This was billed as Lessons from the Masters, a workshop with a master guitarist himself, Pete Kennedy. Pete’s played with many great folks so we launched into Titanic to start off, one Pete didn’t know, but established his listening skills and chops. We talked about our mentors and I was glad I had some good stories myself. We went back and forth, and could have gone on all night.
We had a bigger audience for a change, with quite a few players in the crowd. Good conversations between Pete and myself and members from the audience. Everyone left thinking this was one of the good ones, and I agree.
Pete did a great medley of tunes, starting with Freight Train, touring through Hendrix, Bach, Gershwin, The Ventures….. We were all sitting in amazement. Still, Pete is the most approachable of people. It was most gracious of him to come out on a Wednesday night, and was genuinely surprised that he got paid some cash.
Tales of Ted Bogan, Doc Watson, Joe Pass, BB King, George Harrison, Danny Gatton, Artie Traum, David Bromberg, Mississippi John Hurt, and more. Pick styles, keeping breath in leads, left hand touch, leads based on the vocal lines, hearing the melody in your mind first, knowing the fret board, more.
I was pleased to share the stage with Pete and feel his respect for me as a musician. He commented as he left town that I picked out the right songs to demonstrate what we were talking about