Steve Marriner
ACOUSTIC GUITAR
From harmonica to baritone guitar, from frontman to producer, Steve Marriner has spent over two decades shaping the sound of modern blues. With two JUNO Awards for his work with MonkeyJunk, a career spent touring with Colin James, and guest appearances with bona fide blues legends Buddy Guy and Jimmie Vaughan, Marriner has become one of Canada’s most versatile and respected musicians.
Marriner’s approach to blending blues, rock, and roots music has made him a sought-after collaborator and a formidable solo artist. His previous album, Hope Dies Last, earned a 2022 JUNO nomination, and his production work on Big Dave McLean’s This Old Life won him yet another award at the 2025 JUNOs. With Hear My Heart, his upcoming full-length album, Marriner continues to push boundaries, proving that the blues isn’t just tradition - it’s alive, electric, and constantly evolving.
Workshops
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t don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing! The guitar in its earliest incarnation, is THE rhythm instrument. Together, we will explore the foundations of rhythm guitar playing in a blues context. We’ll cover different styles of acoustic blues - Delta, Piedmont, Texas and more! We’ll examine the techniques and subtleties of many iconic acoustic blues guitar heroes - Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Johnson and others.
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Open tunings, slide and more! Learn to use the bottleneck slide to evoke the sounds of Son House and Muddy Waters or Elmore James and Robert Nighthawk. We’ll also look at how John Lee Hooker got some his signature voicing using open tuning and a capo!
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We’ll investigate how the thumb can be both the bassist and the drummer in your one-person-orchestra! Learn to pick melodies with your fingers while maintaining the rhythm with your thumb.
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12 bar blues? 8 bar blues? 1 chord blues? Let’s talk about forms of blues music and how to navigate the chord changes and learn the dialects of the different genres of the style. Discover the intricacies of the language and understand when and why to play certain licks.