I caught the bus and got to Paul's house at about 9:30. There I helped Paul test his lighting equipment, before making a start on testing the PA equipment for a gig the weekend. But before we could finish we had to go to Ilfracombe junior school. There he had two lessons. In the first one, teaching scales and the other teaching Teenage kicks by The Undertones. Then we went back to Paul's house to finish checking his PA. Once that was over me and Paul went round Ilfracombe high street asking shop keepers to put up posters for Paul's ukulele lessons. Then Paul had a lesson in West Down where he was teaching a student major and pentatonic scales. By Jake Cole
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Got picked up by Paul from my house at about 8:15am and we drove to Filleigh school. It took about 45 minuets to get there because of the traffic, which was terrible. There Paul taught some students how to change chords whilst strumming. After that we headed to Chittlehampton school where Paul taught someone how to read tab for the ukulele. Once that was over we went back to Paul's home, I had some lunch and then I helped Paul print & laminate some posters. Then we went back to my house so Paul could teach my brother. Just before the lesson I learned a couple of chords on the ukulele and then watched Paul teach my brother some grade 5 rockschool on guitar. Then we drove back to Paul's house.
Me at Filleigh School trying out one of Paul's Kala ukes.
Paul tuning up for a ukulele lesson at Filleigh School.
After spending a couple of hours at Paul's house, we headed to Larkstone cafe for ukulele club. It lasted for 2 hours during which we played songs by artists like The Clash The Beatles and Buddy Holly.
Me at Ilfracombe Ukulele Club held at Larkstone Cafe.
Outside Lakstone cafe with my ukulele.
Me and Paul with Larkstone Cafe in the Background.
Me and Paul just before Ilfracombe Ukulele Club started inside Larkstone Cafe.
By Jake Cole
I got picked up at about 10 o'clock.
Helped Paul sign in on four square (Four Square ID 34843477) at different places as we headed to Chumleigh Primary School. We went in at about 12 o'clock and came out at about 4 o'clock after doing quite a few lessons during which Paul mainly taught different students bass runs on the guitar. After that we went to South Molton to get some fish n chips. Once that was over we headed to a house about 10 minutes drive out of South Molton. There for an hour Paul taught someone some grade 5 rockschool and then we headed home.
Above is a picture of the farm just outside South Molton.
By Jake Cole
My first electric guitar was a Harmony Les Paul Junior copy. It's the guitar I started to learn seriously on. I bought it from a shop on the outskirts of Walsall. I can't remember the name of the shop, but I'd seen the guitar in the shop window every morning on my way to work. I saved up, then went back one Saturday, parted with £50 (about 2 weeks wages). This guitar took me from knowing next to nothing, to bar F. I bought it purely on the fact that it was the cheapest electric guitar in the shop. This of course is not the way to buy a guitar (See my blog on how to buy a guitar. I've put a link at the end of this blog). It turned out to be not too bad a guitar, I've certainly seen far far worse guitars since.It was at the bar F point, I realised I needed a better guitar. With a little advice decided on a Fender Stratocaster.
By Christmas 1983 I'd saved enough. I sold my Sherpa mini bus to a karate club to raise the remainder, to much dismay from my parents. 'How are you going to get to work with no transport'? 'But you can't even play'! Were just a couple of their kinder comments they suggested to me. I had a dream, or an ambition, and they were dream stealers. Anyway, I knew I wouldn't be able to get the best deal that side of Christmas, so I waited until the January sales. By the time I was ready to buy my second electric guitar, I knew all the guitar shops in the area, I took my friend with me and went guitar shopping. I was looking at all the Strats in all the shops. I ended up in a shop in Walsall on the ring road. Again, it's name escapes me, but not the same shop I'd bought the Les Paul Junior copy from. I asked the guy who worked there if I could try a Fender Strat that had caught my eye. In other words, the cheapest I could find. It was about £300, and I was having it. 'Before you buy that, try this' suggested the guitar shop assistant. He handed me a Tokai Strat. It's a copy I thought to myself, I don't want a copy, I want the real thing. I tried it. It looked, felt, and played just like the fender, but was only £210. 'Before you make your mind up try this'. This time he handed me a Gordon Smith. It was £250. I liked it, but not as much as the Strats. Insistently, I do own a Gordon Smith now, I've had it about 20 years. I ended up purchasing the Tokai on that occasion. I have used it almost every day since, and I am still using it today. If you see a picture of me with a red Strat, that's the guitar. Buying that guitar turned out to be the best investment I could have done. It propelled my learning. The guitar was easier to play, sounded far nicer, and made me feel amazing. Without a decent instrument, it is really difficult to develop as a musician. Without taking that risk of selling my transport to work, parting with what seemed an unjust amount of money for me at that time, would I have managed to learn the guitar to the level I did? I suspect not, therefore what career would I now have? Who knows? But I love that guitar and the business it has given me! It has paid for itself countless times. How to buy a guitar blog http://paulclews888.weebly.com/1/post/2013/02/how-to-buy-a-guitar.html
Information on my guitar lessons http://paulclews888.weebly.com/guitar--ukulele-lessons.html Tokai Guitars http://www.tokaijapan.com/ Fender Guitars http://www.fender.com/en-GB/#/american-standard-stratLH Click on this link if you would like to become sexier. http://paulclews888.weebly.com/guitar--ukulele-lessons.html
When to practice your musical instrument. For guitar or ukulele lessons, face to face in North Devon, or anywhere else in the world by Skype click here http://paulclews888.weebly.com/guitar--ukulele-lessons.html
I've heard it said that learning to play the guitar is fun. Well, I completely disagree. I remember when I was learning to play some 35 years ago, the little fun that was to be had, was soon replaced with frustration. Many times, I could have happily just chucked the guitar out of the window. I believe, that anybody can learn to play the guitar, in this respect learning to play is easy. But not everybody will. What stops them? Why do people give up having started to learn?. Motivation. I'll say that again, motivation. What motivated me all those years ago was 'to play in a band'. It was the age of punk. All you needed apparently, was three chords (not true) and a safety pin. The band was put together and named before any of us could even play a single note. The band had two 'guitarists'. Neither of us could play a thing, so I use the term 'guitarist' loosely. We came to it from opposite points of view. He took all the strings off his guitar except the bottom two, cranked up his expensive amp, and sounded what I thought at the time, fantastic in about a week. He had tuned the two strings (what I now know to be a fifth apart), and played with one finger. Me on the other hand, started the long process of learning to play properly. It took me ages. The motivation was to play in a band. I kept the motivation bigger than the problems. It seems simple doesn't it? Practice for 15 minutes every day. What's stops these well meaning people from doing this? The answer has many versions as wanna be guitarist quitters. What's your excuse? Too tired? Not enough time? We don't have any chocolate ice cream in the fridge? After all, one excuse is as good as another. I somehow kept my focus. Once I had mastered the bar F, a momentous moment in any guitarists career, (ask any of them), It was a very short time after this, the band recognised me as the best guitarist. Not long after this, the other guitarist in the band quit. He'd given up on his rock star dreams, and I don't think he ever played the guitar again. Well, let's be honest, he never really learned to play anything. Me on the other hand kept going. Wouldn't it be great to play that classic Chuck Berry intro to Johnny B Goode? 'It's the only lick I'd ever want to learn' I said at the time. Having mastered that, I thought Layla by Eric Clapton had a great riff. I didn't like the song much, but loved that riff. Mastered that, and so it went on. You never stop learning the guitar. In fact, that's true for any instrument, except the kazoo and maybe the triangle. You learn to live with the frustration. So what are the benefits of learning to play a musical instrument? For me, that first punk band was great fun. So have the 20 or so bands since. All have been tremendous fun. It has enabled me to meet and converse with some amazing people. When I moved from Great Wyrley, the village I was brought up and schooled in, to Ilfracombe, playing guitar enabled me to meet people, and make new friends. This list could go on for ever, but ultimately it has given me a career and business. This started, not with guitar playing, but recording other bands on my 4 track recording studio. I still record demo's, jingles and other similar things today, but the technology is far more sophisticated now. I ran Flipside for 7 years. This was a shop in Ilfracombe selling records, CDs, videos and of course, musical instruments. I play in a band called The Backtrackers. A function band playing weddings and parties all over the Uk. My main income is from teaching. All day long, 6 days a week, privately and in schools teaching guitar and ukulele. Well, what a life playing music has done for me. From punk band to teacher, a fantastic, and in many ways unplanned journey. I didn't know back in the early 80's where I'd be today, but I'm glad to be here. I never made it to rock star status, but then again, I don't think I ever really want that. So what is your motivation to carry on? What is your excuse to quit? I look forward to your questions and replies. If you would like to book guitar or ukulele lessons in your home, school or by Skype.
http://paulclews888.weebly.com/guitar--ukulele-lessons.html If you would like to book The Backtrackers for your party, wedding, corporate event, or function. http://paulclews888.weebly.com/backtrackers.html If you would like to book time in my recording studio. http://paulclews888.weebly.com/16-track-multi-track-recording-studio.html On Wednesday 27th March, you will have an opportunity to observe me work and find out more about my music school. I will be taking part in Ilfracombe Junior School's Living & Learning Festival. I understand you will find me in the quiet area, near the school library around lunch time. http://www.ilfracombe-jun.devon.sch.uk/blogs/whole-school/music/living-and-learning-festival-2013/ I have received this thank you letter from Maggie Foster, the music teacher from Ilfracombe Junior School.
How to make a ukulele out of a laundry detergent bottle
. http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/make-a-ukelele-from-a-laundry-detergent-bottle?click=pm_news#slide-1 How to buy a guitar Every week people ask me what's an ideal guitar to learn on, with the hopes of becoming the next rock god. But truthfully, not all guitars are suitable to learn on. If you are serious about learning to play yourself, or if you’re buying the guitar for someone else to learn on, you must be prepared to invest a little money. Don't buy the cheapest guitar, but buying second hand will save you half to a third of the cost. It's always a good idea to take your guitar teacher along with you for advice. I always try to do this when my students ask. Alternately, take a friend who plays. The most important aspect of any guitar is that it must have a good playable action. What this means is, the strings must be close to the fretboard to make them easy to press (see fig 2 and fig 3). When the strings are too high the person attempting to learn to play usually quits in frustration. They find it too hard. The saddest part is that they think there is something wrong with them. Secondly, a straight neck. This can be checked by looking down the neck as if it were a rifle. Also check by holding down the bottom string (the thick one) on the first fret and the last one. There should be a small gap between the string and the 7th fret. This is called neck relief. The gap should not be too big (see fig 1), but should be there. It is also important to have good intonation. The 12th fret should produce the same note as the open string. This can not usually be adjusted on an acoustic guitar, therefore it needs to be correct. It's usually adjustable on electrics, but it is a little fiddly, so this should only be done by someone who knows what they are doing. The next thing that is crucial is getting the guitar in tune and it playing in tune. Tuners should tune smoothly and stay in tune. This is a common problem when the guitar is very inexpensive. Another common question is should I buy an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar. They may look somewhat different, but the finger positions for chords, picking, strumming and scales are identical. If you can play an acoustic then you can play an electric and vice versa. An acoustic guitar has a hollow body and doesn’t need an amplifier. Great for camping and power cuts. Electric guitars are designed to be used with an amplifier. They can be played at any volume and effects such as overdrive can be added. So the choice is yours. Most serious players end up with both. When you select a guitar there are a few different sizes to choose from. A half size is the smallest. A three-quarter size acoustic has a smaller body so it is ideal for younger people aged 8 - 12. The full size dreadnought is comfortable for anyone who is an adult or young people, the size of an adult. It is important that your guitar is in tune. Tuning is a process that is learned. Nobody automatically knows how to tune a guitar. Fortunately, there is a small battery operated device called a “guitar tuner” which by picking a string and watching the meter you’ll get your guitar in tune easily and quickly. You can also get them as phone apps. Playing a tuned guitar is far more satisfying. Fig 1 This shows the neck relief being mesured. You are looking at the middle of the neck. Fig 2 Showing a guitar with a poor action. I would not consider buying a guitar like this. The coin is a UK 20p Fig 3 Showing a guitar with a good action. This coin is also a UK 20p |
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