Gigging In Europe

I normally don't mix politics with music, but I'm all in favour of the European Union. There, I've said it, and I know that's an unpopular opinion in some quarters. Of course, my opinion is based entirely on my experiences as a working musician. There is a huge difference in how we, and our art are treated in mainland Europe, compared with here in Britain.

Among the bands and artists that I regularly work with are two which can loosely be described as being in the roots rhythm'n'blues / rock'n'roll genre. Both have gifted, charismatic leaders, and my colleagues in both bands are among the finest musicians in their field that you'll find anywhere in the world. One is Chad Strentz & The Chad-illacs, and the other is Sister Cookie.

Recently I played a festival gig here in the UK with the Chad-illacs. I won't name the town, or the local authority that organised the festival, to protect the innocent. Let's call it Britville. I also played a one-nighter in Gijón in Northern Spain with Cookie, which was also organised by the local authority.

Britville has a thriving shopping centre with the sound of tills ringing wherever you go, whereas Gijón is a port surrounded by an industrial area, and we're always being told that the Spanish economy is on its uppers.

Let's start by looking at the difference in the stages. First, Britville. The photo was taken by Paul Silver Photography.

The graffitied concrete pillars, the stack of painted old tyres!

Next, the stage at Gijón. This photo was taken by GJ Photography.

Now that's more like it! A full, professional stage, with expertly operated lighting and sound rigs.

At both shows, backline and PA were supplied for us. At Britville, despite being given our requirement for two guitar amps, only one was supplied, which had only a single input. Both of our guitarists had to play through the bass amp, which had two inputs for different impedances, but only one channel. That makes it completely impossible to balance the sound of the two guitars. Both the bass amp and the guitar amp were of poor quality, and unsuitable for our style of music.

At Gijón, our requirements were met in full. I played through a gorgeous blackface Fender Twin Reverb, and got exactly the sound that I wanted and that the music required. The PA system was excellent, with ample on-stage monitoring. I could hear everything, and consequently I was able to relax and play to the best of my ability.

For the gig in Britville, we were told where to park our cars - on a side street about a quarter of a mile from the concrete wasteland that passed for the stage. The parking bays were restricted to two hours, so we had to wait until we were within two hours of the end of the show to walk to the stage. A parking warden arrived, so we had to pay for parking. Eventually we were told of a free parking area close to the stage, but by then parking tickets had been bought, and we had wasted nearly an hour standing by our cars.

At Gijón, we were flown to Spain, given the services of a driver and minibus who met us at the airport. We were put up in a very good hotel, and also given money for a post-gig meal. Our driver could get us through any traffic and parking restrictions with only a quick word to the police officer on duty.

What about the dressing rooms and backstage facilities? At Britville all we had were the concrete pillars. At Gijón, a trailer was provided for the band, with food and a fridge full of drinks. The onstage and backstage staff could not have been more helpful.

Did any other bands play? At Britville, we were the third band on, out of five. The first two bands were respectively in the jungle and trip hop genres, no doubt in an effort to appeal to the local youth. Of course both of those styles date from between 15 and 20 years ago, so that didn't work. Both bands suffered from an inadequate, but also deafeningly loud PA. The sound bounced off the surrounding buildings and from even 50 metres away all subtle details of the performances were lost. For the first band, the only audience were two 30-ish men skateboarding (badly) on the concrete path in front of the stage. To be honest, I think that they were there for the skateboarding, and also at their age they should know better! The second band attracted an audience of three or so. The singer would have been quite good were it not from the feedback coming from the PA. At the end of the long concrete path, the good shoppers of Britville were striding purposefully to the shops, not bothering to stop and listen to the performances even for a moment. When we went on, finally about 35 to 50 people turned up to listen to our performance, badly amplified as it was. We played as well as we could under the circumstances, and the audience were kind to us.

At Gijón, we had a proper soundcheck earlier in the day, which attracted a small but enthusiastic audience, who actually applauded us! For the evening show, we had a huge audience, TV cameras, and photographers from the local press. We were very well received, and got two encores. We were the only band booked to play that stage on that day, and we were treated like royalty. Here's some fan footage I found on YouTube...

After Britville, our performance was quickly forgotten, and The Chad-illacs went on to play a superb gig elsewhere that same evening.

After the show in Gijón, everywhere we went people came up to us to tell us how much they enjoyed our set. Not only on the same night, but the next day, even at the airport. The locals were also very keen for us to try their traditional cider, which went down very well!

So here's the difference: the local authority of Britville are not to be blamed because I'm sure that they tried their best. Perhaps the budgetary constraints were beyond their control. They certainly can't help the prevailing attitude towards music and musicians in Britain, which is just another commodity, to be bought for the cheapest price going. In Spain, as well as all the other European countries I have played in over the years, music is a valued art, and musicians are respected as they should be for all the hard work that they do learning their craft, and traveling far and wide to entertain people and free them from their cares and pains, if only for a short while. Full marks to the government and people of Gijón, who know how to put on a show, and how to have a good time. Britain could learn a lot from this.

Gear Snobbery

As a live performance musician, much of my work (but not all of it) is with Blues bands. I am always careful to make sure that the musical content of what I play, as well as the sound I use to play it is appropriate to the song, the band and the genre. However, there are some on the Blues scene that may frown upon the gear choices I make to achieve this. I think this amounts to deplorable gear snobbery.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of vintage guitars and amps. Mind you, when you get to my age, a lot of the guitars and amps I bought many years ago have since acquired vintage status. Like my '76 Gibson ES345-TD.

Gibson ES345-TD

My 345 is an undeniably lovely American-made guitar, but I rarely take it out to gigs these days. For one thing, it's too valuable. The stereo jack socket is also a pain as I have to use a special lead, with a stereo plug at one end, and a mono plug at the other. The left and right channels are wired together.

Here's a guitar that I use a lot these days. My Japanese-made 1999 Telecaster, which I bought about 15 years ago in Nashville.

Fender '90s Telecaster

I've had this Tele modified with Lindy Fralin pickups, and a four-way switch. It sounds fantastic everywhere I use it, no matter what amp I plug it into. Unlike the 345, it doesn't look like a "Bluesman's" guitar. The scratchplate, shiny black finish and gold hardware make it look too "showbizzy" to some. I don't mind, because it reliably delivers the goods - ringing, responsive bluesy tones whenever and wherever I want them.

Now here's one of my favourite guitars, and it couldn't look much further away from the gear-snob's idea of an ideal Blues guitar. My PRS Swamp Ash Special.

PRS Swamp Ash Special

This is a quality, versatile guitar with a gorgeous natural wood finish, that plays and sounds like a dream, regardless of what style of music you play on it. The near-field pickups are Strat-like or Les Paul-like depending on how high you set the volume control. Why shouldn't I play this with a Blues band? So long as I don't resort to dive bombs and tapping, and keep the playing strictly Blues, the age and the look of the guitar shouldn't matter.

What about amps? I love the warm sound of valve amps, especially Fenders. I never did get on with Marshalls. The one time I owned one, I kept blowing it up. In those days I played loud, but relatively clean, and that particular model was probably intended to be played overdriven all the time. I used to have a vintage Vox AC30, but its excessive weight made me swap it for something lighter. I was playing at least four nights a week in those days, and sometimes the halls were up several flights of stairs. I wish I still had it, it'd be worth a lot of money now.

One of my favourite amps is this one, a Mesa Boogie Mark I Reissue.

Mesa Boogie Mark I Reissue

This is a versatile amp, capable of all kinds of tones. It's great for the sort of Blues I like to play, warm and responsive, just on the edge of breaking up. It doesn't look much like a vintage Fender Bassman, so the gear snobs probably wouldn't approve.

My newest amp doesn't even have valves in it! Yes, you heard that right. It's an Award-Session Blues Baby Deluxe, mounted in a Fender Blues Junior cabinet. Here's a rear-topside view.

Award-Session Blues Baby Deluxe

The gear snobs wouldn't like this, but it would probably fool them because it has the sound of a vintage Fender amp. It's small, light and reliable, and as you play harder, the sound clips into overdrive more.

What about effects pedals? This is where the hypocrisy of the Blues gear snobs really kicks in. What else do you call it when Mr. Gear Snob has a collection of pedals in his signal path, but conceals them behind his beaten-up old amp, or on top of it, instead of on the floor where everyone can see them? I myself use minimal effects. Often, especially at gigs with the more traditional Blues bands, I use none at all. You will always see at least this at my feet...

TC Electronic Polytune

I like to stay in tune, and being able to silently tune up between songs (or even during them) is essential. I don't care that Hubert Sumlin never used one in the '50s!

For some gigs, I use this pedalboard. By most modern guitarists' standards, the sounds it gives me are fairly traditional.

Pedalboard

From left to right, the delay pedal provides a nice slapback echo worth of Sun and Chess studios. Tremolo gives a lovely volume modulation similar to an old Fender Twin Reverb. The Rotary Ensemble simulates a Leslie cabinet for lovely shimmering modulation effects. The Blues driver does what the name suggests. Finally, another tuner pedal. 

My point is that all of these effects were to be found in amp and speaker models available in the '50s, so what's wrong with using them now? I remember a bandleader who shall remain nameless glaring at this very pedalboard as though it was hooked up to the Edge's rack system. The only pedal I actually used at that audition was the tuner! Needless to say I didn't get the gig.

So let's have an end to gear snobbery. If it sounds right it is right!

Session Work

I've been lucky enough in my long music career to have been hired to play on quite a few recording sessions. This is a kind of work that I enjoy very much. I love to perform on stage, but studio work has a quite different set of challenges, and it can also be very rewarding, both financially and from the perspective of personal and musical development.

In fact, my very first paid job as a musician was a recording session. I was 15 years old, and this was even before my first band had played its first gig, I was hired to write and record a suite of instrumental background music for a corporate training tape. I wrote a theme and variations, recruited the drummer of my band, and we went into a small eight-track studio for a day where we laid down guitar and drums. I then overdubbed bass and lead guitars. The client had some musical skill himself, so he added a few piano parts. I will never forget the first time I heard my playing loud and proud through studio monitors. I knew then that recording was something I had to do a lot more of.

In the many years since then, I've taken part in many recording sessions. I've seen recording studios evolve from 8 track, through 16 to 24 track on analogue tape. I was there when the first digital recorders appeared, at first on tape, and then later on computer hard drives. I’ve recorded at iconic studios like De Lane Lea (where Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple recorded), Advision (The Yardbirds, The Who) and Trident (The Beatles, David Bowie, Elton John). Some of the music I've recorded at these sessions disappeared without trace. Other tracks got released as album tracks or even singles. Here’s a single I played lead and bass guitar on that did quite well in the indie charts.

Younger musicians often ask me how to break into recording session work. It’s about time that I set out my thoughts here for everyone to read.

The most important way to pick up session work is to have a large number of contacts in the music business. Most of these will obviously be musicians. How do you get to know other musicians? By playing with them. If you're a strictly bedroom guitarist, form or join a band. Rehearse regularly and often, and then play gigs. If you're any good, other musicians will come to see you, some to check out the competition, and others to admire your skills and worship at your altar (“so, what strings do you use?”).

Go to local jam sessions. Some experienced players avoid them like the plague, because the last thing that they want is to have to jam with a band of novices. That’s a little short sighted in my opinion. The host of the jam will appreciate having another experienced musician to hold the performance together. The novices will also take the opportunity to learn from you. Not all virtuosos avoid jam nights. I've met quite a few pros keeping their hands in on their nights off. Especially those that like a drink! Also remember that today’s beginner may be tomorrow’s band leader.

By far the most important source of musician and music business contacts is Facebook. Here's my Facebook page, go ahead, connect with me: https://www.facebook.com/PeteFarrugiaGuitarTeacher, the more the merrier!

My musician (and other) friends are divided into those that “get it” and those that don’t. The Facebook refuseniks have their reasons. These tend to be based on worries about personal security, or the banality of some people posting every five minutes about what they've just eaten, or their toddler’s first word. Yes, security is an issue, but if you think that you're safe from identity thieves or a future malevolent totalitarian government just because you're not on Facebook well, you're underestimating them. Lock down your account so that only friends can see your timeline, and make sure that your posts and pictures aren't set to “public”. Persistent offenders that post too often or offensive material (often political) can be unfollowed or unfriended. If you don't interact with these people then their posts will pretty soon stop appearing on your timeline anyway.

For musicians, especially anyone wanting to get gigs or sessions, joining Facebook (and more importantly being active on it) are absolutely essential. This is the way I get the vast majority of my dep gigs and sessions. Sometimes you find a musician on Facebook that you haven't seen or spoken to in years. A quick friend request and you're back in contact. Months or years later when they need a musician for a session, even though they don't have your phone number or address, you can be contacted within seconds via a Facebook message (make sure that you switch notifications on, and install Facebook on your mobile phone).

Being a great player is (of course) essential, but so is a knowledge of music theory. Sometimes a client might need a little help with their material, and a skillfully chosen suggestion is sometimes welcome, although remember to be diplomatic at all times!

Another question that I get asked is “do I need to learn how to read music?”. I would say “yes”, even though these days it’s highly unlikely that you're going to be presented with an actual score to play. I'm the first to admit, that like the vast majority of guitarists I'm not the world's fastest sight-reader. However I studied Classical guitar in my youth, and I have on occasion been given “the dots” for a guitar solo to play. On one occasion this was because the client was a keyboard player that wanted the exact solo he had demoed on a synth to be played on a real guitar. Most of the time if you're reading at all, you’re following a chord chart. Even if you can't sight-read standard musical notation, reading and understanding chord charts is a must.

Make sure that you're familiar with the different methods of naming chords on chord charts. Here are three different ways of writing the chord G major seventh.

GM7                      GMaj7                  G∆7

One musician that I have recorded many sessions with infuriatingly writes “GM7” for G minor seventh! That’s just asking for trouble.

No-one has ever hired me for my reading skills. I have a reputation as a capable and versatile player. You can be the most advanced Dark Metal shredder in your town, but you won't get any sessions with R’n’B or Reggae bands. I find that a good knowledge of music history is essential. Sometimes your client might ask you to play like Steve Cropper, or T-Bone Walker, or George Benson. If you're unfamiliar with their sound and style, it's unlikely that you'll be asked back.

Your instruments, amps, effects and cables must be good quality, reliable and well maintained. On the morning of the session I set aside time to adjust the intonation of my guitars. If you don’t know how to, well that’s what the Internet is for! Always use a stage tuner pedal and check your tuning between each take.

Finally, take an interest in your client’s project. A little praise and encouragement goes a long way. Play each take as though your life depends on it, and the results will enhance the client’s recording and your reputation.

Salute The Musicians Of Tomorrow

Here’s something that I find surprising: despite all this wonderful technology that we have today, it is actually much more difficult to become a young musician now than it was when I was learning to play.

Me. Not long after this, my mother bought me my first guitar.

First let me tell the story of how I became a guitarist. Without being at all musical herself, my mother wanted me to learn to play the guitar. Her father had been a guitarist, not a professional, but someone who loved nothing better than to come home after a days’ work, and sit on his front doorstep strumming his guitar, where he would often be joined by the neighbours for an evening singing session. I never knew my grandfather, as he died before I was born, but he cast a long shadow over my early life. While on holiday in Spain, as we were walking around the seaside shops, my mother suddenly asked me “do you want a guitar?”. Almost without thinking I answered “yes please”, not knowing what a momentous decision that was, and how profoundly it would affect the rest of my life.

My mother and father, always supportive of my musical ambitions

My guitar-playing grandfather

My father was also pleased that there was now a guitar and a student guitarist in the house, as he had learned to play a few chords in his youth, which he was happy to pass on to me. His own playing had come to a premature end when he suffered damage to the tendons in his left hand due to an accident at work. Instead, he became a singer with a band, at least until the war broke out and he joined the army.

In those days, there were musical instrument shops everywhere, so I bought a few guitar tutor books, and I started to explore chords beyond those my father had taught me. Figuring out how to play the pop songs of the day had to be done by ear from the radio. There was no Internet, so I couldn't look up the chords online. There was sheet music of course, but this was expensive, and my pocket money was better spent on records and new strings when the old ones wore out.

One of my early tutor books

I went through strings at an accelerated rate, because I played a lot. The guitar quickly became my main interest in life. Every other leisure activity, football, judo, chess, all of them had lost their attraction. I couldn't wait to get home from school so that I could play my guitar. I became an excellent multitasker. I’d sit in an armchair with my physics homework on one arm, my dinner on the other, and my guitar in my lap, while watching the TV. I’d wait until the advert break, and then play along with the jingles “the Milky Bar Kid is strong and tough…”, “hands that do dishes can be soft as your face…”. At the end of the programme, I’d play along with the theme tune; “Crossroads” was a favourite, but only for that reason, as the show itself was rubbish!

My guitar was a cheap Spanish classical model, and I soon ruined it by putting steel strings on it, which bowed the neck, making it very difficult to play. This only made me more determined to practise every day and master it.

Eventually, I was even able to learn some guitar at school. Thanks to the efforts of my wonderful music teacher Gerald Smith, I was able to continue studying music long after it disappeared from the timetable. I had to give up PE and games to do it, but I didn't see that as any loss, as I was never going to be an athlete. I took lessons in classical guitar from a weekly visiting teacher, Peter Rubie. He was also a skilled jazz guitarist, so at least part of the lesson would be spent learning standards like “Sunny” and “I Got Rhythm”.

Being a musician attracted a circle of like-minded school friends, and pretty soon I formed a band. Once again my mother stepped in, and bought me a cheap electric guitar and an amp. We rehearsed weekly for a few years at my drummer friend’s house. Every Saturday afternoon, I'd take the bus to travel the two miles to his place, carrying my guitar and amp. Eventually, we started playing gigs. At some of these we earned money! I even did my first paid recording session at the age of fifteen, playing background music that I'd written to order for a corporate client.

My first band Feedback, re-formed for a one-off special occasion after 15 years.

Let’s compare this with the typical experience of a modern-day twelve year old would-be musician. Good guitars are much more affordable these days, and it’s common for a young player to start off with an electric guitar and amp, with nice low-tension, thin gauge strings, that don't work your fingers hard at all. In fact, it’s easy to acquire bad habits, like bending the strings out of tune by pressing too hard when holding down chords.

Where are the enigmatic, mysterious, glamorous guitar heroes of today to inspire our young players? I had Mick Ronson, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Chuck Berry and yes, Francis Rossi! Today’s popular musical role models paste together loops on a laptop, with no discernible musical skill at all, but plenty of idea about how to market a brand. There are great musicians out there, but it would take a pretty determined young musician to seek them out and face the disapproval of their peer group.

Tuning your guitar today doesn't need a musical ear – an electronic tuner takes care of that. Nor do you use your ears to figure out how to play a song. The Internet is full of chord charts (often misleadingly called “tabs”). Mind you, many of these charts are inaccurate so you'd be better off using your ears.

There are thousands of superb tuition videos on YouTube, invaluable to any music student. The problem is, there’s no-one sitting next to your laptop or tablet to tell you “no, you're not ready yet for this video, you need to master this other one first”.

We are so technology-rich these days, but in spite of this we are time-poor. The science fiction I used to read pointed to a future where technology would make our lives easier by automating the production of goods and the provision of services. Work would be reduced to an hour or two a week, remotely monitoring self-maintaining machines. We would all have a life of leisure, where we would be free to indulge our creative impulses. Sadly, none of this happened. The greed of corporations and governments saw to that. Today, millions are enslaved by the need to work ridiculously long hours just to survive, and that’s if you're lucky enough to find a job!

When I walked home from school, arriving at 4:30pm, my mother would be there waiting for me. She did work, but she either worked at home as a childminder, or in part-time jobs. She would always be there when I got home. These days, it is a necessity for both parents to work, and often they can’t get home until mid-way through the evening. The children have go to after school clubs, whether they like it or not. Often they do like it, as they get to take part in interesting activities. However, this doesn’t do their musical development much good, as it takes away valuable practice time.

One of the worst obstacles to learning an instrument is the excessive amount of homework that school pupils get. I went to a grammar school, for the academically able kids whose parents couldn't afford private school, but I can't remember needing to spend more than a few hours a week on homework, except when an exam was coming up. Despite that, I still passed ten O levels, three A levels, which enabled me to find work easily as soon as I left school.

Today, twelve-year olds tell me that they have to spend something like an hour and a half a day on homework, after getting home from their after school clubs.

Many parents today feel guilty at not being able to spend much time with their children. It’s not their fault. Lack of well-paying jobs, high property and transport prices lead to a vicious circle where most of your time is spent either working or travelling to work. This can be exhausting, which also causes family time to suffer. To compensate, parents enter their children for every out-of-school activity they can, football, cricket, rugby, swimming, various martial arts, chess, dance, extra maths, extra English, and who knows what else.

No wonder most of today’s teenage musicians can't practise daily, they literally don't have the time.

Once they have learned to play a bit, have written some original songs and joined a band, then the next set of problems begin. Where to play? The network of live music venues that I enjoyed when I was started out has gone. Far too many of the few that remain put on shows with multiple bands, and pay each band barely enough to cover their expenses. The audience for live, local, original music has disappeared. Too much cheap entertainment has made the general public lazy and complacent as consumers of art. You only have to look at the rise of tribute acts. Why go to see a new band playing new songs that you don't know, when you can go to see look-alike sound-alikes playing your old favourites? Better still, why go out at all when you have hundreds of TV channels, DVDs, Blu-Rays, streaming MP3 players on your phone, and games consoles? Why go to pubs, it’s far cheaper to buy drinks from the supermarket? Better still, order online and have it delivered! Who’s got the energy to go out anyway, after nine hours in the office plus three hours on the train?

Tomorrow’s musicians will be a special, hardy breed. They will have the determination and courage to succeed on their instruments in spite of all the obstacles I mention above. Whenever one of my young students achieves an important milestone, like getting a distinction in a grade exam, or recording their first EP with a band, I can’t help but admire them. So, I salute the musicians of tomorrow, as we're going to need them.

The Pull Of The Bush

I remember the first time that I heard “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush like it was yesterday. I was sitting in my sister’s car, which I had borrowed to pick up my mother from her evening job. I arrived a few minutes early, and while I waited I listened to the radio, which was tuned to London’s independent station, Capital Radio.

The song began with the soon-to-be familiar keyboard arpeggios. Then the first verse started, and I was captivated straight away, not only by the remarkably wide-ranged voice, but also by the chords. You see, for the past week, I had been trying to compose a new piece of music. I hadn't got very far. All I had managed to come up with so far was…

A / / / | F / / / | E / / / |

I had stumbled on the unusual chord change from A major to F major while noodling about on my guitar. Unusual, because (assuming the piece is in the key of A major), then an F major chord makes no sense, and bends the “rules” of conventional harmony. Not exactly a new idea, but strange enough to make it relatively unusual. The E major chord returns to normality, but then I was stuck on what to do next.

I tried out plenty of chords to follow the E major, obvious ones like D major, B minor and F# minor, as well as less obvious ones, but none of them hit the spot. Then came that fateful evening when I heard Wuthering Heights, which goes like this…

A / / / | F / / / | E / / / | C# /// |

C# major! How in the world did she come up with that? I would never have thought of that, as it’s so unrelated to the original key, and yet in context it sounds perfect. This wasn't any ordinary pop song, it bore no resemblance to the female-led pop of the day, such as Abba and Blondie. It was more like progressive rock, and yet here it was on a commercial radio programme, apparently on its way up the singles chart.

I carried on listening, taking in every note and chord. After repeating the four-chord progression a few times, the verse came to end on an Ab chord which coincided with the word “loved” (“I hated you, I loved you too”). Suddenly the C# chords made sense. Perhaps it would be more correct to refer to them as Db major chords, as that is the fourth chord in the key of Ab major. Or is Ab major the fifth chord in the key of Db major? Ambiguity you see, it makes the musical world go round. Thank goodness it does, otherwise we'd still be listening to nursery rhymes.

Then a pre-chorus began “Bad dreams in the night…”. Again, the chords were ambiguous, ending on a suspension, Fsus4 repeated over the words “Wuthering, Wuthering, Wuthering Heights”. Normally Fsus4 would be followed by a chord which resolves the suspension, possibly F major or F minor, but instead, the chorus began with a Gb major chord! By now my head was spinning, and my embryonic, developing musical ear and powers of harmonic analysis were overwhelmed and I couldn't follow the chords any more. I sat back and listened to the glorious chorus, taking in the whole arrangement.

I found myself focusing on the drum pattern. I thought I had heard something strange, almost as if the drummer had missed out a beat on the snare drum. Then it happened again. I started counting the beats, and then it hit me!  Like most pop and rock songs, Wuthering Heights is in 4/4 time. Unlike other songs, there are four individual bars of 2/4 time mixed in with the more conventional bars (“I've come home”, and “let me in-a your window”).

After the chorus, another verse, returning to the ambiguous chords starting on A major. Then a repeat of the pre-chorus, but with different words. Naturally, a repeat chorus came next. Then, a bridge “Ooh! Let me have it…” seemed to change into yet another key, the relative minor, all the time building tension, until the sustained word “Cathy”, which lasted so long the band had the time to state two chords underneath it, first Gb major, then Bb minor.

The tension was now almost unbearable, but thankfully after a powerful tom-tom fill the chorus returned, first once, then twice, and as the final chorus began to end I became aware of a sustained lead guitar note which was gradually being faded up until it became the centre of attention. A beautiful guitar solo was unfolding, a sound almost as lovely as the singer’s voice. It was high-pitched and melodic, improvising its way around the chorus chord progression, including beautifully bent notes. I became aware that the song was fading, and then the DJ made his announcement, and I noted the singer’s name: Kate Bush.

I resolved to find out more about this person, which was not so easy to do in those days, long before the Internet. Luckily there were weekly music papers. I don't remember which one it was, NME, or possibly Sounds, maybe even Melody Maker. What I discovered hit me like a ton of bricks. Apparently Kate Bush had written the song herself, and she was only a year older than me: nineteen. Nineteen!

This was clearly a musician of genius, and as far above my own capabilities as could be imagined. I was, indeed, not worthy. Obviously I abandoned my partly written composition, as Kate Bush had instantly made it redundant.

I bought the single, then the album “The Kick Inside” it came from, and every song was wonderful, filled with that extraordinary voice, and more unusual textures and chord changes. Then the second album “Lionheart” came out, and didn't chart as high as the first, but I adored it and still do.

So now it was 1979, and Kate went on tour. Like several of my friends, I wanted to go and see her, probably at the Hammersmith Odeon, but I had a problem. I had just joined a band, and we were working 4 nights a week.  As a new boy, I couldn't go to the bandleader and say “sorry, I can't play next Saturday as I’m going to see Kate Bush”. Good gigs were (then as now) hard to come by. I said to myself “not to worry, I'll catch her follow-up tour next year”. Little was I to know…

One day, I received an interesting tip. Some members of Kate Bush’s live touring band had formed a jazz-rock fusion band called the Stapleton All-Stars, and were playing in certain London pubs. Naturally, I went to the next available gig, at the Cricketers, not far from the Oval in South London, and a pub that I was later to play at myself. Sure enough, there was Stuart Elliot on drums, late of Cockney Rebel, as well as a phenomenal young guitarist called Alan Murphy who blew me away with his playing. He remains the best guitarist I've seen to this day, and together with many of my guitarist friends I miss him, as he was to die of an AIDS-related illness some years later.

At the back of the pub, watching the band was a by-now familiar face: Kate Bush herself! Oh my, how beautiful she was, and tiny (hardly more than five feet tall)! I almost fainted on the spot. One of my flat-mates cheekily called out to her “all right Kate!”, but I didn't dare say anything. After all, I was not worthy! Yet there I was, breathing the same air as a goddess-like genius in an ordinary South London pub.

When the third album “Never For Ever” came out, Alan Murphy was all over it. His high points were the lightning-fast solo on the track “Violin”, and the powerful riffs towards the end of the single “Breathing”, still one of my favourite songs of all time.

I continued to follow Kate’s career. I was delighted when she began to produce her own recordings, and I enjoyed the experimental textures of the fourth album “The Dreaming”. When “Hounds of Love” came out after a long gap, I recognised it as a masterpiece, something no-one else had ever come close to. To her melodic, harmonic and lyrical talents, Kate had added a mastery of the recording studio, and the latest cutting edge electronic equipment.

How do you follow a work of perfection like “Hounds Of Love”? You can't, no matter how hard you try. Even so, Kate’s subsequent albums have all been worthwhile to listen to, even though as a middle-aged mother, she is now very far away from the teenager who wrote “The Man With The Child In His Eyes”. I too am now on the far side of 50, but like Kate I'm still a musician, and there are plenty of notes left in me yet. One thing I've discovered is that musicians, real musicians that is, get better as they get older. The fury of my teenage guitar-playing has long-since gone, but it's been replaced by something far more valuable: taste.

By the way, that pub band The Stapleton All-Stars had a bass player called Felix Krish, like all the members of that band (as well as its later incarnation SFX) a world-class, supremely talented musician. I am happy to report that in recent years I have been lucky enough to play several gigs with Felix, one of the musical heroes of my younger days. Here's a sample of his work, together with the late, lamented Alan Murphy.

In a few weeks, I will be putting right the mistake I made way back in 1979. I'm finally going to see Kate Bush perform live. I don't care if they call the place the Eventim Apollo, to me it will always be Hammersmith Odeon!

Blues Boom

The Blues is one of my favourite genres of music, both to listen to and to play. I often go back to those classic records by B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Albert King, Robert Johnson, Lightning Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, Freddie King, as well as those they inspired, like Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall, Robert Cray, and many others.

Blues is normally a fairly underground style of music, played in small clubs to a handful of enthusiasts, but about every ten to fifteen years or so, it gradually becomes more popular for a short while, perhaps two or three years. We have come to describe this phenomenon as as Blues Boom. Former fans that had previously forgotten about it start to show up to gigs, and young people get tired of the latest fashionable fad being fed to them by the corporations that run the entertainment industry, and catch on to real music played on real instruments by real musicians that actually have something to say.

The term "Blues" has a very loose definition, and its exact meaning has been endlessly debated. It is often used to describe music that uses blues harmony and chord progressions, but other influences may be accepted, anything from folk, country, rockabilly, jazz, to soul, funk and even hard rock following on from The Jeff Beck Group, Cream, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. For me, it's anything with its roots in the Afro-American musical styles of the 1920s to 1970s, so long as it has feel. In other words, it moves you, either musically, or lyrically, or both.

During a Blues Boom, the music may or may not become accepted by mainstream entertainment channels. That certainly happened in the early-to-mid 1960s, when Blues-influenced bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, The Kinks, The Who and The Animals jostled for positions in the charts, and even exported the music back to its country of origin, the U.S. Without those British bands, mainstream America might still be in blissful ignorance of its own rich heritage of roots music.

For some time now I've been getting the feeling that a new Blues Boom is under way. For example, there's a monthly glossy magazine called The Blues Magazine available in nationwide chains such as W.H. Smiths. Look in the back pages and there's a gig guide featuring an abundance of artists and venues.

Joining the long-established venues like the 100 Club, venues and clubs that had long remained dormant have sprung back into life, including the Eel Pie Club and the Ealing Club, once home of Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, and famously the place where the main members of the Rolling Stones originally met.

Alongside the experienced performers, younger artists are getting in on the act, possibly reacting against the over-technological styles of their peers, that require little or no actual talent or skill to perform.

Even in the times between Blues Booms, enterprising enthusiasts organise Blues Festivals, but at the moment there are more of them than usual, and some of them are even being sponsored or supported by local government. I've been to two lately, at Croydon and at Ealing.

Here are some of the artists that I've seen and enjoyed recently. I encourage you to click on the links and check them out. Katie Bradley with her virtuoso guitarist Dudley Ross, Robin Bibi, Giles Hedley, Kingsize Slim, Big Boy Bloater, Chris Corcoran, Paul Lamb & Chad Strentz, Paul Lamb & The Kingsnakes, Jerimiah Marques & The Blue Aces, Big Joe Louis, The Heritage Blues Orchestra, Jump 66, Kat & Co., The Alan Glen/John O'Leary All Stars, and Earl Thomas & The Royal Guard.

As for myself, after a period of carrying out my trade as a jobbing guitarist with function and tribute bands, I've gone back to Blues with a vengeance. I currently play in two regularly gigging bands, both with strong Blues influences. One of them is John Stapleton's Rhythm'n'Blues Party. As the name suggests, this is an excellent party band, guaranteed to get any dancers in the audience on their feet. The other is Chad Strentz & The Chad-illacs. Chad is a well-loved and respected face on the Blues scene, as lead vocalist with Paul Lamb's bands, and this new band has been formed to promote Chad's new solo album. I am also privileged to be occasionally asked to deputise by some great bands, including Jerimiah Marques & The Blue Aces and The Blues Bandits.

Long may this Blues Boom continue!

Ukulele Exams

At last! Today saw the release of the first accredited ukulele exams in the UK. They are the work of the Registry of Guitar Tutors (RGT), an organisation that I have been a member of for many years.

Prior to the formation of the RGT, guitar exams were for classical musicians. I learned to love classical guitar in my teens, but I would have loved to have a choice in what genre of music I could study for graded exams. The RGT first introduced exams for the electric guitar, but over the years, more exams were added: classical, acoustic, bass, and rock guitar. Now we can also do exams for the ukulele.

I have been playing the ukulele almost as long as I have been playing the guitar. I think seeing Brian May of Queen playing a George Formby-style banjolele back in the '70s convinced me to take it up, as well as the ease by which my guitar skills could be transferred.

I carried on playing the uke through the wilderness years, when they were (unbelievably) considered unfashionable, and a relic of a bygone age. Eventually, artists like the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and Julia Nunes helped bring about a ukulele renaissance, and they're now the coolest thing around.

As with guitar exams, entrants need exam handbooks to show them the chords, scales, techniques, songs and pieces they need to study. The handbooks are available now from the Books for Guitar website, and they come with CDs. I was honoured to be commissioned by the RGT to record the musical numbers (a total of 64). Here is a short video I've prepared, telling the story of the recordings.