To quote my West Linn (Oregon) friend, classical guitarist/educator Peter Zisa: “History reminds us that many of the world’s greatest thinkers—Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Einstein, and others—were also musicians. Music cultivates creativity, discipline and imagination, qualities that enrich every field of study and strengthen community bonds.” So keep playing! Learn new tunes and arrangements. Share your accomplishments with others. Studies have shown that playing music involves 90% of your brain! Music participation enhances brain health and, no doubt, is good for our souls.
A tip for the guitarist who hopes to keep a guitar pristine: Never bend over an open guitar case on the floor if you have something in your shirt pocket — like glasses, a pen, a capo or tuner. I’ve more than once had to quickly swat something away to keep it from landing on my guitar as it fell out of my shirt pocket! That’s my 2025 Collings C-100 in the photo. No dings yet, as of November, ’25!
This is always a fully attended, cozy gig at a private home up, the street from the Pacific Ocean!
Hi, everyone. Greta and I are off to Scandinavia for August. Emails and orders will be answered and filled after Labor Day in early September. We’re planning a sale in September, so stay tuned — literally and figuratively! Check out drop-D tuning here: “Castaway.”
Mark Hanson& Greta Pedersen — Blazing fingerpicking, soulful vocals, and FUN are highlights of this nationally awarded duo’s shows.
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 […]
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.
