The Don in Germany

[swampstomper]

Yesterday I had the privledge of joining a workshop with Don Stiernberg (http://www.donstiernberg.com/), hosted by Oliver Waitze's New Acoustic Gallery (http://www.newacousticgallery.com/) in the small German city of Solingen (not too far from Köln = Cologne). After four hours of sitting at the feet of the master, with nine other disciples, I have enough ideas, exercises, new chord shapes and chord movement, and even fiddle tune licks to keep me practicing hard for at least a year. I guess many of you know Don, but this was my first time to meet him. Despite all his talent he is really down to earth and seemed very interested in each of our needs. The various Jethro stories were worth the price of admission by themselves!

In the evening he gave a concert with his jazz trio (Jim Cox sb, Andy Brown archtop guitar) which was 1.5 hours of jazz enjoyment. To me the highlight was the Brazilian-style rendition of Jethro's Tune, which is included on his "Home Cooking" CD (which I promptly bought). The same concert had Mike Marshall + Carolina Lichtenberg and a local group headed by the host, Oliver Waitze. Attached are some photos. Notice how serious Don looks when he is playing!

[swampstomper]

sorry, the photos did not upload the first time.

[Ted Eschliman]

Very cool!

[onassis]

+1 on the "cool"! I'm eagerly awaiting a chance to see him somewhere here in the 'States.

[TerryBurnsKing]

Don is AWESOME musically and one of the sweetest people you will ever meet!

[swampstomper]

Don is AWESOME musically and one of the sweetest people you will ever meet!

Very much agree. To me a big revelation was the difference between the workshop, where he broke things down into digestible pieces, and made sure we understood / had it under our fingers before moving on, and the incredible depth and sophistication of his set. I could see the same principles at work, but he did not try to overawe us with his knowledge, instead he tried to get us as far as possible into his mentality. He had prepared a large number of exercises and songs, these to illustrate specific teaching points, not just "here is a song, learn it". We covered chord substitution (using Tom & Jerry / Sally Johnson / Sally Goodin as a base), extended chords (6/9, b9 etc.) and when to use them, chord melody a la Jethro, chord motion in a simple but beautiful Django tune (Dinette), theory of the diatonic chord scale, some exercises for finger independence and stretches (ow!) ...

Musically he is clearly listening to his own voice -- there is really nothing he plays that strikes me as a "quote", even from Jethro. Part of that comes from his idiosyncratic right-hand technique, but most from between his ears.

Really a privledge to be able to pick his brain for four hours, and then to be blown away by his set. Money very well spent!

[Mike Bromley]

Don is AWESOME musically and one of the sweetest people you will ever meet!

Amen. A luvly feller to mentor under.

[grassrootphilosopher]

And unfortunately private commitments kept me away. The New Acoustic Gallery (http://www.newacousticgallery.com/)has an entertaining presence of class acts over the years.

[Santiago]

He's also one of the top big-name mandolinists known to join in our discussions here fairly frequently. I always enjoy his participation in Cafe discussions whether we're talking about Les Paul, or someone's first recording attempt.

[Matt Bowe]

Speaking of Stateside engagements (in case you missed it):
http://www.nemandolins.com/CCMC.html