[Silly Moustache]

Hi, intersting thread which made me do some thinking.
Looking back on my probably fifty years of playing guitar in one way ofr another, the only times I made any progress was when I was playing with others and/or performing in however a minimal way.

I saw Tom Rush at a festival which really made me think about playing guitar but I was still an active, gigging drummer.

I vaguely remember drunkenly playing the blues in E for hours on end with some friends most of whom have sadly "gone before".

My progress was very slow until I found myself in a dope smoking trio which turned out to be quite successful in the West London folk scene. It was my skills that held us back, but I learnt a lot.

I struggled with west coast (US) '60s folk styles - Tims Hardin, Buckley etc.

Then a fellow AGF member introduced me to west coast country and bluegrass.

I moved with my job progression and found myself in two working bluegrass bands who liked my rhythm guitar styles but wanted mandolin and dobro so I got both and taught my self to play (up to a point).

Another location change and I found myself in another more challenging bluegrass band -which was good.

Then from '83-'93 a rare illness attacked my joints and I was usable to play for ten years (but kept my instruments ...in the attic).
In about '93 I resolved to get them down and start to learn again, by myself, and I wanted to be a singer-songwriter which I achieved, much encouraged by my wife - my advisor/carer and harsh but helpful judge.
I attended the folk club scene looking for gigs but met so much antipathy with my American style singer-songwriter material - "well it's not really folk - its country and western isn't it?" (to many Brits if it was American and not blues it was C&W!)

I was also out of work for a long time - an alien experience for me, so I worked to create a pub circuit which was partially successful but I soon tired of playing to drunks and large screen TVs, and it felt like "work" not fun.

I got involved in running a club and did that for a few years but I was asked to start up another folk club in a nearby town, and decided to make it an "Acoustic Music" club instead inviting every possible genre.

So for me, it was always about the "performance". I realised that when I was surprisingly recruited to do some acting in 2000, and found that I loved it as much as music.

Soon I had my own trio, bluegrass bands came and went, another trio one of which continues.

I still run the club which gives my trio two 15-20 minutes sports each night, plus the fun of rehearsing the day before.

I'd love to be playing more, and my audience is now on YouTube to a large extent.