HAPPY TRAUM CLASSES

Both of Happy’s classes are very hands-on and students will be expected to play along with him. 
You will learn specific songs and techniques and will go home with some new things to practice!

SONGS OF BOB DYLAN (EARLY INTERMEDIATE LEVEL) 

Happy Traum's long association with Bob Dylan makes him the perfect instructor to teach guitar arrangements for Dylan favorites. In this class, he helps you build guitar skills while passing along his unique historical insights and first-hand perspective on the music.  Novice guitarists will learn the basic chords for classic Dylan songs, then bring the arrangements to life with movable chord shapes, bass runs, harmony lines and other nuances that will add distinction to everything you play. Each song features a different fingerpicking approach: Traditional three-finger patterns, Travis-style swing, steady-bass blues, Carter Family strumming, and more. Add new guitar techniques to your repertoire, increase your musical proficiency and, most importantly, enjoy the fun and excitement of learning to play these timeless songs.

Building Arrangements of Folksongs, Ballads and Blues Songs

This class will be deeply satisfying for any acoustic guitarist who wants to move beyond simple chords and easy strums. Beginning and intermediate players will quickly gain an understanding of guitar basics through the process of building compelling arrangements of well-known, much-loved traditional songs. Happy starts with a simple version of each song, then slowly adds substitutions, bass lines, harmonies, fill-in licks, fingerpicking patterns and other techniques that eventually create a fully-formed performance piece. By the time you have completed this course, you'll have gained a better command of the fretboard, increased your repertoire and improved your guitar technique.

COMING OF AGE IN THE GREENWICH VILLAGE FOLK REVIVAL & WOODSTOCK SCENE (1954-1971)

Close Encounters with Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Brownie McGhee, and The Great Washington Square Folk Singers Riot

With colorful anecdotes, incisive memories, aided by vintage photos and music clips, Happy relates some of his adventures as an active member of the New York folk revival; his arrest for civil disobedience; participation in what became known as the “Great Folk Singer’s Riot” in Washington Square; and his friendships with some of the leading folk artists of the day. Happy was a regular in the Washington Square Park jam sessions, studied blues guitar with Brownie McGhee, and met, among many others, a young Bob Dylan. His group, the New World Singers, were the first to perform and record “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Don’t Think Twice,” and Dylan wrote the liner notes for their Atlantic Records album. Happy recounts his later friendship with Bob and the Dylan family in Woodstock, as well as his association with Allen Ginsberg, George Harrison, Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, and many other notables on the scene.