The 3rd single in The Domestic Science Singles Series is released today - my instrumental solo guitar version of Chaka Khan's Ain't Nobody. Watch it here:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vCcZIARw9k

Song and guitar tab are available only from the store page and you can Pay What You Want for the song, and a percentage of what you pay goes to STEPS, a charity that supports people with clubfoot, hip dysplasia and other lower limb conditions, in honour of my beautiful niece Freya. http://www.steps-charity.org.uk/

This is my cover of the Chaka Khan dancefloor classic from 1982. When I was a kid, I played gigs in pubs in Blackpool, and often my audience was mostly elderly ladies spending their pension money on bacardi! Quite often they'd tolerate my original songs and blues covers for only so long, and eventually a representative would be sent over to remonstrate with me. "Excuse me young man, please can you play something we can dance to?" So this is my emergency disco song. Every musician needs an emergency disco song. 

You can also buy the song in the form of a postcard, with a painting I did on one side, a bit of guitar tab on the back, and a download code for the mp3. Hand addressed and posted to you! 

I just got back from my second trip to Italy this year. I had some amazing experiences (mostly food or music related, although I can live without ever having cow's tongue again) and some strange ones - for example I had my oddest ever audience-member, a woman in Bologna who yelped, hyena-like, at seemingly random intervals. I managed to calm her by playing some of the concert unplugged, stood right at her table, effectively serenading her. She was awesome. But not at every concert, please.

I also got "interviewed" by the police in Milan, who basically wanted to know how much cash I had on me, and whether they could have any. They couldn't, because I suddenly and conveniently forgot how to speak any Italian at all. Which resulted in them just pointing at Wilma (my guitar) and saying "Ereek Clapton" over and over. That happens surprisingly often.

It's been great fun selling the Music Postcards (Cartoline Musicali in Italian) at gigs for the two singles released so far. Some people have been very generous, so thanks! But some have also paid what little they can afford, which is just as much appreciated. Posting them off around the planet has been awesome too! I sent some to Hawaii this morning. I couldn't fit my body in the letterbox. I tried.

Here's the photos from Italy:

 

And right before I left it was Leeds Guitar Night. It was pretty stressful cos Natasha (my manager) and I were organising and promoting the event. Erik Mongrain had gone to great lengths to get here for the gig, changing his flights and driving the entire length of England. Thankfully there were 250 people there, which was awesome. Thanks SO much to everyone who came, I truly appreciate it. 

Photos from Leeds Guitar Night 2011:



Right now Wilma is at the doctor - she suffered far more than I did with the changes in temperature and the amazing Autumn humidity in Italy! Then we're travelling around England before a few gigs in Germany to finish off the year. I wonder if they have British Christmas Markets in Bavaria? I'll let you know.

See you on the road!

It's one month since my first ever single Passionflower was released, and it's so far been watched over 45,000 times on youtube and played on radio stations on 3 continents! Thankyou/Merci/Grazie/Danke/Gracias to EVERYONE who watched it and - most importantly - told their friends about it.

The second single, my interpretation of Message In A Bottle by The Police, is out today. You can watch it here:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-fpLmJHLvw

You can download the mp3 right now from http://jongomm.com/store for Pay What You Want (you can pay zero if you like) and 10% of the proceeds from all the Domestic Science Singles Series goes to The Happy House children's home in Watamu, Kenya.

The guitar tab is available from the store too. 

Since my new video went up online, I've been getting the occasional criticism from guitarists for mistreating Wilma (my lovely, faithful handmade Lowden guitar). "Look at the state of her!" they cry. "That's a cruel thing to do to a beautiful instrument!" they wail.

It makes me sad. :(

Why? Well, I love my guitar. Anyone who's seen me play will see that I clean her immediately after every gig. If I'm playing two sets, she gets cleaned during the interval too. I lookafter her to the point of obsession, and she might look worn but I've played over 1,000 gigs with her and she's still the only guitar I take on the road. That's right - I don't take a spare. "What happens if you break a string?" I can hear you asking in my head. Not sure how you got in my head. But anyway - I have never broken a string on a gig. Well, once in Rome but we were both tired.

The damage on my guitar is caused almost exclusively by scratching the top, often with a pick (Jon Gomm signature picks, available in the store!). The same is true with Tommy Emmanuel's famous beat-up Maton (and that's cedar topped too, as I recall, so it's even softer!) Your guitar won't get that scrapheap look from normal drumming techniques.

If you are trying out percussion on the guitar - which I HUGELY recommend if you enjoy fun - the only way you'll damage it is if you do it badly, just like any other technique.

1) Don't drum with your nails, especially acrylic or plastic nails.
2) Don't use your knuckles - but that's at least 50% to avoid hurting yourself!
3) Don't do it hard - the percussion sounds are naturally far louder than the regular notes, so if you do it hard you'll be all out of balance, volume wise.
4) Don't do it directly above/below the soundhole (this depends on the bracing pattern of your guitar. If it's a Takamine, for example, you WILL crack it there).

The better your guitar is, the better the percussion sounds you will achieve. Hitting a $100 Fender acoustic will sound like slapping drywall. Hitting a £2,000 Lowden, or a £20,000 Michael Greenfield guitar sounds mellow and warm, like a tom tom played with a soft mallet.

DISCLAIMER: If in doubt - chicken out! Don't send me the repair bill, anyway....

Thanks for reading,
Jon

My first ever single, Passionflower, has finally arrived! Here's the video (Youtube link)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY7GnAq6Znw

You can really help me get my music into more people's ears by sharing it - post it on your facebook, tweet it, blog it, email it to your friends / family / fellow inmates / etc...

And you can download the song right now from the store page,  and Pay What You Want - you can even pay nothing. It's totally your call. :)

You can buy it as a download card too - a postcard I designed with artwork on the front and lyrics on the back and a unique download code. It will be hand-addressed and posted to you!

The guitar tab is available too: you can download the full transcription for £1.99, with all my crazy guitar tapping and retuning explained. Or there's a free easy version for those who just like to learn the chords and the words. Get them from the Guitarists Only area.

I really hope you enjoy listening to and watching the song, sharing it with friends and having fun with the transcription. I feel like this is how music should be released.

The second single in The Domestic Science Singles Series will be out on Saturday October 29th 2011, and the launch will be at Leeds Guitar Night - http://www.wegottickets.com/event/131783

THANKS for supporting independent music!

People say the internet has killed albums. Well I thought about that, and actually I love the idea of a return to the early days of recorded popular music, when people just loved one song at a time, really intensely. Or even to a time before that, when they had to buy the sheet music and learn to play it for themselves.

So, I've made some singles to be released in a series this Autumn, available by only as downloads (no CDs this time), only from jongomm.com, and on a Pay What You Want basis – each song will cost you zero pence, or a million dollars, or anywhere in between! You can listen to it first for free, then choose how much you think it's worth / what you can afford. 

Or you can receive the song by post, in the form of a specially designed, hand-addressed postcard which will have a unique code allowing you to download the tune.

10% of your payment will go to The Happy House orphange and school in Watamu, Kenya. http://www.childrenofwatamu.net/

I'm also transcribing the guitar tab for each song – the proper semi-impossible Gomm arrangement, and a basic strum-along version too - so you can learn to play it yourself if you like.

The songs were home-produced by me in my house with my battered guitar Wilma, some budget microphones and an old laptop, hence the Domestic Science title, and each one has an accompanying video which has been produced on a shoestring by helpful fans and budding film-makers, keen as always to get involved and help the cause. Thanks dudes!

The first song is called Passionflower, and it'll be out on Wednesday September 28th. The following singles in the series are mix of new songs, unexpected cover versions and instrumentals. Keep an eye out for more info and sneak previews as the date approaches...

The Leeds Guitar Night is back for 2011, and I'm delighted to be hosting a fantastic international line up at The Wardrobe in the Quarry Hill Arts Quarter, where you’ll see and hear the acoustic guitar played every way you could imagine and possibly more! My guests this year are modern pioneers of the acoustic guitar, revered by their fellow players around the world. 

Welcome to the new website!

Thanks to the hundreds of people who voted to help me choose the design for this new site, which was then created by the wonderful Tom Chapman. The artwork was originally created by Martin Simpson in 2007 for the Don't Panic album, but the Don't Panic projected stalled with the pressure of touring, and it needed rebooting in every way and the artwork got replaced, so I'm delighted to have finally made use of it, cos it's frickin awesome.

I miss the old place which was my online home since 2003, but in reality everything is better here:

There's a proper Store where you can buy the my two albums (prices have been lowered cos with this new site I don't have to give a percentage to an online-sales-company), but also now onsale is the Tab for Loveproof and my signature plectrums!

There's detailed info about every gig on the Live Dates page (just click the "more info" links in the right hand column).

And there's this here bloggy-style news page, which I can easily keep up-to-date with my doings, but where I'll also occasionally unleash my rants which up until now have been restricted to Facebook, really. And you can comment on anything in the blog, using your Facebook/Hotmail/Yahoo/AOL account or by registering with jongomm.com. Please comment, It's too quiet in here, I can hear these words echoing off the walls already.

And in the making right now is the Guitarists Only area. I'm preparing some detailed info about my guitar and other gear, and I'll be making some little lessons about guitar techniques from tapping and percussion to harmonics and peg-bending madness. I'll be asking for requests for that, and for the Gomm FAQ page, so I'll be in touch asking for help (again) soon. Soz.

Hope you like it here!

Jon.