Category: Music

Now paying attention to the rework of my original song, ‘The Back Catalogue’ with the addition of the Acoustic Guitar track in the bridge section.

Next up is finishing the drum track and the intro before adding vocals.

My goodbye

Last Sunday I participated for my final time in the Mrs Sunderland Adult Choral Workshop.

Led again by Thom Meredith we spent the day learning famous songs from Stage and Screen and then sang them in concert in the evening.

Once again we are supported by the excellent Musica Youth Orchestra and Chris Pulleyn on Piano along with soloists.

My musical activities have now taken me in new directions this will be my last workshop. I started with the amazing ‘Armed Man’ performance in the inaugural 2016 adult workshop. I braved ‘Popular Opera’ in 2018 and the ‘Proms Favourites’ in 2020 just before the Covid19 pandemic. This year was my first opportunity to participate since I returned to singing.

Since Christmas my focus has changed back to the rework of my original songs. I started work on 2010 song, ‘Sign on Again’, looking at the song dynamics, guitar chord voicings and alternate rhythm.

However my focus shifted to my 2016 song ‘The Back Catalogue’ which I felt lent itself to a retro, 1960’s feel influenced by my encounters with that era at Soul Choir and indeed via ‘Sing Pop’ song choices like ‘The Night’.  After experimenting I was drawn towards  an offbeat rhythm over a 60’s drum pattern. So I sought feedback from my guitar tutor at Kirklees Guitar School and he suggested a more committed approach to that feel. So that’s what I’m now working on. He also felt that my bridge, a classic middle eight’ was too short or at least didn’t end well. I decided to move to a 12 bar bridge by adding a four bar solo derived from the relative minor’s pentatonic scales.

In parallel I continue to work on my guitar playing via a mix of scales and working on ‘Wonderful Land’ by The Shadows.

For the sake of diversity I also uncovered the Sax, cleaned it, found a new reed and gently started the task of getting back to where I left off two years ago. I managed to play the warm-up piece, ‘Senua Dedende’ from memory so I’m now back to gently working through an arrangement of Christina Perri’s ‘A Thousand Years’ and The Beatles ‘She’s Leaving Home’ to a backing tracks a few bars at a time.

In time I will hit a brick wall as the Sax is actually broken, with some keys unplayable. I will need to get it repaired at some point.

I think that a couple of sessions a week will not detract too much from progress on the guitar so I shall give that a try.

Meanwhile the new season with Soul Choir has seen us commence rehearsal of ‘A Decade of Soul – The 1960’s’ with a concert planned for the 29th March. We will again join up with Huddersfield Gospel Choir and the youngsters from True Talent Performing Arts School.

In the lead up to Christmas James Kuhel of Kirklees Guitar School has been running his  annual ‘Riffmas’ competition.  James provides a YouTube lesson and guitar tab PDF for a famous guitar riff.  Facebook group members then submit clips of themselves attempting to play the riff. Each video clip that we share to the group earns one entry into a draw, this year to win a carbon fibre travel guitar or one of two guitar pedals. As I’m trying to learn some lead guitar I decided to give it a go, even though the chosen riffs are outside my normal musical tastes, some massively so! None are from songs that I have ever played, sung or aspired toward.

However doing so created learning opportunities in both guitar technique and the use of my amp / effects pedal settings,  trying to achieve a sound at least  similar to the original. Some of my attempts have been more successful than others!

The riffs than I have attempted are:

Riff No.	Song & Artist
1	Do I Wanna Know – Artic Monkeys
2	Message In a Bottle – The Police
3	My Sharona – The Knack
4	Enter Sandman – Metallica
5	Roadhouse Blues – The Doors
6	Black Night – Deep Purple
7	La Grange – ZZTop
8	TNT – AC/DC

With a few non-musical activities behind me for a short while, its back to guitar practice but  this time with some accompanying vocals. 

Through November and December I have been paying attention to learning / rehearsing five songs, trying develop two guitar skills and also learning how-to-use two items of equipment.

The five songs that I have been working on are covers of:

1. Only You by Yazoo – my guitar arrangement with a Guitar Phaser effect. Completed;
2. Just One Look by Doris Troy / The Hollies. Completed;
3. Time of Your Life – Greenday – My relearning challenge;
4. Wonderful Land – The Shadows (Instrumental).
5. Demons – Imagine Dragons – A song that I sand with The Awesome Choir Of Rock.

The two guitar skills I’m focusing upon are:

1. Vibrato – by hand and with tremolo arm  – for ‘Only You’ and ‘Wonderful Land’;
2. Melody – lead guitar playing in general.

The two pieces of kit where  I’m wading towards the deep end are:

1. Zoom G3Xn Guitar pedal  – I started bytrying to get ‘The Shadows’ Sound for Wonderful Land. Now I have moved on to look at Delay, Chorus, Tremolo and Reverb effects coupled with ‘Tap Tempo’ timing. More aimed at thickening sound than the Shadows saturated use case;
   
   
2. TC Helicon Mic Mechanic vocal effects pedal – learning about this new to me piece of kit and trying to set tasteful delay and reverb levels along with the default tone settings for EQ / De-Ess/ Noise Gate.  So far this suggests that it is going to help with my vocals.

Another Soul Choir inspired song choice, ‘Just One Look’ was originally a hit for Doris Troy in 1963 with the UK hit cover by The Hollies arriving in 1964.

My cover comprises Guitar, Bass Guitar and Vocals over a drum track created using EZDrummer3.

“Northern Soul” header image by yesilikethat is used unmodified and licensed under CC BY 2.0 .

With that wonderful Evening of Northern Soul at Holmfirth Picturedrome  behind us, and only our Christmas sing-along at Holmfirth Civic Hall remaining this term, it was good to hear of the plan for next term.

We shall be rehearsing for a concert in March themed ‘A decade of Soul Music’ where we will learn and then perform a hit song drawn from each year of the 1960s. Think songs by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Stevie Wonder, The Shirelles, The Four Tops, Aretha Franklin and more. There are some absolute bangers in that list, some familiar to the choir and some new, there’s even a song that I have previously covered to a backing track. This is going to be another fun term and might include a return to the Picturedrome, although that remains to be confirmed.

Early on the morning of my wedding day in 1982 I had been to the barbers for a trim and then called into a music store and bought Yazoo’s ‘Only You’ hit single. The following year a brilliant acapella cover by The Flying Pickets was the 1983 Christmas number one. This song has stuck with me all those years and I have thought about doing a cover for some time.

My recent return to guitar learning led to me experimenting with different sound effects that I could use for a guitar and vocal cover. I liked the phaser effect of my Zoom G3Xn multi-effects pedal and decided to use it. There really isn’t a reference guitar version as the original by Vince Clarke is a synth pop classic and the Flying Pickets version is acapella.

Most of my guitar playing to date has been rhythm guitar. I have used a little melody in my originals but in general I have steered away from playing lead in covers. My lessons with Kirklees Guitar School, online and in-person, tempted me to create a guitar solo ‘bridge’ using Guitar Pro notation software. This was based upon the Flying Pickets’ version of the song. I also created an intro based upon Alison Moyet’s Burberry Fashion show arrangement.

James and George at Kirklees Guitar School have provided me with advice on strumming technique and tasteful use of the phaser effect and reverb for the guitar parts via their #FeedbackFriday feature. George also suggested adding more reverb to my vocals, leading to me buying a vocal effects pedal!  Meanwhile Andrew, my in person tutor, added advice on song structure, dynamics and lead guitar technique.

I wouldn’t have had the confidence to attempt singing this were it not for taking part in last year’s Laura Morrell’s ‘Sing Pop’ workshops. After doing very little solo singing between 2020 and 2024 I hadn’t even got around to finishing my original songs. The Sing Pop cover songs that I did with Laura gave me renewed determination. Especially so the Soul Choir regular Northern Soul classic ‘The Night’ that I performed a year ago at ‘The Blind Pig’.

As I  was coming towards the end of recording the song last week there one of life’s bizarre coincidences. Dan Price at last week’s Soul Choir rehearsal presented The Flying Pickets ‘Only You’ as one of his Christmas Number One Hits. We sang it through without any rehearsal. It was well received and Dan has now created an arrangement for the choir to sing!


I’ve really enjoyed revisiting and trying to create an arrangement of this memorable song.

Last night I attended the live recording of two November KGS Podcasts at Denby Dale Pie Hall.

It was a brilliant evening and great to see James and George recording live. The relaxed vibe that comes over on the videos is exactly like the reality.

My guitar lessons at Kirklees Guitar School have centred around refreshing previously learned and performed songs and then adding improved dynamics.

The theme of adding dynamic contrast as also applied to a cover of Yazoo’s ‘Only You’ that I’m working on. I have taken this 80’s Synthesizer driven song and created a guitar led arrangement with my first use of a phaser effect from my Zoom G3Xn pedal.

Besides the Original version my cover is being influenced by the Flying Pickets acapella version and the version that Alison Moyet performed at The Burberry Fashion show.

I shall complete this by December 2025.

On Wednesay 22nd October The Soul Choir held a final rehearsal on stage at Holmfirth Picturedrome with the band. That provided a tantalising taster for the ‘Keep the Faith’gig…and it did not dissappoint.

On Thursday the 23rd we were first treated to the fun of learning Northern Soul dance moves led by Sharon of Northern Soul Dance. Our ten song set then followed as we took to the stage with the band playing the Just Brother’s instrumental ‘Sliced Tomatoes’.

We then made a Northern Soul club sandwich of dance anthems between two Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons classics:

Song	Original Artist
Beggin’	Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons
Turning My Heartbeat Up	MVP’s
The Drifter	Ray Pollard
This Old Heart	The Isley Brothers
Hold Back the Night	The Trammps
Do I Love You	Frank Wilson
I Gotta Find Me Somebody	The Vel-Vets
Ghost in my House	R Dean Taylor
Tainted Love	Gloria Jones (Soft Cell)
The Night	Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons

Our performance ended with a good number of audience members taking to the dance floor as we sang ‘The Night’. This was the best ‘choral’ event that I have participated in and it had some very strong contenders.

The rehearsals for this weeks ‘Keep The Faith’ Evening of Northern Soul event have been real foot-tapper events in themselves. We’ve added another 7 brilliant songs to our list and that includes some of the anthems that define this genre. Yes that includes ‘Do I love you’ and ‘The Night’!

On Wednesday we return to Holmfirth Picturedrome for a full rehearsal with the band in advance of Thursday’s gig.

A unique feature of this event is the opportunity to learn some basic Northern Soul dance moves led by tutors from Northern Soul Dance.

It also features DJ Stephen Holt Samuels of ‘Inspiral Carpets’ band playing more soul classics.

Northern Soul Music has become a significant part of my music activity this year. Currently the Soul Choir is preparing for the ‘Keep The Faith’ gig later this month at Holmfirth Picturedrome. That’s adding several more Northern Soul favourites to those already in our repertoire.

I had sung Frankie Valli’s ‘The Night’ to a backing track at the first Sing Pop gig last December because I had been captured by this infectious music at Soul Choir.

Since then I’ve been playing along to that backing track on Guitar along with exploring Ray Pollard’s ‘The Drifter’.

My recent lessons at Kirklees Guitar School have focused upon song dynamics and I’m using learning another Wigan Casino classic, Jimmy Radcliffe / Dusty Springfield’s ‘Long After Tonight Is All Over’ as an exercise in creating variety and interest in what is actually quite a simple song. Again I’m using a performance from the Northern Soul at The Proms concert as a reference. It seems that the Ultimate Guitar version of the Dusty Springfield version of the song is a little over simplified. There are some tasty chords in the original that I need to explore too!

Really enjoying the increased activity with my guitars, guitar lessons and revisiting songs, both originals and covers.

When I originally wrote ‘Out of Order’ in 2017 I used pencil and blank score paper to capture ideas and then transcribed them using Musescore. Although Musescore Studio has greatly improved support for Guitar scores it still feels clunky. So I’ve moved to using Guitar Pro to capture the re-arranged version of the song that I intend finishing this Autumn / Winter. I will likely then export / import to Musescore using MusicXML files to prepare the full arrangement for recording.

Reflecting further about my not having a ‘go to guitar song’ I started work on Greenday’s ‘Time of Your Life’. I shared a version on the Kirklees Guitar School ‘Feedback Friday’ and suggestions were provided as to how to improve it. This was also spotted by my tutor, Andrew, for whom this is a personal favourite. So I’m now working through his suggestions too.

After not taking part in a Mrs Sunderland Choral Workshop since that living on the edge of a global pandamic event in 2020 it feels good to be registered to take part in the 2026 event.

The theme next February is songs from Film and Stage so I’m expecting some well known music that we can really enjoy singing.


Taking part in that first adult workshop in 2016 was such a brilliant experience.

I would for sure have taken part in the repeat of The Armed Man workshop, even without the thrilling laser light show but I was still shielding my vulnerable mother-in-law at that point and so not singing.

It will be great to re-unite with singers from other choirs that I used to sing with.

Soul Choir returned to rehearsals this week with the anticipation of another landmark event at The Holmfirth PictureDrome approaching in October.

Our last gig there, in December 2024, was truly memorable and this special Celebration of Northern Soul looks set to repeat that experience. There is even a Northern Soul dance lesson before we do our set.

The songs shortlisted of course include anthems like Frank Wilson’s ‘Do I Love You’, MVP’s ‘Turning My Heartbeat Up’ and Frankie Valli’s ‘The Night. Some songs are still to be revealed by Dan but the inclusion of The Isley Brothers ‘This Old Heart of Mine’ was well received – we really enjoyed learning that one!

Week 1

James Kuhnel of Kirklees Guitar School runs an Online Student Guitar Group on Facebook. He set the group the challenge of practicing each day in August. For Week 1 the challenge included note picking and rhythm exercices, with the latter being mainly about timing.

I took James’ suggestion of playing the C, Em, Am, D chord progression on two guitars, using the Exercise 2.1 & 2.2 chord positions. I recorded my playing the open chord progression on one track and then played along to that to capture the second guitar using bar chords on another track.  I went further and added Bass guitar playing root notes on a third track. A fourth track captured a EZDrummer3 used as the metronome at 70 bpm.

By recording those tracks in the Cockos Reaper DAW I was able to visually inspect my performance, aligning the beats on the waveforms to bar position and I noted that I have a distinct tendency to be just a fraction in front of the beat. Something to work on as part of my practice sessions.

Week 2

The practice challenge for week 2 followed a similar pattern with three picking exercises to perform at 60 bpm and three chord exercises at 70 bpm.

My new learning adventure is now starting, with my first ever 1-2-1 guitar lesson scheduled for mid-August with Kirklees Guitar School in Denby Dale. 

I did participate in some group classes when I first started learning way back in the 1970s with a nylon strung acoustic guitar and then later with Musica Adult Guitar Group in 2017/18 using my PRS electric.

It was good to visit the Guitar School today, meet with owner / tutor James Kuhnel and have a look around the facility.

There does feel to be quite some serendipity in this turn of events with an overlap of interests between me as the student and the tutors areas of experience.  


I feel that this is going to be fun and rewarding learning experience.

On my visit James posed a question along the lines of asking what is my go to song on guitar, say if someone asked me to play? I realised that I don’t really have one. I did play him a bit of Ben King’s Stand By Me but not sure I would say that’s my go to song, just one I could remember and that didn’t need a Capo!

Two weeks have elapsed since the memorable Sing Pop ‘On The Mic’ event. It felt sad to be moving on from such a good experience but now it’s time to make plans for the next adventures.

This autumn / winter I intend to revisit my original songs, with some instrumental updates, but mainly it’s about getting the vocals recorded in Cockos Reaper and the music notation complete in Musescore.

As a getting back up to speed exercise I’m recording my favourite song from the Sing Pop performances, The Night, a Soul Choir favourite too. To that end I’m currently learning the guitar and bass guitar parts end exploring keyboard and EZ Drummer tracks.

I’m also exploring a new guitar learning experience as an aside to my autumn / winter projects.

Returning to The Blind Pig for our second showcase event felt less daunting than for the December gig.

This time I sang lead on The Monkees version of ‘I’m a Believer’, solo on the Zutons original version of ‘Valerie’ and lent backing vocals to Rona’s highly amusing, and incredibly cheesy, version of the Mike Flowers Pops version of ‘Wonderwall’.

Another terrific afternoon with admirable performances drawn from an eclectic collection of popular music. Once we four had performed our songs we were able to enjoy the year 2 group’s performances.

I feel sad that for me it’s now over but I am really pleased to have had this unexpected return to a live mic.

I can heartily recommend the Sing Pop workshops experience.