THE SONGWRITER'S GUITAR

Friday, Aug 31 - Sat, Sept 1

This is not your ordinary "be a better guitar player" guitar workshop. As songwriters who are known for their guitar skills, these artists will share with you how the guitar inspires and infuses their songwriting, as well as guitar techniques they use to expand and enhance their songwriting tool box and palette.

This one-of-a-kind workshop is open to anyone who has Wine & Music
Festival tickets. The fee is just $75 (before Aug 20) or $100 after that.

REGISTER HERE!

CURRICULUM:

DAY 1 - Fri. Aug 31, 10 AM to 5 PM
threadgill theater
 

10 AM - Noon Panel Discussion
Find out how these artists utilize the guitar as a tool of composition, arrangement and inspiration. They will describe and demonstrate concepts they will present during their
individual workshop sessions (below)

1 PM - 2:50 PM Concurrent Sessions (choose one)
 

A. Band in a Box with Tom Prasada Rao

details to follow

B. Playing the Music You Hear In Your Head with Jack Williams

*Making all your best ideas a reality on your guitar and in your song.
*Learning to listen and training the ear to serve one’s own
        creative process – in songwriting, instrument-playing,
        and all music-making.
*Non-technical approaches to understanding your own
         music-making, whether you’re a picker or a writer.
*Breaking away from ‘habitual’ playing, for musicians
        at all levels who’ve become stuck in creative "ruts", with
        concrete ideas for continued growth, years beyond the workshop.

C. Elegant Embellishment with Tena Moyer

This workshop will focus on embellishing and elaborating guitar parts on already existing songs so that the guitar part contributes to and complements the beauty and meaning of the lyric. We will explore principles of chord substitution, creating moving lines between chords, licks, picks, and other tricks that will transform your playing from humdrum to hotshot.

3 PM - 5 PM Concurrent Sessions (choose one)
 

A. Secrets fo Open Tunings Revealed with Tom Prasada Rao

details to follow

B. The Guitar as a Greek Chorus with Jack Williams

*Accompanying your own songs and voice on the guitar.
*Accompanying another musician or singer. How to be a
        creatively active listener while supporting someone else’s music.
*Accompanying a group: Mindful ensemble-playing. Finding
        your musical place among other instruments and voices. Finding
        ways to be a meaningful part of a song-circle, when you’re about
        to be the 15th guitar to join in!

C. Jazz for Folkies with Tena Moyer

This class will introduce students to jazz chords and progressions, as well as some of the rules that govern their use. We will also learn chord substitution, extensions and embellishment as mechanisms to spice up your arrangements. Right hand techniques for groove and style will also be covered, as well as transposition. We’ll swing it from so-so to sassy!

 

(Alternative option: The Six String Keyboard

This workshop will focus on the unique elements that make piano parts so rich and engaging and then transfer those principles to the fretboard. We’ll explore internal lines, harmonizing melodies, chord embellishment, chord inversions and other techniques to create guitar parts and songs that sound more like they’re being played on eighty eight keys than only six strings.)

DAY 2 - Sat. Sept 1, 10 AM to 1 PM
threadgill theater

10 AM - 11 AM Open Topic Q&A Forum

The panelists will take questions from workshop participants regarding the guitar as an instrument of composition, arranging, and inspiration as well as the meaning of life on earth and other cosmic conundrums.

11 AM - 1 PM Student Arrangement and Discussion Workshop

The panel will invite interested students to perform their songs and offer suggestions, ideas and alternatives regarding the guitar part (overall songwriting will not be addressed.) We will also use this time to identify why a guitar part succeeds or fails in presenting and enhancing the song. We would also like to have students discuss the development of their song and how the guitar part contributed to its evolution. This will also be an opportunity for the student to ask for and share ideas with the audience. Participants in this workshop is strictly voluntary.