Newsletter Vol. 1 # 18 – July 08, 2001

Dear Guitar Player,

Welcome to Guitar Noise News, the weekly update for Guitar Noise. This newsletter will keep you up to date with the latest news and developments on our site, including all our new lessons, advice, and links added within the past week. Subscribers to this newsletter should feel like they are part of our growing guitar community. Your voice is important to us and we always want to hear what you think about this newsletter and our website.

Recently our friends at Acoustic Guitar Workshop redesigned their site and we are more than happy to help spread the word. Their revamped site is now organized in 5 easy to navigate sections as follows: tuition, MP3s, Resources, Links, Newsletters.

We have another new lesson for you on buying equipment this week. Remember our topic for July is “How to Buy Equipment.” This week Dan takes you through some important steps to consider when buying a bass guitar.

Bass for Beginners

This series of articles is designed to give the beginning bass player enough tools to get started and play competently in a band. Each column focuses on a different aspect of playing the bass, but they are intended to be read (and practiced) in order. It is assumed that the musician can read music and knows how to find the notes on the guitar.

Part 8: How To Buy A Bass Guitar
by Dan Lasley (08 Jul 2001)
This column will review some of the numerous things that go into the design of a bass guitar. Some matter more than others, and different people have different tastes. Hopefully, when you are done, you’ll have an idea of what to look for the next time you’re in the mood for a new bass. Please note that this is geared toward the novice bassist. If you are an experienced bassist recording your third studio album, you will undoubtedly have your own opinions on these matters.

Guitar Columns by David Hodge

On the Guitar Column page, we try to cover a lot of ground for guitarists of all levels. Topics, most suggested by emails from our readers, range from theory (basic and intermediate) and technique to soloing to song writing and arrangement to alternate tunings to coping with the emtional ups and downs of guitar playing itself.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes…
by David Hodge (08 Jul 2001)
We’ve actually had a little bit of a theme running through our last three columns. First we started out with transposing and then the last time out we examined how chord progressions were formed in minor keys. Today I want to introduce you to the subject of modulation. Modulation is a great song writing tool and, more importantly, a key subject to grasp if you want to know more about how music is put together. And, fortunately, there are lots of examples of modulation in recent pop/rock/whatever music as well, which we can use to explore this technique.

Guitar Principles

Through the use of these principles, anyone can learn to play the guitar correctly, from the beginning, so that bad habits and playing problems do not appear, as they do for so many guitarists and would be guitarists. Likewise, longtime players can learn how to undo the bad habits they have unknowingly acquired over the years, bad habits that are preventing them from improving

Stage Fright: Part 1
by Jamey Andreas (01 Jul 2001)
For a performer the effects of stage fright are devastating. How ridiculous, how cruel, that you have spent perhaps hundreds of hours practicing, studying, working and sweating to learn these pieces and prepare this concert, and go out on stage and have a severe traumatic experience!

How to Buy Equipment – July Topic of the Month

One of the most popular types of question we receive at Guitar Noise concerns buying equipment. A lot of people are interested in playing guitar but don’t know where to start. Many of them go online to do their research. In fact, buying equipment goes beyond the realm of a beginner question. We often field questions about particular brands and models of guitar. There is the question of buying new or used gear, buying equipment online, choosing effects and accessories and so on.

To deal with this huge topic we have dedicated the whole month of July to covering this one theme. We plan to explore this topic in as much detail and from as many angles as possible. Throughout the month we will be bringing you articles on the same theme from different writers with different perspectives. Before July is over we will share our opinions on buying a guitar, buying a bass, shopping for a home studio, buying stuff online and more.

Here are some of our older articles about buying equipment. You will find some brand new articles in each newsletter this month.

Shopping
by Laura Lasley (01 Jul 2001)
I find that shopping for a guitar is much like shopping for anything else. The available information can be overwhelming, especially on the internet. There are a million web sites about every kind of guitar and every style. I have a few simple shopping rules that I like to follow which apply to clothing, TV’s, cameras, cars, houses and yes, guitars and guitar accessories.

The Rites of Spring
by David Hodge (28 Mar 2000)
Buying a new or used guitar can be an emotional ordeal, especially if you haven’t the faintest idea of what you are looking for. This is why it’s important to do a bit of thinking and investigating before even setting foot inside a music shop. It doesn’t matter if it’s going to be your first or fortieth guitar, take a moment to gather your thoughts.

Reaching The Limits
by Abel Petneki (22 Aug 2000)
Tried everything but still can’t play that solo no matter how much you practice? This seems to be a common problem for beginners – let’s try a different approach. The problem might not be you; it could actually be your guitar.

The Little Things
by David Hodge (29 Nov 2000)
If you are considering buying something for a musician you know and are a bit worried about buying the “wrong” thing, have no fear – there are no wrong things! You may not know this, but there are a lot of things that guitarists always need, but rarely purchase. Guitar players go through stuff that needs to be replaced fairly often. While there is still time left before the holidays let us go through some of the things you can buy for the guitar player on your list.

Building a digital studio
by A-J Charron (06 Jun 2000)
The digital recording environment, although not the best, offers some cheap solutions for musicians. Digital is the conversion of naturally occurring phenomena into a series of electrical pulses, i.e. 0’s and 1’s. In this article A-J shows you how to use your PC as a home digital studio. Topics include what you need to do and how much it will cost.

Indie Music Reviews

Over the next few weeks and months Guitar Noise will be presenting you many CD reviews from Independent labels. Why Independents? Essentially because Major labels think we are not important enough for them, while Indies are more than happy to be seen within our pages. We hope you will like this segment. Get ready to be introduced to some of the best music around!

Under The Sun
This is a band where everyone is spotlighted. No egos here. They are a tight band and the music sounds great. Sort of influenced by 80s or 90s Yes, with a touch of Floyd on the guitar and, thanks to Terry Brown, a bit of the Rush sound.

Spooky Tooth – Live in Europe
For the older readers, I’m sure I don’t need to explain who Spooky Tooth are. I’ll just have to explain what their doing here… For the younger readers, Spooky Tooth were a sixties band, with strong Blues influences.

New Sites

Here are this week’s new links:

Anthony Glise – Anthony Glise is one of the world’s leading classical guitarists/composers. The only American-born guitarist to win first prize at the International Toscanini Competition (Italy), he is a Pulitzer Prize Nominee for Composition. With 7 CDs actively distributed in over 40 countries his books (most published by Mel Bay) are available world-wide.
Strings Direct – The UK’s & Europe’s No.1 supplier of guitar strings, bass strings, accessories and much more delivered straight to your door.
Guitar Tricks – Free Online Advanced Guitar Lessons – Chords/Technique/Tricks/Shred/Tapping. Includes MP3’s, MIDI, Tabs, Diagrams and Photos

Bass Guitar Sites
To go along with Dan Lasley’s Bass column this week we have added links to the following bass manufacturers. This will be a good starting place for anyone looking to buy a bass guitar.

Email of the Week

It definitely seems like a bass guitar week here. As well as all the new bass links and the new lesson from Dan on how to buy a bass guitar, this weeks email of the week covers the topic of fretless basses.

Hi Laz;
You said on your post at guitarnoise.com that you love playing fretless? I would like to know why because if I bought a bass (have a guitar now) what would I gain/lose from a fretless? What makes it better?
Thanks,
Will

Response:

Hi Will;

The bass player I looked up to in college had a shirt that said “Fretless and Free!”, so that’s where I got my first interest in this.

I have a fretted P-bass, and a fretless J-bass, so some of the tone differences are due to the pickups more than anything, but the tones that come from a fretless are still different. The way your fingertip pinches the string against the fretboard dampens the highest overtones without disturbing the middle ones, so you get a “warm” sound that is not “dull”. My next column will discuss this in more detail.

I play fretless when I want the specific tone, or I want to slide. I play fretted when I’m playing fast rock&roll and I want to be sure I stay in tune at speed. I will change basses during a set, or re-arrange the song list so I don’t have to change as often. If I play a “fretless” song on my fretted bass (or vice versa), it feels weird, but I can adjust quickly. I will also play the fretted bass when I’m tired.

If you have a good ear (which I don’t), then you might find the fretless more fun. If you play jazz or folk/rock, fretless is fine. If you’re a heavy hitting rock and roller, I’d get frets. Just as the advanced guitarist may own a Strat and a Les Paul, the advanced bassist may own both types of basses.

I hope this has been helpful;
Dan Lasley

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