NEXT CLUB NIGHT: Thurs 3rd May 2012
CLUB NIGHT IS THE FIRST THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH
at The Churchill Rooms, 54 Molesworth Street
Wadebridge, Cornwall, PL27 6DR
Doors open at 7.45pm.
Entrance £3.00 on the door
Open to all who have an interest in playing the guitar at all levels.
If you have not been before please do come along with your guitar
and join our friendly group.
Peter Halsey's Guitar
Peter has built his first guitar. Based on a Martin OM with a spruce top, it has a mahogany back, sides and neck and an ebony fingerboard.
He intends to make more now he has all the the jigs and tools to do so.
The guitar wasn't quite finished when these photos were taken -- it looks even better now that it has had its final coats of lacquer and been polished up.
We can tell you that it is extremely well made, plays well and sounds wonderful. The intonation is superb and it has really good tone, volume and balance. It is hard to believe a first guitar could sound so good. But it did when he demo'ed it at the club in March.
Cracking Start to 2012
A successful January club night got the new year off to a good start due, in part, to local guitarist Mike Barker giving a polished set in the style of Chet Atkins. His Gretch guitar caused a fair bit of interest and although we are primarily an acoustic club we are not averse to some modest amplification in keeping with the style, as used to good effect by Mike.
October TreatFor our October club night we were treated to an evening with local (well, Launceston) guitar hero Mike Silver who has been playing professionally for many years and recorded a number of CDs.
Mike is providing a workshop as well as performing his songs for us so there should be plenty for everyone, so spread the word as everyone is welcome.
For those not familiar with the great man, check out his website mikesilver.jigsy.com which features videos as well as loads of photos and information.
Summertime Blues
The June club night got off to a good start as we welcomed two new members – Jason, who will bring some welcome youthfulness to the club, and Neville who treated us to a couple of songs. Welcome to you both.
Well, we didn’t have a guest for the June night but there was absolutely no problem filling the time – in fact it felt as though we could have carried on all night! This was not just down to our ‘regular’ contributors who can get up and perform without batting an eyelid, but members who haven’t played or sang much, if at all, to an audience. This can be a bit daunting and sometimes result in a case of the ‘terrors’. I don’t think there is anything legal you can take for this so the only cure is to keep performing until it goes away! So, having said that , I guess it’s time to start practising for the next club night which is on July 7th.
May Meet Definitely All Right NowRICH TURNER was our guest this month. He gave a workshop based on three different songs and explained the basics of TAB reading.
The first song was Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ (with simplified and actual TAB) followed by Eric Clapton’s ‘Layla’ and then he showed some nifty chords for ‘All right Now’ by Free. Rich provided sheet music for all three songs and gave expert individual tuition to all who required it.
As a bonus he had brought along some competitively priced strings and other guitar ‘stuff’ from his shop.
If you haven’t seen Rich before come along to the club next time we invite him – you will love it.
We were pleased to be joined by a new member – Steve Pender. Hi Steve and welcome.
The next club night is on 2nd June and since we will not have a guest it will be all down to us so we need to start brushing up those songs and tunes that we have been dying to perform!
Spring Variety for April 2011
We had a great and varied meeting at the start of April.
Many of the members entertained us with some great guitar playing and singing.
Andrew started with a guitar solo of "My baby's coming home".
Heather played Kay Star-style, "There isn't no sweet man worth the salt of my tears".
Adrian sang the Talking Heads's "Like Human's Do".
"The Jazz Man" covered the old classic, "Moon River", with Bill and Andy singing harmonies.
We had a treat with Simon and Carl performing their own music. Very jazzy and bluesy.
John played the Simon and Garfunkle oldies "Scarborough Fair" and "The Boxer".
And Andy gave us Charles Scott Boyer's "Please be with me", from Eric Clapton's 1974 album 461 Ocean Boulevard.
Plus we welcomed Mike Fullerton who joined us for the first time.
Chasing Those February Blues!
With no guest for the February meeting it was all down to us. There was no shortage of contributors and it turned out to be a great success, not least because we were able to welcome three new members, Angie, Bridget and Ken. We hope they will soon join the ranks of our ‘regulars’ and we extend a warm welcome to them.
There was a terrific mix of music this month from a Fu Fighters song ,‘Times Like These’ sung and played by Bill to an early classical piece, ‘The Earl Of Salisbury’ played by Mike. Kay sang ‘Over the Rainbow’ with a nifty finger picking accompaniment and Andrew played a lovely instrumental version of ’The Water is Wide’.
It was great to hear John’s take on James Taylor’s ‘You can Close Your Eyes’ and Graham gave us a bit of fun with ‘Raindrops Keep Falling on Your Head’,
accompanied on the Ukulele – his new ‘baby’. Heather and the ‘gang’ (Bill, Ursula and Mike) produced a lively version of Ralph McTell’s ‘Last Train and Gone’.
All in all a great session.
To make sure the March meeting is equally successful we will need to come up with some new tunes and songs. All contributions will be welcome. Also, it would be a good time to air any thoughts and ideas you may have to improve our club.
We are looking for ideas and anyone who would like to perform please contact Graham on 01841 533389