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    • Session I
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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • BIO
    • HISTORY
    • AWARDS
  • MUSIC
    • MUSIC CREDITS
    • Videos
  • NEWS
  • CONTACT
  • BANJO WORKSHOP
    • Free Banjo Videos Section - Scroll Down
    • Banjo Week 1
    • Banjo Week 2
    • Banjo Week 3
    • Banjo Week 4
    • Banjo Lesson: "Foggy Mountain Special" from Earl Scruggs Tribute
    • Banjo Lesson: Man of Constant Sorrow from O Brother Soundtrack
    • Banjo Lesson: Bending Strings in Bluegrass
  • Lessons
  • STORE
  • GUITAR WORKSHOP
    • Session I
    • Session II
    • SESSION III
    • SESSION IV
NEW! Ron Block Online Guitar Workshop 2020
  • NEW! Ron Block Online Guitar Workshop 2020

NEW! Ron Block Online Guitar Workshop 2020

Includes a download of Hogan's House of Music
In cart Not available Out of stock
$159.00

I held an online guitar workshop in November, and the four sessions are up on RonBlock.com, along with two bonus lessons (two more to be added soon). I've shared the elements of guitar playing that have made my lead guitar solos and rhythm a mainstay of Alison Krauss & Union Station for 29 years. Intermediate to advanced.

Topics: Roots and Inflluences - Bill Napier, Larry Sparks, and Clarence White to piano, Bill Monroe, and electric guitar players. We'll move on into some of my solos in a bonus lesson but at the front end we'll look into some of the players that helped create my style.

The Psychology of Playing Well (this is incredibly important)

Right and Left Hand Technique

Tone - Timing - Taste

Rhythm Playing

How I Learned and Continue to Learn the Neck

Make Solos More Moving with Expression

Make Solos More Engaging with Intervals ("doublestops")

Playing the Melody: The Many Ways to Vary a Solo.

Crosspicking

And I'll add more before the starting date.

Plus these freebies and more: Downloads of A Light So Fair: Peaceful Guitar Instrumentals; my Hogan's House of Music instrumental record (I took quite a few guitar breaks on it); a pdf of my Traditional Guitar Workbook with my personal tabs of George Shuffler, Larry Sparks, Bill Napier, Don Reno, Clarence White, and Junior Blankenship. These freebies alone are worth about $47.

When signing up, you'll get a download link for Hogan's House of Music. I'll send you A Light So Fair: Peaceful Guitar Instrumentals, and you'll get an email with a Dropbox link and information for the rest of it.

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Vintage: A 2021 Calendar photographed by Russ Carson ON SALE
Sale
  • Vintage: A 2021 Calendar photographed by Russ Carson ON SALE

Vintage: A 2021 Calendar photographed by Russ Carson ON SALE

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FOUR LEFT. Russ, kickin' banjoist and staff photographer for Ricky Skaggs, recently shot a bunch of pictures of a few of my vintage instruments, so we made a 2021 calendar. The calendar has release dates for the many records I've played on, and tells where I found some instruments and what recordings they're on.

Cover: 1938 Martin D28, played on Lonely Runs Both Ways and Paper Airplane. Included photos of my Rich & Taylor from So Long So Wrong, 1926 Gibson Granada from Everytime You Say Goodbye, 1963 Fender Telecaster from A Hundred Miles or More, plus others.

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2 Hour Guitar or Banjo Lesson Via Skype or Zoom
Sale
  • 2 Hour Guitar or Banjo Lesson Via Skype or Zoom

2 Hour Guitar or Banjo Lesson Via Skype or Zoom

In cart Not available Out of stock
$250.00 Save 8.4%!
$229.00

A 2 hour private lesson on banjo or guitar - this can be split into two separate lessons. I've been playing professionally since the early 1980s, and since 1991 with Alison Krauss and many others. I've also taught at bluegrass guitar and banjo camps, taught my own banjo course online, and have rarely given any private lessons.

I'm quite adept at diagnosing problems and advising solutions, since I'm always doing that with my own playing.

We can talk about anything you'd like, from getting a strong tone, developing steady timing, taste, how I study the neck, right hand workouts, transcribing, or whatever you'd like. We'll tailor it to you - the objective is to give you more tools to improve and expand your playing, and we'll give you enough to work on for a good long while. Available at the introductory price for a short time.

When you purchase, you'll get an email shortly after to set up a time for the lesson.

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Live Online Guitar Workshop Updates

Join the mailing list here for updates.

NEW! Ron Block Online Guitar Workshop 

UPDATE: This entire course is available here:
Online Guitar Workshop

HELLO GUITARISTS!

I'll be having a live online guitar workshop in November. If you can't make one or more of the live sessions, no worries! They'll be put up each week as videos on RonBlock.com, along with bonus videos where I teach a tune/solo/song. 

LEVEL: Intermediate to advanced

OBJECTIVE: To help guitarists see new ways to move forward - to give you the tools and ideas that I've used to create my style of playing with Alison Krauss & Union Station so that you can take those tools and more fully develop your own styles of playing. Order link is here: Guitar Workshop

TOPICS: Roots and Inflluences - George Shuffler, Larry Sparks, and Clarence White to blues and country players. We'll move on into some of my solos with Alison throughout the course, but at the front end we'll look into some of the players that helped create the guitar style I use with AKUS, and how I change my playing for other situations. 

The Psychology of Playing Well (this is incredibly important) 

Right and Left Hand Technique 

Tone - Timing - Taste 

Rhythm Playing 

How I Learned and Continue to Learn the Neck 

Make Solos More Moving with Expression 

Make Solos More Engaging with Intervals ("doublestops") 

Playing the Melody: The Many Ways to Vary a Solo. 

Crosspicking 

And I'll add more before the starting date. 

Plus these freebies and more: Downloads of A Light So Fair: Peaceful Guitar Instrumentals; my Hogan's House of Music bluegrass instrumental record (I took quite a few guitar breaks on it); a pdf of my Traditional Guitar Workbook with my personal tabs of George Shuffler, Larry Sparks, Bill Napier, Don Reno, Clarence White, and Junior Blankenship. These freebies alone are worth about $47. 

The Workshop will be held on these days at 7pm Central in 2020: Nov 12, 19, 27, Dec 3. (Nov 26 is Thanksgiving, so that day will be done on Friday, Nov 27). 

When signing up, you'll get a download link for Hogan's House of Music. I'll be putting all email addresses into a file, and in the next week or so when I get everything into Dropbox I'll be sending out the Zoom link, passwords I'll use for the videos, and the Dropbox link with the outlines, tabs, and freebies. 

I'm looking forward to it!

(Photo by Russ Carson)
 

11/07/2020

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Listener Reviews of A Light So Fair: Peaceful Guitar Instrumentals 

12/05/2019

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Donne's Passage - from A Light So Fair: Peaceful Guitar Instrumentals 

During the Alison Krauss Windy City tour in 2018, Alison suggested I record an album of peaceful, meditative guitar pieces. I took her suggestion to heart. Order the cd or download here.

Usually in the mornings I spend some time in reading and reflection. For this album I'd pull my guitar out after this peaceful, reflective time. A period of experimentation would lead into an idea for a melody, mostly simple and peaceful, which would then lead into an idea for an arrangement. The melodies are variously inspired by the morning sunlight on our fields in Tennessee, walks in the Yorkshire countryside, a river in Scotland behind Huntly Castle, writers George MacDonald, John Donne, and C.S. Lewis, melodies of Stephen Foster, and ballad books from the 1800s. 

By late morning I would be adding another guitar, or shruti (a simple, accordion-like instrument). The idea was to let everything flow into the music from that early morning feeling of peace, focusing on simplicity, tone, and nuance, with the intention that listeners would be able to take away some of that peace for themselves. 

Some stellar voices added background vocals. Suzanne Cox, Sierra Hull, Kate Rusby, Damien O'Kane, and my daughter, Erica Block, all added some lovely, ethereal parts to the mix. 

For vintage guitar aficionados: most of the recording was made using my 1938 Martin D28, used on the AKUS albums Lonely Runs Both Ways and Paper Airplane.

A Light So Fair will be released Nov 29th digitally. CDs will be shipped on Dec 3rd. You can listen to two whole tracks, "Hope Sings" and "The River Deveron," clips of the others, and preorder at the RonBlock.Com Store

11/24/2019

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A Light So Fair: Peaceful Guitar Instrumentals 

Some of you know I've been working for awhile on an album of peaceful, sparse instrumentals. Usually in the mornings I spend some time in reading and reflection.  For this album I'd pull my guitar out after this peaceful, reflective time each morning. A period of experimentation would lead into an idea for a melody, mostly simple and peaceful, which would then lead into an idea for an arrangement.

By late morning I would be adding another guitar, or shruti (a simple, accordion-like instrument). The idea was to let everything flow into the music from that early morning feeling of peace, focusing on simplicity, tone, and nuance, with the intention that listeners would be able to take away some of that peace for themselves.

Some stellar voices added background vocals. Suzanne Cox, Sierra Hull, Kate Rusby, Damien O'Kane, and my daughter, Erica Block, all added some lovely, ethereal parts to the mix. 

For vintage guitar aficionados: most of the recording was made using my 1938 Martin D28. 

A Light So Fair will be released Nov 29th digitally. CDs will be shipped on Dec 3rd. Listen to clips and preorder here: http://ronblock.com/album/1226294/a-light-so-fair-peaceful-guitar-instrumentals

11/18/2019

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New Store Item: Rickard Cyclone High Ratio Banjo Tuning Pegs 

These tuners are classy through and through, from the feel to the materials to even the box. I put the Gold/Galaith Ivory pegs on my Rich & Taylor (So Long So Wrong banjo) and have been using them on the Alison Krauss tour. The 10:1 gear ratio makes my job easy. I'll be putting them on my 1926 Gibson Granada and my Banjocaster this week. Check the Store page for more details!

07/06/2019

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RON'S ONLINE 4-SESSION BANJO WORKSHOP
  • RON'S ONLINE 4-SESSION BANJO WORKSHOP

RON'S ONLINE 4-SESSION BANJO WORKSHOP

Includes a download of Hogan's House of Music
In cart Not available Out of stock
$159.00

"The content is all geared to us unlocking our own creativity while keeping the 'fun factor' high."

Greetings, fellow banjo pickers!

Have you had moments where you've wanted your playing to move along more quickly? Have you ever wondered if you have what it takes to go to the next level?

I've struggled with all those things. At nearly every level, I've plateaued and thought, "Is this it? Am I stuck here?" Since the age of thirteen I've been obsessed with learning how to play the banjo well, because going to the next level is always such a thrill.

As a result I've had to develop some tried-and-true ways of doing things through experimentation and study. I've used these ideas for my 26 years with Alison Krauss & Union Station, for the O Brother soundtrack, and for everything else I've ever played on - and I'd love to share them with you in four sessions containing SIX hours of teaching and demonstration.

Just got this in an email: “I’ve just got to say, this workshop has been so much more than I expected….The effort you’ve put into this and the ground you’ve covered like a fog will keep me busy for years….Again, thanks so much. I call that a bargain, the best I ever had!” David W.

TOPICS: Just a few of the things I've covered:

Releasing tension (the thing that puts a lid on our dexterity).

How I work on timing and feel.

Dynamics.

Tone.

Backup.

The trick to learning the neck well.

String bending, vibrato, and working it all into rolls.

Single-string playing.

Slow playing.

Clinch Mountain Backstep.

Mollie Catherine Carter.

Learning from recordings.

How to practice effectively.

BONUS TEACHING VIDEOS: Clinch Mountain Backstep (breaks 1 and 2 from Hogan's House of Music), Man of Constant Sorrow (from O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack), Foggy Mountain Special (break 2 from Earl Scruggs tribute record), Will You Be Loving Another Man by Earl Scruggs

Oh, I almost forgot the extras. By signing up for the workshop you'll receive a free download of my banjo-oriented bluegrass record Hogan's House of Music and a pdf of my long out-of-print The Traditional Banjo Workbook.

I look forward to seeing you there.

LESSONS WITH A PRO: 26 Years With Alison Krauss & Union Station, banjoist on the O Brother Soundtrack’s “Man of Constant Sorrow,” and on sessions with Dolly Parton, Kate Rusby, Dan Tyminski, Vince Gill, Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, and many more.

LEVEL: Broadly Intermediate - lots of material for not-so-beginners all through early advanced players.

SUBJECTS: Playing without tension, improving timing and feel, dynamics, tone, string bending, vibrato, scales, single-string playing, transcribing, and more.

BONUS MATERIALS: Each participant will receive a free download of Ron’s banjo-oriented bluegrass cd Hogan’s House of Music, and a free download of the long out-of-print Traditional Bluegrass Banjo Workbook – a total of $45 in free extras.

WORKSHOP REVIEWS: "As a guy who's been participating in this clinic I promise you the value you'll receive is worth FAR more than the price. I've done banjo camps, clinics, and lessons with the best in the business. The wisdom Ron imparts is second to none. You WILL be a better player, and you'll enjoy every second. You'll have a hard time putting your banjo down after the first session, and you'll be thinking about it all day at work after the second. And it only gets better from there."

"Great class. Ron knows how to communicate; he 'teaches ideas' and is well prepared. No wasted time. The overall class experience is like having a one on one lesson with good friend."

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TOUR

Previous events

Date Event Location
Monday, February 3, 2020 — Monday, February 10, 2020 Mon, Feb 3, 2020 — Mon, Feb 10, 2020 Soggy Bottom Boys Cayamo Cruise, Miami to St. Croix and Antigua Cayamo Cruise, Miami to St. Croix and Antigua
Sunday, January 26, 2020 Sun, Jan 26, 2020 With Aoife Scott and Andy Meaney Celtic Connections, Glasgow, Scotland Celtic Connections, Glasgow, Scotland
Saturday, January 25, 2020 Sat, Jan 25, 2020 Damien O'Kane and Ron Block Celtic Connections, Glasgow, Scotland Celtic Connections, Glasgow, Scotland
Friday, January 24, 2020 Fri, Jan 24, 2020 Damien O'Kane and Ron Block Temple Bar TradFest, Dublin, Ireland Temple Bar TradFest, Dublin, Ireland
Wednesday, January 22, 2020 Wed, Jan 22, 2020 With Aoife Scott and Andy Meaney Temple Bar TradFest, Dublin, Ireland Temple Bar TradFest, Dublin, Ireland
Thursday, December 19, 2019 Thu, Dec 19, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Memphis, TN Memphis, TN
Wednesday, December 18, 2019 Wed, Dec 18, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Matthews, NC Matthews, NC
Tuesday, December 17, 2019 Tue, Dec 17, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Richmond, VA Richmond, VA
Sunday, December 15, 2019 Sun, Dec 15, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Birmingham, AL Birmingham, AL
Saturday, December 14, 2019 Sat, Dec 14, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Midlothian, TX Midlothian, TX
Friday, December 13, 2019 Fri, Dec 13, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour San Antonio, TX San Antonio, TX
Sunday, December 8, 2019 Sun, Dec 8, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Nashville, TN Nashville, TN
Saturday, December 7, 2019 Sat, Dec 7, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Knoxville, TN Knoxville, TN
Friday, December 6, 2019 Fri, Dec 6, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Durham, NC Durham, NC
Thursday, December 5, 2019 Thu, Dec 5, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Franklin, NC Franklin, NC
Wednesday, December 4, 2019 Wed, Dec 4, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Lakeland, FL Lakeland, FL
Sunday, December 1, 2019 Sun, Dec 1, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Huntsville, AL Huntsville, AL
Saturday, November 30, 2019 Sat, Nov 30, 2019 Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God Tour Lansing, MI Lansing, MI
Friday, November 22, 2019 Fri, Nov 22, 2019 Damien O'Kane and Ron Block Birmingham Tradfest, Birmingham, UK Birmingham Tradfest, Birmingham, UK
Thursday, November 21, 2019 Thu, Nov 21, 2019 Damien O'Kane and Ron Block Moonbeams at Highfield, Driffield, East Yorkshire Moonbeams at Highfield, Driffield, East Yorkshire
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