Newsletter Vol. 2 # 72 – February 22, 2004
Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.
In This Issue
- News and Announcements
- Guitar Noise in the News
- New Lessons and Articles
- Worth a Look
- Forum News
- Sunday Songwriters Group / Sunday Composers
- Reviews
- Thoughts and Feedback
News And Announcements
Greetings!
Welcome to Guitar Noise News!
You may not realize it (and I say this simply to cover up the fact that I often don’t!), but there’s almost always something new going on here at Guitar Noise. If you go to our Home Page, for instance, and let your eye meander down the left-hand column, you’ll see three new pages! No lie!
There’s now a dedicated “Song Crafters” page in the Songwriting Section, as well as the new “General Guitar Articles” and “Techniques” pages in the Topics Section. If you’re often at a loss as to where to find a particular article (and you don’t feel like using the search engine or writing any number of staff members to ask!), this is a great place to look. Many articles are cross-referenced, showing up on multiple pages, which really should not come as much of a surprise to anyone.
Another thing Paul went and did fairly recently was to post two new links up on the Tuning Page: one takes you to a list of various alternate tunings (you can find this same list, I think, at the end of the column On The Tuning Awry) and the second one takes you to a list of songs whose original recordings were done in an altered tuning. This song catalog is definitely, as it should be, a work-in-progress. So if you’ve got a song that should be in there, let me know. Please send the song title, the artist (or band) and the altered tuning to me at [email protected] and please use “tuning list” or something of that nature in the subject line. For now, let’s try to go with songs that are decidedly altered, as opposed to just tuned down (and if you don’t know the difference, read the article!) so that I don’t get buried under the millions of titles of songs done with the guitars tuned down a half-step, whole-step, whatever!
And now I’d like to present what I hope will become another new feature of Guitar Noise News, which I’ve taken the liberty of calling:
Guitar Noise In The News
Call me incredibly silly, but sometimes I swear I live in a vacuum. I got this email this past week:
Just a note to let you know that ‘Guitar Noise’ was voted the number one website for guitar tuition in the ‘Metro’ a couple of weeks ago. The Metro being the London free newspaper distributed to, well quite a few commuters (i.e. the only free newspaper across London for commuters, Mon-Fri). I am sure that you have been informed already, but just in case I thought you may wish to know, accurate validation is always important!
Thanks for an excellent website,
And I had to blink for a minute. Yes, I do know that more than three quarters of a million people worldwide read Guitar Noise (or at least parts of it!). But I don’t really think about what they do after that! You mean they then go and talk to people about us, too? And maybe get things written up about the site? Very cool!
So I, being someone whose first inclination when receiving good news is to share it as fast as possible, relayed this message on to Paul. And I guess I’ll let him take it from here:
It’s great seeing Guitar Noise mentioned in different places, and being spoken of so highly. Like David, I think I need to get out more. I spend so much time working on the site that at times I can’t even see the effects or reach it has. After reading David’s email above, I went in search of Metro. I found a story on the This Is London website, which prints content from the Evening Standard and the Metro.
It was a thrill to read this article. I’ve always thought Guitar Noise was the best at many things, but I still like to hear other people say it.
Hi! Me, again! Anyway, this week I had the idea that I’d share all this with you. And while this may not (yet) become a “regular” part of the Guitar Noise News, I’d like to ask all of you to help out with this new section. Should you happen on a mention of Guitar Noise someplace (a local paper, a news story, perhaps – anything but a search engine!), write in and let me know.
And now, let’s take a look at what’s new (and news) on the site this week:
New Lessons And Articles
Old Man
Easy Songs for Beginners #27
by David Hodge
He’s baaaaack! The vast song catalog of Neil Young once again graces the pages of Guitar Noise. Here’s a fun and easy song from his Harvest album that you can learn in practically no time and at and still spend ages on practicing in order to get the kinds of sounds you want. Songs like this never get old.
Worth A Look
I don’t know what it is about Neil Young’s songs, but they do seem to strike a chord with people. Some of our most popular song lessons, both in the beginners’ and intermediates’ sections, involve his music. If you haven’t checked them out in the past, now’s a perfect time to do so:
And be sure to be on the look out for our Song for Intermediates, The Needle and The Damage Done, which will (hopefully) be online in about two weeks.
Forum News
One thing I didn’t mention in the “News and Announcements” was the addition of two new Forum Moderators to our ranks. Join me in extending a warm welcome to Helgi Briem (Bass) and Joe, who goes by the handle, “Forrok_Star” (Recording). Helgi’s been a visitor since I can’t remember when (I’ve even quoted him in a lesson or two!) and while Joe hasn’t been around as long, his participation and advice certainly identifies him as someone who truly cares about the community. And with Helgi hailing from Iceland, in addition to Alan and Bob from England and Greybeard in Germany (and of course Paul in China), I think we’ve got quite an interesting international committee of Moderators on the pages. Maybe they’ll get to judge the skating competition at the next Winter Olympics…
Sunday Songwriters Group / Sunday Composers
Week 17
This week I want you to pick a title of a book and write me the story behind the title. Don’t tell the story of the book (as that’s a future assignment I’m thinking about) but use the title to tell a completely different story. For example, A Tale of Two Cities could be about two people conducting a long distance love affair, Lord Of The Rings could be about a guy working in a jeweler’s shop who watches the couples come in to his shop and wonders if one day he could be buying rings for a girl, The Cat in The Hat – well I’m struggling with that one.
Tell me the title of the book (and the author) and as usual any form, any style will do for this assignment.
Good Writing
Bob
Reviews
A Perfect Circle – Rock City, Nottingham UK 8th February 2004
Rock City is not the biggest venue there is, but a few hours ago a sell out crowd of 2,000 – 2,500 jammed in there to see one band and one band alone – A Perfect Circle.
Thoughts & Feedback
In one of my old columns, I think I once made a passing reference to a joke I first heard from a college English professor: There are two kinds of people – those who believe there are two kinds of people and those who don’t!
Things like that make me smile because they also make me think. I think that, by now, you’re all used to the fact that I believe thinking to be a big part of the enjoyment of life. A dear friend of mine once said that she might never come up with the answers and that didn’t bother her; not being able to come up with questions would make life far worse.
And I was thinking about that when, in a recent forum post, new moderator Forrok-Star wrote:
One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which others can sing and dance.
And I think that I’d like to wish you all the chance to do both. Why not? I know that’s not the most profound pronouncement one could make, but why ignore the simple things?
As Pete Townsend would tell you, “Get up your guitar and play…”
I hope you all have a grand week. Stay safe. Write me!
And, as always,
Peace
David