Sharing Day 25th Feb

My Sharing Day on February 25th was a great success.

Just look how many turned out for it. Here is a pic to give you a flavour of the day.

More details, pics and reviews can be found in the Sharing Day section HERE

Thanks go to Nigel Bates, Carrie Martin, Geoff and Cath Basilio, Mike Stranks and of course my lovely Hilary.

Players came from near and far. The farthest being my dear old friend Colin Welfare who travelled all the way from the Isle of Wight.

This bodes well for more of the same and hopefully will be a taster for my Academy Weekends.

Gordon Giltrap Guitar Academy Teaching Weekend 7th - 9th April 2017

Founded in 2015, the Gordon Giltrap Guitar Academy is an organization dedicated to the teaching of the acoustic guitar based on the repertoire of the acclaimed British guitarist - Gordon Giltrap.

The Gordon Giltrap Guitar Academy, in association with Vintage® Guitars (of whom Gordon has been a long time endorsee and Signature artist) will take place at selected venues around the UK as a series of 2 and 3 day intensive guitar study courses, concentrating on Gordon’s impressive back catalogue of compositions. “This is a body of work I have built up over fifty years” says Gordon “and I want to share it with people - it’s as simple as that! I find the whole thing incredibly exciting!”

Created with the considerable input of Gordon’s long-time friend, fellow guitarist and Principal Tutor Garry Burnett, the Academy has aligned with the Registry of Guitar Tutors and London College of Music, who will independently verify and grade the pieces selected for study.

The Academy provides personal tuition by its RGT-Registered Academy Tutors and Masterclasses by Gordon himself in a relaxed and friendly environment. The programme offers a graded performance-based approach to developing a guitarists playing skills and repertoire learning to play and perform the music of Gordon Giltrap.

The curriculum comprises solo acoustic guitars pieces drawn from across Gordon's extensive career, which build a playing technique and repertoire of performance pieces second to none.

“These pieces have been offered on the RGT syllabus before,” says Garry “but until now if you wanted to learn a grade 8 piece like ‘Lucky’ or ‘Lucifer’s Cage’ for example there wasn't anyone apart for Gordon you could go to get tuition! Plus, with the legitimacy of the RGT and LCM, participants can get real life-changing qualifications that are recognised by educational bodies and employers, or UCAS points for university entry. We are looking at making the Academy a good teaching and learning model with good practice, clear targets, clear channels of progression and good teaching of a formal education standard.”

The Academy had its first official meeting, in Lichfield close to Gordon’s hometown of Sutton Coldfield, with long-time devotees of Gordon’s making the journey from around the UK to spend time studying and enjoying a very intimate masterclass from the man himself.

The next meeting of the Gordon Giltrap Guitar Academy will be a Teaching Weekend held on the 7th - 9th April 2017 at the Castle Park Arts Centre, Frodsham.

The fee for the weekend is £250.

There is excellent accommodation nearby at The Old Hall Hotel, Main St, Frodsham, WA6 7AB at very reasonable rates.

The pieces being worked on are:

THE LAST OF ENGLAND.

UNDER THIS BLUE SKY.

DAISY CHAIN.

TEARS OF JOY.

As a challenge piece chief tutor Garry Burnett has suggested
FAST APPROACHING.

We now have David Mead on board as our special guest for Sunday. David was for many years the editor of Guitarist magazine and is the current assistant editor of Guitar Technical. David wrote the definitive biography of Martin Taylor and has published many books on the guitar.

He's a fine player and composer and has taught for many years. He has interviewed pretty much every major guitar legend known to man. He is also a Fylde guitar devotee and a nice man. It is a delight to have him as our special guest on the afternoon of the 9^th.

I'm delighted to have that superb builder of bespoke electric guitars Michael Gough of MG-Guitars offering his service free of charge to all attendees of my Academy weekend who wish to have their instruments looked over by an expert and "tweaked" to make their beloved guitars play even better.

Check out Michael's website http://www.mg-guitars.co.uk/

Full details and a programme for the weekend will be available upon registration and payment of a non-refundable deposit of £100.

New members are very welcome to attend.

Please visit the Academy website at http://giltrapacademy.org.uk or email Sue Holton at

info@giltrapacademy.org.uk. for more information and details of this and upcoming events.