Ooh, forgot to mention before… if you’re looking to pick up some jazz guitar skills, but have no idea where to start, my friend Matt is bloggishly documenting his own chronologically accurate journey of discovery…
Remembering to play guitar
What with the football, a week in the Lake District, a number of weekends away and the general stream of transcribing, guitar-magazining and bluesjamtracking, I just haven’t really done much guitar playing recently. That is to say, I always have a guitar to hand when I’m transcribing and I’ve practised stuff for the magazine CD, but that’s all very specifically focused; I’m talking about deep, intense playing.
Part of my problem is that I’m lazy. Another part of my problem is a very short attention span, especially when it comes to familiar old practice routines. The best way to make me work hard is to give me a new challenge. I’ve long intended to develop my slide playing, but was always confronted with a dilemma… whether to struggle with my clumsy technique on guitars set up with low action, or whether to tweak a guitar for slide, thus making it ineligible for “standard” duties.
Fortuitously, a solution arrived from (sweet home) Alabama, as you can see in the picture. This cheery little chap was built for me by my good friend Bill Jehle. As well as being a damn fine player, Bill has recently been investigating the fine old American tradition of the cigar box guitar. He’s already built quite a few examples and made an instructional DVD, so check out his website… BellyJelly Music.
So anyway… this is now my designated slide guitar. At the moment, I’m really just trying to build a solid, accurate technique (honestly, I’m working from a starting point of roughly 2% competence) so there won’t be any actual recordings just yet. I’m mostly working on intonation, improvising to little chord loops. Also, I have a tendency to lazily allow the bottleneck to pivot against the high E string, creating a very rattly contact with the B and G strings, so I’m working on developing a feel for angling it most effectively according to the string I’m playing. I love the way you can radically alter the tone by adjusting the way the slide connects with the string. More updates soon!
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Euro 2008: Final
Germany 0-1 Spain
Iberian skies clear for first time in 44 years
And that was that. Spain reined in some of their semi-final brilliance, concentrating on effective organisation, while chaotic defending proved to be Germany’s downfall. Even if a fitter Ballack had ensured an equaliser, Spain always seemed to have more to offer.
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Euro 2008: Days 17 & 18
SEMI-FINALS…
Germany 3-2 Turkey
Storms, real and metaphorical
A seriously short-staffed Turkey played out of their skins, but the fairytale had to end. Typical German ability to win ugly when they really didn’t deserve it; to be fair, though, they were denied a penalty on 50 mins.
Russia 0-3 Spain
Scorchio!
Another fairytale comes to an end. Have the Russians been found out, or were Spain truly exceptional? Is this finally a consistent Spanish team? Or have they just happened to turn it on in a crucial game? Don’t ask me. Funny game, innit?
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Euro 2008: Days 15 & 16
Russia 3-1 Netherlands
Icy blasts thawing rapidly
There are times when teams should take a lesson from Italy. It seemingly never occurred to the Dutch that their strikers might have an off-day, so there was no solid, defensive Plan B. Exhilarating attacking by the Russians, who deserve the victory.
Italy 0-0 Spain (Spain win 4-2 on penalties)
Leaden skies, clearing slightly by midnight
… and there are times when the Italians should just stop being so Italian! Hoofing long balls at Luca Toni has barely worked over the last three games, so why persist against an unusually organised Spanish defence? Part of the answer was Del Piero, but ideally *before* the 108th minute.
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Euro 2008: Days 13 & 14
Portugal 2-3 Germany
Vinds of change!
Cracking match, and the Germans deserved it. Eusebio is right… Portugal are going nowhere without a decent centre forward. Good to see the back of cynical Scolari, though. Can we have the naive, charming, chaotic old Portugal back now?
Turkey 1-1 Croatia (Turkey win 3-1 on penalties)
There is no hurricane on the way…
Having subjected us all to 80 minutes of abject hopelessness against the Czechs, only to produce a classic final 10 minutes, the Turks have now extended their Period Of Ineptitude to 110 minutes, making the 121st minute equaliser and steely penalty shoot-out victory even more exhilarating. Surely they can’t beat the Germans?
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Her Majesty goes phishing
My spam filters tend to grab most of the phishing scam emails doing the rounds (especially those purportedly from Paypal, Ebay or the high street banks) so I never see them. The ones I do see, therefore, have to be unusual and/or clever, meaning that they’re probably the ones that people are more likely to fall for.
So, for those of you who are self-employed, watch out for a fake tax rebate from HMRC. I tend to read unsolicited email with a healthy cynicism, so I consider myself pretty phish-proof, but as I read this…
Inland Revenue Tax Refund – You receive a tax refund of GBP 97.43
HM Reference: 00-47-9302354
Refund ID: 95863474302
Refund amount: £97.43
HM Reference: 00-47-9302354
Refund ID: 95863474302
Refund amount: £97.43
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it.
PLEASE NOTE: It is your legal responsibility to get any overpaid tax back from HM Revenue and Customs.
You have 48 hours to complete your tax refund form and send it back to us as a reply to this email.
… I almost, almost found myself on the point of dumbly complying. Part of it was the fact that HMRC change some of their procedures from time to time, so my initial surprise (at an email request to claim a tax rebate) was tempered by the assumption that it must be part of their gradual online development.
I soon realised not only that the reply-to address (@hmrc.gov.co.uk) was wrong, but also that my online dealings with Brenda tend to go through my non-Gmail address. And although I can’t claim to know my tax reference number off by heart, I can recognise it when I see it, and there’s no sign of it in that email. Still, it pays to be vigilant!
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Euro 2008: Day 12
Russia 2-0 Sweden
Arctic temperatures moving westward
I’m still not convinced by all the “exciting new force in European football” talk. What Russia do have is enthusiasm and confidence. Oh, and the fact that Sweden were dreadful.
Greece 1-2 Spain
Bright sunshine over half of the Mediterranean
And again… is this really the YEAR WHEN SPAIN FINALLY DO IT, or were they just lucky to end up in a group with two teams of sluggish has-beens and one with a very naive defence?
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Euro 2008: Day 11
France 0-2 Italy
Forlorn drizzle
A fair result. France were unlucky, but would probably have struggled even with all 11 men. Italy get out of jail again (and jail is where Lubos Michel should be… UEFA’s most overrated referee?)
Netherlands 2-0 Romania
Wall-to-wall (orange) sunshine
Shame to see plucky Romania go out to a Dutch reserve team (admittedly featuring Van Persie and Robben). Then again, how bad must Italy and France have been to make such a meal of their games against Romania?
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Euro 2008: Day 10
Austria 0-1 Germany
Cloudy, mild.
More effort and spirit from Austria, still hampered by the lack of a decent final ball. Not a great advert for the current German team, despite the scorcher from Ballack.
Poland 0-1 Croatia
Temperatures continue to soar over the Adriatic
Are Croatia the new Germany? Despite varying quality, they’ve carved out three victories. Poland had a few chances, but ultimately didn’t even deserve the single point from the Austria match.
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