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Website designed and maintained by
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Music Lessons With
Tim Crosby
Mandolin, Banjo, Fiddle, Guitar. . . . Irish, Bluegrass,
Old-Time
Now accepting students on Tuesdays and Fridays at Uptown
Music in Keizer, Oregon
Tim Crosby has been playing mandolin, guitar and a raft of
other instruments for more than thirty-five years. He learned guitar from Jack
Bowman, a monster country thumb-picker in Colorado. The rudiments of fiddle and
banjo came from Wayne Friend, an old-time Ozark fiddler from Missouri. Back in
the seventies, somebody traded Tim a mandolin for some guitar lessons, and the
die was cast.
Since then, Tim has performed, toured, recorded and taught throughout the
Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Bluegrass, folk, traditional, swing, or country styles were built, however, on a
deep foundation of formal musical (and educational) training, beginning with
piano lessons at age five or six and continuing through a music minor in college
with an emphasis on jazz trumpet. As a result, Tim's students get a grounding in
music theory and technique balanced by the tune-based oral tradition. It's a
combination that keeps students challenged, keeps them making the kind of
progress they want, and makes for a lot of fun.
Guitar - step in at any level
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Starting out right (or starting over from scratch). It's
sort of like getting acquainted with your new best friend. Sure, it will be
frustrating at times, but it will also be exciting and eye-opening and you'll
love it. These lessons and sessions will get you started toward any style of
guitar-playing.
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You've been playing for a while, but just can't seem to
get up to the next level. This is where most guitar players live. Here are
some tried and true ways to get revved up again and moving onward and upward.
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Pretty darn good, but not quite ready for Winfield.
Exercises to get you in better shape, licks to steal, advice, mentoring,
referrals to resources, more theory, jamming. For acoustic steel-string
players, bluegrass, fiddle tunes, swing, blues, improvisation, other
hard-to-categorize stuff.
Mandolin - Where do you want to start?
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Starting out on the mandolin makes more sense in many
ways than starting on guitar, but don't tell that to guitar players, it only
makes them jealous. On the other hand, it's harder to sing along with the
mandolin, if that makes any difference to you.
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Okay, you've got the basics down, now what? Styles,
genres, tunes, chords. . . there's so much to think about.
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Related instruments. The other mandolin-family members:
mandola, octave, mando-cello, bouzouki. There's also tenor banjo and tenor
guitar.
Fiddle
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People start out from zero on the fiddle all the time,
but it can be a white-knuckle ride for a while.
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You play violin and want to learn to fiddle (and you
want to know once and for all: what really is the difference?)
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You already play another instrument, but somehow the
fiddle keeps calling (screeching?) your name. You might need therapy, or you
might be the next Mark O'Connor.
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You're ready to learn more tunes and maybe even
specialize in a genre or regional style. Tunes, theory, tunes, technique, more
tunes . . . dang, there are a bunch of fiddle tunes in this world!
Banjo - the five string variety
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Beginning three-finger (bluegrass) style. I'll get you
going and then refer you to a specialist.
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Old-timey, also known as clawhammer or frailing. Now
this is the way to play the banjo!
Other mentoring - short or long-term arrangements
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Band consulting. So twenty-first century, don't you
think? But it can really move your band along to have somebody give you an
experienced outside perspective. Topics are not limited to: overall sound,
sound systems, musicianship, dynamics, interpersonal dynamics, stage presence,
marketing, recording . . .
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Solo performing. Singing and playing an instrument is
not the same as walking and chewing gum.
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Songwriting. An obsession unto itself.
Tim
Crosby is available at:
503-881-7218
or via e-mail at:
timcrosby@phoenixrisingband.org
 "You'll
get a grounding in music theory and technique balanced by the tune-based oral
tradition. It's a combination that keeps students challenged, keeps them
making the kind of progress they want, and makes for a lot of fun." ~
Tim Crosby
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