Mark visits his own stomping grounds again for two guitar workshops at Gryphon Stringed Instruments, 211 Lambert in Palo Alto. #1) 10:30-12:30; A New Approach To Travis Picking, for Beginning to Intermediate fingerpickers. Learn this ubiquitous style from the ground up. Mark will have you picking beautifully in no time. All new material! #2) 1:30-3:30; Intermediate to advanced fingerpicking. Mark will teach you the techniques to improve your playing and interpretation. He will also teach his stunning versions of “Don’t Know Why” (Love Songs CD) and “You Don’t Know Me” (Author’s Notes CD). $40 each, $75 for both. To reserve […]
Benefit concert for Vancouver guitarist Mark Martin.
How to Memorize a New Tune By Mark Hanson Of course, a time-honored method of learning a new tune is to read the available notation and/or tablature. But what brought you to the new tune in the first place? Likely, having heard it inspired you. Here is a a memorization suggestion, to go along with the “practice-one-hand-at-a-time” tip: Listen to the tune many times through before trying to play it. Eons ago, the way I learned Beatles and Byrds songs was to sit in front of the record player, listening to a tune over and over all the way through as I wrote down the […]
The Shingle Springs Opera House hosts AGS twice on December 10, the second show at 7:30 p.m. AGS set attendance records at SSOH during their December, 2014 shows, so we are looking forward to returning! To reserve seats, contact David by email at: dcthomas5256 @ gmail.com. Directions are provided at that time
“Frog Pond” church, with its “Spirit that Radiates Hospitality”, welcomes back AGS for its umpteenth holiday concert! Everyone always has a good time here. Location: Meridian UCC, 6750 SW Boeckman Road, Wilsonville. (It is 1/2 block west of the Stafford/Wilsonville Road and Boeckman Road intersection). Tickets will be made available in autumn, 2016.
Mark joins others to play at a wedding in Willimantic, Conn., for the daughter of college friends. Great fun!
Portland Music Company acoustic store hosts Mark Althans from Collings Guitars for an evening of demos and descriptions of their exquisite guitars. Mark Hanson is the demo artist. Free. Call the store for reservations: (503) 228-8437.
Mark demonstrates guitars from luthiers Brook Moore, Scott Ackley, Rick Davis and John Carrigan on both Saturday and Sunday at the Northwest Handmade Exhibit at Marylhurst University.
April, 2016 The following is a practice technique I have used for years with my students: practice one hand at a time. In my experience, as fingerstyle students learn a new tune, they often struggle moving the fretting-hand in time with the picking hand. Most often the rhythm suffers – the student slows down (or stops…) in order to include all of the notes. Consider taking a hint from the piano world: train your hands one at a time. The Notation/Tab seen above is taken from “Happy Together” from my recent book/CD Travis Pick the Hits! (See and hear the entire passage here.) Ex.1 requires no […]
The Shingle Springs Opera House again hosts Greta and Mark for their vocal/guitars/uke extravaganza. Always great fun, with perhaps some audience participation! Email David at dcthomas5256 @ gmail.com for the SSOH schedule, and for directions.
