Guitar paradise: Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival

Renowned jazz musician Jody Fisher stood before roughly a dozen guitarists last week at Flathead Lake Lodge, explaining how to own any song by mastering the infinite series of inverted chords for each note of the melody.

A man from Germany obviously was a bit dismayed at the prospect when Fisher told the class to “exhaust all possibilities” with the chords, adding that it would be an “agonizing, painful experience.”

But Fisher had some words of reassurance after he effortlessly played “The Christmas Song” using a complex chord for every note.

“I’ve been doing this since I was 11, but I had to search for everything,” he said. “You will learn 1,000 times faster than I did because the materials are out there and you are starting at a higher level.

“But it’s still a lot of work.”

Fisher’s presence at the Crown of the Continent Guitar Workshop last week was a coup for the founder, David Feffer of Bigfork. He said people from all over the world covet time with the California-based master of the jazz guitar, calling him a “teaching legend.”

Next door to Fisher that day, another highly regarded instructor, Matt Smith, was giving a class in rock guitar. From their classroom, the students had a striking view of Flathead Lake, but they were intent on following Smith as he traveled through examples of different scale patterns used by the Allman Brothers, Carlos Santana and Jefferson Airplane.

A crucial part of practicing — even scales, he said — is tapping your feet.

“When you don’t tap your feet, you have no sense of rhythm,” he said. “You have to be able to connect your body to that.”

Smith and Fisher were just a few members providing about the most elite level of guitar instruction available in jazz, classical, blues, acoustic and rock genres.

Musicians whose names are known even by people outside of guitar circles — Pat Metheny and Lee Ritenour — were part of the faculty, along with Alex de Grassi, one of the world’s top fingerstyle guitarists; Scott Tennant, a founding member of the Grammy-award winning L.A. Guitar Quartet; Doug Smith, an internationally acclaimed acoustic master; and many more. 

Matt Smith, who travels the world teaching guitar, said the pull of Montana was one reason he agreed to join the workshop staff as the rock instructor.

“Because it’s freaking beautiful,” the Austin, Texas, resident said.

“One of the things as musicians, some gigs are tough. Others are beautiful. This is a beautiful place to come and work as opposed to some place like Schenectady,” he joked.

Blues instructor Mark Dziuba, an international performer and instructor from New York, also was brought in partly by the location.

“They called and asked if I’d come and teach at this ‘dude ranch’ in Montana,” he said. “I was intrigued. I’d never been to Montana, and I love to travel.”

The promise of a week of intensive study with these giants of the guitar world lured 50 students ages 11 to 70 from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico and even Germany. They also came for the chance to jam with other musicians who are passionate about guitar and share the classic pursuits of Montana with their families.

Alan Schulman of New York City was given his week at the workshop as a 50th birthday present from his wife. The Harlem jazz guitarist was happy to get away to Montana.

“I’m blown away by the scenery,” he said. “It’s a complete detoxification from the big city.”

And the chance to work with this level of instruction was too much to pass up.

“Getting Pat Metheny to come here — this is a guy who does 180 dates every year around the world — that’s really a hard get,” Schulman said. “To have him in front of a class of 12 to 15 people ... that’s not something he does.”

Tim Drackert, a professional musician from Helena, also is a big Metheny fan. He said people never even get to see Metheny perform in this state, let alone having up-close-and-personal access. And Ritenour, he said, is one of the most-recorded guitarists ever.

“And you get to meet people like Al, one of the greatest guitar players in New York City,” Drackert said.

The student guitarists all were quick to compliment each other. Schulman praised Colin Cook, an 18-year-old from Virginia, as already playing at Schulman’s level, though Schulman had been studying guitar since he was 10.

Cook attends a high school for the arts and plans to pursue a career in jazz guitar. His mother saw the workshop advertised and decided to bring the whole family out for a vacation.

“These are all top-of-the-line instructors,” Cook said. “Jody is incredible, and the rest are incredible players as well.”

The students’ impressions of the workshop are a tribute to the vision of Feffer, who wanted to create a whole new concept in guitar workshops, something more user-friendly than his first experience.

Feffer started playing guitar five years ago. When his skill level hit a plateau, he attended a weeklong National Guitar Workshop in search of a breakthrough.

The workshop was at a prep school where the retired health-care executive slept on plastic sheets because he didn’t know he had to bring his own real sheets, on a bed that was six inches too short, surrounded by other students who were mostly in their teens.

But despite the workshop’s lack of hominess, he said his wife told him there was no comparison between the faltering musician who left for the camp and the confident and more-accomplished one who returned.

Feffer had begun playing the guitar about the same time he and his wife returned to Montana. He had lived in Missoula until his profession in the health-care industry took him away in 1989, but they always had vowed to live in the Bigfork area after a 1978 visit, and five years ago built their current home.

After his guitar workshop experience with Andrew Leonard, he continued their relationship with telephone and Skype tutorials, and then brought Leonard to town for a benefit concert for Ravenwood Outdoor Center and Montana Bliss Yoga in August 2009.

That concert provided the spark for the idea of the workshop and Feffer found enough support to give him the confidence to pursue it.

“I anticipated everyone telling me it’s a stupid idea, but everyone said, ‘It’s not a stupid idea, it’s a good idea,’” he said.

Despite the time crunch it would create, Feffer wanted to hold the first workshop in conjunction with the centennial year of Glacier National Park, so by December, he had pulled together the board for the Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation.

They set out to quickly create a brand identity as an internationally recognized center for guitar, and produce the workshop as a celebration of the instrument, focusing on performance and composition across all genres.

Despite the fact that this was the workshop’s first year, Feffer was bold enough to go after the big names.

He developed a “guerilla marketing” campaign to find students, contacting guitar manufacturers and retailers, and music publications for help with publicity, as well as putting up a top-drawer website to ensure that the enterprise had legitimacy.

He gathered a strong set of sponsors, including Gibson Acoustic, National Guitar Workshop, Guitar Aficionado and Guitar World magazines, and the National Guitar Museum.

Concerts and a day of free public workshops were scheduled, activities were set up for the guitarists’ families, and the workshop turned into a genuine destination event. The workshop began Aug. 29 and wrapped up Saturday.

“I wanted every single person who participated, on a scale of 1 to 10, to have a ‘15’ experience,” Feffer said.

Proceeds from the Crown of the Continent Foundation activities will go to entities that support music and the region, including The Glacier Park Fund, Montana Land Reliance, Montana Public Broadcasting, Ravenwood Outdoor Learning Center and North Valley Music School.

Reporter Heidi Gaiser may be reached at 758-4431 or by e-mail at hgaiser@dailyinterlake.com.