is not taken care of it performs “unhealthily” andeventually gets sick, worn out, and dies. So if you are a dedicated guitarplayer take the time to really care for your guitar because they are veryexpensive at times, taking these tips in mind can really save you money, andyou will have yourself a rocking guitar.

Work Cited

“Anatomy of an Electric Guitar.” Cyber Flotsam. DaveDixon. n. d. April 23, 2013.

“Basic Anatomy.” Manatomy. Human Anatomy. n. d. April23, 2013.

“Anatomy of an Amp Build.” Classic Tube Amps. n. d. April23, 2013.

Bye!

So, over the course of a few weeks I have supplied several amounts of information about guitar maintenance as well as the struggle the arts face in schools. I hope to have achieved my goal which was to inform you with easier practices and repairs to perform on your guitar. I supplied information in favor of those who are self-taught beginners like I had once been. This is my concluding post to this blog as I believe I have supplied enough basic information to get a beginner rolling in guitar maintenance. I really hope those of you who plan on playing guitar in the future, if you don’t already, to use my information along with finding your own as there are many other people that supply similar pieces of information like I did. 

Fretboard Cleaning

This video basically demonstrates one of the maintenance procedures I was talking about in one of my older posts which is the cleaning of the fret board as well as a string change, which I already covered before. This man made up his own way in cleaning his fret board by using a tooth brush and a cleaner specifically for the purpose of fret board cleaning. I have never seen this method before as most people use only cloth. His method seems to be very good because he gets a lot of the dirt on the fret boar4d that has been accumulating over time and you can see the amount of grime he scrubs out. I actually look forward in using this same method in the future because of the effectiveness it seems to have. Aside from this he does mention a procedure I forgot to mention before which was “pre-bending.” Pre-bending is when you pull on the strings after a restringing to get all of the excess slack remaining on the head stock. This helps keep your guitar in tune and aids in better performance while playing because your strings will be nice and snug after you do this. This was a good demonstration video but one problem was that he removed all the strings at once which is a big NO as I explained in my older post. Other than that his methods were excellent and I hope to use a few of them in my future set-up.

More Simple Precautions

Here are some more procedures you should follow in order to keep your guitar in the best condition possible. The first one is to WASH YOUR HANDS, like I explained in my other post your body secretes oils that attract dirt and grime, and washing your hands can be beneficial and promotes longer string life. Never get a zip-up gig bag. Invest in a case although they are expensive it will be worth your while. Always put it in its case because it protects it from temperature change and other environmental “hazards” to your guitar. Also before putting it away make sure you wipe it down with a damp cloth to get rid of the dirt and hand oils. I’ve said this more than once, “strings are vital,” make sure that you adjust your guitar’s neck and bridge to be suitable for the gauge of the strings you are using and don’t change gauges too often. Also when restringing never remove all of the strings at once, remove them one at a time at a steady pace to keep the guitar neck healthy. Change your strings regularly, again as I said in my other post, changing strings can protect the finish and hardware of your guitar, so change them every so often to prevent high cost repairs. Lastly, you need to play your guitar! Leaving it alone, abandoned, then deciding to play it is not good for it so play it once in a while to keep it happy. J

http://www.electric-guitar-review.com/2007/05/08/10-guitar-maintenance-steps-you-should-always-follow-but-probably-dont/

Your Environment is Vital

There are many hazards that many people are not aware of that can harm your guitar. One of these is very important for your guitar’s performance. You should never let your guitar go into extreme changes of temperature because this causes many problems and you can ultimately “kill” your guitar. One example is traveling, if you live in a mild area and then all of a sudden decide to go to Antarctica with your guitar, your instrument will not be the same and you will need to have it set up again because the neck will morph. Another thing is never leave your guitar in your trunk the summer heat, if you live in in a place such as L.A., will damage your guitar externally as well as internally because of all the electronics within the guitar. Also a basic procedure to take if you travel is to make sure you latch your case because it will take a tumble if you don’t, this has happened to me a couple of times and it is saddening. Strings are vital, never over tighten the strings on your guitar because it creates a lot of tension and may not end well. Last but not least is if you travel by plane; make sure you loosen all of the strings because the change in pressure can damage the neck with the change of the tension of the strings. These are some of the many precautions to put in mind and “save” your instrument.

 http://www.ovationguitars.com/support/care_maintenance/care_maintenance