Guitar Noise

Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.

In This Issue

• News and Announcements
• New Articles and Lessons
• Sunday Songwriter’s Group
• Reviews
• Thoughts and Feedback

News And Announcements

Greetings!

Welcome to Guitar Noise News!

We usually don’t do things like contests and giveaways here at Guitar Noise, but it’s always fun when we do. On the home page you’ll find our latest one:

BB King Ultimate Collection Contest

In celebration of BB King’s approaching 80th Birthday we are giving away copies of his newest Ultimate Collection album that features an incredible collaboration with U2 on the track When Love Comes to Town. Best of Luck!! Contest ends June 16, 2005.

If you’re interested in more about the album itself, you’ll be happy to see we’ve got a review of it later on in (surprise!) our review section.

Meanwhile, let’s see what else is new on the Guitar Noise website since we last chatted:

New Articles And Lessons

The Successful Failure
by Len Collins

It’s always great to hear from Len Collins, who’s not only a terrific teacher and motivator, but also the creator of the Guitar Breakthrough tutorial software. His latest piece explores the reasons so many people have for giving up the guitar. Using a mirror and four simple exercises, Len demonstrates how anyone can play.

The Failed Success
by Len Collins

Len decided that he’s been away from Guitar Noise for so long that he needs two articles so that people will remember who he is! Here he offers some thoughts on musicians, bands, managers, songwriters, the music business in general and doors.

Sunday Songwriters Group

The Sunday Songwriters Group is a Guitar Noise exclusive. Conceived by Ryan Spencer and Nick Torres, the idea is to give songwriters a weekly exercise in order to help develop their lyric-writing skills.

Now in our third year (!), Bob continues to put us all through our paces, giving us weekly assignments to help everyone sharpen their abilities.

It’s open to everyone. Got an itch to write? Jump on in! Even if you don’t write, you should feel free to critique. After all, you probably have experience listening to songs, no?

For more info, visit the SSG FAQ.

Year Three, Week 29

Okay we’ve focused on different aspects of our song writing over the last twenty-five weeks (I can’t believe we’re half way through this third year!), aspects such as inspiration, imagery, structure, rhyming schemes etc. But we all approach writing songs in different ways which become more complicated when we collaborate. Over the next two weeks we’re going to write some songs as if we were collaborating. The way to imagine this is to see yourself as the major songwriting partner but someone else, in this case me, is going to feed you ideas and streams of consciousness, lines to be included and possibly even subjects to write about. After that we’ll bounce ideas of each other. It’s up to you to then write a song retaining the SSG principles of song writing. I hope that makes sense for you.

Last week we agreed the title was an important part of the song, perhaps the most important. However, I’d like to disagree with myself on this and say I think the chorus is the most important aspect of the song. After all it’s what we hear most often in a song, it’s the instantly recognizable and repeatable part of the song. So this week I’d like you to pick two of last week’s titles (reproduced on the thread on the forum page for easy reference) and write a chorus for each of them. Remember to include the title in the chorus as best you can. Oh and you can’t use your own titles.

Good Writing

Bob

Reviews

B.B. King – The Ultimate Collection
CD Review by David Hodge

In honor of his upcoming eightieth birthday, this CD celebrates this blues giant in style, presenting twenty-one songs recorded throughout his long career. It’s an excellent collection, whether you’re a long-time B. B King fan or you’ve only recently been introduced to his music.

Thoughts & Feedback

I mentioned that I’ve been reading a book. It was, in fact, Guitar: An American Life, by Tim Brookes and I’ll be doing a review of it in the (hopefully) very near future. There are many things about it worth discussing, some I think you’ll find very interesting.

Right now, for whatever reason, my mind is fixed on Jane Feather. Who is she? Well, she is listed as the sole writer for the song, How Blue Can You Get? Yes, it’s the same song I mention in my review of B. B. King – The Ultimate Collection.

For better or worse, I am finding myself asking all sorts of questions about things like this. How many other songs did Jane write that I might know? Who recorded them? Did she ever record any of them herself?

It’s amazing how much about music I don’t know. Even about music I’ve taken time to learn a lot about. You can spend your whole life learning and, pardon the cliché, not even begin to scratch the surface.

Last Saturday I taught an Easy Songs For Beginners seminar. Monday evening I attended a thank you dinner held for a number of teachers (me included) who participate in a continuing education program for elders. I got to catch up with some of the forty-five seniors who spent an afternoon with me last October learning about the guitar.

And it’s inspiring to find so many people who are spending their time learning about all the things they don’t know. Yes, the Internet is available to them all, but the personal interaction with both the teacher and their fellow students is what gives them the added spark.

It’s easy to learn. But most people get more excited about it if they have someone with whom they can share what they’ve learned. I think that’s one of the reasons why our Forum pages work pretty well.

So again while I hope you all have a grand week and that you stay safe, I again urge you to get out there and learn something. Better yet, create something new with whatever you learn. Best still, share what you’ve learned and created.

And, as always,

Peace

David