Ever been to Krakow? There’s a suburb in Krakow called Nova Huta which was Stalin’s great attempt at Social Realism. My friend Jason and I were in a Trabant, being driven by the craziest tour guide east of Berlin, heading towards Nova Huta at 90 miles an hour. When we got there we took a…
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Hi everyone,
Battleofthebands_2013 (<— click to see poster)
I’m playing a short set as part of the New Brunswick Battle of the Blues in Cupar Corn Exchange this Saturday Feb 23rd. Starts about 8pm and there are 6 blues bands playing. £8 for a ticket on the door. Hope you can make it!
Ok this is a bit embarassing.
My 9 Cold War Love Songs project has gone . . . well . . . cold.
Abandon project!
Seriously, I’ve tried to write 9 of them but it’s driving me crazy and my mental health is more important than a foolhardy concept album.
I hit The Dip; that period in a project when it gets tough and you can either quit or keep going. My best option was to quit. The Dip turned out to be a dead end. Divert resources elsewhere. Sometimes that’s the best option.
I have a written a few and I’ll put them on the next release.
You know when wise people say you should make your goals public because there’s more chance that you’ll complete them? Well I’m here to say that’s cobblers.
No more grand announcements from me.
As you were.
It’s all man-made.
It’s all been invented.
Whether it was by kings, politicians, committees, businesses or philanthropists. It’s all man-made.
We made it up. People just made stuff up. Some things are tactile, some things are simply ideas. Like rules and ethics and cities and schools and systems and curriculums and houses and pubs and ways to do things. Right?
Everything.
Sometimes what’s been made up is good. Sometimes it’s not.
Beware of the man who says “so you wanna be a [insert your dream job]? Whatcha gotta do is this….” How the hell does he know? He may well be right, but what he’s really saying is, “this is how I had some success or have seen some others having success”. He just made it up or, more likely, is talking from experience having done something that someone else made up.
It’s all just been invented by someone else.
So it stands to reason that you have every freedom, every right to make up some stuff yourself.
So go for it. Make up the stuff that you want to see in the world.
Draw that picture, write the song, have the baby, make some pies, design that building, do that 10k run, start that radical political movement.
I’m going to make up some more songs.
Just sayin’.
Johnny B Truant has just made something up. It ‘s called How To Be Legendary. It’s free.
I love the blues and guitarists not many people have heard of. I learned through the music of Mississippi John Hurt and Woodie Guthrie.
I used to have a lesson once a week from my old primary school teacher who would write out chords and tabs for me based on the old blues masters.
In those days an online guitar tuition website was of course, unheard of. But these days guitar lessons online are really quite mature and one of the best is Guitar Tricks. I’ve been a member for almost a year and it’s a pretty handy and fun learning resource.
However, if you’re thinking of investing in online lessons, here’s what I think of it.
This is a long list so sit down and fasten in. There are over 5000 lessons on this site and more added every day. The price is only $14.95 a month and that’s about a third of a once a week lesson with a decent guitar tutor. I love the forum! You can actually talk to the instructors and ask them questions about something that is not making sense to you or leave recommendations for lessons you would like to see.
On top of that they have a guitar tech on staff so when I had a problem with my action height he was able to help in a little over a day and could help you with any problems you might encounter. Guitar Tricks provides a tuner and metronome built in to the site making it just a click away from tuning up you guitar or keeping in time. Pretty handy.
The jam station is a really nice feature allowing you to play different parts of the song without a band behind you. It has some great charts for finding out which chord is giving you a hard time.
There is also a list of all the scales and shows you the positions right on the fret board.
The videos have a feature that works really well allowing you to loop a section you are working on without having to let go of your guitar. Even after several months of using the site I’m sure there are other features I have yet to find!
This site has changed the way I play guitar. I hate the thought of someone criticizing the way I learn or learning on someone else’s schedule. Being a guitarist I like a lot of styles of music. This site has made it possible for me to learn all the styles I want and can switch whenever I feel like it.
I love the jam sessions! I can just jam out with back up without having to find people to jam with or work around their schedule. My favorite thing on this site is the looping feature I can pick point A and point B to loop just that section till I have mastered it. It really has helped me perfect some finger movements. Then I can move on to the next loop I need help with. You can change the loop sections at any time.
The price. I can’t forget that. Yes it does cost money, but it is far less than personal live lessons. I think it’s better than spending almost two hundred a month at your local guitar shop. You just cannot get a better service for under $20 a month.
Pros
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Cons
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It’s easy to use, and teaches me things I did not even know I was supposed to learn!
However it can be a bit general in nature.
Since I love some odd guitarist like JohnHurt and Cliff Gallup I would love for some of the obscure techniques to be highlighted. As much as I would love to learn to play like those guys, I also don’t dare fool myself to think I can perfect their guitar playing. Also, with so many new teachers, and user recommendations I would not be surprised to see them on their shortly.
I don’t want this to sound like a sales pitch cause I don’t work for Guitar Tricks. I haven’t been practising a huge amount recently but I can fully recommend you sign up for the free trial today.
(Note: As a member of GuitarTricks affiliate program I will get a commission from them if you actually buy it. Doesn’t cost you a penny more but does help towards my next album)
Ever been to Krakow?
There’s a suburb in Krakow called Nova Huta which was Stalin’s great attempt at Social Realism. My friend Jason and I were in a Trabant, being driven by the craziest tour guide east of Berlin, heading towards Nova Huta at 90 miles an hour.
When we got there we took a short tour round the still-existing shops that would dole out rations to the residents. Long wooden counters with drawers containing goodness knows what, and a sparse decor flagrantly ignoring commerciality, advertising and consumerism.
We had a short vodka in a 1970s restaurant and our guide showed us photographs and told us stories of the days of communism.
It was a fascinating tour and rich with human interest. Couple that with the recent John Le Carre film, “Tinker, Tailor” and the Cold War becomes much more luminous in the mind.
So I thought why not write some song collections about interesting historical subjects. You know, things that actually interest me. Raaaaaadical dude.
It makes for inspiring subject matter and a sense of direction.
Watching “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”, a trip to Poland and reading The Spy Who Came In From The Cold together have inspired a new project provisionally titled:
The Songs That Came In From The Cold: 9 Cold War Espionage Songs
And since I haven’t written or recorded anything since 500 BC it’s an even more suitable title.
I tracked down an Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations at Amazon which is jam packed with the stories of spies and their murky goings on. A great source of inspiration.
My penciled in track listing includes:
That’s it so far. If you want to receive email updates stick your email address in this ‘ere box below and join the list. And I promise I won’t sell, rent or give away you email address to anyone else, especially spies.. I hate spam as much as you.
