Guitar lessons
Since August 2006 - and in-between gig commitments, I have been administering private guitar tuition full-time across Cambridgeshire. I currently have 10 clients and I provide everything from stringent, rudimentary mentoring for beginners, to ideas and inspiration for intermediate-advanced players over a few cups of tea! These lessons/sessions encompass weekly and fortnightly meets either at my home, (but mainly)at the homes of the pupils. Because I travel around so much, I have now decided to extend this service (within relative geographical reason) to just about anywhere in England & Wales. My local rate is £20 per hour, but for any 'distance' lessons, I have fixed a rate between £30-£40 PH depending on where it is eg. a commute to London outside of gig parameters would be £40, whereas, to call in to somewhere in Sheffield on my way to a gig in Leeds would attract£30 PH. If anyone reading this is interested in any lessons/sessions/therapy etc. please do not hesitate to contact me (leave a message if I am out or away) either through the site or at stephanie@madasafish.com Conversely you could phone me on 01354 651396.
Included in this browsing section are a few open-tunings for guitar. Some are very common and much used and understood, whilst others are a little more esoteric. I have good reason to believe that I may have invented the Am7 tuning, but I await the distant cries of 'No you bloody didn't!'
If anyone is interested in more information on tunings and general guitar techniques (or just wants a good argument!) feel free to e-mail me.
Anyway, some tunings vicar: bottom to top - as it were!
DADGAD Very popular and much utilised eg. Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy, Dick Gaughan, Pierre Bensusan.
CGDGAD Allows fingerstyle playing in three keys. Very 'user-friendly'. Keep to two fingered shapes.
DGDGAD Good for Celtic tunes; similar to above.
DGDGBD Tuned to 'G' chord; all major chord are barre chords. Good for simple folk tunes and bluegrass. Used by Joni Mitchell and Keith Richards.
DADF#AD Tuned to 'D' chord - similar to above - shapes moved across.
EACGAD Tuned to Am7 - good for chordal and fingerstyle work - Nice chords are barres with the middle finger a semitone above on the bottom 'E' string.
CGCGCD This is a modal C tuning most notably used by the legendary Nic Jones on 'Penguin Eggs' - although I had been meddling with it by default before I was aware of that fact. It is primarily a fingerstyle tuning of fifths with an added natural ninth at the top. This makes it very conducive to some of the more plaintive folk melodies as it has lots of rich harmonic voicings and a couple of compulsory ringing strings at the top end to give that melancholic drone - but in a much more rounded way than say, the whole guitar being tuned to fifths eg. D,G,D,G,G,D. Most of the shapes tend to be two-fingered and work (as you would guess) in different combinations around the fretboard. For example you could play bass couplets on the A(G) & D(C) strings whilst letting the top strings drone away, or you can play bass and melody couplets on the E(C), D(C) & top E(D) strings whilst letting the open middle strings ring sympathetically etc. Fingerstyle playing asks you to play open strings to form the major scale, but if you prefer to strum or flatpick, stick to the two-fingered shapes mentioned above (and shown in the chord diagrams below).
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