Newsletter Vol. 2 # 44 – July 06, 2003
Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.
In This Issue
- News and Announcements
- New Lessons and Articles
- Email of the Week
- Sunday Songwriters Sessions
- Thoughts and Feedback
News And Announcements
Greetings!
Welcome to Guitar Noise News!
I think that coming back from a weekend away from the computer is actually worse to plan for than the going away. My apologies in advance that this will be an “abbreviated” newsletter, but that doesn’t mean it won’t have things for you to enjoy. And I don’t mean telling you of my plane trip which basically was a non-stop video tape of “Everyone Loves Raymond” reruns.
New Lessons, Articles and Reviews
We’ve got a two-for-one deal this week, courtesy of Nick Torres. After seeing Joanne Juskus in the Washington DC area, he managed to not only review her latest CD, but also enticed this incredible songwriter to do an interview for Guitar Noise.
Joanne Juskus
by Nick Torres
Email Of The Week
As I mention in my response to this Email of the Week, I’m a little stunned that we don’t have a FAQ already posted on this (“paging Doctor Torres”). I may have even answered it already in an earlier newsletter, but it’s still worth bringing up.
I have a question for you if you have the time to answer it. I have a daughter that is thirteen years old. She seems to be interested in learning the guitar. I have two electrics and one acoustic that I don’t mind her using, but I am right handed and she is left handed. I believe that she is musically gifted and definitely has the ear. She can play the piano fairly well and can figure out songs quickly. I have shown her a few chords and a couple of riffs. She tries to play them both right handed and left handed. She seems to do OK either way, but she is just beginning and I can’t tell which way she’d be better off.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to have your opinion on whether to get her a left hand guitar or let her use my right handed guitars.
There’s a lot of debate about whether one should play lefty or right handed and I’m kind of surprised we don’t have a FAQ about it.
Basically, you end up thinking about the two hands one uses and what they do. There’s the “fretting” hand (the left one for righties, the right one for lefties) and the “strumming” hand (left for lefties and right for righties). To me, it’s all about the strumming. For the life of me, I cannot strum or keep the rhythm as well with my right hand as I can with the left. To me this is not too surprising as I am left handed, but I also play piano and my right hand does a lot of rhythm playing on that instrument. I don’t know…
It’s often argued that the fretting hand should be a person’s most dexterous hand, since it does, after all, move all over the place. But if this were true, then all right handed people would play left handed guitars. This is what makes me think that my ideas about the strumming hand are well founded.
If you’re unsure, try this test: take a tennis racquet or a stick or even play an air guitar and see which way you play. Chances are you’ll go with what’s the most natural for you. Your daughter, given the same test, will probably give you her answer.
If a person is indeed ambidextrous when it comes to strumming, I’d say go with the right handed guitars – if for no other reason that you’ll have a better selection. There are a number of well known guitarists who are left handed but play guitar right handed. Paul Simon, David Byrne and Mark Knopfler spring immediately to mind, but I know there are more.
I hope this helps.
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.
And now that you all know what’s going on…
Sunday Songwriter’s group Week 38
Let’s not beat around the bush, ok?
This week we are going to beat around the bush. We struck an interesting chord last week dealing with universal appeal. So we are going to work on hidden meaning again.
What do you mean that wasn’t funny?
Look, I think you need to change your attitude, Mister or Miss.
Speaking of, that is exactly what we are going to do.
Change the attitude of an existing lyric.
This week take one of your old lyrics, (if you have one), and rewrite it with a brand new message behind it. Try to make a dramatic contrast between what you were saying and what you are saying now.
For instance you once wrote a lyric about how heartbroken you were when so and so broke up with you. Don’t bother denying it, I know you wrote one.
Well this week change it around and stick a different underlying meaning in. Here are some examples and how it would change the song concept.
The original – I was heartbroken.
New Attitude examples:
1. He who laughs last laughs longest.
“I was heartbroken. Now I’m sitting back smiling looking at what you got yourself into”
2. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
“I was heartbroken. Maybe I still am. Don’t come telling me your troubles now. Find someone else to help you.”
3. Don’t burn your bridges behind you.
“I was heartbroken. Now I’m over it. Don’t make me laugh by crawling back now.”
4. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
“I was heartbroken. Now you are too.”
These sayings are just the idea behind the song.
Don’t put the lines in the lyric.
If you don’t have a complete lyric, go ahead and start one from scratch. Make sure you have a very clear concept of the underlying idea before you start.
Anyone is welcome to join in. Please take a look at “Songwriting for Beginners” if you haven’t written lyrics before. It’s painless I promise and it will bring you up to speed quickly.
Good luck and good writing.
Thoughts and Feedback
For our (many!) readers who live outside the United States, you may not know that this is a holiday weekend here (July 4th – “Independence Day”). As such, I’ve been a bit under the gun at my ad agency job; all the work that would normally be spread out over first week must be done by the 3rd. So I’m afraid I’m not going to have much of a chance than to wish you all to have a grand week. Stay safe.
And, as always,
Peace
David
