How To Play Ukulele And Guitar Workshops With Cal Williams Jr – Adelaide Fringe Review

The Wheatsheaf Hotel, Sun Feb 22 Cal Williams Jr runs a guitar school, gigs around town as a solo artist, duets and in bands and is a published author of folk and blues ‘How To’ guitar books; recently adding yet another aimed at the growing popularity of Ukulele. So in terms of having the right qualifications to run a Blues Guitar workshop – he’s the man. Given a small group with some experienced players, some who had not played much for ages and one who had never actually picked up a guitar before, he might be forgiven for concentrating on some and leaving others behind or way out in front. However Cal proved to be an able teacher, coaxing learning from all of us and by the end had us all jamming the blues together. Along the way we also learnt some history of the instrument and genre’. Questions were welcomed; some were simple while others were quite complex, about scales and the like. All were answered with suitably thought out responses – we all learned something in a fun and supportive environment and felt confident to play, whether that was one finger picking the bass notes, finding some simple chords or embellishing lead riffs, based on the scales we’d learned. At one stage discussion referred to one of his series of books, and the answer included ‘Number 5, I think’. Which prompted the question, just how many books are there? The answer is currently about eight - just for guitar! So you may be tempted to catch Cal Williams Jr on stage. And why not, he’s a great player. But why not take some lessons too – learning music is one of the best ways to keep ah, whatch’a-call-it at bay. Clayton Werner How To Play Ukelele And Guitar Workshops continues at The Wheatsheaf Hotel until Sun Mar 15. Book at FringeTIX on 1300 621 255 or adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix. Click HERE to purchase your tickets.