Country Blues > Port Townsend Country Blues Workshop

PT 2016

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lindy:
Here's a story about an award recently given to Peter McCracken, whose idea it was to set aside a week every summer at Centrum to hold a country blues workshop:

http://centrum.org/2016/06/peter-mccracken-centrum-named-best-of-the-west/

Lindy

funkapus:
Had a blast this year.  The participants I met or saw again this year, the faculty, the performances, the jams . . .everything was wonderful. 

(Except maybe the tissue paper the folks adminstering Fort Worden are buying for toilet paper now.  :) )

BBQJoe:
I went to my first-ever acoustic blues camp in Port Townsend last week.

Long story short, I had a great time and am talking to my friends to get them to go next year.

Background:  I'm a relatively new guitar player, I've never played an instrument or had lessons.  About six or seven months ago I decided to give playing guitar a try.  I've been having a lot of fun with it, but am squarely in the "beginner" camp.  I know maybe 6 or 8 songs, and can play maybe half of them reasonably well (slowly, and you'd probably recognize them). 

So I was a little worried about attending a camp with a lot of experienced guitarists.  Everyone was very supportive, and I certainly wasn't the only beginner in attendance.

What I did:  As a certified beginner I was worried about getting in over my head.  I decided to take two "Piedmont" style classes each day taught by Valerie Turner (http://piedmontbluz.com).  The morning class was a raw beginner session, and the afternoon class was aimed at a advanced beginner/intermediate level.  I also took a Mississippi John Hurt class taught by Elijah Wald (http://www.elijahwald.com/)

In the beginner piedmont class Valerie started the week with a simple alternating thumb 12 bar blues progression.  Tuesday was a 12 bar shuffle blues, which evolved into part of the class performing "Sweet Home Chicago" at the student concert.  I didn't perform, I've never played in a group setting and just wasn't comfortable with that.  In fact, just playing along in class during the lesson was hard for me.  Valerie taught the songs phrase by phrase, and I could play each phrase, but by the time we got to the last phrase I'd forgotten the earlier parts and would get frustrated.  Anyway, Wednesday was Stock Time, Thursday was Sugar Babe and Friday was Jambalaya.  All of these were simplified arrangements, which was great for beginners but looking back I think I'd rather learn more complete versions of these songs.

In the afternoon intermediate class Valeria taught Get Right Church, Coffee Blues, Got the Blues Can't Be Satisfied, Going Down the Road Feeling Bad.  These were slightly simplified, although more interesting than the raw beginner versions.  I didn't do Valerie's Friday class so I could try a slide class with Orville Johnson...and also because I was fairly overwhelmed with new material.

In Elijah's class he covered Avalon Blues, Got the Blues - Can't Be Satisfied, Richland Woman Blues, Stagolee, and Frankie.  Elijah moved at a fairly quick pace, really just demonstrating the song and expecting the class to be able to pick it up.  Some of the class could do that, I couldn't.  Luckily he handed out the tab at the end of each class and I could go figure it out on my own.

I also attended several of Elijah's "Blues History" sessions, which were great.  I learned a few things, and have a list of songs and artists that I want to get familiar with.

Reflection

I learned a few things about myself and my playing.  First, I have a really difficult time playing with other people.  Even when we did Stagolee in Elijah's class (which is one of the songs that I know reasonably well) I couldn't play along with the rest of the class.  I watched several of the jam sessions, which given my inability to play (note by note) with others seemed even more impossible as people would wander in, and just start playing along.

While I had an absolute blast with no regrets, if I was doing it over I'd choose different classes.  Learning 15 new songs in 5 days is not possible for me.  Maybe one "repertoire" class, a fun class (like the Blues History), a technique class, and maybe something different like Harmonica or Mandolin.  That will be my approach next year -- I definitely plan to go again if I can.

Goals

Before next year I want to accomplish several things.

- Be able to play along with someone else.  Not "jamming", just playing the same notes of the same song at the same pace.  I have a friend at work that has been playing for a long time, we're going to work together on that.

- Learn more about theory - the practical aspects at least.  Chord progressions, moving around the fretboard, where the notes are, playing in different positions and probably other stuff I don't even know that I don't know.

- Get some grounding in participating in jam sessions

- Learn to sing while I play

- And of course, just improve my technical ability, keeping time, changing between chords, playing cleanly, etc

Right now I need to go practice "Got the Blues, Can't be Satisfied".  I can play it through at a slow pace from memory, but I need to work on the timing and get the tempo up so it sounds better.  One (almost) down, 14 to go.

Johnm:
Hi BBQJoe,
I moved your post to the PT 2016 thread which was already up and running.  I'm glad you had a good time at the workshop and congratulate you on starting a major undertaking in a new area.  You have a great attitude and that will carry you a long way in the music.  Spend a lot of time with your instrument in your hands and you'll make progress towards your goals.
All best,
Johnm

BBQJoe:
Thanks for putting my post in the right place John.  I just got your Mississippi John Hurt DVDs in the mail today and am looking forward to working through them.

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