Newsletter Vol. 1 # 53 – May 17, 2002

Hello Guitar Players,

Welcome to the May 17, 2002 issue of Guitar Noise News.

Today I was looking for a small news item to open this newsletter but I couldn’t find anything worth using. Then just a few minutes ago I came across an interview with a pop band I’ve never heard off before. They were responding to claims that most pop music today sounds the same. In their defense they said that guitar bands all sound the same to them. It sounded like a comment that would inflame the passions of guitar players everywhere. But then again, it made a lot of sense.

What is a guitar band? What is it good for? It sounds very much like an industry term used to facilitate the marketing of music that sounds very similar.

In this newsletter:

News
New Guitar 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.

News and Announcements

It’s still less than three weeks old and Music Careers has already received a lot of traffic and attention. If you visited the site and found the connection slow it is because we were caught off guard. Being a new site we didn’t expect it to make a big splash. The server situation has been improved and should run as good as the Guitar Noise server now.

If you have a website you can help out by linking to Music Careers website. Here is some suggested text for you to use (but feel free to change it if you like):

Start or build a career in the music industry with knowledge and confidence thanks to our well informed community. Learn the keys to working on the road or in the studio; learn about writing songs, getting them published, and much more.

Guitar and Bass Lessons

Give A Little Bit
By David Hodge (17 May 2002)
Sometimes you sit down with a written piece of music and end up being disappointed because “it doesn’t sound like the record.” You may have the right chords, but you’re playing them in the wrong place on the fretboard. Give A Little Bit by Supertramp demonstrates this concept.

Playing With Emotion
By Ryan Spencer(17 May 2002)
This was originally going to be an observation of emotion in music, but evolved into explaining my favorite aspect of playing, and my main reason for playing. What would be my favorite aspect of music? That’s actually an easy answer.

The Little Black Book
By Joe Benedetto (14 May 2002)
After reading and hearing about bass players concerned with finding a drummer, guitarist, horn player, or anything else for their ultimate band, I thought I would share one of my record keeping skills: keeping notes, names and phone numbers of band members.

Acoustic Guitar Tips

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

Guitar Capos

Capo A capo is a very useful device especially if you’re a singer. If you need to raise the key of the song a little or a lot you just clamp it on where you need it. In the picture at the right, the capo is placed behind the 3rd fret. This means if you normally are playing an E major chord, now you are actually playing a G major chord but you don’t have to learn the whole song over again to change the key.

I remember when I was trying to learn songs as a beginner I wasn’t aware of the capo and couldn’t figure out certain songs. This device is sometimes a necessity because so many other artists use them. If you really want to learn a song and sound like the original artist, you’ll need to use one as well.

Pictured above is a Kyser capo. I switched to using Kyser capos about 7 years ago. They work best for 6 string guitars but I still use the stronger clamp-on type for my 12 string.

I learn songs mostly by ear. If I have trouble learning a song, I wait until I hear a chord in the song I recognize like a D chord, find the D note on the D string and then put the capo on that fret. I can do something similar if I recognize a G chord, I find the G note on the bass E string and capo 3 frets down. If I recognize a C chord, I find the C note on the A string and capo 3 frets down as well.

Gman ( o )==#

Hi -great website! Wanted to pass along a tip I learned accidentally. After 25 years of playing flute & sax, I took up guitar. I found playing jazz tunes difficult for a beginner like myself as they were in keys that were a bit difficult on guitar. One day I took out my alto sax fake book. It is set up for instruments in Eb. I found if you capoed at the third fret, you could play these songs much easier. Instead of playing in Eb, Bb, or F, you now played those same songs in C, G, and D. What a difference! Also, my voice is not as high as some of these pieces are written. By taking the capo off completely, I was able to sing these pieces much more comfortably. I know that this may be difficult to follow, but for those who aren’t adept at transposing, this is a huge shortcut to a vast repertory of difficult songs. Thanks again for your great website. Sincerely, Mark Sackett

For more tips visit Guitar Man Acoustic Guitar Tips.

Guitar Noise has some great resources for capos. By far the best is David’s column back in ’99 called The Underappreciated Art of Using a Capo. This is great for those wondering what a capo is and what it does. It will tell you how to use a capo and how it might improve your playing. It’s beginner stuff, so for anyone who wants something a little more advanced there is also David’s Basic Guide to Transposing from last year. This lesson is also known as “Turning Notes Into Stone.” It goes over the confusing problem of playing with other guitarists who know the same songs as you, but in other keys.

A lot of people have been writing in about capos recently so let me make this tip even more complete. Here is a quick list of songs using capos:

Purple Rain by Prince (capo at 1st fret)
Wonderwall by Oasis (capo at 2nd fret)
Hey You by Pink Floyd (capo at 3rd fret)
Ironic by Alanis Morisette (capo at 4th fret)
Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles (capo at 7th fret)
Hotel California by The Eagles (capo at 7th fret)

Try the above songs and you’ll be able to sound a lot like the original – if that is your wish.

CD Reviews

Various Artists – Bay Prog
A free CD with the current issue of Expose. This album is a collection of tracks from various San Francisco Bay area Progressive Rock bands highlighting the diverse bands and the immense talent of the area.

The Jelly Jam
This is certainly a good album. It flirts with heavy rock without ever really going there. It just gives you a taste. Meanwhile, the melodies drive the music.

The Splendid Nobodies – Coming Back Around
This band certainly knows how to deliver a good time. The music is certainly well played, but it’s obvious these guys don’t think of themselves very seriously. Which is great as it creates an entertaining atmosphere.

New Sites

GuitaRiff.com – Indexing every guitar site, big or small. All guitar related sites are rated by our users.
Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand – A division of Tai Poutini Polytechnic Greymouth N.Z. in downtown Auckland. Certificate and diploma courses in audio engineering and contemporary music performance. Overseas student enquiries welcome – low cost of living, great food, surfing and snowboarding.
Music and Technology – Need help with recording? Check out the How To Guides section for a variety of helpful articles, or post your question on the brand new Message Board. Also, check out the Book Store for more great resources.
ProSoundWeb – ProSoundWeb.com is a web community for all aspects of the professional sound industry including live sound, installed sound, recorded sound, lighting, and industry business trends.
Scale Viewer – Free guitar scale tool download and east asian scales lesson (Chinese, Korean, Japanese)
The Shred Zone – The Shred Zone, your new guitar resource center for FREE lessons, playing tips, recording tips, cd, gear, and product reviews. Tons of links to companies, bands, musicians, record lables, and industry sites. Interviews with the hottest guitar and bassists around! And much more. Become the muscian you’ve always wanted to be… Updated WEEKLY!

Email of the Week

Reliable and Affordable Equipment
What I am: I’m a musician on a budget who wants to start gigging. I play guitar and sing, and I need good, reliable, and relatively affordable equipment.

What I have: I have a Squier Fat Strat and a Danelectro Nifty Fifties amplifier. I have a Shure SM58 and I just ordered a mic preamp.

What I’m thinking: I went to Guitar Center and a worker there said I need to eventually upgrade my guitar. I’m not sure how far up I should invest. Would even a Standard Fender Strat be good enough for gigging? I am also thinking of getting a Marshall amp. I read that I should have 50-100W. There is the Marshall MG100DFX that is slightly cheaper than the AVT50 model, however I believe the AVTs have more features. Would 50W be enough to gig (in clubs, semi-large rooms, etc.). What pedals would I still need? For vocals, I’ll probably need a PA system of some sort. How are the Fender Passports? They seem relatively affordable and convenient.

Miscellaneous: How good is the Fat Finger? I have one and I don’t hear any differences. It seems like it’d better to just not have a clamp stuck to my headstock while I perform.

Learning: I’m trying to develop good improv skills for soloing (knowing enough to be able to construct one with minimal effort). How did you learn all that? I never learn as much from classes as I do from myself. I bought a Steve Vai solo book and I just learned some, and I have some Jimi Hendrix. I’m learning, but I feel like there’s a better way. I practice scales too. I feel like I know so much but I fall flat in comparison to players in the stores.

Hans’ Response
I have ideas to some, if not all of your questions…

I’ve been using my Strat for the last 17 years, for any style! As long as your fingers can get the sound, nothing else will. As for upgrading: You could take your Squire and upgrade the pickups. The Fat Strat sounds like it features humbuckers!? If it doesn’t, you can do what I did. I replaced the bridge position with a Seymore Duncan JB Junior, that’s a humbucker in the shape of a single coil. DiMarzio offers great options too. Make sure that which ever one you go with has a good amount of lows and mids. Otherwise, you’ll be almost back at where you started with the stock pickup.

50 Watts will be fine for small rooms and situations where you can mic the speaker and go through the PA. But it’s cutting it close, or slim so to speak. I’ve recently bought my first transistor in years, the Fender Roc-Pro 700. The nicest features are it’s versatility, the tube in the preamp section, and the light weight! It screams for sure and has 70 Watts. I used to play through an all-tube half stack: Super heavy and way too loud to sound good in small settings.

You have to also remember: Guitar Centers, or any other store’s sales reps will try to sell you something. Anything. I don’t know much about those Marshall combos, but none I have tried ever floored me.

How about some JBL wedges? I don’t know the model name, but I’ve worked with many singers that use them for rehearsals and gigs. Some even have some good digital effects. Wouldn’t know myself about the Fenders, but they could be great.

Wow, when you ask about learning improv, you are asking the question, if there ever was one that is most important! Hard to answer in one email; but you are on the right track with records! Too many students come to me and sometimes without realizing it themselves, ask me to “train” them into being able to improvise. No teacher can do it for you, so listening to those discs and learning solos is an important thing, as well as simply jamming along (some people denounce that noodling with scales). You have to actively make yourself speak in this language, because learning music/improvising is no different than learning a language. Just speak…just play. A great teacher, of course can save you a lot of wrong and tedious turn offs, but lots can be learned on those as well.

Good luck!

Hans Fahling 2002-05-17

All the best,

Paul Hackett
Executive Producer