About David Waddington

Hailing from Sutton Coldfield, but now based in Salisbury UK, David Waddington was originally influenced by artists such as Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman, Mike Oldfield, Iron Maiden, Kiss and Marillion, amongst many others. Whilst into rock as a youngster, he began to tread the melodic path whilst his contemporaries discovered even heavier music. Being a closet Journey and Fleetwood Mac fan, life became lonely for this ex-rocker (the only rocker in school wearing shorts, so maybe it wasn't to be anyway.)

"I've always been a sucker for a good melody - it doesn't matter who the band is, the style of music or whatever - if I can hum it then I love it. My cd collection currently contains many albums from Fleetwood Mac, Supertramp, Donna Lewis, Cara Dillon, Imogen Heap, Kate Bush, Placebo, Floyd (80's). From a guitar playing point of view I love guys like Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac) and Steve Rothery (Marillion) and early Mike Oldfield - exceptional players who use ther instrument to create melodies that stand head and shoulders above your typical guitar solo type stuff.

I never got into the artists that many young musicians do as they grow up - Jimi Hendrix, the Stones, the Beatles etc, and don't know many covers - so it's quite tough to get gigs where you are required to play 'for a couple of hours'. It's also very tiring to listen to an acoustic guitar for that length of time. I've approached this by using a few gadgets such as the Boss loop pedal, which allows me to lay down a live track and then play over the top of it any number of times - sounds great when it works, and causes much hilarity/agony when it doesn't. I also have no problem using backing tracks once in a while - providing they have been created by me and that the song sounds better for it. It helps to vary the sound, and it will do until I get a full band behind me on a regular basis.