Class of 2010
Class of 2010
L-R: Tom, John, Scott, Richard, Paul, Trish & Angela
Au Revoir!
Reply
Day 5 | Friday 11th June
Session #1
During this mornings session we recapped the work covered during the course with run a through of some of the pieces performed as a group.
1. Minor blues riff
2. Walking blues
3. Deep south slow blues (slide)
Video of the day #1
Minor Blues Riff
Video of the day #2
Walking Blues
Video of the day #3
Deep South Slow Blues
Au Revoir
The class spent much of the day jamming together and working on their own blues pieces and arrangements. Everyone had an individual one to one with Richard and were given a 6-9 month practice plan that they could take away and make the most of the material learnt on the course.
Weather Update
Day 4 | Thursday 10th June
Session #1
Session #1
This morning we looked at harmonising the major scale in thirds and sixths. We played through two simple blues pieces (key of E and G) with a static root note (I, IV, V – E, A, B) and a melody harmonised in thirds.
Video of the Day!
Session #2
Session #2
During our mid-morning session we looked at a slow major blues, similar in style to Stevie Ray Vaughan’s track ‘Lenny‘. We also spent some time learning various extended chord voicings for Major, Minor and Dominant chords including; 6, 7, 9, 11 and 13 chords.
Session #3
Session #3
After a wonderful lunch of couscous salad, barbecued sardines and a delicious apple, ginger biscuit and yogurt dessert we settled back into our afternoon session. We took a look using a slide in the dropped D tuning (D-A-D-G-B-E) and after a deep south blues jam we decided to end the day early to soak up the sunshine beside the pool and do some individual practice.
Car Update
Ce n’est pas grande chose
Yes! My car is off to the garage because it will not start. Driving back to England may prove to be a little adventure. Fingers crossed for an inexpensive repair bill tomorrow.
Weather Watch
Day 3 | Wednesday 9th June
Session #1
Session #1
This morning we played through a T-Rex inspired blues after a discussion at the dinner table last night about the similarities between ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol‘ by Oasis and ‘Bang a Gong (Bring It On)‘ by T-Rex. I have to say the jam was enjoyed by all! (Video below)
Video of the day #1!
After our morning blues jam we looked at an 8 bar blues progression with particular attention to an acoustic rendition of Gary Moore’s ‘Walking By Myself‘.
Session #2
Firstly we whipped through a simple walking bass blues (bass line: R, 3, 5, 6) with a call and response melody on alternate bars before playing through a slightly more advanced Major walking bass piece (bass line: R, 3, 5, 6, R, 6, 5, 3) with work on coordinating the RH finger style thumb and fingers.
Tom & John
Trish & Angela
Session #3
One to one lessons with Richard while students jam in the music room.
Session #4
The final afternoon session culminated in a dominant walking blues jam from the mornings blues piece, which included some students playing chords, others playing the bass line and Scott on solo guitar!
Video of the day #2!
Weather Watch
Day 2 | Tuesday 8th June
Session #1
Session #1
This mornings session began with a recap of yesterdays final session on the Mixolydian mode and the chords built from the scale – Dom7 through Dom13.
We started to learn a simple blues riff using both riffs and call and response licks, which will carry us in to session #2 later this morning.
Session #2
Session #2
We looked at octave shapes to locate and unlock the notes on the fret board, which was a perfect link to the ‘CAGED’ chord shapes and Mixolydian mode work done previously.
We also completed the blues riff and the class performed it for video (below).
Video of the day!
Afternoon jam session
Sessions #3 & #4
During the afternoon sessions the students booked themselves in for a 30 minute one to one lesson with Richard, focusing on specific areas of learning unique to each individual student. The remainder of the group had a collective jam and rehearsed their morning blues tunes – Blues riff #1 and blues in A.
Weather Watch
Day 1 | Monday 7th June
Session #1
Session #1
Excellent first session – An introduction to the blues including; twelve bar blues structure (I, IV, V), blues harmony – Major, Minor, Dominant, the blues scale, chord tones, scale tones, call and response, expressive techniques – hammer-ons, pull-offs, trills, bends and slides.
Session #2
Session #2
Session two began with a look into chord voicings using the ‘CAGED’ system, with particular attention to the ‘D’ shape and ‘A’ shape dominant 7 chord shapes. We then moved on to the ‘C’ and ‘A’ shaped voicings in the key of E before a delicious lunch.
Session #3
During session 3 I asked the group to pair up and head out in to the sunshine, or under one of the many cherry trees for some shade, and to arrange a blues track.
Tom & Paul
Trish & Scott
Angela & John
The class jamming
Session #4
The group were keen to focus some attention on chord scale relationships. Our main focus for today was a dominant blues in the key of E so the group learnt how dominant 7 chords related to the mixolydian mode and the later dominant 7 arpeggio.
Session #4
The class practicing
Video of the day
The class began today with a ‘Blues in E’, here is a short clip from session #2.
Weather Watch
Goodbye England, Hello France!
Bretagne
I boarded Brittany Ferries Bretagne ship at Portsmouth harbour early on Friday evening bound for St Malo, France. We set off from Portsmouth a little after 8.30pm and are due in to St Malo at 7.15am UK time (8.15am local time). Once I am back on dry land I will embark on a 4/5 hour drive down to La Moreau. I expect to arrive just in time for a splendid lunch with Jenny and Chris, whom I will meet for the very first time.
Update #1 (Friday night)
We are a short way into the English Channel crossing and my 3G network coverage is most definitely now out of range. So I am connected to the, hugely overpriced (£4 p/hr), wifi network onboard the ship.
I am tweeting my journey via my personal Twitter account: http://twitter.com/richiemiester
St Malo – La Moreau
Update #2 (Saturday)
I drove from St Malo down to La Moreau via Rennes, Nantes and Noirt. As expected the drive took almost 5 hours and was a new experience for me, having not driven on the wrong, uhmmm, excuse me, right hand side of the road before!
Dinner – Night #1
Jenny and Chris prepared a wonderful meal for us all this evening. A sign of the culinary delights in store for the week!
Gallery
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- Starter
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- Main
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- Dessert
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- Bretagne
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- St Malo – La Moreau
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- Bella
Starter: soup. Main: vegetables and rice. Dessert: chocolate tartlet and cream. Yum!
Bella
Update #3 (Sunday)
Saturday nights glorious midnight thunderstorm was a thrilling experience and a welcome wake up call, just as long as it doesn’t happen every night!
The students will be arriving mid-afternoon on Sunday with the Acoustic Blues Guitar course beginning on Monday morning.
The blog will be updated at the end of each day. Be sure to check back soon!
All the best,
Complete Acoustic Blues Guitarist 2010
…presenting the Acoustic Blues guitar course 2010 with Richard Perkins
The Blues and Beyond
Dig up the roots of jazz, soul and rock and you’ll find the blues.
The guitar was there at the birth of the blues and has been the machine that has driven the development of the genre from its folk roots to contemporary funk, rock, jazz and fusion styles.
Aims of the course
The aims and objectives of this five day residential course are to:
- Develop and improve your guitar playing techniques
- Develop knowledge and understanding of common blues progressions
- Expand knowledge of chord voicing
- Encourage playing with others, in duos, trios and bands
- Experiment with a variety of tempos and rhythms, boogie, shuffles, swing etc
- Provide the opportunity to work on and develop on an individual or small group blues project
- Experience performing and recording musical projects
- Develop solo and improvisation skills
Course structure
The five day course will consist of four one hour group sessions per day
and will follow the development of blues music in a loose historic structure.
Examples of ‘standards’ and blues players from each period will be used to illustrate the development of the genre.
- Early roots; use of the thumb pick, fingerstyle, open tunings and bottleneck and slide styles
- Jazz influences; jazzin’ the blues, swing, boogie
- Urban blues; Chicago, deep south, shuffles
- Rhythm & blues; blues riffs and more blues riffs
- Blues ballads; 32 bar structures, more complex chord voicing
Teaching Methods
Participants will be given individual and group tuition in a relaxed and supportive environment. Group members will be encouraged to learn from each other’s experience by exchanging riffs, licks and other musical ideas. The evenings will form an important part of the week and there will be plemty of time to jam and work on blues projects with other course members.
This course will include practical demonstration throughout with supporting handout materials written in standard tablature, music notation and chord slash sheetes.You are not required to read music.
Who’s it For?
Perhaps you’re returning to the guitar now the children have grown up or reached retirement and looking for a new challenge. Maybe you’re a keen enthusiast or a more accomplished player and want a new experience. Whoever you are, the Acoustic Blues Course will cater for you.
What do I bring?
Guitar, (acoustic or electro-acoustic and/or electric).
Bottleneck slide (metal or glass)
Plectrums (standard & thumb pick)
Spare strings
Dictaphone
Note pad and pen
Monsters of Rock – Student Concert
Student Concert – Bath Spa University Students Union
Friday 7th August 2009
The class perform ‘Black Night’ – Deep Purple (Vocals – Catrin)
The class perform ‘Summer of 69’ – Bryan Adams (Vocals – Ian)
(Thank you to Colin McKay for recording the performance.)
Monsters of Rock – Day 5
Today is the final day of the Monsters of Rock course and the group are preparing for the student concert at the Bath Spa University student union.
Session 1
We spent our first session rehearsing the structure of the songs chosen for the concert:
Sound check!
- ‘Summer of 69’ – Bryan Adams
- ‘Black Night’ – Deep Purple
We were scheduled to sound check at 11a.m. The class familiarised themselves with stage and organised where to stand when they perform later.
Session 2
After our sound check the class regrouped and continued to rehearse the songs back in the classroom. We were joined by Catrin, our singer for Deep Purple’s ‘Black Night’.
We practised the getting on stage drill. The class lined up in order of their stage position and rehearsed walking on stage, albeit a pretend one in class.
Session 3 & 4
Rehearsing their moves!
One of the main goals of the Monsters of Rock class was to encourage students to interact with other musicians, make friends, feel confident when performing in front of new people and encourage students to take a lead role in instructing the class.
During the afternoon sessions we continued to encourage students to stand up, as a tutor, and take turns to teach the class a riff, or two. The exercise was very successful and everyone took the opportunity to take centre stage.
The Complete Acoustic Blues Guitarist Holiday 2010 