Jam Camp 2020 Class Schedule

Saturday 10:00-11:20 am

Auditorium - Guitar Accompaniment (Jon & Danny, all levels) Explore how beautifully two guitars can work together in the folk/singer-songwriter genre. Arrangement ideas, playing around the vocal, creating space for the other. w/Jon and Danny

Boardroom - Intro to Slide Guitar (Donna, all levels) All you need to know to play slide guitar (e.g., guitar set up, playing clean notes) plus songs, licks and rhythmic patterns of Mississippi Delta slide masters in Open G tuning.

Rear Room - Music Theory Fundamentals (FJ, beginner, adv. beginner) We’ll cover some of the basics of music theory. Topics will include the scale and chord construction; connecting intervals and triads to their corresponding shapes on the fingerboard; and how to think through basic progressions in different keys

Saturday 11:30 am-12:50 pm

Auditorium - Double-stop harmonies (Jon, adv beg/intermediate) We'll look at two-string harmonies as used for accompaniment or within a main rhythm idea. Some music theory will be involved, but so will some easily memorized patterns.

Boardroom - Delta to Memphis Finger-style (Donna, adv. beginners/intermediate) Donna will explore the songs and styles of Delta Bluesman, Tommy Johnson, (in Drop D) and Memphis country bluesman, Furry Lewis, (in Open G tuning).

Rear Room - Bass for Guitarists (FJ, beginner) Playing bass is easy, right? Well…yes and no. FJ will talk about how to think like a bassist and get beyond the root-5 bass line, while adding groove and feel to your approach.

Yoga Studio - The Walk (Danny, beginner/adv beginner) There are a myriad of ways of taking a bare-bones chord sequence and spicing it up with both "walk-ups" and "walk-downs".

Saturday 2:30-3:50 pm

Auditorium - Performance and the PA (FJ, any instrument and vocals, all levels) Your tunes sound great in the controlled environment of your rehearsal space, but then things go sideways at the venue once you get on the PA. Why? We'll talk about how to deal with common live sound pitfalls such as bad-sounding rooms and feedback, and how to communicate with the sound person and with your bandmates on stage. We’ll also discuss basic microphone technique.

Boardroom - Chicago Rhythm & Slide (Donna, beginners/adv. beginners) Exploring songs, licks and rhythms of early Chicago acoustic blues masters, in Open D tuning.

Rear Room - Fingerstyle: Spotlight on the Thumb (Jon, all levels) All hail the power of the thumb, master of both pulse and melodic bass.

Yoga Studio - The Mighty Diminished (Danny, any instrument, adv. beginner/intermediate) This will be a theory-rich workshop wherein Danny explains how understanding the diminished chord unlocks the fretboard like nothing else.

Saturday 4:00-5:00 pm

Auditorium - Guitar and Bass Arranging (Jon & FJ, any level) FJ and Jon will look at how choices get made in arranging parts for guitar and bass, both in live and studio settings, using examples from some of their original songs.

Boardroom - Blues Fingerstyle (Donna, adv. beginner/intermediate) Blues fingerstyle techniques, such as dead thumb and walk-up octaves, and teach songs by Big Bill Broonzy and Robert Johnson in standard tuning.

Yoga Studio - Making a Good Set (Danny, all levels). Exploring how Danny approaches doing a set, either as a soloist, or as an accompanist, and advice about keeping a performance interesting and musical.

Sunday 10:40-11:40 am

Auditorium - The Flatpick/Fingerpick Divide (Danny, all levels) A few of the more interesting guitar historical oddities are the famous Bluegrass/Country guitarists (Maybelle Carter, Lester Flatt, Carter Stanley) who played with a thumb pick and fingers, not a flatpick. A thorough examination of the various upsides and downsides to each style.

Boardroom - Sliding’ to the Crossroads (Donna, all levels) Capturing the essence of Mississippi Delta Blues through slide guitar syncopations, dead thumb and classic riffs and also how to achieve a highly rhythmic and percussive sound by using dampening and simple chords in Open G tuning.

Rear Room - Songwriting Guitar (Jon, guitar, adv. beginner/intermediate) Devising groovier guitar parts for your songs to create that third song element - the hook. We'll use your original songs as the basis of the discussion!.

Sunday 11:45 am-12:45 pm

Auditorium - Q & A and Review with Danny

Boardroom - Q & A and Review with Donna

Rear Room - Q & A and Review with Jon