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I try to promote a casual request-friendly environment when I play. It's great if people want to join in too. There tends to be a bit of a mellow, happy feel to most of what I do. I also have a paradoxical fascination with silly/funny songs and incredibly sad ones. Oldies. I definitely like oldies. If it's been around for a few hundred years, who am I to resist it? I enjoy most pop, roots, country, blues, celtic, funk, maritime, reggae, jazz, rock, alternative, whatever. I definitely favour a rootsy, wide-ranging folk...Paul Simon, Neil Young, Jack Johnson, Jim Croce, John Prine, Tom Waits, Stan Rogers, Neil Finn, but after a few years playing in pubs I've learned a lot of other stuff too. I like to use alternate tunings (DADGAD, DADF#AD, open G, mainly) on my 6 or 12 strings.. I'm mainly a rythm player with a bit of fill, or a short solo here and there - nothing too fancy..
I love pulling out a harmonica here and there.. It's unbelievable what a difference that tiny instrument makes. Most times I'm in first position, but I do some blues/funk stuff in cross-harp.
Below are some mp3 samples of me playing live. If you want to listen, just click on the title. It will take a lot of time on a dial-up. Be warned. Please scroll further down for downloadable samples of my arrangements. |
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Probably my favorite thing to do is arrange music. I've done a good part of the arranging or co-arranging in most of the bands I've been in for both instrumentation and vocals. I'm sure that one of the reasons I've tried to learn a number of instruments is that sometimes the music just needs a different voice then say, guitar for example. Below are links to more songs. They're partial demos, to try to give you an idea of how I like to arrange things.. One is a song I know as a CCR tune, and the other is a song I wrote in New Zealand. I've also added an A Capella Sea Shanty that I arranged and recorded with the Semaphores. The CD is available from that site.
Bass, Guitar, Percussion (753K)- Awake
Guitar, Mandolin, Harp (541K)- As Long As I can See the Light
A Capella Vocal (275K) - Haul Away Joe
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