Guitarra del Mar is based in Pasadena at the McKinley Auditorium. The programs are presented as a collaborative effort between Guitarra del Mar and the Arroyo Heritage Theater. It incorporates a performance division and an educational division. Below is a listing and description of these programs.

CONCERTS

Concert Series A ticketed series presenting major artists. This is the high profile sector of Guitarra del Mar which, through the caliber of artists, brings prestige to the organization. Our previous seasons presented a solo recital by Scott Tennant, the debut performance of the Adam del Monte Sextet, the southern California debut of the San Francisco Guitar Quartet and a solo performance and master class with Grammy- nominated guitarist David Starobin.
Our upcoming season will present Club Django, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, David Russell and Leo Kottke. With this coming season, we have become the premier guitar concert series in Southern California.

Guitar Nights A free monthly series. Occurring on the third Tuesday of each month, Guitar Nights showcases a wide variety of talent of local professional and student guitarists. Our location in the greater Los Angeles area provides a unique opportunity to bring to the stage some of the best players in the world performing for an appreciative and rapidly growing audience of guitarists and non-guitarists.

CLASSES

Pasadena Guitar for All Private guitar lessons for children ages 6-18. This program provides instruments, books and lesson fees for children who have a desire for guitar lessons but who would otherwise be unable to pay for lessons. There is a fee of $5.00 per month which goes directly into the program’s instrument fund. The program is dedicated to a high standard of excellence. In order to ensure this standard, lessons will be one-on-one, private, half hour lessons.
Guitars are owned by Guitarra del Mar. Children in the program use the guitar as if they owned it as long as they are enrolled and return it once they are no longer taking lessons.

Beginning Guitar Class Introduction to the guitar. An emphasis will be placed on learning the basics of how to play guitar and will incorporate special performance presentations by professional musicians and listening to guitar music of a wide variety of styles. The basics of playing a student can expect to learn in the class include seating position, playing familiar melodies by ear, playing basic rhythms on open strings, learning to recognize and play the open strings from written music.

Ensemble and Performance Workshop A quarterly, paid workshop. This program is for guitar students of all ages who have acquired basic technical and sight-reading skills. The workshop meets weekly and lasts for two hours. The first hour is an ensemble rehearsal for both large ensembles (4-16 guitarists) and smaller groups (2-4 guitarists). The second hour is a repertoire/performance class devoted to individual, solo performances.
This workshop fills the void in a guitar student’s development to take a student out of the solitary experience of practicing and provide the opportunity to play with other musicians and for other musicians. Skills gained by this experience are; developing rhythm, sight-reading, performance issues dealing with musicality and overcoming nerves as well as making music as a community of musicians. The workshop always ends in a public performance of the ensemble pieces rehearsed and the solos of all the individuals.