Gigging… the term is often very fluid in its definition. When someone says they are going to a gig, it could mean a lot of things: It could be a massive outdoor show with thousands of audience members in attendance, or a small obscure bar on a weekday night with a...
In the past few years, the music community has been hit extremely hard with deaths of many famous musicians from a multitude of genres. Several led a good life, but many left this place way too soon for reasons we will likely never understand. There has been a...
Yesterday I had a guitar lesson with Brent Mason. I need to say that again, out loud, because it doesn't feel real. I had a private, one on one, guitar lesson from Brent Mason. As you may have guessed, o regular reader of thine blog, there is a story attached to this...
So, this weekend marked the annual country music festival in the UK, C2C - or to give it its full title, Country 2 Country. Country music is largely overlooked here in the UK, it's never on mainstream radio or in the 'charts' (but let's face it, there hasn't been much...
When I first started playing guitar, I’ll admit that it was solely to learn the cool parts of songs that I felt were the “best” guitar part at the time. I was 14 and had all the time in the world to play, so it was nothing to practice for 4-6 hours a day until my...
Sometimes a chain of events happens that results in your life being changed forever. I could trace this story back to how a pointless gobshite (to all those not familiar with British vulgarity, you're welcome) from England started to work for the fastest growing...
I’ve not let the contentious me out the box for a while but something has happened recently that’s made me a little prickly. Guitar solo competitions. I hate them. I really really hate them. When did playing the guitar, or music in general, become a competition? Are...
Artist relations – A tale of two Dave’s. I can almost guarantee that the FIRST thing people ask when you tell them you work for a company like Wampler Pedals is something like this… “I bet it’s great hanging out with artists all the time.” Many people actually apply...
If, like me, you are a massive Star Wars fan (I've been told I've seen each of them on the day they were released, I can vouch for Ep. 1,2,3,5 and 6 because I wasn't quite 4 when Ep 4 came out) you'll love this. Guitarist Cooper Carter has taken the orchestral score...
Yesterday marked Chuck Berry’s 89th birthday. It’s amazing to look back over the years with how much he’s contributed rock n’ roll and music today. He’s the original grandfather of rock and roll, and I’m sure I’m not alone when Johnny B. Goode was one of the first...