Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends

I recently undertook a studio session recording two tracks for the Fisherman's Friends Special Edition album (thanks to my mate, Jon Bishop for the contact). The two songs were (What Shall We Do With) The Drunken Sailor and When the Boat Comes In.

A couple of days ago, I was idly watching ITV1, as one does, and the ad for their new album came on, and there I was, banjo-ing away in the background :-)

Glad they kept my parts!

Acoustic Guitarist of the Year 2011

Hi all,

Last Friday, June 1st, I was invited to be a judge for the prestigious Acoustic Guitarist of the Year competition, run by Guitarist Magazine (for whom I've been the acoustic techniques columnist since the year Umpteen-Hundred and Eleventy...). The competition was held in the beautiful Queen Elizabeth Hall, at the South Bank Centre, and run in conjunction with the London Guitar Festival (part of IGF).

There were six nervous finalists, and frankly, they were all fabulous with vastly contrasting styles, ranging from country picking to slappy-tappy to folky and melodic.

I think there would have been no uproar had any one of them walked away with the lovely prize guitar kindly donated by Takamine Guitars, but as the cliche goes, there could be only one, so...

...many congratulations to Will McNicol, for his stunning composition, that I was humming for the rest of the afternoon!

I also had a great time catching up with old friends, fellow judge Michael Watts and wonderful guitarist Amrit Sond, who'd come to enjoy the competition.

Happy New Year!

Greetings, one and all! I thought it appropriate to blog one last time in this busy year. It's been a great 2010, musically, what with joining Jackie's band and playing some great festivals and arts centres.

My last solo show was a triple bill with Clive Carroll and Amrit Sond on December 19th, at Acoustic Routes in Cambridge, which was nerve-wracking, considering the combined virtuosity of those two! Amrit is a total one off with a highly individual style (and a Grammy Award winner to boot!) and Clive is, well, Clive! Anyone who has seen him will attest to the fact that he's a phenomenal talent, up there with the very best players in the world. So yes, it was a scary experience, but one which was sold out, and great fun. Thanks to Bernard Hoskin for putting it on.

Instrument-wise, I sold my recently purchased Fylde Mandola to Mike (who plays keys in Jackie's band), and bought myself a Fylde Signature Octavius Bouzouki and Fylde Walnut Touchstone Mandolin in it's place. Oh, and I've taken up the banjo, after recently seeing legendary folkie, Pete Coe! I love old timey clawhammer style banjo playing, and have decided to finally figure it out. You'd think that a guitar player wouldn't have too much trouble turning his hand to this, but the clawhammer technique is utterly counter-intuitive to fingerstyle guitar.

Teaching-wise, I'm going to be running a new evening class in acoustic guitar at the ACM starting in January. Go to www.acm.ac.uk for more information.

That's all for now. I wish you all a very happy and peaceful new year! Wassail!

Mandola

Just picked up this 1995 Fylde Octave Mandola at Towersey Folk Festival, last weekend. I've given it a clean up and changed the pickup to a Fishman Rare Earth Blend, and it sounds great.

Guitarist, Guitar Techniques and Acoustic Magazine

It's been a busy month for me in the guitar magazines:

The latest issue of Guitar Techniques (issue 182) has an 8-page feature by me, on acoustic blues guitar from the last 100 years. It was a fascinating feature to undertake, as it allowed me to delve into the genre with a greater focus than before, introducing me to some players I'd previously all but overlooked. For example, the playing of Lonnie Johnson was a revelation to me - a player who was way ahead of his time in terms of guitar soloing - and who really began to form the bridge between blues and jazz, as early as the 1920's. The magazine's webpage is:

www.musicradar.com/guitartechniques

Also this month, the September issue of Acoustic Magazine features an interview with me, discussing Summer touring and so on. More information is at:

www.acousticmagazine.com

Finally, my regular column in Guitarist Magazine this month (issue 333) features my arrangement of the Scott-Skinner waltz, Hector the Hero, for solo guitar in DADGAD. It's a mournful but beautiful Scottish tune, that you might like to have a go at learning!

www.musicradar.com/guitarist

Festivals etc.

Hi all,

I've just come back from a busy couple of weeks of shows and workshops. Warwick Folk Fesival, Folk by the Oak, Sidmouth and Cambridge Folk Festival dates with the Jackie Oates band sandwiched four days teaching at the first ever Cheltenham International Guitar Festival. I say first, because for the last fifteen or so years, it's been held in Bath. Same faces, different town, but just as much fun as usual. I had the priviledge to work with some truly lovely people, and a lot of laughs were had as well. The general format is that we work on songs and techniques during the week which culminates in a student showcase concert at the end of the week, in which nerves of steel are demonstrated by those for whom the stage is an entirely new place to play!

As for Jackie's band, we played some lovely gigs, including four seperate appearances around Cambridge Folk Festival, and one at Sidmouth, sharing the bill with Julie Fowlis, an artist of whom I have long been a fan.

The great thing about festivals, is the chance to hear artists I've not previously got around to checking out: Highlights for me at Cambridge were the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Salsa Celtica.

The next stop is Shrewsbury, then on to Towersey. See you there!

New guitar

A few months ago, I commissioned my favourite guitar maker, Roger Bucknall of Fylde Guitars to build me a new model, which would fit tonally and size-wise in between my Fylde Falstaff and Goodfellow. Well, last week I took delivery of what is one truly remarkable instrument! The model is basically an Alexander, which is roughly an OM-style body size and shape, but with a custom spec. It's got beautifully figured ziricote back and sides and a cedar top, with coconut bindings around the body.

I've wanted to try a different pickup for a while, so I took the opportunity to experiment with a new internal mic system as you can see from the sound hole close-up. It's made by www.miniflexmic.com, and features not one but two internal mics, which, in theory at least, are mechanically out of phase, making them less prone to feeding back, which is a pretty common drawback with close-miking guitars on stage. Well, I haven't gigged it yet, so I can't comment too much, but early experiments are promising! It sounds very natural through my Radial preamp into a PA system...

Anyway, here are a few pictures: