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Americana
Guitar: The perfect
class to build your skills in a variety of musical styles. This class will
be a diverse approach to the instrument and will touch on pop, rock,
country, blues, and folk styles of play.
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Arranging/Advanced
Fingerstyle Guitar:
Just about any tune or idea that you ever thought of or heard can be
played on solo guitar. It’s like solving a puzzle. Knowing what to leave
in and what to leave out is the key. We will work on issues of
Melody (what is the melody and where should we put it in the texture and
on the fingerboard so that it can sing out and we (player and listeners)
can be moved by it), Harmony (how to discover and voice the chords in a
way that will support, and not conflict with, the melody).
and Orchestration (none of the notes are equal). We’ll talk about how do
we deal with that on a technical level. We will look at many of the tricks
that lead to making the music work on our instrument.
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Beginning Guitar:
An easy-going introduction to basic
folk guitar. Includes tuning, stringing the guitar, chords,
fingering, strumming, and simple repertoire
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Blues Guitar: This
course will cover pre-war Blues styles in their regional contexts,
along with the individual players that defined Country, Delta, Piedmont
(Ragtime), Texas and other styles of Blues
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Blues Guitar, Advanced:
This
course will be a further exploration of pre-war Blues styles in their regional contexts,
along with the individual players that defined Country, Delta, Piedmont
(Ragtime), Texas and other styles of Blues. Recommended only for
those who have had the Blues Guitar Course in a previous year.
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Flatpicking: This
will be a low key look into Flatpicking Guitar - - NOT!!! Topics will include but
not be limited to: Left hand
placement and technique, right hand rhythm and lead technique, developing
better dynamics, bass lines and connecting chords with melodic bass walks,
new tunes, how to develop solos for vocals and more. Bring plenty of extra
strings and picks, tape recorder and questions..
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Fingerstyle Guitar:
This course will have an emphasis on
technique both for the left and right hand, developing an efficient
technical approach to the instrument and examining learning and practicing methods through the use of a variety
of exercises. We will look at right hand techniques used in fingerstyle
guitar
by looking at a variety of fingerstyle pieces.
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Beginning/Intermediate
Mandolin: This
workshop focuses on an introduction to the mandolin artistry of Bill
Monroe. A brief history of
Monroe
and his influences will be covered. Class
will be shown the preferred right hand usage and guided through some right
hand exercises based upon some of
Monroe
’s more common techniques. We
will learn some basic, foundation
Monroe
material. Other topics will
include how to play chop chord rhythm, getting good tone, how to keep
time, etc. Come prepared to
play a lot.
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Intermediate/Advanced Mandolin:
This workshop will cover
primarily the
Monroe
“toolbox” of techniques used in material from the early years through
the “days on earth.” We
will also cover backing up singers, tunings, probably some
Monroe
blues trademarks, playing out of chord voicings, and a bit of old time
rhythm and how it affects solo lines. This
class is NOT a lecture. Come
prepared to play and learn traditional
Monroe
mandolin material.
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Open Tunings: Unlock
the secrets of playing and composing in alternate tunings with these
unique comprehensive course. Includes an introduction to alternate tunings
and the players who have pioneered them.
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Songwriting: This
class will cover song structure, melody, ideas and where to find them, and
getting into the zone. We'll talk about balancing 'the rules' with
your own creative expression and touch on the business of songwriting as
well.
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Voice:
In this class, students will do daily
warm-ups and vocal exercises to help build strength, control and proper
vocalization & breathing techniques. We will discuss and
practice relaxation techniques to help get the most from your voice and to
help connect your voice, heart & mind. We'll also set aside time
to answer your questions about live performance & studio techniques
and the practicalities of caring for your voice and building/maintaining
confidence.
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| MINOR CLASSES:
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| Geometric
Guitar: An alternative to
memorization, a more functional way of learning and understanding chords
all over the neck by learning shapes on the fingerboard beginning with
intervals, triads, and then adding 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, etc.
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| Guitar
Playing as a Duo: Learn
the art of making any song a guitar duet.
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| Intro to the Mandolin:
Learn all the fundamentals
necessary to begin playing the Mandolin.
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| Intro to the
Slide Guitar: This
class
introduce the player to use of the slide through
the use of Open D tuning and bottleneck guitar playing. Topics covered
will include basic techniques of slide playing like damping and vibrato,
chord,
and scale
positions in open D. |
| Licks
& Tricks: This class will
cover some moves to spice up your playing in various styles. We'll
talk about moveable open chords, bending notes within a chord, cascade
licks, harmonics and other ways to add some new colors to your playing. |
| Music Theory for
Guitar: Using
the major scale as a building block we will look at other scales, chord
theory and some useful tricks on how this all relates to the guitar.
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| Travis
Pickin': A
serious introduction to the syncopated style of fingerpicking made famous
by Merle Travis. |
