Guitar Noise » Charley T. Cat

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 128 – December 15, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:29:58 +0000

Greetings

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #128 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Greetings, News and Announcements
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Topic of the Month
New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Spotlight on the Sunday Songwriters Group
Event Horizon
Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

It’s hard to believe that 2010 is winding down to its last days. For some reason it seems to have been a very long year even though looking back I don’t know how it managed to go by so fast.

Welcome to the year’s last issue of Guitar Noise News, the free twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com). My name’s Charley and it’s been my honor and pleasure to be your personal Guitar Noise News correspondent these many months.

We are still, and will be giving away two books a month until the end of the upcoming New Year, 2011. To enter the giveaway, take a picture of yourself holding a copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” someplace relatively interesting. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background. As Dorothy might have said in “The Wizard of Oz,” you don’t have do go any further than your own back yard! But do try to be creative or at least entertaining. David and Paul will be selecting two photos a month and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures are chosen. Just send your photos to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and be sure to include an email address where you can be reached, as well as a mailing address. And please put “Picture Book” in the subject line of the email.

Dean from Georgia is our December 15 winner and here’s hoping his autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” gets to him before Christmas. He made quite a striking photo and can see it, as well as all our past winners, at David’s blog (www.davidhodge.com).

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

We’ve got a two-for-one deal on guitarists for you this month as we profile Metallica as the December Guitar Noise Featured Artist of the month. Read all about Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

Topic of the Month

And it being December, it’s time to take out the Guitar Noise Christmas lights and to pull all the many wonder holiday song lessons we’ve got out of storage. So pay a visit to the Guitar Noise Home page and then click on the Topic Banner showing “Holiday Songs” as the Guitar Noise December Topic of the Month and treat yourself, not to mention your family and friends, to some magical music.

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

Song Structures
by David Hodge

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.

Chord Melody
by David Hodge

Chord melody is a way of arranging songs so that the single guitar does all the work of providing melody and harmony, and usually includes a bass part as well! Chord melody arrangements can be as simple or complex as you choose to make them.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for December 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 43)

Our last installment featured a chord walk in F mixolydian (AKA F dominant 7) around position V. Not all the chords in that walk were pure F7 though, so some ‘splainin’ is called for.

Here’s the run again for handy reference:

|-8--6--5-----|-------------|---------------|
|-6--7--6--8--|-6-----------|---------------|
|-8--5--8--8--|-5--8--7--5--|---------------|
|-7--------7--|-5--7--7--7--|-8--7--5-------|
|----6--8-----|-6--8--6--6--|-6--6--6--8----|
|----------8--|-------------|-8-----8--5----|

The first chord here is nothing special: plain F7, to tell your ear “We’re playing F dominant 7″ and not some other chord. But the second chord, with Bb in the melody, is not an F7. It’s an Eb minor 6 (notes Eb, Gb, Bb, C). The notes of an F7 are Eb, F, A, C, so we have two notes in common. The Bb can be explained as the tonic of the parent scale that the F mixolydian scale comes from–Bb major. But where does this Gb come from? This is the note that gives this chord all its “juice,” so the better you understand it, the juicier you can make your music.

The Gb makes a tritone interval with the C, and we know how dynamic a sound the tritone is from hearing it in dom 7 chords. But the Gb-C tritone isn’t the one found in the F7′s default notes, so it throws your ear a bit of a curve. Plus, you can look at the Gb as being the b6 of the Bb tonic scale. Major scales don’t have a b6, but harmonic minor scales do. You therefore hear that b6 and say “Hey, we just changed to Bb minor from major. Sweet!”

More theory tidbits to come. Thanks for reading.

Darrin

And if you need a further fix of Darrin’s great articles, hurry on over to his terrific website. You can find his past contributions to Guitar Noise here and we’re also reprinting some of Darrin’s past Guitar Noise News posts over at the Guitar Noise Blog. They are all worth reading! I don’t know if David’s told you or not, but Darrin’s articles were cited as favorites by many of the folks who wrote in for “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” giveaway.

Spotlight on the Sunday Songwriters’ Group

And I don’t know if you realize it or not, but Guitar Noise has a great many gifted songwriters as members and Paul and David would like to do a little more to get you acquainted with them. So every month starting today you’ll find a song that was written as a Sunday Songwriters’ Group ( SSG for short) assignment. Some will be relatively new songs and some will be from the eight years of archives that we have. Most SSG pieces are modest recordings done on the fly, simply meant to give the listener an idea of what the finished piece will hopefully sound like. And usually the heart that goes into any of these SSG songs more than makes up for the lack of recording it in a professional studio.

First up is a very cool Christmas song that Kathy Reichert wrote for Vic Lewis’ “write a fun Christmas song” assignment back in Year 7. Like most SSG pieces, these are modest recordings.

We hope you enjoy these wonderful songs your fellow Guitar Noise members have put together. And if you’ve got any requests from past years, we’ll try to track them down.

By the way, the Sunday Songwriters’ Group has been a part of Guitar Noise for over eight years now. Writing songs is much like playing an instrument in that you won’t get better without practice, so each week a new ”assignment” is posted in the hopes that it will both challenge and inspire the readers to create a new song.

Stop on by the SSG and join in the fun.

Event Horizon

One thing Paul, David and everyone at Guitar Noise would really like to do is to help promote your shows, whether it’s in a stadium or at a ten-seat coffee house. Not only is it a great way to help support each other, it’s also a terrific way to meet more musicians!

So please feel free to write to David if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Send your gig dates to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header. And remember that Guitar Noise News is (usually) sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. And one needs a few days notice ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of next month (that is, after the fifteenth), then try to write by the tenth or the twelfth.

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming shows!

Jason Ennis, an amazing and incredibly friendly guitarist whom David met at one of Jason’s shows in Great Barrington, Massachusetts last year, is performing with vocalist Natalia Bernal and pianist Mike Eckroth tonight (December 15) at The Garage, 99 7th Avenue South in New York City. Show runs from 7 to 10 PM.

The trio will be at the Pizza Place, located at 92 Main Street in Yonkers, NY this Friday, December 17, from 9:30 PM to 12:30 AM.

Slightly Offensive, with GN Member Tommy (“Tommy Gunz”) McLaughlin on guitar, will be this Saturday, December 18, at O’Leary’s, at 14650 South Waverly Avenue in Midlothian, IL. Tommy says be sure to come up and introduce yourself as a Guitar Noise reader!

Random Thoughts

And as 2010 comes to a close, I also find myself moving on. It’s been fun sitting in and writing these newsletters for David, but I think it’s time for him to step back in with the next newsletter. Maybe I’ll pop in every now and then (I especially like being around on April 1), so don’t think you’ve seen the last of me!

I would like to thank everyone for the emails of support and encouragement, not to mention just the general camaraderie the is such a part of the Guitar Noise community. It’s been a blast.

Until our next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley
(Charles T. Cat)

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 127 – December 1, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 23:46:23 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #127 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Greetings, News and Announcements
Spotlight on the Sunday Songwriters Group
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Topic of the Month
New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Event Horizon
Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

I’ve been hearing David working on “A Long December” for his jam class tomorrow at the Berkshire Community College, so I’m guessing that it must be time to turn the 2010 calendar to the last month. So welcome to your December 1 issue of Guitar Noise News, the free twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com). My name’s Charley and I am your Guitar Noise News correspondent until at least the end of 2010. Then I’m thinking it’s high time I pass the keyboard back over to David. We’ll see.

Don’t know if any of you noticed, but when Paul put together the “Now and Zen” theme for last month’s topic, he also totally revamped the Guitar Noise master list so that you can find any article by year or by month.

I don’t know about you, but I find this very cool! And I totally appreciate that Paul has my glamour shot still up online with the April 15, 2008 newsletter.

And just in case you’re interested, I have taken up guitar since that first newsletter. Not that I would say I’m all that great at it! Like David, I play left handed, which is convenient because I get to use any of his guitars. It should come as no surprise that I’m partial to that Seagull of his in the photo.

Spotlight On The Sunday Songwriters’ Group

The SSG, which is short for Sunday Songwriters’ Group, has been a part of Guitar Noise for over eight years now, which makes it more than twice as old as me! Nick Torres and GN Forum member Ryan Spencer created the SSG to give songwriters a way to practice. After all, writing songs is much like playing an instrument in that you won’t get better without practice. Each week a new ”assignment” is posted in the hopes that it will both challenge and inspire the readers to create a new song. We’re currently in the middle of “Week 5″ in case you’re interested.

And I don’t know if you realize it or not, but Guitar Noise has a great many gifted songwriters as members and Paul and David would like to do a little more to get you acquainted with them. So every month starting today you’ll find a song that was written as an SSG assignment. Some will be relatively new songs and some will be from the eight years of archives that we have. Most SSG pieces are modest recordings done on the fly, simply meant to give the listener an idea of what the finished piece will hopefully sound like. And usually the heart that goes into any of these SSG songs more than makes up for the lack of recording it in a professional studio.

First up is a very cool Christmas song that Kathy Reichert wrote for Vic Lewis’ “write a fun Christmas song” assignment back in Year 7. Like most SSG pieces, these are modest recordings.

We hope you enjoy these wonderful songs your fellow Guitar Noise members have put together. And if you’ve got any requests from past years, we’ll try to track them down.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

Topic Of The Month

And it being December, it’s time to take out the Guitar Noise Christmas lights and to pull all the many wonderful holiday song lessons we’ve got out of storage. So pay a visit to the Guitar Noise Home page and then click on the Topic Banner showing “Holiday Songs” as the Guitar Noise December Topic of the Month and treat yourself, not to mention your family and friends, to some magical music.

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

The Guide To Touring (Part 1)
by Chris Gallant

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!

Playing Slide Guitar In Standard Tuning
by Vic Lewis

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!

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for December 1 – Practicing Modes (Part 42)

We’ve plumbed the depths of the C Dorian and minor sounds for some time. Now it’s time for a fresh sound: F dominant 7. There are lots of things you can do to keep this sound interesting, rather than play the same stack of notes each time. We’re going to explore some of these cool twists on F7 in this issue’s exercise.

The exercise is a diatonic (i.e. in-key) walk through the F Mixolydian scale, which uses the Bb major scale. Although each melody note is diatonic, listen for that sweet b9 (Gb) in at least one of the chords. As with most of the exercises we do, play this one ascending and descending.

|-8--6--5-----|-------------|---------------|
|-6--7--6--8--|-6-----------|---------------|
|-8--5--8--8--|-5--8--7--5--|---------------|
|-7--------7--|-5--7--7--7--|-8--7--5-------|
|----6--8-----|-6--8--6--6--|-6--6--6--8----|
|----------8--|-------------|-8-----8--5----|

Next time, we’ll talk about some of the things this exercise does to avoid cliches and seek more sonic color.

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

And if you need a further fix of Darrin’s great articles, hurry on over to his terrific website, www.maximummusician.com. You can find his past contributions to Guitar Noise here and we’re also reprinting some of Darrin’s past Guitar Noise News posts over at the Guitar Noise Blog. They are all worth reading! I don’t know if David’s told you or not, but Darrin’s articles were cited as favorites by many of the folks who wrote in for “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” giveaway.

Event Horizon

So please feel free to write to David if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Send your gig dates to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header. And remember that Guitar Noise News is (usually) sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. And one needs a few days notice ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of January (that is, after the fifteenth), then write by the tenth or the twelfth.

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming shows!

Todd Mack’s FODfest, a series of free concerts to celebrate the life of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, will be making a series of stops in the Midwest. Tomorrow, Thursday December 2, they’ll be at the Fulton Street Collective in Chicago. Show goes from 7 until 9 in the evening. And then Saturday, December 4, FODfest will be at the Ginkgo Coffeehouse in Saint Paul, Minnesota from 7 until 10 PM.

Slightly Offensive, with GN Member Tommy (“Tommy Gunz”) McLaughlin on guitar, will be playing Saturday, December 11, at Charleyhorse Bar and Grill at 9501 West 171st Street in Tinley Park, IL. Music starts at 9 PM and goes until 1 in the morning. Keep up with all Tommy’s shows at the Slightly Offensive website (http://www.slightlyoffensiveband.com/).

And I don’t have a time or an address yet, but that same Saturday GN Forum member Doug (“Moonrider”) James will be playing with his group, Southern Roots at the Moose Lodge in Louisa, Virginia. At least I think it’s in Virginia! You can find out more details when they get posted on their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Southern-Roots/113163458695420)

Random Thoughts

In some ways, guitars and pets can be quite alike. Many are bought as gifts, particularly around the holidays. And many don’t hold the attention of the person who received the gift long past that.

And while I met a good number of cats who all could tell this sad story while I was in the “rescue cat house” hoping that Lily and I would find a good home, I can’t help but wonder how many musical instruments don’t ever get a second chance to tell their stories.

David’s classes at the Berkshire Community College will all have at least one person who decided to take up guitar after finding one in his or her home quite by surprise. If I remember correctly, that’s also how Jimmy Page got started (you can check the bio on the Guitar Noise Profile page for me!). Some find instruments that were originally played, however briefly, by one’s parent (or even grandparent) or a sibling. And I’ve even heard folks mention finding a guitar in the trash. Again, sounds like stories I’ve heard from cats and kittens.

But while some folks may find they are allergic to cats, I don’t know anyone who’s allergic to music. More often than not, instruments are either put away or abandoned because of lack of time, lack of desire, or lack of interest. And that’s kind of depressing, especially when you consider that there are so many people out in the world who would truly like to learn to play, if given the chance.

So if you’re taking stock of what you have over the holidays, and happen to find that you’ve some musical instrument that you’ve not touched or even thought about in years, consider bringing some light to someone’s eyes over the holidays. Music schools are always looking for good instruments that can be used as loaners, and there are certainly no shortages of charities that would be happy to give the gift of music to make some child’s smile a lot brighter.

Instruments aren’t the only thing in need. Strings, cases, tools, spare parts, books, tutorial materials, CDs that you’ve stopped using since you’ve gone to MP3 players – there’s a lot of music you can give to the world without being a performer or a songwriter.

And just as songwriters and performers give of their heart, you too can make the world a more musical, more magical place to live. The next generation’s Jimmy Page might be created out of your kindness.

Until our next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley
(Charles T. Cat)

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 126 – November 15, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:03:56 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #126 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Greetings, News and Announcements
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Topic of the Month
New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Event Horizon
Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

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). The year 2010 is winding down very quickly it seems. Where I live it’s getting harder to find some nice sunny spots to lie in for any length of time!

I’m Charley and I hope you’ve been having a good November so far.

In our November 1 newsletter, we mentioned the kickoff of Year 9 of the Sunday Songwriters’ Group here at Guitar Noise. The SSG, as we usually call it, started out in October of 2002 when Nick Torres and GN Forum member Ryan Spencer created a page on the Guitar Noise Forums to give songwriters a way to practice. After all, writing songs is much like playing an instrument in that you won’t get better without practice. Vic Lewis has had an exemplary run managing the SSG for the past two years and this year David’s taking the reins.

Each week a new “assignment” is posted in the hopes that it will both challenge and inspire the readers to create a new song. Yesterday the assignment for “Week 3″ went up online. And even though there have only been two weeks’ worth of assignments so far, there have been some incredible songs created by members of the Guitar Noise community. Treat yourself to a listen by visiting the SSG. If you’ve always had the itch to write a song, you won’t find a friendlier group of people to
help you out.

And we’ve another big announcement concerning bringing the wonderful songs of the SSG to the rest of the Guitar Noise community coming December 1.

Reviews for “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” are starting to pop up on Amazon.com and other places on the Internet. And David would like me to mention (made a big rambling monologue about it, actually) how much he appreciates the fact that people took the time to do this. Everyone at Guitar Noise has known for ages that he’s a good teacher and writer, and giving recommendations has been very helpful. After all, it was the Guitar Noise readership which led to these books being written in the first place. So a big thank you to all who have taken the time to put reviews up online.

And our latest Guitar Noise giveaway winner comes all the way from India! Punith will be getting the November 15 autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” and we wish him a hearty congratulations. You can check out his photo, as well as all our past winners, at David’s blog.

We’ll be giving away two books a month between now and December 2011. To enter the giveaway, take a picture of yourself holding a copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” someplace relatively interesting. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background. As Dorothy might have said in “The Wizard of Oz,” you don’t have do go any further than your own back yard! But do try to be creative or at least entertaining. David and Paul will be selecting two photos a month and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures are chosen. Just send your photos to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and be sure to include an email address where you can be reached, as well as a mailing address. And please put “Picture Book” in the subject line of the email.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

He was certainly one of the most influential songwriters, musicians, producers and performers of the 1980s, and he is the November Guitar Noise Featured Artist of the month. Read all about Prince on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

Topic of the Month

And we’ve got a very cool Guitar Noise Topic of the Month for November called “Now and Zen.” It’s a look back ten years ago, to what the Guitar Noise site was like back in the year 2000. If you visit the Guitar Noise Home page and then click on the Topic Banner, you’ll get to visit some of the earliest articles ever written for Guitar Noise, way back in the days before audio files!

It’s actually amazing how great many of those lessons still are today!

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

David’s put together three mini-lessons about tuning for the “Music Guide” pages and Paul has gone one step further by embedding online tuners for each lesson! Now that’s very cool!

Standard Tuning and Tuners
by David Hodge

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.

Open Tuning
by David Hodge

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.

Alternate Tuning
by David Hodge

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.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for November 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 41)

Let’s pick up from our last tip, which was a walk through all fretboard positions using a four-note C Dorian arpeggio. That run was a bit predictable because the downbeats always got the same notes. This next run mixes up the assignment of notes to downbeats just enough to make your ear work a bit to figure out what it’s hearing. A super easy way of achieving this reassignment is to play a five-note pattern instead of a four-note one. Here’s a run using a five-note C Dorian pattern.

|-----------------|-----------10-8-11-8-|-10----------------|--------------|
|-----------------|------8-11-----------|----11-8-----------|--------------|
|---------------7-|----8----------------|---------8-5-7-----|--------------|
|-----------5-8---|-10------------------|---------------8-5-|--------------|
|-----5-3-6-------|---------------------|-------------------|-6-3-5--------|
|-3-6-------------|---------------------|-------------------|-------6-3----|

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

And if you need a further fix of Darrin’s great articles, hurry on over to his terrific website. You can find his past contributions to Guitar Noise and we’re also reprinting some of Darrin’s past Guitar Noise News posts over at the Guitar Noise Blog. They are all worth reading! I don’t know if David’s told you or not, but Darrin’s articles were cited as favorites by many of the folks who wrote in for “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” giveaway.

Event Horizon

So please feel free to write to David if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Send your gig dates to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header. And remember that Guitar Noise News is (usually) sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. And one needs a few days notice ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of January (that is, after the fifteenth), then write by the tenth or the twelfth.

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming shows!

Slightly Offensive, with GN Member Tommy (“Tommy Gunz”) McLaughlin on guitar, will be playing this Saturday, November 20, at Chicago Blu Bar and Grill at 19917 LaGrange Road in Frankfort, IL. Show starts at 9:30 and goes until 1:30 in the morning. Keep up with all Tommy’s shows at the Slightly Offensive website (http://www.slightlyoffensiveband.com/).

And that same Saturday, all the way over in Stuttgart, Germany, Australian band Wishing Well will be performing at Cafe Galao starting at 8 PM. They’ve even got a return engagement booked for April already!

Read more about the band and their ongoing tour here: http://www.myspace.com/thewishingwellband#ixzz13cKn5Abp

The day after Thanksgiving, Friday, November 26, GN Forum member Doug (“Moonrider”) James will be playing with his group, Southern Roots at Hooah’s Sports Grill in Hopewell, Virginia. Music begins at 8 PM. You can follow all their shows on their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Southern-Roots/113163458695420)

Random Thoughts

It’s been a tradition the past few years here at Guitar Noise to stress what Paul and David call “The Joys of Music.” They even have a lot of stories about it sent in by Guitar Noise readers, which you can read here.

The Guitar Noise website has always been about creating and sharing music. It’s our belief that being able to play and then giving that gift to others can’t help but make the world a better place. Jamie Andreas has a wonderful quote on her Facebook page – “What you are as a person is what you will be as a guitarist.”

But I’d like to add to that, simply based on observations of the many, many musicians I have met while living here with David. I think that in its way, music makes most people better than they may be. Musicians and songwriters who are more concerned with themselves than their audiences don’t seem to get anywhere near the satisfaction and joy from playing that those who make the communication of music a priority. There is a bigger return in sharing than in displaying, if you will. At least, the musicians I’ve met who do seem a lot happier than those who don’t.

As the world heads into one of its biggest holiday seasons, holidays that are meant to invoke the best out of all of us, see if you can’t find ways to bring your music to others simply for them to enjoy. Those of you who already do know that you get all that joy and more back in return.

Until our next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley
(Charles T. Cat)

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 125 – November 1, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:52:01 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #125 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Greetings, News and Announcements
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Topic of the Month
New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Event Horizon
Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Hello! Charley T. Cat here and welcome to the November 1, 2010 issue of Guitar Noise News, your free twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com) and you already knew all that, right?

Last time out we mentioned Mitch’s blog, where he’s posting a chapter by chapter progress report as he works his way through “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar.” Well, it turns out that he’s not alone in writing reviews for this book. GN Forum member Javi, who goes by “Nuno” on the Forum pages, has got a wonderful review up on his site as well. And since Javi lives in Spain, it’s in Spanish. That’s very cool!

If you read earlier posts, you can also read his review of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Bass Guitar.”

Somewhere in the middle of October of 2002 (I had to go all the way back to Issue #6 of Volume 2 of Guitar Noise News to find it!), Nick Torres and GN Forum member Ryan Spencer began the Sunday Songwriters’ Group, which we call ”SSG” for short. The idea was to give songwriters assignments so they could practice their craft. After all, writing songs is much like playing an instrument in that you won’t get better without practice.

Yesterday, Sunday, October 31 marked the start of the SSG’s ninth year. Vic Lewis, who’s done an absolutely magnificent job running the SSG these past two years, has decided to step down and David’s volunteered to helm the SSG through Year 9.

So take a moment and visit the SSG. If you’ve always had the itch to write a song, you won’t find a friendlier group of people to help you out.

And David has some interesting ideas that he’s hoping to try out to bring the wonderful songs of the SSG to the rest of the Guitar Noise community. Stay tuned for that.

In other news, we’re still giving away autographed copies of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” as part of our latest Guitar Noise contest. Kathy from Illinois is our November 1 winner and you can see her photo, as well as all our past winners, at David’s blog.

And speaking of contests, stay tuned for a great end of the year contest we’ll be having, well, at the end of the year! You will have a chance to win all of three of David’s “Complete Idiot’s Guides” as well as two tutorial books from the folks of Acoustic Guitar Magazine that include some of his articles for them.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

Topic of the Month

It’s actually amazing how great many of those lessons still are today!

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

Here’s what gone up online since we last chatted:

Patience and Guitar Practice
by Jamie Andreas

Discovering the roots of impatience can lead to much more productive practice and better performance. Jamie Andreas teaches you how to become a patient person.

A Simple Way To Understand Modes For Guitar (Part 4)
by Beth Isbell

In Part 4 of her series on understanding modes, Beth Isbell looks at each of the seven modes and gives examples of how they are used in songs you may know.

What Is Melody?
by David Hodge

The melody of a song is what we carry around in our heads. Along with harmony and rhythm, melody is one of the three essential elements of any song.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for November 1 – Practicing Modes (Part 40)

Let’s stroll around the fretboard positions with the C minor 7 arpeggio. This run uses a repeated four-note pattern for the arpeggio, which results in a steady flow of notes that tends to fade into the background. In other words, the run is a bit static, but static has its uses, such as when you’re accompanying someone else’s solo.

We’ll do a more dynamic C minor or C minor 7 run in the next installment.

|-----------------|------8-11-15-11-8----|-----------------|------|
|-----------------|-8-11--------------11-|-8---------------|------|
|-------------5-8-|----------------------|---8-5-----------|------|
|---------5-8-----|----------------------|-------8-5-------|------|
|-----3-6---------|----------------------|-----------6-3---|------|
|-3-6-------------|----------------------|---------------6-|-3----|

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

Event Horizon

So please feel free to write to David if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Send your gig dates to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header. And remember that Guitar Noise News is (usually) sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. And one needs a few days notice ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of January (that is, after the fifteenth), then write by the tenth or the twelfth.

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming shows!

Southern Roots, with GN Forum member Doug (“Moonrider”) James on guitar, will be playing at the Sandston Moose Lodge, 4505 Oakleys Lane in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday, November 13, starting at 8 PM.

That same night, but in another part of the country, Chicago Ridge, Illinois, to be precise, GN Member Tommy (“Tommy Gunz”) McLaughlin and his band Slightly Offensive will be one of three bands playing at Bobby McGees. The starting time hasn’t been announced as yet, but as soon as it is, it will be posted on their website (http://www.slightlyoffensiveband.com/).

And Australian band Wishing Well will be in Germany, Austria and Switzerland during the first half of November at the following dates, times and venues:

Friday, November 5 / 8 PM: Londoner Gotha in Thuringen, Germany
Saturday, November 6 / 8PM: Noch Besser Leben, Liepzig, Germany
Sunday, November 7 / 8PM: Cafe Live, Alfeld, Niedersach, Germany
Wednesday, November 10 / 8PM: Conditorei, Stuttgart, Baden-Wurt, Germany
Thursday, November 11 / 8 PM: Cult Bar, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Friday, November 12 / 8PM: Bergwerk, Neusiedl am See, Austria

Read more about the band and their ongoing tour here.

Random Thoughts

The following fable was sent to David a little while back. Its probably made the Internet rounds (like many of these things do), but he thought it might make a good “Random Thoughts” piece at some point. Why not now?

In The Beginning There Was A Bass….

It was a Fender, probably a Precision, but it could have been a Jazz—–nobody knows. Anyway, it was very old…definitely pre-CBS.

And God looked down upon it and saw that it was good. He saw that it was very good, in fact, and couldn’t be improved upon at all — although men would later try.

And so He let it be.

Then God created a man to play the bass.

And lo, the man looked upon the bass, which was a beautiful sunburst red, and he loved it. He played upon the open E string, and the note rang through the earth and reverberated throughout the firmaments. Thus reverb came to be. And it was good. And God heard that it was good and He smiled at His handiwork.

In the course of time, the man came to slap upon the bass. And lo, it was funky.

And God heard this funkiness and He said, “Go, man, go.” And it was good.

And more time passed, and, having little else to do, the man came to practice upon the bass. And lo, the man came to have upon him a great set of chops. And he did play faster and faster until the notes rippled like a breeze through the heavens.

And God heard this sound that sounded something like the wind, which He had created earlier. It also sounded something like the moving of furniture, which He hadn’t even created yet, and He was not so pleased. And He spoke to the man saying, “Don’t do that!”

Now the man heard the voice of God, but he was so excited about his new ability that he slapped upon the bass a blizzard of funky notes. And the heavens shook with the sound, and the Angels ran about in confusion. Some of the Angels started to dance, but that is another story.

And God heard this—how could He miss it—and lo, He became bugged.

And He spoke to the man, and He said, “Listen, man, if I wanted Jimi Hendrix I would have created the guitar. Stick to the bass parts.”

And the man heard the voice of God, and he knew not to mess with it. But now he had upon him a passion for playing fast and high. The man took the frets off the bass that God had created. And the man did slide his fingers upon the fretless fingerboard and play melodies high upon the neck. And in his excitement, the man did forget the commandment of the Lord, and he played a frenzy of high melodies and blindingly fast licks. And the heavens rocked with the assault and the earth shook, rattled and rolled.

Now God’s wrath was great. And His voice was thunder as He spoke to the man. He said, “OK for you, pal. You have not heeded My word. Lo, I shall create a soprano saxophone and it shall play higher than you can even think of.

“And from out of the chaos I shall bring forth the drums. And I shall make you to always stand by the drummer, and he shall play so many notes thine head shall ache.

You think you’re loud? I shall create a stack of Marshall guitar amps to make thine ears bleed. And I shall send down upon the earth other instruments, and lo, they shall all be able to play higher and faster than the bass.

“And for all the days of man, your curse shall be this: that all the other instruments shall look to you, the bass player, for the low notes. And if you play too fast or too high all the other musicians shall say “wow”, but really hate it.

And they shall tell you you’re ready for your solo career, and they shall find other bass players for their bands. And for all your days if you want to play your fancy licks you shall have to sneak them in like a thief in the night. And if you finally do get to play a solo, everyone shall leave the bandstand and go to the bar for a drink.”

And it was so.

And until our next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley
(Charles T. Cat)

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 124 – October 15, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 02:22:02 +0000

Greetings

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #124 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Greetings, News and Announcements
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Topic of the Month
New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Event Horizon
Email of the Moment / Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Welcome to the middle of October! I’m Charles T. Cat (although I prefer you call me Charley) and this, of course, is the October 15 edition of the Guitar Noise News – your twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com) (and do I really have to write that?)

I’d rather be writing a big “congratulations!” to Alan Green, long time Guitar Noise member, Forum Moderator and contributing writer. As many of you may know, Alan took up teaching guitar on a “close to fulltime” basis last September. And the latest news is that between his private students and his ensemble teaching Alan now has over a hundred guitar students! That’s not only incredible but it’s also very cool that over a hundred very lucky aspiring guitarists are getting inspiration from a truly terrific teacher. Having met Alan when he briefly visited David here in the Berkshires, I can tell you that he is one of the nicest and friendliest people you could ever hope to meet.

So a hearty cheers to both Alan and his students! May they come to play as many different styles of music as Alan does!

And speaking of styles of music, GN Forum Member Mitch, who goes by ”Slejhamer” on the GN Forums, has a blog online where he’s detailing his progress at becoming a rock guitarist, using “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” and writing about his studies with it chapter by chapter. You can follow his journey on his blog.

And we wish Mitch much success with the stylings of Rock Guitar!

Of course, we can’t mention “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” without bringing up our latest Guitar Noise contest. Each month between now and December 2011 we’re giving away copies of David’s latest book, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar,” which came out on October 5 to some lucky Guitar Noise readers. To enter the giveaway, any reader who has bought a copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” just has to take a picture of himself or herself with the book someplace. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background. As Dorothy might have said in “The Wizard of Oz,” you don’t have do go any further than your own back yard! But do try to be creative or at least entertaining. David and Paul will be selecting two photos a month and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures are chosen. Just send your photos to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and be sure to include an email address where you can be reached, as well as a mailing address. And please put “Picture Book” in the subject line of the email.

Jeff from New Jersey is our October 15 winner and while he didn’t take his photo at the Eiffel Tower, taking in with view of the Arc Du Triumphe is certainly worthy of getting a prize! You can see Jeff’s photo, as well as all our past winners, at David’s blog (www.davidhodge.com).

I should also let all past winners know that David just got his copies of the book from his publisher, so they will all be on their way in the mail this week!

If you’re interested in “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to the point that you’d like to know what, exactly, the book will contain, just check out the brief summary of the Table of Contents that we posted up in the September 1 newsletter, which you can read right here.

And if you are thinking about buying a copy, you can do so either online or off. As it’s brand new, your local bookstore should have copies. Call first and ask if you’re worried about getting there only to find they’ve sold out. Most places are more than happy to hold a copy in reserve for you.

If you’re buying online, we’re asking people to buy it through Guitar Noise’s various affiliate links to Amazon. If you go on the home page (www.guitarnoise.com) you’ll find a “Recommended by our Readers” book wheel down towards the bottom of the page. Click on the photo of the “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” cover and you’ll be linked to the Amazon page where you can buy it. Buying the book this way gives some money to Paul and Guitar Noise and is a great way to thank them both for all the work they do.

And if you’d like to get one straight from David, just email him at dhodgeguitar@aol.com for details on where to send your money. It will be $20 (he gets them at the Amazon cost and the extra helps cover shipping) and he’ll ask you whether or not you’d like an autograph thrown in as well. Being someone from the Stone Age, David only deals in cash, checks or money orders, so if you want to go with credit cards or Paypal, try the online route.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

Jimmy Page has the honor of being the Guitar Noise Featured Artist for the month of October and it’s an honor that’s long overdue. Read our bio on this legend of both the guitar and the recording studio by dropping in on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

And also be sure to check out Paul’s wonderful article on the many genres and styles covered by Led Zeppelin called No Stairway, which you can find here.

Topic of the Month

For October, we’re featuring the “Turning Scales into Solos” series as our Guitar Noise Topic of the Month. Paul and David have gotten a lot of compliments and “thank you’s” for these articles and if you’ve ever read one I’m sure you’ll agree. Even if you’re not into soloing at all, they can give you some helpful advice on being able to choose the right sound for a particular song.

You can find all of them by clicking on the Topic Banner of the Guitar Noise Home Page. And check out the new ones that will be going up online later this month.

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

In addition to all the lessons and articles continually being added to Guitar Noise (not to mention those that are already online!), Paul and David are building a library of “Micro-lessons,” or “mini-lessons,” if you prefer - short guides to help you understand basic musical concepts, guitar techniques and other topics that occur over and over again in your day to day playing. Currently these are being called the Guitar Noise “Music Guide” and they will all be- linked to various “full lessons” here at Guitar Noise.
The idea is that if you’re reading any given lesson and you find you need a quick refresher on a topic, you’ll be able to click on a quick link, brush up on a topic, and get right back to your lesson. Let us know what you think about this new feature!

Likewise, if you’ve got a request on a topic like this, just drop David a line at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and put “mini-lesson” or “Music Guide” in the email’s subject line.

Circle of Fifths
by David Hodge

This can be a very useful tool for guitarist for things from learning the fretboard to making highly educated guesses about upcoming chords in a progression.

The Art of Accompaniment
Part 1 – Arpeggios and Scales
by David Hodge

In this first lesson on accompanying yourself with guitar we focus exclusively on using arpeggios to create interesting song arrangements.

3-Note Sequence Ideas for Lead Guitar
by Paul Tauterouff

Making small adjustments to simple 3-note sequences can bring a unique sound to your soloing. Paul Tauterouff shows you how it’s done.

Same Old Song
by Vic Lewis

Growing as a guitarist often is as simple as discovering a new way to do something. GN Forum Moderator Vic Lewis shares some favorite discoveries that have helped him better a better guitarist and musician.

Shakin’ Up Vibrato
by Kenny Masters

Good vibrato technique can bring a lot more polish to your playing. Kenny Masters, guitarist for After the Crash, examines the various aspects of vibrato, with great audio examples of each.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for October 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 39)

This is a continuation of our series on the modes. We’ve been exploring the C Minor and Dorian sounds, and substitutes for those sounds. The run we’re about to look at is a substitute not for C Dorian, but for C tonic minor. In other words, it’s a destination for music to work toward, and not a means to get to that destination as a dominant 7, for example, would be.

The substitute we’re using for C tonic here is the A minor 7b5, which is in the C melodic minor scale. Here’s the run, which includes a G7 chord to start us out. This chord prepares us to hear some kind of C-based chord.

|-3------------|-----------7-5-8-|-5-7-------------|------------|
|-3------------|---------8-------|-----8-----------|------------|
|-4------------|-----5-8---------|-------8-5-------|------------|
|-3----------5-|-9-7-------------|-----------7-9-5-|------------|
|-5--------6---|-----------------|-----------------|-6----------|
|-3----5-8-----|-----------------|-----------------|---8-5-7----|

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

And if you need a further fix of Darrin’s great articles, hurry on over to his terrific website. You can find his past contributions to Guitar Noise here and we’re also reprinting some of Darrin’s past Guitar Noise News posts over at the Guitar Noise Blog. They are all worth reading! I don’t know if David’s told you or not, but Darrin’s articles were cited as favourites by many of the folks who wrote in for “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” giveaway.

Event Horizon

So please feel free to write to David if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Send your gig dates to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header. And remember that Guitar Noise News is (usually) sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. And one needs a few days notice ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of January (that is, after the fifteenth), then write by the tenth or the twelfth.

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming shows!

Doug (“Moonrider”) James’ other group, the Moondawgs (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Moondawgs/115056121883152), have got a big show coming up at Honey Whyte’s All American Cafe, located at 2116 East Main Street in Richmond, Virginia tonight! That’s Friday, October 15 from 9 PM until 1 in the morning.

And you can keep up with Don’s other band, Southern Roots, here: (http://southernroots.info/),

Lee Hodge and his band, Doesn’t Madder, will be playing at the Denver House Tavern, located at 3608 North Highway 16 in Denver, North Carolina, tomorrow (Saturday, October 16). The show starts at 4 PM and goes until 9. Remember to keep up with Lee and the band on their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/doesntmadder

And Halloween will be here before you know it. If you’re in the Chicago area, you can’t go wrong by seeing Slightly Offensive – with GN Member Tommy (“Tommy Gunz”) McLaughlin on guitar! They’ll be doing a Saturday, October 30 show at Jake’s Pub in Joliet, Illinos. Check their website (http://www.slightlyoffensiveband.com/) for more details.

Finally, this past summer, David got to hear Wishing Well, an Australian band, busking in a public square in Copenhagen. He liked them so much he bought their CD “Fire in the Valley” and highly recommends it. They are still touring in Europe and will be in England, Belgium and Germany throughout the end of October. You can find them at the following places:

In England:
October 16, 2010, 8:30pm, The Chester Arms, Oxford
October 17, 2010, 8;00pm, The Spice of Life, London (Soho), England
October 20, 2010, 8:30pm, The Royal Oak, Bath
October 21, 2010, 8:00pm, Canterbury Arts Festival, Canterbury, England
October 22, 2010, 8pm, The Cider Shed, Norwich

Belgium:
October 25, 2010, The Fagot Pub, Ingelmunster, Belgium

Germany:
October 28, 2010, 8:00pm Spatz und Wal, Unna, Germany

Wishing Well is a fun band with guitars, bass, drums and its own string section (cello and two violins). You’ll have a great time at any of their shows. Be sure to sign up for their newsletter, too! You’ll get an honest and humorous take on what life as a touring band is really about!

Email of the Moment / Random Thoughts

David just got this email Wednesday and asked me to pass it along:

David,

Been loving Guitar Noise for a couple of years now. Thanks for all the great work!

I just got my copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” from Amazon and excitedly started reading. When I got to page 27 I started to play good ole ”Tom Dooley.” The Chord changes from A to E and back to A are annotated above the forth beat, like they’re anticipated, instead of beat one. If I was really new to guitar, this really would have given me fits. It’s unfortunate for the very first song to have this mistake, even if for a publisher or proof reader it looks very minor. Hopefully readers will quickly move past this.

I love your podcasts, hopefully you’re enjoying a break after finishing this book.

Thanks again,

Thanks for catching that. I caught it, too, when I got my copy from the publisher this week and I’ll be posting it up on my blog before the weekend is out.

The scary thing about this is that this typo happened after this particular piece had been edited and corrected over seven times in order to make certain it was correct. The last time was the day it was sent to the printer. I strongly suspect that it might have been set wrong during the printing process, but who really knows?

It really is a pain about that. The same thing happened with the Bass Book in the first tablature example. Definitely not a great way to start!

Please let me know what you think about the rest of the book if you get the chance. And if you have any questions (or find any more mistakes – I’ve found a dozen so far!) feel free to drop me a line!

And thanks, by the way, for buying the book. Your support is very much appreciated!

Be chatting with you again soon.

Peace

David

Having been in the same room as David when he caught the mistake, I can tell you he wasn’t happy at all. But he does understand that these things happen. And he also hopes that it won’t freak out the readers too much. Hopefully, if Alpha Books is okay with it, they’ll be able to correct it during the next printing. Of course, if that does happen, then those of you who have the first run of the books will be able to say that it’s a “collector’s edition!”

One thing that David mentions in his reply is worth another look – if you did get the book, whether as a purchase or a gift or even as a prize in the latest Guitar Noise giveaway, and if you’re looking for a way to say “thank you” to him, writing a review – and that would be an honest review that goes into your reasons for liking or not liking it as opposed to simply saying ”it’s great” or “I don’t like it” – would be one of the nicest things you could do. I know that David would appreciate you making the time to do so.

As for him “taking a break after finishing the book,” well, there’s news about that but I’m afraid it will have to wait until next time out.

And speaking of our next issue of Guitar Noise News, until then play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley
(Charles T. Cat)

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 123 – October 1, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 02:06:19 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #123 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Email of the Moment
This Date in Guitar Noise History
Greetings, News and Announcements
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Topic of the Month
New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Event Horizon
Random Thoughts

Email of the Moment

Hi Charley!

Thanks again for handling the Guitar Noise News these past few months. It’s really helped make life a little easier having one less deadline to deal with!

I’m not sure where the time goes, but it looks like it’s already October! Be sure to mention FODfest in the next newsletter, okay? Todd’s going to be taking the tour to Israel and the West Bank in a few weeks and it would be great if some of our Guitar Noise readers could make a show or two.

Thanks again and please try not to rip up the sofa downstairs, okay? I’ll bring some of those chicken-flavored treats you like when I stop at the store later.

Peace

David

FODfest, for those of you who don’t know, is a series of free concerts that have been held in the US and Taiwan since 2005. “FOD” stands for “Friends of Danny” and “Danny” is Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter murdered in Pakistan back in 2002. Todd Mack, a local musician here in the Berkshires (he also owns and runs the Off The Beat ‘n’ Track Recording Studios in Sheffield, Massachusetts where David has recorded the CDs for each of his three “Complete Idiot’s Guides”), played in a band with Daniel when the two of them lived in Atlanta.

Since the death of his friend, Todd has been doing a series of free concerts and with each passing year the scope of FODfest has continued to grow in a big way.

The concert format is intricate and intriguing – part “song circle” with local singer/songwriters/musicians bringing original material to play, part ”jam session” as the participants also serve as back-up band for each other, and then there’s the whole live concert aspect of it. These shows are nothing short of magical. Not only are they a fitting tribute to Daniel Pearl, they also serve as a testament on the power of music to bring people together.

As David mentioned in his email, FODfest is going to Israel in October. The following shows and venues are confirmed:

Sunday October 10 – Presentation & performance at ORT El Hoashallah school in Kasr-al-Sir
Sunday October 10 – Presentation & preformance at ORT Abu Krinat School near Arara Banegev Junction
Tuesday October 12 – Concert in Be’er Sheva (co-sponsored by Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality) – http://www.dukium.org
Thursday October 14 – Concert at Open House in Ramle - http://friendsofopenhouse.org (currently invitation only, owing to the size of the venue)

There are still another half-dozen or more shows that we’re waiting to get word on and rest assured that we will post the details as soon as they are available. If you live in the area, do try to stop in and see a show and meet the musicians. You’ll have a great time and it’s for a wonderful cause. Be sure to tell Todd “hello” from Guitar Noise.

This Date In Guitar Noise History

Two years ago, Guitar Noise ran two articles to bring FODfest to the attention of our readers. You can still find both of them on our website. Here’s how they were “premiered” in the October 1, 2008 issue of Guitar Noise News:

Todd Mack Interview
by David Hodge

With FODFest starting up in ten days, I thought this would be a great time to check in on Todd Mack, a Berkshire based recording artist and producer, and find out what’s going on with this year’s festival honoring the life of Daniel Pearl. Plus we get to hear about some of the other music Todd’s working on.

“FOD” For Thought
by David Hodge

You never know who you’re going to meet in life. And, given the way things are these days, you also never know who you’re not going to meet yet still get to know and appreciate. Joining FODFest the past two years has hammered home, to me at least, the point that every life can make a difference in this world.

Greetings, News and Announcements

Okay, now that all that’s taken care of, let me officially welcome you to the October 1, 2010 issue of Guitar Noise News. My name’s Charley, or Charles T. Cat if you prefer, and I’ve been filling in for David on the newsletter duties for a while now.

Of course, this writing gig of mine started when he was totally wrapped up in writing “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar,” the brand new guitar tutorial for Alpha Books. It’s a bit astonishing to realize that the book is hitting the bookstores this coming Tuesday, October 5. Where does the time go?

Personally, nothing would make me happier (not to mention shock the daylights out of David) than to see his book make the New York Times best seller lists. But that’s never going to happen to any guitar tutorial book. Wouldn’t that send an incredibly weird message to the whole world?

But in case you are interested in buying a copy, you can do so either online or off. As it’s brand new, your local bookstore should be getting copies that will go on sale Tuesday. You can certainly call and check with them today and tomorrow (and Sunday if your local store is open Sundays) and they might be kind enough to hold a copy in reserve for you.

Online, and for hopefully incredibly obvious reasons, we’re asking people to buy it through Guitar Noise’s various affiliate links to Amazon. If you go on the home page (www.guitarnoise.com) you’ll find a “Recommended by our Readers” book wheel down towards the bottom of the page. Click on the photo of the “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” cover (and I totally agree with David that it’s probably the lamest cover ever!) and you’ll be linked to the Amazon page where you can buy it. Buying the book this way gives some money to Paul and Guitar Noise and is a great way to thank them both for all the work they do.

And because David is David, you can also order a copy directly from him. Email him at dhodgeguitar@aol.com for details on where to send your money. It will be $20 (he gets them at the Amazon cost and the extra helps cover shipping) and he’ll ask you whether or not you’d like an autograph thrown in as well. Being someone from the Stone Age, David only deals in cash, checks or money orders, so if you want to go with credit cards or Paypal, try the online route.

If you’re interested in what exactly the book will contain, just check out the brief summary of the Table of Contents that we posted up in the September 1 newsletter, which you can read right here.

And we’re also still giving away autographed copies of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” in our latest Guitar Noise contest – two a month, in fact, between now and December 2011. To enter the giveaway, any reader who has bought a copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” just has to take a picture of himself or herself with the book someplace. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background. As Dorothy might have said in “The Wizard of Oz,” you don’t have do go any further than your own back yard! But do try to be creative or at least entertaining. David and Paul will be selecting two photos a month and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures are chosen. Just send your photos to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and be sure to include an email address where you can be reached, as well as a mailing address. And please put “Picture Book” in the subject line of the email.

The October 1 winner is Glen from Ontario, Canada, who just took a quick picture of himself holding the book for the camera. We’re kind of assuming he was in a hurry to get started reading it! You can see Glen’s photo, as well as all our past winners, at David’s blog (www.davidhodge.com).

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

And also be sure to check out Paul’s wonderful article on the many genres and styles covered by Led Zeppelin called No Stairway, which you can find here.

Topic of the Month

You can find all of them by clicking on the Topic Banner of the Guitar Noise Home Page. And check out the new ones that will be going up online later this month.

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

Likewise, if you’ve got a request on a topic like this, just drop David a line at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and put “mini-lesson” or “Music Guide” in the email’s subject line.

FODfest 2010
The Middle East and More
Interview by David Hodge

FODfest, a series of concerts that use the healing power of music to bring people of all backgrounds together, is en route to Israel and the West Ban region in October 2010. Todd Mack, founder and organizer of the event, takes a few moments to discuss the tour as well as the new “FODfest in the Schools” program that has been launched this past year.

Standard 12 Bar Blues (and the “Quick Change” Blues)
by David Hodge

Knowing the basic structure of the twelve bar blues will help you immensely as both a guitarist and a musician. Here’s a guide to explain how it works.

Diatonic Scales
by David Hodge

Diatonic Chords are chords formed using only the notes in a single major scale. Knowing the diatonic chords of whatever key in which you’re playing a song can help you in more ways than you might dream possible!

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for October 1 – Practicing Modes (Part 38)

Welcome back to the series of articles exploring the musical modes. We’re currently checking out C Dorian, played around the fifth position. Let’s look at a substitute sound for C Dorian. This substitute is a run of the G minor 7 arpeggio. This arpeggio often sounds like an agreeable substitute for C. The reason is that C Dorian and G Aeolian–which provides one source for the G minor 7 arpeggio and chord–share the same key (Bb major). Besides sharing the same key, they share two out of four notes: G and Bb.

Don’t rely just on theory to choose your chord substitutes. Play the following run over a droning C bass note, or a strumming accompaniment consisting of just the C minor chord.

|-----------------|-5---6---5-------|--------------|
|---------------6-|---8---8---6-----|--------------|
|-------------7---|-------------7---|--------------|
|-------7-5-8-----|---------------8-|-5-7----------|
|---5-8-----------|-----------------|-----8-5------|
|-7---------------|-----------------|---------6----|

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

Event Horizon

So please feel free to write to David if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Send your gig dates to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header. And remember that Guitar Noise News is (usually) sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. And one needs a few days notice ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of January (that is, after the fifteenth), then write by the tenth or the twelfth.

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming shows!

Most of you have heard of Doug (“Moonrider”) James’ group, Southern Roots (http://southernroots.info/), but did you know that Doug is now playing in a second band, the Moondawgs (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Moondawgs/115056121883152). They’ve got a big show coming up at Honey Whyte’s All American Cafe, located at 2116 East Main Street in Richmond, Virginia on Friday, October 15 from 9 PM until 1 in the morning.

Lee Hodge and his band, Doesn’t Madder, are going to be rocking like crazy at the Iron Thunder Saloon of Concord, North Carolina, that’s at 10023 Weddington Road Ext., tomorrow night (Saturday, October 2) from 9:30 until 1.

The following Saturday, October 9, Doesn’t Madder will be playing at Midtown Sundries at Lake Norman (18665 Harborside Drive in Cornelius, North Carolina). This is another 9:30 to 1 show. Don’t forget that you can keep up with Lee and the band on their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/doesntmadder

And if you’re trying to plan for Halloween already, you can’t go wrong by seeing Slightly Offensive – with GN Member Tommy (“Tommy Gunz”) McLaughlin on guitar! They’ll be doing a Saturday, October 30 show at Jake’s Pub in Joliet, Illinois. Check their website (http://www.slightlyoffensiveband.com/) for more details.

Random Thoughts

One of the big pieces of good news this week was hearing about the re-opening of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. This past Tuesday was the first show held there since the floods of last May closed down most of Music City and it’s a tribute to all the people of the area, musicians and non-musicians alike, that they are back and making beautiful music again.

The Opry’s oldest living member, Little Jimmy Dickens started the program with “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” joined by Brad Paisley and other Opry members and for a moment it was hard to believe that so much of the structure had been under several feet of water mere months ago.

Now you may wonder why I would even care about Nashville, being a cat who’s never set a paw outside the state of Massachusetts (and, truth to tell, not outside of this house for the past three and a half years – well, except that one time that Lily and I managed to get a screen open and jump outside and that’s really an entirely different story). The answer’s very simple: there are people there who make music. And people who love cats.

One of the big tourist stops in Nashville is the Hatch Show Print store, where they still made woodblock posters (and will even do so for your shows or your band’s show for a reasonable cost) for concerts and all sorts of other events. Yes, it’s historic and interesting, but the real reason tourists stop there is to see Huey and Maow, two rescue cats that have become celebrities in their own right in a city full of famous folks. As they say at Hatch, “come for our cats, stay for our posters.”

Until our next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley
(Charles T. Cat)

And do get yourself a copy of his latest book, okay? Thanks!

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 122 – September 15, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 02:38:22 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #122 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Email of the Moment
Greetings, News and Announcements
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Topic of the Month
New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Event Horizon
Random Thoughts

Email of the Moment

Talk about being a space case! Very shortly after the September 1 issue of Guitar Noise News went out online, David got this email. I’m embarrassed to even post it (and the answer) because I truly should have included all this information in the last newsletter! Be that as it may:

Subject: sales of the new book???

When, where, online, your site, Amazon.com ????? Or, just put an ordering instruction paragraph in the next newsletter – I don’t know how you’ll deal with payment options (PayPal, secure credit card….) but sales should jump instantaneously!

Thanks

Thanks for writing. I’m assuming you’re referring to the upcoming “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar?” There will be “ordering instructions” in the next newsletter (neither Charley nor I even thought about putting them in the last one – some capitalists, aren’t we?) but I can give you some now, too, if you’d like.

The obvious first choice (and one that wouldn’t involve any waiting) would be to go to your local bookstore on October 5 and just buy it. You can call and check with them a week ahead of time to make sure that they’ll have a copy and chances are very likely they’ll even hold it for you.

You can buy it online from all sorts of sources, but I am recommending people try to buy it through Guitar Noise’s various affiliate links to Amazon. If you go on the home page (www.guitarnoise.com) you’ll find a “Recommended by our Readers” book wheel down towards the bottom of the page. Click on the photo of the “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” cover (it’s the one with the incredibly sad looking purple guitar on it – and no, I didn’t have a say in the cover) and that will take you to the Amazon page where you can pre-order it until it becomes available. I think you need a secure credit card to buy from Amazon, but they make take Paypal as well. I’ll check into that if you’d like.

You can also, if you’d like, order a copy through me. I charge $20 (I pay the same Amazon price everyone does and the extra usually makes up for the shipping) and you also get a free autograph! I take cash, checks or money orders.

If you do want to order through me, just write back and let me know so I can tell you where to send a payment.

I hope that covers everything! Thank you once more for the email and I look forward to chatting with you again soon.

Peace

David

Greetings, News and Announcements

I think I can now welcome you to the September 15, 2010 edition of Guitar Noise News, the twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com). I’m Charley, or “Charles T. Cat if you prefer to be formal), and, yes, I’m still filling in for David here at “Guitar Noise News Central,” and doesn’t that sound like the sort of place that should have a
lot of vibrant theme music and flashing lights and all sorts of noisy, not to mention distracting, things?

Fortunately, though, “Guitar Noise News Central” is just a somewhat cluttered desk with a wonderful view of some trees (and, more important, the birds in the trees) that are just beginning to show the slightest suggestion of changing color. It’s all going to be yellow, red and orange in about three weeks or four weeks or so.

In fact, that will be about the time right after David’s “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” comes out. October 5 is the “official” date the book becomes available and, as you’ve already read (unless you skipped right down to this section), there are all sorts of ways of getting yourself a copy both now and when it arrives in stores.

One way is to win an autographed copy in our latest Guitar Noise giveaway contest. Between now and December 2011 we’re also giving away two autographed copies each month. To enter the giveaway, any reader who has bought a copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” just has to take a picture of himself or herself with the book someplace. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background. As Dorothy might have said in “The Wizard of Oz,” you don’t have do go any further than your own back yard! But do try to be creative or at least entertaining. David and Paul will be selecting two photos a month and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures are chosen. Just send your photos to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and be sure to include an email address where you can be reached, as well as a mailing address. And please put “Picture Book” in the subject line of the email.

Speaking of one’s own back yard, that’s where you’ll find Paul from England enjoying a read through “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar.” Paul is the September 15 winner and you can see his photo online at David’s blog (www.davidhodge.com). We’ll be sending an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” across the Atlantic to Paul within the next three weeks.

There are obviously many more copies that we’re giving away, so do feel free to enter. And, as always, we wish the best of luck to everyone who participates.

If you’re interested in what exactly the book will contain, just check out the brief summary of the Table of Contents that we posted up in the last newsletter, which you can read right here.

As we also mentioned last time, one of the real treats of this book is that you’ll get a chance to play accompaniment for our very own Moderator of Moderators, Nick Torres. Nick has provided the vocals of more than twenty-five songs that you’ll be able to play along with on the CD that comes with the book. Over the past four-and-a-half months I’ve gotten to hear Nick singing many, many times while David was working on double checking the music notation and guitar tablature (and triple checking and then checking again and again) that goes with the book. And every time I listen to it I end up having a new favorite song.

In addition to the book, there will also be tips on buying instruments and handling string changes, day to day maintenance and minor repairs available as “Book Extras” or “Quick Guides” at the Complete Idiot’s Guides’ website. And in addition to both the book and the “Quick Guides,” David will be posting lessons here that will supplement most of the songs from the book, such as our lesson on “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” and the “Turning Practice into Play” lesson (the “Quick Change Chromatic Blues’) that you read about last time.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

The Guitar Noise Featured Artist for the month of September is John Fogerty, truly one of the legends of rock guitar and rock music. Not only can you read all about him on the Guitar Noise Profile Page and you can also participate in Paul’s Guitar Noise blog and tell us what your favorite song of John’s might be. There certainly are a lot of great ones from which to choose!

Topic of the Month

Appropriately, the Guitar Noise Topic of the Month in September is ”Songwriting.” There are an amazing number of articles on this subject, written by Nick, A-J Charron, Nick Minnion, Keane Li, Gilbert Isbin and more Guitar Noise contributors and you’ll find links for all of them by clicking on the Topic Banner on the Home Page.

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

Paul and David are building a library of “Micro-lessons,” or “mini-lessons,” if you prefer – short guides to help you understand basic musical concepts, guitar techniques and other topics that occur over and over again in your day to day playing. Currently these are being called the Guitar Noise “Music Guide” and they will all be- linked to various “full lessons” here at Guitar Noise. The idea is that if you’re reading any given lesson and you find you need a quick refresher on a topic, you’ll be able to click on a quick link, brush up on a topic, and get right back to your lesson. Let us know what you think about this new feature!

Likewise, if you’ve got a request on a topic like this, just drop David a line at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and put “mini-lesson” or “Music Guide” in the email’s subject line.

Communicating in Lessons
by Gerald Klickstein

The author of “The Musician’s Way” describes seven strategies that enhance student-teacher communication and boost the benefits of music lessons.

A Simple Way of Understanding Modes for Guitar (Part 3)
by Beth Isbell

In Part 3 of her series on understanding modes, Beth Isbell gives practical tips on how and when to use any mode to either an entire song or a chord progression.

Grace Notes
by David Hodge

In music notation, grace notes are smaller than regular notes and are often tied to the “regular” note that comes after it.

Practice With Purpose
Turning Scales into Solos (Part 9)
by David Hodge

There’s a very simple reason a lot of solos sound more like someone playing scales rather than solos and it all comes down to how you practice. Learn how to solo by learning how to practice soloing.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for September 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 37)

Welcome back to our exploration of the C Dorian mode. Our run in the last issue produced a pretty impure, watered-down minor sound. We’re going to fix that problem in this issue. The following run emphasizes the D root, which carries through the minor feeling with conviction. The run bolsters the D by playing the A right before the D. The A is the fifth (V) degree of D Dorian. The resulting V-I movement is the strongest there is in Western music.

|-----------------|-----5-8-5-------|--------------------|
|-----------------|---6-------6---6-|--------------------|
|-------------5---|-7-----------7---|-5------------------|
|-----------7---7-|-----------------|---7----------------|
|-------5-8-------|-----------------|-----8-5-8-----5----|
|-5-8-5-----------|-----------------|-----------8-5------|

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

And if you need a further fix of Darrin’s great articles, hurry on over to his terrific website. You can find his past contributions to Guitar Noise here and we’re also reprinting some of Darrin’s past Guitar Noise News posts over at the Guitar Noise Blog. They are all worth reading! I don’t know if David’s told you or not, but Darrin’s articles were cited as favourites by many of the folks who wrote in for “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” giveaway.

Event Horizon

So please feel free to write to David if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Send your gig dates to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header. And remember that Guitar Noise News is (usually) sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. And one needs a few days notice ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of January (that is, after the fifteenth), then write by the tenth or the twelfth.

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming shows!

Doug (“Moonrider”)James’ group, Southern Roots (http://southernroots.info/) will be playing two shows in the next few days. The first will be on Saturday, September 18 at Namaw’s Country Diner (located at 16121 Goodes Bridge Road in Amelia Court House, Virginia). Show starts at 6:00 PM

Then, next week, on Friday, September 24, Southern Roots will be at the Hopewell Moose Lodge (4701 Western Street in Hopewell, Virginia) beginning at 7:30 PM

And if that weren’t enough, Doug is now playing in two bands! His second project, the Moondawgs, have a huge show coming up October 2, the Moondawgs will reform and perform a show for Walk Now for Autism Speaks at Richmond International Raceway. We’ll be starting between 9:30 and 10 am.

Guitar Noise Moderator, Wes Inman’s former bandmate Lee Hodge and his band, Doesn’t Madder, are going to be at Horsefeathers Roadhouse in Sherrils Ford, North Carolina this Saturday, September 18. Music starts at 9 PM. You can keep up with Lee and the band on their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/doesntmadder

Guitar Noise Forum member JWMartin, who steps out under the lights as “J. Ghouls,” bassist for the band Spookhand are going to be playing in Nashville and Atlanta over then next week or so. Tomorrow, Thursday, September 16th 7:30pm Spookhand will be opening for The Independents (they used to be managed and produced by Joey Ramone) at The Muse (835 4th Avenue South in Nashville, TN).

Then next week, on Friday, September 24 7pm they’ll be one of four bands (Psycho Charger, The Creeping Cruds, Spookhand (that’s them!)) and a local, not yet named Atlanta band) at The Shelter, located at 2101B Tula Street Northwest in Atlanta, Georgia

The following day, Saturday, September 25 7pm Spookhand and two of the other bands – Psycho Charger and The Creeping Cruds as well as and Alucard (that’s ”Dracula” backwards in case you missed it) will be back at The Muse, performing at Dr. Gangrene’s 7th Annual Horror Hootenanny. Sounds like Halloween is getting a very early start in Nashville and I’m sure it will be a lot of fun!

You can keep up with some of the Guitar Noise Community’s fairly regularly performing bands at these websites:

Slightly Offensive – with GN Member Tommy (“Tommy Gunz”) McLaughlin on guitar: http://www.slightlyoffensiveband.com/ (you can also join their mailing list there)

Random Thoughts

I don’t know about you, but it’s close to impossible to keep up on all the activity going on at the Guitar Noise Forums sometimes. Right now, Matt (who goes by “Blueline”) is putting together a “virtual CD” by teaming up with a number of Guitar Noise Forum folks. At the time of this writing, they’re working on their first song – “Time Again,” written by Vic Lewis. It’ll be really interesting to see and hear what happens and how the song turns out.

This is a great project and we’re wishing Matt and his entire team of musicians great success at putting together a magical piece of music.

Until our next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley
(Charles T. Cat)

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 121 – September 1, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:56:33 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #121 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Greetings, News and Announcements
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Topic of the Month
New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Event Horizon
This Date in Guitar Noise History
Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Hello and welcome to the September 1, 2010 edition of Guitar Noise News, the twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com). I’m Charles T. Cat (although I prefer you call me Charley), still filling in for David for the time being and actually enjoying it at the moment.

My thanks to everyone who’s writing to say “hello” and I hope that you’re all doing well and that you’ve had either a wonderful summer or winter, depending on where in the world you live.

It is a huge world, and a lot of Guitar Noise readers do travel with their instruments. One reader (and Guitar Noise contributing writer), Helena Bouchez (a wonderful bass player, I might add) asked that I might pass along this little item from the American Federation of Musicians. They are currently circulating a petition to hopefully make it easier for musicians to travel with their instruments on the airlines. This has been a notorious problem for many, whether they are making or trying to make a living traveling and playing music, or simply trying to visit friends and bring an instrument along on the trip. So if you’re a musician or if you’re just sympathetic to the cause, please have a look at this link: Carrying Instruments 0n Airplanes

Looking at the calendar, I find it incredible that September is already here, mostly because it means that David’s new book, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” hits the stores in just five weeks! October 5 is the ”official” date the book becomes available and I don’t mind saying this is probably the best one he’s written (so far, anyway!). As with most of the
“Complete Idiot’s Guides,” it covers a lot of ground but still gives anyone just starting out on guitar a solid foundation in basic skills. Just to give you some idea of the contents, here is an overview of the chapters:

1 Getting Acquainted and Getting in Tune
You need to have your guitar in tune in order to play, so you’ll learn how in your very first chapter.

2 Warming Up One Note at a Time
Once you’re in tune, you can start playing! In this chapter you learn about how to hold your guitar (whether sitting or standing), about picking and placing your hand on the fingerboard. You also get a quick look at guitar tablature so you can play some warm up exercises designed to get your fingers limber.

3 And Now, A Few Chords
In this chapter, you’ll discover how easy it is to read chord charts and how it’s even easier to play some basic chords. And you’ll be playing a simple song before the lesson is over!

4 A One and a Two – Learning to Read Rhythms
Now that you know some chords, you want to learn about rhythm so that you can sound even better. You’ll be reading simple rhythm notation before you know it and you’ll also discover how to make even the most basic strumming sound very cool by adding an alternating bass line.

5 All in the Wrist – Learning to Play Rhythms
You will continue to improve your strumming abilities in this lesson by learning about sock puppets. No lie! Plus you’ll learn a new chord and get to play a very cool new song.

6 Swinging with the Blues
Discovering how triplets and swing rhythms work will set you up to play almost any blues song your heart desires! You also learn some new chords, how to play shuffles and a very cool blues-style riff.

7 Stretching Out with Three New Chords
Now that you’ve gotten your fingers loose and ready to play, it’s time to tackle the three chords that will lead to adding thousands of songs to your repertoire. Plus you’ll start working on walking bass lines to make your chord changes sound even cooler.

8 Making Your Guitar Sing with Slurs
Just when you thought you were sounding pretty good, you’re going to find yourself sounding even better! In this chapter, you’ll learn the four basic guitar slurs and how mixing them in with your strumming makes you sound like you’re not a beginner any more.

9 Strumming by the Measure or by the Note
In this chapter you’ll learn about different rhythms and strumming patterns and also find out how to play arpeggios. Plus you’ll get to learn two classic songs.

10 Stop and Go
Things start picking up speed when you learn about sixteenth notes and different muting techniques. This chapter finishes with a great arrangement of “The Gallows Pole.”

11 Finger Picking with Style
You give your guitar a totally new sound when you learn how to finger pick. This chapter shows you how easy finger picking can be and teaches you three different styles. Plus you get your first taste of classical guitar music.

12 A Major Step Forward
If you can count to twelve, you can learn music theory. It is truly that simple! In this chapter you learn how to make any major scale and also learn cool ways to incorporate them into your playing.

13 Building Chords from Scratch
This chapter teaches you how to make any chord you can possibly think of, plus a dozen or so you didn’t even know existed! You will never need chord charts again!

14 Barre Tending
Once you know how to play basic barre chords, the entire length of the fingerboard becomes your playground. And you’ll get plenty of practice with them as you will be learning three new songs in this chapter.

15 Using Your Intelligence
With all the musical knowledge you’ve gained in the last chapters you can start to come up with some very interesting song arrangements of your own. Your next big leap forward starts here.

16 Clipping on a Capo
With a capo and a bit of transposing (which you’ll learn in a heartbeat in this chapter), you can rearrange songs to fit your vocal range or even come up with second guitar parts to make playing with your friends more rewarding.

17 Beyond Standard Tuning
Alternate tunings have been around since guitars themselves. They can make your guitar sound heavy or harp-like. This chapter teaches you about many alternate tunings and you’ll also get to hear how a single song can sound when played in two different tunings.

18 Filling in the Blanks
Adding fills (short melodic phrases) to your playing makes you sound more like a seasoned guitarist. You will learn how to create and use fills to make your playing your best yet in this chapter.

19 Bringing Chords and Melody Together
In this chapter you learn how to make your guitar sing for you. Through chord melody, you’ll find how easy it is to turn your single guitar into a whole band.

20 Making a Solo
Soloing doesn’t have to be scary if you take the time to prepare first. This chapter walks you step by step through the process of creating a guitar solo and also teaches you about playing scales further up on the fingerboard.

21 Picking Up Speed
Getting comfortable with alternate picking can help you develop more speed in your playing. You’ll also discover the frenetic sound of crosspicking in this lesson.

Chapters 22 – 29

The final eight chapters take you on a mini-tour of the many genres and styles of guitar playing that wait for you. You’ll get two song lessons each on Country, Rock, Blues, Classical, Folk, Celtic, Jazz and Pop music and learn how to put all the knowledge you’ve gained from the first part of the book to use in your playing. And you’ll learn more cool tricks and techniques as well.

Additionally, there will be tips on buying instruments and handling string changes, day to day maintenance and minor repairs available as “Book Extras” or “Quick Guides” at the Complete Idiot’s Guides’ website and David will be posting lessons here that will supplement some of the song lessons from the book (such as our lesson on “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” and the latest “Turning Practice into Play” lesson, which you’ll read about a little later.

The current “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Guitar,” by the late (and great!) Frederick Noad, is the third best selling Idiot’s Guide that Alpha puts out. We’re hoping that this totally new version will surpass that. Yes, it would be totally cool if it made the New York Times’ “Best Seller” list - it probably would make it the first (and possibly only) guitar tutorial book to ever do so – but that’s probably dreaming way too high! But you never know, if anyone could make it possible it would certainly be the readers of Guitar Noise.

In the meantime, though, we’re also giving away autographed copies in our current giveaway contest. Our latest winner is Tod from Washington State who took a very interesting photo of himself and his copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” that you can see at www.davidhodge.com.

An autographed copy of the new “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” will be going to Tod in just a few weeks and a new winner will be announced in the September 15 newsletter.

Between now and December 15, 2011, we’ll be sending out two autographed copies of the all new “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” each month. To enter the giveaway, any reader who has bought a copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” just has to take a picture of himself or herself with the book someplace. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background. As Dorothy might have said in “The Wizard of Oz,” you don’t have do go any further than your own back yard! But do try to be creative or at least entertaining. David and Paul will be selecting two photos a month and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures are chosen.

To participate in the giveaway, send your photos to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and be sure to include an email address where you can be reached, as well as a mailing address. And please put “Picture Book” in the subject line of the email.

We wish everyone who enters the best of luck.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

New month, new Guitar Noise Featured Artist! John Fogerty, truly one of the legends of rock guitar and rock music, gets the nod for the month of September. Read all about him on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

Topic of the Month

There’s also a new Guitar Noise Topic of the Month. In September we’re putting the spotlight on “Songwriting.” It’s amazing how many articles we have on the subject and you’ll find links for all of them by clicking on the Topic Banner on the Home Page.

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

Paul and David came up with a great idea but (at least as of when I’m writing this) they haven’t given it a name yet! Starting with the new “Swing Eighths” lesson, you will soon be finding these “mini-lessons” – short guides to help you understand basic musical concepts, guitar techniques and other topics that occur over and over again in your day to day playing - linked to various “full lessons” here at Guitar Noise. The idea is to give you a quick refresher should you happen to need it on any given topic.

And if you’ve got a request on a topic like this, just drop David a line at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and put “mini-lesson” in the subject line.

Swing Eighths
by David Hodge

Learn how to recognize and play swing eighth rhythm in less time than you’d imagine! David walks you step by step on this vital part blues and jazz rhythm that you will find in almost all genres of music.

Turning Practice Into Play (Part 2)
“The Chromatic Quick Change Blues”
by David Hodge

Here’s a very cool single-guitar finger style instrumental blues piece that will teach you about driving, single note bass lines and creating cool melody lines and fills.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for September 1 – Practicing Modes (Part 36)

Welcome back to our exploration of the C Dorian mode. We’re now hovering about the fifth position and about to dive down into arpeggios, starting with this one:

|-8-5--------------------------------5-8----|
|-----6----------------------------6--------|
|-------7-5--------------------5-7----------|
|-----------7----------------7--------------|
|--------------8-5-------5-8----------------|
|------------------8-5-8--------------------|

Notice how un-minor this run sounds. The reason for this is the order in which you’re playing the notes. You’re starting the run with C, A, and F, which spells out a major chord. And though you’re hearing A, F, D (the D minor triad) right after the major triad, you’re playing the A and D on upbeats, which feel much weaker than downbeats. Ergo, D minor loses this battle with the F major sound. But we’ll champion the D minor next time.

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

Event Horizon

So please feel free to write to David if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Send your gig dates to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header. And remember that Guitar Noise News is (usually) sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. And one needs a few days notice ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of January (that is, after the fifteenth), then write by the tenth or the twelfth.

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming shows!

Guitar Noise Forum Moderator, Dan “Laz” Lasley plays bass in a blues band called “Cruisin’ for a Bluesin” and they have their first real gig this coming Saturday, September 4th at the Spence Remedy Cafe, located at 29-31 East Gay Street right in downtown West Chester Pennsylvania, which is about forty-five minutes west of Philadelphia. West Chester has lots of cool, funky restaurants, many with sidewalk tables, so Dan says come on down for the whole evening. Crusin’ for a Blusin’ starts at 10 PM and plays until 1 AM.

Doug (“Moonrider”)James’ group, Southern Roots (http://southernroots.info/) will be playing two shows later this month:

Saturday, September 18 at Namaw’s Country Diner (located at 16121 Goodes Bridge Road in Amelia Court House, Virginia). Show starts at 6:00 PM

Friday, September 24 at the Hopewell Moose Lodge (4701 Western Street in Hopewell, Virginia) beginning at 7:30 PM

Guitar Noise Moderator, Wes Inman’s former bandmate Lee Hodge and his band, Doesn’t Madder, play at many spots in North Carolina. They’re going to be at Horsefeathers Roadhouse in Sherrils Ford on Saturday, September 18. Music starts at 9 PM. You can keep up with Lee and the band on their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/doesntmadder

And September is also going to be a big month for Guitar Noise Forum member JWMartin, who steps out under the lights as “J. Ghouls,” bassist for the band Spookhand. They’ve got gigs in their home of Nashville but will also be venturing out to Atlanta. Here’s the calendar:

Thursday, September 16th 7:30pm Spookhand will be opening for The Independents (they used to be managed and produced by Joey Ramone) at The Muse (835 4th Avenue South in Nashville, TN).

A week later, on Friday, September 24 7pm they’ll be one of four bands (Psycho Charger, The Creeping Cruds, Spookhand (that’s them!)) and a local, not yet named Atlanta band) at The Shelter, located at 2101B Tula Street Northwest in Atlanta, Georgia

And then the next day, Saturday, September 25 7pm Spookhand and two of the other bands – Psycho Charger and The Creeping Cruds as well as and Alucard (that’s “Dracula” backwards in case you missed it) will be back at The Muse, performing at Dr. Gangrene’s 7th Annual Horror Hootenanny. Sounds like Halloween is getting a very early start in Nashville and I’m sure it will be a lot of fun!

You can keep up with some of the Guitar Noise Community’s fairly regularly performing bands at these websites:

Slightly Offensive – with GN Member Tommy (“Tommy Gunz”) McLaughlin on guitar: http://www.slightlyoffensiveband.com/ (you can also join their mailing list there)

This Date in Guitar Noise History (September 1, 2005)

I don’t know about you, but I constantly find myself thinking, “What was Nick thinking about five years ago?” Yes, being a cat I have lots of time to think about things like that. Fortunately, I can also answer this question by looking back at a wonderful “NOTES FROM NICK” that he wrote back then:

So I’m sitting around on the porch, guitar in hand, working out the final wrinkles of “Here Comes the Sun” and I think, “Well the neighbors have probably heard enough of that, what’s next?”

And you know I couldn’t think of a single song.

I sat and thought a while and absolutely nothing came to mind.

“That’s impossible. I have to know at least twenty to thirty songs, don’t I?”

Then I had a thought. David had printed up some books for the Riverside Jam. (Thanks David, by the way). So I went inside and got the book. There had to be a hundred or so songs in there, just the chords and words printed out, but it’s a great resource.

I leafed through the book, and lo and behold there were twenty to thirty songs that I knew well. I was right. But that couldn’t be all could it?

Now I was on a mission, so off I went to the computer and wrote down all the songs in the Guitar Noise song lessons for beginners and intermediates. Hey whadda ya know, I’m up to almost fifty songs that I can play well.

There must me more! Down to the basement I went, into my studio/teaching area. Let me grab those Acoustic Guitar magazines from the past ten years. Wow, I forgot I knew “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” and “Caleb Meyer”, and ”Makin’ Pies” and “Forgot that it was Sunday” and about 20 others. The total number of songs I know and can play is now seventy-seven!.

Hold on don’t I have Hal Leonard’s acoustic Beatles, the one with the excellent acoustic transcriptions? Well yes I do. We are up to eighty-eight songs. Which reminded me, didn’t I see some Beatles thing on the easy song forum?

Back to Guitar Noise and the easy song forum, uh-huh here we are. Now we are over one hundred and five tunes.

Hold on a sec, didn’t I create a bookmark of all my favorite www.olga.net tunes I know? Well yes I did.

This went on for the better part of four hours. Think, find, print, hole punch, stick in the book and think some more.

I went from not being able to think of a single song to having over two hundred tunes to play that I can play well.

You know the very cool part about it? I didn’t have to learn anything new or practice. I just had to remember the things I didn’t know I knew.

The point being, make yourself a book and keep it up to date. It’s a heck of a lot easier than what I just went through.

Random Thoughts

Maybe Nick is coming to mind because of the upcoming release of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar.” One of the things that David wanted to stress in writing this book is that the guitar is often used to accompany a singer (and yes that singer is often ourselves or rather “yourselves” as my guitar playing skills are, sadly, meager at best). So there are many examples in the book and on the CD that comes with the book, of the guitar being the accompanying part of a song. Therefore it was necessary to have someone singing the songs and David picked the best person he knew to do it.

So Nick came up last spring to lay down the vocals for the songs in the book and he did some incredible work, creating new and exciting arrangements of songs that everyone knows. Each time I heard the CD – and I have heard it a lot over the past four month while David was continually checking and rechecking it against the music examples written in the book – I had a new favorite.

Personally, I think that Nick is truly the right person to have on the CD because he is wonderful about playing with others. All those stories you hear about singers and their egos? It’s like Nick is the antithesis of that. He works with people of all talent levels and makes them all sound better. Having his voice on “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” CD is going to give every listener the confidence to play his or her best and to not fret about mistakes. And that’s exactly what you want for a book like this. Be sure to check it out for yourself.

Until our next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley
(Charles T. Cat)

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 120 – August 15, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:06:34 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #120 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Greetings, News and Announcements
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Topic of the Month
New Articles, Lessons and Reviews
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Event Horizon
Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Hello and welcome to the August 15, 2010 issue of Guitar Noise News, the twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com).

I’m Charles T. Cat (although I prefer you call me Charley) and I’m still filling in for David for the time being. At the risk of jinxing him, I think he thinks I’m bringing him good luck by writing these newsletters for him. If nothing else, it gives him a chance to actually do something with his spare time. This past week, for instance, he managed to just sit outside after midnight on several nights to catch some of the Perseid meteor shower.

In terms of “news and announcements,” the big news this time out is our latest winner in “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” giveaway. Julia, who goes by the name of “Apache” on the Guitar Noise Forums, took a picture of herself and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” in the English countryside and you can find that photo at www.davidhodge.com.

And an autographed copy of David’s new book, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” will be sent to Julia sometime in late September / early October.

We offer both Julia and David Rosenberg (our first winner) our hearty congratulations. And we wish you and everyone who enters the best of luck in the contest. A new winner will be announced right here in the next newsletter!

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

This month Guitar Noise Featured Artist is one of the unsung guitar heroes - the incomparable Steve Cropper, whose incredibly tasteful soul guitar can be heard on so many records and yet most people don’t know who he is.

But I’m sure you do! And you can read all about the man who is forever linked to the R&B and Soul music that came of Stax Records for close to a decade right here on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

Topic of the Month

If you want to learn to play guitar, it’s kind of important to have a guitar (or at least have access to one). That’s why the Guitar Noise Topic of the Month for August is “Buying a Guitar.” You’ll find links for the many Guitar Noise articles that deal with this subject when you click on the Topic Banner on the Home Page.

New Articles, Lessons and Reviews

Gerald Klickstein: The Mucisian’s Way – A Guide To Practice, Performance and Wellness
Book Review by David Hodge

“The Musician’s Way,” by Gerald Klickstein, offers the reader a wealth of vital and practical information on how to make the most of practicing and performing, as well as tips on keeping at one’s best when it comes to playing. Highly recommended.

A Simple Way To Understand Modes For Guitar (Part 2)
by Beth Isbell

In Part 2 of her series on “A Simple Way to Understand Modes,” Beth Isbell walks us through the use of modes to specifically outline simple chords.

The Shape Of Your Acoustic Guitar
by David Hodge

Some beginners give up on guitar after a short time. David explains why the physical shape of your first guitar may be why your first efforts at playing are more frustrating than they should be.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for August 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 35)

We’re continuing our ongoing journey through the loosely-defined C Dorian sound. We’ve covered chord walks, both diatonic and chromatic, on the horizontal axis. Now we’re going vertical (i.e. staying in position). Here’s a chromatic chord walk that takes us down to string 3. See recent issues of this newsletter for an explanation of the particular chords used.

|-8--7--6--5--|-4-------------|---------------|------|
|-8--6--6--8--|-4--8--7--6--|-5-------------|------|
|-8--7--7--5--|-5--5--5--8--|-7--8--7--6--|-5----|
|-8--5--6--7--|-5--6--8--7--|-6--8--6--5--|-5----|
|-------8--6--|-6--8--6--8---|--------8----- |-6----|
|-------6--5--|-4--------------|-6--8-----6--|------|

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

And if you need a further fix of Darrin’s great articles, hurry on over to his terrific website. You can find his past contributions to Guitar Noise here and we’re also reprinting some of Darrin’s past Guitar Noise News posts over at the Guitar Noise Blog. They are all worth reading! I don’t know if David’s told you or not, but Darrin’s articles were cited as favourites by many of the folks who wrote in for “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” giveaway.

Event Horizon

One thing Paul, David and everyone at Guitar Noise would really like to do is to help promote your shows, whether it’s in a stadium or at a ten-seat coffee house. Not only is it a great way to help support each other, it’s also a terrific way to meet more musicians!

So please feel free to write to David if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Send your gig dates to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header. And remember that Guitar Noise News is (usually) sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. And one needs a few days notice ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of January (that is, after the fifteenth), then write by the tenth or the twelfth.

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming shows!

Tom (“Tommyguns”) McLaughlin’s new band, Slightly Offensive, is keeping very busy and we wish them continued success. On Saturday, August 28 you’ll find them at Fat Sam’s (15896 South La Grange Road in Orland Park, Illinois). The show starts at 9:30 and the music continues until 1:30 in the morning.

And you can keep up with the latest on Slightly Offensive (including the latest gigs on their schedule) by checking in with their website (http://www.slightlyoffensiveband.com/) or by joining their mailing list.

Likewise, you can find out how things are going with Doug (“Moonrider”)James’ group, Southern Roots at their website (http://southernroots.info/). In September, they’ll be playing the following shows:

Saturday, September 18 at Namaw’s Country Diner (located at 16121 Goodes Bridge Road in Amelia Court House, Virginia). Show starts at 6:00 PM

Friday, September 24 at the Hopewell Moose Lodge (4701 Western Street in Hopewell, Virginia) beginning at 7:30 PM.

Further south in North Carolina, you can hear Guitar Noise Moderator, Wes Inman’s former bandmate Lee Hodge and his band, Doesn’t Madder, at the Iron Thunder Saloon in Concord, North Carolina on Saturday, August 21. You can keep up with Lee and the band on their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/doesntmadder

September is also going to be a big month for Guitar Noise Forum member JWMartin, who steps out under the lights as “J. Ghouls,” bassist for the band Spookhand. They’ve got gigs in their home of Nashville but will also be venturing out to Atlanta. Here’s the calendar:

Thursday, September 16th 7:30pm Spookhand will be opening for The Independents (they used to be managed and produced by Joey Ramone) at The Muse (835 4th Avenue South in Nashville, TN).

Random Thoughts

Paul recently posted an interesting article on the Guitar Noise Facebook page, which you can read here.

It’s very easy it seems, for the little things that make life so cool to get overlooked. Even in a day and age when almost everything about life seems to end up on the Internet. So many thanks to Paul for spreading this bit of good cheer and special thanks to Mike Campbell for being such a cool musician in the first place!

Until our next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley
(Charles T. Cat)

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 119 – August 1, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:39:10 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #119 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Email of the Moment
Greetings, News and Announcements
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Topic of the Month
New Articles and Lessons
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Event Horizon
Random Thoughts

Email of the Moment

Thought I’d start off with an email, if you didn’t mind. This one comes from Pancho and Lefty Reichert, who write the following:

Dear Charley,

We think it’s fantastic that you’re writing the newsletter for David and hope you get to do so for a while, or at least for as long as you want to.But we don’t understand how you manage to type so well. This has got to be the eight hundred and ninth time we’ve attempted to write an email to you! Usually it looks like this:

H cbgnhfjhd s byn t5r ckmi, bsgyi .o;9l 5bd ,umgnh

Does it take you a long time to type out a newsletter or are you simply a super genius (given that all cats, by virtue of being cats, are genius to start)?

Hope you’re keeping cool in this hot summer!

Pancho and Lefty

Dear Pancho and Lefty,

Thank you for writing and I assure you, I’m very much an ordinary cat. But I’m an ordinary cat who is lucky enough to have a copy of some experimental software that I think Paul got from somewhere (I suspect that his three cats actually developed it so that they might help him out because he can spend so much time working on Guitar Noise that they might feel neglected!). Don’t ask me how, but when I type in typical cat-style:

DSX knoifs joifs 90teffe l;’m'dv mljeddfs klm;

The software automatically translates it into American English (being cats, both of you already know that the above writing reads “That was a great nap. I wonder if David’s put new food in my dish yet?”).

It’s interesting because occasionally a word will be translated into “meow” because there doesn’t appear to be a translation of English that actually works. It is, as mentioned, still in the experimental stage so maybe one day cats from all over the world will be able to text their people whenever their water dish needs attention or to remind them to pick up treats at the grocery store. But that is, of course, assuming cats want to interrupt their lives with such technology. Seeing what it’s done to most of the people I’ve met, I think we’ll be taking a pass here in our home. With the occasional exception of helping out David when he’s busy, ’cause he always takes time for us.

Greetings, News and Announcements

Now that we’ve gotten that email out of the way, let me officially welcome you to the August 1, 2010 issue of Guitar Noise News, the twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com). You might be pleased to notice that despite a cat’s willful ignoring of dates and times, you’ve hopefully gotten this on the appropriate date!

I’m Charley and I’m filling in for David for the time being. Yes, he’s back from vacation and he’s even managed to finally finish up with all of the triple-checking of the upcoming “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar,” but this weekend he’s in Pennsylvania participating in the 2010 Riverside Jam. If you’ve no idea what that is, just check out the end of the last newsletter for details on it.

Here and now, we’ve more important things to talk about, such as the latest news from Tom (“Noteboat”) Serb’s latest report on his school, The Midwest Music Academy:

“The music school is expanding again! You might recall that last year I had to remodel our building to construct additional studio space – since then our enrollment has climbed more than 30%, and I’ve now got teachers for every popular, band, and orchestral instrument except viola and cello, plus a couple of great voice teachers. We’ve only got room to grow enrollment another 5% before I’ll run out of space again. And we’ve done that in two years (our 2nd anniversary is 25 days away).

So about 20 minutes ago I reached an agreement with the owner of the building just south of us – I’ll be taking over 1/4 of his building on August 1st. That should let us grow another 50% or so.

On Monday morning when I sign the lease, we’ll officially have a ‘campus’!

In a way, this expansion is scarier than starting the school was – with two buildings I’m really adding to the overhead with more rent, utilities, insurance, etc. – and I’ll have to add a receptionist for the second space. So I’m buckling up for a stressful year ahead. I probably won’t have much time for the forums, at least in the short term – hope y’all understand.

Now I’m off to the next item on my rapidly growing to-do list: time to go shopping for more pianos.

If you’re ever in the neighborhood, stop on by – I’ll give you a tour, and we can even jam a bit if I have time!”

We all congratulate Tom and wish him continued success with his school! And if you’d like to send Tom a “good luck note,” you can do so right here on this thread on the Guitar Noise Forum’s News page.

And speaking of that aforementioned “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” (not to mention it being August 1), today is the start of a new giveaway contest that features free autographed copies of this book as soon as it comes out on October 5.

Between now and December 15, 2011, autographed copies of the all new ”Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” will be sent out our contest winners. To enter the giveaway, any reader who has bought a copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” just has to take a picture of himself or herself with the book someplace. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background, but be creative. David and Paul will be selecting two photos a month and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures are chosen.

Our first winner, David Rosenberg, took a photo in Kauai. You can see the photo at www.davidhodge.com. We all wish David a hearty congratulations and a new winner will be announced right here in the next newsletter!

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

But I’m sure you do! And you can read all about the man who is forever linked to the R&B and Soul music that came of Stax Records for close to a decade right here on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

Topic of the Month

New Articles and Lessons

The Learning Curve of Learning Various Styles of Guitar
(PART 4 – Jazz and Classical)
by Jamie Andreas

In the final installment of her look at “The Learning Curve of Various Styles of Guitar,” Jamie Andreas examines what is needed to become proficient as a jazz or a classical guitarist.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

You’d think it must be summertime or something! We’re giving Darrin a bit of a summer break, too, so he’ll be back with his ongoing study of practicing modes next time out. Hope you’re staying cool, Darrin!

And if you need a fix of Darrin’s great articles, hurry on over to his terrific website. You can find his past contributions to Guitar Noise here and we’re also reprinting some
of Darrin’s past Guitar Noise News posts over at the Guitar Noise Blog. They are all worth reading! I don’t know if David’s told you or not, but Darrin’s articles were cited as favourites by many of the folks who wrote in for “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” giveaway.

Event Horizon

So please feel free to write to David if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Send your gig dates to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header. And remember that Guitar Noise News is (usually) sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. And one needs a few days notice ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of January (that is, after the fifteenth), then write by the tenth or the twelfth.

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming shows!

Tom (“Tommyguns”) McLaughlin’s new band, Slightly Offensive, has a number of gigs later in the month (so we’ll post them next time), but you can keep up with the latest on their schedule by checking in with their website (http://www.slightlyoffensiveband.com/) or by joining their mailing list.

Likewise, you can find out how things are going with Doug (“Moonrider”)James’ group, Southern Roots at their website (http://southernroots.info/). They just had a terrific gig at Hooah’s Sports Grill a week or so back and you can read about it (and get video links) here.

David also managed to catch up with Lee Hodge who isn’t a relation, but a former band mate of Guitar Noise Moderator, Wes Inman. Lee’s moved to North Carolina and is playing in the band, Doesn’t Madder. They’ll be at the Iron Thunder Saloon in Concord, North Carolina on Saturday, August 21. You can keep up with Lee and the band on their MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/doesntmadder

Random Thoughts

Asking a cat to write anything titled “Random Thoughts” is probably not that great of an idea. I might be in the middle of an impassioned essay on the importance of selflessness in music, particularly when it comes to playing in a group situation and then suddenly decide “I think it’s time for a nap.” Or “Hey! There’s that chipmunk I saw earlier this morning! I wonder what he’s up to now?” Or “Maybe someone’s put new food in my bowl since I last checked.”

More often than not, though, I tend to just stop whatever I’m doing to sing a bit, doing my best David Byrne impression with “Well, how did I get here?” Not in bewilderment, mind you, but rather in wonder and happy amazement. Cats spend a lot of time in happy amazement you know.

Until the next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 118 – July 15, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:03:29 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #118 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Greetings, News and Announcements
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Topic of the Month
New Articles and Lessons
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Event Horizon
Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Cats don’t worry much about dates. “Dates” being the day of the month, not a romantic get together. There’s a good reason for that. When someone marks a date on a calendar in regards to his or her cat, it’s a safe bet that a trip to the vet is involved. Cats, like many people, don’t enjoy going to the doctors, even though we do understand it’s about maintaining good health. And even though it’s considered a big cliche, being in good health generally helps one be in a good mood.

Something else that might help put you in a good mood is your latest issue of Guitar Noise News, the twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com). This is your “sometime around the middle of the month” issue. David said to try to get it to Paul by the fifteenth but, well you know – cats and dates.

I’m Charley and I’m filling in for David for the time being. He is back from vacation but, as you might imagine, he’s found that nothing else stopped while he did. So he’s got about seven hundred and eighteen emails, not to mention articles to write and edit and, since neither Lily nor I drive (let alone carry cash or credit cards), cat food, treats and litter to purchase. Life keeps moving along.

Last time out, I think I mentioned the upcoming giveaway that starts in August. For more than a year and a half, autographed copies of the all new ”Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” (due out on October 5) will be sent out to readers who have bought a copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” and have taken a picture of himself or herself with it someplace. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background, but be creative. David and Paul will be selecting two photos a month, starting in August (and continuing through December 1, 2011) and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures are chosen.

Either David or I will be announcing the first winner in the next newsletter!

And before I forget, I’d like to say a big “hello” to Nell, the lucky dog who lives with Vic Lewis over in England. Nell’s taken a turn at running the Sunday Songwriters’ Group on the Guitar Noise Forum and I think it’s great when people and animals help each other out in their day to day lives. As long as they don’t resort to that goofy baby-talk stuff. The people, that is.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

Speaking of people, Bonnie Raitt is the Guitar Noise Featured Artist for the month of July – you can read all about this incredibly socially motivated artist by clicking on the Profile Page.

Topic of the Month

One of the most important things about learning guitar is to remember it’s supposed to be fun. Whether you are playing live in a band or just jamming with a few friends, it’s all about having a good time. It doesn’t matter if you are just starting out or you’ve been playing guitar for a while, there are all sorts of things to consider when playing live in front of others.

And that’s why the Guitar Noise Topic of the Month for July is “Getting Up on the Stage.” You’ll find links for the many Guitar Noise articles that deal with this subject when you click on the Topic Banner on the Home Page.

New Articles and Lessons

A Simple Way To Understand Modes For Guitar (Part 1)
by Beth Isbell

Everyone seems to have his or her own “Aha!” moment when it comes to modes. Guitar Noise welcomes Beth Isbell, who kindly shares her modal method with our readers in this multi-part series.

Guitar Strings And The Great Outdoors
by Professor String

Playing outdoors is fun, but it also requires you to pay more attention to your guitar strings! Professor String gives us tips on keeping your guitar happy when you play outside.

Solving Timing And Rhythm Problems – Part 3: Left Brain Left Behind
by Nick Minnion

Nick Minnion concludes his three-part series on solving timing and rhythm problems with a look at playing various eighth note, triplet and sixteenth note rhythms.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for July 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 34)

Welcome back to our exploration of the C Dorian mode. Remember that we’re interpreting “C Dorian” as “C minor,” to give us more choices for chords. We’ll need those additional choices to do the following chord walk, which echoes the string 1 walk we did a few issues ago. This run will take you through the chromatic scale, from frets 12 or so to fret 1. The melody note of each chord is on string 2 this time.

Here we go:

|-----------------|---------------|-------------|------|
|-13--12--11--10--|--9---8--7--6--|-5--4--3--2--|-1----|
|-12--11--13--12--|--8---8--5--8--|-7--5--4--1--|-3----|
|-13--12--12--10--|-10---8--8--7--|-6--5--3--3--|-1----|
|-13--11--13------|-11--10--6--8--|----3--5--1--|-3----|
|-------------11--|------8--------|-6-----3-----|------|

Thanks for reading.

In case you’ve never visited Maximum Musician, hurry on over to Darrin’s website. You can also read his past contributions to Guitar Noise here. And you can also read some
of Darrin’s past Guitar Noise News posts over at the Guitar Noise Blog.

Event Horizon

So please feel free to write to David if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Send your gig dates to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header. And remember that Guitar Noise News is (usually) sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. And one needs a few days notice ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of January (that is, after the fifteenth), then write by the tenth or the twelfth.

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming shows!

Tom (“Tommyguns”) McLaughlin’s new band, Slightly Offensive, has a number of gigs scheduled throughout the end of July. Saturday, July 17, they’ll be playing at the Annual John & Mike Hurley Benefit in Lansing, Illinois from 7 to 9:30 PM. John and Mike are a father and son from Beecher, Illinois who both passed away within six months of each other. The money raised at this benefit will help the family to pay for funeral expenses as well as to help fund college tuition for the younger family members.

On Friday, July 23, Slightly Offensive will play at 191 South (in Mokena, Illinois) from 10 PM – 1:30 AM. 191 South is a one of the south Chicago suburbs’ great venues for music.

Next day, Saturday, July 24, the band treks all the way north to Illinois’ ”Chain of Lakes” region to play at Blarney Island, which is a man-made island of piers about a mile off-shore in Antioch, Illinois. If you don’t have your own boat (or helicopter, hang glider or personal jet pack), then you can catch the Blarney Shuttle Boat to get to the show, which runs from 6 to 8 PM.

I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Marilyn Miller, one of David’s former students, on many occasions. Not only has she grown as a songwriter, guitarist and performer, she seems to be playing all the time around here! She’ll be playing a show at the Inquiring Mind Bookstore and Cafe this Saturday, July 17 starting at 7 PM. Inquiring Mind is located at 65 Partition Street in Saugerties, New York. If you go, look for David in the audience and say hi.

And if you happen to be a little to the west of Philadelphia over the last few days of July, you can come meet (and listen to) quite a few Guitar Noise folks at two Riverside Jam 2010 events.

Friday night, GN Moderator-in-Chief, Nick Torres will be hosting an acoustic songwriters’ showcase, featuring SSG stalwarts like Kathy Reichert and John (“the Celt”) Roche,as well as the aforementioned Marilyn Miller and lots of other GN folks like Dan and Laura Lasley. This all takes placeat Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, PA). Doors open at 7 and the music starts at 8.

Saturday night there’ll be a whole evening of rock, blues, jazz and more at The Note (142 East Market Street in West Chester, PA), featuring “Cruising for a Blues-in,” the new blues band that GN Mod Dan Lasley plays in. Doors open at 7:00 PM, show starts at 8 and the music goes on until 1. Again, you’ll get the chance to meet all sorts of Guitar Noise folks. Word has it that “Scrybe” from the GN Forum is making the trip from Liverpool to play!

Both events have a $10 cover, and the proceedswill be donated to Live Connection Music, a local charity that promotes music and education throughout the Philadelphia area. You can find out more about both shows, as well as a little bit of history on the Riverside Jam at this URL.

So come on out and mingle with some Guitar Noise folks!

Random Thoughts

Lily and I moved in with David and Karen in April 2007, little realizing that we were not only going to have to deal with being in a totally new home but that we were also going to have to be hosts for the 2007 Riverside Jam that took place there.

This year is the Riverside Jam’s tenth anniversary. Some of you may have read about the first one in either of the two articles at Guitar Noise:

As I mentioned, it’s been held now for ten years at these various locations:

2000 – Westport CT – hosted by Dan and Laura Lasley
2001 – Chicago – hosted by David Hodge
2002 – New Brunswick, New Jersey – hosted by Greg (“gnease”) Nease (featuring a surprise appearance by Paul Hackett!)
2003 – Chicago – David, again
2004 – Great Barrington MA – yep, David yet again
2005 – Elkhart IN – hosted by Anne O’Neil
2006 – Minneapolis – hosted by Jose Velez
2007 – Great Barrington MA – once more hosted by David, but Lily and I helped!
2008 – Fox Lake IL – hosted by Kathy Reichert
2009 – Middletown OH – hosted by Helena Bouchez

If you go to the “News” page in the Forums section and type “Riverside Jam” in the “Search” function (you can even add the year if you’re interested in any one Riverside Jam in particular), you’ll find lots of interesting threads that will give you a good feel of what this occasion is like. Having gone through it first-hand, I can tell you a good time is usually had by all. There is certainly a lot of magic and music.

Until the next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 117 – July 1, 2010

Charley T. Cat — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:36:41 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #117 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Greetings, News and Announcements
Topic of the Month
Guitar Noise Featured Artist
Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Since I usually spend my days in an exhausting search of the perfect place in the sun in which to stretch out and nap, this whole sitting at the computer thing is a little weird to me. I appreciate your ignoring any glaring typos I might make, especially since I have to write in English, which is not my own language.

My name is Charley and I welcome you to the July 1 issue of Guitar Noise News. Yes, David usually writes these newsletters (or at least spends a lot of time worrying about them when he could be paying more attention to his cats), but I’ve had the honor of writing a few myself! For those of you who remember me – and especially to those who sent emails to me! – I hope that you’ve been well and that this newsletter finds you happy, healthy and in great spirits. If we’ve never “met” before, then, again, I welcome you to the newest edition of your twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (which you already know can be found at www.guitarnoise.com, right?).

David’s trying to get a bit of much needed (and, in my opinion, long overdue) vacation time, so I’ve volunteered to fill in for him for this issue. Well, he told me about how great computers were because you got to sit and play with a mouse all day and I have to say it’s more than a bit of a disappointment. “Maus” isn’t even spelled correctly and it doesn’t squeak
at all. I’ve seen twist-ties that were livelier (not to mention more fun to bat around!).

He’s pretty much given me free reign to write what I’d like but did say I should mention the upcoming giveaway that starts in August. For more than a year and a half, autographed copies of the all new “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” (due out on October 5) will be sent out to readers who have bought a copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” and have taken a picture of himself or herself with it someplace. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background, but be creative. David and Paul will be selecting two photos a month, starting in August (and continuing through December 1, 2011) and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures are chosen.

And speaking of August, I’ve heard that Alan Green (one of the Guitar Noise Moderators I’ve had the honor to meet in person), is going to be playing every Sunday of August at the Square 1 Restaurant (15 High Street in Great Dunmow, which is in Essex, England). Alan’s a great player and you’re sure to have a good time if you can make it there. And if you do, tell him both ”Charley and David” say hello and ask him if he’ll play either Sor’s “Etude in Bm” or his own original punk tribute to Joey Ramone (one of my favorites!).

Topic of the Month

In July, the Guitar Noise Topic of the Month is Playing Live, which means that you’ll find links for the many articles already at Guitar Noise dealing with this subject when you click on the Topic Banner on the Home Page.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

There’s also a new Guitar Noise Featured Artist for the month of July – you can read all about Bonnie Raitt when you click on the Profile Page.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for July 1 – Practicing Modes (Part 33)

Welcome back to our group exploration of modes, the C Dorian mode in particular. Last time out we ran through a chromatic chord walk along string 1, which put unusual notes like E natural and B as melody notes for C Dorian. How can we use these melody notes and still sound C Dorian-ish?

Take C Dorian with E natural on top. That’s only one change to the C Dorian chord. The change turns C Dorian into C Mixolydian. But, we don’t have to play C Mixolydian. We can play another chord from the C Mixolydian (F major) scale. That way, we can disguise our C Mixo chord. For the second chord in our run…

12-
11-
10-
12-
---
---

…that disguise idea is exactly what we’re using. The above is a Bb major #11 chord–there’s no C to give away the real C Mixolydian chord.

It’s a good idea at this point for you to look at the other chords in last issue’s exercise, and ask of them what we asked and answered here: “What scale is this non-C-Dorian melody note taking me into, and what chord besides one with a C root can I use here?”

Thanks for reading.

In case you’ve never visited Maximum Musician, hurry on over to Darrin’s website. You can also read his past contributions to Guitar Noise here. And you can also read some of Darrin’s past Guitar Noise News posts over at the Guitar Noise Blog.

Random Thoughts

Even though I enjoy writing these newsletters immensely, it’s probably a good thing that I don’t do them all the time. I mean, you can just imagine the “News” section every two weeks or so saying “we had something to eat and then took a nice nap” over and over again. Maybe occasionally there’d be a note about having a catnip treat or maybe catching a mouse or something.

I could even write about meeting various guitar students or even tell you some things about Nick that I’m sure everyone is dying to know! But at heart I’m a cat of few words.

I did want to share two cool items with you, though. First, here is “Fresh,” the latest single from Devo.

Now that looks like it was fun!

And people enjoy music as much as cats, so I was pretty excited to read about this music / art project finally making it to America.

That’s got to be a big undertaking. Imagine being in charge of taking care of one of those pianos! Just being careful about the sun and the rain and the changes of weather is hard enough without taking the people into account. Hopefully everyone will treat the pianos with respect and give the city some beautiful music.

Until the next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley T. Cat

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 87 – April 1, 2009

Charley T. Cat — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:35:12 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #87 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Greetings, News and Announcements
Topic of the Month
New Lessons and Articles
Coming Attractions
Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow
Forum Finding
Forum Finding
Forum Finding
Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Mmmmeeorrrwweeow.

For those of you who do not speak Felinese, I’ll kindly translate: “Welcome to the April 1, 2009 edition of Guitar Noise News. My name’s Charley and I’m filling in for David for this newsletter.

Usually David will ask me nicely to substitute for him, but this time out I (politely) told him he needed a break from the newsletter as he’s been very busy with some projects. Well, there was also the fact that he was coming up with all these dreadful ideas for an “April Fool’s Issue” of Guitar Noise News. “Dreadful” doesn’t even begin to cover it. The idea of writing up the newsletter as a stereotypical bit of “scam spam” for instance (“Dear friend, my name is Percival Bogus and as Minister of Music of Upper Fierenziastania I have acquired more than twenty-thousand 1957 Fender Telecasters, all in butterscotch blonde and all in what eBay would describe as “pristine condition.” I am writing you because I would like them to be yours. Send me your credit card information and I will ship them to you, regardless of where you live my dearest, blessed friend, at the mere cost of eighty-nine cents…”) has been done to death, don’t you think?

I did like his ideas for the various “100 Lists” issues of Guitar Noise News. Trouble is that it was hard to make them not sound real, especially to guitarists or other people who read Rolling Stone. I mean, “The Top 100 Guitarists that You Think Are Under-Rated and that No One Besides You Has Ever Heard Of” sounds like one of theirs. Or “The 100 Best Guitarists of All Time Not Counting Anyone Who Plays Any Sort of Classical Music or Jazz or Pop or Anything Our Readers Think is Lame” would have worked if we hadn’t read it in their March 2009 Issue. Personally, I couldn’t decide between “The Top 100 List of Lists To Make You Buy Our Magazine” and “The Top 100 Musicians We Worship Because Their Very Name Makes People Buy Our Magazine” (two versions of this – one with Kurt Cobain at position 3 and one with him at position 11).

Anyway, I told David to work on other things and I’d handle this issue of the newsletter. I even went and got my photo taken so that I’d look more author-like.

Not too bad, is it? Maybe I can get Paul to post it up on the Guitar Noise updates. I think I’d look good on Facebook, don’t you? So maybe you’ll see me on the Guitar Noise Facebook page, which can be found at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Guitar-Noise/34835952685, at some point, along with the regularly updated news about the latest lessons and podcasts. Maybe he’ll even mention this latest issue of Guitar Noise News. Come on by and see!

And don’t forget that Paul also posts updates on Twitter – and that there’s also a MySpace page, too.

Okay, I’ve covered the “Greetings” portion of the newsletter, so I guess it’s time to do the “News and Announcements.” As some of you may already know, David’s been spending a lot of time on some side projects (mostly making pitches to various publishers) and I’m thrilled to announce to the world that he’s just gotten a new assignment from Alpha Books. He’ll be writing a new book for them, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar.” If all goes according to schedule, this book will be out sometime around the end of this year. For more about it, check out this thread on the “News” page of the Guitar Noise Forums.

While this is all very exciting, it also means that I might have to do some more subbing on the newsletters. The folks at Alpha want this book entirely written and an audio CD recorded by the middle of August. That’s a lot of work! But I’m sure he can do it.

And I also want to mention that David would probably spend most of the time writing the book just trying to thank everyone in the Guitar Noise community for their support in making all this possible if I let him! You are all wonderful and have been inspiring him to become a better teacher and writer since he first started writing for Paul, all the way back before I was even born. This is a great way for him to celebrate his upcoming ten-year anniversary with Guitar Noise.

Topic of the Month

And speaking of Guitar Noise, our “Topic of the Month” for April is “Playing Live.” When you visit the Home Page of Guitar Noise during April, you will notice, up on the left hand side, close to the top, a list of articles all dealing with the topic of live performance as well as links to some of the many wonderful articles and lessons we have here at Guitar Noise about playing live, written by a wide range of contributing authors. You’re bound to find a lot of interesting and educational material on this topic.

And there’s more new stuff at Guitar Noise as well:

New Lessons and Articles

The Magic Triangle Of Musicianship
by Nick Minnion

Let’s offer a warm “welcome back” to Nick, who brings us a look at the interlocking relationship of three important creative aspects of musicianship – improvising, composing and transcribing – and how you can use them to move up from being someone who just dabbles with the guitar to a serious musician.

How To Instantly Improve Your Guitar Teaching Business By Eliminating These Top Nine Mistakes Guitar Teachers Usually Make
by Tom Hess

Tom discusses the business side of teaching guitar, focusing on nine problem areas in promoting and maintaining your business as a guitar teacher.

Coming Attractions

Even with the book deadlines, David is hoping to put out two to four new articles for Guitar Noise each month. Among the lessons he’s currently working on are:

Easy Songs for Beginners: Comfortably Numb, Sweet Home Alabama, Ziggy Stardust, Mister Bojangles

Songs for Intermediates: Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright, If I Had A Boat, Homeward Bound, Hello In There, Fire and Rain

Plus more on the “Turning Scales into Solos” and “Beyond Up and Down” series as well as a return of our “Chord Melody Song Arrangements,” which will deal with pop and rock songs, like Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song,” the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and the Ventures’ classic surf anthem “Walk Don’t Run” as well as many others.

I know you’ve seen this list before, so it should give you some idea of what’s coming. I know, for instance, that the lessons on “Comfortably Numb,” “Don’t Think Twice” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” should be out before the next newsletter. Don’t worry – I do my best to make sure that David won’t burn out or miss a deadline.

And if you have ideas or suggestions, don’t hesitate to send them along to him. Just try to be considerate of his time and understand that he may not be able to get to things as quickly as either you or he would like.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for April – Practicing Modes (Part 5)

We’ve been exploring modes, the C Ionian mode in particular. So far, we’ve communicated the C Ionian sound through chords, arpeggios and scales. We’ve done all this in one position. Let’s take a look now at moving from one position to another, as we stick to making the C Ionian sound.

We’ll start with C Ionian chords, with melody notes on strings 1 and 2 at least. We might dig a bit deeper and also do up to (down to) strings 3, and maybe 4, too.

Plus, we can break this exploration into two categories: (1) straight diatonic C Ionian chords and (2) chords with melody notes that are chromatic to the C major scale — but that relate to the C major scale, and C Ionian sound.

Let’s dig in. Here are C Ionian chords with the melody note on string 1:

|-13---12--10---8----7--5--3--1--0----|
|-10---12---8---8----8--5--5--3--3----|
|-12---12---9---9----9--5--5--0--0----|
|-10---10--10--10---10--5--5--2--2----|
|-----------------------------3--3----|
|-------------------------------------|

Thanks for reading.

As David has mentioned in past newsletters, Darrin is one of the Internet’s true treasures. You should take the time to visit his website, Maximum Musician, at and you can also read Darrin’s past Guitar Noise articles. Pardon the obvious pun, but he’s a cool cat!

Forum Finding

Speaking of cool, have you ever read or watched the “Beginners’ Videos” thread on the “Hear Here” page of the Guitar Noise Forums? Still going strong at fifty-seven pages and turning eighteen months old this week!

If there was one thread that summed up the heart and soul of all that Guitar Noise is about, this would be the one. People learning guitar and sharing what they’ve learned to help encourage beginners like themselves to play and not be afraid of making mistakes.

People, for some reason, sometimes like to believe that there’s this magic answer that will allow them to not have to learn things, to not have to go through the wonderful process of acquiring knowledge and skills that help you along. Any cat could tell you that the learning process itself is often more important than what you learn.

This people who have contributed to the “Beginners’ Video” thread, as well as those who have been offering advice and encouragement, totally get it. Here’s to looking at another fifty-seven pages of learning and wonder!

Emails? We Get Emails!

One of the many pleasures of living here with David is that he shares his emails with me, and I’d like to share a few with you:

Hello, David!

I have no musical talent whatsoever. In fact, I can’t play music without the written notes even after years of practice, although my fingers do have a memory even if my brain doesn’t.

Consequently, I compensated by buying all types of books, videos and DVDs to see if could overcome my limitations. In this regard, I consider myself almost an expert on the learning tools for guitar.

I stumbled across your sessions at Guitar Noise a few weeks ago and I am must tell your presentation is the best I have ever encountered both in terms of interest and effectiveness. I am completely amazed, although grateful, that you provide everything for free.

Your work has definitely made the world much richer.

….

David,

As an aspiring guitarist I want to thank you for the lessons that you have posted on the Internet, especially “I Shot the Sheriff” and “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.” Your teaching style is clear and straight forward, and very much complements the type of guitar playing that I am enjoy.

Thank you for make your work available to us faceless masses who are learning from you on the Internet. Nice work!

Speaking for David, I would like to extend you thanks for what he would undoubtedly call your “very kind words” about his lessons. He spends a lot of time working on them, more than he’s probably ever admit, and I can also tell you in confidence that he truly enjoys writing the lessons for Guitar Noise probably more than anything else besides just simply spending time playing music with friends or just sitting and relaxing with me, Lily and whoever happens to be hanging out here at the house.

Event Horizon

(Note – I’ve “cut and pasted” the introduction to this section because I think it says what it should!)

Supporting Guitar Noise and the Guitar Noise community is not always about money or time. Sometimes it’s about being there. Literally. As musicians, it’s always good to support each other simply by being at a gig if it’s at all possible.

One thing we’d really like to do is to help promote your shows, whether it’s in a stadium or at a ten-seat coffee house. Not only is it a great way to help support each other, it’s also a terrific way to meet more musicians!

So please feel free to write me if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Remember that Guitar Noise News is sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. Usually I will have it ready to be sent out a few days ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of April (that is, after the fifteenth), then let me know by the tenth or the twelfth. If you’ve already got a show in August, 2009, let me know, too! It’s never too early to plan for things!

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming summer shows!

Send your gig dates to me or David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header.

And while this isn’t a “gig alert” per se, it is certainly about a gig. My thanks to Pancho and Lefty Reichert for sending it to my attention.

I don’t know about you, but Lily and I are hoping to catch this act sometime soon!

Random Thoughts

I’ve mentioned Lily a few times and if you are not familiar with our story, this may be a good time to fill you in. First, let me show you my companion.

Lily and I first met in foster care at Animal D.R.E.A.M.S – a cat rescue organization in Berkshire County, Massachusetts (find out more about them at http://berkshireanimaldreams.org/). She was born a feral cat while I was a pet that somehow was abandoned. Yvonne Borsody, who founded the organization interviewed David and Karen and determined that both Lily and I might be very happy living with them. And she couldn’t have been more right about anything. We love it here.

So while reading the Guitar Noise Forums over David’s shoulder the other day, I noticed a thread titled “Gave One Away” and nudged David into clicking on it so that we could read it. You can find it here.

Even though this ended up not being at all about cats, it still made me very happy to see a person doing something so nice for another person. Earlier I mentioned that people seem to think that there is a “magic” way to learn guitar and I don’t want to give you the impression that I don’t believe in magic. Rather I would like you to understand that the magic comes from what you do with music, what you do with the tools and gifts you have. All the practice and preparation is part of that wonderful journey of learning that I wrote about and it is incredibly important. But what you have in your heart is what makes the whole thing magical.

Some people go through their lives without giving and sometimes that’s a conscious choice. But often it’s because of a misguided notion that they’ve nothing to give. And nothing could be further from the truth. You may not have money, you may not have time, but you do have hearts. And your heart will help you find the time and effort if you will let it.

Even if all you can give is a smile, know that that is a wonderful start. And that’s what makes life magical.

As David tells Lily and me, “Thanks for being here.”

Oh, and if you’d like to write me, just send a note in care of David (dhodgeguitar@aol.com). I keep nudging him about getting me an email account. Maybe one day soon!

Until our next newsletter, play well. Play often. Stay safe.

Newsletter Vol. 3 # 65 – April 15, 2008

Charley T. Cat — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:30:24 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #65 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

News and Announcements
New Articles and Lessons
Guitar Noise Staff Picks!
Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow
Event Horizon
Random Thoughts

News And Announcements

Meow!

Oops – forgot I need to write in Human/English! And you’ll have to forgive me, because while I can write in English, it’s certainly not my first language. But I hear it every day and read it as well although I never speak it myself. In that way, I’m kind of like Tarzan in the original novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs (and I guess that points out the advantages of being able to read).

My name is Charles T. Cat – but you can call me Charley. I prefer that you do. The little joke around here is to call me “Charley Paka” – “Paka” being Swahili for “cat” and the whole thing sounding like a New Englander trying to say the name of the legendary jazz sax player.

Anyway, I’m David’s cat and I’ll be filling in for him by writing this newsletter, the April 15 edition of Guitar Noise News. Now, you might have been thinking that David’s mention of me taking over for him (in the April 1 Guitar Noise News) was a bit of an April Fool prank, but I can assure you it wasn’t. He’s currently in Italy, tagging along on a writers’ conference and, hopefully, enjoying himself. I told him that there’s no reason for him to even look at a computer while away and he’s usually pretty good at following my advice.

In case you’re interested, you can see a picture of me at David’s Photobucket page, right here.

This photo was taken at Animal Dreams, an organization that rescues feral cats in the Berkshire County of Massachusetts. That’s me at the back left. Lily (short for “Diamond Lily”), who also lives with me at David’s place, is obviously on the far right. In between are Snickers and Chipper, whom I hope have found a good home since we last saw them.

Even though I’ve never played a guitar (piano is another thing altogether!), I’ve listened to a lot of guitar players and also have sat in on many of David’s private lessons. So I hope you’ll accept me as part of the Guitar Noise community, at least for the writing of this newsletter.

One thing I do share with David is our dislike of sitting down at the computer when there is so much of life going on beyond the corners of one’s monitor. Now sitting in a patch of sunlight and thinking about how good life is may not sound all that important, it may even sound downright boring to some, but I can tell you that it’s pretty much what life is supposed to be about. That and playing music or listening to someone play music…

And speaking of music, I think this is where I’m supposed to tell you about the new lessons that have gone up at Guitar Noise since the first of the month…

New Articles And Lessons

Let Your Fingers Do The Talking
Basic Travis Finger Picking Tutorial (part 1)
by David Hodge

Finger style guitar is easier than you think! In this lesson we’ll start with the very basics and get you going on some very cool (and very simple) finger picking patterns. Plus, we’ll toss in Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind as an incentive to help you practice more!

Cat’s In The Cradle
Songs for Intermediates #23
by David Hodge

There’s a little bit of everything in this lesson, from easy arpeggios and strumming to some basic Travis style finger picking patterns. As always, David picks the song apart into small pieces that even many beginners can get with some concerted practice. Have fun learning this Harry Chapin classic!

Guitar Noise Staff Picks!

Technically, I’m not a member of the staff. At least, not any more than Paul’s three cats are on the Guitar Noise staff. But we do listen to a lot of music. I could get all cute and recommend something from the Stray Cats’ catalogue or that stunning jazz guitarist, Sheryl Bailey’s last CD – Live @ the Fat Cat, which gets a lot of play at this house and which David reviewed when it was released.

Instead, I’d like to tell you about “1000 Years of Popular Music,” a combination CD / DVD performance by Richard Thompson (who, much to David’s regret, is playing seven miles from here this Saturday). This is a stunning concert that was born from one of those pompous “Name the 10 greatest songs of the Millennium” lists so popular in magazines if for no other reason than to have people argue over the silliest of things. When Thompson was asked to participate, he took the list makers to task, giving them songs that did indeed span a thousand years. They never used his list, but it ended up becoming a great show for this legendary guitarist and songwriter.

You’ll find more than twenty songs, written over the course of ten centuries, from old British folk music (if you’re wondering how old, try 1260 AD) to Bowling for Soup. You get Thomas Morley, Glibert and Sullivan, Cole Porter and Ray Davies all on the same bill.

If you’re interested in music history or just like to discover the beauty of songs and songwriting (not to mention the art of arranging), this is a great place to start.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip: picking out fast melodies by ear

Here are a few ideas for picking out hi-velocity melodies by ear.

A straightforward way to do this is to get software or hardware — like machines made by Tascam — that slows down melodies enough for you to hear the individual notes. Those machines have their place, but if you are slowing down everything you want to transcribe, you’re cheating yourself of a great chance to build your ear.

Someone who can successfully transcribe fast melodies is someone who uses everything he knows about music to make educated guesses at what he’s hearing. He takes the key center, the last few chords played, the scales most likely used by the guitarist he’s transcribing (e.g. Clapton and SRVaughn; heavy pentatonic usage), and other factors that are separate from the actual notes, to drastically narrow down the possible sources of melodic material. In other words, the more theory you know — especially theory related to the genre of the music you’re transcribing — the better.

Once he’s got all that info down, the successful transcriber may listen for the shape of the line. You can actually draw this. Is the line dipping down or moving up? Listen for repeated patterns, e.g. 1 3 2 4 (C E D F in C major), and also very important, the melodic rhythm. Tap out the rhythm of the line. Also, listen for pauses in the line. and identify the notes at those pauses.

Another big, big help: scatting/singing. Even if your pitch is way off, singing gets you inside the music, which gives you a fresh perspective on the line you’re transcribing. And you can scat to some pretty fast lines, faster than you can play. Then, you can slow down your singing so your ear can pick out the notes.

Thanks for reading.

In case you’ve never visited Maximum Musician, hurry on over to Darrin’s website. You can find it at and you can also read his past contributions to Guitar Noise.

Event Horizon

So please feel free to write me if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Remember that Guitar Noise News is sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. Usually I will have it ready to be sent out a few days ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of July (that is, after the fifteenth), then let me know by the tenth or the twelfth. If you’ve already got a show in August, let me know, too! It’s never too
early to plan for things!

Send your gig dates to me at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header.

David got the following email right after the April 1 newsletter:

Hi

Before you go off to Italy, make sure to let Charley know to include this date in the next newsletter:

Kathy Reichert and the Company She Keeps will be playing Friday, April 18 at Borders Books and Music, 595 Central Avenue in Highland Park, Illinois. The show starts at 8:30 PM.

Having met Kathy the last two times she was here, I’m more than happy to include a note about her performance later this week. “The Company She Keeps,” includes two contributing writers to Guitar Noise – Mike Roberto on guitar and Helena Bouchez on bass – plus the incomparable Anne O’Neil on percussion. Plus, rumor has it that John Reichert (who is a terrific photographer, in case you didn’t know) might be making his long awaited musical debut and playing bass guitar on a few songs.

Plus, Kathy and her whole band will be back here in the Berkshires to play at the Monterey General Store (Monterey, Massachusetts) on Friday, May 2. Local guitarist and songwriter (and Guitar Noise Forum stalwart) John “the Celt” Roche is also scheduled to pop in and perform a song that he recently wrote for Kathy as part of a recent Sunday Songwriters Group assignment.

Random Thoughts

It’s incredibly interesting that many people think that cats don’t listen. Just because we don’t come when we’re called (but some of us do) or respond to English, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Swahili, Urdu, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, German, well, you get the idea.

But cats do listen. It’s actually an incredibly important part of our lives. I mean, aside from being able to tell the brand name of a can of tuna being opened in an apartment five city blocks away, listening is what keeps us in touch with the world. People are always saying someone has the “eyes of a cat,” but the ears are important, too. All of our senses are, no?

So it’s curious to me how many people approach learning a musical instrument from a strictly visual approach. Does that make sense to you? Watching someone perform music is often like watching a magic show. The hands don’t always tell you what’s going on. Sometimes they can be deliberately misleading you. Smoke and mirrors.

But just as one can learn to tell the difference between someone pouring a bowl of Special K and someone pour a bowl of Meow Mix, you can learn the difference between the sound of a major or minor chord. Or a seventh chord. Or a diminished seventh chord. It all just takes practice, not to mention the ability to live with being wrong on occasion!

Darrin’s tip in this newsletter offers some great advice, as do the many articles and lessons on ear training here at Guitar Noise. The next song you hear, see if you can pick out a chord voicing. Which chord has the distinct chime like a D chord? Can you pick out the difference between a three-string and a two-string power chord?

Buy or borrow a book of transcriptions of songs you know and compare what your ears hear with what’s written on the page. This is part of learning guitar (not to mention music) that you can do without an instrument in hand. You might even get to the point where you can start hearing music when you are in reality only looking at it.

Thanks for letting me ramble a bit. Not to mention having me try my paw at the newsletter for a day. I hope you enjoyed it. Now it’s time for a bit of a nap!

Oh, if you want to write me, email David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and write “For Charley” in the subject. He won’t be able to let me read them until he gets back, but that will be sometime next week.

As David says…

Peace

Charley T. Cat
(sitting in for David Hodge)