Newsletter Vol. 1 # 58 – June 30, 2002

Hello Guitar Players,

Welcome to our latest issue of Guitar Noise News, for the week of June 30, 2002.

The fate of this year’s Who tour is in doubt following the sudden death of bassist John Entwistle. Entwistle was 57 and died from a heart attack in Las Vegas last Thursday.

Entwistle was the only member of the Who with formal music training. While his songwriting contributions to the band were not as prolific as other members he may yet be remembered as the best bass players in rock. Reading over some other websites coverage I found the following interesting quote by the Ox:

A lot of our fans liked us because we made mistakes. It made us look more human. And then the fact that we could actually sort of burst out laughing on stage when we made a real bad blunder. – John Entwistle, 1944-2002

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

Summer Holiday

For those who’ve been with us for a few years you already know what is coming. Every year I do the same thing, sort of. Every year around this time I set out on the road for my summer holiday and put the site on autopilot for a while, sort of. There will always be someone minding the store, but there may not be any newsletters or new articles for about a month. That usually gives the avid readers who never miss a beat a little time to review things already presented. It also gives you time to actually play guitar rather than reading, thinking or talking about it.

If all goes according to my grand design there will be one more newsletter before I make my great escape.

Interesting Forum Discussion

The new forums that I announced last newsletter have been doing quite well. Some rooms have more discussion than others, but every board has its own topics now. To help promote the forums better I will look through them to find interesting discussions every week and post the topics here.

This week I want to showcase the Music Careers board, which we put together in conjunction with our new site Music Careers. This week a guest posted a question about demos.

If I made a demo tape of me playing guitar and singing my own songs who could I send it to, to see if they like my stuff?…Basically how do I get started in the music industry?

As usual the great gang of people who frequent the forums chipped in some helpful advice and opinions.

Check out this discussion or start one of your own on the Guitar Forums.

Also, let me take this opportunity to send out the first of many thanks to our new moderators Ryan, Reef and Laz. They’ll be doing their best to keep the forums active and interesting as well as cool places to hang out. We may be getting some real industry experts to help us out with some of the difficult sound engineering topics, but keep your fingers crossed.

New Guitar Lessons

Real Life Scenes From Dr. Jamie’s Studio: Another Guitarist Brought Out Of “Musical Coma”
By Jamie Andreas (01 Jul 2002)
I have often felt that I run a Hospital For Dead And Dying Guitarists. The cripples hobble in to the emergency room, or are carried in on stretchers, and I diagnose their case. I take their medical history, and assess the harmful, and sometimes fatal effects of what some teacher has done to them, and/or what they have done to themselves through ignorance and bad practice.

Telephone Skills
By Joe Benedetto (01 July 2002)
The other night as I was drifting off to sleep I started to think. I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed about all the auditions and long phone calls that never panned out. The reasons were numerous, too many times a week, too far, too young, too old, too inexperienced, too experienced…everything was a conundrum.

Here is this week’s blast from the past.

In October and November of last year we began exploring the 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 explored the things that make performing easier and more enjoyable.

John Carrahar, a smashing young man from the U.K., sent us a story that is worth reading and re-reading.

Getting Up On The Stage
by John Carrahar (03 Nov 2001)
In the U.K.a musician who plays for spare change in the streets or in the subway is known as a busker. Various bars in my area hold jamming sessions known locally as “Busker’s Nights.” On these nights anyone can get up on stage, and sing a few songs. I’ve been asked to give tips to people who may be feeling nervous about performing for the first time.

Since sending us that article John has had quite a time. I don’t know exactly where he is these days but he has started his own band, taken up bass as well, rehearses at a place with the cool name ‘The Boom Boom Room’ and a rumor had it that he was going to fill his car with his guitar, EFX and a PA and do a solo tour of Europe. That’s coolness.

Check out all our Performance articles.

Acoustic Guitar Tip

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

Alternate Guitar Tunings That Won’t Break Your Strings

I found this handy list of alternate tunings on Gman’s site.

Gman ( o )==#

For more tips visit Guitar Man Acoustic Guitar Tips.

For those who like messing with, or experimenting with alternate tunings we have all sorts of goodies on our Tuning page. Aside from the many quality lessons on tuning you can check a more extensive list of alternate tunings than the one above as well search for songs that use different tunings. Visit the tuning page.

We want to print your guitar tips here. Please send your tips to Guitar Noise with “Guitar Tips” as the subject of your message.

CD Reviews

Warren Buttler – The Cultivation of Grace
Warren Buttler can play. And I mean really play. Yet, as opposed to so many guitarists who come up with albums that show off their prowess, Warren takes the time to work around melodies, always beautiful. This is truly an album from the heart.

Ellis Vance Mission – Initial Burn
This first release from Ellis Vance Mission is a great welcome for people who enjoy original music and are looking for something fresh and distinct. A blend of various styles of music, from Crosby, Still & Nash to Pink Floyd, going by The Beatles, EVM play all over the board offering a never tedious, always surprising sound.

New Links

Al-Andalus ‘Tarik & Julia Banzi’ – Contemporary Andalusian Music, uniting Eastern and Western cultures with native performers in a blend of Moroccan, S. Indian, Spanish Flamenco, Ladino & Arabic musics. Al-Andalus creates music with a message embodied in a musical vehicle that reviewers have dubbed “”A delightful proposition of exquisite music” El Pais, Madrid, Spain. Female flamenco guitarist Julia, and Tarik oud virtouso.
EastCoast Music Mall – Eastcoastmusicmall.com The best guitar, bass, and pro audio store online. The definitive leader in PC recording. Our highly knowledgeable sales staff are always ready if you need help with hardware, software, components, or a full blown computer..
Fatbuddyslide – A slide for a bigger hand that gives that true “medicine bottle” tone and weight.
Guitar Resource Center – A general resource to various guitar related topics (lessons, tablature, parts, music, and more).
MEGA Guitar.com – Incredible prices on electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass, amps, huge selection.

Email of the Week

Live Recording
I was wondering what kind of software you would recommend if I were to start doing live recordings of local bands in my area. I have a laptop computer to take to shows, but I haven’t bought a microphone for it yet! If you would please email me back and recommend a type of mic I would need and also a killer live recording type of soft-ware! Thank You!!!

Dan’s Response
A laptop won’t be sufficient for good recordings, as you will need a first-class digital converter. I would recommend one of the new Korg or Fostex digital recording stations. They have excellent mic pre-amps and digital converters, as well as useful EQ and effects. Some models have CD-ROM burners installed, or you download the data over to your PC. There are small 4-6 channel units, as well as 12-24 channel workstations.

Don’t forget that you will need permission from the artists to record them.

Good Luck!

Dan Lasley 2002-06-30

All the best,

Paul Hackett
Executive Producer