Hello Amsterdam!!!!!!

After a few beers last night - I'm back sleeping in my own bed. It feels good. I wake up and continue my effort to make sure I can resurrect a social life despite my lack of presence in Amsterdam.

Following last night, a Brazilian friend and I are making a valiant effort to return to guitar playing by going to the park.

I have a Master's degree in Music and have dabbled at various points with musical ability. I have been, in the past, a drummer, a pretty reasonable brass player, and a regularly gigging bassist. Throughout all these musical identities, I have consistently been a bedroom guitarist. I basically enjoy playing for myself - working out songs, playing my favourites, singing a few(Albeit badly), at uni - I could pull out an acoustic and impress/bore, and I can also join in in Jam Sessions and hold my own.

The problem of late is that - being busy with work, and travelling a lot, you kind of can't be bothered ensuring that every second spent at home is used to make sure you haven't forgot every song you ever knew on the guitar.

A few months ago - I tried to remedy this by playing along to dookie:



It's dead easy to play - dead fun to play - and I have played almost every song on it at some point or other in a band.

First time through requires a couple of rewinds, but generally I'm surprised at my ability/memory, so I play it all the way through a second time, with now stops. When I put the guitar down, I can't move my left arm any more - I feel like an old man. It's been too long, since I played for any length of time, so need to get back on the horse.

In Amsterdam I have taken a selection of the many bits of guitars which reside in my parents house in Scotland and my set up is as follows:

Rosewood Guild Electric S50(Pic is Kim Thayil of Soundgarden with a Guild S100, but you get the picture)



A little Amp:



and a nine volt battery:



It's not the most powerful set up in the world, but it makes for a good trip to the park.

I have a Brazilian friend who I know through a friend in my Dutch class. For his guitar abilities. He is in a similar situation to me, in that he was without a guitar for a while, and needs to knock some of the rust off his fingers. The difference is that he was better than me in the first place.

So here I am on Saturday afternoon. 24 hours previously I was power walking round Warsaw, but now we are exchanging licks and riffs. He's a big Guns and Rose's fan, which means he's a little more disciplined in his playing than my Mudhoney style:

Considered:



Less considered:



We make it through a few songs before going off to Sarphati park for a little al fresco playing and a few beers:



It feels good to be back playing - hopefully we can make it a regular event.