WELCOME

Well it’s 2,4, 6, 8 motorway says Nev (don’t ask)!

Don’t know about you, but I’d rather do a journey where there are ‘goals’ along the way to break it into manageable portions, rather than tonking up a motorway for hours on end. I live in the west of England but often do gigs in the east, and while my sat-nav wants to take me from bath along the M4, M5, M42, M6, a14 and a1 to, say, Peterborough, I ignore it and go via Swindon, oxford, northampton, etc (of great interest to our overseas readers, I’m sure!). these towns are like mini ‘goals’ and help me feel like I’m getting somewhere.

“what is he on about?” you cry. well, it’s a bit like this month’s Four Levels of blues. as a beginner, were you to be shown a John Scofield solo and be told it will take years to get there, you’d probably give up on the spot. but should you be offered something simpler, but still complete and wholesome, and be informed that a few months’ work should have it under your fingers, you’d more likely see that as an attainable goal. and having got to that point, the next level seems somewhat less daunting.

with so much tuition available these days it’s easy to get distracted, flitting from one thing to the next with little aim. but a lesson like this is totally focused, so whether you need to start at the beginning or are already pretty good and can dip in further up the difficulty ladder, there’s measurability so you can see progress as you make it. and although it’s called Four Levels of ‘blues’, many of the concepts here apply to all kinds of other styles.

If you fancy something a little higher up the technique food chain, check out our String Skipping with a Pick lesson - it’s a straight ‘how to’ feature that’s bound to test your mettle should you be new to the approach. Have a go! and what about the Shadows’ atlantis? this beautiful track comes from 1963 and Hank Marvin played it with incredible aplomb for someone so young. He was just 21 when he recorded it and remember he’d had no tuition CDs, DVDs - or Gt - to help him, but he created a brand new sound all by himself, from nowhere.

I hope you enjoy another issue varied in styles and abilities, and I’ll see you next month.