Sometime in the mid-nineties, I drove up to Maine to play pedal steel for a bunch of New York songwriter friends at some festival or other. As I provided my license plate number and other information at the motel desk, I tried to smooth things over.

"It says New York, but I'm really from Massachusetts," I offered. As if to say: Don't mistake me for one of those invasive city folk who infest the Maine woods this time of year – we're all New England bros here at this check-in desk."

Terrible move. The clerk looked up, and if he'd had a stogie in the corner of his mouth, this would have been the moment to remove it, and wave the soggy end in my face. "That's worse!" he growled. "Massachusetts? That doesn't win you any points around here!" and went back to filling out my paperwork.

Tomorrow, I head to Arvada, Colorado for my third year at the Rocky Mountain Guitar Camp. There is, I now know, a long-standing tradition of Texans fleeing northwards in the summer – we swarm the hiking trails, seek out the iciest mountain streams, and of course, line up wherever boutique coffee and/or breakfast burritos are sold.

So I imagine coming clean to the Arvada locals about my point of origin would go over about as well as my New England cover story. But it probably doesn't matter, because I'll be spending most of the week hunched over my trusty Collings OO2H, attempting to untangle the endless mysteries of fingerstyle guitar for the thirty or so attendees of this year's camp.

Which I love doing, and am really looking forward to, but as a public service, I will also point out that I will be playing a few shows in the area that week as well:

Sunday, July 27: The Rocky Mountain Guitar Camp artist concert is open to the public, and will feature John Knowles, Jim Nichols, Pat Bergeson, Richard Smith and Brooks Williams, as well as myself.

Thursday, July 31: I'm playing a house concert in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I have never been to Cheyenne, or anywhere in Wyoming, for that matter, but I hear good things, and word is there will be some sort of whiskey tasting involved.

Friday, August 1: I'll be back in Arvada, to play the inaugural Factory Stage concert at Henriksen Amps.

You can email me for details, or visit the calendar section of my website:

www.davidhamburger.com

In early November, I will be doing a joint show with Roy Book Binder in Austin, followed by a guitar workshop the next day. If you are within spitting distance of Austin, Houston, Dallas or San Antonio and would be interested in hosting a house concert and/or guitar workshop with myself and Roy in late October or early November, drop me a line and let's discuss.

Meanwhile – if you missed last weekend's Fingerstyle Standards workshop, a replay is available. Just go to Fingerstyle Standards: Indiana to sign up, and get a year's access to the complete two-hour class and downloadable PDF.

Finally – this summer in the Fingerstyle Five, it's all about getting a more sophisticated take on the blues in E. So I've had chord substitutions on the brain, and that's what I talk about in this week's Youtube lesson. You can find it at the link below:

Three Essential Chord Substitutions

More soon,

David