Newsletter Vol. 3 # 113 – May 1, 2010

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #113 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

  • Greetings, News and Announcements
  • Topic of the Month
  • Guitar Noise Featured Artist
  • New Articles and Lessons
  • Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
  • Forum Findings
  • Podcast Posting
  • Event Horizon
  • Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I can’t believe how quickly April has flown by! Hello and welcome to your May first issue of Guitar Noise News, the twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com). It’s been way too busy here between wrapping up both the writing and the recording for the upcoming “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” (which I’m told is coming out on October 5) and doing a lot of rescheduling of lessons and also tending to many long neglected things around the homestead.

So busy in fact that I’m not only behind with my email correspondence but also with the regular mail as well. Those of you expecting mail from me please be assured that everything will be out in the post by May 5. Whether you’re waiting on a book or some hard copies of music notation and tablature, it will all be in the mail by next Friday. Wednesday, if I’m lucky! I can’t thank you enough for your patience!

We got some great news from Tom (“Noteboat”) Serb this past week. Let me share this press release from Tom’s Midwest Music Academy concerning two of his voice teachers with you:

Two Plainfield teachers join Chicago Symphony Chorus

After auditioning singers for nearly two months, the Chicago Symphony Chorus has invited two Plainfield voice teachers to join the ensemble.

Baritone Robert Potsic and soprano Julie Kersaan will be performing with the Chicago Symphony Chorus during the summer 2010 season.

Mr. Potsic, a former member of Illinois’ IMEA All-State choir, has appeared in productions throughout the US, Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University, and received additional training at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.

Ms. Kersaan, also a graduate of Western Michigan University, is a three-time state level winner of the National Association of Singing Teachers competition and was awarded a silver medal at the Georgy Dimitrov European Grand Prix of Choral Music.

Their debut performance will be Sunday June 18th during the Beethoven Festival’s performances of the cantata “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage” and the ninth symphony.

Both vocalists are on the teaching staff at Midwest Music Academy in Plainfield.

We can’t congratulate Tom and his school, the Midwest Music Academy, enough. They’ve not even been open for two years yet and not only is the school exceeding expectations, they are providing quality musical education for hundreds of students. Another tip of the hat to you, Tom!

Being May 1, we also want to announce five more winners in our current giveaway. An autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” will be making its way to the following Guitar Noise followers (listed in alphabetical order by last name):

Gary Byers of Ontario (Canada)
Javier de Lope of Madrid (Spain)
Brian Dunlap of Colorado (USA)
Alannah Grainger of Wellington (New Zealand)
Jorge Matos of Taquara City (Brazil)

Looks like I’m going to be spending a lot on postage this time out! And while we’re congratulating our first five winners, we also wish all of contestants the best of luck for the remainder of this contest. We’ll have one more drawing for this giveaway, picking five more lucky winners. They will be announced in our June 1 newsletter.

The best of luck to you all!

Topic of the Month

Given all the different topics of the month we’ve had, it kind of takes me by surprise when we come up with one we’ve not used yet! Believe it or not, we managed to do it again, as the Guitar Noise Topic of the Month for May is Finger Picking.

When you visit the Home Page, be sure to take a look at some of the many fine articles on this topic, including many cool song arrangements by Doug Sparling and Peter Simms. And also be sure to check out the latest Guitar Noise Podcast, which you’ll read about in just a moment or two.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

The Guitar Noise Featured Artist for the month of May, 2010 is B. B. King, who is currently in the middle of touring Florida, Georgia and Louisiana before heading off to Morocco late this month.

You can read our bio about B. B. on the Guitar Noise Artist Profiles page.

New Articles and Lessons

Top 10 Mistakes People Make When Trying To Become Professional Musicians
by Tom Hess

There many things you need to know and do in order to become successful in the music industry. But even if you learn and do all of those things, you still might prevent yourself from achieving success in the music business by making key mistakes along the way. Tom Hess guides you around the many pitfalls along the road to success in the music industry.

The Learning Curve Of Various Styles Of Guitar – Part 2: Strumming And Singing
by Jamie Andreas

In Part 2 of “The Learning Curve of Various Styles of Guitar,” Jamie Andreas looks at the skills needed to become a “strum and sing” guitar player. She also provides you some excellent resource material as also gives you a time frame in which you can expect to develop your skills.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for May 1 – Practicing Modes (Part 29)

Welcome back to our group exploration of modes. We just finished work on the C Phrygian, and we’re now going to tackle C Dorian, about position V (that is, the fifth fret of the fingerboard), and all around the neck of the guitar.

Before we do this issue’s exercise, let’s talk a bit about what the Dorian mode feels like. It’s a minor feeling, which is often, but not always, connected with sadness, longing, and wicked things a-comin this way.

The pure Dorian mode isn’t used as a destination for the flow of the music, but a vehicle to get to a destination. The Aeolian mode, by contrast, is a destination. However, play a 4-note C Dorian and a 4-note C Aeolian together and you’ll hear exactly the same thing.

To cut to the chase, we’re going to interpret “C Dorian” to mean “C Minor.” This means we’ll use C Dorian sometimes as a vehicle, and sometimes as a destination. Let’s play some C minor chords:

|-8--6--5----------------------------|
|-8--6--6--8--6----------------------|
|-8--5--5--8--5--8--7--5-------------|
|-8--5--5--8--5--8--5--8--8--7--5----|
|-------6-----6-----6--6-10--8--6----|
|-8--------8-----8--------8--8--6----|

Thanks for reading.

Copyright 2010 Darrin Koltow

Forum Findings

GN Forum Moderator (not to mention one of our first contributing writers) Dan Lasley is playing bass for a new blues band called Crusin’ 4 a Bluesin’ (and you can check them out at their MySpace page). Since they’d like to be playing some original numbers as well as old favourites, Dan recently enlisted the help of Vic Lewis and Vic devoted a week of the Sunday Songwriters’ Group to the assignment. You can hear (and read) a lot of cool new blues songs over at the SSG and take a look through the Week 25 postings.

And do feel free to join in on any of the SSG assignments. You won’t find a better group of folks to help you work on developing your songwriting skills.

Podcast Posting

Since our next Topic of the Month is Finger Picking it seemed like a good idea to show how you can add simple techniques you already know from single note playing and strumming to spice up your finger picking playing as well. And what better way to do so than through the Guitar Noise Podcast series? Yes, it’s been way too long since our last one!

Guitar Noise Podcast #28, Getting Beyond Basic Finger Picking, is the first of a series of GN Podcasts on fingerstyle playing that will (hopefully) be just as informative and enjoyable as the GN Podcasts on strumming.

Also, Paul and I have been working on ways to improve the sound quality of the Guitar Noise Podcasts. The latest one is presented at a much higher bit rate than our previous podcasts and we’re hoping to make them even better in the very near future.

Event Horizon

Doug James (“Moonrider” on the GN Forums) is in a new band called “Southern Roots” and you can check them out tonight, Saturday, May 1 at Boondocks, 2220 Broad Rock Boulevard in Richmond, Virginia beginning at 5 PM. It’s an outdoor show, so get out there and have some fun!

And next Saturday, May 8, you can catch them at Namaw’s Country Diner at 16121 Goodes Bridge Road in Amelia Court House, VA. Show starts at 8 PM.

Random Thoughts

Last time out I mentioned that the first three FODfest shows of 2010 will take place over Memorial Day weekend, at the following venues and dates:

Friday, May 28 at the brand new Club Helsinki in Hudson, New York

Saturday, May 29 at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Sunday, May 30 at the Infinity Hall and Bistro in Norfolk, Connecticut

Word from Todd Mack, founder of FODfest, is that he’s hoping to bring this wonderful celebration of music to Israel and possibly other points in the Middle East late this year. I’ll be sure to keep you up on all the latest details.

If you’ve not heard about FODfest before, check out the website and click on the promotional video on the home page. If you take a look through the videos and photos, you’ll see a number of Guitar Noise folks, like Greg Nease and Kathy Reichert, taking part in the proceedings.

Until our next newsletter, play well and play often.

And, as always…

Peace