Guitar Noise

Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.

In This Issue

• News and Announcements
• New Lessons and Articles
• Forum News
• Sunday Songwriters Group / Sunday Composers
• Reviews
• Thoughts and Feedback

News And Announcements

Greetings!

Welcome to Guitar Noise News!

Just when you thought it was going to be a quiet week, along comes Nick Torres…

Not only does he get a company to send him some guitar stands to review, he also gets to hold a contest to give two away! No lie! If you’d like to have a chance to get one of these beautiful (and effectively functional, from reading Nick’s review!) guitar stands for your very own, swing over by this page.

And don’t dawdle! This contest will end next Sunday, March 14th and the winner will be selected, (and again, you’ve got to wonder about Nick’s sense of humor sometimes…) on the Ides of March!

Speaking of contests, last week I mentioned that England’s own Len Collins, is having what we hope will be the world’s largest guitar lesson this May 11th at Middleton Hall. Time is 5pm – 8pm, with the lesson time being 6:30pm – 7:30pm. Last week he mentioned prizes and this week he told me about them and, unfortunately, I’ve been sworn to secrecy but I heartily recommend you get to this event if you’re in the same time zone!

We’ll be running more info as we get it and maybe Len will allow me to let the cat out of the bag at some point soon. Remember, anyone can join in whether they can play or not, all they need is an acoustic guitar and to register (free).

And if you happen to be planning on being anywhere near western Massachusetts on Saturday, March 20th (only two weeks away!) and you’re wondering, “What can I do besides skiing? Especially since the rain has washed the snow away!” then you might want to drop in on the second Guitar Noise seminar. It’ll be on the topics of Basic Fingerstyle Guitar with a bonus look at Chord Voicing.

Finally, my thanks go out to everyone who responded to our “Help Wanted” page. We’re still really in need of graphics people, but do feel free to contribute however you can.

You’re going to see some interesting articles here at Guitar Noise in the near future! But how about we take a look at what’s new now? Here’s what’s gone up online since the last newsletter:

New Lessons And Articles

Creativity And Expression – Part 1
by Tom Hess

Even the most musically talented of guitarists may not necessarily be very creative. In this thoughtful article, Tom Hess explores some of the things that can hinder a person’s creativity. While this piece deals specifically with the guitarist, you’ll find that it can apply to many, if not most aspects of you life.

The Needle And The Damage Done
Songs for Intermediates #15
by David Hodge

On the surface, there’s not an awful lot to this short, yet powerfully moving song. Because of the structure of the song, it’s very much up to the single guitarist to make this an interesting arrangement. And that’s (hopefully) what we’ll do with an arrangement that is interesting, challenging and (because this is a lesson, remember!) also gives us some things that we can use in our every day guitar playing.

Forum News

In case you didn’t know, many of our Forum readers participate in the two Songwriting Forum groups. And, again in case you didn’t know, some of them are pretty talented! And, guess what? In case you didn’t know, you can actually hear some of the songs that folks have written. Just jump on over to Adam McMasters’ page and have a listen to some amazing material. Someone suggested recently that we might do a “Tops of the Pops” sort of thing with these. What do you think? Can “Guitar Noise Radio” be far away?

See you on the boards!

Sunday Songwriters Group / Sunday 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.

Now in our second year (!), Nick and Bob are continuing to put us all through our paces, giving us weekly assignments to help everyone sharpen their abilities.

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!

Week 19

This week I want to start thinking about styles.

We’ve concentrated a lot on imagery over the last few weeks now I want you to keep the imagery and metaphor going, but also to start writing in a particular style. I’m going to start with what I think is an easier style to begin with and that’s basic blues. So this week I want you to write me a blues song keeping in mind all the other things we’ve been trying to impress on you over the term of the SSG.

Any subject is OK but give it that melancholy feel.

Good Writing

Bob

Reviews

Building A Better Guitar Stand
The kind folks at ShadowStand sent me a couple of their stands to review. I was wondering how much of a difference a stand can make anyway. I’ve gotta tell you, it turns out it makes a bunch of difference.

Thoughts & Feedback

I’m in a rather egotistical mood today, so please bear with me. But when I got the email from Bob declaring this week’s SSG topic would be to write a blues song, it sent me back to when Nick had us do this topic sometime last year. He said to “write something sad” and I, naturally, took him literally. And, like it or not, I’d like to share that with you right now.

For the record, the first two verses are standard 12 bar blues. The “bridge,” if you will, is a vamp on the root (the old “da-DAH-da-da-DAH”) until you get to the “it just makes me so mad,” which is on the IV (measure 5 of the standard 12 bar) and then it all finishes up per normal

SAD
(The “Helpful Hint” Blues)

I got the sad
The sad sad sad sad blues
Yes I say I got the sad
The sad sad sad sad blues
Lord knows they hurt me so bad
These sad sad sad sad blues

I got the sad
The sad sad sad sad blues
Baby you know I got the sad
The sad sad sad sad blues
It just makes me so mad
These sad sad sad sad blues

Well I got out some paper
And I started to write
A little melancholy song
A little blues in the night
I wrote about my credit
I wrote about my car
I wrote about the dandelions
Growin’ in the yard
I wrote paragraphs and pages
Draft after draft after draft
I looked at all my problems
And all I could do was laugh
Yeah the evidence is clear
It’s just a fact you can’t refuse
No short bald dumpy white guy
Can ever write no blues

It just makes me so mad
These sad sad sad sad blues
You know I’ve got them so bad
These sad sad sad sad blues

Okay, you all can come back into the room now! The funny thing is, once I got that out of my system, I actually wrote a terrific song as an memorial to Johnny Cash. Maybe I’ll share that with you next time…

I hope you all have a grand week. Stay safe. Write me!

And, as always,

Peace

David