A month on I'm still with the band. I've been to several rehearsals and learnt more songs. We're working through some punk classics at the moment as they are quick to learn and sound good. We still need to figure out arrangements for the other songs. Last week we played about ten songs, some several times. I've been recording sessions on my Zoom H4 and have burnt some CDs for the others. The problem with that is getting a decent balance so that you can hear everyone. This is another area for us to work on. It's not helped by the limited PA options we have there.

At least I found out the cause of my buzzing noise. It seems that the guitar lead I got with my first electric about twenty years ago has given up the ghost. I was worried that it was the guitar as I was using a Marshall Valvestate that lives at the studio last week. Once we sorted the buzz it sounded great. A nice chunky sound that made my Peavey sound distinctly weedy. I had been thinking that I need something beefier to cut through with the band. I reckon I need something with at least 50W with at least one 12" speaker. The power requirement will depend on what sort of gigs we play and whether I can go through the PA. As for the sound I think that valves may play a part. I'm not sure I can afford a full valve amp, so it would probably be some sort of hybrid. Marshall have various models, some with extra effects that may not be up to much. Another range that looks possible are the Vox Valvetronix that aim to model various amps whilst incorporating a valve. The Line 6 Spider goes all out with modeling. I really need to find somewhere that I can try several, but that will have to wait until I have the funds. I'll consider second hand if something crops up.

Playing live gigs is an unknown world for me, even though I've been to hundreds. I expect that finding the right set of gear is a long path for most guitarists, but I'm open to any advice. The web is full of guitar sites. Some even specialise in showing you famous players' rigs. I'm suffering again from information overload.

I ought to go and practice now.

For some time I've been looking around for some musical outlets apart from playing djembe with Secret Bass. The drumming is fun, but I feel the need for something melodic. I've posted details on various sites including Facebook and Multiply. A couple of people contacted me, but nothing came of it. I also posted to more specific sites, including Muso Finder. That also generated responses. One was for a rock band that needed more commitment than I could offer, then another came in this month that sounded more realistic.

Bass player Warren was looking for a second guitarist for a rock covers band. Rehearsals would be once a week with, perhaps, a few gigs per year. He mailed me a list of songs they do for an audition a week later. So I got searching the various tab sites for tips and used Youtube both to find performances and tutorials. I was able to work out half a dozen songs.

The venue was a rehearsal studio converted from an old barn on a farm. There I met the band, Warren, singer Ben, drummer Paul and guitarist Tom. Tom is young enough to be my son(!), but the rest are nearer my age. They all seem to be seasoned performers, but I managed to play well enough for them to invite me back. And it was great fun. Just holding down the rhythm is actually pretty hard work, requiring concentration. I'm not confident enough to play leads yet, but I hope that will come. I will also be interested to work on arrangements that make the most of two guitars. The material consists of songs from Rolling Stones, Black Crowes, Free, Bryan Adams and others.

We got together again this week, but without a bassist due to work commitments. We still managed to work on some other songs and tweak the arrangements. It will be a while before we are ready for gigs.

My Gordon Smith guitar is ideal for this sort of music, if not quite as good as Tom's Les Paul. His valve Laney is also better than my old Peavey, but that coped pretty well. I just need to work out why it is buzzing so much when I'm not playing. I may have to look at getting a newer amplifier. You can get a lot for your money these days and the choice is vast. Anything from traditional valve amps through to digital modelling units with multiple effects. I think I could do with a set-up that gives me a range of sounds to suit the different material, but I'll get by with what I have for now. I will need a few accessories such as a capo for playing in different keys and some decent plectra that do not disintegrate like the cheap ones I have. I've destroyed a couple already. I did get some earplugs. Standing next to a drumkit with amps turned up to compete is not too healthy in the long term and I love music too much to risk my hearing.

Some might consider this to be a mid-life crisis thing, but I've always wanted to do something musical and never got around to making it happen. Even if this comes to nothing I will have learnt a lot of new songs and gained some experience that could lead to something else. For now I'm just enjoying the ride.

Last Saturday I attended a singing workshop with Dafna Dori from Jerusalem organised by my friend Malcolm. I don't really consider myself a singer, but with what I've been doing with the drumming group I am getting a feel for it and would like to explore the possibilities. There were about 16 of us there including my daughter and another young girl. The rest ranged widely in age. We did some fun warm-ups and then proceeded to learn three Jewish songs. There were the challenges of unfamiliar pronunciation and scales, but we seemed to do quite well. For the last song we also learnt the circle dance that goes with it. I'm not sure what people would think of us all dancing around in the wood outside the studio singing in Hebrew, but I enjoyed it.

The fact is that these songs are religious, but I didn't feel too uncomfortable singing them. That may have had something to do with them being in another language, but they were fun to sing. I don't particularly enjoy singing hymns on the rare occasions that I'm in church, but then a lot of those are pretty boring. There is plenty of spiritual classical music that I enjoy, but the words, if any, are often in other languages. Ultimately it is the quality of the music rather than the message that tends to move me. I can be moved by lyrics, but generally because they reflect my mood or inclinations.

I recorded the session on my Zoom H4. It was not ideally placed on the floor with a small tripod, but worked pretty well. I then had the challenge of editing over an hour of material to extract the songs for people to listen back to. I've done some previous editing with Sweep, but that was very slow and took up most of my memory. Ardour would not even load the MP3 file, but that may be due to a lack of add-on. I didn't try Audacity at first as I have been having issues with getting sound on play-back, but this time it worked and was very easy to use. I noticed that it used a minimal amount of memory. I just did the basics of cutting out the songs and saving each as a file without playing around with effects, but that is something I need to experiment with. It's not something I have ever done much with. I need to find time to check out some of the tutorials out there, but I expect there is no substitute for experience. There is an interesting set of screencasts on using Ardour.

Whilst writing this up I have been listening to free tracks from the new Byrne/Eno album and bassist Kev Cooke. All good stuff.

I'm a bit knackered after a late night/early start/long day sequence, but here goes with another exciting post for my loyal reader.

Last night I returned to Darbuka for another gig by bassist Steve Lawson and singer Lobelia accompanied by drummer Ray Dodds. Support was again from ukulele strumming social media man Lloyd Davis playing some great old songs.

This time Lobelia and Steve each did some solo songs. Lo used some very night (bare) footwork to loop her guitar and voice. One song was pure voice and wonderful to hear. Steve gig a great cover of She Sells Sanctuary (on the seashore). Ray joined in with some great drumming and percussion on assorted hardware. Finally they all played together, which lent a new flavour to songs I feel I already know well. I chatted to them all as well as another bassist, Simon Little, who I met via Twitter and sat with during the gig. He's played with some well known acts and is doing his own solo work that I just obtained from his free podcast and am enjoying now.

I bought Lobelia's solo CD from a few years back. It features some songs I've heard live, but in much more conventional arrangements. I have to say I prefer them as performed now. I look forward to some more new material.

I had some cool musical experiences on the internet over the last week. Firstly I watched Steve, Lobelia and others perform at another gig via a live video stream on Ustream.tv. This included a chat forum where I could exchange messages with other viewers and people at the gig. That was fun. A recording of the gig is up now. This was followed on Sunday by them performing some songs at home and uploading them to Phreadz where others (with beta access) could post video replies. That was enjoyable too, despite some technical issues.

At work the other day a friend lent me a CD by Martin Simpson. Nice bit of folk with nifty guitar playing. I used QCD on my Windows PC and it did its usual thing of posting the tracks to Last.fm. I subscribe to an RSS feed there of gigs within a reasonable distance. Within an hour it included some of his. Sites like Amazon recommend music etc based on what you buy, but this was based on what I was listening to and with less commercialisation. I doubt I will go, but others would find that information useful. I've been alerts to gigs I have attended via this service. Each gig has a page where people can post comments and link to pictures etc. I've been on Last.fm for over four years and just clocked up 20,000 tracks. That's what I have listened to on the computers, but I do most of my listening like that. I often use their music streaming services to find new stuff. I was on one based around what people who listen to ELO like when I passed 20k.

My last cool musical link of the week is King Crimson Live. You can buy downloads of various concerts, but they also give away the odd track via a podcast called Hot Tickle. Cool or not I love a good bit of Prog.

I've been thinking that I need to learn some new tunes on my guitar, so I was poking around on Youtube and found a series on the tune Classical Gas (a song with its own web site!). I've done the first couple and it's not sounding too bad, although I think I am missing a few notes that he doesn't properly describe. I'm also consulting some tab versions that I found. I've not learnt many tunes from video, but it's handy for getting the fingering right. I'll see if I can learn the whole thing, but that may take a while.

Youtube has loads of musical tutorials for all types of music. There was nothing like that when I started playing. The guitar magazines I bought didn't even come with CDs (or equivalent) so that you could hear how a piece was supposed to sound. Total Guitar was a revelation when it appeared with a CD. Now they do DVDs and video files on the CD. Budding musicians have never had it so good.

I'm also trying to learn a few classical piano pieces by the old-fashioned method of sheet music. I find that a totally different mental exercise, but the results are enjoyable. I also get some benefit from coaching my kids on their respective instruments.

I'm on the lookout for any local musicians who want to cooperate. I'm listed on a couple of musician sites, but the replies I've had have been from bands who need someone with more time to commit. There's a new site dedicated to the arts in my town. I've been in contact with them about setting up a noticeboard for finding people to work with.

If you are really lucky I may eventually post some recordings when I've polished my technique and gained some studio skills.

Sunday was spent in the glorious sunshine over at Malc's for the second of his Beat Camp workshops. This time their were more people I didn't know from other drum circles. We were learning some new tunes by master drummer Mamady Keita. We did three songs. I did a fair bit of kenkeni playing. I enjoy coordinating different patterns with each hand, but also played all the djembe parts and breaks. It will take a while to learn them properly, but this was a great introduction. Malc has written up his own report on the day.

I took along my Zoom H4 to record some of it. Someone else already had his H2 set up on a fancy tripod. I was using a mini Gorillapod after managing to break the tripod that came with my H4. The results sound pretty good. I was having some battery issues, but I think that may be due to my rechargables getting on a bit. I ought to get some new ones and a decent charger as I use them a lot. I was going to edit and post one of them, but I'm having some issues with Audacity playback and don't have another working audio editor installed.

As mentioned before I've been following the antics of bassist Steve Lawson and enjoying his music. When I heard that he was playing at a convenient bar in central London I was eager to get to the gig. He even offered free or reduced entry to those who contacted him beforehand. Darbucka is not far from Kings Cross Station, which suits me nicely. When I arrived Steve greeted me by name, having recognised me from my on-line avatars. He was setting up, along with drummer Roy Dodds. I noticed that the drum kit included a Hang. I'd not had a close look at one before and he was nice enough to let me have a play with it.

I got myself a beer and some food then settled into an armchair to await the music. I soon got chatting with Wulf and Jane who introduced me to a few other people. It seemed that half the audience were bass players. Steve opened the evening with a new piece, but had some issues with his Looperlative cutting out. I think he may just have hit the wrong switch. Next up was ukulele player Lloyd Davis. He did some good versions of some classic old songs. He was followed by Steve and his new wife Lobelia. She's a stunning singer and Steve works magic with his bass and loops. They performed some originals and covers. Their Love is a Battlefield can be heard and seen here. The originals were great too and I bought their live CD. Finally, for me, was Miriam Jones. Another stunning voice, she sang some nice folk-tinged songs. The final set was Steve's trio, but I had to leave in order to catch a train home. A shame, but I had still enjoyed a great evening of music. I didn't get to hear the Hang in action.

There are some pictures on the last.fm event page. I'm amazed how well they turned out as it was very dimly lit in there.

There were a lot of Twitter users at the gig and they have been Tweeting madly about it. I have already connected with several of them. It means more when you have actually met the people. Unfortunately Twitter is being abused by a few people. They seem to follow thousands of people in the hope that some will follow them and see whatever spam they are posting. In some cases they just seem to be on an ego trip of collecting names. I tend to block these people as I can see no purpose in them following me.

I've been lacking a practical way to do any audio recording for a while. I have an iRiver audio player that can record, but it's a chore to use. A while back I read about the Zoom H2. This looked like a great device for recording via its multiple microphones. Then I saw the H4 that can also have instruments plugged into it. It also includes four track recording with built-in effects. That looked like the gadget for me. After my usual dithering over buying a new gadget I ordered mine last week.

I've had a bit of a play so far and it's looking good. I've recorded some acoustic guitar using the microphones. That shows up my lousy playing. Also recorded the kids doing their stuff. I've been wanting to do that for a while. I've also had a brief play with the multi-tracking. The preset effect settings tend to be a bit extreme. I need to work out what I need, but have never gained much experience of that sort of thing.

One thing I was not totally sure about was how well it would work with Linux. The answer is, pretty good. You get to select whether it should be a USB storage device, to let you read the SD card, or as a USB audio interface. Both work, but the former is a slow way to download data. For audio I was able to select it as an input in Skype, Audacity and Jokosher. This means I have been able to do speech on Skype for the first time in ages. I have issues with the recording apps. I somehow have Audacity set up so that it will not play back and Jokosher is very unstable. I ought to look at getting Jack and Ardour working, but that seems more complex than it should be.

Now I have this gadget I have more incentive to work on my playing and actually work out some pieces to record. I also want to do some recording of my drumming, including our group sessions. When I have something I'm happy with I will upload it somewhere, probably to my Multiply site as that allows for limitless uploads.

For help with using this device I am using several on-line forums:

• 2060.org is dedicated to Zoom devices.
• Studio-Central is a general recording forum. Lots of knowledgeable people there
• LinuxMusicians. Fairly new and I only found it this week. Not a lot of activity, but it's one of the few sites covering music on Linux. Linux crops up on some of the others, but not much.

I've updated my music page to reflect the current state of my collection. Nothing very flashy, but I'm sure I should be able to do something interesting with it all.

Sunday was the day for the long-awaited Secret Bass recording session. The aim was to record a few songs to put on a CD that we can give to event organisers and to beginners. I arrived to find the Strawbale Studio full of microphone stands along with the actual recording equipment. We had 16 channels available to us and used them all between seven musicians when doing vocals as well. We managed four songs in three hours, which is probably more than some bands do. All were done 'live', with no overdubs, but some may get edited to get the best overall performance. I did a fair bit of singing, but didn't play any djembe. I did dun duns on two and shakers on another. I look forward to hearing the results.

Malcolm has done a write-up with all the technical details.

We used two video cameras to try and capture the event. I have the task of editing them. This will be my first time working with multiple views. I expect I will have to line them up as best I can and switch between them. If I just use the sound from one it should work out. Any hints appreciated.

Last night I played another gig with Secret Bass. This was a charity event to raise money for stained glass window at a home for MS sufferers in Essendon. I actually did a fair bit of practice for this one and was somehow more nervous than at previous events. This may have been due to playing before an audience who had paid to be there and in an enclosed space, rather than the open air where I had performed before. We were last (top?) on the bill after Irish dancers, Indian dance from Bizia + students, dinner and the village handbell ringers. The nine of us were dressed up in a range of outfits of varying degrees of 'Africaness'. The set went down pretty well with the audience who clapped along and gave us some loud cheers. There were even cries of 'More!' as we finished the last song, but we had nothing else prepared and it was getting late anyway.

I really enjoyed this performance, even though I made lots of mistakes. I managed to add some solo rolls during one song. One difference to previous events was the sound. Outside the sound just disappears, but in an enclosed space you can really feel it. Some people told me how impressed they had been by the sound and the music. It is not something you get to hear much live in this country. I admit that we are mere amateurs of this art, but I hope we can impress some of the flavour of African drumming. Malcolm has done his own write-up of the event. I'm not sure if any of the photos taken will be available on-line.