The Journey AKA RIP John!

I'm pretty much self taught. Or was. My Dad showed me a 12 bar blues structure when I was 15 and I basically picked up things from listening to records and other musicians that I played with. Around 2005 I started to notice an increase in requests to play guitar and other instruments away from the bass. I liked the challenge. So in 2007 I went to a teacher to get me to sound less like a bass player when I played guitar. That first teacher was unreliable and not on my wavelength. He was a great player but I wasn't getting past the brick wall my playing had hit.

I was going to give up but then I found a guy called John down in Basingstoke. He was a giant of a man but a real gentle soul. We spoke of old rock n roll, country music, soul and roots rock. Within minutes he had me making sounds out of a guitar that I didn't think would ever come from my hands. His relaxed and easy going style was very compatible to how I wanted to learn so I quickly found myself progressing. I started to see him weekly for about 18 months. He had me taking solos, expanding my theory and towards the end we even started to look at my bass playing.

Even after the lessons stopped, I stayed in touch with John on social media. He was a huge supporter of my musical career. I could really sense his pride in me as albums I'd played on got released, I started to play some well regarded venues and the tours got further afield. As recently as yesterday I was playing at home and thought "That's John" as my fingers moved across the fretboard.

Yesterday as I played and thought of him, I thought to myself that he'd been a little quieter on social media just lately. Then this morning I learned that last night at 9.57pm John passed away following a short battle with cancer. John had huge dignity and had kept it quiet.

For me, music is a journey and we share it with a lot of people. I'm pleased that John was my guide for an important part of that journey and just sometimes when I am playing, I can hear his musical voice. Not all of our musical heroes have to be the big rock stars. RIP John.