I find that when I'm really on a roll, I can't help slapping my guitar around a bit whilst I'm playing it.

The results are twofold; on the one hand, songs sound a lot punchier with real sharp dynamics. On the other hand, my right hand in fact, there are bruises. (Close inspection of my guitar will reveal about ten years worth of accumulated congealed blood.)

When you're on a roll though you just don't notice these things.

I once made £40 in 25 minutes busking on Grafton St in Dublin.

The crowd just kept getting bigger, and naturally, being the self effacing non egotist that I am (ahem!), I assumed that they were enraptured by my singing.

The truth was not made apparent until a concerned citizen approached me to ask me "aren't you in pain?".

I responded by giving him a quizzical look, to which he responded by pointing at my T-shirt and my guitar, both of which appeared to have had a bath on an abbatoir floor.

Suffice to say that I took the opportunity to have lunch.

I never learned my lesson though, and I don't regret it either.