Newsletter Vol. 3 # 120 – August 15, 2010

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #120 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

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

Greetings, News and Announcements

Hello and welcome to the August 15, 2010 issue of Guitar Noise News, the twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com).

I’m Charles T. Cat (although I prefer you call me Charley) and I’m still filling in for David for the time being. At the risk of jinxing him, I think he thinks I’m bringing him good luck by writing these newsletters for him. If nothing else, it gives him a chance to actually do something with his spare time. This past week, for instance, he managed to just sit outside after midnight on several nights to catch some of the Perseid meteor shower.

In terms of “news and announcements,” the big news this time out is our latest winner in “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” giveaway. Julia, who goes by the name of “Apache” on the Guitar Noise Forums, took a picture of herself and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” in the English countryside and you can find that photo at www.davidhodge.com.

And an autographed copy of David’s new book, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” will be sent to Julia sometime in late September / early October.

We offer both Julia and David Rosenberg (our first winner) our hearty congratulations. And we wish you and everyone who enters the best of luck in the contest. A new winner will be announced right here in the next newsletter!

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

This month Guitar Noise Featured Artist is one of the unsung guitar heroes – the incomparable Steve Cropper, whose incredibly tasteful soul guitar can be heard on so many records and yet most people don’t know who he is.

But I’m sure you do! And you can read all about the man who is forever linked to the R&B and Soul music that came of Stax Records for close to a decade right here on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

Topic of the Month

If you want to learn to play guitar, it’s kind of important to have a guitar (or at least have access to one). That’s why the Guitar Noise Topic of the Month for August is “Buying a Guitar.” You’ll find links for the many Guitar Noise articles that deal with this subject when you click on the Topic Banner on the Home Page.

New Articles, Lessons and Reviews

Gerald Klickstein: The Mucisian’s Way – A Guide To Practice, Performance and Wellness
Book Review by David Hodge

“The Musician’s Way,” by Gerald Klickstein, offers the reader a wealth of vital and practical information on how to make the most of practicing and performing, as well as tips on keeping at one’s best when it comes to playing. Highly recommended.

A Simple Way To Understand Modes For Guitar (Part 2)
by Beth Isbell

In Part 2 of her series on “A Simple Way to Understand Modes,” Beth Isbell walks us through the use of modes to specifically outline simple chords.

The Shape Of Your Acoustic Guitar
by David Hodge

Some beginners give up on guitar after a short time. David explains why the physical shape of your first guitar may be why your first efforts at playing are more frustrating than they should be.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for August 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 35)

We’re continuing our ongoing journey through the loosely-defined C Dorian sound. We’ve covered chord walks, both diatonic and chromatic, on the horizontal axis. Now we’re going vertical (i.e. staying in position). Here’s a chromatic chord walk that takes us down to string 3. See recent issues of this newsletter for an explanation of the particular chords used.

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

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

Copyright 2010 Darrin Koltow

Event Horizon

Tom (“Tommyguns”) McLaughlin’s new band, Slightly Offensive, is keeping very busy and we wish them continued success. On Saturday, August 28 you’ll find them at Fat Sam’s (15896 South La Grange Road in Orland Park, Illinois). The show starts at 9:30 and the music continues until 1:30 in the morning.

And you can keep up with the latest on Slightly Offensive (including the latest gigs on their schedule) by checking in with their website (http://www.slightlyoffensiveband.com/) or by joining their mailing list.

Likewise, you can find out how things are going with Doug (“Moonrider”)James’ group, Southern Roots at their website (http://southernroots.info/). In September, they’ll be playing the following shows:

Saturday, September 18 at Namaw’s Country Diner (located at 16121 Goodes Bridge Road in Amelia Court House, Virginia). Show starts at 6:00 PM

Friday, September 24 at the Hopewell Moose Lodge (4701 Western Street in Hopewell, Virginia) beginning at 7:30 PM.

Further south in North Carolina, you can hear Guitar Noise Moderator, Wes Inman’s former bandmate Lee Hodge and his band, Doesn’t Madder, at the Iron Thunder Saloon in Concord, North Carolina on Saturday, August 21. You can keep up with Lee and the band on their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/doesntmadder

September is also going to be a big month for Guitar Noise Forum member JWMartin, who steps out under the lights as “J. Ghouls,” bassist for the band Spookhand. They’ve got gigs in their home of Nashville but will also be venturing out to Atlanta. Here’s the calendar:

Thursday, September 16th 7:30pm Spookhand will be opening for The Independents (they used to be managed and produced by Joey Ramone) at The Muse (835 4th Avenue South in Nashville, TN).

A week later, on Friday, September 24 7pm they’ll be one of four bands (Psycho Charger, The Creeping Cruds, Spookhand (that’s them!)) and a local, not yet named Atlanta band) at The Shelter, located at 2101B Tula Street Northwest in Atlanta, Georgia

And then the next day, Saturday, September 25 7pm Spookhand and two of the other bands – Psycho Charger and The Creeping Cruds as well as and Alucard (that’s “Dracula” backwards in case you missed it) will be back at The Muse, performing at Dr. Gangrene’s 7th Annual Horror Hootenanny. Sounds like Halloween is getting a very early start in Nashville and I’m sure it will be a lot of fun!

Random Thoughts

Paul recently posted an interesting article on the Guitar Noise Facebook page, which you can read here.

It’s very easy it seems, for the little things that make life so cool to get overlooked. Even in a day and age when almost everything about life seems to end up on the Internet. So many thanks to Paul for spreading this bit of good cheer and special thanks to Mike Campbell for being such a cool musician in the first place!

Until our next issue of Guitar Noise News, play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley
(Charles T. Cat)