Newsletter Vol. 2 # 9 – November 03, 2002

Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.

In This Issue

• News and Announcements
• New Lessons and Articles
• Email of the Week
• Things To Do People To See
• Sunday Songwriters Sessions
• Guitar Tip
• Reviews
• Hot Forum Topic
• Thoughts and Feedback

News And Announcements

Greetings!

It’s only Thursday morning as I write, so I must be making some kind of progress!

Welcome to Guitar Noise News! And yes, November did creep up on you while you weren’t looking this weekend.

This week we’re launching what I hope will become a regular “department” here at Guitar Noise. As many of you who have written me over the past (almost) three years, I am not much of an expert when it comes to the physical aspects of the guitar. So, instead of you asking questions and then me finding people who will give me answers to give to you, I’m (hopefully) cutting out the middleman (me).

So please welcome with me the first article of Guitar Noise’s “Guitar Anatomy and Physiology” page. Well, I’m hoping it will turn into its own page! The articles that we present in this section are intended to help you learn all the things about your guitar and guitars in general. You can then use this knowledge to help make a better informed decision when buying your next guitar, or to perform minor repairs that you might have not attempted yourself, or just annoy the hell out of your friends.

This week, LeftyGuitar.com’s Tony Nuccio enlightens us by explaining what a guitar’s scale length is and what it means to you.

And, of course, there’s lots more going on, so we should get on with it, eh?

First, though, let me remind you that throughout November and December we encourage you to share your thoughts and stories concerning “The Joy of Guitar” or “The Joy of Music.” I’ve gotten some wonderful emails already and I know that more are coming. Don’t wait ’til you’re too busy making holiday meals, okay? Send in your to Dan Lasley, Darrin Koltow or myself.

And away we go…

New Lessons And Articles

A whole new department for Guitar Noise, some advice from a new writer, and A-J defines copyrights while Jamie tackles time itself. It’s certainly an ambitious start to November. Here’s what’s gone online since we last chatted:

The Long And The Short Of It – “What is scale length?”
by Tony Nuccio

Tony Nuccio, creator of LeftyGuitar.com ( ) returns at last to Guitar Noise to kick off what we’re hoping will become a new feature page: Guitar Anatomy and Physiology. We’re hoping to be able to tell you enough things about guitars, physically, so that you will be able to make smart choices when buying a guitar for yourself or building or repairing one. In his first article, Tony explains the mysteries behind a guitar’s scale length. Is he good? Well, I finally understand the concept!

A Few Tips For Beginners (and others!)
by Darryl Roberts

One of the things I enjoy about Guitar Noise is how our writers seem to come from every level. First-time contributor Darryl Roberts shares some thoughts that are sure to help beginners. I really enjoyed reading this and it reminded me of things I need to put back into my practicing and playing.

Copyrights Revisited
by A-J Charron

A-J takes the time to go over the legal definitions of copyright and gives you the address and phone number of the US Copyright office. This is an important read for all of you interested in protecting your songwriting.

Lost In Time
by Jamie Andreas

A little bit of philosophy wraps up this week’s lessons. Jamie offers some great advice on the perception of time and how that perception will improve both your practice and playing. Perhaps it will even help you get a new outlook on your non-guitar life as well.

Email Of The Week

A question on harmony, or perhaps the antithesis of harmony:

What do people mean by “dissonance” and other such terms when talking about chord changes?

Dissonance, according to the dictionary, is “an inharmonious combination of sounds; discord; any lack of harmony or agreement.”

When we listen to music, certain notes sound pleasing when played together. For many people, the interval of a major third (C and E, for instance, or G and B, etc.) is perhaps the most pleasant, or harmonious sound.

Dissonance is when we create a sound that is not harmonious. There are degrees to how harsh the dissonance can be. If you were to play a C (5th fret, G string) and a C# (2nd fret, B string) together, it would sound as if the notes are clashing.

In a sense, they are – you feel that this combination of notes wants to turn into something else. It’s almost as if you’ve caught them in mid-metamorphosis. Play these notes again and now slide your finger on the C down to B (4th fret, G string) and at the same time slide the C# up to D (3rd fret, B string). Can you hear how the dissonance completely disappears? It’s the interplay between dissonance and harmony that helps to add a dramatic, almost dynamic aspect to a song.

Dissonance can be created in countless ways. You can add a dissonant note to a chord (even via a melody or bass line), you can play one chord on top of another, or you can play a string of chords while holding one note steady in the bass.

But the thing to remember is that not everyone hears the same sorts of dissonance. It’s a matter of what you’re used to. That C/C# thing we mentioned earlier? A jazz player would write it off as a C#maj7 and might not think of it as dissonant at all.

Things To Do – People To See

HEY!!! Are YOU or YOUR BAND playing sometime in November or December? Well, let me know and I’ll be happy to pass the word along. Guitar Noise is read by people all over the world, so who knows? You might find yourself meeting someone and you’ll have something in common already.

This week:

Finally a Chicago area show to mention! Yasgur’s Farmwill be playing this coming Saturday, November 9th in Downers Grove, IL at the Founders Hill Restaurant & Brewery (5200 Main Street).

And you can catch Guitar Noise’s jazz expert, Hans Fahling today in a solo performance TeeTeaThe in Berlin (Goltzstr.2) from 11:00AM until 2:30.

Sunday Songwriters Group

This week we’re giving you two lines – one has to start the song and the other will be used in either the chorus or the bridge or the final verse should you write something with only verses:

Line 1: “They know who I am”

Line 2: “Ask someone who loves me”

You can write in any style and about any subject you choose.

I can’t wait to read what everyone comes up with!

Guitar Tip – Things About Strings

Have YOU got a guitar tip to share? Send it in!!!!

This week’s tip comes from our esteemed copy editor:

How to make your own movable chords

by Darrin Koltow

Let’s say you’re tired of making that same old open position C major chord, and you want to start playing further up the neck, around the fifth fret. How do you build a C major chord with an E note on string 2, fret 5 if you don’t have any diagrams? Answer: “roll your own.”

Start with the basic C major triad shape with the third on top:

C triad
|---|
|-5-|
|-5-|
|-5-|
|---|
|---|

Then, ask yourself this: what notes in C major can I play on the fifth string? C, fret 3, and E, fret 7, are good candidates. Repeat this question and answer for the sixth string: what notes in C major are available? This depends you what notes you chose for the fifth string. You’ll end up with G, fret 3 or C, fret 8.

Use this straightforward approach to build chords anywhere on the fretboard. Make sure you know your triads first.

Reviews

KISS – Alive Forever: The Complete Touring History

I tried to time this for Halloween…Big time KISS fans Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs bring you everything you could possibly want to know about every single show that KISS performed. Every single show. It’s an amazing piece of research and dedication. Did I mention they list every show?

Hot Forum Topic

Beginners’ Q&A Forum

GUITAR PICS

That’s “pics” as in pictures, photos, snapshots…I don’t know if this qualifies as a “hot” topic or not, but I think it’s pretty interesting. One of our readers has sent in a photo of his guitar collection for us to check out. I truly hope that this doesn’t intimidate the new guitarists or those who stick with one guitar through think and thin. I find it fascinating to see which guitars someone might choose out of all that is available out there.

It may take me a week or two, but I’m going to borrow a digital camera from a friend and see if I can’t show you mine! In the meantime, feel free to display or at least talk about your guitars.

Join the discussion on the Guitar Noise forums.

Thoughts and Feedback

Did you know that we now have more than four hundred registered users on the Forum pages? How about the fact that Guitar Noise News is sent to over five thousand people (even taking into account that I receive it at two different computers)? How about that Guitar Noise gets over a quarter of a million hits each day?

Clearly we must be doing something right or worthwhile. And hopefully both.

But it does take a bit of a toll on the site every now and then. To give you an idea of how much Guitar Noise has grown, let me share with you that last fall (October – December 2001) we averaged a little more than 130,000 hits per day and during the fall of 2000, we were seeing about 45,000.

Does this mean that we’ll be getting a half a million hits this time next year?

Well, I certainly hope so. On November 11, just a week from tomorrow, I’ll be celebrating my third anniversary as a columnist for this site. In the past I’ve shared my thoughts (and worries) with you, but next week, I’d like to share some dreams. I hope that each of you has a great week. I look forwardto hearing from you.

As always,

Peace

David