Week 8 Instructions -- IMPORTANT!

Well it's time to put a feather in the cap of a session well done!
Here's what you need to know for next week:

Guitar 2 Rep -- We've narrowed it down to Satellite of Love, or Yer So Bad. Give those a good spit and polish this week. Special note: our grad show is going to be in Szold Hall in the new building across the street. If you're inviting anyone next week, tell them we'll start over there at 9pm (but we'll still meet in our regular classroom first in the old building)

Guitar 2 -- Mary and I made an executive decision last week that we'd play either The Old Country Waltz or Daydream Believer next Saturday, so please prepare those. OCW has bass note picking on beat one, and remember to connect C and G with walks down. (and change those Em chords to E chords everywhere except the last line. That one really is an Em. and The Em7s are all correct as well.) On DB, practice that riff and the two different Bm constructions, because those are the tricky bits. If you're inviting friends or family to the send-off show, tell them to be there at 11:45-12ish and grab a seat in the Mauer concert hall (where we have 2nd Half)

Guitar 1 -- Oh this is going to be SOOOO fun! I can't wait to show you guys off in your debut grad show! We picked Leaving on a Jet Plane and Mad World as our possible tunes. I think LoaJP is a bit of a safety song, and I challenge you to try and take on MW instead, but it'll be up to you to decide next week. On Sunday, we'll meet as usual until 12:45-1ish. Tell you guests to arrive about that time and get comfy in the concert hall for a great show.

Any questions or concerns, e-mail me and I'll do my best to clarify! I'm looking forward to taking the stage with you all!

IMPORTANT NEWS FOR G2R -- GIG INFO! PLEASE READ!

Friends! Very very important development!
I thought the Lou Reed show was the Friday after Xmas, but it's actually the Friday BEFORE on 12/20 from 7-10p. And it's at the Armitage location (much more casual venue), not Lincoln.
How does this affect your ability to play? Let me know if you can still make it.

In some ways, that's easier because it means we'll get to play the Graduation show the night before. Should you choose to want to play Satellite of Love for graduation (and I'm not saying you have to! It's up to you!), then we can play back-to-back dates just like a real band on tour!

I was even thinking that maybe we could all grab dinner first and/or a drink after and call it a band holiday party. Friends and family welcome. Sound good?

So speaking of Satellite of Love, the YouTube link is album version we're going from, but we'll likely end up capo'd (probably at 3) so that I can sing it in a better key. Of course that means that you won't be able to play along with the recording, so just be sure to take the capo off if you want to strum along with Lou.

I'll sing solo lead when we play Armitage, but I'll want you to back me up on the "oooooooohs" and the  "bum bum bums." All the Bowie parts in the background. Strumming pattern is that ONE-and-uh THREE-and-uh that we talked about. We'll have to practice watching each other for cues in the transitions between sections, but I think it's gonna sound awesome. Hear the fingersnaps in the outro? I think I'll task some of you with that because HOW FUN!?! And we'll also have to pick some teams for the vocal parts in that outro because it's many-layered.

Please spend some time listening to this so that we can really nail down the arrangement on Thursday.
I'm so glad you're going to do this gig with me! You've earned a proper spotlight.

Scroll down for event details on this page: http://www.oldtownschool.org/classes/detail/?courseid=2114
Tell all your friends to "register"--which is how they can buy tix in advance for $10.

Week 5 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

Everybody survived the food, fun, and family festivities of last week?
(Did you see the Google Doodle on Thanksgiving? It was a very cute animation of some woodland creatures assembling for a potluck meal, and the one critter who doesn't bring a dish thwarts the faux pas by whipping out a banjo and supplying some music! It's sweeter than pie and it won't make you fat!)

So Thursday's G2R had the night off, but I hope y'all drank just as many beers as you would've if we'd convened.

Saturday's Guitar 2 class dragged it's potato-and-pie-filled self through a terrific rendition of Rocket Man, which gave us the chance to learn some new minor 7th chords and breakdown some complex vocal phrasing. Far out! We also workshopped (aka "helped the teacher get ready for Second Half") a Nick Lowe tune called "Lately, I've Let Things Slide," which gave us a leg up on the Twin Spin I brought in!

And finally, Guitar 1 took a week to reflect on just how far we've come in a short time. We played through the whole catalog of the coursepack we've tackled thus far--minus John Denver. Sorry! That plane has left the terminal--and realized that we sure do know a whole lot of chords and strumming patterns. It's exhausting to play through them all back to back like that! We also chatted some about playing by ear, staying relaxed in our strumming, and experimentation. I'm really enjoying this journey with you guys! You ask such great questions!

As per the last post, registration is open for the next session and you can save a few buck if you sign up by 12/13 with the discount code "WINTERWONDER14." Hope to keep seein' ya!

Play It Again Discount!

It's that time again! The time to register early for the next session--and save 15 bones when you do!
Now through December 13th (that's one week from today, folks!) use "WINTERWONDER14" when you sign-up for next session.

Here are my course offerings--not that you have to sign up with me! I just want you to keep strummin', so if you have questions about switching to other levels or teachers, I'll be more than happy to help you out.
http://www.oldtownschool.org/teachers/Jane-Hanna/

Those of you in my current classes can simply sign up for the next session in the same timeslot! Guitar 2 Rep on Thursday, we're rolling on up to Guitar 3 (barre chords! you can run but you can't hide!). Guitar 2 on Saturday, let's enhance our Rep in G2R. Guitar 1 on Sunday, it's the second semester of freshman year! Sign up for G1R and you'll no longer be the newest of newbies!
Let's keep these bands together and make some beautiful music together.

HoliDAZE (aka week 4 recap--all classes)

Hey gang!
I took this whole week off at the day job (and I'm trying hard to stay offline!) so my blog mojo is all off. Here's hoping that all of you are getting a chance to relax and be merry with your friends and family! I'm hosting a party of 8 tomorrow for the first time, and I guarantee that there will be music.

I am genuinely thankful for each and every one of you! I love making music with you and appreciate your great attitudes and hard work. My classes are the best part of my week!

Guitar 2 Rep played a bit of the old and a bit of the new last Thursday. Tom Petty's Yer So Bad is a fun one to strum through, picking the bass notes on the downbeat, and keeping the rest of the strumming light and jangly through a one two three-and-four-and combination of quarters and eighth notes. Then we tackled I'm Only Sleeping by the Beatles. Use a slow, dramatic upstrum on the opening Eminor chord of each verse for a cool effect. This time the riffs are written as note names instead of in tableture (what, you wanted me to make it EASY for you?) Use the G-chord shape as the base position for your fingers, and you'll find that little melody easier to pick out. The White Stripes and Talking Heads tunes got a little polishing up too. Whew!

Guitar 2 has faced down and bested the Dminor chord (a personal problem chord for yours truly). Be My Baby is a great way to drill that chord into your fingers. We decided on a stomp-and-thigh-slap combo for the opening percussion part, as opposed to the knock-and-clap way it's written on the page. We also started working on The Old Country Waltz. Note the typo--the Eminor in the verses should be changed to regular E major chords. There's only one actual Em in the tune and it's in the very last line. Pick the bass note of each chord and strum the other two beats as usual. It's 3/4 time (hence the "waltz"), so keep it light. You can connect the C and G chords at the end of each verse using the "Where Am I and Where Am I Going?" worksheet in the front of your packet. Replace the measure of C with the little walk, noting the exception explained on the worksheet that for 3/4 time you eliminate the chord strum on the 2nd beat and just keep on a-walking.

Guitar 1 also covered some new stuff and some old stuff this week. We're masters of the G chord now, and we've also tackled C and Aminor! Whew! We're a full week ahead of the standard curriculum with that development! Use the Tear for Fears song to practice moving between those two chords. It's just one finger--your ring finger--that does all the work, but it's probably not used to having to move independently of the fingers around it, so you'll need to practice to build up that dexterity. We talked quite a bit about the musical alphabet, half steps, whole steps, sharps and flats, and why Bill Clinton Eats Fries! Don't worry if that all kinda blew past you. We'll keep on talking about how to find your way around a scale, musical keys and how to switch between them, and scales. It'll click eventually. With those two new chords, you've got a whole new world of songs open to you. Take a flip through the songbook and see just how many tunes are now available since you can play C, G, and Aminor! Between that and the huge list of tunes we've worked through in the handout, you should be able to keep the relatives entertained all day tomorrow!

Hope to see you this weekend but I understand if you're travelling or trapped in a tryptophan coma. E-mail me with questions! I'm trying to stay off electronic machines this weekend but I'll make exceptions for guitar friends.

Week 3 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

Oooof! I'm having one of THOSE weeks, my friends. Got a mammoth delivery of DIY furniture at home that's only 1/3 of the way assembled and my hands may already be permanently clawed by the allen wrench, and the day job sprung a surprise office move on us with 24 hours notice. It's chaos everywhere!

Excuses aside, I'm sorry for not updating sooner and I'm grateful to all of your for your patience and enthusiasm. Those of you who've e-mailed me this week, I'll be responding shortly. If it wasn't for the opportunities to make music with you fine folks, I'd surely go insane.

OK. So Guitar 2 Rep has taken the bold step of putting down their picks and starting to play fingerstyle! Repeat after me: Thumb-one-thumb-two
That's the pattern of alternating fingers we used with our right hands to play We're Going to be Friends by The White Stripes. Your thumb always plays the bass note, which will be the note the chord is named after, and located on one of the bottom three strings. Your first and second fingers cover the 3rd and 2nd strings respectively, EXCEPT when you play the D chord. For that your first and second fingers should scoot over to the 2nd and 1st strings, respectively.

Jack White only uses his thumb and first finger in the clip up there. Do as I say, not as he does! (but do notice the way that he plants the rest of his fingers against the body of the guitar. I do that too and you may find it helpful for keeping that right hand grounded.

We also worked on Satellite of Love. Watch the quick syncopation in the changes and the D-Dsus4-D-Dsus2 run. The best way to learn is by listening (and you'll get to hear Bowie's backing vocals. Bum bum bum!) Listen especially to the way the vibe changes in the bridge--the "Harry, Mark, and John" section. We didn't get that far in class but we'll work on it tomorrow.


Guitar 2 this week was a whirlwind of moveable shapes! We took a look at both forms of Bminor listed on the song chart, and we're going to take the "alt" version as our regular go-to. Remember you can even add a pinky to make it a 4-finger-full chord. (The pinky goes where the 3rd finger is on the chart, and the 3rd finger slots in next to it on the 4th string.) Daydream Believer is a good way to practice both that, and the slide-up-Aminor-2-frets version of the Bmionr chord. Plus...RIFF! Read the top number as the string number, and the bottom number as the fret number in those fractions at the bottom. 0 means no frets, so you can also think of it as an O for "open." We play that riff in place of the two measure of G, so where you see the asterisk, strum the G chord once and then off you go picking the melody. You end with a C chord, which takes you straight into the chorus.

We also talked about capos. We now know how to properly put them on the guitars, what they do, and how to read "Yo Mama's Capo and Transposing" chart in the course pack. Experiment! Take a song you love to play, and mess around with adding the capo. How does changing the key effect your ability to sing the tune? Harder? Easier? Look at the chart and see if you can figure out what key you've switched to by adding a capo. Start to get comfortable with the different keys so you know which ones you like and which ones you don't. Also, play Careless Love from the songbook in the key of C (inside the parenthesis), and then play it again using the shapes listed outside the parenthesis (which would normally be the key of A), but with the capo at the 3rd fret. Same song, same key, two different chord constructions! Neato!

And in Guitar 1 we may have set a record for curriculum covered. Sheesh! First it was two easy modifications of the E chord: E7 (lose the 2nd finger), and Eminor (lose the 1st finger). Another Saturday Night and I Am Trying to Break Your Heart are two songs that'll help you practice those chords, respectively.

We also learned a new strumming patter which combines quarter notes and eighth notes. It goes like this: 1 2 3-and-3-and. The first two beats, you just do a downstrum on the beat. Those are quarter notes. For beats 3 and 4, you'll play through the eighthnotes with a down-up movement on each beat. You can also think of it like this: D D DU DU

As if that wasn't enough to worry about, we talked a lot about the anatomy of the guitar and its particular care and feeding. That could be a class in and of itself! Never be afraid to pop into the Different Strummer Music Store at the School and ask questions about your machine. Do I need new strings? What kind of strings do I need? Is this guitar right for my body shape? What's with that buzzing sound? These are all things that a luthier--someone trained to make and repair stringed instruments--will be able to help you address.

...wait there's MORE?! I'm telling you. I can't believe we made it this far, but we also learned the G chord! There are two fingering options on the chord chart, but I highly recommend you get used to the 2-3-4 version first. Yes, I know it uses your pinky and that's awkward and painful, but you'll be much happier down the line if you can make this your go-to fingering for the G. Getting in and out of it is much smoother when you're in the context of playing a tune. Play through Hobo's Lullaby in the songbook for some good practice. Take it from Woody in the clip above!

Week 2 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

Hello friends!
I hope you had a nice holiday weekend. There are a lot of important songs that pay tribute to our veterans. What are some of your favorites?
I took a brief--and ultra-rare--hiatus from the internet this past weekend, so this update is late for some of you but better late than never!

Last Thursday, Guitar 2 Rep took on moveable shapes, starting with Fleetwood Mac's Dreams. If you know the Fmaj7 chord, you can play the whole song! Just start with that, then slide it up--same shape, same fingers--two frets so your index finger is at the 3rd fret. You have yourself a G6 chord! Switch back and forth between those two chords for a measure a piece, and you have yourself a Stevie Nicks fantasy. Just be sure to keep your crystal visions to yourself.
We took some more time with Psycho Killer after that, which also has room for a moveable shape in the chorus. Slide your F-shape up two frets to make the G! It'll make the leap to that Bminor on the bridge a little easier to pull off.
Finally, spend a little time wrapping your fingers around the Dsus4 and Dsus2 chords shown on the sheet for Satellite of Love, as we'll work on that a bit this week and it'll be helpful if you can make those moves with some speed.

In Guitar 2 last Saturday, we took a bold step forward into guitar playing by tackling the effing F chord! Lay the outside of your index finger across both the 1st and 2nd strings at the first fret, then add your other fingers underneath as per the chord chart. It feels weird, and it cuts into a fleshy bit of your finger that doesn't have a callus yet--but it will soon! If you're having a lot of trouble, check your body position. If your arm is glued to your side or it's resting on your knee, that's your problem. It need to be free to move! Also check that your wrist is dropped, and your thumb is on the back of the neck offering support for your pinching power. Keep at it. It'll take some time to build the muscle tone you need, but it'll come. Practice the Sam Cooke tune, and also our Song of the Session in the book (Dink's Song).
We also talked a bit about musical notation, which you don't have to know how to read to play guitar, but it makes following tunes in the songbook a bit easier. Here's a handy chart of notes and rests that I did not make!

Finally, Guitar 1 is in full musician status now, with enough chords to play songs in the key of A! (A, D, and E--which really ADEs in your coolness! Anyone? Anyone? No?) That A chord probably feels kinda icky, since you have to cram three fingers onto three strings right in a row. It's a good chance to check and make sure you've got good curvature in your fingers so you're playing the strings with the tips. When you get frustrated, play some E chords! I find it just so terribly satisfying to strum all 6 strings and let 'em ring. That's your rock and roll reward for practicing hard. TWANG!
Take flight with John Denver this week, and next week we'll tackle our first minor chord and our first 7 chord. What does all that mean? Come to class and find out!

Guitar 1, Week 1 Recap

"I'm so lonely. I wish somebody would pick me up and practice like their teacher told them to!"

The hardest part is already over. You've sat through your first-ever guitar lesson and you're still alive! You did not die from embarrassment or lack of talent. It's all smooth sailing from here. Trust me.

Welcome to my class, this blog, and the Old Town School family! We're all real glad you came.
If you scroll way back to some of the earliest entries here, you'll find some tips for beginners from when I was a beginning teacher myself!
Here's that clip of Jambalaya I mentioned in class: http://allsixornone.blogspot.com/2013/03/son-of-gun.html

And, though we didn't play it in class, if you stayed for Second Half (and if you didn't, tsk tsk you missed some fun!), or flipped through the song book then you know that Pay Me My Money Down is a tune you can play with D and A7, and it's one of my faves. Here's a post about that:
http://allsixornone.blogspot.com/2013/03/week-1-pay-me-or-go-to-jail.html

Also in the book, take a look at Good News, Skip to My Lou, Oh! Susannah, and My Home's Across the Smoky Mountains. All of those are tunes you can already play! Just remember that the space in between those goal posts is one measure, and one measure equals 4 beats. Play the chord written above the staff for the number of measures shown until it asks you to switch chords. You're reading music!

Remember the names and numbers of the strings? (here's a refresher: http://allsixornone.blogspot.com/2013/03/string-theory.html)

Remember how to number your fingers?

Remember how it's only rock and roll and you're allowed to relax and have fun with this?

If your answer to any of the above is "no," just drop me an e-mail so we can chat it out.
Keep on strummin'!

Guitar 2, Week 1 Recap

Welcome to friends old and new, it's a brand new session of Guitar 2! (poetry is hard)

We hit the ground running with some new chords. First off is Dm7, which requires you to execute the rather daring maneuver of playing two strings with one finger! Cover the first AND second strings at the first fret with the outside edge of your index finger. It's easier to use that part of your finger because it's harder. If you try to do it with the pad, it's just too squishy to get a faithful sound. Complete the chord with your second finger on the 3rd string, second fret. You only strum the bottom 4 strings, and there you have it. If you're having trouble getting enough pressure for those bottom 2 strings, try adjusting your wrist and thumb position by bringing them down. Moving in and out of that chord will require a sort of deflating-reflating action with your whole hand position. A little muscle pain inside your hand is normal as you build the tone there, but anything shooting down your wrist is wrong, so if that's happening, let go right away and shake it out and start again.

Gershwin's Summertime and Slade's Cum on Feel the Noize are both good tunes for practicing that chord--though the latter is not good for practicing spelling! I mentioned that there are some admirable outfits in Slade's video oeuvre, so I hope this piques your interest and you look up some more of them. Wow. That's all I can say. We're doing the tune in a different key because, though the gravel in his voice is as manly as it gets, this dude sings HIGH and I can't get up there!

Summertime also requires an Fmaj7 chord, which I said was sort of like a compressed C chord. You'll put your first finger on the 2nd string at the first fret, your second finger at the 3rd string second fret, and your third finger at the 4th string third fret. Three strings in a row, three frets in a row, three fingers in a row! You only strum the bottom four on that one too, and it should sound kinda dreamy and cool.

(The video version of Summertime I posted is in a different key and is of course a totally different arrangement from what we're doing, but hey, it's JANIS!)

Both of these new chords are setting us up for the big news of next week--THE F CHORD! Keep on strumming, because we've got work to do.

Night of the Living Guitar 2 Rep Students

"The zombies were having fun..." and I think we did too!
Those of you who were able to make it out to Guitar 2 Rep's SPOOKTACULAR last night--thank you! (The rest of you REALLY missed out)

We played some Halloween favorites: Science Fiction Double Feature, Everyday is Halloween, and the Monster Mash. Along the way, we picked up some simple riffs and a new F#m chord. CHILLING!

So, those three tunes were just some fun novelty songs for the holiday and we probably won't revisit them this session unless you all demand it. On the other hand, the fourth tune is one I want to keep at, so we'll work at it again next week. It's Psycho Killer by Talking Heads. There are a lot of really incredible live versions of this tune on YouTube, each with its own unique variation. This is the radio edit version though, and the one that most closely resembles the chart we're working from. For this one, we have some choppy strumming to master, a simple but satisfying bass melody, a moveable F shape that can be slid up 2 frets to form a different G voicing, and a spruced-up four-finger version of the B minor chord. TERRIFYING! (not really though)
We'll break all of that down again next week for those of you who were all tied up last night. #MummyPun

Graduation Gushing!

This is probably the best band photo I've ever been in! (and thanks for requesting that I be included, Thursday G2R!!!)

The Saturday G1R Gents of Distinction!

Sweet Sunday aka G2R!

Ohhhhhh you guys!!!! What a week! Never have I had so much fun at graduation shows, or been more proud of what my students have accomplished! And once again, a ton of people--fellow teachers, OTSoFM staff, other students--pulled me aside to tell me how great my class sounded. I hope you can all appreciate how hard you rocked, and that you'll keep on strummin'!
I know I'll be seeing a lot of you next session, and to you and all the rest of you who'll be moving on down the road--it's truly been a pleasure to work with you! Thanks for your patience, hard work, laughing at my lame jokes, and making me a better teacher every week.

Here are some videos. Thanks to John, Mrs. Larry, and...my mom for the videography. (the last person on that list got a little flustered with her phone--and also 'cause I called attention to her from the stage--so there's a little chunk missing from the beginning of the song, but she got most of it!)

Thursday Guitar 2 Rep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJpj2vWunIQ
(The riffs are DEAD ON! And I love how big and boomy it sounds with so many of us all at once)

Saturday Guitar 1 Rep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfpBs6-HFs8
(Holy cats I can't believe how awesome the singing is! You were singing so loud and proud that you can hardly hear the riff...which also sounds awesome!)

Sunday Guitar 2 Rep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPesOOWtHRM
(Nice job on the harmonies, Katie! All of you were totally locked into the tempo and you nailed the intro--even if there isn't video evidence.)

Take a bow!
And see you this week in the new session.

Graduation Week!

So...uh...the only reason I haven't updated the blog until today is because I am so completely 100% confident in the rockstar preparedness of all of my classes for graduation this week, that didn't even think it necessary! (And it's totally NOT because I moved last week and it's taken me this long to locate my laptop and its power supply in separate boxes)

Tonight tonight tonight! Thursday's G2R is ready to burn down the stage with EITHER Heart of Gold OR September Gurls. Too bad we can't play both, but them's the rules. We'll meet in our classroom first before heading to the concert hall for a 9pm showtime (tell your friends and family!).

Oh, and hey Sunday? You guys whittled it down to the same two songs. Weird! Our show will start at 12:45ish for any guests you might be bringing, but we'll start in the basement as per usual.

Guitar 1 Rep, I'm very exited to play either The One I Love or Brown-Eyed Girl with you fellas on Saturday at 11:45am-ish, after we meet in the classroom to get tuned-up and make some decisions.

If you've got questions or concerns before show time, send them my way and I'll do everything I can to get you feeling chuffed in time for the show.

It's been an incredibly fun session for me, and I want to thank you all for your hard work, positive attitudes, and general awesomeness. Thanks for being my students, and congratulations on a job well done! Hope to see you next session.

Heads-Up Sunday Students!

Hello friends!
If you're heading to the School on Sunday, please be aware that the parking lot will be CLOSED from 10a-4p. (Our friend Arlo Guthrie is in town and the space is needed for some of the festivities around his visit.)
Plan to leave a little earlier to find street parking.

Guitar 1 Rep Week 5 Recap

Fellas, we've come a long way!
I enjoyed pausing this week to review where we've come from. It's a nice long list.
We played through Wilco, Bob Marley, The Band, Jonathan Edwards, and The Drifters. An impressive songbag after only 4 weeks on the job.

The new tune this week was R.E.M.'s The One I Love, which features a simple riff. Remember to read the fractions at the bottom of the page this way: top number = string, bottom number = fret.
You play those 4 notes in place of the first measure of Em in the "fire" section. The rhythm is "One...and three and..." and then you strum through the measures of D and Em as written.

Spend some time with that scale worksheet I handed out. If you thought my explanation of scales was confusing, try making sense of it on Wikipedia! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_scale
Sheeeeeeesh! Ignore all that, and just think "Do-Re-Mi..." and you're golden.

Next week, more songs, more riffs, more laughs, more memories!

And don't forget to sign up for the next session by this Thursday night to save yourself $15 with the code "FALLFOLK13." I'll be teaching Guitar 2 on Sundays at noon, SATURDAYS AT 11AM! so let's keep the band together and learn some new chords and skills together without any interruption in the routine!

Guitar 2 Rep Recap, Week 5

I'm breaking up the recaps by class this week because egads we covered a lot of turf, so I have many, many videos to post. (and they're all formatting wrong so my apologies for the lack of Feng Shui in this post!)

First of all, here's a live version of the Dylan tune we've been working on (in the Sunday class only. Thursdays, if we get time I'll bring this in for ya later). Watch Bobby's fingers closely and you'll see he's doing the very same C-in-a-G maneuver you're all getting a handle on.





Both classes got a taste of Big Star (and I hope you liked it!). I still can't believe this tune came out in 1974. Sounds like something you would've heard on the stage at Pitchfork this summer--though I bet you anything that all the bands on that bill are Big Star fans! The only thing tricky in that tune is the intro, but if you think of it in terms of moveable shapes, it's simple enough. Start with a D shape at the 7th fret (your 3rd finger will be on the 8th fret). Then make a Dm7 shape--which is like an F minus your 3rd finger--at the 5th fret (2nd finger at 6th fret). Finally, keep your fingers in that shape but slide them down to the 3rd & 4th frets. You'll strum the open D string through all of those moves to create a kind of background drone.

Incidentally, the documentary I mentioned is called Nothing Can Hurt Me. If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen at the Music Box Theater, and I came away completely inspired as a songwriter. It shows you all the beauty and horror, the excitement and the boredom, and all the other polarizing moments that comprise belonging to a band.


After that, we started in on Under the Milky Way, which I know was a challenge. Between new chords and a new strumming pattern, it's a lot to take in! I assure you that the best way to combat your anxieties is to listen to the song over and over again. Once it's in your head, your hands will know how to make sense of the two-measure strumming pattern. Be sure that you're sticking to the open chord version (starts in Am).
If you have any question or confusion about any of the special chords in that tune, just drop me a line. Next week we'll go over the version in Em with our capos at the 5th fret (so be sure to bring a one)! It's gonna sound SO COOL when we're playing two different voicings at once!

Don't forget to sign up for next session by this Thursday at midnight if you want to save $15. The code is FALLFOLK13.

Keep on strummin'!

Music Mania

In last night's class, we talked about songs/albums we've listened to so many times that we've either driven our families (or ourselves!) insane. I mentioned that there was a comedy bit about what happens when you play Tom Jones for too long on the jukebox...and here it is! It's called "The Best Meal I've Ever Had," by John Mulaney. Set aside 6 minutes for giggles, and press play!

Sign-Up Early and SAVE!

Use code FALLFOLK13 online or mention the code when you register by phone or in person. This promotion ends Thursday, October 10th, 2013 at midnight. This discount is good for 8-week adult group classes in Session 6 only.

Offer expires Thursday, August 8th, 2013 at midnight, so get on it!

Here's a direct link to my class offerings (though you're under no obligation to sign up for MY classes.
http://www.oldtownschool.org/teachers/Jane-Hanna/

If you're interested in a level I'm not teaching, ask me for an instructor recommendation. We have an amazing staff with a diverse array of musical tastes and teaching styles, and I can help you find the person whose right for you (because I've been a student with just about all of 'em myself!).

Just keep on strummin'!

Week 4 Recaps -- All Classes

How in the heck are we halfway through the session already?!? I don't understand where September went. Wowzers.

This week, all of my classes made staggering progress. You're all making it very hard for me to keep up! I'll have to start prepping twice as much material for class because you're zipping through it too fast!

In Guitar One Rep, we took a look at Evangeline again in 3/4 time, plucking the bass notes on the downbeat. Sounded pretty good!
Then we looked at Jonathan Edwards's tune Sunshine. (Here's a little more on him, since I didn't know his background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Edwards_(musician))
On that tune, we're using the BIGlittle strumming pattern. Play straight eighth notes all the way through, but add some particular emphasis on the 1st and 3rd beats. ONEandtwoandTHREEandfourand. It'll sound like a train going chug-a-chug-a. You can further magnify that effect if you loosen your grip on the frets with your left hand during the "little" strums in order to add a muting effect.
We rounded out the day Under the Boardwalk, with some fun two-part vocals and a bit of stoptime on those final Eminor chords. Boardwalk! Boardwalk!

In Guitar Two Rep, we spent most of the evening hammering out Imagine (with nice, fresh, correct song sheets!), and then took a look at Harry Nilsson's One. Here the trailer for the documentary I was talking about.  If you can track it down, I highly recommend it. What an incredible story!
There's nothing terribly difficult in that tune, although the B7s are probably a bit uncomfortable, and the Bminor (alt) likely needs some of your attention too!

Sunday's class also had time to look at a Dylan tune (don't worry, Thursday. We'll look at it this week if we have time). It uses a chord I call the "C-in-G". Play a regular G chord for the first down-up pair of eighth notes on beat one, then on beat two you'll keep your first and 4th fingers where they are (at the third fret of the 6th and 1st string, respectively) but with your index and middle fingers you'll make the shape of a C chord minus its lowest note. A C chord IN a G chord. Get it? Alternate between a regular G on beats 1 & 3, and a C-in-G on beats 2 & 4 while strumming through down-up eighth notes.  Substitute that pattern anywhere you see a full measure of G on the songchart.
On the D chords at the end of each verse of the Dylan tune, we switched to a triplet strumming pattern. That's when you subdivide each beat into three parts: 1-and-a-2-and-a-3-and-a-4-and-

a (as opposed to subdividing it into two like we've been doing when we play eighth notes). You can also think of the word "triplet" as having 3 syllables--"trip-a-let". Say that outloud four times and you'll be hearing the rhythm of measure of triplets! It's 12 notes altogether, and you can do them ALL as fast downstrums. It feels very rock and roll.

We also used triplets at the end of the first two verses of Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which we dusted off and added the Bb chord to our vocabulary.

WHEW! That's a huge to-do list. Keep up the incredible hard work, you guys! I'm awfully excited about this session so far, and it's only going to get better from here.

For Guitar One Rep

Hey dudes!
Here's a clip of Evangeline from "The Last Waltz." The production quality is a little corny but you can't argue with how gorgeous the music is! Remember we're in 3/4 time here (ha! The Last WALTZ! And we're doing a WALTZ! Get it?! A-hem.)

We're also picking the bass note on the first beat, which we locate by looking for the lowest (in terms of its sound, NOT it's proximity to the chord!) note in the chord, which is the first string your pick makes contact with when you downstrum. Pluck-strum-strum all the way.
Your bass notes will all be located on the 6th, 5th, or 4th strings, aka "the bass strings." See how that works?

Apropos of nothing...there's a documentary about Levon Helm called "Ain't In It For My Health" that I noticed has just come up on Netflix streaming. I only watched the first 30 minutes of it today but I already know it's worth recommending.
See you Saturday!

For Guitar 2 Rep: IMAGINE a correct chart!

Hello Guitar 2 Rep friends! Sincerest apologies for the gaffes on this week's chart. On Thursday we only made it past the first riff, but it turns out I was off by a digit on ALL the extras at the bottom of the page--as we discovered on Sunday. Here's a better chart with the errors fixed: Corrected PDF of Imagine

If you don't have access to a printer before the next class, just subtract 1 from each number listed in the tabs. (so 3h4 becomes 2h3, etc.) Speaking of which, Ryan from Thursday night suggested sliding that up instead of doing a hammer-on, which I think is an EXCELLENT idea, and that's how we played it Sunday. Use whichever technique you prefer. On the corrected chart, I changed it to "2s3" for "slide.")

Session 5, Week 2 Recap (all classes)

We're in full swing here this session, and all of my classes last week were simultaneously hard work and a lot of fun (at least for me! If I'm wrong about the fun part, please let me know!)

In Guitar 1 Rep, we tackled some reggae rhythms with Three Little Birds. (incidentally, when I got to Second Half after class, my colleague Michael O'Toole happened to be playing with a "three little birds" puppet--robin chicks in a nest--that he had in his guitar case from having taught a Wiggleworms class for kids. If only I'd known that was in the building, we could've had PUPPETS in class! What a missed opportunity!)

We worked on a strumming pattern that uses sixteenth notes--each measure is divided up into sixteen (very slow!) counts, with four in each beat: one-e-and-a-two-e-and-a-three-e-and-a-four-e-and-a
Put the emphasis on the "e"s and the "a"s, which should be up-strums. Eventually, you can leave out the strums on the numbered beats and the "ands" altogether and mute the strings there instead. (Leave in a downstrum on the "one' and the "three" though, otherwise you'll be too decentered)

There's a nifty version I found on YouTube from a soundcheck up there.


In Guitar 2 Rep, we continued our streak of "stage bait" tunes with Heart of Gold. The main bit of fancy business there is the new technique called "hammer-on," in which you use a percussive action of the finger on your left hand  against the fretboard to produce a sound from the string, instead of picking it with your right hand. Here's a handy video tutorial (never mind the "pentatonic" stuff. Just get the concept and try the exercise on any old strings).


There's some "stop-time" rhythms that you'll see on your song sheet where the asteriks are. You can follow my notes, or you can listen to the man himself in this great clip. It takes him awhile to find the right harmonica, but once he does, boy is he great.

Keep at it! I'm learning from my own practice getting ready for my gig next week that techniques which seem impossible--and how could they EVER get easier if they're so impossible?--do actually suddenly improve if you keep at it. Keep on messing it up and eventually the mess will start to straighten, I promise!

Shameless Self-Promotion

Hey gang!
My sincerest apologies that the weekly recap is so late this week. Every free moment I've had has been devoted to rehearsals for the Bowie gig I mentioned (so at least it's a music excuse)!

I'll post the recap shortly. But if any of you are interested, here's the facebook event for the show: https://www.facebook.com/events/722164587800770/

It's Monday, 9/23 (oh my gosh that's NEXT WEEK!) at Martyrs'. Show starts at 8pm.
We'll be performing two albums live in their entirety--Ziggy Stardust and Station to Station.
I'm nervous as all get out because I'll be playing a lot of guitar techniques I've never tried before, and I'll be playing a 12-string guitar for the first time.
Hope to see you there. I need the moral support!

Session 5, Week 1 RECAP (all guitar classes)

Hope you're all enjoying this sudden return of summer! I for one am ready for flannel and cute boots, but maybe that's just me.

Here's a rundown of our classes last week, for your reference.

In Guitar 1 Rep on Saturday morning, we broke out a trusty Wilco tune to get back to guitar after the summer (or even longer!) break. California Stars has a great, simple chord structure that just repeats and repeats and repeats, so you can stop thinking about your left hand altogether. It goes AAEEDDAA. That's it! After a few times through, your fretting hand should start to know what to do automatically and you can focus on strumming instead. For that, we talked about "The Golden Strum," aka the Tequila Sunrise strum, aka the folk strum. It'll become an old friend soon enough!
We broke it down into a couple of steps. For starters, we down-strummed just once on beat one (a quarter note), and then down-up down-up down-up (eighth notes) on beats 2 & 3 & 4.  You can stay at that stage if that's where you're comfortable, but when you're ready, try dropping the downstrum on beat three. You'll still play the upstrum on the "and" of three. It feels pretty funny at first to skip a main beat like that, but the secret it to keep your hand moving as if you were still strumming, just don't make contact with the strings. Written with arrows, it looks like this:
V   V^  ^ V^
You could also think of it like this:
D  DU  U DU
Here's Bob Seger doing a nice little cover of the tune at a recent concert. He's using different chord shapes than we are because he's got a little device called a capo on the neck of his guitar. We'll talk more about that later.
(it won't let me embed this one for some reason, but click here for the goods:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOUbxsRlkO8

Next week we'll start some reggae strumming and look at a couple of songbook tunes to revisit some of the lesser-used chords you touched on in Guitar 1. Practice well!


In Guitar 2 Rep on Thursday night AND on Sunday afternoon, we got back into shape with Yellow Submarine, as requested by Tom. It's a simple tune in terms of chords, but it has a deceptive rhythmic pattern. In the split measures, be sure to give the first chord 3 beats, and only one beat to the second chord. When you start to swing it a little, that last beat will start to feel like a pick-up note that leads into the next measure. (Less like "four, one" and more like "and one") That's the right feel, but just be careful not to get lost on the chart!

Here's the trailer for the Yellow Submarine film. (you can find the whole thing on YouTube but it's a Russian bootleg so I'll let you decide whether or not to go for it)
This movie was kind of traumatic for me when I was a kid. But seeing the lads being cute in the flesh at the end heals a lot of wounds!

We also dabbled gently in Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which Ryan from Thursday requested, in honor of what would've been Freddie Mercury's 67th birthday. As I mentioned, that's going to be sort of a project song. There's a lot of little things to learn so I think we'll just take it a chunk at a time over several weeks. Last week it was the movement from D to Dsus4 through the cunning use of the pinky finger. Keep it simple, don't over think it, and focus on getting your right hand to behave. The first-stage strumming pattern is down-up down-up (rest on 3 & 4 and swing it just a little bit). You throw your pinky in on the second downstrum, which falls on the 2nd beat, and then you take it right back off again for the upstrum on the and. Don't worry about the extra chuck-a-chuck-as you'll hear in the Queen version on the 3rd and 4th beats. We'll get to those later.
Here's Freddie and the gang making their live US television debut on Saturday Night Live in 1982. Freddie is playing a 12 string guitar, but the chord shapes should look pretty familiar to you nonetheless! His voice was all strained, allegedly from having fought with their manager rather loudly the night before. He's still twice the rock star that anyone else is!

Remember to e-mail me questions/comments/concerns/requests/awesomestuff anytime! jane(dot)hanna(at)gmail(dot)com is the best way to get me.

Session Five -- LET'S DO THIS!!

Hello and welcome to the first post of Session Five at the Old Town School.

To my old friends, and to those of you who I met for the first time this week--thanks for being my students!
We're going to have a lot of fun together this session, and we'll all be better guitar players for it too. Nice how that works out!

If you're new to the blog, I invite you to look back at the very first few posts for some of the getting-to-know you stuff. There are lots of newbie resources in the early posts too so head over there and have a look.

I'll post weekly recaps from here on out (starting tomorrow with the Week 1 rundown), but for today just remember that EVERYONE is a bit awkward at the beginning--even Bowie. You may be feeling scared of your new instrument, or rusty on your trusty old one. But at least you aren't wearing salmon-colored bellbottoms on television. Keep on strumming!

And last but most certainly not least...

Sunday's Guitar 2 class photo makes me soooo happy! I can't tell you how much fun I had with you guys. What a pleasure to have TWO songs that were stage-worthy. The agony of deciding is the best kind of pain--but I think we absolutely made the right decision. You picked up my wacky percussion arrangement flawlessly and the crowd loved it. (Did you hear how the 2Rep teacher after us didn't even want to go on?! He was totally hung up on our tune.)
Here's the video a friend of mine from the Guitar 4 class was kind enough to shoot. I watched it at my desk at my day job and got a little choked up. It is such a pleasure to hang out with you guys on Sunday, and the fact that we make some excellent music together is just a nice bonus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Q4cwjVO6w&feature=youtube_gdata

I'm really looking forward to seeing you all again next session for the ALL REQUEST G2R!

And here's a bonus pic of Keith from his kickass djembe performance! Have a nice little break, everyone (but keep strumming)!

Elvis has NOTHING on Saturday's Class

The few, the proud--the GUITAR ONE GRADUATES!
Chris and Inaae, it was such a pleasure to take the stage with you on Saturday. You did a terrific job with Heartbreak Hotel, and the audience was really into it. You nailed the last-minute triplet strumming pattern I threw at you, and it brought the house down. Did you hear those cheers!?

I'm incredibly proud of you and want to thank you for your hard work and dedication this summer. Look how far we came in just 8 short weeks--from barely knowing how to hold the guitar, to performing an Elvis song on stage. It's a remarkable achievement and I hope you had fun doing it.

Keep playing, and I'll see you again in Guitar 1 Repertoire!

Handsome AND Talented!

Oh my Thursday dudes, you make me feel all warm and fuzzy. You did a GREAT job last night at graduation and I'm very, very proud of the hard work you put in this session. It's such a pleasure to be your teacher. Can't wait for next session's all-request curriculum! Seriously--your suggestions were spot on and I'll plan the coursepack accordingly. (Mark? E-mail me a tune or two you'd like to learn and I'll do my best to bring it next session. I've already got a Pink Floyd jam lined up for you, Margaret, but lemme know what else you wanna do.)

A buddy of mine secretly recorded the show! Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fLoKvpV9faw

I like how it looks like John has 3 legs because Tom was hiding out behind him. You sound GREAT! And just listen to the hoots we got on the riff! Well-earned, my friends.
Have a nice minibreak, and I'll see you soon!

Sunday SUNDAY Sunday

So it's down to you, my Sundays! We talked about doing either Daydream Believer or Be My Baby, so please work on both this week.
I don't want to put any pressure on you either way, but it may be fate that we go with the Ronettes, because look at what just came across my digital desk:
http://news.radio.com/2013/08/13/50-years-of-the-ronettes-be-my-baby-an-oral-history/

How cool is that?
Also that tune was the first thing that came up on shuffle for me this morning. Might be fate!

Saturday Graduation Planning

Hi there Guitar One!
You're in the home stretch here. Congratulations on all you've accomplished in 8 short weeks. It is truly remarkable to have gone from complete novices to humans that can play music together. It's been my honor and privilege to help you get there.

We talked about doing either Leaving on a Jet Plane or Heartbreak Hotel for the big show next week. Practice both of them this week and we'll see which one is really rockin' when we meet on Saturday.
Remember that your friends and family are welcome to come to the show! Tell them to grab a seat in the concert hall around 11:45am.

Here's the King to inspire you:

Thursday's Tribe Has Spoken

Practice hard or Davy Jones
will strangle this kitten

Our Thursday night graduation tune will be...DAYDREAM BELIEVER! (Did I not call that one out as a contender on this very blog a few weeks ago?! Awww yeah.)

Work on that riff, polish up your Bm and Bm-Alt, and we should be in great shape for next week. E-mail me with questions.

Can't wait to take the stage with you all once more!

Discount Code Expires Tonight!

Yes I use stock images.
What of it?!

Hey kids!
If you haven't signed up for the next session and you'd like to, be sure to get on that tonight.
You'll save $15 if you register by midnight with the discount code "PLUCKY13"

Here's a link to my course offerings next session. https://www.oldtownschool.org/teachers/Jane-Hanna/

I'd love to see you all again and continue our musical journey together. Remember that the repertoire classes are an extension of the skills classes we're about to complete together. If you're feeling overwhelmed--GOOD! That's normal. All of this is a challenge, and no one expects you to attain perfection--or even competence--with all these new skills during the 8 short weeks we spend together. That's what the rep class is for!

Don't think of it as moving up to the next level. It's not that at all. Think of it as an extra 8 weeks of study hall but, like, THE MOST FUN STUDY HALL EVER!!!
I'll bring in lots and lots of songs that'll give you a chance to really get the hang of all the crazy new techniques I introduced this session. It's the perfect place to be if you feel like you're not quite ready to leave the level you're in now, but you want to keep at it. Sound good?

THIS JUST IN--CLASS REGISTRATION DISCOUNT!

Two blogs in one day? When it rains, it pours!
The early registration discount went live this morning, so get on that people! Here's what you need to know:

Take $15 Off Your Next Class!

AUGUST 1 - 8

Because you're a recent or active student, workshop participant, or valued member, we're pleased to offer you our Play It Again discount. Use this coupon code when registering for adult group classes and take $15 off your next class.

Use code PLUCKY13 online or mention the code when you register by phone or in person. This promotion endsThursday, August 8th, 2013 at midnight. This discount is good for 8-week adult group classes in Session 5 only.

Register Early! Don't get shut out of your next core guitar class or the great ensemble you've got your eye on. Registrations are limited, so don't delay!

More Fun With Friends! Classes are a great way to spend time with friends! Why not sign up for your next class together? Feel free to share this offer with friends or family so they can join in the fun.

Convenient Schedules! We've got classes in the morning, lunchtime options, afternoons, and late at night! There's a class that works with your schedule 7 days a week.

Our next session starts the week of September 2nd, 2013*! Find your next class and explore our full schedule at oldtownschool.org or call/stop by the front desk for personal assistance at 773.728.6000. We love to help you find the perfect option!

*No classes on Monday, September 2nd due to Labor Day. Monday classes will be prorated to reflect the holiday.

Not to be combined with any other discounts. Discount only available for adult group classes over $100. Offer expires Thursday, August 8th, 2013 at midnight.

Visit www.oldtownschool.org to find the right class for you!

Summertime Blues

Hello folkie friends! Long time, no update.
Sorry about that. Like many of you, I find myself busier than EVER during the supposedly laid-back vacationy time of year. I know lots of you have been traveling and having fun in the sun (albeit with sweaters on if you've stayed in Chicago. What is UP with this weather?!)
Let's take a moment to check in:

GUITAR ONE:

You guys are rockin' it! By now you've got D, A7, A, E, Em, E7, G (two ways!), C, and Am under our belt. That is a boat load of chords, my friends! We've talked about strumming patters that use quarter notes (down strums, four to a measure in 4/4 time), and eight notes (down-up strums, eight to a measure in 4/4 time--not faster in terms of tempo necessarily, but just a subdividing of the time)

We've also conquered split measures, and stop chords (marked with a !, where you hit it once and let it ring).

The tunes in our songbag are Jambalaya, Sons and Daughters, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Another Saturday Night, Sunshine, and Mad World, plus lots of old familiar favorite in the book.

Please pause for a moment and appreciate how EPIC that is. Look at all you've accomplished after only 5 weeks of classes! You can also TUNE your guitars without my help (mostly). That alone took me more than a month to understand, so you're already miles ahead of where I was when I was a G1 student.

If any of the above is confusing or foreign, just drop me an e-mail so I can work with you to get you back up to speed. This is usually the point in the session where I try to talk you off the ledge because you're feeling overwhelmed, but I don't think that's necessary because you've all done a marvelous job so far and it's obvious you're working on it outside of class time, so just keep up the good work!


GUITAR TWO:

Oh my friends, we've been through a lot together, haven't we? It's getting to feel like family to me on Thursdays and Sundays. Both groups are now champions of the F-chord, Fmaj7, Dm7, Dm, Bm, and Bm-ALT, Am7, and Em7.

But chords-schmords at this point, right guys?! You all have moved onto the big time, and you've learned how to find the bass note in a chord so that you can get fancy with pluck-strumming. In 3/4 time, we pluck the bass note on the first beat, then strum the chord twice. In 4/4 time, we pluck on the one, strum on the two, pluck on the three, and strum on the four. And as if that wasn't enough...we've also begun to alternate bass notes! You know how to find the one AND the five (and you can always consult the handy chart in your course packet if you get confused), and switch between them on one and three.

But wait, there's MORE! You can also connect your chords with bass walks between them! There's a chart for that too, and we'll do a lot more of it in this week's class.

Your songbag contains Summertime, Cosmic Dancer, You Send Me, Daydream Believer, Be My Baby, The Old Country Waltz, and maybe (if you did your homework) I Walk the Line, as well as songs from the book like Careless Love--our song of the session!

One of you told me last week that you feel like you jumped from G1R to G4 with all this riff-playin' and bass-walkin', and I feel you. Breathe, be patient with yourself, and remember that it wasn't so very long ago that the concept of a G chord blew your mind and you thought you'd NEVER get that pinky to behave itself--and now you probably throw down that G-shape without a second thought. Stick with it, practice, laugh at yourself, call each other to commiserate, e-mail me when you get stuck, and keep strumming!

Session 4, Week 3 Recap

I'm slow to post an update here because I'm still recovering from Square Roots Fest!
I hope some of you got a chance to check it out. What a great weekend of music, dancing, community...and beer. So much beer.

Somehow we managed to still have classes! So here's the rundown.

In Guitar 1, we locked in the A and E chords, and added quite a few new ones to the rotation. First up was E minor, which--like all minor chords--has a mournful sound. You make that one by starting from a regular E shape and simply lifting up your index finger. E7 is just as simple--you lift up your ring finger instead of your index finger. E-asy peasy (see what I did there?). Practice your E to E minor and your E to E7! Those exercises will get your fingers in shape.

We also talked some more about eighth note strumming (down-up down-up down-up; also known as one-and two-and three-and four-and); and we worked our way through some old tunes (Leaving on a Jet Plane), and some new--to us anyway!--ones, most notably I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. That tune introduced the concept of "split measures," which mean that you play more than one chord in a single span of 4 counts, two beat for each chord listed.

If that wasn't enough new stuff to worry about, we also plunged into the G chord. For now, play it with your 1, 2, and 3 fingers, but we'll talk about different options next week. We looked at just the chorus of Sunshine, and we'll start with that tune next week and see if we can put the whole thing together.

My Guitar 2 classes have forked slightly due to the night off on Independence Day, but both sessions this week worked with capos. We know how to properly put them on the guitars, what they do, and how to read "Yo Mama's Capo and Transposing" chart in the course pack. Experiment! Take a song you love to play, and mess around with adding the capo. How does changing the key effect your ability to sing the tune? Harder? Easier? Look at the chart and see if you can figure out what key you've switched to by adding a capo. Start to get comfortable with the different keys so you know which ones you like and which ones you don't. Also, play Careless Love from the songbook in the key of C (inside the parenthesis), and then play it again using the shapes listed outside the parenthesis (which would normally be the key of A), but with the capo at the 3rd fret. Same song, same key, two different chord constructions! Neato!

Sunday's group got a little further with the addition of D minor to the chord vocabulary, which we solidified by playing the tune from the vid up there, with some fun two-part vocals and percussion. A graduation contender perhaps? Too soon to tell...

See you all soon, and as always, e-mail me with any questions or problems you may be having as you PRACTICE!

Session 4, Week 2 Recap

Hi gang! Hope everyone is fully recovered from the holiday weekend and fully committed to practicing some hot guitar licks!

This weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) is the Square Roots Festival outside the school: http://www.squareroots.org/
Be sure to leave enough travel time to accommodate the crowds and limited parking options. It'll be a great weekend, so bring your friends and family and stay awhile. On Sunday from 4-5pm I'll be one of the teachers leading a marathon of Twin Spins, so bring your guitars and join me.


This week in Guitar 1 we added the A and E chords to our repertoire, and we talked about the difference between quarter notes and eighth notes and practiced the down-up down-up strumming patter of the latter.
Here's that Decemberists tune:

And here's Mr. Denver. We jetted (*snert* get it?!) through this one right at the end of class, but we'll pick it up again next week:

We also went over tuning in some detail. You've got some handouts to help you review, and check last week's recap blog for a link to a previous post on tuning that goes step-by-step through the essentials.


In Guitar 2 this week, the Thursday group did not meet because of the holiday (*sniiiiff*), so we'll have to double-time it this week to get caught up. On Sunday, we reviewed that pesky F chord, which is starting to sound pretty good, and slowed down the Sam Cooke tune so that we could really get into the shuffling feel of the 2/4 time. We added a muting technique to the second strum for added texture.
Then we moved on to the B minor chord, for which we have two different formations. There's the Am/3 version--which isn't a perfect B min, but never mind--and also to the Fmaj7 shape moved up 2 frets and played on the 1, 2, and 3 strings. And you can practice both formations in the same tune, thanks to The Monkees (not to mention a simple and satisfying riff!)

Remember to bring capos to the next class!

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS, MY FRIENDS!