I tried playing classical guitar in the dark when the power went out on Friday (for four freaking hours!). It took a fair bit of practice and adjustment but once I was in the zone, I did ok with the Bach E minor Bourée and E major Gavotte en rondeaux and Villa-Lobos Etude 1 (all from memory of course since I couldn’t read sheet music in the dark).

The main surprising thing was that it wasn’t much harder to make jumps on the fretboard – while my reflex is to look at my left hand and unconsciously tense up a bit when I need to do this, I seem to have enough of a physical sense for where fret positions are that it’s unnecessary; when playing the next day, I was able to do this with greater relaxation. Some teachers encourage blindfolded practice as a practising technique and I can see why – it allows you to learn how much you can trust muscle memory.

Looking forward to hosting Night Music Feb 19, 9:30 pm at the Ship Pub on Duckworth St. in St. John’s

The other day, I tuned by ear, playing an E major chord. I double checked with Cleartune afterwards – basically all the strings were in tune relative to each other, within a few cents, but the G string was flat, by between 10 and 15 cents. I realized it was because I had tuned a G# on that string to be a major third above E and I had intuitively tuned to a just major third. First time I’d ever consciously experienced just intonation as intuitive/natural in that way.

Here’s a solo guitar arrangement of the Ryuichi Sakomoto classic

Tonight’s gig at the Jumping Bean Café has been rescheduled to Jan 2. My upcoming St. John’s gigs, then are:

Dec 20, 8 pm Spirit Music Bar, 164 Water St., with Ben Diamond; jam afterwards, $10
Jan 2, 6:30 pm Jumping Bean Café, Elizabeth St.
Jan 23, 6:30 pm Jumping Bean Café, Elizabeth St.
Feb 19, 9 pm, The Ship Pub, Duckworth St., hosting Night Music; jam afterwards, $10

Much thanks to Seth Josel and Michelle Lou for including a reference to Tension and Extension in their incredible new compendium of electric guitar techniques The Techniques of E-Guitar Playing on Bärenreiter. https://www.barenreiter.us/products/the-techniques-of-e-guitar-playing-barenreiter
(providing a link to Bärenreiter’s American site since it seems to be the easiest way for Canadians to order a copy)

Nov 21: Jumping Bean Cafe, Elizabeth St., 6:30-8:30

Dec 20: Spirit Music Bar, 164 Water St., with Ben Diamond

Jan 23: Jumping Bean Cafe, Elizabeth St., 6:30-8:30

Feb 19, Night Music, The Ship Pub

Thanks to CKCU’s Echo Chamber for playing my version of “The Diamond Sea” this week (right before the original!) and to listeners for your enthusiastic response. Playlist and audio here: https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/653/72725.html#

I’ve added a number of new pieces to the “Media – Guitar Performance” page: versions of Ellington’s “Cottontail”, “My Funny Valentine” and “Have You Met Miss Jones” by Rodgers and Hart, and a solo guitar version of Sonic Youth’s “The Diamond Sea”.

Here are some links.