Big thanks to all of the performers and attendees at our first Student Showcase! Piano, guitar, violin, voice and ukulele were all represented along with a variety of age groups.

It takes courage to get up in front of an audience and perform. Several internal and external distractions have the ability to derail any performance. A musical mistake or error can be defined as a difference between the intended and actual musical outcome. How we deal with these unexpected outcomes is up to us. In my private lessons, a lot of what we work on is how to recover from these mishaps. How do you pick yourself up and move forward? Most of the time, the audience is unaware of a mistake and the only time they notice is when the performer makes it obvious.

To quote Zachary Poulter in Teaching Improv in your Jazz Ensemblethese “experiences prepare students for a world of increasing ambiguity by enabling them to confront and transcend uncertainty.” Every time you get up on stage to perform, you are one step closer to becoming a better musician and a better human. So keep learning, keep shedding and keep performing!

Thank you to our neighborhood pub, The Pullman for hosting!

 

We are hosting our first STUDENT SHOWCASE on Saturday, March 25 at The Pullman from 2-4 pm. This showcase will be a great venue to perform in a relaxed environment. Just let us know if you would like to play and we’ll add you to the list of performers (you can also sign up in the student portal).

One of the things that I have learned over the years is that informal performance opportunities can decrease performance anxiety. So even if you are not performing at the showcase, pull aside one of your loved ones and perform something for them. You will both feel better afterwards. Click here to RSVP!

We are excited to announce the return of Guitar Ensemble! Begins Sunday, March 5. Register in our student portal or email [email protected]

In a few weeks I will be embarking on my first Cayamo cruise. Cayamo is one of many music festivals at sea organized by Atlanta based production company Sixthman. Sixthman has been creating music festivals at sea since 2001 and I first attended one of their cruises playing guitar for Eric Dodd in 2010 on Zac Brown’s Sailing Southern Ground Cruise.

Since first hearing about Sixthman, I have always had my eye on Cayamo. Each one of their cruises has a different theme and Cayamo has been dubbed the “singer-songwriter” cruise. This year’s lineup includes Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Shawn Mullins, Jim Lauderdale, North Mississippi Allstars and more. Previous lineups have included Lyle Lovett, John Prine, John Hiatt, Jason Isbell, Bruce Hornsby and The Wood Brothers. No shortage of talent on this boat!

I am honored to be offering three guitar workshops throughout the week….

  1. Strumming & Finger Picking Patterns (Beginner)
  2. Alternative Songwriting Techniques (Intermediate)
  3. Exploring the Fretboard – Lead Guitar and Songwriting (Intermediate/Advanced)

I will be out of town from February 19-26 but our new office manager, Rebecca will be taking good care of the Shed. Keep an eye out for some of these workshops coming to the Shed soon and stay tuned!

Click on the Facebook album below for pictures from our Winter Recital. All of the performers did a great job and the recording is available for download in our student portal. Enjoy!

Christmas came early for us this year at the Shed! Last week our friend, Tyler Petito (founder of Acorn Amplifiers) hand delivered a prototype of a new amp they are working on. Many of our students have Acorn Amplifiers stickers on their guitar cases, but what they might not know is that they are one of the premier amp builders in the country. They are located in nearby East Atlanta Village and also repair all of our amps here at the Shed.

As you can see, this amp is a beauty! The woodwork, grill cloth and logo make for a unique vintage vibe. With an open back design, this amp has plenty of space to fill up your room with soaring, tube amp tones. Look a little closer and you’ll see a penny embedded in the upper right corner of the amp from the year 2016 (the year the amp was made). Personal touches like this are what sets Tyler and co. apart. The vintage design is matched by classic tube amp tones that break up right where you want them to. We can’t stop playing this amp, and hope you enjoy playing it during your lessons here at the Shed as much as we do. This Acorn may be young, but it is maturing nicely.

 

Looking to purchase an affordable keyboard for a beginner? This is a guest post is from our piano teacher Christopher Case that will be able to point you in the right direction…

“I have done a lot of looking and I really like the Williams keyboards as far as sound and functionality goes. They are a little pricier, but solid and without a lot of the flashy bells and whistles that most beginners don’t need. Just a solid piano style keyboard”

Williams Legato Digital Piano ($199)

“The Yamahas are a reliable option as well. The used ones on here are slightly cheaper. These are known to sound good and be durable, and they tack on some extra sounds and drumbeat type things.”

Yamaha YPG-235 ($199)

“This Casio might also be a good choice if you want to keep it under $150, although I do think the lack of keys would be an issue. Still plenty to get you started without breaking the bank.”

Casio CTK2400 ($117.95)

We are gearing up for our Winter Recital on December 18 at the Red Light Cafe. The recital will begin at 6 pm with our younger students going on stage first. We are very excited for our most diverse recital to date, with the addition of our violin students and performances from the Guitar Ensemble and Adult Band!

This is a busy time of year so we are going to have an open rehearsal at Guitar Shed on December 11 at 6 pm. “Open” meaning that attendance is not required and we won’t have set times for each student to rehearse. However, there will be PIZZA! You are all invited to attend the rehearsal and recital (even if you are not performing).

Click here to RSVP to the Winter Recital

Looking forward to a great night full of music and holiday cheer! Stay tuned!

This Saturday, I’ll be playing the music of The Band with my fellow Elegant Bachelors at Venkman’s in Old Fourth Ward. From time to time we will play an entire night of a band’s catalog. In the past we’ve played an entire night of music by The Beatles, The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers.

For me, it is always great to revisit these catalogs and absorb myself in the songs. Although I have played these songs many times, there is always something exposing itself for the first time. Whether it’s a new lyric, different chord or riff, or a new version that I haven’t heard before.

The Band are a musicians’ band. They were road tested, solid players with great vocals, musicianship and stage presence (some of the many reasons they made a great backing band for Bob Dylan). Other classic bands can be put in this category, Little Feat, Steely Dan, etc., but the Band possessed a rawness that is difficult to capture. They were Americana before it was a musical genre. How did this Canadian-American band so perfectly capture the essence of American music, blues, soul and country?

Much like The Band are a musicians’ band, Robbie Robertson is a guitarists’ guitarist. He has a unique style that is understated, tasteful, funky, sensitive and confident. Perhaps his most trademark technique is the use of pinch harmonics (picking the string with the thumb of the right hand immediately after the pick strikes the string). Add to that unapologetic bends, string squealing and chunky double stops and you’ve got a force to be reckoned with. He was a songwriter, singer and lead guitarist of one of the most influential rock and roll bands of the 20th century. Have a listen here for the band at their peak with some live recordings released a few years ago from 1971. They are not just any band, they are THE BAND.

 

In Cahoots

Please fill out the short form below or click on the poster to guarantee yourself a spot in our Winter Recital. Deadline to signup is November 18 and the recital is on December 18. If you don’t know what you (or your children) will be playing yet, it’s all good. You can still signup to secure your spot!

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