Above: NGW students Zack, Bruce, Pete, and Philippe pose with Buddy Guy!
National Guitar Workshop’s Chicago campus was another fantastic experience. At this campus I taught a blues core class which means that I have now taught every core class that NGW offers: rock, blues, jazz, and acoustic. This was also the first time that I had a class comprised entirely of of adult students. The guys in the class were all of similar abilities and interests and they bonded quickly and were a fun and easy group to work with.
Continue reading 'Reflections on National Guitar Workshop Chicago 2009'
Above: NGW students Mike, Russ, and Duncan ham it up for the camera!
Participating in National Guitar Workshop continues to be one of the most renewing and exhausting (only because I never get enough sleep!) experiences I have each year. This year I was lucky enough to wrangle a teaching gig at the McLean, VA campus which is the closest NGW campus to home. I had a really great time teaching, hanging out, and taking in some great music.
Continue reading 'Reflections on National Guitar Workshop VA 2009'
I’m scheduled to teach at NGW’s Chicago campus this year, and really looking forward to it! Here’s the press release that outlines the complete lineup of guest clinicians for this summer.
National Guitar Workshop 2009 Season Announcement
Litchfield, CT—Februrary 12, 2009 – The National Guitar Workshop is excited to announce the curriculum and guest artists for the 2009 season. This year’s program will feature Paul Gilbert, Buddy Guy, Pat Metheny, Jimmy Herring, Oteil Burbridge, Pat Martino, Robben Ford, David Wilcox, Robert Lee Castleman, Brent Mason, Stu Hamm, Peppino D”Agostino, Ed Gerhard, Andrew York and John 5. Courses will be offered in rock, blues, jazz, country, classical, music technology, songwriting, and guitar exploration. Check out www.guitarworkshop.com for more information.
I need to figure out a way to create a database of songs and tag them the musical and technical challenges they present. For example, today one of my students wanted to work on “Fly Away” by Lenny Kravitz. This song is an excellent device for students working on mastering their E-form barre chords (since 4 out of the 5 chords in the song use this shape) and eighth- and sixteenth-note rhythms. Other examples of songs that I use to help teach specific techniques include “Dust in the Wind” for pinch-pattern Travis picking and “Wildwood Flower” for improving right-hand string skipping. A lot of the time I can remember these things but sometimes I can’t. I have to do I little updating of the website this Summer, so I may see if it’s possible to use WordPress to tag some of these ideas and make them searchable, though it would be even better as an off-line database since I don’t have internet access in my main teaching studio at Studio E Music.
