Guitar for Beginners and Beyond Newsletter - February 24, 2006
__________________________________________________ __
Please note: You can unsubscribe from this newsletter at any time by logging into
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/ and going to your UserCP > Edit Options and unticking the 'Receive Email from Administrators' check box.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi fellow fan of the twang ... it's been a while! Our last newsletter went out Christmas Eve so there are several lessons to catch up with if you haven't already.
The first thing I should mention is the fact that I've converted all the movies from Windows Media Video to Flash, so if you're a Mac user, or for some other reason found it hard to view them before, the problem should be fixed now as Flash is cross-platform and built into every browser. It's a much better way to present them and I'll be using Flash from now on.
Easy Lessons
The first lesson is a re-vamp of 'Over the Rainbow'. I was stunned to see the number of views the original lesson received and I'm also aware that many of you enjoy the easy lessons, so I re-did a very stripped back, two finger version. You'll also notice that the new lessons include a virtual fretboard displaying in real time the notes used. Over the Rainbow comes in two parts:
Part One:
Over the Rainbow - Easy version
Part Two:
Over the Rainbow -- 2nd half of easy version
My latest lesson is an old standard, Stephen Foster's 'Oh Suzanna' and I've stripped this one right back also. Apart for being a good one to limber your fingers up on, it also demonstrates how different bass lines under the same melody can quickly change the whole mood of the piece. I think you'll find it interesting and enlightening.
Oh Suzanna:
Oh Suzzana
Intermediate / Advanced lesson
The next lesson is an original tune of mine that I came up with one evening. I was exploring the use of open strings intermingled with fretted notes in a not-so-usual fashion. It's a little difficult to describe here in words, but it's all there to be scrutinized at the site. I called it 'Open Air' ... this one is not for real beginners, and is quite challenging. Once you get your fingers to accept the odd arrangement it's a lot of fun to play.
Open Air:
Open Air
Clancy and I took a few days off in beautiful New Zealand recently, so the lesson production line was temporarily interrupted. I'll be whipping together a simple version of 'Happy Birthday' next ... I should have done it ages ago!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Member's Lessons
Fretsource has recently added a great new lesson on standard music notation, so if you're interested in learning to read music, be sure to check it out at -
Standard music notation - and also a reminder for all that enjoy Fretsource's lessons, don't forget to check out his Guitar Music Theory Ebook available on ebay at
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/cg...source&afsrc=1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Guitar for Beginners and Beyond Community
While Clancy and I were flying back from New Zealand last week, membership at the forum passed the 30,000 mark, and already we're almost up to 31,000 members. That's a whole lot of twangers!! Once again, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank you all for being so helpful and civilized. I visit quite a few other forums out there and there's no doubt that GfB&B is the friendliest and most helpful. Clancy (with a little help from me) has been working for weeks on an update both in look and functionality of the forum and site... and I'll be adding to and revamping the content portion of the site also over the weeks to come, converting WMV to Flash so ... good things to come.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donations
If you've benefited from the free lessons and enjoy being a member of the forum, why not consider donating and become one of our Star Members... Donations help with the huge running costs incurred each month (we now go through over 9 gigs a day in bandwidth!). To donate, all you need to do is go here -
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/fo...llspaypal.php? - donations of any amount are welcome and every little bit helps... It's all done through Paypal and takes just a couple of minutes. Once you've donated, you'll get a star (or stars) next to your username to reflect your generosity...
Thanks to all our starred members! We certainly do appreciate it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PlaneTalk - The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book
For any of the 'beyond' players who come to Guitar for Beginners and Beyond, you may be at a stage in your playing where you feel the need to move on up the fretboard, to explore the upper reaches, beyond the second dot ... it can be pretty scary moving away from that familiar territory, but in fact, there is nothing different about it. There's a simple way to make the entire fretboard familiar, friendly territory at all times. It has nothing to do with scales, either. Scales are one-dimensional, and have their place in the big picture, but there is something more practical and useful that you can tune your brain to, a simple way of looking at the fretboard that glues everything into place ... at any given moment of any given tune.
Check it out at
http://www.thatllteachyou.com
There are dozens of testimonials here:
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/fo...splay.php?f=43 and once you become a true-blue PlaneTalker, you can join the private forum.
If you're interested in seeing a movie of me improvising over a slow blues using the PlaneTalk mindset rather than the Blues Scale, I've loaded a movie I call 'Red Strat Blues' at YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh3orNb2n5s ... I think you'll be able to hear that throughout it all, I'm concentrating on *melody* rather than letting fly with riffs and licks and scale runs, something that I lost interest in doing years ago. I think you'll also be able to see that I make use of the whole fretboard to find melody and that I'm not stuck in any one position, pattern or box. It's the simple approach that PlaneTalk teaches that allows me to do that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How to Play
Slide Guitar in Standard and Dropped D Tunings
The DVD I finished recently continues to go out to the world at large. It's a 70 minute demo of the art of playing slide guitar in standard tuning. Most of us know how to tune a guitar to a chord and play slide that way ... that's the traditional way ... playing in standard allows you to slide a slide over the pinkie and use it intermingled with your normal playing. It takes a bit of getting used to, of course, but it sure can spice up your sound, and contrary to popular belief, standard tuning is a rich environment, full of slide possibilities. I like to tune my bass string down a tone to D too ... that adds a whole extra dimension without altering the overall fretboard map too much.
Check that out at
http://www.bottleneckguitar.com ... have a listen to the many slide tunes I have loaded into the
radio there on the home page.
Check out a video I added to YouTube recently in which I play both rhythm and slide guitar. It's a rendition of my all time favorite piece of music: Begin the Beguine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN-c0gAeSdU
I reveal everything I know in the DVD I recently finished: 'How to play Slide Guitar in Standard and Dropped D Tunings' which you can check out at
http://www.bottleneckguitar.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's all I can think of, other than to remind you to get that guitar out of its case, keep it visible and handy (and safe) so that you can do the most important thing of all ... PLAY. Even just a few minutes a day will: One - keep your fingers tough; Two - keep all your favorite bits and pieces flowing and familiar; Three - keep you interested, positive and progressing.
All the best,
Kirk Lorange
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/
