I recall sitting in a tiny club called The Cellar Door, watching James Taylor playing solo acoustic, right around the time that “Sweet Baby James” was released. There was no backup band, but I marveled at all the orchestral sounds he got out of his unamplified Gibson while he was singing those great songs. It struck me that when we sing in public, we’re focused on connecting with the audience, including eye contact, and most of us don’t have the gift of a Robert Johnson or Joni Mitchell to play complex lines up the neck while we are singing, without looking down at the fretboard. So, the challenge is to come up with lots of interesting things to do below that fifth fret: chord voicings that add or subtract notes, picking-hand rhythms that set up a groove, and dynamic shifts that create an arrangement that has impact, but is actually easy to play without looking down. The goal is to give you new writing options and freshen up the arrangements already in your repertoire.
There will be a few paper handouts; it’s okay with me if you want to record the sessions on your phone.