The Guitar in Popular Music conference will be co-hosted by Canterbury Christ Church University and the Academy of Contemporary Music, in collaboration with the International Guitar Research Centre (University of Surrey).

Free registration

Please select the day you wish to attend below:

Thursday 9 July, 9am - 5:30pm, CCCU

Friday 10 July, 9:30am - 6pm, ACM London

Keynote speaker

We are delighted that Professor Milton Mermikides (Professor of Music at the University of Surrey and Gresham Professor or Music) will be presenting the keynote lecture at Canterbury Christ Church University, entitled I Just Want to Talk to You: The Musical Language of Jimi Hendrix.

This keynote paper illuminates the psychological, neurological, linguistic and zygonic mechanisms that help shape Jimi Hendrix’s extraordinary musical language. These ‘axes of expression' include vocal imitation, fretboard navigation, time-feel and groove, harmony and modality, and technological transformation. It argues that Hendrix’s music persistently challenges the conventional separation and discrete categorisation of pitch, rhythm, and timbre. And that musical expression – as well as effective musical analysis – emerges from the dynamic, liminal interplay between these domains.

Conference panel

Dr James Dean (Chair, Canterbury Christ Church University)

Professor Rich Perks (Deputy Chair, Academy of Contemporary Music)

Professor Milton Mermikides (University of Surrey/Gresham College)

Professor Murray Smith (University of Kent)

Dr Kate Lewis (Brunel University London)

Programme (schedule subject to change)

Day 1	Thursday 9 July, 9am - 5:30pm, CCCU
9am	Tea/Coffee
9:30am	Welcome
9:35am	Dr Kate Lewis
10:10am	David McFarlane - "Enough Hands to Point All the Fingers": Persona, Ecosemiotics, and Floating Intentionality in the Guitar-Playing of St. Vincent
10:45am	Peter Roe - The Development of the Baritone Guitar
11:20am	Break
11:40am	Prof Murray Smith - Sonic Youth Sonics
12:15pm	Prof Rami Gabriel - Re-Orientalizing the Electric Guitar
12:50pm	Lunch
2pm	Dr James Dean - iconic sonics of session guitarists in 80s pop guitar parts
2:35pm	Dr James Ingham - You Enjoy Myself: A Mike Gordon case study
3:10pm	Dr Matt Curran - Angularity and Perception of Dissonance in Melodic Improvisation: Transferring Saxophone-Derived Intervallic Concepts to Guitar Performance through the Integrated Guitar Technique System (IGTS)
3:45pm	Break
4pm	Keynote: Prof Milton Mermikides - Just Want to Talk to You: The Musical Language of Jimi Hendrix
5pm	Discussion Panel on keynote lecture
5:30pm	End

Day 2	Friday 10 July, 9:30am - 6pm, ACM London
9:30am	Tea/Coffee
10am	Welcome
10:05am	Arran McSporron - How can Audiation be introduced into Bass Guitar pedagogy to foster general musicianship, as opposed to instrument-centred study?
10:40am	Simone Wagner - Ritchie Blackmore’s Guitar Style in Deep Purple: Musical Influences and the Impact of Jimi Hendrix
11:15am	Break
11:35am	Darren Taggart - From Amplifier to Algorithm: The Guitar Modeller as Facilitator in Contemporary Popular Music Performance
12:10pm	Dr. Greg Stott - Found in Translation: The Limits of Knowledge
12:55pm	Lunch
1:45pm	Chris Allard - Personalised fusions and narrative threads in contemporary jazz guitar
2:20pm	Dr. Patrick Hinds - The Role of the Viral Guitar Video in Musicians' Culture
2:55pm	Break
3:15pm	Dr. Nassos Polyzoidis - Slide Guitar Beyond the Delta: Bottleneck Technique in Blues-Rebetiko Fusion
3:55pm	Dr. David Roche - Riffs for Days Ahead: Future Pathways for Composer-Guitarists and Guitar Enthusiasts Who Compose
4:30pm	Break
4:45pm	In conversation with Mitch Dalton
6pm	End

Enquiries

For all enquiries, please email guitarconference@canterbury.ac.uk

Find out more

Related events

Connection, Place, Belonging

Village Greens to Victory: Women’s Cricket in Kent

Music Networking Conference

Box office and ticketing

Arts and Culture Instagram

Contact us