… was installed at the same time as the aforementioned nut job, above. So far, and after only a quick audition in the store, it is all I expected it to be: like an acoustic guitar with a pick-up on it.
Let me be clear: the sound of an acoustic guitar with a pick-up, of [...]
There is something about a person’s potential for doing the one thing for which they are specially suited, that once that potential is realised then it becomes irrevocably part of who they are. It defines their essence. Only by expressing themselves in this way, are they authentically who they are. Is this in the genes? [...]
As if there is such a thing. Good grief. There is Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Breton - and whatever else - music. Why do we need to use a term that is misapplied so often anyway to categorise these lands’ music. It does little else but obscure the origin and uniqueness of the different forms. Let [...]
Well, I bought a new guitar. No big surprise there, you might think, but I’m not a serial guitar purchaser. I like to live with my guitar and get to work with its moods and foibles. There’s also the comfortable-old-shoes syndrome - I like not to be conscious that there’s a guitar on my lap, [...]
Of whom I am a big fan. Since I heard one of his records in the early ’70s. His Motel Blues was one of the rare covers I have ever done. So rare were my covers that most people assumed it was one of mine - I had to disabuse them of that notion on [...]
Yes, well. My OM-18V is a wonderful thing. However one thing that has irritated me is the nut slots being cut so that the top and bottom strings are so damn’ near the edge of the fingerboard causing pull-offs on the top ‘e’ string not to ring true. It also causes the fleshy part of [...]
…that Jean Sibelius died.
I’ve acknowledged my appreciation before herabouts of this composer.
There was speculation on the radio last night about why he composed virtually nothing during the last thirty years of his life. Well, actually he did compose but he through the score of an incomplete symphony in the fire. A few present day icons [...]
Last week I was in Italy with my family on holiday and we spent some considerable time strolling around the streets of Rome and Florence taking in the sights. I had decided before the trip that while there I would try and put lyrics to a few songs that I had kicking around waiting for [...]
I ask in terms of playing guitar…
Who was it that quipped (oft quoted) that he didn’t read music well enough to get in the way of his playing? Or words to that effect. I also read recently that the best improvisers don’t bother overmuch with scales and just play what they hear in their heads. [...]
