Gaye Todd Adegbalola was a founding member and mainly the rhythm guitar player for Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women (1984 – 2009). Both Ann (piano and guitar) and Andra (mandolin, violin, guitar + bass), her partners in Saffire, were excellent lead players, and Adegbalola never had the desire to play lead. She concentrated her off-stage musical efforts on songwriting. On stage, she held the beat, filled the holes, and played percussively, and in this workshop she will share some of these rhythm techniques (e.g., tap-strum, comp-comp, Bo Diddley beat, flat pick strum, etc.) and show how they can be used in different songs.
Nothing is complicated, but participants should be able to hold the beat. These rhythms are also good for playing solo and fattening one’s sound. She will use 1-4-5 chords in songs and possibly one more complicated and one less complicated song.
To fatten her own sound, she has learned some rhythm riffs on slide, and she will share some basic slide techniques in open G and open D, as well as basic “tools” (slide, finger picks, tuner).
Prior to becoming a full time blues artist, Gaye was a science teacher in the Fredericksburg City Public School system for 18 years, and she was honored as Virginia State Teacher of the Year in 1982. During this same period, she nurtured her love of the blues.
She has won numerous awards, including the prestigious Blues Music Award (formerly the W.C. Handy Award – the Grammy of the blues industry). Also of importance, in 2011 Gaye was named an OUTstanding Virginian by Equality Virginia for championing GLBT equality. Further, in 2012, she received the Parents’ Choice Gold Award for Music for her children’s CD, Blues in All Flavors. In 2018, she won the Kristin Lems’ “Social Change Through Music” Award at the National Women’s Music Festival. The Jus’ Blues Foundation honored her with the 2019 KoKo Taylor “Queen of the Blues Award” for preserving traditional blues heritage. Aside from her honors in music, The Library of Virginia recognized her as one of the 2018 Virginia Women in History Honorees.
Gaye is an activist, an in-demand motivational speaker, workshop presenter and proud mother of son Juno Lumumba Kahill.
NOTE: This workshop will be recorded and distributed to registered attendees for use as a learning tool. A highlights video will be produced and shared to promote future workshops and events.
PineCone is committed to making our programs accessible and welcoming to all. To request accommodations (Zoom or tech help; captions; etc) for this or any upcoming PineCone events, please e-mail Jamie or call 919-664-8333 x4.
You will receive a registration confirmation email with details for joining the workshop. Please be sure that your email address is entered correctly and check your spam or promotions folder if you do not receive the confirmation email. If you are still unable to locate the email confirmation and have not received the reminder email by 5pm the day of the workshop, please call or text Courtney at 919-516-9049.