Special Newsletter – With or Without Nibiru

Niburu

Greetings!

Welcome to this Special One Time Only Completion of the 13th B’ak’tun of the Fourth World Issue of Guitar Noise News

IN THIS ISSUE:

  • Email of the Moment
  • Greetings, News and Announcements
  • New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff
  • Random Thoughts

Email of the Moment

Hi David /Guitar Noise

Could I please mention that this (June 15, 2012) is the latest newsletter that I have received from your good-selves. I have checked my safe senders list and you are still on there – so I wondered if there was a problem at your end. I would love to continue to receive your excellent newsletter if it can be arranged.

Many thanks!

Greetings, News and Announcements

To put it mildly, things have been pretty strange this year. Many weird and wonderful, sad and scary, joyful and inspiring events have been occurring and in all the dealing with them, not to mention dealing with life in general, the Guitar Noise News kind of got caught up in the “we’ll get to it as soon as we can” pile.

And I can’t apologize enough for that. And while it’s incredibly tempting to spend even more time discussing many things you’re probably not all that worried about (and, truth be told, shouldn’t be!) I’d rather just say “Good to be back” and move forward.

After all, this may possibly be our last newsletter ever!

Oh, that’s not meant to be alarming. As you may (or may not) be aware, the world is possibly ending either Friday or Saturday maybe it’s Sunday, depending on whose Mayan calendar you may have been using. When you think about it, how can it be any one single day when in someplace on the globe it’s either tomorrow already or still yesterday. Prophesies never seem to take that into account for some reason.

Anyway, should it be that we are engulfed in the end of the world as we know it, we at Guitar Noise kind of figured that it only seemed appropriate that Paul and I should take the time to say both “goodbye” and “thank you.” After all (and we’ve hopefully said this more times than you can count), Guitar Noise wouldn’t exist without you, our readers. And if the world’s going to end, I say let in end in a song!

But it also goes without saying that this latest apocalypse may not come to pass. And should that be the case then Paul and I would like to take the time to wish all our readers, the entire world in fact, a wonderful upcoming New Year.

If you’ve not visited Guitar Noise of late, then one of the big bits of news is that the whole place (outside of the Forum pages) has been totally redesigned. I think you’ll agree it’s a stunning change and makes the place look (and navigate) much better. Take a look and tell us what you think!

One bit of important news to mention as well is that we’re going to need to ask you to resubscribe to Guitar Noise News. You can easily do that on our newsletter page. As always, Guitar Noise News (like the rest of our website) is free.

Let’s see, what else? Oh! We’ve got a great Guitar Glossary now, too. Paul did a great job putting together a lot of the musical and guitar terminology that we use all over Guitar Noise and put it all in one place. Better yet, most of the definitions also contain links to lessons and articles where the term in question is a featured part of that lesson. This should give you more of a grasp of each new concept.

Another great new area to watch at Guitar Noise is our ever-expanding Music Guide department. Here you’ll find lots of “mini-lessons” on various techniques and terms to help you make great strides in your guitar playing.

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

In fact, newsletter or not, new articles and lessons get added to Guitar Noise all the time. Here’s what’s new just since the start of December:

Friend of the Devil

by David Hodge – As you learn more and more techniques, you should start trying to incorporate them into the songs you already know. We’ll take a very easy song and come up with some interesting things we can do for arranging it for the single guitar.

First Songs to Learn on Guitar – Top Ten Easy Songs

by Paul Hackett – If you’re new to the guitar, here is a starter guide of the first ten songs you should learn how to play. We have included chords and audio for each song.

From Old Ways to New Ways

by Paul Hackett – You’re now looking at a newly redesigned Guitar Noise. This is more than just a new look for the site – it’s also the beginning of us doing things in new ways.

10 Ways to Market Your Guitar Playing

by Robert Kittleberger – It’s good to be noticed and appreciated for your guitar playing. Here are ten marketing tips you can use to help build a name for yourself.

5 Ways to Get More From Your Guitar Scales Practice

by Mike Philippov – Discover five simple steps to make your practicing of scales much more productive.

Good King Wenceslas

by David Hodge – Here is a wonderfully simple, yet elegant arrangement of the beloved carol, “Good King Wenceslas,” done in open D tuning.

The Secret to Expressing Emotion in Music

by Tom Hess – One of the greatest abilities you can have as a musical artist is to be able to take any idea or emotion and accurately convey it in music.

Beginner Guitar FAQ

by Paul Hackett – Learning guitar can seem daunting. With all the different websites and teaching methods available it can be difficult choosing where to begin. Guitar Noise has been answering your questions for over ten years. The answers to most common questions are featured here.

Deck The Hall

by David Hodge – Have fun playing this simple, yet challenging arranging of one of everyone’s favorite carols. If you can handle playing C, F and G and some basic fingerpicking, you’ll be performing “Deck the Hall” in no time!

How to Improve Your Upstroke Picking

by Paul Kleff – This lesson will help you develop your upstoke picking techique and show you the best way to get a better sound, increase your pick speed and improve your timing.

Why Some Musicians Almost Always Succeed in the Music Business

Tom Hess, guitarist for the epic metal band Rhapsody Of Fire and a mentor to professional musicians worldwide, gives advice about how to make it in the music industry.

It goes without saying, again assuming we don’t have to deal with the whole that we’ll be adding more new lessons throughout the upcoming year. In fact, part of our “downtime” was spent negotiating the use of several new songs for our Guitar Noise song lessons. The first of these, Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” will be out in just a few weeks, so keep your eyes out for it.

Random Thoughts

To get back on topic, a lot of what the newsletter used to do – from announcing new articles and lessons, to bringing out the latest news about the site to simply talking about any subject that might come to mind (like I am now!) – is being handled by blog posts or announcements on our Facebook page and Twitter accounts. With the new re-design of Guitar Noise, part of me wonders if there’s still a place for Guitar Noise News.

Personally, I do think so. The newsletter is kind of like the evening meal at home – a time for the family to get together to just go over the day and to simply enjoy each other’s company. It doesn’t matter if some of the conversation isn’t new. I see “Guitar Noise News” in my inbox and I know that I’ll be getting some news from friends, from people whose company I enjoy. It’s the social aspect of the meal that is equally, if not more important than the nutrition.

So I’d like to ask you your thoughts. Feel free to post a comment with your observations, ideas and suggestions.

And, I’d also like your ideas about renaming the newsletter or whatever it ends up turning out to be. Maybe you’ll get a prize for coming up with a good one!

Finally, and even though this was mentioned earlier, it’s still very important, please take a moment to resubscribe to Guitar Noise News. Or whatever it’s going to be called! You can easily do that on our newsletter page.

Until next time, play well and play often. And my best wishes to everyone for a wonderful New Year. Or a blissful end of the world. Whichever comes first.

And, as always,

Peace

David