Guitar Noise

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #104 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

• Greetings, News and Announcements
• Topic of the Month
• Guitar Noise Featured Artist
• Soon-To-Be New Lessons and Articles
• Coming Attractions
• Event Horizon
• Soon-To-Be Reviews
• Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

The year is truly winding down if this is the December 15 (possibly December 16) (or even December 17) edition of Guitar Noise News. It’s way to early to start in with the old joke “see you next year,” but I’m sure that someone has already said that by this time, no?

It truly seems like yesterday that 2009 was just starting, bright and full of promise. And now we are just about two weeks away from kicking off 2010. But lots of things have happened in the past year, even though we might have to think a minute or two about it.

One event that some of us at Guitar Noise have been eagerly awaiting is the release of Steinar Gregertsen’s new CD, “Standing Next to a Mountain.” Many of you may know Steinar’s great slide guitar and lap steel guitar playing from the Forum pages and this CD is his tribute to Jimi Hendrix. I absolutely loved his last CD “Southern Moon, Northern Lights” (reviewed here), so I’ve ordered my copy, as well as one for my brother Tom (a huge Hendrix fan), and I’ll be sure to post a review as soon as I give it a listen.

For those of you interested in getting your own copies, just hop over to Steinar’s website. You’ll also be able to purchase it from CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com) in the very near future.

And word has it that Arjen Schipper’s opus, “Inside Outside” is being shipped as we speak! This has been in the works for quite some time, now (see the thread) and I’m sure it’s going to be getting a lot of play here at home.

There’ll be a lot of music played over the holidays and it’s thrilling to know that much of it will be music created by the Guitar Noise community.

Topic of the Month

In case you haven’t guessed by now, the Guitar Noise “topic of the month” for December is “Holiday Songs for Guitar.” As with most of our topics, we have holiday song lessons for guitarists at many levels of playing ability, from beginners just getting started to intermediate students. So go to the home page and take a look at all the holiday song lessons. These songs are not only fun to play but will also bring joy to those who get to listen to you play.

And, as you’ll read in a moment, there are two or three new holiday song arrangements coming your way within days.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

When we decided to make Jimi Hendrix the “Guitar Noise Featured Artist” for December, we hadn’t planned on Steinar’s CD coming out at the same time. It’s great to have things work out sometimes!

As with our other Guitar Noise Featured Artists, Paul’s written a wonderful tribute to this man whom many consider to be an important influence to anyone who plays electric guitar. You’ll find it on our artist profiles page.

Soon-To-Be New Lessons and Articles

Things have gotten a lot crazier here at home than I’d hoped the first two weeks of December, so I’m more than a bit behind in getting the planned lessons to Paul. However, there are three holiday song lessons (“Away in a Manger,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas”) just about finished and, hoping that there are no unforeseen bugaboos lurking in the shadows this coming weekend, they should be up online for you in the very, very near future. Keep an eye on the home page for them. Paul usually also posts the new arrivals on both Facebook and Twitter so you might happen to get the news there.

My apologies for the delays and my thanks for your patience.

Coming Attractions

We are constantly working on new lessons of all sorts here at Guitar Noise. Just to keep you updated as to what’s coming along in the pipeline, the following lessons are still on track for being posted up online in the next few months, although not necessarily in the order in which I’ve written them!

Easy Songs for Beginners: Sweet Home Alabama, Both Sides Now, Ziggy Stardust, Mister Bojangles, Banana Pancakes, Peace Train, Just Like Heaven, Yellow

Songs for Intermediates: Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright, If I Had A Boat, Homeward Bound, Hello In There, Fire and Rain, Circle Game, I Want You Back

Plus more on the “Turning Scales into Solos” and “Beyond Up and Down” series, not to mention our new “Music Meccas” series, as well as more of our “Chord Melody Song Arrangements,” which will deal with pop and rock songs, like Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song,” or old standards like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and maybe even a surf tune, such as the Ventures’ classic “Walk Don’t Run.”

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for December 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 20)

Welcome back to our exploration of modes–the C phrygian mode in particular, played around the fifth fret. We’re going to do a chromatic walk with only C phyrgian and related chords. Why? Being able to play a chord for any given melody note, though it’s overkill, builds serious skill as a musician. You’re bringing theory, ear work, and technical skill all into play.

Let’s dive right in and play this chromatic walk with C phrygian and related chords.

|-8--7--6--5--|-------------|-------------|-----------|
|-5--6--6--5--|-9--8--7--6--|-5-----------|-----------|
|-6--7--6--7--|-7--5--7--7--|-5--8--7--6--|-5--4------|
|-8--5--5--8--|-6--8--8--6--|-8--6--6--6--|-8--5--8---|
|-------------|-8--7--7--8--|-7--7--8--8--|-7--8--7---|
|-------------|-6-----------|----6-----9--|-------8---|

The big question of “where are these chords coming from?” comes up. The broad answer is this: the chords come from an answer to the question: “what sounds do the same thing that C phrygian does–namely, propel us toward the F minor key center?” You can start to answer that question for each note in the chromatic scale by listing all chords in the different F minor scales: F aeolian, F harmonic minor, F dorian and F melodic minor.

For details on answering this question, Google or use a reliable music reference that explains the subject “harmonizing scales.”

Thanks for reading.

Copyright © 2009 Darrin Koltow

In case you’ve never visited Maximum Musician, hurry on over to Darrin’s website. You can also read his past contributions to Guitar Noise here. And you can also read some of Darrin’s past Guitar Noise News posts over at the Guitar Noise Blog.

Event Horizon

Just as it’s important to support each other when it comes to CDs, it’s also important (probably more so) to support live music. Sometimes it’s about being there. Literally. As musicians, it’s always good to support each other simply by being at a gig if it’s at all possible.

One thing we at Guitar Noise would really like to do is to help promote your shows, whether it’s in a stadium or at a ten-seat coffee house. Not only is it a great way to help support each other, it’s also a terrific way to meet more musicians!

So please feel free to write me if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Remember that Guitar Noise News is sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. Usually I will have it ready to be sent out a few days ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of January (that is, after the fifteenth), then let me know by the tenth or the twelfth. If you’ve already got a show in August, 2010, let me know, too! It’s never too early to plan for things!

Maybe you’ll get to meet some of your Guitar Noise friends at upcoming holiday shows!

Send your gig dates to me at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header.

Paul McKenna, one of the many talented performers from the Forest Park FODfest show last October, will be doing his annual holiday gig at Duffy’s Tavern, located at 7513 Madison Street, Forest Park, IL (708) 366-3887, this Saturday, December 19. I believe the show starts around 8 PM‎ and it should be a blast. I know I’d be there if I were in town.

Soon-To-Be Reviews

In 2010, we’ll be trying to get back into writing and publishing more reviews at Guitar Noise. Trouble is that we usually get so many things (CDs, books, tutorials, DVDs, picks, capos and just about anything you might imagine) that we usually end up quite backlogged with reviews. Hopefully we’ll find some middle ground that works. If you have something to be reviewed, or (better still) if you’d like to be an occasional Guitar Noise reviewer, please drop me a line at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “review” or “reviewer” in the subject line.

I’d like to thank all of you who have sent in emails already – you should be hearing back from me before this month is out. And, should all go well, I’m looking forward to working with you all to bring something special to the Guitar Noise community.

Random Thoughts

When I was last in Chicago, two of my friends gave me DVDs of a concert their kids had taken part in back in September. Their son and daughter play cello and violin, respectively, and I had heard all summer that they (and all their fellow orchestra mates) were very excited about the then-upcoming shows.

And with very good reason, too, I might add! These concerts were part of Mark Wood’s “Orchestra Rocks!” tour. Some of you may recognize Mark as one of the original members of the Trans Siberian Orchestra. These days he is touring the country with a musical education program called “Electrify Your Strings,” visiting schools across the continent (in the last two weeks he’s been at two middle schools in Marietta, Georgia as well as the Elmira Secondary School in Elmira, Ontario, Canada) and performing concerts with the school’s orchestras.

As you might imagine, these concerts are a bit different from your typical orchestra offerings. The discs I saw included full orchestra arrangements of “Sunshine of Your Love,” “We Will Rock You,” “Stairway to Heaven,” “Yellow Submarine,” “Carry On My Wayward Son,” and even “Enter Sandman!” And it looked like everyone was having a wonderful time playing.

Guitarists like to think that rock music is theirs alone, but I strongly suspect that anyone who listened to Mark soloing on his electric violin, without the benefit of watching him play, would probably think that he was wailing on a guitar. You should keep an eye out for any off his shows should they happen to come to your town. I think you’ll find yourself having a great time.

And speaking of a great time, both Paul and I would like to wish all members of the Guitar Noise community a wonderful holiday season – for you, your family and friends. And we’d also like to pass along our best wishes for a very Happy New Year.

Finally, do take care of yourselves as the final days of 2009 wind down. Drive safely if you’re out on New Year’s Eve.

And until our next newsletter, play well and play often.

And, as always…

Peace