From press release

Charlotte’s Web for the Performing Arts will host Chris Proctor this weekend. Not only can you see him perform, you can also sign up for a guitar workshop taught by Proctor. Both events are scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 23, at JustGoods Listening Room, 201 Seventh St., Rockford.

The Fingerstyle Guitar Clinic will be presented at 2 p.m. Course I consists of Fingerstyle Made Easy. Start by learning a simple set of muscular skills, primarily for the right hand, separating it into bass and melody functions. The workshop will walk you incrementally through the process of learning those skills, then show you how to use them, along with a few new, fingerstyle-friendly left-hand chords, complete with melody, bass and harmony elements.

Course II, Demystifying Alternate Tunings, instead of focusing on what the tuning prevents us from doing, will concentrate on the new opportunities the tunings provide for us. Chris introduces alternate tunings using three siple steps, re-tuning one string at a time, and takes you from old, familiar territory in standard tuning to dropped D, double-dropped D and G tuning. You’ll learn how to make sense of tunings, how to re-orient your left hand to the new landscape, and how to think about tuning in a way that shortens the learning curve. You’ll leave the workshop with enjoyable song transcriptions appropriate to each of the three steps, and with ideas and resources to use on your own.

Cost is $35 for workshop only, or $40 for workshop and concert. Workshop tickets are available at the Rockford Area Arts Council, 713 E. State St., (815) 963-6765 and JustGoods, 201 Seventh St., (815) 965-8903. Credit cards are accepted only at www.charlotteswebofrockford.org via PayPal ($1/ticket service charge). Print your receipt and present it at the door, where you can pick up your tickets.

At 7:30 p.m., attend the “Fabulous Fingerstyle” performance by Chris Proctor. Critics call his guitar playing “breathtaking,” “haunting” and “rich.” They describe his compositions as “spectacular,” “elegant” and “exquisite.” They trace the roots of his style to folk, jazz, pop and classical music, and sometimes try to categorize it as “baroque folk” or “Instrumental Americana.” He’s been compared to Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges. Another reviewer said,”Chris gives the guitar sole responsibility for a piece’s rhythmic, melodic and harmonic components, and in the process creates full-voiced ‘guitar songs.’ His playing illuminates the instrument’s deepest voices and most sonorous qualities, rendering a pop-folk equivalent of the classical guitar sonata.”

These luminous and diverse quotes characterize the media’s efforts to describe Chris Proctor’s solo, steel-string, orchestral guitar concerts and recordings. It’s a performance not to be missed!

Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Advance tickets are available at Rockford Area Arts Council, 713 E. State, (815) 963-6765; both of The Postal Shoppe locations, in the Edgebrook Center, (815) 397-7301 and 2205 S. Perryville, (815) 484-0940; The Kilt & Clover, 1414 N. Main, (815) 962-5458; and JustGoods, 201 7th St., (815) 965-8903. Tickets can also be ordered with credit card via PayPal ($1 /ticket service charge), at www.charlotteswebofrockford.org ^[1]. Print your receipt and present it at the door to redeem your tickets.
For more information, call (815) 964-2238 or visit www.charlotteswebofrockford.org ^[1].