Download Guitar Music by Dale Harris on MP3 for FREE!

I have made available two downloads of complete and unreleased tracks for FREE for access by anyone who visits my page at www.reverbnation.com/daleharris

PLEASE NOTE: to download the free music you must register with reverbnation (a simple process and they DO NOT hassle you!) and become a fan of Dale Harris.

There are other sample tracks available to listen and /or download at the following address: http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/1395281

I have future plans to post other exclusive tracks here as well so watch this space!

Thanks!

DH

1FD Studios Built By Dale Harris

1FD STUDIOS
The private recording studio built by Dale Harris in Hertfordshire, England.

The Construction Process (brief version)

My new CD REVERIE ON A HILL was recorded at my new private studio 1FD in Hertfordshire UK.

You can hear the results by clicking on the link below:
The Dale Harris Repertoire And MP3 Sound-clip Page Please locate the following items that are taken from the Reverie On A Hill CD:


J. S. Bach: Prelude In C: From Well-Tempered Clavier No.1 (tr. Harris)
Antonio Vivaldi: Adagio: Concerto In G For Two Mandolins (tr. Harris)
Richard Schumann: Kinderzsenen, Op.15 (tr. Harris), No.1, No.2, No. 3, No.4, No.5,
No.6, No.7, No., No.9, No.10, No.11, No.12, No.13
Richard Wagner: Preludes From Tristan And Isolde (tr. Harris), No. 1, No.3
Mozart: Andante In C From Piano Sonata (tr. Harris)
Mauro Giuliani: Variations On A Theme By G.F. Handel, Op.107 (ed. Harris)

This is a three bedroom cottage. First, the main studio live room had the bedroom door removed. Fellow Sheppertonian Larry Lucas cut out the wall in order to fit the double-glazed doors.The following decribes the next stages of the studio construction and development process pictorially (in brief).

Live Room Pic. The membrane layer (below)

Live Room Pic. Chipboard and cable channel (below)

Live Room Pic. Pine floor (below)

Control Room Pic.Chipboard Layer & Cable channel (below)

Control Room Pic. Mixing desk installed (below)

The depth of the chipboard (and a second layer covers the first layer which is cut out for the cable channel) was a crucial factor as the other rooms in the house all need to be met at the same height. It is best to avoid there being any steps to trip-up over for dreaded health and safety reasons. You don't want to invite Eric Clapton over for a jam only for him to trip-up on his way to the bathroom and break his neck now do you?!

DH, Jan 09

A more elaborated version of the building process and further pictures can be found at 1FD Studios:

Dale Harris: My First Release On CD

Over the years, I played with many artists in a variety of ensembles. My first commercial recording was with a Hertfordshire based group, 'Pretty Blue Gun' (herein referred to as PBG).
I possess a number of second-hand copies of the CD album that was recorded in the early 1990's. The CD is entitled 'Big Blue World' (herein referred to as 'BBW') and are extremely rare and difficult to obtain on disc these days. You can buy these direct from me at any of my concerts. Alternatively, you can email me using the contact details provided below.

PRICE £7.00 per CD

Postage & Packing Information (if ordering via email)

• UK: Please add £1.75 to your order
• Europe: (inc. Scandinavia) Please add £2.25 to your order
• USA: Please add £2.75 to your order
• Rest of World: Please add £3.75 to your order

These early recordings include some interesting electric guitar work by Dale Harris that will soon disappear altogether on disc. If you would like a copy of this rare CD please email me at: info@dale-harris.co.uk

All CD's are used and are in excellent condition and were only ever played a few times for promotional purposes only.

BBW includes 13 tracks and the artwork and liner notes are inaccurate and only mention the touring musicians names. The real line-up of musicians is wholly different and leaves out some incredible musical talents. I hope to provide salient track details for the interest of music enthusiasts and historians.

The BBW CD has long been deleted and there were only a few thousand copies ever released. BBW was a massive flop. This was partly due to production errors in the early stages of recording with some odd aesthetic choices concerning musical direction. Moreover, over-ambitious studio usage proved to be a strain on the finances of the record company (Cavell Records).


The liner notes states the musician line-up but this is only true for tracks 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10.

The personnel for tracks 1,2,4,9,11,12,13 are (if memory serves) as follows:

All tracks include Trudie Brogan on Vocals (T.B.) and Rhythm Guitar by Neil Fitzsimon (N.F.)


Track 1. - Big Blue World


TB: Vocals
NF: Rhythm Guitar
Dale Harris: Lead Guitar
Peter Hague: Drums
Unknown: Bass Guitar
Dan Reavey: Keyboards

Track 2 - Girl In A Gilded Cage
TB: Vocals
NF: Rhythm Guitar
Dale Harris: Lead Guitar
Peter Hague: Drums
Unknown: Bass Guitar
Dan Reavey: Keyboards

Track 4 - The Only Girl
TB: Vocals
NF: Rhythm Guitar
Dale Harris: Lead Guitar, Additional Keyboard Programming
Dave Bronze: Bass Guitar
Bob Jenkins: Drums
Bias Boshell: Keyboards
Norman Goodman: Keyboard Programming

Track 9 - One Minute Every Hour
TB: Vocals
NF: Rhythm Guitar
Dale Harris: Lead Guitar, String Arrangement & Additional Keyboard Programming
Dave Bronze: Bass Guitar
Bob Jenkins: Drums
Bias Boshell: Keyboards
Norman Goodman: String Arrangement & Keyboard Programming


Track 11 The Drowning Pool
TB: Vocals
NF: Rhythm Guitar
Dale Harris: Lead Guitar, Additional Keyboard Programming
Dave Bronze: Bass Guitar
Bob Jenkins: Drums
Tobias Boshell: Keyboards

Norman Goodman: Keyboard Programming

Track 12 - Scared Of The Dark
TB: Vocals
NF: Rhythm Guitar
Dale Harris: Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar, Keyboard and Rhythm Programming
Peter Hague: Drums


Track 13 - Revolution Of The Mind
TB: Vocals
NF: Rhythm Guitar
Dale Harris: Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar, Keyboard and Rhythm Programming
Peter Hague: Drums

Original BBW artwork which was not used: From left to right: Dave McAndrew, Dale Harris, TB, NF.

PBG: Incidental Information

• Dave McAndrew was PBG's live drummer from circa October 1991-July 1992, and Bassist Chris Ryan was the live bass player. To my knowledge sadly, neither Chris Ryan nor Dave McAndrew performed on any of the BBW studio tracks although both were present during the recording sessions.
• Peter Hague took over drums in July 1992.
• Dale Harris left the band in circa March 1993 (due to a muscular RSI injury)
• The band personnel as mentioned in the BBW liner-notes is applicable from April 1993-1994.
• John Berry left the band in 1994.
• Guitarist Matt Cowe left the band sometime in 2000/01.
• Dale Harris rejoined June 2001-March 2003.
• Both Dale Harris and Peter Hague recorded and performed with the popular country/Rock n Roll singer-guitarist Lorne Gibson, although never at the same time.
• The musical arrangement for track 7 'Snipers Target' and the instrumental composition at the end of track 12 'Scared Of The Dark' is by Dale Harris (which was not credited at the time).
• Dale Harris borrowed additional guitars from Alexis Korner and Pip Williams on tracks 4, 9, 11.

Anyone who has further knowledge of the musician line-ups that I am unable to ascertain can contact me and I will update them accordingly.

The Classical Guitar 'Squeak': Friend Or Foe?

Dear All,

Apologies for spouting off about another geek topic!

In conversation with the eminent young drummer-percussionist Jez Henderson (who had collaborated on the Dark Tales CD project) regarding my latest solo classical guitar CD Reverie On A Hill, I mentioned that I didn't give two hoots about the 'Squeak'. It was at Mr Henderson's suggestion that such a topic would be ideal for as blog (please blame him if you find this to 'geeky'). Thus, the three wound nylon bass strings as fitted to most classical guitars emit a squeak when the hand or finger runs along it. Many guitarists find this a problem:

"I use the D’Addario EJ46 Lightly Polished Composites. The crucial thing is the lightly polished. The lack of squeaks with a lightly polished string is just as important for live playing as recording. A lot of people think the squeaks that everyone gets on guitar are a part of the sound and they like it. There’s hardly anything to like about it. They’re totally out of time and they sound like mice squeaking in the corner of the room! The less you can have of that, the better." (John Williams Interview with Austin Prichard-Levy) http://www.guitarteacher.com.au/johnwilliams.htm

Julian Bream has often complained about the squeak but lives with it for musical purposes:

"It would be lovely if the squeaks were not there, but they nearly always are. I squeak more than some ... If I worried about taking my fingers off the string ... merely to avoid the squeak ... I might lose the musical line." (Julian Bream: A Life On The Road, T. Palmer, Maxwell House, 1982, p163.)

Earl Klugh is the opposite to Bream, and will go to great lengths to eliminate them:

"They’re complete performances, but if there was a squeak on a note that bothered me, I would go in and fix it. But since these songs are improvised, it’s really hard to punch in once I get past the melody. So some of the squeaks had to stay on there." (Earl Klugh)

My view, and this is not a common one these days, is that the squeak is of minor importance ut it's not the end of the world. Thus, I polish my bass strings with very fine wet and dry paper (often very worn-down 1200 grit). Although this process doesn't completely eliminate the squeak, it does diminish it. However, I am reluctant to lose the squeak entirely as I am of the opinion that a guitar should sound as though its being played! I don't want my recordings to be part of a clinically precise technical exercise.

D.H.

Carlsbro Speaker Cab / G18c Celestion For Sale

• Carlsbro Cabinet
• on wheels
• Passive 8 Ohm 18" Celestion G18c Speaker
• Passive Power output: 100Watt
• Proportion (inches): 32.5 (h) x 16.5 (d) x 30 (w) [h = includes wheels].
• For Electric Bass Guitar / Keyboards / Electric Guitar / PA System (Bass- or mid-range)
  

Price: Carlsbro Cab. £35.00

Celestion G18C speaker. Any 100w amp will drive it, either an instrument amp with tone control (e.g., Marshall guitar / bass head) or if you want more power it'll handle a power amp (such as one of the yamaha p series power amps).

Passive 8 Ohm 18" Celestion G18c Speaker
Power output: 100Watt
Price: £35.00

PAYMENT TERMS

Payment can be arranged via paypal.
Postage: The supplier I used to use has sadly gone out of business, and they were cheap! Therefore, I have to make this item collection only or you arrange and pay for collection.

Contact Dale via email on info@dale-harris.co.uk

THE GUITAR SHOW! The 2009/10 show by Dale Harris

The Guitars Show!

Dale Harris forges new directions in solo guitar

performance in his new show for 2009/10.

Dale's solo concerts are an event to behold. Audiences are spellbound by his uncanny ability to create magic from just about any genre you care to mention. Dale is not only fully-trained classical musician who can reel-off any number of repertoire pieces both popular and obscure without pretence, but he can play anything from jazz to rock to ragtime or flamenco, country to blue-grass acoustic, delta-blues slide electric, Indian classical raga and all with an authentic flair for the style executed with a twinkle-in-the-eye sense of humour and a death-defying level technique. He'll imitate drums, trumpets, the Nashville steel-guitar, play pieces entirely on the tuning pegs, lay down live loops, trigger synths or bass pedals for self-accompaniment.

An array of instruments are evident at Dale's concerts: there's a few one-off luthiered Spanish and flamenco guitars (by Manuel Contreras & Stephen Hill), a Godin electric-classical instrument hooked up to an axon system synth (you have missed out if you have not heard the music of J.S. Bach played on a church organ and guitar at the same time!), an Ovation Adamas acoustic-electric steel-string (as purchased from Adrian Legg as part of a deal where Ovation offered the instrument for John Williams to use after the formation of Sky in 1979 - he promptly declared this instrument to be 'vulgar'!!!) complete with banjo de-tuning-pegs. Then he might get out a baroque 24-string lute, a banjo (Deliverance: here we go!), an electric guitar and play some blues 'slide'. You'll hear music by The Beatles played on a Rickenbacker 12-string electric guitar (an identical model to the one played by George Harrison in the 1960's).

Dale also plays music by Adrian Legg (as an 18-year old, Dale once played Legg's music to the composer himself and picked up some handy tips!), John McLaughlin, Chet Atkins, or simply revert to the classics such as 'Cavatina: Theme from the Deerhunter', 'The Entertainer', 'Tarrega's Recuerdos De La Alhambra', Albeniz's 'Asturias', or Don McLean's beautiful 'Vincent'. Then, there's medleys of hits such as Message in a Bottle (Police) / Californication (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) / Day Tripper (Beatles) where Dale plays the bass line and melody simultaneously! An ultra jazzy and atmospheric version of Summertime coupled with the James Bond Theme always raises a few smiles and wonderment, especially as the guitar pedal board is worked to the maximum.
Dale also tells the occasional story - tales of crazy incidents, old friends, topical anecdotes, or informative and fascinating background to accompany the programme. It's no wonder that Dale's concerts will leave you with a sense of awe-inspiration, genuine warmth and one of the best guitar concerts that you may ever be part of.

November 2008

Zyklus Midi Performance System For Sale

Zyklus MPS Midi Performance System. Includes memory cartridge, 1 midi In, 4 midi out, 3 foot-switch inputs, 1 trig in, 1 gate out, 1 metronome out, 99 sequences, 24 configurations, 12 songs, note capacity 9,000.

509x241x68mm, 6kg



SOLD!!

This model has been owned since November 1989 - the previous owner was a good friend. Its been well looked after. My friend hardly used it (it was just tucked away in a corner). I used it in early 1994 to programme in step-time the piano accompanyment to a guitar concerto. It's been in storage ever since.



Here's a few items I pulled off the internet about the Zyklus MPS:

ANIMATION — superimpose rhythmic/harmonic patterns on live playing or vice-versa.

AUTOMATION — comprehensivemanagement of MIDI synthesizers and outboard equipment.

IMPROVISATION — spectacular real-time control from MIDI keyboard or other source.

HARMONISATION — simultaneous multiple transpositions of recorded MIDI data.

EXPERIMENTATION — combine and manipulate rhythms, chords, phrases, ideas to explore all musical possibilities.

It cost £1995 inc VAT in 1988. Smile Vangelis owned one and used it during a concert in Athens in 1987, according to the article.

Reading the article, the MPS was a "sequencer of sequences", ie. you record sequences from a MIDI keyboard or in step time, then use the 12 blue selector buttons on the front panel to trigger the sequences you have saved in memories. It offered 1/96th-note resolution on sequences (not much by today's standards), time signatures of between 1/2 and 32/8. You could shift the start point of any sequences you record, transpose them, randomise them, and trigger them all in real-time while making tempo changes (if desired) with the built-in jog wheel. You could also lock an already running sequence (ie. loop it and fix its pitch) and free up one of the 12 blue control buttons to trigger another sequence memory... and the whole of your performance could be recorded into the MPS while playing it back and making real-time adjustments to its controls/buttons.

It sounds like it's similar to using Touch Tracks in Logic, or one of the Grooveboxes Roland, Korg and Yamaha make, but restricted to MIDI sound sources not samples.

There are some nice features like the ability to set any sequence you record to Repeat(Loop), Single-Shot (Play once) or Hold At End (play through sequence and hold the final note (or chord) indefinitely so that you can sequence over the backing.

1 MIDI In
4 MIDI Outs
3 footswitches
1 Trigger in
1 Gate out
1 Metronome out

99 sequences could be stored
24 configurations
12 performances
Note capacity 9,000 !!!!
Battery-backed memory with a data cartridge connector

My thoughts on classical nylon and hybrid strings

Warning! Do not read this if you are not a guitarist! If you are still reading, you have either too much time on your hands, have the curiosity of a cat (and look what happens to the majority of them when they encounter traffic), or you are indeed a guitarist.

Stumble into most guitar shops, gaze at the multitude of strings, ask the bloke behind the counter what do I need, and said shop assistant picks the one that makes him the most profit! If you are not happy with being flogged any old bit of cat-gut then you will no doubt ask around and thus enter the 'what string is best' debate. This has always been a hot if somewhat geek-like topic I'm afraid, and as any decent Englishman would do I can only apologize. John Williams mutters 'nylon ones' when asked this question of what strings he uses. Despite this, the subject of strings is still worth a mention without taking it to the geek train-spotter extreme.

To add to the context, I'm a classical player using concert guitars by Manuel Contreras II and Stephen Hill, plus I play a Godin Grand Concert-midi with synth access when I get bored of the same-old-usual. Using D'Addario EJ46's [sorry-1 to get geekish so early] I found myself with severe intonation problems with the Contreras, and had Contreras Jnr. look at it. I'd happy memories of using Augustine Imperial Blues in my early student days only later switching to D'Addario EJ46's in a quest for more tension on an old Asturias guitar. He suggested trying D'Addario EJ46's (high tension) on the bass and Savarez Alliance (normal tension) on the trebles. I stuck with this choice, mainly because I bought several hundred sets off of this nice chap, although unfortunately the intonation kept getting worse. Later, Stephen Hill looked at the Contreras guitar, swore that there is nothing wrong with the string length (and I believe him!) and suggested using mixtures of strings to compensate for the problems. So he advised putting an EJ45 medium D'Addario on the 1st string, a medium Savarez Alliance red on the second string and any choice of bass strings. He prefers Savarez Crystal Blue (Hard) or Luthier medium-hard's on his own guitars. The idea that thicker and thinner strings promote a slightly different string length and hence can alter the intonation. I find the Luthiers break up and become scratchy on the trebles. The Crystal blues are frankly boring, although I do use these on the Hill guitar and they are good but not great - but I long for a change as I hate compromise!

Unlike classicals which have a fixed bridge, Les Paul Electric guitars have a 'tunomatic' bridge with saddles that you can alter the string length with screw driver. I often look at new electric guitars and inspect the bridge - if all the
tunomatics are roughly in the middle of the bridge there may have been less cock-ups than those with wildly differing saddles: after all, it may leave you no room for adjustment if the guitar changes, which it no doubt will.

With regards to string breakages, I experimented with La Bella Professional Series classic strings, but found that the basses broke overnight for no apparent reason!

A few die-hards use extra hard tension D'Addario's. I tried extra hards on the bass side a while back when playing a particular Turkish/Italian piece called Koyunbaba (Domeniconi) that requires re-tuning the guitar to C-sharp minor: thus the sixth string drops to a C-sharp, the 5th to G-sharp, and 4th to Csharp. Some players say that the extra-hards work well on the Godin Grand Concert, although I suspect that the G 3rd will be on the tubby side (and the EJ46 is certainly that so things may only get worse!). These extra hards (bass side only) ended up being put on a spare guitar where I experimented with 'Nashville' tuning with extra light gauge strings on the treble side (tuned one octave up).

My conclusion is that string choice evolves and yet never reaches any sensible conclusions. Factors such as string action, various tensions of the woods that slacken over a lifespan may mean (and this was certainly the case with my cheap Asturias student guitar) that one set of strings used in the first few years of a given guitars life may not be 'the' choice when the guitar matures.

I hope this helps you. Now I'm off to find my cat...

DH

P.S. I'm informed by The Lute Society that they have much bigger problems than us guitarists when it comes to strings.

My Latest Project: Wagner & Schumann Transcribed For Guitar

Greetings friends,
I would like to update everyone concerning the recording of my latest CD. I have been preparing many new transcriptions for the guitar of works by some of my favourite composers. These pieces will be aired on CD followed by being formally published in printed music format.

There's been one piece that I've always wanted to have a go at doing on the guitar by Richard Wagner. The first prelude from Tristan and Isolde is an incredible piece of music. I analysed it in my University days and wished that music of that sort might be experienced by guitarists. I'm pleased with the results, and have recently recorded it along with the third prelude from the same work.

A good friend of mine heard Robert Schumann's 13-movement piece for piano Kinderszenen (Scenes From Childhood) and thought it would sound good on the guitar. It lasts some 23 or so minutes, and I thought I'd never finish the arrangements (which I did after much sweat and swearing). I'm about to finish recording the last few sections ready for the new CD having left the most difficult sections until last so that I have a better chance of getting it right in studio.

Needless to say that I won't be doing many live appearances during the summer as getting the rest of this CD finished and ready for release is going to be a major priority.

The taxman, in his usual way, has lined up a few tax-returns for me to complete so its not all music and fun...

DH

Lutes and Guitars and problems

Greetings friends,

After a fit of nostalgia and renaissance-type musings, I felt the urge to return to playing the Lute.

Not since my early college days had I played one, having hired a very nice lute from Brunell University. So I set about joining The Lute Society, an antiquated (albeit nice) bunch who are busy preserving a heratige in complete contrast to the many guitarists who are moving in the opposite direction. Take John McLaughlin, for example, - he's the one who formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the 70's that combined music that sounded like Hendrix, Stravinsky and Indian music: McLaughlin has always firmly believed in moving forward, with occasional glancing backwards allowed. Lemmy, who is from the band Motorhead, contrasted the view of McLaughlin when he exclaimed that he did not believe in development for developments sake because the band might develop into something that they did not understand. Spinal Tap suffered the same fate during their Jazz fusion period. Having joined the Lute fraternity, they sent me a pile of music written in a form a guitar tablature of the sort that I had only seen in a museum. When I joined the Lute Society, they assured me that their lute music was in modern format! I guess they meant that someone had typeset the ancient manuscripts so that they could be printed out and mass (?) produced.

Although shaken I wasn't about to be stirred so I went on to stage two in taking up the lute. Still convinced that it might be a relaxing thing to do one day - to strum upon the lute when having a day off from the guitar - I set about having a lute built for me. So went through the list and found a nice chap who lives near me to build one. We met up and I got to see some examples of his workmanship. It was only when I got to play one that a massive problem was apparent. Because of my classical technique, my right-hand 'plucking' fingers (I exclaimed a similar phrase when I realised the 'problem') protruded into the body of the lute, thus, I would destroy such an instrument within weeks. Proper lutenists don't have nails, nail-care being a more recent advent in beauty trends. Maybe that was why they stopped making lutes?! "Can't I raise the strings a bit?" I asked the luthier, suggesting that the strings be raised up to give me more finger clearance akin to a guitar. The luthier (being a young chap had luckily not completely fallen under the influence of the Lute Society) suggested some interesting adaptations to accomodate my requirements. Although, he did mumble something about "if the Lute 'mafia' ever finds out" they will be knocking at his door!

I'm still awaiting his quotation so that I can have the lute made, and I hope he hasn't been 'nobbled' in the meantime.

To be continued...

DH

Guitars For Sale

The following guitars are for sale. They are all from a guitar shop that closed recently. All items are in mint condition as new and unused. These items are not owned by me, and I am passing details on to the seller: Please contact Sherrie Frith on 07903658004, her postcode is RH11 9DX. Please contact me by email to request JPG images for each item. All items are "o.n.o."

Guitar Amps
Fender DeVille 410 Amp 4 x 10 combo, 60 watts, 6 L6's with footswitch.
£650

Electric Guitars
Stephen Frith Custom Built Les Paul, Ash Body, Maple Top, Ebony Fingerbourd, 2 x Kent Armstrong p/u, Grover tuners, wooden control knobs and p/u covers.
£1800

Squire Strat, made in china, green, p/u=1 hb 2 sc
£155

Aslin Dane Les Paul, Cherry Red, p/u=2 x hb
£185

Sakura Electric, black, p/u=2 x hb, good starter guitar.
£200

Squire Tele, Black, Made in Indonesia
£175

Squire Tele, Black, Made in Indonesia
£175

Acoustic Steel String Guitars
Guild D4 Acoustic Guitar, Cedar Top, Mahog back and sides.
£700

Fender Acoustic Sunburst
£100

Sherrie Frith Acoustic, Classical body, truss rod, steel strings, Spruce top. Unique acoustic guitar design.
£800

Nylon String Guitars
Admira Flamenco Guitar, Spanish Cypress back and sides, spruce top.
£250

Stephen & Sherrie Frith "Sequenza Model" Classical (#188), Spruce top, Indian Rosewood back & sides, Torres back.
£1750

Stephen & Sherrie Frith Classical (#191), Spruce top, Indian Rosewood back & sides.
£1750

Sherrie Frith "Sherrie Vanessa" Classical (#52004), Cedar top, Indian Rosewood back & sides.
A good student guitar (e.g. grade 3-7, age 11+)
£800

Sherrie Frith Classical (#188), Spruce top, Flamed Maple back & sides. Amazing looking instrument.
£800

Sherrie Frith "Sherrie Vanessa" Classical (#42204), Spruce top, Indian Rosewood back & sides, highly decorative instrument. A good student guitar (e.g. grade 3-8, age 11+)
£1000

Recommended Guitars For Students

I am always being asked about which suitable guitars are for children, beginners and pre-grade 5 students. Here's what I recommend:

Ages 4-7 : Quarter-size classical/Spanish guitar (with nylon strings)

Ages 8-9: Half-size classical/Spanish guitar (with nylon strings) or as alternative resort a 'junior electric' guitar (with steel strings)

Guitar prices start at around 40-50GBP for a classical, 60-100 for steel-string acoustic and electric instruments.

Ages 10-12: There are three common options here:
a) Three quarter-size classical/Spanish guitar (with nylon strings)
b) a steel-string acoustic (or acoustic-electric) dreadnought guitar (with 9-46 gauge steel strings, you can opt for electric strings rather than acoustic strings if you desire a closer playability of an electric guitar)
c) an electric guitar the best starter is probably a stratocaster type. Harley Benton's are the cheapest and perhaps best for beginners.

Ages 13+: All type of guitars playable from this age depending on taste. More advanced students should look at Epiphone or Dean guitars, and Fender Squire models such as Stratocasters, Telecasters. Gibson Les Paul copies have a good thick and sustaining sound although they tend to be heavy and perhaps less-versatile, forget guitars will silly shapes (e.g. 'flying v') as finding suitable cases that will fit is a headache and cumbersome.

Recommended (and cheap!) sites to visit for purchasing guitars: http://www.thomann.de/gb/index.html
http://www.petercooks.co.uk/
http://www.gak.co.uk/
(http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/)
Please have a look at my blog listing: guitars for sale

Comments welcomed: "Dark Tales" CD

Comment on the "Dark Tales" CD here. The music features

Dale Harris (Guitars - bass)
Jez Henderson (Drums - Percussion)
Rob Hermans (Voice)
Caroline Nemorin (Flute)



Dark Tales is an exciting and unique project that combines elements of quasi-impressionist classical, Latin-jazz infused with Nuevo-Spanish undertones, and experimental improvisations. From dreamy soundscapes to the aggressive, Spanish-classical, acoustic steel-string and electric-midi guitars, drums and percussion, composed and improvised gems infused with world and jazz sounds. The line-up consists of two English musicians: guitarist Dale Harris (better known as a concert Classical/Spanish guitarist) and Jez Henderson (drums/percussion) plus some special guests. All of the tracks introduce original compositions by Harris, Henderson and Hermans. The result is a musically satisfying and open-minded outing. Harris sounds rejuvenated and refreshed in this format, as he switches between Classical, Steel-string acoustic and an electric guitar that he often plays in combination with a midi-triggered guitar synthesizer. The result produces some luminous timbres and textures that eases the usual hard attack of the electric guitar.

The eagerly awaited collaboration between Dale Harris and Jez Henderson was released in December 2007 in MP3 download format only and is available from most on-line music stores(including itunes). DARK TALES is an exciting fusion of Classical, World-music and jazz from authered by guitarist Dale Harris and percussionist Jez Henderson. The new CD features poetic excerpts from Rob Hermans and flautist Caroline Nemorin.

NEWS: August 2008
DARK TALES is now available in CD audio format.

Buy it at www.guitarcds.net price £9.99:
www.guitarcds.net

Also available on itunes, napster, and many other download on-line outlets.

USA & rest of world CD release to follow:
see www.cdbaby.com



The CD cover shots are courtesy of Sam Morgan Moore.

For more details, please visit Visit http://cdbaby.com/cd/harrishenderson.html

Comments welcomed: Espiritu de la Guitarra by Dale Harris

Comment on Espiritu de la Guitarra by Dale Harris here.

Comments welcomed: Dale Harris in concert

If you have seen Dale Harris in concert, please leave your comments here.