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A couple of opportunities to study bluegrass music locally with professional musicians are happening. Thought we’d help spread the word by writing about it here!

1. Master Classes at Joe Val! Boston Bluegrass Union has announced that once again, master classes will be offered the day that the festival begins, Friday, Feb. 12th.

They have Jimmy Heffernan on dobro and Greg Cahill on banjo confirmed….and more on the way!!T hey have also announced a banjo fast track class for beginners that day, taught by Rich Stillman.

Keep an eye on the Master Class Page on the BBU website for more details, coming soon.

2. The Passim Folk Music & Cultural Center is offering a “Beginning Bluegrass Mandolin with Jiro Kokubu” course.

The Passim Folk Music & Cultural Center
Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. January 14-February 18, 2010
$132 nonmembers / $108 members

Jiro Kokubu, of the David Wax Museum, will teach a bluegrass mandolin class for beginners – no experience necessary. Jiro will start with the very basics, and you’ll learn how to hold a mandolin, how to hold a flatpick, and how to tune your instrument. As you learn to pick and strum, you’ll learn some traditional fiddle tunes and variations for mandolin. Through these songs, Jiro will teach you the chords and scales. At the end of each class, he will give you exercises and tabs to practice each day.

Jiro, a phenomenal multi-instrumentalist from Osaka, Japan, found a home in the Japanese bluegrass community, and on his band’s first tour of America, he met his hero Bill Monroe. He later returned to the United States to study at Berklee College of Music, graduating in 2008. In The David Wax Museum, Jiro’s breath-taking dobro solos and spectacular mandolin ability make him a thrill to take in.

3. Boston Bluegrass Union’s Bluegrass Academy will offer Tony Watt introductory courses for mandolin and guitar (rhythm and lead)

Both courses will be taught through the Boston Bluegrass Union’s Bluegrass Academy, and complete details can be found below, and on the BBU website (http://www.bbu.org/tony_watt_winter_classes.html) and on Tony’s website (http://www.theoriginaltonywatt.com).

Tags: Boston Bluegrass Union, david wax, Jiro Kokubu, mandolin

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 4:44 pm and is filed under Learning, boston, fun bluegrass swing music, interesting events, mandolin, massachusetts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.