It is a great pleasure to be asked to participate in this year's Augusta Heritage Workshops. As a traveling road musician I relish the idea of staying in one place for a week of fellowship and skill sharpening. As a musician I’ve mainly stayed in the more traditional area of Bluegrass. I will provide some insight on how to use various techniques that create the unique rhythmic foundation of traditional bluegrass. My main influences down through the years have been folks like Jerry McCoury, Roy Huskey Jr., Jake Tullock and Bob Moore all the way to the schooled playing of folks like Ray Brown and Milt Hinton. I have picked up a few things as well from some of my contemporaries such as Mike Bub, Bryn Davies, Todd Phillips, Dave Pomeroy, Dennis Crouch and Mark Schatz, among others. Having traveled and recorded for the last twenty years with the likes of Weary Hearts, the Del McCoury Band, Bill Monroe, Peter Rowan, Tony Rice, Dale Ann Bradley, the Osborne Brothers, Jesse McReynolds and many others, there is a wealth of experience to assist aspiring bassists.

My teaching will include tips on technique-both right and left hand-to gain control of your tone and timing. We will explore a few scales and practice regimens to gain access to the upper fingerboard. We’ll go into the most popular slap and rockabilly techniques. We’ll cover bass set-up and tone improving tips. Additionally, I’ll spend some time on the basics of music theory and how it relates to the bass and how to use it to your advantage. The Nashville Number chord system will be explained and demonstrated to learn how chords, strings and position on the bass all relate from one key to another. The biggest goal will be to make at least one big breakthrough during the week and lay the groundwork for many more beyond our time at Elkins.

I encourage any and all participants to bring a bass! This helps a lot.  Bring any recorded material that you would like to learn and or analyze. Taping devices (audio or video) are a big help as well. I hope that everyone will come with an idea that they would like to explore or specific questions that we can address.

I look forward to our week in Elkins.  Travel safe and I’ll see you there!