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Category: A Blog… of sorts
Too Much Introspection?
Lurking around online guitar communities one’s bound to come across a variety of opinions on this, that, and the other to do with the best example of this and the best way to do that. It’s all excellent fodder for contemplation and is occasionally informative. Most of what one reads is, though, borne out of…
Uneasy Listening – a couple of nice reviews!
It has come to my notice that my last record has been reviewed rather kindly in a couple of places: FAME Minor 7th (a little way down the page!) You’ll notice that the first reviewer opines that I’m a better player than singer. I won’t argue with that, although some folks have written to me…
Factory Produced v. Boutique Guitars
There are more independent guitar makers than ever before, it appears, by all accounts making fantastic sounding and looking instruments. Finely crafted, indeed. I even have one made specially for me in 1987 by my old friend Chris Eccleshall. Now these fine instruments have to be superior in every sense from anything that comes out…
Uneasy Listening Released Today!
I hope you have time to wander over and take a listen: Uneasy Listening CD and MP3 downloads. Thank you!
New song – Living Is Easy
It’s played on my Martin OM-18V. I have a class of song that use I as catharsis in response to certain challenges I face in life. I call this class of songs my Catharsis Song Class 🙄 . The challenge met by this particular example is the vicious circle of insomnia caused by a bum…
Bliadhna nan Caorach
Or: “The Year Of The Sheep” “But [the Scottish] hills are empty. In all of Britain only among them can one find real solitude, and if their history is known there is no satisfaction to be got from the experience.” (John Prebble. From the introduction to his “The Highland Clearances”, Penguin Books, 1963.) “Since you…
Music-making and chaos
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, I can think of…
I’m selling a recording and mixing console!
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 has a productive life…
On independent musicanship and marketing
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 the ineffective. There are even…
Songwriting and “Inspiration”
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 as it is being played…
