Simon’s Mailbox Jan 2019

I really enjoyed the show. It cleared up many issues I was aware of in my playing, but even more importantly, a few I was not aware of. My primary interest as an undergraduate was theory, but since that occurred so many years ago, I have lost much of that knowledge. I am very interested in the new theory classes you are starting this month and would welcome more information. Thanks for all you do for us amateur guitarists and musicians.

Yes, proceed with podcasts as you have described. My only suggestion is: given that J. S. Bach was a great improviser could you give tips on developing improv. skills. You have already touched on one aspect of it in this podcast by encouraging familiarity with locations of specific intervals on the guitar but didn’t mention it being essential to developing improv. skills.

Hi Simon,
I thought your session was very worthwhile. For myself, some topics were of more interest than others and I suspect that might be the case with others but overall it was a chance to connect more personally with you and the writers and to hear your experience and thoughts on some of the challenges in guitar and music in general. Perhaps once a month might be realistic, given your very busy schedule? I’ve been wondering about Campanella fingering having read about it in the Hubert Kappell book and there you were giving me a real life demonstration of how it sounds as well as what might be considered the benefits and drawbacks of this technique. Also Evita chiming in was helpful. For myself, taking theory and relating it to a hands-on situation using parts of the repertoire is a way to make it stick in my brain. I always learn bet when I can relate the concept to something hands-on.. Thank you for doing this – a big thumps up!