A new skill and whoops there goes another rotator cuff.

I bought this last Thursday...

Yes, I am using a sofa as a guitar stand!

Last Sunday, I took it to an open mic night and played it - very slowly! So far, I've learned the following chords:- C, Dm, Em, F, G & Am. As my fingertips are like cushions (big & soft), I have to finger chords as triads, with my fingers coming down onto the strings nearly vertically, to minimise the area of my fingerprint. Dm is particularly difficult for me. I'm going to learn the CAGED system, so that I can play any chord using any pattern.

Due to the sunny weather, I've been putting the soft top down on my MX-5. Unfortunately, I've been raising it from the driver's seat position. I forgot that this puts enormous strain on my left shoulder. The pain in my left shoulder when I woke this morning reminded me to not do that again!

Bandaoke with Jukebox at the Falkners Arms, Friday 5th April 2013.

This was Jukebox's 1st time performing this song live and my 1st time singing it at the correct pitch (at karaoke, I would have the pitch shifted down 2 keys). Ouch!

An interesting side-effect of stress reduction.

While mum was ill, I was under constant stress. This went on for five years and nine months. I'm no longer stressed. I have some paperwork to sort out, but I'm no longer dreading hearing the phone ring.

Last night, at the jam session in the Unicorn Pub, I noticed something interesting. I was sitting in front of the loudspeakers, but the loud music wasn't hurting my ears. Normally, I have to use Alpine Music Pro ear defenders. Last night, I didn't need them!

I'm wondering whether I had elevated cortisol all those years. The NHS only tests morning (9am) cortisol.

Here's another photo from the 15th April jam session.

You are *never* going to guess what happened on Saturday night.

I attended a gig at The Falkners Arms by a band called Mirrorball.

During the gig, a young lady asked the band if she could get up on stage and sing a song with them, to which they agreed. While the young lady was singing "Valerie" by Amy Winehouse, the lead singer stood by the table where I was sitting and put his glass on it. After a while, when he turned to pick up his glass, I attracted his attention and asked him "Can I have a go?" He asked me what I wanted to sing and I replied ""Sit down", by James".

He said that "Sit down" wasn't in their set-list, to which I replied "It's 8 beats in E, four in A and four in B. Rinse and repeat". He said that he'd ask the other band members during the break. Some time later, during the break, he returned and said that some of the band knew the song, so I would be up immediately after the break.

I was, too! I'm still buzzing! See also http://www.lemonrock.com/mirrorball?page=applause

Here's me at the Unicorn jam session on 15th April, doing backing vocals on "Mustang Sally".

Feel-good Friday.

Nothing to report, so crank the volume knob up to 11 for the following two music videos.





A big "thank-you" to Ann Gibbs for bringing these songs into my life at Monday night jam sessions at the Unicorn pub in Aldershot. I hadn't heard either of them until I went there!