Hornby Island Blues Workshop

Choosing workshops:

Each student will choose one major class, taken from 9:30 - noon daily, and one minor class for each afternoon, from 1:30pm - 3:00pm.

Classes fill up quickly, so we ask that you have a second choice, in the event that your first choice is already full.

Workshop descriptions are subject to change. We'll keep this page up to date as changes occur.

Keith Bennett

Major: Beginners Blues Harmonica
Students will learn the basic accompaniment for blues as well as blues scales for soloing and improvisation. Topics covered will include: holding the harmonica, comping, finding the blues scale, bending notes, when to solo, improvisation and harp maintenance. Participants to bring a 10 hole diatonic harmonica in the key of C (Hohner "Special 20" recommended).

Tuesday Minor: Harmonica Improvisation
This is a course for intermediate to advanced harp players that want some fresh improv ideas to spice up their solos. If you are tired of repeating the same lines over and over, than this course if for you. Bring a C diatonic harp.

Wednesday Minor: All About Bending
Intensive selection and integration of bending techniques. Learn the concept of bending notes on the harmonica and the context for when to use it. We will work on bending exercises as well as identifying and incorporating the most important bends into your playing.

Thursday minor: Harp Talk "Barber Shop"
Some harp tricks and learning effective ways of setting up a harp mic and amp rig. Bring your harp mics and amps for a hands on show and tell. Bring your old harps for some open harp surgery!

Carrie Chesnutt

Major: Let The Blues Out!:
We'll start with some warm ups, diaphragm breathing, tips and tricks of the trade to keep your voice healthy and happy. You will learn to use your voice like the grand instrument it is, find your strong points as a singer, find your power notes , overcome stage fright , communicate with the audience and the backup band and keep peoples' attention. During the week we are going to channel your life experiences into a song, or maybe just one note. The point is to feel the difference between someone who doesn't sing with passion and one that does, to get to that moment when you can feel every word resonate with your own truth and love of music!

The selected song(s) will provide an opportunity for participants to connect with their personal sound and encourage their unique approach to improvisation and style , as well as open up possibilities for experimentation and harmony.

Tuesday minor: Unleash Your Inner Diva Or Virtuoso:
Develop big stage presence - own your space and find your voice. Discover your inner RED HOT BLUES: Discover and sing songs that tell your story. Skills include using props, (feel free to bring some of your own!) connecting with an audience and setting the stage.

Wednesday minor: Shaking The Foundations:
Blues is about tradition and personal expression. Some would say the root of all music. Most blues feature simple, usually three-chord, progressions and have simple structures that are open to endless improvisations, both lyrical and musical. The blues grew out of African spirituals and work songs, at first passed down orally. We'll look at these basic 12 bar blues and some of the variations that have evolved from 1920 to 2013.

Thursday minor: Jammin' The Blues:
Learn to use your voice as an instrument: double horn lines or piano lines? Yes, Solo skills, Yes. why should the guitar player have all the fun ? We ll work on the 12 bar form and how to jam it out. You will learn some great attention-getting riffs and alternate notations to written music notes.

Coaching Sessions are also available for saxophone or flute.Bring your instrument of choice.

Paul Deslauriers

Major: Instructors: Paul Deslauriers, Bill Hicks, Russell Jackson - New Concept for 2012: In 2012 we combined our three classes to teach the fine art of Jamming as a Minor class, and the time just flew by! We realized we could have spent the week teaching just this one so we decided to do something extra-special and make it a major class this year!
As musicians we talk a whole lot about our individual instruments, but the bottom line is that most of the time our goal is play music with other people. During Blues Week 2013 we'll learn to do just that in this class. While the group sessions will be the focus, guitar players will get one on one instruction with Paul, drummers with Bill and bass players with Russell. Then we will pool all our resources and show you how it's done as a group. We think it will make for a great learning environment and be tons of Fun!

Tuesday Minor: Acoustic Guitar for Electric Blues Players (Intermediate to Advanced): What every electric guitar player should know about ripping it up on the acoustic guitar! We'll be looking at how to tear up your flat-top and how to transfer your electric licks to the acoustic and make it all work. If you think the acoustic is all soft strumming and gentle picking, this class will definitely change your mind!

Wednesday Minor: Slide Guitar in Open G in One Afternoon: (All Levels) For the beginner to the advanced slidesmiths! Bring a guitar and a slide and I'll explain the mysteries of this amazing tuning and show you how to make music with it in a flash. You don't need to be born in the Delta to do it right!

Thursday Minor: How Les Paul and Seth Lover Changed the World: (Intermediate to Advanced): Ever heard of B.B. King, Albert King or Freddie King? Clapton, Page, Beck, Peter Green or even Kossoff ring a bell? What did all these famous bluesmen and rockers have in common? They all played guitars with 2 humbucking pickups and created the sound of electric blues and blues-rock. From B.B.'s Lucille to Albert King's flying V to Clapton, Page and Green's famous sunburst Les Paul, I'll unlock the secrets of these famous instruments and show you how they got their magic tones and created the most famous blues the world has known. Don't have a Gibson? No problem! Bring whatever you have and we'll have fun!

Rick Fines

Major: Week-long Jammin the Blues: The All-Week "JAMMIN' THE BLUES" is back - We will work on many classic riffs over several classic blues styles and learn how to put the riffs and rhythms into your fingers while you sing different song structures. It's jamming with pointers. Let's dig in and explore what we can do to play together better! Learn from Rick and learn from each other.

Tuesday Minor: Slide In StandardTuning: Work on slide guitar without changing tunings. Learn some useful tips about the chord positions as well as how to switch from straight fretting to slide during a song.

Wednesday Minor: Complimentary Rhythm Guitar:Learn a second or third guitar rhythm to add to what is being played so that you help fill out the sound of the ensemble. We explore several ways to make the most of 2 or 3 guitarists playing at once and Learn to build complimentary harmonies in the process.

Thursday Minor: Fingerstyle Blues: Leave your pick behind and let's look at right-hand technique. We go through a number of standard right hand patterns and techniques. Fingerstyle is often the preferred approach for acoustic blues Bring your questions to this class as everyone learns from others' questions.

David Gogo

Major: Blues Rock Lead Guitar - Loud & Proud (Intermediate/Advanced):Learn to get that guitar slinger swagger!! We will start with a look back at traditional bluesmen and stop by England in the sixties and make our way to modern times where the amps are cranked and the blisters are painful! Bring your axe and amp as we go from BB King to Buddy Guy to Jeff Beck and beyond ... Hopefully, we will use our skills to rock a song at the student concert that will peel the paint off of the walls!

Tuesday minor: Blues Songwriting: I have made many albums and try to mix classic covers with new tunes that have the potential to become classics. We'll examine what it is like to write within the blues structure and how you can turn your life experiences into hundreds of dollars in royalties! Feel free to pick a few songs to examine within the class.

Wednesday minor: Blues Star - Learning How To Promote Your Career: Wondering why the world doesn't know how awesome you are? It's time to let them know! We will examine how social media and playing live can make you the next blues superstar IF you know what you are doing. I can help!

Thursday minor: Slide Rhythm Guitar In Open D and G:
For Beginners. Walk in a novice, walk out as the next Hound Dog Taylor (Wig not provided. We will learn basic 12 bar blues rhythm patterns and classic lead slide licks in the style of Elmore James with a few tricky licks thrown in. I'll show you the basics; you take 'em home with you and focus on your inner Johnny Winter! Bring a slide.

Billy Hicks

Tuesday Minor: What Makes A Shuffle Shuffle
The shuffle is a popular groove in the blues. Learn the distinctive components of this drumming technique.

Wednesday Minor: Laying Down That Fat Blues FeelHow to get it going and keep it going.

Thursday Minor: Learning How To Support
Learn how to support soloists and how to lead and follow volume and intensity builds, while also being ready for softer dynamics in a song. We will also practice being able to recognize when a song is ending and understanding bandleader cutoff and song ending cues. (As it is good to all stop at the same time!) Additionally daily topics will include: (A) Fitting in with your fellow musicians on a musical and personal level, (B)Approaching a song from behind your kit, (C) Tuning drums, Dynamics and Practice. Practice. Practice!, and (D) How to turn the infamous 'Drum Solo' into more of a musical and style-appropriate part of any song.

Russell Jackson

Tuesday Minor: Basic Bass
Basic fingering techniques on bass.

Wednesday Minor: Slap Bass
How to play funk bass over 12 bar blues.

Thursday Minor: Chicago Style Blues
The influence of Chicago's Chess Records.

Jack de Keyzer

Major: The Evolution of Blues Guitar:
Jack de Keyzer will present a week long course called "THE EVOLUTION OF BLUES GUITAR"(from Robert Johnson to Jimi Hendrix)" Each class will focus on a style of blues guitar from each era and show how each generation and blues style influenced the next one. Various styles such as Delta blues, Chicago blues, Texas blues, West coast, Urban blues and Soul/Jazz will be demonstrated along with detailed descriptions of tunings, turn arounds, blues forms, jazz modes, licks, runs, chords and scales.

Tuesday Minor: 1930'S Robert Johnson / Delta Blues:
Slide, tunings, fingerstyle, pedal rhythms, ragtime. This Minor will also feature Muddy Waters: finger style electric country blues, slide, riffs, licks.

Wednesday Minor: 1940'S & 50'S Lonnie Johnson / T Bone Walker:
A collection of notable techniques including single string leads, 9th chords, 6th chords, turnarounds and BB King: single note , vibrato, licks, and chords intros. This Minor will also highlight Buddy Guy/ Chuck Berry: shuffle blues, licks, pedal rhythms, and intros.

Thursday Minor: 1960'S Eric Clapton:
Early Crossroads, riff, solos and licks. This Minor will end with highlight Jimi Hendrix: typical Voodoo Child riffs, licks, effect pedals, melody and distortion.

David Vest

Major: Exploring Blues Piano:
In this class we will go over some of the basics of blues piano and try them out in practice. We will cover different rhythmic feels (shuffle, swing, rhumba, waltz, 6/8, 8-to-the-bar boogie woogie), a few different chord progressions and patterns (e.g. different 12-bar and 8-bar patterns), some figures for the left hand (walking bass lines, humpty dumpty etc.) and some licks for the right hand. We will also write a song in the course of the class, incorporating some of these elements.

Tuesday Minor: Blues Piano Jamming
This will be a practical approach to playing with other musicians (other piano players as well as other instruments). The emphasis will be on playing rather than theorizing. We will try to develop skills of listening to and interacting with other players so that each gets a chance to shine and the joint product is a coherent whole.

Wednesday Minor: Some Pioneers of Blues Piano:
I will highlight the biographies and some of the classic songs of a few of the major early blues pianists. Instead of trying to cover as many piano players as possible (as I've done in the past), I will focus on a few but discuss them in more detail. I will bring in listening samples as well. The piano players covered will include Cow Cow Davenport, Leroy Carr, Little Brother Montgomery, Roosevelt Sykes, Big Maceo and Memphis Slim.

Thursday Minor: Blues With A Feeling:
Technique is all very well and good, but music, especially blues, has to convey feeling in order to have soul. We will talk about how music does this, how we can prepare ourselves emotionally and psychologically to access the necessary feeling for a song, and what the emotional effects of various musical devices and forms may be (e.g., different tempi, the use of major, minor, diminished and other colouring chords, 'blue' notes, etc.) We will try out some of these elements in practice.

Brandon Isaak

Major: Post War Guitar Styles: Over three days we will explore a number of the classic blues guitar players from the post war period with specific looks at Texas, Chicago, Delta and more southern Piedmont styles. We will study and play the upbeat, acoustic and amplified styles of some of the greatest Blues innovators who ever played.
Day 1: We will look at and play in the post war Chicago styles from Eddy Taylor to Muddy Waters.
Day 2: We will dive into the Texas styles from T-bone Walker to Lightning Hopkins.
Day 3: We will study and play in the styles of Delta blues and Piedmont blues finger picking.

Tuesday Minor: Open Tunings Without A Slide: Here we will look at some classic and simple tunings and some different ways to play chords and lead with and without a slide.

Wednesday Minor: Swing & Jump Guitar: We will have a look at swing and jump chord & lead ideas as well at progressions and develop the common language that blues and jazz can share.

Thursday Minor: Keeping It Simple: This class will be a review all the things we have talked about but how to keep the Blues simple. Learn to play great melodies and effective solos using very few notes. I just want to emphasize the fact that keeping it simple is reserved for many of the top blues stars.

Suzie Vinnick

Major: Songwriting
Everyone has a story to tell that can be put into song. In this course I will share some inspirations and tools that I use when I write to help you write your own song. I'll walk you through a song path i.e. where a song started and how it got to "finish". Please come with pen and paper (and an instrument and/or recording device if you wish).

Tuesday Minor: Gospel Singing: Come with your voice (and your instrument if you choose) and prepare to testify! We'll sing some traditional (and not so traditional) gospel songs.

Wednesday Minor: Suzie's Mentoring Session:
For this workshop please bring something musical you'd like help with or coaching on. Examples for this session could include: • a song that you're trying to find the right key for or a harmony for • how to write a chart for your song • figuring out a guitar part or bass line for your song • get feedback on a song questions about the music business or anything else music-oriented • students are also welcome to sit in and observe

Thursday Minor: Songwriting Tools / Share A Song: In this songwriting minor I'll share some songwriting tools you can use to help with your song writing, including object writing, sense-based writing and brainstorming. We'll also take some time for you to share a song and get some feedback.