Guitar Emporium

This suite of 4 pieces was put together during the covid lockdown in 2020. I was in Madrid for that time - teaching with a remarkable lack of enthusiasm. The part of Madrid I was living in was quite comfortably off, warm and pleasant - but I didn't deal at all well with the isolation.  Support the show

I'm not sure what he is doing now but this was a track from a really good album by David Gray - White Ladder. I likened his music to a pop version of John Martyn - but now I'm not so sure. Anyway my acoustic version uses the characteristic John Martyn percussive guitar accompaniment.  Support the show

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has hit back at Donald Trump's threat to use "economic force" to absorb Canada into the US saying there isn't "a snowball's chance in hell" to join the two. What a great way to tell him where to go .. Support the show

Students used to call him Fernando Bore when I was studying - but I've grown over many many years of playing his music to really love his compositions the Beethoven of the guitar ? Perhaps a little over the top but this is one of his more well know tunes. I'd forgotten I'd recorded it - in about 2010. Support the show

Thats a lovely expression - a gentle way of saying - "you gotta be joking - there's no way you should even be thinking of doing that now " Support the show

The versions of this I've done over the years never quite worked until I did this one - which is how the piece is intended. American Garage was an album I particularly enjoyed and at the time I recorded this I was doing a version of Steve Reichs Electric Counterpoint in which Pat Methenys original version was my reference.  Support the show

This version is on a Yamaha Martin Taylor semi acoustic guitar that I used alot when asked to do jazz guitar playing ( god knows why I was asked to do that - I think there was just a shortage of jazz guitarists in the area I lived in ). Support the show

This combines two influences : the band Men at Work and the lead singer of that band Colin Hay. I loved the album Men at Work and the single Down Under and then later on when our boys watched the US medic sitcom Scrubs I enjoyed the low key appearances of Colin Hay playing the acoustic guitar and singing in cupboards or behind doors - great.  Overkill I've had a go at. Support the show

The actual saying is the other way around - Don't make a drama out of a crisis - a cool head will save the day !!.  I think we all really love drama in our lives - the knack is to keep a handle on it - don't let it get out of control Support the show

A take on the idea of a  big fish in a small pool - the problem being there are always bigger fish out there in bigger pools or even the ocean ... Support the show

He must have been some player. The lutenist John Dowland could apparently improvise these Fantasies or Fancys in the same way Bach could improvise a Fugue.  This is a particular favourite of mine - I've been playing it a long time ( You'd have thought I would have got it right by now ..) This is my best version. Support the show

A piece revived and corrected - in my haste I got some of the bass line wrong - only heard it when I came to archive it . The Long Walk Support the show

In 2002 I had a go at producing a midi led guitar album called Worlds Apart on CD.  It sold .... a few copies !  From the opening 9 minute track ( I know - a little long ) the middle section was called Scared of Running . I re-recorded it a couple of times - I used delay on it, but it  was never quite as I intended. Some years later I had an internet radio station on Live 365 ( they closed for a w...

The second of the influences pieces is James Taylor. Probably the Carole King tune You've got a friend is the most influential tune but this one is a close second.  Support the show

The expression is cold hands , warm heart or maybe not . Warm smile Cold Heart - I've met a few of those. Support the show

From a 2010 recording . I first heard this on the recording that Segovia made of the Bach Chaconne. His fluency on the guitar was astonishing. Lovely piece to end the week with. Support the show

I really enjoy playing 12 string guitars - such a huge sound. I've never quite known where to take them - after playing some great chords I tended to think so what?  In the late 1990's I recorded this with a drum machine. Its got a bit of life in it. I was trying to come to terms with how it was necessary to downshift to make some sort of living out of music. Never worked that one out re...

As I approach the 1,000th episode I want to share some of my influences in recent years. Stealers Wheel -  I grew up loving their music. Their roots in the Glasgow folk scene with Billy Connolly and the Humblebums to Gerry Rafferty & Joe Egans tunes as Stealers Wheel - Stuck in the Middle, Star and later Rafferty's Baker Street. Sadly Gerry Rafferty is no longer alive. Joe Egan produced a...

An arrangement by the Scot David Russell ( a fabulous guitarist) of the Scarlatti Sonata - may be his best known on the guitar ?. From a recording in August 2010. Support the show

The British obsession with the weather is well known. As soon as it is a little out of the ordinary we're in real trouble. Its a been a bit cold this week ( not anything like in Europe or the US, Ukraine or Russia - or anywhere else for that matter ) Cold Nights/ Cold days Support the show

I've seen the symbol on Russian tanks involved in the invasion of Ukraine: sometimes enclosed in a square. You also get V and O apparently ( I haven't seen those)  The Z helps distinguish forces from one another and serves as an identifier to avoid friendly fire. Russian officials have claimed various meanings for the symbol. Due to its association with the war in Ukraine, the Z has beco...

Luigi Mangione was lionised by certain sections of social media after the shooting of Brian Thompson the insurance CEO in New York. The three D's brought up the the idea of Deny, Defend, Depose apparently found on the discarded gun cartridges based on the Jay Feinman's 2010 "expose" of the Insurance Industry Delay Deny Defend. Surely Delusion, Despair and being Deranged have mo...

The wikipedia description is horrific enough without me adding anything to it : Prior authorization is a check run by some insurance companies or third-party payers in the United States before they will agree to cover certain prescribed medications or medical procedures. [2] There are a number of reasons that insurance providers require prior authorization, including age, medical necessity, the av...

A song arrangement of the instrumental Take it Apart. Support the show

The instrumental version of Low on Battery  Support the show