On Wednesday night, in the basement of the London Gibson Guitar store, Joel Ward played his first ever live gig writes David Aungier.
On hand to see Joel take to the stage and witness this extraordinary achievement were only a handful of people, including team mate Damien Delaney.
The set lasted a mere three and a half minutes and was absolutely flawless. Even more extraordinary was the fact that Joel had only had four guitar lessons from music coach Richard Deyn.
As part of a three piece documentary filmed for Gibson Guitars, Joel embraced learning to play the instrument in the same way he does every Saturday for Palace, with one hundred percent commitment. His coach Richard Deyn told me after the show that in all his many years to teaching people to play he had never had a pupil learn to play the guitar so quickly and what Joel had achieved was absolutely incredible.
Joel now joins a growing number of Palace players that play the guitar which included Delaney. The Irishman spent the evening with a football at his feet and a guitar around his chest.
On a side note, Delaney confirmed that the players were shocked when Mile Jedinak turned up for training this week minus what has become his trademark beard.
Gibson is known worldwide for producing classic models in every major style of fretted instrument including electric and acoustic guitars, mandolins and banjos.
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