Newsletter Vol. 73 # 1,396,547,982,598,768,938,947,682 and 3/4

Greetings,

Welcome to Volume 73, Issue #1,396,547,982,598,768,938,947,682 and 3/4 of Guitar Noise News!

In This Issue:

  • Greetings, News and Announcements
  • Guitar Noise Featured Artist
  • Topic of the Month
  • New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff
  • Spotlight on the Sunday Songwriters Group
  • Events Horizon
  • Random Thoughts

Greetings, News and Announcements

Happy April First! And welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News, the free twice-a-month newsletter from Guitar Noise. Being April Fool’s Day, it’s probably wise to give you a quick guide about reading this particular issue of our newsletter.

As many of you know, Paul has been working on negotiating the return of the music examples (both in notation and guitar tablature) with various publishers since last spring. The good news is that we are close to making deals and should be able to repost many, but not all, of our “Easy Songs for Beginners” and “Songs for Intermediates” lessons sometime in the (hopefully) very near future.

That last paragraph is not an April Fool’s joke. Oh, there are a number of them in this newsletter to be sure, but that is not one of them. If I were to go on and say something like:

Part of the problem with the negotiations is that the publishers want us to only use standard notation because they are of the opinion that even guitarists should learn to read music. While they are willing to practically give us the use of music notation for free, they are asking astronomical sums for the use of guitar tablature, sometimes upwards of $3,000 per song. Just posting the notation of, say the lesson on “Babylon,” would only cost about four cents (US), which we think we would be able to do because someone has donated that exact sum to Guitar Noise in just this last week.

Now that would be an “April Fool’s” paragraph. Or a bunch of “April Fool’s” sentences strung together. We hope you are able to tell the difference between the two. And if not, don’t worry as we will post a “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Knowing Whether or Not Any Given Statement in the April 1, 2011 Issue of Guitar Noise News Was Real or Just a Joke” at a later date. Possibly April 1, 2012.

Speaking of tablatures, we’re very excited to announce that when we get the rights to use our lessons again, we’ll be expanding our use of tablature to help even more people make the most of playing music. Even though Paul and I have claimed at every turn over the past dozen years and more that Guitar Noise is not just a guitar tablature site, it’s very clear that many people visiting the site would like us to focus more on trying to be just a tab site. And, as always, we’re more than happy to accommodate. If you take a gander at the latest post at the Guitar Noise blog you’ll find that we’ve come up with some incredibly innovative ways to make it so easy to play music you might not ever touch an instrument again!

Finally, I’d like to add that because of all sorts of reasons, things are running a little behind schedule. So if you click on a link and the lesson or post in question is not there, try again after waiting a little while. It’s been quite a lot of work trying to get back into a sane schedule and we’re almost there. It’s time like these when I wish we’d be able to occasionally turn the clocks back twenty-three hours in the spring instead of turning them ahead one single hour. The result would be the same, kind of, at least in terms of what time it was!

Guitar Noise Featured Artist

Pete Townshend is our Guitar Noise Featured Artist of the Month for April. He may not be someone you first think about when you think “rock guitarist” but his influence is still strong. Find out more about him on the Guitar Noise Profile Page.

Topic of the Month

Our April “Topic of the Month is “Music Theory without Tears.” We at Guitar Noise have prided ourselves over the years on being able to give guitarists and other musicians the theory they need in a painless manner. Sometimes it’s like you’re not even aware that it is music theory at all but rather just stuff you knew but didn’t know how to explain! So if you want to get the easiest introduction possible to music theory or simply just brush up on the theory you already know, go on over to the Guitar Noise home page and click on the “Topic of the Month” up in the top left corner, just below the blue banner. Or go directly here.

New Articles, Lessons, Reviews and Stuff

Re-Beginning The Guitar (Part 3) – Need To Know
by David Hodge

Do you really need to know music theory to play? How about reading music? Although the answer is pretty simple, there’s a lot to consider when making those choices. David discusses these decisions and what they mean in this informative article.

Spotlight On The Sunday Songwriters’ Group

This month, we’re turning the “Spotlight on SSG” feature at the Guitar Noise Blog on John Roche, who goes by the name of “Celt” on the Guitar Noise Forums, and his wonderful song “Going Back to Tupelo,” from Week 3 of the current “SSG Year 9.” John has also done the Q & A bit with me and you’ll find this insightful interview here when it goes up online sometime in the next couple of days.

Events Horizon

Doug James’ group Southern Roots has got some April shows lined up. They’ll be at the following venues:

Rocks River Roadhouse at the Rockahock Campground, 1428 Outpost Road, Lanexa VA 8:30 PM on Saturday, April 9th
Honey Whytes All American Cafe 2116 E. Main St Richmond, VA 9 PM on both Friday, April 15th and Saturday, April 16th.

And if you’re in the Chicago region, try to check out Slightly Offensive, with GN member Tom (“Tommygunz”) McLaughlin on Guitar :

Sullivan’s (4660 W 147th St, Midlothian IL) on Friday, April 8.
Sharkey’s (601 Railroad Ave,Round Lake IL) on Saturday, April 9
The Tilted Kilt Chicago Ridge (6401 W 95th St, Chicago Ridge IL) on Sunday, April 17
Charleston’s (2101 Calistoga Drive, New Lenox IL) on Saturday, April 30

And it doesn’t happen all that often, but GN creator Paul Hackett will be appearing with special guest Bob Dylan (yes, the Bob Dylan) in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on Sunday, April 10. You don’t want to miss this one!

Random Thoughts

I have to admit I was wracking what little brain I have trying to come up with some fantastically cool April Fool’s joke to serve as the finale to this newsletter. But then Charley walked over, jumped on my desk and typed the following:

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Of course, if you read Cat, you’ll find that incredibly hilarious! I don’t know if I can do an exact translation, but I’ll try. I should have it ready for you by the April 15 newsletter.

Until then, play well and play often.

And, as always,

Peace