Newsletter Vol. 3 # 132 – February 15, 2011

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #132 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
  • Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Hello and welcome to the February 15, 2011 issue of Guitar Noise News, the free twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com). As always is the case with every February 15th newsletter, it’s my sad duty to inform you that if you happen to have missed that yesterday was Valentine’s Day, you may be in big trouble! I’d suggest dropping everything and writing a love song right now!

Got a note from Todd Mack and the folks of FODfest announcing the following:

We are pleased to announce the launch of our weekly radio show & podcast,The FODcast,beginning the week of February 1, 2011.

The FODcast features studio & live cuts by many of the artists who have performed at FODfest over the years as well as in-studio performances & interviews, pre-recorded remote broadcasts from FODfest tours, guest DJs, and much more. The show is co-hosted by Todd Mack, Lynnette Najimy, and Emily Edelman, and is an eclectic mix of music, ideas, and cultures.

The FODcast airs and streams live on the following radio stations:

WKZE, 98.1FM – Red Hook, NY – Saturday 9-10PM EST
WBSD, 89.1FM – Burlington, WI – Thursday 9-10PM
WHDD, 91.9FM – Sharon, CT – Wednesday 11PM – 12AM
WHAY, 98.3FM – Whitley City, KY – Saturday 11PM-12AM
The FODcast is also available as a podcast in the iTunes store!

You can also listen to the FODcasts right on the FODfest website or rightclick on your selection to download it to your own computer.

In other news, Mitch from South Carolina is our February 15 winner of an autographed copy of ‘The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar.’ You can see Mitch’s picture, as well as those of all our winners, over on my blog.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

Had he been alive today, grunge rocker Kurt Cobain would turn 44 this month. Seventeen years after his death we still see the indelible mark he left. Read all about our Guitar Noise’s Featured Artist of the Month for February on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

Topic of the Month

In February we’re spotlighting all of the many articles here at Guitar Noise that deal with open and alternate tunings. There are quite a few of them (different tunings, that is, as well as articles and lessons!) and it’s always a great way to further explore the beautiful music you can create with your guitar. Just visit the Guitar Noise home page and click on the ‘Topic of the Month’ up in the top left corner, just below the blue banner. Or go directly here.

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

Re-Beginning The Guitar
by David Hodge

If you’ve decided to pick up the guitar again (or for the very first time), you want to be in the best frame of mind to learn. David offers some advice on how to get yourself ready to learn again, regardless of how long you have (or haven’t) been playing.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for February 15 ‘ Practicing Modes (Part 47)

Let’s look at arpeggios and scales for F7 this issue. We’ll play them in a comfortable position, mid fretboard. Here’s a plain F7 run that will give you basics of the arpeggio:

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

In the next issue, we’ll play a more interesting run that’s based closely on this one.

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

Copyright 2011 Darrin Koltow

Event Horizon

Slightly Offensive, with GN Member Tommy (‘Tommy Gunz’) McLaughlin on guitar has quite a few shows coming up in the second half of February. From Tommy’s email:

2/17 – The Tilted Kilt (6401 W 95th St, Chicago Ridge IL) Another return, but this time they’re expecting us!!!
2/19 – Rokwelz (11265 West 159th Street, Orland Park IL) A NEW VENUE!!!
2/26 – Jameson’s (2755 Black Road, Joliet IL) We played here for their Halloween Bash on 10/30/10 & it was CRAZY PACKED!!!!

We’ll be Rockin’ out to covers from Aerosmith, ACDC, Buckcherry, Pink, Pat Benatar, No Doubt, Katy Perry,Taylor Swift, Poison, Bon Jovi, Green Day! And Many more!! We’re busy booking for gigs for Mar/April so maybe I’ll see you on the road somewhere!!! If you come out to a show be sure to come up and say ‘Hi’.

Don’t forget that Slightly Offensive 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

I’ve just recently started the Spring Semester of guitar classes at the Berkshire Community College, which seems a little weird, especially when the first day of ‘spring classes’ fell on February 1 when six inches of snow was also falling!

But it’s always exciting starting with a new group of people, most of whom have never picked up a guitar before deciding to take the course. Everyone is nervous and everyone is completely certain that he or she is going to be the worst student ever in the history of these classes and is worried about falling behind or keeping the rest of the class from moving forward.

Yet somehow each new class seems to shine in its own way. The nervousness gives way to enjoyment and the wonder of playing music. Before the next sixteen weeks are up, these students will hopefully know more than a dozen chords and, much more importantly, be able to strum in time and to change from chord to chord smoothly and without anxiety. Plus they’ll pick up some work on walking bass lines, simple slurs like hammer-ons and pull-offs, and even some basic fingerpicking.

The biggest thing to learn, though, is that this is simply the start of a lifetime’s worth of playing music. Hopefully each student will find playing the guitar enough fun to make a place for doing so every day. This is a terrific realization at any point, but on a snowy, cold grey day in the middle of February it seems even better.

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

And, as always,

Peace