Newsletter Vol. 2 # 104 – December 19, 2004

Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.

In This Issue

  • News and Announcements
  • New Articles and Lessons
  • Worth A Look
  • Sunday Songwriter’s Group
  • Thoughts and Feedback

News And Announcements

Greetings!

Welcome to Guitar Noise News!

Just to give you an early warning, we at Guitar Noise will be taking a week off at the end of the year. This means that next week’s newsletter will be the last one you’ll get until January of 2005. It gives me shivers just to write “2005” already! Where has the time gone?

Well, a lot of my time went into lessons for this week! So why don’t we take a look at all the new material that Paul’s put up since last time:

New Articles And Lessons

O Tannenbaum!
by David Hodge

“…your faithful leaves will teach me…” Indeed! Our arrangement of this traditional German Christmas carol may only use two notes at a time, but we will learn a lot about how two notes can imply a rich textured harmony.

Classic Black Sabbath Riffs
by Chirs Korsak

First time contributor Chris Korsak hails from Portland, Oregon, where he works as a guitar instructor. In his lesson, you will learn some guitar riffs to such Black Sabbath songs as: Iron Man, The Wizard, Paranoid, and Sweet Leaf.

What Child Is This? (Greensleeves)
by David Hodge

David’s arrangement of this much-loved Christmas carol focuses on the use of chord arpeggios rather than using straight chords for an accompaniment. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you will pick it up!

Silent Night In Open D Tuning
by Mark Yodice

Fingerstyle guru Mark Yodice has given us a wonderful arrangement of Silent Night in open D tuning. What a terrific holiday gift! I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I have been doing this past week!

Worth A Look

In case there’s a guitarist in your life that you’d like to give a gift to, whether for the holidays, or a birthday or simply because you think he or she is special, you should know that you don’t have to break the bank to do so. Yes, there are gifts besides a new guitar that will bring a smile to your musician’s face. You can check out some ideas here.

And you can also get a couple of other truly great ideas at the end of our newsletter!

Sunday Songwriters Group

Year Three, Week 7

Rhyme Scheme

This week the song that you write must be in the rhyme scheme AABB. Here at Guitar Noise we don’t tend to favour this rhyme scheme for reasons best left undisclosed. However, this week it’s all about this rhyme scheme. Choose any style you fancy and any topic.

Good writing

Bob

Thoughts & Feedback

People tend to be, for better or worse, consumed with gifts during the holiday season. Giving or getting, or merely contemplating the traditions (whether happily or doing so in your best Grinch impression), it does kind of preoccupy our thoughts.

So I’d like to give you two things, (okay, three things!) to think about. While physical gifts are always appreciated, knowing that someone is thinking about you and caring about can often lift your spirits higher than any gift would. And the reverse is also true – letting someone know that you’ve been thinking about him or her or them can bring that person or persons a lot of happiness.

For a musician, how better to show someone you care than to play him or her a song that is one of their favorites? Even better if you have to make an effort to learn it!

If you’re a teacher, you know that you get a lot of requests from your students to learn this song or that song. I always try to ask my students, especially at this time of year, if there’s a song their mothers or grandparents or spouses or children might like to hear around the house.

I also know a lot of folks go out to convalescents and folks in hospitals or in nursing homes or children’s centers to play for them. I cannot tell you who feels better about it – the musician or the listener. I can tell you that everyone involved feels wonderful.

And if you’re truly stuck for a gift idea and are totally strapped for cash, you can always make a “present” of the Guitar Noise News!

I hope you all have a grand week. Stay safe. Try not to go too crazy…

And, as always,

Peace

David