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Technique-Builder LabClasses
Focused on a specific playing skills |
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TITLE |
INSTRUMENT |
PREREQUISITES |
MATERIALS |
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Bass runs &
Connections
(Level
I) |
Guitar |
Comfortable playing simple chords
in first position and reading simple guitar tablature. |
Instrument, tuner,
capo, pencil. tape recorder optional |
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Move beyond just strumming chords
into playing bass and connecting runs and fill-in licks.
Lead-in and connecting runs composed of well-chosen individually
picked notes can make your rhythm guitar playing much more
interesting and professional sounding. Lead-ins and connections
between chords also help the group prepare for each upcoming
chord change - which greatly helps your ensemble stay in sync
throughout a chord progression.
You’ll
learn how to construct and execute these runs in the most
popular keys of G, D and A. We'll consider runs that move
step-by -step through major or minor scale notes in first
position, as well as chromatic connecting runs (that move fret
by fret), You'll learn a variety of "ready-made" runs presented
in tablature hand-outs, and also just enough music theory to
help you devise your own major and minor bass runs. |
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TITLE |
INSTRUMENT |
PREREQUISITES |
MATERIALS |
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Intro to
mando soloing
(Level I) |
Mandolin |
Comfortable playing most simple
chords in first position and reading simple mando tablature. |
Instrument,
tuner, capo, pencil. tape recorder optional |
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For
beginning mandolin players wanting to move from mainly strumming
chords to playing strong single and double-stop melodies. You’ll
get more comfortable with typical soloing scales, special
fingering techniques that help you play runs faster and
smoother tremolo picking tips, using hammer-ons and pull-offs
to facilitate difficult runs. We’ll provide tab sheets with all
class exercises for use in class and at home. |
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TITLE |
INSTRUMENT |
PREREQUISITES |
MATERIALS |
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Guitar
Soloing
Up The Neck |
Guitar |
Comfortable playing single note
runs and chords in first position, and familiar with reading
simple tablature for guitar. |
Instrument,
tuner, capo, pencil. tape recorder optional |
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For players wanting to move
beyond open position (at the nut) soloing. This workshop will
move you into playing fills, runs and solos using all
closed-fingered (no open strings) patterns. This technique lets
you play solos in any key just by moving your runs and solos up
or down the fingerboard to the proper position for that key. |
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TITLE |
INSTRUMENT |
PREREQUISITES |
MATERIALS |
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Hammer-ons
& Pull-offs
(Folk, bluegrass and country) |
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Comfortable playing single note
runs and chords in first position, reading simple tablature for
guitar. |
Instrument,
tuner, capo, pencil. tape recorder optional |
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Hammer-ons
and pull-offs add enormous variety to the strums and
fingerpicking patterns you use in accompanying folk, bluegrass
and country tunes. They also add color and excitement to your
melody playing. Equally important, they can help you play lead
runs at speeds well above your ability to flat pick those same
note patterns. Pro players regularly rely on this trick. Come
prepared for a lot of fun and hard work in this 2.5 hour
hands-on workshop. We'll provide guitar tablature for all our
exercises |
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TITLE |
INSTRUMENT |
PREREQUISITES |
MATERIALS |
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Improv in a Nutshell
(Folk, bluegrass, country) |
Guitar, Mando,
Fiddle |
Guitar:
Basic lead guitar skills - can play single note melodies in
first position.
Comfortable reading simple guitar tablature.
Student must know note names and
positions on frets 0-5 on all strings and be able to play a G
scale in first position across all strings.
Fiddle and Mandolin: Can
solidly play simple folk melodies. Be comfortable reading simple
mando tablature. Must
know note names and positions on frets 0-7 on all strings and
be able to play a G scale in first position across all strings.
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Instrument,
tuner, capo, pencil. tape recorder optional |
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this class introduces the special
system professional players use to create improvised solos
on-the-spot in jams and performances. This material is also
essential to anyone interested in songwriting. If your playing
level matches the prerequisites listed above you’ll find this
workshop really fun and enlightening. We’ll keep things simple
by only working in first position in the key of G.
You’ll learn how to create
improvised lead runs over typical three and four chord folk
progressions. You’ll learn which notes need to be spotlighted in
a lead run or lick to make it properly reflect the chord being
played at that moment in the chord progression. |
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TITLE |
INSTRUMENT |
PREREQUISITES |
MATERIALS |
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Swing
Jazz
Rhythm Guitar |
Guitar |
Comfortable playing most simple
chords in first position (chords containing both fingered notes
and open strings. Some familiarity with basic bar chords may be
helpful but not required. |
Instrument,
tuner, capo, pencil. tape recorder optional |
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You've seen guitarists on stage
playing beautiful- sounding but mysterious-looking chords at
higher positions on the fingerboard. They’re often using a
system of special chord forms that first came in to widespread
use during the big-band and country swing eras of the 1940's and
50s. These chord forms, which don’t require barring all the
strings with your first finger as typical “bar chords” do have
become the most used moveable chord forms by professional
guitarists in many styles of music.
The best thing about these chords
is that not only do they sound rich and full, that are actually
extremely easy to form and change between. You'll especially
appreciate how much less hand strength and finger pressure these
chords require compared to the more common bar chord forms you
may have been struggling with. They’re also easier for smaller
hands. We're calling these forms "swing jazz chords" but they’re
regularly used in playing old standard tunes, country music,
jazzy blues, country swing, and contemporary folk music (1970 to
present),.
These chord forms differ from
conventional bar chord in several ways. First, they usually only
involve four of the six strings on the guitar. Two strings are
typically muted with part of your fingering hand. So, rather
than strumming all six strings when playing a bar G7 chord
fingered 353463 (the frets you finger from string 6 to string
1) ....you fingered the swing jazz G7 chord 3x343x...with unused
parts of your fingers deadening (muting) the strings marked with
an "x". So you wind up sounding only the four tones (1,3,5,b7)
needed to create a G7. (The muted strings just make an inaudible
"click" as you strum across them). The goal is to make sure the
all-important b7th tone, that give a 7th chord its character,
stands out more strongly. The fact that the added tones (6ths,
7ths, 9ths,) are often added on the lower pitched strings rather
than the higher strings also makes these swing jazz chords sound
far richer than ordinary bar chords.
This is
an intense, hands-on LabClass with lots of playing and
discussion. We'll provide hand-outs with all the chord forms,
plus charts for all the tunes we work on as we learn to apply
the new chords to songs. |
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