Here are the three workshops I’ll be offering:
Peaceful Irish Airs and Lullabies (Level 3)
Friday Session 1 (9-10AM EDT)
Get totally enchanted with these slow, meditative airs from Ireland. “Báidín Fheilimí” (“Phelim’s Boat”) is a 3/4 time lullaby that we’ll be doing in a simple, sparse arrangement using a lot of open strings. “Eibhlí Gheal Chiúin Ní Chearbhaill” (“The Fair and Charming Eileen O’Carroll”) is much more mesmerizing and circular.
Soothing and Magical Chord Progressions (2 hour session) (Level 4)
Friday Session 4 (12:45-2:45PM EDT)
In this workshop, you’ll learn some soothing and magical chord progressions that are easy to play and fun. Most have only four chords and they are addictive! You’ll also learn a few of my original melodies that go with them. In the last part, we’ll explore some longer chord progressions that you can use for your own melodies, and we’ll add chords to some descending scales and modes.
Freeing Up Your Playing With Pentatonics (Level 4)
Saturday Session 4 (12:45-1:45)
The ancient 5-tone Major Pentatonic Scale is a great way to jump-start your improvising. You’ll learn how to flatpick this scale, and then we’ll apply it to the main chords you know. You’ll see that there aren’t any “wrong notes” when you play the pentatonics over simple chord progressions. Finally, using the examples of some original pentatonic tunes of mine, you’ll get some insights into building your own pentatonic tunes.
These classes are filling very, very fast (not only for my classes, but for the other fine instructors you may want to study with.