[00:48.63]WOMAN: Hi Coleman, how are you?
[00:51.87]COLEMAN: Good, thanks.
[00:53.22]WOMAN: 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.
[01:02.38]I'd really like to learn myself.
[01:04.90]COLEMAN: Why don't you come along?
[01:06.98]I'm sure there's room for another person.
[01:09.61]WOMAN: Really? So - who runs the classes?
[01:13.93]COLEMAN: He's called a 'coordinator' - his name's Gary Mathieson.
[01:19.77]WOMAN: Let me note that down.
[01:21.99]Gary... How do you spell his surname?
[01:26.04]COLEMAN: It's M-A-T-H-I-E-S-O-N.
[01:36.68]WOMAN: Right, thanks.
[01:38.75]COLEMAN: He's retired, actually, but he's a really nice guy and he used to play in a lot of bands.
[01:46.73]WOMAN: Thanks. So how long have you been going?
[01:51.79]COLEMAN: About a month now.
[01:53.97]WOMAN: And could you play anything before you started?
[01:57.82]COLEMAN: I knew a few chords, but that's all.
[02:01.19]WOMAN: I'm sure everyone will be better than me.
[02:04.12]COLEMAN: That’s what thought, too.
[02:06.27]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!
[02:19.29]WOMAN: Oh, that's reassuring. So where do you meet?
[02:24.38]COLEMAN: 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.
[02:35.29]I prefer
going there.
[02:37.44]WOMAN: I know that place.
[02:39.52]I used to go to tap dancing classes there when I was at
secondary school.
[02:45.00]I haven't been since, though and I can't remember what road
it’s in ..is it Lock Street?
[02:53.68]COLEMAN: It's just beyond there at the bottom of New Street near the city roundabout.
[03:00.56]WOMAN: Yes, of course.
[03:02.71]COLEMAN: The guitar club is on the first floor in Room T347.
[03:09.44]WOMAN: Right. And when do you meet?
[03:13.71]Is it at the weekend?
[03:15.63]COLEMAN: We meet on Thursdays.
[03:18.11]It used to be 10.30 and that suited me well, but now we
meet at 11.
[03:26.39]The class that's in there before us asked if they could have the room for another 30 minutes.
[03:32.64]WOMAN: Oh, I see. Well, I'd love to come, but I don't have a guitar.
[03:40.22]COLEMAN: Well, you can always buy a second-hand one.
[03:44.00]There's a website called “The
perfect instrument” that sells all kinds of guitars, violins and so on.
[03:52.62]I'm sure you'll find something there.
[04:30.44]WOMAN: So what's a typical lesson like with Gary?
[04:35.71]COLEMAN: Well, he always starts by getting us to tune our guitars.
[04:41.08]That takes about five minutes.
[04:43.72]WOMAN: Uhuh.
[04:44.86]COLEMAN: Some people have an app they use but others do it by ear.
[04:50.37]Gary goes round and helps them And while he’s doing that he tells us what he’s going to do during the lesson.
[04:59.39]WOMAN: Right.
[05:01.04]COLEMAN: First we usually spend about ten minutes doing some strumming.
[05:06.99]WOMAN: So is that using ..what are they called...plectrums?
[05:14.28]COLEMAN: No - we just use our thumbs.
[05:18.04]WOMAN: Much easier.
[05:20.07]COLEMAN: Gary reminds us where to put our fingers for each chord and then we play them together.
[05:26.89]Sometimes we all just start laughing because we're so bad at keeping time, so Gary starts clapping to help us.
[05:36.96]WOMAN:
Do you learn to play any songs?
[05:40.00]COLEMAN: Yes - we do at least one song with words and chords.
[05:45.44]I mean that's harder than you think.
[05:48.48]WOMAN: Oh, I'm sure it is!
[05:50.89]COLEMAN: That part of the lesson takes about 15 minutes.
[05:55.44]He often brings a recording of the song and plays it to us first.
[06:01.44]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.
[06:12.37]WOMAN: Do you do any finger picking?
[06:15.33]COLEMAN: That's the last ten minutes of the lesson, when we pick out the individual notes
from a tune he’s made up.
[06:23.68]It's always quite simple.
[06:25.96]WOMAN: That must be hard, though.
[06:28.01]COLEMAN: It is, but people like it because they can really concentrate and if we're all playing
well, it sounds quite impressive.
[06:39.08]The only trouble is that he sometimes gets us to
play one at a time - you know, alone.
[06:47.09]WOMAN: That's scary.
[06:49.10]COLEMAN: It is, but I've got used to it now.
[06:53.85]At the end he Spends about five minutes telling us what to practise for the following week.
[07:00.34]WOMAN: Well, thanks Coleman. I'll go and have a look at that website, I think.
