Blog

18 November 2020

Lockdown Lead Guitar episode #27 is on YouTube, this one was inspired by a student asking about the song, so it felt like a little self indulgent improv was in order. The original version of the song from JJ Cale dates back to 1975, with the Clapton version appearing 2 years later. The version of…


10 November 2020

No gig updates to share just at the moment, however there appears to have been some progress on a Covid vaccine, so just maybe thing will start to improve, with that in mind, yesterday I recorded the next installment of Lockdown Lead Guitar This time I’ve gone right back to the start of the Speedtrap…


2 November 2020

I noticed last week that it’s been a while since I last uploaded a Lockdown Lead Guitar video to YouTube, I’d been listening to the recent Queen + Adam Lambert live album, so chose a song from that. This solo features a technique that Dr May often uses where he’ll play a note, then fret…


7 October 2020 – R.I.P. Eddie Van Halen

It was late yesterday evening while I was watching an old Star Trek movie (Why does god need a starship anyway?), I glanced at my phone and a guitar playing friend (and massive VH fan) had posted the news that Eddie had passed away… My earliest memory of Van Halen (not including the Darth Vader…


29 September 2020

The last time I touched on Bon Jovi for my Lockdown Lead Guitar series on YouTube I said if I covered anything by the band again it’d either be some classic Jovi from the 80s or something more up to date focusing on Phil X’s playing – and that’s what we have here. While it’s…


18 September 2020

I’m a couple of days behind schedule with updating the blog and front page, but this week I recorded another episode of Lockdown Lead Guitar, and this time I tackled a little Dark Side era Pink Floyd. The guitar I’m using is a modified Squier Classic Vibe Stratocaster that I bought new in 2010. The…


8 September 2020 – Guitar Lesson Gift Vouchers

With 2020 flying by at an unheard of rate I’m thinking about Christmas – last year I had a few people come to me to inquire about buying guitar lessons as a gift for family members, so I’ve added the option to buy a gift voucher for the budding shredder in the family. Vouchers can…


1 September 2020 – Lockdown Lead Guitar #22

With lockdown conditions still being an issue for many of us I recorded a new episode of Lockdown Lead Guitar, this time I’ve gone back to the 90s and recorded the solo from Smells Like Teen Spirit – again using the new amp simulation software that I tried out last week. The video can be…


25 August 2020 – Lockdown Lead Guitar #21

Having been trying the couch to 5k app in an effort to be more active there has been an additional benefit – while I’m running I’m able to enjoy music in way that’s becoming old fashioned; listening (more or less) to an entire album, and this week one that I got through was Guns ‘n…


10 August 2020: Off Your Rocker Live on the Facebooks.

Having returned to rehearsals a little over week ago, OYR have decided to do a Facebook Live performance on Sunday 16th of August 2020. It’s available to anyone on Facebook and will begin around 8pm. Event details can be found here.