u/carnevoodoo

Picture of spoons for fun.

This week, I attended the California Bluegrass Association's Family Fiddle Camp in Julian, California. Julian is about an hour from my house, and I somehow got an ad for the camp, and I signed up on a whim. My knowledge of bluegrass is very limited, so it was a stretch, but why not?

It was four really incredible days with some incredibly high level musicians teaching a variety of courses. I took the guitar intensive with Tyler Grant. He's clearly an insane guitar player, but he is also a great teacher. I was able to pick up a lot of stuff pretty well, but the crosspicking and other techniques are going to take time to really make sense to me. I took some other workshops as well, and they were all so informative. I even took a class on how to play the spoons taught by 86 year old Monika White.

In addition to Tyler, the other instructors were Tray Wellington, Missy Raines, John Reischman, John Mailander, and Luke and Rachel Price, along with a couple other I can't quite remember. Watching this group of musicians take the stage together was electric, and two nights of concerts watching them all play was truly inspiring. I wish I could say any of them stood out as highlights, but they were all so good, it was all a highlight.

I learned a lit about the music, the inclusive and wonderful community, and I'm very much looking forward to diving deeper into the genre and the playing style. I'm already looking forward to next year, and I may look into getting a bass.

I would recommend the camp if you want to play with some very enthusiastic bluegrass fans!