Hi there,
I learnt guitar from Justin here starting in 2009. Having learnt lead to being in a few bands over the ensuing decade, until a baby in late 2018 lead to not really being in a position to play around with my mates anymore.
When things settled down with the baby, the quarenteen was in full effect, but I had a practice space, and so I spent Friday nights alone there. I had had an idea:
When I was 19, in the ’90s, I had bought a guitar and “played” it, with absolutely no idea what I was doing. I knew, though, that I wanted nothing to do with those open chords that the teachers and guys at church used. Satriani was my man, and I wanted to solo. So I soloed. So I thought.
There is an episode of the sci fi comedy Red Dwarf where they get attacked by a shapeshifting alien. He copies this guy Dave Lister exactly, and his crew mates need to descern which is the read Dave, and which the alien.
One asks them to play a guitar solo. One does, and shreds some licks, and so they kill him.
You see, Dave has no idea that he can’t play, and he genuinely thinks his inept twiddling sounds like what the alien played. I was like this at 19. I couldn’t play until my mid 30s and the Beginner’s Course. I thought I was experimental and that my emotion was coming through… I was just delusional and terrible.
My plan for myself during the pandemic was to try to play like I used to play before I knew how to play. For years, I had dont the courses here, diligently learning how to play songs from beginning to end, use the chords I had learnt, study theory etc, and then learn the songs for the bands Iwas in and practice them up. But my new plan was to jam like I used to, alone and unrestricted, but now with over a decade of playing properly under my belt.
So I jammed, and recorded the jams.
This was in 2020, and the jams kind of reflect the post-apocalyptic vibe of the streets. I kept them, and after 6 months, went through them with a mind to turn the good bits into songs.
So, I have spent the last three years writing songs.
I recorded some of them last month, and releasing that EP will be the end of that phase.
Not sure what happens next, but glad to have done this bit.
I didn’t know who to tell, so I thought I would write it here, and maybe get involved around here again.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Winterbourne
) It’s like one of those ‘dance like no one is looking’ things
such a great series back in the 90’s.
Thanks for sharing your story, interesting reading, and especially enjoyed the Red Dwarf analogy! Really need to go back and watch that show again, used to love it!