Phone: (+61) 02 4823 4492 or Freecall 1800 353 646 (within Australia) - Email: info@australianbluesfestival.com.au

Workshops at the 2008 Festival

Workshops at the 2008 Festival

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A variety of 1-hour workshops are planned for the 2008 Festival. All workshops will be free for anyone with a 3-Day Festival Pass or Saturday Pass. Entry will be $5 at the door for everyone else.

Workshops are planned to be held on Saturday 9th February with:

1/Skip Landy- Boogie Woogie piano

Skip Landy wants to put you on the road to Boogie Heaven. Skip, Kate Meehan's accompanist, shows you how to develop your blues piano skills with a series of left handed drills. These riffs will be dissected and then reassembled, tailored to your own taste. Along the way Skip will try to help budding pianists to allay any hang-ups about playing in any key. As this is a workshop and not a lecture, Skip is looking for active participation from attendees. Come along, give it a try and find out why playing piano boogies can be so addictive.
Starting at 10.30am at the Goulburn Soldiers Club

2/Rob Eyers- Thinking outside the square

Rob Eyers is a drummer who emigrated to Australia from the UK in 2002. In London he was amongst a small group of elite 'go-to' guys if you wanted that earthy & authentic driving blues sound, playing with the likes of Dana Gillespie, Ian Siegal, Matt Schofield & Eugene 'Hideaway' Bridges. Since his arrival in Australia, Rob has gained prominence as the other half of Sweet Baby James & Rob Eyers, while also finding time to play with Mrs Wainwright, The Dolls and record with The Audreys on their debut album. In this workshop, Rob will be covering triplet-based rhythms, approaching the drum kit as a percussion instrument and a brief history of percussion in blues.
Starting at 11am at the Goulburn Railway Bowling Club

3/John Meyer- Blues guitar styles

Former Chain/Rose Tattoo guitarist John Meyer talks about Blues guitar styles from the finger picking styles of Mississippii Fred Mcdowell and Reverend Gary Davis to electric Blues styles of Peter Green and Johnny Winter. John will be happy to answer your questions regarding how to improve your guitar playing or for beginners, how to get started.
Starting at 11.45am at the Goulburn Soldiers Club

4/Ian Collard- Country blues harmonica

This year Ian Collard, harmonica player from ARIA award winning blues band Collard Greens and Gravy, will present a workshop focused on country blues harmonica - he will play songs and disect the playing styles of some of the great pioneers of blues harmonica including Sonny Terry, Noah Lewis and Deford Bailey. Ian has been playing harmonica for over 20 years and has been featured on recordings by the Backsliders, Jeff Lang and Ash Grunwald just to name a few.
Starting at 1pm at the Goulburn Soldiers Club

5/Jeff Cripps- Key points in studio recording,
what to do and what not to do

Multi-Award winning 'Producer of the Year', singer, songwriter, guitarist, drummer (and more) - Jeff Cripps of A# Studio Recording Studio and Mississippi Shakedown fame will get back to basics with his top tips for successful recording.
Starting at 2.15pm at the Goulburn Soldiers Club

6/Mojo Webb- 100 years of Blues guitar

The guitar has become synonymous with the blues and has been used in many different ways to play the blues. In this workshop Mojo Webb will take you on a blues guitar journey, outlining the development of the guitar's role in blues and demonstrating the wide variety of blues guitar techniques and tones. Mojo will discuss how the social and technological changes of the past century affected blues guitar and how this in turn affected music in general.
Starting at 3.30pm at the Goulburn Soldiers Club

ADDITIONAL WORKSHOPS

Jumptown ACT Swing Dance Society are offering a free Blues 'Taster' dance class on Saturday afternoon from 2pm-3pm at the Goulburn Club. Your teachers will be: Russell Turner and Miranda Bruyn (senior teachers with Jumptown Swing) - come join in the fun!

Ian 'Dr ZoT' (and friends) will be offering a free blues guitar workshop on Sunday afternoon from 2pm-3pm at the Zone of Tone vintage guitar and amp shop at the Goulburn Club.

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