Central Coast Jazz Guitar Festival

[losaltosjoe]

Not sure if this has been posted on the Forum yet.

Central Coast Jazz Guitar Festival
Event Location: Cambria Pines Lodge
2905 Burton Dr, Cambria, CA 93428
Date: March 1st - March 3rd, 2024

https://jazzguitarfest.com/
https://jazzguitarfest.com/tickets
Use the coupon code SEVERSON at checkout to get a discount on your ticket.

FYI. I found lodging for a 1/3 of the cost at The Rigdon House | Cambria, CA. It is only 7/10 of a mile from the event venue.
Hope to see you there.
Joe

[jameslovestal]

Not sure if this has been posted on the Forum yet.

Central Coast Jazz Guitar Festival
Event Location: Cambria Pines Lodge
2905 Burton Dr, Cambria, CA 93428
Date: March 1st - March 3rd, 2024

https://jazzguitarfest.com/
https://jazzguitarfest.com/tickets
Use the coupon code SEVERSON at checkout to get a discount on your ticket.

FYI. I found lodging for a 1/3 of the cost at The Rigdon House | Cambria, CA. It is only 7/10 of a mile from the event venue.
Hope to see you there.
Joe

Thanks for posting this. I love the area (and so does my wife which is key!), so I'm putting this on my calendar. Looks like a winner.

Maybe Reg will be there?

[jazzgtrl4]

Man, wish i could go to this but its right in the busiest months for me. too bad it wasn't in the summer !

[fep]

Is this indoors or outdoors?

My sister has a place in Cayucos, maybe that's a good time for a visit.

[losaltosjoe]

Is this indoors or outdoors?

My sister has a place in Cayucos, maybe that's a good time for a visit.

Indoors. Rich Severson should be posting the final schedule sometime this week. Hope to see you there, Frank.

[jameslovestal]

Just got back from attending the Central Coast Jazz Festival. The workshops were only OK (many of the fine players were not that versed in providing instruction, which they acknowledged). The concerts were great.

I attended a workshop with Bruce Forman and he mentioned his podcast of the 10 jazz standards that one should learn. He went over that as well as stressing that learning the melody is the first thing one should do (instead of the chord progression), and that, since the chords are the anchor of the melody that the chords will come naturally from the melody. (but he did mention that if one has an experienced friend to show them the chords that is useful. He mentions that one can use lead-sheets and things like the real-book, but only to provide a direction (i.e. not, per-se, literally). He stresses that the resources like the real-book were best for the melody and not, per se the chords.

[losaltosjoe]

I also attended the Central Coast Jazz Festival and wanted to share a few notes for those of you who couldn't attend.

The Good:

• Rich Severson, his wife Gayle, and son Wes ran a well-organized and tight event. Classes, concerts, etc., ran on time and without a hitch.
• The venue (Cambria Pines Lodge) was comfortable for classes, lounge acts, evening concerts, exhibits, and just hanging out.
• The performances were inspiring. These guys can really play!
• The teachers/performers were friendly and accessible. When they weren't playing or teaching, they were just hanging out like regular folks.
• I met lots of really nice fellow jazz guitar enthusiasts from all over the country, even a few forum members like JamesLovesTal and his lovely wife.
• Cambria is a cool locale, even with the rain.

The Not-So-Good:

• I agree with James; some of the instruction could have been tighter.
• Why are there always 2-3 people who sit in the front row and never stop talking or noodling on their guitar while the instructor is trying to teach? I am old and have no patience for these people.

All in all, it was a great event.