Coming Soon to Select U.S. and Canadian Cites.
Length: Two full days (usually Saturday and Sunday)
In 1970, legendary guitarist Howard Roberts (“H.R.”) created a revolutionary and intensive seminar series for guitar players of all levels. For the first time, one of the world’s top professionals traveled to many cities throughout the U.S. and Canada, spreading the word on what it really takes to be a working, professional guitar player. Howard’s vast music knowledge, warm humor and incredible guitar playing were an unbeatable combination that brought thousands of students of the guitar to the weekend seminars. One of those students was Seattle’s Don Mock, who later joined Howard Roberts to start the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood in 1977. The popular vocational school (it’s parent name, “M.I., Musicians Institute”) has become one of the leading music training schools in the world and owes it’s legacy to the original Howard Roberts Seminars.
With the passing of Howard Roberts in 1992, his son has taken up the torch in high level guitar education. Jay Roberts has become one of the leading teachers in the Pacific Northwest, founding a school for guitar, bass and keyboard players in Bellevue, Washington in 2004. Joining Jay at the newly formed Roberts Music Institute was Don Mock, the 20-year veteran of teaching at GIT who also co-taught promotional seminars with Howard Roberts throughout the 1980’s.
Inspired by Howard, Don and Jay have re-created the famous H.R. Seminar and plan to visit select cities in 2012-13. The new two-day version of the Howard Roberts Seminar will feature many of the same teaching materials written and used by Howard. Students will also receive audio CDs with recordings of Howard lecturing and demonstrating at his seminars. In addition, the CDs will include play-along practice tracks and demonstrations by Jay Roberts and Don Mock.
Over the 12+ hours during the two days, students will learn modern theory and participate in discussions on sight reading and ear training. Attendees will also experience hands-on workshops on chords, scales and arpeggios as well as plenty of playing and just plain fun!
The main goal of the seminar, though, is to make the connection to the incredible insight of Howard Roberts. “Learning How to Learn” was a powerful theme taught by Howard that echoes so true today when it comes to learning the guitar and dealing with the overwhelming amount of books, videos and information online.
Two days is not a long time to learn to play an instrument like the guitar. But thanks to Jay Roberts and Don Mock, the lessons taught to a generation of guitarists by Howard Roberts in that short period of time will not be forgotten.
Seminar materials include the following booklets:
* Applied Harmony and Theory
* Chord Symbols and Chord Construction
* Reharmonization and Making Your Own Progressions
* Sonic Shape Combinations
* The Guitar Fingerboard, A Complete Study of Scales, Arpeggios, Intervals, Position Playing and Linear Playing
* Ear training, Sight Reading, Chord Progressions
* Guitar Playing Is …
* Basic Harmony and Theory
* Chord Construction and Chord Symbols
* Fingerboard Harmony
* Chord Substitutions
* Improvising with the Diatonic Scale
* Improvising with Arpeggios
* Improvising with Intervals
* Chord Progressions Standard & Unusual, Finding the Key Centers