Ben Howard

When first starting out playing guitar, I didn't really listen to that much music apart from what was in the charts.
It was only from learning on my own and teaching myself how to play that I started to listen to a greater variety of sounds and artists.

One of the first artists that had a great impact on how I play and write songs today is Ben Howard while watching his performance at the Brits awards in 2013. Inspired by listening to "classic records by the likes of Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan" (Independent, 2013), Howards' blend of folk and rock playing on the guitar has given me something to aspire to play like - all it takes is practice

His performance of 'Only Love' mesmerised me as it was only his voice, guitar, cello and one person backing with harmonies. I remember saying to myself that one day, I'd like to become half as good on guitar, and it spurred me onto really practicing and fine tuning my playing style.
His performance in the video is simplistic and fits the theme of the song, with the soft tones of the guitar complimenting the harmonies sung. Furthermore, the lighting highlights the intimacy of the performers, making the huge stage seem tiny, reducing the grand scale of the Brits entirely and proving thats it not all about the backup dancers and pyrotechnics that make a great performance.

One of the more unusual things that Howard does apart from use alternative tuning in his songs - 'Keep Your Head Up' (EADGAD) and 'Old Pine' (CGCGGC) - is that he plays with the guitar lying flat on his knees, using percussively also which was inspired by one contemporary folk singer, John Smith

This contemporary way of playing the guitar is not for the beginners and even at the level I am now, I still don't think I'd be able to achieve it (especially as I'm trying to still teach myself how to finger pick). It does create a nice sound using the guitar as a makeshift drum and helps to give it a natural rhythm to compliment the simplistic hit of the strings.

To help practice my finger picking skills (although I didn't do it with the guitar against my knees), I tried to learn the main riffs of Howards' 'The Wolves' as quick as I could to help improve the dexterity in my fingers and also to improve my finger picking skills in terms of not having to look at the individual strings, to concentrate more on feeling where I need to be instead, which would improve my style in a live performance.
There are a few mistakes (this was not the first take so my fingers were beginning to hurt), however the more I practice it, the better I'll become and pretty soon, I won't even have to look or even think about what I'm doing.