Guitar Emporium

After the reminiscence of the pandemic- in thirty3 + 2 - this tune  goes further back. It was written in about 2008/9 about family stuff - phrases parents and grandparents used - the timeless element of each generation falling at the same hurdles. Rob on cajon and I tarted it up a bit with some layered guitar stuff. We played it in the folk set in 2013.  Support the show

A whole album for Sue's birthday. Happy Birthday. It was written to celebrate 30 years of being married. Seahouses in the Autumn was where we all met up. Cold , windswept, but a lovely place to be - as always. I tried to put together a new recording of pieces. Here they are. They were completed 3 years late, in 2020 and took a further 2 years to  get in listening form. They were recorded in A...

A Friday piece . David Caswell and I did some concerts in about 1998. The piece was recorded in the Shaftesbury Arts Centre  studio with Jon doing the sound. Its about an old car . I've had lots of those - the piece is by Celso Machado again - and the discordant sounds every so often is the car mis -firing.  Support the show

In 1997 & 1998 I had the opportunity to work with David Caswell - a Latin American guitar specialist who regularly visited and played for some of the great Latin American guitarists. He introduced me to the music of the Brazilian guitarist Celso Machado.  Here is a lovely duo piece   - recorded by the studio engineer at the Shaftesbury Arts Centre recording studio - Jon Pickard Support the sho...

In about 2000 to 2002 I played guitar for the Brian Heeley Quartet for the Bolling Guitar Concerto with Jazz Piano Trio , The Flute Suite and Picnic Suite. This is the 6th Movement of seven movements from Picnic Suite - Tendre and finishes this cycle of podcasts. Keep listening - a new cycle begins tomorrow ! Support the show

Dave Betts - a very fine multi skilled percussionist - look out for his band if you ever get the chance. Perhaps more importantly a really decent bloke. He played on this recording when I was trying to get some arts council support for playing opportunities. It dates from 2006 - the duo was called Darabukka.  Support the show

Steve Howe, the great guitarist with Yes, is the starting point here.  His tune the Clap -  a mix of all kinds - is a great upbeat acoustic piece. I first recorded this in 2000 - this is a version recorded on Rob's hybrid guitar in 2013. Support the show

Yusuf Islam ( Cat Stevens ) lovely song Father & Son is the starting point for this tune on Fathers Day. Thank you guys for the card and the good wishes. This tries to express how it works between a Father and children- constantly changing but hopefully always the same steadfast love and support. Happy Fathers Day all you Dads. Support the show

Written in about 2002 when they were about 13, 10 and 7. Three themes all distinctive  and different and yet they interact pretty well. When its fast they're all going at the same time - amazing energy. By the end of the tune they all come back together and run out of steam. Like a day on the beach, or at the park or on the home made ( and potentially lethal ) skatepark. Happy Birthday Rob, G...

29 yesterday and 34 forecast today - its hot ! Jake doesn't like this too much - as a 14 year old collie cross he's got a lot of hair . This was written for him in Madrid - that also was hot . Support the show

Following on from the original Grace Darling music earlier this week is a version of the song  Rob and I  arranged for the 2013 folk set. The lyrics are unchanged just the melody tweaked a bit . Support the show

June 15th - Dad's birthday. Towards the end of his life he used to sleep quite a lot . Henry's Lullaby  Support the show

An excerpt from Steve Reichs "Electric Counterpoint". First recorded by Pat Metheny. Also more recently performed by Jonny Greenwood. 10 electric guitar tracks and 2 bass guitar tracks plus a "live " guitar. This was recorded in about 1998 / 1999 at Shaftesbury Chapel Arts Centre studios. Jon engineered it and it took a few weeks to record - layering another track each week . T...

A midi guitar piece from 2000. The recording was a CD collection of various styles called Worlds Apart. I sold a few of these.... ( " few " being the operative word ). This piece was drawn out of listening to what I think is one of Eric Clapton's very best collaborations. Apparently his first go at film music . Clapton worked with Michael Nyman to compose the music for the BBC film...

An arrangement of the folk song celebrating the heroic rescue of shipwrecked sailors in 1838 by this Victorian 22 year old from Bamburgh. Sue found the piano music - I arranged it as a guitar piece and then later did a song version using the original lyrics. I'll put up the song version that Rob and I  did as part of our folk set. Grace was the first great heroine of Queen Victoria's rei...

Not  to be confused with the drink. This was a tune for my late Aunt Margaret. Oldest of my Mums sisters; Margaret, Joan, Dot. Betty and Lyn. She taught in East London all of her working life , got an MBE as a mark of her service and was like a Mum to my Mum and a Grandma to us ( our grandparents died relatively early in our lives ) Christmas was always great when she came to us - games, quizzes,...

An end of the week tune. Fiesta. Its the 5th of 5 preludes dating from , originally, the late 1990''s. In the style of a guitar composer. Agustin Barrios Mangore, from Paraguay, is the composer on this occasion. I really liked the sentiment in Guarani Dance. I can't match the playing but I hope I got something of the happiness of the piece. Thank God its Friday... Support the show

At the height of the Tory Prime Minister  David Cameron's rule his mantra was to create a Big Society ( as opposed to Thatchers no society ) . For Big Society now read " Levelling Up" . This was part of our folk set in about 2013 ( some great Djembe playing from Rob ). The lyrics make  reference to Ralph McTell's " Streets of London " and to a lesser extent the sentim...

Recorded in about 2005 for a CD of folk tunes called St. Aidans Dance. I sold a few of these and even had the experience of seeing the CD being re-sold on eBay. Its appeared in various forms since - with drums, as a song and with a band. Support the show

This is a piece taken from 5 preludes - each in the style of a famous composer. There was ( an attempt) at the style of Bach, Sor, Tarrega, Barrios and this one a pastiche of the 2nd Prelude in Villa Lobos collection of 5 preludes.  Written in about 1997 this is a recording on Rob's magnificent Hybrid Guitar - 24 frets , amazing intonation, huge sound. The nicest guitar I've ever played...

I keep returning to Jazz pa Svenska ( an album I first heard at Exeter in the late 70's) It stripped back the jazz combination to just piano and bass - and every so often I go back to guitar and bass. This is a 2010 recording with a great jazz bass player Clive taking the lead.  Support the show

A piece from 2013. Rob and I got a folk festival booking. The fee meant we could afford 2 days in a B&B and the last night in a tent.  This is the opening number from the first night. A string broke, I forgot the words, but we got there in the end. I think this is my favourite performance time - a lot of fun. Support the show

Named after Tomos Roberts children's poem in the early stages of the pandemic - about April 2020 (the YouTube version is worth a viewing). A story of optimism and hope for young people at a difficult time. Its view of the future is laudable if, with hindsight, unrealistic. The piece is in a minimalist style with themes that I use repeatedly as the piece rises and falls. Beginning and ending w...

A very old tune of mine I've re-worked many times - this time with a rough old bass line running beneath just to give it a bit of rhythmic support. Everyone I know who was furloughed  loved it . This tune is meant to reflect the smiles it put on people's faces at a pretty difficult time for so many. Support the show

No flights out during the Summer of 2020. Not so very different in June 2022. Support the show