Newsletter Vol. 1 # 44 – March 17, 2002

Hello Guitar Players,

This is our ezine for March 17, 2002. How are you this week? All right, let’s go!

How would you like to own a piece of Fender or Gibson? Sure you’d like to own one of the guitars but how about a piece of the company?

Over the past 15 years both companies have prospered as private businesses. Recently, the top executives at Fender Musical Instruments and Gibson Musical Instruments both said they hope to go public in the next five years after they expand their businesses.

A few prominent musical instrument companies have gone public in recent years, including piano maker Steinway Musical Instruments, but most resisted the lure during the stock market boom of the 1990s.

The C.F. Martin Guitar Co., known for its quality steel-string acoustic guitars, has always remained in the family. Chris Martin is running the business his great, great, great grandfather started in 1833, making it one of America’s oldest family-run enterprises.

In this newsletter:

News
New Guitar and Bass Lessons
Acoustic Guitar Tip
Recommended Reading
CD Reviews
New Links
Email of the Week

Why not help a fellow musician? You can do them a favor by forwarding them this newsletter.

Guitar and Bass Lessons

Guitar Noise has always been supportive of musicians playing in bands. In many of our lessons we discuss the different facets of playing with other people. Thus is should come as no surprise that we are launching a new section to highlight those of you who are out there gigging in the bars and clubs.

In the “Working Bands” section, you will see lessons on managing your band and getting gigs, anecdotes from bands on the road, and reviews of CDs from these bands.

But really, it’s about your band. You are the musicians out there working hard to break even. We want to help you succeed.

We start off with a review of PayDay Daddy’s new CD, and a lesson from their bassist/manager on how to get the best gigs. Since they regularly play 3-day weekends, earning as much as $1500 per night, I think you’ll find their wisdom (and their music!) worthwhile.

So if you are in a Working Band, balancing your day job and your family life with rehearsals and weekend gigs, we want to hear from you. Send us your stories, lessons, and CDs, and we’ll do our best to get you noticed.

Payday Daddy – CD Review
Working Bands # 1
by Dan Lasley (15 Mar 2002)
Payday Daddy is one of the hardest working bands in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. They have been voted the best band in West Puget Sound for 4 years in a row. This quartet often plays 3-night weekends at any of the local casinos, playing extra long sets and drawing top dollar. They play classic rock and roll as well as a varied list of originals.

Do’s and Dont’s on Gigging Like a Pro!
Working Bands # 2
by Lesa McCabe (16 Mar 2002)
The Manager is the poor slob that gets the job no one else wants. The person that can talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere, and about anything, and do it well. As the Manager of the West Puget Sound Band “Payday Daddy” it is my job to make contact, keep in contact, and keep the contact happy. This involves many things, please, allow me to explain…

Guitar Tip

This week our tip comes to us courtesy of Guitar Man Acoustic Guitar Tips.

The Proper Way to Carry Your Guitar

Sorry Steven. You’re my idol and everything but that is not the way to carry a guitar.

Although these types of promotional photos look pretty cool, some guitarists actually try this only to hear their guitar crash to the ground.

The strap peg in the butt of the guitar can pull out very easily or the button holes on the strap can pull off the strap pegs.

The proper way to carry your guitar is in it’s case. If you have a case with undependable latches, walk with the case lid placed next to your leg so if it opens accidentally, the lid will open into your leg and the guitar will not fall out as easily.

Gman ( o )==#

For more tips visit Guitar Man Acoustic Guitar Tips.

CD Reviews

T-Tauri – Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition
Out of the Netherlands comes this six-piece Symphonic Orchestra with a Rock’N’Roll attitude. And to demonstrate their talents, they’ve opted to play the strange and complicated masterpiece, Pictures at an Exhibition.

Somnambulist – The Paranormal Humidor
The Paranormal Humidor is the band’s second release, but the third album they’ve recorded, the second never having been released. This is also the third version of the band.

New Sites

Berklee College of Music – Berklee College of Music is the world’s largest independent music college and the premier institution for the study of contemporary music.
Classical Guitar Free OnLine Lessons – This site offers detailed lessons for the beginning classical guitarist. The format is conversational, but the information is essential.

Email of the Week

Memorizing the Notes in Each Key
What is the best way to memorize the notes contained in each key (i.e., exactly which notes are sharped or flatted) so that they can be recalled with the same ease as recalling the multiplication tables? Is it as simple (and as tedious) as memorizing the entire list, note by note, or is their a more efficient way of storing this data in your head?

David’s Response
Thanks for writing. I don’t know if this will be easy or not, but there is a distinct pattern to learning these. And it’s really not that hard. The main thing to remember is that they always go in sequence. If a key has two flats, for instance, one of those flatted notes is the same as the flatted note in the key with one flat. If that sounds confusing, hopefully it won’t be as we move along.

First off, we agree that C has no flats and no sharps. What I like to do is to progress in either direction from there. Usually, when I hit Gb or F# I call it quits because they are the same key.

Okay, flats first. The easiest thing (for me) to remember is that the keys progress in 4ths (F, for instance, is the fourth of C) and that the flatted note is also the fourth in the new scale. In the example of the key of F, Bb is the fourth. Not only is it the fourth, though, it is also the next key in the sequence! This makes things very easy:

C – 0 flats
F – 1 flat (Bb)
Bb – 2 flats (Bb, Eb)
Eb – 3 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab)
AB – 4 flats (Bb, Eb, AB, Db)
dB – 5 flats (Bb, Eb, AB, dB, GB)
GB – 6 flats (Bb, Eb, AB, dB, GB, Cb)

Now sharps are a little harder, but there are a couple of ways to look at it. First off, going from C to G (which is the key with one sharp) is moving in the intervals of fifths. The next key after G would be the fifth of G which is D. For me, the key is remembering that the newest sharp will always be a half step lower than the root. G has one sharp and it is F#, which is that half step lower. D is next so it will have F# (because it has to carry over to the next key) and the new sharp will be C#. Here we go:

C – 0 sharps
G – 1 sharp (F#)
D – 2 sharps (F#, C#)
A – 3 sharps (F#, C#, G#)
E – 4 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#)
B – 5 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#)
F# – 6 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#)

If you remember that flats progress in fourths and sharps progress in fifths and simply remember the first flat or sharp, then it’s as simple as this:

Bb, Eb, AB, dB, GB, CB
F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#

I hope that this helps. It may not seem like it but after a while it becomes second nature to not only know these, but also the relative minors!

Thank you again for the email and I look forward to hearing how things are progressing with you.

Peace

David Hodge

One of the requirements to progress as a a guitarist is hard work. Aside from hard work the search for short cuts often continues. I don’t know if there are many helpful shortcuts that can really help you learn guitar well. However, anyone who has been playing guitar for a long time will be able to give you advice that will help you work smarter not harder. This week’s email is not really a shortcut, but rather a simpler way of doing something.

That is all for this week’s issue. If you know anyone who might benefit from this free information please forward your copy to them.

See you next week,

Paul Hackett
Executive Producer