DianeB

It’s only Tuesday, and I’m logging serious flight hours. We’ve found our lesson “tracks” and today everyone picked up where their instructors left off yesterday. They really know how to teach: small bites, repetition, looping, feedback, encouragement, gentle correction, it’s all there. Last night’s rain arrived at bedtime (yes!) and we awoke to cool, crisp air and broke out the sweatshirts. I had about three hours in the morning with Toby Walker once more as we waded deeper into the blues pool. We have three hours for lunch and free time. From 3:00–5:30, I’m camping out with Adam Levy on the art of arranging. Today’s arranging class turned into one on composition. As he explained ways to introduce variations (shift to relative minor, or parallel minor, or inversions, or—) “You can use a secondary dominant. Anybody know what’s a secondary dominant?” One hand went up, in the back. “It’s the dominant of a dominant,” I offered. Nine heads turned in my direction. “Check out ‘Peg’, by Steely Dan,” I ventured. May as well go all in. “There’s a quintary dominant: F#, B, E, A, and D in a row.” Eight faces looked at me like I just beamed down from a spaceship. Adam nodded and grinned. After dinner, I could have collapsed in my room and slept until September, but no, tonight was coffeehouse night. Show time. Back to the dining hall and my turn up front. I was next to last of fourteen (yeah, 13th) and these people can play. Anyway, I took a swing at “Good Time Charley’s Got the Blues”, whiffed on the solo, but acquitted myself well enough. It was a great room to play for, but by 9:30, I was fried. I didn’t even have a chance to grab a photo in a workshop today. Time for some shuteye.

Today was quite the workout — guitar and physical — after three days of travel, but I’m hanging in. My day started with Toby Walker and a workshop on basic blues soloing. Ten of us sat on a big back porch overlooking the water, playing our call-and-response bits as seagulls and ospreys circled overhead in the cool ocean breeze. What a terrific setting. Afterwards I moved to another porch just as instructor Denise Adorante was beginning her class. I took a seat at the end of the row of five of my classmates as I overheard her and a student deciding on a song. I heard “Harvest Moon,” and thought “oh, wow.” I cranked down my E string. Denise demonstrated the opening riff, but no one quite had it. (I was the only one in drop D, too.) She counted us in, I hit that open D and the riff. Six heads turned in my direction. Denise gave me a big smile. Things were off to a good start. Lunch, some free time, and then I spent the afternoon with our third instructor, Adam Levy, with a lesson on arranging, and another on basic chord melody. After dinner, most of us picked one of two jam groups for the evening. I attended the one led by Denise, as my opening gambit was to give each instructor equal time. We played about 20 Beatles tunes on an even bigger back porch overlooking the water. As the Maine night enveloped us and I squinted at the charts, I grumbled to myself, “I can’t believe I left the music stand and my lamp back in my room.” Now I know. We are playing and eating outdoors because it’s cooler with the breeze (no AC here), and partly because a fourth instructor came down with covid over the weekend and was just not up to teaching. Alice is trying to keep us safe. She had to shuffle the schedule just as we started, and I know the blues guys are disappointed to lose Mike Dowling, but Toby has serious blues chops and enough to go around. It just makes for slightly larger classes. We’re off and running.

Mmmmm……sssssss……..bzzzzzt…….copy, Nashville? …..sssss….. Do you copy, Nashville? Diane coming to you on Atlantic Maritime frequency 440 Hz … No, wait, that’s something else. Reporting from Bar Harbor station tonight. Do you read? Ah, I read you five by five. I’m on the College of the Atlantic wi-fi. Connection is spotty, but here’s my first report. I arrived today (Sunday) in Bar Harbor, Maine, to bring you the scoop on the Guitar Intensives camp. Happy to report that the lobster rolls and blueberry ice cream in town are just as terrific as when I was here in 1983 to explore Acadia. Not to worry, with all the walking I’m doing, those calories will soon be gone. The chipmunks are still here. No moose sighted, yet. We have been introducing ourselves and settling into our rooms. Our hostess is Alice Schiller, who has been producing this for several years. There are about 25 attendees, a good mix of veterans and newbies like me. As one would expect, the demographic is almost all northeastern: NY, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and two from Mt. Desert island itself. A fellow from Maryland is the only one I’ve met from farther south than me. I showed up early and quickly recognized one of our instructors, Adam Levy. I’ve been looking forward to meeting him after reading his book. We had a delightful visit; he took note of my well-worn fingertips: “Badges of honor!” he declared. After dinner al fresco at the college dining hall, we met for orientation. We have a full five days ahead, and I will get my exercise: we’re spread over four small dormitories and classrooms in three separate buildings. We’re right on the coastline, but it’s hilly and the paths are tricky. Nothing appears to be ADA compliant. If it rains, it will be, um, interesting. Breakfast is 7:30 (!) so I’ll have to sign off. Pictures to follow if the wi-fi cooperates. Tomorrow’s Monday, and it’s off to the workshops.

I know, Six, it’s so quiet. See my reply to Abe yesterday. There was no Gathering this summer, so we’re missing that, too. But you might be hearing from me a bit next week, hint, hint.

Hello, @Abe, and welcome to our forum. I saw your post in the new members section. Take some time to explore. Some background: the Guitar Gathering discussion board has existed as you see it for six and a half years. For about six years prior, going back to around 2012, it was operated as an adjunct to the Legacy Systems Learn and Master Guitar DVD Course which Steve Krenz created. Legacy also produced courses in piano, drums, and photography, but none of their online forums were as active as the one for guitar. DVDs were still popular at that time, and many of the early Learn and Master students, like myself, brought our questions and were rewarded with good advice and a delightful sense of community. By 2017, changes started taking their toll. Physical media plummeted in popularity as streaming took off. With DVD sales dropping, Legacy did not produce more courses. Steve's guitar course was a work for hire, so he did not own the rights to reuse the video and repurpose it for streaming. He needed to find his own niche. With no new students to keep it fresh, and no IT support from Legacy, the discussion board lost its vitality. Trolls and spammers started to infect it. But in its decline, hope emerged when one of our members proposed a weekend in Nashville just to meet, play together, and see the town. Steve noticed. He hurriedly arranged a meeting place, assembled some plans, and his annual conference — which had lost its sponsor, Gibson — was revived in 2015. There were 18 of us. The next year, about 70. Steve found a new service provider for a discussion board, and we migrated as much old content here as we could. He branded his new enterprise as Guitar Gathering. The annual summer conferences in Nashville have continued until this year, when Steve took a break to contemplate a new venue. He also produces the Fall Fingerstyle Retreats (this year's is sold out). As you may have noticed, he also streams a live lesson about every other Tuesday night, depending on his schedule. He's a busy guy, but the discussion board and the Tuesday night lessons are free. We're here to learn, share, and support one another. Participation on the forum has cooled somewhat since the first two years. There are multiple reasons, I think: the original cohort found what it needed and has largely moved on. Very few people these days seem inclined to take the time to construct complete sentences (like yours and mine), preferring instead to communicate in emojis, text-speak, and videos. That's where we are now. So, welcome again, from an old school, old timer. Make yourself at home!

I'm not sure I understand your question. What matters is whether what you're learning is helpful to you. Of course, learning all the notes on the fretboard is a valuable skill — in general — but even that is not necessary for playing satisfying music for yourself or with others. By the way, jams come in many variations. You might have to visit several before finding one that suits your taste. I wish you good hunting.

@randomguy Here's just a handful of what turned up.

The answer key to the lesson book is here.

One more, this one from the Newark (Delaware) Arts Alliance open mic last month. A nice audience of about twenty. Probably as good a profile picture as I'll get.

In Pat's upcoming release "MoonDial" (July 26, 2024), we'll hear Linda Manzer's new baritone guitar with nylon strings. Of course, it's not conventionally tuned, either. That's Pat. The man is always exploring.

Tonight: Elkton, again with my pal Dave — now in view!

And the Oscar goes to ,,, !