Mastering Guitar Skills (4 Workshops) February 21, 2012

Led By:
Tim Cummiskey
Registration Fee:
$200 community partners / $220 general registration for all four workshops; or $60 community partners / $65 general registration per workshop
Registration Deadline:
February 14, 2012Date:
Tuesdays, February 21; March 6; March 27; April 3
Time:
6:00 – 8:30 pmClass Description:These four workshops can stand alone, but are built in a progression to extend the learning from class to class. No matter the style of music, you need to master the basics in order to advance your skills.
Let’s Start at the Very Beginning – Scales and Melodies to Harmonies and Progressions (February 21): Spend some time working on scales, then progress to chords, vamps, and melodic and harmonic lines. Concepts and techniques to be taught include breaking from “root orientation” when playing scales, the relationship of modes to chord progressions and melodic lines, static harmony and 4th dominant progressions. In each workshop, tips on good practicing will be shared to move your personal growth forward. This is a great workshop to get your fingers moving, refresh basic technique and to improve your skills.
Bridging the Gap – Scales and Arpeggios to Chromatics (March 6): What is a super-arpeggio? How do you embellish chord tones? This workshop will take you from the creation of altered sounds and embellished chord tones to adding chromatics to your playing without losing the outline of the changes. As always, tips for growth, use of practice notebook and other important ideas will be shared for practice at home.
Fingerpickin’ Good – Technique and Style (March 27): Your approach to the instrument changes when playing different styles of music (eg. classical versus jazz). In this clinic, explore holding the pick, the pick angle and the actual mechanics of holding and striking the string. In addition, discussion around transcription, transposition and incorporating ideas into your own sound will round out this workshop.
Now Let’s Play – Exploring Repertoire (April 3): Spend some time exploring repertoire and applying what’s been learned to great songs and standards. During this clinic, we’ll implement all of the techniques that have been explored and play a little bit for and with each other.

Official Website: http://www.jazzartsgroup.org/jazz-academy/jazz-in-the-community/classes/guitar-classes/