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About Our Pickin' Parties
Our Pickin' Parties are our
major means to accomplishing the club charter of "enjoying and preserving
thumb picking finger style guitar music. The primary emphasis of enjoyment
is for the guitar players of the club to share the fruits of all their
"practice" with each other no matter how expert or amateur their
skill level may be. For the first eleven (11) years we didn't
have regularly scheduled meetings because early on we realized that
it is especially enjoyable to hear what
the masters of our art sound like. So, we organized these Parties
around the availability of
Guest Pickers that are generally considered to be the "best" of their
craft, and have them give us an up
close and personal mini-concert to kick off each meeting. (And, help
draw enough people to pay for the facility - which had been the very
pleasant Griswold Center in Worthington, Ohio..)
As of October, 2010,
however, the Ohio Fingerstyle Guitar Club was graciously
(informally) adopted by the beautiful new Peggy
R McConnell Arts Center ("the MAC") in Worthington,
Ohio - that now gives us FREE space to hold our Pickin'
Parties in - so, we can now have them on a regular basis: THE
SECOND SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH - 10 am til 4 pm! Guest Pickers
still come to perform for us, but now on a more formal basis as
"concerts" in the MAC's marvelous 213 seat state-of-the-art Browyn
Theater. (We try to coordinate these to be held on the same
day of the Pickin' Parties, when possible.)
Pickin' Party Format -
"Pickin'-in-the-Round"
We all put our amps in a big circle and
each person, in turn, has
the opportunity to play one solo, play one to be joined by the others, or
requests one be played. Most of the players
that you will hear are self taught "basement" pickers that have had "the
sickness" for several years and have practiced thousands of hours in an
empty room with only the wall (and the wife and kids upstairs) as witness to how
accomplished they have become. It is absolutely amazing to watch the
fellowship in the "circle" as they interact with other "sickies"
for the first time. And, they can produce some fantastic music.
Please remember that ALL
levels of talent are welcomed to join us in the
"circle." We've had folks show up that were so nervous
they couldn't play two notes in a row without messin' up. But, by
tryin' n' dyin' n' going home and practicing some more - they got
better.
Cost: Donations for
coffee, web site and advertising appreciated - but, not mandatory.
(Read about past
Pickin' Parties) |
