| Hi Coleman, how are you? |
| Good, thanks. |
| I wanted to have a chat with you |
| because our friend Josh told me that you've joined a guitar group |
| and it sounds interesting. |
| I'd really like to learn myself. |
| Why don't you come along? |
| I'm sure there's room for another person. |
| Really? |
| So... who runs the classes? |
| He's called a 'coordinator', |
| his name's Gary Mathieson. |
| Let me note that down. |
| Gary.... |
| How do you spell his surname? |
| It's Mathieson. |
| Right, thanks. |
| He's retired, actually, but he's a really nice guy |
| and he used to play in a lot of bands. |
| Thanks. |
| So how long have you been going? |
| About a month now. |
| And could you play anything before you started? |
| I knew a few chords, but that's all. |
| I'm sure everyone will be better than me. |
| That's what I thought, too. |
| When I first spoke to Gary on the phone, |
| he said it was a class for beginners, |
| but I was still worried that everyone would be better than me, |
| but we were all equally hopeless! |
| Oh, that's reassuring. |
| So where do you meet? |
| Well, when I joined the group, they were meeting in Gary's home, |
| but as the group got bigger, he decided to book a room at the college in town. |
| I prefer going there. |
| I know that place. |
| I used to go to tap dancing classes there when I was at secondary school. |
| I haven't been since, though and I can't remember what road it's in... |
| Is it Lock Street? |
| It's just beyond there at the bottom of New Street near the city roundabout. |
| Yes, of course. |
| The guitar club is on the first floor in Room T347. |
| Right. |
| And when do you meet? |
| Is it at the weekend? |
| We meet on Thursdays. |
| It used to be 10.30 and that suited me well, |
| but now we meet at 11. |
| The class that's in there before us asked if they could have the room for another 30 minutes. |
| Oh, I see. |
| Well, I'd love to come, but I don't have a guitar. |
| Well, you can always buy a second-hand one. |
| There's a website called 'The perfect instrument' that sells all kinds of guitars, violins and so on. |
| I'm sure you'll find something there. |
| So what's a typical lesson like with Gary? |
| Well, he always starts by getting us to tune our guitars. |
| That takes about five minutes. |
| Uhuh... |
| Some people have an app they use, but others do it by ear. |
| Gary goes round and helps them. |
| And while he's doing that, he tells us what he's going to do during the lesson. |
| Right. |
| First, we usually spend about ten minutes doing some strumming. |
| So is that using... |
| Oh... what are they called... |
| Plectrums? |
| No, we just use our thumbs. |
| Oh... much easier. |
| Gary reminds us where to put our fingers for each chord and then we play them together. |
| Sometimes we all just start laughing because we're so bad at keeping time, |
| so Gary starts clapping to help us. |
| Do you learn to play any songs? |
| Yes, we do at least one song with words and chords. |
| I mean that's harder than you think. |
| Oh, I'm sure it is! |
| That part of the lesson takes about 15 minutes. |
| He often brings a recording of the song and plays it to us first. |
| Then he hands out the song and if there's a new chord in it, |
| we practise that before we play it together, but really slowly. |
| Do you do any finger picking? |
| That's the last ten minutes of the lesson, |
| when we pick out the individual notes from a tune he's made up. |
| It's always quite simple. |
| That must be hard, though. |
| It is. |
| But people like it because they can really concentrate |
| and if we're all playing well, it sounds quite impressive. |
| The only trouble is that he sometimes gets us to play one at a time, you know, alone. |
| Oh... that's scary. |
| Um... it is, but I've got used to it now. |
| At the end he spends about five minutes telling us what to practise for the following week. |
| Well, thanks Coleman. |
| I'll go and have a look at that website, I think. |