John Renbourn continues his exploration into 19th Century parlor guitar, which influenced blues and other rural styles. This time the song is Sebastopol,' later called 'Vastopol,' which was originally played in open-D tuning (D, A, D, F#, A, D). Renbourn's version is in open-E (E, B, E, G#, B, E) - no matter, the intervallic relationships are identical. As usual, the song has quaint charm and a bit of guts. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC...
Apr 21, 2010•1 min
1960, Henry Worrall wrote "Sebastopol," a parlor guitar tune that was enormously influential in folk playing, delta blues, country fingerpicking and other disciplines. The simple but fetching tune is in open D, which became a favorite among rural American players. The top-string slides foretell bottleneck playing. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC U.
Apr 14, 2010•3 min
Preston Reed's Showcase Solo "Fat Boy" will literally have you playing "over-the-top". Using left-hand multi-string taps, slaps, pulls, and slides along with right-hand whacks and whunk-dumps, you'll be a complete one man band with a percussion section right on your guitar. There's even an easy-to-read percussion key signature along with the music so ya can fit in yer hi-hats and kick drums. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: HOW TO PLAY GUITAR: Anth...
Apr 07, 2010•3 min
You don't need a rack full of gear to generate amazing guitar textures. Just listen to Chet Akins. With his bare hands, the country boy from Tennessee created more fretboard magic than entire genres of guitarists. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: TWANG U, ACOUSTIC U.
Mar 31, 2010•4 min
The ever-clever Adrian, an English fingerstyle wizard, takes us back to his early days in Brit C&W bands, where he got a lot of stuff wrong and stumbled into his own style. The examples cover what he calls "corny double-stops," a shuffle intro and a very hip ending tag. Let some of Adrian's originality rub off on you. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC U.
Mar 24, 2010•1 min
Elfin Brit Adrian Legg is one of the most inventive pickers on the planet. He sat with Joe Gore and described his methods, which is a mish-mash of Celtic, classical, and twang, buoyed by his fluency with banjo-picking style: fluid, three-note rolls, percussive frailing, and other techniques. By learning some of Legg's stuff, you can tap into the intuitiveness of his playing - which will ultimately give you a leg up. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations:...
Mar 17, 2010•6 min
Adrian Legg's column is a diatribe about the virtues of the acoustic guitar and the "macho materialism" of the electric. A basic eight-bar phrase accompanies the article. Play it on acoustic. If you don't have one, get one. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC U.
Mar 10, 2010•3 min
There are two kinds of guitar players in the world: those who are fans of Adrian Legg and those who haven't heard him yet. This lesson offers a window into Adrian's inventive use of basslines, open strings and passing chords- you'll learn how to sound like a banjoist and bass player jamming with guitar accompaniment, all within your own six strings. Don't miss this one. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC U.
Mar 03, 2010•3 min
Adrian Legg's beautiful, harp-like arpeggios are featured in this example. Using a capo at the fifth fret and combining open strings with fretted notes, you'll learn how Adrian creates his shimmering arpeggios. Beautiful! This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: Acoustic U
Feb 24, 2010•1 min
Richard Gartner unveils a very cool and very player-friendly open tuning called "Dadgad" (D,A,D,G,A,D). It allows you to improvise via the use of pattern picking and using shapes. Richard's "Dadgad Bluerag" is a fun, in-your-face 16-bar song that employs all the versatility found in the tuning. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: HOW TO PLAY GUITAR: Anthology , ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (http:/...
Feb 17, 2010•5 min
Accompanying his wife on a recent song, Celtic bluesman Martin Simpson needed to find the appropriate tuning. He ended up with the exotic B-Flat-sus2 (B-Flat, F, B-Flat, F, B-Flat, C). He serves up a helping of his solo from the song "Raglan Road," which will give you some jumping-off points for further explorations of your own into open tuning. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on...
Feb 10, 2010•5 min
To play alternating bass lines, you need to commit certain fingers to sustaining bass notes, while leaving other fingers free to fret melody notes. This typically involves unorthodox fingerings. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (http://truefiretv.com)
Feb 03, 2010•6 min
How'd you like to learn a song that paved the way for blues and country slide playing? In an earlier lesson, John looked at Josh White's version of "John Henry," which relied on finger slides. Puckett's rendition calls upon a slide and is more a guitar solo. Bottom line: This one's fun to play. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (http://truefiretv.com)
Jan 27, 2010•1 min
The blues can be traced to many things - slave chants, chain gangs and such - but you don't hear much about the influence of late 19th Century parlor guitar. John establishes the connection with 'Country Fool,' a tune written by Bo Carter, who had a major impact on the Delta blues players. The country-blues piece is in altered tuning and is based on the chord progression from 'Spanish Fandango'. The rolling, finger-picked style has real charm. It's a great song to add to your solo steel-string r...
Jan 20, 2010•1 min
Bill has adapted a bottleneck muting technique to standard playing. It'll enhance your fingerpicking articulation and dynamics and help get rid of unwanted notes. Essentially, each of the top four strings is played and muted with its own finger. Start slow, build up to speed. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: 280 Killer GUITAR LICKS, ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (http://truefiretv.com)
Jan 13, 2010•5 min
Bob Brozman is master of bottleneck slide guitar and various open tunings for the blues. Here's a primer for all of us that are ready to incorporate slide technique into our repertoire. Tunings, tone, technique and five exercises are included in this detailed lesson. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: HOW TO PLAY GUITAR: Anthology , BLUES U, ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (http://truefiretv.com)
Jan 06, 2010•9 min
Like all great blues players, John Mooney derives mojo from his fingers, not his gear. Mooney can fill a hall with soulful slide sounds, whether he’s fronting a band with a Strat cranked through a Super Reverb, or doing a solo set on an unmiked National resonator. Here, Mooney shares some cool slide tips and hot riffs. But before you get started, Mooney has a simple way to avoid the common problem of slide slippage. “I superglue a piece of cork to the inside of my slide so it stops halfway up my...
Dec 30, 2009•7 min
Chris Whitley is a heck of a blues player, but he isn't what you would call a traditionalist. Jeff McErlain shows you one of Chris' more "twisted" blues pieces, played on open-tuned Dobro. Chris describes it as "Bukka White meets Thelonius Monk"...need we say more? This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (http://truefiretv.com)
Dec 23, 2009•7 min
Customizing turnarounds is what makes them your own, and you can never have enough nifty ones. In this lesson, Mark issues a couple of "must know" variations on a classic blues move. Transpose 'em to other keys and stick with the fretted notes - skip the open strings - so you can move freely up and down the neck. Then tweak 'em to your heart's content. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar le...
Dec 16, 2009•4 min
Enter the brave and bluesy world of laptop slide guitar. David sticks to high G tuning (GBDGBD, low to high), which allows him to play in the guitar-friendly keys of E, A, and D. Here he issues six licks, with feels that range from greasy blues to garage rock. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (http://truefiretv.com)
Dec 02, 2009•7 min
In this two-part lesson, we'll explore open D and acquaint ourselves with it fascinating sounds. So grab a tuner and a guitar , put yourself in an open frame of mind , and get ready for some sonic stimulation. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: TWANG U, BLUES U, ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (http://truefiretv.com)
Nov 25, 2009•8 min
So you thought bluegrass was hokum for hicks. Try this tricky staple, known as the (Lester) Flatt run or G-run. Rogers also extends it up an octave to make a longer lick, partially inverts it and throws in a bluesy variation. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: TWANG U, ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (http://truefiretv.com)
Nov 18, 2009•4 min
In this lesson, we’ll take the primary 8-bar themes from several Celtic fiddle tunes, arrange them for guitar, and use the results to polish our flatpicking chops, timing, and tone. The themes have been rigged for maximum sonic vibe not playing comfort so they’re tricky in places. Within a line, for instance, we’ll play the same note in different locations to facilitate a slur. Or we’ll create harp-like cascades by alternating fretted notes and open strings. In short, we’ll search for fingerings...
Nov 04, 2009•2 min
Let's say your relatively new to flatpicking guitar, but you wanna get musical, wanna start learning some relatively simple songs. Given a choice, do you want to work on a tune that's corny or hip? Dumb question, I know. "Flop-Eared Mule" is a traditional pickin' tune that's very hip, indeed - with a nice melodic sweep that's full of dynamics. Cool thing is: The song sounds almost as good in the slower "learning" mode as it does in a faster tempo. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured o...
Oct 28, 2009•3 min
Step up and learn one of the most powerful, least-used and exotic accompaniment licks known to guitarists. This basic bass/strum/bass/strum move is so fundamental to good accompaniment that a lot of players overlook it. Dan's lesson gives you plenty of insider tips on how to best play the basics and add variations. He also throws in a segment on how to play slow. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: Rhythm Guitar SWAT Camp, ACOUSTIC U, HOW TO PLAY GUIT...
Oct 21, 2009•5 min
Here's an intro to Doc's style, which involves explosive flatpicking-speed with taste-on acoustic guitar. Whether folk standards or reworked fiddle tunes, Watson's sound is always exhilarating, always musical. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: TWANG U, ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (http://truefiretv.com)
Oct 14, 2009•8 min
Dan serves up two beautiful traditional guitar tunes that you can play slow and steady: "Soldier's Joy" and "Wildwood Flower," which has been the starting point for generations of flat-pickers. The tunes are fairly easy to play, but you can make them consummately musical with careful study and attention to detail. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: HOW TO PLAY GUITAR: Anthology , ACOUSTIC U. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on...
Oct 07, 2009•6 min
OK, so what's with the math? Dobro master David Hamburger breaks it all down for you in this Bluegrass-flavored lesson. Two six note phrases plus a four note phrase equals a two bar lick...got it? This simple formula lies at the heart of a surprising number of classic licks. So put down your calculator, pick up your guitar, and start figuring out what it's all going to add to your playing. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: ACOUSTIC U, Twang U. Get m...
Sep 30, 2009•7 min
If a Nashville studio ace - a guy who's played on albums by Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, the Judds and others - gave you inside tip on how to play effective session acoustic guitar, would you listen? Well, then, listen. Casstevens stresses the percussive attack and the "high, ringing stuff," and trying to break the constant Travis-style mold. To put these ideas into motion, here's a twangin' I-IV-V,16-bar sequence. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: A...
Sep 23, 2009•6 min
Here, Dan encourages you to break free of other guitarist's arrangements and approach a song with originality in mind. He submits a handful of different arrangements of "Sally Goodin'" to get you started, then gives you a method: learn the complete melody (the best source is fiddler players who play it straight), get a thorough knowledge of the tune and then set out on your own. A most rewarding adventure. This lesson includes Power Tab and is featured on the following CD compilations: HOW TO PL...
Sep 16, 2009•6 min
