First of all, a Big Thanks to Dennis for instigating this guitar camp adventure! It was great to meet you and your lovely niece, Shelby.
I had a great time at camp and the highlight, of course, was meeting in person some fellow TGers, who I already felt like I knew pretty well from the forum and their videos. But it was fun to meet in person and spend some time at the camp with these guys! Dennis is a funny guy with great passion for music! Marc is one of the nicest people I met at camp. Pierre is a hoot (I think his opening line was actually, Where do they keep the inflatable bunnies? And I enjoyed a few slow jams with David - he is a great lead player!
I drove about 15 hours to reach the camp from where I live and I slept in a tent instead of a cabin, which I really enjoyed once I borrowed an air pump and got more air in my mattress pad. The setting of this camp is beautiful and I enjoyed it even more than the similar music camp I visited last summer in California, as this camp had a nicer layout, a more integrated community of students and teachers, better food, the TG friends attending, and the summer weather in the Pacific Northwest is a bit more pleasant!
One of the challenges at camp is selecting three classes from a menu of 30 classes and 16 instructors. I was satisfied with my selection of:
- the class on rhythm and drive that Pierre mentioned - the highlight for me in this class was learning the dylan song "It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry"
- the class on Brazilian guitar that Marc also took - we learned some new rhythms and the song Corcovado, which we performed as a class at the student concert (with a violin, bass, and about 6 guitars)
- a class on Chord Voicings from a Seattle singer-songwriter named Jim Page. Two highlights from that class - Jim mostly played and taught his own songs, but he took one of my first and favorite songs, dylan's You Ain't Goin Nowhere" and in about 15 minutes came up with a really cool arrangement in double drop D tuning, capo'ed at the 5th fret, with 5-6 chord voicings that captured the chords and the melody! At the beginning of one of our class sessions, I had mentioned totally guitars and Jim Page said that he was thrilled to see that TG had a lesson on a song he had written (Ivory Salamander) and that he had been trying to get in touch with Neil to thank him!
For the student concert, I chose a song I have done on TG Busking 3 chord songs: Van Morrison's And It Stoned Me. I picked this song as I figured the chords were pretty easy and I had memorized the lyrics pretty well. I even skipped my rhythm class one morning to attend a performance class and got to work on the song in the performance class on stage and with the mikes set up and got some good coaching on how to introduce the song, etc. And I chose to go up alone - just me and my guitar - for the performance - something I had never done before. It was pretty scary to be up there. The intro went fine, but once I started singing, I could hear my voice waver and crack and my strumming tighten up a bit. I made a few mistakes, but just kept going, and before you know it, the song is over! I listened to the audio recording later. One of the things I love about Van Morrison is his soulful singing. It is pretty painful to listen to my flat, off-key, lifeless vocals, so I won't be posting it. Perhaps, next camp, I will take a singing class
A couple of other "aha" experiences for me with the camp: Since I took up guitar, I have learned via group workshops and video lessons. I think it's time for me to take a real lesson with a live teacher to work on how to strum with a pick, loosen up my right hand, get a better groove/feel with the right hand. And two, I need to play with others more. The good news is there were 2 other students at camp who live within a few miles of my house and we agreed to get together and play!
JimcJimC - I hope that's not too long...