Summertime . . .
Looking for a way to recharge the batteries this summer? Here’s a sampling of the many guitar-centric events in the coming months. For an extensive list, search the summer workshops guide at www.acousticguitar.com.

If you’d like to sharpen your classical guitar skills, check out the master classes hosted by National Guitar Workshop (www.guitarworkshop.com) at the school’s main campus in New Milford, Connecticut. During the week of July 8–13, Benjamin Verdery will be a guest artist in Andrew Leonard’s Classical Guitar Core Class. Verdery will play a concert to kick off the week, and then on July 9 and 10, he’ll teach master classes covering technique, repertoire, interpretation, and performing chamber music.

Andrew York, of the Grammy Award–winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, will be a special guest at NGW during the week of July 15–20. The following week, July 22–27, features master classes with Manuel Barrueco.

“Professional development and personal renewal for educators who want to think for themselves”: that’s how the Northwest Teachers’ Conference describes its annual event, which happens July 7–12 in rural Washington state. The conference is a project of the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop and was cofounded by folksinger and guitarist Tom Hunter, a longtime leader of music workshops in schools. The program isn’t only for music teachers but incorporates topics such as Autoharp and guitar, interactive singing, and songs for lesson plans. For details, see http://tomhunter.com/nwtc.htm or contact Hunter at (360) 738-0340.

Aficionados of flattop, classical, archtop, and Manouche guitars will gather from July 6–8 for the first Montreal Guitar Show, an event celebrating the art of handcrafted guitars. Presented by the Montreal Musician and Musical Instrument Show (MMMIS) and the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, this will be Canada’s biggest-ever guitar show. Attendees will be able to compare, play, and purchase boutique guitars, and talk to luthiers about their building techniques. Exhibitors include Charles Fox, Ervin Somogyi, John Monteleone, Michael Dunn, Linda Manzer, and Tom Ribbecke. For registration details, call (888) 515-0515, and visit www.montrealguitarshow.com for a complete list of builders.

Out on the West Coast, the Healdsburg Guitar Festival will hold its three-day showcase of handmade guitars on August 17–19, in Sonoma County, California. More than 130 builders will exhibit their instruments, leading luthiers will conduct seminars in guitar design and related business strategies, and players will lead workshops in accompaniment, fingerpicking, and composition. For more information, (800) 477-4437 or visit www.lmii.com/GuitarFestival.


INSTRUCTION

Jody Fisher, The Total Jazz Guitarist
Book and CD, National Guitar Workshop/Alfred, www.alfred.com.
This instruction book is perfect for intermediate to early-advanced students who want to start playing jazz, and can be used as a supplement to lessons. Part 1 covers the chords, scales, and basic theory needed to get into jazz playing. In Part 2, a few well-known songs are taught in great detail, allowing readers to apply the concepts learned in Part 1.

The book starts small, teaching basics such as how to read notation, tab, and chord and scale diagrams. From there, it moves into the handful of open chords students need to know if they’re intent on playing jazz: major, minor, and sevenths. Next come the movable chord forms and fingerings for the pentatonic scales. In the rest of Part 1, students learn major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads, as well as inversions and extended chords. They also unlock the mysteries of the modes and altered scales. Finally, they learn the ii–V7–I progression and its paramount importance in jazz.

Part 2, titled Learning Tunes, is where it all comes together. Students learn three songs in depth: “I’m in the Mood for Love,” “Over the Rainbow,” and “Blue Moon.” Melodies are taught first, in tab and notation. Next, the author tackles the subject of chords for each song. He divides the fretboard into regions, and rather than offer a couple options for each chord, he provides numerous options for each chord type in each region of the fretboard. This treatment is very effective, and if students repeat the songs, selecting different chords each time, they should come away with a much greater understanding of how to choose and apply different chords in a jazz context.

The Total Jazz Guitarist does an excellent job of teaching jazz basics in a logical, methodical fashion. Students who work diligently from cover to cover will not only learn to play some jazz, they’ll have a true understanding of how jazz works.
—Jason Garoian



Troy Stetina, Fretboard Mastery (book and CD, Hal Leonard, www.musicdispatch.com). Beginning with a couple of basic lessons on intervals and scales, this volume jumps into modes within the early chapters, eventually leading to advanced mathematical patterns for a variety of scales that can be applied from anywhere on the fretboard.

Richard Maloof, Alternate Tunings for Guitar (book, Cherry Lane, www.musicdispatch.com). This primer on alternate tunings walks readers through the most commonly used tunings, including chord diagrams for common chords in each tuning.

Desi Serna, Getting Started with the Pentatonic Scale (DVD, Desi Serna, www.guitar-music-theory.com). Two-DVD set covers five pentatonic patterns for mapping out the entire fretboard, and teaches viewers how to transpose them to any key and play over different chord progressions.

Essential Acoustic Guitar (DVD, eMedia, www.emediamusic.com). Breaks down basic acoustic techniques throughout 45 lessons and applies them to popular songs. Split screen shows instructor from three angles so viewers can see all techniques clearly.

Garrison Fewell, Jazz Improvisation for Guitar: A Melodic Approach (book and CD, Berklee Press, www.musicdispatch.com). Teaches triads, melodic extensions, and guide tones, equipping readers with a soloing vocabulary that’s rooted in chords.

Tom Kolb, All About Guitar (Book/CD, Hal Leonard, www.musicdispatch.com). This well-rounded workbook teaches the fundamentals of guitar along with noteworthy facts from the history of rock. Includes full song transcriptions of a few very popular songs, such as Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Doc Watson, Doc’s Guitar: Fingerpicking and Flatpicking (DVD, Homespun, www.homespuntapes.com). Now available on DVD, this re-edited master class shows a split screen of Watson, so viewers can see his fretting hand and picking hand while learning classics like “Blue Railroad Train,” “Deep River Blues,” and “Black Mountain Rag.”

Ernie Hawkins, The C-A-G-E-D Guitar System Made Easy (DVD, Homespun, www.homespuntapes.com) In this two-DVD set, Hawkins teaches the five basic movable chord shapes and shows how they connect with each other, effectively mapping out the fretboard.


REPERTOIRE
John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra (book, Alfred, www.alfred.com). Songbook offers precise scores to 28 songs from Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire, Visions of the Emerald Beyond, and Between Nothingness and Eternity.

Stefan Grossman, Delta Blues Guitar (book and CD, Alfred, www.alfred.com). Offers history, notation, and tab, as well as lead sheets and lyrics for tunes by some of the greatest players from the Delta, including Skip James, Son House, and Charley Patton. Readers can check their progress against the original artist recordings on the included CD.

Jazz Greats Guitar Play-Along, Vol. 44 (book and CD, Hal Leonard, www.musicdispatch.com). Contains notation and tab for jazz standards by Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Tal Farlow, and more. CD includes each song played with full instrumentation followed by track of the same song without the guitar part.


REFERENCE
The Musician’s Atlas 2007 (book, Music Resource Group, www.musiciansatlas.com). Offers up-to-date listings of booking agents, managers, publishers, live music venues, college radio stations, festivals, and other music industry services.