Grant Baldwin, Guitarist, Songwriter, Performer
What I have learned from teaching guitar is that, everyone is unique. Some are singers that wish to accompany themselves, or perhaps join a band. Others, its strictly for their personal enjoyment with no desire to share. I have also had students that wanted to learn to perhaps perform for a service or a wedding. Others may have a melody in their head an they want to write it down and learn to play it.
On the first lesson, I will ask you what your goal is. A common answer is often the wish to play songs they like. If this is the reason, I will always ask who your favorites artists are. I will then ask you what music or artists you can’t stand. Those two questions will help me prepare a lesson plan for your second lesson.
Regardless of the type of music you wish to learn and play, there are some fundamental skills you must learn: tuning your guitar, changing strings, finger placement, and developing muscle memory.
To help you learn by yourself, I will teach you guitar tab, chords, strum patterns. If you want to improvise and play leads, I will teach you scales.
The Guitar
As a young child in Roselle, Illinois I loved to watch Roy Rogers on TV. I wasn’t drawn to his rope tricks or adventures. It was when he played guitar. I wanted to do that! One day, at the age of 8 1/2, I walked downtown to the local music store. There was a beautiful guitar in the window. I walked into the store, introduced myself to the owner Mr. Gillman, and told him I wanted to play guitar. I asked him if I could hear the guitar in the window. Mr. Gillman did not play guitar, but he obliged, held up the guitar behind the counter, and strummed once all six open strings and put the guitar back in the window. The sound of the guitar mesmerized me. After that day, I would walk downtown almost daily to look at the guitar and say hello to Mr. Gillman, who tolerated me, even though he was a busy person. One day he asked me for my phone number. I wasn’t sure why, but I figured no harm was done. A couple days later, my mother told me Mr. Gillman called her and told her of my visits and he proposed I take some lessons from one of his guitar teachers. She agreed and that’s how it all began!
After 3 years of lessons, at the age of 11, my interest in music gravitated away from Roy Rogers to the British Invasion of bands, the Beatles, Hermans Hermits, Rolling Stones, Doors, and I wanted to play in a band. My friend Carl had just got a drum set for Christmas, and my parents got me my first electric guitar and amp. We had no songs to play, so I wrote my first song, a Venture’s type instrumental, Vibrations ’65. Our voices hadn’t changed yet, so singing was out of the question. We heard of two other boys on the other town, that were also trying to start a band. They were a little older and could sing! Our band was The Corals: me, Lead Guitar,;11; Carl, Drums, 12; Frank, Guitar, vocals, 13; and Jeff, Bass guitar, vocals. I played lead guitar, not because I was the better player, it was because my hands were too small to play Barre chords at that time.
As I progressed, I studied guitar under Rick Harper, who later became Kenny Rogers guitarist; and Russ Rickman who played guitar on Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi.
The Corals was almost an immediate favorite band in town. most likely because we were about the only band in town. We had a weekly gig “Teen Night” in the basement of a church, and we started to reach out to other suburban towns. Our popularity and tenacity earned us a spot at at the 1966 World Teenage Show, McCormick Place, Chicago, Ill. We were featured on the Montgomery Ward stage, sharing the stage with Mr. Universe, and models featuring Montgomery Ward’s clothes line. The lineup of acts included Tommy James and the Shondells, Chad and Jeremy, Martha and the Vandellas, Shadows of Knight,, the Young Rascals, and the New Colony Six. Compensation for our work was recording time at a prestigious Chicago studio. This allowed us to release a single, Love You Baby/Red Eye Glasses on Orlyn Records which were pressed by RCA. Due to the rarity and small production amounts, this record is sought after by collectors. The 45 rpm single recently sold for $622.00.
Our family moved to Half Moon Bay, California, when I was in my third year of high school. Without a band, I became more interested in acoustic folk/rock music. I stayed in this genre for a while teaming upDale Baetge who became my best friend and musical partner for many years, Dale had a beautiful tenor voice. He would take the high harmonies and I would take the low parts. We would team up with a lead singer and could always find work. We played in the SF Bay Area, and later in Seattle.
The Training Ground as a Songwriter
In my college years, I made friends with other musicians and we would have frequent jams, workout leads, harmonies, and maintain a ‘set list’ of songs could play together. We were not a band, but loved having these sessions and it seemed to make us all better musicians in learning to play together. We learned to pick the right keys, correct timing, tighten up our harmonies, and experience the joy when it all comes together. I was also getting to know singer-songwriters and often go to their gigs that were in noisy bars where few were listening. When I heard a good songwriter, I wished I could pull them out of the room and give them a listening audience. This led me to establish a a series of concerts in San Francisco, The Songwriter’s Stage. In 1980, I showcased nearly 50 songwriters and songwriting teams, as well as publicity in papers, and radio. This also led to a major showcase at the Great American Music Hall, and other opportunities. When possible, I would also help songwriters get recorded. Meanwhile, I was also beginning to write my own songs, and perform at local venues, especially the Ghirardelli Wine Cellar and the Freight and Salvage. This was the best training ground I could ever have. Two veterans performers, Tim Dawe and Skip Henderson were also there to for encouragement and feedback when it was needed.
While all this was going on, I was also offered a job as a production assistant at Circle Star Theatre, in San Carlos, California. While this position was a glorified stage hand, I had the opportunity to work closely with and observe some of the greatest acts touring in the 70’s and 80’s.
(https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipN9X7_w1Wt90H0KqAhUvG1zw8lesruo_5_Ips3_zCyjF00cjNA3FN4jc9SeGWWZ2A?key=ek5ULXU0WGk0ZGVHdW5QSkNMWGtZZlFzVk5pZi1n)
The Release of Those People
In 1985, I released an album of Topical Folk songs entitled Those People. I was one of 30 songwriters selected as a New Folk Artist at the Kerrville Folk Festival. I received letters of praise and encouragement to continue from Tom Paxton and Bob Gibson. Larry Kelp, Oakland Tribune, described the album this way:
“If Tom Paxton were Al Stewart, he’d be known as Grant Baldwin…who writes songs that are alternately hilarious and unsettling, or more, all dressed in strong folk and rock melodies.”
Currently, I am active in a community of songwriters I have met through Summersongs, an annual week of workshops, performing, and collaborations, on the east coast. I have recently retired from the University of Oregon, and have several projects and unfinished songs that have been waiting for this day.