General News

The Beatles Experience

Last month Sue and I spent two days in Liverpool enjoying the Beatles Experience. It was something we had promised ourselves to do for quite a while, and it was worth every penny.

Both the Lennon and McCartney homes are owned by the National Trust and being members, it was quite a saving.

In the late 70s I had the privilege of visiting the original Cavern. It was whilst I was in Accolade that we were doing a weeklong residency at a Liverpool nightclub and were given a private tour of this historic venue by Gerry Marston's brother Les. I stood on the actual stage where the fab four played numerous times.

Whilst I was in Heathcliff, Hilary and I were invited to a special opening of the new place. Of course, it's not the same and the tragedy of the original location still remains today much to the shame of the powers that be back in the day that allowed it to happen. History now tells us that it could have been avoided.

Anyway, I digress. We have several photos to share and an interesting story. Whilst visiting Lennon's childhood home, on display was a copy of his first guitar propped up in his bedroom. Me being me I stroked the guitar strings and to my surprise found it was perfectly in tune. After the tour I spoke to Sally our tour guide and mentioned the guitar and it being in tune, she replied "Oh yes, Bob Dylan tuned it whilst he was last here." Imagine that, I touched the guitar that Dylan tuned!

I could go on and on about both these extraordinary houses where musical history was made but can only suggest you do the official tours yourself you will find it fascinating and it has created a lovely memory for Sue and I, bearing in mind that like millions of other would be guitar players the Beatles were a major influence. The sing-along on both tours was great fun!

60th Anniversary gig update

Just in case you missed last month's announcement. I am delighted to be holding a special anniversary event in Birmingham on Nov 22nd.

Full details here: Gordon Giltrap : calendar : Sunday, November 22, 2026 : Gordon Giltrap and Friends : The Bradshaw Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire : UK

Tickets are selling steadily already. Not sure if I mentioned that dear old friend and record producer Rod Edwards will be joining me on stage.

Local Charity gig

Close to where we live is the ancient church of St Nicholas just a stone’s throw from an ancient Tithe Barn.

The church doesn't function anymore apart from weddings, funerals and christenings and can be used for social functions.

On the 15th of last month, I played in the church for the local community to raise funds for the church and at the same time get to know some of the neighbours.

My neighbour James kindly loaned us the PA and I'm delighted to say it all went really well and £800 was raised from donations on the night. Also, I have been featured in my local village magazine so...fame at last!

The icing on the cake was sharing the weekend with our dear friends Mark and Jane Day.

New Guitars

Yes, more new guitars.

This one is a 2004 Golden Jubilee Brian May guitar. The reason for buying is because it's a stunning looking guitar and also has an effective tremolo arm which may give more expression to my playing. Also, the neck is a tad wider than most electric guitars which I like.

The other guitar is a 1959 Hofner acoustic which looks lovely but will have some work done, but once done I believe it will have a sweet sound. After all, I am the man who wrote that definitive book on Hofner guitar so it makes sense to at least own one.

Nathan Ball update

Many of you may remember that last year I took ownership of a stunning specially commissioned flamenco guitar, guitar made by master guitar maker and craftsman Nathan Ball. It is in my opinion one of the finest sounding guitars within that genre I have ever heard, but that is of course just my opinion but the sound to my ears was glorious.

Anyway, here we are one year on, and I have hardly played it which is a shame. It’s nothing to do with the guitar it's just that I felt couldn't do justice to such a fine instrument.

Anyway, the point is that Nathan agreed to exchange it for one of his beautiful steel string guitars. The one I chose was an all-maple guitar and as you can see from the photos it's pretty amazing.

Because it's a slightly longer scale length it makes it ideal for open tunings especially my favourite low C tuning, so I think it's going to be ideal for that purpose.

As I have said before, one can't compare one maker to another. Roger Bucknall of Fylde guitars is still the master but it's good and in many ways a privilege to encourage new young makers because Roger was once that new young maker.

My trip to Nathan's home and workshop was a joy to share with Sue and whilst there Nathan filmed a few examples of me playing the steel string and attempting to do justice to the flamenco.

I'm including a few YouTube clips for you to look at which will be testament to Nathan's God given talents as a craftsman. I do hope you enjoy them.

Nathan's Website www.thompsonandballguitars.com

Nathan's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPCYnXAucCAcwugUtDdUsaA

Making the Jimi Hendrix Guitar

Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pkJd7ckV6KU

Part 6 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sIXvQm6L24A

Completed Guitar https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1rrFFKKebUg

Mention in Guitar World

5 chords that sound like they’re in an open tuning but aren’t | Guitar World

David Holmes

David contacted me recently to share a video he made for Fylde Guitars where he played my piece “London”.

He writes:

Here’s another video I’ve just recorded for Roger using my new GG sig model and very nice it is too! “London” has always been a favourite so here’s my version. It’s slightly different from the transcription in the “Special collection” book as I tried to incorporate some of the second guitar part from the album version. I had to re-learn it though. The version I taught myself by ear when I was about 13 wasn’t entirely accurate due to my inexperienced ears! Anyway, it’s been a pleasure practising it again, it’s a beautiful tune.

https://youtu.be/ymZecaIILXQ?si=1uAhrDOxmfdmhK57

A memory from 1978

I was kindly sent this by Dominic, he writes:

"I just found this note from July 1978, when I got my first summer job pay packet. Clearly getting Visionary was top of my mind! Good choice too - I still listen to it now, all these years later, although my vinyl has long since been replaced by CD!

Thank you! Best wishes Dominic

PS it WAS scratched - I’ve also got a note about taking it in for a replacement."