Video number 2 of the day, this time with my Jazzmaster in Drop D tuning. I’d been listening to a lot of Philip Sayce before I did this one…

After I discovered that my Wampler Clarksdale Overdrive pedal, sounds so great into my Morgan Amplifier, I thought I’d do a couple of quick iPhone videos. Here is the first one, featuring my 2009 PRS DGT.

I had the pleasure of attending The Birmingham Guitar Show yesterday (with my Dad!)

We used to go to every show, every year, but fatigue set in a few years ago and we stopped going to them. Mainly because you see the same stands at every one, but also because the noise is quite unbearable at times. Having 50 people, playing 50 different things, AT THE SAME TIME, can be a little wearing!!

But we decided to give this one a go and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was good to catch up with my friend and dealer Mark, from Guitars4you. He still has that Sea Foam Green PRS DGT Standard. I resisted! I also saw a barely used Fender Telecaster Reissue, the exact guitar I have been looking at on the internet, but it was £200 cheaper. I managed to resist that too. Somehow.

So, the consensus between us was that we enjoyed it and will go to another one this year. Hopefully when I have a bit more disposable income. I stood in awe at the PRS stand. I’ll leave the pictures here…

Here are some gratuitous gear shots, of my set up from The Nightwires gig in Derby, last Friday. I ended up having to take my Gibson J45 at the last minute, as out support act had to pull out, so we did a short acoustic set, before the main full band show. It all went swimmingly.

The Andy Timmons @ Pedal by JHS, sounded fabulous through my Victory Head. Definitely a keeper.

PRS DGT–Wampler Clarksdale Overdrive–Morgan AC20 Deluxe

Sounds immense!! I set the Morgan up to be crunchy and then stomp on the Clarksdale for some serious dirt. Using the guitar’s volume knob, to clean up for less overdrive.

I feel a Morgan specific pedalboard coming on…

Going for something a little more ambient…

I’ve been looking for an overdrive pedal to give me a fluid, liquid drive sound. I initially bought a Thorpyfx Muffroom Cloud Fuzz, and whilst that sounded great, I’ve realised that fuzz just doesn’t work for me.

I’d been hanging my nose over the JHS AT pedal for a while, so the Fuzz went back and I got the AT instead. Its the Andy Timmons Signature version of the JHS Angry Charlie pedal.

My god, its brilliant!! There will be a video demo soon, but here is a picture of it, in all its glorious redness…

Here is the latest of my Going Loopy videos. I decided to produce a little tribute to David Bowie with this one. Not just for the obvious reason, but also because “Lazarus” from his new album “Blackstar” is an incredible song. And then something popped in my head at the end…

It’s the day after the news broke, about the death of one of my main musical heroes. I’ve been trying to gather my thoughts about him and his passing, but without wanting to sound too melodramatic, I’m struggling a bit at the moment. It seems so unbelievable that he has gone. I usually hate the mass outpouring of emotion we get, when a public figure dies. Usually, it’s someone the “mourners” are unlikely to ever meet. However, I completely understand the scenes in Bowie’s home town of Brixton yesterday, where fans gathered to pay their respects and to sing songs. I’m not going to post my feelings all over Facebook or such like, but, this is my website and my forum, where I can express what David Bowie meant to me.

I suppose I came relatively late to the Bowie universe. I’d been into music since I was 8 years old, when I got my first guitar, so I was aware of who he was. However, for many years he passed me by a bit. I guess the duet with Mick Jagger and the Live Aid performance, started to make me a bit more aware of him. However, it wasn’t until I heard “Hallo Spaceboy” in 1995 that my genuine love affair with his music began.

That year, I bought the “Outside” album and then immediately started buying the rest of his back catalogue. Everything. I was completely sold.

Listening to his early albums was a bit mind blowing, after the ultra modern drum n bass inspired songs on Outside. But I think the fact that he changed his style so much and was always finding completely different ways to express himself, was one of the most captivating things about him. All the massive, well known songs were there on Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust etc, but I discovered the gems which were not just for consumption by the masses.

I found the “Berlin Trilogy” of albums a bit hard work at first. But with some perseverance, they clicked.

I must admit to being very partial to “Lets Dance” With that album, he proved he could come out of releasing something like “Scary Monsters” by then becoming the biggest pop star in the world!! The first 3 tracks on Lets Dance, are pure pop genius.

My favourite album? Thats very hard to say given the massive breadth of Bowie’s catalogue. But, I would have to say “Station to Station” is the album I listen to the most. Something about that album really clicked with me. Golden Years is the biggest hit from Station to Station, but I don’t think that song really represents the complete album that well. Station to Station has a very claustrophobic feel to me, with lots of melancholic elements. I believe it has been described as “simultaneously one of Bowie’s most accessible albums and his most impenetrable” I completely understand where that statement is coming from. It sums up Bowie’s ability to challenge and entertain at the same time.

What makes his death even more unbelievable, is that he only released his latest album “Blackstar” last Friday, on his birthday. I made a trip to my local HMV to buy it. It’s brilliant. I thought that the minute I listened to it. Whilst his previous release “The Next Day” was great in its wistfulness and nostalgia, Blackstar takes him back to his challenging and inventive best. As a musician myself, its an album that can only inspire my own writing to new heights.

But how can he be gone? To me, David Bowie has always been here. I do think you feel the death of your heroes more, as you grow older and ponder on your own mortality. I also think I feel such things more now I have a child. Being a parent makes you think more about how Bowie’s children must be feeling, at the loss of their father.

We have to move forward I guess. That’s what David Bowie always did. That’s what made him so special.

“If you’re ever sad, just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.” @JeSuisDean