#3 What a Mess(e)!

So the last blog established that there were a few rubbish moments over the last few months. HOWEVER! It certainly was not all bad. I'll try and catch up to where I am now so I won't blabber on too much detail about everything that's happened for the constant fear of turning this into a dissertation. :-)

In April I attended Musikmesse in Frankfurt. For those that don't know, Musikmesse is basically a massive music trade fair. And when I say massive I mean MASSIVE. Pretty much every company that makes anything to do with music or musical instruments attends this show. I was lucky enough to play on the Lakewood, Elixir and Logarhythm stands and what an amazing experience it was too.

Yamaha had the entire right hand building to themselves!

Unfortunately the side effects from the medication I was on (see blog 2) had just taken hold whilst I was on the trip so i'll be honest, I did not feel 100%. The gig I played on the Lakewood stand was amazing/petrifying and although I didn't feel like I played anywhere close to my best the Lakewood guys (some of the nicest people you'll ever meet might I add) and the crowd seemed to enjoy it. I even sold some CD's! ;-)
I also got to meet Jonathan Kluth and Wallis Bird whom are fellow Lakewood players. And it's from them that I think I took the biggest influence for my own performances.

When I first started playing guitar I taught myself not to make silly faces or move around too much as I didn't want to look stupid. Now i'm older I don't care. Also I realised that holding that back was also preventing the performance from ever being a just process of playing the correct notes in the correct order, at the correct time. Watching Jonathan and Wallis play with such energy and passion made me take a good look at what I do. Don't get me wrong it's not like i'd play like the guys below but there's always room for improvement eh!? ;-)

The Elixir stand was another amazing experience. My first ever silent gig. The Elixir stand was in the same hall as most of the electric guitars and amps etc so try to imagine hundreds of guitar shops in one place all with people playing.......loud. To avoid joining the volume war Elixir put together a system so that everyone was on headphones. A cunning plan and pretty essential for being heard in such a loud environment. Again I met some lovely people on the stand and I got a chance to hang out with the Elixir guys after the show which was very funny indeed.

I should probably mention that Frankfurt is a beautiful city too! I got a chance to take a little walk down the river and take a few pics. Definitely want to go back and play some gigs there!

That's how for now, next up is Glastonbury, adverts, and the new EP.

Toodles.
:-)