Guitar Noise

This is another Easy Songs lesson that is geared to the close to absolute beginner. We’ll take basic chords that we already can play, add a very simple strumming / picking pattern and before you can say lunatic you’ll be playing a very cool song.

This is a tutorial on improvising over the ii V I chord progression. Jazz players may immediately recognize this type of progression, but it occurs in all kinds of music. Getting to recognize it so that you can be ready to solo is just the starting point.

It’s been ages it seems since we’ve had an intermediate song lesson. It also seems like it’s been ages since we’ve done something with an alternate tuning. And when was the last time we did a Neil Young song? And don’t let the intermediate label put you off - even beginners (with some practice, of course!) can make this song sound sweet…

Mitch has most graciously taken the time to give us a fairly detailed account of one of his latest DIY projects - a Johnson manufactured bass guitar! Follow as he transforms this $80 eBay bass into an instrument worthy of gigging.

Guitar Noise welcomes first-time contributor, Ysrafel, who brings us an article about the various aches and pains you might suffer as a guitarist, their possible causes and things you can do to relieve the pain as well as prevention tips.

We’ll be spending a lot of 2008 looking at song arrangements, so it’s best to start off with a discussion on strumming patterns and the trap that you can get into by letting a strumming (or picking) pattern be your major concern.

Here’s another Easy Song for Beginners’ Lesson, using our continued study of walking bass lines to help us create an arrangement where the bass line also helps us move the song along by shadowing the melody. Once the basics are in place, you can make the rest of the arrangement as simple or as complicated as you’d like.

In his follow up to the basics of soloing, Josh demonstrates the major scale and the pentatonic and their usefulness in helping you improve your lead playing.

Another new Guitar Noise writer makes his debut with this introduction to the wonders of open C tuning.

In his first of hopefully many pieces for Guitar Noise, Tom Mariotti looks at how to go about organizing your practice sessions in order to get the most out of the time you put into them.

Our arrangement for this moody piece uses many of the ideas from our O Tannenbaum! lesson. You’ll find yourself having a lot of fun even though you’re supposed to be blue!

Here’s a simple chord melody arrangement of this holiday classic. And, as a bonus, it’s a great exercise for practicing your chord changes in a timely manner.

For many guitarists, playing and songwriting go hand in hand. Since both skills improve with practice, why not try practicing on both simultaneously?

We continue our study of walking bass lines, looking specifically at how the timing and distance become our guideposts, helping us to map out our journey from one target note to the next. Examples from many songs, including a little of Bob Dylan’s You Ain’t Going Nowhere and Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day will serve as demonstrations in our lesson.

Josh Urban takes you through the very first steps of soloing, making the process a little less mysterious than many of us think it is! And less scary, too…

Here’s an interesting twist - we’re going to use a walking bass line as a way to help us get faster and cleaner chord changes, specifically between the G and C chords. Sound implausible? Well, come along and join in the fun.

Way, way, way back when, mankind had only two instruments. And by examining how these two are still used today, we can improve our timing, phrasing and many other aspects of our guitar playing. Josh Urban takes us on this interesting tour from early to electric man.

Walking bass lines are an easy way to spice up your playing and also learn a little about music in the process. In this lesson we’ll look at a very basic walking bass line, how to put it together and how to recognize when we can use it in other songs. Plus, to illustrate the point of the lesson, we get a teeny little bit of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb thrown in.

When you’re starting out, sometimes it seems like your hands have a mind of their own. Maybe even two minds, since you have two hands! Josh Urban explores how using a little psychology can help you to get faster and cleaner in making your chord changes.

Also known as Are You Sleeping Brother John, this has to be one of the best known children’s songs in the world. Doug brings up a fun and thoughtful arrangement of this favorite song.