Have Lapstick will travel – Australia

On the road again, and jolly happy to have my portable six-string companion with me. In conjunction with my new VOX Amplug Lead it’s a fairly formidable setup with a quite tasty sound and really helps me hone my chops.

I decided to take a different approach to normal in warming up and started banging out some melodies and trying to play them by ear, without trying to visualize them on the fretboard as part of a scale form.  Instead I tried to rely purely on my sense of relative pitch and melodic intervals. Sure there were plenty of screw ups but this is something I am gradually getting better at.  I also focused on making each note loud and clear and with a nice tasty vibrato. Before long I was really getting a good grip on the strings and was improvising freely while using my ears more.

I played a whole bunch of tunes from the movie The Sound Of Music which I can remember how they go very well (My Favourite Things, 16 going on 17, Lonely Goatherd etc.). I also played some well known theme songs from TV shows such as Eastenders, and of course, being Down Under bashed out some renditions of the themes from Neighbours and Home and Away.