Community Guitar Classes
with Andrew Lawrence

Photo: Kevin Downey

My Community Guitar classes are held three times a year in 10-week sessions: fall, winter and spring. These classes are the backbone of the Community Guitar program. They offer you an ongoing opportunity to develop your technical skills, repertoire and musical relationships in one fun swoop. If this is the first time you'll be joining one of our study groups, please get in touch as early as possible so I can suggest the right level for you and help make sure you're ready. We may be able to do that over the phone (413-268-0068), otherwise I'm happy to get together at no charge.

The Fall '08 session

I am happy to report that in the fall of '08, in addition to the classes I offer in Northampton, I'll be expanding to Amherst and Brattleboro as well. I look forward to connecting with new players in both towns — and to helping you connect with one another.

In every town and at every level of study we'll be doing the same batch of tunes so as to create common ground across barriers of geography and technical ability. We usually cover five songs per round, devoting a couple weeks to each new tune even as we continue to run through those we've already done. This fall we'll cover:

Come Back Baby. A slowish blues in A with a twist. I first heard it done by Dave Van Ronk.

Buckets of Rain. A Bob Dylan classic from Blood on the Tracks. Drop D tuning.

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.We'll have 'em weeping as they waltz to this Hank Williams gem.

I Know You Rider. This one's been covered every which way. We'll lean toward the Grateful Dead's groove.

Bring It On Down To My House. A fun tune by Western Swing great Bob Wills.

Although I am prepared to offer Community Guitar classes at three levels, you may notice in the table below that I have not yet scheduled a Level 3 class for this fall. I will do so, however, if I think we have a group of players ready and willing to dive in at that level. (For more on that, please see the page, About Our Levels.) That class would most likely be held in Northampton on Mondays at 7:30.

TBA: The scheduling of levels at the start of a new year (ie., a new fall session) is determined largely by the abilities and availability of those who express an interest in participating. If you are considering participating this fall, please get in touch as early as possible, so we can begin to sort all this out. I offer free one-on-one or small group introductory sessions for anyone considering Community Guitar.