Justin Messenger, left, a Madison Elementary School second-grader, is instructed on proper finger positioning at a recent guitar clinic held at Bunker Hill Elementary School. World Photo by Carl Mickelson

Some pint-sized youngsters were strummin' away on their guitars and practicing Chuck Berry-like slides at a guitar clinic held recently at the Bunker Hill Elementary School gymnasium.

As the gym filled with budding musicians, rudimentary twangs of the novice guitar-pickers began to echo throughout the gym - along with the occasional tell-tale clunk of guitars accidentally banging the floor.

Before the clinic began, Bunker Hill Principal Dale Inskeep, 38 - who was hosting the clinic - found himself off in a corner dealing with a parade of students in search of picks and last-minute fine-tunings.

"Your pick is stuck and it won't come out, huh? It's being stubborn?" Inskeep asked a student who was busy jostling her guitar above her head in hopes the stubborn sound hole would spit out the pick it had devoured.

While waiting, a few of the 15 or so students in attendance worked on their rock star pouts and poses, while others warmed up their six-strings dutifully. Those who strummed, practiced the correct finger positioning and plunked away at strings haphazardly - delving into the world of experimental music.

On this particular night, the students learned the C and G7 chord and some fundamentals.

"Who remembers what these are called?" Inskeep asked, pointing to a spot on the neck of the guitar as the clinic got under way.

"Frets," someone shouted out.

"Right on," Inskeep replied as he encouraged the students to practice the two chords.

When he was confident most of the students knew what they were doing, he asked them to play an old song called "Tom Dooley" that incorporated the two chords they just learned.

"With two chords you can play tons of songs," he told them, hoping the fact would spark students to investigate rhythms they could invent on their own.

Later, he said the sounds he heard them create made him smile.

"Any music is good music when it's being created," he said.

Inskeep is an accomplished musician who plays not only the guitar, but violin, mandolin, piano, ukulele, bass and saxophone and who has an eclectic musical taste.

"I like the three B's," he said. "Bebop, Bach and bluegrass."

A trio made up of Inskeep, fiddle player Loren Osborne, 74, (who attended Bunker Hill in 1937 and whose granddaughters are in the Coos Bay School District), and Wes Hill on guitar regaled the students with a song called the "No C Polka." The trio was followed by Randy Jankowski - the uncle of Bunker Hill student Krista Jankowski - who played a rendition of Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" for the students.

Inskeep said he hopes to instill the same passion he has for music into his students. And not just to have fun. There is a large body of research, he said, that ties how learning a musical instrument can help increase self-esteem, stimulate learning and provide children with a sense of accomplishment and meaning.

"They feel great about it, even if they are just playing two chords," he said. "It gives meaning to your life."

Nine-year-old Bunker Hill student George Hill, Wes' son, has been playing the guitar for a few months. He attended the first clinic Inskeep held in December. While George likes playing the acoustic guitar, he said he prefers the electric guitar.

"Electric's better because it's louder," he said, adding that he doesn't practice very often.

"Just every time my dad makes me," George said.

He does enjoy playing the guitar, he said, but George doesn't want to be a rock star.

"I want to be a veterinarian," he said.

As the evening wore on, some children set the guitars aside, preferring to fan out across the empty gym floor. They practiced sliding across the floor - moves invented long ago on stages by seasoned rock stars.

"If you don't sound good, you might as well look good," said Inskeep's wife, Dayna who volunteered during the clinic.

Principal Inskeep said chances were slim that future clinics would include workshops on how to burn your electric guitar - Jimi Hendrix-style - on stage.

"Probably not going to happen," he said.

The next clinic will be held March 11 in the school's library.