Newsletter Vol. 2 # 101 – November 28, 2004

Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.

In This Issue

  • News and Announcements
  • New Articles and Lessons
  • Worth a Look
  • Email of the Week
  • Forum News
  • Sunday Songwriter’s Group
  • Reviews
  • Thoughts and Feedback

News And Announcements

Greetings!

Welcome to Guitar Noise News!

This being Thanksgiving week here in my corner of the world, there’s all sorts of things vying for attention and time. And while this week’s newsletter may be a little on the short side as far as length, there are quite a few things of importance that you will want to note.

First off, you may not have noticed that we’ve been having a few server problems in the past few weeks. While this is owing to a number of things, it’s a fair bet that the chief culprit is our forum page. We’re eating up a lot of bandwidth and Paul and Nick are putting in quite a bit of time trying to smooth things out. You may find things changing a bit on the forum pages, and we ask, as usual, for your patience while we tweak things out.

Ironically enough, some of you may have caught on to the server glitch because of last week’s newsletter. I had given Paul three new articles to go up online and, for most of us, only one, Guy Pople’s piece on seven stringed guitars, made it up on the site. But that didn’t stop my newsletter from referring to some of the new stuff in other places! So a little warning, parts of this newsletter may give you a feeling of déjà vu!

And what is new this week? Glad you asked!

New Articles And Lessons

Exotic Ports Of Call
by Tom Serb

Tom, who goes by “Noteboat” on our Forum pages, brings us this wonderful lesson on the uses of altered or “exotic” scale. He explores three different ways that the guitarist can incorporate them into his or her playing and gives us examples using both the Zangula and Rwanda scales. This article is a gift for those of you looking to expand your soloing vocabulary.

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
by David Hodge

“Jolly” I can certainly vouch for. “Old?” Well, he’s not older than me, so I guess that’s debatable. As for “Saint,” perhaps we should ask his wife. No, it’s not our great Forum guru, it’s that other Nick! You know, Santa Claus? Actually it’s a wonderfully easy introduction to creating a chord melody arrangement and the first of a series of holiday song lessons for our readers. Enjoy!

Worth A Look

Last week, I mentioned Tom Serb’s terrific book on music theory and some of you were so impressed with Nick Torres’ review of it that you went and ordered it! Tom extends his thanks to all of you who did!

Now that you’ve read his new lesson, those of you who passed up reading about his book last week might want to see what all the fuss is about: Music Theory for Guitarists.

And I’d like to, yet again, take a moment to thank Tom for all the work he’s done in contributing to Guitar Noise, both with his articles and the incredibly detailed responses he gives on the many forum pages he frequents. The Guitar Noise community is built on people like Tom and it certainly is what makes this place unique among the myriad guitar sites that populate the Internet.

Email Of The Week

Yes, this is a repeat of last week’s newsletter! But I think you’ll understand why…

Hello,

I don’t know if I should send this to you or not but I have a question: Do you have online lessons for playingChristmas Carols?

My ten-year-old daughter and I are learning to play together; she plays better than I do. Anyway, we love your site. Thanks for the lessons!!

Also is there a song that we should begin on? And how do we know which song to go to next to progress through the lessons?

Finally: We would like to contribute, is there an address we can mail a check to?

Thanks again!

Hi and thanks for writing!

Let me try to answer your questions in order:

Today we’ve put up the first of this year’s carols, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. And I’m hoping to put up one new lesson a week between now and New Year’s. Paul intends to have a whole page devoted to our many Christmas lessons and articles concerning the holidays, as well as our popular “Joy of Music” pieces. Be on the lookout or it! There will be a big link on the Home Page to get you there.

As far as an “order” for the song lessons, After you get through the first five or six, then it becomes a matter of which songs you know or which songs you’d like to learn. If you write me directly with a description of what you currently are playing and how you’d like to improve, I’ll be happy to suggest a short “syllabus” for you.

And finally, in regard to contributions, I don’t know if we’re going to do a Donations Page or not this year. If you would seriously like to make a donation, then write to Paul Hackett, Guitar Noise’s creator and executive director. He’ll be able to direct you to the easiest way to make a contribution.

And Happy Holidays to you!

Forum News

As mentioned earlier, there will probably be a number of changes ahead for the forum pages. Most of this will be “behind-the-scene” stuff and, with a little luck, you may not notice it at all. But I’d again like to just thank you ahead of time for your patience while we sort out matters. We’ll be certain to announce any major changes though both the “News” page on the Forum as well as here at Guitar Noise News.

Sunday Songwriters Group

Year Three, Week 4

As previously mentioned, in the first weeks of SSG III we’re going to look at inspiration. We’ll try to find it in the strangest places. Places you’d never think of looking.

A Change of Scenery: This week I want you to break out of your normal writing space and go somewhere different. Out for a walk, out for a drive and find somewhere else to write your song for this week. Be inspired by where you end up. If we get lots of drinking songs this week I won’t be surprised.

Good writing

Bob

Reviews

Bull’s Eye – The Sheryl Bailey 3
CD Review by David Hodge

Anyone who laments that there are no great women jazz guitarists (or any female jazz guitarists) need go no further than to play the first track of the latest release from Sheryl Bailey and her trio. Her writing, playing and improvising make her one of the most compelling musicians to listen to and, along with her band mates, she creates jazz that transcends genres and eras.

Thoughts & Feedback

A few weeks back I started to answer a group of questions send to me by one of our readers. With your permission, I’d like to get back to responding to one more of them:

Should I bother learning songs?

When I started teaching, all of my students were adults. They had no visions of being the next Jimmy Page or Jimmy Rogers. They simply wanted to play and play for their own enjoyment. And this meant playing songs, as few people find satisfaction in playing a string of exercises over and over again.

As a teacher, I want my students to play. And while many will grudgingly work (and that’s a very loose interpretation of that word…) on scales and technique exercises, they seem to be happiest when their playing sounds like something. And I find that songs, especially songs that the student knows and likes, tend to encourage the beginning musician to work harder on perfecting his or her skills. Someone who might not take the time to practice a descending C major scale just for the sake of knowing the scale may play it hundreds of times in succession in order to make it fit into the chorus of Wild World. And enjoy doing it, especially when that magic moment comes when the song all falls into place and the audience, whether a friend, family member or pet, nods in appreciation.

Even children starting out playing single notes (as we discussed in our last newsletter) are more happy to play a melody they recognize (Jingle Bells, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, or a condensed version of Ode to Joy) than they are to play a (seemingly) pointless drill.

But (and there always is a “but,” isn’t there?), as much as I think that teaching music through songs will usually be more engaging for both the student and his or her listeners, it does the student little good to simply “replay” a song. Something has to be learned, something that can be taken out of the context of the song and used someplace else. Usually a different song! And unless all you want to be able to do is to simply copy guitar parts you hear on CDs or records and not even think about what you’re doing, I think it’s hard for someone to walk away from learning a song without indeed having learned something useful.

I know that, no matter what your level of expertise on the guitar or any instrument, it’s important to have a sense of balance when it comes to knowing what you need to learn. And it’s also important to understand that there are many ways of learning any one thing. If you’re honest with yourself about what lessons, if any, you get from learning a song, then I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to learn one. Or several hundred.

The other thing to keep in mind is that songs, traditionally, are pretty much what you’ll find yourself playing as a guitarist. When you perform in front of people, they’re not going to ask, “Would you please play the first two measures of Stairway To Heaven?” or “How about the middle part of Comfortably Numb?” They want to hear a complete song. And even if you just know the strumming part, that’s usually more than fine by them.

For what it’s worth, I never think of songs as a “bother.” My guitar and I are, at almost any given time, at the service of any song. They are my stock in trade, as it were. The guitar and performer are simply extras.

I hope you all have a grand week. Stay safe.

And, as always,

Peace

David