Newsletter Vol. 1 # 29 – October 27, 2001

Dear Guitar Player,

Welcome to Guitar Noise News for October 27, 2001. The first month of our performance topic is nearly over and we added two new performance pieces this week. You can expect more articles and lessons on this entrusting topic throughout November. Also have a Happy Halloween!

In this newsletter:

News
Topic of the Month
Guitar & Bass Lessons
Recommended Books
New Links
Email of the Week

You can recycle this newsletter by passing it on to a friend you think might benefit from Guitar Noise.

This newsletter is available online.

Site News

Who are we? What do we do? What do we look like?
You can’t help but feeling some disappointment when you find out what one of your regular radio station’s DJs looks like. You become so accustomed to their voice that your imaginary picture of their face turns out to be not even close.

At some point or other you have probably seen most of our faces somewhere on the website. But have you ever seen them all in the same place? We have put together a page about us, that tells you what we do (our real jobs and other interests), and posts it along side our photos. So find out today what we look like and why we do this work.

Visit the complete About Us page.

Performance – Topic of the Month

In the months of October and November, we will be exploring many aspects of Performance. After all, that is what it’s all about – standing up and playing in front of others, either on stage, or in your basement. Most of the columns published this month will explore the things that make performing easier and more enjoyable. In addition, we will begin to publish reviews of live concerts. In anticipation of the Performance topic, we have expanded one of our forums to encourage you to post your own concert reviews, as well as announcements of your own gigs. So get out there and play!

This month’s topic is being coordinated by Dan Lasley. If you have any suggestions about this topic please contact Dan.

The Concert For New York
by Laura Lasley (26 Oct 2001)
Musical artists have a long history of doing benefit concerts for causes that matter to them. This performance was amazing because of the numbers of accomplished artists participating as well as the historical context of the concert. It embodied many of the reasons that live music and performance are powerful forms of expression.

Talent Showcases and Open Stage Nites
by Alan Horvath (26 Oct 2001)
Many local clubs feature an “open mic” venue, where songwriters and musicians of all kinds can get their feet wet and see what it takes to pull off a show of your own.

Visit the complete Performance page at Guitar Noise.

Easy Songs for Beginners

I know from reading the message boards in the Guitar Forum that some of you have been anxiously awaiting the latest Beginner’s lesson from David. Finally it is here.

If Not For You
by David Hodge (23 Oct 2001)
In and of itself, Bob Dylan’s If Not For You is a very easy song. You won’t find any tricky chords and if you already know the song you’ll be able to breeze through this on the first take and then wonder why I’d make a lesson of it at all.
What may be a bit of a challenge to novice players is the fact that this songs makes use of a slide. If you want an introduction to slide guitar we published an article last year called Acoustic Slide Guitar – Technique and Tips, which answers some of the many questions you may have about playing slide such as what to use, glass or metal, which finger, strings, vibrato and stopping all that scratching sound.

New Links

There were a few notable new sites that I linked to this week. First is Alan Horvath’s personal home page. If you were paying attention earlier Alan is the author of the article on playing open mics. Check out the JAM section in his website for more articles like it.

Alan Horvath – Alan plays acoustic 6-string guitar, uses “open” tunings, and sings his songs with raw sincerity. He has recently added dulcimers, autoharp, and octave mandolin to his show, and via his site’s “JAM!” link, Alan offers a host of cool resources and links for guitarists, dulcimerists, Autoharpists, and songwriters.
DMBTabs – This is a great site for Dave Matthews fans. The tablature is very accurate and each section of the songs which are tabbed have audio files to play along with.
GuitareTAB.com – Over 30,000 Guitar Tabs. Metallica, ACDC, Creed, Nirvana, Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, Incubus, and MANY MANY MORE!

Email of the Week

Here is another theory question answered by David.

Notes
What does the “7”in C7 mean?

David’s Response
Whenever you see a number after a chord, it refers to the note in that particular scale that you should add to the basic chord. If you know that the C scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C), then C6, for example, is the basic C chord (C, E, G) plus the 6th, which is A.

But sevenths are a different matter. If you see a “Cmaj7,” then this would be C, E, G and B, which is the major seventh. A regular “7” chord means that you want to add a FLATTED seventh note – a major seven which is lowered a half step so that it is one full step below the root. So a “C7” would be C, E, G and Bb.

I go over the formation of these and other chords quite thoroughly in my columns The Power of Three and Building Additions and Suspensions. If you haven’t already done so, you might want to give those a once-over.

I hope this helps. Thanks again for the email and I look forward to hearing from you again soon.

You may find that most questions you have are already answered on our site. This is especially true for the beginner. We realize that at times it can be difficult to find the answer by yourself. One of the best ways to turn up an answer is to use our search engine. You can learn a few search tips at Guitar Noise by reading about the advanced search technique.

Previous Email of the Week letters have been archived online. Visit the complete list of questions and responses at Guitar Noise.

If you send us a question, who knows, maybe someday it will be featured as an email of the week. We do like to receive your letters.

Peace,
(I mean it)

Paul Hackett
Executive Producer