Guitarists of Singapore (GOS) - Ernest Chua

 

 

Age: 35-40

Occupation: Musician, Songwriter, Educator

Style: Acoustic/ Electric/ Ukulele

No. of years of playing the guitar: 16 years

No. of hours spent on the guitar per week: more than 12 hours

Guitar/ music qualifications: Diploma in Songwriting and Music Production

Gig/ competition experience: more than 500+ shows @ various venues that bring back memories, from 2 to 20,000 audiences at Red Cafe to Old Singapore National Stadium and opening Band for Taiwan Pop Rock band F.I.R. at Singapore Indoor Stadium. Also playing regularly at various places in Singapore e.g. formerly at Switch by Timbre, Shuffle Bistro , Rocku Yakiniku, Serangoon Country Club etc.

Facebook: https://facebook.com/blackforestband (Band)
https://facebook.com/thebrokenenglishguitarist (Personal)

Instagram: the_broken_english_guitarist

 

How did you get acquainted with guitar playing?

 

I was accompanying a friend to learn guitar because he want to court a girl who like guys who can play guitar ! LOL

 

Describe your first experience playing on a guitar.

 

It’s kinda magical, as I was deemed as the "boy with no talent in music" by my primary school music teacher. I didn't know that I could actually play music instruments! So when I sort of pick up faster then my friend, I was wondering how could it be?

 

What is the best thing about being a guitarist?

 

Portability! You can also sing with it and write songs with it ! And, I just love the heavy overdrive sound of electric guitar ~

 

Describe your most memorable guitar-related incident.

 

Actually my most memorable guitar incident might be a pretty sad one. My bandmates and my guitars were stolen backstage the night before our show. We never thought that this could happen in Singapore and with guards somemore. It was stolen at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza.

 

We were devastated the next day because our show couldn't go on and our precious guitars were gone. We made police reports and stuff but they were never found again. (one of the guitar is an out-of-production Japan collector Tiger strip strat)

 

How many guitars do you currently own?

 

6 x Electric (Gibson Les Paul, Fender American Strat, Yamaha , Line 6....)

4 x Acoustic (Gibson J45, Taylor 614CE , Fairclough...)

1 x Classical (Yamaha )

2 x ukulele (Luna)

 

If your house is on fire, which one would you run out with? Why?

 

My Acoustic Taylor 614 and Gibson Traditional Les Paul! They are my main work horse and they are still singing beautifully ~ but anyway I think if there’s really a fire, I will run out first, ‘cos I store my guitars at 2 different venues (Cannot be 2 venues on fire at the same time right? Haha)

 

First guitar: Yamaha super cheapo classical, I cant remember the model but its the cheapest one maybe C45?

 

Favourite guitar brand/ model: Oh gosh… this is hard. When it comes to different styles, I really have different favourite model but right now I guess its still my Taylor acoustic that is my favourite as its is my main workhorse and longest serving captain with me :)

 

Favourite guitarist: Gary Moore, I remembered the time when I was feeling his guitar solo wiping amazing emotion all over in my earphone.

 

First song you learned to play on guitar: Odd to joy? Haha.

 

Song you love to play most on guitar: Hm… more of like finding amazing sounding chords or riff on guitar!

 

Most difficult song you have played on guitar: Can I change to tons of difficult songs that I can’t play yet? LOL.

 

Tips for aspiring guitarists: I don't think I'm in the position to give any pro tips :P There are thousands and millions of better guitarist out there, I consider myself just an average guitarist that still required megatons of practices!!!

 

But one thing I recall doing when I started off is playing with metronome, now as we all know tempo and rhythm is the basic of music! This is also the part that will make you develop into advanced phrasing and a monstrous player!!