The first Piece I ever wrote for Sounds True -for the book  "Writing Down the Bones" by Natalie Goldberg. This is not released on any album.

Writing Down the Bones Theme

I love the blues and became determined to learn to play when I found my beautiful Eastman archtop guitar up for sale, second hand for a bargain price, in Jan 2012. As soon as I touched it I fell in love.

I first tried playing guitar several decades ago: with unrealistic teenaged enthusiasm I fully expected to sound like Hendrix within a month or two while practising just thirty minutes a week. I gave up when I still struggled to tune my guitar and the cowboy chords I'd learnt sounded really rough when I literally banged on them. Girls were much more interesting.

In my late thirties I had a mid-life crisis(!), so I  bought a US Strat and a Gibson LP Pro, determined to learn to be an ageing 'bedroom rock star'. I was working long and hard hours so only practised on odd weekends, always wondering why following tab and listening to CD lessons was not working. I decided I was tone deaf and incompetent, so yet again, I gave up, still unable to master bar chords, convinced I would never be able to play.

As an early retiree, I decided to give it a final attempt when I found my black beauty: the first few years were a journey of discovery, discipline and sore fingers. I practised most days (except when arthritis in my joints and a trapped nerve in my shoulder 'froze' my fretting pinkie and sent my thumb totally numb). Back then, I trawled YouTube and bought a DVD course of lessons, and plugged away. It was worth it as I really enjoyed the fairly limited range of things I could play.

When I first arrived on Soundcloud, I was not expecting to find such a talented and helpful community. I just wanted to upload a jam track for my friends to hear, then I found the amazing wealth of creativity here. 

Sadly, my frozen shoulder, trapped nerve and related problems have pretty much stopped my guitar ambitions since 2016.

However, I still have a blast exploring all the fabulous originals and covers so many relatively unknown, but hugely talented, musicians have conjured up for the SC community. In my first five weeks on here I downloaded c100 tracks and 'liked' hundreds more, and since then I have created many playlists that I regularly listen to depending on my mood...

Simon Cowell and his ilk (overpaid gatekeepers/brand creators/ubercapitalists) have, until now, throttled mass talent for the sake of creating a relative handful of extremely wealthy 'cash cow' celebs.

Who needs these supposedly 'professional talent spotters' and their artificially enhanced 'celebrities'? The internet rocks!

NB If you too suffer from joint pain, RSI or trapped nerves I highly recommend this free DIY pain relief site: it is not just for guitar related injuries but pain anywhere in the body pretty much, and the techniques used really do work - although for me, they provide just temporary relief. Good luck!

World -Raga- Acoustic Guitar Music for Yoga, Contemplation, Meditation, Heart, Mind and Soul, or just to Chill. Real Instruments played by Real People. 

Stevin McNamara has been playing and recording music for over 40 years.
He is in the unique position of being an accomplished 
Composer/Musician and a Recording Engineer.
This gives him total freedom in any music/recording environment.

Born in South Africa, Stevin started learning piano and guitar at the age 
of seven. He played solo and in bands all the way through high school.
At the age of twenty one, Stevin moved to the United States, where he 
had more formal training at Berklee College of Music in Boston Mass.
He has been involved in music ever since.

Although Stevin grew up with the sounds of African Music, he also 
discovered Indian Music in the early seventies and studied the Sitar with 
Ram Chakravarty of Benares who was then professor of music at 
Wesleyan College in Connecticut.
This diverse exposure to such a broad spectrum of music, ranging from 
World to Pop has contributed to the unique musical style he has 
developed over the years.

In the late seventies, after spending considerable time as a session 
musician in recording studios, Stevin became fascinated with what was 
happening on the "other side of the glass", namely the recording process
itself. This passion developed into a highly successful career as an audio 
engineer.

He has worked in the fields of Popular music World, Folk, Jazz, Film and 
Television in top studios in South Africa, England, and the United States,
He is perfectly at home in any State of the Art recording facility, or Live 
Sound scenario, even at Stadium Concert level. He is qualified to teach 
Audio engineering at College level.

Stevin has worked with well- known producers such as Robert John "Mutt"
Lange and a huge spectrum of recording artists (see Artist List - www.yogitar.com)
- from Paul Winter to Tina Turner- from Bryan Adams to Zakir Hussein.

He now lives In Ashland Oregon where he spends his time doing 
freelance recording, original music production, and live performances


Solo CD Releases.
" Savasana Yoga Music: Healing Guitar for Massage, Sleep & Yoga Nidra"
 Nov 2016. White Swan Records.(http://whiteswanrecords.com/index.php/white-swan-healing-arts-series/product/323-savasana-yoga-music-healing-guitar-for-massage-sleep-yoga-nidra)

"Shakti Guitar - a Yogic Journey from Radiant Dawn to Deepest Midnight ". - released Sept 23 2014 - White Swan Records -http://whiteswanrecords.com/

"Shanti Guitar" - Released April 2012 - White Swan Records

"Prana Groove" - Released Feb 2011 - White Swan Records

"Om Guitar- Acoustic Meditation Music" - released April 2008 - Sounds True .

prior releases include:

“Caroline Myss Chakra Meditation Music” - Sounds True .
“Hafiz - The Scent of Light” - Sounds True
and “Yogitar” - Etherean Music.

Stevin's Music has also been recently released on various compilations:

Putumayo's - "Yoga Lounge"  Oct 2014
Sounds True - "Trip Tracks : Ecstasy"  Sept 2014
Putumayo's - "World Yoga" - 2012
White Swan - "Meditative Massage Music: Healing Instrumentals for Peace & Quiet" - 2012
White Swan - "Savasana Yoga Music: Healing Instrumentals & Singing Bowls for Meditation & Relaxation" - 2012
White Swan - "Spa Relaxation Music: Soothing Spa Sounds for Serenity " - 2012
Seva Foundation - "Poised to Give" - 2012
Ambition Entertainment, Australia - "Yoga Yoga Yoga - 2013

I am not a musician but music plays a very important role in my creative life! I am an artist/designer and music is my companion and my muse in the long hours I spend working in my studio! 
I am immensely impressed and grateful for all the talented and inspiring musicians whose work graces this Cloud, and I will always re-post sounds that I love (and will listen to again) - knowing that others will enjoy them!
I feel slightly embarrassed and quite humbled when I receive such graceful messages of thanks from artists whose work I have re-posted - after-all, I am the one who is so inspired by the discovery of your brilliant music!!!
So thank YOU!!!
Jools :)
P.S. If you want to see where the music takes me there is a link to my Portfolio site on Behance below!!! 
NEW!! - Thanks for all the great feed-back on my work! I shall be re-launching with a website (shop & archive) ‘KULT-JE’ in the not too distant future! Meanwhile, examples of past and current work are featured on my Instagram (@joolselphick)
Since my heart op in Jan2021, I have had to deal with taking quite a lot of meds which have interrupted my design work - that and moving to Germany in 2020 - and back in 2021 (due to Covid my business plans stalled!) - SO, slowly getting it together…. hang tight!😊

I have an archive of my work to date on Instagram - @joolselphick