Guitar Noise

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
• Reviews
• Thoughts and Feedback

News And Announcements

Greetings!

Welcome to Guitar Noise News!

Believe it or not, people have been writing and asking about our “pledge drive.” I guess they are worried that they might have missed it, I don’t know…

But, chatting it over with Paul, it looks like there’s been a lot of interest in this. So we have once again created a page to allow you to help us out.

This is all low-key. There won’t be any telemarketers calling you in the wee hours of the night or pop-up adds blooming across your screen like wildflowers in July.

Last year we were able to jump to a much more efficient server thanks to your efforts. In the upcoming year we are hoping to get many more projects out to our readers, including the first of a series of Guitar Noise instructional CDs. Some of the things Paul’s told me to keep secret about are even more exciting!

So let me turn the floor over to our peerless leader, the illustrious Mr. Hackett:

It is about time I get a word in on this newsletter. I’m always seeing my name mentioned here in such a flattering manner that I would like to set the record straight. It wasn’t much more than a year ago that I was writing this newsletter myself and it was being sent to 2000 subscribers. Now that David has been the at the helm for over a year we have something like 14,000 satisfied readers every week. Now let me ask you this: who is the man?

Not only has David been instrumental in lifting the site to its current level of excellence, but he has also served as leader and inspiration to the many people who regularly contribute to the site. I want to say thank you to all the writers who have shared their passion for making and sharing music with Guitar Noise. Where would we be without you?

I want to especially thank Nick Torres and all the moderators under his wing that are doing a fantastic job in the forums. Without all their tireless effort I can honestly say the forums wouldn’t be the friendly, exciting and informative place they are today. I have some idea of the extraordinary amount of work involved in maintaining a peaceful yet lively atmosphere in the forums. I know I couldn’t do it myself. A big thank you to Nick and all the moderators: Greybeard, Musenfreund, Alan Green, strunglikeahorse, Laz, markyesme, Bob, and Portia.

Now onto business…

Guitar Noise is once again poised for growth. Already exceeding most of our wildest expectations, I sometimes wonder where this growth will lead. Recently Dan Lasley shared some advice with me about the difficulty of managing a growing business. In essence what he said was if you don’t grow you go out of business. But while you grow you find that the old methods of doing business don’t work anymore. And so, like this time last year, I find myself turning to Guitar Noise readers for help.

This year we find ourselves in need of more support than ever. Right now there are a couple ways you can help us out. Money makes the wheels go round and the first way you can help is by assisting us cover some of our operating expenses. As David mentioned people have actually been asking us to reinstate our pledge drive. Here is the link with more information and donating instructions.

Given people’s different incomes and situations anything you feel you can give would be greatly appreciated.

There is yet another way you can help instead of or in addition to donating money.

Guitar Noise is in need of several volunteers. Operating and improving the site always gets more demanding and requires an increased level of sophistication. The readers of Guitar Noise make a diverse group of people and I am calling on some of you to share your talents. If you’ve ever had a suggestion for Guitar Noise or wished we’d implement one of your ideas then this is the perfect opportunity to get involved.

There are a few areas that need immediate attention:

1. This group of volunteers needs a leader. The leader will coordinate the activities of all the volunteers as well approve new ideas or projects. This person should be someone who has been around the site for a few years and preferably someone I know personally.
2. Programmers. We could use a few aspiring programmers. We aren’t looking for anything too complicated yet, but we need people with who work well with PHP and MySQL. I have a few different projects in mind and would like to spread them around between a few different people.
3. Graphic Designer. We always need help with graphic design work. Speaking of which, if Murray Robinson from BC is reading this please email me. I’d like to speak to you more about some of the graphic design work you sent me in the past.
4. Marketing Interns. If you are interested in marketing or like making new friends we could use some help here too.

As a volunteer you’d get to be a more active part of this site and help it grow and improve. Your work will be seen and appreciated by millions of people. If you don’t already know, those of us responsible for running the site also have jobs, families and lives of our own. By joining us we won’t ask you to give up any of those things. We just need some extra help a few hours a week.

If interested contact me.

Why not join the ranks of Guitar Noise. I can promise you something that has always been true for me: the more you put into the site, the more you get out of it.

All the best,

Paul Hackett
Executive Producer
http://www.guitarnoise.com
http://www.musiccareers.net

And now that everyone’s all pumped up, let’s check out this week’s new lessons!

New Lessons And Articles

Copyright Protection: When And Why To Get It
by A-J Charron

All the information out there on copyrighting can be a bit daunting. How do you know what would be the best path for you in the particular situation you are in as a songwriter? A-J Charron guides you through various scenarios and points out which possible copyright methods may (or may not) work best for you.

Wish You Were Here
Easy Songs for Beginners #25
by David Hodge

So, so you think you can tell? Learn about freeing up your strumming, making it a bit more natural and a little less mechanical. In this lesson we’ll bet the basics of this classic Pink Floyd song down so that we can tackle the second guitar part in the upcoming Intermediate lesson.

Email Of The Week

People ask me all the time why I do all things I do for Guitar Noise. Well, when you get email like this (“Mr. Hodge” notwithstanding! *sigh*), I think the question should be how can I not?

Hi Mr. Hodge,

I wrote to you a couple of months ago, to thank you for all the information on your web site. I’m writing again to let you know I’m still at it and I’m having a blast. I have been playing with other musicians lately, which at first was very intimidating, but I’ve learned a lot from them. I think I might be addicted!!!! LOL!

Practice doesn’t really seem like practice, I’m having so much fun! If I hadn’t found this web site I honestly don’t think I would’ve picked my guitar back up. So again I want to thank you and all the other people that take time out to write for this site. It’s made a world of difference.

Thank you…..Thank you…..Thank you…… from the bottom of my heart…

Thank you as well. We wouldn’t be here if there weren’t people like you wanting to read and learn!

Forum News

So you know some chords and you want to find some songs you can play? Well, you might want to check out our newest forum page, the Easy Song Database. Forum member Mark (who goes by “markyesme”) is in the process of creating a fabulous database which will allow you to search for songs according to the chords you know!

But in order for this to be a success, we could really use everyone’s help. Come on over and help with posting, editing, suggestions on strumming patterns, you name it! This truly is a team project that will benefit everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re new or have been playing for years, you’ve got what it takes to help.

We’ll see you there!

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 Songwriters Group – the Second Year!

Week 3

It’s never too late to join in! Each week is a mini lesson in songwriting.

This week we learn about imagery.

Here is the Week 3 guideline:

Write a song lyric of any style with a “spooky” or “ghost story” theme (or anything that can be loosely connected with Halloween).

Start the assignment by making a list of imagery words. Then draw the lyrics imagery from your list. This is a great way of sparking the creative process.

Try to use ten to fifteen imagery words (words that convey your theme) in your song. This may seem like a lot, but in a typical three verse song, that’s only three or four words per verse (got to save some for the chorus and bridge, you know).

Good Luck and good writing,

Nick

Reviews

Byrd: Anthem
Byrd’s latest offering is another must for anyone who loves a great guitar in the midst of fabulously well-written symphonic metal. With Michael Flatters on vocals and Brian Hutchison on piano, drums and bass this trio rides a beautiful storm of powerful, emotional music.

Delp and Goudreau
Delp and Goudreau? Ring a bell? It should. Remember a little old seventies band called Boston? Brad Delp was the vocalist and Barry Goudreau the guitarist.

Thoughts and Feedback

The coolest thing, to me, about the above “email of the week” is that this person is now playing with other musicians. It truly is an addictive thing. Not to mention a lot of fun!

But, more importantly, for anyone from the beginning guitarist to the seasoned professional, it also can be an exciting way to learn. This is why I’ve included jam session time in our upcoming Guitar Noise Seminars (and watch next week for the winter 2004 schedule!) – because quite often the things you pick up from playing with others stick with you far longer than the tips you might glean simply from reading something.

This time of year is, traditionally, a time of family and friends. I urge all of you to try to work some music into the picture. Get together to play and to sing and to have fun! Spread the music around.

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

And, as always,

Peace

David