Guitarist Carlton Oakes to perform in The Dalles

Carlton is a Spokane-based guitarist and craftsman with a lifelong love of the guitar. He was introduced to guitar as a small boy growing up on a military base in Hawaii, and island music was an early influence; Hawaiian “slack-key” is one of the styles of music people can anticipate at his performance.

“Slack key” simply means the guitar’s tuning has been altered to create an open chord. Hawai’ian families had their own, closely-guarded tunings that gave their family renditions of songs unique character and beauty.

At the workshop on Saturday, Carlton will be share “taro patch” tuning, to get people started on playing this style of guitar.

Carlton earned a degree in guitar performance at Eastern Oregon College in La Grande, adding jazz, classical and contemporary pieces to his repertoire. He has been performing throughout the Pacific Northwest and internationally for more than 30 years. In addition to performing, Carlton builds classical guitars of his own design.

Carlton plays flamenco style, much influenced by gypsy music, with intricate picking and advanced right hand techniques for percussive effects, as well as fingerstyle jazz.