In the late 1960’s there were two stores in Greenwich Village where people came to shop for acoustic instruments, chat about folk music, and perhaps hear an unknown folk singer practicing on a new or used instrument.

Israel Young, the unofficial “mayor” of the Village, owned The Folklore Center at 321 Sixth Avenue. Izzy, as he was known, sold guitars, banjos, basses, fiddles and mandolins and sponsored free Saturday night folk concerts. Some notable performers were Terre and Maggie Roche, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Tom Paxton, Emmy Lou Harris, Rory Block, John Burke, The New Lost City Ramblers, David Bromberg, Pete Seeger, Hazel Dickens, Rosalie Sorells, Suzanne Vega, and Phoebe Snow. Any “folkster” wanting a chance to be heard could just pop in to play for Izzy and perhaps win a spot as a warm up act on Saturday.

The Fretted Instruments Store, located next door at 319 Sixth Avenue, sold more “high end” guitars and banjos and repaired instruments. Marc Silber, the owner, had an excellent repairman named Eddie Diehl—the best “neck man” in the city and an incredible jazz guitarist. Fretted Instruments also provided guitar and banjo lessons and Marc hired me to teach "Chet Atkins Fingerstyle Guitar", blues and bluegrass banjo.

In the late 1970’s, Izzy shocked the Village by moving to Stockholm, Sweden to start a Folklore Center. Marc moved shortly after to Berkely, California and does extremely well there selling and repairing guitars. Marc offered me the chance to take over Fretted Instruments. I renamed it Fretted Instruments School of Folk Music to reflect my interest in teaching rather than retail sales. I taught most of the guitar and bluegrass banjo lessons, but hired extra teachers for fiddle, old timey banjo, delta blues guitar and mandolin. I shared teaching duties with artists including Happy Traum, Bill Keith, John Burke, Russ Barrenberg, Rick Schoenberg, and Stefan Grossman.

Today, after more than 20 years, the old storefront is gone and I’m still teaching guitar and banjo in Greenwich Village. Marty Laster teaches mandolin and fiddle. I refer old timey (clawhammer) banjo students to various teachers in the NYC area.

I completed my formal education in music at New York University and began to teach music there and at Long Island University in Brooklyn. My primary interest still lies in teaching private guitar and banjo lessons. Because guitar and banjo have expanded beyond folk music into other genres, I changed the School’s name to Fretted Instruments School of Guitar and Banjo in 1998.

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