Jeff Elkins

Has anyone ever shipped luggage with this company? I’m thinking of using them to ship household goods and a bass home from London to Tennessee in a few months. Their prices are half plane luggage costs, but the only reviews are through Trustpilot, who I’ve come to distrust. https://www.mybaggage.com/quote Any thoughts are welcome!

I used a McIntyre Feather in my Trinity College zouk some years ago (flat, internal stick-on, strap-button jack, no controls), and had great success recording with it. https://hmmcintyrepickups.com Back then, they sold through retail outlets; now it looks like each is custom ordered from the maker. For live applications I actually preferred a mic though. Man, now I’m missing it thinking about it! I might have to poke around London for an affordable bouzouki or octave mando.

I picked up Janek Gwizdala's chordal harmony books and that gave me my start; from there I leaned on a teacher to show me some jazz voicings, with a goal to taking on the role of the jazz guitar accompanist. Not sure that my theory will get to any advanced level, but I'm currently working with a couple of singers on developing voice + bass (e-c) duets and using 3 and 4 voiced chords. Mostly pop, with some jazz elements. Besides Janek's books (which it sounds like you don't need), the only quasi-"advanced" resources I can recommend are, as previously mentioned, Andres Rotmistrovsky's YT channel and lessons. However, Danny Ziemann just released an album of upright/voice duets with Valerie Costa and exploring how he's approaching accompaniment (and soloing) has been fascinating and educational.

It's the Sun - Polyphonic Spree

My Baby Just Cares for Me - Nina Simone

My partner and I are moving next week to London for a year. She plays old time fiddle (in addition to some classical, Irish, Scottish, and Americana) and we will be looking for some jams to visit. She's an early-intermediate player, but we like everything from beginner slow-jams to more advanced picking. Not so much bluegrass, but more trad American fiddle tune style jams. I'm not bringing my upright, but I may borrow or rent one occasionally; we're going to shop for a guitar (we both play) until/unless I sort something out. We're looking at the Cecil Sharp House, but where are casual old time jams happening? We've got feelers out with some contacts, and it looks like there may be some groups that get together in North London (Finchley area), but that's all we've identified so far. Would love to know if you know of any open jams in this genre anywhere in greater London! I already follow some groups and read the gig reports here, so for live music viewing/listening we have a lot of options lined up. But we're specifically looking for gatherings where we can join in. Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

I'm the Man - Joe Jackson