It was rather evident during my sessions with Andrew that my old EKO E20 had seen better days. The lower frets have been worn for some time and it was becoming increasingly difficult to hold down any kind of chord without buzzing or ripping my fingers apart. I’d got to the point of putting it aside and […]
I have to say how much I am beginning to enjoy these sessions in the studio with Matthew. It’s great to be able to bounce ideas off him and get feedback when I ask the odd technical question. Last week was the guitar session. This went very well indeed, and we had good time for […]
I’m so pleased to say that despite the initial nerves, my section went very well, I think. I fluffed my words a couple of times and my mic usage was a bit erratic, but I don’t think it mattered too much. The Hop was quite empty (I guess Monday night isn’t going to be as […]
Last rehearsal with Andrew was on Wednesday before my first open mic at The Hop next Monday. This went pretty well I thought, only a couple of slips. One particularly with the mid-section of (Don’t Hurry) Slow Down, where I simply can’t see the fret board while singing, to get the upper bar chords right. […]
Andrew had me going through my set, firstly making sure my mic positioning was correct. As I’m suffering from a bit of back trouble (the benefits of getting on a bit….!) I’ve had to modify my footing, so I needed a bit of instruction before this came right. I don’t know why, but I’m having […]
Firstly, I made sure I’d remembered as much as possible before going across to Leeds. I went through my notes again fully, and had a little practice of the exercises that Matthew had covered with me a few weeks before. I have been practicing Ng warm ups and stretching exercises anyway prior to singing, and […]
I’m now into session 3 of performance coaching. Andrew has been giving me tips on how to make my songs more dynamic on stage, and today he introduced mic technique as well. I have been practicing at home over the last week or so with an unplugged mic on stand, to learn to be comfortable […]
One of the first things I’m finding with this whole process, is that I’m having to spend more and more time documenting the songs. For the older stuff (Daytime and Slow Down for example) I’m going to have to write down the chords and the lyrics, something I just memorised over the years and didn’t […]