a California Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Corporation – EIN 99-3474773
a California Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Corporation – EIN 99-3474773
Instructor(s): Greg Cahill
We will study the Circle of Fifths and Nashville Numbers System; intro, tag and ending licks in keys of G, C and D without a capo; chord studies – major, minor, 7th, 9th diminished and augmented chord formations; concept of interchanging licks; morphing roll patterns into Scruggs licks; concepts for playing backup and Scruggs backup licks; intro to melodic and single string styles. We will review Scruggs style intros, tag licks, endings, down the neck and up the neck backup licks, “filler licks” in G, C and D with and without a capo; overview of melodic, chromatic and single string styles/licks; playing in C and D with and without a capo; playing in minor keys; playing slow songs; interchanging melodic and single string licks in Scruggs style solos.
Students should have an understanding of licks, chord positions and progressions and song/tune structure.Advanced students should know tune and song intros, tags and endings, playing in different keys with use of a capo (or not), awareness of different banjo playing styles and chord progressions/song and tune structures.
Greg Cahill has lived in the Chicago area most of his life, where he co-founded The Special Consensus in the early 1970s. The band reformed in 1975 as a full-time touring and recording entity and has continued to tour nationally and internationally ever since. Greg has appeared on all 22 of the Special C recordings, on numerous recordings by other artists and on many national television and radio commercial jingles. He has been a banjo instructor at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago since 1973, an adjunct faculty member of the music department (teaching banjo) at Columbia College in Chicago, a banjo instructor at festival workshops and music camps nationally and internationally and has released four banjo instructional DVDs and three banjo tablature books. Greg served on the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Board of Directors for 12 years (Board Chair/President 2006-2010), IBMA Foundation for Bluegrass Music Board of Directors (President 2011-2012) and Chicago Chapter Board of Directors of the Recording Academy. He created the Traditional American Music (TAM) Program in 1984 to bring bluegrass music into schools nationally and internationally. Greg became a Kentucky Colonel in 2010, was awarded the prestigious IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2011 and was inducted into the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) Hall of Greats in 2020.
Special C has released eight recordings on the Nashville-based Compass Records label since 2010; they garnered eight IBMA awards and two GRAMMY nominations.
Greg has been a banjo instructor at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago since 1973, an adjunct faculty member of the music department (teaching banjo) at Columbia College in Chicago, a banjo instructor at festival workshops and music camps nationally and internationally and has released four banjo instructional DVDs and three banjo tablature books. Greg also created the Traditional American Music (TAM) Program in 1984 to bring bluegrass music into schools of all levels nationally and internationally.
Greg’s workshop and camp teaching credits include Midwest Banjo Camp in Olivet, MI and Morth Manchester, IN; Suwannee Banjo Camp in Live Oak, FL; Nashville Banjo Camp in Nashville, TN; Banjo Camp North in Groton, MA; Augusta Heritage Center Bluegrass Week in Elkins, WV; Kaufman Kamp Bluegrass Week in Maryville, TN; Walker Creek Music Camp in Petaluma, CA; SPBGMA Nashville Banjo Workshop; Nashcamp in Nashville, TN; Maryland Banjo Academy (sponsored by the internationally distributed Banjo Newsletter periodical); Minnesota Bluegrass and Old Time Music Workshop Camp; British Columbia Bluegrass Workshops (BCBW) in Sorrento, BC, Canada; Cabin Fever Bluegrass Workshops in Williams Lake, BC, Canada; Sore Fingers Summer School workshops in Oxfordshire, England; and Bluegrass Camp Germany in Fischbachau / Achatswies, Germany.