Fingerstyle repertoire

[Deliberate1]

Friends, I am about 8 months into a fingerstyle deep dive, which includes weekly live ZOOM lessons. In that time, I have worked on Freight Train, Keep It Clean, Anji (simplified version), Baby Please Don't Go, Deep River Blues, Bicycle Built For Two, Green Green Rocky Road and, currently, Willie Brown's Mississippi Blues, which is the most challenging so far. But I am slogging my way through it, and find it well worth the effort.
I would eventually like to build a varied repertoire of tunes to have in my back pocket. And so I am reaching out for your suggestions. What I am interested in are popular and obscure tunes that span differerent genres and sub-genres (Delta vs Piedmont, etc), and especially tunes that would introduce me to differerent techniques and motifs. I am not wedded to the blues, though there is just something special about it on the guitar. Songs from other traditions (ie:Jansch type), traditional, Americana, Eurasion are all good. I am game for different tunings as well.
I know y'all got universe of tunes that you love. Pick a few of your favs and share.
Thanks as always
David

[rick-slo]

David,
I have various tabs on my website of my originals and a few arrangements of classic tunes like Freight Train and Deep River Blues. None are beginner versions however.

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

David,
I have various tabs on my website of my originals and a few arrangements of classic tunes like Freight Train and Deep River Blues. None are beginner versions however.

Derek, thanks for the head's up. I will surely check out your site.
Frankly, at this point, there is not much that is not a challenge for me. But I have been so far over my head since picking up a guitar three years ago, I have forgotten what it feels like. Not such a bad thing. One thing I have discovered is how that seemingly impossible, mind-bending measure (like the turn around in Mississippi Blues) becomes doable with perserverence. I got more of that than I thought.
Best,
David

[airborne1]

I will be following this post, as I too, am looking for some fingerstyle blues that would be suitable for someone starting out.

[sprucetophere]

I would recommend this (https://www.dancholloway.com/index.html) site.

A ton of great fingerstyle arrangements and his video explanations/teachings to accompany the tabs.

Robert

[Headless Axeman]

Some favorites, with a variety of styles:

More Van Ronk: Come Back Baby and He Was A Friend of Mine.

Basically every John Prine Song.

If We Were Vampires by Jason Isbell.

Bloom by the Paper Kites.

Moon In The Water by Dawes.

Naked As We Came by Iron & Wine.

[TBman]

Check out Woody Mann, Toby Walker and if you want to give DADGAD a shot, Al Petteway does some bluesy stuff in that tuning. Stefan Grossman too.

[Jdogblues]

On a similar path. I'm getting into Jorma Kaukonen, Roy Book Binder, etc. Basically the guys who came out of the 60's rediscovery era.

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by Jdogblues

On a similar path. I'm getting into Jorma Kaukonen, Roy Book Binder, etc. Basically the guys who came out of the 60's rediscovery era.

Thanks all for the high quality and varied suggestions. Lots of good stuff there, particularly John Prine. I've alwys been so impressed with the power of the simple song. And no one does it better.
Jdog, the version of Mississippi Blues I am working on is probably Roy Book Binder's. My tabs follow seem to mirror his video, as far as I can tell,
David

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFcG...okbinder-Topic

[davidbeinct]

If there’s a cooler song title in the Piedmont repertoire I don’t know what it is.

[reeve21]

David, I’ll second the other David’s John Hurt recommendation. Grossman, Miller, Walker and Feldmann are all great for teaching materials. Mermaids might be a bit of stretch at first, you might want to start with Creole Belle or Spike Driver.

MJH is a right of passage for blues oriented fingerpicking students. You won’t regret any time you spend with him.

Good luck!

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by davidbeinct

If there’s a cooler song title in the Piedmont repertoire I don’t know what it is.

David, that is a cool song. But it is worth knowing if for no other reason than to introduce it.
David

[davidbeinct]

Originally Posted by reeve21

David, I’ll second the other David’s John Hurt recommendation. Grossman, Miller, Walker and Feldmann are all great for teaching materials. Mermaids might be a bit of stretch at first, you might want to start with Creole Belle or Spike Driver.

MJH is a right of passage for blues oriented fingerpicking students. You won’t regret any time you spend with him.

Good luck!

Pretty sure that one would be a stretch for me right now but I definitely plan on learning it eventually. I’m slowly getting my repertoire back to where it was before the shoulder break and I’m pleased to find I’m picking it up mostly from where I left off but I want to get my old stuff back before I start anything new.
As to David’s question another great one is Midnight Special. You could start with an easy version and work towards the way Merle Travis played it.

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by reeve21

David, I’ll second the other David’s John Hurt recommendation. Grossman, Miller, Walker and Feldmann are all great for teaching materials. Mermaids might be a bit of stretch at first, you might want to start with Creole Belle or Spike Driver.

MJH is a right of passage for blues oriented fingerpicking students. You won’t regret any time you spend with him.

Good luck!

Just listened to My Creole Belle. Don't get much sweeter than that. And his voice is in my legitimate range. That one is high on my dance card. Then I'll go from there. Thanks for the suggestion, and those made by others.
David

[Jdogblues]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

Thanks all for the high quality and varied suggestions. Lots of good stuff there, particularly John Prine. I've alwys been so impressed with the power of the simple song. And no one does it better.
Jdog, the version of Mississippi Blues I am working on is probably Roy Book Binder's. My tabs follow seem to mirror his video, as far as I can tell,
David

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFcG...okbinder-Topic

I think I may actually have Roy's version in tab as well. I'll take a look.

His two instructional videos on Homespun are really fun....Jorma's too actually.