1Hi Coleman, how are you?
2Good, thanks.
3I wanted to have a chat with you
4because our friend Josh told me that you've joined a guitar group
5and it sounds interesting.
6I'd really like to learn myself.
7Why don't you come along?
8I'm sure there's room for another person.
9Really?
10So... who runs the classes?
11He's called a 'coordinator',
12his name's Gary Mathieson.
13Let me note that down.
14Gary....
15How do you spell his surname?
16It's Mathieson.
17Right, thanks.
18He's retired, actually, but he's a really nice guy
19and he used to play in a lot of bands.
20Thanks.
21So how long have you been going?
22About a month now.
23And could you play anything before you started?
24I knew a few chords, but that's all.
25I'm sure everyone will be better than me.
26That's what I thought, too.
27When I first spoke to Gary on the phone,
28he said it was a class for beginners,
29but I was still worried that everyone would be better than me,
30but we were all equally hopeless!
31Oh, that's reassuring.
32So where do you meet?
33Well, when I joined the group, they were meeting in Gary's home,
34but as the group got bigger, he decided to book a room at the college in town.
35I prefer going there.
36I know that place.
37I used to go to tap dancing classes there when I was at secondary school.
38I haven't been since, though and I can't remember what road it's in...
39Is it Lock Street?
40It's just beyond there at the bottom of New Street near the city roundabout.
41Yes, of course.
42The guitar club is on the first floor in Room T347.
43Right.
44And when do you meet?
45Is it at the weekend?
46We meet on Thursdays.
47It used to be 10.30 and that suited me well,
48but now we meet at 11.
49The class that's in there before us asked if they could have the room for another 30 minutes.
50Oh, I see.
51Well, I'd love to come, but I don't have a guitar.
52Well, you can always buy a second-hand one.
53There's a website called 'The perfect instrument' that sells all kinds of guitars, violins and so on.
54I'm sure you'll find something there.
55So what's a typical lesson like with Gary?
56Well, he always starts by getting us to tune our guitars.
57That takes about five minutes.
58Uhuh...
59Some people have an app they use, but others do it by ear.
60Gary goes round and helps them.
61And while he's doing that, he tells us what he's going to do during the lesson.
62Right.
63First, we usually spend about ten minutes doing some strumming.
64So is that using...
65Oh... what are they called...
66Plectrums?
67No, we just use our thumbs.
68Oh... much easier.
69Gary reminds us where to put our fingers for each chord and then we play them together.
70Sometimes we all just start laughing because we're so bad at keeping time,
71so Gary starts clapping to help us.
72Do you learn to play any songs?
73Yes, we do at least one song with words and chords.
74I mean that's harder than you think.
75Oh, I'm sure it is!
76That part of the lesson takes about 15 minutes.
77He often brings a recording of the song and plays it to us first.
78Then he hands out the song and if there's a new chord in it,
79we practise that before we play it together, but really slowly.
80Do you do any finger picking?
81That's the last ten minutes of the lesson,
82when we pick out the individual notes from a tune he's made up.
83It's always quite simple.
84That must be hard, though.
85It is.
86But people like it because they can really concentrate
87and if we're all playing well, it sounds quite impressive.
88The only trouble is that he sometimes gets us to play one at a time, you know, alone.
89Oh... that's scary.
90Um... it is, but I've got used to it now.
91At the end he spends about five minutes telling us what to practise for the following week.
92Well, thanks Coleman.
93I'll go and have a look at that website, I think.