Newsletter Vol. 3 # 124 – October 15, 2010

Greetings

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #124 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

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

Greetings, News and Announcements

Welcome to the middle of October! I’m Charles T. Cat (although I prefer you call me Charley) and this, of course, is the October 15 edition of the Guitar Noise News – your twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com) (and do I really have to write that?)

I’d rather be writing a big “congratulations!” to Alan Green, long time Guitar Noise member, Forum Moderator and contributing writer. As many of you may know, Alan took up teaching guitar on a “close to fulltime” basis last September. And the latest news is that between his private students and his ensemble teaching Alan now has over a hundred guitar students! That’s not only incredible but it’s also very cool that over a hundred very lucky aspiring guitarists are getting inspiration from a truly terrific teacher. Having met Alan when he briefly visited David here in the Berkshires, I can tell you that he is one of the nicest and friendliest people you could ever hope to meet.

So a hearty cheers to both Alan and his students! May they come to play as many different styles of music as Alan does!

And speaking of styles of music, GN Forum Member Mitch, who goes by “Slejhamer” on the GN Forums, has a blog online where he’s detailing his progress at becoming a rock guitarist, using “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” and writing about his studies with it chapter by chapter. You can follow his journey on his blog.

And we wish Mitch much success with the stylings of Rock Guitar!

Of course, we can’t mention “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar” without bringing up our latest Guitar Noise contest. Each month between now and December 2011 we’re giving away copies of David’s latest book, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar,” which came out on October 5 to some lucky Guitar Noise readers.

Jeff from New Jersey is our October 15 winner and while he didn’t take his photo at the Eiffel Tower, taking in with view of the Arc Du Triumphe is certainly worthy of getting a prize! You can see Jeff’s photo, as well as all our past winners, at David’s blog (www.davidhodge.com).

I should also let all past winners know that David just got his copies of the book from his publisher, so they will all be on their way in the mail this week!

And speaking of contests, stay tuned for a great end of the year contest we’ll be having, well, at the end of the year! You will have a chance to win all of three of David’s “Complete Idiot’s Guides” as well as two tutorial books from the folks of Acoustic Guitar Magazine that include some of his articles for them.

If you’re interested in “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” to the point that you’d like to know what, exactly, the book will contain, just check out the brief summary of the Table of Contents that we posted up in the September 1 newsletter, which you can read right here.

And if you are thinking about buying a copy, you can do so either online or off. As it’s brand new, your local bookstore should have copies. Call first and ask if you’re worried about getting there only to find they’ve sold out. Most places are more than happy to hold a copy in reserve for you.

If you’re buying online, we’re asking people to buy it through Guitar Noise’s various affiliate links to Amazon. If you go on the home page (www.guitarnoise.com) you’ll find a “Recommended by our Readers” book wheel down towards the bottom of the page. Click on the photo of the “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” cover and you’ll be linked to the Amazon page where you can buy it. Buying the book this way gives some money to Paul and Guitar Noise and is a great way to thank them both for all the work they do.

And if you’d like to get one straight from David, just email him at [email protected] for details on where to send your money. It will be $20 (he gets them at the Amazon cost and the extra helps cover shipping) and he’ll ask you whether or not you’d like an autograph thrown in as well. Being someone from the Stone Age, David only deals in cash, checks or money orders, so if you want to go with credit cards or Paypal, try the online route.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

Jimmy Page has the honor of being the Guitar Noise Featured Artist for the month of October and it’s an honor that’s long overdue. Read our bio on this legend of both the guitar and the recording studio by dropping in on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

And also be sure to check out Paul’s wonderful article on the many genres and styles covered by Led Zeppelin called No Stairway, which you can find here.

Topic of the Month

For October, we’re featuring the “Turning Scales into Solos” series as our Guitar Noise Topic of the Month. Paul and David have gotten a lot of compliments and “thank you’s” for these articles and if you’ve ever read one I’m sure you’ll agree. Even if you’re not into soloing at all, they can give you some helpful advice on being able to choose the right sound for a particular song.

You can find all of them by clicking on the Topic Banner of the Guitar Noise Home Page. And check out the new ones that will be going up online later this month.

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

Circle of Fifths
by David Hodge

This can be a very useful tool for guitarist for things from learning the fretboard to making highly educated guesses about upcoming chords in a progression.

The Art of Accompaniment
Part 1 – Arpeggios and Scales
by David Hodge

In this first lesson on accompanying yourself with guitar we focus exclusively on using arpeggios to create interesting song arrangements.

3-Note Sequence Ideas for Lead Guitar
by Paul Tauterouff

Making small adjustments to simple 3-note sequences can bring a unique sound to your soloing. Paul Tauterouff shows you how it’s done.

Same Old Song
by Vic Lewis

Growing as a guitarist often is as simple as discovering a new way to do something. GN Forum Moderator Vic Lewis shares some favorite discoveries that have helped him better a better guitarist and musician.

Shakin’ Up Vibrato
by Kenny Masters

Good vibrato technique can bring a lot more polish to your playing. Kenny Masters, guitarist for After the Crash, examines the various aspects of vibrato, with great audio examples of each.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for October 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 39)

This is a continuation of our series on the modes. We’ve been exploring the C Minor and Dorian sounds, and substitutes for those sounds. The run we’re about to look at is a substitute not for C Dorian, but for C tonic minor. In other words, it’s a destination for music to work toward, and not a means to get to that destination as a dominant 7, for example, would be.

The substitute we’re using for C tonic here is the A minor 7b5, which is in the C melodic minor scale. Here’s the run, which includes a G7 chord to start us out. This chord prepares us to hear some kind of C-based chord.

|-3------------|-----------7-5-8-|-5-7-------------|------------|
|-3------------|---------8-------|-----8-----------|------------|
|-4------------|-----5-8---------|-------8-5-------|------------|
|-3----------5-|-9-7-------------|-----------7-9-5-|------------|
|-5--------6---|-----------------|-----------------|-6----------|
|-3----5-8-----|-----------------|-----------------|---8-5-7----|

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

Copyright 2010 Darrin Koltow

Event Horizon

Doug (“Moonrider”) James’ other group, the Moondawgs (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Moondawgs/115056121883152), have got a big show coming up at Honey Whyte’s All American Cafe, located at 2116 East Main Street in Richmond, Virginia tonight! That’s Friday, October 15 from 9 PM until 1 in the morning.

And you can keep up with Don’s other band, Southern Roots, here: (http://southernroots.info/),

Lee Hodge and his band, Doesn’t Madder, will be playing at the Denver House Tavern, located at 3608 North Highway 16 in Denver, North Carolina, tomorrow (Saturday, October 16). The show starts at 4 PM and goes until 9. Remember to keep up with Lee and the band on their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/doesntmadder

And Halloween will be here before you know it. If you’re in the Chicago area, you can’t go wrong by seeing Slightly Offensive – with GN Member Tommy (“Tommy Gunz”) McLaughlin on guitar! They’ll be doing a Saturday, October 30 show at Jake’s Pub in Joliet, Illinos. Check their website (http://www.slightlyoffensiveband.com/) for more details.

Finally, this past summer, David got to hear Wishing Well, an Australian band, busking in a public square in Copenhagen. He liked them so much he bought their CD “Fire in the Valley” and highly recommends it. They are still touring in Europe and will be in England, Belgium and Germany throughout the end of October. You can find them at the following places:

In England:
October 16, 2010, 8:30pm, The Chester Arms, Oxford
October 17, 2010, 8;00pm, The Spice of Life, London (Soho), England
October 20, 2010, 8:30pm, The Royal Oak, Bath
October 21, 2010, 8:00pm, Canterbury Arts Festival, Canterbury, England
October 22, 2010, 8pm, The Cider Shed, Norwich

Belgium:
October 25, 2010, The Fagot Pub, Ingelmunster, Belgium

Germany:
October 28, 2010, 8:00pm Spatz und Wal, Unna, Germany

Wishing Well is a fun band with guitars, bass, drums and its own string section (cello and two violins). You’ll have a great time at any of their shows. Be sure to sign up for their newsletter, too! You’ll get an honest and humorous take on what life as a touring band is really about!

Email of the Moment / Random Thoughts

David just got this email Wednesday and asked me to pass it along:

David,

Been loving Guitar Noise for a couple of years now. Thanks for all the great work!

I just got my copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar” from Amazon and excitedly started reading. When I got to page 27 I started to play good ole “Tom Dooley.” The Chord changes from A to E and back to A are annotated above the forth beat, like they’re anticipated, instead of beat one. If I was really new to guitar, this really would have given me fits. It’s unfortunate for the very first song to have this mistake, even if for a publisher or proof reader it looks very minor. Hopefully readers will quickly move past this.

I love your podcasts, hopefully you’re enjoying a break after finishing this book.

Thanks again,

Hi

Thanks for catching that. I caught it, too, when I got my copy from the publisher this week and I’ll be posting it up on my blog before the weekend is out.

The scary thing about this is that this typo happened after this particular piece had been edited and corrected over seven times in order to make certain it was correct. The last time was the day it was sent to the printer. I strongly suspect that it might have been set wrong during the printing process, but who really knows?

It really is a pain about that. The same thing happened with the Bass Book in the first tablature example. Definitely not a great way to start!

Please let me know what you think about the rest of the book if you get the chance. And if you have any questions (or find any more mistakes – I’ve found a dozen so far!) feel free to drop me a line!

And thanks, by the way, for buying the book. Your support is very much appreciated!

Be chatting with you again soon.

Peace

David

Having been in the same room as David when he caught the mistake, I can tell you he wasn’t happy at all. But he does understand that these things happen. And he also hopes that it won’t freak out the readers too much. Hopefully, if Alpha Books is okay with it, they’ll be able to correct it during the next printing. Of course, if that does happen, then those of you who have the first run of the books will be able to say that it’s a “collector’s edition!”

One thing that David mentions in his reply is worth another look – if you did get the book, whether as a purchase or a gift or even as a prize in the latest Guitar Noise giveaway, and if you’re looking for a way to say “thank you” to him, writing a review – and that would be an honest review that goes into your reasons for liking or not liking it as opposed to simply saying “it’s great” or “I don’t like it” – would be one of the nicest things you could do. I know that David would appreciate you making the time to do so.

As for him “taking a break after finishing the book,” well, there’s news about that but I’m afraid it will have to wait until next time out.

And speaking of our next issue of Guitar Noise News, until then play well and play often.

And, as David would say…

Peace

Charley
(Charles T. Cat)