Fretboard String School

Fret`board: [ fret-bawrd, -bohrd ]
Noun
1. a fingerboard with frets, as on a guitar.
2. a fretboard has frets.  A fingerboard typically does not have frets. A violin or a cello has a     fingerboard and does not have frets.
3. frets enable notes to be played when the string is pressed against it.  Unless you’re playing a Square Neck Dobro.  Frets are just instrument ornaments on a Square Neck Dobro.

Welcome to FRETBOARD String School!

Providing instruction, mentoring and workshops in:

INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION

  • Resonator/Dobro Guitar
  • Lap Steel Guitar
  • Acoustic Guitar
  • Weissenborn

” Understanding the building blocks of music opens many doors, doors that remain closed to those who can’t get beyond their limited knowledge.”
~~ Jack Perricone

RATES
  • $32.50 per 45 minute session
Not currently accepting new students.

PHILOSOPHY

  •  
  • Individual lesson plans based on assessment, skill level and the musical goals of the student
  • Begin with and build upon on solid fundamentals and musical foundations to support the music you like to play
  • Develop an understanding and comprehension of your instrument
  • Leverage the first 3 items listed and what others have done to influence your own creativity, but don’t be a copy cat – be you!
  • Apply the constructs and techniques of music to play any genre

“Life is about creating yourself”
~~ Bob Dylan

  WORK SHOPS

PAST AND PRESENT
  • Flatpick 101 (20S-MUS-002)
  • Flatpick 102 (21F-MUS-001) 
  • Introduction to Resonator Guitar (19F-MUS-004)
MAPPING MUSIC THEORY TO THE FRETBOARD
  • Applied Music Theory – Dobro
  • Applied Music Theory – Weissenborn
  • Applied Music Theory – Guitar
  • Sight Reading For The Dobro
  • Intervals as a Second Language  – Music Theory is a prerequisite
  • The Daunting Realm of the Fretboard Skating Rink
  • Melody Development
  • Creating Arrangements from Melodies: from Simple to Complex
  • Modes, Toads and Scaly Things  
  • Building Extensions and Suspensions on the Dobro Fretboard
  • Song Structure
  • Diatonic Cycle 5 Progressions
  • Opening up the Fretboard with Stationary Chords  – Music Theory is a prerequisite
  • Dynamics: When, Where, Why and How
  • Expression of Musical Emotions
  • The Bass Clef and The Dobro
  • Recording with Garage Band
  • BOSS RC-5 Loop Station – Practice Tool/ Band Mate/Creative Journal
  • Rhythm Workshop
  • The Rhythm of Charles Sawtelle Applied to the Dobro
  • Symmetrical Extended Scales – Dobro  (Segovian Scales)
  • Improvisation 101:  Going Beyond the Melody Notes Within the Melody
  • Advanced Improvisation 102
  • Introduction to Scales
  • The League of Ordinary and Extraordinary Minors
  • Dance of the Slants
    “Try not to slant after you drink”
    ~  Bobby Ingano – Hawaiian Music Master
  • Constructing Flights of Fancy
  • Fast and Flawless 
FAR FLUNG AND FLUNG FAR TUNINGS
    • Alternate Tuning: Open D (D-A-D-F#-A-D) for Resonator
    • Alternate Tuning: DADGAD/Dsus4
    • Alternate Tuning: Drop D for Guitar
    • Alternate Tuning: C6 for Lap Steel
    • The Secret Tunings

      “If tuning could speak for itself, it would probably say: “I just work here!”.
      ~ Ashkan Mashhour

STRATEGIES FOR MUSICAL CREATIVITY
  • The Muse, The Music and The Mystical Skittering Squirrel
  • A Look at Lyrical Lyric’s
  • Chord Ladder
  • Travis Picking the Dobro – Beyond the Thumb
  • Suspended Animation – A study of suspended chords in Dobro Open G Tuning
  • The Secret Fretboard Decoder Ring — Decoder Ring Included!
  • The CAGED System
  • The FDAA System
  • Bass Walk’n the Dobro
  • What Comes First – The Chords or the Melody?
  • Learning a Tune: Ear vs. Musical Notation
  • Visualizing the Dobro Fretboard with Patterns and Slants
  • The Blues, The Bar and the Square Neck
  • The Lost Chord – Illustrated Chords and Chord Theory for Dobro/Resonator
  • Navigating the Fretboard with Triads (a.k.a. Groovy Tunes)
  • How to Practice 

Call for workshop rates and availability.

    • . . . Many times you’ll find that you learn more about music from life than from music.
    — Mick Goodrick