Mercer Island Community Center.

New West Guitar

The New West Guitar Trio is based in Los Angeles.  New West features Perry Smith, John Storie and Brady Cohan. They have gained recognition as one of today’s premier guitar ensembles. Their original music combines the foundation of jazz with elements of blues, rock and folk. New West travels all over the world giving concerts and clinics.

Lucky for us, they will be soon in our neighborhood and hosting a clinic on arranging for 3 guitars [or more!].

Study material will stem primarily from the familiar Standards repertoire…tunes that you’re already playing or have been meaning to get to one of these days J. From a simple “Jam” playing situation to complex scoring with multiple guitarists, the New West Guitar Trio will cover the bases.

Come learn why one really can’t have too many guitarists on stage or in a living room. Fee is only $20 for SJGS members and $25 for non-members.

New West Guitar, SJGS Clinic June 09.

Location: Roberts Music Institute, 13417 N.E. 20th St Bellevue WA 98005-2014. (425) 614-4764

Time: 1PM, $25 (includes copy of Don’s new book)

Here’s an excerpt from a review of Don’s book titled “Mastering the Dominant Chord“:

Discover why the study of dominant 7th chords will offer you the “keys to the kingdom” for truly understanding the workings of music. This one magical little chord gives music it’s movement, energy and tension. Knowing how dominants work will also greatly improve your dealings with other chord types including major and minors. 

 Pictures from the event.  Click on thumbnails to get med-size version, and then click again to get 1024×768 photos.

Don Mock clinic, Oct 2009

Don Mock clinic, Oct 2009

Sunday September 20, 2009.

1-3 PM, Mercer Island Community Center

Tony Beaulaurier is a Puget Sound area native and earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in music from Central Washington University. In addition to his private teaching studio, he also has experience instructing at several regional community colleges. Classes taught at the collegiate level include music theory, history of rock music, history of jazz, introduction to music, jazz improvisation, class guitar and class piano.

On a performance level, Tony has performed in a variety of jazz, rock and classical ensembles. He currently performs with his jazz trio and as a solo classical guitarist.

Tony Beaulaurier, "Sight Reading for Jazz Guitar"

Tony Beaulaurier & students

Sunset Hill Community Center • 3003 NW 66th Street in Ballard

Julian Catford and Linda Lendzian have organized a celebration/memorial for guitarist Klaus Lendzian who recently passed after a difficult illness. If you knew Klaus or would like to know him now through his music, friends and family, please come to this community event in his honor.

We will share stories, photos, play music and eat – potluck items welcome but not necessary (no alcohol).

Let’s laugh and cry and have some fun. There will be CD’s for sale, to help cover costs and medical bills.

For more info: http://memorialwebsites.legacy.com/klauslendzianguitar, or Google ‘Klaus Lendzian memorial’

Dan Balmer will host a clinic for us on Saturday 09 May from 1-3pm @ Mercer Island Community Center. Contribution for artist: $20 SJGS members in good standing and $25 for non-members or if you haven’t yet paid 2009 dues!

“UNDERSTANDING THE JAZZ BLUES.”
Blues are hugely important in the language of Jazz. In this clinic, “Professor Dan” will cover the high level “game within a game” of Jazz Blues including many of the substitutions that get used for comping and superimposing while improvising. From basics to advanced, this clinic will cover much of the vast territories of the Jazz Blues.

So who is Dan Balmer?
Hailing from Portland, OR Dan Balmer has talent coming out of his elbows. He’s played with just about everyone…really! Then again, he’s been teaching for over twenty years including his “day gig” post at Lewis and Clark College plus summers at Centrum Port Townsend so he’s no slouch at conveying information in a format that’s at once understandable, useful and practical.

Tim Lerch on Strategies for Solo Guitar: Arrangement and Improvising Ideas.

“We have a little orchestra sitting in our laps yet we are often limited by technique and imagination as to how to get the most out of it. Since we spend much of our playing time alone, we owe it to ourselves to explore the possibilities of solo performance.”

This clinic will explore some of the many strategies for solo guitar arranging and improvisation such as Texture variation, Counterpoint, Inner voice movement, Rhythmic variations, Time feel, Re harmonization and Modulation.

Maybe you have some tried and true approaches that you would like to share. Sometimes a simple idea that we overlook can open up lots of possibilities.

As always, please RSVP if you are planning to attend so that our clinicians can adequately prepare for attendance.

Here’s a group photo.  Thanks to everyone who attended!

Tim Lerch "Solo Guitar" clinic, group photo

Visit Romero’s home page @ www.romerolubambo.com.

As guitarists, we are both single line and chordal players. We need to build a rich harmonic vocabulary. Tim Lerch discussed and demonstrated a list of 13 techniques to bring more color to playing chords. Here are just two:

1. Color Extensions and Inversions. When presented with the following chords, experiment with using extensions – you can use any combination of the extensions for each chord. Tonic Major (6, 9, maj7, #11). Dorian Minor (6, 9, or natural 11). iii Minor (b9, b6). Dominant V7 (9, 13, natural 11, b9, #9, b5, #5). Also, spend time practicing these chords in all their inversions (i.e. root on bottom, 3rd on bottom, 5th on bottom, 7th on bottom).
2. Diatonic Substitutions (Replacements and Additions). There are “families” of sounds that share many of the same notes in common and therefore can be substituted for one another. The related sounds are:
   • Tonic Sounds: I – iii – vi
   • Sub-Dominant Sounds: IV – ii
   • Dominant Sounds: V7 – vii half diminished
   • For example, consider the Tonic Sounds. C major 7th is spelled C, E, G, B. The vi chord in C major (which is Am7) is spelled A, C, E, G. Both chords share C, E, and G in common. When presented with a Tonic Major chord (i.e. C major 7th in the key of C), substitute it with a vi chord (i.e. Am7 in the key of C). Likewise, if presented with a vi chord, you can substitute it with I (tonic major).

Integrate these colors into your chord comp’ing and chord melodies. It can add interesting textures to your playing.

There are many more learning resources available in the left-hand navigation bar of this web site. Check out SJGS Links, Practice Buddies, and Teachers.