Community Guitar Classes
with Andrew Lawrence

Photo: Kevin Downey

There are two sets of offerings on deck this fall:

• September mini-classes. Before diving into the full 10-week classes, consider joining me for a 4-week "mini-class" or two. These shorter classes give us the time to explore special topics that are hard to cover in depth once we're occupied learning new songs over the course of the 10-week class session. We won't have another 4-week chunk of free time like this before next summer, so take a close look at the offerings below and if you're tempted, by all means, succomb to the temptation! (Florence location only unless those classes are overfilled.)
• The fall session of my 10-week Community Guitar classes. This fall I'll again be offering classes at four levels in Northampton and Amherst. Whatever the town and level of study, everyone will be learning the same batch of tunes so as to create common ground. For more details, scroll on down to the second table below or follow this link.

Mini-Class Descriptions

Intro to Applied Music Theory

The problem with the words "music theory" is that they make the topic sound so...so theoretical. The reality: I have no use for music theory that I have no use for. The material we'll cover in this mini-class is eminently practical. It will help you learn, memorize and create your own music more easily—once you "get it". We'll work primarily with the Community Guitar Theory Primer, a short workbook that covers the musical alphabet, finding the notes on the fingerboard, intervals, scales, scale degrees, arpeggios, chords, keys and more. If your eyes glaze over and your mind shuts down when those topics come up, here’s your chance to go over the material slowly from scratch and apply it to songs immediately.
Meets Mondays at 6 in Florence starting 9/13. Cost and Registration

Intro to the CAGED System

Ever wonder if you'll ever find intelligent life beyond the fifth fret of the guitar? With a little help from the CAGED System, you will, and that intelligence will be your own. The CAGED system provides a way to make sense of the fingerboard that is intuitively accessible to anyone familiar with a basic set of major chords. This mini-class will provide an overview of the material in the Community Guitar CAGED Primer and an opportunity for us to apply that material to the sort of musical situations we encounter all the time whether in class or real-life jams. Welcome to a new world of fingerboard insight and access!
Meets Mondays at 7:30 in Florence starting 9/13. Cost and Registration

Improv Workshop: The Major Pentatonic Scale

The major pentatonic scale is in virtually every improvisor's toolkit owing to its simplicity and wide applicability. In this mini-session we'll start with major pentatonic drills in different positions and keys, just to make sure we have the tools we need within reach. Then we'll apply them to a variety of common major chord progressions, including those we'll encounter in this fall's new repertoire. If we have time, we'll try combining and contrasting the major pentatonic with its more familiar minor cousin.
Meets Tuesdays at 6 in Florence starting 9/14. Cost and Registration

Learning by Ear: Blake and Rice on New River Train

While working from transcribed solos has its place, it is no substitute for learning to play by ear. And while learning from instructional materials can be, well, instructive, there's no substitute for learning directly from the masters when they're not teaching, but just being their masterful selves. In this mini we'll have a close listen to the work of two such masters—Norman Blake and Tony Rice—on a song we covered a while back, New River Train. You can hear the full track we'll be working with right here. Our goal will be to glean whatever we can from the recording, including the transcription of one or two hot solos. Other topics include these: how to use the digital tools at your disposal (to isolate and loop phrases at any tempo you wish, for example), how basic music theory can help speed the process, how to figure out fingerings, capo and fretboard position, how to adapt challenging phrases so as to make them more playable, and some of your options for getting your transcription down on paper (should you wish).
Meets Tuesdays at 7:30 in Florence starting 9/14. Cost and Registration