Tag Archive for: guitar lessons

Let Al Petteway teach you how to play “Tennessee Mountain Rag,” featured on the “Dream Guitars, Vol. 1” CD and in the book of tab

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A while back, guitar great Al Petteway sat in front of the camera at our showroom in Weaverville, North Carolina, just outside of Asheville, and gave us all a lesson on how to play his own composition, “Tennessee Mountain Rag,” which is included on the “Dream Guitars, Volume 1, The Golden Age of Luthiers” CD and tablature book.

For the lesson, Al plays a Tippin Al Petteway Signature Model with Brazilian Rosewood and Moon Spruce, built by one of the great luthiers in the United States, Bill Tippin of Tippin Guitars.

“In this style of music, everything is out there to be had,” Al explains when discussing his writing method for this song, which taps into many other tunes and progressions in the genre, and the way he puts it all together to make it his own. This is songwriting, folks.

Al also details his chords as well as a cool “chicken picking” technique that he uses for a neat walk-down. He also details optional rhythm choices, which he points out are reminiscent of the style of Chet Atkins. He also shows you a neat lick he learned from listening to Atkins.

You can watch the video here on our Dream Guitars YouTube channel. The “Dream Guitars, Vol. 1” CD and complete book of tablature is available in our online store. All of this and more is available in the online shopping cart.

You should also visit his website at www.alandamy.com to learn more about Al Petteway, his wife, Amy.

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Singer-songwriter Danny Ellis sits down with his student, Paul Heumiller, to talk music, songwriting and teaching

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Singer-songwriter Danny Ellis has had an interesting life to say the least. After growing up in an orphanage in Ireland in the 1950s, Danny found music and it saved his life. He began his professional career as a trombone player with “The Boyne Valley Stompers,” a Dixieland band touring Ireland. From there, Danny expanded his horizons, his singing and playing and started a diverse musical career that has taken him all over the world as a trombonist, keyboardist and guitarist as well as a professional songwriter.

Flash forward to today and Danny is opening for for many musicians, including the great Bonnie Raitt for her recent show at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center. Bonnie is a great fan of Danny and his music and personally invited him to fill the opening slot.

Danny now maintains a studio in Asheville, NC, just down the road a spell from our Dream Guitars headquarters in Weaverville. We have built a solid professional relationship with Danny and he granted us some of his time to record a lengthy video interview with our own Paul Heumiller to talk about singing, songwriting, musicianship and his latest role as a teacher, which he conducts out of his studio in person as well as on Skype. In fact, Paul himself has spent plenty of time learning from Danny, studying the finer points of singing and songwriting. Paul considers Danny a mentor and a friend as well as a teacher. You can get more information about Danny’s teaching career and how to become a student by visiting his website and checking out his lessons page (www.dannyellismusic.com/musiclessons.cfm).

We have two videos on our YouTube Dream Guitars channel, one the full-length interview (22:28) and a short highlight reel of the same (5:31). Check them both out, then take a trip to Danny’s site, where you can read about his history, his discography, find links to his Facebook and YouTube pages as well as learn more about his teaching methods and how to contact him for lessons.

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Bottleneck slide master Steve James teaches you ‘Guitar Rag’

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When Steve James spent time with us at Dream Guitars just before his rocking house concert performance at our Weaverville, NC, offices, not only did he demo several amazing National Resophonic guitars, he also taught us all a lesson in bottleneck slide playing the legendary “Guitar Rag.”

Your moment of musical history for today: Sylvester Weaver’s “Guitar Rag” is recognized as the first recording of slide guitar. That was way back in 1923, though Steve’s classic style is more than simply reminiscent of the period.

Now you can learn a thing or two from James himself right here at our YouTube channel, study the master’s moves and styles. There is an awful lot of information here and you’ll be able to apply what you learn as you progress as a player. Steve takes the time to demonstrate basic hand placement, string contact, touch, pick technique, vibrato, chords and more as he teaches the viewer how to play like a pro.

Steve James is world-renowned as an expert slide guitar master, not only touring and recording his own material and but acting as a sideman for such legends as Bo Diddley, Kinky Friedman, Buddy Guy and John Hammond. For more information and cool stuff, visit Steve’s homepage… after you learn how to play “Guitar Rag” his way — arguably the best way!

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Learn to Play Our Theme Song,’The Crossing,’ from Al Petteway

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Here at Dream Guitars, we discovered early on that one element of selling world-class guitars online was missing for our online customers: the sound. We then became perhaps the first online dealer of guitars to offer sound samples by recording every guitar we have in stock, played by any number of our favorite friends. In fact, we made every effort to use snippets of the same song for each guitar to give customers a great point of tonal reference.

If you are a fan and frequent visitor, you are no doubt familiar with, “The Crossing,” written and performed by Al Petteway and included on the “Dream Guitars, Volume 1” compact disc. In effect, it has become our unofficial theme song. In fact, we’ve noticed that many clients come into the showroom outside of Asheville, NC, and play snippets of the very same song they had heard on this site. Kind of cool on the one hand, but very telling on the other.

As a result, we have put together two videos: one with Al performing the piece, the other with a full-blown lesson from Mr. Petteway, complete with detailed instructions on how to play “The Crossing” from the composer himself. The videos are available on our Dream Guitars YouTube channel.

The “Dream Guitars, Vol. 1” CD and complete book of tablature is available in our online store. All of this and more is available in the online shopping cart.

You should also check out the world of Al Petteway at his home website at www.alandamy.com.

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McCONNELL GUITARS – New 15″ model

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One of our favorite builders is the brilliant Jordan McConnell from Winnipeg, Canada. His guitars are impeccably crafted, and they offer stunning design and rich, articulate tones. Recently, Jordan informed us that he has developed a new model with the following dimensions.

Length: 19.5″
Lower bout: 15″
Upper bout: 11.25″
Standard scale length 25.25″

In Jordan’s words, “I like this shape for it’s versatility. It can be voiced to put the focus more in the midrange and trebles to create a very intimate and clear sounding guitar, but it doesn’t lack power and can still pack a pretty serious punch in the low end if that is desired. It’s a very comfortable size to play and can be more manageable than a jumbo sized body in a stage setting if someone is gigging a lot.”

If you would like to receive more information on this stunning guitar, or on any of Jordan’s other guitars, please give us a call. We’ll be happy to talk to you about these very special creations!

 

To see more photos, please click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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MARY FLOWER at DREAM GUITARS

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The talented Mary Flower stopped by Dream Guitars recently and spent the afternoon playing some of the fine guitars we have in stock. Mary plays a great combination of roots music, including ragtime, acoustic blues and folk. If you like these videos, be sure to check out Mary’s website for upcoming gigs, and information on her albums and instructional DVDs.

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STEVE JAMES at DREAM GUITARS

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Steve James is a well known name among devotees of contemporary acoustic folk and blues; this notoriety based on numerous critically acclaimed recordings, a tireless international tour schedule and a sheaf of published work including articles, instruction books and videos. His instrumental versatility (on guitar, slide guitar, mandolin, guitar-banjo) also makes him a favorite at music camps and workshop programs.

Recently Steve stopped by Dream Guitars and played some of our great vintage and custom-made guitars.

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Friends of DG — CHARLES MOKOTOFF

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Dream Guitars was recently honored when classical guitarist extraordinaire, Charles Mokotoff, visited  our showroom and auditioned our wonderful collection of new and vintage classical guitars. We were immediately seized by Charle’s command of the instrument, as he treated us to  an impromptu overview of his current repertoire.

Because we are a premier acoustic guitar shop, we are fortunate to have an eclectic, deeply talented family of clients and friends. We are very proud to count Charles among them. I highly encourage you to check out his music soon.

From Charle’s website:

CHARLES MOKOTOFF holds both Bachelors and Masters degrees in guitar performance from Syracuse University and Ithaca College, respectively. He has served on the faculties of numerous colleges and universities in the New York and New England area as a lecturer in classical guitar and lute.

Prior to settling in the Washington, DC area in 1991, Mr. Mokotoff made his home in New England where he was widely recognized as an active guitarist and Renaissance lute player during the 1980s. During that period his career culminated with two Far East tours and a well-received New York City debut at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in 1987, featuring the Premier of Autumn Elegy by William Coble, written and dedicated to him.

Mr. Mokotoff has been hearing impaired for a good deal of his life and was featured inHearing Loss Magazine in January 2010.


 

You may purchase his CD “Autumn Elegy” from iTunes by clicking HERE, or from CD Baby by clicking HERE. Or enjoy his music live at one of the the upcoming recitals.

 

 

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WEBSITE FACELIFT

In the coming weeks you’ll be seeing some big changes around here. Our entire website is receiving a very special makeover.

We have always been proud of our site, and regularly receive favorable comments from our many devoted clients — but recently Paul decided we should upgrade our look and make our website easier and faster to navigate. Our goal is to bring you more current and useful information, to better aid you in your quest to find your own Dream Guitar.

Paul Heumiller, the Mastermind behind Dream Guitars

Paul Heumiller, the Mastermind behind Dream Guitars.

Some visitor may not realize it, but Dream Guitars was the first guitar website to feature quality audio recordings of every instrument. We were also the first guitar website to create demonstrative movies for your audio and visual pleasure. All of those innovations will still be here — but we’re adding a lot more exciting content too.

For one, we will be offering many more free lessons with the great Al Petteway. Some websites charge for a service like this, but at Dream Guitars we put the music first. We want you to come to us for all of your musical needs, to spend some time looking at beautiful guitars, and maybe learn a song or two.

Also, look for more frequently updated blog content. We have re-dedicated ourselves to bringing you the inside scoop. Our blog aims to go behind the scenes of Dream Guitars and to feature exclusive information that you’ll find nowhere else.

Dream Guitars new website offers faster navigation and ease of use.

Dream Guitars new website offers faster navigation and ease of use.

Probably the biggest addition to our site is the phenomenal new Listening Studio. Once again Dream Guitars is innovating, and creating a resource unlike any other on the web. You can read much more about it in next weeks blog posts, but the general idea is this:

Dream Guitars exciting new Listening Studio! Zero in on your tone!

Dream Guitars exciting new Listening Studio! Zero in on your tone!

We’ve taken the thousands of high quality audio clips we’ve amassed over the years, and have created a library, where you can search for guitars, by builder, model, wood type — and various other parameters, and create a personalized listening room to audition instruments and compare their tones by any parameter you choose.

The look of the coming website reflects where Dream Guitars is at today. We work hard to be the number one source for acoustic guitar information on the web, and that means always looking for new ways to bring you the best, most reliable information available.

Please send us your feedback. We want to hear your opinions on our new look. This site is for you, our valued clients. So make yourself at home, and enjoy the new content — and as always — don’t hesitate to give us a call if there is anything we can do for you.

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Players Say: "Visiting Dream Guitars it's a unique experience."

I’ve never seen so many beautiful and great sounding guitars in one place. Paul and his staff are very enthusiastic and extremely knowledgeable about the many instruments that are on display.

If you are in Weaverville, North Carolina don’t miss the opportunity to visit them…is truly worth it.

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