12th Annual SWSGA Steel Guitar Show

Seminars

To register for any of these classes contact the instructor (if contact info is listed), or Denny Beaver, 602.686.1273, or depebeav@q.com. You need not send money now, but reserve now so that the instructors can have enough materials for all students. You can pay for the seminars at the show registration desk. (ALL of the instructors have agreed to donate a portion of your seminar enrollment fee back to the association to help offset seminar expenses. Thanks to you all!)

Basic Music Theory & Application to E9

Thursday, January 15th, 10 to 11:30am
Cost: FREE for members

Denny Beaver will show some basic stuff that'll help you understand why we would choose a certain chord structure, and the "when, where, and how" we would use it . He'll briefly demonstrate how to build a chart using the Nashville number system, and exemplify some techniques to create a tablature of a sound you'd like to quickly jot down on paper. Not mandatory for this class, but recommend that you bring your guitars & headphone amps, and leave set up for Jay's Beginner's E9 class, which follows after a quick lunch break. Denny guarantees that you will get your money's worth out of this class.

Beginner's E9 Pedal with Jay Leach

Thursday, January 15th, 12:30 to 3:30pm
Cost: $30

Using his Mel Bay instructional material, Jay will take you from the ground up on the E9 pedal steel. If you're just starting out, or could use some reinforcement, you won't want to miss this class.

Intermediate to Advanced E9 Pedal with Jay Leach

Thursday, January 15th, 4:00 to 5:30pm
Cost: $15

Jay Leach continues with an intermediate to advanced class on Chord Substitution. In this class Jay will illustrate some practical examples on the E9th neck of using basic "Jazz Harmonies" to add fresh color and texture to Country, Blues, and Pop music.

Mechanics & Maintenance of the Pedal Steel Guitar with Ron Pruter

Friday, January 16th, 9:00 to 11:00am
Cost: $20

Ron's class will address questions like, "what's a compensator?", "what's a split?", and "do I need them?". He will discuss copedants, cabinet drop, how different string gauges change pitch differently, gauged rollers, hysteresis, pick-ups, string care, finish care, lubes, polishing, etc. Some topics will be specific to all-pull pedal steel guitars; other topics will apply to all pedal steels, including push-pull.
The class will be aimed at beginners, persons thinking about getting into steel guitar, and intermediate players who are not mechanically inclined.

C6th Pedal Steel with Larry Toliver

Friday, January 16th, 12:30 to 3:30pm
Cost: $30

Larry will keep you riveted with his instruction. He's planning to chart out George Strait's "You're Something Special" steel ride by Paul Franklin, a C6th speed picking song that you can preview at his website, westtexassteelguitarschool.com. He'll also be teaching the popular "Stompin' at the Savoy", which is one of his favorites. The last item he'll be teaching is a 5-chord to a 1-chord lick with 3 notes, which walk down. Simple at first, then he'll change it up at least 10 times to give you lots of licks to use on the fly. This has been one of his most popular sections at his West Texas Steel School classes. Larry rates this course of instruction at the intermediate level, or thereabouts. Bring your steel, seat, and headphones and get geared-up for three hours of good steelin! Included with his course fee is a tab booklet, backing track, the song track, and some explanation tracks.

Intermediate to Advanced E9th with Kevin Ryan

Saturday, January 17th, 8:30am to Noon
Cost: $35

Kevin will be presenting "New licks and phrases to take you to the next level." Don't miss this class!!