The ShadowMusic Web Community

Hi all. i am 62 years old and live in the Dordogne France. I have played the guitar since i was nine and at the moment am part of a French/English duo playing sixties and seventies music. Prior to coming to France 9 years ago I had a Music shop in Thatcham Berkshire and did repairs set-ups etc. I am a teacher and have taught just under 2,000 people to play guitar both privately, and at schools and evening classes. I have owned Gibsons,Watkins, arias, Ibanez and Rickenbackers but always come back to the Fender strat. I play at the moment a Mexican strat with Hi-end pick-ups through a Fender 212R and a couple of Digital delay pedals (Boss and Behringer), also a Fender solid top Elec/Acoustic.
I was inspired to take up the guitar by firstly Bert Weedon and then The shadows music. **The following is my personal opinion and is not intended to be derogatory to anyone. Each to his own!!** Whilst loving the shads and particularly Hank, I am not into trying to replicate evry pick and nuance exactly. I liken it to Michael Ball singing the songs of Sinatra!! He makes the songs his own!

Anyway i'm looking forward to swapping info and ideas on this forum I've still got a lot to learn. thats whats great about the guitar!!

Mike

Hi Mike. Hope you have a good time on this site. I am with you on the not being too fussy about note for note with Hank. You really do need to put some of yourself into the music otherwise the best you can achieve is an inferior copy of the man imo.
I think we mostly all started with uncle Berts book It was really the only one around that was worthwhile at the time as far as I could find

hi mike & welcome,i must agree with your opinion,if we all played & sounded exactly like hbm life would be dull, i much prefer the `interpretation` of a tune or song than an exact copy. ah yes & the good old bert weedon`play guitar in a day book`good old days! i wonder how many people chucked it in the bin when they thought they knew it all? i bet an original copy would be worth a few bob now. cheers, steve.

Hi Mike and welcome to this very friendly and informative forum. I'm sure you will become a regular ccontributor. I'm the same age as you and I guess I too was first inspired by Bert. His great little book certainly was the breakthrough for me when I almost gave up trying to learn to play. Then along came The Shadows who took up the baton and took it all to another level.

Hi Mike a big welcome from me too. I only recently joined the community in the last couple of months and it's a great place for help advice and info!

Dave

Welcome!!

Good to have you on board...

steve.t wrote:hi mike & welcome,i must agree with your opinion,if we all played & sounded exactly like hbm life would be dull, i much prefer the `interpretation` of a tune or song than an exact copy. ah yes & the good old bert weedon`play guitar in a day book`good old days! i wonder how many people chucked it in the bin when they thought they knew it all? i bet an original copy would be worth a few bob now. cheers, steve.

I bought a copy of Play in a Day about 10 years ago new from the publishers (IMP). It was a 30th anniversay edition brought out in 1989 - not quite the same as my original (chucked out, Steve, as you said!) but a useful momento.

does it still have 'When the saints go marching in'? I remember how chuffed i was to be able to change from C to G7. I was lucky enough to meet Bert at a Music show a few years ago. What a gentleman he is. Trouble is when I play 'shadoogie' it always turns out like 'Guitar Boogie shuffle'' (Berts biggest hit)
mike