ORIGINAL WIN

Having just read my copy of issue 455, I found Neville Marten’s column really interesting and thought I would share my own experience.

Since the age of 16, I’ve been writing and recording my own songs, influenced by me watching John Lennon singing A Hard Day’s

Night and my favourite band The Eagles. My friends and I started a covers band on a semi-professional basis and continued playing locally, right up until 2015. Since then, my ambition was to focus on my own music, and I have written and recorded a batch of new material. With this material, similar to Neville, I wanted to get it to as many people as possible and decided to sign up to Ditto Music, who have distributed 22 of my songs to over 40 music platforms, including iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and Apple.

I’ve been really pleased with the results so far and I have been getting streams in China, Russia, Germany and Korea as well as GB, which has been really encouraging. I share the same sentiment that I do not think my songs are worthy compared with the likes of John Lennon, Don Henley and Glenn Frey, but

I am determined to keep trying to improve and I guess you never know unless you try. Andy Weeks, via email

Thanks for sharing, Andy. A lot of guitarists go through their whole playing lives being too nervous to take the plunge and put their recordings out there. We’re often our own worst critics and, being so familiar with our own style of playing, it can be hard to see what you can offer to listeners. Worse, you can get caught up in ‘paralysis of analysis’ where you never quite finish a recording project for fear that it isn’t quite perfect yet, then lose momentum and abandon it. It’s far better, we think, to get things finished, share them and move on. Even if your first effort isn’t another Dark Side Of The Moon, you’ll reap the rewards of completing the process, gaining experience and skill as you go. As you’ve found, you might be surprised to discover that, in today’s connected world, people all round the globe love the music you make. That’s a real achievement, so more power to you – we’ll give your latest a spin with interest.