By Mark Hanson January 8, 2025 Fingerstyle improvisation is a multi-faceted undertaking. Improvising on a wind instrument (saxophone for instance) requires you to play a new melody, one note at a time. In fingerstyle guitar, you need to do that plus keep the chord and rhythm going underneath. It’s a workout for the brain! A way to get started: First, memorize the chord progression of the tune you want to use. Do this by writing (by hand!) a chord chart of the tune. Early on I discovered that writing by hand has a special connection to the brain; plus you […]
Mark & Greta concertize in Wenatchee, Wash., March 1, 2025.
During a recent lesson I noticed my student intermittently looking at his picking hand directly before his fretting hand moved several frets to another position. He continually missed the second position. Studying a bit what I do in a similar situation, I realized that I look directly at the new position moments before I move there. This gives my fretting hand a target. If you were to watch me play an entire two-hour concert you would never see me even once look at my right (picking) hand. My picking-hand position is so secure and the motions so minimal that I never […]
This is my solo guitar arrangement of J.S. Bach’s beautiful “Sheep May Safely Graze.” I use it when I play for the hospitalized ‘premies’ (babies born before the full gestation period) in Portland. Play it as smoothly and gently as you can. Suggestions: 1. To make the parallel thirds in the opening measures consistent in tone I pick EACH PAIR OF TREBLE NOTES with my index and middle fingers, including the low C on the fifth string; 2. In measure 2, sustain the low C note throughout; on beat 2, lift the middle finger silently (relax!) and place it along with […]
Fingerstyle Guitar Workshop by three award-winning masters: Mark Hanson, Terry Robb and Doug Smith!
Mark’s solo fingerstyle guitar arrangement of the classic “America the Beautiful.”
Acoustic Guitar Summit concertizes once again in Hillsboro, Oregon, at the Walters Cultural Art Center September 27, 2024.
Virtuoso fingerstyle guitar trio — Hanson, Robb, Smith — play their holiday concert 2024 on December 14 at Redwood Friends (Quaker) Church in Portland, 2901 SE Steel Street, in Portland, Oregon, 97202.
Acoustic Guitar Summit brings its sparkling and stunning holiday arrangements and great virtuosity to the Old Liberty Theater in Ridgefield, Washington, on December 7, 2024.
Mark performs, teaches and demos great new guitars from six talented luthiers at the La Conner Guitar Festival — https://laconnerguitarfestival.com — May 17-19, 2024.
