DianeB

Mike, if we follow the pattern of the last two years, things will begin unofficially at 3:00 pm on Tuesday, June 11 with early registration and a meet and greet. We adjourned around 5:00 to head into town for dinner and shows on our own. You can expect official opening at 8:00 am Wednesday for registration, and the program starting at 9:00 am. Hope to see you there!

Wow. We are approaching 1,500 members, our one year anniversary with the new forum, and I have exactly 16 fellow students with me still following Steve's course.

@IanD, Greyhound has bus service to Memphis. Here is the Memphis web site for visitors. TripAdvisor had information -- that may be out of date -- indicating no train service.

@Texaspackerfan Wow! Danny, what a showcase of talent! That is simply fantastic guitar playing! Congratulations on completing the course! Take your bows! ?

Who is next, Thalia? After Andrew, Barbara, Greg, Gregg with two gammas, Darin, Dave, and — Diane is next. Is she asleep? She should be, it’s midnight below. Oh, no, you see? She’s with her guitar. Let us descend, dear Euterpe. This way. Ohhh, how delightful, this place is all for music. Did you see the inscriptions on the door? I think she knows of us. Gaze upon her face, Thalia. These mortals can be so expressive. What is this music she makes? It is called “All Over the World”. It pleases her, as you can see. And that pleases me, as well. How long have you watched over her? Six of their mortal years. To them, many heartbeats. Is she faithful? Yes, my sister, and she respects her tutors. Has she weaknesses? She is a mortal. She has many failings, and is prone to sorrow. As she sleeps, I sing to her of compassion. I know not if she hears. She will hear. She will grow in this. Sorrow, you say. Have you sent anyone? Yes, the ones on our list. They take joy in one another. Behold the guitar gifted to her. You have done well, sweet Thalia. This is as it should be. Then we are done here. Before we go, we shall bless this place. And who is next? Alpha, beta, gamma, delta — Doug, Dwayne. But shall we first attend to Paul? Arise, daughters of Zeus, to our — pbllllt! — to our duty. You are amused? Forgive me, sister. But did you see her stockings?

@Park Ranger, you might be thinking of a pair of Live Lessons Steve did in 2016. They are on the old Ustream site. Click on "Show More" until you get to them. A quick test revealed that they would play for me in Safari and Firefox. I don't exactly recall the book that Steve featured at the time, but it might have been this one.

47/49, thanks to a few lucky guesses, and lots of late nights in the lab in the 70s with the stereo cranked up.

Hi, Dan! It's great to hear from you again -- that's all good news! ?‍♀️

For the benefit of those who didn't hear Steve's announcement: a Live Lesson on November 27 is contingent on how well his hand is feeling then. I put it on the calendar, but at the moment it's a wait-and-see thing.

That was a fair, if not fully satisfying, answer. I suspect that if a guitar is tuned fully to perfect fourths, five- and six-string chords become difficult to finger. A demonstration would have been revealing. The human hand seems to demand a major third in there somewhere to get the harmonics. If your style doesn’t demand those big chords, a la Stanley Jordan, go for it and crank up those B and E strings! Recovering banjo player Carl Kress tuned in perfect fifths.

Epilog After seven days, 1,660 miles, ten pages of notes, and two lost picks I never needed, I’m back home. Thanks for reading, and for all your kind words. I appreciate them. There will soon be lots of pictures and videos posted by Steve and the guys. All the performances were recorded and Collin has videos on YouTube duplicating some of his lesson material. Don’t expect a Live Lesson this coming Tuesday. Our fearless leader will likely be collapsed in a lounge chair at home. His room was next to mine, and I could tell he was staying up late, getting up early, and in between working nonstop. All to make us happy. This week I've enjoyed the privilege of breaking bread in the company of warm hearted, generous, humble, and talented souls. For now I’ll leave you with a pic of one of them, Mark B, and me. If we’d had one more day for 11 more bars, we might have given birth to the New Brunswick Bossa Blues. Or something like that.

Now the final, early morning chorus. Time to pack the suitcases and guitars and go down for breakfast. John Knowles, CGP, arrived for our last session as we queued up for pancakes. Some campers had already left for the airport; others were loading their cars and leaving. My table was finishing up and emptying, and I was on my last sips of OJ when John sat down between Mark and me. He was once a physicist, I was once a chemist. He is a Certified Guitar Player, I am a Catastrophic Guitar Player. Of course we hit it off. Mark and I eventually let him finish his pancakes and set up for his lesson. We assembled in the living room for parting thoughts from Steve: the last few days were magic; remember to put your guitar in your case before you leave (!); and what's with the crazy woman sitting over there staying up past midnight to post updates on the board? He introduced John, who offered a master class: turning ideas into songs, being aware of your body as you play, thinking chord shape - release - move - arrive. He was just responding to Steve's question, "Can you tell us about how you get your tone?" when a retreat employee in the front yard cranked up a leaf blower. Exit Steve for a brief intervention, then it was back to high tension nylon strings and a final song. As the applause faded, it was 10:30 and we had to be gone in 30 minutes. I said goodbye to former TI engineer John -- I mean, CGP John -- and Steve and Paulette, and everyone I could catch, in a flurry of handshakes, hugs, and hollers. I tugged my bags up the hill to the crunch of acorns beneath my feet and put them in the car. I flicked away the wet leaves and set off down the narrow, winding driveway as a chorus from The Sound of Music came to my mind: Nothing comes from nothing Nothing ever could So somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good

Some days and nights you just want to never end. Never mind that it's turned chilly and rainy. This is one. We started this morning with a workshop on technique by Trevor Gordon Hall, then a session with Steve on chord inversions and extensions. After lunch, we again separated as Steve offered a tutorial on Phil Keaggy's "The Wind and the Wheat" while Collin covered another song with the downstairs group. We joined up in the living room for an open forum on what, and how, to practice. During afternoon recess, a small expedition set out in the drizzle for Artisan Guitars in nearby Franklin. I relaxed and chatted with Reg, briefly practiced my homework, and took a nap. The Artisan expedition returned just before dinner time, each with a freebie cap they scored, no doubt for being such great customers. That, or Dave now has some pull in this town. Phil Keaggy arrived as we awaited dinner. I watched him run his sound check from the comfort of an easy chair, quite oblivious to the name tag on my shirt. Satisfied with his sound, Phil got up, strode over to me and cheerfully extended his hand. "Diane, how are you?" He asked. "Uh, you remember me?!" I replied. What a charmer. After dinner the opening act was a drawing for some giveaways: an acoustic pickup, a preamp/DI, and the new rechargeable Fishman Loudbox amp. There go some happy campers. For the next two hours the living room echoed with the sweet harmonies of Phil Keaggy. He was dazzling: alternate tunings, multiple partial capos, seemingly impossible stretches. Trevor Gordon Hall returned, and we enjoyed another twenty minutes of crazy good improvisation from the master and the apprentice together. Paulette served up mini sausages and nachos for our late night snack as Phil and Trevor posed for pictures and signed autographs. After they said goodnight, a few of us pulled up chairs as Steve recalled his most memorable -- for better or worse -- live lessons. Facing an early start tomorrow, we called it a night, and the lodge went quiet.

I'm sleep deprived tonight but mostly coherent; that could describe most of us. After breakfast we all packed into the single meeting room for Steve's lesson on 3rds, 6ths, and 10ths. Next up was Collin, who got us started with false harmonics and cascading harmonics. This was all new to me, and Collin is an adept instructor already. In the afternoon, we divided up with Steve teaching "Here Comes the Sun" to the beginners like me, and Collin covered "Amazing Grace" with the more advanced players. Meanwhile, Greg Voros did setups and checkups in the dining room. Steve led a little fingerpicking jam, then it was time to chill. Somehow I won my first game of Carpetball. Today I wasn't the only one with a glazed look in the eyes, but I've shared several warm conversations with the guys already. That seems to come easily in a setting like this, where you share a roof together. It's a joy. After a nap and dinner I was more like myself. Tonight our student performers were Carol, Dommie, Mark C, and our youngest camper, Carson C, who is attending with his father Justin. Our featured artist was Trevor Gordon Hall, who shared his virtuosity with us for over an hour. Afterward he cheerfully lingered. He let me handle his guitar (!) as he explained to me how he uses Guitar Pro to get his musical ideas down. "Did I see this shape go by?" I asked, showing him one I learned from my tutor. "Yes!" he exclaimed, "I love that chord!" We had root beer and Coke floats on a mild Halloween night around the fire pit. Paulette found purple guitar socks for me (!!) and I had a slice of real, not metaphorical, cheesecake for dessert. All is well as we say goodnight on day two.

Day one ends with a lodge full of exhausted but happy finger pickers. I met Mark B early this morning at the airport as he arrived from Toronto. We had spare time, so it was off to Gruhn Guitars (visited Greg and waved at Dave), lunch at M L Rose's (craft brews and awesome burgers), and Carter's Guitars. Then on to the countryside west of Franklin and into the woods at Deer Run Retreat. Steve, Paulette, Dave, and Collin had already put out the welcome mat with snacks, sound gear, and the store when we arrived. Our lodge is cozy and inviting. We all have roommates. I'm paired with the only other woman, Carol. It's a bit, um, close, but we're all guitar family here. I'm in a bunk bed for the first time since college. We started off with introductions -- there are 24 students -- then a brief group lesson from Steve on hand position in the now crowded living room. Dinner, and all our meals, are served in the communal dining room. How nice it was to not have to split up and drive off to various restaurants as we must at the summer gathering. Show time. Performances from Steve, Collin, Robert Thompson (classical instructor ar Belmont U), Meagan Taylor, and the capper, a surprise visit from Joe Robinson. I ventured out back to chat around the fire a few minutes, then it was time to file this dispatch while I still can typppe. Tyyype. Oh, good night.

Okay, tonight's report is technically not from the retreat. That doesn't start until tomorrow afternoon. Tonight I'm in my hotel in Cool Springs, just up the road from Deer Run, guitar at my side. Today was a perfect fall day for the drive along I-40 from Virginia. It was sunny and cool, and the tree foliage was colorful although not the best I've seen in the mountains. In June I didn't expect to return so soon, but I couldn't resist. I recently learned that I have a relative here in Brentwood. Tonight we saw each other for the first time since we were teenagers and went out for a terrific dinner to reminisce. Suddenly, or so it seems, I have family in Nashville, and that has changed my feeling about the place. Home away from home, just more guitars. Tomorrow morning I will take the back way to the airport to meet a fellow camper coming from Canada. Maybe we can find a guitar store where we can warm up before the lodge opens at 3:00. Until next time, good night to all from Cool Springs.

Cinco, this is a big subject, but the short answer is yes. Here's a start.

Triple-o, if it's an audio file, import it into iTunes on your Mac (corresponds to Music on iPad). A video can be imported into Photos. You can drag and drop to the respective icons in the dock. See the Help menu in those apps for tips. Allow time to sync, and the file should appear in those apps in all your devices. You can also use Dropbox to access mp3s and videos across your devices.