Summer music camps and lessons are a great way to improve your skills as a musician. They are intensives with other students that help to create musical bonds and opportunities to meet musicians from different parts of town and work together to create something great. I remember learning guitar and growing up in Colorado Springs and not really having much of an opportunity to find other musicians outside of my own school. I would have jumped at the chance to play guitar with other people, get the chance to record, learn how to use recording equipment, build a band, learn some songs and learn how to shred a guitar solo.
At Silversound Guitar, we have tried to build the studio that we would have wanted to take lessons in. It is the studio that we still ask the question, “Why would I want to take lessons here.” We believe that the idea of a Summer Music Camp is something that should be exciting engaging and you come away with a better set of knowledge of music, recording, and your instrument, but also community. So we set up a few camps starting the second week in June.
Shred Wars
This is sort of our version of the Jared Dines YouTube guitar shred wars. If you haven’t seen these check em out. Whoever says there aren’t enough amazing guitarists out there hasn’t seen these. These are mostly guitar lesson oriented classes of about 5 students. We will cover playing scales, different techniques and how to build guitar solos.
This class will be led by our own Dylan Osgood. He and myself (Jon Gillin) have worked hard to provide lessons that will make this class a success and make you a guitar hero.
Let’s Make A Band
Sometimes as musicians we think that we can just jump in and play music with anyone. This is kind of our perception of making a band. However, there are a lot of complicated dynamics that come with how to put it together, playing together and learning how to lead and run rehearsals. We figured we could put something together to help students navigate these difficulties with ease.
This class is a condensed version of our jam class setup. It is a no-nonsense approach to group lessons that will cover jamming, playing together, leading a rehearsal, and playing a cover song. Kyle Gorman will be leading one June and Ryan Ross one in July. Both Ryan and Kyle have lots of experience working in a band situation, and how a successful rehearsal should look.
Recording
These days there is so much information regarding music recording technology and techniques. You can find loads of videos and written material on mixing and mastering, microphones, compressors, equalization, plug-ins, VSTs and DAWS. But where to start? YouTube can leave you a jumbled mess (see my blogs on why not to only trust YouTube videos) even if there are few helpful tips.
We have one of the best set of production ears available to us. That is Kyle Gorman. Not only is he a great musician he is our in house recording engineer who has done fantastic work for us. He will be teaching both beginning and advanced recording. The beginning class will cover the basics of microphones, DAWs and the recording process. The advanced class will get into more things like compression usage, equalization, microphone placement, mixing, editing and more. This is a must for anyone who plays and wants to record what they are doing. That basically means everyone. Don’t miss it!
Intro to Classical Guitar
If you have ever found yourself mesmerized by the dulcet tones of classical guitar but are confounded by how it’s done, this is the class for you. Ben Jones is a classical guitar master. This class will help you develop the right hand finger-picking skills to begin to tackle classical guitar. You will also learn to hear and play music in multiple voices and begin to explore the depth and beauty of this style.
Guitar Ensemble
Ben Jones is also offering an 8 week guitar ensemble course for those of you with some classical guitar experience. Over the course of the 8 week Ben will work with players on the different aspects of playing together, timing and voicings. He will be helping guitarists play in duets, trios and quartets. Guitar ensembles are a great way to explore the capabilities of what the guitar can do. It also offers an opportunity to play with others and create music in a positive environment.
