Maryport Blues Festival is proud to announce guitar and harmonica workshops led by three of the finest British blues musicians: Robin Bibi, Marcus Bonfanti and Nigel Dunne.

These workshops offer a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with top-rated blues artists who will transform your playing by sharing their musical secrets, teaching you new techniques, and answering all your questions.

All workshops start at 10.30am and last one hour. Tickets are available, priced £5 each, from The Wave (Tel: 01900 811450) . Under-18s will be admitted free but they must obtain a ticket, as places are limited.

We would like to thank Maryport Bodyworks, who have generously sponsored these workshops. 

HARMONICA WORKSHOP
with Nigel Dunne, of The Harpbreakers, three times nominated Best British harmonica player by ‘Blues in Britain’ magazine
On Saturday 24th July, at The Wave

This workshop will give budding harmonica players a chance to learn from one of the best in the business. N.J. ‘the Duke’ Dunne is best-known as harmonica player and vocalist for The Harpbreakers, who have supported the likes of Taj Mahal, James Harman, Otis Grand, Dr Feelgood, Eugene ‘Hideaway’ Bridges and others. The Duke has even had personal invites to play with Albert Collins and Little Jimmy Rogers. Nigel is also an experienced teacher, who regularly gives private harmonica lessons. He will explain the importance of scales and give you an opportunity to work through scales on your own harmonica. He will also demonstrate various playing styles and techniques, and take questions from workshop participants.

TWO-DAY BLUES ROCK GUITAR WORKSHOP
with Robin Bibi
On Saturday 24th July and Sunday 25th July, at The Wild Solway Centre (next to the Lake District Coast Aquarium)

For the first time, Robin Bibi will be holding workshops over two days, allowing a more in-depth exploration of his exciting approach to blues rock guitar. For the guitar workshops, bring your own guitar – or just listen and learn if you prefer.

Robin Bibi is one of the UK’s top blues rock guitarists. Having paid his dues working with such names as Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Ben E. King, The Pretty Things and Helen Shapiro, he launched the Robin Bibi Band in 1996. They are now one of the busiest bands on the Southern music venue circuit and have played most of the major blues festivals in the UK, Ireland and Europe.

In his two-day workshop, Robin will cover blues rock-style warm-ups and technical exercises to improve fluency and left and right hand coordination (using simple pentatonic scales), as well as hammer-on and pull-off exercises, string bending and blues moves, all practised in a variety of tempos. Other techniques will include improvising around chord progressions using single note lead playing, rhythm guitar playing and chord comping (using chord inversions), help with self-accompaniment and tablature reading, using effects pedals and working with classic blues rock songs. All participants will develop self-confidence by working in a group environment with like-minded players and developing new skills in technique and improvisation.

BLUES GUITAR TECHNIQUES WORKSHOP
with Marcus Bonfanti
On Sunday 25th July at The Wave

Marcus Bonfanti is at the forefront of the latest British blues revival and has been hailed as ‘the next British blues guitar hero’. The 27-year-old singer, songwriter and guitarist is turning eyes and ears his way with his latest album, ‘What Good Am I To You?’ He will be appearing twice on the main stage at Maryport this year.

For this unique workshop, he will play a few of his own songs, explain the different techniques he uses in them, and link them back to the blues players who originally used them. For example, his song ‘Sweet Louise’ incorporates a finger-picking technique he learned by listening to Mississippi John Hurt. Marcus will also take questions and try to help participants with particular problems they’ve come up against. Being a self-taught guitarist, Marcus has found lots of interesting ways to get round certain blocks.