Fab Feb First @ The Daylight

Great to be back the Brockley Brewery for their Jazz January, looking forward to the next one there. Meanwhile.. I'm back at the Daylight with the Green Chain Quartet on 1st February. Doors 8pm. It'll be fab! 

https://www.greenchainquartet.com/2024/01/fab-feb-first-friends.html?spref=tw



Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year

  

Thanks to all my students who I've had the pleasure of teaching this year - online and in-person.  


Thanks also to the venues and musicians that I worked with from spring to winter, inside, outside and all points in between! 


Wishing you all the best for Christmas and New Year and, as last year, and the year before, and the year before that... hoping it's better and more peaceful one for all of us than 2023

Dave

New guitar for Christmas? Grab a free lesson from me!

This offer has been popular for the last few years, so I'm offering it again this year!

Improving what you play already? This would be a great starting point. Many guitarists have used my lessons to widen their musical horizons by adding new styles into their playing: Blues, Soul, Jazz, Funk, Classical, Hard Rock. It could also cover improvising (all styles), sight reading, fretboard knowledge - in short, being able to play anywhere on the fretboard - and of course understanding music theory.

Complete beginner? I meet a lot people who say "Ah, the guitar: I bought one but couldn't get started on it..." Well the short answer is they probably would have, if they'd had a few pointers on how to get started; i.e. what to practice in those early stages so they could make good progress, how to get over those new beginners' 'humps' and how to start sounding musical as soon as possible.

So, if you're getting new guitar (or bass, or ukulele, or banjo!) for Christmas... Get started with a free lesson from me! 

To take up this offer simply email me (dave@davebold.com) giving the name of the person receiving the guitar, I'll send you a personalised electronic copy of the flyer below. After that just contact me to arrange a time for your lesson. Job done. 

This could also be a major help if you're making a New Year's resolution to play a few songs on your new guitar by Easter; what a great start this would be! 

If you're gifting a guitar to someone it also makes the best of your Christmas present and helps sort out your wannabe a guitarist's New Years Resolution.  And.... if your own resolution was to get them started on a musical instrument, that's two NY resolutions sorted in one hit!  Simple!


Know someone else who may be interested? Use the buttons ⇙ below to share. Thanks.

Been busy!

After a run of recent gigs, mainly centring around the King's Coronation events and the London Marathon, I can take a break to concentrate on teaching. Then finish the month of May at Billy's in Manor Park, Lewisham (Sunday 28th pm) and Bank Holiday Monday at Pistachios in Manor Park Gardens, Hither Green, and then start June with another Daylight Inn event in Petts Wood on the 1st June.


Sunny Day with GCQ at Pistachio's!

















Another sunny day (with GCQ and Jimmy Beckley) at Petts Wood Street Party!


Spring/Summer Gigs 2023

Spring / Summer public gigs. Catch me somewhere!

April

6th - 8-11pm: Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, Bromley. (Green Chain Qt)

23rd - 9am-12noon: London Marathon, Greenwich (Meantime Road Runners)

 

May

4th - 8-11pm: Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, Bromley. (Green Chain Qt)

6th - pm: Street Party, Beckenham (Green Chain Qt + guests)

7th - pm: Street Party, Bickley (Green Chain Qt + guests)

8th - 2.30-7.30pm: Golder's Hill Park Bandstand, Hampstead Heath (GCQ) 

28th - 2pm Jazz In The Park - Billy's, Manor Park, Hither Green SE13 5QZ 

29th - 2pm Pistachios In The Park, Hither Green (GCQ)


June

1st - 8-11pm: Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, Bromley. (Green Chain Qt)

14th - 3pm: Fellowship Arms event, Bellingham, Catford (Duo with Jimmy Beckley)

24th - pm: TBC  Manor Park Festival (Green Chain Qt)


July

6th - 8-11pm: Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, Bromley. (Green Chain Qt + guests) 


August

3rd - 8-11pm: Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, Bromley. (Green Chain Qt)

13th - 3-5pm: Parliament Hill Fields Bandstand, Hampstead Heath (GCQ)


September

7th - 8-11pm: Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, Bromley. (Green Chain Qt)

Has RGT morphed into LCM?

Well er..  not quite! The Registry Of Guitar Tutors (RGT) instruction and exam system has been part of the London Music College Exams group for a few years now. But things evolve and it is now fully part of the London College Of Music (LCM) and is now rebranded as ‘RGT@LCM’.


Since its creation in 1992, RGT has collaborated with the London College of Music (LCM), which is part of the University of West London (UWL), to provide internationally-recognised accredited exams across the spectrum of popular guitar music in electric, rock, acoustic, jazz, bass guitar and ukulele – from beginner to Diploma level.


Whatever the fretted instrument: RGT has it covered
RGT@LCM will be managed by LCM Examinations, assisted by RGT’s current Chief Examiner Merv Young. LCM is working closely with RGT to ensure a smooth transition. 

Anyone currently taking an examination or thinking of taking an examination in the future will not be affected by the merger, as RGT exams will continue to be administered and examined in the same way by the same skilled personnel. 

There are currently no plans to change any of the existing RGT syllabuses or exam handbooks. The considerable benefits of RGT membership to guitar teachers will remain in place.

As ever more information is available at the RGT website: http://www.rgt.org/exams/index.php  And on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/RegistryOfGuitarTutors/

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

 

Thanks to all my students who I've had the pleasure of teaching this year - online and in-person.  


Thanks also to the venues and musicians that I worked with from spring to winter, inside, outside and all points in between! 


Wishing you all the best for Christmas and New Year and, as last year, and the year before, hoping it's better one for all of us than 2022!

Dave

Early Autumn Gigs 2022

Gigs continue with the Green Chain Quartet. Our monthly residency at The Daylight Inn in Petts Wood, Bromley is going well and has raised over £1,000 for charities since we started earlier this year.

The GCQ captured in glorious technicolor by Neil Stradwick


You can catch us live on the first Thursday of every month 8pm for some soul-jazz boogaloo

8pm Thursday 6th October @ The Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, Bromley. Guest vocalist Amanda Forbes. And special intermission guests: Felix's School Of Rock Choir.

8pm Thursday 3rd November @ The Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, Bromley. Special guest TBC. 

For more information see the official Green Chain Quartet website 

The GCQ are also playing the annual Hither Green Christmas FUSS Fair on Saturday afternoon of December 3rd. And I understand another Christmas outdoor special at Pistachio's In The Park, Manor Park Gardens, Lee, Lewisham date TBC.

My other dates this month include an early afternoon duo performance at The Fellowship Arms, Bellingham, with sax legend Jimmy Beckley: 12 til 2pm on 21st September.

Jimmy Beckley


Green Chain gigs - August 2022

At the moment my regular gig is with the Green Chain Quartet, featuring old friends and London music legends John Gittos on Hammond, Mel Wright on drums and Dave Morris on saxophones. 

Musically it's a sort of soul-jazz/jazz-blues of the kind of melting pot that produced Jimmy Smith, Richard 'Groove' Holmes, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Billy Hart and Grady Tate.  

But, because we've all played lots of different styles of music together, and we've been working with lots of guests across a wide spectrum of musical styles (most months at the Daylight Inn we feature a guest singer or instrumentalist) it's growing organically and, though originally we try to be as true as possible to the original soul-jazz boogaloo sound, I quite like the way we adjust to fit the styles required!

Hear us live at the following public events:

8pm Thursday 4th August @ The Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, Bromley. Guest vocalist Amanda Forbes.

3pm Sunday 7th August @ Hampstead Heath: Parliament Hill Bandstand, Parliament Hill Fields (near Tennis Courts) Highgate Road, London, NW5 1QR 

8pm Thursday 1st September @ The Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, Bromley. Special guest TBC.

For more information see the official Green Chain Quartet website 

Pistachios In The Park

Thanks to everyone who came along to hear the Jazz and Blues at Pistachio's In The Park at Manor House Gardens in Hither Green on Sunday. And special thanks to vocalist Chess Payne standing in at short notice for The Prof who was off with Covid.

I'm told there are more of these events to come at this lovely park setting so watch this space!

Full list of upcoming gigs with the GCQ at the GCQ website!

The Green Chain Quartet





Live at The Daylight!

Lovely gig at the Daylight Inn in Petts Wood, Bromley last week with the fabulous Green Chain Quartet, It's a new monthly residency with guests.

Each month the event raises money for a charitable cause. This one was Bromley Food Band and a decent amount of money was raised for them.

Next one up at The Daylight is on Thursday 7th April. Doors open 8pm, music from 8.30pm. The charitable support for this one will be the people in Ukraine.

At 'The Daylight' (with extra lighting ðŸ™„ )








Upcoming gigs

Well the gigs are starting to come back...  Here's a selection of my events for 2022 with the fabulous Green Chain Quartet, including a new monthly residency with guests at The Daylight Inn, Petts Wood, Bromley. Looking forward to them!

2022

3rd March - The Daylight Inn, Petts Wood

7th April - The Daylight Inn, Petts wood

22nd April - Private Function Blackheath

5th May - The Daylight Inn, Petts Wood

4th June - Beckenham Street Party 

25th June - Clandon Wood Jazz Evening, Surrey

7th August - The Bandstand, Hampstead Heath

In the pink with the Green Chain Quartet


New guitar for Christmas? Get a free lesson from me!

This offer has been popular for the last few years, so I'm offering it again this year, although slightly different due to the Covid-19 Omicron restrictions in that my lessons are currently only online, through Skype, Zoom, Webex or Facetime. Although if anything like 2021 this will revert to face to face lessons as the pandemic risk reduces.

Improving what you play already? This would be a great starting point. Many guitarists have used my lessons to widen their musical horizons by adding new styles into their playing: Blues, Soul, Jazz, Funk, Classical, Hard Rock. It could also cover improvising (all styles), sight reading, fretboard knowledge - in short, being able to play anywhere on the fretboard - and music theory.

Complete beginner? I meet a lot people who say "Ah, the guitar: I bought one but couldn't get started on it..." Well the short answer is they probably would have, if they'd had a few pointers on how to get started; i.e. what to practice in those early stages so they could make good progress, how to get over those new beginners' 'humps' and how to start sounding musical as soon as possible.

So, if you're getting new guitar (or bass, or ukulele, or banjo!) for Christmas... Get started with a free lesson from me! 

To take up this offer simply email me (dave@davebold.com) giving the name of the person receiving the guitar, I'll send you a personalised electronic copy of the flyer below. After that just contact me to arrange a time for your lesson. Job done. 

This could also be a major help if you're making a New Year's resolution to play a few songs on your new guitar by Easter; what a great start this would be! 

If you're gifting a guitar to someone it also makes the best of your Christmas present and helps sort out your wannabe a guitarist's New Years Resolution.  And, if your own resolution was to get them started on a musical instrument, that's two NY resolutions sorted in one hit!  Simple!


Know someone else who may be interested? Use the buttons ⇙ below to share. Thanks.

Christmas Bash at Pistachio's In The Park - Sunday 19th from 11.30

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Hither Green Christmas FUSS Fair! 

The fab Green Chain Quartet are ending the musical year with a seasonal Christmas bash at Pistachio's In The Park in Manor House Gardens on Sunday lunchtime (12.00-1.00pm) 19th December and.. you're invited!

We've got all your favourite Xmas tunes, socially distanced (we're playing outside) to accompany your favourite seasonal coffee and pastries. There'll be festive singing too, we hope you're in good voice !


All the performers at Hither Green Christmas FUSS Fair (Thanks to Jilly Pepper for this photo)

GCQ - Live at the Hither Green Taproom - Friday 19th November

So what's happening? Well, the Green Chain Quartet and various guests continue to perform monthly at Brockley Brewery's - Hither Green Tap Room on Fridays for jazzy blues nights.  Next date: Friday 19th November 8-10pm.

It's a nice hipster vibe: Great beers, cool jazz and blues, deck chairs, lanterns, nice tacos, fire pits to keep you warm and a superb ambience.

Check the taco menu: https://www.tacocollective.co.uk/

Check the beer menu: https://www.brockleybrewery.co.uk/hither-green-taproom 

Check the band: Green Chain Quartet website for full details.

In the pink.. The Green Chain Quartet on function duty


Upcoming gigs 2021

Well, things may be turning a corner at long last. I've been doing a number of open air gigs to help fill up the diary.. things are  definitely looking brighter!

I'm out with the fabulous Green Chain Quartet and various guests at Brockley Brewery - Hither Green Tap Room for a monthly series of Saturday jazzy blues nights.  

The Green Chain Quartet
The next two are:  

        - Saturday June12th 

        - Saturday July 10th 

Get along there for a socially distanced brew, or a few, with live music and tacos with Taco Collective too! 

Book a table at:

https://www.brockleybrewery.co.uk/hither-green-taproom

Check the taco menu: 

https://www.tacocollective.co.uk/

See the Green Chain Quartet website for full details.


Looking ahead:

- Sunday 18th July afternoon 3-5pm I'm with 'The Great Cross Country Band' at the Greenwich Park Bandstand. We're playing both types of music.. Country, and Western..

- Sunday 30th August 3-5pm (Greenwich Park bandstand) I'll be with jazz and soulsters 'Meantime'.

- Sunday 3rd October: the legendary Maritime Road Runners soul band will be at 'Water Station 6' in Greenwich (Bottom of Maze Hill) for the return of the London Marathon! Early start, mind you... 9.30am - 12.00noon!


Improving your online teaching experience

Like many musicians who teach I moved my students to online lessons when the Pandemic lockdown began 12 months ago, back in March 2020... While this way of teaching instruments has become the norm, trying to teach music in real time with all the glitches, sound and latency issues on Zoom/Skype/Facetime/Webex etc., etc.. is never going to replace face to face lessons!

All that aside, things are improving on the digital platform front and there are a lot of measures you can take to make sure that what you use functions to the best of its ability. 

If you use Zoom check this out this guide to audio settings:

https://midnightmusic.com.au/2020/09/complete-guide-to-zoom-audio-settings-for-music-teachers/

Or this for Skype:

https://www.musicindustryhowto.com/how-to-teach-music-lessons-via-skype/

Sometimes though, whatever you try, it's just down the internet speed in your street, the sheer number of current users or next door using their microwave oven... ðŸ˜°

Here's to hoping we can all return to something more like normal life soon!

Dave

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Thanks to all my students who I've had the pleasure of teaching this year - mostly online.  


Thanks to the venues and musicians that I worked with before lock down early in the year. Hope to see you all up and running again before too long.


Wishing you all the best for Christmas and New Year and, for all our sakes, hoping its a much better one than 2020!

From my bubble to yours… 
wishing you a very Merry Christmas 

Dave

What do you need from a practice amplifier?

June 2020

This is an update of a blog post that I originally put up in 2014.

The following post runs the rule over different types of guitar practice amplifier, and looks at some of the many features useful in your practice routine.

At the bottom of this blog entry there is a list of amps by type, with links to the manufacturers' websites. Just Google the name of the amp to get many independent reviews on these products.

So.... Practice amps.. they're intended to help us practice aren't they?  Let's face it, there is a huge amount of music gear for us guitarists to acquire, some of it meeting our needs, some of it falling well short, some of it keeping its treasures buried deep in the technical manual that came with it, never to be discovered.  So, it's worth pausing a moment and considering what do we actually need?  Does the stuff that we think (or we are told) we need, actually serve its purpose? And very importantly, how easy is it to use?


CUBE-GX Guitar Amps with iOS Connectivity - Roland U.S. Blog
Roland produce an ever popular range of small amps


'What amp should I buy?' Is a question I get asked a lot from electric guitar students. If you're a beginning guitarist or an experienced player looking at making the most of your practice time there are some great features that some modern amps have built in that are helpful to your practice routine.

Some of these have extra 'fun' features, like DSP effects (Digital Signal Processing - i.e. chorus, flanging, phasers, delay etc) that are more likely to help you keep your fingers on the frets, but can also be distracting rather than being useful in your practice sessions... and you end up spending more time messing around to get specific sounds than practicing that new set of chords or scales..

Some of the advertising, even in reviews, dwell on the quality of the multitude of amp types, overdrive tones, the speaker simulators, DSP effects, the analogue quality of many digitally produced sounds (modelling amps) and the 'this famous person plays this same brand' factors.

While some of these features are amusing it's important to consider what existed before the practice amp? Well let's see; records, a metronome, your guitar and your ears..! Ok, I'm being facetious but those basic things will still cover 90% of what you need to practice on your instrument, and not one of them includes the word amplifier!

There are a pretty wide range of practice amps available with a variety of prices and functions. So generally what kind of things would be useful in a practice amplifier:

 - simplicity
 - small size/portability
 - headphone socket for quiet practice
 - a decent clean tone
 - a decent overdrive sound
 - straightforward EQ controls
 - a good quality authentic sounding reverb
 - connections - inputs and outputs: main in, headphone socket, auxiliary input etc.
 - good speaker quality at low/modest volume
 
                                          Fender Amp Mustang I V2 Combo: Amazon.co.uk: Musical Instruments

Practice aids (these are the really useful features so long as they are easily accessible on the amp)

  - Phrase looper: loopers allow you to play a phrase (e.g a riff or chords) and practice scales, arpeggios, improvisation etc., over it.  Basically it is form of short, direct recording. The looper should have an auto-quantise feature so any slight timing slips that you make are automatically corrected on playback.

  - Built in tuner: a very common feature these days, and essential to be at concert pitch (i.e. A = 440hz) when playing along to backing tracks, recordings etc. Still some practice amps do not have built in tuners.

  - Metronome and/or drum machine: A simple click to keep you in time, to help perfect your speed and phrasing, is really useful when you are learning. Drum track loops also help you to learn to sync with the drum parts in a variety of styles.

  - Auxiliary input: 1/8" socket for play along device (phone, mp3 player, tablet etc). Note a number of amplifiers are now adding the option to connect by bluetooth instead of/as well as a 1/8" socket.

  - Speed variation: ability to slow down tracks while keeping the music at the original pitch. These are great practice tools for working out and playing along with original song recordings. Unusual in practice amps, but are often available separately as a smartphone app but still need to be played through something so it can be heard, usually the practice amp's auxiliary input, and in some cases through Bluetooth.

  - Centre cancel: cancels the sound of the main instrument or voice being played on any recording, you can then use your instrument/voice in its place. These are sometimes available as linked smartphone or tablet apps, and are very useful to practice getting your guitar parts correct.

  - Headphone out socket: so you can practice quietly, without disturbing other folks in your house. Most of us hate to be overheard practising anyway, makes us self conscious and takes away some of the magic of when we finally perform it to the same listeners! In any case listening to someone practise their scales can be a form of torture...

Note: All of the above things are only really useful if you know how to access and use them. But many are also available in other forms, separate from the amp, and can be bought as separate units, e.g. loopers, centre cancel, drum loops, slow downers, metronome etc., some of these features are available as apps on your smart phone or tablet.. (watch our for a separate blog article on smart phone apps coming up on this very subject).

OK so you may be considering using a bigger practice amp that can also cover dual duty for band rehearsals or small gigs:


Desirable but not essential: (these features are sometimes available on practice amps)

 - Powered by mains and batteries - batteries are great for playing outside, on the street, in a field etc..

 - Recording output direct to a computer or tablet or smart phone, or memory card.

 - Foot-switchable channels - great if your amp is loud enough to compete with a live drummer..

 - Loud enough for rehearsal/small gigs as well as practice as above. See my note below on how to make your practice amp louder..

 - Line out for recording, that also doubles as line out for slaving another (bigger) amp, or feeding a line direct to a PA mixing board, could be useful if your amp is good enough/loud enough for small gigs.

 - Mic / line input for sing-along or another instrument, think restaurant's and coffee bars.

 - Full range speaker and flat band power stage, so acts as a reasonable sounding MP3 player as well as a guitar amp, a jack of all trades.. there are some out there.


                                             
Orange Crush Mini 3-Watt Guitar Combo Amp | PMT Online
** Note - to make your practice amp louder, do the following:
 - Put it up on a chair. Or tilt it upwards slightly... OK it's not really louder but everyone can hear it better!

 - Add a clean boost pedal, such as a Boss Graphic EQ, TC Spark Booster, Mooer Audio Pure Boost or similar, in front of the amp, and adjust the level as required.


Less useful: Most practice amps have these and the advertising spiel and non-independent reviews often make much of them... to be honest they are the icing on the cake, it's pretty rare that only a certain, very specific, type of sound will do, especially when you are practicing.

  - A plethora of amp types that sound roughly the same but with varying amounts of cleanness or drive/distortion

  - A wide selection of modulation affects: flanger/phaser/chorus/delay/touch wah etc (one effect of decent quality is enough!)

So, having identified what we might need lets have a look at some of the gear out there:

Well established small combo amps with varying amounts of practice aids/features:


Hifi - doubles as a mini PA, or sound system:


Small, house friendly, desktop size stuff.....

  • Yamaha THR 10 (&5) - nice looking, good range of sounds.
  • Roland JS-10 - lots of practice features, read the manual to get the best out of it.
  • Roland Cube Lite - nice looking practice amp, good features, includes iOS dock.

Direct from your guitar to headphones, or computer, or through your phone!
(i.e. tiny! No speakers, just a headphone socket, great for quiet practice and very portable)

  • Tascam GB-10 -  mini practicing device. Range of features.
  • iRig - plugs directly from guitar to your phone to headphones/mini speaker.
  • Vox Amplug - plug from guitar to headphones or mini speaker.
  • Apogee Jam - interface to use with your smart phone/computer.
  • Boss BR80 - mini recording studio, with practice features.

                            amPlug 2 - Vox Amps

Personal favourites:
 - Vox Mini5 Rhythm - small, loud (5w), great sound, separate mic input, onboard drum loops, 1/8 inch auxiliary input, 'phones output, mains or battery powered. Suitable for busking, practice, small gigs. 

 - Roland Cube 40XL - great sounds, loud (40w), good modulation FX, built in looper, 4 channels, 1/8 inch auxiliary input, 'phones output. Suitable for small to medium size gigs too. Only available second hand (been superceded by the 40GX model, which doesn't have a looper). Check eBay etc.

Useful online review of mini guitar amps here from Guitar Brain: 
The 13 Best Mini Portable Guitar Amps 

Even more amp options reviewed here at Beginner Guitar HQ:
The Best Guitar Practice Amp

Finally.... a guitarists' health and wallet warning: GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) is often used as a substitute for practicing, i.e. buying equipment in the hope it will make up for a shortfall in playing technique, or worse in the vague hope that getting new stuff will improve you as a player!

The Covid-19 Effect...

Update December 2020 

Hi all, as with everyone else, the Covid-19 pandemic has been having a direct effect on my work, both performances and teaching. With all my teaching now online and gigs totally gone AWOL for the time being it's been a strange year to say the least..

As a result many of the gig listings on my blog posts below this one will have changed, and all my lessons are currently online. 

I'll post out again from time to time as things get back to normal. Which, with a vaccine in sight, now looks possible, even if we are currently still locked down... 

In the meantime please stay safe and well everyone. 

Dave

Looking forward to things getting back to something like normal...