ACOUSTIC GUITAR WORKSHOP

THIS YEAR NICK WILL BE COVERING A NUMBER OF TOPICS IN HIS ACCLAIMED ACOUSTIC GUITAR WORKSHOPS..................

1.       “INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE BLUES” Take your blues playing to the next level! After a lifetime touring and recording Nick will demonstrate and discuss aspects of guitar craft that will help you spice up your blues playing and build a diverse, interesting and entertaining repertoire . The workshop will cover chord inversions that work, rhythm variations, taking your lead to the next level and how to bring jazz and ragtime influences into your music.

2.       “BUILDING AN ARRANGEMENT FROM THE GROUND UP” Working with a well known melody, Nick will demonstrate and discuss how he might build a solo guitar arrangement. The tune will be a work in progress and develop towards a complete performance piece.

3.       “TECHNIQUES IN WRITING ORIGINAL GUITAR MUSIC” Drawing on knowledge accumulated from recording more than a dozen albums and playing and performing almost every style imaginable there are a number of useful devices that can overcome writers block- at least in an instrumental way!

  www.charlesguitar.com  

Bring your guitar and participate in Sergio’s classical guitar masteclass. You will benefit from the knowledge, experience and insights he brings to his teaching.
Here are some of the aspects we will be dealing with:

Technical:
• Fundamentals: Right Hand, Left Hand, Posture
• Good daily warm up drills
• Paying attention
• Tension and Stretching

Musicianship and Expression
• Change and dynamics.
• Applications of your metronome 
• Interpretation basics
• Background and context

Philosophy:
• Why Do you play?
• Creative vs competitive mindset.
• How does playing guitar contribute to your life’s journey?
• How to make playing and practice a creative experience.

About Sergio Ercole

Florentine born Sergio Ercole is a Melbourne virtuoso guitarist, composer and teacher specialising in Classical, Spanish and Latin guitar. Playing since the age of six, he has a Masters in Music from Melbourne University and a wealth of performance experience both in Australia and in Europe. He has won numerous awards including an Italian Government Grant to study classical guitar in Italy with Oscar Ghiglia and Alirio Diaz and has recorded a number of Spanish guitar CDs including Chitarra Mia and Spirit of The Mediterranean.

www.sergioercole.com

Jim Matheas Guitar Workshop

Ideal guitar setup, playability and optimum tone
What qualities to look/listen for in quality guitars

The class is an opportunity for guitar and music lovers to understand how an active luthier goes about to improve musicians instruments and what musical qualities to look and listen for when searching for a new good instrument.
(NOTE this is a general class looking at the problems characteristics discussing options of improving tone but not a how to class)

Course Outline

  A/ Criteria for ideal playing & sounding Setup covering the following topics 40minutes

1. Strings
2. Tuning
3. Intonation
4. Frets
5. Action String clearance settings
6. Guitar design Material
7. Joinery methods &adhesives
8. Guitar condition and assessment

B/ Assessment of at least one participant’s guitars 20minutes

An in class condition check and assessment playability and tone of at least one participant’s guitar.

  C/ Criteria of a good guitar/musical instrument 30minutes

What qualities to look for when buying a new guitar

  D/ FAQs 25minutes

Participants also get a chance to ask questions during the end of segments

  What to expect

As well as the above mentioned participants will walk away with an appreciation and more informed insight of how a simple but loved instrument like the guitar can sound beautiful once the thought and care is taken to do so.

• Learn hints in how to stop the guitar strings from slipping out of tune.
• Be amongst like minded people who share the same interest in the guitar
• To hear examples of guitars that are well setup.

  I look forward to contributing to this years workshop

Jim Matheas Guitars Bio

Based in Fitzroy, Melbourne since 1995 Jim Matheas is a luthier with experience in guitar making, repair and music performance with over 20 years of experience.

His philosophy in creating instruments stems from a deep understanding of music and the continual study of many fine instruments through his extensive repair work skills.

Matheas Guitars are individually handcrafted in the traditional manner with an emphasis on the voicing so the tone is harmonically rich and very responsive to a musicians touch.

His work is trusted by, and feels privileged to work with many fine musicians like Stephen Magnusson, Matt Walker as well as international touring artists like Eric Bibb.

Jims also offers specialised services within the areas of fretwork, tuning/intonation and setup work helping Melbourne ’s guitarists achieve great tone for the studio, onstage and the lounge room.

For a lot more information visit www.matheasguitars.com.au

Swing Guitar

The workshop will focus on important facets of the swing guitar style. With an emphasis on chord playing students will gain an understanding of the fundamentals of rhythm guitar and its relationship to single string soloing. The workshop will examine chord substitutions to the standard 12 bar blues form and jazz standards such as " I got ryhthm ".

Part of the workshop will be a close look at the gypsy guitar style with its dynamic technique that enables more rhythmic control of both chord soloing , accompaniment and single string soloing.

The workshop will be designed for begginers through to advanced students

Peter has been involved in playing music since 1980. He plays all kinds of Jazz, Western Swing,Old Timey, Rockabilly, Country, Big Band Swing, Rhythm and Blues, Bluegrass, alt pop as well as ethnic folk stuff from Gypsy Swing, Italian Love Songs to Choro Music. He is involved in bands such as Western Swing Band, The Dancehall Racketeers, Cajun music with Andy Baylors Cajun Combo - Rockabilly bands such as The Starliners , The Stringbusters and Flatfoot Shakers, Jazz with George Washingmachine & Julie O'Hara and The New Orleans Pelicans.R/B with Bopkick. Old Timey string band music and western Swing with The Baylor Brothers. He also does a lot of playing with Chris Tanner{ clarinet} and Mark Elton { Double bass} around Melbourne town and lots of Gypsy Jazz combos.

http://www.myspace.com/peterbaylormusic

Developing Confidence & Connection With Your Voice & Instrument.

Playing and singing can be natural for some, uncoordinated for others & somewhere in between. Every voice has it’s own individual tonal qualities & signature sound. We’ll be exploring how to make the most of your authentic voice to complement your playing.

*Breathing & Posture - getting balanced with & without your instrument.

*Vocal Production – vocal tone, singing with ease, pitching, onset, dynamics.

*Vocal & Guitar Exercises – strengthen your singing & playing at the same time.

*Song Keys – choosing the right key for your voice & a basic look at transposition.

This will be a fun & relaxed interactive session. Class members, who wish to perform for the group, will be invited at the end of the workshop to get up & sing a song.

Beginners to advanced welcome.

Please bring your instrument. Handouts with notes & exercises will be provided.

Jenny has performed as a guest singer / guitarist, and has supported the cream of Australia's live performers including The Whitlams, Paul Mac, Diesel , Richard Clapton, The Mighty Reapers, the incredible Ray Beadle, Cold Chisel's Steve Prestwich, and the amazing Jeff Lang. Jenny also performed alongside and supported Bob Brozman (USA) and Kevin Welch. She also works with John, Natalie & Kathy from the Morrison Family who are some of the leading players in the Australian Jazz community.

www.jmlang.com 

Workshop details,

In this workshop Matt will cover lap style and bottleneck playing styles with an emphasis on finding your own sound. Participants are encouraged to bring a guitar.

www.mattwalker.com.au 

www.jamessherlock.com 

Concepts for improvisation with Stephen Magnusson
 with special guest Sergio Beresovsky

–        Interaction exercises with sergio beresovsky (rhythmic interaction and improvisational approaches)

–         Sound and touch concepts

–        effects and sound manipulation

–        Chord scale relationship exercises

–        Fingerboard awareness (approaches to fingerboard mechanics -single string-2 string exercises – 3, 4 per string)

Stephen Magnusson and Sergio with conclude the workshop with a performance demonstrating these topics

Stephen Magnusson is one of the most accomplished, versatile and distinctive musicians in Australia. His incredible technique and astoundingly beautiful tone on his instrument have made him an indispensable part of many bands and film scores. Magnusson has performed/recorded with many National and international artists including Chalie Haden’s Music Liberation Orchestra, Meshell Ndegeocello, Rickie-lee Jones, Tim Berne, George Garzone, Jim Black, Paul Grabowsky, Vince Jones, Australian Art Orchestra, Katie Noonan, Christine Sullivan, Michelle Nicole, Assumptions Trio, Paul Kelly, SNAG,  Mike Nock, Enrico Rava, Arthur Blythe and many others. Stephen was awarded the Swiss Diagonal Arts Grant and the Pop Kredit award in 1999, Co-Winner of 2000 National Jazz Award, nominated for the Freedman Fellowship twice and the Melbourne Prize in 07.

Magnusson has released four recent CD's as a leader to rave reviews

  "This was music that quite literally glowed, that it was so beautiful it a almost made the audience afraid to applaud" The Age
 "Allowing his usually lyrical guitar lines to grow thorns he latched on to the surging pulse behind him, coaxing it into a ball of almost uncontrolled energy that left the stage smoking like gunfire". Sydney Morning Herald

www.mag.net.au

http://www.myspace.com/stephenmagnusoon