Currently spreading the love – and the skills – with guitar lessons at Greystones Studios, we asked Greystones musician Matthew Ellison to tell us all about the songs that can make him break down and cry…
Oh, and we wanted to know how music took a hold on this innocent young man.
Take it away, Matt…
I became a musician when my brother and I sat down and he showed me how to play Apeman by the Kinks on the guitar. I learned how to play loads of songs and pieces between then and now, sixteen years later.
At the age of eighteen or nineteen, a friend of mine introduced me to the teachings of Eckhart Tolle, and this was the point where I really started to see what music could do. Eckhart Tolle is not a musician – he’s a spiritual teacher – but he effects people in a very positive way through sitting on a stage and giving talks. He talks about the present moment. It’s all there is to a person’s life, the rest is just thoughts and emotions. So, he says, make friends with the Present, because it’s your deepest gift.
Music is my next deepest gift.
Here are my 5 tracks:
Phil Lynott Old Town
This makes me smile at young love breaking down. It has a sense of humour.
Gabriel Faure Pavane, Op. 50
This makes me feel very connected to the beauty of nature.
Narciso Yepes Requerdos de la Allehmbra
Moves me to the point of tears.
Desire Under Your Spell
Great anthem, keeping with my tendency for melancholic stuff.
U2 One
Tells the story of the male struggle (with the female struggle).
As well as the gigs and sorting out the sound in The Hot Spot, Matt is giving guitar lessons at Greystones Studios. Details here.Â