Newsletter Vol. 3 # 72 – August 17, 2008

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 3, Issue #72 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

Greetings, News and Announcements
Email of the Moment
New Lessons and Articles
Coming Attractions
Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow
Emails? We Get Emails!
Podcast Postings
Events Horizon
Reviews
Random Thoughts

Greetings, News And Announcements

Beware the Ides of August! Or something like that…

Email Of The Moment

…I just read the latest issue in more detail and saw that you were in Quebec City soon. I was there in June and got to take in some of the 400 year anniversary celebrations. Hope you, too, get to see the sights and enjoy the parties.

Have a great, harmonious holiday!

Welcome to the August 15, 2008, edition of Guitar Noise News. And yes, while you were reading your August 1 newsletter, and that’s assuming that you read it on August 1, I was driving back home from a three day stay in Quebec City, which was a bit of a vacation spot en route from the 2008 Riverside Jam in Northern Illinois.

If you’ve never visited Quebec, definitely add it to your “to do” list. Charming city, wonderful people, lots of music and very diverse culture and cuisine. And it’s celebrating its four hundredth birthday this year. That’s a lot of candles.

It’s a magical city and we’ll be heading back that way soon!

Meanwhile, for those of you interested in how the Riverside Jam went, you can read all about it at this URL.

Our biggest announcement, though, came about shortly after my return. All the mods were summoned together to discuss matters of grave importance and we all decided that it was high time to make Vic Lewis the newest member of the Guitar Noise Forum Moderators. Vic, probably against his better judgment, said “yes” and I am thrill to formally announce his “elevation” here in our newsletter. So the next time you visit the Guitar Noise Forums, bop over to the “News” section and drop Vic a line of congratulations. Or sympathy, whichever you feel more appropriate.

Okay then, let’s move along and see what’s new since I left town (what seems ages ago!):

New Lessons And Articles

Taking Your Guitar Technique To The Next Level
Using a Metronome to Develop Speed
By Mike Philippov

Speed, as a technique, can excite and enthrall an audience. Far from being emotionless, speed requires quite a bit of emotion and desire to achieve. Mike Philippov examines how to use a metronome to help you achieve results in speed-as-a-goal practice.

The Pursuit Of The Record Deal
by Tom Hess

At its heart, the music business is a business. Silly as it sounds, if you go into the business knowing this and knowing how to become a partner with your record company, you stand a lot better chance at being successful. Tom Hess provides a lot of valuable information in this article, taken from his personal experience in the music industry.

Coming Attractions

Coming back from my travels, and in an effort to get my scheduling and teaching plans for the fall done ahead of time, II totally spaced out on a number of things that, apparently, had needed to get done somehow at the same time. And then there were all these computer and Internet crises to deal with! Not to worry. We’ve a lot coming your way in the next two weeks:

Play A Jazz Chord Melody Using A Guitar Pick
by Peter Simms

This an intermediate level lesson for those of you who use only a guitar pick and would rather not work on finger-style playing, but would still like to play a complete song arrangement on your instrument.

The Major And The Minor
Turning Scales into Solos (Part 3)
by David Hodge

While it’s vital to use a chord progression to help you decide on a scale, knowing the style or feel of both a song and a scale is just as important. This lesson focuses on the minor pentatonic scale and why it is used so much for blues (and other genres) in major keys.

The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)
Songs for Intermediates
by David Hodge

We’re going to combine a very simple walking bass with some of our Travis picking and create a light, lilting arrangement of this Simon and Garfunkel song. Even beginners can tag along as we’ll be using chord shapes that involve only one or two fingers of the fretting hand!

Beyond Up And Down (Part 1)
by David Hodge

This article has been in the works for ages now, simply because it keeps evolving into a more detailed explanation than I had planned on. So instead of being one very long and (even for me) tedious lecture, you’ll be getting some easily digestible, bite-sized exercises to help you learn more about strumming. The first section will deal with how music notation can actually give you the pattern for down and upstrokes. You just have to be willing to read it!

Exploring Music With Darrin Koltow

Learning root movements in a chord progression

When you learn a chord progression, try doing so in a way that helps you understand and apply it effectively, and helps you understand better how music works. That way involves learning the root movements between the chords.

Take the simple chord progression C, Am, F, G7, and then back to C. You might know just enough about music theory and technique to turn those letters into chord shapes. But then someone comes along and says “Hey, let’s take that progression into G major.” And you say “Sure,” and then start sweating, pull out your favorite wireless device, and Google on “changing chord progressions from C to G major.”

Maybe this method will actually work, but lacks the satisfaction of knowing the *root movement* of the original progression and applying that same movement to G major. Knowing the root movement lets you make statements like this: “That first progression starts on the root C, goes down a minor third to Am, and down again from there a major third to F, and up a major second to G7.” Sounds kind of mechanical, but mechanical can be useful.

Convert that long sentence into this stream: Start at root (C), go down a m3, down M3, up M2. Alternatively, convert these movements into fret numbers: start at C, go left (on your fretboard) 3 frets, left 4 frets, up 2 frets. If you know a couple of basic bar chords, you can use this series of numbers to play in any key. You don’t have to start on C; you can take the progression into any key.

Next time, we may look at how to translate chord names into fret numbers, to help you immediately see a chord progression’s root movement.

Thanks for reading.

Darrin Koltow

Emails? We Get Emails!

As tends to happen whenever I get away from the computer for a while (whether that “while” be two weeks or two hours!), the email starts piling up. Owing to my recent travels, I am a bit behind, but slowly catching up. So if you’ve written me recently, please be patient or just write me again!

Here’s something that came almost immediately after I left for Illinois. Less than four hours, in fact!

David:
I read you avidly and appreciate your common sense. Would you care to conjecture on the relative merits of spruce versus cedar for a guitar top? I am contemplating buying a Lukas Brunner Outdoor Guitar. Check out www.brunner-guitars.com if you haven’t heard of these innovative folding instruments. I have heard Roy Bookbinder play his and it sounds BIG! He plays a lot of rags and Gary Davis changes and that little box puts out great sounds, even on the low end. But they are costly… Brunner offers spruce or cedar top for that price and I am trying to find out what folks think of the choice.

Thank you for writing and my apologies for not replying sooner. I’ve just gotten back from two weeks away from the computer and have only started getting (slightly) caught up with all the email that’s been piling up since leaving.

Spruce and cedar are the two most popular choice of wood for solid-top guitar. Tradition has is that guitarists who primarily play finger-style find that cedar has a bit more distinct tone, although some call it mellower than spruce. Many people, though, can’t hear the difference. And that really doesn’t matter. If you are stuck on choosing, the best thing to do is to have someone else play both types of tops while you look the other way and see which one you prefer. This can be with any guitars by the way, not just the Brunner. The point is for you to find whether or not the choice of top makes a difference to you.

Two other things to keep in mind: First, cedar is softer than spruce and tends to scratch more. So if you’re a wild guy with the pick, understand that your guitar is probably going to look more worn with a cedar top than a spruce one. Second, the top, while being the most important part of the sound, is only part of the equation. Different backs and sides, in combination with the top, will also produce different sounds. As will the basic shape of the guitar (dreadnaught, classical, auditorium, etc.,). So you need to take all that into account.

The “blind hearing test” that I mentioned above, where you have someone else play a number of guitars, is probably the best way for you to get acclimated to the various sounds different guitars can produce. The important thing about doing this sort of test is to have whoever’s playing play at the same level you play at. If he or she is a lot better, then you’re going to focus on what’s being played as opposed to the sound. So if you’re a beginner who just plays chords, have the tester play the same way. Only after you’ve made your choice, let the person go wild on the guitar.

I hope this helps. Thank you once more for the email and also for your patience in getting a response.

I look forward to chatting with you again.

Peace

Podcast Postings

Guitar Noise Podcast #14 – Putting Things to Practical Use

For our fourteenth Guitar Noise Podcast, let’s take stock of the many things we’ve learned so far and, over the course of the next number of GN Podcasts, put them to use in song. After all, that’s why we’re practicing, right? For starters, we’ll use the traditional tune, Handsome Molly (also known to many as I Wish I Was in London), which has a nice, simple chord progression of G, D and C. You’ll even find a chord “cheat sheet” on the blog.

We’ll start out very basic and then add some embellishments and bass lines taken directly from our previous podcasts. Hopefully, you’ll soon build up a bit of confidence and start in adding your own touches before we’re through!

Paul and I try to post a new Guitar Noise Podcast every other Monday, so look for the next one this Monday, August 18, 2008.

Event Horizon

Kathy Reichert and The Company She Keeps (love that name!) are opening up the big St Rita’s Family Festival in Racine, Wisconsin tomorrow, Saturday August 16. She’ll be kicking off her show at the Main Entertainment Tent at noon and going until 2:30 PM. St. Rita’s Family Festival is held at 4339 Douglas Avenue in Racine. For more info, check out their website.

You may not know it, but this weekend is also the North Wales International Jazz Guitar Festival in Wrexham. Jazz guitarist extraordinaire Sheryl Bailey will be there all weekend, so be sure to check out her shows! And Sheryl’s quite the traveler this week. From Wales, she’s off for a tour of Japan, which will go through September 10. Find out more at her website: Sheryl Bailey.

Reviews

John Ganapes – Blues You Can Use Book Of Guitar Chords
Tutorial Book Review by Mark Morrow

A quick visit to the Guitar Noise Forum will let anyone know that many of our members are big fans of the “Blues You Can Use” series of tutorial books. Mark Morrow found (and purchased) the “Blues You Can Use Book of Guitar Chords” on a recent visit to his local guitar store and shares his findings and thoughts with you all.

Random Thoughts

Rather than dwelling on what I haven’t done since I’ve gotten back, I’m going to leave you now and get going on getting the next batch of lessons finished. Look for them soon.

Until our next newsletter, play well. Play often. Stay safe.

And, as always…

Peace

David