Become a Neck Master and Learn to Play-by-Ear Hands on Workshop (3hrs)

Become a Neck Master and Learn to Play-by-Ear Workshop (3-hrs)

Practical skills and thought process necessary to begin Neck Mastery

Acoustic Bluegrass, Classic-country, Old-time and Folk music

Learn to play above the 5th fret, take solo-breaks, play backup, appreciate rhythm and syncopation, and improvise. This hands-on workshop will expand your knowledge and understanding of the fretboard, all without tablature. Jam etiquette and playing well with others will be included.

Using understandable instructions, this workshop will be tailored to the specific needs of students and seasoned musicians who know some chords and can play songs without stopping or breaking time.

In American popular music there is basically one structural chord progression and four add-on chords. The melody lays under these chords and that’s it! The workshop concepts are applicable across all genres of music and all chord-based string instruments.

Students are encouraged to record the workshop for personal use only.

Your facilitators

Don DePoy, PhD is a seasoned performer and entertainer, on faculty in the Music Department at Eastern Mennonite University (Harrisonburg, VA) where he teaches all the bluegrass instruments (except fiddle) and he is a fifth-generation Appalachian music maker.

Martha Hills is a seasoned performer and entertainer, early childhood educator and teacher, booking agent, and fronts the Me & Martha Duo or Band.

Me & Martha Martha and Don perform an average of 200 concerts a year as Me & Martha. For the last 4 years they were awarded Top Wedding Band by Virginia Living Magazine (2021-2024), are members of America’s Old-Time Country Music Hall of Fame, are on the Artist Rosters of Virginia Commission for the Arts and Young Audiences of Virginia as traditional artists, and produce and host Mountain Music, a 64-part half-hour television series broadcasted weekly to 1.4 million households for over 3-years.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Unitarian Universalist Church, 4444 Arlington Boulevard, Arlington, United States