JasonShadrick

As always, Chicago this year was great.  From the location to the housing to the great people at Judson who take care of us, it seems that every year our Chicago campus is usually my favorite.

The faculty this year included Matt Smith, Dennis McCumber, Cass Faulconer, John Horne, Murali Coryell, Mike Cramer, Shawn Purcell, Jeff Beasley, Dave Tiede, and several more amazing instructors.

The week began with meeting Amanda Monaco at O’Hare and then directly heading down to the Jazz Record Mart.  I had been there several times before and I knew that I had to put a time limit on our visit otherwise we would be there all day.  I ended up with a Paul Motian album and an early Jerry Bergonzi album.

The faculty arrived on Saturday and we had a nice hang before the students arrived on Sunday.  This year’s group of students were some of the most talented I had ever seen at NGW.  We had two students from Mexico, one from Italy and one from France. All of them had decided to come to Chicago to get the chance to see our guest artist, Buddy Guy.

One of the most memorable moments of the week was the night of the first student concert.  That afternoon the power went out for about half of the campus, which of course included our performance space.  At the last minute we decided to have the concert in a large classroom with minimal amplification and with the drummer only using a snare and a splash cymbal.

It was one of the most memorable student concerts ever.

Everyone who came had such a great time.  The students played great and many of them came up to me at the end of the week and let me know how great of a time they had.

On the 16th we headed down to Buddy Guy’s Legends to spend some time with the man himself.  As we arrived at the club, Buddy was sitting at the bar waiting for us.  Many of the students had to look twice as they walked in, not believing that he was just hanging out.

Buddy Guy at Legends Photo Courtesy of GuitarVibe.com

Buddy spent some time answering questions and telling stories about his life in music over the last 6 decades.  After he answered questions, he went back to sitting at the bar and proceeded to make sure everyone who attended had the chance to say hi, get an autograph or get a picture taken.  It was great to see someone at his level take the time to do this.

After all the autographs were signed the jam for the students started.  Buddy continued to hang to check out the first few bands and you could tell he was digging it.  It was an incredible thrill for everyone involved and I hope to talk to Buddy (and Isabelle) soon to bring him to another campus.

Another cool thing about this week was that Zack from GuitarVibe was attending as a student to document the entire week.  He did an amazing job of writing about the experience from a student’s perspective.  You can also check out some videos he shot on his YouTube channel.

I am already in Austin (very hot) and today we have the great Jimmie Vaughan on campus.  It is great being able to travel in the summer and see all of the students, but I am looking forward to going home on Saturday.

National Guitar Workshop Announces 2009 Season with Special Guests Buddy Guy, Paul Gilbert, Jimmy Herring, Jimmie Vaughan and Pat Metheny

The National Guitar Workshop is proud to announce our 2009 season. This year we will be presenting week long workshops across the country and featuring guest artists such as Paul Gilbert, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Herring, Pat Metheny, Jimmie Vaughan, and many more.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Litchfield, CT—Februrary 12, 2009 – The National Guitar Workshop is excited to announce the curriculum and guest artists for the 2009 season. This year’s program will feature Paul Gilbert, Buddy Guy, Pat Metheny, Jimmy Herring, Oteil Burbridge, Pat Martino, Robben Ford, David Wilcox, Robert Lee Castleman, Brent Mason, Stu Hamm, Peppino D”Agostino, Ed Gerhard, Andrew York and John 5. Courses will be offered in rock, blues, jazz, country, classical, music technology, songwriting, and guitar exploration.

Check out www.guitarworkshop.com for more information.

NGW features locations nation-wide with campuses in New York, Austin, Washington DC, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Each location offers a wide variety of courses, all taught by world renowned musicians.

In association with Performing Songwriter Magazine, NGW is proud to present the Songwriting Summit featuring David Wilcox and Robert Lee Castleman. In addition, the workshop is offering a seminar on Country Guitar featuring Brent Mason, and a special Modern Acoustic seminar with Ed Gerhard and Peppino D’Agostino.

Events are happening across the country for rock players. The New York campus will hold two Rock Summits featuring Paul Gilbert and very special guest to be announced, while the LA Rock Summit will include a clinic by world renowned shred virtuoso John-5. Also at our LA Rock Summit we are happy to announce that bassist Stu Hamm will be an Artist in Residence during the summit.

The Jam Summit, taking place at our New York campus will feature both Jimmy Herring (Widespread Panic) and Oteil Burbridge (Allman Brothers Band) giving a special clinic on improvisation and presenting their unique take on the Jam scene.

Taking place in Austin, Chicago, and Connecticut are three Blues Summits, which will include appearances by some of the most influential bluest guitarists in the world. NGW is pleased to have Buddy Guy making a rare clinic appearance in Chicago. Jimmie Vaughan will be giving a clinic on his unique style in Austin, and the New York campus will feature the legendary blues guitarist Robben Ford.

The National Guitar Workshop is very excited to present Pat Metheny at the Jazz Summit in New York. This will be a rare chance to be a part of an intimate workshop with one of the most respected jazz guitarists in history. A great addition to the McLean, VA campus will be the appearance of one of the fathers of modern jazz guitar, Pat Martino, who will be a featured guest in the Giants of Jazz guitar seminar.

Our curriculum has also expanded to also include classes on Pro Tools, Ableton Live and Desktop Music Production. These music technology classes are powered by Apple®.

For a complete list of dates, locations, guest artists and classes offered please check out our website

www.guitarworkshop.com

If you are interested in connecting with other musicians and learning more about National Guitar Workshop from a student’s perspective, you can join our free community site

http://guitarworkshopcommunity.com

About National Guitar Workshop:

The National Guitar Workshop is celebrating over25 years of providing high quality music education to students of all ages. The curriculum is wide ranging with courses in Rock, Blues, Jazz, Acoustic, Songwriting, Music Technology and Classical. NGW offers expert instruction for guitarists, bassists, drummers, keyboardists and vocalists.

So mostly due to deadlines at work and post NAMM craziness, I have been absent.

Matt Warnock, a guitar professor at Western Illinois University recently interviewed me for the MusicEdMagic Website.  You can read it here.

Also, we have announced some of our guest artists for our campuses this summer.

National Guitar Workshop’s 2009 Guest Artist Roster (more to come)

Chicago, IL – Blues Guitar Summit July 12-17 with special guest Buddy Guy

Austin, TX – Blues Guitar Summit July 19-24 with special guest Jimmie Vaughan

Purchase, NY

July 19-24 Rock Summit with special guest TBA

July 26-31

Jazz Summit with Pat Metheny

Jam Summit with Jimmy Herring and Oteil Burbridge

August 2-7 Rock Summit with Paul Gilbert

August 9-14

Blues Summit with Robben Ford

Songwriting Summit with David Wilcox and Robert Lee Castleman

(I have a cool job)