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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 count among the benefits of listening to other people’s music a broadening of understanding and the encountering of new musical vocabularies that can be absorbed and used in new ways to enrich your own creativity. It’s also refreshing and can reinvigorate your own muse. In fact, for my part, it would be nice if…
Certain events stick in the mind. Who knows whether they were indeed as pivotal as they appear to be in retrospect; nevetheless, they carry certain charisma in the memory that can seduce you into thinking that, yes, this was a moment when the world changed. I have one such memory of a night, spent with…
Because it forces you, albeit eventually, to break out and seek new ground. Perhaps tedium is the mother of invention. Oh, the unbridled joy of altered chords. A prising open of hidden doors. Enabling the smash and grab of fresh sounds. A suprise for the ears around every corner. A break from the humdrum of…
In preparation for recording vocal tracks I’ve often practiced singing to the guitar backing which I’ve burned to CD as I’m driving along. I’ve decided to cease and desist this practice because, while it is indeed helpful in all manner of ways in expediting a good recorded performance, it is putting me in mortal danger…
From time to time I receive advice or comments from other musicians that this or that song of mine would suit an ensemble arrangement of some kind; a bass here, some percussion there, perhaps a fiddle or a wind instrument”¦ I’ve no doubt that much may be done to provide some ear candy over some…
… but gave it up after it flew out my fingers and struck an audience member in the eye! Well, that’s the story I tell, anyway. Consequently, I’ve had to arrange some songs for fingerstyle which involved many happy hours of figuring out new nail-breaking preventative measures. A number of songs haven’t lent themselves to…
I have been assuming that over the past couple of years that my guitar technique was in terminal decline simply due to advancing years. (I remember my middle age crisis with nostalgic fondness.) I mean, my fingers feel stiffer in the morning (…would that – oh, never mind…) and it takes them longer to get…
Sometimes I’m asked… Most of the time I stumble across something when I’m working on some experimentation with harmony and finding different ways to change key, or trying to get some weird scale under my fingers. An idea will pop up which I’ll mess around with to see if it’s got any legs. Thoughts of…
