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#1
06-16-2016, 07:50 PM
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New teacher - remember Steven King
So I haven't posted here in awhile. When I have, I've learned a lot, thanks to responses from many of you. That helped, in tandem with my lessons. Trouble is, I had tried three different teachers, but none of them was really what I wanted, or needed. I want to play fingerstyle. No pick, no singing, no strumming of cowboy chords. My previous teachers wanted me to sing. Wanted me to use a pick. Wanted me to, well, play the way I didn't want to play.
Well....I hadn't been to a lesson in close to a year, and so was playing only occasionally, and then only songs I'd already learned. I wasn't growing. Then my organization (a nonprofit) hosted an event, and a guitarist was hired to play background music. He hadn't played but six notes when I beelined over to him. "Do you teach?" I asked. "I've been known to," he said. He was playing fingerstyle on a Rainsong....Beatles tunes and other covers, but with incredible arrangements and complexity. He said he'd take me on as a student, and mentioned during our brief conversation that he'd won a national fingerstyle championship in the mid-90s (Walnut Valley, Winfield competition). Then I googled him: Steven King is his name. He put on Taylor clinics all across the country for about a decade, until the early 2000's. His name pops up in many archived threads here on AGF. Here are a few of his videos. He is simply incredible. AND a wonderful teacher! Man, did I luck out, or what!!??!!!!  From a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkH-7SCFWlw And just this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbpPyrEd2KU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msPZ72qCNA8 Steven knows literally THOUSANDS of songs. He gigs all the time around town. He is, quite simply, a genius. At least IMHO. I think I've finally found the right teacher. He plays how I want to play, he is patient and kind and fun. And amazing.  EM
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Carol "We are music fingered by the gods." ~ Mark Nepo 
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#2
06-17-2016, 04:35 AM
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You definitely lucked out! Unusual to find such a good player who is also a good teacher - two different skills which don't often coincide. (In fact three skills, if you count being a nice guy - even rarer!
.)I love his rhythmic feel on those tunes - great groove and drive.
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"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen.
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#3
06-17-2016, 09:38 AM
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Yes, JonPR, I didn't assume he taught, or if he did, that he taught well. Turns out he has compiled two large lesson books, the first being for early to intermediate players. He has drawn from all kinds of sources to put together a curriculum that he feels teaches how to play in a progression that makes good sense and builds on itself. It's not a published book, just copied sheets in a comb binding. This book shows that he has put careful thought into what he wants to teach and in what order, and that he's taught many students.
My first teacher, on the other hand gave me single sheets that were copies of copies of copies...hard to read and incomplete, and always just of songs, e.g. "Michael Row the Boat Ashore." My second teacher had absolutely no curriculum and never gave me a thing or suggested any resources. He left it up to me! My third teacher was the most organized, but typically held an electric guitar in his lap to demonstrate things, and I knew that while he could play fingerstyle, he was a "riff" guy. I did luck out with teacher #4!
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Carol "We are music fingered by the gods." ~ Mark Nepo
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#5
06-17-2016, 04:35 PM
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I've seen him live a few times here in NC. He is an amazing guitar player and arranger. As a matter of fact, the first video you posted, I was in the audience. It was filmed at the Saw Briar in Pilot Mtn. NC. I wish it had better sound quality.
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Taylor 610 (1989) Taylor 514CE (2002) Larrivee OMV-05 Taylor GA3
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#6
06-18-2016, 03:30 PM
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Deltoid, it's fun in our lessons...he arranges right before my eyes, starting with the simplest of tunes and showing me ways to embellish. He's playing a gig tonite, for the nonprofit I work for. It's going to be hard to do what I'm assigned to do there (staffing a tent full of silent auction items)....I'll be so tempted to drift over to where he's playing just to watch and listen!
He is bringin me several of his CDs. He made a series of CDs, all Beatles tunes, with interesting arrangements, and a few CDs of original songs as well. I'm eager to listen to them.
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Carol "We are music fingered by the gods." ~ Mark Nepo
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#7
06-19-2016, 10:20 AM
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Ella, that is great, but also in addition to learning songs, you should learn how to improvise so that you don't always need music in front of you.
On my soundcloud page are a few "blues" improvs that I've done, usually made up within minutes of recording. Although I'm just learning how to do this, I can take my guitar on the deck or pick up a guitar at a store and not have to think twice about what I'm going to play. It just happens. Essentially it is the I IV V chords of a key and pentatonic leads over chords (actually in place of chords). Not complicated at all. I have one improv on my page that is done with only two chords. Not that great, but not a brain buster either and it was still entertaining for me to do it. Something to think about. It's easy to get overwhelmed at times with the guitar because its so easy to get distracted and go off trying to learn this song or that. Keeping a core of basic theory to work on and learn kind of anchors you a bit.
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Barry Youtube! Please subscribe! My SoundCloud page Avalon L-320C, Guild D-120, Martin D-16GT, McIlroy A20, Pellerin SJ CW Cordobas - C5, Fusion 12 Orchestra, C12, Stage Traditional Alvarez AP66SB, Seagull Folk Aria {Johann Logy}: Last edited by TBman; 06-19-2016 at 10:34 AM.
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#8
06-19-2016, 01:02 PM
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Good point, TBman....but not sure I understand all that you wrote, especially this:
"pentatonic leads over chords" Not sure what that means. I really need to learn music theory. But when I try to study theory my 'head goes splodie' pretty quickly. I'm hoping that theory will come in time to me as I learn how to play. The biggest challenge is to not get frustrated and give up....to remember it's the journey, NOT the destination, that counts. Right? Right!
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Carol "We are music fingered by the gods." ~ Mark Nepo
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#9
06-19-2016, 01:32 PM
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Quote:
__________________
Barry Youtube! Please subscribe! My SoundCloud page Avalon L-320C, Guild D-120, Martin D-16GT, McIlroy A20, Pellerin SJ CW Cordobas - C5, Fusion 12 Orchestra, C12, Stage Traditional Alvarez AP66SB, Seagull Folk Aria {Johann Logy}:
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#11
06-19-2016, 06:04 PM
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Quote:
__________________
Barry Youtube! Please subscribe! My SoundCloud page Avalon L-320C, Guild D-120, Martin D-16GT, McIlroy A20, Pellerin SJ CW Cordobas - C5, Fusion 12 Orchestra, C12, Stage Traditional Alvarez AP66SB, Seagull Folk Aria {Johann Logy}:
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