Fingerstyle/fingerpicking, or "learning to play for the first time again"

[BluesKing777]

Originally Posted by reeve21

Thanks for that, Barry. I may tape it to my mirror. I’m trying to learn Larry Pattis’s DADGAD arrangement of Ashokan Farewell which is way above my level at any speed, but slow certainly working better than fast

I may tape a copy all over my house!

Another thing that may, sometimes, perhaps, work with tunes that are 'above your level' is to break down the ingredients...ie: just play the treble part/s and leave poor old overworked thumb out for a while. Sometimes I never get the bass part.....ever, but enjoy the melody or riff very much....and have used it in other things!


BluesKing777.

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by BluesKing777

I may tape a copy all over my house!

Another thing that may, sometimes, perhaps, work with tunes that are 'above your level' is to break down the ingredients...ie: just play the treble part/s and leave poor old overworked thumb out for a while. Sometimes I never get the bass part.....ever, but enjoy the melody or riff very much....and have used it in other things!


BluesKing777.

Hey BK, David Hamburger is a big proponent of something like what you are talking about, he calls it the horizontal three step. Play the melody, play the bass, and the third step is trying to put them together. I know thumb independence is a controversial topic and I’m not sure I believe in it, but this approach has helped me.

[BluesKing777]

Originally Posted by reeve21

Hey BK, David Hamburger is a big proponent of something like what you are talking about, he calls it the horizontal three step. Play the melody, play the bass, and the third step is trying to put them together. I know thumb independence is a controversial topic and I’m not sure I believe in it, but this approach has helped me.

David Hamburger's material is so 'definite' for want of a better word that just playing his lead riff leaves a smile. And some of his bass notes never get back, let alone some of his chords! My guitars must have the wrong notes


BluesKing777.

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by BluesKing777

David Hamburger's material is so 'definite' for want of a better word that just playing his lead riff leaves a smile. And some of his bass notes never get back, let alone some of his chords! My guitars must have the wrong notes


BluesKing777.

Yes, I could listen to him improvise all day

[BluesKing777]

Originally Posted by reeve21

Yes, I could listen to him improvise all day

Yep, and he can improvise all day and night!

And that Martin 00-18 (1956?) looks like one I was keeping an eye on a few years back - and somebody bought! Dave got it! It had the same sort of 'school desk' look to the top plus red 50s??? guard....

And P.S. - Dave's stuff is even harder slow!

BluesKing777.

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by BluesKing777

Yep, and he can improvise all day and night!

And that Martin 00-18 (1956?) looks like one I was keeping an eye on a few years back - and somebody bought! Dave got it! It had the same sort of 'school desk' look to the top plus red 50s??? guard....

And P.S. - Dave's stuff is even harder slow!

BluesKing777.

He loves that guitar, it is the only one I've seen him play in his monthly lesson series. There was quite a bit of discussion about it on his forum page, too.

One of those would fit right in your lineup, BK!

[BluesKing777]

Originally Posted by reeve21

He loves that guitar, it is the only one I've seen him play in his monthly lesson series. There was quite a bit of discussion about it on his forum page, too.

One of those would fit right in your lineup, BK!

To console myself at the time when someone else bought it, I headed to the guitar shop and came home with 1 of only 4 first flush CEO7s......way bigger neck than the old 00-18.

BluesKing777.

[LakewoodM32Fan]

Originally Posted by TBman

One of my biggest break throughs in finger style was realizing that I can learn anything if I go slow enough.

Words of wisdom, which I have also slowly come to the realization apply to me as I've been plugging through improving during the pandemic. If I try and blast through learning something, I crash and burn and get frustrated. If I play it slowly and deliberately enough, sure, I'll sound like a turntable that is busted and playing at way too slow of a speed...but eventually something will click with muscle-memory and suddenly I'll be able to play much closer to actual speed!

I am definitely a tortoise, not a hare.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by reeve21

I’m trying to learn Larry Pattis’s DADGAD arrangement of Ashokan Farewell which is way above my level at any speed, but slow certainly working better than fast

Hi Bob,

I knew someone had to have done a DADGAD arrangement! Thanks for the tip. I have a standard arrangement done by Clive Carroll, but I'll look for Larry's now.

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by TBman

Hi Bob,

I knew someone had to have done a DADGAD arrangement! Thanks for the tip. I have a standard arrangement done by Clive Carroll, but I'll look for Larry's now.

Barry, send Larry a pm and he will get it right off to you. And you can find a YouTube where his hands are fairly visible. He recorded it on a fine album called “Hands of Time”. Incredible timing, dynamics and tone on that disc.

It’s project tune for me but should be right in your wheelhouse.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by reeve21

Barry, send Larry a pm and he will get it right off to you. And you can find a YouTube where his hands are fairly visible. He recorded it on a fine album called “Hands of Time”. Incredible timing, dynamics and tone on that disc.

It’s project tune for me but should be right in your wheelhouse.

Thanks Bob!

Actually I started transposing the standard I have by Jay Unger into DADGAD on my own. Its only 2 pages and I'm just dropping everything down two steps which makes it easy (everything on the 6th, 2nd and 1st strings are the same fret locations per the original tab - just different notes ). I'll play around with the fret locations for the bass and fillers and I think it'll be ok. I may have to dance around the harmonics, but I didn't get to them yet in the process

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by TBman

Thanks Bob!

Actually I started transposing the standard I have by Jay Unger into DADGAD on my own. Its only 2 pages and I'm just dropping everything down two steps which makes it easy (everything on the 6th, 2nd and 1st strings are the same fret locations per the original tab - just different notes ). I'll play around with the fret locations for the bass and fillers and I think it'll be ok. I may have to dance around the harmonics, but I didn't get to them yet in the process

Barry, thanks for mentioning Clive Carroll's arrangement, I was not aware of it. I found a link for it on Tony Rowden's website which I will paste below in case anyone else is interested. I look forward to hearing your version

https://tonyrowden.co.uk/TABS/Ashoka...well%20pdf.pdf

[TBman]

Originally Posted by reeve21

Barry, thanks for mentioning Clive Carroll's arrangement, I was not aware of it. I found a link for it on Tony Rowden's website which I will paste below in case anyone else is interested. I look forward to hearing your version

https://tonyrowden.co.uk/TABS/Ashoka...well%20pdf.pdf

I'm not transposing Clive's arrangement though, just to be clear. I also had Jay's arrangement as an older guitarpro file. I've had on it my hard drive for a few years and never got around to learning it.

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by LakewoodM32Fan

Words of wisdom, which I have also slowly come to the realization apply to me as I've been plugging through improving during the pandemic. If I try and blast through learning something, I crash and burn and get frustrated. If I play it slowly and deliberately enough, sure, I'll sound like a turntable that is busted and playing at way too slow of a speed...but eventually something will click with muscle-memory and suddenly I'll be able to play much closer to actual speed!

I am definitely a tortoise, not a hare.

Mark Hanson’s Contemporary Travis Picking and Art of Solo Fingerstyle are bargains for the amount of beginner to advanced fingerstyle technique they teach. Both just celebrated their 30th year anniversaries which says a lot for their longevity/popularity. Check out www.markhansonguitar.com.

FWIW, Mark told me that most folks try to play too fast. It’s not a speed race. Check out Ed Gerhard, master of making moderate tempo sound amazing. I also read an interview with Julian Lage where he said he loves to practice slowly for a long time on an arrangement to really connect with it.