Festival of Guitars
Saturday, April 26  •  8 PM
$18/15

This mini-festival will celebrate that most essesntial of folk instruments, the acoustic guitar.
     With workshops and a concert, guitar fans will have the chance to spend a day with three masterful players.
     Come learn their best tips and techniques, or simply watch them inspire each other to ever-greater heights of fretboard prowess.

Our players are:

Brooks Williams
From Northampton, MA. Hailed as "an acoustic guitar god" whose playing is "electrifying," "dazzling," and "breathtaking" Brooks’ style is rooted in blues, and finds full flower with elements of jazz, classical and folk.

Dakota Dave Hull
From Minneapolis. He has received accolades from many, including Dave Van Ronk and Doc Watson. He’s known for his fleet and playful renditions of jazz, ragtime, folk, blues, Western swing, and vintage pop.

Ken Bonfield
From Massachusetts. Ken is a contemporary composer who uses Celtic nuances to express awe, bluegrass to express joy, rock and blues to create tension and humor, and classical to create depth and melancholy.

The only common denominator is the guitar itself.



Workshops
1 to 5 PM
$20 each or $60 for all three.

Players of all levels and style can take advantage of this opportunity to learn from three experienced and unique instructors. Take any one class for $25, or take all three for $60.

Brooks Williams
Adventuresome Guitar      1 to 2 PM
Students will learn to think of the guitar as a self-contained rhythm section. Topics include: bass runs, rhythm & groove, chords beyond the first four frets, and playing melody and chords at the same time. Brooks is a teacher in high-demand on the summer guitar camp circuit giving regular workshops at The Swannanoa Gathering, Alaska-Midnight Sun Song Camp, Cedar Run Song Workshops, Newport Guitar Festival, and WUMB's Summer Acoustic Music Week, to name but a few.

Ken Bonfield
Alternate Tunings: DADGAD and Beyond      2:30 to 3:30 PM
Bonfield will engage students in a discussion of the basics of playing altered tunings, focusing on the popular tuning DADGAD. Other alternate tunings will be covered, along with high-string and baritone guitars, and simple chord theory using the CAGED theory to help guitarists 'build' chords in any tuning. Bonfield will also teach about the different right and left-hand techniques a guitarist can use to flesh out their playing in any tuning.

Dakota Dave Hull
The Art of the Arrangement for Acoustic Guitar      4 to 5 PM
This workshop offers something for all levels and playing styles. Students are asked to have a tune that they can play (anything from Row, Row, Row Your Boat at the beginning level to, well, anything). Suggestions will be made as to how to expand (or reduce) the piece into something that can hold the listener's interest. Some of the topics likely to be discussed: Harmonization, Transposition to other keys and registers, Improvisation, Right Hand Technique, Playing nicely with others, Backup, Bringing it all together.