A Musician’s Journey through Songs, Stories & Life
I’m a guitarist, singer-songwriter, and travel writer with over 30 years of experience across performance, production, and storytelling.
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Guitar lessons, gear reviews, songwriting tips, and behind-the-scenes music stories.
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Lessons, tone, gear reviews, playing insight
✍️ Songwriting & Music Production
Creative process, writing, recording
🌍 Music & Life Stories
Travel, reflections, industry experience
Featured Articles
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Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60s Review: Worth it in 2026?
Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60s Review. Is this the best affordable Les Paul you can buy? Before we get into it, let’s look at the Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60s specs. The Les Paul™ Standard 60s models from Epiphone’s new Inspired by Gibson™ Collection recreate the sound of 1960s era Les Pauls. Featuring a classic…
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The Golden Age of the Video Game Arcade: 1987
Welcome back to 1987, with this year’s long list of classic arcade games being impossible to detail in a single article. Here are some of my favourites. 1987 was a turning point for me and my fascination with the video game arcade. It had been a place of comfort for a good chunk of my…
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BOSS Katana 50 Guitar Amplifier Review
The BOSS Katana 50 Guitar Amplifier IS the best guitar-related purchase I’ve ever made. Why? Let me explain. Is the BOSS Katana 50 loud enough to gig with? The question that everyone’s asking. Simple answer… ABSOLUTELY!. That’s on the 50W mode, clean channel, gain just less than half, volume the same, and master maxed. In…
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Goa : A Lesson In Life – Second Edition. Out NOW!
A BIG day! Originally realised back in 2017. My debut book, Goa : A Lesson in Life receives a long-overdue edit, professional cover, long-lost images, and an extra chapter, bringing my story to a close and up to date. So, what’s it all about? Back in August 2006, I visited Goa, India. A trip that…
Latest Articles
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Acoustic Corner : You’ll Find a Way
The first in a series of stripped back acoustic performances, live from Acoustic Corner. I’ll be performing a variety of material from my back catalogue, new stuff I haven’t produced yet, and even the odd cover. Just me and my Acoustic, live, and (hopefully) in one take. ‘You’ll find a way’ is a track from…
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The Soundtrack to “Goa : A Lesson in Life”
If you’ve read my book Goa: A Lesson In Life (what are you waiting for?!), you may be interested to know that the beginnings of my album This is Who I Am were formed in that tiny room and out on the terrace of AnjunaPalms: Goa, with the tracks Over There and Happy Home making it onto the final…
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Guitar: Apps, Technology and Practice
Have you ever wondered which apps, software and technology would be best to use in order to best develop your guitar playing techniques and support your practice time? A few years ago, I began to record my thoughts on this topic as the basis of a useful article for others. It is very easy to…
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Goa: A Lesson In Life. Now Available to own on Paperback and eBook from Amazon
Get your copy of Goa: A Lesson In Life on Amazon NOW! It’s official. I am now a (self) published Author! My debut book “Goa: A Lesson In Life” is now available to own in both Paperback and eBook format for the following countries…. US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil,…
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Guest Bloggers – Thank You!
First of all, a huge thanks to an exceptionally talented musician and writer; Thompson Crowley for his piece on songwriting How I Learnt to Write Good Songs. Please visit his blog which is a fascinating account of his musical journey through life, and also contains some great music. Next up is the equally talented Jen Msumba with her heartwarming live…
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Tune in, Tone up! Free Guitar Lessons Podcast
Tune in, Tone up! A fortnightly recording of Dan Davies giving Gary Shilladay advanced guitar lessons with loads of pace, ideas, advice and guitar talk. It’s available on SoundCloud, iTunes and Stitcher and topics include how to improvise over 12 bar blues progressions, some neoclassical shredding ideas, country guitar playing techniques, funk rhythm playing and…
