back to school ...

Now I know how a pupil feels in a classroom when they are finding the work difficult. Tonight was my first ever bass guitar lesson and I've been getting more and more nervous all week. Two weeks ago I bought a bass, probably inspired by (the beautiful Gemma Evans from) The Answering Machine, although to be honest I've always listened to the bass line in songs for years. In the late 70s one of my favourite bands was Magazine with the mighty Barry Adamson on bass . To use a terrible phrase, he was "awesome". Have a listen to "A song from under the floorboards". My favourite gig of all time was Magazine supported by Simple Minds at Clouds in Edinburgh. I also got into reggae about the same time and saw lots of Jamaican bands that were very popular courtesy of John Peel and the punk movement.

Back to tonight. After some subtle questioning of pupils I managed to get the name of a bass teacher who actually lives very close to Alford - Chris Paterson. I've arranged weekly lessons and at £16 per week I'd better improve quickly if I want early retirement. The half hour really flew by and I came away with the tabs for "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. Chris has a very reassuring manner and I'm hoping for good things.

Tomorrow it's off to Stonehaven to buy a gig bag to keep the rain off my shiny bass. Surprisingly, Ma Simpson's shop is just about the cheapest on the internet. Hopefully I'll get a short walk near Dunnottar if it's not too wet.