My musical influences around this time were primarily Blues, or rock music heavily influenced by Blues. These included artists such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
At age 14 I joined my first band playing rhythm guitar & bass. Playing mostly Blues & Blues derived rock covers as well as a handful of original material, we gigged regularly in Inverurie and the surrounding area.
Playing in subsequent bands allowed me to develop other styles of music including funk & soul. During this time I also began to take lead vocal duties on some songs, starting the progression that would ultimately see me take on the role of front man (vocals & guitar) for a 12-piece soul band.
My first foray into teaching began when I was around 14 to 15 years old. A fellow classmate at school wished to learn to play guitar and so I began to give him some lessons. This was a good learning ground for me, because he listened to and wanted to play music that I did not really listen to. This presented me with the challenge of learning these pieces of music and the techniques associated with them, before passing them onto my schoolmate.
I enjoy being a tutor at Chalmers Mackay Music School for a variety of reasons. I like to keep lessons interesting, giving people the opportunity to play the things that they would like to play, whilst still passing on the necessary techniques and exercises associated with playing such pieces. Many people have different ways of understanding aspects of music, and so it is important that you treat people as individuals, tailoring their learning so that they can get the most out of it. I enjoy doing this because, as well as passing on the knowledge that I have, it continually stretches me and brings me on as both a player and as a tutor.
All the best - and enjoy making music!!