BEGINNINGS
Jeff Foster cannot remember not playing the guitar. As a toddler his first stringed instrument was a ukulele, and he spent his younger years banging away on an old Silvertone, one string short of a full set. After beginning formal training on the guitar at the age of 10 (with a shiny new set of strings to play), Jeff gradually added bass, banjo, fiddle, mandola and pedal steel to his musical arsenal. He was also first-chair drummer in his high school band, and the Cowan Blackhawk marching cadence haunts him to this very day.
Jeff knew at a tender age what he wanted to do with his life, practiced non-stop, and became a semi-professional musician and guitar teacher while still in high school (with a little bulldozing on the side in the family business to make ends meet). He cut his teeth playing in several area bands as lead guitarist and banjo picker, continually writing songs and refining his eclectic guitar style.
PERFORMING
A performer since the early 70s, Jeff has played virtually every style of music over the years, including classical, flamenco, jazz, ambient, gospel, rock, country, blues and bluegrass. As a solo artist or band member, Jeff has opened concerts for and/or performed with such luminaries as Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, John McLaughlin & the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Mason Williams, Pat Benatar, Tracy Chapman, John Prine, Taj Mahal, Steve Goodman, Jorma Kaukonen, Rick Danko, The Ides of March, and many gifted, lesser known musicians.
The late great John Hartford once gave Jeff a lesson on how to tap-dance while playing the fiddle. Other notable musicians Jeff counts among his friends include world-renowned classical guitarist Liona Boyd (for whom Jeff wrote liner notes for two CDs), latin guitar shredmeisters Strunz & Farah (the subject of an extended article in the early days of StringDancer), and his boyhood idol, Mason Williams, for whom Jeff opened a concert in Bakersfield, California in the mid-90s. Mason invited Jeff to join him onstage to perform a duet of Mason’s seminal guitar composition, Classical Gas. It remains Jeff’s favorite gig of all time.
Jeff has rubbed shoulders with a few other famous musicians… but he doubts they remember, as they were pretty stoned at the time.
ACADEMIA
Living in Bloomington, Indiana in the late-80s, Jeff decided to augment his education, and began his studies at Indiana University. Sponsored by Dr. Anthony Seeger (nephew of folk legend, Pete Seeger), Jeff’s individualized major program focused on Ethnomusicology — specifically the history and development of Flamenco, the indigenous music of the gypsies of southern Spain, noted for its intricate and robust guitar stylings.
In addition, Jeff studied Jazz Improvisation under Dr. David Baker, a truly ear-opening experience. Another area of study was Special Education under Dr. Barbara Wolf, which Jeff found quite useful in his role as a Master Music Artist with Very Special Arts Indiana (VSAI), bringing art-related experiences to challenged populations throughout Indiana. In 1989 he received an Honors Grant from IU to travel to Croatia (then a republic of Yugoslavia) to research and document the use of art and music in the Croatian special education programs.
As a result of this trip and his VSAI sponsorship, Jeff was selected to be an Official Delegate of Yugoslavia at the First Annual International Very Special Arts Convention in Washington, DC, where he performed with special kids at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and visited the White House, where he very briefly met President and Mrs. George H. W. Bush. As Jeff recalls, the First Lady was very gracious, and the President had an extremely firm handshake.
TEACHING
Jeff began teaching guitar in 1971 when he was but a junior in high school. His favorite place to hang out was Rocky’s Music Center in Muncie, IN, where he and Rocky Rose became close friends. Impressed by Jeff’s skills on the guitar, one day Rocky asked, “Jeff, do you know how to read music?”. Jeff had learned to read music at the age of 10, so Rocky pulled out a copy of Mel Bay’s Modern Guitar Method, flipped to one of the back pages and asked Jeff to play the tune. Jeff passed his audition, and thus began a long career in music instruction that continues to this day. See the Lessons area for more info.
In 1986, during his tenure as a student at Indiana University in Bloomington, Jeff was recruited as a guitar instructor by IU’s renowned School of Music. He began by teaching classes for beginners and intermediate students, and by the time he left Indiana for California in 1990, Jeff had taught hundreds of IU students to play guitar, and created an advanced-level class called Sight Reading and Ear Training for Guitar, writing the textbook himself.
In California during the 90s, Jeff was tapped to teach classical guitar at California State University – Bakersfield, a post he held for four years. This was one-on-one instruction, exclusively in the classical style, with a little flamenco for students interested in the music of the Andalusian Gypsies.
In 2009, Jeff launched his Recreational Guitar class at Ivy Tech Community College – Bloomington, Indiana. Operating out of the John Waldron Arts Center in downtown Bloomington, Jeff soon expanded his Ivy Tech program to include Recreational 5-string Banjo and Introduction to Music Theory.
Happily ensconced in his new hometown of Nashville, Indiana, Jeff has launched his own private teaching facility, StringDancer Music Studio. CLICK HERE for more information on Jeff’s current music instruction programs.
TECHNOLOGY
Jeff’s interest in electronic technology began in 1984, when he acquired his first Macintosh computer (the original 128k model). In addition, he was one of the first guitarists in the nation to embrace and explore MIDI guitar synthesizers, extending his creative endeavors into MIDI sequencing for studio production and live performance.
Jeff went online in the mid-90s. He soon leveraged his knowledge of music, guitar and computers as an America Online Community Leader in AOL’s Computing/Music & Sound channel, where he worked for almost four years. Jeff took care of channel maintenance and supervised activities for their guitar forum, GTR, creating content and building the feature list. His relationship with AOL ended in 1999, but Jeff found he rather enjoyed web design, and in the new millennium launched his web design and hosting business, as well as the StringDancer Guitar Community on January 13, 2000.
Also beginning in the early 90s, Jeff got into audio production, beginning with his homespun CD, Midnight in Zagreb. During his California days, Jeff engineered and produced four other CD projects, and since returning to Indiana has continued to produce CD and demo projects. Visit the Discography page for a complete list of Jeff’s productions and collaborations.
Brown County Hour – From its inception in 2009 to 2016, Jeff was one of the founders and the technical producer of the Brown County Hour, the most-downloaded radio program on WFHB Community Radio, broadcasting out of Bloomington. His primary responsibilities were to capture and edit audio segments, mix, master and prepare the program for broadcast, and managing the design and growth of the show’s website. He retired from BCH in July, 2016 after 52 episodes. Here’s Jeff’s farewell episode where he gets simultaneously honored and roasted by his BCH cohorts.
TODAY
Today, Jeff resides contentedly with his wife, Rhonda and an enormous black German Shepherd named Pearl out in the woods near Nashville, Indiana. He teaches music, operates his project studio and web design businesses, continues to perform as a solo guitarist, and occasionally sits in with other performers and bands as opportunities arise. He’s also heavily into gardening these days, has started an orchard, and spends a lot of time working on the homestead.
Foster is also the President of the Board for Greenbriar Lake, and Chairman of Don’t Tread On Indiana.
He remains continually amazed at how a guy with no steady job can stay so busy.
