Guitar Noise

Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.

In This Issue

• News and Announcements
• New Lessons and Articles
• Guitar Tip
• Sunday Songwriters Sessions
• Thoughts and Feedback

News And Announcements

Greetings!

Welcome to Guitar Noise News!

And before we go any further, I’ve got to tell you that it’s a pretty exciting week here at Guitar Noise. We are unveiling our first attempt at a lesson with a VIDEO file as well as an audio file!!

Now, before you all pitch in with the “oooohs” and “aaaaahs,” let me say that this is very much in the initial stages. Depending on your set up, some of you may not be able to download the images. Others may find it takes too long. We’ve already had numerous snafus in the “testing” stage and I fully expect more.

What I hope is that you join us in the spirit of things. If it doesn’t work, don’t (a) panic, (b) take it personally or (c) give up on us. Just as the MP3s have gotten better with each attempt, we’re hoping that this will as well.

And please, please, PLEASE don’t write me asking for a video for all the old lessons!! Let’s take this one step at a time. Promise?

A hearty thank you goes to Nick Torres who put all of this together. I guess he took his “promotion” to Senior Editor to heart! Either that or he’s gunning for my job…

Also, let’s have a hand for Paul for taking time out from his movie to coordinate getting this all online.

New Lessons And Articles

And we’ve got more. Check in on the latest from Bill Cozzo who’s shopping for pickups. And once you get your new pickups, crank it up and play along with Nick. Here are the latest articles and lessons at Guitar Noise:

My Journey Into The World Of Replacement Pickups
Part one – The Definition of Tone
by Bill Cozzo

If you’re like me, you probably think that changing the pickups on your guitar is a thing best left to the pros. But it doesn’t have to be. Bill Cozzo brings the same style that defines his reviews to help us get through the first step in choosing a new set of pickups – deciding what we want in the first place! And then knowing how to get what tone we desire from our guitar.

Tap, Hammer On, Pull Off, Repeat
by Nick Torres

Hold on to your hats! Don’t try this at home! Amaze your friends and family! Have I missed anything? Nick Torres literally brings another new dimension to Guitar Noise with this lesson on Eruption by Van Halen. Now you can WATCH how to tap, hammer on and pull off while you read a wonderfully enlightening piece on this mysterious combination of techniques.

Guitar Tip

A poster on the Forum pages asked about scales, specifically where to find those of a more exotic nature. Fortunately for us, Alan Green was on the scene! Actually he was visiting over at Wholenote.com and found a link to a quite interesting site that lists all sorts of scales. Being the generous soul that he is, Alan was kind enough to share the link with the readers on the forum.

And, being me, I’ll give it to you here.

Have a good look around and explore some very interesting sounds!

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…

SSG week 40

This week the SSG goes country! Yes, you heard me! But before you go rolling your eyes, notice I didn’t say which country…

Some of you may have noticed that the Guitar Noise community is truly multinational. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the thread on the Guitar Players Discussion Page titled “Where in the world are you?”

Your task this week is to write a song about any subject that you want, but write it from another place in the world. Let’s hear a love story from Lithuania. Tell us a tragic tale taking place in Thailand. Grace our pages with the glory of Greenland.

Just DON’T write about somewhere you’ve been.

In this particular exercise, imagery is what we’re after. Make us feel like we’ve been transported to another land.

(Note to David: other planets won’t count!)

Good luck and good writing.

Thoughts and Feedback

I’m thinking about re-titling this section. Maybe I’ll paraphrase Groucho Marx (another musician, by the way!) and say: “My Thoughts and Principles. If you don’t like them, I’ve got more…”

It’s been a weird week, music-wise. Bernie Williams, yes, Bernie Williams of the New York Yankees of all people, came out with a debut CD of jazz music which is, according to a few of my friends, actually very good.

And this sad news came from Cuba: Compay Segundo passed away at the age of ninety-five. Here’s a bit of the clipping that Anthony Boadle wrote for MSN (I think):

HAVANA (Reuters) – Compay Segundo, the veteran Cuban guitarist and singer who won international recognition late in life as frontman for the Grammy-winning Buena Vista Social Club group, has died. He was 95.

Compay, whose real name was Francisco Repilado, died of kidney failure at his home in Miramar, Havana, shortly before midnight on Sunday, his son Salvador said.

The musician, whose rise from oblivion to global popularity helped make traditional Cuban music known worldwide, will be buried on Tuesday in his native Santiago in eastern Cuba, where he started out as clarinet player in the municipal band.

Compay won international fame with the 1997 Grammy Award-winning recording Buena Vista Social Club produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder.

The record brought back into the limelight a group of talented musicians who had all but been forgotten in Cuba, including Compay, pianist Ruben Gonzalez, and singers Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo.

The group’s fame was spread by the film Buena Vista Social Club by German director Wim Wenders.

Compay, who was born in 1907 in Siboney, outside Santiago, enjoyed a second youth traveling around the world entertaining audiences with a repertoire topped by his best-known song “Chan Chan.”

Wearing his trademark Panama hat and suit, Compay gave concerts until May this year, when his health deteriorated.

“The flowers of life come to everyone. One has to be ready not to miss them. Mine arrived after I was 90,” the cigar-smoking musician said in a recent interview.

“Compay is to Cuban music what the Cuban flag is to the Cuban people,” a saddened fellow Buena Vista singer, Omara Portuondo, said at a Havana funeral parlor where she and members of his band paid their last respects.

Cuban President Fidel Castro sent a wreath of flowers.

“He leaves a vacuum in traditional Cuban music that will be hard to fill, because of his charm and the love of the Cuban people,” Compay’s son said.

“He made it to the world stage without ever making any concessions and kept his authenticity as a great figure of Cuban popular music,” said Cuban culture minister Abel Prieto.

Compay began composing music in his teens and playing in groups with the “armonico,” a seven-string guitar he developed to increase the harmony of the Cuban “son,” a traditional musical form which was a forerunner of today’s salsa.

Interestingly, both of these bits of news make me smile. People constantly ask me if the guitar is for them or if perhaps they are too old to take it up.

Think about this: If you are (gasp!) my age now (and I just (very) recently turned forty-six), you would have close to half your life left yet to play.

Think about this: Regardless of what you’re doing with your life, how can your picking up and learning the guitar any weirder than it was for a guy who plays the outfield for a living?

I have a confession to make – as much as I enjoy teaching kids something that will hopefully last a lifetime, I get a little bit more of a thrill from seeing an adult who is finding out that there is more to life than a job. Hearing that someone is playing music for his or her spouse, kids and/or friends makes me believe that the world is on its way to becoming a better place. Why? Because it’s close to impossible to share music without a smile.

I hope you play your guitar into your nineties.

I also hope you all have a grand week. Stay safe.

And, as always,

Peace

David