Newsletter Vol. 2 # 115 – March 13, 2005

Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.

In This Issue

  • News and Announcements
  • New Articles and Lessons
  • Email of the Week / Worth A Look
  • Email of the Week (part 2) / Worth A Look
  • Sunday Songwriter’s Group
  • Reviews
  • Thoughts and Feedback

News And Announcements

Greetings!

Welcome to Guitar Noise News!

I hate to give you a “watch this space” kind of thing, but unfortunately, that may have to be the case. Next week I hope to have nailed down a few final detail and we’ll be able to announce to you the dates and details of the very first “Guitar Noise Mini – Camp!” I don’t mean to be mysterious or anything, but I simply have to make sure of a few things first!

So instead, let’s get right into what’s new here at the site this week:

New Articles And Lessons

Making Music – Part Two
Tales of playing well with others from Guitar Noise readers
Compiled and edited by David Hodge

Sharing music is what Guitar Noise is all about and what better way to do so than to help give a little encouragement to someone? Here are a few stories and tips from Tom Serb and two other Guitar Noise readers that will hopefully get you out and sharing your music with the world.

Email Of The Week / Worth A Look

I got an email this week from Sheryl Bailey, announcing a show coming up tomorrow. So, if you’re in the New York area and are looking to start your week off with some wonderful guitar playing, why not drop in? Here are the details:

Monday March 14 – Guitarists Sheryl Bailey and Chris Bergson are reunited again to perform at:

Charley-O’s
8th Ave/45th Street
212-977-0025
$7 cover – Great Food and Drink!!

8pm-11:30

Playing music from their 2001 release, Reunion of Souls and new blues and jazz music.

www.SherylBailey.com
www.ChrisBergson.com

Email Of The Week (Part II) / Worth A Look

David,

I was just reading your lesson on augmented and diminished chords (Augmented Diminished Dementia).

I found it very interesting and want to incorporate those chords into my writing, but I was wondering how you figure out which chords would go with what key. In the key of C, there are no sharps or flats, so I was wondering how any of the augmented or diminished seventh chords fit b/c they all have sharps or flats in them. I am sure this is just theory I don’t know, or a trick you have already talked about. I have read a lot of your lessons, but have not seen this addressed. Thanks for all your great lessons.

I sure look forward to hearing from you! I have been in a guitar rut for many years and just about gave up. Also, if you have a moment, can point me in the right direction to learn the ins and outs of putting chord progressions together?

Thanks for writing!

One of the things that is very important to realize is that just because a song is in a particular key, let’s say C major to make it easy, that doesn’t mean that you can’t introduce notes with sharps or flats into it (either in the melody or as part of the chords) that aren’t normally a part of this key. Songs do this all the time. And one of the things I tried to address in this article was that you could certainly do that.

But let’s first take a quick moment to address the idea of putting together chord progressions. We’ve a number of articles here at Guitar Noise that can help get you started. Let me make the following recommendations:

In these articles you will find different patterns that crop up in a lot of songs. Songs that you like, in fact, are probably the best places to get ideas from! When you analyze those, you will find all sorts of inspirations for chord progressions.

But back to augmented and diminished chords. Sometimes the best uses for these chords are as steps to go from one chord to another. Here’s what I mean:

Say you’ve got a very typical chord progression like C to Dm to G (or G7) to C. This, in terms of music theory, is described as I, ii, V, I and it is a change that you will see so many times your head will swim. You can use augmented and diminished chords to make this common progression more interesting. I even show you particular example in the article. Playing a C#dim chord between the C and the Dm highlights that particular change and you can create another fun transition by using a Gaug (or Gaug7) between the G and the C.

Likewise, let’s say you have a song going from C to F. You might think of using a C7 as a transition chord or even a Caug. Both will sound very nice.

Playing around with different possible combinations is the best way for you to hear how these sorts of chords work. In the article I tried to give you a bunch of cases where you could use them, such as the ones we’ve discussed here. There are many, many more!

Sunday Songwriters Group

Year Three, Week 19

It’s all in the imagery

Over the next few weeks we’re going to concentrate on the imagery aspect of our song writing.

This week write a song (any subject, any style) taking the imagery from the heavens. Not science fiction but “blazing like a comet,” “as constant as the sun” etc. You’ll get the idea!

Good writing

Bob

Reviews

Pinkeye D’Gekko – Dry Clothes For The Drowning
CD Review by A-J Charron

Pinkeye d’Gekko are back with a new album, which has less country influences than their previous effort and is, overall, a better disc.

Torn Between Dimensions – At War With Self
CD Review by A-J Charron

Three terrifically talented musicians (Glenn Snelwar, Michael Manring and Mark Zonder) team up to make this great album. It’s a treat right from the very first note!

Thoughts & Feedback

I’d like to take another moment to thank everyone who has been kind enough to contribute to our “Playing With Others” articles. Hearing from you all has truly made my winter a little brighter!

Also, I would like to acknowledge Dan and Laura Lasley, our Bass and Sound Engineering writer, “Other Side” writer, and Forum Moderators and whatever other hat (or hats) I’m forgetting to mention, for their help with all of this. Dan and Laura have probably done more than I could ever do to personally promote music making in their community and will always be an inspiration. You’ll be hearing from them personally on this topic in the months ahead.

And please keep your own thoughts and experiences and ideas coming. Just send them to me at [email protected] and I’ll do my best to get them into an upcoming article.

In the meantime, I hope you all have a grand week. Stay safe.

And, as always,

Peace

David