Newsletter Vol. 3 # 130 – January 15, 2011

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #130 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

  • Greetings, News and Announcements
  • Guitar Noise Featured Artist
  • Topic of the Month
  • Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
  • Spotlight on the Sunday Songwriters Group
  • Event Horizon
  • Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Hello and welcome to the January 15, 2011 (got to keep writing the year down because I keep screwing it up!) issue of Guitar Noise News, the free twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise.

For those of you who missed it last time, I’m David Hodge, managing editor of Guitar Noise and it’s a pleasure to be back working on the newsletter. And if you find yourself missing my cat Charley, who filled in admirably for me most of last year, you can drop me a line and I’ll pass it along. While I suspect he does miss his chance to write, he seems to be enjoying taking it easy and just lounging around. Maybe I can coax him into letting us post a picture sometime.

Marilyn from New York is our January 15th winner. You can see his photo, as well as photos of all our past winners, at my blog, which can be found at www.davidhodge.com.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

He started out being more famous as a songwriter than a performer, even writing a song that’s become a Christmas classic. And to top it off he’s got a guitar named Trigger! Willie Nelson gets the nod as Guitar Noise’s Featured Artist of the Month for January. Read all about this artist who continues to prolifically write and record music on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

Topic of the Month

We’re highlighting all of Guitar Noise’s bass guitar lessons for January 2011. Drop in at the Guitar Noise Home page and then click on the Topic Banner showing “Bass for Beginners” and dig into the many wonderful bass guitar lessons we have here on site.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for January 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 45)

We explored a chromatic chord walk in F7 (F mixolydian) last time. Our exploration included a teaser on producing those chords that aren’t pure or expected F7 configurations. Here’s a copy of the run for handy reference:

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

The first chord isn’t a pure F7–it has no F. It does have a G, though, and it’s still diatonic to (in the key of) Bb major. Let’s look at the next chord for something more unusual.

Chord 2 is a B7 chord. What does B7 have to do with F7? Both chords have these two tones: A and Eb (D#). The chords themselves are called “tritone substitutes” because their roots, B and F, have that devilish interval the tritone between them.

We’ll explore the sources for the remaining string 1 F7(-ish) chords the next time.

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

Copyright 2010 Darrin Koltow

Spotlight On The Sunday Songwriters’ Group

While putting together an interview with Vic Lewis for this month’s “Spotlight on SSG” feature for the Guitar Noise Blog, I totally forgot to ask him about the song we were featuring, “Constant Chameleon!” So I’ve gone and redid a bit of his interview and reposted it in the usual place.

One of these days I will get it right the first time!

Event Horizon

Doug “Moonrider” James’ group, Southern Roots, has got a big show coming up next Friday, January 21, 8:00 PM, at Hooah’s Sports Grille, located at 5380 Oaklawn Boulevard in Prince George, Virginia. Their lead singer, Jackie Baker, has been selected to make the second round of the auditions for America’s Got Talent. This is the last show before she goes in front of the judges in Atlanta on January 29th, and they’re asking that all the band’s friends and fans turn out to wish her well.

This isn’t a gig announcement, per se, but Slightly Offensive, with GN Member Tommy (“Tommy Gunz”) McLaughlin on guitar, is in the running “Best Cover Band” in the Suburban Nitelife magazine, which covers all of Chicago’s suburbs. It’s a voting contest, so do Tommy a favor and drop in at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/bestoftheburbs and give the band a vote. And be sure to pick Tommy for “Best Guitarist,” too!

Random Thoughts

A lot of you may not know this, but Guitar Noise turns fifteen this year. In some states, we’re almost old enough to drive! It’s hard to believe that we’ve been around so long. And I wish I could say I’ve been around all this time, but I just joined in at the very tail end of 1999 so I can only say I’m good for the last eleven-plus years.

Much of the growth of this website is the direct result of our readers, especially those who have taken the time to write – not just to contribute articles and lessons, but rather to take part in a continuing dialogue that has helped both Paul and I to strive to make this website both a place for education and, just as importantly, for support and encouragement.

For that, too, many thanks must go to our Guitar Noise Forum participants, from our team of Moderators to everyone who either asks or answers questions that arise. The Guitar Noise Forum is one of the most helpful and friendliest places on the Internet and that’s because everyone involved takes it upon himself or herself to keep it that way. That takes effort because it is so incredibly easy to simply give answers without explanations or encouragement.

So I’d like to take a moment just to say “thank you” to everyone here at Guitar Noise for their encouragement, support and patience. We look forward to moving towards getting our “learning permit” and then, who know? Maybe a driver’s license and a chance to not worry about getting carded at clubs!

Or, better yet, let’s work toward making the website even better. As always, I’m relying on your help to keep us on track.

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

And, as always,

Peace