Yearly Archives: 2010

Willie Nelson started out being more famous as a songwriter than a performer. Read all about this artist who continues to prolifically write and record music.

A bass player doesn’t have to be flashy or loud, but a band won’t survive long with a weak bass.

We begin 2011 by highlighting Vic Lewis, who did such a great job of running the Sunday Songwriters’ Group for its past two years. Besides featuring his song, “Constant Chameleon,” we also have a very enlightening interview with Vic about songwriting.

In Part Two of this guide to touring, we take you from launching your tour to making your van your home to bringing everyone home safely and successfully.

Many players obsess about not being able to play fast. Tom Hess offers some important tips for guitarists wanting to improve their playing speed.

Welcome to your December 15 issue of Guitar Noise News, our final newsletter for the calendar year 2010.

Chord melody is a way of arranging songs so that a single guitar does all the work of providing melody and harmony, and usually includes a bass part as well.

Knowing how songs are structured can help you with learning songs and with communicating with other musicians. Here’s a brief run down of the basic parts of songs.

Welcome to your December 1 issue of Guitar Noise News, the free twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com).

In 2010 Metallica, Slayer, Megadeath and Anthrax (considered to be the “big four” of thrash metal) played on the same bill for the first time.

You may not be aware of it, but Guitar Noise has some wonderfully talented songwriters and we’re going to try to feature one of them here on the Guitar Noise Blog each month.

Vic Lewis looks at the basics of playing slide guitar in standard tuning, which is a great thing to know if you’d prefer to not keep changing your tuning every other song!

Chris Gallant (lead singer and guitarist of The Sidewalks) brings you an introduction to the realities of touring. Grab your gear and get ready to hit the road!

A good day to all of you! It’s November 15 and this is your latest issue of Guitar Noise News, the free twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com).

Alternate tuning involves changing any or all of a guitar’s strings to a different note than in standard tuning. “Drop D” and DADGAD tunings are frequent choices of alternate tuning but there are many to choose from.

In open tuning, the guitar’s six strings are tuned to the notes of a single, easily identified chord. Open tuning is used a lot by slide guitar players. It’s also a favorite of Keith Richards.

Standard tuning is tuning each string of your guitar to a specific note. It makes learning the guitar easier by allowing you to play the various chords in the same way that other people do.

Welcome to the November 1, 2010 issue of Guitar Noise News. Check out a new review of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar in Spanish.

Some of Prince’s weird antics over the years have challenged his most ardent fans. In recent years he’s focused on reclaiming his legacy by doing what he does best, concentrating on the music.

Do you remember where you were in 2000? We know exactly where we were thanks to the Guitar Noise archives.