Spilled Notes

The Amazing Hare Krishna Guitar Maestro

If you've ever visited Edinburgh and walked through Hunter Square or up Nicolson Street, you've probably heard the busking Hare Krishna monk.  Now, before Christmas he used to have an acoustic guitar and only seemed to know two chords.

A few months ago, however, his playing was a lot louder.  And more complex.  Sort of...cool.  When we finally spotted him, he had an electric guitar and a little amp.  Not just any guitar, though - an actual Fender Stratocaster!  And today, when we passed him playing under Potterrow Port (sheltering from the rain) he was playing another, different Fender - and these things don't come cheap.  

 

What I want to know is how he went from two chords to guitar maestro.  I think perhaps someone bought him 'Complete Electric Guitar' (by my teacher, Mel Reeves) for Christmas.  That and what he moonlights as to be able to afford two Fenders.

Now I'm just waiting for him to release an album...

Indulgences

I don't indulge myself much.  I don't spend lots of money on myself, don't go on expensive holidays, or go out much.  No, my indulgences tend to be little things that make the moment brighter and make me smile when I've had a bad day.  Like a bath with something from Lush (partly to disguise the 'interesting' colour of our water, but mostly for the wonderful smell), a bunch of flowers, curling up with a good book, listening to my favourite music without doing anything else at the same time, or some quality time with L.  Oh yes, and then there's the food.  It doesn't take much to make me happy: a fresh baguette with cheese; a juicy, ripe pomegranate; a mug of tea and a slice of home-made cake...

Or this.  A late-night indulgence of home-made chocolate chip muffin (made by L, a la Nigella), whipped cream and strawberries - a perfect combination.

 

(I apologise for the not-so-good, photo, but it was the last muffin and I just couldn't wait to eat it!)

 

Would the real John Williams please stand up...

Before I start, apologies for my incredibly long absence.  I have no excuse other than writer's block!  I promise I'll try and be more consistent again.  Honest.

 

L just asked me whether John Williams plays the piano as well as classical guitar, as surely it's hard composing all that film music just on guitar?

'They're not the same person,' I replied.

'What?!'

'There's a composer and a guitarist.  They're different people.'

L was stunned.  'But I thought I knew who he was!  I thought he was really clever, all that composing and playing guitar!  I've been lead astray!'

For a moment, she was flabbergasted.  There was talk of a conspiracy theory, with one John writing music for the other John to play, just to confuse people.  

And then we had cake, and it was all fine again.  It has been a stressful few weeks, I suppose.

Inspiration

"Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination" - van Gogh

Why do I always feel inspired to do things I haven't felt like doing all year when it gets to revision and exams?  I feel like writing again, and have lots of ideas for things to bake, and really feel like playing guitar lots.  I had a very good lesson at home which, as always, inspired me.  I revisited lots of pieces I haven't played for ages yesterday, which was fun, and have picked a few new things to work on too.  

I suppose I do need to take breaks from revising though.  I must just be careful that the breaks don't end up being longer than the revision sessions...

My Small Orchestra

Andres Segovia once said that 'the guitar is a small orchestra'.  If that is the case, then an entire miniature orchestra has been staring at me reproachfully from the corner of the bedroom for the past fortnight. What with unpacking, sorting the bomb site that was (until very recently) the cupboard, washing mountains of clothes, fighting off the lurking dust hares, and, oh yes, that annoying thing called 'work', I just haven't quite got around to it.  But yesterday evening I actually felt like playing :-O So I got out my incredibly creaky stool, which sounds like it has a small creature trapped somewhere in it, retrieved my footstool from the clutches of an aspiring dust bunny, and began.  It didn't go as badly as it might have done, in fact some (small) bits went rather well.  I think I need to go to a guitar recital to inspire me.  I remember going to see Craig Ogden performing Rodrigo's 'Concierto de Aranjuez' (the second movement is quite possibly my favourite piece of music of all time) a few years ago, and walking out feeling invigorated and wanting to pick up my guitar and play for hours.  Or maybe I just need to find a new and exciting piece of music to get my teeth into.  I've just found a wonderful site with literally thousands of free, downloadable sheet music for classical guitar, so perhaps there will be something there.