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How long have you been playing? How long have you been playing? I began playing bass guitar in December 1980, the week after
John Lennon died. That first bass was a second-hand Kimbara Jazz copy
that I used through an awful 50 watt Synchron amp, but we all thought
it was great at the time. When I bought my first electric six-string guitar (a Gibson SG) in 1983, the sale included two free lessons with Des Richards. After
these two lessons, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by musicians of
various standards whom I could learn from and ask questions, so, the circumstances
meant that I didn’t get round to having any more lessons. I also spent many hours studying various players on records and on video, enabling me to copy their hand positions and techniques. My knowledge of musical theory comes from studying what I could do and investigating why it worked, sort of reverse learning really. It would have been much quicker and easier to learn the theoretical side as I went along. Yes, to Anna and I have a daughter, Harriet. Do you come from a musical family? Not really, maybe a family full of music lovers, but not musicians. My Dad used to play a bit of piano and harmonica, but not
to any level and his singing was dreadful. The most direct musical influence in my family comes from
my Auntie June and Uncle Jim. Jim plays guitar and penny whistle and as
a kid I spent many hours with him, arguing about the rights and wrongs
of modern music, but also learning a great deal from him during my early
stages. At home nowadays, my wife Anna doesn’t play anything,
though we listen to music almost constantly and attend a lot of gigs/concerts. I went to Durham Road Infant and Junior Schools, then to St. Julian’s Comprehensive School, which seems to have supplied a huge list of local musicians. Before, during and after my time there, there seems to have been a greater number of quality musicians emerging from St. Julian’s than any other school. To name just a few that I know of – Hywel Maggs, Richard Parfitt, Jeff Rose, Julian Smith, Mike Doherty, Nick Stead, Chris McDonagh, Paul Bale, Tim Chapman, Peter Gough, Mike Cole, Richi Glover, Jon Lee, Simon Gibbs, Paul McCarthy, Mark Goddard, Tim Jones etc. etc. What qualifications do you have? I have 10 GCE ‘O’ Levels, none of which are in music. Musically I have no qualifications at all. This constantly leads people to ask me the question “How can you teach music if you have no musical qualifications yourself?” Well, the way I teach is not geared towards making people
pass exams, but towards making people understand how music works in a
practical sense. Also, I do not teach to any set syllabus, as I believe that every individual has their own way of understanding and their own requirements. Therefore, I make decisions on a lesson by lesson basis as to what I think should come next in each pupil’s development, depending on the feedback I get from that pupil and the order I feel they are ready to tackle new subjects. Somebody may have many musical qualifications, but this
does not necessarily make them a good teacher. Teaching guitar, especially in a one-to-one environment,
is very much a ‘people skill’ and, in addition to musical
knowledge, requires experience, common sense and communication with pupils,
none of which can be ‘studied’. Hence the reason that my lack of musical qualifications has not prevented me becoming a teacher, as I try to concentrate on communicating with each pupil in the best way for them to understand and improve. Yes I can, but no I don’t. What I mean is I can read music in as much as I understand musical notation, but I don’t read music because my sight-reading is so slow that it is of no benefit to me whatsoever. I do sight-read chord charts, but not notation. My understanding of music means that I have a head start
before I even begin to listen to a piece of music, but I am much quicker
with my ears than with my eyes, so the best way for me to learn a piece
is to hear it and copy it, not to read it. Top Not officially, but I tried to help them out in any
way I was able. Being a guitar teacher I have always been in contact with
young bands who need somewhere to rehearse and a helping hand towards
gigging and recording. I had always said that if I won the lottery, I
would buy the old art college in Clarence Place and turn it into a centre
for local musicians to rehearse, record and generally hang out –
basically a large scale Transpose. Once Transpose was up and running I didn’t actually
have anything to do with them directly (apart from writing the
odd piece for their ‘Moist’ magazine), but I used Transpose to rehearse and I recommended them regularly. I thought Dave did a great
job and always gave him my full support if ever he asked for it. I have never been involved with any of the projects that have set up at the same site since. Not directly, but I have done guitar tuition for Speed ever
since they opened back in 1990. I have also worked in the shop, but only as an extra pair of hands at busy times and not for several years. Also, I used to do all their guitar set-ups and maintenance for them, but as the shop got busier and so did I; I was no longer able to carry on with this. Since Speed closed their Newport shop in 2007 I have done far less tuition for them, but I still teach for them occasionally, as after all the years I have worked with them, Nick Fowler still continues to support me through Speed's Swansea shop and a very flettering link on their web site (www.speedmusic.co.uk). Thanks Nick! Are you a member of The Musician’s Union? Yes, of course and I recommend that every other musician should be too. Who do you think are the best / worst local bands? I’m very out of touch with the local scene and I hear
constant break-up and reform rumours, so I’m not sure who is still
around. My very out of date answer would be that a few years ago I did like The Fuzz Effect (ex Jettison), Gracie and Stormflies most, though I’m sure they have all split now and I have also enjoyed Guacamole (though they’re not really local) and The Dead City Icons - though I’ve only seen them once each. I also enjoy The Henrees. The one local band I do enjoy who have come along more recently are Back Alley Sally. I would never say who I thought was the worst. Are you a judge for the annual TJ’s Battle Of The Bands? No, it’s not an ongoing thing, but I have been in the past. In 2001 I judged along with Chris Thomas (South Wales Argus) and Dave McCalden (Transpose Music Rooms) and in 2002 I judged with Jeff Rose (guitarist with Skindred and ex Dub War and Blood Brothers) and Russell Edwards (ex bass player with Novocaine). Both times it was good fun. With which aspect of your musical ability are you most confident? People tend to ask this expecting me to answer my guitar
playing, my bass playing or my singing. However, the actual answer is
none of these. I am very much a confidence player, in the sense that to
give my best performance I need to feel confident. I have never been the
type of player to reproduce the same performance level no matter what
the circumstances. I have been very lucky to work with many quality musicians
and vocalists and consequently I know many people who I consider to be
better guitarists, bass players and singers than I am. You hear talk about people having a ‘natural gift’ when it comes to music - if I am lucky enough to have such a gift, it’s certainly that I have been blessed with a ‘good ear’. How did you start vocally arranging? During rehearsals for the 1972 Durham Road School nativity
performance, one of the shepherds was croaking their way through the songs
so badly that each was asked to remain silent for a verse in order to
identify the culprit. It started by accident really. Since a very young age I have listened to quality harmony vocal singing (Beatles, Beach Boys, Queen, Abba, MGM musicals), so I was sub-consciously learning about harmonies long before I ever began performing them. Looking back I realise that I used to sing the harmonies rather than the melody when I sang along to a lot of those old songs. By the time I started performing music, I was always a musician in bands that I felt needed harmony vocals, so I tried to sing them. As time went on I got better and by the time I got together with Apple Pie and had other harmony singers to work with, I was really able to start singing harmony and enjoy it. I always took a big part in arranging the harmonies for
every band I played with, but I was not officially referred to as a ‘vocal
arranger’ until 1996. It was difficult at first, as I was stepping into the shoes
of Paul Da Vinci This became my first programme credit and hence the first time that my name was nationally circulated as ‘Vocal Arranger’. I continued to vocally arrange That’ll Be The Day for the 1998, 1999 and 2000 productions. Top Yes, Jon was one of my closest friends. For anyone who is interested there are three links below that take you to further information about Jon.
Who have you seen live in concert? Hanging on the wall of my teaching room are seven picture-frames,
containing collages of tickets, kept from almost every concert/gig I have
ever been to. Who is the best guitarist in the world? In the words of Eric Clapton; I couldn’t agree more, as I also believe that there
is no such thing and hence this is am impossible question to answer. The question which I can try to answer is “Who is your favourite guitarist?” though even this is very difficult as I enjoy listening to so many. For me guitarists can be enjoyable to listen to for their
rhythm or lead playing, their ability to create melodies, their tone,
their ‘nastiness’ etc. I suppose I may seem unusual to some guitarists in as much
as I regard speed and technical ability to be an almost unimportant requirement
towards becoming a great guitar player. So, my idea of ‘the best’ is certainly not ‘the
fastest’. This is not to say that I am anti-speed, as you will see
as I go on to mention players by name that this is certainly not the case.
So, which guitarists do I like? Well, I like some of the old rock ‘n’ rollers like Chuck Berry and also George Harrison, as well as the more modern rock ‘n’ roll players like Mark Flanagan (Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra) and especially Brian Setzer (The Stray Cats). For bluesy playing I like Gary Moore, Eric Clapton, Robben Ford, Johnny Winter, Albert Collins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Healey, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) and Jonny Lang. For being rockin’ and nasty I love Slash (Guns ‘n’ Roses), Edward Van Halen (Van Halen), Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne Band), Jake E. Lee (Ozzy Osbourne Band), Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), Billy Duffy (The Cult), Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Angus Young (AC/DC), Jason Becker (David Lee Roth Band), Jon Greenwood (Radiohead), Justin Hawkins (The Darkness) and Del Marquis (The Scissor Sisters). For wonderful rhythm playing I like Paul Simon, James Taylor, Eva Cassidey, Jack Johnson, Marc Bolan (T Rex), Nile Rodgers (Chic), Pete Townshend (The Who), Paul Fox (The Ruts), Malcolm Young (AC/DC), Dave Grohl & Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters), Francis Rossi & Rick Parfitt (Status Quo) and Kenwyn House (Reef). For pure right note at the right time creative playing I love David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Don Felder (Eagles), Brian May (Queen), Robbie McIntosh (The Pretenders / Paul McCartney Band), Steve Lukather (Toto), Keith Scott (Bryan Adams Band), Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs / Deep Purple), Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi), Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), Chaz Jankel (Ian Dury & The Blockheads), Albert Lee and of course Larry Carlton. Also, though in smaller doses, I can sometimes enjoy listening to
players such as: Alvin Lee (Ten Years After), Paul Barrere (Little Feat), Lowell George (Little
Feat), Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter (Steely Dan), Elliot Randall (Steely
Dan), Joe Walsh (Eagles), Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Ritchie Blackmore
(Deep Purple/Rainbow), Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy), Eric Bell (Thin Lizzy),
Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake), Eric Schenkman (The Spin Doctors), Davey Johnstone
(Elton John Band), Sonny Landreth (John Hiatt Band), Dave Grissom (Joe Ely
Band / John Mellencamp Band), Graham Coxon (Blur),
Francis Dunnery (It
Bites), Dave Kelly (The Blues Band), Chris Hayes (Huey Lewis & The
News), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine / Audioslave), Mark Yates (Terrorvision), Captain
Sensible (The Damned), Mike Enziger (Incubus), Mark Tremonti (Creed / Alterbridge ), Mark Chapman (A), Kyle Cook
(Matchbox Twenty), John Emsley & Nick Denson (The Glitterati), John 5 (aka John Lowery - Marilyn Manson / David Lee Roth Band), Jeff Beck, Ry Cooder, Joe Bonamassa, Chet Atkins, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry
Donahue and occasionally even Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. My favourite of these? Due to my wide taste in guitar players, it changes day by day for me, depending upon which mood I am in and what I've listened to most recently, but the one who consistently ends up top of my list is David Gilmour. In terms of pure technical ability, speed, accuracy and astonishing use of a guitar, whilst still maintaining melody, the best I’ve ever seen is Steve Morse. In terms of being blown away by someone’s live guitar sound, memories that stand out are hearing Brian May with Queen at Live Aid in 1985, David Gilmour with Pink Floyd at Wembley Stadium in 1988, Francis Dunnery with It Bites at The Newport Centre in 1989, Nuno Bettencourt with Extreme at The Newport Centre in 1995, Jon Greenwood with Radiohead at The Brixton Academy in 1997, 'John 5' with Marilyn Manson at the Reading Festival in 2001, Billy Gibbons with ZZ Top at The Hammersmith Apollo in 2002 and Gary Moore just about every time I’ve seen him. This list is obviously full of famous names, but just to
show how widespread I believe fantastic guitarists are - two guitarists based in my home town of Newport,
Rob Davies and Hywel Maggs, both of whom I have been lucky enough to play
alongside, can in my opinion compete with all of those mentioned, in terms
of being brilliant in their own field. Is it true that bass players are failed guitarists? Now I’ve stopped laughing I’ll try to answer
this one. Every guitarist can pick up a bass and get a simple tune
out of it, whereas bass players can’t do the same in reverse and
play simple chords on guitar as they have never had to learn them. So,
a lot of guitarists mistakenly assume that the bass is a far easier instrument
to play. As I was initially a bass player, who moved onto guitar at a later date and have continued to play both I hope I’m in a position to compare the two impartially. In my opinion, when guitarists who are not experienced bass players pick up a bass, they often tend to play it like a guitarist. What I mean is that the rhythmical side of bass playing is sometimes very different than that of guitar playing and guitarists have a habit of completely missing that difference and often over-playing. It is one thing playing the bass ‘correctly’, so that all the notes fit - it’s another thing playing it ‘well’, so that all the notes still fit, but also rhythmically accompany the drums in driving the band along. Being a good guitarist certainly doesn’t automatically make you a good bass player, as when it is played well, the bass guitar is a difficult instrument to play in it’s own right. Do you have any hobbies outside music? Outside music my two main loves are cricket and travel. I have played club cricket since I was 10 years old, starting
my youth cricket at Newport C.C. and keeping wicket for the county (Gwent) at both
schools and club youth level from the age of 14 up to 19 (1980-81: seven
Under-15 caps; 1983-1985: fifteen Under-19 caps, two as captain). A lot of my travelling has also been governed by my love
of cricket, having been to Australia three times and to New Zealand, South Africa, India
and the West Indies as a spectator of international cricket.
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