Give the Gift of Learning this Season

The holidays bring out our generosity as we seek to find the perfect gift for our families and friends. There is always a point during the season, for me at least, when I am stumped on what to get for the person on my list who has everything.

Rather than buy one more item to clutter an already overflowing closet, how about giving an experience? That could mean movie tickets, dinner out, a spa day, or, because this is UNLV Continuing Education after all, how about a class? CE’s new Spring 2015 course catalog is packed full with classes to take just for fun that will appeal to a broad range of people on your list.

My parameters for this list were as follows. The class had to start in January or February so the recipient wouldn’t have long to wait. The price point had to be under $150 (except for the one where you get to take the controls of a plane or helicopter—totally worth a little budget busting!). The class had to look either very useful or very fun. It wasn’t possible for me to include everything that looked awesome, so no more than one class per section of the catalog; I cheated by adding a runner up in the music category because self-imposed rules were made to be broken.

New Drivers: Car Care 101 (begins Feb. 11, $39)
Stop car trouble before it starts by doing your own preventative maintenance. At the very least, they will appear marginally intelligent when they have to talk to the repair technician!

Thrill-Seeker: Introductory Airplane or Helicopter Flight (Scheduled at your convenience, $169)
I’m intrigued by this one. After a one-on-one ground school briefing, the student will take the controls of a Cessna 172 airplane or Robinson R22 helicopter while flying high above Las Vegas. This is a special offer through the host of our new Private Pilot Certification program.

Pet Lover: Pet First Aid & CPR (begins Feb. 26, $89)
The thought of mouth-to-mouth with a dog is gross, but I’d do it if it were a matter of life or death. More likely, pet-parents ought to know what to do when their furry friend slices a paw on a knife while stealing food from the counter.

Shutterbug: Cell Phone Photography (begins Feb. 28, $59)
Instagram can rescue many-a marginal photo, but imagine the time you could save by getting the right shot in the first place.

Budding Artist: Paint Like the Old World Masters (Jan. 24, $149)
Paint Like the Old World Masters is my top choice to gift to an artist because it offers something for both novice and proficient artists. Your artist friends may have read about camera obscura and underpainting, but have they ever tried it? There are so many other amazing choices among our art offerings—acrylics, collage, silk painting, and watercolors also begin in January or February.

Music Lover: Beginning Guitar (begins Feb. 3, $99) 

Runner up: Blowin' the Blues Harmonica (begins Jan. 21, $139)
Wouldn’t it be cool to have someone who could play the guitar or harmonica around the campfire next summer? If someone gave this gift to me, I’d know it was because they would rather hear me play than sing.

Drinking Buddy: Home Brew Workshop (Feb. 19, $69)
If you gift this class to a friend and he or she gets really good at crafting home brews, guess who will probably get invited to come over for taste tests?

Gift certificates for Continuing Education classes are available in any denomination. Call 702-895-3394 or stop by the Paradise campus office to inquire.

The Value of Professional Certificates for Veterans and Service Members

As we celebrate Veterans Day, we thank and honor all who have served in the armed forces. UNLV has been a consistent supporter of active duty, veteran, and military family members. The university recently resumed undergraduate classes at Nellis Air Force Base. It also has been recognized as a military friendly school for the past five years. 

The Division of Educational Outreach has worked to expand learning opportunities for those in the community, including the military, which is quite evident when viewing the professional development certificate programs in Continuing Education. There are more than 20 certificate programs to consider from android development to protective services.

One might ask what do veterans and service members gain from earning a certificate? I recently read an article where former military personnel discussed the value of a certificate program.

1. Show what you know. A certificate in a specific subject shows employers you have completed the necessary training in this area.
2.  New knowledge has power. A certificate provides "recent and relevant education in terms that a civilian employer looks for.”
3. Time is on your side. A certificate can be completed in six months. Plus you can apply what you have just learned from a certificate program on the job right away.
4. So many choices. There are many certificates for veterans and service members to choose from, with human resources being one that should be seriously considered.
5. Leader of the pack. Veterans and service members are unique job candidates, and the right certification could separate you from the rest of the pack.

Dan Munson, senior director of Six Sigma Programs - Online at Villanova University, believes certificates provide an application of knowledge that has power. "The world views veterans as individuals who have learned attention to detail, teamwork, respect for hierarchy, work ethic, and an appreciation for the notion of 'rank has its privilege,' “ Munson said. "Add to that a certificate or two, coupled with an applicable degree and the veteran has a higher probability of being a part of the stack - the short list - when being considered for a position."

If you are a veteran or service member, visit http://continuingeducation.unlv.edu/certificate-programs to view a list of the comprehensive, career-oriented courses and certificate programs offered at UNLV Continuing Education. Also, check out our Spring/Summer 2015 catalog later this week to learn more about the new certificate programs in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (drones), Nurse Paralegal, Private Airplane or Helicopter Pilot, and National Academy of Sports Medicine certifications in corrective exercise and fitness nutrition.

Savor the Flavors this Fall

It's that time of year when the weather is starting to cool off and you want to find your stove again. Every semester UNLV Continuing Education offers classes to tempt and entice your palate. I think of Chef Les Kincaid as our “resident expert” since he has taught cooking and wine appreciation for Continuing Education for more than 25 years. We have learned to make hearty soups, crafted our own sushi rolls, and matched artisan cheese with craft beers. Now Chef Kincaid wants to expand our knowledge on wine and cheese and liven up our traditional holiday meals.

On Oct. 22 Wines & Cheeses of the World gets underway. This two-week course is held at Total Wine & More in Summerlin, with the first week focusing on French wines & cheese and the second week on the Spanish ones. Chef Kincaid is very knowledgeable about winemaking and speaks extensively about how the landscape & weather affect the grapes and why cheeses and wines from the same region complement each other so well. He talks about the proper temperature both red and white wines should be served and that all cheeses should be served at room temperature. With the attention to detail that Chef Kincaid provides, you will enjoy your holiday cheer. 

Speaking of holidays, in my household Christmas dinner is very eclectic, featuring dishes from around the world. Last year, my brother who lives in China brought home a Chinese dish that had potatoes, fish sauce and those tiny hot peppers (yum!). The main dish was a German roulade, with a Buche de Noel (French Yule log cake) for dessert. I can’t wait to find new ideas for this year; I like surprising my family with a tasty new recipe. If you’re like me you may want to check out a New Twist on Traditional Holiday Recipes, where you can spice up your holiday parties with fresh ideas on the tried-and-true recipes. The class is for main dishes with tips to make your holiday meals a success. It meets on Nov. 18 from 6-8:30 p.m., just in time for the holiday season. 

At Home in the Mojave

Giant Joshua tree south of Las Vegas in Mojave National Preserve

Here in Las Vegas, we live in the middle of one of the hottest, driest desert ecosystems in the world. We post photos of our car thermometers showing 120 degrees as a badge of honor. Rain is always a notable weather phenomenon; we post pictures of it, too, in a show of desert-dwelling solidarity.

Beyond our annual vacillation between gloating (on winter days when it is 80 degrees and sunny outside) and loathing (when it is 113 in July and we are stuck inside on summer break with a hot, bored family), though, how much do most of us actually know about our home in the Mojave?

There is so much more to the Mojave than blazing hot summers. If you, like me and three-quarters of Las Vegans, grew up elsewhere and know more about pines and oaks than Joshua trees and mesquites, invest some time getting to know more about our extreme desert ecosystem. Continuing Education has several educational opportunities planned to help you learn more about the desert environment in which we live—join us for one or more upcoming adventures.

In recognition of what I hope are the final 100+ degree days of summer, I give you a few quick factual nuggets to broaden your knowledge of the Mojave.

• Joshua trees are one of the easiest ways to know you are in the Mojave Desert. They aren’t naturally found any other place in the world. If you are impressed with the specimens found out at Red Rock, you will be truly wowed by the Joshua tree forests of the Mojave National Preserve. Explore the Mojave National Preserve and Palm Springs with naturalist/geologist Nick Saines this November to learn more about the Mojave’s plants, animals, and geology.

• The world’s highest verified temperature ever, 134 degrees, was recorded at Furnace Creek, CA (Death Valley National Park) in 1913. Spend two days immersed in the geological and astronomical wonders of Death Valley National Park. Travel is scheduled for January, when temperatures are much more welcoming and the nights are long and clear.

• The Mojave was home to Native American communities for thousands of years. Learn the secrets to their survival by attending Native People & Plants in the Mojave Desert at Clark County Wetlands Park on Sept. 27.

• The Mojave Desert is home to many endemic plant, insect, and animal species (“endemic” means they live nowhere else on earth). Many of the endemic species are concentrated within one of four National Wildlife Refuges located with a few hours’ drive of Las Vegas. Fall day trips to area National Wildlife Refuges are already full, but there are still some openings in a new Introduction to Bird Watching course on Oct. 11 where you will learn to spot both native and migrating bird species the next time you are out exploring the desert.

For the Love of Beer as a Hobby or Career

For the Love of Beer as a Hobby or Career

From simple kits that allow you to mix and ferment to growing your own grains, home brewing is a rewarding hobby that can be as easy or as complex as you would like. It can be just as rewarding as a career. No matter which, it is important to remember to enjoy the process. Many aspects of brewing such as standing over a hot kettle with a countdown timer waiting to add an ingredient at the perfect time can be pretty tense.

Charlie Papazian, the author of The Complete Joy of Home Brewing, coined the mantra "Relax. Don’t Worry. Have a Home Brew.” He offers great insight.

Relax

Basic beer starts with four simple ingredients: malted grains, hops, yeast, and water. The malted grains are converted to sugar and, in a process called fermentation, yeast eats sugar to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. It is that easy. Each of these ingredients can be altered to create vastly different beer styles.

Malted Grains

Cereal grains are malted in order to develop enzymes that can convert the grain’s starches into sugars. Roasting the grains leads to darker beers. These grains are then crushed in hot water to convert starches to sugars. Beginning home brewers tend to bypass this process by using a malt extract. These extracts come in many varieties and can be pre-hopped thus simplifying the brewing process by eliminating the need for hop additions.

Hops

Hops are cone shaped flowers from the hop plant that are used to flavor, aroma, and preserve beer. Hops add the bitterness that can be used to balance out the sweetness from malt. Beginners tend to use dried hops that have been processed into pellets.

Yeast

Brewer’s yeast is a fungus that consumes sugars and creates alcohol and CO2. There are many strains of yeast that vastly affect the style of beer produced. There are two types of brewer’s yeast -- ale yeast and lager yeast. Ale yeast thrives at higher temperatures (60-85°F) whereas lager yeast thrives at lower temperatures (40-55°F).

Water

Water is an often overlooked, but critical ingredient to the brewing process. Minerals in water can affect the rate of starch-sugar conversion, and traditionally added regional characteristics to beer. As a general rule if the water tastes good, it should make a good beer.

Don't Worry, Have a Home Brew

When combined, the four ingredients will make beer. Your beers will not be perfect, but that is part of the fun. Flawless beers can be purchased at a store. Your beer might be cloudy, flat, over-carbonated or have any number of off-flavors, but it will be beer.  Stick with it and each batch will be better than the next.

While brewing can be a fairly simple process it helps to have a friend guide you through the first time. UNLV Continuing Education and UBottleIt are teaming up to offer a Home Brew Workshop for Beer Lovers September 18.

Interested in becoming a beer expert? Check out the Beer Steward & Connoisseur Certificate Program

Art classes with UNLV Continuing Education

 Now that the fall catalog for Continuing Education is out, you should take some time to explore the descriptions for Arts & Crafts courses. We have everything from drawing to stone carving and silk painting to woodworking.

Discover your artistic talents by taking Continuing Education’s Drawing: Beginners. The instructor will lead you through exercises that will train your eye, hand, and imagination to work together. Learn about shapes, shading, and negative space.

Watercolor or Acrylic Painting would be a great next step after drawing. The techniques are so different for each style; which one to take really depends on the medium you prefer. Of course, nothing is stopping you from taking both!

In Acrylic I the instructor will cover brush and non-brush work, color mixing, transparent and opaque application and much more. During Watercolor: Basics you will learn to accept the luminosity and versatility as an art medium that watercolor can be. In class, you will discuss materials, tools techniques, color, and composition. Instructional time will be followed by studio time, where you will translate your techniques onto paper.

I am looking forward to instructor Gabbie Hirsch’s Holiday Ornament Painting Workshop. Class participants will create heirloom ornaments and take home a new skill. The instructor will teach simple designs such as names and basic themes, or she will help you tackle a more complex image like a landscape. These would make great presents for the holidays.

To see a listing of all our arts and crafts classes, go to: http://continuingeducation.unlv.edu/catalog/arts-crafts

Using Technology to Make Learning Easier

Technology has pervaded the classroom. Presentations are done on PowerPoint, lectures are given through podcasts, and notes are often seen being typed out by students on their laptops. IPads and other tablets have become extremely popular for taking notes and may offer more than most realize in terms of apps and general usability for the classroom.

When you take your UNLV Continuing Education class, you will find a tablet offers a wide variety of tools to help in the classroom. However, the touchscreen of a tablet may deter some from using it as a means for note taking. While the screen is very sensitive and accurate, there are alternatives for those who prefer using a standard keyboard. Keyboard attachments are available that convert a tablet into a normal feeling laptop, with all the functionality of the touchscreen still remaining. 

Whether or not a tablet is up your alley, Continuing Education also offers a course on the basics of Microsoft Office and individual courses on Word, Excel, and Photoshop. Our computer labs are equipped with Windows PCs and Apple computers. Learning these programs will help you go a long way in organizing your personal and educational life. While the courses are taught on desktop computers, what you learn is transferable to both laptops and tablets alike.

With the growth of technology permeating everything in our daily lives, our work, and our education, it is a good idea to get up to speed on how to use it. Visit our Computers & Technology website to see all of Continuing Education's offerings in this area. 

Social Media Basics

There are many features within Facebook and Twitter that can be confusing. The options become even more cumbersome from a company point of view. One of the main starting points with any company page is to “LIKE” them on Facebook and “FOLLOW” them on Twitter. This allows users to keep up to date with a company's events and information. These two platforms, however, act very different.

For example, within Facebook, complicated algorithms dictate which posts will be seen by the public. Not all updates are pushed out to all the fans of a company page. Due to this, a company needs to utilize other tools to reach their audience. This comes from loyal followers as well as engaging content. 

So how can loyal followers help a company page thrive? There are three ways, Like, Comment and Share. When a company pushes out a post there are three options at the bottom of each post that allow for user interaction. By clicking the Like option, you are both notifying the company as well as Facebook that you found the content interesting. This ups the level of visibility of the post to the public by positively influencing the aforementioned algorithm. If you Comment on the post, it has a similar effect as a Like, but it holds more weight with Facebook as well as offers the company more information beyond a simple Like. The final, and most productive way, is to Share. This allows a company’s post to go beyond the people who are fans of the page. This allows everyone of the user’s friends to see the information as well. The goal is for the information to be engaging enough so that the friend will then Like the company’s main page. The more shares a post receives, the wider the influence a post will have.

Twitter also has three options, but they act very different from Facebook. A user can Favorite, Retweet and Reply. The first one, Favorite, is useful to the user and the company. A user can Favorite a tweet, which saves it as such in a separate tab in your profile. This serves as a bookmarking tool. By clicking Favorite, this also sends feedback to the company letting them know they like this type of post.  The other options are even more useful for a company. The goal is to get your tweet Retweeted by followers. Like Facebook’s Share, this allows the information to go beyond the people that only follow the company and extends to the users circle of friends. Reply is very similar in its range of influence, but it also allows for the user to offer more information to the company regarding the tweet.

When it comes to organic marketing, these techniques are vital in getting our information out. The first line of offense is the employees who work for the company as well as your own friends and loyal fans. By utilizing some of the above mentioned techniques, you can extend your reach to a much wider net that will only grow larger.

For more information on social media, check out our upcoming classes - http://goo.gl/0fJbM2.

UNLV Grant Academy Launches this Fall

UNLV Grant Academy courses will be offered at Historic Fifth Street School in Downtown Las Vegas.

Syllabi for the new Grant Academy classes are finally complete and approved, which means we can officially get excited about the program. It’s been awhile since I worked in the nonprofit and grant writing fields, but I have to say that reading the course descriptions had me wishing my grant education had been this well structured. 

For me, my first application basically plagiarized my predecessor’s work; the application was pretty much cut and pasted from a sample my boss handed me. It was not big money, maybe just $500, so he figured it was a good learning opportunity for me. Taking this type of shortcut didn’t work long, though, as I moved on to bigger grants and more sophisticated review committees.  

This is the point at which I begin to salivate at the Grant Academy curriculum and wish someone had better explained to me the value of doing all the difficult pre-work before working through a grant application. Before the Grant Academy students even begin to write proposals, they will take Building a Grant Ready Organization. In this class they will back up and look at the big picture: organizational capacity, program development, partnership building, and policy development -- all should be in place before an organization asks for funding. These behind-the-scenes tasks aren’t glamorous, but, boy, do they make a difference in giving a grant application focus and purpose. 

Most grant writing workshops I attended over the years did a solid job of taking participants through the proposal writing process. The Grant Academy will no doubt do an excellent job of this, especially since a total of eight weeks will be dedicated to discussing narratives, budgets, and RFPs. So while proposal writing is important, I would rather get you excited about the final Grant Academy course: Grants Management.

With so much focus on winning the grant, sometimes it can be alarming for an organization to realize it actually has to come through on proposed projects within the promised timeline. In the everyday business of nonprofit work, tracking expenditures and program outcomes can easily fall by the wayside. When the grant report comes due, there’s a scramble to consolidate the required information. Grants Management will give grant writers and managers tools to successfully implement projects, track outcomes, and build relationships with funding sources; these skills all improve your chances of receiving additional funding.

Registration for Grant Academy courses is now open. Course descriptions and details are posted online. You may take courses individually or save by registering for the full five-course series as a bundle. The first course for fall 2014, Identifying Funding Sources, starts Sept. 2.

Top Three Open-Source Content Management Systems

A content management system (CMS) can make building dynamic websites less painful.  

There are many expensive enterprise options for content management systems, but three open-source (Free!) options are capable of everything the enterprise versions can do: Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal. 

All three are built using PHP for a programming language and MYSQL for a database.

Traditionally, Wordpress was an easy to use blogging platform, Drupal was a somewhat difficult enterprise level CMS, and Joomla was somewhere in between, a robust system with a simple interface. As the three projects mature, however, the lines are blurring.

Wordpress

Wordpress, the CMS with the largest market share, is still the easiest to set up and the administrative interface is very intuitive. This is great for building a site and passing it on to a client -- all of the site administration information is well documented. Wordpress was once limited to two content types, blog-like posts and basic pages, but custom post-types are now possible. Wordpress also offers a hosted service at wordpress.com

Notable sites:

• time.com
• techcrunch.com

Joomla

Joomla is estimated to be the second most used open source CMS. While not as easy to use as Worpdress, Joomla has a very intuitive use interface. A large community of developers backs the many extensions that are available. The biggest drawback to Joomla is the work it takes to make sites search engine optimization (SEO) friendly.

Notable sites:

• Linux.com
• Guggenheim.org  

Drupal

Drupal has a steeper learning curve than the others. Originally developed for developers by developers, it can be much harder to learn for less technical users. While the Drupal community has made strides to correct that, it is still more difficult to learn and use than Wordpress. Drupal is enterprise friendly and stable, making it an excellent choice for dynamic data-driven websites.

Drupal shines with more complex websites. It's a great solution for people who want to build feature-rich websites and it's a great solution for large enterprises. – Dries Buytaert, Drupal Creator

Notable sites:

• nbc.com/the-tonight-show/
• Whitehouse.gov
• Virgin.com

Want to learn more about leveraging Content Management Systems on your sites?

Check out the UNLV Continuing Education course,  Introduction to Content Management

The Thrill of the Grill

It’s summertime again. While it brings the heat, it also ignites my love of grilling. I grill just about everything I can get my hands on almost every day during the summer to keep my house cool. I had been thinking about taking a course in the Barbecuing Series offered by UNLV Continuing Education. The first class is Sauces, Rubs & Marinades, followed by Grilling, then Barbecuing—all taught by Chef Les Kincaid.

When I signed up for Sauces, Rubs & Marinades, I was really looking forward to the technical side of this class. How long do you marinade different types of proteins and why? What is the base of all rubs and how much do you use per pound? Do you really only put sauces on at the last few minutes? Which of these can be used on vegetables, or is there another base for those? Well I went to the class and had my questions answered.

The featured meats were pulled pork, chicken, and salmon. Chef Kincaid made a sauce for the pulled pork and marinades for the chicken and salmon. I learned a lot of in-depth details to distinguish between grilling and barbecuing, and that different meats are marinated by the density of the meat. Since fish is flaky, the marinade permeates faster than a pork roast. If you marinate too long, the meat becomes mushy. There is no standard base for rubs, as they vary from region to region, just like the sauces. Speaking of sauces, most barbecue sauces are tomato based. Since tomatoes burn quickly, the sauce should be put onto the protein half an hour before it is done.

One of the most versatile kinds of food to be cooked on the grill is vegetables. I learned to always use a light coating of olive oil so the vegetables don’t stick to the rack; you can season them with just salt and pepper or a little bit of rub. 

As usual, Chef Kincaid was generous with the recipes he handed out, so I can’t wait to experiment. Please check out the other classes Chef Kincaid is offering through UNLV Continuing Education this summer and fall.

Writing for the Silver Screen

Beginning. Middle. End.

It’s that simple.

Now go write.

But it isn’t that simple. How do you get your hero from point A to point B? Where do you add romance, danger, intrigue, action to make the story interesting? What is a MacGuffin?

Whether you know it or not, screenplays are very formulaic. There is always the basic question-- what does our main character want, and why can’t he or she get it? When breaking down scripts you’ll find that just about every one of them starts the hero on his or her journey between pages fifteen and twenty. There will be a midpoint where the hero finds an escalation of commitment. A launch into the third act marks a point where our hero cannot turn back. And of course a resolution followed by a denouement. Again, simple, right? Not really.

As an example, take the classic film Jaws. What does Chief Brody want and why can’t he get it? Answer: he wants to protect the beach, but there is a shark threatening the safety of anyone who enters the water. We are launched into the commitment phase with the death of Alex Kitner, the little boy on the raft. In reaction, Brody raises the stakes and offers a reward for the capture of the shark. Sadly, the wrong shark is caught and killed. The next shark attack involves his son. The chief develops a new plan, and hires a boat to go out and hunt the shark. The shark attacks, kills the captain and disables the boat. Brody is all alone with little hope of success. There is literally no turning back. In desperation, he shoots a rifle at a scuba tank inside the shark's mouth. Voila! Resolution as the beast is killed and the beach is now safe. Denouement is Brody swimming back to shore in safe waters. Fortunately as you watch the film, you never think of these necessary plot points that move the story forward. That's the goal of great screenwriting: entertain the viewer in a world you create for them.

But even if you write the world’s greatest story, how do you get anyone to read it? Do you hide out in a bathroom stall in Hollywood hoping to slip it under when a big wig uses the restroom? Do you blindly mail hundreds of copies of your script to film producers? Or do you self produce your script and become the next Kevin Smith?

Award-winning writer John Hill offers a class that answers many of these questions and more. Specifically, he’ll cover format, dialogue, characters, and theme with special training on how to plot. Most importantly, he’ll cover both the independent film world as well as the Hollywood studio system. Click the link for more details - http://goo.gl/vKbWzn.

If screenwriting isn’t necessarily your thing, but you still want to tell your story, check out our other writing classes http://goo.gl/DLGy71.

Adobe Photoshop I: A Student Review

UNLV Continuing Education likes to share student reviews of its classes. This student discusses “the great experience of taking a class in Photoshop.”

“As a working student with a full-time schedule, it is challenging to continue with my own development and sharpening of my skills. The short schedule and weekly class meetings made it easy to fit into my busy work and personal schedule. Our instructor, Krystal Hosmer, offered the class years of real world experience in graphic design and specifically with this software. She is incredibly talented, creative and patient, and explains in detail the practical applications with this software.

My favorite part of the class was practicing in class and actually creating new projects immediately. The hands-on experience was much more helpful than trying to figure out the system on my own at home. Krystal kept the atmosphere light and FUN! She also taught us basic concepts in graphic design and how to apply what we learned for our individual needs and in why we wanted to learn this software. For me I wanted to learn how to use the software to help me on my job as a training manager as I use photos in my presentation and instructional design daily at work. Class size was small, which made the teacher-student ratio great where everyone could be involved in the discussions and she encouraged us to ask questions and experiment.

I look forward to taking another class in the future. I highly recommend this class to anyone who wants to further develop their knowledge of Photoshop, or someone like me who was a complete beginner and wanted to develop a new skill.”

Thanks for sharing! The next Adobe Photoshop CS6-Level I class starts June 11.

Pick Up Your Guitar and Your Six String!

When listening to them, it’s hard not to think that the greats in the guitar world weren’t born with one in their hands. You may notice it while listening to your favorites. Andres Segovia, Frank Zappa, Guthrie Govan, Paco de Lucia, and Jimmy Hendrix are some of the names that may elicit your envy. Regardless of how well someone plays currently, every single one of them had to start somewhere. Getting started can be difficult, but finding a good teacher will set you on the right path.

UNLV Continuing Education can provide you with the teacher and atmosphere you need. As a previous guitar student at UNLV, Marlow Valentin provides excellent instruction to beginning students. He will help you learn to read music, tune your instrument, and play basic patterns and chords. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you find yourself recognizing melodies on the radio and thinking, “Hey, I can play this!” It’s amazing how many songs you’ll learn to play just by knowing four simple chords.

Learning and studying takes place in a group setting where you can collaborate with fellow beginners to have fun and help each other out. You’ll also have a selection of duets to play from the required text, Beginning Guitar Superbook by Hal Leonard. I started with the same book as a beginner when I was 16. The next thing I knew, it had become a passion that I decided to study seriously in college. I started off learning jazz, but switched and ended up playing classical guitar for four years. 

While you may not master the craft in the six weeks, UNLV Continuing Education can help you take the first steps towards playing the guitar. Not only will you learn the basics of guitar, but you might just find a new passion. Whether you learn to play so you can entertain friends around a campfire, mess around with and learn new songs during your free time, or further educate yourself and possibly get a degree in music performance, this course is an ideal starting point for those interested in picking up the guitar.  

To learn more about the guitar course offered by UNLV’s Continuing Education, check out our catalog:

  - http://continuingeducation.unlv.edu/catalog