Aug. 1, 2025

Liam Ward interview

Liam Ward joins me on episode 140.

Liam is from the north west of England and first took up the harmonica in his late teens. His youthful zeal turned into his career when he chose to become a full-time harmonica player over becoming a school teacher. Liam plays in numerous bands, including his own band, two duos and in an Oasis tribute band. In addition to the harmonica he also plays various jug band instruments including the musical saw, washboard, spoons and the Irish bones.

Liam runs one of the most popular online tuition sites: LearnTheHarmonica.com, which he started in 2014. He is also a regular workshop leader at harmonica camps, teaching at the EuroBlues week and the Hohner festival in Trossingen in 2025. And he has recently been selected as the face of the Hohner Blues Harp.

Links:

Liam’s website: https://www.liamwardmusic.com/

Online harmonica school: https://www.learntheharmonica.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/liamwardmusic

The World Harmonica Festival (Hohner): https://worldharmonicafestival.de/

Videos:

Learn The Harmonica YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Learntheharmonica

Liam’s critique of his first recording with Lonesome George: https://youtu.be/JNZvs2Mm-mk?si=Jlo-OCWmR4G4rkGP

Lyndon Anderson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGwAnYpxWT0

Oasis Supernova Tribute Band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JDqWIuwKbQ

Liam playing the Fat Tone amp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ilXKHh2r6I

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
--------------------------------
Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com

Support the show

01:30 - Liam was last on the podcast for the Bob Dylan episode in January 2025, where he provided some great insights

02:09 - Grew up in Macclesfield (where John Mayall is from) and Manchester

02:28 - Now lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire, which has a lot going on musically for quite a small town

03:00 - Formed a band with his family around age of 18, called Lonesome George

03:42 - Grew up in a music filled home, with mother playing piano and sisters both singing

04:23 - The name Lonesome George came from a tortoise which was the last of it’s species

05:05 - Had drum lessons when younger before starting on the harmonica age 17 or 18

06:17 - Bob Dylan was the main inspiration for taking up the harmonica

06:54 - Had some lessons with Mat Walklate, who turned Liam onto blues harmonica

07:39 - Signed up to Howard Levy’s online harmonica school for a time and had lessons with Lyndon Anderson in the north east of England

08:12 - Also had some lesson with Carlos del Junco while living in Canada

08:38 - Enthusiasm to learn when young propelled Liam forward and has been trying to recapture some of that early zest

08:58 - Has been exploring learning Irish music on the harmonica recently

09:29 - Plays various percussion and jug band instruments, such as the saw and washboard, as a result of playing in jug bands

10:56 - Musician’s Union list the harmonica as a novelty instrument

11:25 - The Rumblestrutters Jug Band was the first band Liam recorded with, although played in several bands in Manchester before that

13:12 - Liam interviewed John Sebastian and they discussed the jug band work John did

13:45 - The decision to become a full-time harmonica player was partly thanks to Liam’s wife

15:13 - Part of the reason for Liam’s success in being a full-time harmonica player and teacher is the diversity of things that he does as well as hard work and organisational skills

17:34 - Liam’s passion has helped drive him along and make the ‘job’ of being a harmonica player easier

18:05 - Also need to be professional and reliable as a musician in order to be a success and overcoming imposter syndrome

19:05 - Teaching really helps develop your own playing

19:55 - Liam is the new face of the Hohner Blues Harp, with this photo appearing on the box

20:07 - Is endorsed by Hohner but remains open minded in his teaching material about other brands

20:53 - Started releasing YouTube tuition videos in 2014, catching the wave of that before the internet was flooded with them

21:17 - Adam Gussow, Christelle Berthon and Ronnie Shellist were probably the first to start releasing YouTube instruction videos, with Liam closely behind

22:17 - Initially thought putting videos on YouTube would bring him session work rather than thinking he would start a harmonica school

23:15 - Other things Liam did to get his harmonica career off the ground

23:44 - Combined playing in bands with pushing the harmonica teaching career and working a lot of hours and burning himself out

25:07 - Was in The Jake Leg Jug band for around ten years, although recently left that band, but still makes the occasional appearance with them

26:31 - Played the percussion instruments with The Jake Leg Jug band, including the bones, which he loves

26:52 - Plays some harmonica on a rack with the different percussion instrument, although doesn’t play as a one-man band

27:15 - For the second album, Shine, all the money raised is going towards the stoke association

27:27 - The Liam Ward Band is his own band, with all original songs and has released two albums

27:43 - Is the main singer in The Liam Ward Band, with his sisters also singing some of the songs

28:15 - For the second album, Shine, all the money raised is going towards the stoke association

29:01 - Plays in a duo with Mark Cole, with Mark playing multiple instruments

29:56 - About to release a new album with Mark Cole of American roots music

30:49 - Also has an active duo with Malcolm Thorne, having released one EP with him thus far

31:22 - Malcolm Thorne also plays in The Liam Ward Band and has recorded some backing tracks for Liam’s online harmonica school

31:37 - Liam plays in an Oasis tribute band, Oasis Supernova, and plays on various songs that didn’t originally have harmonica on

33:04 - Likes to say yes to what opportunities come up, which has led to the diversity of bands Liam plays in

34:53 - Runs the successful online harmonica school: LearnTheHarmonica.com and currently puts out a new video around every two weeks

35:42 - Loves learning songs and teaches the songs that he wants to learn himself

36:23 - Many of the videos are of pop songs, in addition to blues, and Liam usually just puts out songs he wants to learn himself

37:47 - How the LearnTheHarmonica.com website grew into an online harmonica school

39:47 - Teaches at the London Harmonica School, and is teaching at the Euroblues week in 2025, run by Michael Roach, who Liam sometimes sits in with

40:46 - Appearing at The World Harmonica Festival at Trossingen in 2025

41:21 - Was asked to run a Masters workshop at Trossingen on rack harmonica, but stepped aside to let Eddie Martin run that one, who is much more experienced with rack playing

42:01 - Has written articles for different magazines, such as Blues Matters and Blues In Britain

42:07 - Won the Harmonica UK harmonica contest in the blues and rock category

42:28 - Ten minute question

43:13 - How to split the different types of practise into routine

44:16 - Currently working on learning Irish tunes

45:18 - Is a Hohner endorsee and mainly plays Special 20s and Golden Melodies, Thunderbirds for low diatonics and CX12 for chromatic

45:54 - Not playing much chromatic at the moment but the value of all diatonic players being able to manage some third position blues on chromatic

47:03 - Favours plastic bodied harmonicas

47:54 - Isn’t a fan of the Hohner Rocket harmonica

48:48 - Liam doesn’t like metal bodies harmonicas, partly because of the extra weight

48:58 - Owns some custom Sugar Cain harmonicas, but only keeps them for best and gigs with out of the box harmonicas

49:23 - Is considering obtaining some custom harmonicas to use for overblows

49:49 - Does a little customisation of own harmonicas, but not much

49:55 - Uses some overblows, but quite sparingly and not playing diatonic chromatically, although is interested in developing playing in that

50:41 - Embouchre: mainly tongue block but uses pucker for Irish tunes and some jazz songs

51:25 - Considering u-block for Irish tunes

51:51 - Amps of choice include a Vice 2x12, a Fat Tone custom built amp

52:58 - Fat Tone amp has delay built in as Liam doesn’t like lots of pedals when performing

53:25 - Harp Gear HG2 amp is small amp which mainly uses for recording

53:45 - Fat Tone amps also create a pre-amp pedal, which Liam has, as well as a mic from there

54:57 - Main mic is a Greg Huemann wood mic with the Huemann element

55:32 - Has owned a Mexican manufactured Shure Green bullet

56:05 - Owns some Lone Wolf pedals but doesn’t use them much as likes to focus on playing the harmonica rather than worrying about gear

57:02 - Future plans

WEBVTT

00:00:00.066 --> 00:00:01.967
Liam Ward joins me on episode 140.

00:00:01.967 --> 00:00:06.854
Liam is from the northwest of England and first took up the harmonica in his late teens.

00:00:06.854 --> 00:00:13.723
His youthful zeal turned into his career when he chose to become a full-time harmonica player over becoming a school teacher.

00:00:13.723 --> 00:00:20.231
Liam plays in numerous bands including his own band 2GOs and in an Oasis tribute band.

00:00:20.231 --> 00:00:28.661
In addition to the harmonica he also plays various jug band instruments including the musical saw, washboard, spoons and the Irish bounds.

00:00:28.661 --> 00:00:35.573
Liam runs one of the most popular online tuition sites, LearnTheHarmonica.com, which he started in 2014.

00:00:35.573 --> 00:00:49.490
He is also a regular workshop leader at harmonica camps, teaching at the Euro Blues Week and the Horner Festival in Trottingen in 2025, and he has recently been selected as the face of the Horner Blues Harbour.

00:00:49.490 --> 00:00:52.494
This podcast is sponsored by Seidel Harmonicas.

00:00:52.494 --> 00:01:02.241
Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world, at www.zeidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zeidel Harmonicas.

00:01:02.241 --> 00:01:28.432
Hello Liam Ward and welcome to the podcast.

00:01:28.432 --> 00:01:29.774
Thanks for having me.

00:01:29.774 --> 00:01:39.284
Well thanks for coming back because of course you were on in the Bob Dylan episode in January 2025 and you provided lots of really great insights into that.

00:01:39.284 --> 00:01:43.829
I really appreciated your input into that so expecting more today Liam.

00:01:44.531 --> 00:01:45.512
Yeah it was great fun.

00:01:45.512 --> 00:01:57.462
It was amazing to hear about the other guys and their involvement in the film and I'd done a little bit of research sort of you know I always Love Dylan's music, but I geeked out ahead of that one.

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I haven't done any prep for this one, but I feel like I should know about my own life.

00:02:01.566 --> 00:02:03.349
So yeah, those insights were really great.

00:02:03.349 --> 00:02:06.293
And I love geeky research into harmonica.

00:02:06.293 --> 00:02:07.233
That's what I'm all about.

00:02:07.233 --> 00:02:08.836
So yeah, that'd be great.

00:02:08.836 --> 00:02:10.938
So I think you're originally from Manchester, are

00:02:10.979 --> 00:02:11.098
you?

00:02:11.098 --> 00:02:12.640
Yeah.

00:02:12.640 --> 00:02:18.168
So I grew up in Macclesfield and in Manchester, so a bit of both.

00:02:18.168 --> 00:02:24.191
So Macclesfield, being kind of just south of Manchester and actually the town where John Mayall was born.

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Although I didn't know that growing up there, but since then I learned that.

00:02:27.969 --> 00:02:29.510
Okay, so I'm from the northwest of England.

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I'm from Blackburn originally, but I also live down south.

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You live in Stroud in Gloucestershire now in the south

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of England.

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I do, yeah.

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So I've swapped northwest for southwest.

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It's quite nice down there.

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So what's it like around Stroud?

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It's a pretty small town.

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So, I mean, it reminds me of Macclesfield, you know, really my hometown, but it's smaller.

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But it's an old mill town and it punches above its weight in terms of music and art.

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So, you know, there's festivals and there's lots of musicians and hippies around, people without proper jobs, my kind of place.

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sounds

00:02:59.437 --> 00:03:31.579
good yeah so let's talk about your how you got into the harmonica so uh looking into your uh into your many youtube videos and things i found a video of you playing um with your family band lonesome george and your first recording which you very bravely shared and then critiqued yourself on this video so So was that your, this family band, your first foray into music?

00:03:32.561 --> 00:03:35.727
Yeah, I kind of wasn't expecting that to come up.

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This feels like a Graham Norton interview when he pulls up a video and goes, oh, remember this from when you were a kid?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So, I mean, I grew up in...

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a music-filled home.

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So my mum studied drama, my dad didn't really play instruments but he was a proper muso so their record collections were great and I grew up around music a lot and my sisters got into singing very early and as a teenager we ended up with a family band.

00:04:01.626 --> 00:04:14.387
It was actually, first off it was kind of a Latin jazz band slash Brazilian drumming band so I started out as a drummer and And then later when I took up the harmonica, my stepdad said, you know, let's turn it into a blues band.

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And kind of, for my benefit, it was really nice.

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So Lonesome George was kind of a function band, but with a rhythm and blues leaning.

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And Lonesome George...

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The name comes from, it was the last remaining member of a certain species of tortoise.

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And sadly, he died because they couldn't get him to mate with anyone else.

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So yeah, we made an album and we put a tortoise on the front of the cover.

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And since then, my mum and my stepdad have moved on to a canal boat that they live on full time now.

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And they've called that Lonesome George.

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So if you ever round the canals of England and you see Lonesome George, that's my mum You started

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playing harmonica then at this point when you moved from drums to harmonica and this sort of time that that's what started you, was it?

00:05:05.019 --> 00:05:10.386
Yeah, I mean, I had drum kit lessons at school, but even then I was relatively late getting into it.

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I think I always loved music and I always felt a deep connection to music and felt moved by music.

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But I was kind of one of the few out of my many siblings because I'm one of eight.

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in terms of the step family.

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I was one of the few that wasn't really doing anything musical till I was a teenager.

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I do remember my mum likes to tell a story that when we were toddlers, me and my sisters, she took us to kind of toddlers music thing where you just get to bash drums and hit things and whatever, you know, xylophones or whatever.

00:05:43.565 --> 00:05:45.408
Maybe harmonicas, I don't know.

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The teacher or the, you know, the person running it when we left sort of Day one.

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Day two.

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Absolutely loved it, really shook to it.

00:06:16.970 --> 00:06:21.656
And you said in the Bob Dylan episode that Bob Dylan was your inspiration to take up the harmonica, was that?

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It was the first one you heard, wasn't it, and he drew you to it?

00:06:24.379 --> 00:06:25.040
Yeah, absolutely.

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I mean, my record, my parents' record collection rather, there's a lot of Dylan and some Neil Young and some other, you know, a lot of the folk revival stuff, the American folk revival stuff.

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So yeah, I was hearing Dylan and actually, you know, I remember getting a book of Teach Yourself...

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Dylan's songs and I can't remember if it sort of taught you the melodies or it tried to teach you the solos I mean good luck trying to tab them out but because I've tried but I remember trying to learn these and then I got some lessons with Matt Walklet in Manchester and And I have so much to thank Matt Walklet for.

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He was great to me.

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He was extremely encouraging.

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I loved his sense of humor and he always sort of knew the right thing to say.

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But anyway, he kind of went, you're not listening to blues.

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You want to listen to blues, you know, and gave me a few blues albums to listen to.

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And again, that was another light bulb moment that I just thought, oh, this is the real stuff, you know.

00:07:20.129 --> 00:07:46.312
yeah and of course I've had Matt on the podcast before yeah and he's a great guy great player and like I say a great sense of humour yeah nice north west humour yeah and you also did some of Howard Levy's online stuff as well didn't you so you sought out tuition in your earlier days oh

00:07:46.372 --> 00:08:20.297
absolutely yeah I joined Howard's school for a while I got some lessons with Lyndon Anderson up in the North East fabulous harmonica player because I've lived up in Durham and Newcastle for a little time so I had some lessons with Lyndon Anderson and I also lived in Canada for a year and got some lessons with Carlos Del Junco again someone one of my favorite players who are highly raped

00:08:20.896 --> 00:08:23.800
well i'll second that korlos is uh is fantastic yeah

00:08:24.081 --> 00:08:37.937
and i also got to play with loads of canadians when i was over there i was in toronto and there's so many incredible musicians and probably looking back i'd be embarrassed to see myself butting my way into all sorts but it's amazing what an english accent can do out there

00:08:37.956 --> 00:08:43.860
well and it shows that enthusiasm is critical right particularly in those early days you know you just get a It's got to be all consuming, right?

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And you've just got to want to do it sort of badly.

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Yeah, it's funny actually because I've been recently trying to recapture a bit of that.

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I've become very focused, I suppose, and maybe that's meant that...

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I've sometimes had tunnel vision.

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the beginner's sort of mentality, you know?

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We're talking about other instruments you play, so we're getting into the bands you play, but you play various jug band and skiffle instruments as well.

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So, for example, you play the musical soul.

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We're talking about a band.

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A tremendous instrument.

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I've heard someone, this workshop thing I went to playing, that's quite a great sound, spooky sound it is, and, you know, Joe Harp and washboard and jugs and spoons and all this sort of stuff.

00:10:04.537 --> 00:10:05.097
So did you...

00:10:05.097 --> 00:10:11.145
Did you start playing that stuff as a result of playing drums, or was it when you started getting into jug bands that you picked those up?

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It was definitely the jug band stuff.

00:10:13.548 --> 00:10:24.143
So the drums I enjoyed, and I loved that sense of rhythm, and I do think it instilled a sense of rhythm in me, but it just didn't feel right, which was why I then kind of went on to the harmonica.

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But when I started playing jug band stuff, it just so happened that I was kind of the guy in the band...

00:10:31.293 --> 00:10:55.610
who had his hands free at various points so then everyone else in the band was kind of like well you've got to play the jug oh okay tick i'll do the jug oh why don't you play the washboard on a few tunes oh okay oh wouldn't it be cool if you learned the musical saw you know and it kind of just went one by one and then before i knew it i'd ended up being kind of the novelty noise man which i'm pretty happy with i can't play any real instruments

00:10:56.001 --> 00:10:59.578
Well, I hope we're not counting the harmonica and the novelty noise count there.

00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:03.840
Well, you know, when I joined the Musicians' Union, I remember signing up.

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It was online.

00:11:04.965 --> 00:11:08.702
and they had a drop-down sort of menu where you selected your instrument.

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And I couldn't find harmonica.

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You had to put your main instrument.

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I couldn't find harmonica.

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Right down at the bottom, there was a category, novelty, and harmonica was under it.

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So even the Musicians' Union, who I pay my dues to.

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I'll have to get that changed.

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We mentioned jug bands there.

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So the first band I've got you down, obviously after your family band, is the Rumble Strutters, which you released an album with in 2016.

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Rumble Strutters Was this your first

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serious band or did you have ones before this?

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I suppose it was the first band I recorded with.

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I mean, apart from the family band, which was just kind of a bit of fun.

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But there was a few bands I played with in Manchester after being up in the northeast.

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And then moving to Canada for a year, I ended up back in Manchester and I played with a band called Bullets and Bourbon, but we never recorded anything.

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And there was a cool band I played with called Minor Blues, young lads.

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They were dead good and I thought they were going to go somewhere.

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And then it kind of fizzled out and then I moved away.

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So there was a few things.

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I think there's always bands that you...

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play with before you find sort of something that really goes somewhere.

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And I was sitting in, again, I was sitting in with bands in Manchester, whoever would have me.

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But yeah, the Rumble Strutters were the first band I've kind of recorded with proper and wrote music with.

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So I moved to Swansea, South Wales.

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Someone was looking to start a jug band I didn't really know what a jug band was but I thought yeah I'll join a jug band and the next thing I knew I was in I was in this trio with a guitarist Jonathan Nicholas and a mandolin player John Toft we were writing stuff but also playing this 20s and 30s stuff

00:13:10.370 --> 00:13:12.615
Yeah, no, absolutely.

00:13:12.615 --> 00:13:18.548
I know you interviewed John Sebastian yourself, who I had on the podcast a while ago, and you were very interested in his Jug Band stuff.

00:13:18.548 --> 00:13:23.418
And so, yeah, that interest in the Jug Band is great stuff in the pre-war side of things.

00:13:23.599 --> 00:13:24.581
Yeah, he sent me a...

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a CD and a little signed photo in the post out of nowhere, really.

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John Sebastian did, nice guy.

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And he'd written on it something about, you know, watch out for that English jug band.

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And the other two guys in the band were Welsh, so that didn't go down very well.

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Yeah, no, he was

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a really lovely guy, yeah.

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So, so nice.

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And one thing, just to comment, you know, you've done great in your harmonica career.

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You work full time in harmonica, yeah?

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So you're a professional harmonica player, yeah?

00:13:53.389 --> 00:13:54.051
Yeah, yeah.

00:13:54.051 --> 00:13:56.293
So at what point did you decide to do that.

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And what do your family say?

00:13:59.498 --> 00:14:06.407
So at one point I had a plan to be a school teacher and I even applied for the course.

00:14:06.407 --> 00:14:14.839
I applied for a PGCE to sort of qualify as a teacher and it got to the summer prior to the September, you know, when the course would start.

00:14:14.839 --> 00:14:17.623
And at this point I'd met my now wife.

00:14:17.623 --> 00:14:32.671
She sort of said to me, hang on, You're working in a care home, which I was, so I had a zero hours minimum wage contract in a care home in Manchester, and you're teaching and gigging harmonica stuff between that.

00:14:32.671 --> 00:14:36.475
But I can tell that the music is really what you want to do.

00:14:36.475 --> 00:14:38.859
Do you really want to take this qualification?

00:14:38.859 --> 00:14:39.841
It's going to cost you money.

00:14:39.841 --> 00:14:40.701
It's going to...

00:14:40.701 --> 00:14:42.244
set you down a certain route.

00:14:42.244 --> 00:14:43.826
And she was like, just do the music.

00:14:43.826 --> 00:14:46.009
And one, I thought she's a keeper.

00:14:46.009 --> 00:14:50.054
And two, it sort of gave me permission.

00:14:50.054 --> 00:14:55.403
It was that outside permission to follow something I really wanted to do.

00:14:55.403 --> 00:15:05.202
Not that my family had pressured me to do anything in particular, but I think I'd had girlfriends in the past who'd maybe wanted me to get a quote unquote proper job, you know.

00:15:05.202 --> 00:15:07.489
But yeah, my wife saved me basically.

00:15:08.211 --> 00:15:11.679
Well, we all say every good man needs a good woman behind you.

00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:12.602
Sounds like that's her.

00:15:12.602 --> 00:15:50.197
So, you know, one thing I've massively admired about you is, you know, the way that you're been successful at least relatively successful in you know in working full-time as a harmonica player right and teacher so it's not easy in these days a lot of people I've talked to on the podcast you know they were more in the heyday of bands when you know you could get good paying gigs you know you could tour around easy you're not saying you can't do that now but it's harder these days right to do that sort of thing there's not quite the number of gigs there were and so you've done great and how you've done that a lot is in diversifying a lot what you've done yeah you've got numerous bands which we'll talk through in a minute you've also got all your online content and your school so So you diversified very early.

00:15:50.197 --> 00:15:52.320
Is that something you decided early on?

00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:53.662
I don't know if I

00:15:53.721 --> 00:15:59.149
decided it early on or if it was just part of my personality or makeup from the start.

00:15:59.149 --> 00:16:03.756
I've always been someone who's not wanted to put my eggs in one basket.

00:16:03.756 --> 00:17:11.411
And although you could view going it alone and trying to be a self-employed musician in that way, I suppose my kind of trying to diversify as a natural approach when I decided oh okay I am gonna be a full-time musician that's gonna be it I then almost immediately tried as many things as possible and that was just it was probably just a natural thing for me it was like I need to make some money you know so obviously I looked into teaching and I looked into playing with as many bands as possible and I was thinking workshops session work and you know putting videos out and I was just trying everything anything and everything and i was i was working long hours not earning anything just because i i felt if i'm gonna do this i've got responsibility to myself i've got responsibility to my partner to give it my all and to sort of make it work and i'm also i'm quite organized and i kind of keep track of things so i was kind of having these rather tragic but sort of management meetings with myself, you know, every month or whatever.

00:17:11.411 --> 00:17:16.438
How much have I earned this month and what did I earn it from and what's working and what isn't?

00:17:16.438 --> 00:17:17.239
What can we let go?

00:17:17.239 --> 00:17:19.260
What should we push more energy into?

00:17:19.260 --> 00:17:20.021
That kind of thing.

00:17:20.021 --> 00:17:22.885
Me and a cup of tea and some biscuits, you know, talking to myself.

00:17:23.547 --> 00:17:24.969
Yeah, and that's not easy with music, right?

00:17:24.969 --> 00:17:29.015
Because often you want to follow your passion, you want to do gigs, you know, you want to do the music you like.

00:17:29.015 --> 00:17:33.480
So to make that decision on more of a kind of business level, I guess, tough at times.

00:17:34.021 --> 00:17:35.002
Yeah, absolutely.

00:17:35.002 --> 00:17:43.467
But I mean, I do think that If you're passionate, you are making it easier for yourself to make something work.

00:17:43.467 --> 00:17:46.731
And I'm not saying that if something fails, that it's your own fault.

00:17:46.731 --> 00:17:47.813
Absolutely not.

00:17:47.813 --> 00:17:50.297
I got really lucky in many of the things I've done.

00:17:50.297 --> 00:18:09.786
But I think if you truly believe that you've got something to offer and you truly want to help people, whether that means teaching them things or providing music that makes them happy, I do think that gives you a bit of an edge I'd also think you just got to work hard and be organized and keep to your promises.

00:18:09.786 --> 00:18:19.010
The amount of musicians who are way more talented than me, but struggle to make a living, you know, they're not necessarily organized and they make promises they don't keep.

00:18:19.010 --> 00:18:21.176
And the reality is people employ.

00:18:21.176 --> 00:18:50.875
people who are reliable whether that's musicians or teachers or whatever they want someone who'll turn up and do the job i very much have moments of imposter syndrome i'm not the greatest musician in the world i know that and there are much better professional musicians and amateur musicians than me sometimes i'm giving workshops and some of the guys in the workshop are better than me which is embarrassing you know but it's not all about talent you know we know that you can see that from the pop stars we have some of them are terrible you know but it's you know you've got it you've got to

00:18:50.914 --> 00:18:56.561
just do your best But what it has done is it's allowed you to concentrate a lot of your efforts on developing your harmonica playing.

00:18:56.561 --> 00:19:05.231
And all the teaching you've done and all the videos you've done and looking at all these different styles and songs, all that helps to build up your palette of your harmonica playing.

00:19:05.251 --> 00:19:11.038
Yeah, and I think teaching really helps with your playing because you have to kind of work out what it is you're doing.

00:19:11.038 --> 00:19:14.823
Because a lot of the time we're doing things that we don't think about, which is great.

00:19:14.823 --> 00:19:17.925
And you don't have to know what you're doing to be a great player.

00:19:17.925 --> 00:19:20.990
Lots of players don't teach and lots of players don't.

00:19:20.990 --> 00:19:46.794
are very instinctive and that's great, but I've found that certain aspects of teaching have really helped me understand what I'm doing and then helped me to change and adapt my playing to try and further it.

00:19:46.794 --> 00:00:00.000
.

00:19:50.849 --> 00:19:53.175
Again, you've done a great job on getting your name out there.

00:19:53.175 --> 00:19:54.219
People know who you are.

00:19:54.219 --> 00:20:01.778
And this is culminated in your greatest song so far being the face of the whole blues harmonica, which was announced in April, I think, this year.

00:20:02.018 --> 00:20:04.039
Yeah, I was dead chuffed about that.

00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:06.622
I mean, Hohner have been great to me, I have to say.

00:20:06.622 --> 00:20:10.204
So I got an endorsement with them a couple of years ago.

00:20:10.204 --> 00:20:12.946
So I play their harps and I record with them.

00:20:12.946 --> 00:20:16.711
I try and remain open-minded on the teaching side of things.

00:20:16.711 --> 00:20:21.795
And I specifically said to Hohner when I linked up with them, look, my teaching has to be a separate thing.

00:20:21.795 --> 00:20:25.577
It can't be a Hohner-sponsored harmonica.

00:20:25.577 --> 00:20:28.221
So I review other models.

00:20:28.221 --> 00:20:30.742
For me, I don't care who makes it as long as it's great.

00:20:30.742 --> 00:20:36.851
But anyway, Hohner that have been great to me and they just approached me and said, how do you fancy being on the blues harp?

00:20:36.851 --> 00:20:40.737
And for me, it was possibly the first ever harmonica I played.

00:20:40.737 --> 00:20:42.618
So I was over the moon.

00:20:42.618 --> 00:20:50.810
It's ridiculous to think, you know, they sent me these boxes in the post and got my man mug on the front, you know, and yeah, dead chuffed with that.

00:20:51.352 --> 00:20:51.972
Yeah, well done.

00:20:51.972 --> 00:20:52.794
Yeah, quite an honour.

00:20:52.794 --> 00:20:59.644
And so, well, just chronologically, I think I've got you down as releasing your first YouTube videos in 2014.

00:20:59.644 --> 00:21:00.766
Is that right?

00:21:00.766 --> 00:21:02.123
That sounds about right

00:21:02.143 --> 00:21:09.769
because I would have been living in Swansea at the time and I can remember I used to have to move the bed in our bedroom so I'd have a wall I could sit against.

00:21:09.769 --> 00:21:12.291
It's a tiny little house.

00:21:12.291 --> 00:21:15.875
Yeah, and record my videos there and I didn't have a clue what I was

00:21:15.914 --> 00:21:16.095
doing.

00:21:16.095 --> 00:21:16.855
I was just making it up.

00:21:16.855 --> 00:21:26.864
From what I remember, Adam Gussow was the one who first started releasing YouTube videos about harmonica and then all of a sudden that was a big thing and he was the first out there.

00:21:26.864 --> 00:21:28.486
So it was after that, right?

00:21:28.486 --> 00:21:34.074
But was it as a result of that that you saw that gave you you know what point you could bring them out and why

00:21:34.634 --> 00:22:24.058
yeah I mean I I definitely was aware of I was aware of Adam Gussow and I was aware of Christelle Berton they were the two that I was seeing lots of videos of early on yeah I didn't know at the time and I don't think he knew but apparently Ronnie Shellist was the first so Adam Gussow was told Ronnie that Ronnie was the first but I don't think I'd actually seen Ronnie's stuff at that time but yeah when I when I decided you know finally took the plunge and thought right I'll be a full-time harmonica player YouTube was just sort of it was already a big thing and as you say there was other channels on there I think maybe Tomlin was already doing stuff but I wasn't that aware of it I'm not sure I just thought I'll put some videos out and actually I think my initial thought was maybe if I put stuff on YouTube that shows I can play this instrument, I'll get session work.

00:22:24.058 --> 00:22:32.490
It seems ridiculous now, but I was sort of thinking maybe somehow people at a studio somewhere will see a video and they'll go, he's a good harmonica player, you know.

00:22:32.490 --> 00:22:42.182
But I think rather than thinking I'm going to start a channel and a harmonica school and be a teacher that people are aware of, it was just one of these many avenues.

00:22:42.182 --> 00:22:46.449
It was like, get a video out, harmonica related, and kind of see what happens.

00:22:46.449 --> 00:22:47.390
Hit and hope, you know.

00:22:48.001 --> 00:22:50.986
So your first videos weren't tuition ones, they were more of you playing?

00:22:51.026 --> 00:23:01.442
I think they probably were tuition, but I think I'll put a lesson out because maybe people will watch it because they'll want to learn how to play, but maybe somehow that will get me known as a player.

00:23:01.442 --> 00:23:01.903
I don't know.

00:23:01.903 --> 00:23:08.432
I mean, I was in my early 20s and I didn't really know anything about business and I didn't know anything about YouTube.

00:23:08.432 --> 00:23:10.655
It was just put it out and see.

00:23:11.317 --> 00:23:14.682
And this was the time you sort of decided to go for the harmonica career?

00:23:14.862 --> 00:23:14.942
Yeah.

00:23:15.074 --> 00:23:42.577
Yeah absolutely so I mean I was doing other stuff I was trying to link up with local music shops which kind of still existed at the time you know little coupons if you buy a harmonica come to me for a lesson and this stuff and i was sort of traveling around south wales all over the place i couldn't even drive at the time so i was on trains and buses and coaches trying to sort of make connections and link up with people so i was doing all sorts of things and i was playing in about eight bands as well you

00:23:43.778 --> 00:23:55.911
know so as you said your first proper recording with rumble strutters in 2016 so two years after this video you put out so Did you have a couple of years where you were really sort of pushing the teaching or did that take some time to take off?

00:23:56.311 --> 00:23:58.954
I mean, there was a time when I was just flat out doing both.

00:23:58.954 --> 00:24:01.057
So I was playing with the Rumble Strutters.

00:24:01.057 --> 00:24:03.500
I'd also set up my own blues band.

00:24:03.500 --> 00:24:06.663
So we were rehearsing regularly as well.

00:24:06.663 --> 00:24:09.027
I was in a kind of a jump jive band.

00:24:09.027 --> 00:24:11.068
I was doing some duo stuff.

00:24:11.068 --> 00:24:15.094
I was doing some Irish stuff, actually, very briefly with a guy down in Swansea.

00:24:15.094 --> 00:24:16.375
So I was doing all of this other stuff.

00:24:16.375 --> 00:24:18.137
And then I was teaching...

00:24:18.137 --> 00:24:29.125
locally, people coming to the house, but also on, it was Skype at the time, it was kind of before Zoom took over, but I'd be teaching someone in Australia, someone in India, someone in America.

00:24:29.125 --> 00:24:35.393
So I was getting up and staying up late at night because of all these different time zones.

00:24:35.393 --> 00:24:39.378
But my wife was a student, so she had no income.

00:24:39.378 --> 00:24:43.585
So it was like I just had to do whatever I could to try and make a few quid.

00:24:43.585 --> 00:24:56.904
It was pretty flat out and it did actually get to a point where I was doing too much and I was burning myself out and it was physically doing me in and I had to kind of try and balance a bit more.

00:24:56.904 --> 00:25:00.430
But I wouldn't change it and it was great.

00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:02.192
valuable experience, you know.

00:25:02.873 --> 00:25:04.556
Yeah, well, it certainly sounds like you've worked hard.

00:25:04.556 --> 00:25:06.920
So you mentioned other bands there.

00:25:06.920 --> 00:25:10.444
So you're also in the Jake Leg Jug Band, which is still going, right?

00:25:10.444 --> 00:25:13.210
So the Rumble Strutters isn't going anymore, but you were in that for a few years.

00:25:13.210 --> 00:25:14.971
So it's not a jug band, is it?

00:25:14.971 --> 00:25:17.215
But it's kind of that early pre-war stuff, isn't it?

00:25:17.215 --> 00:25:19.278
Yeah, so the Rumble Strutters

00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:22.163
was probably closer to a jug band in a way.

00:25:22.163 --> 00:25:24.768
We were just a trio and we made a couple of albums.

00:25:24.768 --> 00:25:28.413
The Jake Legs I joined a little bit later.

00:25:28.413 --> 00:25:31.615
but made seven albums with them, I think.

00:25:31.615 --> 00:25:34.563
I think I did five studio albums and two live albums.

00:25:34.563 --> 00:25:47.232
Their stuff is all 20s and 30s.

00:25:47.232 --> 00:26:30.902
so with the rumbles I was doing originals but with the jakes all kind of I say I was going to say covers but most of the songs people hadn't heard of so they're these kind of quite obscure old songs as you say there's jug band in the name but it's kind of jazzy it's you know it's kind of skiffly I'm actually not in the band anymore recently i took a step back because again they were very busy and i just got so many other things that i want to do so i depth with them sometimes i sit in as a guest but um that's recently been something i've stepped away from i did almost 10 years with them absolutely loved it and it really they everyone in the band really helped me you know expand my playing and repertoire and you know again the novelty noises

00:26:31.266 --> 00:26:37.786
So you were playing also the kind of various percussion instruments with these, the skiffle, jug band stuff with these as well, weren't you?

00:26:38.207 --> 00:26:39.329
Yeah, mainly washboard.

00:26:39.329 --> 00:26:43.080
And then recently I've been learning a bit of spoons and bones.

00:26:43.080 --> 00:26:44.184
I love the bones.

00:26:44.184 --> 00:26:51.164
bones are so cool so I've been learning them recently I've been playing them at Irish sessions as well because they work well for those

00:26:51.605 --> 00:26:57.660
well you know with all this washboard spoons bones etc I mean do you do the one man band thing with the harmonica as well with those I

00:26:58.382 --> 00:27:07.479
don't but I do try to sort of work these things into the set so I Like I've got a duo gig tonight and I'll do a bit of washboard, probably do a bit of saw.

00:27:07.479 --> 00:27:10.383
I have to say, by the way, I'm not a very good saw player.

00:27:10.383 --> 00:27:12.865
It's not always musical saw with me, it's just saw.

00:27:12.865 --> 00:27:15.990
But I'll give it a go and I can get a noise out of it.

00:27:16.630 --> 00:27:20.695
But when you're playing the washboard and stuff, are you playing harmonica on a rack or is that just separate?

00:27:20.695 --> 00:27:22.758
Yeah, I do a bit of rap playing.

00:27:22.758 --> 00:27:25.080
My rap playing has improved.

00:27:25.080 --> 00:27:26.778
I'm not out of this world.

00:27:26.778 --> 00:27:28.962
Okay, so you mentioned your own band.

00:27:28.962 --> 00:27:31.086
So is this band the Liam Ward band?

00:27:31.506 --> 00:27:32.969
Yeah, so that's my baby.

00:27:32.969 --> 00:27:37.796
So all originals, released a couple of albums, classic rhythm and blues thing.

00:27:37.796 --> 00:27:42.482
Although I do try and put some interesting little bits and bobs in there when I can.

00:27:42.923 --> 00:27:46.869
And so you write the songs and the lyrics because you are the main singer with this band, don't you?

00:27:47.109 --> 00:27:47.530
Yeah,

00:27:47.832 --> 00:27:48.932
vocals and harmonica.

00:27:49.314 --> 00:27:54.622
Someone up there is shining on me today Yeah, I don't know

00:28:02.018 --> 00:28:07.124
And then it's basically guitar, bass and drums, although the albums are fleshed out a bit more.

00:28:07.124 --> 00:28:09.227
So there's a bit of brass on the first album.

00:28:09.227 --> 00:28:12.770
Both my sisters sing on both of the albums actually as well.

00:28:12.770 --> 00:28:14.933
So there and there, which is nice.

00:28:14.933 --> 00:28:26.548
The second album we made is an album called Shine and it's all in aid of the Stroke Association, which is a charity helping people dealing with stroke and their families.

00:28:26.548 --> 00:28:28.871
And they were really good to my dad.

00:28:28.871 --> 00:28:32.692
So I wanted to make an album to give something to them.

00:28:32.692 --> 00:28:35.656
So every penny of every sale of the album goes to them.

00:28:35.656 --> 00:28:37.780
The title track, Shine, is all about my dad.

00:28:37.780 --> 00:28:45.273
So I've got my sister singing on that and some other tracks on the album, which is kind of nice, sort of full circle going back to, you know, when we were kids.

00:28:46.414 --> 00:28:54.910
My son, you were born a...

00:29:00.705 --> 00:29:08.875
And then, let's say you've diversified a lot, so you're also in two other current acts, which is you with Mark Cole, who, as you say, you're playing with tonight.

00:29:08.875 --> 00:29:11.438
So that's a duo that you're playing with, Mark Cole, yep?

00:29:11.939 --> 00:29:16.104
Yeah, so me and Mark, I'm dead excited about it.

00:29:16.104 --> 00:29:21.088
Mark is, you know, an experienced musician and songwriter.

00:29:21.088 --> 00:29:23.432
He's also an eclectic musician.

00:29:23.432 --> 00:29:23.811
He can...

00:29:23.811 --> 00:29:27.676
The way I see it is I play objects and he plays instruments.

00:29:27.676 --> 00:29:28.458
He'll play...

00:29:28.458 --> 00:29:32.376
any instrument you put in his hands, which is amazing for gigging and recording.

00:29:32.376 --> 00:29:34.820
He's also a really good songwriter.

00:29:34.820 --> 00:29:39.710
So I find that I'll take an idea to him and he'll improve it.

00:29:39.710 --> 00:29:42.314
So we released an album, Blues and Other Truths.

00:29:42.314 --> 00:29:43.336
Was it last year?

00:29:50.829 --> 00:29:50.910
Yeah.

00:29:53.185 --> 00:29:55.929
And

00:29:55.969 --> 00:30:05.059
with just today, day of recording, just today released a new single, which will be on an upcoming album because we're recording a new album at the minute.

00:30:05.059 --> 00:30:06.321
Again, all originals.

00:30:06.321 --> 00:30:17.555
It's kind of bluesy, but, you know, there's elements of all, all aspects really of American roots music in there because we're both big into, you know, more than just blues.

00:30:17.555 --> 00:30:19.978
We just love all of that American roots stuff.

00:30:19.978 --> 00:30:30.046
Hey

00:30:30.066 --> 00:30:37.836
everybody, you're listening to Neil Warren's Harmonica Happy Hour Podcast, sponsored by Tom Halcheck and Blue Moon Harmonicas.

00:30:37.836 --> 00:30:44.163
Out of Clearwater, Florida, the best in custom harmonicas, custom harmonica parts, and more.

00:30:44.163 --> 00:30:48.769
Check them out, www.bluemoonharmonicas.com.

00:30:49.089 --> 00:30:53.655
Malcolm Thorne is another guy you play with in a duo, so that's more bluesy, I think, is it?

00:30:54.057 --> 00:30:55.018
It's more acoustic.

00:30:55.018 --> 00:30:58.439
It's kind of bluesy, but it's sort of a little bit folky.

00:30:58.439 --> 00:31:01.525
Malk plays some nice finger-picking guitar stuff.

00:31:01.525 --> 00:31:03.587
Me and Malk, again, write stuff.

00:31:03.587 --> 00:31:09.979
So we've released an EP, You Are My Medicine, a few years ago, and we'll probably release some stuff again in the future.

00:31:09.979 --> 00:31:10.140
Oh,

00:31:10.359 --> 00:31:10.621
nice.

00:31:13.204 --> 00:31:13.965
That's nice.

00:31:20.417 --> 00:31:20.637
That's nice.

00:31:21.250 --> 00:31:30.640
Malk also plays in my band, so he was on my second album with the Liam Ward band, and he'll probably be on some future stuff as well.

00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:33.943
And he's also recorded some backing tracks with me for my school.

00:31:33.943 --> 00:31:36.686
So me and Malk do a lot together.

00:31:36.686 --> 00:31:37.647
Yeah,

00:31:37.688 --> 00:31:43.835
and then another really interesting thing that you do, another current band that you're in is Oasis Supernova, which is an Oasis tribute band.

00:31:43.835 --> 00:31:46.057
So these tribute bands get some good crowds, right?

00:31:46.057 --> 00:31:47.858
So you're playing to good audiences with these, are you?

00:31:48.539 --> 00:31:50.342
Yeah, they're getting some really good gigs.

00:31:50.342 --> 00:31:50.843
great

00:31:50.903 --> 00:31:53.213
fun for me and big sounds you know.

00:31:53.213 --> 00:32:00.445
So Masterplan is a song which Mark Thelton played at Harmonica with him so you play Masterplan with him.

00:32:00.445 --> 00:32:11.434
Did you play other songs with them on harmonica?

00:32:11.434 --> 00:32:15.724
Because there are more harmonica on a few of the songs, but not that many Oasis, don't they?

00:32:15.944 --> 00:32:20.434
Yeah, there's a few, and then they kind of put me on a few that don't have harmonica on.

00:32:20.434 --> 00:32:24.765
You know, Champagne Supernova, there's like a part I can play kind of thing.

00:32:24.765 --> 00:32:28.894
So I'm not always playing on tracks that...

00:32:28.894 --> 00:32:40.243
Did have harmonica at the time So they've sort of come up with arrangements Like the brass often play string parts That have been arranged for brass So they've kind of, you know, come up with their own way of doing things

00:32:40.584 --> 00:32:46.814
Then it was a good time with Oasis doing their tour now And the tickets being mega expensive I'm sure they're probably benefiting from that, right?

00:32:47.295 --> 00:32:59.232
Yeah, absolutely I think, you know, he had this plan before COVID But then COVID happened and that stopped it And then sort of he finally got it going And it was just at the right time To be honest, for me, it's just another example.

00:32:59.232 --> 00:33:04.101
I just feel so fortunate for the things that sort of fall on my plate in life, and this is another one.

00:33:04.761 --> 00:33:08.227
So, yeah, so as I said, great diversity again, playing with numerous bands.

00:33:08.227 --> 00:33:09.730
I mean, you're covering a lot there.

00:33:09.730 --> 00:33:11.653
You're having to learn a lot of songs, right?

00:33:11.653 --> 00:33:15.900
You met them all in various places, jam sessions, people you knew, yeah?

00:33:15.900 --> 00:33:20.406
So you're still keeping up these numerous bands, and that's paying off for you.

00:33:20.946 --> 00:33:22.108
Yeah, I mean, I just...

00:33:22.108 --> 00:34:52.739
like to say yes to opportunities that excite me you know I sort of take the approach in life that if it's something that excites me then it's probably going to be a good idea also when things start boring me you know I'll walk away from them because I think it's really hard I'm not good at faking it I'm just not good at it I think people can tell if I'm not into something you know they see it on my face or they hear it in my playing or whatever you know so I just keep seeking out exciting opportunities and I love the variety I mean it's all within a certain it's not like I'm doing Mongolian throat singing you know it's all sort of western blues based to a greater or lesser extent but I do like the variety and the challenge I mean some of the Jake Legg songs they were sort of orchestral arrangements in the 20s and then i've had to work out a way of playing them so some of them i'm kind of playing on chromatic and i've tried to work out i'm not really a chromatic player so i've just sort of worked out something that works and I love the challenge again like with the rap playing I love the challenge of trying to improve that it's all for me exciting because I love the instrument I love music and it and it's a pleasure and a privilege to play for people

00:34:53.199 --> 00:35:05.431
so we'll get on now to your um your teaching more so as we mentioned um you know you've done you started youtube videos back in 2014 so you've got The very successful teaching website, learntheharmonica.com.

00:35:05.431 --> 00:35:07.534
So you definitely got the best name there as well.

00:35:07.534 --> 00:35:09.717
So well done for snaffling that up earlier on.

00:35:09.717 --> 00:35:11.259
So, you know, so you've done great.

00:35:11.259 --> 00:35:12.561
You're definitely well known.

00:35:12.561 --> 00:35:21.954
You know, again, your smiling face is forever popping up on my YouTube channel about your latest video, which you're still putting out every sort of two weeks, a new video at least, aren't you?

00:35:22.153 --> 00:35:23.375
Yeah, every fortnight or so.

00:35:23.375 --> 00:35:31.726
It's become a bit less structured in a sense that at one point, Well, for many years, I was doing a video every week.

00:35:31.726 --> 00:35:36.833
And then during lockdown, I was doing a couple of videos a week because, you know, I was stuck at home, nothing better to do.

00:35:36.833 --> 00:35:39.338
And then I've dropped it a little bit.

00:35:39.338 --> 00:35:41.440
So yeah, probably every other week rather.

00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:42.722
I love doing it.

00:35:42.722 --> 00:35:45.706
And I love learning songs.

00:35:45.706 --> 00:35:50.853
So, you know, I mentioned earlier, I'm organized and I very much am.

00:35:50.853 --> 00:35:52.956
And I'm a man of my word, but I've never been...

00:35:52.956 --> 00:35:55.364
A businessman, I don't think.

00:35:55.364 --> 00:35:56.585
I've never been an entrepreneur.

00:35:56.585 --> 00:36:00.710
You know, I know I have friends who are, you know, very good business people.

00:36:00.710 --> 00:36:03.193
And I know people in the harmonica world are very good business people.

00:36:03.193 --> 00:36:07.119
For me, it's always been driven by passion and curiosity and excitement.

00:36:07.119 --> 00:36:14.867
So if I teach something on YouTube, it's almost always because I just fancy learning it myself or I'm excited to tell people about it, you know.

00:36:14.867 --> 00:36:22.317
So it is very organic and natural for me, but I will keep doing it as long as I have things I'm excited to share with people.

00:36:22.797 --> 00:36:22.878
Yeah.

00:36:23.074 --> 00:36:37.840
One thing I really noticed about a lot of the content you put out is you often put kind of like pop songs or, you know, or famous songs which have got a harmonica part, you know, sort of Bob Dylan's obviously an example, you know, Beatles songs, country songs, pop rock songs.

00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:46.916
So is that a deliberate thing to try and make it more mass appealing or you think that, you know, the harmonica fits well in all those wider genres rather than just blues

00:36:47.018 --> 00:36:47.077
or...

00:36:47.077 --> 00:36:49.545
It's probably not either of those things.

00:36:49.545 --> 00:36:53.030
It's probably as simple as I like that song, I want to learn to play it.

00:36:53.030 --> 00:36:56.454
And if I'm going to learn to play it, I may as well teach someone else how to play it.

00:36:56.454 --> 00:37:02.581
I've sort of ended up with this platform where I can share things with people.

00:37:02.581 --> 00:37:06.387
It gets to a relatively large amount of people.

00:37:06.387 --> 00:37:12.094
And so I just kind of think, well, if I'm going to work out a song, I'm going to tab it out.

00:37:12.094 --> 00:37:12.795
That's my method.

00:37:12.795 --> 00:37:36.030
I'll tab it out and that'll help me play it i may as well put that tab online and if i'm going to do that i may as well put a video out to so people can play along with it you know so i do a lot of these play along videos just encouraging people to to get playing different things so it's really a very natural sort of instinctive thing i like song i play song i teach song you know

00:37:47.010 --> 00:37:54.257

Liam Ward interview

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