Newsletter Vol. 1 # 37 – January 24, 2002

Dear Guitar Player,

Welcome to Guitar Noise News for January 24, 2002.

Who would have thought that a short time ago people were really excited about the new year. Already we are almost a full month into the new year. How time flies! Are you making any progress on your resolutions and goals for this year, or have you already fallen into a routine?

As we progress through 2002 I am going to do my best to keep this e-zine full of lessons, ideas, and inspiration. Not only will it serve as a weekly reminder that it is time to visit Guitar Noise to see what is new, but will try to keep you putting the time and energy into your guitar.

In this newsletter:

News
Guitar and Bass Lessons
Recommended Books
CD Reviews
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.

News and Announcements

This week I have put together some downloads that will help you with your practicing. I have made some blank sheet music that you can download for free. Use it to tab out songs, write your own music and share ideas with friends. There are several different kinds available for whatever you need. Feel free to share them with friends.

Visit the complete What’s New page at Guitar Noise.

Guitar and Bass Lessons

The Open Road
Bass For beginners # 13
by Dan Lasley (21 Jan 2002)
Both Riders on the Storm and Radar Love are road songs that depend on the bass providing the foundation for the song. Both basslines employ a lot of open strings, which I have encouraged you to avoid.

Guitar Noise Reviews

Guitar Pro 3
You downloaded the demo of this software and you think you know it? Although the demo is quite workable, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Eve to Adam – Auburn Slip
Although this album is very reminiscent of Creed, I still find that it stands out quite well on its own. Better in fact than Creed’s.

New Sites

Guitar Man Acoustic Guitar Tips – Acoustic guitar care and playing tips, guitar tuners, tablature music & chord paper, calendar, wallpaper, desktop theme, metronome, links, screensavers, free clubs.
Intimate Audio – Web site devoted to the discussion of intimate musical recordings, self-produced artists, and avant-rock acts. Hosted by Dale Turner (West Coast Editor of Guitar One magazine, GIT instructor, and author). Free guitar lessons (with TAB and MP3) and message board.
Tim Reynolds – This guy tours a lot with Dave Matthews, he’s got a lot of styles that he plays around with like jazz and rock, some blues and combination of everything There’s tab on this site plus movies of him performing (solo and with Dave) there’s also access to his ftp site where you can download some of his live recordings.
The Kelly Richey Band – The Kelly Richey Band is a female fronted, blues based rock power trio!!!

Email of the Week

This week’s expert answer was provided by Dan Lasley.

Sound Trouble
Hi, my doo wop band has been having a lot of sound troubles. We have 10 guys on stage-4 singers up front and 6 band members-drums, 2 guitar, keyboard, bass, and sax. We have 3 monitors spread out in various locations and only 2 monitor settings(aux) that are barely mixed anyway. The problem is with this many members(all of which don’t know anything about sound systems) and the sound man who is the drummers son who has learned a lot about the system but doesn’t understand how to satisfy everyones needs on the stage. Even the rare times we do have sound checks we don’t know how to make the situation better. The instrument amps are usually on pretty loud (not miked). I know from my end (I’m the sax) I can’t hear myself playing solos or harmonizing with background voice licks. We are not really professionals but would like to become more so. Any shortcuts or things we should concentrate our efforts to? Should we buy more monitors? Is there anyway to get more individual monitor mixes? Any info would help. Thanks.

Dan’s Response
It seems to me that you are at a transition point with this band, where you are playing larger rooms and you are more aware of your sound. You didn’t mention any problems with how it sounds out front, but that too may be unbalanced.

I think the biggest problem is that your stage volume is way too high. It’s not good if you can’t hear your own sax! But if you turn down the amps, then you’ll need to feed more of the amps through the mixer for the mains. The keyboards and the bass can go direct using 1/4″ cables, but the guitars will need to be miked. Once this is done, then you can face all of the amps in toward yourselves so you can hear each other even at lower levels.

With this setup, then you should be able to get by with a simple monitor mix for the vocals. I might suggest using side-fills instead of putting the monitors on the floor. You could put a third one behind the drummer so he can hear too. Remember that the sax and guitar leads should be treated as vocals and fed into the monitors when needed.

You’ll need a mixer with at least 12 channels, but your existing PA amps and speakers should be enough – you’re not getting louder! The only possible issue here is that you may be putting more of the bass guitar through the PA, so you may need an extra sub woofer and amp, but maybe not.

The last issue is to make sure you have an EQ for the monitor mix. This will help prevent feedback, and make the sound much clearer.

I hope this helps;

Dan Lasley

If you have a friend who is trying to learn guitar you can do them a favor by sharing this newsletter with them.

Until next time,

Paul Hackett
Executive Producer