It's been more than a week since I landed back in Sydney after spending a wonderful time with my TG friends. It's been even longer since The 2016 International Guitar Camp closed (gosh two weeks now). But my mind keeps returning to so many moments from camp. I'm still processing it all. I had such a great time. I have so many great memories.
I thought I'd share some of the things I experienced. Some of you may be thinking about going next year or some other time, but you may not really know what it's all about. Here are some glimpses, my reflections.
If you're anything like me you log into TG often, check out the lessons, learn or at least start to learn many of the songs on offer and you get support and inspiration in a whole bunch of ways from our teaching gurus and the TG community via the forum. That includes support and comments on your uploads and inspiration from watching stuff that others have shared; the student reviews too of course.
Well the IGC is like suddenly having access to Neil and Vanessa (and other instructors) and the friendships, support and inspiration you get from this site but in real time and magnified by ... (A big number). It's a way of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, a way to challenge yourself, but surrounded by the most supportive group of people you're ever likely to find who you'll laugh with, learn with, perform with and for, be entertained by and share stories with; including OMG I was SO nervous that...
Instruction
I've taken away really practical advice, both conscious learning and unconscious I'm sure. Vanessa and Neil both gave me advice on a bunch of things that I would never have received if it wasn't for the fact that they were able to see me playing from all sorts of angles, able to actually reach out and adjust the way I was doing things and because I wasn't just showing them what I wanted them to see. I'm now working on refinements to how I use a pick (excruciating) and trying to relax my hand, working on putting down all of the fingers in a chord at once, adjusting how I fret barre chords (the A-shape in particular) to reduce the amount of strength I need and working on palm-muting amongst other things. I'm committed to learning songs that are more straight forward too; before my next camp.
And that's just the one-on-one time I spent with Vanessa and Neil. There's a bunch of other things I learned and was exposed to in the group classes; how to change things up when you're playing with other guitarists, approaches to song-writing, stuff from Nessa's strum and sing-along session, Jim Bruno's vocal class ... I'm sure that I'm not even aware of some of the things I've picked up.
Performing and collaborations
One thing I almost never do at home is performing in front of people and playing with people. It terrifies me. I'm less terrified now and I've learned that regardless of how nervous you are, it's possible to bomb for a while and the sky doesn't come crashing down. I was so nervous when I first played in front of Vanessa that my hands were visibly shaking. I was so nervous when I first played in front of Neil that I couldn't even remember the picking pattern to a song I've played most days for the last four months. I couldn't even get it happening when Vanessa showed it to me. I was so nervous that my ears were ringing. They were both SO patient with my crises of confidence that somehow I made progress, it got easier and the more I played in front of them the easier it got.
There was an open mic all four nights of camp. I had decided that the only way to get over my performance anxiety was through it, to just do it and do it. So I took a heap of opportunities to play. I got up every night; sometimes alone, sometimes playing a TZZ song with the hilarious and sweet David, sometimes singing with the wonderful Ness, Corina, Dave Nachmannoff, Bill and others who I met at camp. I played bass in a collab too (great fun). Every time it got easier. Every time it was great fun even while I was feeling terrified. Every time everyone was SO supportive and encouraging. It's hard to really do it justice, to describe how good it was to get to the end of the self-imposed torture and hear everyone's responses. The sense of achievement is indescribable.
I learned heaps at the open mics and playing in collaborations. The fact that there were so many opportunities to get up and play, including at jams that followed the open mics, meant that I was able to chip away at those nerves and put those learnings into action. I just don't have those opportunities at home. I'm sure I could find an open mic, but not one where I could look around the room at the familiar faces and feel the same amount of love being poured onto the stage while nerves try to empty my brain and body of every ounce of skill I have. I certainly don't have performance boot camp; which is what IGC can be if you choose to take advantage of the opportunities.
Friendships
One of the things that makes IGC such a great experience is the people of course. I already knew lots of campers from the forum. Meeting Neil, Vanessa, David, Corina, Sandy, Lynn, Jean, Jason, Bart, Bob, Bill ... gosh so many people who I already had a TG friendship with, was so much fun. It meant that I already knew about half of the campers. And the BBQ at Neil's house was an awesome icebreaker. That made turning up at camp like getting together with a bunch of friends rather than the intimidating experience it might have been otherwise. Talking to my TG buddies and getting to know them and the other campers better was fantastic. Camp absolutely strengthen all of those connections for me and gave me a bunch of new friends.
Icing on the cake
The camp grounds were beautiful. The accomodations were good. The food was really nice, even for someone with specific dietary requirements like me.
Nani and all the people behind the scenes who ensured that the camp ran smoothly all went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and ensure we enjoyed ourselves. That included special goodies like the yummy cookies that Lizzy baked and the guitar straps that Lynn made. I don't even know all of the things that Nani did except that she'd been working like a demon for many, many months.
Speaking of working like a demon, Vanessa toiled hard every night to ensure that all of the open mics ran smoothly. Believe me, there were a lot of us getting up and the sessions ran for somewhere between 3 - 4 hours each night. Maybe I've got that wrong but it was a big task keeping us all on track and properly mic-ed.
Did I mention that a large proportion of campers who got up to play (and the teachers too of course) were excellent players. It was like going to a concert every night. Dave Nachmanoff was incredible. Vanessa is an amazingly entertaining performer. Watching Neil and Corina was spellbinding. There are too many campers to mention who's performances were inspirational. I won't list any because I'm bound to forget people. If you need a reminder for why we keep trying to improve, their playing sure did that.
It was also inspiring to talk to campers who'd written their own songs and hear them performing them; very cool.
I also got to speak to Larry the video guru about some video stuff. And at some point we'll be able to see the videos of all the sessions. I'll get to see some of the stuff I missed, enjoy all those performances again and see what a terrified me looks like from the outside.
Laughs
I laughed A LOT! I had a stupid big grin on my face for most of the time. The photos of me on stage look pretty serious. That happens when you're terrified apparently. But, I'm grinning like an idiot in so many. It was that much fun.
In truth there were a bunch of things that I didn't even take advantage of. I didn't play during any of the meals. I didn't go to the session of fancy guitars and guitar maintenance. I didn't get any one-on-one advice from several of the instructors. And I definitely didn't talk to everyone as much as would have liked to have. Lynn, Kevin and I didn't finish writing our song. I didn't sleep much either.
averaging about 4-5 hours a night. There were too many other things to get involved in. 
The downside of camp is saying goodbye to people of course. But, hey the party's got to end sometime right?
In short camp was amazing. I'd recommend it to anyone who'd like to have fun, learn a bit and spend some time performing and playing with a bunch of great people. Camp is pretty much what you make of it, but I can guarantee that it's an experience you won't soon forget.
I look forward to the day when I can do it all again. Thanks to everyone who was there for making it such a magical experience. I loved every second of it.
