Newsletter Vol. 3 # 116 – June 15, 2010

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #116 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

  • Greetings, News and Announcements
  • Topic of the Month
  • Guitar Noise Featured Artist
  • New Articles, Lessons and Reviews
  • Exploring Guitar with Darrin Koltow
  • Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

While you’re getting ready for another solstice, here’s your June 15 issue of Guitar Noise News, the twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise (www.guitarnoise.com). And wherever you are in the world, whether you’re waiting for the days to start growing longer or shorter next week, I hope this newsletter finds you well and in good spirits.

In case you missed the news last time out, here are our last five winners for the giveaway of an autographed copy of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar.” Books will be going out to the following Guitar Noise followers (listed in alphabetical order by last name):

Randy Bennett of Ontario (Canada)
Alan Fiddament of Ontario (Canada)
Carla Mora of Massachusetts (USA)
Ken Rogers of Florida (USA)
Milly Tan of Singapore (Singapore)

Again, I can’t stress enough that we’ll be having more giveaways throughout the year (and next year), including a contest in November and December to win a copy of each of the three Complete Idiot’s Guides I’ve written. Stay tuned for details! And my thanks to everyone who has entered into the contests so far. Not to mention everyone who’s already bought (or pre-ordered) any of these books!

Topic of the Month

In June, the Guitar Noise Topic of the Month is Scales and Modes – we’re highlighting the many articles we have on this fascinating subject, ranging from our beginner’s explanatory lessons, like “Scales within Scales,” to a series like “Turning Scales into Solos,” which puts your knowledge to practical use. So make a visit to the Home Page, be sure to take a look at some of the many fine articles on this topic, authored by a wide range of Guitar Noise contributing writers.

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ latest album, “Mojo,” comes out today. And if you pop over to the Guitar Noise Artist Profiles page: https://www.guitarnoise.com/artists/ you’ll discover that our Featured Artist for the month of June is none other than the illustrious Mr. Petty himself! Paul’s put together a great bio on this artist whose long career is a testimony both to his love of music and his support for the rights of artists.

New Articles, Lessons and Reviews

Things are still a little in the “not quite there yet” phase! For instance, I just realized a moment ago that I never sent Paul audio files for the lesson I sent him a week ago! No wonder he’s not put it up online yet!

But we’re getting there! Here are the latest lessons, articles and even a CD review to get up online at Guitar Noise. And if the “Happy Drop D Blues” isn’t up yet, just give it a day! Now where did I put those MP3s?

The Learning Curve of Various Styles of Guitar (Part 3) – Rock
by Jamie Andreas

Part 3 of Jamie Andreas’ “The Learning Curve of Various Styles of Guitar” examines the skill set needed to become proficient at rock guitar – all sorts of rock guitar styles. As with the past articles in this series, Jamie also provides you with excellent resource materials to supplement your learning as you hone your guitar skills.

Improve Your Lead Playing: Lesson and Video
by Tom Hess

Creating expressive solos involves a lot more than playing a lot of notes. One of the best ways to practice expressiveness is to use just a handful of notes, as Tom Hess demonstrates in his latest article. This lesson includes a great tutorial video as well..

Turning Practice Into Play (Part 1)
Drop D Happy Blues
by David Hodge

Guitar Noise presents the first in a new series of songs written specifically for guitar studies. Here is a cool blues number, reminiscent of Taj Mahal’s “Fishing Blues” to help you develop your finger picking, hammer-on skills and use of syncopation and timing.

Steinar Gregertsen: Standing Next to a Mountain
CD Review by David Hodge

Guitar Noise’s favorite Scandinavian lap steel player’s second album is a wonderful tribute to the songs and stylings of Jimi Hendrix.

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Tip for June 15 – Practicing Modes (Part 32)

Welcome back to our ongoing tour through the modes. We’re on C Dorian, loosely translated, and today we’re doing a chord walk on string 1. We’re making each fret the melody note for C Dorian, which presents interesting challenges when you get to melody notes that aren’t in C Dorian. We’ll talk about meeting those challenges next time. For now, “play first and ask questions later.” Here’s the chord walk:

|-13-12--11-10---9--8-7-6--5--4--3--2-1--0-------|
|-10-11--11-10---9--8-6-6--8--4--4--4-1--3--4----|
|-10-10--12-10--10--8-5-7--5--5--4--3-1--0--5----|
|----12--10--9---8--8-7-6--7--6--5----0--2--5----|
|-10-----------------------6--------3----1--3----|
|-------------------8----------------------------|

Thanks for reading.

Copyright 2010 Darrin Koltow

Random Thoughts

I like to cook. Putting together a meal or even just a quick something to eat is, quite often, a lot like playing a song. You start out with the original recording and then start adding your own touches to it. Those touches often come from other influences (meals you’ve had at restaurants or at friends’ homes) or from working with the equipment that you have. And it’s very rare that you end up with the exact same result even though you may be trying to do so. Maybe there’s a bit more cumin than the last time or you placed the spices into the pot in a different order (and it can make all the difference in the world sometimes!) or used a different variety of tomatoes or mushrooms.

And, barring the odd occasional disaster, we’re usually okay with this. You make yourself a burger on the grill or whip up a nice salad or throw together some pasta with leeks and artichoke hearts and you don’t truly expect it to be exactly the same every time. Chances are you may not even notice all the differences that are there for you to discover.

Even when two people follow the exact same recipe, chances are that there are going to be some differences, however undetectable they might be to most folks.

Music is often the same way. If you were to give five different guitarists the notes to, say, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and ask each of them to play it (and even have them play it on the same guitar) and you’d get five different versions of the song. Some differences might not even be all that perceptible but, trust me, they’re there. After all, everyone has different fingers fretting the notes and everyone’s picking styles (or finger picking styles) will have individual, personal nuances.

To me, this is a wonderful thing. And it’s why I tell people you never turn down a chance to listen to someone play or a chance to play along with others. This is how you find little nuances to add to your own style.

It’s also why most musicians will tell you that listening is an artist’s most important skill to develop. Music is all about communicating, but way too often musicians forget that they, too, should be listening as much as (if not more than) they are playing. Even solo performers need to be listening to what’s going on around them as they are performing.

That’s why if I’m cooking, there’s always room for helping out in the kitchen. You never know when someone is going to come and add something incredible to the mix.

Until our next newsletter, play well and play often.

And, as always…

Peace