Watch some clips from the incredible movie about Pat Martino

Larry Carlton will be giving a 90 minute master-class at our Guitar Getaways Awayday on Wednesday 19th November 2008 (evening event).

Book your place here!

Larry Carlton is a giant of guitar playing - his tasteful mix of jazz influenced blues licks with eclectic funk/soul grooves have made him one of the most highly regarded and respected guitarists of our generation. His work with the Crusaders and Steely Dan received widespread acclaim. During his career, this multi-talented musician has also received a Grammy award, and several Grammy nominations for his compositions (he wrote the theme tune to the "Hill Street Blues" tv show.

Larry has also been a prolific session guitarist, from the biography on his web-page he seems to have worked with just about every name out there, including Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Sammy Davis Jr, and even Dolly Parton!

Watch a video overview of Larry Carlton's career

The Guitar Getaways Awayday will focus on modern blues playing.

Guthrie Govan made his first visit to Guitar Getaways on Tuesday 11th August, when he gave a superb master-class to a select group of both course students and guitarists based in Cornwall.

Early days - what you play when you're three

Guthrie talked about his early playing days - how his early influences stemmed from his parents' record collection, which encompassed Elvis Presley, Cream and Jimi Hendrix.

Listen to your tone

He went on to discuss (and demonstrate) the importance of listening - whether to authentic recordings of guitar styles, or to the tone coming from your guitar/amplifier. Using his current set up of Suhr Guitar and Cornford Roadhouse amp, he demonstrated how picking hand position, and the use of the guitar's volume control are possibly under-rated tools for effective tone creation.

Guthrie's Blues

The class then looked at Blues playing - with Guthrie demonstrating how micro-tonal bends can be regarded as a key source of the emotional impact of blues lines. Again, the importance of listening was re-stated - feeling the lines, and hearing them before playing the notes was emphasised.

Student Jam

View a slideshow of Larry's incredible master-class for Guitar Getaways

View attendees performing during the Guitar Institute workshop (accessible by Awayday Attendees only).

Marc Galea, the RGT award winning international guitar tutor, who has performed with luminaries such as Martin Taylor, Jimi Savage and Gordon Giltrap, will be co-hosting our events based in Malta.

Marc is one of the most patient and painstaking guitar teachers that I have ever had the pleasure to work with. I have come to believe that being an all round tolerable person is one of the most important criteria for success as a pro-guitarist. Marc also definitely rates as a fantastically inspiring and gifted player.

Justin Sandercoe, award winning electric guitarist and the genius behind top 3 online tuition site www.justinguitar.com will be hosting the first clinic of the forthcoming Guitar Getaway Awayday on November 19th.

All the more reason, if you have not already done so, to book your ticket for the Guitar Getaways event in Balham, and to sign up on www.justinguitar.com without delay! There's a lot of online tuition out there these days, but Justin's pages are some of very few that I would recommend.

For those who prefer to study individually, or in small groups of two or three, why not come down to Cornwall for a weekend or week of intensive private lessons and performance sessions?

Guthrie is one of the most happening guitarists at the moment - Enrol for the Applied Guitar Getaway running in August, and you can be one of the privileged few to attend this exclusive lesson!

More about Guthrie

More about the Applied Guitar Getaway

www.justinguitar.com recorded a video interview with Larry Carlton as part of his appearance for Guitar Getaways in November 2008.

Watch the interview

After a lot of hard work and collaboration, the 2008 season of Guitar Getaways will be launching in June - a range of courses will be running, for guitarists of all standards. Two venues are being used during 2008 - in North and South Cornwall.