How do I submit articles I’ve written to Guitar Noise?

As all of you know, Guitar Noise is a free web site – our writers receive no monetary compensation for articles. If you’ve taken a little time to look through Guitar Noise, you have found many things besides places to get TABs to songs. We are rightfully proud of the quality of our lessons, articles and reviews, and we are especially proud that our writers were all first visitors and readers of the site.

Just like you can be.

Don’t laugh! Perhaps you have something you’d like to say about a topic, or tell us about a concert you saw or review a CD that, chances are, few people are going to otherwise hear of. I know that some of you are probably tired of me saying that music is all about sharing, but it’s true.

Here are our guidelines for the submission of written material:

1. Email David Hodge ([email protected]) with a query letter or proposal. Please use the word “proposal” in the subject of your email. Then, simply introduce yourself and give a brief description of what you’d like to write. If it’s an article or a lesson, tell him what it’s about. If it’s a review of a concert or a CD, tell him who the artist/band is and when the CD came out or where and when the concert occurred (or is going to occur if you like to plan ahead).

2. David will email you a response, usually within a few days. If your proposal is accepted, he will assign you an editor from our staff who will work with you. A copy of the acceptance letter will also be emailed to your editor. If your proposal is not accepted, David will give you a reason why and encourage you to submit something again. It may simply be that we already have an article (or group of articles) on the subject and he wants to know how yours will be different and add to the site. It may be that your topic was too vague to get a clear idea of how it would actually turn out. This is why it is important to put some thought into things.

3. Once your proposal is accepted, you should submit the written piece to your editor in the form of an email attachment. Rich text format is preferred, but most formats are acceptable. Your editor will go over the piece, make corrections and offer suggestions and questions. Our goal is to make your submission as good as possible. When your editor sends the piece back to you, go over his or her thoughts and then respond with either answers or a revised piece.

4. When both you and your editor are happy with your article, it is be sent by the editor to David, who will then also make his suggestions. Once everyone involved is satisfied with how things turned out, David will forward the piece to Guitar Noise’s copy editor who will make final corrections in spelling and grammar that might have slipped through the initial process.

5. The finished article goes online. It is important to note that while the writer will have the final say on the piece, David or Paul have the option to decide not to put something online. It’s also important to note that this is extremely rare.

Technical Requirements

Sometimes it is easier to show something with a chart or example of musical notation rather than explain it in words. We are happy to help you include charts, tables or musical notation in your articles. Since we can’t change the layout of the site to make your article look good, you may have to make some changes to your work. Here are some guidelines to help you get started.

Spacing

If you are including examples of guitar tablature you should be aware that the spacing of fonts will make the lines look uneven when published on our site. This makes them difficult to read and unpleasant to look at. It is preferable that you use tablature or notation software to create you examples. You may need to send your tablature example as an image file.

If you are making charts or tables in a word processor such as Microsoft Word you should be aware that most of your formatting will look different on the web. Things may not line up as you planned. If spacing is important in your charts, try making them in tables or use graphic design software.

Music Notation Software

If you create tablature or notation examples you may need to export to image files or send us screen shots of your work.

Using Graphics

Please send us original copies of all graphics you use in your article. Links to graphics on another website are not acceptable.

We can only use graphics in gif or jpeg format. Please optimize your graphics using a high resolution. Scanning printed material may not be acceptable.

Submitting files

Preferred formats are Microsoft Word or RTF (Rich Text Format). If necessary you may send us your work in html format. Please make sure you include any graphics or additional files.

It may be necessary to request changes to your work. The idea is to make your work look as good as possible on our site. We want to see your work published on Guitar Noise without creating a lot of extra work for our editors. Following these guidelines will help get your article online sooner looking the way you expect it to. Of course, we are here to help you if you need it.

I hope that this encourages some of you to share in your musical knowledge and adventures. I look forward to any questions you may have in this matter.

Peace