The Guitar Study Newsletter for 7/31/2002

By Darrin Koltow

Greetings once again from MaximumMusician.com. This is Darrin Koltow, webmaster of MaximumMusician.com, bringing you more tips, tricks, licks and other musical stuff that won't conveniently end in "icks." I want to thank you for signing up for the Guitar Study newsletter at www.MaximumMusician.com. You can unsubscribe any time using instructions at the end of this email.

That restless feeling you get when you read this newsletter isn't just your guitar calling: it's the generous side of your nature, asking you to tell a friend about the Guitar Study Newsletter. They can sign up at www.MaximumMusician.com .

In this issue:

-- Reading tab --
-- Where to get your guitar questions answered --

++++++++++++++

A lot of us know how great the Internet is for helping us learn to play guitar better. There are free lessons, free software, inspirational stories, forums, links galore, and those goofy animal shapes made from balloons. We also know that there's a lot of useless information out there, and that it sometimes takes a long time to find the good stuff.

That's what this article is for: to help you locate the best free guitar lessons, links, software and other resources on the Internet, so you can concentrate on playing guitar, rather than looking everywhere and not finding what you need.

It'd be great if you *could* find everything in one place, on one website. But, such is not the case. So, let's break down the skills that are important to a guitarist, and learn how to use the Internet to build those skills.

First, the basics.

-- Reading tab --

If you didn't know that Olga.net has everything you ever wanted to know about tablature, drop everything and zoom there now. Their FAQ is at http://www.olga.net/faq. Olga is supported by people like you who love guitar, love guitar music, and love helping others grow their guitar love. Don't you just feel all warm inside?

What else does Olga have? Tons of tabs. I almost cried when I saw how many tabs there are for Eric Clapton tunes. *Please note that there are copyright issues here, and that I am not advocating that anyone actually download these freely available tab files. I only want to offer information that may be of use to you in some way.* Okay, enough said on that.

They have a search engine to find tabs with, and you can also browse by category: Rock, Everything, Pop, Classical. They have links to other resources, including software and a chord dictionary. They show you how to read and write tab, where to get tabs, and how to submit your own tabs to them.

-- Some quickie facts about tab --

No, tab is not a soft drink. It's not a financial agreement you have with a bartender. It's just a way of notating music for guitar (and other instruments.)

Here's an example of tab.

*REMEMBER TO SET YOUR FONTS TO COURIER TO READ THIS PROPERLY.*

|-3--0-0---3-|--3---0-0----|
|-1----1-3-1-|--1-----1-3--|
|-2----2---2-|--2-----2----|
|-3----3---3-|--3-----3----|
|------------|-------------|
|------------|-------------|

|-3---------|-----------|----|
|-3-5-5-3-4-|--4--3-----|----|
|-4---4---4-|--4----5-2-|-5--|
|-3---3---3-|--3----3---|-2--|
|-----------|-----------|-3--|
|-3---3---3-|--3----3---|----|

- "Fun in C" -

== Where to get guitar questions answered ==

Are Stratocasters appropriate for playing jazz? How do you learn to improvise? How do the pros approach improvising? What kind of gear do the pros use? What do you do when you start developing a pain in your elbow? What's an instructive but fun way of practicing scales, learning the notes on the fretboard, or learning the most popular CAGED chords? You can get answers to all these questions by reading guitar and music related newsgroups.

You can access newsgroups through your email reader, if you have Microsoft Outlook or other mail readers. Or, you can read newsgroup posts by surfing to groups.google.com .

Here's how I read posts from the jazz guitar newsgroup, rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz. I enter groups.google.com in my browser's URL field. I click the Advanced Group Search link. I then enter rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz in the group field. The results I get back show me the latest bits of wisdom from jazz guitar gurus.

Reading newsgroups like the jazz guitar one can open up paths to guitar success you didn't even know existed. It's like having a room full of expert guitar teachers to learn from. It's one of the best "free lunches" on the Internet.

What other music newsgroups are there for guitarists? Besides the jazz group just mentioned, there are also the following newsgroups:

alt.guitar and alt.guitar.beginner
alt.guitar.tab
rec.music.classical.guitar
rec.music.makers.guitar., which has 3 groups under it, including rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic

For more general music info, dig these:
rec.music.theory
alt.music.lyrics

And there are other gems in the realm of newsgroups, including groups for specific artists like rocker Ozzy Osbourne (alt.music.ozzy) and Beethoven (alt.music.beethoven).

Find more music newsgroups by entering music related terms like "*music*", "*theory*", "*tablature*" or "*butter.pecan.pie*" into the search engine at groups.google.com. Be sure to enter the wildcard character "*" shown in these examples to find all the groups that match your interest. Also, check out sites like GuitarNoise.com and WholeNote.com, which have their own discussion forums.

Okay. Time to quit reading and get back to playin'. My axe isn't just gently weeping, it's threatening to grow another string unless I pick it up soon. Enjoy your own playing. Enjoy it even more with your personal copy of Guitar Chords while supplies last.

May your mind be filled with riffs, progressions, chords, and guitarish possibilities this week. I'll see you later.

- Turn your practicing into --playing--.
- Make --music-- from chords and scales.
- Discover where to get the best free guitar stuff.
MaximumMusician.com