PRS Guitars is going virtual for their Experience PRS 2020 event. The go-to favorite guitar manufacturer for many players in rock, metal, pop and country had big plans to celebrate their 35th anniversary, with a three-day festival gathering at their Maryland headquarters this coming weekend. Those plans were put to the wayside due to stay-at-home orders.
Fear not, the company says! The PRS Guitars 35th Anniversary “Experience PRS” event will premier live on PRS Guitars YouTube channel on Saturday, May 9th in three segments, allowing for even more people to enjoy the event and join in celebrating PRS’s 35th Anniversary.
The event, a homecoming party for legions of PRS fans worldwide, has been heralded as the Ultimate Guitar Festival for Guitarists and Music Lovers. This year’s special 35th Anniversary edition was expected to attract around 3,500 attendees from all over the globe, including celebrated PRS artists, dealers and international distributors, customers and enthusiasts, and worldwide press for two days of music, education, factory tours, and fun at PRS Guitars in Stevensville, Maryland.
“Our Experience PRS events are a way to open our doors, throw a great party, and say a big thank you to everyone for their support in believing in our products and craftmanship,” said Paul Reed Smith. “While we’ll miss seeing everyone in person, I’m very pleased we’ll still be able to share the spirit of this event with you.”
One of the major components to Experience PRS is the curated schedule of clinics. So, for this year’s virtual Experience event, PRS has put together a series of artist clinics from the same artists that would have been presenting on the Experience stages. These videos have been grouped into two sessions and will air as follows:
Session One Clinics, Premiering at 1:30pm EST
The first session features four clinics
Sophie Burrell: Legato Lick Lesson
Simon McBride: Playing the ‘Right’ Solo for the Song
AJ Ghent: Exploring Slide Techniques
Emil Werstler: Finding and Defining Your Musical Voice
Session Two Clinics, Premiering at 2:30pm EST
The second session features five clinics
David Grissom: Tone Tips
Mark Lettieri: Adapting Your Chord Voicings
Tyler Larson: The Top Five Things I’ve Learned From Interviewing Other Musicians
Davy Knowles: Opening Up The Fretboard For The Visual Guitarist
Tim Pierce & Bryan Ewald: How to Approach Recording Guitars For Others
A Special Video from Paul Reed Smith, Premiering at 4:00pm EST
The culminating piece of Experience PRS is always a star-studded concert on the main stage. With that option not possible this year, the closing event for Experience PRS 2020 will be a special, star-studded video premier with Paul Reed Smith and several PRS Artists and friends. Tune in to see this introduction of a new video series by PRS Guitars.
Here's a quick look inside the PRS factory where you can see their luthiers working on their craft:
While these Experience PRS videos will premier live on PRS Guitars YouTube channel on Saturday, May 9th, they will be available in perpetuity, so fans can watch them anytime. The full Experience PRS 2020 event schedule can be found on www.experience.prsguitars.com, the PRS Guitars YouTube channel, and through PRS Guitars’ newsletter and social channels
Finally, Experience PRS has always been a destination event for players to see, hear, play, and even purchase their next PRS. Recognizing this, PRS still plans to make new product announcements previously planned to coincide with the event. These announcements will be made starting later this month and will continue throughout the summer. Follow PRS Guitars on social and via the Inside PRS Newsletter for the latest news.
