Guitar | Ashlee Watkins | All Levels | Period 1 | Week 3 (July 20-24, 2026)
Don’t you just wish you could tie your guitar to your side and bring it along with you to this old time rhythm workshop? Well… what are you waiting for?? We’re going to be tightening up the nuts and bolts of old-time guitar while developing our ability to be more interactive and expressive musicians. We’ll practice techniques to strengthen our rhythmic sensibilities and try out some new bass runs to spice up our backup. We’ll also work on sharpening our listening skills as we glean stylistic vocabulary from recordings of the old-time masters. Ideally, we’ll never stop learning and practicing the guitar so let’s enjoy the journey and have fun nerding out about old time guitar picking!
A note from Augusta – This class will not teach from-scratch basics. Students should be familiar and comfortable with their instrument and able to pick up basic techniques and tunes by ear. Check out Augusta’s evening mini-class offerings for from-scratch options!
About the Instructor
Having grown up in a musical family in New South Wales, Australia, Ashlee Watkins is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter whose powerfully unadorned vocals exhibit a refreshing directness of expression reminiscent of Maybelle Carter, Molly O’Day, and Hazel Dickens. She has been awarded a number of blue ribbons from fiddlers’ conventions around the Southeast for her folk singing and old-time banjo and guitar playing, and in 2021, her string band The Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee won first place at the 85th Annual Old Fiddlers’ Convention in Galax, VA. In 2022, she completed a Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship with Floyd County master musician Mac Traynham. Ashlee has performed with Larry Sigmon and is a member of old time string bands The Mustard Cutters and The Crooked Road Ramblers.