Newsletter Vol. 2 # 53 – September 28, 2003

Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.

In This Issue

• News and Announcements
• New Lessons and Articles
• Email of the week
• Forum News
• Sunday Songwriters Sessions
• Thoughts and Feedback

News And Announcements

Greetings!

Someone has a crush on you! No…Wait a minute…

Take advantage of the lowest mortgage rates on the planet NOW NOW NOW!!!…No. That’s not it either…

Welcome to Guitar Noise News!

Okay, that’s a lot better! At least, I hope that you don’t scowl when you see “Guitar Noise News” in your inbox!

Let’s get right into things this week, shall we?

New Lessons And Articles

Roine Stolt Interview
by A-J Charron

Thanks to the wonder of the Internet, A-J didn’t have to go to Sweden to interview the front man of The Flower Kings, although I’m sure he would have preferred to do so! Here is his interview with Roine Stolt, which covers everything from the band’s early history to his custom Parker Fly guitars.

There’s A Hound Dog Barking In The Yard
by Alan Green

At long last Alan returns to the pages of Guitar Noise with the follow up to his popular Well I Woke Up This Morning. His latest piece walks you through a traditional blues “turnaround,” all done in a great fingerstyle. Alan has also been kind enough to furnish some MP3s to aid you with this lesson.

Email Of The Week

Sometimes I get questions that, while technical, I can actually answer!

Heya!

First of all, thx a lot for your great website! If you had not made this page, I surely couldn’t play a simple song on guitar :)

Just a short question:

On your recordings the guitar you play sounds great (compared to mine). Do you use some kind of dynamic compression or effect?

Cya and keep on writing your great articles.

Thanks for writing. And thank you as well for your kind words concerning Guitar Noise. I’m glad we are able to be of help to you.

I have to tell you that I am not the person who put up the page! Guitar Noise is owned and run by Paul Hackett, who lives in Beijing, China. I’m simply one of the many volunteers who help out.

I don’t use compression on my guitar but what I think happens is that the sound does get compressed when I convert the recordings to MP3 format. I’m not anything close to an expert on this topic, I’m afraid. I should definitely talk more with Dan Lasley (our sound/engineering writer) on this subject!

On the MP3 up ’til now, I’ve been playing my old (very old – 1980) Yamaha acoustic to record and I do double the tone by recording with both an external microphone (Shure) and a clip-on pick up (Bill Lawrence). I mix the external microphone a third higher than the pick-up. This is all recorded on a Yamaha AW16G digital recorder.

After recording, I convert the original digital data to WAV format in order to check it out on my (very poor) computer system. I then take that WAV format and convert it into MP3 and send it off to Paul, who puts it online.

I hope that helps by way of explanation. I’m willing to bet that in person my guitar sounds pretty much like yours!

Forum News

If you’ve managed to miss the announcement these past two weeks, we’ve created three new forum pages:

• GUITAR NOISE LESSONS
• GUITAR AND MUSIC THEORY
• SWAP MEET FORUM

The Guitar Noise Lessons Forum, as you might imagine, deals specifically with our lessons here at Guitar Noise. Think of this forum as a one-room school house where we pick out a particular lesson and sit down and discuss it – techniques, problems, ideas, links to other sites, the odd bit of theory, how to apply what we learn to other things.

We’ve also opened up a “Meet and Greet” thread where you can (surprise!) meet others who frequent these discussions – be they brand new to the guitar or mentors or folks who simply want to learn and help out.

The first discussion thread is in full swing and deals with two lessons – “Absolute Beginners Part 1: Chords” and the ever-popular “Horse With No Name.”

This week, we’re starting a new discussion on the lesson, “For What It’s Worth.”

Please feel free to come in and join in either discussion and also be sure to stop in at the “Meet and Greet” and tell us a bit about yourself.

See you on the boards.

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 50

As we get closer and closer to the SSG’s first anniversary, I find that I get to choose the topic for week 50! How about that?

Okay, so we’ve gotten this far – everyone has a topic and some imagery and a storyboard and even a chorus. I guess we’ve got to go ahead and finish our songs. But where’s the challenge in that? Well, believe it or not, one way that many writers use to improve their skills is to work within structural limitations. If you’re writing a short story, as opposed to a novel for instance, you’re going to have to have a tighter plot line and even the smallest detail should make itself integral to your story telling. And if you think about it, a song can certainly be thought of as a very short story.

So guess what? You’ve got to sing your song in three verses and each verse should be eight lines long or less. And let’s try not to go overboard by making your lines hundreds of syllables long. The object is to make your writing tighter by getting the right word. If you truly need more space, then you are allowed a bridge (only one!) of four lines.

As Nick says, “Good luck and good writing.”

Reviews

Tom Yoder: The Moment the Apple Falls
Tom Yoder is one of those rare guitarists that I really appreciate. He doesn’t set out to impress through speed and technique.

Kitko
Kitko’s newest effort shows what one can do with only a guitar and a (pretty) voice. This may be a short album, with only six songs, but she’s sure to get a hold of you with her sometimes smooth, sometimes energetic folk-rock sounds.

Ken Tamplin and Friends
Rather than reinventing the wheel, Ken Tamplin oils it and makes it turn well. Great songs, played by great musicians. Tamplin also has a very interesting voice, slightly reminiscent of that of Tommy Shaw (Styx).

Ebin: Just As I Am
A fine blend of John Mellencamp and Eddie Veder, this album is mainstream, without being too caught up in the moment.

Julien Kasper: Flipping Time
This is an album of easily enjoyable rock, played by Julien Kasper on guitars with accompanying drums, bass and occasional Hammond (a real Hammond) all played by real musicians.

Thoughts and Feedback

Growing up in New England, as I did, one develops a keen appreciation for what I call the “seasons of change,” that is, Spring and Autumn. Don’t get me wrong, we do have a “fall” season in Chicago (it’s at 2:43 PM on October 12th), but watching the windows of the stores change color, as beautiful as it is in its own right, is just not quite the same.

I wrote a few weeks ago about September and the “back to school” mentality. In a way, Autumn is a bit of a paradox in that we combine this eager (or not so eager!) desire to learn new things with a time of year which is more about gathering past accomplishments and reflection. Maybe it’s these two seemingly different things that give the season its atmosphere of change.

Be that as it may, there are numerous changes in the works here at Guitar Noise. Some of them you’ve seen on the site but a lot of them are happening elsewhere – and by “elsewhere” I mean in the “real world” outside the borders of your computer monitors.

This week we’ll start with some big news – I am moving at the end of the year. Yes, I’ll be leaving Chicago for the “wilds” of western Massachusetts. I’ll be in the general vicinity of Great Barrington, which is practically on the New York / Massachusetts border and not that far from Connecticut as well.

The corollary to this announcement is that I am also going to make a “career change” of sort. Starting the first of the year, I will be teaching guitar and music full time. At least that’s the plan. So if any of you who happen to live in the general area are interested in one-on-one lessons, please do let me know!

Just what does this mean for Guitar Noise? Well, for starters, it should mean that I’ll have more time to write. But, as with everything, we’ll have to see. It may be that I have to take on a few more side jobs while building up my practice. It may also mean that I find myself getting a sane schedule and putting up weekly columns again. Whatever happens, rest assured that I’m not leaving the site. And, whatever happens, your patience, thoughts and feedback, are always appreciated.

But this move also brings about more news that may really interest you. And that, I’m afraid, is going to have to wait ’til next time.

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

And, as always,

Peace

David