Iris Nevins will teach an innovative technique that she call the "One Finger Chording Technique":
You can have the right keys, you can have the right chords....yet is it still a struggle to accompany Irish and Celtic music? That's what this extended class of four 1 1/2 hour workshops over the weekend, called "Beyond Keys & Chord Charts" is all about. What you will learn is "all the other tricks", how to fit into the music, how to stop struggling, how to learn to hear fast key changes, how to mimic flute or fiddle, performance and stage fright issues, how to make your playing more interesting and create suspense and mood....and even how to save a melody player when they lose the tune on stage! This class is about technique, yet is easy to learn for all from beginner to advanced, because we are eliminating parts of what most guitar players do that makes them lose speed and timing rather than difficult fancy new techniques. We will cover some very different, yet easy techniques, that will increase your speed, fluidity and agility, many say within the first half hour. It is about simplifying your movements yet getting a richer fuller sound in the process.
We will be teaching in dropped D, but this also works for DADGAD, and it suits both fingerstyle playing and strumming. It is a method for getting around in the tunes with speed, yet with good timing, "the one finger slide" Iris calls it, which is very simple and easy. Though it looks very complex, it is a lot easier than using standard chords. Tom Dunne will supply the melody playing in this class, so you can even request tunes or types of tunes that are giving you trouble. We'll go around the room and spend time on things you want to work on.
We will also go into a brief history of chording. For example, did you know there were no chords used in this (and much other) music prior to the 1500s? How did chords come to be, and how to get back to a more ancient and powerful Celtic sound, that is dramatic, rich and full and makes use of the drone effect that gives this music much of its power.
Iris has played fingerstlye guitar, both for tunes and accompaniment for over 47 years and is 100% self taught. You will get little music theory here, that you can find in a book. All the "other stuff" that you can't convey with charts, books or words is what is covered. The basic moves are charted out in the handouts though, alternate chord shapes using one or two paired fingers and open drones, for future reference. The class handout has grown to about 28 pages, so send your email to
irisnevins@verizon.net and Iris will send a Winword file which you can print and bring to class. You can peruse it ahead, but it makes more sense within the context of the class. Also you may email ahead with any topics you might like to have covered.
