Guitar for Beginners and Beyond Newsletter - August 28th 2007
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Hi, fellow twanger. I trust the summer holidays are going well for all our Northern Hemispherers; We Aussies are pretty happy about the drenching of rain most of us have had. I wasn't quite sure what that weird wet stuff falling out of the sky was for a while, it's been so long.
First off, before I get into the guitar news, you are receiving this email because on joining the Guitar for Beginners and Beyond discussion forum, you ticked the receive newsletters from admin checkbox... If you want to unsubscribe at any time, you can do so by logging into
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/ and going to your UserCP > Edit Options and unticking the 'Receive Email from Administrators' check box or by simply replying to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject field.
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Kirk's Weekly Lessons
The New Lessons
I've done three new fingerstyle lessons since the last newsletter. here they are:
1.) Yankee Doodle Dandy: I used this well known tune as a sort of primer to finger style for those just getting into it. It's a simple arrangement and will help your fingers and thumb gain some independence which is the most difficult aspect of finger style. Finger picking is a pattern based style that's a little easier to master; finger style is not pattern based and needs a bit more work
Yankee Doodle Dandy:
Yankee Doodle Dandy
2) Travis Picking: this is more of a pattern based technique where the thumb keeps thumping out an alternating bass line while the fingers add the melody and chord fragments. This is the kind of picking that Tommy Emmanuel and Chet Atkins are so good at ... lots of fun once you get the basic moves down.
Travis Picking:
Travis Picking
3) Amazing Grace in D: I did a lesson for this beautiful tune years ago in the key of C. I thought I'd give it another go in a new key. I chose D ... it's not for complete beginners, but it's not that tricky, and once you do get all the bits and pieces assembled, it's wonderful to play.
Amazing Grace in D:
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/fo...ng-grace-in-d/
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Other Members' New Lessons
Fretsource has put together a very comprehensive lesson "All About Intervals". Intervals are the building blocks of all music -- chords, melody and scales -- so if you're interested in theory, this is the best place to start. Fretsource has a great way of explaining things and you won't find a better lesson than this anywhere. Make sure you look at the "Interval Ear Trainer" he put together in Flash format; it's the best I've seen.
All about INTERVALS
He's also installed a Flash "Notation Pitch Trainer" for those getting into notation. Again, a great tool and very nicely put together.
Standard music notation ... scroll to the bottom of page.
Thanks, Fretsource, for those great tools and for helping to make this the most informative site on the World Wide Web.
Scotty_b has posted a very interesting look at "Playing Outside The Chords", which is what many jazz players do to add light and shade, tension and release to their soloing and improvisations. This would probably not be of interest to those just starting out, but for anyone into jazz, a must-read. He has included many mp3 samples to let you hear the possibilities.
An introduction to playing 'outside' the chords
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Guitar for Beginners and Beyond Community:
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/
Over 42,000 members!
The site continues to grow at the rate of about 100 new members per day. We're so lucky that many of these new members are seasoned players who are willing to help with answering questions and give constructive criticism when requested. We're also lucky to hear some of their recordings. If you have any questions about any aspect of guitar, don't hesitate to ask. From gear to theory to technique to recording ... someone will know. And if you feel you can help out, please do! Don't be shy.
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/
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PlaneTalk - The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book and DVD
Thanks to everyone who has ordered PlaneTalk and for the nice feedback you send. There's nothing more satisfying to me than reading how the book/DVD has finally cleared up the mysteries of the fretboard and especially how it's helped in the art improvisation. I think most musicians consider improvisation as the ultimate challenge. I certainly did, and I can assure you that when you do know how to do it, it's by far the most satisfying and rewarding of all aspects of making music. Memorizing set pieces is great and needs to be done, of course, but being able to actually "speak" music is a whole other ballgame. Anyone who has attempted to master the art using scales and modes and pentatonic boxes and the like will agree that it's a real can of worms. PlaneTalk teaches the other way, which is to let the chords of the piece of music do most of the work. I teaches you how to see chords for they really are: entities that stretch the length of the fretboard.
Here is a movie I did for the members of the private PlaneTakers' Forum. Someone asked about jazzier chord progressions and how the
PT mindset would deal with them.
YouTube - Jazzy Improvisation ... when you think PlaneTalk, it really doesn't matter how complex the chord progression is. So, if you're wondering how it is that I can find my melody lines through that chord progression without once thinking "scale" or "mode", take the plunge and order the book/DVD PlaneTalk package. Naturally, it takes years of practice, but at least you'll be practicing the right thing!
Here are some testimonials:
Read more and order from the main site:
PlaneTalk - The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book Read many testimonials here:
PlaneTalk Testimonials and more here:
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/fo...-testimonials/
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The
Slide Guitar in Standard and Dropped D tunings DVD: Bottleneck Guitar
Slide guitar is such a fun way to play. I've been doing it since about 1969 and doing it in standard tuning, or sometimes dropping that bass string down to D. Open tunings are great and give you that traditional sound, but standard is just as rich and allows you to merge both normal playing and slide into one hybrid style that really perks the ears up. Have a look at my latest blues video at YouTube (
YouTube - Slow Blues in E ) to see what I mean. If you want to learn more about the art, check out the DVD I put together, 70 minutes of solid learning. I go through the basics of slide techniques; vibrato; muting; chords; double stops; single notes lines; playing behind the slide and merging it all together.
Slide Guitar Web Ring - Bottleneck Guitar is where to learn more and order.
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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. To donate, all you need to do is go here -
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/billspaypal.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.
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MusiciansFriend Clearance Center -
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/cg...Center&afsrc=1
Most people already know of the great deals available at MusiciansFriend, but aren't so aware that they also have a Clearance Center part to their site which has around $6,000,000 worth of overstocks, refurbs, returns, and discontinued gear available at any one time.
So, if you're shopping for a guitar, amp or anything music related, but don't want to pay full price, be sure to check out some of their great Clearance Center deals here -
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/cg...Center&afsrc=1
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That's it from me for now, have fun with those lessons!
Kirk Lorange
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/
