An Acoustic Blues Fingerstyle Guitar Workshop with PAT DONOHUE

Saturday , March 11, 2006
01:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: Elderly Instruments
workshop ($40.00)

Opening Pat Donohue's file evokes a trip down memory lane--often more than one trip. Our file on Pat--which grows thicker with each appearance he makes in the area for concerts, workshops or festivals--is filled with praise for his playing--including but not limited to his long-standing Prairie Home Companion gig--his songwriting, and his teaching.

Pat Donohue's Fingerstyle Blues Guitar Workshop will be geared toward intermediate-level students who want to infuse their playing with the sounds of the blues greats. In this two-hour hands-on workshop, he will teach tunes, licks, turnarounds, and the stylistic hallmarks of legends like Mississippi John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy, Robert Johnson, Blind Blake and others, along with useful left-hand chord shapes and right-hand oves that will make anyone's blues playing come alive.

One of the articles on Pat appeared in the now-defunct Capital Times in December, 1997, prior to one of Pat's free in-store
concert at Elderly; it reads in part: "...his playing has impressed such knowledgeable fans as Chet Atkins, who called him 'one of the greatest finger pickers in the world today'." Titled "Finger Pickin' Good," the unattributed article continues: "Donohue's fluid style embraces folk, country, blues and jazz styles, and onstage he's known to dive into anything from a satiric Beatles medley to a blues treatment of The Star Spangled Banner."

If you haven't seen Pat in concert, or haven't attended one of his workshops, maybe this description of him will help you understand a little better the man and some of the reasons for his popularity and success. We found this on the website of master guitar builder Kevin Ryan, about Pat:

"...audience members call out any song they can think of. And then Pat just starts playing it. And not just stumbling through a makeshift melody. He actually plays it like some rollicking, wild thing he has worked on for years.... Part of it naturally is the sheer inventiveness of a guy who can just start playing a complicated song out of the thin air right on the spot. And part of the wonder is the sheer exuberance of Donohue himself. There is no mistaking the main point of music when Pat plays. Music is for having fun."

Then, contrasting Pat with artists who are careful to not "miss" a note, not take a chance, he adds, "Not Pat. Let the notes fly and let the joy fall where it may, devil be damned." And yet Pat can be described as meticulous. Sign up and you'll see.

Check out recordings we carry featuring Pat Donohue