Anthony Alfano
August 2003

Beginning with the May 2003 edition, newsletters are now archived
online at: http://www.guitar-leads.com/newsletter.htm

CONTENTS:

1. ROCK & ROLL 101 - The Temptations
2. LEARN-A-LICK - My Girl and Sugar Pie Honey Bunch
3. TRUE ROCK STORIES - The Temptations
4. USEFUL LINKS
5. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Please forward this newsletter to anyone whom you think may be interested!
Hi and welcome to our THIRD newsletter for: GUITAR-LEADS.COM. I hope you will enjoy it and find it a helpful tool in your journey to becoming a well rounded guitarist. I'm sorry I could not get a newsletter to you last month, but the summer is the height of my busy season, performing with my oldies group PHIL DIRT & THE DOZERS, all over the Midwest. Traveling is extensive but I was planning this newsletter and thinking about all of you!

I would like to thank those who have subscribed to my newsletter and to those who have purchased the course. I know that if you want to play the guitar better, or want to start playing the guitar, there is no better course out there. I perform for a living and see and hear what musicians are doing today. I will not only give you the mechanics to learn ho to play the guitar better than you though possible, but also introduce and strengthen your knowledge of Rock and Roll music. With my course you will become a well rounded player, capable of many accomplishments.

Tony

A very important part of learning how to play the guitar to the best of your God-given ability, is to know about the musicians who played an important role in influencing Rock & Roll guitar in the first place. As a part of this on-going newsletter, I will draw upon many examples, with the intent of showing and explaining different styles, rhythms, tones and other characteristics of playing the guitar. I want you to not only learn how to mechanically play the guitar, but to eventually be able to feel what you play. That will come later, but in time you will come to realize that "feeling" what you're playing is WHY you ARE playing the guitar. It can and will carry your soul to different worlds.

This month's Rock & Roll history lesson is about one of the greatest vocal groups of all time:

THE TEMPTATIONS.

The Temptations were one of the greatest bands to come out of The Motown Sound in Detroit, Michigan. Singing songs like: The Way You Do The Things You Do, My Girl and Get Ready, the group was formed in the early 1960's out of a combination of other Detroit street groups named The Elgins, The Primes, The Distants and The Elegants. Finally naming themselves The Temptations, they had the great fortune of having 2 lead singers in the group: Eddie Kendricks (Get Ready) and David Ruffin (My Girl).

After dozens of hit records, in 1968, David Ruffin left the group to take on a solo career. He was replaced by the strong, gravelly-voiced Dennis Edwards. In 1971, Kendricks and Paul Williams also left the group for solo and health reasons, respectively. The Temps went the next 6 years without a top 10 hit, but continued to perform to sell-out crowds.

In 1983, the remaining members of the group re-united for the Motown 25th Anniversary TV special. Today, in 2003, the group still performs to packed houses (although no original members are alive.) In total, the group charted 76 R&B singles and 52 Pop counterparts. 41 of the 76 R&B hits were in the Top 10.

The Temptations, along with groups like Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Four Tops, Diana Ross and The Supremes, The Jackson 5 and dozens of others, were all of Motown decent. The President and founder of this hit machine called Motown, had a vision. It was to bring quality Black music to ALL American people, in a classy, sophisticated way. He assembled the best musicians and vocal groups around the Detroit areas and built a home for Funk and Soul music.

Now, you may be asking yourself, "Why is this newsletter concerned with vocal groups from Motown? I want to be a better guitar player, not a better singer." The answer to that question lies "behind the scenes." It lies with the people who created the music for those groups and singers. It lies with a group of men called "THE FUNK BROTHERS."

THE FUNK BROTHERS consisted of members such as JAMES JAMERSON (Bass guitar), BENNY BENJAMIN (Drums), RICHARD "PISTOL" ALLEN (Drums), JOE MESSINA and ROBERT WHITE (Guitars), BOB BABBISH (Bass guitar) and others.

They were responsible for PLAYING ON MORE NUMBER 1 HIT RECORDS THAN THE BEATLES, THE BEACH BOYS, THE ROLLING STONES AND ELVIS PRESLEY COMBINED!

What does this mean for you? Go out and get your hands on some Motown Music by one of the Motown groups and listen not only to the guitar work, but also to what each instrument is playing. You will begin a journey of training your ear to hear rhythms and melodies and counter-melodies and textures that are very important and unique. This is a homework assignment! OK!

Here is a PARTIAL list of the tunes on which THE FUNK BROTHERS played. Choose from any one of these to come up with your homework subject matter. I will check on your progress next month.

THESE ARE JUST TO NAME A FEW! MAKE THESE ARTISTS and THEIR SONGS PART OF YOUR MUSIC BIBLE! NO MATTER WHAT MUSICAL STYLE YOU PLAY!

Here's the part where we will have some practical fun. In this section of your free Newsletter, I will show you an important Rock Lead (a LICK). For this, the third and fourth licks, we will draw from our ROCK & ROLL 101 musicians: the funk brothers! Let's take a look at the guitar Note Tablature for the opening guitar riff to THE TEMPTATIONS song: MY GIRL! Playing this lead cleanly and accurately and at the correct tempo is important. Here goes!

In this section, I will share some of the wonderful experiences I've had as a guitar player. (Remember, you can make your own memories too, so make sure you check out my web site GUITAR-LEADS.COM)

It was the summer of 1994. The place was THE COLUMBUS, OHIO ZOO. The event was a Fund Raiser to raise money to build new exhibits and increase its size. The group is personal friends with JUNGLE JACK HANNA, The TELEVISION STAR who is The Director Emeritus of the Zoo in Columbus. He introduced us, as he always does to 2 thousand people at the event and my band, PHIL DIRT was sharing the stage that night with the legendary: TEMPTATIONS! We played two sets and then we left the stage so The Temps could do their show.

Finally, the show was on. Melvin Franklin, Otis Williams and some other great performers in the band put on a wonderful show. Then, during the middle of their show, they did a segment where they asked a member of the audience to come on stage and sing with the group. As I was standing there, their stage manager pointed to me to come up on stage. I kept saying: "Me? Me?" "Yes, he said." I ran towards the back stage area and walked over to The Temps. They shook my hand and they cued me to start singing and I proceeded to sing MY GIRL with them. (There's a picture of me doing this on my web site.) It was a memory I will never forget. All the people applauded and I felt so, so good to be able to live out a dream that as a child seemed so remote and impossible.

Why do I tell you these stories about myself? I tell you them because I want you to know that I started off playing the guitar by teaching myself and after many years and many bands, I found the right opportunity and was able to live out a dream. It was and is my guitar playing that gave me the chance to fulfill these dreams and You can do it too! After what I experienced, I am living proof that if you stick-with-it and want to be successful, you have the same chance of living out your dreams as I did and continue to.

I play the guitar, today as a member of a very successful national Rock & Roll Oldies Band. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to do what you love to do to earn a living. I would suggest that if you have not ordered my course TIPS, TRICKS & TABLATURE yet , please do so now. Go to my web site and read the front page, I'll teach you how to start your own band, how to read tablature: both chord and note tabs. And most importantly, I will cut-out all the mumbo jumbo out of learning to play guitar so that you can be successful as quickly as possible.

My daughter was the first student to take this course. She has been playing less than a year and she is already playing at the same level it took me 3 years to get to when I started. That's because I had no one to take the time to take me step by step through learning how to buy a guitar or how to tune it up or how to hold or adjust it. I had to teach myself. And some of the things I learned from other people were incorrect.

Let me show you how playing the guitar can be such an enjoyable hobby. Once you get hooked, you won't want to put it down! Try my course. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If you are not a beginner, it doesn't matter. If you can learn one new trick or Barre chord for the price of ONE GUITAR LESSON then you're already a winner!

This course will be the best $29.95 investment you will ever make. Expect it to change your life. I guarantee it!

State by state listing of teacher, tutors, classes for a wide range of activities, including guitar playing. Lesson's Directory

Guitar Chords Generator. This site contains a number of interesting products including a guitar tab generator.
http://guitar.to/

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. ---Benjamin Franklin

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