{"id":110,"date":"2026-09-09T12:42:03","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dhayzen.homeip.net\/wordpress\/?page_id=110"},"modified":"2026-09-10T17:11:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:11:38","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/davehayzen.co.uk\/?page_id=110","title":{"rendered":"ABOUT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

About me<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been playing guitar for a long time, and music has been a pretty constant part of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many years I played guitar in jazz bands in both Sudbury and Harpenden, playing regular local gigs. I was purely the guitarist in those days \u2014 no vocals \u2014 and it was a very different musical experience to what I do now. Playing jazz taught me a lot about listening to the other musicians, finding my way around the guitar and, perhaps most importantly, being comfortable playing live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then spent around 14 years performing as part of an acoustic duo, playing regularly at pubs, clubs, festivals and events, as well as running and playing at open mics. Over the years that took me to some great places and gave me the chance to play to all sorts of audiences \u2014 from a handful of people in a pub to several thousand at larger events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, singing wasn’t really where I started. When I first began performing, I was much more comfortable behind the guitar. During those duo years I started singing more, initially with harmonies and eventually taking on more lead vocals. It’s something that has grown naturally over the years, and I’m still enjoying developing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days I’m concentrating on my own performances, with guitar and vocals at the centre of what I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t really have one particular style that I stick to. I like a good mix of songs, and my sets can move from a stripped-back, fingerpicked arrangement to something a bit more upbeat. I tend to choose songs because I like them and because I think I can do something with them, rather than just picking the most obvious acoustic covers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s probably one of the things I enjoy most \u2014 taking a song people already know and making it work in my own way. Sometimes that means changing the feel completely, sometimes it’s just finding an arrangement that suits the guitar and my voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My repertoire has grown quite a bit over the years, so there’s a mixture of older favourites, more recent songs and a few less obvious choices. I like keeping things varied, both for the audience and for myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After taking a bit of a break from regular gigging, I’ve got back out there and started playing more regularly again. It’s been good to get back on stage, see familiar faces and meet new people along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, that’s really what live music is about. Yes, I want to play the songs well, but I also want people to enjoy being there. Whether it’s a quiet Sunday afternoon, a busy pub, a beer festival or a larger event, I enjoy creating a good atmosphere and sharing a few songs with people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m still learning, still adding songs to the set and still finding new ways of playing them. And that’s probably what keeps it interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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About me I’ve been playing guitar for a long time, and music has been a pretty constant part of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-110","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davehayzen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davehayzen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davehayzen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davehayzen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davehayzen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/davehayzen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276,"href":"https:\/\/davehayzen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/110\/revisions\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davehayzen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}