Guitar Noise

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #23 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

• News and Announcements
• New Articles and Lessons
• Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow
• Forum Findings
• Emails? We Get Emails!
• Tutorial Tips
• Event Horizon
• Reviews
• Random Thoughts

News And Announcements

Hello and welcome to the June 1, 2006 edition of Guitar Noise News.

There have been a lot of queries about the 2006 Guitar Noise Mini-Camp that takes place at my home the second weekend of July. And there seems to be enough interest to warrant discussing adding at least one more weekend for those not able to attend. So the obvious question is “when?”

If you want to attend and you’ve got some ideas as to what dates you think would work for you, write me (dhodgeguitar@aol.com) and I’ll try to work out a schedule for a second camp. I think I can talk Nick Torres into making a return trip…

For those of you who didn’t know about any of this, let me hit a few of the highlights:

Guitar Noise Mini-Camp 2006

“From Online To Onstage” or “Open Mike 101″

This year we’re going to take Guitar Noise’s logo to heart and prepare our campers to face the bright lights. There’ll be classes and instruction, all geared toward making your first performance at the Guitar Noise (Relatively) Open Mike Night.

And, we have Nick Torres coming as our special guest teacher and vocal coach!

Classes and instruction will include:

Choosing your set of songs - what works, what doesn’t, what might

Singing basics - learning to breathe, support and staying in tune, finding and increasing your range

Arranging your songs - picking a key, adding some flair to your playing with simple techniques, ordering your set

Preparing for your performance - how and what to practice, how to mark up your score sheet/lead sheet, dynamics, memorization tricks

Theory and performance - a crash course on the capo, playing with one or two others

How to perform - prep for performance, dealing with and understanding stage fright developing a stage presence, using a microphone

All will culminate with a performance by all participants (both solo and groups) at our “virtual” open mike to be held at Uncommon Grounds Coffee House in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on the Saturday night of the Mini-Camp, from 5 to 9 PM. We’re calling it “virtual” because the performance will be invitation only. There will be an audience but the only performers will be the Guitar Noise Mini-Campers and staff. Think of it as a “closed open mike” if you will!

For this particular camp, you want to be comfortable playing first position chords and willing to take a stab at performing. If you’re at the point where you’re playing and singing songs in your home, then you should have no problems. If you’re close, meaning that you can strum along with someone else singing, then you certainly will get a lot out of this Mini-Camp.

The focus will be on performing with the abilities that you have. Obviously, the more you know the more nuanced your playing will be. But, as you’ll learn in camp (not to mention in real life), playing very complicated pieces doesn’t always translate well on stage.

Cost of the Mini-Camp is $750. This includes lodging at my home and all meals (except for Saturday night). If you’d prefer to stay someplace else other than my home, then cost is $600. If you’d like to bring a spouse, friend, partner who won’t participate in the classes but will attend meals and the evening events, there would be an additional charge of $200.

Owing to the individual nature of instruction and the privacy of the “open mike” night, Guitar Noise Mini-Camp is limited to six participants. Again, if there is enough interest, there will be more camps on this topic. It’s an exciting way to get started on performing and you’ll certainly learn a lot and hopefully enjoy yourself and make new friends.

To reserve a spot or to ask any questions, write me directly at dhodgeguitar@aol.com

I look forward to the honor of being your host and to hearing your music.

And now let’s take a looksee at what’s new at Guitar Noise since we last chatted:

New Articles And Lessons

Irish Flatpicking Guitar - “The Humours Of Tulla”
by Doug Sparling

Doug takes a break from finger-style guitar to bring us a few lessons in flatpicking. In addition to a terrific arrangement of a Celtic reel, you’ll learn a little more about timing and ornamentation, specifically the “staccato triplet.”

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

When I think about the amazing and fun people I’ve met through the Internet, Darrin is right at the top of the list. His work in music education and guitar teaching are appreciated by people from all over the world. For those of you who might like to know more about Darrin, let me direct you to his website, Maximum Musician and also to his page here at Guitar Noise.

And now let’s get right to this edition’s lesson:

The Dominant 9

We’ve been adding some tasty new flavors to our usual major, minor and dominant 7 chords. We started with the major 9 in a previous installment, and now we’re going to look at the dominant 9.

Here’s a common shape for the dominant 9 sound to get us started:

-5-
-5-
-5-
-4-
-5-
---

It’s a pretty sound. Used a lot in jazz, but other genres, too. The dominant 7 chord has 3 possible kinds of 9s: a flat 9, an unaltered 9, and a sharp 9. We’re going to look at the unaltered 9 now.

Notice the notes in the pattern above: D, F#, C, E. See what’s missing? Yes, the A. We don’t need it. Remember that it’s common to omit notes in chords played on the guitar, and still be able to get to the essential sound.

What scales can you play over D9 and where can you use the chord? A dom 9 shows up in a couple of different common scales, so you can naturally use those scales to solo over it.

Our first scale is a major scale: G major. We can also use A melodic minor and G melodic minor if we’re feeling a bit more exotic. Use those scales for improvising over the D9. Also, try the D minor/F major pentatonic for blues improvising.

Let’s do an abbreviated blues using the D9 and some other dom 9 shapes:

|--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-5-3-5-3-5-3-5-3----|
|--7-7-5-5-7-7-5-5-|-6-3-6-3-6-3-6-3----|
|--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4----|
|--7-7-4-4-7-7-4-4-|-5-3-5-3-5-3-5-3----|
|--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|--------------------|
|------------------|--------------------|

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

We alternate between straight dom 7 and dom 9 in this mini blues.

Next time we’ll look at a “dangerous” alteration to the dom 7 chord: the dom 7 flat 9.

Thanks for reading.

Darrin Koltow

Forum Findings

On of the cool things I read this week on the forum was that “Geoo” is apparently going to be playing one of Doug Sparling’s lesson arrangements for a student recital this summer.

The “Gigs and Jams” forum is almost always a very inspiring place. GN Forum members, from new guitar players to experienced giggers chime in on their upcoming and latest shows, ask and answer questions and generally give each other a lot of support and encouragement. Drop in and see how folks are doing. You may even get the chance to see a fellow GN member on stage someplace.

Emails? We Get Emails!

Hey,

I just wanted to praise your site, its one of the few on the Internet that isn’t just trying to sell me a guitar or some cheap set of lessons. I think its wonderful that you’re doing this for new and old guitarists, I’ve been playing for a long time, but never had the encouragement to get really “into it.” Your lessons have been invaluable help for me and I hope that some day I’ll be good enough to submit an article myself.

Thanks again and best wishes!

You’re very welcome! And I look forward to that article, too! After all we have to be thinking about the future at some point…

To the staff of Guitar Noise:

I just want to tell you that this site is the best site in the world for what it is. Whenever I have a question about how to play something, I am sure to find it answered here in the commentaries.

Please never ever shut down this site! Keep up the good work!

Kind of hard to argue with those sentiments! Can’t promise “never,” especially as one never knows what’s going to happen in the world, but we’ll do our best to stay around as long as humanly possible.

Thank you once more to everyone for their kind words. And welcome to the Guitar Noise community!

Tutorial Tips

David,

I am mostly a lurker on the Guitar Noise website and forum. Your lessons, insight, and input in the forums is simply awesome and a Godsend to people like me who are learning guitar and playing on their own. I’ve been playing seriously for about ten years.

Having said that, I have a question and would also like your opinion about something. When you fingerpick, do you use just your flesh, just your nails, or flesh and nails? And what exactly is your strumming technique when using just your fingers and no pick? I primarily play fingerstyle and use mostly nails with just a slight brush of the flesh before I hit my nail on the string. I also strum by using the front and back on my index fingernail in an up and down motion (ie. same sort of strumming style that James Taylor uses). I find that this sometimes hinders me in solo songs when I need to go from a strumming rhythm to a quick picking of several notes, then back to strumming again. I sort of “lose” my strumming position and the transitions sound somewhat jerky. I’ve experimented with picking with just the flesh of the fingers (makes for less nail maintenance too), but the sound is just not crisp enough for me and comes out too muted. On the other hand, if my nails are not perfectly smooth, they can sound somewhat grating and harsh on the strings. I don’t use an amp much and really enjoy the natural sound of the acoustic.

Anyway, just curious about your thoughts and how you have dealt with the above. I’m still trying to find my style and seeing what others do. Looking forward to your reply.

Hi and thanks for writing!

Whenever I get a question like this I have to pick up my guitar and play and see what it is I do… For what it’s worth, I don’t often analyze how I get a sound or play something and sometimes it’s surprising to me what mechanics are actually taking place when I play.

I play fingerstyle a lot and I use just the flesh of my fingers. For starters, I don’t have the nails and can’t keep them when I do. When I started getting serious about guitar (more years ago than I care to mention) I tried using my nails but didn’t manage to get comfortable with the feel of the technique. I also find I like that using the flesh of my fingers provides many different types of attacks on the strings so I can get a wide array of expressions using both my picking and fretting hand.

As far as strumming with my fingers, I use a variety of methods, usually dependent upon the tone I’m trying to get as well as on the style of the song in question. Sometimes it’s a quick flick of the index finger to get the nail on the down stroke, but I also use a “thumb down, finger up” approach that works well for me. And sometimes I simply strum with my fingers held exactly as if I were holding a pick only there’s obviously no pick.

Switching from one style to another can be tricky, as you’ve noted. What helped me in the past (and still helps me when working out something new) is playing something incredibly slow in order to smooth out the shift from a strum to a few finger-picked notes. A song like the new lesson on Friend of the Devil gave me a lot of chances to try out ideas and I still enjoy switching styles from verse to verse. As with many aspects of the guitar, it’s something that gets easier with practice. But you do have to seriously practice it.

And you also have to seriously listen. Record what you’re doing. Quite often the transitions are not as jarring as you might think and it’s simply a matter of getting the timing decently played. Sometimes you might have to tweak things a little as well - throw in a quarter or eighth note rest in order to get yourself set. Doing so can also add some dynamics to your playing.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to write again if you’d like to discuss this further. And you might want to start up a thread on one of the forum pages and get ideas from other members of the Guitar Noise community.

Event Horizon

Supporting Guitar Noise and the Guitar Noise community is not always about money or time. Sometimes it’s about being there. Literally. As musicians, it’s always good to support each other simply by being at a gig if it’s at all possible.

One thing we’d really like to do is to help promote your shows, whether it’s in a stadium or at a ten-seat coffee house. Not only is it a great way to help support each other, it’s also a terrific way to meet more musicians!

So please feel free to write me if you’ve got some gigs coming up. Remember that Guitar Noise News is sent out on the first and fifteenth of each month. Usually I will have it ready to be sent out a few days ahead of time, so plan accordingly. For instance, if you’ve got something coming up in the last two weeks of July (that is, after the fifteenth), then let me know by the tenth or the twelfth. If you’ve already got a show in August, let me know, too! It’s never too early to plan for things!

Send your gig dates to me at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and try to put “gig alert” in the subject header.

Hap Hazard, a band operating in the Northwest corner of Illinois (and in which Forum member “Bish” plays drums) will be at the following venues in the upcoming weeks. For addresses, just PM Bish through the Forum page:

6-2 - 11th Street Bar and Grill
6-11 - BluePort Junction
6-15,17 Riverfest
7-4 - Bettendorf celebration

And from another of our Forum members, I got the following alert:

David,

My band, We Believe will be performing for 2 hours on Tuesday, July 4th from 1-3pm Central time. We will be part of the city of Franklin WI’s 4th of July Celebration, playing in the family tent. We Believe will be covering songs be Casting Crowns, Steven Curtis Chapman, Point of Grace, and many more, come on down and say hello.

Thanks for the mention!

Reviews

Reviews go up almost all the time here at Guitar Noise. But we also know that what we post is, pardon the cliché, the very tip of the iceberg. If you’d like to pass along a review of an album, concert, DVD (tutorial, concert or otherwise), book or even a guitar or guitar/music product, feel free to drop me a line and try to put “proposed review” in the subject.

For those of you who are always thinking about “giving back to the community,” this is certainly a fine way to do so.

In the meantime, here are the latest reviews to be posted on our site:

Dadi Fingerpicks
Product Review by Graham Merry

A review of Dadi’s fingerpicks, made in the style of Pro-Pik’s “open face” fingerpick rather than Dunlop’s traditional style.

Random Thoughts

I would like to take a moment here to thank our readers for the support they’ve been giving to various charities over the past year and more. Sometimes there seems to be no end to the hardships and catastrophes that occur in the world and while music is a big help to everyone, so are time and thoughtfulness.

The Internet can be a strange thing in that, while it brings us into contact with people from all over the world, it can also isolate us as individuals. I know some folks who seem to be at their computer every spare minute they have and that’s got to be taking them away from a lot of the vital personal interaction of life.

The key, of course (and as it is with most things), is having a healthy sense of balance of things. The computer, the guitar, the job, the family - they are all part of life. And it’s the “part” thing where you have to decide on priorities. And priorities are constantly shifting and changing, so it’s only normal to be juggling them all around.

As musicians, as people, it’s getting frighteningly easy to do everything at the computer. People create songs, whole CDs sometimes without leaving their desk. We get our news, weather, sports and entertainment here.

But as vast and instantaneous as it all is, it’s still a very small part of the world. If you don’t want to believe that, than think about the fact that, worldwide, computers are owned by less than ten percent of the planet’s population. Life is obviously going on out there.

So be sure to go out and visit sometime. Take in a show. Play music with some friends. Make personal contact as well as virtual contact. That’s what the world is for.

Until our next newsletter, stay safe and play well.

And, as always,

Peace