JustFourStrings - You don't need six strings to sound amazing (but if you insist....)

Corona? Or rather something else?

Corona? Or rather something else?

Looks like the virus has finally reached the wild East of the UK. Yesterday they reported 11 cases in Norfolk. I had another look at the curve showing cumulative cases in the UK and it is clearly exponential with a doubling time of around 3 days. That means in about 2 weeks time we will see the same problems as Italy now, if nothing drastically is done. We as individuals can’t influence the rate of testing (which obviously is an important factor), but we CAN slow the down the virus by self-isolating. And by this I mean “physical isolation” and NOT “social isolation”!

For the forseable future I won’t offer face to face tuition anymore. It’s just not worth the risk. My students and I stay in contact through email and social media. To keep the ball running we are starting recording projects. That should keep us occupied for quite a while. It also helps learning to play more accurately, as you can hear every little mistake. If you play live, mistakes are gone in milliseconds and you tend to ignore them. On a recording they stay FOREVER! I am looking forward to this 🙂

Stay safe, stay home!

9 views

What’s with the Philippines?

So, I started this wordpress website a while ago to announce to the world that I am offering bass and ukulele tuition here in North Norfolk. Well, actually, I mostly wanted to announce this to the good people in this region, as I don’t expect a student to commute more than a few 10 miles for a lesson. Then I thought about how to promote this website, so that more people would find it. So I started a page on Facebook (as you do…): I basically copied stuff from here to FB in the hope that people would then click on the links to this page and engage with me here (or call me about lessons).

Anyway, a few weeks ago I noticed that the number of followers on my FB page started to rise. A lot. Every day. Constantly. And I didn’t know any of the names that cropped up, none of the new followers ever contacted me or asked about lessons, all strangers, some with very foreign sounding names (not that I mind that, my name is “Schröer” after all), some names in a font that I couldn’t even read… What was going on?

Fortunately FB provides you with some helpful statistics once the number of your followers has finally crept to more than 30. They call it “Insights”. So last week I had a look and now I am completely confused:

My FB “Insights”

I currently have 247 followers, 236 of which apparently are from the Philippines!!! 3 of the remaining 11 I know personally (and they are not students). 42% of my followers are young men between 18 and 24 years of age. Only 18% of my followers are female, which on its own is already quite disappointing, but the vast majority of those are teenagers!

Can anybody tell me what’s going on???

Oh, and a big “KAMUSTA” to my fans in the Philippines from sunny old Norfolk!!!

17 views

Original 1966 Vox AC 30/6 Top Boost for sale

by Dr Gonzo 1 Comment

I am selling my trusted AC30 that has been at my side for nearly 30 years. Apart from 5 capacitors (and the tubes of course), everything is still original. It has the original Woden transformers and choke with the date code from September/October 1966, the sought after mustard caps, and silver alnico bulldog speakers. Two of the handles are reproductions, the middle one is original (the original handles come with the amp). The vents are original 1966. The amp still has the original heavy duty cover (although that has been stitched back together a few times).

The amp has just been serviced and a 100mA fuse with holder has been fitted to protect the choke in case one of the end tubes fails and shortens out. The rectifier tube has also been renewed.
The amp looks and sounds phantastic! The trem/vib is absolutely lovely and not so “in-your-face” as with some amps or foot pedals. The original foot switch is working without a problem. As it’s the 6-input version of the amp, you can easily combine the three channels with patch cables and adjust the volumes separately.

I would like to have £2490 for this amp. I might accept a near offer if you can convince me that you will treat the amp nicely.

I only sell the amp because I am now concentrating more on bass and uklele and don’t play guitar in a band anymore. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions. Just drop me an email if you are interested and want to see more photos, or come round to check out the sound for yourself.

22 views

Learn backwards!

The other day I was trying to figure out a bass riff on a record by a rather obscure finnish band from the eighties (Bluesounds). The problem was that it was rather quick and only lasted for a few bars, and it drove me mad for a while because each time I was ready to try something new, it was already over. I figured out the first note and then …. nothing. I wasn’t quick enough. But after a few tries I remembered a tip I usually give to my students in such a situation: Begin at the end and figure it out backwards!

If you start with the last note, you are always ready for it when it comes. Once you got it, carry on with the second to last one, and so on. This way you always have time to get ready to play with the recording and check your notes/chords. Also you don’t keep repeating the stuff you already know over and over again and then fail at the first new note. If you learn in reverse order, the part you are learning gets easier the further you get through it. The hardest bit will always be the beginning of the piece and not the end. That makes it easier to relax once you played the first note and helps to store the piece in your memory.

This technique is not only great for figuring out a part by listening to a recording, it is also fantastic if you try to learn a difficult passage from scores or tabs. If you start at the beginning, you repeat the easy bit over and over again, but the hard bit (the one you WANT to practise) always throws you out and after a while turns into a real barrier in your mind: you start to fear this bloody note and therefore failure is a given (especially if you try it on stage)! But if you start at the end of the passage, you have time to prepare for the hard note and then afterwards it’s all downhill. Once you got it, the hard note joins the easy ones and the one before it becomes the new hard note. I hope that makes sense… Give it a try anyway!

3 views

Blank Sheet Music

When I was a younger (and not at all interested in musical notation), you could go to your local stationery shop on the high street and buy a5- and a4-sized music notebooks, basically exercise books with blank staff paper. I haven’t seen those for ages, I presume pupils don’t learn music notation at school anymore. Nevertheless as a music teacher I sometimes feel the need to write down a few notes or tabs for myself or my students. I used to draw lines with ruler and pencil and then copy these templates at the local copy shop (they seem to have vanished too). Luckily there’s a great website that lets you print your own staff paper: https://www.blanksheetmusic.net/
The pages are fully customisable for all your needs using a simple menu. You can choose different clefs, different tabs, lines for lyrics, etc, combine them all if you want, choose the magnification, and then just print out the staff paper on your own printer. Great!

4 views