The
main goal of this class is to give you an effective approach to practicing that
will help you develop excellent technique and give you the tools needed to apply
it to songs in a musically tasteful way.
We
will cover right hand technique such as tone, rolls, pick blocking, damping and
palm harmonics. With the left hand, we will focus on techniques such as getting
the best tone out of the bar, hammer-ons/pull-offs, slides, slants and playing
cleanly in closed position.
There
will be a big emphasis on intonation, phrasing and getting a vocal-like quality
out of your guitar.
We
will also spend time on rhythm, fills, ear training, critical listening, playing
harmonies and backing up a vocalist. As each technique is presented, we’ll learn
how to apply it to song while focusing on building tasteful solos based on the
melody.
We’ll
do a lot of playing in class. Don't worry if you are shy about playing in front
of others or asking questions. You’ll get over it quickly in the supportive
learning environment we will create. Make sure to bring your guitar, capo, picks
and bar, an audio recording device and a pen and paper.
Basically, this will be YOUR class and I’ll be looking forward to a week of
making music with you.