I dunno - what d'you think?I dunno - what d'you think?A blog by Dave Keir, independent musician, acoustic guitar player and songwriter. Articles
?It?s either the guitar or me!?
2007-11-24 13:30:00 I was reading a post on an internet acoustic guitar forum not too far from here by a guitar player who had been given an ultimatum by his partner to choose between her and the his guitars. The purpose of his post was to bid farewell to the community since he had decided to sell ... More About: Guitar , The G
I?ve got a plan
2007-10-30 07:28:00 In fact I have several; one for each planable part of my work. This is necessary for me to organise the tasks, their order and priorities and how long they take. Particularly since I have to fit these tasks around my day job and other chores and with whatever energies I have left at my ... More About: Plan
Independent musicianship v. weekend warmongering
2007-10-18 12:49:00 I took to the epiphet “Independent Musician” with gusto. I like the rank of “Weekend Warrior” less. Still, if the cap fits… Each term can have a slight air of the derogatory about it, depending on context, and both are used with a perceptible virtual sneer by some professionals - particularly in online engineering and ... More About: Epen , Dependent , Erin
A Task Facing Me
2007-10-08 21:11:00 The bulk of the songs for Uneasy Listening is sitting on the hard-drive of my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation or Discount Analogue Workaround, depending on age and prejudice) awaiting editing. What does this comprise? Well, as far as the guitar parts are concerned, it involves editing out the occasional (I insist) fluffs from the selected ... More About: Facing , Task
Those two weeks away from the guitar?
2007-10-02 09:49:00 ?when I was in Italy have not done my chops any good. Indeed, picking up my (new) guitar again after returning made me wonder at how easily and quickly technique can fall off. I recall reading somewhere that Segovia opined that technique never stands still; it either improves or deteriorates. I dunno, I normally do ... More About: Guitar , The G , Weeks
A Pickup On My OM-18V?
2007-09-28 12:41:00 ? was installed at the same time as the aforementioned nut job, above. So far, and after only a quick audition in the store, it is all I expected it to be: like an acoustic guitar with a pick-up on it. Let me be clear: the sound of an acoustic guitar with a pick-up, of ... More About: Mini , Western , Pure , Pickup
Why did I ?un-retire??
2007-09-27 13:06:00 There is something about a person’s potential for doing the one thing for which they are specially suited, that once that potential is realised then it becomes irrevocably part of who they are. It defines their essence. Only by expressing themselves in this way, are they authentically who they are. Is this in the genes? ... More About: Retire , Tire
?Celtic? Music (yeah, right!)
2007-09-26 15:39:00 As if there is such a thing. Good grief. There is Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Breton - and whatever else - music. Why do we need to use a term that is misapplied so often anyway to categorise these lands’ music. It does little else but obscure the origin and uniqueness of the different forms. Let ... More About: Music , Yeah , Celtic
My new Martin OM-28V
2007-09-25 12:43:00 Well, I bought a new guitar. No big surprise there, you might think, but I’m not a serial guitar purchaser. I like to live with my guitar and get to work with its moods and foibles. There’s also the comfortable-old-shoes syndrome - I like not to be conscious that there’s a guitar on my lap, ... More About: Martin
Loudon Wainwright III
2007-09-22 08:54:00 Of whom I am a big fan. Since I heard one of his records in the early ’70s. His Motel Blues was one of the rare covers I have ever done. So rare were my covers that most people assumed it was one of mine - I had to disabuse them of that notion on ... More About: Loudon , Wainwright , Wright
Nut job!
2007-09-21 14:18:00 Yes, well. My OM-18V is a wonderful thing. However one thing that has irritated me is the nut slots being cut so that the top and bottom strings are so damn’ near the edge of the fingerboard causing pull-offs on the top ‘e’ string not to ring true. It also causes the fleshy part of ...
It was 50 years ago today?
2007-09-21 12:09:00 …that Jean Sibelius died. I’ve acknowledged my appreciation before herabouts of this composer. There was speculation on the radio last night about why he composed virtually nothing during the last thirty years of his life. Well, actually he did compose but he through the score of an incomplete symphony in the fire. A few present day icons ... More About: Today , Years
Tourism and songwriting
2007-09-21 07:36:00 Last week I was in Italy with my family on holiday and we spent some considerable time strolling around the streets of Rome and Florence taking in the sights. I had decided before the trip that while there I would try and put lyrics to a few songs that I had kicking around waiting for ... More About: Tourism
Wherefrom the will to ignorance?
2007-09-02 20:18:00 I ask in terms of playing guitar… Who was it that quipped (oft quoted) that he didn’t read music well enough to get in the way of his playing? Or words to that effect. I also read recently that the best improvisers don’t bother overmuch with scales and just play what they hear in their heads. ... More About: Ignorance
The benefits and dangers of listening to other peoples? music
2007-08-25 12:14:00 I count among the benefits of listening to other people’s music a broadening of understanding and the encountering of new musical vocabularies that can be absorbed and used in new ways to enrich your own creativity. It’s also refreshing and can reinvigorate your own muse. In fact, for my part, it would be nice if ... More About: Music , Benefits , Listening , Peoples
Why did I ?retire??
2007-08-10 14:52:00 Certain events stick in the mind. Who knows whether they were indeed as pivotal as they appear to be in retrospect; nevetheless, they carry certain charisma in the memory that can seduce you into thinking that, yes, this was a moment when the world changed. More About: Retire , Tire
Why boredom is a ?good thing?
2007-08-05 20:27:00 Because it forces you, albeit eventually, to break out and seek new ground. Perhaps tedium is the mother of invention. Oh, the unbridled joy of altered chords. A prising open of hidden doors. Enabling the smash and grab of fresh sounds. A suprise for the ears around every corner. A break from the humdrum of an ... More About: Good , Thing , Boredom
Driving Under The Influence Of Song
2007-07-30 22:41:00 In preparation for recording vocal tracks I’ve often practiced singing to the guitar backing which I’ve burned to CD as I’m driving along. I’ve decided to cease and desist this practice because, while it is indeed helpful in all manner of ways in expediting a good recorded performance, it is putting me in mortal danger ... More About: Driving , Song , Influence , Ving , Under
Why just guitar and voice?
2007-06-13 11:21:00 From time to time I receive advice or comments from other musicians that this or that song of mine would suit an ensemble arrangement of some kind; a bass here, some percussion there, perhaps a fiddle or a wind instrument? I’ve no doubt that much may be done to provide some ear candy over some ... More About: Voice , Guitar , VOIC
A promotional tool?
2007-06-12 10:58:00 … from my friends www.reverbnation.com: A neat little player containing my songs (from Interim Reports). A person can even “share” by sending a link by email, or copying it the script onto a web page. Cool. Feel free to do exactly that, dear reader, and click the “Share” button on the player! Thank you! Thank you! Thank ... More About: Tool , Dave , Promotional , Romo
More on ageing ?chops?
2007-05-31 13:21:00 I have been assuming that over the past couple of years that my guitar technique was in terminal decline simply due to advancing years. (I remember my middle age crisis with nostalgic fondness.) I mean, my fingers feel stiffer in the morning (…would that? oh, never mind…) and it takes them longer to get into ... More About: Chops
Stirring the muse
2007-05-27 22:04:00 Sometimes I’m asked… Most of the time I stumble across something when I’m working on some experimentation with harmony and finding different ways to change key, or trying to get some weird scale under my fingers. An idea will pop up which I’ll mess around with to see if it’s got any legs. Thoughts of form ... More About: Muse
The fashion for genealogy
2007-05-25 12:47:00 I refer to the genealogy websites and TV programmes that I’ve recently noticed which are serving a desire among an increasing number of people to delve into their past and draw up family trees. Whence this increasing interest? Is it from a suspicion that one may be descended from some noble lord or be an ... More About: Fashion , Genealogy , Gene , Fash
A fact of imbalance
2007-05-23 13:49:00 Proportionality is a lost cause. I have the curious knack of making my major key output sound more minor than most peoples’ minor key output! It might tell of a deeply troubled nature. I would, there is no doubt at all in my mind, be a deeply troubled individual did I not have the therapy ... More About: Fact , Alan , Lance , Balan
Can I sing?
2007-05-18 17:04:00 Nah! Not for nuts. Not likely. I excuse myself with the idea that I’m more a deliverer of songs. How’s that for sleight of hand? Some folks have been complimentary though, which I find curious. And today someone wrote something nice about my voice on a forum not too far from here which is why I’ve ... More About: Sing
Fingerpicking or Fingerstyle?
2007-05-14 13:52:00 If I’m playing something up-tempo and aggressive then I’m definately a down-home, primitive fingerpicker. If, on the other hand, I’m doing something moody or contemplative then I’m a sophisticated, city-slicking fingerstylist. Another thing ’bout pickin’ nomenclature: whence the “Travis Pick ing” terminology? I learned alternate bass picking mostly from Mississippi John Hurt, whose style, I think I’m ... More About: King , Finger , Fingers , Picking
My atheism and a song concerning it
2007-05-13 11:50:00 I have a song which is quite new called The Outfidel which I played at a session at folk club on Friday night. It displays my atheism and may be offensive to some religious individuals who are sensitive that way. I suppose that my singing of it will alienate some people to my music ... More About: Atheism , Song , Once , Theism
John Renbourn
2007-05-08 13:45:00 Ah, now, he of the mercurial fingers! I first came across John ’s playing suprisingly by way of a solo record and not as part of the Pentangle which is most people’s experience. At my youthful age (in 1972 or ‘3) he represented a totally new way of playing and a new sonic landscape. Anyway, I wanted ...
On ageing ?chops? and other suprises
2007-05-02 16:25:00 I’ve always kind of had stiff little fingers and had to warm up extensively before a gig or recording session, but these days it seems to take longer and longer as each year passes to get my chops into gear. More About: Chops , Rise
When I was a young boy?
More articles from this author:2007-04-30 12:52:00 …my first experiences of music were by way of the classical music records that my father played and the ’50s records that my brother played. Those, and the background of the BBC “Light Programme” as it was known back then, were the musical wallpaper of my childhood. There was also a little Puccini that my ... More About: Young , When 1, 2, 3, 4 |
|
 |
|
 |
