CURRENT ON-SITE INSTRUCTORS (as of 08/07/2023)
Dennis BurnsGuitar -
basic, classical, jazz, theory / Ukulele / Bass
dennis@boldersounds.com
303-419-8929
Dennis has been teaching and performing in the Boulder/Denver area for over 30 years. In 1983 Dennis received his BM degree in classical guitar performance from the University of Colorado. He teaches many styles including classical, folk, rock and jazz improvisation. Dennis has released 3 recordings - A Rose On The Lake (2005), Waltz For Oktober (2019) and most recently Way Over Yonder (2023) which is a mix of Jazz, Country and Gospel in a trio format of guitar bass and drums. He is also the founder of Bolder Sounds,
www.boldersounds.com, a sound design company which creates libraries for digital samplers. Dennis also performs chamber music with A Lyric Ensemble,
www.lyricensemble.com.
SPECIAL NOTE:
As a service to everyone who stayed at home during the pandemic, Dennis kindly created a free video tutorial
series on musicianship for anyone who's ever had the urge to learn music or to brush up on the basics.
VIDEO 1: THE MUSICAL ALPHABET. Dennis guides us through the basic building blocks of music: The Musical Alphabet.
VIDEO 2: HALF and WHOLE STEPS. In the second installment, Dennis tells us about Half Steps and Whole Steps.
VIDEO 3: NOTE MAPPING. Dennis' third video in his musicianship tutorial covers Note Mapping.
VIDEO 4: THE MAJOR SCALE. Dennis' fourth video discusses one of the cornerstones of music: The Major Scale
VIDEO 5: CHORD BUILDING. Dennis Demonstrates how to create chords from a Major Scale.
VIDEO 6: CHORD MAPPING & BEGINNING IMPROVISATION: Dennis shows you how to map out chords from your note map, and also gets you improvising on the Hank Williams song 'Jambalaya.'
VIDEO 7: RIDING THE RHYTHMIC WAVE: Dennis introduces the basics of rhythm and how important it is to incorporate it into your improvisation or jamming. Also included are tips to get started singing while playing your fretted instrument.
VIDEO 8: THE 4 CHORD - AMAZING GRACE: Dennis introduces the 4 chord in the key of C (the F chord). This is followed by playing and improvising on Amazing Grace. Also covered is the concept of a 4 bar phrase as well as learning the sound of the 1, 4 and 5 chord by ear.
VIDEO 9: TABLATURE AND RIGHT HAND TECHNIQUE: Dennis introduces us to playing songs via tablature as well as right hand technique. SUPPLEMENTAL
MATERIALS FOR THESE VIDEOS CAN BE FOUND HERE These videos can be viewed below and also appear on our
YouTube channel. Woodsongs is proud to present this series and are very grateful to Dennis for his time and generosity.