Guitar Noise News – January 2014

Greetings!

And welcome to the latest incarnation of Guitar Noise News, our free “newsletter,” although I’m not even sure that’s the right thing to call it anymore. Like everything these days, things are changing quicker than one would consider possible and what’s new today is totally reimagined tomorrow. Sometimes it seems we can simply hang on and ride it out to see where we end up next.

So maybe we should open this discussion up to the general public – is this a newsletter? Is it an announcement or an update?

But regardless of what we call it and what it turns out to be, here’s some news about what’s up with Guitar Noise, plus some general news and thoughts of the day.

New Lessons, Articles, Reviews, Blog Posts

First, we’re excited to be bringing new song lessons and articles to the pages of Guitar Noise. If you’ve not already found these on our home page, you might want to check them out:

The Long Run
blog post by David Hodge

Any New Year is often a time of reflection and resolution. Here are some thoughts about how to not become “someone who used to play guitar.”

Wake Me Up When September Ends – Green Day
Guitar Noise Song Lesson by David Hodge

This latest song lesson, Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” is the first of many coming in 2014 that explore how to put together single-guitar arrangements for songs that have multiple guitars in the original recordings. As with all our Guitar Noise latest song lessons, this arrangement is laid out in easy steps and comes complete with both music notation, guitar tablature, and MP3 audio files.

Question of the Moment

I don’t know about you, but I always forget that Guitar Noise has been around since 1996, not to mention that I’ve been writing articles, lessons, and reviews here since 1999. It’s always a shock to me to realize that there are, literally, more than a thousand pieces covering all sorts of things. And somehow people keep reading and commenting on them.

Sometimes, though, it does mean that we may be a little out of date on things! Here is a question concerning Butterfly picks, a product we must have reviewed ages ago:

I found one of the butterfly picks at a jam,on the floor. It does look a finger nail. I want to have a supply of these, but cannot find them for sale on any site, store,or shop. Where can I buy this style of pick?

A good question – this is an old article and the website mentioned is no longer running. A quick search on Google, though, reveals that they’ve simply changed their name. You should be able to find your answers here:

http://www.butterflyfingerpicks.com/

I’ve also taken the liberty of changing the link in the review.

It’s worth noting that they’ve changed their design a bit since I first wrote this review. The picks are much more streamlined (and I’m already thinking it’s time to get myself some replacements!).

Hope this helps!

And, by the way, both Paul and I do try to answer every question and email that we do get. Placing a comment or question directly with the article is one way to reach us. You can also feel free to email me directly at my personal email, which is still [email protected] (see? some things don’t change!)

Noteworthy

The biggest news is, of course, old news, that being Paul’s latest redesign of the whole Guitar Noise website. If you’ve not been to the Home Page lately, I think you’ll be amazed at how sharp and clean it all looks. We’re still incredibly easy to navigate and there is still so much tutorial material here that you can spend years going through it all.

And speaking of things that are still basically the same, the Guitar Noise Forum pages are also still the friendliest place on the Internet in terms of help for any and all of your guitar questions. For those of you interested in honing your songwriting skills, the Sunday Songwriters Group (or “SSG” for short) is still going strong in its twelfth year. And we’re all thrilled that Vic Lewis has recently returned to run this wonderful support group for songwriters of all levels.

There are two new Guitar Noise Song Lessons that will be coming your way fairly soon – America’s “Ventura Highway” and Joni Mitchell’s “The Circle Game.” And Paul has managed to secure the rights for more songs, so we’re looking to bring you lessons throughout 2014, featuring songs from Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, Radiohead, Gordon Lightfoot, R.E.M., Sheryl Crow, and the Grateful Dead.

This and That

Believe it or not, I don’t know exactly when this “newsletter” is going up online. It might be in January or it might be February 1. Either way, though, I do want to wish everyone a Happy New Year for 2014. Also, a Happy Chinese New Year, which falls on Friday, January 31. We’re heading into the “Year of the Horse,” and if you’re turning twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six, forty-eight, sixty (as Stevie Ray Vaughn would have been), seventy-two (like Paul McCartney – worth noting Jimi Hendrix would have been seventy-two, too), or simply timeless (like Sir Isaac Newton, Rembrandt, and Genghis Kahn), I wish you a great upcoming year.

I look forward to keeping up with you all on a more regular basis.

Peace