Newsletter Vol. 2 # 110 – February 06, 2005
Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.
In This Issue
- News and Announcements
- New Articles and Lessons
- Email of the Week
- Sunday Songwriter’s Group
- Thoughts and Feedback
News And Announcements
Greetings!
Welcome to Guitar Noise News!
Time, as they say, keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping… Can you believe it’s the New Year already? Chinese New Year, that is! This coming Thursday, I believe (and Paul will certainly correct me if I’m wrong) marks the start of the Year of The Rooster. Since this is my Chinese astrological sign, I’m primed to spend the year celebrating! Maybe I’ll finally make myself a present of a resonator guitar…
But what I’d really like to do in this upcoming year is to make a present of music to all of you. We’ve already started on this by asking all our readers to write in with their experiences of playing with others. I’m hoping that if we can encourage more of you to get out and play, whether it’s at a coffeehouse or simply a barbecue with the neighbors, that you will find it the most wonderful thing you’ve ever done. And something that you will actively seek out and/or promote.
This week, my gift to you is a special Songs for Intermediates lesson, one that I hope you all find worth playing. Think of it as a late holiday gift or a Chinese New Year’s present, but best yet, think of it as a gift of the moment – something to make your moments a little better.
Next week? Ah, that would be telling…
New Articles And Lessons
Imagine
by David Hodge
Welcome in the Chinese New Year with a song of peace and hope! Here is a thoughtful arrangement of this John Lennon classic for the single guitarist.
Email Of The Week
Most of the emails I got this week (insert huge sigh here) were, predictably, about the disappearance and subsequent reappearance of the MP3 files. Go figure. But I did get one question that I can’t for the life of me ever recall being asked in the past five years:
Is there somewhere I can find an archived version of all the news ever sent out? Thanks.
Indeed there is such a place! You can find several years of Guitar Noise News archived here: Newsletter Archives
This page includes, I believe, every newsletter ever written either by Paul or myself. And I have to say that my curiosity has gotten to the point where I’m probably going to spend a little time going through some of these!
Sunday Songwriters Group
Year Three, Week 14
My Hero – This week I want you to write a song about someone, doesn’t matter who could be a family member, but throughout the song I want you to give him or her the characteristics of a superhero. For example, I could be writing about my Dad and his seemingly X-Ray ability to see right through me ever since I was born. It doesn’t have to be every superhero’s characteristic just choose one or two which fit the person you’re writing about and apply them.
Good writing!
Bob
Thoughts & Feedback
Another week, another email on “Playing With Others…”
This is more questions/suggestions than story, but perhaps it will lead somewhere useful.
I find that when I ask people to get together to play, they almost always think that I must be way too good to play with (which isn’t anywhere near true) just because I initiated. They typically say “I’m not very good” or any number of variations that do not lead to playing. Sometimes I’ll press a little bit along the lines of “any music we make is music that wasn’t there before” but it rarely produces a get-together.
Are there better ways to break the ice? What are some ways that work for folks? How do you get from “I play guitar, too” to sitting in the same place playing guitars? How do you defuse the “I’m afraid I’ll suck” factor and get people to open up a little?
Now, assuming that you’ve worked that out, what do you play? I’m guessing there are a lot of “I only strum chords” players. If two of them get together, what sort of material works well? If you don’t find some ways to sound good together, you’re not likely to want to do it again. There aren’t a lot of books of accessible songs arranged for two guitars.
My “challenge” to you as an educator is to develop a series of “lessons meant for two” that could be printed out and worked on with another guitarist and sound good together. Good icebreaker material. Some of your current material could probably be easily adapted, perhaps with a sidebar that tells what a second guitarist could do behind the main lesson material. Perhaps these lessons could get a cute little icon that leads to the song arranged for two guitars.
I think a big part of getting people to play more together is to break down the barriers to entry, both the emotional and the mechanical.
PS: I think if you published a book of guitar music arranged for two people, you’d not only capture some moolah, but you’d change the way people look at these things. I think the first version could even be called “Playing Well With Others, Volume 1”. I’ll settle for a signed copy and a credit in the acknowledgements. :)
There are a lot of things to address here, and I’d like to take the time to each of these aspects. So, starting next week, we’ll explore some ideas in depth. First up, how to get together in the first place. Please feel free to send in your ideas and let’s have a great discussion on this!
Until then, I hope you all have a grand week. Stay safe.
And, as always,
Peace
David