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Daktari · 11-03-2009, 08:34 AM

Hi there,

I started playing guitar way back when I was 10 years old. My dad plays sax so I used to strum the chords to jazz standards, New Orleans and Chicago style while he played along on the sax. A great way to learn rhythm and playing in sax keys like Eb, Bb, F and so on.....My favourite music then was T Rex, a great band.

Once I started high school all the guitarists eventually find each other and decide to form a band. Ok, can't have a band with five guitars. I volunteered to get a bass for my next Christmas and so I played bass mainly for the next 20 years,mainly in my dad's jazz band.

Have always loved reggae music and formed a band but found I was struggling to play reggae bass and sing at the same time. That's when I moved back to guitar and have stayed with it ever since really.

Presently I have a weird mixture. I just play anything I like and now I'm older, I like to experiment mixing different styles. I love to take an old Irish folk song, lay down a reggae backing track then play the melody as a guitar solo. I am also really into African soukous style guitar originally from Congo I think. I have recently bought a djembe drum so I record a section of that and then play along to that either with my Greek bouzoukie, my Tacoma acoustic bass or my old Patrick Eggle. I have this guitar set up with an extra top Estring in the Dstring position but tuned to the octave up D. This is a trick some of the African guitarists have used in the past.

I just wish I had more time for all this stuff, Gordon.

11-03-2009, 08:34 AM	#4 (permalink)
Daktari Music Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Originally from Lancashire, England, lived near Largs, Scotland and now live in Rocky Face, Georgia Posts: 154	Wow, loads.... Hi there, I started playing guitar way back when I was 10 years old. My dad plays sax so I used to strum the chords to jazz standards, New Orleans and Chicago style while he played along on the sax. A great way to learn rhythm and playing in sax keys like Eb, Bb, F and so on.....My favourite music then was T Rex, a great band. Once I started high school all the guitarists eventually find each other and decide to form a band. Ok, can't have a band with five guitars. I volunteered to get a bass for my next Christmas and so I played bass mainly for the next 20 years,mainly in my dad's jazz band. Have always loved reggae music and formed a band but found I was struggling to play reggae bass and sing at the same time. That's when I moved back to guitar and have stayed with it ever since really. Presently I have a weird mixture. I just play anything I like and now I'm older, I like to experiment mixing different styles. I love to take an old Irish folk song, lay down a reggae backing track then play the melody as a guitar solo. I am also really into African soukous style guitar originally from Congo I think. I have recently bought a djembe drum so I record a section of that and then play along to that either with my Greek bouzoukie, my Tacoma acoustic bass or my old Patrick Eggle. I have this guitar set up with an extra top Estring in the Dstring position but tuned to the octave up D. This is a trick some of the African guitarists have used in the past. I just wish I had more time for all this stuff, Gordon.