Next Song

[dbvirago]

First, a little background.
I'm just now coming up on a year of practicing every day. Mostly working on fingerstyle. Regardless of where I am with lessons, I keep a few simple 8 bar exercises that are my 'song list' These either came from a book I am working through or an online lesson. With time and practice, as expected I always get where I can play and possibly perform them, although they tend to run about 1 minute each.

A few weeks ago, I turn the page in a book and there is Freight Train. I'd heard it by many people, including Elizabeth Cotten and Tommy Emmanuelle. This was, I assumed, a simplifed version that ran about 16 bars. I plucked through it a time or two, then listened to the version presented in the lesson. After spending just a few minutes with the song, I knew I could nail this one. I've been practicing it for a couple of weeks now. It's not at performance level, but I feel this was the right song at the right time.

What I'm asking is, what's next? I will continue the lessons, and I don't know what's on the next page, but this is the first time in a year where I felt like I was 'playing a song,' and I want more.

Can you think of any songs that are similar in complexity to Freight Train that I could tackle next?

Hope this makes sense.
Thanks

[TiffanyGuitar]

I have some other good Travis picking songs. I will look them up and post later today. Freight train was my first and I still play it fairly often - I use it as a warm up sometimes.

One of them I also play often is Yankee Doodle Dixie. May not be PC today, but it is fun to play and was a tremendous challenge to learn.

I will look up some others for you later this evening.

[Dave Hicks]

Jorma Kaukonen's video lessons for Homespun have some good stuff in them, which is not too hard, e.g. Hesitation Blues and San Fran Bay Blues.

D.H.

[dbvirago]

Originally Posted by TiffanyGuitar

I have some other good Travis picking songs. I will look them up and post later today. Freight train was my first and I still play it fairly often - I use it as a warm up sometimes.

One of them I also play often is Yankee Doodle Dixie. May not be PC today, but it is fun to play and was a tremendous challenge to learn.

I will look up some others for you later this evening.

Thanks. Yeah, I can see me playing Freight Train forever. What a cool song.

[dbvirago]

Originally Posted by Dave Hicks

Jorma Kaukonen's video lessons for Homespun have some good stuff in them, which is not too hard, e.g. Hesitation Blues and San Fran Bay Blues.

D.H.

I'll check that out. thanks!

[TiffanyGuitar]

Casey Jones was the second one I learned, right after Freight Train.

Also, Never Let Your Deal Go Down is another Etta Baker tune.

Doc Watson - Deep River Blues is another.

I play Windy & Warm by Chet Atkins a good bit too.

[dbvirago]

He's got a lot of stuff on there. Is there one you recommend for my level?

[TiffanyGuitar]

Any of the Etta Baker tunes.

[reeve21]

Freight Train was my first fingerpicking tune, too. My second was My Creole Belle by John Hurt. I still play it often, it a a great one for adding little variations. Check it out!

[dbvirago]

Originally Posted by TiffanyGuitar

Casey Jones was the second one I learned, right after Freight Train.

Also, Never Let Your Deal Go Down is another Etta Baker tune.

Doc Watson - Deep River Blues is another.

I play Windy & Warm by Chet Atkins a good bit too.

Good stuff. Thanks. I would love to play Windy & Warm, but that may have to wait a bit.