Guitar Noise

Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.

You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instructions are at the end of this newsletter.

In This Issue

• News and Announcements
• Sunday Songwriters Sessions
• Thoughts and Feedback

News And Announcements

Greetings!

Welcome to Guitar Noise News!

You might be interested to note that it’s February second (2/2) and this is the 22nd issue of the second volume of our little newsletter. Karma like that doesn’t happen every day!

Speaking of karma, this week also is Chinese New Year. Yesterday, in fact, marked the start of “the Year of the Ram” (which I’ve also seen written as “Year of the Sheep”). Like everyone, though, I’m sure I’ll keep writing “the Year of the Horse” on my checks for a while…

So, if you happen to turn 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96 or 108 years old between now and next Chinese New Year’s, THIS IS YOUR YEAR!!! Personally, I think it’s kind of cool to have a whole year to celebrate something.

I bring all this up because, as many of you already know, our esteemed Executive Producer, Paul Hackett, lives in Beijing. So, being the person I am, I’m giving him the weekend off so he can join in the celebrations and not be chained to his computer waiting for stuff from me!

We did manage to put together an MP3 file for you all. Even though this is a (for us) fairly recent lesson, I’ve gotten so many requests for an MP3 file for it, that I couldn’t help but comply!

Fields of Gold

I have to laugh, though, because I’m finding that adding MP3s to old lessons is turning out to create new work I hadn’t planned on. Take this particular lesson, for example. Now I’ve got to go and rewrite portions of the text because when I originally wrote it I knew I was going to be doing a MIDI file and laboriously explained (in a whole section titled “The Groove”) that the MIDI would not truly reflect all the nuances that you want to put into the song. I’ll get it done during the upcoming week.

Sigh. The things I do for you all…

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.

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.

So, now that you all know what’s going on…

SSG – Week 16

This week’s topic is a bit of a departure from the norm. We are going to use two new writing tools other than paper and pencil (or pc and keyboard). Don’t worry, you’ve all used them before. Drum roll please. The two tools are: your ears and your GUITAR!

All you need to do is play these chords, in this order, and write whatever comes to mind. Try to get inside the feeling the chords present when you hear them. Listen to the changes. How do they make you feel? Do they bring up any memories? Do they evoke images? That’s all there is to it. So without further ado, here is the chord progression.

C – (I)
F – (IV)
Em – (III)
Dm – (II)

We’d like to suggest one measure for each change, but you should feel free to take liberties with that. Along with your lyric post, please give us some idea as to how you are playing the chords (fast, slow, finger-style arpeggios, power chords, etc.) and what beat the chords are changing.

Do stick with the progression as much as possible. Allowances will be made for reasonable substitutions (if you want to use 7ths with the minors (Em7 and Dm7) or add9s and such). Also, if you find for whatever reason that you can’t write in this key (maybe it’s wrong for your voice), feel free to transpose. For instance, I – IV – III – II in the key of G would be G – C – Bm – Am.

Finally, some people might feel happier with a progression that resolves itself to the root. If that’s you, then the progression is C – F – Em – Dm – C. Pretty simple, right?

Extra credit if you can think of any songs using the same sequence.

As Nick says, write well.

Thoughts and Feedback

I’d like to share two things with you this week. First, Darrin Koltow, copy editor extraordinaire and all-around great guitar person (if you don’t read his newsletter on a weekly basis, you’re missing out on some of the greatest free lessons on the net!), sent me this “Joy of Music” piece:

From Donna:

When I was eight, dancing was my life. I really enjoyed moving to music! When I was ten, it was discovered that I had scoliosis (curvature of the spine). Dancing was removed from my life (although now the therapy is just the opposite – keep the spine as flexible as possible).

My parents had bought me a guitar when I was nine, so I started learning how to play it and eventually would accompany myself when singing.

During the sixth grade we moved three times. My mother encouraged me to try out for a talent show at the newest school as a way to meet people. I sang “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and accompanied myself on the guitar. When I finished, the whole gymnasium fell silent. I thought I’d die! Then, the applause started. It seems I startled them with this “big voice” that no one thought could come out of an 11 year-old. Since then, I’ve thought, “I can do this!”

Music helped me get through my teen years. My parents always knew what kind of mood I was in by the music I chose to play. That gave them a clue as to when it was safe to knock on my bedroom door!

Today, I’m a music director for contemporary worship at a local church, a performing songwriter of secular music, and I have the wonderful opportunity to teach others how to play the guitar, keyboard, or how to sing. I’m also working on a concept for a guitar orchestra. I love music and the joy it continually brings to my life!

The second thing is this great item that popped up in the forum pages this week:

Here in Australia, I’ve recently become a finalist for BIC intensity 25 word verse competition, Judged in Melbourne.

Before the whole song was rewritten, it was from a song I posted here called ‘It’s hard to say goodbye’ which has now been changed to ‘Leaving Yesterday’ as the theme was changed a bit. I just want to say to all the critiques here thank you so much, if it hadn’t been for your ideas, it would never have been changed the way it was, and I probably would never have got this far.

And to all the new members of the site, you are all really lucky you’ve found this site, as you will be given extremely helpful advice. Thanks again to:

Alan, Nick, Chris J, Rob, Melodie, Stephen and Sethric. (and anyone else I’ve missed) Wish me luck in the finals, Luv always, Jacqui

Our Forum pages now have over eight hundred registered members and I’d like to thank each one for making the Guitar Noise pages a great place for people to post questions, thoughts and ideas. It certainly isn’t easy to approach total strangers with what you might consider a “stupid” question or your first song lyric. But the thoughtful responses, the constructive criticism, the wry humor and the honest friendship of all of you does make a difference.

If you’ve ever wondered how you can make a positive impact on someone’s life, then look no further. And the truly marvelous thing about it is that you know it doesn’t stop at one point. If you’ve helped out just one person on these pages, the chances are likely that that person is in turn helping someone else out with that information. If you’ve brought a smile to someone, rest assured that smile will be seen the whole world over.

I often refer to this sharing as part of the gift of music, but, as you see, it can run so much deeper than that.

I hope that each of you has a great week. I look forward to hearing from you.

As always,

Peace

David