And ON This Day
And on this day we place the final date for this man, my music mentor and friend, Tony Yardley. We had a lot of music lessons in the "dash": Tony Yardley 1952 - 2021. He was patient and kind and otherwise when he needed to be. I would not be where I am in my musical journey without him and I have no idea where to go now. I would look online for some of the music to learn but he would always and I do mean always have a better way of doing it. He could hear the difference. He could find it on the guitar. When he composed music on other instruments like the piano, he had to find it first on the guitar. I am just the opposite. I hear a melody and go to the piano. I then have to write it down and transpose to the guitar. And then I would play it for Tony. Many times he liked it as is. So there is always that hope that I learned enough to sustain my journey. And then there were those times that he suggested a different chord or strumming pattern. If I didn't use it exactly as he gave it to me it was because his suggestion inspired more. Sometimes at guitar lessons I would not be ready to add on to what I was already working on. .I would ask him to play for me. He might be working on something he was recording at his home studio or he would have a tune he wanted me to hear or he might pull something up on his handy ipad that was hooked up to speakers. Tony was always ready with a story to tell. In the nearly thirty years I was his student, we never ran out of things to talk about. I'm going to have to find new ways. He is in love and grace. Until then...
Here's a URL to a song on Tony's You Tube. Highlight it, copy and paste it into your browser. This is one of my favorites. He has a few singles listed if you click on the link below the song - "Tony Yardley - Topic" it will also give you the two CD's in full version. Go listen to his genius playing music with his friends. You'll be glad you did. Even if you don't like every tune as I do, you will recognize his superb ability to play guitar and compositions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4zZp065YMY