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My first regular paid job as a musician was as a guitar teacher in a private school in England. At the end of the school year, this private school had a ball for all of the students who were leaving that year. The school was in the grounds of a stately home on the banks of the River Thames and the setting was perfect for an event such as a summer ball.   A huge marquee was set up and used as the main dining area for the event and this was also where some of the bands played after the dining had finished. After going to the ball as a guest, I thought this would be a great gig for the band I was playing with at the time. And as I’d taught Dhani Harrison at the school, it was no surprise to see father George at the leavers ball the night I was making my debut.  

The ball itself was a long evening that started at 6.30pm and finished after 3am. It included a 3-course meal and a boat trip along the Thames and the opportunity to dance away the evening to a variety of groups playing in a number of different locations on the school grounds. In the main marquee my band alternated with a local acoustic blues group who didn’t play drums as such, but they were set up in front of our equipment. They were loved by people who knew them.   At one point during the evening, we were standing by the side of the stage waiting for ‘Pot-Belly Blues’ to finish their set so we could take over and play, when somebody started to play along with them on our drummer’s kit! They didn’t have a drummer, so who could this be I thought? A drunken punter, a school leaver? It was none other than George Harrison! He’d crept up onto the stage behind the group and started to play gently along with them. And the expression on the faces of the ‘Pot-Belly Blues musicians was of pure joy! They were so moved that George Harrison was playing along with them. They’d been touched with ‘stardust’ and it was written all over their faces.

Watching from the side, I loved that moment. I loved the way George conducted himself, a true star, as we would want to see our idols. He had the skill to generously give something special to the musicians and people present in that moment.   Our drummer was equally taken that his kit had been played by George Harrison. And our bass player still talks about that night every time I see him. It certainly was one of those special moments where something unique, spontaneous and generous had happened. And almost as soon as it had begun it was over. No words were spoken, very few people actually caught the moment, but when I think about it, it brings a smile and a warm feeling to have been there and witnessed it. It was a moving experience!  

I’ve always been a big fan of George Harrison, who isn’t, he is one of The Beatles after all! Out of all of his compositions, ‘Something’ and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ are my two favourites. The guitar solo on ‘Something’ is a particular favourite of mine and is playable for someone who’s been playing guitar for a while. I love the way the solo builds ‘step by step’. Also, I’ve taught a number of students to play this solo with great success. And the thing I love about it is George’s choice of notes. The sound you need to play it is a clean sound, so can be achieved on most amplifiers, It’s a great example of letting the guitar and amp do the work. If like me you love great guitar playing, all you’ve got to do is to play the notes!  

When the strings of a guitar are plucked they move the air, but the way they’re played can move us too. And with all of us, it starts with a decision to learn to play an instrument. The 5-10 minutes of practise every day, the guitars, the amps, the rehearsals, the gigs. Sometimes the motivation for musicians to put the hours, is just in the hope that somebody somewhere down the line will be moved by the music in the same way that we’ve been moved. And when this happens, in a small way, the world has become a better place…   Making a commitment to start playing the guitar could be the start of a musical career for you or someone you know!

I help to make peoples’ guitar dreams come true. And anything that helps us to improve our guitar playing, I’m sure George would approve of! Click on the link below to take your guitar playing to the next level:

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Griff

Ever since hearing Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stariway To Heaven‘ I have loved the sound of the guitar, And when I’d listen to rock and pop music, I never listened to the singing, like a laser beam my ears locked on to the sound of the guitar. The guitar was the sound that spoke to me!

Not long after I’d started to learn to play guitar, we had a theatre company visit our school one day. I remember that It was the end of the Christmas term and exams had finished and it was one of the few occasions when there was tangibly less pressure in class.
I went to watch the company as they finished setting up their equipment before their performance to the lower years of the school. I saw that they had everything they needed to do a gig. They had guitars, amps and drums. This was so early in my guitar playing career that an amp was something I yearned for.
I remember at the time when I saw all this equipment, a switch went on in my mind and I saw an opportunity for my first ever band to have the experience of playing together using professional equipment. I believed that this was what my band needed to experience, and the opportunity lay in front of me there and then!

By this stage my band had chosen some songs and I think we must have learnt to play them on our own because we hadn’t had a rehearsal with all members present. I’d played the ‘cello for 8 years by this point and I knew that getting good at playing an instrument was done step by step. So I tentatively I asked our drama teacher if she’d ask the theatre company if we could ‘have a go on their stuff’.  She had the authority to do that, she did ask and they said yes. So I raced around school trying to find the other members of the band so we could have our first full band practice. By the time I returned with the whole band, there were many curious people wondering what was going on with this theatre company, and I realised that our first rehearsal was going to be in public! I figured there was just enough time for us all to get up on stage plug in and jam along to one of the songs we’d learnt to play. This song happened to be one of my favourite songs ever, it was ‘Alright Now’. With everybody in place; bass, drums, guitar and singer, we were ready to play.

The bassist, drummer and I looked at each other and the drummer counted ‘1,2,3,4’ and we began. A cacophony of sound erupted into the school hall and everybody threw their hands up to their ears to block out the noise! Within 3 bars we’d ground to a halt and the sound had stopped, much to everyone’s relief as they were able to put their arms down again. But for us, we’d fallen apart, something was wrong, it was a musical disaster! I could feel the minutes slipping away, but it was important to cement this opportunity into an experience that we could build on, it was our ‘next step’.and we needed this experience. But also, if this didn’t go well, careers might be lost before they’ve even started! We tried again, the thunderous sound, the arms simultaneously going into the air, but again we ground to a halt. My heart sank. We’d counted in correctly, but that was all!

The drummer from the theatre company was standing at the side of the stage, probably looking out for his kit! He’d been listening to what we were trying to do, and after the second failed attempt that we’d made to play the song, he came over. Maybe he grasped that we’d never played together before but hopefully he recognised our ambition. He said to our drummer, ‘let me try it with them, I think I know what they’re doing wrong’. He counted us in, we began and after 3 bars, we were still going, and after the 4th bar, the bass player and I looked at each other and smiled and we knew this was working. The drummer stopped and said ‘hold it, hold it’. what is it now I thought? He whispered something in our drummer’s ear and the next thing we know our drummer has started the song without us and was playing it magnificently, loud and proud! The bass player and I look at each other and we mouthed 1,2,3,4 and we joined in, perfectly in time. Very quickly we were ‘lost in the music’, only to be woken up out of our musical bliss by the sound of our singer belting out ‘There she stood, in the street, smiling from her head to her feet…’

I don’t think we even finished the song, we were stopped from continuing to play I vaguely remember. Our moment in musical paradise had abruptly come to an end. But it was ok, that experience of ‘playing together using professional equipment’ I talked about earlier in this post, it had happened! We’d experienced everything we needed to, and we were ready to take our next step. And for me, that ‘experience’ was what convinced me that playing rock music could work and that it was going to be my career, my life, my passion…

After thanking everybody and still on a high, I raced to my next lesson, which was physics. As I ran into the classroom and after apologising for being late, the teacher gave me a big smile and said ‘your lesson finished half an hour ago!’.

At the end of the next school term, at Easter, our band performed in the school’s annual ‘variety show’. We did 4 songs including ‘Alright Now’ and a song we wrote ourselves! That initial ‘public rehearsal’ was so important. 

If reading this post excites you, and you want to learn to play guitar, then the FIND OUT MORE link below.

Whatever you’re doing in life at the moment, it only takes 5-10 minutes a day to learn and improve at playing guitar. And it will add so much to your life in terms of personal satisfaction, contribution to other peoples lives, entertainment etc the list goes on…

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Thank you for reading this far, I wish you great guitar playing!

Griff