Our 2023 Seminars include:
The Versatile Guitarist (Nashville Session) with special guest John Jorgenson
Designed for the aspiring guitarist who understands that success as a musician depends on versatility, this course will incorporate many styles including blues, rock, pop, jazz, and country! Topics include warm up exercises, chord and harmony structure, improvisation, phrasing, scales and modes, and arpeggios. Right and left hand techniques which are essential to play the various styles will be covered. Skills needed for both studio and live performance will be addressed as well as tricks for dialing in the right sounds and tones needed to play in various situations. Students registered for this course will enjoy time in class with one of the most respected and versatile guitarists around, John Jorgenson. Don’t miss this special opportunity!
The Low Down (San Diego Session) with special guest Nathan East
Want to transform yourself into the best bassist you can be? Improve your playing, theory, knowledge and confidence with this one week intensive of all things Bass. Designed to help you get the most out of your bass, this course will help you walk better Jazz and Blues lines, effectively solo, understand how to use theory, reading music, technique studies and unlock the playing styles of masters like Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller, Stu Hamm, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius and Billy Sheehan. Whether it’s jazz walking, funk grooving, slap, tap, or just good ol’ hard rocking bass, you’ll experience a boost in your playing. The Low Down will transform your Bass-ic Life! Bass legend Nathan East will spend time with this class!
Essentials for the Complete Guitarist (Seattle Session) with special guests Greg Koch and Mark Lettieri
This course is designed to give students the tools needed to become a complete guitar player. Effective practice techniques, the knowledge of composition as applied to various styles, and fretboard visualization are just some of the many topics that will be covered.
Techniques such as alternate and economy picking, string skipping, legato, extended arpeggios, and intervallic lines will be discussed. Other tricks of the trade such as natural and artificial harmonics, movable scale licks, and the use of guitar effects will also be taught in this seminar. Regardless of which style you’re playing, you’ll need the skills taught in this course. The ‘Gristleman’ himself (Greg Koch) will visit and work with this class and so will Mark Lettieri so students in this class will be in guitar heaven!
Rockin’ The Blues (Toronto Session) with special guests Donna Grantis and Ariel Posen
This seminar is designed to focus on rock that wears its blues influence on its sleeve. We’ll be looking at some guitar players and bands that took what they learned from the original blues artists and forged a new style of rock. Using different tones and rhythms, but always with a nod to the past, some of the most memorable songs were created in this style. From the Allmans to Zep, you can hear how the sounds of the Delta were transformed into a powerful “new” sound that can still be heard influencing bands and players today. An in depth look at how to use major and minor pentatonic scales, the “blues” and “mixolydian” scales, string bending, hammer-on and pull-off techniques, double stops, fresh chord ideas, slide licks, wah-wah tricks and much more will be covered. This course is a must-take for any serious player who’s looking for fresh ideas to impress musicians and audiences alike by blending rock and blues styles together in their playing. Students taking this course will enjoy a visit from and work with Donna Grantis and Ariel Posen when they visit!
Virtuoso Rock Guitar (San Diego Session) with special guest Alex Skolnick
Rock players will love this course covering various rock styles as they will learn methods that will elevate their playing. Topics will include techniques such as harp and natural harmonics, sweep and economy picking, string skipping, and odd groupings using alternate picking. This course will include an extensive study on the use of chords and chord progressions in rock. Intervallic soloing concepts will be taught to give your solos melodic life. Other topics include scale/arpeggio application, modes made easy, and fretboard visualization. Students registered in this class will be blown away by a visit from one of the masters of rock, Alex Skolnick!
Creative Acoustic Guitar (Nashville Session) w/ Christie Lenée
Christie will share creative insights about the guitar including songwriting and composition approaches, opening up the guitar neck, right-hand fingerpicking patterns with creative examples, open tunings and variations, using harmonics and low drones, creating memorable guitar riffs, arranging acoustic pop songs for solo guitar, and an intro to percussive acoustic slapping/tapping. This class has been developed for guitarists/musicians of all levels. With a broad background in classical, jazz, folk, blues, rock, new age and modern pop music, Christie will share tactics in finding your own voice as a musician. The course will be focused on freeing yourself from traditional forms and on songwriting, performance and composition for executing your creativity. How do you break out of the box? How can you expand your palette of musical ideas? Come join Christie’s “Creative Acoustic Guitar” class for new perspectives. Together we’ll view the guitar as a broad, infinite pallet of musical possibilities.
Jazz Styles & Improvisation (Toronto Session) With special guest Lorne Lofsky
Get ready for a great week of learning jazz styles and applying jazz improvisation concepts to the guitar. These concepts are not just for jazz guitar enthusiasts – they can be adopted by all guitarists and applied to their favorite style. Open to any guitarist with a keen interest in improvisation, this course will emphasize ear training and a deeper understanding of the fingerboard by examining familiar chord and scale structures, creating new ones, and discovering fresh harmonic and melodic ideas. This course will help guide you through the various components of jazz improvisation and help you apply these components to the fingerboard. There will be lots of hands-on learning in this course. Further topics will include developing melodic content through guide-tone lines, modal chord/scale relationships, chordal voice leading, composition, and a variety of rhythmic styles from swing to samba to funk grooves. Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to expand your playing and composing as well as have one-on-one time with one of the finest jazz guitarists around – Lorne Lofsky.
Blues Power (Nashville Session) with special guest Kirk Fletcher
Want to get a fresh and thorough approach to expanding your fretboard vocabulary in all aspects of blues guitar improvisation and chordal nuances? Then this is your ticket to that goal. Explicit handouts during the week will pinpoint signature licks to play over all the common blues progressions you’ll encounter, along with specific chord patterns, turnarounds and rhythms you’ll need to have handy for group performing and jamming. Many of the topics will involve interactive playing in the classroom, inclusive of all the blues tributaries from Delta, Chicago, Texas and Jump Blues to other contemporary blues styles. A strong emphasis will be placed on developing a more expressive solo approach through various bending and vibrato techniques along with playing signature rhythm patterns that fit contextually to each blues idiom. Traditional and progressive blues artists will be discussed in exploring not only Pentatonic scale usage, but arpeggios, modes, target tones and double stops as other colorful solo options. Signature chord patterns to strengthen your rhythm guitar vocabulary over major and minor blues progressions and tunes will also be covered. This seminar will be joined by renowned blues guitarist Kirk Fletcher.
