Guitar | Joan Fenton | Intermediate | Period 2 | Week 2 (July 13-17, 2026)
Unlock the mysteries of playing up the neck. Most guitarists only play in first position or need to use a capo if they want to play in another key. Participants in this workshop will learn how to take basic 3 and 4 finger chords ( NOT bar chords) and move them up and down the neck, pick out the melody and learn how to take a song and play it in any key. We will also explore how to find the chords in a song. It’s a “must-take” class for guitarists who feel they are stuck down the neck, or who, when they play up the neck, don’t really know exactly what they are doing. Participants should be able to play first position chords A, B, C, D, E, F, and B7, and be able to switch chords easily. Check out more about the Joan class in he video below.
About the Instructor
Folklorist and performer Joan Fenton earned her Master’s degree in folklore from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981. She hosted traditional music radio shows in NC and WV, from 1974- 1989 and did field work and recorded southern roots artists from North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Louisiana. Her collection is housed in the library at the Southern Folklife Collection at UNC- Chapel Hill. Her mentors and teachers were Jerry Ricks and Reverend Gary Davis. In 1983 she founded Blues Week at Augusta and for this work is a recipient of the “ WC Handy award for “Keeping the Blues Alive in Education”. She has been an instructor at Augusta for over 40 years.