Guitar Noise

Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.

In This Issue

• News and Announcements
• New Lessons and Articles
• Worth a Look
• Email of the Week
• Sunday Songwriters Sessions / Sunday Composers
• Reviews
• Thoughts and Feedback

News And Announcements

Greetings!

Welcome to Guitar Noise News!

I have to tell you that I’m living in a kind of stupor right now. Three weeks from now, if a million or more tiny things go right (and I can’t even guess at the number of big things involved!) I’ll be in my new home. We could call it “Guitar Noise Headquarters – Western Hemisphere” (Paul definitely has the Eastern Hemisphere covered for the time being!), but we’ve settled on calling the place “Andante.” Literally, “at a walking pace,” which I think best defines my philosophy towards things.

If you missed last week’s announcement, then you might not know that our initial schedule for the 2004 Guitar Noise Seminars is out! Here’s the tentative plan and some details you’ll probably want to know:

Saturday, February 21, 2004
Topics: Strumming
Basic Theory

Saturday, March 20, 2004
Topics: Beginning Finger-style
Intro to Chord Voicing

Saturday, April 17, 2004
Topics: Beginning Electric Guitar
Beginning Electric Guitar (part 2)

In order to ensure that everyone gets plenty of personal attention, each of these classes will be limited to 10 people, so if you’d like to attend let me know!

The specifics:

Classes will be held at my (new) home in Egremont, Massachusetts, which is just outside of Great Barrington. We’re an just over an hour out of Albany, NY or Hartford, CT, under two hours from Boston and just over two hours from New York City.

By the bye, there’s lot’s of skiing in the area if you want to make a (longer) weekend out of it. Plus, the area has many tourist-y spots.

The time of the classes will, for now, be dependent upon enrollment. I’ve tried to group the lessons in a way that would make it worth your while to attend the whole day and I’d like to sweeten the pot, if you will, by offering this deal: Attendance for any of these first three full-day seminars (that’s six hours of class plus food, (nonalcoholic) drinks and jamming afterwards) will cost $100.

If you’d like to attend any (or all!) of these, drop me an email at dhodge@guitarnoise.com and be sure to put “Seminars” in the subject line. I will get back to you with details (within three to five days of your sending it) and will be more than happy to answer any of your questions.

Some questions that came up last week which I should have addressed – I will do my best to match the skill levels of the participants so that folks or on a fairly level plain. One of my intents was to try to “pair” topics together that would not only make things interesting, but would also allow you to not play all day! Plus, I think it’s important for people to be able to use the things they learn. So, for instance, after getting started on some finger-style patterns, you can learn some cool chord voicings that will make your finger picking sound even better!

If you think you have the logistics covered, write me and I’ll be more than happy to work out more of the details with you in order to make this happen.

All in all, I think you’ll find these to be rewarding experiences. People who’ve met me through Guitar Noise tell me that I’m pretty much in person the same person I am when I write. I guess that’s a good thing!

Speaking of good things, I’d like to thank everyone who’s made a donation to Guitar Noise these past few weeks. I promised Paul I wouldn’t spoil the surprise of any of the upcoming projects he’s gearing up for in 2004, but I can say that I think you will be very happy about how the site will improve.

I also want to say that I know that not everyone is in a position to make a donation. We’re not worried about that. But if you’d like to and if you can, there’s still a few weeks left before Paul takes the page down. Go right here.

And while you’re doing that, I’ll go on with introducing the latest articles to go online!

New Lessons And Articles

Necessity
by John Tucker

Christmas can lead to all sorts of binging on things, from food to strap locks! Before you go plunging into the nearest music store, it’s a good idea to have an honest assessment of what you actually need. John relates to us some thoughtful ideas based on his experiences on the subject.

The Little Drummer Boy
by Peter Simms

Come, they told me… Peter adds his share to the “finest gifts we bring” with his wonderful chord melody arrangement of this Christmas carol. Using Drop D tuning to create a thrumming bass part, you’ll have everyone in your house going “pa-rum-pa-pa-pum” in no time!

How To Buy A Used Acoustic Guitar
by Nick Torres

As Dan Lasley’s told us (and as I can attest from experience), there’s often a good deal to be found in the used instrument market. Now, in response to a reader request, Nick tells us all about the things to look for and consider when buying a used acoustic guitar. This article should definitely be in your “clip and save” file!

Worth A Look

Last week I mentioned a piece I wrote last year, a finger-style version of Silent Night, which you can still find here.

I also want to mention that at Peter Simms’ site you can also find a great arrangement of Silent Night.

Peter’s version is a lovely chord melody arrangement that makes use of the guitar’s open strings by putting the song in the key of A. I think you’ll find this a lot of fun. If you’re really ambitious, play his version while someone else plays mine with a capo on the second fret!

Email Of The Week

If you’ve ever wondered what Guitar Noise is truly all about, all you have to do is to read a sampling of our email on any given week. This time of year is especially wonderful as we invite people to join in telling us about what music means to them.

Hi David,

Thanks for giving us the opportunity to tell others about how much music has meant to them. I’ve had some great experiences the past couple of weeks playing the guitar.

I don’t play in a band and I don’t aspire to. I play for special-needs kids, ages 3-5, every Friday. There are two groups of them, and I alternate playing for them every other Friday. Last Friday, the group I played for was full of energy. As I finished each song, they would bounce out of their chairs and land on one knee with their hands out – finishing the song with a ‘flourish’. They sang and danced. At the end, one of the children, who is autistic, came up and gave me a hug. That is a pretty cool thing coming from an autistic child. In the other class I play for, another autistic child who would rarely acknowledge other people, started to give me big smiles when I played in his class. As time has gone on, he has become more open and communicative with people. During the rest of the week when I see the children, they ask, “Where is Stella? How is Stella?” Stella is my guitar. Before I begin playing, I let them strum Stella to say hello to her, and then I do the same at the end so that they can say good bye. I tell them Stella likes a gentle touch – although one week they really knocked her out of tune! I am not able to practice a lot each day because I have a 6-year old and a 4-year old, but I still need to change strings pretty often because of the kids saying hello and good-bye to Stella – and it is well worth it!

These kids have great teachers and I know the majority of any improvement they experience is due to them. But I also know that Stella and I have played a small part, too, and that brings joy to my heart!!

Thanks again and Happy Holidays!

You can read our first Joy of Music article here.

Or link to all our inspirational articles on our Joy of Music page.

After reading any of these pieces, I always find myself in the mood to play and, more important, to share that spirit with anyone around!

Sunday Songwriters Group / Composers

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.

The Sunday Composers page is the newly created musical extension of the Sunday Songwriters Group. On this forum page the emphasis is on music writing rather than lyrics. Join us for exercises and discussion on the other half of “lyrics and music”.

And now that you all know what’s going on…

Sunday Songwriters Group – the Second Year!

SSG2 – Week 7:

Take any one of your old songs and rewrite it from anybody else’s perspective: the girlfriend, the Priest, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Be sure to post the original song as well so everyone can compare the two. You may change any aspect of your old song, structure, meter, rhyme scheme, or keep it true to the original, as long as the point of view changes.

Have a great week and I’ll speak to you on the boards!

Take care

Bob

Reviews

Sarah Pillow: Remixes
Sarah Pillow is an incredible artist. A delight for the ears, but more, a grand pleasure for the soul. She’s in a class by herself.

Bob Ernst: Hands-On
A nice effort for guitarist Bob Ernst. Considering that this is a do-it-yourself album (Ernst writes, produces, arranges, plays guitars, bass and does the drum programming).

Thoughts and Feedback

I’m writing (or may have (hopefully) written by this time) a review of a book titled This Business of Music Marketing and Promotion. It’s a good book, as far as references go. You may already know this, but I think that it’s important for people to know things. Or, at least, to try to know things…

At one point, the author, Tad Lathrop, discusses the importance of “determining the music’s selling points.” In other words, target marketing is the topic. It’s important to note, he says, that there are obvious as well as “unseen” selling points and then goes on to discuss some examples of both. Let’s for a moment focus on the later:

A rock group’s “unseen” selling point might be its raggedness and loudness, which appeals to teenagers rebelling against their parents’ old-fashioned tastes. A heavy metal band’s unseen selling point might be that its screaming guitars appeal to aggression-spewing teen males. A singer-songwriter can be given an extra selling point by labeling him “indie,” thus making him attractive to the masses of people who like to think of themselves as nonconformists. (One great marketing success of the 1990s was the use of the word “alternative” to describe essentially conventional products so they would appeal to groups noted for rejecting so-called mainstream values.)

Brutal, no? I guess that depends on you…

Depending on how cynical you decide to be at any given moment, it is easy to make a case that virtually everything in the world is, in some way, shape or form, marketed. And I’d like to add that it probably always has been since the creation of “business.” Ooooh, older folks will tell you, “Things were different in my day…” but the only thing that was different was the methods and technologies (or lack of) involved. Saying the Beatles weren’t marketed would be like saying Shakespeare didn’t write for an audience. I’ll be willing to bet you that there was a caveman who sold or traded “left-handed” spears because he noticed that not every Neanderthal threw with his or her right arm…

I bring this up because I’d like to make two points that I think are important, not only for the holidays but pretty much every day. First, like it or not, you live in a world where business is perceived as our reason for being here. If you don’t believe me, then think about how often you use business terms to describe your own life – being a success, having a productive day – most of our labels and much of the connotations we give words come from this way of thinking. Even people who want to live life just for the sake of living have a hard time not feeling guilty that there must be something wrong about wanting that.

Second, beware of labels. Not only does everything have more than one, but so does everyone. One label can never adequately describe anything. What’s red to you is maroon to me is cherise to him is scarlet to her.

Finally (okay, three things!) try not to take these two things and think that either all is hopeless or that everyone’s trying to get you. There is a simple way to enjoy life and that is to simply enjoy it! If you can marvel at all of the silliness instead of thinking that it’s all a plot aimed at you and/or your favorite band (guitarist, book, movie, sandwich, crayon…), then you’ll have a lot fewer worries. Trust me on this.

Business is here. But that doesn’t mean that art can’t exist. Enjoy what you enjoy because of who you are. And if you happen to be a short bald guy in his (now) late forties with delusional visions of making the world an incredibly wonderful place, then, hey! Maybe you’ll smile at all of this.

I hope you all have a grand week. Stay safe. Find the beauty in silliness. You won’t have to look far.

And, as always,

Peace

David