Greg Olsen

I have been playing guitar since 1970 after my brother bought me my first guitar, a Monaro electric, for Christmas in 1969. I started lessons in February 1970 and the rest is history, well almost. I've been teaching guitar since 1973. In 1981 I recorded a mainly instrumental album, "Take Your Pick", releasing it independently in 1982 on vinyl and cassette (remember those?). I sold less than 100 and never paid off the cost of recording it! :-( I continue to compose and have accumulated many instrumentals which I will record one day and upload here.

Well, I'll use this space to tell you a bit about the album. The guys who played on "Take Your Pick" were well know Sydney musicians. They include: Andrew James on bass. Andrew was an original member of Midnight Oil; Andrew Gander, the most sought after session drummer of that time, was the drummer and a mighty one at that; The vocalist on one track was Doug Williams, a fantastic African/American who had a residency at the famous Sydney Jazz venue, the Basement, for many years back then; The sax player and flautist was Mike Haughton who went onto to international success in the UK playing with the likes of Cliff Richard and Robert Fripp. It was recorded at "The Wireless Set" in Sydney and mastered at Studio 301. I had 1,000 records pressed and 100 cassettes made.

Since moving up to the NSW Central Coast from Sydney, and retiring from teaching guitar in mid-2014, I've been regularly playing live with two duos, Rewind, with Margaret Rew: https://www.facebook.com/RewindNSW/, and Familiar Ground, with Wayne Doyle: https://www.facebook.com/FamiliarGroundNSW/?fref=ts, getting up to four gigs a month between both. Previously, I have performed with some well know Australian artists such as Stevie Wright from the Easybeats, and Jeannie Lewis, an Australia icon in jazz/blues/cabaret, and very seventy with folk/blues singer/guitarist, Jim Jarvis. My retirement from teaching has resulted in me seeking opportunities for performing :-)

Late 60s, early 70s rock and jazz/rock fusion bands too numerous to mention. The Beatles started off my love of music and "Little Wing" on Hendrix's "Axis: Bold As Love" album hooked me forever on guitar.

My first 'instrument' plastic Beatles New Sound Guitar (a uke actually), a present from my Mum in 1965 when the Beatles toured Australia. There's a video of me playing it in 2013 on this website. Since 1973 I have acquired a Fender Stratocaster, an Ibanez ST 200, a Mk 1 Boogie amplifier, a Guild dreadnought, a Yairi 12 string, a Suzuki mandolin, a Yamaha nylon, a loaned Aria bass and two aNueNue ukuleles, one of which is a harp ukulele (also see a vid of me playing that here). Over the past few years I have acquired a Taylor GS Mini and a Fender Squire Tele for live performances. FX-wise, I have a couple of old MXR units including a Phase 100 which I believe is currently a highly sought after piece of equipment. However, I use a Zoom 707 for live performances. It's very simple to use and sounds pretty good for such an old piece of kit. I bought a Line 6 POD HD300 in 2013 but I haven't given enough time to learning how to use it as yet. This may well be a new project for me in 2016! I also have some rack mounted FX and a Korg M1 keyboard but I don't use them at all. For recording, I used a Tascam cassette eight track recording desk in the 1990s. Now I record entirely on GarageBand on my Mid-2010 MacBook Pro. My biggest claim to infamy is the fact that I used to have a 1960 Les Paul with a PAF pick up. This is the type that Jimmy Page, Slash and all those archetypal rock guitarists use. It's the one on my album cover! I sold it to buy the recording gear that is now worthless! Oh my, will I ever live that down? :-) Someone said that George Harrison bought it when he was living in Adelaide but I don't really know. It's probably in some collectors vault, never to see the light of stage again. :-( Oh the shame ......

These days, I tend to be composing meditational/reflective music, often in response to nature or environmental causes. It comes with my life stage, I think. ;-) I've been experimenting with various guitar tunings including Drop 'D', DADGAD, Gsus4 (Page's Rain Song tuning), Open D, G and C. I'm also using exotic scales, a favourite being the Phrygian with a major third. It has a middle eastern feel to it which I love. The Oud, a type of lute or mandolin played principally in Arab countries that is tuned in fourths, attracted my attention in recent times with my almost ten minute long, three part, epic, "A Hero's Journey" being composed using a variation of a Turkish Oud tuning, D G F C Bb Eb. Sounds great on a 12-string! After moving, with my lovely spouse, Leeanne, to the NSW Central Coast village of Booker Bay for two years we relocated to the neighbouring town of Empire Bay. I retired from guitar teaching in mid-2014 after which I sought out performance opportunities. Hence, I teamed up with several local musicians playing covers at the nearby Hardys Bay Club mainly. The two duos, Rewind, with Margaret Rew: https://www.facebook.com/RewindNSW/, and Familiar Ground, with Wayne Doyle: https://www.facebook.com/FamiliarGroundNSW/?fref=ts, were my expressive outlet at that time when we were getting up to four gigs a month between both duos. In December 2019, we moved to Bundanoon, in the NSW Southern Highlands, the home of many creative folk. In 2021 I formed a dynamic, three-piece covers band, The Fallible Popes: https://www.facebook.com/TheFalliblePopes/. We're having a lot of fun performing the music of our lives! :-)