Guitar Diaries

Hello to all and welcome to a column dissecting the day to day life of a working musician from the Portsmouth region of the UK - so if any of you are taking the plunge and 'going pro' read on! As you'll soon see it's not all glamour and partying: in fact you'll need a lot of skills that some of you might more associate with 'real' everyday jobs in order to stand a chance of making a living out of the axe...  

Quite a busy time musically: this week was interesting as i played a couple of gigs with a completely new oufit, revisited a familiar old haunt and had an offer to join a great band...

Also we were hard at work at AOG Towers getting the new feature 'Elevenses' ready - so make sure you check these great interviews out - we will be publishing at least 5 as week from now on - unbeatable coverage!

A bloody busy few days again...this week I have been working with the team on getting the new AOG sorted: we're getting there, but with so many new features and companies/ people involved it will be weeks before we are firing on all cylinders! Then watch out - we'll really have something! However, not all my existence is AOG - I am doing a fair amount of live playing and sessions as well as loads of teaching...so here is the first in a weekly column that will hopefully shed some light on what I actually do!

We’re well into the second term now (the fourth week to be precise) and half-term is in sight. I’ve had my first exams at GUITAR-X since the last time I wrote and it was by no means a sinecure! The performance based exams – like Rhythm Section Skills, Rhythm guitar, Vocabulary and Improvisation, etc – were set up in a way as to simulate a studio recording session.

It was my first time back in America since I was 8 years old and a visit to L.A was in mind for the famous Namm show 2007 in Anaheim, California. There was a lot of expectation from my point of view , as I had been told so much about this event I thought I’d see it for myself.

I’ve been walking around in a dream ever since I got that call from GUITAR-X at the end of the summer telling me that I’d won the one year diploma scholarship. I can still remember coming to London for my audition and thinking that this was the place to be for a musician. A few weeks later I was packing my bags and guitars and actually left for the big city. Finding a place in London wasn’t very hard thanks to the house sharing list issued by the school.

The London Guitar Show for me has always been the same as for many other people, a great place to go and hang out with like minded people, check out all the latest guitars and gear as well as meet some of your heroes. I first started going to the show with my Dad when I was about 12, and we made it a date in our diary every year from then on.