Newsletter Vol. 2 # 15 – December 15, 2002
Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.
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In This Issue
- News and Announcements
- New Lessons and Articles
- Email of the Week
- Sunday Songwriters Sessions
- Reviews
- Hot Forum Topic
- Thoughts and Feedback
News And Announcements
Greetings!
Welcome to Guitar Noise News!
Using my astute powers of perception, I can tell you that the month of December is almost (but not quite) half over. And let’s not get into one of those “half full / half empty” debates. Instead, let’s discuss advertising. Have you missed seeing them up on Guitar Noise? Have you even noticed that there aren’t any ads on the site?
In case you missed our announcement two weeks ago, we’re having a “pledge month” here on Guitar Noise. For the entire month of December, we aren’t running any ads. Crazy, right? Particularly when we can use the income!
When I mentioned to some people I know in the Internet industry about our idea for the pledge drive, the general reaction was not to expect much of a response or, worse, to expect a negative backlash. Well, we are getting a response and I’d like to thank those of you who have donated to Guitar Noise during the past two weeks. One reader recently told me that when he figured out how much he might have spent on guitar lessons (thinking in terms of $20 (or more!) an hour), that giving five dollars for a year seemed like an incredibly good deal. I enjoy people whose sense of understatement matches my own!
You can find out more about our pledge goals, what we plan to do to improve the site and even make a donation here.
Again, I thank you all for your support on making Guitar Noise the fantastic (and free) website that it is and, more importantly, I thank you for helping us to get even better!
Finally, we’re still taking submissions for “The Joy of Guitar” or “The Joy of Music” series we’ve been running. Email Dan Lasley, Darrin Koltow or myself and we’ll make sure you get to share yours.
Did I forget to mention there’s a lot going on? Let’s see…
New Lessons And Articles
Let’s see… latest “Joy of Music” article? Check. A new writer? Check, again. A really cool piece on being a studio musician from our man at the Tokyo School of Music? Checkeroo! How about the latest Intermediate Song Lesson, complete with MP3 sound files? I must be kidding, right? See for yourself what’s new at Guitar Noise since we last chatted:
The Joy Of Music – 2002 (part three)
Here are four more stories of joy and inspiration for you to enjoy. How about you? There’s still plenty of time to share one, you know! It doesn’t even have to be much more than a paragraph, we just want to hear from you. Email Dan Lasley, Darrin Koltow or myself and we’ll take it from there.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF MINE
by Len Collins
Len Collins, creator of the popular Guitar Breakthrough tutorial software, has been kind enough to offer to write a few articles for Guitar Noise. We start out with a bit of an introduction, a history of the guitarist behind the computer. I’m looking forward to finding out more about him.
Soldier Of Fortune
by Chris Juergensen
We all hear over and over how important speed is. Well, you might be surprised at the kind of speed that’s important to the professional studio guitarist. Chris gives plenty of great advice for those of you aspiring to the life of a professional studio musician. I should add that’s it great advice for everyone!
Losing My Religion – Intermediate Song Lesson #8
by David Hodge
That’s me in the corner. That’s me on the sound files…We continue on with another look at arranging a song you might normally just strum along with the chords. Here you are the guitar, mandolin and even the bass with one instrument. And believe it or not, this is way easier than some of our recent intermediate lessons. Did I mention that it also contain MP3 examples? Can you tell I’m nervous? Two favors – first, let me know if the files are helpful. Second, don’t tell me that I didn’t play the transcriptions exactly!
Email Of The Week
Question: I’ve been playing guitar for about only 2 and a half years. I have been teaching myself. I don’t know many chords except the modern chords and others. I want more of a challenge playing guitar but I don’t know where or how to get better or get a challenge. Do you?
Thanks for writing. Do I know of ways to get more of a challenge? I certainly do and you probably do as well. First off, let me direct you to the very first column I wrote, Breaking Out Of The Box.
Listening is the biggest key for challenging yourself – listening to other guitarists, listening to other musicians (guitarists or not) and listening to other styles of music. There is so much out there to be inspired by. It doesn’t even have to be music.
In addition to listening, you have to be able to give yourself a focus. What does “getting better mean?” You want to give yourself specific and measurable goals. Darrin wrote a terrific article about this, A Musician’s Most Important Skill.
If you combine these two ideas, you’ll find that being challenged will be the least of your worries. Instead you’ll be wondering how to fit an infinite number of new ideas into your music! The answer to that is, you never will. But the great thing is that you can spend your whole life exploring all that you can.
If you have a question for us please remember that many questions have been asked in different ways, and the answer may already appear somewhere on Guitar Noise. If you have a question please check the help pages.
Sunday Songwriters Group
SSG Week 10
So last week I said the title was arguably the most important aspect of a lyric. Well the other side of the argument is it’s the chorus. After all the chorus is the only section of the song that gets heard more than once. It had better be twice (three, four times) as good then, right?
This week’s topic: Pick any two titles submitted last week and write a chorus for each one.
Oh, oh, oh! One more thing – you can’t use any of your own titles.
It’s a short assignment, so think about the rhythm, word play, hook and matching up with/using the title line.
Reviews
The Prax Ax
Product review by Darrin Koltow
Want to practice a difficult finger picking pattern while waiting in line at the grocery store? Does that sound like some line from a bad ad? I guess that’s why I don’t make a living writing copy! Darrin Koltow gives us a review on the PraxAx, a fiendishly simple device that does allow you to practice picking almost anywhere you go.
Hot Forum Topic – Soloing Issue
From Guitar Players Discussion Page
Maybe I’m homing in on a theme:
Hey there, just looking for a bit of help on soloing. When I’m soloing I seem to lack something. My heart and attitude are in it, I’m fine there. I think what it is, is that I don’t know what to do during it, what to play. I know my scales, even some modal theory. So I don’t have problem playing the right notes I think I just can’t find the one that sounds right. Or I can’t seem to do anything interesting with them. It’s the same with my shredding, I’ve got enough speed and accuracy to start doing it but I don’t know what to do. Any ideas would be sweet.
There’s been a bit said about this topic, but as one of our Forum Page regulars says, it’s a question that comes up all the time. Come and share what works for you on the Guitar Noise forums.
Thoughts and Feedback
For those of you interested in such things, do you know that on Monday, December 2nd I received thirty-four emails? I didn’t even know it myself until last Monday when I finally finished answering them all! But don’t be alarmed. I am (as of Thursday the 12th), all caught up.
However, I am REALLY tired! I can’t even tell you when the “lights” went up on the home page! Not tired enough to remember that I wanted to talk about resolutions…
Maybe it is a theme, this and the email and the forum page, but it’s an important one. I know a lot of people (and I’m certain you do as well) who are great at finding things they cannot do. And I know I’ve said this before, too, but it can’t be said enough – you can’t think of playing the guitar as a competition. Not if you want to enjoy it.
There’s a great discussion going on at the Beginner’s Q&A forum page titled “Did I Start Too Late?” And I think it reinforces the fact that playing, and the enjoyment of playing is truly a thing of the moment.
This time of year, not surprisingly, I tend to think a lot about resolutions. And like anything (and my friends will provide proof if you’d like), I over- think it. Isn’t “I want to learn the guitar” simply a resolution?
How do I justify talking about resolutions, which basically means preparing for the future, while saying that playing is all about being in the moment? Well, not to get too zen or anything, but every moment is fluid. When is now “now?” Many people mistakenly think that living in the moment means ignoring both the past and the future but nothing could be further from the truth. To live in the “now” is to accept that our moment includes all three elements: past, present and future. If I want to get more exasperating, I could sit here and say “The past WAS now and the future WILL BE now at some point.”
But this resolution thing is a lot easier than that. To make a resolution requires you to be in the moment, to honestly assess where you are and what you want. This applies to almost anything, from playing guitar to body weight to work habits.
If, for example, I sit with my guitar and think, “I’d like to be able to play this Hawaiian slack key song I heard on the radio.” And I resolve to do so. And guess what? Six months later I am playing this piece for my friends. Resolution fulfilled, right?
But guess what again? There are a LOT of little steps that had to happen in order for me to fulfill that resolution. I had to resolve to find out the name of the song, to search out if there was any sheet music already printed for it, to go to the music store and order the music. I had to learn more about Hawaiian slack key guitar in order to understand what I was playing, I had to listen to this particular song to hear the nuances of the arrangement and, for good measure, listen to as much Hawaiian slack key as I could find in order to truly get a feel for the genre.
When you make a resolution, you often only focus on the goal. We neglect all the little bits of “now” that are going to account for reaching our goal. And we have to go through them. What’s one of the biggest questions you hear from a guitarist? It’s “how do I get faster?” Doesn’t matter if we’re talking about changing chords, playing a lead, fingerpicking or simply getting ahead. We want now. This is what we understand.
And what’s the answer that EVERYONE knows? The only way to get to the point of being fast is to live through the “now,” the “get it clean at a slow tempo (or “no-tempo”) because if you can’t play it clean at a slow pace you’ll never get it at speed.” While we all know this answer, we still sometimes think that there is a magical shortcut.
Personally, I am incredibly thankful that there isn’t. Don’t ever want to miss a single step. The cool thing about a resolution, if you think about it, is that it should take you on a great trip. A resolution like playing the guitar, if you’re lucky, will take a life time. And I can’t think of a better way to spend those moments.
Maybe I AM really tired – I just wanted to say, “be sure to think about making some resolutions for the new year” and look what you ended up reading!
I hope that each of you has a grand week and I forward to hearing from you.
As always,
Peace
David
