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Randall Williams

Randall Williams

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Home > Teachers > Randall Williams
He felt that classical music lacked the inclusiveness of folk music, and that the inevitable division between performer and audience was unbearable. And so Randall returned to the world of traveling with his guitar, writing songs in train stations and sleeping on couches, then singing and playing on street corners, cafï, and pubs. For a time he lived aboard a 20' sailboat that he bought for $800, teaching himself how to sail by single-handing through the Baltic and North Seas with his guitar sleeping in the berth beside him at night. He wrote a book about the trip, which begins with the story of almost getting squashed by a tanker before dawn one morning in the North Sea.

He moved to North Africa, then set off across the Sahara by hitching with locals - bouncing through a minefield on the way that made his mother have bad dreams. He loved the adventure, but he missed the music.

In 2005, Randall returned stateside to scrounge up a career as a performing songwriter, hoping it wasn't too late. So far, it hasn't been. As the "Partial Capo Guy," Randall has written two books for Hal Leonard, recorded a DVD for Kyser Musical Products, and given workshops at some of the biggest festivals in United States. As a performer, Randall has been a finalist in the Founder's Title and Mid-Atlantic Song Contests, A regional finalist at Kerrville, a showcase artist at Northeast and Midwest Folk Alliance, and at the International Folk Alliance in Memphis, and an Audience Favorite at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. His 2007 live release, "One Night in Louisiana" made a respectable dent in the folk DJ charts (One single, "Lebanon," was #8 in May,) and he's generally a nice guy to have around, capos or not.

Randall is as much at home in a Bangkok slum or a Senegalese village, at the Kennedy Center in D.C. or the Fine Arts Palace in Brussels sandwiched between a twitchy orchestra and a full house, or shoeless on the floor of your living room. Randall has sung in a dozen languages in over 35 countries.

Lynne Andrews: "When Randall left the confines of classical music largely behind, they lost a great talent, but the world gained a good friend - a friend who will tell its stories with grace, compassion, humility and humor."

Randall began playing guitar seriously in 1988, and played his first open mic one year later. Randall kept playing and learning more and more. Randall began teaching guitar in 1992, while studying musical composition, analysis, and performance. Randall got his undergraduate music degree in 1996, then studied flamenco for about a year (1997) before beginning studies at the royal conservatory of music in mons, belgium.

From 1998 to 2001, Randall studied voice, analysis, and harmony at the conservatory, with classical guitar lessons on the side for about 6 months. Randall's undergraduate study and the conservatory courses added a degree of musical structure to his improvisational ability, and gave him a strong music theory base. He recieved the premier prix for concert singing from the conservatory in 2001.

Randall's most recent discoveries: how to build a structure for creating chords in open tunings, and learning how to structure placement of partial capos in standard and alternate tunings. (Less)

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Randall's Contributions to JamPlay.com

Randall Williams has 10 videos at JamPlay, with 10 beginner lessons. Use the tabs below to learn more.

Subscribing to JamPlay gives you unlimited access to all of Randall's lessons,
as well as all lessons from our roster of instructors.

  • Beginner

Basic Acoustic Guitar with Randall Williams

Randall Williams guides you through the basics of acoustic guitar.

Lesson 1

Series Introduction

Meet Randall Williams in this brief introductory lesson. Learn who he is, his teaching...

Length: 2:13
Lesson 2

Basic Chords & Strums...

Randall starts off by teaching the Em chord and a basic strum to get you going.

View This Full Lesson!
Lesson 3

Basic Chords & Strums...

Randall Williams continues his discussion on basic chords and strums.

Length: 7:22
Lesson 4

The Learning Process

Randall discusses his philosophy on studying the guitar before moving onto some basic...

Length: 4:29
Lesson 5

Your First Song

Randall guides you through your very first song. He teaches a rendition of a current popular...

Length: 6:25
Lesson 6

Song Two

Randall Williams shares another wonderful song in his beginner series. This song should...

Length: 3:10
Lesson 7

Song Three

Randall presents the third song in his beginner series set.

Length: 7:40
Lesson 8

Song Four

Randall Williams shares one last song in his beginner series.

Length: 2:55
Lesson 9

Right-Hand Techniques

Randall Williams talks about basic strums and right-hand techniques in this lesson.

Length: 15:20
Lesson 10

Fingerpicking

Randall continues his extensive coverage of beginner right-hand techniques with a lesson...

Length: 34:17
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