DianeB

You want a relaxed hand position and good timing. Doesn’t hurt to bring along a sandbagger, either 😆

Just a few more: mural at Gruhn’s nearing completion; Doug at the Gibson Garage; Kevin, Gregg, and Steve; chow time; Dom and Steve; on hot chick row with Roxanne and Barb 😉

As we slept, the drizzle drifted in, and we awakened early to a cloudy, cool, and damp morning. The kitchen filled with the aroma of pancakes, coffee, and bacon. No one is late to the table here, even at 7:30 am. We made certain everyone who needed transportation to the airport was matched with a ride, then it was one last round of student performances. Steve brought Sean McGowan back for the morning masterclass on how to practice. Finally, time for the guitars to return to their cases, and their owners to their routines. We packed our suitcases, tidied our rooms, and traded hugs. A few more sentiments for Steve’s memory book, a few more sips of coffee, a few more m&ms to go. As I hauled my bags up the slope to the car, the acorns once again crunched beneath my feet — a peculiar sound to come from someone walking on air. These are my friends, my guitar family, my consolation, my inspiration. Go in peace, and play with passion.

Just another day in guitar paradise. In the morning some exercises with Steve, and a few people demonstrated the results of their drop D homework. Our masterclass with Richard Smith generated more notes in my notebook than I can here summarize, beyond: “Have a goal, however small, and play it perfectly.” After lunch Steve discussed gear: cases, DIs, straps, pedals, and nail care. Here’s to Revlon nail buffs. John Knowles returned to the retreat for a seminar on arranging songs. During recess the first Fingerstyle Retreat Cornhole Tournament was dominated by team “Drop D’s” (Dunk-‘Em Dave White and Doug Benson) who snatched the trophy from team Capos and team Tritones, who go home with Honorable Mentions. The Carpetball matches were equally spirited. Wagering results are not available. Bring on dinner: roast pork, mac and cheese, corn on the cob, salad, and apple pie. More student performances followed, then Steve and Paulette held the drawing for the door prizes: subscriptions to Acoustic Guitar, Fishman acoustic preamps, and a grand prize of a Fishman Loudbox Mini. Our evening concert was a jazzy, mellifluous performance by Sean McGowan. Ice cream Coke floats polished off our final night. Early start tomorrow, and we have to ship out by 11:00 am. The Cloud is acting quirky. I have photos that are not yet available to post right now, so I’ll have more for you in a few days.

Another brilliant day began with a full breakfast and Steve’s practice advice on posture, hand position, breathing, and mindset. Gareth Pearson returned for a masterclass on the open chord A, E, and D families (which use an open root, a key to fingerstyle). At lunch, he invited me to join him, and our table got to know him better over delightful conversation with a man from Wales who doesn’t speak Welsh. We’re not using the upstairs meeting room this time, so the whole clan piled back into the fireplace room for Steve’s class on creating a fingerstyle arrangement. Improvement = Exploration, he stressed. Our homework was to explore drop D to see what we could find. Finishing out the instruction, he taught us the first measures of the intro to “Fire and Rain”. Then it was time to relax. I strolled the grounds, tested the rocking chair on the porch, noodled a bit in drop D, then stretched out for a nap. After dinner, a few more student performances, then two hours of Richard Smith’s fingerstyle fireworks. Wow, wow, wow. Milk and cookies and guitar stories around the fire pit, then lights out and the lodge fell quiet.

It’s been three years, but we are back at Deer Run once again. We arrived under a cloudless blue sky on a crisp fall afternoon with the Franklin countryside in full fall glory. This morning I collected Doug at the airport and we made a run to Carter Vintage Guitars. After lunch at M. L. Rose and a pilgrimage to the Gibson Garage downtown, the reunion was on. It’s a full house, with 25 attending, counting Steve and Paulette. Most of the attendees are first timers at the retreat. We assembled in the living room for Steve’s welcome and a group lesson. After dinner, we enjoyed a few student performances. These were followed by some tunes from Collin Hill, and finally our special concert by Gareth Pearson. Finally we adjourned to the outdoor fire pit for s’mores and commiseration. It’s good to be back. Forgive my brevity, but it’s been a long and happy day. Guitars and friends all around. For now, good night to all who are with us in spirit.

Ohh, I get it. Thanks for the clarification. That seems to be a thing on late night now, with Steven Colbert having St. Vincent, James Taylor, and Joe Walsh do the same. Just a marketing hook to bring in more eyeballs. 🤨

Are you sure? Must be an old rerun in your area. Not according to the schedule, and Joe is not listed as having appeared on Jimmy Kimmel this year. My local listings match the show's web site.

If you have been contemplating taking the plunge into full-featured notation software, good news: Finale is now priced at $299, a full 50% drop from its previous list price of $599. The learning curve is a bit steep (think Photoshop) but the help system is voluminous and there are many online tutorials to get the beginner up and running. Finale has been a huge boost to my music education. The ability to write music and hear it played back is priceless. The principal competitors to Finale are probably Avid's Sibelius and the open source, free MuseScore. I believe Steve uses Finale. Their capabilities are essentially equivalent; in my case the choice was a matter of compatibility with my theory instructor. Here's a sample of mine from a couple of years ago, created six weeks from the starting line.

It's September, so I suppose it's time to post the roster:

@Eduardo It's not important that the thumb stay on the three low strings, unless the music calls for it. It's important that the thumb does what you want it to do. Session 10 is a toe dip into the shallowest water of fingerstyle and classical. You can't go wrong with advice from Mauro Guiliani or, say, Christopher Parkening.

@Eduardo Glad you asked, because that question also arises frequently. I wondered myself. From the Harvard Dictionary of Music: "Suspension (under 'Counterpoint'): normally a dissonant tone occurring on a strong metrical position, having been sustained (or "suspended" or "prepared') from an initial attack as a consonance and converted to a dissonance as a result of motion in another voice. It is most often resolved downward by step." (Italics mine.) So whether to notate a chord as G2 or Gsus2 is merely a matter of convention and preferred usage. If we regard the dissonant note (the second or fourth in the chord) as "lifted", then the physical meaning of "suspension" is applicable to a fourth but not a second. Steve reports that "sus2" usage is more common in the UK, and "2" in the US. I can't say, because I've seen "sus2" over chord blocks in a lot of music books here in the US. He uses "2". It seems to be like "color" vs. "colour". And yes, this is the essence of almost all Western music from the Classical period on, tension and resolution. -- Diane

@Eduardo Good eye, my dear man! Yes, this has been called out here before, but I've forgotten where, so let's clarify. A major triad is the root, major third, and perfect fifth, abbreviated 1-3-5. A suspended fourth (sus4) chord is the root, perfect fourth, and perfect fifth, 1-4-5. As you observe, the middle pitch is raised a semitone to form this from the major triad. At this stage in the course, to avoid unnecessary complication, Steve uses "sus" to mean "sus4". There are also "two" chords, written as either "sus2" or simply "2", as in G2 (= Gsus2). These come later, in Session 12. He also makes another simplification here for the student, again for the same reason. He does not distinguish between "sus4" and "7sus4", a suspended dominant seventh, which is 1-4-5-b7, referring to both as "sus". The open position Em7 chords shown are variations on 1-b3-5-b7 (E-G-B-D). The open position Dsus (Dsus4) is 1-4-5 (D-G-A) and the open Esus (Esus4) is also 1-4-5 (E-A-B). The first position Fm7 is 1-b3-5-b7 (F-Ab-C-Eb). But the "Fsus" illustrated is actually an F7sus4. Fsus4 is 1-4-5 (F-Bb-C), but F7sus4 is 1-4-5-b7 (F-Bb-C-Eb). The A# pitch class is not in the key of F, but rather its enharmonic, Bb. Note the presence of the b7th (Eb). A true Fsus4 (1-4-5 = F-Bb-C) in the first position is 133311, or an Esus4 shape two frets behind a full barre. Even in Steve's full chord chard (attached), he has labeled F7sus4 as "Fsus7" (?!), complexicating things even more. Fsus4 does not appear on the chart probably because Steve has found little use for it. In classical guitar, it's not that unusual. The F7sus4 shape is slightly easier to form, and it works harmonically because the (added) b7 will function as a leading tone much like the 4th. Steve is not being misleading, but doing what all good teachers do in not introducing complexity too early and needlessly. But sharp eyed students will catch these moments every time! Chords You Need to Know.pdf

@Matt_B Hi, Matt, it happens. Life will always be there. Be kind to yourself and keep your expectations modest. Over the years the discussion board has accumulated (and Doug collated) a mountain of good advice that you can refer to as you need. But here in the beginning, I suggest you identify a small window of time in each day, 10 to 30 minutes, that will be free of distractions, in which you can focus on music. An appointment with yourself, every day, same time. No excuses. Steve explains here. If possible, it should have something of each of these four elements: (1) warm up, (2) skills, (3) songs, and (4) exploration. At first, it will mostly 1 and 2 and a bit of 4. Your finger tips might get sore, especially on a steel string acoustic. Don't practice with pain; your finger tips will gradually toughen and your endurance will grow. Have your guitar professionally set up, even if it is new, to ensure its maximum playability and proper intonation. The best advice on music practice I've found has been distilled into a delightful little volume by guitar instructor Tom Heany, "First, Learn to Practice". This and related books appear in my Reading List. Lesson 1: Enjoy your practice!

@Matt_B Relax. I can not find any errors in the tablature in my lesson book through Session 10, and it's a first edition (possibly 9th printing). It's possible I missed something, but it's unlikely because I made lots of pencil annotations, such as note names, and I would have corrected an error if I found one. My Bonus Resources book is version 1.2, and it's possible some typos were in the earlier printings of that. The only hiccup I corrected was p. 35, exercise 6: it should read "Key Signature = G" (not F#), and that's trivial. On p. 98 of the Bonus Resources book, Steve refers to typos in the tab of Canon in D in the Lesson Book, but both of mine match exactly, so those typos must have been in an earlier printing.

@Matt_B Welcome to the course and the discussion board! Yes, when you first open that lesson book and consider all that's ahead, it can seem overwhelming. But you will be making enjoyable music quite soon. Make full use of all the advice here (see Doug's link above), at least the parts that speak to you. Here is some of the best I've read. Whatever difficulty you might encounter, it won't be new — someone here will have met the dragon before and can help you conquer it. I collected a few other resources here that might be useful as you progress. Happy practice!

Wow, Ron, congratulations! That is quite the accomplishment. Take a bow! 👏

@Dbarker Hi, there, and welcome to our forum! Because you're new, some background could be helpful. You might already be aware that a number of years ago, Steve created a complete guitar course on DVDs and CDs, published by Legacy Learning Systems in association with Gibson. More recently, he has repurposed and enhanced much of that material in his Live Lessons and workouts. The "How Music Works" series is essentially the music theory portion of the course. The first lesson is concerned only with concepts: simple intervals (seconds), major and relative minor scale relationships, and key signatures. The practice of locating and playing major scales is addressed later, and quite thoroughly in his major scale mastery workouts. Of course, you can work on these sequentially or simultaneously, as you like. There are many systems and aids for learning the notes on the fretboard; find and use what works for you.