Newsletter Vol. 3 # 133 – March 1, 2011

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #133 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
  • Spotlight on the Sunday Songwriters Group
  • Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Hello and welcome to the March 1, 2011 issue of Guitar Noise News, the free twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise.

First off, we’d like to extend our best wishes for safety and recovery to all our readers in the area of Christchurch, New Zealand as they move on from last week’s earthquake. We’ve a good number of Guitar Noise community members in the region, so if you can include them in your thoughts and prayers, that would be appreciated. The stories we’re hearing about the support and aid they’ve been getting are encouraging and we hope that all their lives can get back to some sense of normalcy as soon as possible.

Finally, we’re sending out a hearty congratulations to Ian of Alberta, Canada,who is our March 1 winner of an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar.” You can see Ian’s photo (and thanks to his wife Betty for taking it!), as well as those of all our winners, over on my blog at www.davidhodge.com.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

Quickly, without thinking two much about it, name the best selling album, by a band, of all time. Worldwide, that is. It’s the second best selling album ever, behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Well, if you managed to guess Back in Black by AC/DC, give yourself a big pat on the back. You know your album sales trivia!

Rock and roll doesn’t get more basic than when the guitar duo of Malcolm and Angus Young get fired up to play! You can read all about AC/DC, our Guitar Noise Featured Artist of the Month for March on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

Topic Of The Month

It makes perfect sense to pair the March Artist of the Month with the topic of soloing. There are indeed a lot of articles here at Guitar Noise that deal with all sorts of aspects concerning creating your own solos. Bop on over to the Guitar Noise home page and click on the “Topic of the Month” up in the top left corner, just below the blue banner.

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

Re-Beginning The Guitar – Part 2
Enjoying the Ride
by David Hodge

Just what expectations should you have of yourself if you’ve decided to pick up the guitar again (or for the very first time)? Here are some tips and advice on how to realistically gauge your progress and also how to get the most enjoyment out of learning to play.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for March 1 – Practicing Modes (Part 48)

This is a run with a scale that’s very close to standard F mixolydian.

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

This run comes from the C melodic minor scale, which has just one accidental, Eb. That note ends up as the seventh degree in the F7 chord.

The next time you want a sound that’s just slightly different from F7, try C melodic minor.

Thanks for reading.

Darrin

Copyright 2011 Darrin Koltow

Spotlight on the Sunday Songwriters’ Group

This month, we’re turning the “Spotlight on SSG” feature at the Guitar Noise Blog on one of our (relatively) more recent arrivals to the group. Anyone who’s taken part in the SSG the past two years has undoubtedly heard a song or two by James, who goes by “jamestoffee” on the Forums. I’m actually having a hard time remembering the last time he missed a week’s assignment!

James kicked off the current “SSG Year 9” with an alliterative, alternative take on the sixteen bar blues. It’s called “Bollywood Blues” and it’s a lot of fun to listen to. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Random Thoughts

One of the biggest benefits of being with Guitar Noise has been getting to meet and know people from all over the world. Darrin Koltow, of Maximum Musician, is one person I’ve had the honor of knowing and working with pretty much since I first started here at Guitar Noise. Most of you may know him from his contributions to the Guitar Noise News, but he’s also contributed a lot of articles to the website and he is someone who has taken a great deal of time and energy to make Guitar Noise such a great community. And he’s also one of the nicest people on the Internet.

I’m sad to inform you that Darrin will be taking leave of his newsletter posts, not to mention many other things. This is actually good news as he’s making the time to pursue scholarship and a career in art. We at Guitar Noise, and I personally, would like to wish him much success and happiness with his new endeavors. I’m definitely going to miss him.

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

And, as always,

Peace