I’ve heard many people in the past tell me that they’ve never been able to sing or just haven’t got the voice for it. The fact is, unless you have certain health issues or problems with your throat which make [...]]]> It’s a common myth that some people can sing and others can’t.

I’ve heard many people in the past tell me that they’ve never been able to sing or just haven’t got the voice for it. The fact is, unless you have certain health issues or problems with your throat which make it impossible to do so,  just about anybody can sing  as most of us are born with the tools we need to to the job.

The difference between those who can sing and those who can’t is merely those who can devote large portions of their lives to practicing, developing and taking care of their voice, and those who can’t – do not.

Before I decided to become a singer, I had a terrible voice and couldn’t sing for Adam. When I started putting the time and effort in and made it my goal to add vocals to my guitar skills, my voice improved and after a few months of practicing, it developed into something I could happily project in front of a live audience and actually get a good response.

But unless you take care of your voice, treat your vocal chords well and keep practicing regularly, things  just don’t stay that way. Just like going down the gym, as soon as you give up exercising and stop taking care of yourself, everything goes down the pan.

So if you’ve just started singing or perhaps you’ve been practicing for a while and are starting to sound o.k,  here’s a few tips that will help you on your way and keep your voice sounding great. I’ll also be mentioning a few things to avoid to ensure you don’t croak like a frog throughout your performance.

…

Warm Up

First and most importantly, every singer always needs a good vocal warm up before they sing, whether practicing or getting ready to go on stage, a good warm up is vital. Many new or inexperienced artists risk doing permanent damage to their vocal chords because they either couldn’t be bothered, or are unaware of the importance of doing a warm up before they sing.

It’s simple – your vocal chords are muscles and need to be treated with respect to avoid damage. Damaging them can be extremely painful and even a minor injury to your vocal chords may stop you singing for weeks or months at a time, and in bad cases, may stop you singing altogether.

It’s a common problem and one I’ve spoken about in my Singing Success review. Either through laziness or ignorance, many artists, amateurs and professionals spend years performing without an effective warm up routine.  Sooner or later problems start to appear.

After a prolonged period of time, abuse can cause nodules to form on the vocal chords due to the excessive strain of hammering your voice without properly warming up.

If you were an athlete, you wouldn’t consider running a race without warming up first. You might get away with it for a while but sooner or later you are likely to pull a leg muscle or do permanent damage to your ligaments. The same goes for your throat and vocal chords.

As you develop as a singer, you will find your vocal workload greatly increases as you tackle larger sets and more difficult songs. A larger workload, practiced more often, means you risk serious strain by not preparing yourself properly.

You should spend at least ten minutes warming your voice up before any performance. It should be more like fifteen to twenty minutes, but sometimes you just don’t have the opportunity to do this, so just do as much as you can at the time.

Warm up’s can be pretty embarrassing if done in public and you don’t want to be making all those weird noises when you are setting up your equipment before a gig, so if you’re preparing for a public performance, make sure you get your warm up done in private or somewhere more appropriate beforehand.

Don’t Smoke

A lot of people out there who want to be singers smoke, including myself, and for most people quitting is not easy – quitting for good that is.

Years ago we used to be bombarded with images of pop stars on TV and video smoking all the time, and although the impression of smoking being cool has declined somewhat in the last few years with people being more aware of the dangers of smoking, government health drives, bans on advertising and smoking in public, not only does the addiction for those who are hooked remain, but the image implanted in our heads over the last few decades – of the lifestyles that bad ass rockers and pop superstars lead, still makes many of us think it’s possible to smoke like a trooper and be a great singer at the same time.

Perhaps it is possible to smoke like a trooper and still be a great singer, but that depends on what you call a great singer.

A lot of famous pop/rock stars are considered by the general public to be great singers, but actually, many aren’t quite as good as they may seem.

Many successful artists have relatively limited vocal ranges and tend to stay within the same octave or two throughout their careers.

I’m not saying that having a limited vocal range makes you a bad singer. Even with a very limited range you can be an excellent singer as long as you make the very most of what you have and use your voice to it’s full potential – adding character and expression to your performances .

What I’m saying, is that an artist may create good songs and be very successful, but just because they have a few hit records, doesn’t make them great singers.

If the music you sing only encompasses tracks that stay within a limited vocal range, then you may be able to get away with being a big smoker get a good response without having to limit your intake, but if you want to be a versatile singer and start hitting notes all over the place, then you must keep your throat in top condition and the one habit that will massively limit your abilities is smoking.

…

I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter how much Liam Gallagher drinks and smokes the night before a gig, it probably doesn’t make the slightest difference to his singing ability as his songs don’t require a huge amount of skill to perform. All he needs is that raw vocal tone he belts down the mic. In fact for his voice, smoking and taking drugs probably helps.

Rappers are also fortunate in what they can get away with as the style of music doesn’t usually require the artist to have a voice like an angel. Apart from a few choice chorus notes, most rap songs involve spoken rhythmic wordage with a bit of a melody thrown in somewhere in the middle, so again you don’t need a 4 octave range to rap.

But if someone like Mariah Carey went out and smoked a pack of fags the night before a gig, without a doubt she’d have no chance at all of hitting the supreme high notes she performs in many of her songs. As a world class singer, her songs require such a high standard of perfection to perform that nothing less than a voice box in perfect condition will do.

Know Your Limits

I have a reasonable awareness of my limits and know that I can give my throat a certain amount of abuse and still get away with performing to a degree. But if I smoke more than a few cigs in an evening and maybe add a few pints on top, I have hell’s own trouble hitting the killer notes in my set the next day. I can still get away with most of the the easy songs, but as soon as something vocally challenging arises, I’m in trouble.

Even the songs I can get away with are much more of a struggle to perform.

You try singing the last few notes of Muse’s Plug in Baby after a heavy night on the cigs… you won’t stand much of a chance.

…

We never realise how difficult a song is to sing, or how good the original singer really is, until you try and perform it yourself.

…

Stop

It doesn’t matter how good or bad you are, stop smoking and your voice will improve.

Even if you can’t stop or don’t want to, cut down to one or two a day. This can be done over a period of time and soon you will become conscious that every time you have a cigarette, it will affect your voice – making it harder to hit the notes you strive for every time you practice.

Stopping smoking seriously reduces the chances of developing lung cancer, throat cancer, mouth cancer, gum disease, heart attacks, strokes and emphysema. Keeping on top of your addiction will keep you feeling healthier and help you conquer any vocal challenge that arises.

Save yourself from yellow teeth, smelly breath, premature ageing and countless throat infections, colds and flu you might catch throughout the year. It is well known that cigarettes practically nullify all the vitamin C supplies in your body every time you have a fag. How can your body fight infection under these conditions.

Stopping smoking has countless other health benefits as well as well as saving you a shed load of money, but even more importantly, ditching the cigs will stop you from polluting those around you, including your loved ones and children.

It’s also a sad fact that every cig you have takes you one step closer to death.

If you can’t hack it, get nicotine patches, gum or an electronic cigarette, they are pretty good nowadays.

Alcohol

Alcohol is almost as bad as smoking, so the same goes as above. If you can’t give up, then try to cut down.

Often, drinking and smoking will go together, so if you go out and get drunk, you will probably smoke a whole lot more and increase the damage being done to your throat. Even if you don’t smoke when you are out drinking, the strain you put on your voice, shouting over the local band or dance floor to your mates until three in the morning, won’t help your cause.

The chances are, next day you’ll be so hung over you won’t be able to practice singing. Your voice will be knackered and you’ll have a stinking headache, ultimately reducing the time you can spend practicing, lessening your vocal ability.

…

You don’t have to ruin your social life completely, but just tone it down a bit. You often hear singers on TV saying they have to behave themselves when preparing for a performance and have to leave parties early to gig the next day. It’s a drag, but the best singers out there keep the partying to a minimum and save everything they’ve got for a great performance. That’s the real prize, getting a buzz out of your performance, not a few beers and a sore head.

Guitarists might get away with having a bender the night before a gig if they can still hold down a good rhythm or tricky solo, but a singer’s voice is not so forgiving.

Look at the state one of our nation’s favourites, Amy Winehouse used to get herself in when she’d go on stage or live TV after a heavy session the night before. She would try and wing it because she had a gruffy voice anyway, but you could hear it straining and croaking under the stress she was putting it through to hit the notes, rendering her unique, God given voice that led her so successfully to fame, sounding awful.

Sadly, because of her personal problems with drugs and alcohol she would often be intoxicated on stage and she used to regularly embarrass herself in front of huge audiences and national TV, doing herself no favours at all.

Mind you…because of her character it was almost expected and she would pretty much get away with it. Some stars just have the popularity and charisma to get away with anything and in her prime she had great success and didn’t give a damn anyway. So perhaps some people can get away with it, but most of us can’t.

If you want a good strong, clear voice and a great vocal range, cut the alcohol and cigarettes. If you want to yell down the mike like a strangled cat, keep partying.

Hydration – Water

One of the most important rules a  singer should adhere to is to keep fully hydrated at all times. The best drink in the world is simply – water.

If you are one of these people who never drink water on it’s own without some sort of squash or cordial involved, then you need to start right now and get into it. People who don’t drink water often comment that it makes their throat ‘bitty’ and I used to think just the same.

When you start drinking plain water, it can have an effect on your throat and may taste very bland for a couple of days, but very quickly your throat will adapt and that sense of ‘bittiness’ will soon disappear. You will really start to appreciate the simplicity of life’s greatest drink and will notice the benefit that being well hydrated has on your singing. Your body will have all the water it needs to keep it’s organs and muscles working well and efficiently. As well as keeping your vocal chords fully lubricated you will find you have a greater sense of well being, general alertness and more energy than before.

Tea – Coffee – Caffeine.

Coffee and tea are diuretics and both contain caffeine. Caffeine has a negative effect on the vocal chords, dehydrates your throat and stimulates the production of phlegm, especially coffee. Try not to drink either just before you sing. If you do, make it a couple of hours before your session.

Better still, avoid these altogether and drink plenty of  herbal teas or decaffeinated tea.

Many singers advocate drinks such as decaf tea with hot lemon and ginger (not too hot to avoid burning the vocal chords), hot lemon and honey, hot water and lemon etc.

Try some combinations out yourself and see which ones work well for you.

…

Green Tea

Green tea is amazing stuff, bursting with antioxidants that help fight illness, ageing and cancer, mentioning just a few of it’s many health benefits. Unfortunately most green teas contain caffeine. However, the caffeine in green tea works in a different way than coffee as the tea also contains tannin and L-theanine which together have a calming affect on the body and allow the caffeine to be absorbed more slowly.

The benefits of drinking green tea greatly outweigh any issues regarding the caffeine content and most green teas contain half the caffeine content of coffee anyway, so I would advise drinking green tea regularly but obviously not just before a gig.

…

Avoid fizzy drinks such as cola and energy drinks as they are crammed with caffeine and very addictive. You might get a quick buzz out of them but they will drop you like a stone soon after, leaving you feeling low and lethargic, needing more.

Dairy Products & Chocolate

Dairy products like milk and cheese coat your throat and the mucus membrane of your vocal chords, affecting your voice and making it much harder to sing. Make sure you stay away from them for a few hours before you sing.

Chocolate is another no go. Coating your vocal chords in chocolate before a performance is a bad idea and will close your throat, definitely affecting your ability to sing. Try to avoid until after your set.

Spices & Curry

Spicy foods inflame the vocal tract and will screw up your voice. Avoid

Peanuts & Bitty Foods

Try to avoid bitty foods like nuts or oats before practice or performance. They can easily leave remanence, causing irritation from small pieces left in the throat.

Even after brushing your teeth or swilling your mouth out with water, small remanence can easily remain undetected, finding their way down your throat just when you are in full swing, leaving you hacking for breath in the middle of the song.

Avoid Singing Loudly or For Long Periods of Time

Being a busker means I am often forced to elevate my voice so it can be heard over a busy street for long periods of time. Even when I’ve been training well and busking regularly, playing daily street sessions for at least three or four hours a time, even once you achieve a rock solid vocal ability and think you can sing for as long as you like and as loud as you want, I have often returned home with a strained throat thinking ‘ Oh no ! – I’ve over done it, Again !’.

It could be for a number of reasons …because the background noise of the street was too loud, or the cash was rolling in nicely on a good pitch and I wanted to make the most of it, or because I was having a great day and was getting a real buzz out of performing – pushing my vocals too loud and to their limit. Or it maybe simply because I wanted to get my practice done, and get as many songs out as possible.

When you’re having a great time belting out songs and feeling good about your singing, it’s hard to stop and think ‘Hang on, this is fun but am I doing damage to myself ?’. It’s no different than getting down the gym and overdoing it, pulling a muscle or becoming obsessed with playing the guitar and knackering your tendons from too much shredding.

Enough is Enough

You need to know when enough is enough. Save it for tomorrow, rest your voice and allow yourself to keep singing in the long run, rather than over doing it now, and knackering your voice for the next two months.

Take Regular Breaks When Practicing

Taking a 20 minute break every hour or two will give your voice the chance to rest and recuperate. Regular breaks will ultimately allow you to practice for longer, build stamina and lessen the chance of over straining.

When I’m busking, I find it hard to take a break and stop for 20 minutes, but taking time out to relax, adjust, stretch your neck, back, arm and finger muscles and give the set up a tweak will definitely pay off. If you think you can improve your pitch, move to a new one and start a new case. Relaxing and stretching for a bit will ultimately improve your chances of not sustaining an injury in the long term.

You wouldn’t spend two hours down the gym without resting every now and then and allowing your muscles to recuperate, so why hammer your throat muscles for two hours without a break also ?

Regular Exercise

Being fit and healthy will hugely help your ability to be happy and perform. Cardiovascular exercises like running and swimming will improve your lungs and breathing ability, enabling you to sing better. Frank Sinatra was an avid swimmer and used the breath techniques he gained from swimming to perfect his singing.

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

Supplements provide the body with nutrients and the minerals it needs to have a healthy immune system. Taking the correct supplements, including Vitamin C, will lessen your chances of cold. Make sure you get a good base mineral supplement also.

Stress

Avoid stress. Try not to worry about things which will ultimately put you and your vocal chords under stress. Thinking about nothing but problems in your life will only bring you down. Just be happy you’re alive and keep singing as much as you can.

Consider the fact that half the world’s population live in poverty and millions of those suffer terribly on a daily basis, living in dreadful and dangerous conditions unfit for any human being – you’ll soon realise how lucky you are.

Think about those living in third world, war or disaster zones or those suffering huge loss in their lives.. then look at yourself and see what you really have to complain about.

Be a glass is half full type, not half empty and thank your lucky stars you have a decent life.

Sleep

It is important that everyone gets enough sleep. You need to recharge your batteries and missing out on sleep will eventually wear you out. Keep burning the candle at both ends and sooner or later you’ll go down with exhaustion or illness. Try and get 7 – 8 hours a night.

If you can’t manage to get enough sleep throughout the week, try and hit the sack really early at least one night a week. You’ll feel much better for it.

Water

Try to drink at least two litres of water a day. Although your body gets enough water from the food you eat, keeping yourself well hydrated will help keep your vocal chords in good condition.

Change your Set

Don’t get used to practicing just one set, no matter how difficult it is. Even if you’ve not perfected it yet, give it a break and change to something totally different every once in a while. This will keep you on your toes and give you insight into new music, inspiring new direction and also revealing weaknesses in your voice your usual set may have hidden.

Singing something completely different every now and then will keep you from getting bored and help prevent you getting stuck in that rut.

Keep Adding New Songs

Keep learning new songs. As you progress, the songs you play will undoubtedly change, eventually leading your music to find it’s own way. Make sure you play your own songs aswell. Don’t get stuck playing the same set all year.

Strive to Improve

Always try to better yourself. The more you keep singing, the better you’ll get, until you really will be a great singer.

Oral Hygiene

Clean your teeth 2 – 3 times a day, floss and upkeep them well. Clear but don’t rinse your mouth out after you have brushed your teeth. You will wash away all the protective barriers and fluorine in your toothpaste – tip from a top dentist.

Don’t Bite Your Nails

Biting your nails is a bad habit, give it up. Eating the dirt that has collected under your fingertips is gross. You’re much more likely to get colds and flu if you do this. Everything you touch when you are out, every time you visit the loo, every hand you shake, every germ you come in contact with is likely to reside under your finger tips. So don’t stick it in your mouth and eat it. Ugh !

Get Used to Performing – Nerves

Regularly perform in front of a crowd. This will keep you on your toes and keep you enjoying being a musician. It doesn’t matter where. If you are not ready to gig,  go to ‘come and have a go’ nights, go busking, perform at your mates parties or offer to do a quick set at your local pub. Do anything that is going to get you used to performing and each time you put yourself in the firing line, you’ll get more used to dealing with those nerves.

Stretching and Massage

Give or get your self neck, arm, finger (guitarists) and back massages regularly. This will reduce the tension and stress in all these important muscle groups before and after you gig, helping you relax and prevent injury. Learn to warm up your muscle groups using targeted stretching routines. Warming down after your performance is also just as important.

Warm Towels

Some singers like to wrap a towel around their neck for a few minutes to warm their voice up before they sing. Never tried it myself, but I’ve seen a few vocalists doing this before gigs. It could be that their vocal chords have been previously strained or are inflamed due to a sore throat or the onset of laryngitis and the towel trick is known to help sooth these conditions.

Cold Water

Don’t dowse your vocal chords in freezing cold water when you’re trying to sing. Keep your water bottle at room temperature at least. Athletes don’t take a cold shower right in the middle of their practice sessions, so don’t do this to your vocal chords.

Avoid Colds & Flu -  People – Crowds

Don’t visit people, if you know they have the flu. Use some sense. If you catch it, that’s your singing down the pan for a week at least. Spending time in crowded places for unnecessary reasons hugely increases your chances of catching a cold.

Obviously if you’re gigging in pubs and clubs you can’t avoid certain situations and I’m not suggesting you become a recluse and avoid any public place, but close contact with mates or associates who are coughing and spluttering or spending time with people who are obviously ill or have been under the weather, will not help your cause.

Having kids really brings it home, and the colds, sickness bugs and other crap they bring home from school and nursery certainly raise your awareness of the way viruses spread and affect everyone around you.

Don’t get paranoid, but just think about cuddling that baby with a drooling nose, standing next to that bloke who’s sneezing over everyone or visiting that mate who’s dying of the plague.

Sharing

Younger generations have a greater tendency to share things like drink, cigarettes, food, drugs etc. with each other and years ago I didn’t used to care about things like that either. You know what you’re doing, but you don’t give a damn and dealing with illness or colds and flu was not a problem. Give it a few years when your income or career depends on it, you’ll soon realise a bit of caution can make a big difference to your health and wealth.

Sharing is a wonderful thing and brings people closer, but having a ‘bite of that’ or going ‘two’s up’ on that fag or having a sip on your mates pint is a nice thought, but you don’t see grown adults doing it as they generally have more sense and care about their own well being a little more.

Wash Your Hands – Take Off Your Shoes

Taking off your shoes and washing your hands when you enter your house will effectively kill 90% of the germs you’ve picked up throughout the day and prevent you bringing them into your home. Why tread the dirt from the street through your home and across your living room carpet.

They say a cash machine has more germs on it than a toilet seat. What about door handles, push buttons, cash, public handle rails etc. Imagine how many public things you touch each day and how many other people with flu’s, colds and infections have been touching. A large number of the population don’t even bother washing their hands after going to the loo.

Don’t get paranoid about germs, but use your common sense when you are out and about. Alcohol hand gels are handy and help kill bacteria, but can be addictive so use them, but don’t become obsessed with them.

Allergies – Deal with Them

Make sure you deal with any allergies you may have, i.e. hay fever, smoke, cats etc.. If you’re not on top of these, your voice has no chance. A simple anti histamine tablet combined with nasal spray will usually do the trick, but if you suspect you may have an allergy, see your doctor for advice.

…

So there’s just a few things you should be aware of if you want to keep your voice in good nick.

…

If you have any other tips, feel free to post them in the comments below.

…

Other Posts of Interest

Complete Vocal Workout
Vocal Warm Up Techniques
Vocal Warm Up Scales
Vocal Products
The Importance of Vitamins & Minerals in our Daily Lives

Back Home

The wife in a bad mood

A couple of asprin later she calmed down a bit.

Headed off to [...]]]> Something strange happened to me on the way to the in laws last night. One minute I was sat there talking to the Mrs, and next thing..

The wife in a bad mood

A couple of asprin later she calmed down a bit.

Headed off to my mates’ party.

It was great but the place was full of weirdos

Get a job !

…

WTF !

There was this girl there, I dunno what her problem was but she had one hell of a Grudge

It wasn’t so bad though, she lent me this tape to watch.

These guys wouldn’t shut up all night.

…

I said Shut Up !

…

..I think this guy took a fancy to me.

Sorry mate ! Not my type

…

The place could have done with a bit of a clean

…

He was half cut

No, I haven’t got a light. Bugger off !

Err…Sorry ! Take my wallet

…

I’m getting the frak out of here..

..before I get my head kicked in.

See Ya !

Happy Halloween !

K

…

There’s nothing better than getting stuff for free, and while I’ve been away I’ve had a few emails from my mate Nick from Rhythm Strummer, with news of what’s on [...]]]> Right, with all the wedding celebrations, stag and honeymoon over – it’s time to get down to some guitar playing.

…

There’s nothing better than getting stuff for free, and while I’ve been away I’ve had a few emails from my mate Nick from Rhythm Strummer, with news of what’s on offer.

Easy Acoustic Guitar

RhythmStrummer.com is a great site dedicated to helping beginner and intermediate guitarists get to grips with classic acoustic songs, using easy to learn strumming patterns and manageable techniques in a friendly environment, so literally anybody can learn to play their favourite songs on the acoustic guitar.

…

Lesson Plans

RhythmStrummer has two main lesson plans for users to choose from. Either single song lessons or full membership.

Single Song Lessons : For around £3 or $5 for an individual song lesson, you get 30 days of  full streaming access to lengthy video tutorials from Rhythm Strummer’s experienced tutors to learn songs at your own speed in the comfort of your own home.

Full Monthly Membership : £15 or $25 allows unlimited access to Rhythm Strummer.com’s guitar technique library and also includes 3 easy guitar song lessons for 30 days, giving even better value for money.

Free Stuff

Rhythm Strummer has plenty of acoustic guitar lessons for you to check out, including full song lessons and techniques to help you get started and accompanied by their free You Tube Site with loads more free lessons. There’s also the Rhythm Strummer Blog and sister site How to Practice Guitar with more useful tips and advice.

…

If you’re a beginner guitarist looking for a good starting point  to get you playing your favourite songs, check out the links above and make the most of all the free tutorials and advice on offer. If you like Rhythm Strummer’s tutorials and teaching style, sign up for a lesson plan and see how you get on.

…

Here’s a quick lesson from their You Tube Channel for the easy classic – House of the Rising Sun

..so with all the wedding stuff done and dusted, we went on our honeymoon..

to Cyprus.

…took a budget airline. If you’re over 6 ft 3, for Christ’s sake don’t fly Monarch, their planes are hell on Earth.

..and got a wicked room in a 5 star hotel.

jQuery(document).ready(function($) { $(window).load(function() { $('div.portfolio-slideshow').fadeIn(); $('div.slideshow-nav').fadeIn(); $('div.slideshow-thumbs').fadeIn(); $(function() { var index = 0, hash = window.location.hash; if (hash) { index = /\d+/.exec(hash)[0]; index = (parseInt(index) || 1) - 1; // slides are zero-based } $('#portfolio-slideshow2912').cycle({ fx: 'fade', speed: 400, timeout: 0, next: '.slideshow-nav2912 a.slideshow-next', startingSlide: index, prev: '.slideshow-nav2912 a.slideshow-prev', after: onAfter, pager: '#slides2912', manualTrump: false, pagerAnchorBuilder: function(idx, slide) { // return sel string for existing anchor return '#slides2912 li:eq(' + (idx) + ') a'; } }); $('.slideshow-nav2912 a.pause').click(function() { $('#portfolio-slideshow2912').cycle('pause'); $('.slideshow-nav2912 a.pause').hide(); $('.slideshow-nav2912 a.play').show(); }); $('.slideshow-nav2912 a.play').click(function() { $('#portfolio-slideshow2912').cycle('resume'); $('.slideshow-nav2912 a.play').hide(); $('.slideshow-nav2912 a.pause').show(); }); function onAfter(curr,next,opts) { var $ht = $("img",this).attr("height"); var $oht = $("p.slideshow-caption", this).outerHeight('true'); var $pht = $("p.slideshow-description", this).outerHeight('true'); var $qht = $("p.slideshow-title", this).outerHeight('true'); //set the container's height to that of the current slide $(this).parent().css("height", $oht + $pht + $ht + $qht - 30);var caption = (opts.currSlide + 1) + ' of ' + opts.slideCount; $('#slideshow-info2912').html(caption); } }); }); });

..so with all the wedding stuff done and dusted, we went on our honeymoon..

to Cyprus.

…took a budget airline. If you’re over 6 ft 3, for Christ’s sake don’t fly Monarch, their planes are hell on Earth.

..and got a wicked room in a 5 star hotel.

with a nice view and the beach within 100 yards.

and a wicked pool.

Chilled out for a while,

got beered up

..went paragliding.

Got dunked in the sea !

Yeah !

…

Did a bit of sightseeing

Saw a cool church and some local ruins.

This was the Church of Ayios Lazaros in Larnaca

He betrayed Jesus, but still ended up with a nice pad to crash.

Click below for a tour of the Church and take your shoes off and show a bit of respect, no shorts or skirts.

You may have to wait a few seconds for the gallery to load.

IMG_2695

IMG_2699

IMG_2705

IMG_2706

IMG_2708

IMG_2717

IMG_2718

IMG_2719

IMG_2721

IMG_2722

IMG_2723

IMG_2724

IMG_2725

IMG_2726

IMG_2727

Lazarus’ Tomb – Church of Ayios Lazaros in Larnaca

IMG_2729

IMG_2736

Lazarus’ tomb

Never seen so much gold in my life ! Awesome.

Click here for some history of the place.

…

Did plenty of sightseeing and took a trip to Ayia Napa.

While we were there we jumped on board The Yellow Submarine. A neat little boat that takes you out to Ayia Napa’s sea caves a mile or two up the coast. It’s got viewing portholes on the lower deck so you can check out the sea bed, and while you’re there you can jump in and go on a snorkeling tour, swimming through the sea caves and exploring the caverns.

Brilliant fun, no problem for reasonable swimmers but it’s the sort of tour you wouldn’t have a hell’s chance of going on in England for health and safety reasons.

…

You can imagine twenty odd people, all shambolically clambering and snorkeling their way through choppy sea caves filled with seaweed and other crap, with one guy at the front leading the way.

Everyone’s having a great laugh getting slapped about by the waves and kicked in the head by the guy infront, while somewhere at the back someone gets in trouble and doesn’t make it out. To be honest, know one would know anyway and you half expect to come up against a body  floating through the caves while your at it…bit like that scene out of the Jaws film when the diver’s exploring the wreck.

I’ll tell you what, it was a bloody great laugh and the best 10 Euros I’d spent all holiday.

…

On the way there, this German guy did a dive show feeding hundreds of fish.

Watching the show from the sub windows

Must be a cool job doing that everyday for a living.

Ayia Napa’s sea caves.

..joy riders.

We’re headed in there.

Dived off the top of the boat for some fun.

..heading over to the caverns

it was a great laugh…once we’d all come out alive, anyone up for it got to go cliff jumping.

…

Oh Shit !

Me next !

White man no tan.

…

Loved it, just like jumping off Bob’s Nob back home. Razor sharp cliffs though – hell on your feet.

..then back on land to seek out some Cypriot refreshment.

Mrs. wasn’t too pleased. The next restaurant we headed for, the waitress dumped a whole pint of lemonade over her lap. Didn’t get much of an apology either. Tut !

…

More Cocktails later.

The pool at night.

…

Let’s check out the 5 star Cypriot buffet back at the hotel on one of their themed nights.

…

Start with the wine – still sweltering hot.

Then a starter with about 10 different Cypriot Salads. Well you can’t miss anything out can you.

On to the main course.

Man Vs Food

Then onto some weird Greek pastry type sweet things, which I just couldn’t be bothered to photograph.

Finally pudding. How do you choose between a stack of cakes ?

..try them all. It’d be rude not to.

While all this is going on, the quiet Greek guy from the poolside bar appears in full kit and kicks off the entertainment with his band, traditional music and Greek dancers.

See how many glasses he can get on his head. There’s three there, I think he managed about ten – until it got really dodgy. He never dropped them though – good on him.

Hours of dancing, music and roping in the audience, culminated in him dragging every unsuspecting diner over to the big vat of grapes to crush them barefoot.

Sorry mate ! Can’t deal with the thought of squidgy stuff between my toes. Maybe next time.

…

The food was amazing right through, every type of food you could ever imagine and for me, a 3 or 4 course breakfast every morning to start the day.

5 types of yoghurt

…waffles & croissants

..and a full English – Cyprus style with 3 types of egg and three different types of bacon.

Yep, that’s why I put on about 7 pounds in a week, the food was so great I just couldn’t help it. I’m the sort of bloke who goes to an ‘all you can eat’ buffet and gets banned after one visit.

..and yes, I always finish everything on my plate, every time… and more.

The birds loved it. Hundreds of them would fly down from the palm trees every morning and clean up after the guests, then take cool baths in the hotel pool…what a life eh !

…

I’ll tell you one thing, it was hot, seriously hot. Even when we arrived at the airport at 3 in the morning, stepping out of the terminal into the night air was like being hit by a hot air dryer.

Even the Cypriots couldn’t handle it, not one cloud in the sky for a whole week and really, really humid. All the hotels, buses and restaurants are kitted out with huge fans and air conditioning systems – still, even they don’t stop the searing heat from boiling your brains out.

It was so hot, we used up a whole bottle of sun cream in two days, in the U.K that would last a year.

We just thought it was normal for Cyprus, until all the hotel staff started complaining about it aswell.

They should come to sunny Weymouth, then they’d really know what sunshine is all about.

…

I’m not one to complain about the heat, especially seeing as I was born in Africa and staying in a 5 star hotel with a beautiful pool within 3 feet of you and the warm crystal clear sea to swim in within another 100 yards was just pure heaven, but to give you an idea, within 2 minutes of waking up in the morning you were sweltering hot and sweating like a dog, even before you got down to breakfast. Great but absolutely relentless.

Only one thing for it, a 4 course breakfast and head for the sun lounger and pool for a bit of compulsory reading.

These guys came from up just the road from me.

…

Oh yeah, and more great Cypriot beer – Keo, good stuff.

Another few days doing nothing but swimming in the sea, relaxing by the pool, snorkeling…sightseeing, drinking beer and eating some amazing Cypriot food, what more could you want.

Nissi beach was cool too. Absolutely beautiful.

…

But d’you know what the best bit was ?

You could swim round to the bar seats in the water and sit there drinking cocktails while still in the pool.

How great is that ?

A cocktail – on a bar stool – in the pool.

Sorted !

…

Looks like I’m getting porky again, 7 pounds in a week has got to be a record.

Better go on a diet – quick.

…

All in all, it was a great honeymoon, Cyprus is wicked and we had a great time. Although it looks like it, I didn’t go on my own, but my wife didn’t fancy having her suncream soaked butt splashed all over my blog, so you’ll have to use your imagination.

Oi – Steady on !

So there you go, I hope you enjoyed my honeymoon as much as I did !

…back to work and on with the show.

Now where’s that damn guitar ?

Hey, I got married last month, and I’m happy to say, it was a brilliant day and really couldn’t have gone any better, so here’s a few photos of the big day and a few hints and tips for those of you who have still got your main event to come.

As with any wedding, we’ve got around a million photos and a video to boot, which also turned out really well, but I’ve been ordered to keep the privacy of our guests intact so I’ve just picked a few that give the general idea, but if you like the look of some of the services we used to make the day a success, give them a call and I’m sure you’ll have a great time.

Wedding Guide

First you’re gonna need some rings, a white and yellow gold ring for me and something nice and neat that compliments the sparkler she got for the engagement. Lucky for me I had an ancient family heirloom to give for an engagement ring, which saved me at least three months wages… wicked !

…

Then you’ll need a big marquee from a marquee company like these guys. A 30 x 70 footer will do, for about 80 guests, the bar and catering tables.

These things are huge and have an extra section added on to the main area for the caterers. They cost a bomb but if are lucky enough to have one you’ll need to include the dance floor and a starlit sky for effect. They’ve also got opening side panels for when things get too hot.

Make sure you’ve got plenty of mates to help clean the dance floor

and some kids to test it out.

Then stand around and drink tea whilst one person hoovers the entire marquee.

add some table decorations, balloons, crystals, butterflies, favours and presents etc. for the kids to keep them busy.

…

Spend all bloody day making a guest list with table names of your favourite bands. e.g Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Metallica etc. and let the Mrs pick hers..

..but she’ll probably pick naff groups like Take That or Robbie Williams and ruin it’s cred.

…

Next you need a grand looking pad to hold the event.. (special permission only)

..that’ll do !

a place to get married.

Sorted.

Decorate the church

…

Get a groom, stick him in a suit (for once in his life !).

Add ushers and best man, hit the church an hour early and get a few swigs of your mate’s whisky flask to calm the nerves.

(guess which one of these dodgy blokes carries the flask !)

Some bridesmaids

Some guests

A priest

An angel

Some black and white photos

Some confetti

Get a Room !

A bouncy castle for the kids

And some posh toilets for the guests.

…

If you really want to make your bride happy, get her to the church in one of these.

…

but don’t let her forget the champagne for the ride to the reception. Tut !

Meet Ronnie and Reggie. These guys were fantastic, absolutely massive and getting close up to these magnificent beasts (and my wife of course) was awesome.

Ronnie & Reggie

These shire horses were huge powerhouses towering above us all. After carrying us a couple of miles from the church to the reception we just had to take a closer look at these champions, and the coachmen were happy for us to get a photo of Ronnie and Reggie to remember them by.

Watch out cause when one of these guys sneezes on you, you’re going to get a face full, as my Mrs found out a few seconds later.

…

Once you’re married and the technicalities are over, you can really enjoy yourself. Give your guests Pimms or fruit juices on arrival and those who want beer can hit the bar.

…

Do a hastily prepared but devilishly brilliant wedding speech.

..not to many mother in law jokes or you’ll be in deep s*^t.

…

Get your speeches over and done before the meal so you can all relax and enjoy your food.

If you’re thinking of serving a decent wedding buffet and are not sure how it will work out for the guests, you could do what we did and ask the caterers to serve a nice sit down starter to begin with and when everyone’s tucked into that and got into the mood, the top table can head up and start the buffet, inviting the guests to help themselves at their leisure. The politeness of your guests will hopefully ensure a stampede does not ensue and it should work out pretty well.

…

Allow at least 1/2 bottle of wine per person on each table, plus sparkling and spring water for the non drinkers and kids and champagne or prosecco for the toasts.

…

Grab a cake

(That’s a bit wonky !)

Some colourful scratch masks for the kids

Get your first dance over and done.

Loads of booze.

A well stocked bar.

Some fire lanterns.

These things will really make your evening celebrations something special, but be careful and if you are going to use them, try and buy the eco friendly ones  made of wood instead of wire to protect the environment.

…

Keep your ushers on the ball to throw any drunks out and make sure you’ve got a decent baby sitter to look after your kids when they flake out.

….

Book yourself a wicked hotel for the night.

I wish.

Jump on a plane to Cyprus

Relax by the pool

And get beered up !

Sorted.

The one thing you need to know if you’re planning your wedding, is if you decide to go it alone and do it yourself, then yes, it is going to be a nightmare and will take months of your time planning, buying and arranging every little detail – right down to the elastic bands on the kid’s crayons. You’ll need a good few mates to help out and get things done on the day and some contingency plans if things go wrong.

It will be stressful and probably drive everybody nuts for about a year, but the day will turn out great and it will be well worth it, so don’t worry about it and go out and get yourself married.

Some Wedding Tips

If you are looking for a carriage company, these guys were great and from start to finish the level of service the Ostler Carriage Company provided was excellent. The company has many horses but these two magnificent beasts, Ronnie and Reggie were fantastic and really made our day.

Get a Video Made

You may think the photographer is the most important person to capture your wedding, but you also need to get yourself a good videographer. Even if you have a friend or someone who’s a keen amateur trying to break into the business then you can get a great memento of the whole day at a good price. A well made video will really capture the mood and be worth a million photos.

Contact local colleges doing media studies and see if there are any eager final year students prepared to have a go.

Some pros may be expensive and grown complacent and could possibly do a worse job with your video than an eager student raring to show his talent. I know a couple who’s wedding dvd resembled a terrorist video and cost them a fortune. Our guy stayed the whole day and night and as it was only his second or third wedding vid, he did it for a great price.

Photographers

Check your photographers work before you book. It seems obvious but some of the guys we checked out were atrocious and cost a fortune. Our photographer was recommended by friends and did a great job at a fraction of the price of many others.

Make sure you provide a list of photo’s you want taken and ensure the photographer sticks with it or you may miss out on some precious shots.

Shop Around

Shop around on the net – if you are looking for bouncy castles, marquees, bars and other services, there is a massive difference in price between hire companies. You can save hundreds of pounds in the click of a mouse. Also book months in advance to get the pick of the crop at the best prices.

The same goes for all the other little touches and decorations as prices vary greatly on the net. Things like favour bags can cost upto two pounds each in the U.K but you can import exactly the same accessories for mere pennies from suppliers on EBay from China. Check their feedback out first to ensure you’ve got a legit source. And leave plenty of time to change your mind or correct any problems.

Sky Lanterns

Fire lanterns are a great thing to have at your wedding but can be very dangerous to wildlife, the environment and property if not used properly.

Use the Eco friendly ones and make sure everyone checks each lantern for holes in the fine tissue before they are lit. Patch them up and they’ll go for miles and go out when their fuel is expended, send one up with holes in it and and you might end up burning your marquee down or setting fire to the nearest corn field. Inform the authorities if you intend to use them, just in case.

Church

Book your church at least a year in advance and ensure your vicar doesn’t double book your day as has happened to some of our friends.

Wedding Cars

Rather than using traditional wedding chauffeur services which can be very costly, contact local taxi companies that may have unmarked cars such as Rolls, Jags etc. for special occasions.

Ours had a Chrysler, a Mercedes and a couple of Jags available at a fraction of the price of the local wedding car companies. They were chauffer driven and spotless.

Dresses & Alterations

It may be some time from the date you buy your wedding or bridesmaids dresses to the actual big day and you need to ensure the shop you have purchased them from is not changing hands or going through major refurbs around the time of your wedding. Ours changed hands which caused major problems for us at no fault of our own.

It’s vital you have a good dressmaker on standby or someone you can turn to for advice in case something goes wrong with last minute alterations. The pros let us down and our friends saved the day.

Venue

Also check the venue you have booked is not going to change hands or have major refits that could affect your day. A big venue near us just announced a major refit and cancelled all pre booked wedding receptions, leaving their clients in big trouble with no comeback.

Get insurance or some sort of guarantee that you will be compensated if something goes wrong.

Cake

You can get great plain wedding cakes in different sizes from M&S and decorate them yourself at a fraction of the cost of a professional wedding cake company.

Time

Make sure you don’t book your wedding too late in the afternoon. The day will go so quickly you will want to make the most of it. Probably 12 to 1 pm is fine.

…

Make sure you take time out to take it all in as it will be over before you know it.

…

You won’t get a chance to speak to everyone on your day as you’ll be in constant demand.

Cameras

Put disposable flash cameras on each table so your guests can take their own photos. Some of them will be priceless.

Stag Do

Book your stag do at least a month in advance to let your hair and eyebrows grow back in time for your wedding.

Don’t get hammered the night before your wedding or you’ll spend the whole day feeling like death and miss the most expensive party you have ever held.

Loose Weight

Make sure you loose shed loads of weight before your wedding. You’ll have to look at those photos and video for years to come. Plus you’ll put on loads of weight on the honeymoon and the weeks after…because you can.

Don’t Worry

Don’t worry about things going wrong on the wedding day. You’ll put yourself through unnecessary stress for no reason. On the day you’ll enjoy it whatever happens and you probably won’t care if the cake falls to pieces or your speech is crap.

Speech

If you are worried about your speech, there’s plenty of help online. In fact when you do your research, you’ll probably find any decent speech you’ve ever heard was copied straight from the net anyway. So the whole time you thought your cousin was an incredibly talented and witty speaker, you’ll realise he’s just a dirty rotten cheat who copied his wedding speech word for word from here.

Rehearse

Rehearse your speech out loud and in the mirror. You may think you’ve got it sussed by reading it through or practicing it in your head, but as soon as you actually open your mouth you’ll screw up. Get used to actually saying what you have to say and projecting your voice properly. Ditch any bad habits like pacing, scratching or saying ‘Err !’ too much. Get used to saying the emotional bits so you don’t start blubbing like a girl on the day.

…

All wedding ceremonies have a rehearsal the day before and there’s really nothing to it. The vicar will tell you what to do and when so there’s not much that can go wrong, as long as you turn up and your best man has the rings, that’s it.

In fact, you’ll probably be more nervous at the rehearsal than you will be at the actual wedding.

Details

Make sure your ushers know how to do the little things like fold your handkerchiefs and pin buttonholes properly, otherwise you’ll all end up looking a mess, especially if there’s no women around to sort the blokes out.

…

Take a hip flask to the church

…

Song List

Make a list of songs you want the DJ to play and make him stick to them. The music you listen to on the day will make a big difference to your celebrations and you’ll want to hear your favourite tunes.

Get your guests to text or write down a few of their favourite songs with the return invites. Then you’ll get some great ideas and know people will love the music.

…

Make sure you put some bangin tunes on for the last hour so your mates can have a blast when the oldies have retired.

Florists

Shop around big time before you book your florist, you’ll save hundreds.

Miserable Shop Owners

Don’t give your business to anyone who doesn’t seem enthusiastic or interested in your custom. They are probably charging a fortune anyway and could at least show some courtesy and respect when you are looking to spend a small fortune in their shop.

That goes especially for the wedding dress and suit shopping. My wife left a wedding dress shop who’s owner showed absolutely no interest and would barely give her the time of day. The next shop was courteous and polite and she left there after spending nearly a grand and a half on a dress.

It was the same with our suits. Why spend £500 hiring a bunch of suits from stuck up tailors when the owners won’t even acknowledge you are there. Go somewhere where they deserve your business.

Knock Em Down

The fact is, what ever you are looking for, as soon as you mention the word “wedding” people smile and then triple the price. So be on your guard and don’t fall for the initial price you are quoted on anything. Knock ‘em down at least a third and try your luck, you could save yourself thousands by the end of the day. Especially on the big venues.

Checklists

I’ve not checked them out yet, but if you really want to get organised, here are loads of wedding checklists available on Excel if you need a hand.

Weather

What ever you do, you can’t control the weather, so expect the worst and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. We had a scorcher and got away with it, which rounded off just about a perfect day.

..and don’t step on your wife’s dress or she’ll be really pissed.

…

So that’s it, I hope yours goes with a bang too. Anyone with any more tips, let us know with the comment form below.

…

Oh yeah ! and lastly, for all you blokes out there who have been forced to go to wedding fares, watch the wedding channel, countless wedding programs on T.V, magazines, brochures and all that 24/7 for the last 16 months, it doesn’t stop there.

Once the wedding is over you’ll have another six months watching the video, sorting out and printing photos, sending ‘thank you’ notes, talking about it and re-doing the house with new stuff with all the cash and presents you got …and when that’s done, she’ll start planning the anniversary.

It never stops, so you better get used to it.

You know what they say, if you can’t beat em, join em !

Cheers

Holiday pics up next !

Oh Shit !

…

Pray for him.

…

It’s about time I posted another competition here on Street Musician – so this time instead of giving away free beer money, I thought I’d go a bit more upmarket and give away one of these.

This is a genuine Andean quena flute made of [...]]]>

It’s about time I posted another competition here on Street Musician – so this time instead of giving away free beer money, I thought I’d go a bit more upmarket and give away one of these.

Aymara Jacaranda Quena Flute

This is a genuine Andean quena flute made of Bolivian Jacaranda wood and is one of my best selling instruments on my Bolivian website.

Yeah, I know this is supposed to be a guitar blog, but I’ve not yet got the cash to start throwing guitars at my viewers, so maybe next year.

These flutes are amazing things and you can’t get any more genuine than this one.

Sourced from the hands of the maker ‘Mr Mamani’ himself -  high in the mountains of the Andes, this flute has already travelled over 6,000 miles to get here and could be travelling another few thousand to any one of my readers across the globe who enter this competition.

This flute is one of the best makes you can get and comes with a free woven quena cover of your choice. I’ll post some pics of those in a day or two.

…

It is worth at least £25 £32 not including shipping costs and that’s from my own web shop, it should be worth a lot more. Many of my customers who buy these Aymara Jacaranda quenas end up coming back for more, and they’ll often also buy one of my Wayacan wood quenas to try out the difference in sounds produced by these wonderful South American hardwoods.

Being a guitarist, I never thought playing one of these would interest me, but once you give it a go you’ll find they are completely addictive. The main challenge is just trying to get a note out of the thing in the first place, never mind the three octaves they produce.

They say the Andean quena is one of the hardest flutes in the world to play and for a beginner you’ll probably find that is completely right. For the first few days you’ll probably spin out a few times and get major head rushes while you struggle to get the angles and air flow to split just right over the mouthpiece, but once you’ve got the hang of it, you’ll find it gets easier every time you pick it up and it’s really good fun just to mess about with.

How to Enter

Entering the competition is easy, just use the comment form below to post a few words on why you want one of these Andean quenas, and who ever I judge to have posted the best comment wins.

I’ll be posting the winning entry later this month on 29th June (my birthday in fact), so who ever wins we should both have a great day…or two as in my case.

My last competition only had one entry and that was me, so I got to win my own cash back. Let’s see if we do a bit better this time.

Just so I get a crack at it, incase no one else does – I’ll post my comment first.

Cheers.

Competition Update

After marketing these things at ridiculous knockdown prices for months, I’ve just introduced a long overdue price rise across my entire range of flutes ( can’t keep selling all my stuff for peanuts you know ! ) making this amazing quena even more valuable and an even better prize.

…not only that, but instead of the beautiful woven cover that I was going to include with this prize, I’m now upgrading it to one of my special ‘deluxe’ woven covers, providing extra thickness and added protection for your quena. These deluxe covers have been made especially for Original Artisan by our luthier’s own wife…how cool is that.

…aren’t I good to you ! Eh ?

Birthday Winner Announcement

Right, I was going to announce the winner this afternoon, but I’m being dragged out for a birthday celebration…so the chances are I won’t be in a fit state to judge in a few hours time.

I’m going to keep the competition open till 12 midnight so you can get the last of your entries in and tomorrow when I’ve sobered up a bit, I’ll announce the winner.

Stay tuned cause someone’s going to have a very lucky day.

Happy Birthday people.

Kier

…

Ok…So thanks to everyone who entered and special thanks to Sarssipius from who gave my competition a huge boost by announcing it on his excellent competition site G.A.S. a Gogo. All your comments were so good I couldn’t decide which one deserved to win so I thought I’d choose another method to select the winner.

Check out my vid below to see how I chose the winner, and yes… I am a bad shot and no, I didn’t know the horse – I think it was just hungry…and yes, I did have a birthday hangover.

…

That crazy horse wouldn’t stop hassling me as I was packing up and was chewing everything in sight, we made friends in the end. I don’t know why but I seem to get hassled just about everywhere I go nowadays. If it’s not buy some nutty tramp, it’s some crazy animal.

…

So ‘Congratulations’ to our well deserved competition winner Cédric Lechevrel, your Jacaranda quena and deluxe cover will be on it’s way to you as soon as you mail me your shipping address and tell me what colour cover you would like me to send with your flute, red, green or blue.

Fate decided who kept the prize this time but stick around cause there’s going to be loads more competitions to win more cool stuff like this here on Street Musician over the next few months, (if I can afford it that is). If any of you guys or girls who entered the competition would like one of my Andean quenas, just for entering you get %15 of any of my Andean quenas from my shop Original Artisan, just drop me a line and I’ll give you a discount code.

…

Thanks to everyone who entered, your comments did crack me up and the fact that so many of you entered just made my day.

Take it easy and keep an eye out for more competitions coming soon.

Cheers.

K

…

One thing many singers [...]]]> Here’s a quick post about something I learned form my dentist after I visited him a while ago which might be useful for anyone needing excessive dental treatment or procedures that usually cost a bomb – like crowns, bridges, special teeth whitening treatments or dental veneers.

…

One thing many singers are paranoid about is the state of their teeth (unless of course you’re referring to guys like Shane MacGowan of the Pogues who’s rotten teeth have been his life long trade mark) and the condition of your teeth and gums can often impact on your self confidence as a performer, especially singers who spend most of their time with their mouth open.

When you’re young, you can drink, smoke and party as much as you like and still keep a perfect set of gnashers, but as you get older the years of abuse eventually start to take their toll and that’s when most people start to think about getting them fixed up.

Shane’s teeth weren’t exactly the perfect set in the first place but he didn’t do his smile any favours by falling over a wall and smashing his teeth in on a pile of bricks whilst on an all day bender in Ireland.

So far my teeth have survived intact and still look alright, so I’ve never really considered engaging in cosmetic dental procedures to brighten my smile, but if I had the cash to waste or perhaps the treatments weren’t so costly, then maybe I would think about it.

…

Save Money on Dental Work

The good news is, if you do have an expensive problem with your teeth and are willing to travel a few miles to get things done, or you happen to live near one of the sixteen dental colleges around the U.K. then you can get all these sort of treatments at greatly reduced rates by having them done at the dental training schools as part of the training program for final year students.

My dentist was telling me that they do it in many colleges around the U.K and the particular one he was referring to was the Bristol Dental College.

All the treatments are supervised by qualified dentists and cost much less than they would at a private or NHS dentist.

I thought that was a pretty good bit of advice, so in a few years when I’m really looking in a state and need a bit of a lift, I’ll go and get myself a nice set of gold teeth on the cheap.

Nice !

Here’s a list of the 16 dental colleges around the U.K

Barts and The London, School of Medicine and Dentistry – Queen Mary, University of London
School of Dentistry – Birmingham
Bristol Dental School – Bristol
School of Dentistry, University of Central Lancashire – University of Central Lancashire
Guy’s, King’s & St Thomas’s Dental Institute – King’s College London
Leeds School of Dentistry – Leeds
Liverpool Dental School – Liverpool
Manchester Dental School – Manchester
Newcastle University Dental School – Newcastle
Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry – Exeter
Plymouth
Sheffield School of Clinical Dentistry – Sheffield
University of Aberdeen School of Dentistry – Aberdeen
University of Dundee Dental School – Dundee
Glasgow Dental School – Glasgow
Cardiff University Dental School – Cardiff
Queen’s University Belfast School of Dentistry – Queen’s University Belfast

…

Give them a call and see what they can do for you.

…

Incidentally, last year Shane finally got round to having his teeth fixed.

I can’t believe it !