The North American Guitar

I was recently invited to do a recording session for the North American Guitar in Islington, London to showcase a pretty amazing selection of their super-high-end stock of boutique acoustics from some of the finest luthiers in North America, as well as a guitar maker from this side of the pond, Rosie Heydenrych of Turnstone Guitars who is now being represented by TNAG. Great to see a UK artisan in the mix!

Anyway, here's a couple of the videos we shot, starting off with this REALLY expensive Greenfield G4 Fan Fret. It's a beast:

Turnstone TG: I loved this thing - quirky design (almost Art Deco to my eyes, at least), and amazing craftsmenship. I think I enjoyed playing this one the most on the day:

Maingard GC: Incredible neck, as I remember - really fast and playable:

Autumn update!

Hello! I've been rather quiet on here of late, which just won't do, so I thought I'd better some news since I haven't actually been idle!

Brittany Guitar Workshops 2019

So, as usual for the Bank Holiday week/weekend in August, I held my annual acoustic guitar workshop in La Fontenelle, Brittany which was attended by some of the die-hard regulars and a couple of very welcome newbies. We worked on a few pieces in CGDGCD tuning, including some traditional tunes and a couple of contemporary arrangements.

Evening are usually a chance to go to a restaurant or jam or some such shenanigans: On the second evening this time around we were treated to a whisky tasting experience which was an unusual but excellent way to round off a day playing the guitar!

Our last evening was the usual soiree with some invited locals listening to the guys' hard work in the student concert - very enjoyable, and thanks to our wonderful host, Brenda for the translation!

We're working on dates for next year, so what this space.

Here we are at our favourite restaurant in Cancale, awaiting beaucoup de shellfish...

And here are some the guys concentrating...

The North American Guitar Session

On Saturday, Sept 14, I was at The North American Guitar in Islington, London, demoing some amazing guitars for sale on their website. They're a super-high-end dealership who import and sell unique and beautiful guitars from across the pond, and let's just say it's pretty nerve-racking yet a great privilege to be entrusted to make them sound nice on camera for their website! I'll post links soon, when they've uploaded the videos we shot.

Halsway Manor Guitar Week

From Sept 30 - Oct 4, Halsway Manor in Somerset will be hosting the annual Guitar Week, with Charlotte Carrivick, Kevin Dempsey and me. Here's some blurb from their website about the event:

"Following an extremely well-received inaugural course last year, we’re delighted to welcome back Kevin Dempsey, Tristan Seume, and Charlotte Carrivick for our second Guitar Workshop Week. The week is an intensive but enjoyable guitar-school week for steel-string acoustic guitarists, led by three fantastic tutors!

The week will help you to develop your skills and confidence, with options to explore finger style, flat-picking, alternative and open tunings, arranging tunes and song accompaniment, chord vocabulary, and useful theory too. Whole group, smaller group and one-to-one teaching, to leave you enthused and inspired! There will be down-time too, for you to practise, jam, socialise and spend quality time with your instrument. For those who want to, there’s also the opportunity to join the tutors in concert on the Thursday evening.

The tutor team bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience embracing a variety of styles. The programme for the week will be tailored to the experience and needs of the group. An outline of what each tutor plans to offer is below:

Kevin will be covering the basic fingerstyle patterns, plus variations. Introducing percussive elements. Chord construction, introducing extensions and increasing chord vocabulary. Learning a couple of complete pieces for solo guitar. Looking at chord/scale relationships.

Tristan specialises in fingerstyle guitar, arranging traditional tunes and accompanying songs predominantly using CGDGCD tuning. This beautiful and versatile modal tuning remains curiously overlooked in favour of more commonly explored DADGAD, open D and open G tunings. Tristan will explore the tuning’s potential from the ground up whilst referencing and relating to other, more familiar tunings. We will work through the fundamentals, beginning with useful, go-to chord shapes and patterns and progress through developing left- and right-hand techniques, incorporating open strings, drones and harmony within the context of traditional repertoire.

Charlotte will cover the basics of flatpicking for both lead and rhythm playing, working up towards creating more intricate solos and interesting backup. We will be learning how to make fiddle tunes sound great on the guitar and how to make them your own. As a style with a big focus on improvisation, we’ll be looking at ways to expand your knowledge of the fretboard and open up different pathways on the guitar. (For guitar in standard tuning, this course requires a plectrum)."

New video with Daria Kulesh

Daria and I recently recorded this video to show what we've been working on. In Daria's words: "[the story is] based on a poem by by Alexander Pushkin. Rusalka is a playful and exquisite supernatural tale of temptation and seduction, set in the remote Russian North". I hope you like it.

Brittany Guitar Workshop 2018 - STOP PRESS!

Hi folks!

I'm delighted to announce that next August 22-25, 2018, I will be returning to the beautiful village of La Fontenelle in Brittany to host my annual acoustic guitar workshop.

The general format is that we look at guitar techniques and study pieces during the daytimes and go to the local restaurant in the evenings, or drive out to Cancale for seafood and chilled vin blanc! We usually finish the four-day course with an informal soiree on the final evening.

It's a lot of fun, but places are limited to just eight participants, however guests are welcome to bring non-participating partners if they wish. Please visit the logistics page of the Brittany Music Workshops website for more details such as accommodation and travel.

For the past two years, my good friend, Will McNicol has been leading these residential workshops in my stead as other commitments prevented me from being there. I want to thank Will sincerely for holding the fort (and also for giving me his blessing to resume the mantle - honestly, I thought I was going to have wrestle him for it back!).

Anyway, stay tuned for updates and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions!

Daria Kulesh

Feeling like it was about time I explored new musical projects and through a fortuitous set of circumstances, I recently started working with renowned Russian folk singer, Daria Kulesh as her accompanist. Daria is a rare talent as a singer, songwriter, artist and interpreter of traditional material which draws on her Russian and Ingush roots. She has enjoyed a fair bit of airplay by the likes of Mike Harding and Mark Radcliffe. Tonight is our first gig as a duo - we're playing at The Mermaid in St. Albans as a kind of warm-up to future shows. Click here to jump to Daria's website

The Morgan Rattler

I recently asked the online community to suggest cool tunes to arrange, and this was suggested so I set to it - quite pleased with the results. It's a lovely 48 bar jig that I want to play again and again.

Brittany Guitar Workshop 2015

This August 19-22, I'll be hosting my annual acoustic guitar workshop in La Fontenelle, Brittany.

I'll be looking at Celtic, blues and fingerstyle techniques and tunes in the wonderful French countryside. We normal head out for nice food and a glass of three of vin rouge in the evenings, and have a great time making music, which culminates in a wee gig for the locals at the end of the week. It's low pressure, though, I promise!

The course It caters for a variety of abilities, but to get the most out of the experience, I recommend you have a sound grasp of the basics.

More details including accommodation and logistics are to be found at the Brittany Music Workshops website.

Is it really October already???

Can't believe it's already October and the Autumn seems to have arrived all at once. It's high time I updated my rather neglected blog with some news. It's not as if I've been lazy - quite the opposite - much has happened since the last posting.

Firstly, back in August I ran the first of my Brittany Guitar Workshops residencies, which was a joyous experience, with a lovely group of students who'd made the trip over from England to stay in the lovely village of La Fontenelle, Brittany. It was hosted by Brenda Dean of Brittany Music Workshops, who looked after us beautifully, and even sang a song with us at the end-of-week concert.

We worked on a variety of pieces from blues to Celtic to pop arrangements, leading up to the aforementioned concert, which was attended by about 30 of the locals. Thanks to Brenda for translating all the stage gossip!

I must give a special plug to the hugely talented Kitty Macfarlane, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter, who was one of my students. She bewitched the lot of us with her voice, guitar playing and all round charm.

Anyway, we're already planning next year's workshop and the dates are looking like August 13-16 inclusive, so if you're interested in coming, put those in the diary!

Secondly, I've just received the new Abi Moore record, Amoeba & Stone. Abi is a dear friend of mine, and this record has been a long time in the making, so I'm really chuffed it's finally out there. There are a few session contributions from me on there, too.

Finally, I've just returned from the 14th Ullapool Guitar Festival in the northwest Highlands of Scotland. This festival has gained a legendary status as the one everyone wants to play at, such is the quality and atmosphere on show. It's quite simply THE place to be for guitar enthusiasts in early October. I feel blessed to have now played at 10 of the last 11 festivals, and I'm already counting down until the 15th festival in 2014.

Highlights included jamming with Clive Carroll and John Smith, playing an epic pool tournament with friends, and of course, performing and teaching!

At one point I found myself playing a brief private banjo recital to Elliott Randall from Steely Dan, Carl Verheyen from Supertramp and Jerry Donahue of, well, everyone. Surreal. Here's Mr. Verheyen having a play on my guitar:

Oh, and speaking of banjos, upon arriving at the festival, Roger Bucknall of Fylde Guitars presented me with my brand new open backed frailing banjo. The hoop is made from 48 separate blocks of Claro Walnut and capped on either side with African Blackwood. It sounds amazing and I'm totally delighted with it:

Well, that brings us more or less up to date, so I'll sign off for now, and promise not to leave it too long before the next installment!

Ireland

I've just returned from the Emerald Isle, where Jackie and I had the very great privilege of taking part in a project called 'Song Sisters' at the Eargail Arts Festival in Letterkenny, Donegal. The project was set up by Irish singing legend, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh from one of my all-time favourite bands, Altan. The show consisted of representatives from Ireland (Mairéad), Scotland (Eddi Reader), Wales (Julie Murphy) and England (Jackie), all accompanied by their backing musicians of choice. These were Boo Hewerdine, Ciarán Curran, Martin Tourish, Cery Rhys Matthews and me. Here we all are in soundcheck (well, with one empty seat, as I took this picture!).

Each singer offered a song for collaboration with the group, which were rehearsed during the day prior to the concert, and also took turns to perform duos and small ensemble arrangements. It was a real joy to work with such inspiring people, and lovely to hear some of the music for the very first time whilst actually on stage! Despite the sold-out auditorium, the best seats in the house were surely ours.

Christopher Jenkins

Evenin' all...

For the last couple of days, I've been busy in the studio recording guitar and banjo parts for the new solo album by my dear friend, the singer/songwriter, Christopher Jenkins. Chris has been asked to compose the soundtrack to the forthcoming UK movie entitled Maynard, due in cinemas in 2015, and I'm excited to be playing on songs that may feature in the film as well as on his album. Early days, sure, but watch this space.

Chris is a mate from the Academy of Contemporary Music, in Guildford, where we both teach (he is a Music Production lecturer as well as a marketing dude).

More album news as it transpires...

New videos posted

I was recently interviewed by Gordon Giltrap on behalf of Guitar Practiced Perfectly, a new piece of guitar tuition software for which Gordon has become an ambassador. Click here link the interview.

I also recorded a couple of performances during the session, one of which, Larry's Favourite and Harper's Reel, is here. I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to share it around!

New album and new website launched today!

Hello again! And welcome to my brand new website, launched today! And it's a double whammy, because my new album, Middle Child, also becomes available today! Please have a look around the site, and visit the Buy Music page if you'd like to download a copy of the new album.

Today is a good day for me all round. I got up early to go birdwatching, and was rewarded with a flock of Hawfinches - little rare gems in the morning sunshine. Yesterday, I also put up a bird-feeder outside my living window, hanging from the eaves, and it's already busy with Blue Tits, Great Tits and a Robin.

New album and sheet music available very soon!

Hello everyone,

Just a quick note to say my brand new album, 'Middle Child', will be available for download on March 29. A CD will follow shortly afterwards. It features 10 tracks which are a mixture of originals, traditional tunes and a couple of choice covers. The new album has been a long time in the making, so I'm very excited to finally be able to release it!

 Also available will be sheet music in PDF format (notation and tablature) of some favourite pieces of mine.

Recording a new album at last!

Hello! Earlier this year, I foresaw a free week in December in which to refuse all other work in order that I might finally get around to recording some new material! Well, that week has just passed, and, along with the considerable engineering assistance of my friend Chris Jenkins, we have recorded 10 tracks for a new album, due for release early in the new year. There are some new original pieces, a couple of reworked older tunes, and some choice covers for good measure.

When it's packaged and ready, I'll let everyone who's been hassling me for the last two years know!

Springtime happenings

Right then, it's been a while since my last posting, and all sorts of lovely things have been happening in my world. A couple of weeks back, Jackie, Mike and I did some filming for Ade in Britain - Ade Edmondson's cooking programme, in which he tours around to different regions of Britain cooking regional specialities for invited guests, who in turn, provide the entertainment! Well, Jackie, Mike and I were the guests for this particular episode which was shot in Beer in South Devon - a beautiful little fishing village with spectacular sea views. The weather was a bit on-and-off, but the film crew, with their inventive methods of keeping equipment dry managed to get everyone safely through the experience! Here's a photo of us with Ade after we'd wrapped up for the day:

In other news, I was recently reunited with my old pal, Gordon Giltrap for whom I opened a show at Farncombe Music Club. I had a go on his Vintage GG signature acoustic guitar and I liked it so much that I ordered two of my own! A six- and a twelve-string.

I'll sign off for now with a video clip from the gig of my rendition of Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper. Hope you like it :-)

Austria

Hi folks,

I'm currently away on tour in Austria with Jackie Oates and Mike Cosgrave, and we're onto day four, having played three shows in three very different towns and venues.

So far, we’ve played in a beautiful old theatre in Bad Ischal, a Musikschule in the mountain village of St. Georgan and last night in a very smoky folk club (I miss only the smoking ban of home!) in Waidhofen. Last night’s gig had a St. Patrick’s Day theme, except that it wasn’t St. Patrick’s Day, and we aren’t Irish. The other band – led by the very, very brilliant fiddler and concertina player, Niamh ni Charra – are Irish, however, so a suitably raucous set of reels and polkas did the trick.

We’re en route to gig four now, in Mistelbach, which has a winery, so we’re all looking forward to that (hic!)…

Austria Tour

Hi folks!

I'm off tour Austria for 17 gigs with Jackie Oates and Mike Cosgrave on Wednesday 29th Feb - see the live dates for full details. I'll post updates as and when I can :-)

See you down the road somewhere xx

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Here's my arrangement of this lovely Christmas song. Enjoy!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Merry Christmas, everyone! Click the link to here my little rendition of Winter Wonderland...

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Autumn tour

I've been on tour for a couple of weeks with the Jackie Oates band, which has been enormous fun. Jackie has a new album out, called Saturnine on ECC Records, and the current set contains the album in its entirety. I even get to play childrens' toy hand bells on stage, and bassist, James Budden has found new skills as a glockenspiel player!

We've played so far in Ivybridge, Bristol at the Colston Hall, Nottingham Glee Club, The Sage in Gateshead among other places, and we're off to Germany and the Isle of Man this weekend and next, respectively.

During a day off, we stayed at the incredible Brancepeth Castle in Durham, and took the opportunity to shoot a low budget music video for the album track, Young Johnson. We don't expect an Oscar, but it was a lot of fun making none the less. Here's the video: