Originally called Vintage Jazz in 2016, we upped the temperature in 2019 and renamed this fiery offering Red Hot Strings. Come celebrate the Jazz Age string players, those who were the entertainers of the 1920s and ‘30s, playing ragtime, blues, and popular music with us at this dynamic workshop.
We cover a lot whether it’s Hot Jazz and 1930s Swing; the string-related sub-genres of Western Swing, Hawaiian Swing; and even the jazzier jug bands of the American South. All of the musical traditions of ragtime, blues, classical, and Creole had a hand in the development of the harmonically and rhythmically compelling vocabulary of jazz, and stringed instruments were in the mix from the very beginning.
Five days and four nights combined with seemingly endless music with like minds at Fort Worden is a memory we hope you keep forever in your repertoire of learning experiences.
Experience Red Hot Strings
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Matt Munisteri
Matt Munisteri is a critically acclaimed guitarist, singer, and songwriter known for his mastery of American roots music, jazz, and blues. As Artistic Director of the Red Hot Strings program, Matt brings together leading string players from various genres to offer a broad exploration of string music. His teaching focuses on the fusion of traditional forms with innovative playing techniques, encouraging students to push musical boundaries.
2025 Artist Faculty
David Grisman
Special Guest Instructor
In the course of a career that has spanned more than six decades, David Grisman has had an immeasurable impact on American acoustic music. A trail-blazing instrumentalist, composer, bandleader, and creator of a living musical genre, David has influenced contemporary string players from Bluegrass to Pop and Jazz. We are delighted that he will be joining us on Saturday May 17th to present a workshop on arranging, and to participate in a moderated conversation about his music and his vital work as a conservator of string traditions.…
Zoe Guigueno
Upright Bass
Zoe Guigueno (GIG-an-oh) is a bassist and songwriter headquartered in New York City. While jazz trained, she can also often be found playing klezmer, Americana, or indie-rock. She has performed with Steve Martin, busked in a pink gorilla costume, and played upright bass while whitewater rafting. Her most recent solo album, We Were Radar Stations, came out on Fiddlehead Records in October 2022.
Tyler Jackson
Tenor Banjo
Tyler Jackson is a world renown tenor banjoist and upright bassist. Under the tutelage of Buddy Griffin, Tyler quickly learned the ukulele, tenor banjo, and electric bass. Tyler went on to study the double bass at the University of North Texas under Lynn Seaton and began to fine-tune his skills as a professional bassist.
Dennis Lichtman
Mandolin
Dennis Lichtman is a multi-instrumentalist (clarinet, mandolin, fiddle, and more) who has
been living, performing, composing, and teaching in New York City since 2002. He is a
Selmer Paris Artist as an endorser of their Signature Clarinet. His music was recently
used in director David Simon’s The Plot Against America (HBO) and he has appeared this
year as a clarinetist on Succession (HBO) and The Blacklist (NBC).…
Mikiya Matsuda
Steel Guitar
Mikiya Matsuda is a steel guitarist and sometimes string bassist living in San Francisco, CA. He is the leader of the Alcatraz Islanders, a swing-era Hawaiian group, and a regular sideman with various traditional jazz and western swing dance bands in the Bay Area.
Matt Munisteri
Artistic Director, Red Hot Strings
Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and Brooklyn native Matt Munisteri grew up with early interest in American folk music that led him from finger-style Country and Ragtime guitar, through Blues, to Tin Pan Alley and Jazz. His own compositions, and lauded guitar playing, accurately reflect this life-long immersion in the history of American Popular Song; linking rural and urban, long-gone with contemporary.
Maxwell Poulos
Mandolin
Maxwell Poulos is a New Orleans-based, internationally recognized multi-instrumentalist performer and music teacher. Specializing in mandolin and banjo, Maxwell began his training in California and then spent several years busking professionally in New Orleans’ city streets and night clubs, integrating himself into a rich and diverse array of musical styles including jug band, ragtime, jazz and little-known catalogue of traditional Italian mandolin music.…
Evan Price
Violin
Evan Price is a versatile violinist and composer best known for his work with the paradigm-shifting chamber ensemble, The Turtle Island Quartet, and with The Hot Club of San Francisco, the most venerable gypsy jazz band in North America. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he grew up studying classical violin while mixing with folk and jazz musicians of all stripes, learning to fiddle and improvise in various styles as well as teaching himself to play numerous folk instruments.…
Molly Reeves
Guitar
Raconteur of song Molly Reeves is a performer and adorer of early 20th-century American music. Molly is known globally for her enigmatic approach to rhythm guitar and her ability to invoke the idiomatic tone and language of 1920s and 30s acoustic guitar players. A crooner by nature, her dynamic and warm vocal stylings echo popular singers and storytellers of yesteryear.…
Whit Smith
Guitar
Whit Smith is a guitarist, singer, songwriter and founding member of the highly acclaimed Western swing trio, The Hot Club of Cowtown. He is known by guitarists for his driving rhythmic style, and for his ability to move through chord progressions employing endlessly creative variety harmonies. After nearly 30 years of vigorous touring, performing and recording, Whit has arrived at a style that pays clear homage to a variety of influential guitarists from the 1930’s and 40’s, while serving as the perfect vehicle for his own bracingly original ideas.…
Craig Ventresco
Guitar
Craig Ventresco is a San Francisco-based guitarist and revivalist of early 20th Century jazz, pop, and folk material. He grew up in Maine, but established himself as a guitarist specializing in older styles of American popular music by playing on the street every day for tips in San Francisco, beginning in the late 1980’s.…
Jeremy Wakefield
Steel Guitar
Jeremy Wakefield is a steel guitarist and composer living and working in Portland, Oregon. He first discovered the sound of the steel guitar coming out of a thing called a radio, on the kitchen table of his grandparents’ South Dakota home. Jeremy has recorded and performed live with a multitude of Western Swing, Country and Lounge artists , but is probably most known for his background compositions in the SpongeBob SquarePants series. He also enjoys writing descriptions of himself in the third person.
Special Guest Instructor - May 17
“Special Guest Instructor” - Saturday May 17, 2025
David Grisman
Special Guest Instructor
In the course of a career that has spanned more than six decades, David Grisman has had an immeasurable impact on American acoustic music. A trail-blazing instrumentalist, composer, bandleader, and creator of a living musical genre, David has influenced contemporary string players from Bluegrass to Pop and Jazz. We are delighted that he will be joining us on Saturday May 17th to present a workshop on arranging, and to participate in a moderated conversation about his music and his vital work as a conservator of string traditions.…
Workshop Descriptions
Mikiya Matsuda - Steel Guitar
Intros and Outros for Steel Guitar
In this course, we’ll break down some of the classic steel guitar intros and outros in the Western Swing and Hawaiian traditions. We’ll start by listening to a few essential recordings and then together we’ll dive in and practice the bar movements, right hand grips, and rhythms of these musical bookends.
During the course, you’ll get a healthy dose of hands-on practice so you can go home with a few more ideas to bring to the bandstand. Plus, we’ll try to answer questions like, what makes a good intro and outro? How long should it be? What harmonic and rhythmic information do we need to convey? How should our approach change depending on the style or nature of the song? And what can we learn from musical traditions beyond the world of steel guitar?
No specific tuning required, although some flavor of a 6th tuning (A6th, C6th, etc.) will make your life easier.
Mikiya Matsuda - Steel Guitar
Backing Up a Vocalist on Steel Guitar
One of our most essential and challenging jobs as steel guitarists is to tastefully back up a vocalist (or lead instrumentalist). Being able to pop wheelies on solos and novelty features is a nice dream, but the reality for us steel guitarists is that we’re primarily needed (and hired!) as support for singers. In this course, we’ll address the skills required to be a good accompanist in a variety of styles-- with a focus on Western swing, Hawaiian swing, and traditional jazz. We’ll turn to great recordings from these traditions for clues and insights on topics like when to play, when to lay out, what registers to use, note choices, intonation challenges, and ways to make our backing sound more coherent, logical, and above all, supportive!
I’ll be using A6th and E13th, but any tuning you’re comfortable playing is just fine.
Jeremy Wakefield - Steel Guitar
Picking in Rhythm: Patterns of rhythmic phrasing for improvisation on Steel Guitar:
Students will explore different techniques of using rhythmic ideas to create new and interesting variations on familiar phrases.
Jeremy Wakefield - Steel Guitar
Steel Guitar Standards We Thought We Knew:
We'll work on some tried and true classics, and see if we can't find new and diverse ways of playing them!
I'll be using C6 with high G, but bring the tunings you want to concentrate most on.
Zoe Guigueno - Bass
Walking Bass Lines are Beautiful Things
A walking bass line is an art form. In this class we'll look at the construction of bass lines from theoretical, conceptual and improvisational perspectives. We'll look at a transcription of a master bass player at work. We'll consider how to shape what we play over the course of an arrangement, leaving room for dynamics and development. And maybe most importantly, we'll talk about how these strings of quarter notes can react in the moment to the music being created, serving as a playful, improvised, and fully supportive asset all at once.
Zoe Guigueno - Bass
How to Learn Songs Quickly: Ear Training & Memorization
It's great to have hundreds of tunes memorized, and it's also an invaluable skill to be able to 'wing it'. Having a strong ear is crucial especially as a rhythm section player. In this class we'll look at how to find the ‘essence’ of a song. We’ll drill our ears by learning to recognize chord movements and progressions; then we'll look at ways to quickly memorize new forms and hold large chunks of information in our heads as it's happening in real time. Of course we'll do this by learning some rad tunes!
Molly Reeves - Guitar
New Orleans/Early Jazz Rhythm Guitar
We’ll look at the essential tools and techniques of the early guitar greats. We’ll apply these fundamentals to some common New Orleans standards, to help you develop into a more confident and supportive rhythm guitarist, while increasing your repertoire and chord vocabulary in the process.
Molly Reeves - Guitar
Finding Your Feel
This class will be a more advanced approach to rhythm guitar. We will explore creative concepts and practices aimed at forging a more personal, yet idiomatic, tone, feel and fretboard autonomy as a rhythm guitarist/accompanist.
Whit Smith - Guitar
Coming In Hot: Western Swing, Soloing Immersion Class.
A complete learning experience. You will begin playing new ideas right away and have new fingerings and mechanics to use and practice throughout the 90 minute session. As you begin to play I’ll make suggestions and demonstrations to help give direction and clarify how to use the materials being discussed. Feel and drive. Serving the song. Intros & outros. Shout choruses. Practicing double stops. Making your solos relevant. I’ll send out some suggested listening before class.
Whit Smith - Guitar
Chordination: Western Swing and Swing Rhythm Guitar
Learn how to get the most from familiar chord shapes and to move them around over
simple chord progressions for an exciting rhythmic style.
Begin to use shapes you
already know in new ways instantly expanding your chord vocabulary. All of these ideas and techniques will bring your rhythm playing closer to the melodies and also build a foundation for soloing.
Dennis Lichtman - Mandolin
Lichtman’s Top Ten
What are the top 10 tunes I need to know to be taken seriously as a swing mandolinist*? I’ll hand out an actual list of super-standards like All Of Me and After You’ve Gone and we’ll go through as many as we have time for, with discussion of how to approach each one as a soloist and as part of a rhythm section, plus techniques for seeing connections and building repertoire. (*Hint: it’s a trick question for two reasons.
Reason one is that the list is longer than 10. Reason two should be self-evident.)
Dennis Lichtman - Mandolin
Jethro Burns: Jazz from the Hills.
We’ll take a deep dive into Jethro’s ferociously swinging mandolin on the Chet Atkins “Jazz from the Hills” recordings of the 1950s. Jethro developed his own deeply mando-centric jazz vocabulary, and these recordings are also a masterclass on how to create small group “spontaneous” arrangements. Everything you need to know about hot swing mandolin is right there in this incredible and oft-overlooked set of standards.
Craig Ventresco - Guitar
Melodies, Solos and Accompaniments In The First Position
This is sort of where it all starts. The more comfortable you are with your fingering choices, and the more familiar you are with your open strings, the better you know the neck and the easier it is for you to learn melodies by ear and grab harmonies on the fly.
Craig Ventresco - Guitar
Going to The Source
We’re going to use this class to look at the process of developing guitar arrangements from original source material. If you’re working on music that was not originally written for the guitar you need to find sources such as piano rolls, records and sheet music, and then adapt the music to the unique confines of the guitar. This exercise is indispensable when approaching piano rags on the guitar. We’ll listen to some original versions of old songs, with a focus on recognizing original details, and then apply them as we create an arrangement that can work on the guitar.
Matt Munisteri - Guitar
Stardust: Hoagy Carmichael and The Miracle of Immaculate Construction
Learning to look closely at the architecture of a great song isn’t just for songwriters; it’s also a great way to learn about the nuts and bolts of improvisation. In this class we’ll put Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust” under the microscope to see if we can figure out what makes it tick - how its melody and harmonies work together, and if there are any rules we can uncover to help us towards an understanding of how to improvise over it. If there’s time, we’ll do the same exercise with “Up A Lazy River”. This routine of examining the workings of a song is something we all need to continually do with new material, so “learning how to learn a song” is the ultimate lesson here. This class is suitable for non-guitarists, and should be accessible to intermediate as well as advanced players.
Matt Munisteri - Guitar
Licks - What Are They Bad For?
Absolutely nothing. Say it again. For some reason, and for at least 50 years, jazz pedagogy has stressed the employment of scales, modes and arppegios as the building blocks for improvisations. Yes, arpeggios are essential to the jazz language, but none of these things are particularly groovy, sly, passionate, funny, or sexy on their own - and yet jazz is, and your solos are supposed be all that and more! “Licks” are short commonly used bits of melody and rhythm. Licks are often intimately connected to the instrument they’re played on - they’re designed to work with the technique, tuning, etc. - and they’re often derided as “repetitive”. But the best ones are repeated so often because they sound good, and because they work! My favorite soloists have their own instantly recognizable licks, and I love them. This class is will be a quick and dirty survey of 20 years of jazz language, rendered in licks and “lines” (lines are kinda like longer licks - natch). Our learning technique will be REPETITION. I’ll play, you’ll play it back. And we’ll discuss lots of Whys and Hows along the way. Non-guitarists should find useful content in this class, and it is for more advanced players.
Maxwell Poulos - Mandolin
New Orleans Jazz and The Mandolin of Bill Kleppinger
In this class we’ll explore the unique mandolin Playing of Bill Kleppinger of New Orleans own 6 and 7/8ths String Band. The 6 and 7/8ths String Band was a band that started playing in 1913, before the dawn of recorded Jazz, and stayed very busy throughout the 1920’s, the height of popularity for string band jazz in New Orleans. The band didn’t actually record until they were much older in 1956, but with a repertoire that included rags, marches, tangos, and many staples of New Orleans jazz, these engaging recordings stand as essential examples of a once-thriving, though seldom documented, string band style. The members of The 6 And 7/8ths took on the musical rolls usually played by horns (slide guitar instead of trombone; mandolin instead of clarinet), and like other New Orleans jazz bands, embraced collective improvisation. We’ll look at how to construct melodies, counter lines and melodic improvisations in the “raggy jazz” style of their great mandolinist Bill Kleppinger.
Maxwell Poulos - Mandolin
Introduction to Italian Mandolin
Do you want to take your Italian mandolin a bit more seriously? Or do you not know a single Italian tune but are interested in learning? Terrific - this class is for you! The Italian mandolin tradition was alive and well among immigrant communities in the U.S. of the early 20th century (a time that coincidentally also saw the proliferation of mandolin orchestras), and several important early jazz string players (Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti and Nick Lucas) learned their instruments on Italian repertoire. This style has a lot to teach us about about mandolin technique, articulating melodies, playing solo or phrasing with an ensemble. We will learn at least 2 sections of a classic tune in the Italian mandolin repertoire, and we’ll then delve into what techniques we can utilize to give our performances more definition and character that’s true to the style.
Evan Price - Violin
Swing Begins With Your Bow Arm
This class will focus on the bowed string player’s biggest hurdle AND greatest advantage! Using our unique relationship with gravity, a violinist can harness all the bounce of a Lindy Hopper and generate lines with the power to ‘move’ the listener. We will explore various approaches to generating swing with our bows, including shuffle bowing, Charleston riffs, and across-the-beat slurring.
Evan Price - Violin
Chord Changes: Learn To Love Them
All those funny symbols can be daunting, whether your background is in fiddling or Classical (both kinds of music). And learning how to interpret them and use them to your advantage is key to playing a successful and rewarding swing solo. We will hone our skills of analysis and discuss various strategies for both embracing the details and selectively ignoring them.
Tyler Jackson - Tenor Banjo
Playing in a band – Want to be "the Banjo player" in a Traditional Jazz Band? Then this is the class for you! Common comping styles, fills, and basic soloing will all be tackled. Students will learn how to play solid rhythm and how to efficiently navigate through standard chord progressions used in traditional jazz through a series of commonly used chord shapes. In addition to the above, students will also get several chord-melody solos to work on and take home.
Tyler Jackson - Tenor Banjo
Solo-style Tenor Banjo
Take your playing to the next level by studying the masters of the past AND the masters of the present. Students will be given arrangements to learn that focus on both single-string and chord melody solos in the style of Harry Reser, Perry Bechtel, and Eddie Peabody. Improvisation, both single-string and chordal styles, will be covered as well. This year we will also be studying the playing styles of current four string banjo players such as Buddy Wachter, Don Vappie, and more. Proper technique will be a major focus in our classes. Everything from figuring out difficult fingerings to mastering advanced right and left hand technique will be tackled. If you're serious about the tenor banjo then you don't want to miss this!
Costs
Centrum has a variety of ways to be able to attend our workshops even if you’re on a budget. If you need financial assistance, Centrum has a robust scholarship program awarded on a first-come, first-served; and as-needed basis.
Costs
- Tuition: $520. (non-refundable deposit to hold your place $100)
- Tuition Under-18: $420. (non-refundable deposit to hold your place $100)
- Room & board: $540.
- Meals only: $265.
- Airport shuttle (optional): $120. round trip or $60. one way
Workshop tuition includes admission to everything including great seats at the public performance. Your meal ticket is good for three meals per day starting with dinner May 14 ending with breakfast on May 18.
To get the best musical community experience, we encourage you to stay in either a quiet dorm room in Building 225, or a jam dorm room for those who wish to keep the music going. Both options have private rooms and shared bathrooms. All rooms come with linens, blankets, and towels, but you should plan on bringing soap and personal toiletry items.
FAQ
Scholarships
Apply online as you register. Please note that except in rare cases, scholarships are available for tuition only. Centrum requires a $50 deposit of scholarship applicants, which is fully refundable before April 4, 2025 if you are unable to attend. If you are interested in volunteering, or a work trade position, please contact Mary Hilts at mhilts@centrum.org.Cancellation/Refund Policy
Full payment is due by April 4, 2025. If your full payment is not made by April 4, 2025, your registration will be canceled; $100 of your deposit is nonrefundable.
Any fee that includes a room: no refunds available after April 4, 2025.
Meals
If you have purchased a meal plan, meals are served at Fort Worden Commons. The first meal is dinner on Wednesday, May 14; the last meal is breakfast on Sunday, May 18, 2025.
Red Hot Strings shuttle schedule:
Arrive – Wednesday, May 14, 2025, pick-up at SeaTac airport, 2:00pm, Pacific Time.
Depart – Sunday, May 18, 2025, depart Centrum at Port Townsend, 9:00am sharp, Pacific Time.
If we haven’t answered all of the questions you may have, please contact Mary Hilts at 360-385-3102, x116, or mhilts@centrum (dot) org.
Newcomers
There is no age or skill restriction however, to get the most out of the intensive, one should be familiar with your instrument and be able to move about at a good clip.
Workshops are created for guitar, tenor banjo, mandolin, violin, steel guitar, and upright bass players.
Kids & Teens
Most of our workshops are family events, and we welcome musicians of all ages and abilities to participate. Our programming has annually evolved to meet the needs of very young musicians, and we devote considerable resources to this end.
Info for Parents of Under-18 Participants
If under 18 and participating in the workshop, a parent or guardian over 21 years old must register and accompany the minor. If the parent or guardian is not participating in the workshop, there is a registration type for guardian with no cost. However, if the minor is staying on campus in the dorm, the parent or guardian will need to also stay on campus in the dorm, and there are costs associated with those accommodations.
Schedule
You have your choice of four daily one-hour class sessions on Thursday and Friday. Ensembles practice in the late afternoons. In the evenings, artist faculty present special topics and performances. Toward or on the weekend, ensembles perform, and on Saturday evening, artist faculty present a public performance. Playing music together happens in between everything else, sometimes replacing sleep.
Here is how you’ll spend your time:
Wednesday, May 14
4–5:30pm – Check-in, Centrum office
6–7:30pm – Dinner
7:30pm – Orientation in Wheeler Theater, followed by sign-up for ensembles in Building 204
Thursday & Friday, May 15-16
Four one-hour class sessions.
Followed by faculty-led ensembles,
Saturday, May 17
Morning classes. Special Guest Presentation and
Artist faculty Public Performance.
Every evening
Faculty presentations and jam sessions,
PERFORMANCES
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