New Expression Music

 

Music Classes at NEM

It's not too late to sign up - there is still room in all classes!

Instrument Classes taught by Phil Boroff
6 Sundays, Jan. 15-Feb. 19, $125 each class
(Phil recommends that students take both classes for full benefit):
11am-12:30pm: Basic Music Theory for Guitarists: This course will cover all the basics of entry-level theory, scale construction for sharp and flat keys, primary chord construction within the scale, secondary chords in the scale, Dominant 7ths, and secondary Dominant 7ths and chord extensions and alterations. This will be carried out on the written page (not the staff) and with a "hands on" approach to the guitar.
1pm-2:30pm: Basic Swing Chords for Guitarists: The class will begin with a discussion of the 2 basic Major barring positions (E and A). From there we will discover Dominant and Major 7ths, minor 7ths and 6th chords, raised and lowered 5ths and 9ths, and the ever-fascinating flat 9 chord. We will apply this newfound knowledge to learning the chords to 12-bar swing blues, Ragged But Right, My Adobe Hacienda, Sweet Georgia Brown, Georgia, and As Time Goes By. The instructor suggests that anyone interested in taking this class would benefit by also taking the course in Music Theory.

6 Mondays, Jan.16-Feb. 20, $125 each class:
6:30-8pm: Rhythm Guitar Style of Clarence White: In 1962 Phil had the remarkable good fortune to enroll in a guitar class taught by the then unknown 18-year-old Clarence White, at the Ash Grove Coffee House in Hollywood. Clarence went on to establish himself as the finest Bluegrass guitarist ever and one of the most influential rock guitarists in his 4-year stint with the Byrds. With all that has been written about Clarence, no one has offered a serious discussion about his acoustic rhythm playing of which he was very proud. This class will discuss his rhythmic development from the time he was 18 to his untimely death at 29 in 1973. He evolved from his rock-steady bass note on every beat to free-wheeling impromptu bass lines growing out of his Folk-Rock experience with the Byrds. ALL LEVELS ARE WELCOME!
8:30-10pm: Introduction to Frailing Banjo: Round Peake, North Carolina, is a region renowned for its Old Timey fiddle and banjo. It has produced many of the most creative and accomplished players in the history of Old Time music, including Charlie Lowe and his nephew Ed Lowe. Ed eventually settled in San Pedro, CA, and befriended a small number of young people, including Phil Boroff, and shared with them his way of playing the banjo. This is the style offered in this class, and it is rhythmic, musical, simple, exciting and a lot of fun. Anyone thinking about starting frailing banjo should start here.

Instrument Class taught by Drew Decker
8 Mondays, Jan. 16-March 5, $225:
7-8:30pm: Fundamentals for Electric Bass (Acoustic bass players welcome!) Here's a wonderful opportunity for anyone starting out on the bass. The course will focus on how to play simple Bass lines to accompany Folk, Country, or Bluegrass groups. We'll familiarize ourselves with the notes on the neck and use octaves, fifths, and walking patterns to develop a basic Bass vocabulary. Some previous experience is helpful but not necessary. The focus will be on Electric Bass but upright acoustic bass students will also benefit.
Guitar players interested in crossing over to bass are especially welcome!

Prepayment required to reserve space in classes. Call NEM today! (619) 280-9035

See our "Lessons" page for the bios of our illustrious NEM teaching staff!

 

New monthly jam night starting in 2012 at NEM!

Kev & Drew's Fantastical Fun Show:

Acoustic Pop Slow Jam & Social Club

Second Monday of the month, 7-9pm, $5

Learn tunes! Play and sing along! Make friends! Have fun! Acoustic instruments welcome! Led by KEV Rones and Drew Decker.

 

Phil's Corner: Benito Huipe

I think it must have been in the late 1980s when I walked into McCabe’s Guitar Shop, where I had taught guitar since 1973. There it was on the west wall. A brand new Flamenco guitar, golden blond honey-colored Cypress back and sides, with a Spruce top. Even suspended above my head it was “talking.” I pulled it down and checked it out right away. Wow! So much power, heat, and sweetness. I still remember being shocked at the low price. It was far less than half of what I expected. Who was the maker?
Benito Huipe. Never heard of him. Not a Spaniard, but a Mexican Indian from the guitar-making town of Paracho, in the state of Michoacán. He had left Paracho some twenty years ago and had worked away in the back room at Valdez’ Guitar Shop in Hollywood
on Sunset Blvd.

Though trained since childhood to make guitars, it appears that it was in that two-decade period at Valdez’ that he matured as a builder. At the time that I saw his Flamenco at McCabe’s, he had just left Valdez’ and had opened his own shop in Culver City. He supported himself by making and selling guitars, and by waiting tables at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

It took me a day of deliberating to decide to buy that guitar at McCabe’s and to sell the Spanish guitar I’d played for fifteen years. It was the right move. A short time later I called Benito to tell him I would play his guitar on “Soundboard”, John Schneider’s weekly live radio show featuring nylon string guitar music on KPFK. Benito was grateful to have a “champion” and made his friends and family listen.

We soon became friends and ultimately went into a partnership where he made guitars in his workshop and I displayed them, and gave guitar lessons in my adjoining studio. I was able to secure him a small but steady number of commissions from my students. In this period I learned some interesting things about Benito.

He thinks like an artist. Every guitar he makes, commissioned or not, is just the next experiment in an infinite process to refine his creations. Some guitars have easy right hand action, some don’t. Some, if he is interested, have a beautiful finish, but most are flawed. Some have slightly arched tops so he can use lighter braces, based on his observations of the violin. A few have dense knots in the back to push the sound “forward.”

One Flamenco I played in a large restaurant was very plain but a study in projection. The manager came to me and demanded that I “turn it down”, that people 25 feet away couldn’t talk or think because the guitar was too loud. I tapped the microphone to show it wasn’t on and he accused me somehow of plugging in the guitar, and stormed away believing no guitar could be that loud on its own.

I remember one student’s disappointment when he got his guitar, because it looked nothing like what he expected and was promised. I felt bad for him, and after two months I found a buyer for this guitar at substantially more money than my student had paid for it. He was very put off by the offer, as he had become completely attached to the guitar in the interim. He made it clear he would never consider selling his guitar and wouldn’t even let anyone else play it.

What I am trying to get across here is that Benito is a guitar maker with close to 55 years of professional experience. He has never focused on his career or reputation but has concerned himself deeply with developing his intuition as a builder to create ever-greater guitars.

New Expression Music is currently able to order guitars from Benito Huipe. We never know what we are going to receive from him, Classicals or Flamencos, or the woods he will use, Palascrito, Indian Rosewood, Coco Bolo, Spruce or Cedar. We just know they will play and sound very well, and possibly have an imperfect finish here and there.

We also know they are an incredible deal for the $1500-$1800 price range, and will play and sound like guitars in the $3500-$4000 range that we also carry. If you’re looking for a fine Classical or Flamenco guitar, come on into New Expression Music and meet the work of Benito Huipe.

Phil Boroff
January 2012

Phil Boroff is NEM's resident guitar expert and multi-talented performer and teacher of Classical, Flamenco, Bluegrass, Folk and Old Time guitar styles.

 

NEW! 2nd Mondays 7-9pm starting 1/9:

Acoustic Pop Slow Jam, $5