http://www.dave-keir.com/wordpress Fingerstyle Guitar & Acoustic Guitar Songs Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:42:02 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en My musings on musical invention earlier have led me on, by way of consideration of the randomness of the creative process, to wondering whether chaos, in it's scientific sense, might have some part to play. As difficult as it is for me to imagine a cause for the truly random event, ... http://www.dave-keir.com/wordpress/a-blog-of-sorts/music-making-and-chaos/ Yes it's time to move on. I no longer need a 16:8:2 mixing console. This Allen & Heath desk has served me well and I've reciprocated by giving lots of tender and loving care. I'll be sad to see it go. It's up on Ebay. [Update: it's gone. I hope it ... http://www.dave-keir.com/wordpress/a-blog-of-sorts/im-selling-a-recording-and-mixing-console/ There are a lot of resources and advice available online to independent musicians to assist in marketing their music. One challenge is that the sheer quantity of this makes it a part-time job just to read it. And another to execute it - presuming you can differentiate the worthwhile from ... http://www.dave-keir.com/wordpress/a-blog-of-sorts/on-independent-musicanship-and-marketing/ What is the nature of the faculty for inventing music? When I think about "inspiration" - that white heat of spontaneous creativity - which may last moments only, I realise that there is no analytic thought involved. It comes as a priori knowledge of what is musically right and fitting ... http://www.dave-keir.com/wordpress/a-blog-of-sorts/songwriting-and-inspiration/ Hi folks! The pre-production of my forthcoming CD Uneasy Listening is nearing completion! But there is still some work to do. If you would like to be kept up to date with the progress and be pointed to a place where you can download free pre-mastered mixes of the songs as ... http://www.dave-keir.com/wordpress/a-blog-of-sorts/uneasy-listening-would-you-like-to-be-kept-informed/ Sometimes I’m asked at gigs and catches me off guard. It’s always a difficult question to answer succinctly to a stranger, and causes me to stutter and stammer incoherently. “I’ve always done it”, is as lame a reason as it is true. But to me it’s all rather obvious since ... http://www.dave-keir.com/wordpress/a-blog-of-sorts/wherefrom-the-songs/ In the early days of my project studio I had the whimsical idea that my songs would be enhanced by liberal application of hand percussion. So I went round music stores and bought all sorts of shakers and rattles and cowbells, triangles, a tambourine, a cabaasa, brushes, and several items ... http://www.dave-keir.com/wordpress/a-blog-of-sorts/hand-percussion/ Well it's good to have aspirations and goals and seek to improve your lot. But I have to say I'm more than a little ambivalent about the world view held by the ambitious type - those who proclaim a singularity of purpose and clarity of vision that (they say) are ... http://www.dave-keir.com/wordpress/a-blog-of-sorts/the-nakedness-of-ambition/ Of all the topics that philosophers ring their hands over, this is the one that interests me the most. That is to say, I’m fascinated by the question of the existence of “free will”. Don’t worry, I’m not about to expound the arguments for or against its existence - I ... http://www.dave-keir.com/wordpress/a-blog-of-sorts/free-will/ A recent thread on an internet forum got me thinking. The original poster criticised guitar players who concentrated too much on technique and not enough about putting their heart into it. Good point. Perhaps it’s a lack of confidence in playing accurately that causes some players to become a bit ... http://www.dave-keir.com/wordpress/a-blog-of-sorts/the-zone/