Category: Uncategorized
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Reaching The Summit
Guitar practice was done and dusted, time for a wee stroll. And so it was off down to Abbey Street for the old reliable 130 bus to the Clontarf seafront. Alighting at the wooden bridge of Dollymount, it was out with the headlphones and on with the walking, direction Sutton. First up on the sounds…
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Building a repertoire
Jesu, Joy of Mans Desiring’ and ‘Over the rainbow’ are under the guitar belt. The belt just needs a little tightening, I’ll get there. There are many triplets in ‘Jesu’, three notes played to the timing of two beats, and so there are a lot of notes to be memorised for a relatively short piece…
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Return to Rita
I had just finished listening to Marty Whelans interview on Lyric fm with Van Morrison to celebrate the great mans 75th year in the universe. As is my norm the radio station gets changed come 10 bells when Marty bids adieu for the day. Niall Carroll’s ‘Classical Daytime’ just doesn’t do it for me. And…
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The sporting skin thing
It’s been another rough period for racial harmony in America. A black man shot by police, more protests and marches as a result. It remains something of a human mystery why it is that people are treated differently on account of something they have absolutely no control over, namely the colour of their skin. A…
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Unity and division
My good friend, The Downtown Dude, is of the opinion that China is on the cusp of taking over the world. Although I do not entirely agree with him, he does have a point. China and the United States are the two leading global economic superpowers of our day. So which one will win the…
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The barre business
One of the many challenges in guitar playing is the not so small matter of barre chords. A barre chord occurs when several strings are held down at once by the left index finger with the remaining one, two or three fingers deployed elsewhere. A certain amount of left hand strength (for a right handed…
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The rush to judgement
For all it’s faults and middle class associations, I love the game of golf. To play the game is to get a mirror image of who you are as a person. I do not stroll the fairways very much these days but I still appreciate and follow golf. All of which leads me to the…
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Steady progress, a little regress
little regress And so it’s a three pronged attack on Classical Guitar Everest; Cavatina, Jesu, Joy of Mans Desiring and Somewhere Over Thre Rainbow. The basics of Cavatina have been sorted for a few weeks now and once again it all boils down to my familiar foe of speed. My target is 80 metronome beats…
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Muscle memory and learning paths
I have been reflecting of late on the recent change of direction with regard to my classical guitar learning curve. Six years ago I wandered along to Synge Street for my first guitar lesson with the dude known as The Guitar Man He asked me what style of guitar playing I was interested in learning.…
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Return to Chatham Street
The Great Institution is back in business. All is once again well with the world. Well, almost. Still the small matter of a safe vaccine for 7.8 billion people to be negotiated but hey, who’s counting? If nothing else, the current pandemic forces the world to come together in a common cause. When it does…
Blind light 