Yearly Archives: 2009

Welcome to August and what is hopefully the August 1 issue of Guitar Noise News. We have some exciting book news, a bio on Bob Marley and a new topic of the month. Also in the newsletter is a new essay from Nick Torres from our Playing Well With Others series.

In the near thirty years since his death, Bob Marley’s popularity hasn’t waned. His greatest hits album, Legend, has sold over twenty million copies, making him reggae music’s most recognizable and possibly best-loved ambassador.

Forty years ago today, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had the attention of nearly everyone on the planet when they became the first men to walk on the moon. Some of us here weren’t even born at the time and it’s hard to imagine the excitement of this historic moment. Looking back, we [...]

I had to do a little checking, but this week is another Guitar Noise anniversary – somewhere around July 15, 2003, we posted our first (and only!) video lesson! If you’ve ever wanted to see what Nick Torres’ fingers looked like, here’s your chance! Plus we also had a great article on replacing pickups, courtesy [...]

Welcome to Guitar Noise News Vol. 3 # 94. There’s a lot going on but not so much in the way of news. Charley wants you do know that “Cats Do Control Humans.”

Later next week I’m taking a couple flights on United Airlines. But if I had seen this video before buying my ticket, I probably would have chosen a different airline. Let’s face it, flying is expensive for most people. Safety and comfort are the most important things to consider, but once you get the price [...]

You might have read about the Next Big Nashville, the huge city-wide music festival that takes place in the fall and includes hundreds of regional bands and musicians in our recent article on America’s great “Music City” We’ve just gotten the news that the call is out for musician’s interested in submitting their band for [...]

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #93 of Guitar Noise News! Things are going fast and furious with the writing of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar.”

Here is the second part of Jamie Andreas’ wonderful video lessons on the Guitar Noise arrangement of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” In this video, Jamie walks through the verse section of the song, providing detailed step-by-step instruction on how to move effortlessly from one fingering position to the next. By applying many [...]

In this second installment of her video lessons on the Guitar Noise arrangement of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” guitar teacher extraordinaire Jamie Andreas guides you through the verses of the song with very clear and detailed step-by-step instruction, designed to help you with the fingering involved in the tricky chord changes.

Even if you managed to somehow get through your life and not hear the album, Thriller, you have certainly listened to music (not to mention musicians and songwriters) influenced by this best selling album of all time.

Here’s something I couldn’t believe – Apparently it was only four years ago (July 1, 2005 to be precise) we started “Volume 3” of the Guitar Noise News. It was the start of the “bi-monthly” newsletter format that we currently have today, and it was certainly a bit ambitious. Even Nick had his own little [...]

Welcome back to the One Finger Guitar Chord Primer. We’re going to look at some serious playing around this time out. And we’re going to focus on learning this lesson mostly through sound, through listening. When it comes to learning music, aural explanations are often more effective than textual ones. The sound file works through [...]

Although it seems like ages ago, it was just around this time last year that we premiered the first of what has turned out to be a very popular series here at Guitar Noise, our lessons called “Turning Scales into Solos.” While these lessons have been shorter in length than many of our other song [...]

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #92 of Guitar Noise News! Check out part ten in our series on practicing modes plus this day in Guitar Noise history (or thereabouts).

Sometimes it’s amazing when I think of how much material that there is here on Guitar Noise, and how most of it has come about in the last ten years. So, to celebrate our longevity, how about we look back from time to time at things that have happened? For instance, going back just three [...]

In this newsletter we have three new lessons, a wonderful tip on modes from Darrin and take a peak back at this point in Guitar Noise history.

In terms of style, Coldplay are comparable to bands like U2, Oasis and Radiohead. As a four piece band many of their arrangements rely on melodic guitar and piano melodies. We have two lessons on Coldplay songs, God Put A Smile Upon Your Face and Don’t Panic.

It’s time to explore what to do when we get around to playing with another guitarist. So here we start out with a simple arrangement for two guitars.

Our arrangement of this Bob Dylan favorite from Nashville Skyline can be played very easily with the use of a capo, plus a very simple picking pattern.