Newsletter Vol. 3 # 114 – May 15, 2010
Greetings,
Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #114 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
- Event Horizon
- Random Thoughts
Greetings, News and Announcements
Hello! And welcome to your May 15, 2010 issue of Guitar Noise News, the twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com).
Quite a lot has been going on in the world since we’ve last chatted, not that it usually doesn’t! Unfortunately, there’s been quite a bit of ”disaster news,” with all the earthquakes and volcano activity and whatnot. Two of the more recent events here in the United States concern the incredible weather which has brought flooding and other devastation to parts of the country, particularly in the states of Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma. And then there’s the whole oil spill catastrophe that’s still unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico.
As musicians, as people, one tries to help where and when one can. This weekend the annual Hangout Beach Music and Arts Festival takes place in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and I’m thrilled to see that they are turning this festival into a charity event to support the coastal communities of the state. Here is the latest news about this:
The Hangout Beach Music and Arts Festival (May 14 – 16) announced today it will be donating all ticket profits to regional charity efforts dedicated to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill . The Hangout Festival will take place on the beaches of Gulf Shores, Ala. uniting people in the name of coastal recovery.
Previously announced national headliners Zac Brown Band, Trey Anastasio, John Legend, The Roots and more will rally behind our coastal communities.
In light of this announcement, we’d like to extend a special media invitation for you to cover the Hangout Beach Music and Arts Festival, May 14-16. Festival admission and travel arrangements are offered. However, a media rate is available if necessary.
Other festival headliners include: Ben Harper and Relentless7, The Black Crowes, Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Gov’t Mule, The Flaming Lips, Ray LaMontagne, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Funky Meters, Blind Boys of Alabama, Matisyahu, Girl Talk, Guster, Brett Dennen, Keller Williams, Jerry Jeff Walker, North Mississippi All-stars, ALO, The Whigs, Ozomatli, OK GO, Orianthi, Davy Knowles & Back Door Slam, Pnuma Trio, Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears, Toubab Krewe, Mat Hires, A.A. Bondy, Rachel Goodrich, Moon Taxi, El Cantador, Kristy Lee, Roman Street and more!
For more information on the festival, please visit www.hangoutmusicfest.com
To raise additional funds for relief efforts, The Hangout Festival has added two late-night benefit shows.On Friday night, Alex B, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), and Big Gigantic will take the stage for a late-night dance party. One hundred percent of profits will be donated to Mobile Baykeeper.On Saturday night, Keller Williams’ Electronic Experiment will be playing a special show for The Rex Foundation and Mobile Baykeeper.The show will begin at midnight, with doors at 11 p.m.
The Hangout Festival is launching a three-pronged effort aimed at Gulf Coast recovery by organizing clean up volunteers, raising public awareness, and fundraising for the people, communities and habitats that have been devastated by this catastrophe.
In the Nashville area, all sorts of community efforts are springing up and I’d like to direct your attention to one in particular that will be involving Guitar Noise Forum Member JWMartin and his band, Spookhand. JW sends the following:
For any of you in the Nashville area, my band will be playing a benefit show on May 28th at The Pond in Franklin (Tennessee). The Creeping Cruds, Spookhand (my band), Radio Death Wave and another 1 or 2 yet to be decided. All proceeds will go to the American Red Cross of Williamson County.
We haven’t worked out the details yet, but we hope to have some t-shirts and CDs with sales going to charity also. If I can get a get a good recording of the show, we’ll release it and accept donations for it.
As always, we encourage all the member of the Guitar Noise Community to get involved as they see fit. We are all a part of the world and anything that you can do to make it a better place is always helpful, whether for your own community or someone else’s.
Not all news is dire, though. In case you missed it, we did have some very positive and uplifting announcements earlier this month. First, from Tom (“Noteboat”) Serb comes this wonderful announcement concerning two of his voice teachers at the Midwest Music Academy:
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.
Please join us in congratulating Tom, his teachers, and his school, the Midwest Music Academy. As they wind up their second academic year it seems like they are going to continue to do some wonderful things
Last time out, we also announced the five winners for the May 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)
We’ve one more round of giveaways in this particular contest. On June first, we’ll be announcing five more winners, each of whom will receive an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar.” They will be named next time out, in our June 1 newsletter.
In case you’ve not yet entered and would like to do so, you need to send me an email with the following information:
- your name
- your email address
- your mailing address (and it doesn’t matter where in the world you are)
- the title of your favorite article at Guitar Noise
- the name of your favorite rock guitarist
Please send only one email per person to me at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and put ”CIG ROCK GUITAR” in the subject line.
The best of luck to you all!
I’m also starting to receive photos for our second contest. This one is for a seventeen-month long giveaway of autographed copies of the all new ”Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar,” which will be out this fall (figure late October or November). We’re calling it “Complete Idiot’s Rock in the Free World,” and here’s how it works:
If you do buy a copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar,” take a picture of yourself with it someplace. You don’t have to have the Eiffel Tower or Mount Rushmore in the background, but be creative. Paul and I will select two photos a month, starting in August and running through all of 2011 and will send an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to those whose pictures we select.
So please send your photos to me at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and be sure to include an email address where you can be reached, as well as a mailing address. And please put “Picture Book” in the subject line of the email. We’re looking forward to seeing where in the world the books end up! Best of luck to you on both contests!
And, rest assured, there will be more giveaways throughout the year (and next year), including a contest in November and December to win a copy of each of the three Complete Idiot’s Guides I’ve written. Stay tuned for details!
Topic of the Month
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 Podcasts. The latest ones, starting with Podcast #28, will be focusing in on this topic of fingerstyle guitar, much in the same way the earlier ones explored the various techniques and nuances of strumming.
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
When I got an email from Chris Juergensen earlier this month, I was more than delighted to hear he had some new lessons for us. Please join me in welcoming back this exceptional teacher. And be on the look out for his two books: “The Infinite Guitar” and “The Empowered Musician,” both of which are available as ebooks, if I’ve got my information straight. I’ll find out for sure for you before the next newsletter.
Breaking The Major Scale Paradigm
by Chris Juergensen
Scales are simply notes and, as notes, can be found all over the fretboard. While guitarists tend to learn these scales in set patterns, it’s possible to go beyond those basic patterns and create new ways to get around with your scales. Chris Juergensen shows you how in this terrific article.
The Seven Secrets To Six String Success
by Kale Good
Join Guitar Noise in welcoming Philadelphia-based guitar teacher Kale Good to our pages. In his first article, Kale lists out seven easy (and essential) steps toward becoming a better guitar player. They won’t make you a guitar god overnight, but they will set you on a path of successful playing for your lifelong guitar journey.
Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow
Tip for May 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 30)
Welcome back to our exploration of modes. This issue we’ll look at C Dorian chords. Remember from a previous issue that we’re interpreting “Dorian” loosely, and reading “C minor” instead of pure C Dorian. We’ll explore a run that takes us through all frets along string one, playing a chord on each note. Here we go:
|-13--11--10---8--6--5--3--1-------| |-13--11---8---8--6--4--4--1--4----| |-13--12---8---8--5--3--3--1--3----| |-12--10---8--10--5--5--5--0--5----| |-----------------------3-----3----| |----------------------------------|
Be sure to ascend and descend on this run.
Not all chords here are C minor–but each complements or relates or substitutes for C minor. For example, we use Eb major chords in this run. This substitute is possible because Eb major and C minor are both found in the key of Bb major.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright 2010 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.
There are three FODfest shows coming up over the last weekend of May. You’ll see lots of musicians from New York’s Hudson Valley region as well as those from western Massachusetts and parts of Connecticut at the following dates and venues:
Friday, May 28 at the brand new Club Helsinki in Hudson, New York (and I’m proud to announce that one of my students (and good friend), Marilyn Miller, will be performing at this show!)
Saturday, May 29 at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Sunday, May 30 at the Infinity Hall and Bistro in Norfolk, Connecticut.
The entire list of performers for these shows is still being sorted out as I write this, but I can tell you that they are going to be a lot of fun. They’re also free! So if you happen to be in the area of any of these venues, make it a point to go and support this terrific cause. And get to hear some magical music in the process!
Random Thoughts
When I first moved to Massachusetts at the very start of 2004, one of the first people I met was Fred Schane, who worked at a place called (simply enough) “The Music Store.” Fred was incredibly welcoming and invited me to an open mic he was hosting in town.
Some of you may actually know Fred. He was the sound man for the National Guitar Workshops held in Connecticut during the summers a few years back. That gig led him to being asked to manage the sound for the new Infinity Hall and Bistro, in Norfolk, Connecticut, handling the audio for artists ranging from to Johnny A to Dave Brubeck. And it was great to see that he’s getting some recognition for his work.
Fred also is a great singer / songwriter. He plays a great guitar and also works wonders with the ukulele. He’s getting his own gig, opening for the CD release party of Thirty Second Pulse at Infinity on Sunday, June 13. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy and I hope that if you’re in the area you’ll make the time to see his show.
Until our next newsletter, play well and play often.
And, as always…
Peace
