Guitar Emporium

A stereo re- mix of a collection of ideas really lifted from the America album - Homecoming. There's a bit of Classical Gas in Dminor in there somewhere but the rest is America inspired at their acoustic best. Support the show

A stereo re-mix of the song taken from the CD the Setting Sun - completed in a very rough form in the summer of 2022. I hope you had a good week.  Support the show

The second piece from the suite of five pieces called The Fairground. Our school trip - infant school trip this is - was to Chessington Zoo. They had a small fairground there and the Ghost Train was considered mild enough to let us 6 and 7 year olds have a ride. It was terrifying. I don't like the dark at the best of times. The bass is the heart beat, a creepy piano and a relentless slow trai...

A song from this years recording The Setting Sun. Its about work ( again ) . Wednesday is traditionally not a good day at work - I don't know why but although its half way through the working week it seems to go on and on... So the sentiment here applies - Count the Hours and see it Through. Friday's on its way ! Support the show

Another stereo re-mix of a very old tune - dating back to about 1975. The positive view of life and its limitations. Support the show

A Renaissance vihuela composition which has the subtitle "imitating the harp in the style of Ludovico". The vihuela was guitar shaped, tuned like a lute ( a bit higher than the guitar) and double courses - sometimes 7 pairs of strings where the two strings, very close to each other would be struck simultaneously by the player. In the second half of the piece there is a dissonant section...

The 3 main prayer times of the day. Matins, Lauds, and Vespers.  Matins, the lengthiest, originally said at a night hour, is now apparently said at any hour of the day. Lauds and Vespers are the morning and evening prayers of the church.  In the Lauds piece there are birds gently singing in the background. In the summer of 2022 I got up at dawn to work for an hour or so at bits and pieces. Lauds w...

This piece is from a suite of five pieces pitched at a school jazz band. The suite is "The Fairground".  One of my favourite big band pieces is Paul Harts "Concerto for Jazz band and Classical Guitar". The balance between the guitar and the brass must be interesting in a live performance - but his piece was great.  Roller Coaster is meant to reflect that slight unease at a Fair...

Another re-mix of a track which was recorded with a four piece band earlier in the summer. The mix is designed to bring the acoustic guitar to the front. A Friday piece ..have a good weekend  Support the show

The River - an unintended bit of easy listening - recorded Summer 2022 Support the show

Two guitars and a rhythm for this piece. Taken from 4hands guitar book which was so successful as a publication I can count the sales of books on 1 hand - ( let alone 4 ! )  Written for a pupil of mine way back in about the year 2000, Brian - a very decent man and a pleasure to work with. Support the show

Francisco Tarrega was the great Spanish guitarist of the late 19th Century. He studied in both Barcelona and Madrid and played both the guitar and the piano. Julian Arcas - one of the earlier part of the 19th century great Spanish guitarists -  heard him play and Tarrega studied with him subsequently. Of Tarrega's own pupils Miguel Llobet, Emilio Pujol and Daniel Fortea were his best known st...

A new round of podcasts will, hopefully, see an improvement in the sound quality of the tracks being put up. This is a re-mix of my take on Mason Williams Classical Gas- which I played to destruction when I was young - but also Roy Woods Electric Light Orchestra work - 1st Movt. Jumping Bizz. Apparently he too played Classical Gas alot and wrote his own take on that idea. I loved his work - slight...

A re-mix of a children's song that went up on 30th September. Re-mix sounds quite grand. What happened was my headphones were only working on one channel. I checked back to begin with and I thought it was OK as the final mix was, I thought, in stereo. Turns out it wasn't and its been in one ear for quite awhile. Headphones are now fixed and I'll re- mix the tunes that were in mono w...

Its not Christmas just yet but the UK supermarkets are all getting their adverts together ready to take whatever they can out of the season of good will. This piece just starts to set the scene. I love the positive sides of Christmas - family , friends, good cheer and also some lovely music - but I won't start playing the music until December. I didn't originally learn this trio as a Chr...

Really Sorry - technical issues  - the earlier version I loaded today had some audio problems - as a friend would say - user error - I got my settings wrong . I've done a number of them like this week and I 'll re- do them over the weekend .  Try again  The title needs a bit of explanation. A lyric in The Who's Pinball Wizard is " he's got crazy flipper fingers " . Ho...

The third of 3 linked pieces: Matins , Lauds and Vespers. All significant times of prayer. Vespers being the last of the 3 - taking place in the evenings as the sun goes down I believe. This is in a major key and is meant to resolve so that the day closes in a positive fashion. I'll put all three up at some point for comparison.  Support the show

Julian Breams arrangement of this piece which Benjamin Britten brought back to life in his Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra. Part of my collection of pieces I have recorded  for a Music Through the Ages CD.  Support the show

The Police were a band I listened to a lot in the early 1980's. By the time Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity came out - I was hooked.  But the chord sequence I kept coming back to was what I call an " add9" chord - think Message in a Bottle and the rather sinister Every Breath You Take.  I've used the "add9' chord a lot - tunes like Downshifting, Prelude in E, R...

From the collection of 4Hands guitar duos dating from about 2005. Support the show

An earlier piece I put up in about July - called Running Scared - was intended to generate anxiety - even fear - not easy in an acoustic guitar piece when all the sounds are generally very pleasant. But I mentioned how Eric Clapton did it so effectively in his score for the BBC series The Edge of Darkness - which he co- wrote with Michael Nyman.. This piece is nothing like that tune but by buildin...

The old barbers shop joke . I don't think I ever remember hearing it said but I so remember the barbers. Once a month, short back and sides, and you could feel the bristles on the back of your neck and the cold around your ears. I don't have much call for barbers now . Our barber was called Mr Belcher - surely that wasn't his real name. Enjoy the Weekend - Bonfire night tonight- it...

Introducing some clarinet into the mix on The River. Recorded Summer 2022 Support the show

The second of our three major prayer times - Matins came up a couple of weeks ago, Lauds is for Dawn - but varies during the seasons. Vespers to follow... Support the show

A return, once again, to the music of South America and this time to Argentina. This milonga was very popular in the 1990's and had a lovely second part to go with it . I may get a chance to put that up at some point. The solo is sad, haunting and melancholy. Enjoy !  Support the show