The Practice Room

Chris Kuffner and Bess Rogers on Late Night with Conan O’Brien

WorkshopLive teachers Chris Kuffner and Bess Rogers recently appeared on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Chris and Bess were there backing up New York singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson for the performance of her single “The Way I Am.” You can see the performance by watching the January 14th episode of Late Night at NBC.com.

Chris Kuffner has been playing bass for Ingrid Michaelson for a few years now, and Bess Rogers has been playing guitar with Ingrid for a little over a year. Although Ingrid’s band line-up changes from gig to gig, Bess and Chris are there for her whenever she needs a full band, and that’s what she wanted for her big show with Conan.

WorkshopLive Gets a Perfect 10!

Reviewers for www.learntheguitarnow.com gushed with praise for WorkshopLive’s online guitar lessons. They had “no doubt that this is a very successful site,” with our “first class” guitar instructors and “in-depth lessons in virtually every style you could imagine.” After viewing many of our lessons, they decided that “both the amount and quality of the lessons and songs on offer more than justify the price,” stating they “can't recommend this site enough,” and have “happily given it a 10/10 score.” The full review can be found here.

The Total Jazz Guitarist Reviewed

This wonderful review was recently printed in Guitar Teacher Magazine and reprinted with their permission here:

Jody Fisher, The Total Jazz Guitarist
Book and CD, National Guitar Workshop Publications/Alfred, www.alfred.com.
This instruction book is perfect for intermediate to early-advanced students who want to start playing jazz, and can be used as a supplement to lessons. Part 1 covers the chords, scales, and basic theory needed to get into jazz playing. In Part 2, a few well-known songs are taught in great detail, allowing readers to apply the concepts learned in Part 1.

New Lessons… Improve Your Playing Today at WorkshopLive!

WorkshopLive would like to announce new beginner-level lessons from acoustic/country rocker Greg Horne. He’s back teaching easy lessons on Grammy-award winning songs by Robert Lee Castleman, who has written for Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss, and many others. Greg takes Mr. Castleman’s complex fingerstyle arrangements and breaks them down into open position chord arrangements that’ll have you strumming in no time. In addition, you’ll get the feel of the boom-chick strum pattern and have access to Castleman’s exclusive performances! Here’s the full list:

Valentine’s Day is Right Around the Corner!

Valentine's Day is almost upon us, and what better way to make your loved one swoon than to sing her a love song? Pick up the sheet music for Robert Lee Castleman's “Like Red on a Rose,” from National Guitar Workshop Publications. Buy now and receive 10% off the list price of $3.95.

Learn New Styles with the Versatile Series!

Are you looking for a crash course in a variety of styles? Learn rock, blues, funk, jazz, reggae, and more with the new Versatile series from National Guitar Workshop Publications:

• The Versatile Guitarist by Raleigh Green
• The Versatile Bassist by Dave Overthrow
• The Versatile Drummer by Pete Sweeney

In today’s music industry, artists are fusing different styles together to create unique sounds. It’s no longer enough to specialize in one particular style; becoming a versatile musician will help you adapt to new musical situations and get more gigs.

Each book in the series will give you a brief history of each style, with listening suggestions for important musicians, songs, and albums. You’ll learn authentic-sounding musical examples, and you can play along with the accompanying CD.

The Versatile series is available at www.guitarworkshop.com/books.

MercyMe and WorkshopLive

Billboard chart toppers and multi-platinum selling artists MercyMe have joined forces with WorkshopLive to spread the good word of music education. MercyMe is currently headlining the Winter Jam ’08 tour, and has endorsed WorkshopLive. The band will be generously giving away free access to WorkshopLive to all of their fans! In the next few months, the band has made plans to come into the WorkshopLive studios and record lessons on how to play some of their biggest hits on guitar, bass, drums and keyboard.

The Winter Jam tour is the biggest annual Christian music tour, and will reach 36 cities across the country. MercyMe, headliners for the tour, will be sharing the stage with other artists such as Barlow Girl, Skillet, and American Idol’s Mandisa. At each concert, fans will receive cards from MercyMe that give them seven days of free access to WorkshopLive’s growing library of over 2,200 lessons. In the not-too-distant future, fans will also have the opportunity to take lessons directly from MercyMe!

New NGW Publication: Guitar Atlas: Japan

To most of us, Japan is an exotic and faraway land. When we see images of Shinto shrines, pagodas, geisha, and Kabuki actors in strange face paint, our imaginations are immediately captured. Now, experience this rich and mysterious culture through its music. In addition to arrangements of classic folk tunes like "Sakura" and "Edo Komori-uta," Guitar Atlas: Japan teaches about Japanese scales, modes, tunings, and traditional instruments such as the shamisen, koto, shakuhachi, and more.

New Lessons… There’s Something for Everyone at WorkshopLive!

WorkshopLive would like to announce 11 new advanced rock bass lessons taught by none other than Chris Kuffner. He’ll guide you through cool concepts like slash chords and pedal tones, as well as turn up the heat with some scorching slap and pop style basslines. From funk to arena rock, Chris will have you playing in no time. Be sure to check them out, and have fun!

NGW Offers New Pedal Building Course… Create Your Own Effects!

This summer, students will have the opportunity to learn pedal-building techniques and design theory from Pigtronix, one of the industry’s leading boutique effects makers. Pigtronix founder and National Guitar Workshop alum, David Koltai, will instruct students on how to manipulate sound with hardware design elements, helping them to understand the musical aspect of electronic effects. Students will learn about musical electronics from the perspective of a designer, builder and player, and each student will build a guitar pedal from start to finish during the course of the week. This course will be offered on the New Milford, CT, campus.