Steve Smith Mando Workshop in Norfolk,VA

[sgarrity]

Steve will be in town for a mandolin workshop on Wednesday March 18th from 7-9pm. If you haven't heard him, Steve is an amazing player and a very patient, skilled teacher. He'll also be performing a concert on Thursday the 19th with his musical partner Chris Sanders. The workshop is $35 and the concert is $15. Several 'cafe members have already committed to coming. Please contact me for further information and to reserve your spot in the workshop. Needless to say, there will be some excellent mandolins there to sample!

For those that aren't familiar with Steve's playing, here he is with Scott Gates:




Biographical information:

Steve Smith and Chris Sanders
Smith and Sanders bring their original and traditional acoustic music for mandolin, mandola, guitar and vocals to the Lorrie Saunders Gallery Thursday March 19th.
Steve Smith (mandolin, vocals, guitar) and Chris Sanders (guitar, vocals) have been performing together from coast to coast for four years as a duo and in the Las Cruces based group Steve Smith and Hard Road. Their award winning song writing has landed them both best gospel and best instrumental at the New Mexico Music awards in 2006. They've continued to compose and perform together and their latest Hard Road CD "Only So Fast" includes ten originals (review in New Mexico Magazine July 2008, Bluegrass Unlimited Nov ’08) and features their strong duo blend that ranges from Old-time to modern acoustic along with stellar mandolin and guitar.

Steve, a Tidewater native performed during the late 70’s in the Norfolk based progressive bluegrass group The Nothin’ Doin’ Band along with along with John Lawless, Lynn Kelly, Bill Smith and Kathy Kuhn. He then relocated to Charlottesville to join another progressive bluegrass group, Cloud Valley that featured Banjoist Bill Evans and Bassist Missy Raines. He currently performs with his group Steve Smith and Hard Road, The Alan Munde Gazette, the Bill Evans String Summit and solo along with the Smith/ Sanders duo.

[Jim Roberts]

Steve is a smokin' hot musician, super nice guy and pours a MEAN cup of coffee. This should be a great workshop!

[jim_n_virginia]

Yeah Steve is a great player saw him at a house concert the last time he came through and he was smokin it.

His version of Rawhide is better than mine too ... EVERYBODIES version of Rawhide is better than mine! LOL! But I'm working on it!

Can't wait to grill him on some of the licks he uses.

And did you see Scott in the clip quickly tune a string WHILE he was still playing? That almost makes me want to give up the mando and start playing banjo .... NOT!

[sgarrity]

It's almost here. Still a few spots open

[bcoryh]

Steve and Chris just played in the Houston area this past weekend and they were fantastic. Lots of fun and great music. Steve is a monster mandolin player.

I was fortunate in that I also got to take a private lesson with Steve and it was the best mandolin instruction I have ever received. He was patient, engaging, thoughtful, practical, and he gave me a lot to work on. If you have the opportunity to take his workshop, do so -- highly recommended.

[taterpicker]

Thanks Shaun for the announcement and for posting that amazing video. Steve and Scott are both monsters of the mandolin!
Hope you don't mind if I add that the next stop for Steve and Chris after Norfolk will be a House Concert at our house in Charlottesville on Friday, March 20 at 8:00PM. If by some chance you can't make the Norfolk show, please give me a call (850) 241-8528 or email bob_cross@yahoo.com for reservations and directions to the Charlottesville show. This will be the third time we have hosted Steve for a house concert and he is always fantastic. Nobody leaves disappointed. Steve and Chris as a duo promises to be a real treat. Hope everyone catches their show somewhere! Bob

[sp.trout]

shaun, were is it exactly??? i think i met you in the airport with andy[fiddle] in jan??? i think i lost your card. let me know bart

[sgarrity]

The workshop is in the Ghent area of Norfolk. Jim_n_Virginia is hosting the workshop for us at his house. Please email me for the address.

[jim_n_virginia]

Kudos to Shaun for organizing a great mandolin workshop by Steve Smith. He put a LOT of information out in 2 hours it was well worth it.

I have gone to ALL DAY mandolin workshops that cost 4X's as much with big name stars and didn't learn as much!

This is just what I got out of it personally...

1. He showed us how to play any fiddle tune in 4 different places

2. Learned different chord formations up the neck

3. Told us to learn the tune by ear first then get the tab or notation and then the tune is easy so then he taught us a Monroe tune (Ashland Breakdown) by ear then gave us the sheet music (notation and tab). I played it later off the tab and he was right I could play it easily later.

4. Showed us how to play Boston Boy by Monroe a tune I have been wanting to learn but hadn't got around to it yet. It is on the Mandolin Extravaganza CD and as some of yall know my life quest is to play EVERY tune (I know about half of them) on that CD. Now I am one tune closer.

5. And finally and this in itself was worth $35.00 to me and that is I have been working on Orange Blossam Special on the mandolin and having trouble with parts of it and Steve showed me how to play it differently (ie: better) than how I had been playing around with it.

This is pretty dang good for a 2 hour workshop for $35.00

Pretty nice array of mandolins there. I saw a Hutto, two Brentrups, Heiden, Ellis, Flatiron, 1917 Gibson A3, lefty Weber along with my Gibson Fern.

A good time was had by all, we even had a little jam session afterwards. If anyone ever has a chance to do a Steve Smith workshop (or see him in concert) he is a great teacher and a great picker to boot!

Thanks Shaun!

[AlanN]

Sounds WELL WORTH $35.

Jim, can you give an example of the up-neck chord formations?

[sp.trout]

thanks shaun and jim, steve was alot of fun. wish i read music better. you're on the jam list now. hope you can make it to p-towne. bart p.s. 1914.

[foggyvalley]

I to express my appreciation for Steve Smith's workshop last night in Norfolk. Steve was very approachable and eager to teach. Thank you Jim for opening your home for this pleasant evening of mandolin music and a big thank you to Shaun for bringing this accomplished player to our area.
See you tonight at the concert!
Rob

[jim_n_virginia]

Sounds WELL WORTH $35.

Jim, can you give an example of the up-neck chord formations?

Alan just some cool bar chord formation that are movable and an easy way to throw dim and 7th notes in there as opposed to the way I usually play chords which is like reg bluegrass G chord formation and K chords some people call them.

Also a lot of just 2 finger chords up the neck I hadn't thought about using before. This might be just regular standard stuff I didn't know about yet because I am still just a back porch picker! LOL!

[sgarrity]

I think the workshop was definitely a success. Steve is an all around nice guy, an entertaining and engaging teacher, and an amazing musician. He packed those two hours with useful info that can be put to use immediately. And we got started learning some cool tunes.
I've messed around with Ashland Breakdown for a while now but found it a bit daunting. The way Steve broke it down phrase by phrase and taught it to us by ear made it EASY! With a little more practice we'll be playing this in our local jams.

I'd like to give a big THANK YOU to Jim for allowing us to use his house for this event. He really has the perfect set up for doing small workshops and jams. I'd also like to thank everyone that came to the workshop and made it possible. We live in a busy, hectic time and I know that it's not always easy to take time out of your schedules, especially on a weeknight! And finally, thanks to Steve for imparting some of his mando knowledge and helping to make each of us a little better picker.

Looking forward to picking with everyone soon!!