Local boys participate in guitar festival workshops

Guitarists speckled the landscape of

the sprawling grounds at the Flathead Lake Lodge in Bigfork on an

unseasonably cool Thursday afternoon. Among them: 15-year-old

Josiah Dunham, a quiet Lakeside homeschooler with a big passion for

music.

Dunham was one of a handful of student

musicians who received full scholarships to attend the weeklong

series of classes offered as part of the second annual Crown of the

Continent Guitar Foundation Workshop and Festival.

Each year, the festival brings together

world-renowned musicians from several different genres — along with

local students and instructors — for a week of concerts, classes

and camaraderie.

Although Dunham dabbled in music

throughout his childhood — he started playing the piano at age 5 —

he didn’t discover his affinity for the guitar until about three

years ago.

“I was hanging out with some of my

dad’s relatives at a family reunion, and they were just sitting

around playing guitar,” Dunham said. “They were really good. They

were teaching me some stuff, and I just wanted to follow through

with it.”

Since then, Dunham has taken lessons

on-and-off, but he is mostly self-taught.

“There’s so much you can learn on the

Internet these days,” Dunham said.

As a homeschooled student, Dunham has

the freedom to set aside ample time to practice his craft. His

schedule also allows him to work for his dad — who is in the

telecommunications business — so he can earn money to buy guitars

and guitar accessories.

“It works out because I like to spend

all my money on guitar stuff,” he said.

For Dunham, playing music is often a

solitary activity — which is why he welcomed the company of so many

fellow guitarists, especially world-famous artists such as Steve

Lukather, Lee Ritenour and Joe Bonamassa.

“Being around all these guitarists is

amazing,” Dunham said. “You might not recognize all their names,

but they are incredible. They’re just not on the radio because

they’re not mainstream.”

As students in the intermediate rock

workshop, Dunham and his peers learned a variety of musical

concepts and techniques — including chord patterns and progressions

— to help them develop their playing skills. Although he found the

instruction very helpful, Dunham said that for him, a big part of

the learning experience was simply listening to other guitarists

play.

“When you hear how awesome they are, it

inspires you to practice,” Dunham said.

As he continues to improve, Dunham has

his sights set on establishing a fluid connection between his

emotions and his music.

“Music, to me, has always been another

way to express myself, almost like a second voice,” he said. “I

would like to be able to portray how I’m feeling. I can always hear

it in my head, but I would like to become more proficient at

translating that to the guitar.”

Although he sometimes thinks about

pursuing a career in music, Dunham said that wherever life takes

him, he will continue playing guitar.

“It would be great to do something with

the guitar for a living, but I think that could be tough,” he said.

“For me, it’s more just for fun. I’ll always play, whether I’m

working in construction or whatever.”

Building a foundation

Although the intermediate and advanced

students entered the workshops with a well-established skill set,

class offerings weren’t limited to those with solid foundations in

guitar.

Missoula-based guitarist Tommy Pertis

spent the week working with a group of beginners, including

12-year-old Bigfork resident Zach Guizol.

“It’s been working out as a really good

match so far because I get to work with beginners all the time,”

said Pertis, who teaches a beginning guitar class as an adjunct

music professor at the University of Montana. “And when I say ‘get

to,’ I really mean it. I consider it a real pleasure to introduce

these concepts of music to new players, especially before they’ve

developed any bad habits.”

Guizol, who started playing guitar

about a year-and-a-half ago, was also one of this year’s

scholarship recipients. In his application letter, Guizol expressed

hope that the workshops might help him rediscover his passion for

music.

“I took lessons for a couple of months,

and then I got some CDs and learned on my own for awhile, but it

just started to get frustrating,” Guizol said. “So I stopped

playing for while.”

After hearing about the workshop

scholarships, Guizol’s father encouraged him to apply.

“I thought it would be a neat way to

get back into guitar,” Guizol said. “So in my (scholarship) letter,

I told them about how I played and how I got frustrated, and that I

wanted to try to get back into it.”

Over the course of the week, Guizol and

his classmates have practiced basic guitar techniques, along with a

few fun tricks to impress their friends with.

“We’ve learned new ways to use the

guitar, and new ways to play that we didn’t know about,” Guizol

said.

Pertis enjoys watching his students

grasp, and eventually master, the skills he teaches.

“It makes me happier to see them pick

up a skill than it makes me to pick up one myself,” Pertis said. “I

get to be the first person to call them guitarists.”

At the end of the week, all students —

including beginners — performed onstage as a group.

“Some of these guys are going to go

from never having any instruction to playing in a concert as part

of an ensemble,” Pertis said. “To take that step in one week is

phenomenal. To have a program that sets the bar that high is a

great thing.”