Guitar Emporium

I was recording this one at the end of the day and I was getting so middle of the road the tune was only saved ( barely) by the bell ringing and cutting short my woeful easy listening soloing - ENJOY !! Support the show

This is one of those tunes where I thought I had a really interesting backing track and I could do something with it - Maybe , Maybe not Support the show

An old TV game of charades which ran from the late 1970's until the early 1990's - can you remember any of the contestants or hosts ? - I'm not sure I can  Support the show

The end of the evening, the end of a memorable time - the hostelry has closed for the evening its time for the pub to kick you out. Support the show

This one keeps coming up - and Ive re-mixed it once again. The tune was written for a folk festival and played acoustically from about 2009 when it was put together until the pandemic when I re-recorded it.  Support the show

The Influencer "thing" was bugging me a bit - I have enough knowledge to be be really badly informed about what a benefit these characters bring to society. So I read a bit more and today we've got Guiding Light. One to inspire us all on a Friday - thinking of a career change ? Support the show

The great late Jeff Becks album Blow by Blow with George Martin was just great. Worth a visit anytime is case you forget how goos Jeff Beck was.  Support the show

I'm not sure anything is really gained by being too sensitive - its a bit like the song from earlier in the month " The Art of the Putdown" . If you're become too sensitive to negative stuff it can set you back so much. Support the show

Influencers - thats a new one on me - what on earth is that about ? Self appointed internet guru's offering us their view on just about everything. I'll be giving that one a miss. Support the show

A pastiche of the great man- I had fun recording it.. Support the show

Clock watching - in some of the work I've done I've been very guilty of doing that. It is certainly the case that the more you watch the clock the slower it seems that time passes. Support the show

When you get on a bit in years you suddenly start seeing one or two friends who have gone at life really hard start to fall apart. Its sad - because its so often the nicest souls who leave us first. Support the show

A device in music where a section is resolved with the major tonic chord rather than the minor. I don't think I used it in its true sense - and it only happens once or twice in the piece - in the early part. I came across it when playing rennaissance and baroque stuff - John Dowland used it in his Fantasie pieces ( I think ). An upbeat Friday tune... Support the show

This is an arrangement of a tune called Rainbow Wood by the guitarist John Anderson. He featured it in his tutor book and I've added a second guitar part, a bass and a choir ( !) to the piece. My guitar group like the solo so I hope they will enjoy the group piece. Support the show

What we do in our hours when the meter isn't running is often more valuable to us than what we get paid to do. This months useful (?) tip. Support the show

The Fortune Teller. Mystic Meg ( shows how old I am !) the astrologer - they've got it made - foreseeing the future - a great gift. The only thing is - if it had any bad bits in - I'd want to change them - can you do that ? Support the show

An old fashioned ballad - lamenting I'm not sure what - same old stories, tales, memories, songs - no idea really. Support the show

A re-mix of a song from late 2023. About protecting those around you - particularly the young and old. Gaza, Ukraine, any area of conflict seems to suffer the most and looking after your loved ones is really out of your control. At this time of year at work we're bombarded with Safeguarding stuff - and rightly so - but the broader aspect of looking after your own whenever and wherever you can...

As about as  politically incorrect as you can get.. The room where a bloke has his stuff - things to repair, things he has no idea how to repair ( but hopes he'll work it out one day) the cigars he's trying to smoke on the quiet and the bottle of whisky to go with it. Plus all the bills, accounts and maintenance projects he will get around to - maybe next year. Support the show

Its Friday - Do you need a reason ? Enjoy the weekend . Support the show

I don't have one - but the charity shops in the UK are just excellent. The Sue Ryder charity shop is just one of them - but currently my favourite, with the Dogs Trust running a close second. A good time to get the winter wardrobe sorted out. Support the show

This has become my favourite Villa Lobos Prelude over the years - played on Roberts 2nd Hybrid guitar- made whilst he was doing his Deliveroo job in Nuremberg and making the guitar in his "spare?" time.  Described as a Homage to Social Life - I always felt this was more of a chore than a prelude. It has a straightforward melodic structure and clearly defined sections - a great piece.  Su...

My idea of a Django/ Villa Lobos meet up in the Paris of late 1920's probably never took place - but here is the use of their two musical styles - a bit of nonsense. Support the show

The piece is played on Roberts 2nd Hybrid guitar built when he was living in Nuremberg and working for Deliveroo. The guitar has a strutting structure of carbon fibre and is maple with a spruce sound board - effectively a white guitar with ebony saddle and nut with the Wittner pegs once again. Very distinctive looking and with a good sound across the range. Prelude No.4 is described by Turibio San...

The diet some of the families in Gaza are having to live on is little more than Living on Air.  There is a ( not well supported ) belief that a human can live on air and light alone: Breatharians ? The breatharian lifestyle requires that a person give up food and water altogether and live purely off prana, which they also call "living on light" or "living on air." Foremost Brea...