Recordings
Catholic Mates
These are some hymns I've recorded for friends across the world. Recorded on my PC, using Audacity with a cheap microphone headset combination, and played again with a line from the pickup. Applied a tiny amount of GVerb (using the Quick Fix solution from the wiki), and default bass boost settings. Unfortunately, I forgot to do the noise removal, but you learn from your mistakes.
Lay Your Hands 
Carey Landry (North American Liturgy Resources) Hymns Old & New 295
This hymn was sung while our new bishop was doing the confirmations at Our Lady of Lourdes, so I thought it would be a good one to learn. I had Dee from Georgia in mind, who is into the charismatic side of the church, and lays hands. It's a thankyou for all the prayers.
Amazing Grace (inst)
Trad. — Hymns Old & New 36
Everybody knows this one: it's probably an old favourite for most people. There aren't any Catholics in the family, but being Scottish, I'm sure they'll like this one just the same. An American folk song originally, it has rather naff chords, but then I suppose it works much better unaccompanied. However, after twenty years of struggling with it on the guitar, I've finally got it to sound Scottish, as I've always felt it to be. So here it is with minor chords and major sevenths thrown in.
Such Love
Graham Kendrick (Making Waves Music)
Jacqui, a friend from Birmingham, asked me if I knew this one. So I looked in the big blue book, but couldn't find it. But a quick bit of Googling, made me say "Ah, Graham Kendrick". His website (www.grahamkendrick.co.uk) has a couple MP3 clips, and even sheet music! So I downloaded the sheet music, listened to the MP3 millions of times, and eventually worked it out on the guitar. I wonder if David Boyes would have known this one from the Birmingham diocese.
God of Mercy and Compassion
E. Vaughan / Trad. — Hymns Old & New 180
Little Veronica (bless her, she's 90 and livelier than the rest of us, still walks to Mass), saw number 180 on the board and said "Oh, take that one off, it's so depressing". She's right, of course: this has got to be one of the dreariest lenten hymns around. Good job we only sing two verses, not the whole lot. Anyway, this arrangement came about after I'd been to see The Passion of The Christ. Got home, sat down and flopped out — dazed, shocked! Then, after a few days, the emotions started welling up, and I turned this dusty old hymn into a bit of romantic "Sturm und Drang", destesting my human tendency to sin. Of course, I do feel a bit like St. Peter at times, making these promises I can't keep...
Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace
Sebastian Temple (Franciscan Communications) Hymns Old & New 342
The prayer by St. Francis, famously murdered by a certain bat on the steps of No 10, way back in 1979... This one is for the Capuchins of Oxford and Pantasaph — and to think I nearly joined up!
My First Home Recording
I was using Audacity to cut a load of vinyl recordings into tracks to burn onto CD, and I was wondering what would happen if I plugged the guitar into the back of my computer. Surprise, surprise, it actually showed up as a waveform. So I had a bit of fun, double tracking my two guitar parts. The vocals were a bit more problematic, because I only had a little tie-pin microphone with a short cable. So I'm actually sat under the desk, folded up, singing into this little mike that I've plugged into the back of my computer. A bit amateur, without any cleaning or additional processing; but for a first attempt, it's quite decent.6th June 2008, added a little bit of reverb and bass boost.
O Bread of Heaven
E. Vaughan / H. F. Hemy — Hymns Old & New 381
A prayer by St. Alphonsus of Liguori (1696-1787), and an old favourite during communion.
For Angela
These hymns were recorded for my friend Angela Blakey. Recording and mixing was done by Richard Weatherill [BOPP] on his PC home recording kit. Just myself and the microphone, with a little bit of reverb.
Deep Calls To Deep (inst)
Estelle White (Kevin Mayhew Ltd.) Hymns Old & New 119
A beautiful little hymn by Estelle White, with a surprisingly semitic feel to it, so it would probably go well with a bit of clarinet on top (hint, hint). Although I often play it as an instrumental, I also like singing it, because the words mean a lot to me. This was actually one of the first hymns I learned to play on the guitar, and has become a real favourite over the years.
Do Not Be Afraid
Gerard Markland (Kevin Mayhew Ltd.) Hymns Old & New 122
A selection from Isaiah (they called him that because one eye's higher than the other, The Bible According To Spike Milligan), and a comfort to me when I'm struggling with the terrifying loneliness.
My God Loves Me (inst)
Trad. — Hymns Old & New 359
Known to many people as "Plaisir d'amour", an aria written by eighteenth century Giovanni Battista (Jean Paul) Martini. The words we sing in church are clearly something of a parody on the original, a bit like bawdy hymns in reverse. I thought I'd take the parody in another direction by double-tracking the guitar parts: one guitar playing standard G shapes, the second drop D tuning capo'd up to fret five, both taking turns to play the tune and a simple variation. Oh, what fun!
Bless The Lord, My Soul
Jacques Berthier (Les Presses de Taizé) Hymns Old & New 677
One of these Taizé hymns you can just sing forever.
Spirit Of The Living God (inst)
Michael Iverson — Hymns Old & New 501
One I'd never heard before, so I arranged it specially for Angela. This one is in drop D tuning, capo'd up to fret three. In that tuning, I often play thirds and octaves against a strong bass line.
Note
References to Hymns Old & New are to the navy blue edition (with supplement, 1991), which is the one we use at Our Lady of Lourdes. The New Century Edition (1994) has a red cover, and numbering will differ. Actually, the current Anglican also has a blue cover, so it's not that one. Hymns Old & New is published by Kevin Mayhew Ltd..
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