Newsletter Vol. 3 # 101 – November 1, 2009

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #101 of Guitar Noise News!

IN THIS ISSUE:

  • Greetings, News and Announcements
  • Topic of the Month
  • Guitar Noise Featured Artist
  • New Lessons and Articles
  • Coming Attractions
  • Exploring Music with Darrin Koltow
  • Emails? We Get Eamils!
  • Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Hello and a happy first of November to all of you! And here to help you get through the idea that yet another year is almost gone by is your latest copy of the Guitar Noise News. Small consolation, I know, but it’s the best we can do!

First thing I’d like to do is apologize for missing out on a new review in our last newsletter. Guitar Noise Forum Chief (or “UberMod” if you will) Nick Torres has tested out and written a review of the “Easy Roll Guitar Method” by George Pittaway, which you can find here.

This tutorial DVD walks you through three simple patterns designed to help you develop more speed in your playing, all over the neck. Not only does Nick give it a great review, but so do a number of Guitar Noise Forum members who have also tested it out. And after seeing Nick play a couple of weeks back, I’m planning on buying a copy myself!

Second item of news is that today is the final show of FODfest 2009. After performing forty shows since October 1, the tour finale takes place at Infinity Hall and Bistro in Norfolk, Connecticut at 4:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time) today. A live broadcast feed of this last performance will be offered over the “FODblog” so if you can’t make the show (totally understandable given that most of you don’t live anywhere near close by!) you can still give it a listen.

And if you can make it, please do. I’ll be there as well as Greg (“gnease” on the Guitar Noise Forums) and many, many other performers. It promises to be a great time in a wonderful musical venue.

November also marks the time when people start thinking in earnest about the upcoming holiday season. In these hard economic times, people are trying to save money where they can and it’s charities and non-profit groups that tend to get left out. So if you’re thinking about what to get someone who you care about and you’re stuck for an idea, making a present of a donation in that person’s name is an excellent gift for all.

Or you can also find very cool gifts through charities. I recently got an email from the PR Kellerman Foundation, which I’ve mentioned before in previous newsletters. This is a charity set up in 2002 in memory of Peter Kellerman, who died in the World Trade Center attack. Music was his passion in life and the PR Kellerman Foundation honors his memory by giving providing free music lessons to needy children in Berkshire County (where the Kellermans lived). Since it’s founding, they have helped more than fifty students receive free music lessons throughout the past seven years.

For the holidays, they are giving handcrafted sterling silver necklaces (shaped like guitar picks) out for donations of $60. You can get two with a donation of $100. The necklaces are etched with the tree of life on one side and the letters PRK on the other. You can choose between a black or brown suede cord for the necklace. The cord can be doubled so that the necklace becomes a bracelet if you prefer. All proceeds for this gift go directly to funding free music lessons for needy students.

If you’re interested, or just want to see one of the picks, go directly to the PR Kellerman website for more details.

There are, of course, all sorts of things that you can do when it comes to making the holidays bright for your family and friends. But remember that you can also brighten up the lives of many others in the world at the same time.

Topic of the Month

Since we’ve posted a number of chord melody lessons of late, it seemed like a good idea to make “Chord Melody” a “topic of the month.” As with most of our topics, Guitar Noise has lessons at almost all levels, from beginners just getting started to intermediate and advanced students who want to try out creating their own chord melodies. So go to the home page and take a look at all the lessons. It will hopefully get you psyched to try out this style of playing.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

When teaching students about the importance of phrasing and economy of movement, or about the power and beauty of musical understatement, it’s impossible to not talk about Mark Knopfler, whether in his days of leading Dire Straits or in his equally prolific solo career. Click on over to our artist profiles page for a bio on the incomparable Mr. Knopfler, who is our “Guitar Noise Featured Artist” for the month of November, as well as links to other articles of interest at Guitar Noise.

New Lessons and Articles

What A Wonderful World
by Hank Stupi

Here is Hank’s second Guitar Noise lesson, an accompaniment to “What a Wonderful World” as performed by Louis Armstrong. He draws on some of the ideas used in his first arrangement, “Smile”, and provides some nice movement in the bass line. Since this is an accompaniment arrangement designed to support vocals, most of the chord voicings will incorporate the melody note on the upper strings.

Hush Little Baby
by Brandon Carrasco

Creating chord melody arrangements can be addictive! And you can start out as easy or as complicated as you’d like. Brandon Carrasco takes us step by step through his first time out, turning this timeless lullaby into a wonderful single guitar piece.

Going On Vacation
by Dmitry Kiryukhin

First time contributor Dmitry details the work and thought process involved on taking one’s guitar along a trip, using his latest vacation as an example of how well things can work out!

Coming Attractions

With traveling to Chicago this past week, I’m a bit amazed that I did get three new pieces to Paul for new lessons! Plus, before going I managed to write the music and notation / tablature files for my own lesson on “Sailing to Philadelphia,” which will certainly be apropos considering our Guitar Noise Featured Artist choice. While I won’t have the text ready by the time you read this, it should be up online by Thursday.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for November 1 – Practicing Modes (Part 18)

The last time out we played a lick that conveyed the C7 sound, as a kind of endpiece on our extended exploration of C7. Let’s break down that lick some, with the purpose of learning how to make more licks.

First, the lick once again:

|-8-6-----6-------|--------------|
|-----8-5---8-5-6-|-8-5----------|
|-----------------|-----7---5----|
|-----------------|-------8------|
|-----------------|--------------|
|-----------------|--------------|

A key thing to notice is the duration of the lick: it’s only four half notes total, or eight quarter notes, or two bars. If you’re new to lick-writing and thinking it’s a hard thing, take heart in the fact that you only need to write for two bars.

Another key thing, which might seem obvious: the lick is built off the C7 arpeggio. You can hear a C7 when you play this lick. It doesn’t sound like other arpeggios in the key of F major, which C7 is part of. You don’t hear an F major, or D minor or other chords. When you write a lick, you want to hear the right harmony happening, meaning, the harmony or mode you choose to write the lick in.

How do we know this is a C7 lick? Look at the notes hit on the strong beat, and the start and end notes: C, E, G, Bb. Very C7 ish.

Delayed Gratification

One of the great pleasures we get from good music, and probably lots of other artforms, too, is from not getting what we want or expect, the moment we want or expect it. In our example lick, the thing we want to hear, or one of the things we want to hear, is the C note, because that’s the root, the home base of the C7 chord and arpeggio. The lick started from this home base, took a little meander away from home, and just when thought it might reach home again, it squeezes a note or two in that’s not C — delayed gratification.

Don’t think of this lesson as being a list of rules to write your own licks by. It’s just a sample, a model, one guy’s approach to creating a short melody. But if you play it and transpose and _think_ about it, and dig it a little bit, you’ll get a feel for your own approach to writing licks.

Thanks for reading.

Copyright 2009 Darrin Koltow

Emails? We Get Emails!

Hi David:

I am forty-three years old and started playing guitar about eighteen months ago. I have always loved acoustic guitar music, even at the expense of being cool in high school. I started when my then ten-year-old started taking lessons. I would “help out” with her practicing and then I would practice her assignments myself. She has stopped but I kept going. I bought an Alvarez six-string and then last summer bought a twelve. I switch back and forth a lot.

I wanted to thank you for your articles and the practical and reassuring advice and suggestions within them. I think the most important piece of advice I picked up, and one that I found echoed by one of my favorites, Jerry Garcia, is not to worry so much about “sounding like the record.”

You mention this repeatedly in your articles and it seems to me Jerry said something analogous when discussing the Grateful Dead’s “non-decision” to allowing recording of their shows. He said that once the music leaves his instrument, it isn’t his anymore. When the song is played again, it is a new song. This is not a direct quote. I read that some time ago and recalled it after reading your articles. Anyway, this has given me much more confidence in playing. I find ways to play a song I like and in the manner in which I can play it. It makes the whole thing a lot less intimidating.

I have a question, if you have the time, having to do with probably my favorite musician, Neil Young. “Four Strong Winds” is the first song I learned how to play straight through. I use what I have seen called a folk strumming pattern and it sounds really nice, especially on the twelve. What I can’t figure out are the notes he plays at the end of the verse and chorus (is arpeggio the right word?). If you happen to know what I’m talking about and have the time, please let me know.

Thank you again for all you time and effort.

Hi

Thank you for writing and thank you as well for your kind words concerning my work at Guitar Noise. It’s always good to hear that these lessons and articles are being of help to someone and I also truly appreciate it when someone takes time out of his or her busy days to write. I’m also glad to hear you play a twelve string. The world needs more players like you!

To answer your Neil Young question, in “Four Strong Winds” the guitar is actually strumming a melody line on top of the chords. You need to start with G, but played with all four fingers (320033). For the first note, you strum the chord only down to the B string (32003x), then on the upstroke, you hit the open E string (and it’s okay if you catch other strings as well) and then you reset your fingers into a G7 (3×0031) chord. Finally you add the ring finger back on the third fret of the high E string to get the G note (320033 again) and then go back down the way you came up. So the notes of the melody are D (third fret / B string), E (open high E string), F (first fret / high E), G (third fret / high E), F, E and the D again, which takes you into the C chord.

I hope I explained that well enough. Maybe I should make this the next Guitar Noise Podcast song. Hopefully those will be starting up again next month.

Please feel free to write again if you need further explanations. Thank you once more for the email and I look forward to hearing how things are going with you.

Peace

Random Thoughts

Last Wednesday night, I had the honor of being part of the FODfest show at the Village Players Performing Arts Center in Oak Park, Illinois. And, before I forget, my thanks to all who came and saw the concert. It was a very exciting performance! And if you’re interested in photos of the show, go to FODfest’s Facebook page.

Currently the Oak Park show is the first five pages of photographs. That’s bound to change as they get around to adding photos from the last four performances.

Highlights were numerous. Getting to share the stage with the likes of songwriter Michael Smith (who many might know from Steve Goodman’s cover of his song “The Dutchman”) and legendary harmonica player Corky Siegel was nothing less than thrilling. But to be able to share the stage with my friends (and a former student) was even more of rewarding. And making new friends just added icing to the cake.

So I’d like to give a formal thank you to Todd Mack, who founded FODfest and who spends most of the year working behind the scenes to make it all go as smoothly as possible, as well as to his entire crew, Will, Lynette, Jordan, Andy and Kerrie who have given up so much time and energy (and sleep!) to make FODfest a reality. And to Paul McKenna, who arranged for us to have the show at the Village Players Performing Arts Center. And to Kathy, Anne, Michelle, Ellen, Jane, JoAnne, Sonia, K.C., Bryan and Scott who created some very beautiful and moving music. Can’t wait to play with you all again!

And until our next newsletter, stay safe. Play well and play often.

And, as always…

Peace