Idolfrets Pro Guitar Tuition lessons by Nigel Pickering

30/04/2026

PAT testing. Please share!
Just tested all this bands gear on site tonight at their rehearsal room. If you need your electronic/music gear testing call me up-I’ve done this for a number of years as started doing my own equipment but ended up doing many other peoples gear & even full offices of equipment. Most venues insist that you have all gear tested/logged & stickered up every year to comply with their (& your) insurance or no gig/insurance cover. Electrical safety equipment testing (EET) or Electrical Equipment Testing (EET), formerly known as Portable Appliance Testing (PAT), ensures equipment is safe, compliant with the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, and free from hazards like fires or shocks. Testing involves visual inspections, earth continuity, insulation resistance, and functional checks by a competent person.
Guardian Electrical Compliance

20/03/2026

From 1st April 2026 all lessons at my studio £25 per hour adult/£20 school age & out lessons within 3 miles £35 per hour. Weekends plus £5 surcharge. All 1 to 1. More than one student plus £10 per person. Please note this is way below suggested Musicians Union UK fees as pictured. Thank you.

18/03/2026

Please note at least 48 hours is required for cancellations. Thank you 🙏

13/03/2026

David Gilmour's Black Strat has sold in auction for a record-breaking $14.5 million, topping a mark previously set by Kurt Cobain's 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic guitar famously used for Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance, which fetched $6 million.

Gilmour's Black Strat was used to record Pink Floyd albums including The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall.

The guitar was previously owned by late Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.

Photo by Joby Session / Getty Images

09/03/2026

Sax aid gig.

27/02/2026

My brother had a drum kit in our parents house & myself electric guitar. We used to thrash away for hours every week & you could hear us many streets away.

Talent didn’t always come first.

Volume did.

Every block had that one house where amps rattled windows and drums shook the floorboards.

It wasn’t polished.

It wasn’t refined.

But it was raw ambition.

Kids figuring it out the only way they could.

Loudly.

And even if it drove the neighbors crazy, it meant something.

Because before software made everyone sound perfect, effort was messy.

And messy was honest.

27/02/2026

24/02/2026

I can’t always access new messages on here for some reason unfortunately. Any enquiries please call/text me on 07973 723375. Thank you. 🙏

07/02/2026

Memories. Bonar & Bonecat music Rochdale shop. Bonar picture credit Andy Middleton. Did you shop here-any memories you can share?

29/01/2026

Photography by Derek Watts.