Finger-picking Fourth Sunday Concert

Courtesy of Don Strandberg

Have Fun. And Do Good:
Every Fourth Sunday, the Center presents a concert with cross-cultural music in our amazingly acoustical Gathering Hall. The concert is only $10 and benefits our work to save and share Southern California's Native American cultures.

This Fourth Sunday, Feb. 24, concert features guitarist Don Strandberg.

About the Music:
Don regularly mixes guitar instrumentals with spirited versions of traditional songs ranging from folk to blues to country. He also enjoys performing carefully selected songs from more contemporary sources. And he sings.

Details: 3 p.m. at the Center's San Manuel Gathering Hall, 127 N. San Gorgonio Ave., Banning. $10


About the Musician:
Don Strandberg grew up in Redlands, CA, and began guitar lessons at age 9 at the House of Note music store. His first teacher was Norm 'Roly' Sanders, the founding member and lead guitarist for the now legendary surf band, the Tornados.

Don was old enough to be strongly affected by Folk Revival music of the early 1960s, and sought to perfect the art of fingerpicking (also refered to as fingerstyle guitar playing) in response to that influence. Both American and English guitarists made their mark on Don's playing, and over the years he continued playing and performing locally, first in high school concerts, then as a regular at the Penny University Music Hall in San Bernardino. 

All in all, Don has been perfecting his playing and performing for almost 50 years.

Among his influences are Merle Travis, Doc Watson, John Fahey (all Americans), and  Bert Jansch and Davey Graham (from England).

He describes his playing as lush but restrained. He says this comes from: solo instrumentals on steel string guitar, classical guitar studies, and years of being an accompanist in a number of ensembles. The latter he counts as extremely important in developing a sense of how much playing is just right for any given situation, while he believes his studies in classical guitar taught him how to make each note count. This is central to his approach to the guitar.

Don now lives in San Diego and over the last 10 years he's produced a number of CDs of instrumental guitar music, garnering strong reviews in San Diego Troubador magazine, making him a known quantity in the circle of top fingerstyle guitar players in the area. 
Come and enjoy!