Free classes show learning guitar nothing to fret over

Ever wanted to play guitar as if you were in a rock band? Here's your chance. The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District is offering free guitar lessons at the Sahara West Library, 9600 W. Sahara Ave.

The classes are taught by Matt Hennager, whose resume stretches around the globe for 20-plus years.

"I want to demystify the guitar," he said. "I want to show them how to hold it, how to play it. This is an opportunity for them to learn the basics of the guitar."

The six-week sessions began in late January. The next one, significantly more condensed at three weeks long, is slated for noon Sundays April 15-29. The class includes a free, half-hour one-on-one session with the instructor at his studio. For more information, visit lasvegasguitar
teacher.com.

Up to 25 students showed up for the first class the week before. This day, Feb. 5, 14 were there, but the lower turnout was expected, as the session was held three hours before the Super Bowl kicked off. Still, Stacie Kiyabu said she would have no problem keeping her mind on the class.

"I don't have any money on the game," she said.

One of the students, Geoff, who didn't want his last name used, said he was there because he always had wanted to learn the guitar. He had flirted with it 30 years ago, he said, but hadn't stuck with it.

Pete Hernandez of Spring Valley was one of the youngest in the class. He turns 14 in June. This is his second instrument, the other being the violin.

"I found this flier that they were giving out free guitar lessons," he said. "So, I decided, 'Why not?' "

Randy Plumley is self-taught. Now retired, he wanted to revisit the guitar and planned to take private instruction from Hennager.

"This class is wonderful," Plumley said "I look forward ... to coming down here for this."

Summerlin resident Tony Yutyatat brought his wife, Susie. He called it "kind of a refresher course." They had only one guitar between them. After each class, they go home, where Susie gets to strum that week's lesson.

As class began, Hennager referred to handout sheets. Two people gently plucked out notes as Hennager wrote on the dry erase board on an easel, drawing strings with circles for finger placements on the frets.

The students had learned basic chords in earlier classes.

Everyone played chords together in slow motion as Hennager called out fret positions. The beginners tested the strings with less confidence than those who had experience with the guitar. While Hennager gave individual attention to the newbies, the intermediates kept busy, playing around with chords and notes on their own.

That done, it was time to introduce a new method of strumming: arpeggiating the chords, or playing the notes of a chord in succession.

Hennager picked up his stylized purple guitar and gave examples from songs such as "Stairway to Heaven" and "Dust in the Wind" to give examples of arpeggiating chords. Students followed his example.

Next came alternate picking, where a string is struck both on the down stroke and the up stroke. He had the students try it. Some got a bit boisterous, and the room soon sounded like a hive of angry bees.

Every once in a while, the instructor scoped out frowning individuals and gave them individual attention, ensuring that their fingers were on the correct strings. One girl lost her pick in her guitar's sound hole, a situation Hennager quickly rectified.

Halfway through the hourlong instruction period, Hennager introduced the "power chord," where you play adjacent strings two frets apart from each other. Power chords make up many songs, such as Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl," Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love," and Black Sabbath's "Iron Man." As he referenced them, Hennager played many riffs from the famous songs.

The doors to the upstairs board room were left open, the sound bleeding out into the cavernous foyer. It was a free miniature concert for library patrons.

"You know Green Day's 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams?' Pretty much the whole thing is power chords," Hennager said. "There's a lot of mileage you get with just those two notes."

At the easel he drew out which strings to use, gave more examples and had the students try their hands at it. The classroom filled with sounds of guitar strings being struck.

"All you have to do is practice 398 more times," he joked.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.