Bob Cairns is the host for the The Jolly Brewer Open Mic Night.
At the age of fourteen Bob got the classic high action, second hand Spanish guitar and Bert Weedons chord a day book. But no matter how hard Bob tried, it sounded awful.
The next three years were full of frustration, confusion and bemusement. Repeated attempts left Bob thinking, 'I just can't play'. Then at Art College Bob met Adrian who played guitar left handed too and he offered to help.
The look on Adrian's face when he saw Bob's guitar was one of incredulity, his jaw was almost on the floor and his eyes were trying to work out 68 x 347. He turned to Bob and said 'the strings are on the wrong way round'. 'Eh! What do you mean?' said Bob. Adrian shook his head and took the situation in hand, he changed the strings round and handed the guitar back. Bob tried the, by now much practiced chord of 'D' and lo and behold he could play. Within 24hrs he had written his first song.
After thinking for a long time about how stupid he had been Bob came to the conclusion there was discrimination at work here. The book he had placed his trust in assumed everyone was right handed. So! he threw the book away. Without realizing it at the time, he had decided to find out where things were coming from.
Now technically a loner he set about 'playing' and Bob discovered open tunings while restringing and tuning the guitar and so the preconception of concert tuning bit the dust and an amazing door for self expression opened. The next preconception to go was the picking hand, Bob saw a thumb pick in a shop and was curious, he experimented and another amazing door opened, now he was slapping, flicking, damping, bending, hammering and anything else he could get up to.
During all this, Bob essentially tuned the guitar to his current self, this placed his guitar in the key of 'F'. It was during this time Bob noticed he was hardly using the bottom 'E' string, it was also very 'slack' and so he took it off. (Hence the 5 string guitar) Over the years Bob continued to develop and his Key rose until it settled in 'G'.
After 18 years of playing Bob discovered a series of chords on his guitar that enabled him to play what are widely known as The Blues or 12 bars. The reason he found them was because that was where he was, at the time. Interestingly, while exploring, Bob would naturally and spontaneously drop in an 11 bar if it felt right much to the amusement/bemusement of fellow players.
Bob has appeared on various radio programs notably live on Capitol Radio London and BBC Radio 2.
Throughout the nineties Bob played regularly around the London area performing his material.
In 1995 Bob made his first Album 'Green King'. There are more recordings in the making , which is available by contact soon.
More information can be found on Bob's Website
