Wow. I have just returned from The National Guitar Workshop, and I had a blast. There are so many details to describe that I don't feel like writing in full sentences, so ill do it bullet style with a short summary at the end with pros and cons.
-Extremely knowledgeable and respectful staff. Evryone there can sing or plays an instrument. They have these things called "inturns" where if you come to there camp and are old enough and are really good, you can like, be a counseler or something. I don't know exactly how it works but the bottom line is you have about 10 of these guys living in your dorm so if you need anything pertaining to musicinaship skills etc. , you don't have to hunt down your teacher.
-Extremely strict drug alcohol and smoking policy, which was cool for me becuase I don't do any of those things.It's also kinda bad though becuase if you are around someone who is breaking those rules, you get sent home too for not removing yourself from the situation or reporting it. But this is highly unlikely as evryone there wants to be there so much that they dont risk getting caught doing bad stuff. I know cuz i asked someone in my dorm who does drugs at home and he said that he would never in million years bring anything to this camp as he doesnt want to ruin it for himself or anyone else.
-Beutiful sceneery(Connecticut campus). Mountains all around you, and if it weren't for the fact that it's a music camp, it would be totally silent.
-Good integration of students. Dorms are arranged due to age and gender, but as far as I could tell, nothing else. I liked this, personally, as I enjoy most types of music and speaking with other musicians who play a differnet instrument.
-They do not over charge you at the store. In fact, almost everything was discounted, and they gave out so many free strings it was to the point of insanity. The camp director would just interrupt our classes and be like "hey want some strings?" I got 3 packs of d'daddarios, and they were giving away EXP acoustic strings, which I hear are really nice. I thought that was a nice bonus.
-There is a concert every night. They are always awsome, and between acts, guess what they do! THey ask music questions and the person who shouts the right answer first gets 2 packs of any type of strings they want! I didn't win any that way becuase it was jazz week and they mainly asked blues and jazz questions, 2 styles in which I am not very fluent, especially jazz(but im trying to change that. I bought a jazz improvisation book at the store fro ten bucks!)
-I got to meet Pat Methany. I'll repeat that, becuase it bears repeating. I met Pat Methany. Wow. Umm, I think that one pretty much speaks for itself. I also got to see him play in a small venue setting and had a question and answer session with him at the end. I also got to see Bucky Pizzarelli(bucky if you are reading this sorry if I spelled ur last name wrong) and Pat Martino who apparently is like the einstein of fretboard organization. Half of what he said went over my head but he compares the fretboard to nature, and breaks everything down that way. He looks at string patterns as constellations and has divided the guitar into 12 seasons. :shock: :shock: :shock:
-My instructors(Tim Quick and Glenn Riley) were both very respectful, helpful, knowledgeable,funny, caring, social, and above all, very ,very good at playing the guitar. Tim was a little hesitant to show off how good he was, but thats not really a bad thing is it?
-Glenn worked with me to create my own personal preactice schedule. This was a huge highlite to me becuase it helped me to stay focused once I left camp.
-Glenn Riley has the funniest Yingwe stories you will ever hear. If you ever meet him, please ask him about yingwe and be prepared to laugh your butt off.
I'm getting tired (its 11:00 pm) and this post is long enough so Im gonna quit. I'll probably do a second installment tommorow. In the meantime, if you have any specific questions that didnt get answered, just post and ill get right on em.
peace
kyle
The meaning of life? I've never heard a simpler question! Music.
Id really like to go there. That sounds awesome. Glad you had such a wonderful time. Do you have a website of that place for us? Id love to learn more.
aka Izabella
Woah, thats awesome, Ive always wanted to do something like that. way cool man.
The first time I heard a Beatles song was "Let It Be." Some little kid was singing along with it: "Let it pee, let it pee" and pretending he was taking a leak. Hey, that's what happened, OK?-some guy
far out man rock on!! :D
"im the one who has to die when its time for me to die..so let me live my life, the way i want to.."-Jimi Hendrix-If 6 was 9
Paul Y Howdilly doodily neigborini!!
Ok Im awake now, so I'll get going on the detail list again.
-Food was not too good, except for the last day, where they had the best hot ham and cheese sandwhiches I have ever tasted. I had 6 of them. And although I don't drink coffee, my friends tell me that its the best they've had. Oh yea and in addition to 3 meals a day, they always have plums, bananas, green and red apples, and peaches stocked in the dining hall for you to get whenever you want. My friends and I found this out too late, but there is a chinese place that will deliver in the area, and they have the cheapest best chinese food you will ever have. For five bucks, me and 2 of my friends were filled off one massive plate of chicken. Awsome.
-Since you are in your major for 3 hours, you get 3 10 minute breaks every hour. Our class usually hung out at the dining hall.
-Kids come here from all over the country, which is both bad and good becuase, yea its cool to meet people from new jersey and long island etc, it also sucks cuz now i cant go jam with them out of camp. Oh well. There is always next year.
-Your major class selects one song to do for the class concert and then there is another concert where you can do anything you want in.
-Really the only advice I have is to go there with the intent of learning, becuase if you mess up just once(in terms of breaking the rules) they do not hesitate to send you home with no refund of tuition costs(which add up to like 800 dollars fro one week or something like that).
-There is some inconsistency when it comes to teacher quality, but like i said before, my teachers were awsome, and if you dont like the teachers you got or the class you got, you can change it within the first few days.
-Bring a fan to your dorm, you will need it.
-Unfortunetly, guys are not allowed into the girl dorms and vice versa.
-I CAN SWEEP PICK NOW!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA! I've been working on sweep picking for about 2 months and i couldnt even sweep this little arpeggio, but after 3 days at camp I had an entire sweep picking run down. hehehehehehehe.
Ok thats all I can think of.
HEre are some websites.
http://www.moretheni.com
Tim Quick's band
http://www.thereaganyears.com
Glenn Riley's dopey 80's tribute band
"it pays the bills" he says
http://www.guitarworkshop.com/default.asp
THats the official site link.
agiain if you have any other specific questions just post them
peace
kyle
The meaning of life? I've never heard a simpler question! Music.
Kyle,
Nice write up. When I was in CT I looked into it but never signed up.
Can you give a little moree info on the age of the people there? Where they mostly teenagers or were there older students too? Also how about the split in ability? Where there mostly beginners or people who have played awhile.
What kind of stuff did you cover in the three hour sessions? How many people were in the class?
Sorry for all the questions, but I'm interested in going next year just want to make sure it's worth the $800 and a weeks worth of vacation time.
Since I'm from CT I'm interested in knowing where they held the camp.
Thanks,
Chris
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Very cool, I'd love to do that. Can't afford it right now, maybe next year. What is the age range, I don't know if they let an old goat in his forties attend.
ALl ages go there. Most are in the 13- 20 year old range, but definetly lots of older folks too.
Every skill level you could imagine.
In my major class we covered
major and minor scale fingerings
slide guitar
neat guitar tricks(like how to make it sound like a cat etc.)
What modes are
the 4 basic barre chord forms
improvisation ideas with a special focus on motivic development
chord theory
sweep picking
chickin pickin
fingerpicking
12 bar blues
the 5 pentatonic positions
triad inversions and what they are
7th chords
chord extensions
what chords go with what modes
lots more but cant remember
this was always suplemented with plenty of joking around and having fun.
ill post more later if yall want
peace
The meaning of life? I've never heard a simpler question! Music.
$800!!? :shock:
The king of rock, some say lives
the lizard king, is surely dead
the king of France, lost his head
the King of Kings... bled
( email me at esherman@wideopenwest.(com). I almost never check my hotmailaccount.
Oh eya and it was held at the cantebury private school in Milford.
The meaning of life? I've never heard a simpler question! Music.
