AlistairMusic Tuition

BIll Monroe - the father of bluegrass

2011-12-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

For all you mandolin players and anyone else interested in bluegrass music, this is an amazing little documentary about Bill Monroe. This is sooo good!

Click on this link to watch it on folkstreams.net - a brilliant website with loads of stuff on all things american folk music.

Enjoy x

Alison Krauss & Union Station - wow!

2011-11-17T09:36:00.001-08:00

Wow, I was lucky enough to see Alison Krauss & Union Station play at the Royal Festival Hall on wednesday night. They were so stunningly brilliant, it was amazing.

It was fascinating to see how relaxed and normal they seemed (normal in the best possible way). There were obviously quite a lot of solo's and some brilliant musicianship but on the most part they were quite restrained and disciplined with their playing.

There wasn't any show boating or ego's, just good honest music. I guess they were keen for the songs to be the main focal point rather than their technically brilliant musicianship. In fact I think I enjoyed their group vocals the most actually. Alison Krauss has a lovely voice, but when they all sang together in harmony, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

They did indulge their virtuoso dobro player Jerry Douglass in a bit of showing off though. He played a solo for about 15 minutes, but it was really beautiful. He started off with playing some really nice simple arpeggio's and some lovely melodies, and gradually built up to a crescendo with some unbelievable licks.

They ended the show with the band crowded round one condensor microphone (old bluegrass style) singing and playing into the mic. In such a brilliant venue with it's wonderful acoustics, it was such a fantastic and simple way to end the show. In true bluegrass style, for instrumentals the two guitar players would move closer to the microphone and then they would step back a little bit to sing again.

There were so many things to learn from this gig. My main observation was just how relaxed they were on stage and in their playing. I think it's so important to be relaxed and confident in playing music and this is what I try to convey to all of my students.

Anyways enough of my ramblings, be for now.

Alistair

Introdcution

2011-10-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hi there, I'm Alistair, a professional musician living and working in central London. I've been playing music and writing songs for over 13 years now!

I write and perform my own songs, and you can have a little look here for to have a little wander round my own music website and have a listen to some of songs (and even grab a free download if you like).

In the meantime here is my music tuition website - www.alistairmusic.com

I teach Guitar (acoustic and electric), Banjo, Mandolin, Ukulele and Songwriting. I also dabble in a little bit of Bouzouki if that floats your boat! I cover a wide range of styles including folk/bluegrass/rock/pop/jazz/celtic/old time/blues/indie......

I'm in the process of creating a few short intro videos for all the different things I teach... In the meantime have a little look at the first general introductory video (more to follow soon):