Dave Keir

acoustic fingerstyle guitar & songs

Month: April 2007

  • When I was a young boy…

    …my first experiences of music were by way of the classical music records that my father played and the ’50s records that my brother played. Those, and the background of the BBC “Light Programme” as it was known back then, were the musical wallpaper of my childhood. There was also a little Puccini that my…

  • My first fingerpicking lesson

    Sometimes I look back wistfully and muse upon odd events that have defined the directions I would take in life. Apropos my music, one of the events that had a profound impact was a casual ten minutes with a friend back in 1971 when he showed me my first fingerpicking pattern. Here it is: It’s…

  • The act of songwriting…

    …has never been a challenge for me. I think it’s because I’ve been doing it so long – since I was so uninhibited as a kid – that it’s a habit that’s simply been ingrained. I’ve never thought about how to go about the task. I did it before I thought about it. Like a…

  • I think I’m selling a Martin 000-28

    Oh, well. I’m reluctant to do it because it’s a great guitar. I’ve written about it here. Why would I sell it? Well it’s not getting played very much because my OM-18V is my go-to guitar for practicing and recording – particularly up-tempo stuff. Now, the OM is a long scale (25.4″) guitar and is…

  • Golf – I’ve given up!

    Because my left arm doesn’t want to participate enthusiastically in the backswing. I think I have impingement of the shoulder, or some such. It’s not severe and doesn’t bother me overmuch but it does reduce my range of movement inhibit my golf swing. Now, there have always been a number of impediments to my golf…

  • Mahler v. Sibelius

    The two composers are sometimes cited as being at the opposite ends of a spectrum of sorts: one being prone to employing vast forces in order to perform gargantuan works; the other having a penchant for compression and modesty of utterance ultimately to the point of silence. I had a passion for the music of…

  • I sound like Shrek!

    So opined a forumite’s family member recently after listening to How Well. It must be the nasally Scottish accent. No matter. No offence taken here. None at all. Damn’ cheek!

  • Depression and the musician

    I have heard and read short and long about the possible artistic and creative benefits of clinical depression (and other mental illnesses) may have for musicians. I have not heard or read of a musician celebrating his depression for those reasons, though! So what does depression “do” for an artist? Does it have any artistic…

  • Still humidifying my guitars

    We’re in mid-April and there’s still not enough relative humidity in my studio where my guitars reside on their stands. So I keep filling the humidifier with water and it keeps belching out steam. It’s a labour of love. I didn’t even know about the necessity for doing this before I started lurking around internet…

  • GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome)

    I had this affliction for a short spell. I actually only realised it’s existence, and that I was a sufferer, when I stumbled across the Unoffcial Martin Guitar Forum (UMGF) in 2003. This was shortly after I had “acquired” my Martin OOO-28 and became interested in its pedigree and in Martin guitars in general. I…

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