2013 Challenge - April

Guitarist/Composer Jimmy Wahlsteen

Whoops, I realise I have let this blog sit a bit dormant for a couple of months while I got distracted with other 'life' stuff.  Time to get back on it and get things moving again. 

Lets go back a couple of months to April.  Yes, I have still managed to keep at my initial goal of 'a song a month', and in April, I learned the wonderful piece 'Hitched For Life' by Jimmy Wahlsteen. 

I found the timing of this piece quite a bit of work to get right.  Also, this song required a capo on the 8th (!) fret - the highest I have ever played with a capo on, which was interesting in it's own right. 

I dedicate this song to my dearest wife, to whom I am hitched for life... ;-)

How To Listen

​I found this very inspiring TED talk today whilst randomly browsing their site.  Evelyn Glennie is a very gifted deaf musician with amazing talent, and an extremely engaging speaking voice.

Here she talks about the art of listening.  I mean, REALLY listening... If you have a spare 32 minutes, grab a coffee and/or a sandwich and sit back and enjoy her talk.​

Time 2 - Revisited

For my 2013 Challenge, in February, I posted about learning Ewan Dobson's "Time 2".  At that time, I was still struggling with getting the speed up to where he plays it, which is around 140BPM.​

This weekend, I decided to try and achieve 'racing speed' with this song, and recorded myself on video playing it through.​

In my opinion, it is still a bit sloppy and could use some tidying up, but I am pleased that I managed to keep the tempo and momentum going for the whole song.​

2013 Challenge - March

​Australian Guitarist/Composer Owen Van Larkins

Continuing my challenge to learn one new acoustic piece and record it for every month of the year, this month I have gone closer to home and picked a wonderfully beautiful piece from Australian guitarist/composer Owen Van Larkins.  This short piece, simply titled "Freyah's Song" was one I saw on Youtube and as soon as I heard the first three or four bars, I knew I had to learn it.​

It is really interesting how this song sounds almost like two guitars, but it is only one guitar here.  The cleverness of the composer shines through in very good note choices that complement the guitar, and the open (DADGAD) tuning very well.​

This was the first song I've ever played with the capo so high up the neck - on the 6th fret !! So I was glad I had the top of the line G7 capo, because they really get out of the way, as well as being easy to put on and remove.​

This was the first of my acoustic songs that a friend in New York asked if he could download as an MP3 so he could listen to it while riding his bike...​