In this edition: 1 - WIN A GIBSON LES PAUL!!! (worth US$2,289) 2 - GUITAR ON TV 3 - KISS YOUR NUTS GOODBYE 4 - AUSTRALIAN TOP 20 FOR THE YEAR 5 - REVIEW OF PRO JAM MUSIC'S CD 6 - GUITAR LESSON WORLD $10 CD 7 - GUITAR & BASS PLACE 8 - HUMOR (no offence intended!) 9 - WHERE IN THE WORLD... 10 - HELP WANTED WITH TUNING 11 - ACOUSTIC MUSIC RESOURCE

Yep, you can win a guitar! I'll be picking a winner at random in early March, so get along to http://www.GuitarTrader.com NOW! Everyone who orders at least 1 item online will be automatically entered and will have an equal chance.

Neil Shedden & 1000 Great Guitar Sites have no connection, financial or otherwise, with GuitarTrader,
I'm just selecting a random winner for them

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2 - GUITAR ON TV
From: AMRUSA@aol.com

"Fresh from the worldwide Internet broadcast of their spectacular performance at the LA Biltmore Friday night...Davey Johnstone and John Jorgenson will be playing a couple of instrumental numbers from their latest release and are interviewed this Tuesday at 11:30AM and midnight (PST check time listings in your area) on CNN SHOWBIZ"

acousticmusicresource.com

An Interview with Davey Johnstone & John Jorgenson

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3 - KISS YOUR NUTS GOODBYE
By Kirk Lorange
www.lorange.cjb.net

This is aimed at those who are still searching for the key to improvisation, still stuck when it comes to spontaneous invention, which, let's face it, is what all musicians want to achieve.

In my early playing years, I got pretty familiar with the first four or five frets of the neck. No sweat. I could pull off and hammer on and intersperse my licks and solos with open strings. The nut became my reference point -- it was the only thing that wasn't shifting around. It was my friend. Anything higher up the neck however, became scary. My reference point was so far away it didn't work anymore. I needed a new one, one that would work anywhere. Besides, I always knew that the nut is not a musical reference point, merely a physical one.

I came up with one, a great one, which I describe in detail in my book PlaneTalk... simple, musical and loaded with endless implications. I won't go into it here because it's too involved and I want to sell my books, but here is a tip: practice playing chords as single notes. In other words, don't hold the chord down, rather visualize it and play the notes as melody notes. These notes, that are actually in the chord, as opposed to the scale, are by far the most important ones to use in your phrases, licks, solos, whatever. Great starting notes, great ending notes...Oh by the way, practice using chords up the neck, like the eighth fret or so. Any barre chord will do, just make sure you know which one you're working on.

Come visit and read all about PlaneTalk, The Guitar Slide Rule and how it's a truly totally different, stand-alone comic strip lesson and how cheap it is and easy to order and so on.

Kirk Lorange
PO Box 186
North Tamborine
Queensland 4272 Australia
Ph / Fax +6175 545 0138
lorange@kirk.net
www.lorange.cjb.net

• More info on Plane Talk
• See cartoons from the book
• Read all of Kirk's great Newsletter Articles

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4 - AUSTRALIAN TOP 20 FOR THE YEAR

• 1998 Top20 Australian Artists Online
• 1998 Top20 Australian Music Artist's Sites
• 1998 Top20 Australian Music Resource Sites

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5 - REVIEW OF PRO JAM MUSIC'S CD
From: Alice Franceschini
"The Nashville Series, Vol 1
featuring Ray Flacke and friends.

I've listened to this CD a couple of times. The first time I heard it I hated it. There was nothing in the paper inserts that explained what the tracks were. The second time, I found the track information, on the CD.

This is a strange place because if you need this information you have to stop the CD, take it out, read it, then put it back in the machine. Talk about inconvenient.

I had to write down the information and then I commenced my second listening. Since I now had the information and could make heads and tails of the CD I enjoyed it a lot. This CD has 10 songs but only seven of these songs have three tracks.

1. Full music track (background and lead).
   The mix of the full music track is such that you can't easily pick out the lead. So the full music track and background track sound exactly alike.
   
   
2. A "slowed" solo track.
   "Slowed" is subjective because the lead doesn't sound much slower than the full music track to me.
   
   
3. A background only track.
   This track delivers. You jam with professional musicians.

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6 - GUITAR LESSON WORLD $10 CD

I have a question to ask all of you. I am thinking of selling a version of my lessons on CD-R for about $10. I am not implementing this yet. I just want to see how many of you might be interested in such a CD. If I get a good response, I might adopt this as an option. Don't worry though, the lessons will still be available online for free, just like they are now.

Please email patmac@psu.edu if you show interest in this

Patrick MacFarlane
glw@zeromus.com
www.zeromus.com/glw/
Guitar Lesson World - Learn Theory, Learn Tabs, Just Play!

Also... why not check out the latest lesson #49 - Harmonics:

Harmonics are played every time you pluck a note. Most of the time, however, you do not hear them. What you hear is the fundamental (sometimes called the first harmonic). The fundamental is the loudest sound produced, but it is accompanied by several harmonics. "Playing harmonics" on guitar is actually playing "artificial harmonics." Basically, it is a way of eliminating the fundamental and the other overtones.

Fretted Harmonics:

Playing fretted harmonics can be hard at times. This requires the fretting of a note, plus a "soft touch" on a string which is exactly 12 frets above the note you are fretting. In addition to this you must still pluck the string. To do all three of these tasks at once, you must combine the tasks of the "soft touch" and the plucking of the string. There are 2 techniques of doing this.

The first technique requires you "soft touch" with your index finger and then pluck with your pinky finger or a pick held in the other fingers. The other technique is playing a pinched harmonic. This is done by holding the pick so that the tip of your thumb is perpendicular to the tip of the pick...

Continued...

Guitar Lesson World is a site that you can obtain Guitar Lessons on all styles and all levels. This site is a resource that gives the information that aspiring guitarists need to become better. It provides lessons on theory with everything from scales and modes to chord construction.

More tuition sites & info:

• Tuition Resources
  
• Tuition Sites
  
• HowToPlay
  

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7 - GUITAR & BASS PLACE

A great source for full-length RealAudio, chat, guitar and bass stuff, and weekly tabs.
The Guitar & Bass Place is proudly CANADIAN!

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8 - HUMOR (no offence intended!)
From: more jokes...

Thanks to Aaron Berdanier
geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/8378/
and "Skysurf Cross Keys" for these:

Why Guitars are better than Men:

• Guitars never wake you up in the middle of the night, for any reason.
• Guitars don't come home drunk after a night out with the other Guitars.
• You don't have to praise a Guitar after playing it.
• Guitars don't try to change you once you've bought them.
• Second-hand Guitars don't go to see previous owners when you're out of town.
• You don't have to continually assure your Guitar that its string length is just right.
• Your Guitar never spends a "night out with the Guitars" and comes home with a strange rash on its fretboard.

• Women are more fun when the power goes out.
• You can't get your guitar wet.
• It's no fun to tie your guitar to a bed and spray whipped cream on it.
• When playing a guitar, you can use your teeth, but not your tongue.
• A guitar won't drive you home if you're too drunk.
• A guitar doesn't care who plays it.

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9 - WHERE IN THE WORLD...

So who's been looking for MP3 at "1000 Great Guitar Sites"?

Most are predictably from USA, the dominant Net force, but the others (in descending order) are from: Sweden, Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, France, Finland, Italy, Brazil, Norway, UK, Mexico, Denmark, Singapore...

86 countries in all, including a few from: Guatemala, Qatar, Azerbaidjan, Botswana, Guyana, Mozambique, Armenia, Turks and Caicos Islands, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Greenland, Moldavia, Zimbabwe, Gibraltar, Morocco and Pakistan!

It's great that guitar music is a worldwide phenomenon (and that you all not only have Net access, but also found my site!)

Click on the logo to check it out for yourself --->

Remember these stats are for just ONE HTML page of this site, not the whole site (which covers literally hundreds of HTML pages and thousands of database records)

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10 - HELP WANTED WITH TUNING

I am quite used to playing the fixed bridge kind of guitars. Recently,I purchased a floating bridge type and I have got problems tuning into E,A,D,G,B,E. The closest I can get to is a flat to each of these tunings in open string. Is there any way I can get to the original tuning of the above mentioned notes? sweetleaf69@pacific.net.sg

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A D V E R T I S M E N T

11 - ACOUSTIC MUSIC RESOURCE

AMR is a direct marketing service for many of the finest acoustic guitarists in the world! Because most of the large chain stores-and the music industry itself-only care about the hottest musical fads and fashions of the day, they give short shrift to small independent labels, and what they see as the insignificant sales opportunities instrumental acoustic guitarists represent. That's where we come in. For most of the titles we list here, this is ONLY place you will ever find the them! We also carry a large selection of TAB/MUSIC books by many of these artists. Plus INSTRUCTIONAL and PERFORMANCE VIDEOS! www.acousticmusicresource.com

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WHERE TO BUY CDs ONLINE

You've enjoyed this site for free, right?
Well now's your chance to say "Thank You!"
AND save yourself up to 30% off your favourite CDs!

I get 5% commission (at no cost to you) on any "CD NOW" sale through my site, which, in its own small way, helps support this newsletter and the guitar site & database.

Just search for anything you want from this link: cdnow.com/from=sr-767167

As well as secure transactions, advance orders & quick delivery of thousands of CDs in stock, CD NOW have sound clips, reviews & other merchandise, plus up to 30% discount for you!

Find out why CD NOW is the Internet's #1 Music Store! Go to the CD page to make your searches, or to follow direct links to the top selling albums of the moment

I get CDs from CD NOW myself - it's quick, secure & convenient!

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END

Guitar Newsletter by Neil Shedden (Webmaster/Editor)