Flatpicking Essentials Vol1

7/25/2019 Flatpicking Essentials Vol1

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/flatpicking-essentials-vol1 1/101



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Contents

Infroducflon

The Hlsfory

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fhe Flelplcklng

GvlTet $tyle

lcornlng to Flotplcks A Hlslodcol Approoch

Secllon One Technlgues,Exomples, eind Exerclses

fhe Role

ol

the Rhyftm Gullan Ployer

Slmple

G Chord Rhyflrm

G,

C,

D Rhyffrm

wllh

R.epecflng

Bcss l{ofes

AJrtetncrllng Boss Llne

Wolk-ups,

Wolk-downs,

ond

lcodlng Tones

Chromerllc Wclk-Ups

cnd Wolk-Downs

Boss

R.uns-Old-fime

StVle

Half Nole Boss R.uns

The Resf

Slroke

Nletnate Plck Dlrecllon and E?gtrlr Noles

Elghth l{ofe

Runs and Flll Licks

Borrowlng

From Boss Plcycrs

G-R.uns,Hcmmer-Ons, Pull-Offs,

cnd Slldes

Crcctlng tovemenl

on

One Chord

Syncoperflon

The Bfuegrass

G Chord cnd

Nlernale

Slnrms

"lonesome

R.ood Bluestt

Exomple

Secllon Thro: Exeimples tom the FOm Archfues

"R.offlng

in tly

Sweet

Bcby's

Arms" 7n lhe StVlc

of

Chadle f,lonroe

"Bfue

Eyestt ?n lhe $fle of Roy Horvey

Rhytlrm

ln llre

Sfle of

Edd toyfteld I

Key

of G

Rhytlrm ln l|ne

Sfle

of

Jlmmy torlln

"Nlne

Pound Hnmmer" ln lfte

$fle

of

Brad Dervls

(Key

of G)

"Nlne

Pound Hcmrner" 7a lhe

Sfle

of

Brad Dervls

(Key

of C)

Key

of

C Rhylhm ln t|ne

Sfle

oi

Eqrt

Scruggs

'Tennegsee

Wcg

onet''

in llrc

$fle of Chodes Selwlelle

Key

of C

Rhytlrm ln lhe

StVle

of

Tom Poley

"Soldler's

Joy" Rhyflrm ln llre

$fle of

Rlley Puckett

"Herve

A Fecsf Here Tfonigffi" ln llre

Sfle

of

Doc Wofson

'rMolly

Pvl

the Ketlle

On"

In Jlre

Sfle of

Rlley Puckefl

Rhytfrm

ln tfre Sfy'e

ot

Edd tlcyfleld 2

(KeV

of G)

Rhyllrm 7n lhe

Style

of

Edd ftfcyfield

3

(Key

of

A)

Rhytlrm

ln fhe Sfiy'e

ol

Petet Rowon

(Key

of

A)

Rhylfrm 7a lhe

Sfiy'e

of

Chcdes

Serwfelle

(Key

of

E)

"Rogflme

AnnleD

7n ftie

gfle

of

Davld

GrTet

The R.ood Ahead

Appendlx |

:

Readlngtablclwe

AppendTx 2z

Wor{rlng Wlft A tletronorne

Appendlx

3: tlclor

9coles, Chords, ond

Arpegglos

t2

t3

l4

t5

t8

24

25

26

2A

29

32

34

36

44

50

53

55

58

60

6l

62

63

64

65

66

67

69

72

73

74

75

76

T7

79

8l

tu

I

7

82

87

89

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volurne

1:

Rhythm,

Bass Runs, and Fill

Licks



lnfuoductTon

Welcome o

the

irst

book

n

the

FlatpickingEssentials

series The

Flatpicking

Essentials

nstructional eries

is

designed o teach

you

the art

of

flatpicking the

acoustic

uitar

n a sequential,tep-by-step

ethod

hat

will

gradually

build

your

flatpickingskill

in a way that

leaves o "gaps"or "holes." While thismethodwill be

extremely

eneficial o beginners,his

series

will

also

be of

greatvalue

o

those

guitar

players

who

have

been

working

to learn how

to

flatpick for

quite some

ime,

yet

can't seem o

get

beyonda certain

plateau. f

you

are having

trouble

moving beyond

memorrzed

solos,

adding

interest and

variety

to

your

rhythm

playing,

learning ow

o

play

up-the-neck.learning

orv

o come

up

with your

own arrangements

o songs,

earnin-e

ow

to

play

by ear,or

learninghow to

improvise,

hen

his

seriess

for

you

Too many flatpickersare earninghor,vo play by

simply

memorizing

ranscribed

iddle une solos

rom

tabbooks

and

video

apes. n doing

hat hey

are earning

ineffectively

and

nefficiently.

They

are skipping

over

many vital

elements n the

learning

process

and thus

theyhave

a

weak oundation. n

this series

my

goal

s

to help

you

build a

strong

oundation

so

that

you

can

easily maintain

consistent

orward progress n

your

study

of

flatpicking.

Each

volume of

this series

presentsmaterial

hat

provides he foundation or the next volume. In this

first volume-

Rln,tlmt,

ass

Runs,

nd Fill

Licks-yoll

will

learnhow

to develop ll of

the

basicskills

you

will

need

n

order to become

a

solid rhythm

player.

This

book is

designedo teach

you

rhythm

skills

n

a

way

that

will

thoroughly

prepare ou

for

Volu

me 2,

which

is

titled, Learning Hov,

To Solo:

Carter

Sryleand

Beyoncl.

As

you

will

learn

n

the

first sectionof

this

book,

the flatpicking

guitar

style developed hronologically

along

a

very

clear ine

of

sequentialechnical

skills.

In order to learn how to flatpick fiddle tunes like

Doc

Watson, he

studentneeds o build a

foundation

similar

to the

foundation

Doc built for himself before

he

started

icking

ead

solos

on fiddle

unes.

The

first

two volumes

of this

course

resent

he

techniques nd

skills hatwere

developed n

the acoustic

uitar

during

the30s',40s, nd50s-the

pre-Doc

Watson

kills-the

skillsDoc

acquired s

part

of

buildinghis own

musical

foundation.

This

book, and the entire series,

s full of

practic

suggestionsand homework

problems.

I highly

recommend

hat

you

take he

time to

go

through

all of

the suggested

ractice

drills

and homework

problems

Your learning experiencewill

be

far richer

and more

fruitful as a result. If you haveany troublewith any

of

the

homework

problems,

please

eel free

to emai

me

([email protected]).

ut

"Flatpicking

Essentials

in

the subjectine

and

will

do

my

best o

help

you

ou

with

any

questions ou

may

have.

I have

included

a three-section

ppendix

n

this

book. If

you

arenew

to

guitar

ablature, r

run

acros

a

symbol in the

tablature or

music notation

that is

presented

n this book

that

you

are unfamiliar

with

please

efer

to the appendixon

"Reading

Tablature.

If

you

have

neverworked

,vith

metronome,

r

have

trouble working

with

a metronome,

pleasesee the

appendix

n

"Working

with

a Metronome."

Similariy

if

you

are

unfamiliar

with

major scales,

major chords

or arpesgios.

lease

efer

o

theappendixhat

discusse

these oncepts.

I wish you

the

best

of

luck

with

this book,

and he

subsequentolumes

n

this series.

I

think

that

f

you

work

through

all

of the

material hat s

presented

ere

you

will gain

a lot

more confidence

n

your

ability

to

provide

solid and nteresting hythm and

you will

be

well prepared o learn how to startplaying the guita

solos

hat are

presented

n

Volume 2. Again,

if

you

have

anyquestions, lease

eel ree o contact

me.

I wish you

the best

of

luck in

your

study

and

practice.

Dan

Mil ler

Publisher ndEditor

FlatpickingGuitar

Magazrne

In

addition o

the booklCD series.

we

also

maintai

a Flatpicking Essentialswebsite that includes extra

examples,

songs, scales, answers to

homewor

problems,

nd answers

o frequently

asked

question

You

can

check

t

out at:

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 1: Rh.vthm,Bcss Runs,

and Fil l

Licks

http : www.fl

atpick

.com/essenti

ls

ii



The ll?stoty

ol

lhe Flalp?cklng

@vllqt $fle

By Dan Mi l ler

What is

"Flatpicking"?

As the editor

of

Flatpicking

Guitar

Magaz.ine,

ne

of the

questions

hat I'm frequentlyasked

by non-guitar

playing

music

fans is

"What

is flatpicking?" Ansrvering

his

question vould

seem o be the logical place to start this chapter hat discusses

flatpicking

history. Providing a

seneral

definition of

flatpicking

right

up front

rvill

not

only

give you

an opportunity

o knorv

what

is meant vhen

use he term, but it will also

give

me a startin_q

place

rom

rvhichyour

understanding f flatpickin_u

ill

gror,v.

Over the

past

fifty

years

he art of flatpickin_e

as

steadily

changed ue o the addit ion

of

new

techniques

nd an

expansion

of the style

beyond its traditional roots and boundaries.

As

flatpickers ontinue

o

"push

he envelope"of the styleby adding

new

techniques nd explorinsnerv

musical

genres.

he definit ion

of

flatpicking

haschan_qednd

evolved.and

vill

continue o

do so

in

the future. In

order o adequately

tudy

he chan_ees

e must

firsthavea starting

efinit ion.

Plectrum versus Fingers

The

simplest,broadest. nd most

general, vay

to define

"flatpicking"

is to

say hat

t is

the ec hnique f

playin_u guitar

rvith

a flat pick

(or

plectrum).

ometimes

alled

a

"straight

ick."

versus

he use

of bare in_uers.

in_eerpicks,

r a thumbpick.

When

asked bout

why

a

-quitarist

vould

want

o use

a

single

lat

plectrum

versus

multiple ingerpicks,

humbpick,

r

bare in-{ers, an Crary

put

it

best n an article rvritten

for Frets Maga:ine

(June

1985)

by sayin-u.

The

answcr

seems o be that

he

plectrum-a

simple

piece

of

plastic.

or nylon.

or

torloiseshell.

r

r.vhatever aterial

a

player

holds

dearenough

o

hold

in his

fin,eers-is

capable

f

bringin-e omethingout of a steel-strin-uuitar that nothing else

can."

Indeed.

he tone and

volume

one can

_qet

rom usin_e

pick

to

play

a

_euitar

re

qualities

of

the

style hat

make

he

technique

very attractive

o

guitar players.

Acoustic

versus Electric

Another

element o add

o our basicdefinit ionof

flatpickin_e.

for

the

purposes

f this book.

r,vould

e to

limit its application o

the acoustic

teel-stringlat-top

guitar.

While most

electric

guitar

players

do

indeed

use a

plectrum

rvhile

performing.

the term

"flatpickins"

s not

-eenerally

pplied

o their

echnique.Because

the acoustic

guitar

does not rely

on

pickups

and amplifiers

lor volume. and

because he strings

on the

acoustic

uitar are

generallyheavier. he porver equired n the ri-eht and echnique

of a

"flatpicker"

s different han hat

of

an electric

player.

Right-

hand

echniques

mployedon the electric

_euitar

annot

ahvaysbe

cffectivcly

applied o

the

acoustic

guitar.

This

rvas

especially

rue

back

n

the early days when ittle or no

sound

einforcement

was

available

o

the

-suitarist.

hus,

he varieties f

-suitar

echniques

that come under

he

flatpickin-e

efinition.

or

the

purposes

f our

rudimentary

definition.are hose hat are ypically applied o the

acoustic

teel-string

uitar.

One of

the

rue challen,eesll flatpickers ace.

especially

n fast,

hi-uh-energy

tyles

ike

blue_erass,s learnin_eorv o

push a

thick

piece

of

plastic

throu_sh eavy

steel strings n

rapid

succession

at incredibly

high tempos. t

takes

a

stron-q

ight hand

and an

incredible

amount

of dexterity

and

endurance o

keep

pace vith

a

group

of mandolins,

anjos,and iddles

playin_e

fast bluegras

breakdown.

Driving the rhythm is

difficult

enough; aking

a

solo

in

this musical nvironmentemains

hallenging

or

players

ven

after

years

of

practice

and experience. he strength.enduranc

andspeed equired

f the latpicker nspiredone

vriter o describ

flatpickingas a

"full

contactspoft." So,

flatpicking

he

acousti

guitar

does indeed

require a different set o1' skills than

thos

required

o

play

an amplilied

electric

guitar

rvith a thin

pick

and

light--uau-re

trings.

Due

to the divergent

ight-handskil l set

inherent

o the acoustic nd

electric

_ruitar,

ve

will

only

apply

he

"flatpicking"

erm to the steel-strin_ecoustic

euitar.

Nlusical

Genre

The third

element hat

rve

need o add o our basic latpickin

definition s

that of musical

genre.

The term flatpickingoriginate

rvith

early lead acoustic

quitar

layers

n traditional

country

and

blue-crassusic

vho

used

plectrum.

hey devised he

flatpick

term in order to distinguish heir technique rom "fingerstyle

players

rvho

used fin_eer-picks,humb-picks.or

bare

fingers

o

pick

the strin-es;Merle Travis,

Chet

Atkins, Maybe lle Carle

Lester

Flatt.

CarterStanley.Edd Mayfield,

and

others.

.vere arly

country/bluegrasslayers vho

used

a fingerstyle.

r

thumb-pic

style

echnique.

Because

he origins

of the term

"flatpickin_e"

_srew

ut o

traditional

ountry.old-time.early olk. andblue-erass usic-and

the erm is most

eenerally

sed

n

these ircles-our

most basi

delinition

of flatpicking

rvill

be

limited to

genres

of

America

roots music

that

rvere

raditionally

played

on an acousticstee

string

guitar.

n regard

o

genre.

latpicking s typically defined

n

terms

of the

music

originally

played

by the

style's ive

"foundin

fathers": Doc Watson. Clarence White, Norman Blake. Dan

Crary,

and Tony

Rice. Holvever,as

we rvill

discuss

ater

in

the

"pioneers"

ection f

thischapter,hese estiguished

uitarists id

not necessarily

invent"

the style,

and

he

standardshat they se

dor,vn

ack n the60s,70s. nd80s.are

continually eing

edefine

by

generations

f nerv

players.

Other

Factors

As rve

pro-qress

hronologically

throu_sh

he

history of

flatpickin-e

ur definition s

going

o expanddue o

various

actor

such as

guitar

design.

echnolo_eicaldvancesn amplif icatio

and

sound e-enforcement.

he

srorvth

of

the radio

broadcastin

Flatpicking Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm,

Bass Runs, and

Fill Licks



and recording

ndustries,

he

accessibility

f teachingmaterials,

and

the introduction

of

new

senres

of music to the flatpicking

repertoire.

n addition, various

technical

advances nd

creative

nuances

ntroduced y

key

flatpicking

artistsover the

last

f ive

decades

will

also serve o broaden ur definition.As flatpickin,u's

founding

fathers and

their followers began expanding their

reperloire,

latpicking

grew far

beyond

ts

traditional

oots.

Basic Definition

As Dan

Crary

hassaid.

With

flatpicking,

t

isn't

ust

what t

originally

vas;

t 's also

vhat

t 's becoming."

With

that said. or

the

ime

being. et us define latpicking s a technique f

playing

American

roots music on the

acoustic

steel-strin_e

uitar

using a

flatpick.

From

this starting

point,

et's

nor.v egin

o explore

how

history

has

broadenedhat

definition

by dividin-e he development

of

flatpicking

nto four separate

ras.

The Pioneer

Era

(Pre-Doc

Watson)

Historically, ,ve

anbreakdor.vnhe development f

flatpicking

into four

distinct eras.

While

the term

flatpickin_q

nd its

appl icat ion

n the

acoust ic

ui tar

original ly

ame

o

prominence

in themid-to-latc1960s vhen rlhel "Doc" Watson e_uanicking

fiddle unes

n his acoustic

_uuitar.

atson id

not

nvent

his style

of

,cuitar

layin-e

n a

vacuum.

here

were nfluences

hat eadhim

to develophis

technique

nd

thus

rve rvil l rcf 'er

o the first era

in

the

history

of

flatpicking. vhich

pre-dated

Doc Watson,as

he

"Pioneer"

Era. While the

guitar

tselfhasa very ong history, nd

the steel-string

uitar

dates

ack

o around1900.

we

are

going

o

confine

ur

discussion

f

the

Pioneer

ra o the ime

betrveen

92 0

and he

early 1960s.

and

traditional roots music in

general,

occurred in August of

Guitarists of this era

rvho

influenced future

generations

of

1927 vhen Ralph

peer

of the

Victor Talking Machine Company

flatpickers

include old-time

players

such as

Riley

Puckett. Tom

came to Bristol. Tennessee

o

audition and record musicians n

Paley, Frank

Hutchison

and

Roy

Harvey; traditional

country

that region. Jimmic

Rodgersand the Carter Family

where among

performers

such as Maybelle Cafier, Jimmie Rodgers, Doc

those selected or

peer's

recordings.

which

subsequently

elped

Addington.

the Delmore

Brcthers,

the Blue Sky Boys, Charlie

propagate

he

guitar

styles of Rod-sers nd the Carter

Family's

Monroe,

Joe Maphis, and Hank Snorv; bluegrass

players

such

Maybelle Carter. Rodgers'

plectrum

style

consisted

of rhythmic

as Lester Flatt, Edd Mayfield.

Jimmy

Martin.

George Shuffler.

strums

punctuated

by bass notes. bass uns and shon

lead lines

Bill Napier,

and Don Reno: early

jazz

players

such as Django

Although Maybelle

Caner used

a thumbpick and fingers, her

Reinhardt, Nick Lucas, Eddie Lang, and Charlie

Christian;

and

chord-melody

style

(picking

the melody

rvith

her thumb

while

early western

swing

guitarists

such as Sleepy Johnson,Herman

insening

chordal strums with her fingers) s easily adapted o the

Arnspiger-,

nd DerrvoodBrorvn.

flatpicking tyleand

has

beenused

extensively y

all f latpickin

The earliest

plectrum players

n old-time and country music

-suitarists.

Both Jimmie

Rodgers

and

Maybelle

Carter's

guitar

typically

combineda heavy useofbass

runs rvith

rhythmic strums.

styles

nfluenced

many early countly and bluegrass

players.

and

Occasionally hey would throw in short runs

(mostly

on the bass

that nfluencecontinues

o

this

day.

stdngs)

used

as an

embellishment o

a bass ine or as a fill at the

The next

group

of influential

guitar players

came to

popularity

end of a vocal line. Many old-time

players

such as Riley Puckett

in country music shortly

after Jimmie

Rodgesand he Caners and

(lvith Gid Tannerard the Skillet Lickers) and Roy Harvey (with included guitadst from the

,,brother,'

groups ike CharlieMonroe,

Charlie Poole and

the

Nonh

Carolina

Ramblers)made heavy use

Doc Addington. the

Delmore Brothers. he Blue Sky

Boys. Edd

of bass ines n their

guitar playing,

especially

when

he bands hey

Mayfleld, and others. Although

their

techniqueswere rudimentary

performed

with

did not have a bass

player.

Other early string band

by today's standards.hese

guitarists

were among he first to

play

players,

such

as

Sleepy Johnson,

Derwood Brown, and Herman

lead

guitar

in the

flatpick style and thus their contribution

is of

Arnspiger

adopted a similar style. While this style of

guitar

greatvalue

o the

chonological

developmentofflatpicking.

playing

is

not

prevalent

oday among

modern

bluegrass

layers,

During the

1950'sbluegrass

music's

ead

guitar pioneer

due

mostly

to the inclusion of a string bass

player

in bluegrass

included Don Reno and

George

Shuffler. Although Reno

was

bands. this style is wonhy of study for any

player who wishes

primarily

knorvn

as a banjo

player,

his

guitar work is significan

to improve their understanding, nowledge. and skill in

playin-r

because,n a tune

called

,Country

Boy Rock

and Roll". he was he

acoustic

hythm

guitar.

In this book

we

will focusa ot oftime and

first to record a bluegrass ead

guitar

solo.

As Dan Crary likes to

effort on studying he style

of the early

latpicking

pioneers.

say.

The

first recorded

latpickingblue_urassolo

was by

a banjo

A

significant event

in

the evolution

of early

guitar playing,

player playing

a rock

and roll tune "

Flatpiching

Essentials

Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bo,ss uns, and

Fill

Lichs

Guitar

Pioneer Rilev Puckett



Reno'sguitar

style

ncorporated

strong

melodic

sense ombined

rvith

flashy

uns, he

use of harmonized cales, nd variousother

effects

suchas a quick

descending

lissando,

.e. ,

slidingdorvn

the fretboard

rom a high note

to a low note. George

Shuffler's

introduction

of

the crosspicking

echnique

n his work with

the

Stanley

Brothers n

the late 1950s

and early 1960s

provided

a

rvay

or flatpick guitarplayers

o

"fill

up the space

betlveen

ocal

pauses"

with

arpeggiated

olls,

similar to roll

patterns

used by

banjo players.

The

crosspicking oll could also be intertrvined

rvith

melodic

bass ote eads.

s n the Carterstyle,by substituting

Maybelle

Carter's

strums

vith

Shuffler'scrosspicking

olls. This

technique

dded

more

extureand nterest o the flatpickingstyle.

The

most

si,snificant

ontributions o flatpicking rom the

azz

r,vorld

came from Django

Reinhardt and Nick Lucas. Django

Reinhardt's uitar

wizardry

has

nfluenced very

guitarplayer vho

hashad

he opportunity

o

hear

his recordings.Doc Watson eard

Django

Reinhardt's

ecords s

a boy r,vhen e attended

school

or

the blind

in Ralei-eh, orth

Carolina. t is

said hat Clarence

White

carrieda

box

of

Reinhardt

ecordings

n cassetteapes n

his

car.

Direct quotes

rom

Reinhardt ecords

anbe heard n a numberof

flatpickin-e

olos

by a varietyof

prominent

latpickin_e

-euitarists.

Nick Lucas

had

a

lon_q

nd

distinguished areer

s a

jazz

-euitaristtarting vithhis first recordin_esn 1922.and vas major

influence

on lar_qe

umbers

of

jazz

_quitarists

,vho vould

follorv

him.

His

mostdirect nfluence

n flatpickers, owever.

ame

ro m

oneof his nstructional

ooks.Doc Watson as

said,

I

ordered

-cuitar

rom

Sears ndRoebuck

and herecamea

book

r,vith

t rvith

different

ittle

songs n

there hat

you

could

latpick. t

showed he

old-time

azz

gurtarist

ick Lucas:

t shor,vedor,v e heldhis

pick.

My

youngest

rother.David,

shorvedme hor,v ucas heldhis

pick,

and

hat'shorv learned

o

hold mine."

Although

you may not hea

a lot

of Nick Lucas

icks in today's latpicking,

his

instruction

book surelyhad an

nfluence

on the

young

Doc Watson.

During

the

pioneer

era of

flatpicking

history,developments

n

radio and recording

echnologyallowed regional music to

reac

wide-ranging

udiences.

or the irst

ime, he

pioneers

f

music

stylesand

genres

rom

various egions

of the country

were able

o

hearand

be nfluenced

y

guitarists

rom otherareas f the Unite

States

nd

around

he

globe.

Old-timemountainmusicians

rom

th

Appalachian

egion

and

raditional ountrymusicians

erformin

in the southern

tates vere

able o hear

vestern

wing

rom Texa

and

Oklahoma.blues performers

rom the MississippiDelta,

an

jazz

musicians rom

the

northem states nd New Orleans.Thus

the

playin-e

tyles

of

acoustic uitarists

rom many

genres

f root

musicbegan

o havean

nfluence n

hedevelopment f

flatpickin

as

it began

o take

shape n the early 1960s.The influence

o

mainstream

azz,

Gypsy

azz,

Celtic music, Western

srving,

oc

and roll.

blues.and various

other

forms

of American

and world

music has

continually

broadenedhe flatpicking

guitar

style.

The Heroes

Era

Arthel

"Doc"

Watson

s

the man

who

is typically vier.ved

the "father" of the flatpickin_etyle. While he 'uvas laying in a

danceband.Jack Will iams

and

the Country Gentlemen,

n

th

mid-to-late

1950s,Doc was

called

upon to

play

fiddle uneson

the

-suitar.

Williams'

banddid not have

a

fiddle player about90o

of the time. however.

he dancehalls

that hired the band

rvoul

usually

vant

hem o

do a square

ance et.

Will iams,

who

ha

heardDoc

fooling

around vith

a ferv fiddle tunes

on

the

guita

su_e-eested

hat Doc learn

horv to

play

lead

on some

iddle tune

Flatpicking

vs.

Fingerstyle

In America, ftom the 1800shrough he 1930s, heguitar rvasprimarily usedasa rhythm instrument n anensemble ettingor

as an nstrument

hat a solo vocalist used o accompanyhis or her

singing. Typically the

ensemble

uitadst

would strum rhythm

rvith a

pick

as this technique

produced

a louder volume. and

the full "punchy" chordal

sound of the strum of

the

pick

across

the

-suitar's

trings

provided

a nice rhythmic backdrop or the rest

of

the

band. One of the reasons hat

the

guitar player

did not

usually

take solos n the ensemblesettingwas

that

he small-bodied

acoustic

guitars

of this era simply did not

posses

ufficient

volume

to be heard as a lead

instrument. By comparison,mandolins. banjos,

iddles, and homs

are much louder ensemble

lnslruments.

On the other

hand,

when

the

guitar

was being

played

by a solo vocalist

such as a

traditional Delta blues

guitar player,

he

fingerstyle

echniquewas

more effective han

playing

with a

pick.

A fingerstylist

can

play

a melody line with

his or her nngers

while conlinuing

to thump a steadybassline rhythm with the

thumb. Using fingerstyle

echnique. he

player

is able to

provide

both ead and hythm simultaneously. his

is much more difficult to accomplishwhen

utilizing the flatpicking

echniquebecause

rvhen ead ines

are being

played

with the flatpick, the rhythm strum

drops out by necessity.

Early-on we can

see

a

trend starting o develop

which

continues o this day in

the

world

of acoustic

steet-string

uitar playing.

Fingerstyleplayers end to be either solo instrumentalists r vocalistswho accompany heir singing with the acousticguitar,

while

flatpickers

can mainly be found

performing

with ensembles.

he intricaciesof

the fingerstyle echniquecan somerimes

clashwith other nstruments

n an ensemble etting.while the ingerstylecombination

ofmelody and hythm

make his technique

ideal

for solo

pedormance.

Conversely, he sparse ingle-string ead lines

of traditional flatpicking

don't typically

provide

a

very full

sound when this technique s used

solo.

but fits

pedectly

in

an ensemblesetting with

the other instrumentsholding

the rhythm. The

flatpicking techniquealso brings more volume out

of the acoustic

guitar

and

thus s

ideal

for strong and

full

rhythmic

accompaniment or

other

instruments.

With time

the

world

of flatpicking hasevolved t echnique-wise

o the

point

where

super-charged

tylesofCarter-style

picking

combined with intdcate

crosspickinghave allowed

performers

such as Norman

Blake, David Grier,

Steve

Kaufman. ard Dan

Crary

to

perform

solo rvith the flatpick

style.

In

the early

days

of the style, however, latpicking

techniquewas mainly reserved

for use with an

ensemble.

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs, and

Fill

Licks



The Flatpicker's

Guitar

During

the latpickingPioneerEra,

he

guitar

underrventmany

designchan_ees

nd

technological dvances.Most

of the modifications hat rvhere

made

to

the guitar's

materialsand

physical

design

after

1900 ,vereor

the

purpose

of making it louder.

Steel-strin-qsadbeen ntroduced round

900.A strengthening

f theX-bracepattern,

rvhichguitar

buildersbeganusingaround

1850, ot

only

allowed

he

guitar's

op

to

support he tensionof

steel

stringswhen

they

rvere

ntroduced,

ut also allowed

or

rviderbody styles, ,vhich ave he guitar he ncreased olumeand esonance layers

rvere

seekin-e.

It was

during the PioneerEra that

he coveted

every

flatpicker

has

o

have

one"

style

-tuitar

was invented.Due

to i ts

volume,

one, and unique voice,

he

Martin

Dreadnou-eht uitar

became

he

perfect

flatpicker's ool. Doc

had

one, Clarence

had

one,

Tony

had one, Norman had

one. and

n

the

early days of flatpicking.

nearly

every

other

flatpickerhad to have

one too. The Martin D-18

(mahogany)

and

D-28

(roservood)

readnought

uitars

made

durin_she Martin

Company's

Golden

Era"

(1934

hrough 1945)have ahvays

been he standard

y

rvhich

all

flatpicking

guitars

aremeasured.

Since most of the early

Pioneer

Era flatpickers vere

not

playing

Dreadnou_eht

guitars,

we

can't say

that

the Dreadnought

tyle

guitar

helped

define latpickin_e

until we reached

he next

era

n the

evolution f f latpicking.

The Dreadnought

tylc,

horvever. vas

nvented. mprovedupon

and came nto high

re,eard-especially

n

bluegrass

ircles-durin-c

he

Pioneer

ra .

Martin originallymanufactured

he

Dreadnought-size

ody style

under heDitson

name

rom l9l6

through he

ate 1920s.

he first Dreadnought

uitars

hat

carried

the

Martin

name

were

ntroducedn l93l

anddesignateds

styles

D-l andD-2. The

"Dreadnought"

ame vas

adapted fter

he

British

Dreadnought varships,

hich

had

a

similar

rvide

shape.Thesemodels eatured

welve-fretnecks

12

frets

clear

of the

body) and slotted eadstocks.he D-1

had mahogany

ack and

sides'nvhile

he D-2

had roservood

ack

and

sides.

n

1934 he D-l and

D-2 models ,vere

iscontinued.

The D-l

rvas

modified

o

include

a fourteen-fr et eck

and renamed

he

D-18.

Th e

fourteen-fret ersion

of t he D-2 became

he

D-28.

As Flatpicking Changes,so Does he Flatpicker's Guitar of Choice

Although the Martin Dreadnought s still

prominent

oday-and thoseMaftins

that were built during the "Golden Era" are still

the most coveted-many

players

have moved

on to Dreadnoughfstyle

guitars

hat are madeby other

builders.

The bass esponse

of the

Manin

D-28 made it a

great

rhythm

guitar,

especially

n the bluegrass

setting. Early bluegrass

players who primarily

filled the rhythm roll in the band, whose

bands

played

around one microphone,

and who kept their lead work in the areaof the

first four

or

five frets loved

the

D-28.

As sound e-enforcement

echnology mproved

and

players

began o

play into individual

microphones, he D-28 could sound oo

"boomy"

to some

playem

and

they opted or the soundof the D- l8 which had a stronger

treble

presence

nd cut through the sound

of

the

other nstrumentsbetter when

they took solos.

As flatpicking

solos becamemore intricate and flatpickers

explored areasup-the-neck

more frequently, especially

when

playing

music outside of the bluegrass

genre.

latpickers

began to seek Dreadnought

style

guitars

that could

provide

a more

"modem" sound.They

sought

Dreadnought

designs hat

provided

a

bettermid-rangeand reble response han the standardD-18

or

D-28

Manin

provided.

especially n those up-the-neck

areas.Builders such as

Taylor, Collings and SantaCruz began o filI

this void in the 1980s.

With the mprovementsmade n sound einforcementover the years,volume is no longer such a big issue.For decades, ound

re-enforcement

or the acoustic

guitar

consistedof

pick-up

systems hat made he

acoustic

guitar

sound

very

brittle or

"nasal."

Early

pickups

removed

he

rvarm woody

tones hat made

players

fall in love with the

sound of the acoustic

guitar.

n order to

achievean adequate cousticsound when played

hrough a PA

system, he only solution was to

use

a high-quality microphone

and hope

that

you

had a

good

soundman.Today the

situation has changedand many

players

are not only finding bener external

microphones.

but

are also

taking

advantage

f blendedsystemswhich

help maidtain he walm tone

of the

asoustic

guitar

when

it is amplified.

With volume less

of a concem, some latpickersare norv using

smaller body styles vhich are

generally

more

comfortable

o

play

than the arge Dreadnoughts.

Just

as

our definition offlatpicking

techniquechanges ver time, the tools that flatpickersuse

to

practice

heir craft have also changed.

Flatpicleing

Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm,

Bass Runs, and Fill

Licks



heroes ony Rice.

RussBarenberg, ndDan

Crary

were

available,

followed later

by

video

tapes

essons rom

Norman Blake and

Doc Watson.

Additionally,

Russ

Barenberg

rvrote

a book

of

Clarence

White

transcriptions.SteveKaufman and

JoeCarr also

began o release, hrough both HomespunTapes

and Mel Bay

Publications,

continuous tream f

quality

nstructionalmaterial.

As

time

progressed

ranscription ooksof nearly

every

prominent

flatpicker

ecame

vailable. ddit ionally, ideo

essons

y second

generationpickers

such

as David

Grier, Tim Stafford, Kenny

Smith,James lan

Shelton,

eppe

Gambetta,WyattRice.Bryan

Sutton,Orrin Star.Brad Davis,

Dix

Bruce. and

others

were

also

madeavailable.

In addition o

quality

nstructional

ooks,CDs,and

videos

many

instructional orkshops,

linics,

nd

seminars egan

opping

pal l

over he country.Most notably,

SteveKaufman'sAcousticKamps

in Tennessee.

amp

Bluegrass n Texas,Rockygrass

cademy n

Colorado,RoanokeBluegrassWeekend n Vir_einia,

luegrass t

the Beach n Oregon,

and

many

others

made

t easy or flatpicking

enthusiastso

spend ime

learning

from their heroes. In

1996

High View Publications

lsobe-pan

ublishin,e

latpicking

Guitar

Maga:ine, a

bi-monthly

publication

hat exploresall aspects

f

flatpickin-q

he acoustic

uitar.

Prior

o the SecondGeneration

ra .

anyone vho wanted o learn horv to flatpick hadto spendhours

in front

of

a

turntable slorvin-e orvn recordingsmade

by their

heroesn

order o learn his challenging

uitar

style.By the

year

2000.anyone vho

had an interest n learnin_s

ow to flatpick had

opportunitieso learn rom any

of their

favorite

latpickers.

ither

in

person

at a

r.vorkshop

r through heir

rvritten

and videotaped

material.

Due

o the varietyof instructional

material

available

uring his

cra. he art

of flatpicking he acoustic

guitar

becamemuch more

accessible

o the average mateur latpicker.Whereas

uring

the

heroes

ra t

was

rare

o see

a local

hometown

band

vith

a

skilled

lead

guitarplayer.

by the

year

2000 here

was

a lead

guitar

player

in nearly

every bluegrass and. rom

the

ocal hometown

bands o

tourin_crofessional ands.

As the anks

of both he latpicking

professionals

ndhobbyists

have risen over

the

years.

the standard latpicking reperloire

has

also

swelled far

beyond

its

ori_einaliddle tune

banks and

borders. s flatpickers

ecome

more

experiencedhey seek

sonss

and genres

of music that

present

challen_eeseyond

those of

simple fiddle tunes.

Durin_ehe SecondGeneration

ra

far

more

Western

wing. Gypsy

azz,

Cehic, and standard

azz

tunes

and

the

techniques

hat

accompany hem) have

entered he avera-qe

flatpicker's epertoire.Today

the definition of flatpickin_r as

to

extendbeyond

he

genres

f

American oots

music

o

include

ust

aboutanythinga

player

can

perform

usinga

pick

anda steel-string

acoustic

uitar.

The Next

Generation

flatpickinghave no

boundaries

n

terms

of

genre,

or the

meldin

of

various

musical nfluences nd deas,or the

mixing of electri

andacoustic uitar

echniques.

The Next

Generation ncludes

players

such as: Cody

Kilby

John

Chapman,Josh Will iams.

Chris

Eldridge,

Andy Falco

Edward

O'Day,

Adam

Wright,

Tyler

Grant,

Matt Arcara,

Dillon

Hodges,

JustinCarbone,Matt Wingate,Jake Stargel,

Tony

Watt

MeganMcCormick.

andMo

Canada.

These

oungplayersare

no

only including influences

rom the

flatpickers

vho

came befor

them,

they

are also

incorporating nfluences

rom various othe

musical

styles o

great

effect;

furthermore. hey are doing

so in

positions

f

prominence.

ody Kilby

performswith

Ricky Skagg

JoshWilliams

toured

rvith

RhondaVincent; Chris

Eldrid-se

with

the Infamous

Stringdusters nd the Punch

Brothers;Andy Falc

rvith

Alecia

Nugentand he nfamousStringdusters;

att Wingat

with

the Lovell Sisters

nd he Greencards;

akeStargel

,vith

he

Greencards nd

he Lovell Sisters;EdrvardO'Day

with Adrienn

Young,andTyler

Grant'withDrew Emmitt.

In addition

o beingmore musically

open-minded

nd

versatil

than he average latpicker

of the

past,many

players

n the

Nex

Generation ra are also more musicallyeducated.n an

interview

with

Flatpic:king

Guitar Mogazine, Chris

Eldridge,

r,vho

has a

college egreen musicsaid. Thenervstandards to be educate

Three

generation

ack.

euys

ike Clarence.

Doc, andNorman

ver

all intuit iveplayers.

Guys ike

Tony

and

David

Grisman,

nerva

litt le

moreabout

heory. oday he

younger

musicians re

gettin

more

educated nd aking t

further.Chris

Thile thorou-ehly

norv

his

theory and he is

setting he standard

or the next

-qeneratio

The approachs

changing."

The art

of flatpicking

he acoustic

guitar

hascome

a long

rva

since he

day the

first guitarplayerpushed

a flatpick hrough

a

se

of steel

trin-rs.

While

this

chapter

as

briefly

discussedhe

variou

stages

f development

he stylehasunder_eoneuring

ts continua

grorvth.

he chapters vhich

ollorv in this

instructional eries

vil

provide

ar

sreater

nsights

hrough

more detaileddiscussions

the most prominentand influentialplayersand their mileston

recordin-es.

s

well

as examples f their echniques.

This Instructional

Series

This

is the first book in an instructionalseries hat

aims

to

teach

you

flatpicking equentially.long he chronological

ine

by

rvhich

t developed.

My feeling

s

hat

his s hemostcomplet

method

o study any musical

style or technique

ecauset

allorv

the student

o

leam

in a step-by-step

rogressive

ashion

n a

rva

that develops

kill througha

complete

and systematic

method. In

the next

chapter

rvill

outline his

approach.

We will

call the fburth era of flatpicking

guitar playin_e

he

"Next

Generation". his new

_qeneration

f

youngplayers

onsists

of those

vho

have reaped

he

benefits

of the creativity

of those

rvhohave

come before hem and have

be_euno make nnovations

of their own.

These

are

players

vho,

due o their age,never

knerv

that flatpicking

vas

once confined o

playing

fiddle

unes. They

have

-eroln

up hearingTony Rice

playrng

azz

and

nervacoustic

music

rvith

the David

Grisman

Quintet

and are using Rice

and

Grismanas

heir starting

oint.

For the most

part,

heir

deas

about

6

Fhtpicking

Essentials

Volume 1: Rhvthm.

Bass Runs.

and

Fill Licks



Kaufman,

or

Doc

Watson

don't

knorv

',vhere

o turn after they

have memorizedDoc.

Tony

or Steve's

arrangements.

They are

missing

he

oundation

hat Doc. Tony,

and Stevebuilt upon

when

they createdhoseaffangements.

Without

a strong oundation, he

building

s

always

going

o

be

weak.

So et's

ake

a ook

at horv

ve

might

go

back

and

build up

a

strong

oundation or flatpicking.

Building

a

Foundation

In almost very eature rticle hathasbeenprintedrnFlatpicking

Gttitar

Magaz.ine, ll of

the

professional

layers

hat have been

intervierved ave stated

hat

he

best

place

o staft earning s with

rhythm.

They also will tell

you

hat

vhen

hey

earned

orv o

play

there

was

no ablature,

o

hey

earnedt

all

by ear.

This s not how

most latpickersearn oday.I have

observed r,vo hings hat most

flatpicking obbyists.

vho

have eamed

horv o flatpick n the

past

fifteen

years,

have

in common. First.

not enou-qhime is spent

focusing

on

rhythm

(and

imin_e) nd. second. ot enough

ime

is

spent

on

ear raining.

I

knorv

his

is a

true statementor myself

and. rom

the

feedback

have

reccived

rom Flatpic'kini4

ttitar

Maga:irte eaders,

rvould

say t is true

for a

good portion

of the

flatpickers

vho

havestartedearning

ince ablature.ranscriptions

and videoshave becomeabundant.

If all

of

our heroes re

ell ing

us

o spend

more inie

bcusin_e

on

rhythm

and rainin_sur ear.

vhy aren't

ve

doing t? If

I

were

to

guess t an answer 'd

have

o

say hat. ir st. br niostpeople.

learnin-so

play

lead

euitar

s more

excit ingand

nteresting

ha n

playin-e

hythm.

Secondly,

earning rom

tablature

s

easier

han

learningby ear. Ear trainins

is hard rvork.

In this

book I

have

done my

best o

present

hese

rvo mportant

oundational spects

of leamin_s ow to

play

the

guitar

in

a

rvay

that I think r,vill

be

interestins nd excit ins o

vou.

Advice From the Pros:

The

Two Most mportant Aspecfs

of Learning to

PIay

the Guitar:

1) Rhythm

&

Timing

2)

Ear Training

4)

You

will

have a difficult time

coming up

with

your

orvn

solo

arrangements,

specially n

vocal

numbers.

5) Finally,

you will

havea hard

ime

playing

songs

t a

am

that

you

have

never

heard

before.

All this

rvill

lead to

you

reaching

a

plateau

n

your

prosress

You

rvill not feel

like starting

over

again.

so

you will

continue o

memorizemore iddle

unes

and

noodle

around n the

ones hat

you

alreadyknorv.

Then

you will

reach

another

plateau. Eventually

you rvill

reahze

hat

there s a lot missin,q rom

your

flatpicking

education

nd you

'uvill

not know

rvhat

o do about

t. In order o

avoid hese

pitfalls,I

recommend

ou

ourney

back

o the

roots

of

flatpicking o

begin

your

study.

After

interviewing

hundreds f flatpickers.

tudying

dozens

of

instructional ooksandvideos.

istenin-e

o hundreds f

flatpicking

CDs,

and ta lk ing

rvi th

thousands

f f la tp icking

students nd

enthusiasts,I

ave

ome

o he

conclusion

hat hebest

vay

o study

flatpicking s

directly along he evolutionary

ine that

t

developed

It took me over ten

years

of

publishingand

editin-e

latpicking

Guitar

Mago:ine

to

realize

he

importanceof the

chronologica

development

f

f latpicking

o

modern

day

students.

Nor.v 'm

convinced

f

its

mportance.

So nor.vhat 've boldly stated hat havediscoveredhe method

by

rvhich

all f latpickers hould earn

and

develop

heir craft.

I

supposehat

should

ay

out his

method

or

all to

read.The

rvay

wish

o

present

t is

o

first alk

about he

evolution f the

latpicking

technique

ere

n this chapterand su-sgesthat

a

solid

earning

method might follorv a similar

course.

I

will

then

present

some

of these

undamental

methodsand echniques

n this book. and n

those hat

ollorv

n this series.

o

hat

you rvil l

begin

o develop

very

stron-e

l

atpickin_q

oundation.

While

I

don't eel hatstrict hronolo-eicaldherence

s absolutel

necessary, do feel ike spending ome

ime

studying

eachof the

most importantplayers n the

chronological

development f the

style

rvil l

serve o

_qive

he

student

complete nderstandingf

the flatpickin-utyleand il l in anyholes n one'sknorvledge nd

or skil l.

For

instance.

n

order o develop

your

abil ity to

play

rhythm n a blue_qrass

and t is

fine to study Lester

Flatt,

Jimmy

Marlin. or Recl

Smiley

before

studyin-u

he stylesof

Riley Pucket

or Roy Harvey. Horvever.f

you

ever

wanl

o

improve

your

bass

run

repertoire.

r

i f

you

aregoing o

play n a

small

ensembleha t

doesnot nclude

string

bass.

tudyin-e

layers ike Riley Puckett

Jimmie

Rod-uers.

harlie

Monroe.EddMayfield.Tom

Paley.

r

Roy

Harvey

s highly

recommended.

However. n

general feel tha

chronolo_qical

dherence

s he

best

way o

proceed.

or nstance.

rvould

not recommendhatsomeone tudy

Doc Watson, ony Rice

or

NormanBlake

before heystudy

MaybelleCafier's

hord-melod

style or

Geor-ee

huffler's

crosspicking echnique.

You

have o

learn o add and

subtract

efore

you

learn

algebra, nd

algebra s

necessary efore

ou

try to

tackle

calculus.Learning

o

play

th e

-euitar

hould ollor,v similar

step-by-step

evelopment.

The

problenr

vith

he

.vay

ervstudents re earning

hese ays

s

that heyaremissin-q ome mpor-tantundamentals.f

you

staft

our

flatpickin_r evelopment y learning iddle

unes

rom

tablature,

predict hatyou

are

going

to run

into

some

problems.

After

you

learn ifteen

o trventy

iddle

unes

rom

tablature,

ou

may ndeed

be able o execute he memorized

rrangements

f those

unes

n a

jam

session

t a moderate

peed.

But

oneor moreof

the

bllorving

diff icult ies i l l

fall

upon

you:

I

)

You may have rouble remembering he chords vhen

you

Rhythm

and Ear

Tlaining

sran o

play

rhythm

(because

ou

never

practice

hythm).

2 Once

you

do know the chords.

you

will eventually

get

tired

As

stated

previously,

he arge majority of

professionalplayers

ofplaying the

same

old

rhythm lick

(because

here s not much

and

guitar

instructors har I have alked

with

over the

years

agree

tablatureavailable or rhythm).

that rhythm

is

the most mportant

place

o

startwhen eaming horv

3) You

will

have a

very

difficult time learning hov to

to

flatpick.

Most

will alsoagree

hat

students o not

generally

spend

improvise. You rvill "crash and

bum"

when

you

are in the

enoughtime

studying

hythm

before

hey rytomove on toplaying

middle ofa memorizedsolo and

you

will

get

ost.

lead. In the early

yeal.S

fthe steel-string lat-top

flatpick

playing,

8

ftatpiching EssentialsVolum.e1: Rhythm,

Bass

Runs,and.

Fitl Lich



the

guitar rvas

usedas

a rhythm nstrument

lmost

exclusively.

So if

our learning

method s

going

to

follow the chronological

development

f the style,

a solid ocuson

rhythm s

vherewe

need

to start. And that s

rvherewe

will

start

n this book.

Typically a

beginning

latpicker

vill

start

earningbasic irst

position

chords

vith

he

eft handand he simple

alternating

ass-

note

strum"

or

"boom-chick",

with

the

right hand. Once hat has

been ccomplished,

hen

many

students

ill

learn

a

coupleof G-run

variations,

handful

f

simplebass

uns,and henmaybe

a

couple

of alternate ight handstrumming

patterns,

ll the

while

chomping

at

the

bit to

move

on to

learnin-s ow to

play

lead.

Over

he

years

hat 've

published

latpickingGuitar

Maga:ine

I

have

requently un nto

frustrated latpickers

who are

'stuck"

n

their

development s a

rhythm

player

becausehey

feel as hough

they

only

know

a ferv

hings

and hey

play

those

same hingsover

and

over.

One

question

hat hey

will

typically

ask s

"How

can

learn more aboutbass uns?" My

answer

o

that s to

go

back o

recordings

y some f the

earliest latpickersike

Riley Puckettwith

Gid Tanner.Roy Harvey

with

Charlie

Poole.or

Edd Mayfield rvith

the

MayfieldBrothers.

Also

take

a listen

o

any of th e musicians

rvho

played rvith

he Light Crust Dou-ehboys

Herman

Arnspi-eer.

Sleepy

ohnson, r

DerrvoodBror.vn) r

any

of

the

euitar

layers

n

thebrother uets roups f earlycountrymusic MonroeBrothers.

Bluc Sky Boys.Delmore

Brothers.

tc) .

Why? Becausehese

guys

played

n

bands hat

did not

havea

bass

layer

so heir style

of rhythm rvas illed

rvith

bass uns. They

played

he

part

of

both

the

guitar

and he bass

n the

band

and so their rhythm

rvork rvas

full of

creative

nd nterestin_eicks

and uns.

Many players vho are accustomedo leaming from t ablature

are

eoing

o

say.

Where

can

find

transcriptions f these

players

so

that

I can

learn

some

of

those

qreat

ass

uns?" Well.

there

havebeen

some

ranscriptions ver

he

years

n FlatpickingGuitar

Magozine, nd have

presented goodnumberof themhere n this

book. However,another

vay

o

learn his stuff s to buy thc CDs

and

isten You rvill

not

only

hear

some

sreat

music and

-euitar

picking.but you will alsobegin o leam horv o trainyour ear. Ear

training s

a

vital pan

of

learnin-e orv o

play

the

guitar

and. ike

anything

else.

f

you

don't spend

ime

rvith

t everyday.

ou rvil l

not

-qet

ery far.

Ear Training

11'you

ry

to

stafi

your ear

rainin_u

y listenin-ro Doc

Watson

or

Tony

Rice

CDs,

you are

-eoing

o

become

rustrated.

t

is

too

hard for

a beginner

Guys that have

a very

good

ear

and have

been ranscribin_eor

years

ind it challen-einq

o transcribe ome

of

Tony

and

Doc's

stuff,

so

you

can't

expect o start rainin-u

our

ear

by listening o any

of

the modern

players.

Going

back

o some

of the early

players

and

picking

out bass uns

s not

nearly as

challengin-e

nd hus

you rvil l

begin o

develop

our

earand

gain

confidencen using

your

ear f

you

start

vith

ranscribin-r

ass uns

and rhythm.

Starting

your

ear

training

by

picking

out bass

uns on

ol d

recordingss

advanta-geousor several easons.

irst.

heensembles

are small and since here

s not

a

bass n the band he bass

uns

on

the

guitar

are easier o

hear.

Secondly. ecause

ass

uns

are

mostly

played

on the orvest

hreeor

four

strings,

nd

since

he y

areusually

played

on he

irst

hree

or four frets,

you

havea imited

area f

the retboard o

rvork

vith

n trying

o find he notes hat

you

hear.

Lastly.

he

notes

n

most

bass

note uns areusuallyat leasta

quarter

ote

n

duration. o rying o

transcribe ass

uns

s

far

easier

then

rying

to transcribe ighth-note olos.

There

are

ewer note

to

rvorryabout.

So

I hi-ehly

ecommend

hat

you

dorvnload

fer

Gid

Tanner

iddle

unes

and

ry

to figureout

Riley Puckett's

bas

runs. Work

with

the

ranscriptions nd abs hat

have

provided

n

this

book

to build

some

confidence

n

the

style

and

echnique.

u

then

isten

o some

CDs

and

ry

to

pick

out

some unson

your

own

You might be a ittle frustrated

t first,

but

you

rvill find

hat t

get

easier

vith practice

and t

is

well

rvorth

he

effort.

In workin-eo transcribe hese

hythm

runs

yourself.you are

goin

to

begin

your

ear rainingdevelopment

t

a

place

hat s

appropria

for

your

skil l evel. Plus, n

transcribing

ll of these

ass

unsby

yourself.you

are going

to learn

o internalize hem

n

a rvay ha

is

not

possible

f

you

do it

by

using tab.

You are

going

o reall

hear

how

and where

hey

are

employed

and

thus

you are

going

to

instinctively now

horv

o do it

rvhen

you go

out

and

play n

a

am

You are

going

o hear t in

your head

and

you are

eoing

o be

abl

to find it on

your

guitar

n real

ime.

That

s the

-ereat

alue

of ea

training. This

skill is

harder

o

achieve vhen earning

rom tab.

So.my suggestiono those

vho vant

o either

earn

horv o

spic

up their

bluegrass

hythm,

or

rvho want

o

learn a diffbrent

vay

accompany

fiddle,mandolin, r banjo n

a smallensemble-tha

does

not

include

a bass-is to

go

back

and isten o

someof th

earlypioneers f f latpicking nd ry to ranscribeheir hythmwor

by

ear. I f

doing

hat

qives

ou

someconfidence,hen

nove

on

up

to

the bluegrass ra

and

isten o.

and

study,

early

rhythm

maste

like

Lester

Flat t ,

Jimrny Martin.

and Red Smiley. H avin-q

pe

time

rvith

heir

predecessors.ou

may have

an

easier

ime

hearin

rvhat

hese

reat

blue,erasshythm

players

are doin-e.

Spend om

time

studying

orv

hey

shaped he

-euitar's

ole in the

bluegra

band

setting

nd

your

abil ity

o

play

rhythm

guitar

vil l improv

greatly.

n this book lvill

,eive

ou

some xamples o

practice ha

rvill

help

you

hearuvhat

he

pioneers

vere

doing.

Learning

How to

Play Lead

Once

you have spent ime studying he rhythm stylesof th

early

old-time

layersike

Riley

Puckett ndRoy Harvey

and

he

examined

"vhat

lr"re-srass

layers ike LesterFlatt.Jimmy

Martin

and

Red

Smileywere

doing.you

are eady o step nto

he

realm

of

playing

ead

guitar.

During

your

rhythm study

you

should

hav

become ery amiliar vith

playing

bass uns

vhile

ntegratin-e

hem

with

a steady

hythm

strum. The

natur"al rogression

or movin

from

rhythm

to lead is

to norv

tum thosebass ines

nto

melod

lines. A

studyof Mother

MaybelleCarter's

uitar

style

s

ust

th

thing

o

help

you

do

that.

Althou-shMaybelle

played

vith

a thumb

pick

in combinati

rvith

her ndex inger,her style s easilyadapted o the

flatpickin

technique.Because f the smallensemble ituation h eplayed

rvhen

hebegan

erforming vithher

brother-in-lar,v

.P.

Carteran

her

sister

Sara

Carter.

Maybelle had o find

a way

to

play the

ea

lines rvithout

allowing the rhythm to drop out. She

accomplish

th is

by

playing

he

melody

on

her bassst r ings

vhi leplacin

rhythmic

strums n-betweenmelody notes.

n Volume

2 of thi

series rvill

give you

many

examples f the

Carler style.

Then, a

homervork.

ou

will

be

asked

o

developsome Carler

style ead

of

your

orvn.

In

order

o

leam

how to

play

Carterstyle,on

your

own

rvithou

tab,

simply

rvork

out the melody

o a

song

on the bass

tringsan

then

strunr

he appropriate

hord

rvhen

here

s a melody

note ha

hasmore

han

a

quarter

ote

duration.

f

you have

spent

suf

icien

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 1: Rhythm, Bass Runs,

and Fill Licks



amount

of time training

your

ear

to identify chord changes

and

problem.

Theseare the techniquesand ideas

hat

we will

addres

bass uns while working

on

your

rhythm

technique, t should not

in Volume

2 ofthis series.

be too difficult for

you

to pick

out melody ines

and mix them with

For ear training

purposes

ocal songsare much easier

o

learn

your

ftythm

technique. n Volume

2. we will also

study

a

number how

o

play

than iddle

tunes.

Vocal

une melodiesare more spars

of

other helpful techniques

hat

you

can use o fi1l

n between he

than

fiddle

tunes and

it is usually easier o

pick

out the melody

melody

notes. fyou are

successfuln developing

his skill,

you

can

because

you

can hum

the words. However, ir is a challenge

o

teach

yourself

the Cafter style and how

to

develp your

own

solos learn how

to

fill

in the

gaps

between

he

melody notes fyou

don't

to vocal tunes

without relying on videos

or tab books.

Horvever, have

experiencewith

it, Learning how Doc WatsonorTony Rice

it

is always helpful to

go

back to the source.

Listen to some

old does t is

not an easy ask for a beginning

player.

Going back and

Carter Family

recotdings o help you

better learn the style

and

studying

how

the

pioneer's

did

it

provides

a stepping lock betwee

inspire

new ideas. There

have been

plenty

of examples

of Carter

playing

rhythrn

and

playing

Doc

Watson

style

leads. We know

style

solos

pdnted

in Flatpicking

Guitnr Magaline

over the

years

that Doc \vasa fan

of Riley Puckett,Jimmie Rodgers, he

Delmore

ifyou need

somehelp. and there are plenty

of examples,

ips and Brothers,

and other early

pioneers.

If

you

go

back and listen ro

guidelines

n

Volume 2.

theseartists,

you

can

hear, n their

playing,

many of the runs tha

Doc later incorporated

nto his style. Doc did not invent

what he

Early

Flatpicking

Guitar Solos

did without

having first

been

nfluenced

by these

players.

In Volume 2

ofthis series,Iwill

provideyou

with a few

examples

Most flatpicking nstructors,

nd latpicking nstructional

material

of the

"tremolo

style,"

and the other techniquesmentionedabove

written

for beginners. will introduce

the student

to flatpicking

and I'll explain

how

they

work

so that

you

can

get

a feel for the

lead solos

by flrst teachinga Carter

style tune

such

as "Wildwood

techniquesand

begin to develop

your

orvn ideas.

your

own solos

Flower."

After introducing

wo orthree morc Carter

style unes, hey

and be well

on

your rvay

o

learning

horv to improvise.

rvill

usually move right

on to

flatpicking

fiddle

tunes. My feeling

is that in movingdirectly from Carterstyle to fiddle tune picking Let's Boogie

the nstructional

method s missing

key techniques

hat developed

During the ate 1940s

and nto the 1950s he echniques

fearly

historically prior

to Doc Watson

popularizing

the flatpick

fiddle

flatpicking

took another

evolutionarystep orward as he "boogie-

tune

style. The first is

a style of lead

playing

that was

prominent

rvoogie"

rhythm

gained

popularity

and servedas

a

link

between

inthe l930sand

1940s.

GeorgeShuffler called

t the

"quick

wrist

the

Western

srving

of the I940s.

popularized

by Milton

Brown

mandolin style"

and ndeed t was a

style of lead

guitar playing

hat

and Bob Wills,

and the

rockabilly of the

1950s.

Perhaps he mos

rvasprobably

broughtover o the

guitar

by mandolin

players

because

well-known

of the early

boogie songswas the Delmore Brothers

it involves

filling in the

gaps

between melody

notes by simply

"FreightTrain Boogie." which

reached umbertwo on the

Billboard

repeating

he melody note

n an eighth-note

remolo fashion.

charts n 1946

as

performed

by

the

Delmores

and number five on

While this

styleofplaying is looked

upon as

old-fashion"

oday,

the charts

n 1947as

performed

by Red

Foley.

This songwas ater

given

the advances

hat have been made

in flatpicking technique

recordedby Reno

& Smiley,The Maddox Brothers and

Rose,Bill

that have

been ntroduced

over the

past

45

years,

am becoming

Harrell,

John Denver.

and many othen.

(For

a transcription

of

more and more

convinced hat any

studentof flatpicking

shouldat

Ronnie Reno's

guitar

solo to

"Freight

Train

Boogie," See FGM

leastspendsome time learning how to craft solos o vocal

tunes

Volume6, Number 4).

by studying

musicians ike Edd

Mayfield, Doc Addington,

Alton

By 1946

he Delmore Brothers had

moved from two-piece

Delmore,

Hank Snorv.and Don

Reno in order

to help transition

arrangements

o a full

band sound that included bass.mandolin.

from

Carter

style

picking

to instrumental

latpicking fiddle

tunes.

steel

guitar.

fiddle, and

harmonica. By the

end of

the

next

year

This is

the

way

it developedhistorically,

and it

makes senseas a

they were

also ncluding

electric

guitarsand

drums. The Delmore's

rea'ringprogressio"

il1::*,::Tr'j#:H:rlllft\-lJ,:f

ffi$Jffiljlj.oo

Solos

on Vocal Songs

bluesy nflucnce,

humping

backbeats, nd hard-driving boogiesas

A study

of this early flatpicking sryle

on

vocal

tunes s helpful

evidenced

n tunes ike

"Hillbilly

Boogie," "Steamboat

ill Boogie."

for several easons.

First. the solos

are simple.

straight-fonvard,

"Barnyard

Boogie,"

"MobileBoogie,"

"FreightTrain Boo-tie," and

and

melody-based.The repeating

ofthe melody

notes n a tremolo

others. The long

guitar

brealisand extendedsolos on

some unes

fashion introduces

the student to

the altemating

pick

stroke

certainly

helpedusher

n the

rock

and oll era. Unfortunately,Alton

technique

hat they will need o learn whenthey begin flatpicking

Delmore

died in 1952

ard one of the most influential

groups

in

fiddle

tunes. The introduction

of alternatingpick

direction

while

country. ockabilly.

and rock and

roll history ended.

playing

an

eighth note tremolo

makes sense

because

your

left

Arthur

Smith's "Guitar Boogie"

(see

Joe Carr's column in

handdoesn't

move

and

he

pick

stays

on the samestdng.

So

t

is a

FGM

Vol.

I I

,

Number

2), recorded n October of 1948, s

often

simpler

way to leam. Secondly,tbis

style eaches

he studentavery

cited as being

the first rock

& roll song ever recorded. Hank

simple way

to fill in the spaces etween

melody noteson

a

vocal

Snow's "Rhumba Boogie,"

recorded n 1951. was also

another

song.

When flatpickers,who

staned their leaming

process

with

popular

country

boogie

tune that featured an example of early

fiddle tunes.

are at a

am

session

and are required o take

a break

flatpicking.

(See

Harold Streeter's

olumn

in Volume

I I

,

Number

on a

vocal

tune

hey

have

a difficult time

because hey don't know

4

of

Flatpickirtg

Guitar

Maga:ine for a transcription

of

"Rumba

how

to

fill

in the space

between

he

melody notes. Had

they spent

Boogie" and

also efer

o

Kathy Banvick's anicle in that same ssue

sufficient ime

leaming the simple

methodsof the Cater

style. he

lbr more aboutHank

Snow). Don Reno's"Country Boy

Rock and

use of double

stops, he tremolo style, eading

ones,neighboring

Roll," recorded

n I 956,

s cited by many as he first song ecorded

notes and

crosspicking.

don't think this would

be such a tough

by a blue-erass

and hat highlighted ead

guitar

work

as he song's

10

Fhtpiching

Essentials

Volume 1: Rhythm, Bass

Runs,and Fitl Lichs



Psrt

One:

Technlques, ExclmplGsr

eind

Exerclses

The Role

of the

Rhvthm

Guitar Plaver

The hree

primary

oles

of the

rhythm guitarplayer

n

any musical settingare

going

to be, first and foremost:

provide

timing, outline the chords,

and

add

texture.

When

the

vocalist

or

lead nstrumentalist

s center

stage

they are

relying

on the rhythm

section o

provide

solid

timing

and

do so

n

a

way

hatoutlines

he chordchanges

and createsan

interesting

backdrop or

their

vocal

or

soloexpression. he

echniquehe hythm

guitarplayer

chooseso utilizes n order o fill this role r,vill always

dependupon he configuration

f the ensemble

nd he

contribution

f

each nstrument

o theensemble.f

each

ensemblemember s aware

of

his

or her role, listens

to each of the

other band

members,

and

works

to fill

his role

such hat t makesa

positive

contribution

o the

sound

as a

whole.

hen the overall

ensemble ound s

going

o be

pleasing

o the musicians

nd he audience.

The

examples

given

n

this book are not intended

o

provide

you with

an all encompassing

xploration

of

rhythmguitar. Althoughwe will covera lot of ground

here, all

of the techniques, ubtleties,

nd intricacies

required to develop

your

skill as a

complete

rhythm

guitarist will

not

be

presented

n

depth. nstead

r,vill

focus

on

presenting

oncepts elated

o applyingbass

runsand ill licks

o

your

rhythm

playing

n

order o use

that skill as a

springboard

o

creating nteresting

ead

breaks o

vocal

songs n

the Carter style, and

beyond.

Advanced hythm

concepts nd

skills, such as

chord

inversions,

assing

hords, hordsubstitutions,

tc.

will

be examined

n

a future

volume.

Bassversus

No

Bass

If

you

are

performing

n an

ensemble hat has

a

bass

layer,

many

of the

examples

hatareshown n

this

book

will

be too bass un heavy

o apply n that

band

configuration. f

you,

as a

guitar player,

are utilizing

too many bass uns n a band

that

has

a bass

player.

you

are

going

to undoubtedly

get

in each

other's

way.

However,much

of

what s

presented

ere n

this book

was

used

n

the earlydaysof stringbandmusic

by

guitar

players

who were in

two or

three

member

ensemble

that

did

not include

a bass

player.

In many of thos

cases, he

guitar

was

the

primary

rhythm instrumen

and thus

the

guitar player

was also filling the

role

of

the

bass

player.

If

you

find

yourself

n an ensemblehat

doesno

include

a bass

player,

akingover

he

bass

player's

ob

means

hat

you

will want

o include

echniquesn

you

guitar

arrangementhat

will

help

ead

he

istener's

a

to eachnew chordchange.You

will

be

able

o

fill

this

role

very

effectively

with

bass

uns.

The more

varie

your

knowledge

of bass

runs, the more

varied

and

interesting

our

rhythm will

be.

Therefore,n this book

my

goal

s to

present

o

you

material hat

rvill

help

you

achieve he ollowins:

l) Keepbetter

ime.

2)

Outline and define the

chords

and chord

changes.

3)

With

the useof bass

uns, ead

he

istener's

a

through he chord

progression

n

a

way

that

help

provide

forward movementand momentum o the

music,

nd

4) Provide

a texture, ynamics, nd

nterest

o the

rhythm

accompaniment

n ways hat

positively

and

tastefully mprove

he overall

bandsound.

To

hatend,

we will

startat square

ne

with

the

simples

rhythmic

expression

nd

gradually

move orward.

Timing

and Simple Rhythm

Most

common ootsmusic n

America s

played

n41

time. This means

hat hereare

our

beats

per

measur

of

music

andeachof those eats'

ote

value

s a

quarte

note ln 414

ime a

whole note s four beats n duration

a

half

note s

gets

wo

beats',

quarter

ote

gets

one

bea

and wo eighthnotes

et

onebeat.

Dividing

a

measur

into

quarter

notes-four

beats

of equalduration-we

can count the

four

beat

rhythm simply as

"

l

-

2

-

3

-

t2


Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bass Runs, and

Fill

Licks



Quarler

Nofes ?n

4/,4 Tlme

G

t l

t

downbeat

i

backbeat

ll

=

downstroke

l l

i

downbeat

?

backbeat

4". Using this count,beats and 3 are usuallydefine

as

the

"down

beats" and

beats2 and 4 are defined

as

the

"off

beats"or

"back

beats"

see

example

above).

When providing

a simple

and straight-forward

hythm,

the

guitar

player ,vill

sually

play

a single

bassnote

on

the down beats

anda rhythmic chord strum

on

the back

beats.The note hat s selected

or the

bass

note

should

be the note,or

notes,

vhich

bestdefine he

chord

hat

is being

played.

Most

prominently,

hat

,vill

e the root

noteof

the

chordat he owest

pitch

(the

oot

note s

the

first note

of the scale).

For

instance,f

you

are

playing

a

G-chord. he

root note

is a

G

note

and

the lowest

pitched

G note

in a standard

G major chord shape

on

the

guitar

is at the third

fret on the

low E string

(see

the Example

I

below). For

more information about

major

scales,,

lease

efer o the

Major

Scales,Chords

& Aryeggiosappendix.

Excmple

l:

Simple

G-Chord

Rhytlrm wlflr

Repectlng

Bass

Nofe

Play his Exampleusing

al l Downstrokes

t t l l

Flatpicleing

Essentials

Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bass Runs, and Fill Licks

G

Cou t

Practice:

Before

you

move on

from

here,

take some

time

to

play through

Example

1 You should

be

able

to

play

this

repeating

pattern over and over

with

fluidity,

accuracy,confidence,

and, eventually,

speed.And,

most

mportantly,

ou

have o

be able

to do t in time. Your ability o play n time s vital

to every thing

you

do

in

music. And,

although

beginningmusicians ate

t,

that

means

hat

you

need o

get yourself

a

metronomeand

work

with

it

on

a regularbasis. What

I

recommend

s that

whenever

you

are

practicing

any of the

examples

in this

book,

you

ALWAYS

have a

metronome

in front

of

you

clicking

away.

If

you

are

having

trouble earninghow to use

a metronome,

lease

refer

o the

MetronomePracticeappendix.

Homework:

After

you

have

practiced

Example

I with

the

G-chord,

now

work

on

other chords

hat

you

know

using

this

same

pattern. Hold the

chord

shape

hat

you

know, figure

out

where the

root

note

of the

lowestpitch

is

located,and then

play

the

same

pattern while holding that chord.

In

preparation

or working with

the next section

of

this book,

practice

Example

over and over

with

the G chord. henpracticewith the C chord, hen

r,vith

he D

chord. If

you do not knorv

the

first

position

shapes f basic

major

chords, efer

o the

Major Scales,

hords

&

Arpeggios ppendix.



Adding More

Chords

We can easilyextend

his

repeating

assnote at the

root

of

thechord

dea

o a simple8-barchord

progression

in

the

key

of G

(see

Example 2

at. he bottom of this

page).

You

can

see hat n this

progression

e have

wo

measures

f G,

followed by two

measures f C, two

measures

f D,

and

back o

two

measures f

G.

This s

often referred o asa I-IV-V progressionspoken one-

four-five)

because n the

key

of G

the

G note

is

the

first note of

the

G scale

the

"one"),

the

C

note

s

the

fourth note

of the

G scale

the

"four")

and

he

D note

s

the fifth note

of

the G

scale,or the

"five."

Therefore,

musicians ill

refer o a

G,

C, D

progression

n

the

key

of

G as

a I, IV,

V

progression.

Looking

at

Example2,

you

can

see

hat

with

each

chordchange

he

root noteof

the chord

first

noteof the

chord's

scale C

note

or C chord,etc.) s

repeated

on everydor,vnbeatnd hat is followedby a chordal

strum on the

offbeat.

You may have noticed hat

in

the

chordalstrum,

he

entirechord

all

six strings)are

not strummed.

While you

can strum all six strings,

you

r,vill

ind

that

ust

strumming he top threeor

four

strings

provides

a better

sound.

The

strum shouldbe

executed ith

a

relatively

ight,short, nd

quick

snap

f

the

wrist,

as f

you were

shaking

wateroff

of

your

hand.

Don't

"dig

in"

too

much

or

the

sound

will

be too

loud

and harsh. Work to achievea

smoothand

percussive

effect. The strumshouldnot

sound ike

you

are

playing

three

or

four

separate trings.

The notesshouldall

ring

out at the same ime.

t l


Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Boss

Runs, and

Fill

Licks

Excrmple2z G, C,D Rhyfhm wlfh Repeoting Bass Nofes

C

Practice:

Before

you

move on to the

next

section,

ake some

time to

play

through

Example2.

Again,

you

shouldbe able o play this repeatingpatternover

and over

with

fluidity,

accuracy, nd

confidence.

Don't woffy

about speed

ight

now. Use

your

metronome

at a comfortable

empo and

practice

clear and distinct bass

notes with

"punchy"

strums.

Homework:

After

you

have

practiced

Example2

with

the

progression

how

I-N-V

in

thekey of G), now work on playing

the

same

I-IV-V

progression

n

at

least

one other key.

The

key

of

C,

or the

key of

D,

perhaps.

These

arecommon

keys n

all styles

of

music. Remember

hat

a

I-IV-V

progression

in

the

key

of

C

will

use

he chordsC,

F,

and

G.

The I-IV-V

progression

n

the key of D

will use

the D, G and

A

chords. Try

to

play

in the styleof

Example2 in

eitheror both

of these

eys.

t 4



Adding

A Little Texture

The Alternating BassLine

If

you

were

o

always

play

the root note

of the chord

on the downbeat ollowed

by

a

chordalstrumon the off

beat,as

outlined

n

the

last wo

examples,

ou

would

be filling

your

rhythm

roles of outlining the

chords

and keeping ime. However,with this

simple

hythm

technique the texture

you

would

be

providing

in

support

of the other nstruments nd/or

vocalistwould

be

very

dull and monotonous. In order to

provide

a

tiny bit more

extureand

nterest,we

are

going

o

notch

it up

just

a little and

play

the root bassnote

on beat

I and then

play

the

fifth note

of the scale

on beat 3

(see

Example

3 at the bottom of this

page).

This is

calledan

"alternating

ass"

stylebecause

he bass ine

is alternating

etween he two

most

prominent

notes

n

the chord, he root note

and

he

"dominant"

note.or 5th

note, of the scale(for more informationabout chord

construction

lease

efer to the Major

Scales,

Chords

&

Arpeggios

ppendix).

In

our example

we

are

playing

the root note

of the

chord

in

hiscase he ow G note)on he

stbeatof each

measure

nd

then

playing

the fifth

note of the

G

scale

(the

D

note)on

the 3rd beatof the

measure.

The back-

beat strums emain

the same.

If

you

are not familiar

with

alternating ass hythm,

play

through

Example

3

for

a while using

your

metronome

until

you

can

play

cleanly'

accurately,luidly, and n time. The

alternating

bass hythm will be a fundamental uildingblock for

everything lse

hat

will follow in

this course.

One thing

that

you

will noticewhen you

move

on

to

playing

the alternating assstyle rhythm with

other

chords

s

that

you

are

not always

going

o use he 5th

note

of the scale hat is located

on a

higher

pitched

string,as

we

did with

the G-chord.

For

example,

when

you play

the

alternatingbass style

with

the

C

and D

chords, he

5th

note

of the scale

hat

you

will usuall

play

is going

to be

the

one found on a

lower

pitche

string. Examples

and5 on the

next

page

demonstra

this

or

the

C

andD

chords,

espectively.Since

we

wan

a bass ound

n

our bass

uns,

you

areusually

going

o

want

o choose he note

with

the

owest

pitch r,vhen

ou

arechoosingnotes

or the bass uns. Sometimes

hos

noteswill

be

higher

n

pitch

than he

root note, as was

the case n our G-chord example,and sometimes ha

note will

be

ower

in

pitch

than he

root note,as

t is in

Excmple

3:

G-Chord

Rhytlrm Wlth

Alternatilng

BeissLlne

t l


Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs,

and

Fill

Licks

G

Practice:

Practice he G-chord alternating

bass

rhythm

that

is shown

in

Example

, heC-chord

hythmof

Example4,

and he D-chord hythm of Example5.

Onceagain,play

along

with

a

metronomen order

to work

on

your

timing.

Focuson timing, tone,

noteclarity,andconfidence.The more amiliarity

and comfort you gain

with

the

alternating

bass

rhythm

style, the better

your

rhythm foundation

wil l

be.

Homework:

After

you

have

practiced

Examples

3,4, and5, try and

experiment

ith

the alternating bass

line rhythm

while

holding

other chords hat

you

may know.

At a minimum, try this style of rhythm with the

F-chord

and he A-chord. It may also

help

you

a

little

later

on

if you

try to also

play

an alternating

bass hythmwith

the

E-chord.Always work to

hit

that bassnote with

accuracyand strength.

Other

musicianswho you

are

playing with will

usually

like

to

hear

hat strong. lear

downbeat.



Exeimple

4:

C-Chord

R.hythm Wlth AJlternallng

Boss

Llne

Excrmple

5:

D-Chord Rhytltm Wlflr Nlernating Boss Llne

our C

and

D

chordexamples n this

page.

Now

that

you

are amiliar with

the

alternating

ass

rhythm while holding

one

chord,

ook at Example

6

and ry to

play

the

alternating

ass hythm for

a I-IV-V

progression

n the key of G. This is something hat

everyone

who

has

played

the

flatpicking

style on the

acoustic

guitar

s

most

likely famil iar with,

as this is

the

most common

style

of rhythm

playing.

This is

the

foundation

rom

which all

variationswill

develop, o t

is

very

mportant

hat

you

learnhorv

o

play

this

rhythm

technique.

Unfortunately,many

flatpickers ely on this

technique

bit too heavilyand hus

heir

rhythm

playing

can

become taleandmonotonous.

f

you

don't

have

a

_eood

andle

on this

echnique,

ou

need o spend ome

time

with

it until t

becomes econd

ature o

you.

Once

you can play the alternating assmethod,however, t

is

recommended

hat

you

learn

more echniqueso

pu t

into

your

rhythm

bag

of tricks."

We'll

begin o explore

someof those

alternative

echniques n the

next

page.

Thus

ar

we

have

had

you

only

practice

a downstroke

strum.Another

variety

of thestrumadds

a

quick

upstroke

afler

the downstroke s shown n Example7.

While

this example hows he upstrumon

every

measure,or

practice

urposes,

ost hythm

players

will

not

use

he

down-upstrumevery ime.

It

sounds est f the down

strum

and he down-upstrumaremixed.

1 6

Practice:

Practice he G-C-D alternating

bass hythms that

are

shown

in

Examples andJ . Practicewith

a metronome n

order

to

work

on

your

timing.

Once again. ocus

on timing,

tone,

note clarity,

andconfidence.

The more amiliarity andcomfort

you

gain with

the alternating

ass

hythm

style,

the better

our

rhythm oundation

will

be.

Homework:

After

you

have

practiced

xamples

6

and

J,

try and experiment

with

the

alternating

bass

line

rhythm

technique

while playing

a

I-IV-V

progression

n a different

key. At

a minimum,

try

this method n the keysof C

andD.

After

you

havebecomecomfortable

with

this

rhythm

technique using

both the down

stroke

strum and

the

up-down

strum, try mixing the

two

strumming

methods. Use one

or the other

randomly

and developa

feel for

how

they

sound.

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume

1:

Rltythm,

Bass

Runs,

and

Fill

Licks



Exomple

6z G, C,

D

Rhyflrm

wlllr AJ.,lernating

Boss

Llne

Excmple

7z

G, C,

D

Rhyfhm

wltlr

Altetnatilng

Bclss

Llne

and

Addlng

lhe

Upsfroke

Sfrum

l l

=downstroke

V

=upstroke

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs,

and

FilI

Licks

I



Guiding

the

Listener's

Ear:

Adding

Leading

TonesoWalk-Ups and

Walk-Downs

Thus

far, we have alked

about he rhythm

player's

roles of

defining

he

chords

and

providing iming

and

texture.

Another

role that

the

rhythm

player

can

play

in executinghis or he r bass

uns

is

to

help lead the

listener's

ar o the

next chord

change.

In

doing

his

the

rhythm

player

can

provide

a senseof

motion

and

anticipation

n the

music that helps

propel

or

drive

it

along.

We have demonstrated

ow

playing

the

root note

on

the

first

beatof

each

measure,

r

at easton the

first

beat

of

eachchordchange,

elps

define

he

chordsand

chord

changes

n the

song

n a strong

way.

We have

also

practiced

adding

he

dominant

note of

the

scale

(the

5th)

in order o

form an alternating ass

ine

and

make he bass ine more nteresting.Nor,vwe aregoing

to

add anotherbass

note to our

"bag

of tricks,"

this

note

s called

he

"leading

one"of

the

scale.

If

you

will

replace he

last

strum

before a chord

change

n any chord

progression ith

a bass

note,and

choose

hat

note to

be

a half stepbelow

the root note

of

the

next chord. hen his

will

provide

a simplebass

line

hat

helps ead he istener's ar o that

chord. This

"leading

one" is the seventh one

n the scaleof

the

chord

to which

your

are moving. The chart below

shor,vs

he notes hat

are

n

the G, C.

andD scales.

The

notes

under he"J" columnare he

eading ones.

If

we were

o

nor,v

rrange ur

I,

IV.

V

progression

in

the

key

of G

to be the

same as Example 6,

but

substitute

he

ast strumbeforeeach

chordchange

with

the leading

tone of the

scale

or

the chord

to

which

we

are

moving,

he result

would

ook like Example

8,

shownon

the next

page.

Looking

at Example

8,

you will see hat

ust

before

we

change

o the C

chord,

rveplay

the

eading one of

the

C

scale,

which

is a B

note.

Then

ust

before

we

move

o the

D

chord

we

play

the

eading oneof

the D

scale,

which is

a

C#

note.

Then

ust

before

we move

from the D chordto the G chord,we play the leadin-

tone

of the G scale.

which s the

F#

note.

Nofes

7n

the

G, C, ernd

D 9coles

G Scale

C

Scale

D Scale

i

ROOT

8I

t

Dominant

Fl atpic king

E

ssentials

t

Leading

Tone

Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bass Runs, and

Fill

Licks

Practice:

Play through

Example 8

many

times

n a row

with

a metronome.

Be sure

to

stav risht

with

the

click

whenyou

are

playing he hreebass

notes

n

a

row. Sometimes

eginners

ave a

tendency

o

rush hrough

bass uns.

Keep he

time

even.

Do

you

notice

a difference

between

Example

6 and

Example

8?

You may notice

hat

t soundsmore

interestingand

it helps

your

ear anticipate

he

chord

change.

Homework:

After

you have

practiced

Example

8, andbecome

amiliar

with how the

leading ones

ound, ry

to figure

out

the samestyleof progression,sing eading ones,

for a I, IV,

V

progressionn the

key

of C

and

n the

key of D.

The change

rom

F to G in the

key

of C

might be tricky

See

f

you

can

iguresomething

out

for

that

change.

f

you

have

rouble,

hoot

me

an email:dan

@flatpick.com.

G A

B

C

D

E

F#

B

C#

G

C

D E

F#

F G

A

C

D E G

A

B

D

18



Exomple

8: G,

C,

D

Rhyflrm

Uslng

Lecdlng

lones

G

Adding

More

Notes

rom

the

Scale

While the

progression

n Example

8 does

help

ead

the

istener's

ar o

the

next

chord

by

including

eading

tones

before he chord

changes,we

can improve

on

thisquality. Examining he progressionn Example8,

you'll

see hat we

aremoving rom

the 5th note

of

the

G scale

o

the 7th note of

the

C

scale,

in

measure

),

and we

are

moving from

the 5th note

of the

D

chord

to the

7th note

of the G chord

(in

measure

). We

can

smooth

out the soundof the walk

in

to the

C chord

of

measure

and

he G chord

of

measure

tf

we

change

that

ifth scalenote

of the old

chord o

the 6th scale

note

of the new

chord. This

provides

lonser

bass

walk-up

along

he

scale

of

the

new

chord

and thus

strengthens

the

soundof

movement owards

hatnew

chord.

Walking

Up

Takea

look

at Example

9

on the nextpage

andplay

through

he

progression

o

get

a

feel for

this bass

ine

walk-up

n

measures and

6. If

you

take

a close ook

at the

notes

hat

we

are using

o change

between

he G

and

C

chords,

ou

will

see

hat

we

arewalking

up

heG

scale

sinsall

of

the notes

betweenG to

C.

We

hit

the

G note

on the first

beat

of

the measure,

hen

we

strum,

then

we hit

theA note,

he

B note,

hen

he

C

note.

So

in that

measure

ur

bass

notes

are G. A.

B-then

we

play

the

C

note

on the first

note of the

next

measur

which

is

where

he chord

progression

hangeso the

C

chord.

So

what

we

havedone s

simply

walk

straigh

up he

scale

rom

G

to

C

using

every

noteof

theG scal

that ie betweenhose wo notes.This ypeof bass ine

really

helps ie

hose

wo

root

notes

ogether

ndmove

the isteners

ar

rom

one chord o the next.

If you

will

look

at the

bass

notes

n measure

6

you'll

notice

hat

we

havedone

he

same

hing.

We

ar

moving

from

the D chord

o the G chord,so

we playe

the D

noteon

the irst

beat.executed strum,and he

we

played

he

E,F#,and

thenG

note. We havewalke

up the D

scale

playing

each

note between

he D

not

and he

G

note.

If

we

look

at measure , the measure

hat ransition

from C to D, you rvill notice hat his measure asno

changed rom

Example

6. Because

he

C

note

and

the D note

are right

next to

eachother on

the

C

scale

we

don't have

any

more room

to

expand he

"walk"

between

hose

wo notes,

o

we

simply

play

he eadin

toneof the D

scale. n order

o

"walk"

between

C and

D

chords,

we

are

going

o

have

go

down

the

scaleand

then reverse

direction and move back

up in order

to

provide

a

walking

movement.

We

will

work with

tha

concept

short\.

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs,

and Fitt

Licles

1



Exomple 9t

9, C,

D Rhylfim Walklng

Up lfte Scale

Belween

Ghord Ghongcs

Walking Down

If walking

up the scale

o the

root note

of

the

nex

chord

n

a

chord

progression

vorks

o ead

he istener

ear to

the

new chord,

hen logic

would

tell us

tha

moving

down the scale

o the root

note

could do

the

same

hing. Let's check t

out.

Play

hroughExampl

l0 shownat the op of the nextpage.

If

you

analyze

his

progression,

ef-erencing

he

G

C, and

D

scales,

ou

will

notice hat he notes

hat

ar

being

played

ust

before

he change o the

C chord

ar

theE andD notes.Sowe

arewalkingdown

heC

scal

here rom

E,

to

D.

to

C. Similarly,

when

changing o

D

lve walk

from

F#.

to E,

to D.

These

are the

3rd

2nd,

and st notesof the D

scale,

espectively.

inally

when

moving

o

G,

we

are

walking rom

B,

to

A,

to

G

While

the

walking

down

bass

un

does ead

he

listenersear to the next chord, t does not do that

ob

quite

as stronglyas walking

up because

when

you

are

walking

up that

leading

one

(7th

note

of the scale

has

a stronger

pull

back to

the

root in

the listener

ear. However, f

you

were

to walk up every

ime

you

changed o a new chord,

he

listenerwould

tire of

tha

soundandwelcome

an occasional

alk

down,

or

othe

variation.

Providing

a

variety

adds

a

degree

or

interes

and

texture hat

is

desirable n

your

rhythm

playing

When

to add

variety,

and how

much

to add, alls

into

the category

of tasteand style and

s very

subjective.

C

20

Practice:

Play

through

Example 9 many

times

n a row with

a

metronome.

Be sure to

stay rieht

with

the

click

rvhen you

are

playing

the

three

bass notes

in a row. Although I haveshownonly the dor,vn

strokestrum

n this

example, eel free o substitute

any of

the down

stroke strums with down-up

strums. Get

a

feel

for

varying

that component

of

the

progression.

Homework:

After you

have

practiced

Example

9, and become amiliar with

how

the eading ones

sound. ry to figure

out the samestyle of progression,

using

similar

scale

r,valk

up

tones,

or a I,

IV ,

V

progression

n

the

key

of

C and n

the key

of

D. If that s

easy

or

you,

and

you

are eeling

adventurous, ove

on

and see

f

you

can't figure

out

this

scale

walk

up

progression

n

the keys

of

E andA as well.

I'll be

providing

some

E andA

examplesater

and

so

you'll

be ahead f the

game

if

experiment

with

those

eys

now.

\ia:ia''


Volume

1:

Rhythm, Bass Runs,

and

Fill

Licks



Excmple

lo:

G, G,

D Rhylftm

chonglng

chords

by wolffag

Down

the

Scole

C

Practice:

Play

through

Example

l0

many

times

n

a row

rvith

a metronome.

The

change

etween

he

C and

D

chords,

where

you

have

o

reach

down

and

get

ha t

F'#note,might feela little awkr,vard t first. Make

sureyou

can play

that

smoothly

without

rushing.

students

ave

a

tendency

o

rush

hrough

difficult

or

ar,vkward

uns,

so focus

on

keeping

ight

with

that

metronome

lick.

Homework:

After you

have practiced

Example

10,

and

become

amiliar

rvith

how

the

scale

walk

down

tones

sound,

try

to

figure

out

the

same

style

of

progression,

sing

similar

scale

walk

up tones,

or

a I,

IV, V progression

n

the

key

of

C and n

the

key

of

D.

As

you

try

the various

bass

walk

methods

in

different

keys,you

will

find

some

hat

are

more

awkward

than

others

and

some

hat

sound

better

than

others.

Run

through

hem

all

and get

a feel

for

them

under

your

fingers

and

n

your

ear.

you

will

gravitate

owards

he

ones

hat

eel

and

sound

best

o

you,but

t is

worth

rying

hem

all.

Longer

Bass

Walks

and

Mixing

Things

Up

As

mentioned

efore,

f you

are

providing

hythm

accompaniment

nd ou

always

o

he

same

ype

or

styl

of

bass

un,

or strum,

or

combination,

henyour

hythm

will

start

o

sound

dull

and

stale.

you

never

wanr

ro

be

so busy

hat you

take

away

from

the ead

performe

or get

n

the way

of

the

othermusicians,

owever,

ou

also

do

not want

to

sound

so

repetitive

hat you

pu

the

audience

o

sleep

or annoy

them

with

the

sam

sound

verand

over. deally,you

want

o have

enoug

techniques

o draw

from,

and

the

ability

to know

jus

rvhen

o

apply

hem,

hat

you

will

compliment

what

he

other

members

f the

ensemble

re

playing.

you

do no

simply

want

o provide

good

iming,

outline

he

chords

and

eading

he

istener's

ar

o

the

next

chord

change

On

top

of that,you

want

he runs,

strums,

hythms,

nd

fills

that you

use

o

make

he

band,

as

a

whole,

sound

better.You wantto make t fit jusr right. The ability to

do

that

comes

with

having

a lot

of different

echnique

to

draw

from,

having

an

ngrained

amiliarity

of

those

techniques,

nd

having

an ntuitive

eel

for

just

where

to

apply

hose

echniques.

his

all comes

with

a lot

of

practice

nd

experience.

I've

said

all

of

that n

order

o also

say hat

as we

progress

long

n

this

course,I

will

give

a ew

example

of

how

you

might

combine

he various

elements

hat

you

have

earned

nd

suggest

ou

come

up with

more

on your

own

in your

homework.

So now

we

are

going

Flatpicking

Essentials

volume

l:

Rhythm.,

Boss

Runs,

and

Fitt

Licks

2



to

work

lvith

a few

examples

hat

add

to what

we've

already

worked

with

and

also

mix

things

up a

ittle.

we

are

going

to work

with

bass

uns

hat

are

a little

longer

(a

whole

measure

ong)

and

we

are

going

to

combine

the

walk-ups

and

walk-downs

n

various

ways.

Mixing

Things

Up I

Take

a ook

at

Example

I

.

our

bass

un

measures

re

measures,4, and6. we aredoingsomething lightly

different

n

each.

Measure

wo

is

a walk

up,

similar

o

measure

of

example

9. The

difference

ere

s

that we

have

eplaced

he

strum

hat

was

on

beat

2 with

a

bass

note.

The

bass

note

we picked

s

a repeat

of

the

root

note

(G)

that

we played

on

beat I

.

Remember

when

we

said

hat

a walk

up

the

scale

will

lead

he

istener's

ear

o

the

next

chord

change

nd

we played

G, strum,

A,

B

then

C? Taking

out

the

strum

and

replacing

t

with

another

G

note

helps

emphasi

e

thatwalk

up

since

you

hear

he

walk

on

three

consecutive

eats,

nstead

of havinga strum

separate

he

G and

he

A

notes.

This

is

a very

common

echnique

hat

you'll

hear

beginnine

blue-{rass

assplayers

utilize.

This

is

one

of

the

first

bass

valks

hat

hey rvill

learn.

In

measure

we

are

again

aking

away

he

strum

and

repeating

he

root

note

of the

chord

(C),

but

then

we

are walking

back

a

note,

hen r,valking

ack

up

a

note

before

we

change

o

the D

note.

We

are

playing

C. C,

B,

C,

then D.

Notice

that

we

didn't play

the leadin

tone

(C#)

this

time

before

changing

o D.

you

can

try

to

play

that

C# note

after

playing

he

B

note,

but I

don'

think

t sounds

uite

as

good

as

sticking

with

the

c

not

in

this

particular

un.

Shortly,

after

we

talk

about

he

chromatic

scale,

,ve

will

take

a look

a very

simirar

un

that

does

nclude

he

leading

one

(c#)

when

moving

to

D.

Measure of example I showsa walk-down ha

is

similar

o

measure

of example

10.

The

only

thing

that we

have

done

different

here

s

replace

he

strum

on

beat

two

with

a

c

note

so

that we

have

extended

our

walk-down.

Instead

f

the walk

down

being

B,

A,

to

G,

we

have

now

created

4-note

walk-down

hat

goe

from

D,

to

C,

to

B,

to

A, then

G.

This

longer

walk_

down

is really

going

o

help guide

he

isteners

ar

o

the

chord

change

o

G.

Play

hrough

his

progressio

andyou' l l

seewhat

mean.

Mixing

Things

IJp

2

Before

we

talk

about

Practice

nd

Homework,

et's

look

at

Example

12.

Here

s another

ariation

on

the

lon,ger

ass un

and

mixing

things

up

theme.

Again,

our

bass un

measures

re

measures

, 4,

and

6.

In

measure

our un

moves

rom

G, to

D,

to

E, back

o D.

and

hen

o

C.

This

bass

movement

rovides

an

..up-

and-back"

or

"toggling"

motion

o

the

bass ine.

The

I

Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs,

and Filt

Licks

Excmple

ll:

G,

c, D

Rhytfun

-

fhixing

Things

up I

I

Flatpicking

E

sse

n tials

C



Example l2z

G,

C, D Rhytfurr

-

tlixlng

ThlngsUp

2

C

movement rom D

to E

leads

he

ear n one

direction,

but then

t

comesback n

the other directionand

walks

to the

C

note

for the

chord change.

You

have that

r,valk-dorvnrom E

to D before moving to

C, but

that

is

preceded

y

that one step

walk-up

from

D

to E. The

up-and-back ffect

provides

nice ittle surprise

o the

listener's ar.

In measure , the

change etr,veen

he C

and he D

chords,

we

havea little bit

of

bouncing

rom

one side

of the root

note

to the other,

so

again

t

is a

technique

that moves n

one

direction

and

then

back

n

another.

Playing he

E

note on beat hree

(the

note above he D

noteon the scale)

eads

he ear n

one direction.

Then

we

follow thatwith the

C#

note, he

eading oneof the

D scale,

vhich

s the note

before

he

D note

n

the

scale.

So, nsteadof leading

progressively

p

to

the D

note,

as

n

a

walk-up,or

progressively

own

o

theD note,as

in a

walk-down,

herewe are

bouncing

on

either

side

of

the

D

note.

Anotherway

to look at it is that

since

he

E note

s

part

of

the

C chord,

you

are

simply using

an

alternate

assnote n

your

C chord

and

hen moving to

D

through he

C#

leading

one. Eitherw&], t is a nice

technique

o learn

and experiment

with.

Finally,

n

measure

we

move rom

a

D note,

o an

E, back

to

a D, then to B, before anding

on G

with

the chord

change. This is

another

variation

of

that

toggling

effect

hat

we

used n measure . In fact,

we

are oggling

on

the same

noteshere

(D,

E, D), but in

different

chords and

in a slightly

different

place

in

the measure. Notice

that

after

you

have

played

he D

note

on

beat

one

and the

E

note on beat wo,

you

ar

then

playing

the

noteSD,, hen B, then

moving

to G

You may note

that these

are not

notes hat

are

next

to

eachother n theD or G scales.However, hese hre

notes

are he notes hat

make

up

the G

chord

(for

mor

information

major chord construction,

see

he

Majo

Scales.

Chords&

Arpeggios

appendix).

So

our bas

walk

this

ime s

based n

theG arpeggio.An

arpegg

is

a

group

of notes hat all

belong o

one

chord,

n

thi

case heG chord. Bass

ine

movements

ypicallymov

along

he

scale

f the chord,

he chromatic cale, r th

chord'sarpeggio. We

will

talk aboutall threeof

thes

movements

n this course.

One other

interesting

thing

to

note

about thi

progressions that in all three of the measures ha

involvebass

uns

we

use

hatE

note

as he

pivotal

not

of

the run.

Play

hrough

he

progression

everal

imes

Do you hear

hat

E note

pop

out on

each

of

the bas

runs? If

you want, play

that note

with

a little

mor

emphasis very

ime

it comesup

in

the

run.

Listen o

the sound

of the entire

progression

nd notice hat

by

using

the

E note each ime

we are eading o the nex

chord

rve

sort of tie things

ogetherand, once

again

give

the

istener's

ar

a

que

hat

the chord s

about

o

Flatpicking

EssentialsVolurne1:

Rhythm, Bass Runs,

and

Fill

Lichs



change. The listener

catches

t

the

first

time

and the

second ime and by

the

third

time their

mind has

kind

of latchedon to

the

act that

he soundof

that E note

n

this

progression

s signaling omething.

Of course

hey

are

not necessarily onscious f it, but it does

give

a

familiarity to the progression

hat eads heir

ear

along.

You'd

probably

r,vant

o abandon

he

use of that

note

after he

third

or fourth

time

thoueh.

so

that

vou

avoid

becomingmonotonous.

There s

a

fine

ine betrveenamiliarity and annoying

repetition.Whenever ou

usea

technique.

nly repeat

it

a

few

times,

then

go

away from

it.

The change

doesn't

have o

be

drastic.and

you

can

come

back to

it

later. You

want

to

provide

comfort

and

familiarity,

but

you

also want to

avoid being repetitious.

f

you

ever

listen

closely

o Earl

Scruggs

banjo

playing,he

was

a master

f

givin-e

he

istener

a

certain

amiliarity,

then changing

ever so sli-qhtly, o that there

was still

familiarity.

but

also somethingdifferent.

You can

approach

our

bass

uns

and rhythm

playing

the

same

way.

You can

provide variation

without

going

to

far

left

or

right

of a familiar

pattern.

Chromql?c

Weilk

Ups

& Wolk Downs

So

far

we have

only

been

working with the note

of the major scales. We

walked

up

and

we

rvalked

down using

thosenotes as

our

pathway

o

lead from

one chord to

another,

and

then

we

mixed things

up

a

bit using hosesame

notes. However, he notesof

the

major scale

are

not the only ones hat

will work

in

a

bass un. Thosenotes hat arepositionedn-betwee

the

notes

f

themajor

scale

will also

work.

These

otes

sometimes

alled

neighborin-e

ones."

are

ound n the

chromaticscale.

While the

major scale

contains eve

unique

pitches

do,

re,

me, a. so, a. ti), the

chromati

scale ontains 2

pitches

and

consists

ntirelyof

half-

step intervals

(for

more information about

half-step

and r,vhole-steps

s

hey relate o

scales,,ee

he Major

Scales, hords&

Arpeggios

ppendix).

The chromati

scale, tarting

with

the

G

note,

s

as ollows:

GrG#rA rA #rB , C

rC#rDrD#rE ,

F , F#

Let's apply he

notes

of this scale

o

our

bass uns

Takea look at Example

3 on the op of the

next

page

In

this example

we

are applying chromatic

uns

in

measures and4. In measure

we

are startingon

the

root note

of

the

chord

(G),

then

we

are

moving o the

next

note

n the

G

scale

the

A note)and

rom there

we

walk up

the

chromatic

cale o C by

playing

A,A#,8,

thenC.

In measure rvestartwith theroot noteof the chord

then

we

stepback

a half

step

so hat

we

can make

oom

for

a

chromatic un between

he C

andD chords. Once

r,ve

tep

back

rom

C

to

that

B note,we then r,valk p the

chromatic cale

rom

B, to

C, to C#.

hen o

D.

In measure I

threw

n another

mix

it

up"

variation

Here

we

hit the root

note of the chord

(D)

on the

firs

beat.

Then

we

start o

walk

down the

scaleby

playing

the

C

note

on beat wo, and he

B

note on

beat

hree

With these

notes

we

are

leading

the

listener's

ea

down

the

scaleand

heading

or G. So the

listener'

ear is ready to hear

the A

note next, followed by the

G. However,

we

are

going

o threw the

D note at them

insteadn

order o

provide

a little

variety.

The

D note

works

because

t

is the root note of the

D

chord and

t

is

the

5th

toneof the G scale, o

t fits

very

nicely

with

both

chords.

This

s an

example

f hor,v

ou

can

chang

a

run

ever so

sli-ghtly

n order o

give

the

istener's a

a little surpriseandmake t

perk

up.

Practice:

Play

through Examples

1l

and

12

many

times

in a rorv

with a

metronome.The focushere ,vill

be

on

playing

hrough hese xamples noughimes

to becomeamiliar

with hesound

f

the echniques

and hey will

eventually

ecomesecond ature

o

you

and

you

can apply hem n

other

keys and

n

a

variety

of

situations

without

having

to

'think'

about hem.They will

just

pop-out

of

your

finsers

when

you

least

expect t

Homework:

After

you

have

practiced

Examples

ll

and 72.and

become

amiliarwith

their mechanics nd heir sound. rv

to

play

the exact same

uns

in

other

keys. See

f

you

can do it

by

ear,

vithout

having o mentally

figure

out

the

notes

of

the

scale.

This will

help

you

develop

our

ear.

After

you

havedone hat,

go

back

o the key of G

progression

nd

see

f

you

can come up with

someother examples f

mixing

walk-ups

and walk-downs. Those uns that

you

create n

your

own

will

be

the ones

hat

will

end

up

being

your

favorites

24

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume 1: Rhythm,

Boss

Runs, and

Fill Licks



Exomple

13:

G, C,

D Rhyfhm wilh

Chromati,c

Walk-Ups

Practice:

Play through

Example 3

many

times. Make sure

hat

you

are

working

with

you

metronomeo

play

hose hromatic uns ighton hebeat, vithout

speeding p.

Start

t a

slow

empo,

et

comfortable

r,vith

he speed,hen

gradually

ncreasehe

empo.

It might

also

be

a

good

dea

o

go

back o

our

first

exampleand review all

of the

progressions

hat

have

been

presented

o

far.

From here on

things

will

start o

get

a

ittle more

complicated.

nd

also

you

need o have

a solid

foundation.

Homework:

By

now

you

know what's coming

for homework After havepracticed

Example 13,

and

become

amiliar

with

the

mechanics

nd

sound.

rv to

play

the

exact samechromatic uns

n

other

keys.

Once

again

,

see f

you

can do it

by

ear,

without

having to mentally figure out

the

notes of the

scale.

C

BassRuns-Old-Time

Stvle

Norv hat

you

have

some

standard

ass

un

example

under

your fingers

and

in

year

ears, et's try a G, C

D

progression

n the

style

of some

of

the

the old-time

guitar players

ike

Roy

Harvey,

Tom

Paley,and

Riley

Puckett.Thisprogression, xample14-which make

very

heavyuse

of bass

uns-can beheard

n

the

playin

of manyof the

old-time

players.

As mentioned efore

these

performers

ypically

played

n

an ensembleha

did not include a bass

player,

so their rhythm

guita

stylemade

heavy

use

of bass uns.

I love istenin-eo

and

playing,

his

type

of

progression.

f

you

ever ind

yourself

amming,

or

performing

n

a small

ensemb

with

a mandolin,banjo, andior

fiddle-but

no

bas

or second

guitar-this

type

of

guitar

accompanime

sounds

reat.

Later in this book, when you play throughsomeo

the songexamples

rovided,

ou will

find

his

style un

in

the transcription f

Roy Harvey's

accompanime

to

the song

Blue

Eyes."

You

will

also ind

a simila

run

used

by

Charles

Sawtelle

n the key of

C

for his

accompanimento the

iddle une

Tennessee

agoner

Althou-eh

Charles

performed

n

a full

bluegrass an

(Hot

Rize),

he

was

also a fan of the

old-time

styl

rhythm and

used

his styleon a

recording

ession

her

he was

playing

n

a duo

with

a

mandolin

player.

Flatpiching Essentials Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs,

and FilI

Licks

2



Example

l4z

G, C,

D

Rhyflrm

Old-Tlme

Style

Spreading

Out Bass

Runs:

Using

Half

Notes

The

sequence

f

notes hathavedefined

all of the

bass runs that

we have examined his

far, in terms

of

walking

up

or dor,vn

scale,

have been spaced

a

quarter

note

apart n

time.

We can

also

space

hose

notesa half noteapart n sequence,nd placea strum

in-between hem.

The

result, ime-wise,

s similar o

the alternating ass echnique xcept he

bass

doesn

alternate,

t

progresses

equentially p or down

a scale

Take

a

ook

at

Example15. In measures and

2

we

are

walking a bass ine up the

chromatic

cale

ust

like

rve

did in measure

of

Examples

3

and

14,

however,

havespread

he walk

out over

wo

measures

nd

place

strums

n-between he bassnotes

except

or the las

beat

of

measure

rvherewe play

anotherbass

note

however,a strum

could

havebeen used here-more

about hat shortly).

Similarly,

n

measures and

4 we have repeate

the bass

ine that

you

learned n

example 3,

but we

spaced

he notes

out

a half-note

apart

and

put

strums

n-

between

hem. You

will

notice hat

since

we

are

using

our middle

finger

o

play

the

B

note

on the 3rd

beat

of

measure , we are

only

strumming he op three

string

on the

strum hat ollows thatbeat.

In measures and6

we arewalkingdown the

sam

line

hat

we used

n

measure

of

Example l.

Again

Practice:

Play through

Example 14 many

times

with

a metronome.

This

one

s

a little trickier han hose

progressions

e've

ooked

at

thus

ar.

Work

with

it over and over until you can play it without

lookingat

he ab.

Once

again, he

onger he

bass

runs,

he easier

t

is

to

speed p and

get

off time-

wise.

So focus

on

your

timing.

Startat

a

slow

tempo and

then

gradually ncrease

he tempo

on

the metronome.This s

a fun

prosression

o

play.

Homework:

For

the ime being, 'm

not

going

o

ask

you

to find this

progression

n

other keys. Later,

you

will see

an

example

of similar runs

n the key

of C,

and

I'll

point

that out

when t

comes

up. What

I would

like you

to

do

here or homework

s

try to

analyze

what

s

going

on here.

Take

a

look at

each

un and

figure

out what notesare

being used,

what

scales

they

are

rom, f theyare

walk-ups,

r

walk-downs,

etc.

When

you

analyze

what s

going

on

with

runs,

it helps

you

see

what s happening, nd t can also

help

nspire

our

own

deas.

26

Flatpicleing

Essentials

Volume

1:

Rhyth,m, Bass

Runs, and

Fill Licle



Excmple

15:

G, C,

D Rhyfhm

Uslng

Hclf-Nofe BcrssR.uns

we

spread

he bass

un

across wo

measures

nstead

of

one. Notice

that on beat

4

of

measure

and beat2 of

measure we

are

not

playing

he high E string

so

that

we

can ree

up fingers o

play

the run,

yet

still

hold part

of the chord

at the same ime. In measures ,4

and6

we arenot strummingon the beat ust before he chord

change.As mentioned

efore,we could

strumon that

beat, owever,

y

playing

a single

bass

ote

here,,

ith

a ittle extraemphasis,t

better ignals

he

movement

o

the next chord. I recommend

hat

you

try

it

both

ways,

see f

you

notice a difference,

nd hen use he

one

hat

you

ike

best.

When

you

areexecuting his

styleof bass

un,

he

strum can

be executed ightly so

that it

has more

of a

percussive

ound.When

you

strum ightly and

quickly,

you

don't have

o be so exactwith

your

fingering

and

you

can

also

get

away

with

strumming

all of the strings

even hough all

of

the notes

of the chord are

not

being

fingered. When

you

are

working

out these

half-note

style bass uns,

experiment

with

the

strums

and what

notes

can be

played,

and sound

OK, and

which

ones

cannot.

Many

times

you

can

still executea

full

strum

even

f

you've

moved

a finger

off of the

full

chord

n

order o

play

the bass

un.

Experimentand

see

what

sounds

ood

o

you.

G

Practice:

Play throughExample 15 many

times

with a metronome.At first

it may feel awkward for

you

to

continue o

hold

the chord at

the

same

ime

you

are executing he bass

un. Take

your

time

and

work

out

the fingerings hat

will feel

the

most

comfortable o

you.

Also

experiment

with

the

sound o see

f

you

have

to

limit

the number of

strings that

you

are strumming. Sometimes

t

soundsOK to execute

full

strum.sometimes

t

doesn't ound

good

at all.

Homework:

The first

thing

to do for homework

this time

is

to see

f

you

can

work

out

somehalf-notebass uns

n

the

keys

of C

and D. After

you

do that look back

at some of the

quarter

note walk-ups and walk-

downs hat

you

have

played

previously

and see f

you

can spreadout the

run

and

play

it

in

the

half-

notestyle.

Flatpiclzing Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm, Bass Runs, and Fill Licks



Altetnal?ng

Plck

DilseclZon

nd

Elghtlr NolePssctilce

Before

we move

onto more

bass

un

examples,

need

o takeanother

hortdiversion

and

give

you

a ittle

bit of

practice

with

eighth notes.

Up until this

point

in this

book

we

primarily

worked

with

quarter

note

timing. You worked

a little

bit

with

eighth note

iming

when

I introduced

he

up-strum

earlier,but otherwise

everything

that

you

have

practiced

so far has

been

executedn

quarter

ote iming

usingdownstrokes

with

your pick.

In

this section need

o introduce

eighth

note

iming and

the alternate

ick

direction ight hand

technique

hat

goes

along with

it

so

that

you

will

be

ready

o handleeighth

note uns

and hythm fill licks in

the examples

hat we will

examine n

the remainder

of

thisbook. Eighth

note unsnot

only

help

spiceup bass

lines,

but they also

serveas

great

filler

licks"

that can

be nserted

etrveen ocal ines

n

songs. n a full band

the fill licks are usually given to the banjo or fiddle

player,

however,

f

you

find

yourself

n

an ensemble

that does

not include

hose nstruments,

ou

can take

over that role. Doc

Watson s famous

or his

ability to

provide

asteful ndexciting ill

runsduring

he

pauses

in his vocal

delivery.

Alternating

Pick Direction

At

the beginning

of this book I

presented uater

note

timing tn 414

ime and

suggestedhat

you

count

|

-2

-

3

-4,wi theach

numberrepresent ing

quarter

note n time. I alsosuggestedhateach imeyou played

a

note

on the

quarter

note count

that

you play

it

with

a

downstroke f

the

pick.

When we

introduceeighth

notes nto

a

measure,we

can count the measure n

eight

equal segmentsn

time as

"l-and-2-and-3-and-

4-and-".

Conventionally,

ownstrokes

are

played

on

the numbered

ounts

ust

as hey

were

n

quater

note

AJlernatilng

Pick

Exercise

I

1

tl

=

downstroke

Flatpich,ing

Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm, Bass

Runs,

V

=

u

Pstroke

and

Fill

Licks

time) andupstrokes re

played

on

the

"and"

counts.

As

a

beginner

his s a very mportantconcept

o

grasp

and

a vital skill to obtain

with

the right hand.

Thereareadvancedechniqueshatmany

profession

players

use

that will

go

against his rule of thumb

however,

sa beginner

ou

will

want o solidly

practic

this convention ntil

it

becomes econd ature o

you

In flatpicking he right hand s

the

keeper

of time, the

producer

oftone, and he source f speed nd accurac

If

you

don't

have

a solid alternating

ick

directio

technique, t

will

be

difficult for

your

right hand

to

develop the

necessary

echnique o reach advance

levels

of

skill.

So,

t will

do

you

a

world

of

good

to

practice

he alternating

pick

techniquewhen

playing

eighth

notes-playing

them slowly at first and then

working to increase

our

speed

with

a metronome

beforewe introducehem nto our bass un sequence

Alternating Pick Direction Exercises

Starting

with

Exercises and 2

below, and then

continuing on the next two

pages

with

Exercise

3 through 8,

practice your

alternating

pick

strok

technique.Exercises

and

2

may seem

very

simple

however,

hey are

well worth your

time.

Set

you

metronomeat a relatively

slow tempo and, using the

"swing

stroke,"

practice

Exercise I

over and over

Focus

on economy

of

motion with

your

right

handand

try to get your downstrokeand upstroke o

be

equal n

volume.

During

this exercise,

ou

can also

work

on

your

tone and timing. Work

with your

metronome

o

improve iming and istencarefully

o

your

tone.

Vary

your

angle

of

attack,

our

distancerom

thebridge',

or

hard

you

hit the

string,and

how

firmly

you

are

grabbin

the

pick

in

order to try and

get

the best

possible

one

Alternating Plck Exerclse

2

Count

2



Use

he exercisesn this

section o do more

han

create

alternatingpick

muscle

memory. Use them to make

advances

n

timing,

tone and note

clarity

by being

aware

of thosecritical

elements f

your guitar

skill.

As

you

move on to Exercise ,

you

should

alsobe

aware

of

your left

hand's

contribution o tone and note

clarity.

Experimentwith

the

amount

of

pressure

hat

you

use r,vhenretting

the

string

and

how

quickly

you

lift the finger off of the string. Simpleexercisesike

this

are

great

vehicles

o use

n

order o

work

on all of

your

fundamental

kills. If

you

listen

carefully,and

remain

keenly aware

of the

fundamentals,

our

skill

level will greatly

mprove.

After

working

with Exercises I and 2,

work

sequentially

hrough

Exercises3 through 6

using

alternating

pick

strokes. The notes are basically he

same n

these

our

exercises, ut we are changing he

right hand

patterns.

After

you feel

comfortable

with

Exercises

3 to

6,

then

work with

Exercises and

8.

Exercise7

is

an

ascending

nd

descending

scale.Exercise

takes

he

G scaleand"folds" it on to itself n a repetitivepattern

With all

of theseexercises,

ork with

a

metronome

start at

a slow tempo,

and

then

gradually

ncrease he

tempo.

AltesnatTng

Pick

Exerclse

3

1

Play Examples

3 through

using

Alternating

Pick Strokes

Altetnotilng Pick Ex. 6

NletnatTng

Plck Exercise

4

NletnatTng Plck Exercise 5

Flatpicking Essentials Volume

1: Rhythm, Bass

Runs, and

Fill Lichs



NlernatTng

Pick

Exeecise

7

Count

1

&

F tV

2&3&4&

I IV

NV FV

1&2&3&4&

I . IV

FV FV FV

1&2&3&4&1&2&

I IV l tV

t rV

l lV t rV

l lV

3&4&

Fl

fl

=

downstroke

V

=

u

pstroke

Altetnat?ng

Pick Exercise

8

3

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume

1:

Rhythm, Boss

Runs, and

Fill

Licks

LJI



UsingEighth

Notes

or Runs

and

Fill

Licks

Now,

back o

bass uns

In

the ast

bass

un

segment

we

took

quarter

ote

bass

uns

and

spread

hem

out a bit

so hat

hey

were

executed half

noteapart. Similarly,

we

can

take our

quarter

note

runs

and execute hem

more quickly

using

eighth

notes.

These

ind

of

quick

runs

can

be

employedvery

effectively,

particularly

f

you want to placea quick fill run duringa vocal une.

Take

a l ook at Example

6. In measures and4 we've

taken

he bass uns

rom measures

and

4

of Example

l3 and

compressed

hem down

to be executedn

just

trvo

beats nstead

of four. In measure I've

provided

you

with

another

one of

those

mixed runs. This

one

begins

n

anA note,whichwould

be henote

ou

would

play

f

you

weregoing

o continue

he alternating ass

line pattern

on the D

chord that

you played

on beats

I

and

3 of

measure

and

beat I

of

measure . From

there, his run simplyoutlinesa G major arpeggio y

playing

he

B,

D, B,

thenG

notes.

introduced

he dea

of moving n

one direction

along a

chord

arpeggio

n

measure

of Example

12. That run

was a

quarter

note

bass

un

that started

on the

D note

at beat one, then

moved

o

an

E note,

back o D,

then o B

and

G. You

could

also

ry

that same un here

by

starting

with

the D

note

on beat hree

nd

playing

D, E, D,

B,

then

G. Just

for

fun,

try the Example 12 run

as a

quarter

note

un,

then ry changing he

quarter

note un

of Example

16

o

an

eighthnote

run

and it it into measure

of

Exampl

12.

Excrmple

16z

G,

C,

D

Rhyflrm

wllft

Eighl|n Nole

Runs

C

Practice:

Play

throughExample

6 many

times with a metronome. If

you'veneverplayedeighthnote

runs

before, start

out slor,v nd

get

a feel

for

the

timing and

pick

direction.

Make

sure

hat

you

are

not rushing hrough

he

run and startslow enough

that

you

are

playing

eachnotecleanly.

Work

your

way

up to

fast

tempos,

but

do not

lose the

note

clarity n

this

run

as he

empo

ncreases.

Homework:

Like

the homework

assignment

on the previouspage, ry to apply

rvhatyou

have earned ere o other

keys.

See f

vou

can ,vork

ut

some

eighth-note ass

uns n

the

keys

of

C

andD.

After

you

do that,

ook

back at

someof

the

quarter

note

walk-ups

and

walk-downs

hat

you

have

played

previously

and

see f

you

can

condensehe

runs

and

play

them

n

the ei_ehth-note

tyle.


1:

Rhythm,

Boss

Runs,

and

Fill Licks



Excmple

18: Borrow?ng

From Beiss

Ployers

-

The l2-Bsr Blues

in

G

G

The

first two

bars

n

this bass

ine

rvalk

up the G

arpeggio

rvith

he sixth

note

of the

scale

dded

or

extra

"spice"

so echnically

t would

be

a G6 arpeggio).

We

r,valk

rom the G note

on

the ow

E

string o the openG

note

on

the

G string,

and then

walk back

down

to end

on the

orv G

note

againon the first beatof measure

.

Recognize

his

sequence f notes? Our

friend

Riley

Puckett

designedhe entireS-bars

f the

progressionn

Example

7

around

his

bassine He

played

t

forward,

played

t

backward,changed he timing,

and

threw in

some

strums.but it is exactly he samesequence

f

notes.

And

you

can do

the

same

hing

with

this

and

many

others ass ines. If

you

know

any bass

players,

ask hem

o show

you

a

few

of

their

avorite

bass

ines,

then

pick

them apart, hange he timing,

and hrow

in

some

strums n

order

o create

vour

own interesting

bass uns.

In Example

8,

the

bass ine

that

s

played

agains

the

G chord

s

the

same

n measures and2, 3

and4,

and

7 and8. The

C chord

bass ine

s very

similar,

bu t

doesnot

add

in

the

6th

note

of

the

scale.

This bass

line

simply

outlines

he

three notes hat make

up the

C

major

chord-C,

E,

andA.

This C

major arpeggi

canbe

used

n many

different

waysagainst

C

chord

just

like Riley Puckett

used he

G major

aqpeggio

n

Example

17. Keep

his

sequence

n mind

for

a

variety

of bass ine applications

hat can be

played

against

he

C

chord.

In measures

and

l0 I

am

providing

you

two

runs

that

r,valk

p

the A

string

and

he D

string, espectively

in

a

chromatic tyle. Then n measures l and

12

we

are

walking

back

down the G arpeggio gain

o endon

a low

G

note. This

12-bar ass ine

sequence

s

oneof

many

hat

bass

players

will

use

,vhen

ccompanying

34

Flatpiclzing Essentials Volume 1: Rhythm, Bass Runs,

and

Fill Lichs



9-R.uilsr

HamrnGr-Ons,

Pull-Offs,

ond

Slldes

In this

sectionwe

are

going

to

start

working with fill

licks

and he

"Granddaddy"

of them all is the G-run.

As

you

will

see, here

are

manyvariations

f the

G-run,

and a

good

number

of

them

employ embellishments,

or slurs,

known as hammer-ons, ull-offs,

and slides.

Sobeforevve alk about he G-run,lets irstdiscusshe

hammer,

ull,

and

slide echniques

ust

in case

ou

are

not familiar with

them.

Take

a look

at Example 19.

You

will find that t

is

very

similar

o

Example 16, however,

hereare a

few

new symbols

and ettersadded

n

measures ,4,

and

6.

[n measure

| haveadded

a hammer-on.

For

this

technique

ou

will

simply

fret

the A# note

on

the first

fret of

the A

string

with

your

index finger and

pick

the

string

as

before, owever. nstead

f

picking

he string

a-eaino

play

he B note

on

the

second ret,

you

simply

"hammer"your middle ingerdorvnon that note. The

important

hing o noticehere s

thatbecause

t is

your

left hand

making

the soundon

the

B note,

you

will

not

play

the

upstroke

ick

directionat the

end of the

measure,

nd n keeping

with

ourruleof thumb-which

says

hat all downstrokes

ccur

on the numbered ount

and the upstrokes

ccur

on the

"and"

counts-when

we start

measure

,

we

are

going

to

play

a

downstrok

(see

he count

and compare t

with

the

pick

direction

symbols

and

ab below).

In measure ,I introducehe "slide." To execut

this technique,play

the

C note

at

the third

fret

with

your

ring finger,

hen

play

the

B note

with your

middle

finger.

After that

note ings, keep

pressure

n the string

and

slide the

middle finger

up along that string

unti

you

hear he

soundof the

C note at the third

fret

again

Then

play

the

C# note at

the forth

fret

by

fretting tha

note

at

the

ourth

ret'uvith

our

ring finger

and

picking

an upstroke.

Again, in

keeping

with

our

alternatin

pick

strokeconvention, e

are

not

picking

the

C

note

that s

played

on

the

3rd

beat-so

we

havean upstrok

to initiate he slideand thenwe play anotherupstrok

after

executing

he slide.

Working out

pick

directio

rvhenplaying

embellishments nd

slurs

s

one of

the

most

difficult right

hand

challenges.

Focus

on

it now

and t will not

cause

roblems

ater.

Exomple

19:

Adding

Hcmrner-Oisr Pull-Offs,

and

glldes

# |

ount

1

tl

&2 &

It

3&4

'1

ll

& 1&

tl

2&

|l

&4&

|l

1&2

- l l

&3&

ft

4&

n

1&2

n l l

&3&

FI

4&

F

3

t

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm, Bass

Runs,

and Fill Lich,



The

next

slurs

occur n measure

.

The first

one s

another

hammer-on

echnique. Play

the open A note

and

then

"hammer"

down

onto the B note.

On the

fourth

beat

of that measure ou

will

executea

"pull-

off'

technique. n

order

o accomplish

his,

play

the B

note

with your

middle

finger

on the second ret

of the

A

string.

Then

slightly

pull

on the

string while lifting

up your

middle

finger.

This

causes he string

to snap

off theendof your fingerandallows he A note o ring

out.

Notice

hat

although

notes

arebeing

played

on the

"and"

after

beat 2

andbeat4,

you

are

playing

with

al l

downstrokes

n

this measure.

The hammer

and

pull

are

taking

care

of thosenotes

hat

you

hear

on the

"and"

beats,

o no

up

stroke s required.

Next

take a look

at

Example

20

below. This

progression

s very

similar

o Example

8,,

owever,I've

added

ammer-ons,ull-offs,

and

slides. nterestingly

enough,

ll

of these mbellishments

re executed

n a

downstroke.

So, even

hough

you

have

some

eighth

note

iming

here,you

can

play

this entire

progression

with

all

downstrokes.

Also notice

hat I 've not

just

added

he

slurs

o

measures

4, and

6.

I

started

off

with

a

slide

on beat I

of measure

. This is

a

nice

accent

hat you

can

use anytime

hat

you

play

that G

note

on the

ow E,

string.

Excmple

2Oz Addlng

Hcm.ner-Oilsr

Pull-Offs,

ernd

Slildes #2

C

Practice:

Play

through

Examples 19

and 20

many

times

with a

metronome while

focusins

on

correct

pick

direction

and

timing. Pay special

attention

o measure

of

Example

19. You may

feel like

you

want

to

play

the last

note in that

measurewith a downstroke,but it needs o be

played

r,vith

an upstroke. At

this

point

in time

it

may feel

awkward

o

play

two

upstrokesn a row.

Take

your

time and

play

that measure

over and

over to

get

a

good

eel

for the

echnique.

Homework:

Now

that

you

have a little

experience

ith

hammer-ons,

ull-

offs,

andslides,

o

back hroughal l

of the Exampleshatyou haveworkedwith thus

far and

see

where

you

may

be able

to add these

embellishments.

dding

slurs eally

helpsspice

up

your

rhythm

uns,

however,

on't

get

oo over

zealouswith

them. Too much

can

be distractins

to the istener.

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume

1:

Rhythm, Bass Rlrns,

and

Fill

Licks



show

you

how

you

can createcommon themes

rom

one basic dea. If

you

createone

ick

and then

earn

how to

move

t to

other strings

and

play

t

against

ther

chords,and

then

play

it

going

forwards and

moving

backwards,

ou

can come up

with

a

lot

of

great deas

on

your

own.

You may

also

notice hat didn't

put

any

slurs

nto

his

progression. he

G-run

s

ust

ike G-run

number8, but

rvithout

he

hammer-ons r

pull-offs.

So

there ou haveanotherG-runvariation.

Before

we move

on to

Practiceand Homework

for

this section,ets

ake a look

at

the

next wo examples.

Play

hroughExample22. The first thing that

you

may

notice here

s

that we

start off

the

progression

with

a

G-run.

The

G-run

is

not

just

for

endings.

It makes

a

great

statement ight from

the beginning

sometimes.

The next

hing that may havecau_eht

our

attention

was

the

very

cool D

lick

in measure . This onecomes

o us

from Jimmy

Martin. Jimmy

played

his one

with

rest

strokes, o

give

hata ry.

Play

every

note n measures

and

6 using

eststrokes.

You

can

also

practice

measure

5

with

alternating trokes

as

ndicated.

We

end

with

a

simpleG-run,

rvhich

should

also be

played with rest

strokes.

Next take

a look

at

Example23.

This

one also

starts

and endswith

G-runs. The

first

G-run

s like

number

9,

but doesn'tbegin

with

a

grace

note.

If

you

use he

rest

stroke

or

the G-run and hen

walk down to

the

C

chord

as

show,

ou get

a real

nice

classic

ass

ine. In

measure we

have a nice

variation

of

the chromat

walk

up

to D.

This one s borrowed rom

the

playin

of Del

McCoury.

This

is a cool

ick

In measure

6

and

7 of

Example 23,

you'

l notic

that I've taken

the forward

and

backwards

G-ru

(number

9)

and

placed

he backwards

art

n front o

the forrvards art. Noticethat he first noteof measu

6 is

a half

note,

so don't rushby

playing

a

quarter ot

there.

That

s

the

ast

of

our I, IV.

V

progressions

n

the

ke

of G. Hopefully

by

working with

the23 examples

hat

have

presented,ou

now

feel

confidentwith using

bas

runs

and fill licks in

a chord

progression

hat move

from

G

to

C

to D. And if

you've

done

your

homewor

you

will

also have

practiced

he same,or similar,

un

and icks for

I, IV,

V

progressions

n at

least

he

key

of

C

and

D.

Also,

I

hope

hat

by

going

hrough

all o

theseexamples

ou

have

seen

how

easy

t

is

to

sta

rvith

a few

principles

walking

up

and

walking down

useof

timing,useof slurs.

use

of rest

strokes)

nd

wit

theadded

nowledge

f

a few scales

nd

arpeggios

o

can createnearly

an

infinite number

of

bass uns

an

fill licks.

Once

you

have a fer,v xamples nder

you

belt.

he

skv s

the

imit

Gr

C, D Rhyffurr

-

Exomple 22

t i ng

ke

+ l l

+ l l

F

V

VI I

F | | l

f l t

Flatpiclzing

Essentials Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs,

and Fill Licks



G, C,

D

Rhyffurr

-

Exeimple23

Creqtlng

fhovernenf

Whlte

StayTng

wiflr

Only One Chord

Earlier I

stated

hat one of the

goals

of

a rhythm

player

was

to create

movement n a

song

by

leading

the listener'sear to the next chord change. All of

the examples

hat

we

have worked with

to this

point

in

the

book

have

been

progressions

here the chord

changed

very two measures.However, n many of

the

songs hat

you

are

going

to

play

the chordsdo

not

change hat

often. Therefore,n

this section

am

going

to

give

you

someexamples

f

how

you

can

createan

interesting

hythm

accompaniment, nd

create

a

sense

of

movement

hat

propels

he

song

orward, when

you

are stayingwith

the same hord

or more

han

a couple

of measures.

he

old-time

players

who

played

behind

banjosor fiddles,wheremasters f this echnique.

Play

through both

of the G

rhythm

examples

on

the next

page

many

times n a

row.

Basically

we

are

using

he alternating

ass

iming,

but nstead f always

alternating

between

he root and the 5th note of

the

scale,

we

are moving{he

bass

note

around

by using

other scalenotes.

More times than not

we will use

notes

n

the scale

hat are also

n

the chord,but

as

we

have

seen n

other examples,

sing

he

6th

note of the

scale

the

E note

n

the

key

of G) also

workswell.

This

Practice:

Play through Exercises

21

22,

and 23

r,vith

a metronome

focusing

on timing and correct

pick

strokes. Practice

at a slow tempo

first

and

makesure

hatall of

your

notes

re lean,

specially

when

executing

slur.

Homework:

Now

that

you

have worked with

23 examples,

et

togetherwith

one

of

your picking

buddies

and

try to

put

what you

have learned

o use.

If

you

have worked

through these

examples,

nd done

your

homework,

you

should

find that you can easily mix and match different

runs

and licks

to come up

with

something ew.

Remember

hat in all

of the examples

ere

I've

overloaded

hem

with runs

and

ill licks

ust

for the

purpose

of

you

being able o learn as many hings

as

possible.

You

rvill

not necessarily

se hismany

runs

n

just

eight bars

of

music. Sometimes

ou

will

just

want

o strumand

play

it simple. It will

all depend

on the size and nstrumentation

f the

ensemble.

44

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs, and

Fill Liclzs



G

Rhythrn

-

Exomple 3

Once

you

havea feel for the G RhythmExamples,

move

on and try the threeC

Rhythm Examples

shown

at

the bottom of this

page

and he

next

page.

The

first

two are similar to the first tr,voG Rhythm Examples.

Then in

the third example add

in

a bunch of eighth

note runs.

While eighth

note runs

can soundbusy-

and thusyou shouldonly use hem when you are not

competing with another nstrumentalist hat is

trying

to

play

fill licks-they

are

nice to use when

you

are

the

only

instrument

n the ensemble

who is

providing

fill licks.

I have also

provided

heseeighth note fill

licks

because neof our

goals

n thisbook

s

to

provide

you

with

the basicskills hat

will help

you

develop he

C

R.hyflurr

-

Exomple

I

G

ability to

play

lead

guitar.

If

you

become

comfortable

with

eighth

note

runs while

playing

rhythm,

you

can

easily

use hesesame uns to fill in between

melody

noteswhen you

start o

learn how

to

play

lead

guitar.

So

practice

hese unsover andover so hat

you gain

an

intuitive familiarity rvith

hem.

When you areplayingC RhythmExercise , make

sure hat

you

practice

moving from

measure

B

back

to

measure while playing

hrough hisexercise ver

and

over.

That way you will

learnhow to use he

lick in

measure

to full

effect.

t l

Flatpiching Essentials

Volume 1: Rhythm, Bass Runs, and

Fill

Licks



C

R.hytfun

-

Exomple

2

C

Rhyfhrn

-

Excmple

3

4

Flatpiching Essentials Volume 1: RhStthm, Bass Runs,

and Fill Licks



D

Rhythm

-

Exeimple

3

Substitutes

or Measure

2

First

Substitute:

Second

SubstituteWith Alternating

Pick

Technique:

Second

SubstituteWith

RestStokes:

1 t )

progresses,

o t is

appropriateo

take

a look at it

here

A

dotted

quarter

note

gets

the same jme duration a

three eighth notes.

If

you

look

at the count on th

measure

hown

on the left

you

will

see

hat

whereas

quarter

notewould

receive

he

ime duration

1

&", th

dotted

quarter

note eceives

he time

duration

l & 2"

This

timing can

be tricky if

you've

neverworked

with

it.

So

get

out

your

metronome,

et t out a slow emp

andwork with

this ick.

I've

given you

two

picking

options.

The first

(left

is using alternatepicking

and the second

above)

executed

with

all downstrokesn

the

rest

stroke

style

Each s

a challenge ith

this

ick,

so

practice

ntil

you

get

t right.

D

Count

Flatpiching

Essentials

Volume 1: Rhythm, Bass Rttns,

and

Fill Licks



Practice:

Play

through D Rhythm

Examples 1

through

3

with

a

metronome. PracticeExample

3

over and

over using the alternate

measures.

Work with

the secondalternatemeasure

using

both

alternating

ick

directionand he

reststroke

until

you

feel

comfortable

with

both styles

of

picking

and

you

feel comfortablewith

the iming

of the

dotted

quarter

note.

Homework:

Play

eachof the D chord

rhythms

presented

ere

and see what

kind

of

embellishments

ou

can add.

Also work

to find somevariations.

Again, a

good

dea s

to try and mix

and match

different icks from eachof the examples o see

how

they might

it together.

Also,

you've

now been ntroduced

o

over

20 variations

f the G-run. See f

you

can't find

somemore

alternate licks

hat are

similar o the

first

measure

alternate. 'm

sure hat

you

can

find

two

or threeothers hat

you

mieht

like.

Example

1

1

I

-

Straight

Quarter

Note Time

G D

9yncopeillon

In the ast

section introduced

ou

to the

conceptof

the

dotted

quarter

note. In

this section, n syncopation

you

are

going

to

get

the opportunity o

practice

he

dotted

quarter

ote

iming

quite

a bit so

hat

you

solidify

this

concept n

your

mind

and on

your guitar.

Syncopated

hythms

are those that are,

in some

way,unexpectedn that hey deviate rom thecommon

sense

f strong

beats

and

weak

beats.

In

other

words

beats

are

stressedn

places

hat they normally

are not

stressed.

So far in

this course he down beats

beats

1

and

2) have

been

stressedhe most

prominently,

with

beats

3 and 4

being he

weaker

beats.

When

playing

eighthnote hythm,

beats1,2,3, and 4 arestresse

more

han

he

"&"

beats.

When we

syncopate

rhythm

we

stress hose

6'&'

beats,and using

a dotted

quarte

note

s

an excellentway

to make hose

65&"

beats

pop

out and

get

noticed.

Example

belor,v

howsa chromatic

un that we

have

workedwith

in

several f our

previous

xamples

It is

shown

n straight

uarter

ote

iming.

Play hrough

this

progression,

hich

startswith

the G chord,

moves

to D,

and then

back to

G. Get comfortable

with

the

timing.

Example

2

shows

he same un, but I've altered he

timing.

I

slid the

secondnote forward in tirne by an

I

Flatpicleing

Essentials


Runs, and

Fill Licks

I

Example

2

-

Syncopation #1

50



Example 3

-

Syncopation#2

Example 4

-

Syncopation

#3

G

Example

5

-

Eighth Note

Run

Example 6

-

Half

Note

Bass Run

G

eighth

note

and

I made it a dotted

quarter note. Play

emphasis on the dotted

quarter

note than

the othe

all rest strokeson this

measurewith a special

emphasis

notes. Practicewith

your metronome o help

you

with

on that secondnote. Examples3

and 4 aboveshow he

the timing.

same

note sequence, ut I've moved the

notes around

Example

5 shows

the same run, but

compresse

in time again using the

dotted

quarter

note

n different

to eighth note time, and then

Example 6 spreads

he

places.

In example 3 it moves o

the third

note

and

n

run

out

over two measures sing the

half note bass

un

example

4

it moves

to the 4th note.

When working

timing. Measures2 and 3

in

example

six can

be a little

with these examples,

play

all

rest strokes

with more

tricky. Make sure hat

you

notice

and

play

the half

not


1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs, and

Fill Licks

5



Practice:

Play

through all

of the

syncopation examples

paying

special attention

o the timing.

The first

syncopatedexample

(Example

2) is

probably

the

most common

as far as

usage,

however, 'd

like

you

to

practice

all

of them in

order to

get

a feel for

working

with

the dotted

quarter

note

iming.

Work with

the

metronome

t

a

variety

of tempos.

Homework:

After

you

have worked

through

al l

of the examples n the

syncopation

section,

ook

at the tab

shownat the

bottom of

his

page.

The

example

showsa chromatic un

that

we

haveworkedwith

previously.See f you can ake his run and nsert

dotted

quarter

notes as

you

did on the last

two

pages.

Play

he exampleas s,

with quarter

otes.

Then chanse

he

first note

to

an

eighth note and

the second ote

to

a dotted

quarter

note

and

work

rvith

hat

variation.

Then change

he iming

as

we

did n

examples ,4, and5

on

he

previous age.

After

you've

worked

to

change he run shown

below by adding a dotted

quarter

note timing in

various

places, o

back hrough

some

of the

, IV,

V

progression

n the

key

of G

that

you

have

worked

with

previously

n

this book and

see

where you

might nsert

ome

syncopated

iming. Experiment

and

see

f

you

can come up with

somenew runs

that sound

good

to

your

ear. Anywhere

you

see

two

quarter

notes n a row,

change he first

to an

eighthnote

and he second o a

dotted

quarter

note

and

see

how

t sounds.

Taking lnventory

Thus far in

this book

you've

been ntroduced o

a variety

of bass uns and

fill licks that utilize eighth

notes,

quarter

notes,

dotted

quarter

notes, and

half

notes.

You've been

shown

how to build those

runs

using scalesand arpeggios s

road maps and

you've

learned

or,vo embellishand

ornament

hose uns

with

the useof slursandreststrokes. f you've doneyour

homework,

ou've

earned ow to

play

those

uns

and

licks n

a

variety

of

keys.

Having

practiced

verythinghat

hisbookhasshown

you

so

far,

you

should eel comfortable

and

confiden

with

taking

all of these elements

and mixing

and

matching

hem

n

a varietyof

ways n

order o come

up

with

your

own bass uns and ilI

licks. The

variation

that

you

can createare iterallyendless.

All

you

have

to

do

is

take

what you've

been

shownand henchange

around he note duration,or the noteselection, r the

slur,and

you

have

somethinghat

s all

your

own.

From

here, n

order o

learnhow to use

what

you

have earned

t i s simply

going

o takea

lot

of

practice

In

order o implementwhat

you've

earnedn a

am.

al l

of these

variations

and

various

elementsare

going

to

have

o

become econd ature o

you.

If

you practice

them

enough, hese

various

uns

and icks

will

come

out of

your

subconscious s

you

are

amming

with

other

people.

A

good

dea s

to

get

together

with some

friends who

love

to

play

lead

on

their instrument,

or

sing,andback hemup. As you arebacking hem up,

don't be afraid to

experiment

and try different hings

Take

note

of

what

sounds

good

to

you

and

get

some

feedback

rom

your picking partner.

If

you

don't

have

a

picking

buddy, hen

put

on someCDs

and

play

along

with

them. Find

a song hat

you

know that s on a

CD

and

play

along

with

the band over and over again

and

try new

hingsevery ime.

Example to work wlfh

lor

Syncopafion Homewor{r

l l

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 1: Rhythm,

Bass

Runs, and

Fill Licks



The BluegreissG Chord

&

Atlenqte$trums

Thus far in

all of our

examples

have focused he

instruction

on

bass

ines

and

ill licks. My

purpose

or

this is rooted n

preparing ou

for the next

volume

of

the

course

where

we will

be

looking

at

moving from

rhythm

to

playing

ead. My feeling

s

that

f

you

have

a lot of experiencewith bass uns and hythm fill licks,

it is very

easy

or

you

to move on

to

playing

ead

guitar

using the

Carter

style as a steppingstone.

The

one

variable

on

playing

rhythm that

I have not addressed

much at

all

is how to

vary

the strum.

Before I

provide you

with examplesof rhythm

styles

from

some of

the famous

players

n

old time

and

bluegrass

music,

will first briefly introduce

ou

to some alternatestrumming

possibilities.

While

there are dozens f different

strummingcombinations

and

variations

hat

you

might come up

with,

I

have

presented

ine

popular

trums

hat

you

could

chooseo

use n addition o the two that

you've

already

worked

with in

this book.

G Chord Variations

Before we

get

to the strum

variations

hough,

want

to also show

you a

different

way to

play your

G chord.

Take a look at the diagramson

the right. The first is

the standardG chord hat

you

havebeen

r,vorkingwith

in

this course.

The

second

s sometimes

eferred

o

as he "bluegrassG chord"becauset has a mellower

or

"lonely"

sound

and

is

popular

amoung bluegrass

players.

Strumeachof the

two chordsand see f

you

can reco

gnrze

difference.

The X at

the

bottom

of

the

A

string

n

the second

iagram

ndicates hat

you

mute

that

string

with the meaty

part

of

your

middle finger so

that t doesnot makea sound.

Technically he difference

s that

n

the

"bluegrass

G"

we

haveeliminated ll of

the B

notes. A major

chord

is made

up of the

root. 3rd, and 5th

notes

of

the

scale.

In

the standardG

chord all of those

notes

are

present.

In the"bluegrass ", we'veeliminatedhe 3rd(B note)

and hus he chord

s

only

madeup of the

root note

(G)

and

he

5th note

(D).

This

gives

a mellowersound o

the

chord,

which is desirable

n some

songs.

If

you

are

playing

a happy song,

you'd want

to choose he

standard chord,

however,

onely,mellow songmay

soundbetter

with the

"bluegrass

G."

Experimentand

seewhich one

you ike

best

n a

given

situation. n the

examples hat follow

in

this

book

you

will find

both of

these

G chordshapes

eingused.

G

Steinderrd G

3'Bluegrers

O')

Alletnqle

Sfrums

Number 1

-

You've seenboth of these trumsbefore

however,what

did here hat

s different

was o combin

the ow G note

root)

and

he

D note

5th)

n

an eight

note

iming

pattern

on

beat3 of measure

Adding

this

pattern

helps

give

a

fuller and

more

complex

sound o

the rhythm.

Number 2

-

This

one

s similar o

Number

,

but

nstea

of

playing

ow

G then

D

on

beat3 of

measure

,

you

play

the

open

string

D note ollowed by the

openstring

G note.

Number 3

-

This

variation

combines

he elements

Number I and Number 2 in the same

measure.

This

provides

an

even

uller sound o the

hythm.

You migh

choose o threw in this kind of

rhythm to

fill the spac

rvhen

here s

a

vocal

pause

at the end of

a

singin

l ine.

Number 4

-

Here

we

have a syncopated

hythm

using

the

dotted

quarter

note. This is a

great

strum

pattern

o

use

when

you

want

o emphasize

he second eat

of the

measure.Play the dotted

quarter

note

strum

with extra

emphasis. This

one

also fits

r,vell

vhen

he

vocalis

addsemphasiso a

word

on the same eat.

Number 5

-

Here I've added

a

strum

across

he

lor,

notesof the

chord

nstead

f

just

playing

a single

bas

note

(which

you

can do

at

any

ime for effect)

and

hen

I've altered he

timing

of the strums hat

follor,v.

Pay

attention o

your

strum

direction

here

(see

directio

notation).

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume

1: Rhythm,

Bass

Runs, and

Fill Licks

5



Number

6

-

AlternateStrum

PatternNumber

6 is

very

similar

o

Number

3,

however,

we

begin

he measure

with a

grace

note slide

into the G

note

on

the low E

string, and

I

have

not included he eighth

note figure

on the third beat.

You could

add

t

in there,or not, as

you

desire.

Numbers

7

through

9

-

These

three

patterns

are

indicative of a rhythm style that rvas introduced o

the

bluegrass orld

by

Jimmy

Martin. Before

Jimmy

joined

Bill Monroe'sband,

many of Monroe's

guitar

playersplayed

r,vith

a

thumb

pick

(Lester

Flatt,

Carter

Stanley,Edd Mayfield to

name a

few)

and so their

rhythm stylehadheavydownstroke

ass uns. Jimmy

Martin's added

a

differentdynamic.

Banjo

player

Bill

Emerson

explainedMartin's style by saying,

Jimmy

was

a

whole

different

style of

guitar

player

than

LesterFlatt who

was

a

thumb

pick

finger

pick

type of

a

player.

Jimmy was

a

flatpick

player.

Jimmy

Martin

had a drive

and

a

tone on his

guitar

hat

no other

guitar

player

as

got...absolutely

an

push ou

and

make

you

go wherehe wantsyou

to

go with his guitar."

Jimmy

Martin referred

o

his

style

of

playing

hythm

guitar

as

"rumble

rhythm." t consists f

very full down

stroke

and

upstroke trums sshown

n Examples ,8,

and9.

Jimmy

masterfully nterspersedhese

ull strumming

measures

with bass notes

and

runs, and

provided

a

sound

hat helped

put

the

gravel

n everychug hole,"

as

he

used o say.His masterful

lacement

f runsand

the dynamicshe used o appropriately rovide power

and drive

when

neededearned

him the respectof

al l

great

bluegrass

uitarplayers.

I've interviewed number f

contemporary luegrass

rhythm

guitar players

,vho

tilize this

type of rhythm

technique nd hey say

that they ike to use h is

style

rhythm n a

full

bluegrass

andsetting ecause

ith

the

bass

playing

he bass ine and

he mandolin

providing

a solid off

beat

"chunk",

this style

rhythm fills

in the

gaps

andhelps o

provide

a

nice

"wall

of

sound"

when

it is

needed.

A Word

About Dvnamics

In

order

to make

your

rhythm

playing have more

textureand

nterest,

ne

otherelement

hat

you

should

learn o

take

advantagef

is

the

use

of

variable olume,

or dynamics. I've discussed

laying

the

rest

stroke

and the dotted

quarter

notes

with

emphasis,

meaning

playing

hose

notes,or strums,

with

more

pop,

punch,

and

volume.

The

seneral

ule of thumb

when

using

dynamics

n

your playing

is

to

"lay

back" or

have

softer

volume when

the singer

is singing

or

whe

another nstrument

s

soloing.

Then

when there

i

gap,or

a hole o

filI,

in

the

vocal ine

or

the solois

expression,

ou

"punch

t,"

and

ncrease

our

volume

Outside

of that

general

ule of thumb,

the use

o

dynamics s

very

subjective nd

s a matter

of

feel tha

is

based n

your

experience

evel and

he message

o

are rying to communicatewith your music. You wan

to learn

when

it is appropriate

o really

accent

a bas

line, or

alternatively,

when t might

be more

effectiv

to

lower

the

bassnotes n

volume

and

really

punch

h

strums

n

a

percussive

anner.

The best hing

o do

i

be ar,vare

f

your

dynamicsand

isten o other

player

The

worst

hing

to

do is

be

that

guy

at

the

am

sessi

that

plays

at the same

volume all the

time and

doesn

know how to lay back

and

allow the

other

players,

singers',o

be heard.

Tim

Stafford

s knorvn as

one of the

most tastef

players

n

bluegrass nd

Tim

always

ecommends

ha

you

"play

to

the

song." What that means

s that

yo

use

all of the tools

n

your

rhythmic bagsof

tricks

in

way

that

helpssupport he singer

and

other

musicia

communicatehe

message

nd

meaningof

the

son

Skillful use of

dynamics helps communicate

h

meaning

ndemotionof

a song

n

a big

way.

LonesomeRoad Blues Example

On the next page haveput together n examp

rhythm

progression

hat

might be used o support

h

song

Lonesome

oadBlues."

This

example

makes s

of a

few

of

the

alternate

trum

patterns

hat

are show

on the

previous

page. Play

through

his

progressi

several imes until

you

feel

comfortable

with all of

th

techniques hat

are

used. Try to

get

a feel

for

wher

you

might

soften he volume

and

r,vheret

might b

appropriateo

increase

he

volume. It

mightbe

helpfu

to

get

togetherwith

a

picking

partner

and have

he o

shesing he tuneandplay it on their nstrument o

tha

you

can

practice

your

dynamics

and

fit

the

increas

and

decreases

n emphasisand

volume n

accordan

r,vith

hevocalist's eliveryof the

yrics.

Also ry

to us

someof

the

other strumalternatives.

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume

1: Rhythm,

Boss

Runs, and

Fill

Licks



"lonesotne

Rood

Bluestt

uslng

Alternstegfrum

p,,lerns

1 G

I 'm

goint-

dorvn

that

road-

feel

l+

++

that

road- feel-

bad,

bad._..-

Lord

and

treated-

this

56

Flatpickin'g

Essentials

Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs,

and

Fitt

Licles



Peirt

llro: Exclmples

lsom the

Flortplckl

ng

Gu

Ttsr

Mei

golzlne

Archlves

Working with

the

Examples

Thus far

in this book I have ntroduced

you

to the

majority of rhythm techniques hat are required to

fulfill all of

the basic

hythm

guitarist

oles n

a

variety

of

settings. Thereare

certainlymany other echniques

that hythm

guitarists

mploy,

however,

f

you

can

get

a

grasp

of what

hasbeen

provided

here n this

book so

f-ar,

ou

will

certainlybe able o

provide

effective

and

interesting

hythm accompaniment.

In

order o

gain

more

experience

with

the techniques

that

you

have

already earned,and

to add more runs

and

icks

to your

rhythm

repertoire,

he

remainder

f

this

book

will present

number

of exampleshat I've

taken rom

the Flatpicking

Guitar Magazine

archives.

These

examples

omedirectly

rom

the

playing

styles

of

many

of the

famous

players

hat

I mentioned

n

the first section

of this book.

Work

through all

of the

examplesmany,

many imes

while

usinga

metronome.

You will see

someof

the exact

uns,

icks, and

strums

that

you've

already

practiced.

You

will

also see uns

and

icks that

are

new

to

you,

and

you

will

definitely

see ew

ways

o combineall of the icks

and uns,

both

nerv

and old.

I will not analy e manyof theseranscriptionsor you

I will make

a

specificcommenthere

or there about a

lick

or run

hat like,

or

mention

,vhy

chose

o

include

a certain xample.Beyond

hat,I

rvi l l

eave t

up o

you

to take a

good

ook at

each

measure

n

order o figure

out

why

each

run and lick

works

in

the

place

where

the

arlist used t.

Analysis

eads

o understanding.

rccommend hat after

you've played

through

each

example,

ou

take

some

ime to look

at

each

ill lick

or bass un.

As

you've

seenn our

previous

xamples,

you

can ake

onebass un or

ick

that

you

ike,

solatet. ,

practice

t,

thenmove t

to

another

ey,

play t

forwards

andbackwards,

r

combine t with

other

icks

or runs n

variousways

n

order o come

up

with

something

hat

is al l

your

own.

I have

organized

hese

xamplesn

sucha

way

that

theeasiest, r mostapproachable

xamples ppear

irst

and

hen

hey

get

progressively

ore

difficult. If

you

can

play

through

David

Grier's fiddle

back up at

the

endof this

chapter,

hen

consider

ourself

a

"graduate"

of thisbook

Learning

How

to Learn

The

great

latpicking

guitar

player

Dan Crary like

to say that the best way to understand nything s to

learnhow

to teach

t

to

yourself.

And

he is right I

you

can absorb

he

rudiments

of any discipline,

ook a

examples

f how

others

haveutilized

hose

element

and hen move forward

to createnew ways to

emplo

those elements

basedon

your

o\,vn

experimentati

and deas, ou

have

discoveredhe

process

f

teachin

yourself.

The key to this

process

s taking

whatyou've

learned rom

others and then

vary

it, change t, an

expand t

beyond

what you

have been aught so tha

you

cancreate our

unique

style.

Studieshave

shown that one of

the

commo

characteristics

f all

people

with

"talent"

s

that

the

all

aredriven

o continuously hallengehemselves

o

explore, xperiment,

nd

grow

beyond

what

hey

hav

been aught

or

shown.

They have

an nherent

uriosit

that compels

hem o

take

what hey havebeen augh

and hink

about

t

in new andcreative

ways.

They ar

always

asking,

What

if I did this?" and hen hey

try

to do it

Thatkind of

curiosity

and

exploration

s

wha

is

meant

by

"teaching

ourself."

So

I encourage

ou

to analyzeeverything hat you are shown n this book

and hen ake

t all

"to

the

next evel"

hroueh

our

own

creativity

andexploration.

In

the

irst

part

of thisbook

have

givenyou

all of the

rudiments.

n

the

next part

you

will work

with

man

examples.

Although

do

not mention

anything

abou

"homelvork"

n

the

next

section, do encourage

ou

to

continue

with your

"homework"

by thinkingof

new

ways

o

play

all of the

progressions

hat are

presente

in the next

section. After

you

have

played

throug

what

is written,

experimentand substitute ome o

the

measures

s they are

rvritten r.vith

other

deas

you

have learned,

or

ideas

hat

you

have discovered n

your

own. The more

you

work

to

developnew ideas

the more

comfortable

you

will become

with

all

of

the

rhythm

concepts.You

will

alr,vaysavean easier ime

remembering

and executing

runs

and

licks

that

you

havecreated

han

you

will remembering nd

executin

those hat

you

havememorized rom

someone

lse.

Good

uck

andhave

un

with

all

of these xamples

Flatpicki,ng Essentials

Volu.me

1:

Rhythm, Boss

Runs, and Fill

Licks

5



eRofflng

In ty 9weef Bcbyts Arms" ln dre

$tyle

of

Ghodle tonroe

(con'l)

26cD

2ndmandol in

olo:

G

Flatpiclting

Essentials Volume 1: Rhythm, Bass

Runs, and Fill Licks



'.Blue

Eyestt

Rhyfhm

ln

the

style

of

R,oy

Honrey

2

I've

been

hink

t o - d a y a

bout

my

blue

eyes,

Notes: Do

you

recognize

he

bass

un

you

practiced

back

in

Example

14

of

progressions?

60

Transcribed

by Dix

Bruce

2

That'sbeen

ng

sequence

ha t

the

I,

IV, V

Flatpickirzg

Essentials

volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs,

ancl Fitt

Licks



"Nlne

Pound

Hclmmer,"

7n the

Style

of

Brad

Delvls

(Key

of G)

Notes: I

like

that

walk

to D in measure

. And

check

out

that

great

G-run

in measure

Also'

pay

close

attention o

the timing

of the chromatic r,valk

up

in

measure

3.

Arranged by Brad Davis

L.J

G

LJ

C

t l

t l

-

G

6

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 1:

Rhythm, Bass

Runs,

and Fill Licks



'3Nlne

Pound Homm

er)'

?n the

Style

of

Brcrd

Dovls

(Key

of C)

Arranged

by Brad Davis

Notes: This is

the first

opportunity

o seea few

licks

for the F

chord,

other hanwhat

you've

comeup with

in

homework.

There

s

some ntricate

picking

in

measure

5, take

your

time

with

that. I like

the move from

G to

C

in measure

and the move

from F

to

C

in measure

12. Thesewill

be

nice

additions

o

your

baq of

tricks

In measure 5

you

may notice

hat his s

the

"G-run"

lick

transposed

o

C.

64

Flatpicking

Essentials


Runs,

and

Fill Licks



Key

of C

Rhyflrm

ln

the

Style

ol Eolil

Scruggs

Note:

This

wasa

back

up affangement

hatEarl

Scruggs

played

o

the song

"Jimmie

Brown

the Ner,vsboy."

added

he

transcription

o this

book

mainly

due to

the

very

cool

bass

ine

hat

Earl

used

n measures

through

10 .

Transcribed

bv

Dix

Bruce

6

latpicking

Essentials

Volume

1:

Rlrythm,

Bass

Runs,

and

Fitt Li.cks



Rhythm

ln the

Sfyle

of

Tom

Pcley

(con'l)

winterwinds

be-gin

o

blow,

he

ground

s

covered

up,

And

when

you

thinkof he way

you're

gonna

wish me back,

your

Notes: This

one

s full

of

"classic"

bass uns. Here

it dropsan

octave own rom thehigherF note

on

he

you

alsohave

another pportunity o pick up

some

F

D

string) hat

you

expect o hear.Verycool

chord uns.The move rom

the

D

to E

note

on beats

Also, in this transcription ou will

encounter

14

3 and4 of measure

followed by that ow F note n

timing

for the

irst

time

(measures

0 and29). ln 21

measure is

a nice surprisingmove. You expect he

time you have

2

quarter

otes

per

measure.Listen o

run o continueo move

up

he

scale

as

was

he

pattern

theCD to

get

a feel or the

iming.

in the

pick

up notes

nd he un n measure ), but hen

68

Fhtpiching EssentialsVolum.e1: Rhythm, Bass

Runs,and Fill

Lich

to

solo

or next

verse



33Sold7er's

Joy"

R.hyflrm in

the Style

of

Rlley Puckel4

(Key

of

C)

I


Volume 1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs, and

Fill Licks

Arranged by Brad

Davis

G

V '

t T ' a

trl\ |

t l

\L, ' I : I I a a



"lfqye

cr Feastllece Tonlghltt in lhe

Sfyle

of

Doc Werfson

Joe

Carr's

Notes:

In 1993,

Smithsonian

Folkways

released

CD

of

live

duets eaturing

Doc

andbluegrass

innovator Bill

Monroe. The recordings

were

made

between1963

and 1980and show

off both

musicians

in an informal duet setting hat really showcasesheir

unique

alents.We

also

get

a senseof

the

incredible

audience esponse

oc's flatpickedsolos eceived n

the early

days

of

this style. The

duet settingallows

eachmusician freedom

and spontaneity

hat

s really

magic.

"Have

a

Feast

Here

Tonight"

"Rabbit

n

a

Log")

was

recorded

n 1964 n

Boston.Both Bill

and

Doc

seem

to be having

a

good

time

with

this

Monroe Brothers

favorite.

Behind he first mandolin

solo,Doc

plays

an

activebass ine which

servesas a

counter

melody o

Transcribed bv Joe Carr

Monroe's ead.This

techniquewould

be too

busy n a

full

band,but

it works great

n

the

duet ormat.

Notice

the

useof the second ret F#

note on the sixth

string

of

the D chord

(measure

2).

Thumb-wrappers

nor,v his

chordwell, although t canbe played over he op."

72


Volume 1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs, and

Fill

Licks



"Molly

Put

the l(ettle

On"

R.hythm

ln

the

Etyle

of

Riley Pvckett

Notes:

You

will recognize

he last

eight measures

of this

arrangement

rom

Example

lJ

rn the I,

IV, V

progressions

n

G example.

These

eight measures

re

Tbanscribed

by Joe Carr

the

same uns

ransposed

o

C. The first

hreemeasure

(the

guitar

ntro)

outline

he basicmelody

o the song

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs, and Fitt

Licks

-



Rhyfhm

ln

the

Style

ol

Peter Rowan

(Key

of

A)

Notes:

This

arrangement

ncludes

a

lot

of

chromatic

runs

on

both

the

lorv

E string

and

the

A strin,v.

Note

how

those

uns-combined

with

the

runs n

measures

8 14 and

15

-

help

ie every hing

ogether.

Transcribed

by Joe

Car

76

Flatpiching

Essentials

Volume

1: Rhythm, Bass

Runs, and Fill

Licks



Rhyflrm

ln lhe

EtVle of CherdesSerwlelle

(co

n'tl

26

B 7

E

.? .a

t

.ta ..4

t t t t t t t

, f t . t

.a

. t t . a

.a

t

o

r

J

J

lJtt

I

t

+qJJ

t

J

t

J

t

., ./

t

./ ./

t

.t .t

t . t

./ ./

v

78


Volume 1:

Rh3tthm, Bass Runs,

and

Fill Licks



"Rogflrne

Annlett

Rhylhm

ln

the

Stvle

of

Deivild

Gfiet

Notes

by

Joe

Carr:

OK. I ' l l admit t. I 'm a big fanof David

Grier's

album

Hootenanrr_r,.

his

self-pro-

duced

album

features

Grier

on

_{uitar

vith

guest

music ians

im

O'Br ien

on vocals

and

mandolin

and

Dirk

Powell

on fiddle.

banjo.

andbass.

The album

has

an ntimate

homey

eel

hat

find very

attractive.

lso.

lvith

only

three

nstruments

playing

most

of the

ime,

the guitar

s easy

o hear.

The

songselection

nd ormat

s probably

best

described

s

"new

old-timey."

I can

only

aqree vith

Norman

Blake's

opinion

from

the liner

notes:

From

rvhat

have

seen

andheard

ver

he ast erv

years.

believe

David

to

be one

of

the most mportant

,qui-

tarists

n the

acoustic

music

scene

oday."

Before

this article

starts

o

sound ike

a

record evierv, et's go to the transcription

for

"Ragtime

Annie

"

The

unebeeins vith

iddle

eadwith

gui-

tar backup. While

way

too

busy or a blue-

grass

andsetting.

he

bass-run rlled

_uuitar

rhythm s

perfect

or

the

duo setting.

David

plays

his backup

lightly

muted.

using he

heelof

his right hand

sli-ehtly

ontactinghe

strin-es

ust

at

he

point rvhere

hey

eave he

bridge.

This nice

percussive

ffect would

likely

be ost n a

band

settin_s.n measures

I

-3.

he

C"

note

s

played

on he

and"

after

beat our

and rin-us

hrough

beatone of the

nextmeasure.

he

ie ndicates

hat henote

is allowed

o ring

and

s not

picked

again.

Continuepicking

as

normal

on the

"and"

after he

"

l

." This

anticipation

reates n

interesting yncopatedeel.

In measures

-7,David

uses

heopen4

string

"D"

note as

a

"spacer"

between

melodynotes

f

the icks. Place

mph

on the frettednotes

and

play

the open

rvith ess volume.

The lick

covering

"F"

chord n measure

0

showshorvsup

David's

ight hand

eally s.

Use he

h

finger

o

slide rom

"G"

to

"A"

in

meas

28 and keep

he first

finser

at the third f

until t

has

played

he

"G"

at

hebe_ein

of measure

0.

Use he

open

A"

strin-

shift back

o open

position.

so

hat he h

finger plays

he

third note

of the

meas

"C."

The last

wo

measures

lay quic

through

Dm7.

G7. and

C arpegg_eios

Ragtime

Annie

(Fiddte

Back-up)

Arranged

by David

Grie

Transcribed

by

Joe Ca

latpicking

Essentials

volume

1: Rhythm,

Bass

Runs,

and

Fitt

Lichs



Ragtime

Annie

(Fiddle

Back-up-con,t)

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume

1:

Ehythm.,

Bass

Runs,

anct

Filt

Licks



The

Roed Ahecrd

I hope hat

you

have

enjoyedworking through

all

of

the

examplesn this sectionof

the

book.

If

you work

to

combine

what is

presented

n this

section

with the

knowledge

and

skill

that

you

achieved n

working with

the

examplesn the irstsection f thisbook,

you

should

have a very good understanding f how to build and

apply

bass

unsand ill licks o

your

rhythm

playing.

By now

you

should

have

he

knowledgeand

skill

required

o create

your

own bass

uns and rhythm fill

licks.

If

you

utilize the

techniques

f

changing he

timing,changing

he

embellishments,hanging

he

scale

or

arpeggionotes,

varying

the strum

patterns,

arying

the

G-runs,

and

utilizing

dynamics,

ou

can createan

endlessnumber

of

your

own

rhythm arrangements.

Work

with it, practice

t, experiment

with

it. and

you

can

become he

person

hat everyone

oves

to

pick

with

As

stated

reviously,

elping o

make

you

a

better

rhythm player

was

only

one

goal

of

this

book.

The

second

oal

was

to

prepare

ou

to

begin

playing

ead

guitar

in the

style

of Maybelle Carter,

and

beyond.

In

the second

olume

of

this

series,

ou

rvill

learn o

turn

your

knowledge

f

bass uns nto

he

ormation

f

melody ines

on the bass

strings. If you have

worked

diligentlywith

the

material n

this

book,

you

shouldbe

able o

easily ransition

o

playing

and

arranging

ou

own

lead solos o vocal

sonssas outlined n

the nex

volume.

In addition o teaching

ou

how to

play

solos n

the

Carter

Style, he

next volume vil l also

give

yo

practicehearinga melody and inding t on your

guita

and then embellishing

hat melody

with

a

numbero

techniques,

ncluding: chordal strums,

double stop

scale-based

i11icks,

neighboring otes, rosspickin

tremolo,and

more. By the

end

of the

next volume

yo

will be able o

take

any

melody hat

you

can hum,

fin

that melody on

your

guitar,

and then

create

more

tha

one

nteresting olo o

that

song.

If

you

have any

questions

boutany

of

the

materi

in this

book,

please

eel free

o

contact

me

and

wil

do my

best o answer

our question.

f I

don't

know

that answer, 'll find someonewho doesandget bac

with

you.

You can

email

me

here:[email protected]

Please

ut

"Flatpicking

E,ssentials"n the subject

ine

When

you

feel

like

you

have a

good

grasp

of th

material hat 've

presented

n this book, hen

give

us

call at

800-413-8296

o

order

Volume2.

Or downloa

Volume 2 at

rvr,vw.flatpickdigital.com.'ll see

yo

there

Flatpiclzing Essentials

Volume

1:

Rhythm, Bass Runs, and

Fill Licks



Appendlx

l: R.eeidlng

Tefilslrultse

This appendix n Reading ablature

as

writtenby BryanKimsey or the High View

Publicationsook

Zfte

Bluegrass uitarStyle

of CharlesSawtelle.

Reading

Tablature

by Bryan

Kimsey

I f you play a bluegrassnstrument you will sooneror

later run across ablature

tab

for

short).

Tab

s

an ex-

tremelyuseful

ool that

complements,

while drawing some

important feature s rom, stand ard

music notation.

Ta b

isn't diff icult to use,although

there

s a bit of

a

learning

curve

as

with

most hings ),and

once

you have he basics

down

it

can open

up a

whole world

of

learning

ools.

Ta b

has one

great

feature over standard

music

notation

and

that

is

that i t

can

show

you

where

to

put

your f ingers.

Standard

otation onlv shows

he note and the

fingering

is

pretty

much left up to

you.

This

can

be

fine

for

flddle

tunes because

t

letsyou

develop

your own

voicings

an d

posit ions,but i f

you're trying

to

learn a Charles

Sawtelle

solo

note-for-note,

t

helps remendously

and

may

even

be vital - to know whereCharles uts his f ingers.

The

easiest

ay to learn

ab

is

to dive

right

in,

so

et's

tear

apartan exampleof Charles

Sawtelle'sSugarfoot

Rag."

As

with

many things,

earningmusic s a case

f

"you

can't

learn t

until

you know it," meaning

hat

sometimes

ne

thing doesn'tmake sense nti l

vou

know a second

hing,

but

that second

hing

doesn't

makesense nti l

you know

about he

f irst

hing, and

then...well,

you

get he

picture.

I 'r'e

indicated points

of

interest

on the

tab

with

small

circlednumbers

and these

are

explainedbelow:

1.

Capo

posit ion. Tells

ou where

o slap

your

capo f

yo u

want to

play

with the record.

You'l l

st i l l

play the chord

shapes

ndicated

n

(11),

but the actual

pitch

will

be dif-

ferent see 6) or more on this) .

2. This is a measurenumber. This is the flrstmeasure, o

i t getsnumber 1-

ook at the

line

below

and

you'l l see

6. "

Measurenumbers

are

great for

referencing

sections.

If

I

askyou to look at measure 6,

you can ind

it quickly and

accurately.Measures rediscussed

n

(13).

3.

Standard

musicalnotation.

The op

5

inesarestandard

musical notation

that can

be read by anyone

who

reads

the

stuff.

For

pure

tab

reading,

you

can

mostly

ignore he

standard

music,

although the

more

you

know about

t, the

better

off

you'll

be.

4.

Tab.

The

bottom 6

lines are he

guitar tablature.

Ta b

tells you where and

when

to

put your fingers,but

mav

not giveyou asclearan deaof the musicasdoes tandard

notation, one

reasonwh.v

both are

usuallv

ncluded.

5.

Clef.

This

tells

vou

that the standard

music

notation

uses he G-clef,

which

is standard

or most of the

music

you'll

be

dealing

with. Other

nstruments uchasa

double-

bass

"doghouse"

o bluegrass

ans )use

a different

clef .

Technically, he

notes shown here

are

actually

written

an octaveup

from

their

actual

pitch. This

is

a standard

practicewith guitar

notesand shouldn't

af fect

you unless

you

and

a violin player

get

nto an

argument

about

which

'A'

note to

play.

6. Key signature.More standardnotation stuff

hat

doesn't

af fect he tab, but doeshelp your understandingof the

Capo

2<.4

Sugarfoot

Kag Arrangement Charles

Sawtelle

Transcribed

by Adam

Cranger

"^'@

82

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume

1: Rhythrn, Bass

Runs, and

Fill

Licks



piece.

The

single

#

says

hat

this tune is

in the key of G

(more

on this

later )

since the G-scale has only

a

single

sharped note and all the others are natural.

(The

G

scale

goes:

G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G). Any

good

music

theorybook

will have

a list of key signatures if

you're

interested in

pursuing

this. The

easiest

way

to

identify the ke y of 99o/o

of b luegrass unes is

to

look

at

the

last note

-

the tune

will

nearly

always end on

the

key

of

the

song.

Now,

about

that

"more

later;" in

this example, the

song

is written

as f

it

were in the key of

G.

When actually

play-

ing

the tune,

you put

a

capo on

the second

ret, thus

raising

the

pitch

and

the

key to A. This presents

a dilemma

to

peopie who

write out

tab:

do

you put

the

standard music

in

the actual

pitch,

or do

you

put it in

the

relative

pitch?

In

other

words,

do

you write

it out in A,

which

is where

the actual notes are,

or

do

you

write

it out

of

G

which is

what

the

guitarist

plays it

out

of?

A

mandolin or

fiddle

playing

sanscapo

would play

in A,

but a

capo-ed

guitarist

would play

out of

G-posit ion.

Most

of the

time,

you will

see t as t is here, with the notes representing

he

relative

posit ion.

Again, none of this

affects he

tab itself, but be

aware hat

if

you

hand the tab for

"Sugarfoot

Rag" to

your

flddle player,

thev're going to play it in

'G.'

You'l l either

have o

ask

hem to transpose

t

to

'A'or

you'l l have

to take

your

capo

off. Since

other

fiddle

players

will likely

play

it

in

'A' ,

you'd

better ask

your

fiddler

to transpose.

7. This indicates

the amount

of

time

each

note

gets.

Th e

bottom number tells you which note gets 1

beat, and

the

top

number

tells

you

how many

beats

per measure

there

are.

'414'says

a

quarter

note

gets

l

beat

and

there's

4

beats

per

measure. If you count

the number

of gro ups of

notes

n

the Znd measure,

ou'l l

see hat, indeed, there are

4

groups

of notes. Each

group

is made

up

of eighth not es;

two eighth notes = 1 quarter note, and 4 quarter notes =

1 whole

measure. The

vast

majoritv

of bluegrass

music is

in

either

414

or 3/4 t ime. Other music, particularly

lrish,

usesother

t imes such as 6 lB,9lB, or 514.

One

point

of confusion is

between

214 and 414.

in

practice,

these two are

the

same. The

only

difference

is

how they're

written. You can

say

"

1-2-3-4"

or

you can

say

"

7-and-2-and"

and as ong as hey take the same amount of

t ime

to

say,

hey

mean the same hing.

Bluegrass

hythm

guitar

typically uses

a bass

note-strum, with the

bass

note

corresponding with

the

bass iddle's note and

the

strum

corresponding

with

the

mandoiin

chop. A

measure

of

41 4

time would call the 1stbassnote beat 1, he 1st strum be at

2,

the

Znd

bassnote

beat

3, and the 2nd

strum beat

4. A

measure

of

214

time

would

call the 1st

bass

note beat 1,

the 1stst rum'and' ,

the

2nd

bass

note

beat2, and the

2nd

strum

'and.'

Instead

of

seeing

4

groups

of

2

eighth

notes

in measure2, you'd

see

2

groups

of 4 eight

notes.

There's

sti i l

8

notes

total

in

each

group,

they're

just

grouped

dif-

ferently. Don't let

it confuse

you

It

doesn't

make any

difference in how

you play

the tune, but

vou

just

don't

want to

be

playing

rhythm twice as fast

(or

half

as slow)

as

you're

supposed o be doing.

8.

These

are

rests

places

where

no

notes

are

played and

where

silence reigns. The flrst one

is

a

half note rest

an d

the second

is

a

quarter

note rest.

The

two

pickup eight

notes

take up a

quarter's

worth

of

time,

so

now

we've

got

a half, and a

quarter,

and another

quarter for a whole

measure.You DO know that

music

and mathematics

ar e

closely related, don't

you?

9.

Pickup notes. Otherwise known

as

ead-in notes,

kick-

off, or intro.

These notes get

the

tune

started. Take a

look

at

the

end of

measure 5

and you'l l see

hese same

notes

leading back to a repeat of

the tune.

10.

Coda.

The

double

bar

with 2 dots means

"repeat

be -

tween the

two areas." You

will

notice another double

ba r

with

2

dots at

the end of

measure

5;

play

the

4 measures

between these two areas wice

and

then

go

to the

next

section.

This

first section is

usually

called an

"

A"

part in

fiddle

tune

terminology while

the

second

section

is called

the

"B"

part.

Hence,

when you

hear a f iddle tune

referred

to a being of AABB format, it means that

vou

repeat the

A

part

twice, then the B part

twice.

Some tunes have an

AABA

structure.

Don't get

hung

up

on this,

just

keep

t in

mind. Categorizing

your

tunes may help you memorrze

them.

11.

Chords.

The letters

on top

of

the standard

notation

indicate

which

chords shouid be

played

over the tune.

As

we

discussed arlier,

414

ime counts

the guitar's

bass

note

as 1

beat and the strum as another, so a single

measure

here will have 2 bassnote-strum

sequences.

1.2.

And

flnally, we

have TAB The top line of the tab

rep-

resents

he high E string while

the

lower

line

is

the

lo w

E

(easy'

o remember:

high

=

high and low

=

low).

Th e

numbers

simply tell

you

where to put

your

fingers

-

in this

case, he f irst note is open ("0"), so you don't have to put

your

finger anywhere. The second note

calls

for the

2n d

fret

to be

fretted. The

third note

asks

or the 3rd

fret

(it 's

not

always his easy...), nd so on. Pretty

soon

you're

going

to have to stretch for

the

Sth

fret and this may cause

you

problems. If you started

he series

with,

say,

your

middle

finger you're going

to have to

jump

to

grab

that 5th

fret .

This leads o the

question

"How

do

I know which

finger

to use?". In most

cases, l it t le trial and

error

will point

out the

most

useful f ingerings.

In some cases,

ou'l l

se e

small numbers

above

the tab

-

these

ndicate which finger

you

should use or the

passage.

Most of the

time,

though,

the fingerings

are

obvious

enough that additional

guides

would just clutter up the page. Eventually, you'll learn to

look

ahead

and

see

what the high note

is and experience

will help

you

decide he fingerings.

In

any

case,

emember,

you've got

4

useful f lngers-

use hem

all

13. A measure ine. Also

cal led a 'bar. ' Indicates

he end

of

a

measure.

Sometimes

he

two terms are

nterchanged

"Play

4 bars of

'Sugarfoot',

Sam" means

the

same thing

as "Play

4

measuresof

'Sugarfoot',

Sam,"

except

that the

former

might sound more

sophisticated. Maybe?

Flatpiclzing

Essentials Volume 1:

Rhythm,

Bcss Runs,

and

Fill Licks



14. Natural.

In the key of G, the F should be a

F#.

Sug-

arfoot Rag, however,

calls

for

a

"flat

7th"

and

thus

the

F

in

this case s

an

F-natural, not

an

F-sharp. This is fairly

typical

in bluegrass unes

and

is responsible

for

much

of

their

bluesy sound.

15.

Slide. The

symbol

'S'indicates

a slide,

H'

a hammer-

on,

'P'

a

pull-off,

and

'B'

a bend. In this case,

you

would

fret

and

pick

the 2nd string at the

1st fret

and then slide

the note up to the same string, 3rd fret. These echniques

are

called "slurs"

and

also

give

a bluesy sound.

They

ca n

be

fairly

readily interchanged, too. If

you're

more

com-

fortable

doing a hammer-on instead of a slide, hen

by all

means,

do

that.

16. This

is a casewhere

tabiature can

indicate a f ingering.

The

standard notation shows

an

'E'note,

and

the

open

E

string is

shown in the

tab at this

point.

However, the

Znd

string fretted

at the 5th

fret would

also

produce

an E note

and might

be easier o f lnger, although it

wil l produce

a

slightly

different

sound.

Fingering the E note down-board

of and

succeeding he

D

note

effectively

kil ls the D note,

whereas f you played the E on an open string, the D could

continue ringing. You'l l have

to

listen

to the song

an d

seewhich you prefer.

If

you

didn't

have tab, though,

this

fingering

might not be apparent

to

you.

17.

F i rst

ending. This small

1. ' indicates

that

you

should

play

this measure he first t ime

through,

and the measure

under the'2.'the

second ime through.

The

second

version

will

typically lead

you

to

the B-part of the tune,

whereas

the

first

version

typically echoes the

pickup

notes.

18. Another rest.

In this case, t indicates hat

you

should

kil l

the previous

notes and not let them ring.

19. Two

eighth notes. These

get

the

same

time value

as

(16).

In 414

say

"one-and."

20.

A

quarter

note. This

gets

he same ime

value

as

(15).

In

414,

say

"one",

or say "one-and" and hold the note for

both words.

2I.

A half note. This note

gets

wice

the

time

value

as

(20).

In

414

say "one-two" and hold the note for both words.

Special

Symbols

We will

now

addresssome tablature symbology

that

is

not

as common as those

we

have discussed

above.

How-

ever, you will

seeall of these symbols

in

this book,

so they

are

worth

knowing.

1.

Sixteenth

eighth notes.

notes:

these receive

half

the

time

value

of

2.

Whole note:

This

gets

wice

the time

of a half

note.

4 4 time, count "one-two-three-four".

3. Triplet:

Eighth note

triplets

receive he

same

time

value

as wo eighth notes. Where the latter might be said"one-

and", the triplet fits

the

phrase

"one-da-and".

Another

way

is

to

think "tri-pu-let" in

the sa me time as

"one-and".

In

either

case,

ou

have

to sneak he extra

note in. An easy

way

to

play

triplets

is

to

keep

the same down-up,

down-

up

pick

direction you'd

use for eight h notes and either

hammer-on

or pull-off

the second

note of the triplet.

This

may

help

you

keep

a consistent

pick direction.

In

F

,4l\z+.

84

Flatpiching

Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm,

Bass Runs, and

Fill Licks



x

=

false harmonic

4. Dotted note: increases

he timing

of the dotted

note by

half. If

the dotted

note is

a

quarter

note,

for instance, and

a

quarter

note

gets

1 beat, then a dotted

quarter note

gets

one and a half beats. This could also

have been

written

with

a tied

note

from the

quarter note to the

1st eighth

note in

the next

phrase,

but tied

notes

are

more difficult

to read.

5. Grace

note:

a

grace

note

is

a

very f ast note

just

before

the main note,

usually

played with

a slur

(slide,

hammer-

on, or

pull-off).

It doesn't

really have

a

time

value

-

just

play it as fast as you can without disrupting the timing of

the

main note.

6. Tied notes:

these simply

indicate that

you hoid the

1s t

phrase

of

notes

until the time

value

of the

Znd

phrase s

reached. I f

a

quarter

note is t ied to another

quarter note,

you

are effectively holding the

note for

the

value of a half

note. Tied

notes are

generally

used

when

a

phrase s heid

from

one

measure

o the

next;

using

a longer t ime

value

would

violate

the structure of the

measure

(3

quarter notes

and

a

half note would

equal 5 beats,

whereas ying the

last

quarter

note in the measure o the first

quarter

note in the

next measure s perfectly legal).

7 Bend:

play

a bend by fretting the

note

which

appears

just

prior

to the

bend symbol,

picking

that note,

and then

pushing

the string

up or down

so that the

pitch changes.

You'11

enerally

bend

to a

specific

pitch,

although

some-

times

bends

are

used

for

effect

and the

ending

pitch isn't

all that

precise.

B. Falseharmonic:

played

by the right hand

instead of

the left hand. This is a common electric

guitar

technique

that can

work well

on

acoustic, too.

To do

it,

pick

the

note

and simultaneously use the tip of

your

thumb

(or

middle finger,

whichever works

best) to

play a

harmonic

just in front of the pick. The resulting harmonic will be

extremely

high-pitched.

You

will have

to

move

your right

hand closer o, and

even

in front of the soundhole,

to

find

the

harmonics.

9.

Muted

strings: these

are strings that are

picked, but

without

an

audible

note.

Think

of them

as

percussive

effects.

You

can mute

with

either the

right hand or

left

hand, depending on the effect

desired.

X

=

muted trino

10. Dampened notes:

similar

to muted

notes, but

th e

sound of the note can be heard.

To

dampen

a

note, the

hand

which

is producing the dampening

effect

lightly

touches the string so that the

note

can still

be heard,

but

it

is not allowed to ring. The damped note

falls somewhere

between muted notes and implied notes

in the dynamic

scale.

Damped notes

appear in two songs

in this book,

the

first is "BluegrassPart Three" and the second s "The Ol d

Rounder."

We

have not used a special symbol

to annotate

the damped str ings other than

to place a

written

comment

that

says

damp

notes" near the notes

in

the tablature.

11. Impl ied note:

a

note

that

is

" just

sort of there" .

Also

called a

ghost

note. You can either skip

it altogether

if

it's in

an awkward

place

or

play

it

by

fretting the

note

and

picking

it very, very softly. Implied

notes

are

almost

inaudible.

D

12.

Strums:

represented n

tab by several

notes stacked

on the same ime value. In reality,

you

can't

play

these

notes on exactly the same ime

value,

unless

you're

a fin-

gerpicker,

but

it is

easier o show them

this way than as

Flatpicking Essentials olume1: Rhythm, Bass uns,and,

Fill Lichs

8



128th

notes

Strums can also be shown

by a single black

slash

mark.

Individual

notes

are

good

for

showing unique

voicings while

slashesare easier o read when a standard

chord is

being used.

13.

Simultaneous

notes:

sometimes

you

will

find

places

n

the

tab

where you're

required

to

play

the samenotes

on dif-

ferent

strings or two

different

notes

at the same ime. This

is where

tab really wins

over standard

musical notation,

since

he latter would

simply show a single note. Playing

the

same

note

on two

different strings

produces

different

dynamics, tones,

and keeps he notes ringing

againsteach

other. In this

book, when simultaneous notes

are show,

Charles is

picking

one

with

his

pick

and the other

with

his middle f inger.

Other Symbols:

l.l

-

downstroke

V = upstroke

//

-

chordal strum

Tips for ReadingTab

As we've

seen,

tab is fairly

straightforward

to read.

The

music

itself may

not be, though. It might

be

full of off-beat

notes,

slurs,

grace

notes

and so on.

Following are some

ideas

that may help you:

.

Turn

everything into

eighth notes to

get

the

feel for

the

piece.

If

the tune

uses a lot of syncopation,

triplets,

or

other timing

tricks

it

may be difflcult to

'hear'

how it

sounds. I f so, ry dropping the middle note of the triplets,

playing

syncopated

notes

as standard

timing, and so on,

until

you get

the feel for

the solo. Then

you

can

put

the

tricky stuff

back in

gradually.

o

Likewise,

you

can

increase

or decrease he slurs. Some-

times, it 's

easier f

you pick

the slurs and s ometimes

it 's

easier o add

more slurs, depending

on whether

you

have

too many

flngers

to control

or

wish you had

'just

on e

more finger'.

Slurs can also ease he burden on the right

hand,

since it

has fewer notes

to

pick.

Just

be

sure

yo u

don't

change

the timing of

the

piece

when

you

add slurs.

In

fact, i f

you

are playing

an eighth

note

slide a bit

to o

fast,

this might

be a

good

reason to reduce the slurs an d

pick

both notes.

o

Get a metronome

and use t. You

might

find

it

easier o

set the

'nome

to click on both the bass

and

the mando-

lin's

rhythm

space,

or

you

might find it easier to

have it

click

on

just

the

bass's pace.

Clicking on both,

it 's easy

to drop a

beat and

think

you're

on, although most

newer

metronomes

can accent beats.

o

Certain computer programs

are

also great

tools.

En -

core, Finale,

Muse,

ABC, TabRite,and Bucket

o'Tab,

an d

NoteWorthy

all

let you

enter tab or standard

notation for

playback.

You

can easily change the

tempo of

the

piece

with

these programs,

letting you

start with it

playing

ex-

tremely slow

and then

bring

it

up to speed. Another

great

program

is

CoolEdit which will

record from a CD and

play

the

actual recording

at slowed

down speeds.

Non-computer

tools include

the Marantz

and

Ibanez 2-speed

ape

record-

ers,

Riff-O-Matic,

and

similar digital devices

which

you

can

use to record

the original music for

slow-down.

86

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume

1:

Rh3tthm, Bass

Runs,

and Fill Licks



Appendlx2:

Wotfk?ng

wlt]r

ei

Melronome

Metronomes...you

ither

ove

hem,or

you

hate hem.

For

a beginner he metronome an be one of the

most

frustrating

devices that

you

have

ever encountered.

The first

time I

tried

to

play

along

with a metronome

was

convinced

hat he thing

was

broken.

It wouldn't

keep

correct ime

Of

course

was

he one not

playing

in time and he metronomemade hatveryclear o me.

So I was frustrated

very ime I turned he dang hing

on, and hus t

was

not a fun experience.

Later, when

I started o improve I made my next

wrong

assumption. thought,

I'm

getting

better,so

I

don't need

hat

metronome

nymore "

Wrong. No

matterhow

"good"

you get, you will

alwaysneed o

use

a metronome. About the time that I was thinking

that I was

good

enough o

not need

he

metronome

read

an interviewwith Bela Fleck. Bela was

talking

about his own use of the metronomeand told a story

about

being

on stageone

night

and thinking

all night

that Victor Wooten

Bela's

bass

player)

was

dragging.

Bela said hat when he

got

home

that

night he

got

out

his

metronome

and

reahzed

hat

Victor hadn't

been

dragging,he had

been

ushing. I

thought o myself

then

and here,

If

BelaFleck

still

needs metronome,

I

guess

do

oo "

I'll have

o admit hat still don't use hemetronome

asmuch as

should.

That

point

was

driven

home

o

me

a

short

r.vhile

go

when was

talking

with Flatpicking

Guitar Magazirze olumnistJohn Carlini. John has

been

playing

music

professionally

ince

the 1960s

and has a very impressive esume. We were

talking

about

he metronomeand John

told

me that unlesshe

is

on stage

performing

he never

plays

a

note

of

music

without

he metronome.He

uses

t everyday

when

he

is

practicing

ndhe uses t durin,e veryband ehearsal.

OK...I

guess

need

o

use

he

metronomemore.

As if that

conversation

ith

John

wasn't

enou_eh,

I was

talking with David

Grier once

and he said,

"I

wish hadmore ime o practice."Morepractice This

guy

is

one of the best

guitar players

on the

planet

I

said,

David,

if

you

had

the time to

practice,what is

it that

you

would

practice?"

He said,

I'd

get

out the

metronome

nd

practice

my timing."

Another

ime

was n

the studio

with David. He was

playing

solo

and

ecorded

3 to

4 minute

version

of a

fiddle tune. When he had run

through

t

several imes

he

came

nto

the

control

booth to listen.

We listened

to

the first take and David said,

"I

was

rushing at the

end." I

said,

It

sounded

ood

o

me " He said,

No,

I was rushing."

He told the engineer o

go

back o the

beginningof the

solo.

He

got

out

his

metronome

an

clocked

he time. He then asked he engineer

o

fas

forward

o the end

of

the song. David clocked

he ime

again. Sureenough

he tempo

hat he ended

he son

with

was

slightly faster han the tempo hat

he starte

with. It was mperceptibleo my hear, ut Davidpicke

it

up. Again, I

vowed

o usea

metronomemore

often

Somedays

practicing

with

the

metronomeeels

grea

and feel right

on, otherdays t doesn't

eel

as

good

an

I have

o

work

a little harder. What I do know

now is

that need o use

a metronome very day and

alway

r,vill.

When I

first made

hat discovery

satdown

with

that

contraption nd

was

determinedo become

riendl

with

this hing. Instead

f trying to

play

a

fiddle uneo

whole

song started rom

square ne

with

the

simple

thing hat could magine-playing one epetitive ot

per

click over and

over until

I

got

a

good

eel

for it.

On

those

days

when

just

don't feel ike I can

get

n sync

I

go

back

o this. I start

very

simply

andmove

forwar

slowly.

So, f

you

are

aving

rouble

workingwith

a

metronom

I'd like you

to

play

throu-eh

hat s

written

on

the

nex

page.

Start

vith

he first ine until

you

feel that

you

ar

playing

ight on the

click.

I've set his

exercise

p s

that

each click

of the

metronome epresents

quarte

note

n 414 ime.

I recommendhat

you

also

ap

you

foot alongwith eachclick. The arrowsat the bottomo

each ine ndicatewhenyou

should

hear

he click.

The

pick

direction s

alsoshown. The trickiest iming

wil

be the

dotted

quarter

notes

used

n the

bottom

ine.

Try

going

hrough

each ine at a

very

slow tempo

an

then

gradually

ncrease

he tempo.

Note

that

in term

of

keeping

good

ime the

moderate

empos

will,

man

times, ee l easier

han

very

slow tempos.

You nee

to

work

with

all of them. John

Carlini

observed

ha

many

of his students ave

hreespeeds-fast,

medium

and slow. He recommends

hat they

work with

a

fa

greater

ariety.

Don't work

at 80,

then 120, hen

180

When you

are

ncreasing

he tempo,

ncrease y

sma

increments

o

you

don't fall into the fast,medium,an

slow

uts.

The

exercises hown here are

very

basic,but the

shouldhelp

you

begin to becomecomfortable

with

a

metronome or

the

purpose

of

playing

the

material n

this

book.

In future

volume

of this

course

will

provid

some

morechallengingmetronome xercises.

8

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume

1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs, and

Fill Lichs



1

Quarter

Notes

Half Notes

Clicks:

1 4

Clicks:

t

1 8

Mixing

Half and

Quarter

Notes

Mixing Eighth

and

Quarter

Notes

I IV -V

I IVEVE

t t t

Dotted

Quarter

Notes

f t v t l - \ / | |

I \ / I T

t v t t t Y

t

|l

t

Eighth

Notes

V -

Flatpicking

Essentials


Runs,

and

Fill Licks



Appendh

3:

tlcior

9coles,

Chords, snd Arpegglos

Moior

Sccrles eind

the FTngelboard

Many guitar players

hink that scales an be boring, but they can also be exciting if

you let them do what they

are

meant

to do-which is help

you find your way

around the

fingerboard

n the context of the

music

you

ar

playing.

Although scale

practice

canbe beneficial,I'm not

going

to ask

you

to mindlessly

practice

scales.

n this

appendixwe aregoing to take a look at the G major scale

something

hat you may already amiliar with). Onc

that

groundwork

has been aid, I

will

ask

you

to apply the

principles

that

you

have learned

n looking at the G

major scale and apply it to the other major scales hat

you

are exposed o in this book-most notably he C

and

D scales.

Half and

Whole Step

Intervals

Ifyou have studiedany music theory

you

will know that the majority

of

westernmusic s basedon a sequenc

of twelve notes, or tones. The interval betweeneach

note

in the sequences called a semi-toneor half-step.

A

scalebasedon all twelve semi-tones s called

"chromatic."

The

guitar

fretboard

(see

diagram below) is laid ou

such hat

playing

each successiveret along any

given

string will raise he tone

one

half-stepand thus walk up o

down the chromatic scale.

When two half-step ntervals are combined, he new interval s

called a

"whole

step."

What

this

means s tha

if

you play

a note on any

given

fret and then

play

the

next note

two frets higher, he interval

you've

created

s a

whole-step

nterval.

Notes on the Guitar Fingerboard

F#tcs

G

D

A#IB;

B

B

G

D

A

E

F

C

G

F

c

A

B

o

A

E

c

G

D

A

o

c#tDs

G#t+

D#t$s

A#tB;

D#rES

A#tBb

F#IG;

c#tDb

G#tAb

D#nb

o

A#tB;

F#IG,

Practice

Starton the G string of

your guitar.

Play

the openG note,

hen

pressyour

finger

ust

behin

the irst

fret

and

play

that

note

(G#),

hen he second ret

(A),

then

he hird

(A#),

then he

fourth

(B),

all the

way

up to the twelfth

fret. You've

ust

played

he chromatic cale

n

the

key of G

Each

note

you playedwas

a half-step igher han

he

previous

ote.

Now play the open G string again, next pressyour finger ust behind the second ret (A) andplay that note

You've

ust

played

a whole-step nterval.

Yes, his is simple, but we have o start somewhere

The

Major Scale

The major scaleconsistsof eight musical notes

(scale

degrees)

played

n the following sequence f intervals

whole-step,whole-step,half-step,whole-step,whole-step,whole-step,half-step.

If

we

start

his sequence n the

G

note, we

form a G major scale

see

he circled

notes

on the diagram at the top of the next

page).

oo

D

A

#IC},

D

D#tFis

A#tB;s

Flatpicking EssentialsVolume 1: Rhythm, BassRuns, and

Fill Licks

8



Your

ability

to

use

he

whole-step

nd

half-step

formulas

o define

scales

will come

n

handy

when

you

want

o

figure

out

any

givenscale.

A:' long

as

you

knorv

he

ormula,

you

can

igure

out

the

scale'

The

chart

at

right

shows

he

major

scale

degrees

n

various

eys..

90

HaIf

al f

whole

step

Whole

step

Step

Whole

Step

whole

Step

whole

step

step

1@,ry4qeqq,,ud|l|lflllll{,J,lllllllll,|8il'fl1il,fl,lll-

@ru0rub

@

c#/Abu(D

#/Bbu11@

@

c+nr@

D#/Eb@

F

@"r@

The

importance

of

knowing

whole-step

andhalf-step

ntervals

and

scale

degrees

ies

n

the fact

that

the

pattern

of

whole-step

and half-step

ntervals

n

any

given scale

s the

formula

that

you will

use o

figure

out

the

scale

n

any

key. For instance,he formula for any major scale s:

whole-step,

whole-step,

half-step,

whole-step,

whole-step,

whole-step,

half-step

using

this

formula

you can

igure

out the

scale

degrees

or

any

major scale.

Here

s how

to do it:

l)

Write

down the

chromatic

scale

starting

with the

etter

designation

or

the key

you

are

working

with

For

instance,

f

you

would

ike

to

figure

out

the

scale

degrees

or

the

D

major

scale,

ou

would

write

down

the

chromatic

scale

beginning

with

the

etter

D as

ollows:

D

-

D#

-

E

-

F'

-

F#

-

G

-

G#

-A-A#

-

B

-

C

-

C#

-

D

2) Start

vith he

first

note

and

circle

the

notes

as

designated

y

the

formula

(as

we

have

done

or the

key

of

G

at the

oP

of

the

Page).

3)

Now

write

down

he

notes

hat

you

have

circled'

They

should

be:

D-E -F# -G-A -B

-C#

You

have

now

figured

out

the

D

major

scale

A

o

G

o

G Major

Scale

Linear

Note

Map

(low

octave)

KEY

I

2

3

4

D

6

I

C

C

D

E

F

G

A

B

G

G A B C D

E

F#

D

D

E

F#

G

A

B

C#

A

A

B

C#

D

E

F#

G#

E

E

F#

G#

A

B

C#

D#

B

B

C#

D#

E

F#

G#

A#

F#

F#

G#

L#

B

C#

D#

E#

C#

C#

D#

E#

F#

G#

A#

B#

F

F

G

A

Bt

C

D

E

Bp

Bb

C

D

Eb

F

G

A

Et

Eb

F

G

Ab

Bt

C

D

At

Ab

Bt

C

Dt

Eb

F

G

Db

Db

El,

F

Gt

Ab

Bt

C

Gt

Gl,

At

Bb

cb

Db

Et

F

C;

Gb

At

Bt

cb

Dl,

Eb

Fb

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volunte 1: Rhythm, BassRun.s,and F|II Licle



Homework-Find the

Scales

Cover

up the

major

scalechart on the

previouspage

and

see

f

you

can

figure out

the

scal

degrees f the major

C,

A, E , B

,

&

F scales.

Check

our

answers

ith the

chart.

The

more

amilia

you

become

with

building

various scalesusing

the

chromatic

scale

and whole-step

and half-ste

intervals,

he easier

t is

going

o

be for

you

to learn

your

fretboardand

o

transpose

rom

onekey

to

another.This ability will come n handy

when

you

start o

am

with other

players,

speciallyf there

aresinge

or harmonica

layers

n

the

group.

TheG Scale n theOpenPosition,Lower Octave:

A run, ick, scale,

assage,hrase,

iff, or

whole uneon the

guitar

s referred o asusing he

"openposition

whenopenstrings reused n conjunction

ith finger

positions

n

the irst hree

or

four rets. Theopen

positio

fingerings

re

as ollows

(lst

position

ingerings

re he same, owever,

hereare

no opennotes):

I

)

Openstringsare

played,

s he

definition

mplies,with no

fingers ressing

n

the

ingerboard.

2) The ndex inger

plays

henotes n the

irst ret.

3) The

middle

inger

plays

henotes n the secondret.

4) The

ing

finger

plays

he

notes n the hird

fret.

5)

The pinky finger

plays

henotes n the ourth

ret.

After the

"open

position," fingerboard

positions

are definedby the fret

played

by the index finger,

.e. in the

"first

position"

the index finger is

playing

the notes on the first fret,

middle

on the

second, ing

on

the third,

and

pinky

on the

fourth. In

the second

position,

the index finger

plays

noteson the second ret, middle on

tbe third

ring on the fourth, and

pinky

on the flfth, etc.

In the ast example showed he G Major scale

played

only on the ow E string. Playing the G scale

his way

for the most

part,

s impractical. I

initially

presented

t in this fashionbecauset is very easy o see he

whole-ste

and half-step nterval distances

when

a scale

s

presented

on

one string. However, here s how the samescal

would be laid out and

played

n the open

position

(low

octave):

G

Major

Scale, Open

Position, Low Octave

Note

Map

C

G

o

Flatpicleing

Essentials Volume

1:

Rhythm.,

Bass Runs, and

Fill Licles



The G Scale n the

Open

Position,

Upper Octave:

Below

you

will find the upper octave G maior

scale aid out linearly and then in the open

Dosition.

G

Major

Seale Linear

Note Map

(higher

octave)

G Major Scale,

Open

Position, Higher

Octave Note Map

Play It -The

G

Major

Scale

Play through he G major scaleseveral imes forward and backward n the lower octave

the high octave,and then both

the

lower

and upper

octavescombined

as

shown on the

next

page).

You may

alreadybe familiar with

the G major scale

as shown

here. If

so, hat

s

great

but

I would

still

like

you

to take a few

minutes

and

play

through

his scalea

numberof times

Familiarizing yourself

with the sound of this

scale

here

and now will help

you

work with

some of the bass

uns

and fill licks that

you

will practice n

this book.

Practiceplaying

thesescalessmoothly, luidly, evenly,

and

n with good

solid timing and one.

G

. A

B

C -

. D

E

F#

G

92

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm,

Bass

Runs, and

Fill

Liclzs



E

B

G

D

A

The

G Scale n

the

Open

Position, Lower and

Upper Octaves:

Here haveput

both the

upper

and

ower octave

G major scales

ogether n

one

llustration.

G Major

Scale, Open

Position,

Two Octave Note Map

The

G Scale n

the

2nd Position

Closed),

ower

and

Upper

Octaves:

Herewe

have

he exactsame cale hown n the closed

position

no

open

stringnotes)

important

because

hey are

"moveable."

More

about hat n later volumes

of this

series

C

G

o

.

Closed

positions

r

G Major Scale, Second Position, Two Octave Note Map

F#- G

E

C

G

D

A

o

C

G

o

Flatpicking

Essentials

Volume 1:

Rhythm, Bass

Runs,

and

Fill

Lichs

9



Chord

Shcpes

Used

ln This

Book:

Major

Chords

G

p

?

J

GBDGBG

Seventh

Chords

BDG

Minor Chords

Em

t

t(t

EBEGBE

G

?

SrC

GXDGDG

EC

GC

A

a@c

E

AC#E

B

EG#B

The numbers

used on the chord

charts

ndicate

uggested

ingerings.

The ingers n

the charts onespond

rvith

he handdiagramabove.

D7

D

)

(

XA

DA C F#

Am

D

pa

EAEACE

C

e

?

p

XA

DA D

F#

E

D

2) (

G7

(

-l

I

q

p

87

XBD#A

B F#

Flatpicking

Essentials


Runs,

and

Fill

Licks

9



Arpegglos:

An

arpeggio

s a

group

of

noteswhich

all

belong

o the

same

chord

and are

played n

sequence,

ither moving

up

or down

n

pitch.

The chord

may, or example, e

a

simplemajor riadchord

,vith

he 1st,3rdand5th notes

of the

scale

n it. An arpeggio

n

the key of G

major

going

up

two

octaves

ouldbe the notes

G,

B, D, G,

B, D)

as shown

n the irstexample elow.

An

arpeggio

s a typeof

"broken"

or

"melted"

chord.

Other

types

of broken chords

play

chord

notes

out of

sequence, r more hanone

note

but

less han he full

chord,

simultaneously.

rpeggioscan rise or

fall

fo r

more

hanone octave.

An

"arpeggiated

hord"

means

a chord

rvhich

s

"spread"

n time.,.e., he

notes

arenot

played

exactly

at the

same

ime-as in

a

chordstrum-but arespread

out. In

the

guitar

world

the

technique

or

playing

an

arpeggiatedhord s sometimesalleda'"rake."

G

Arpeggio

There

are

many

different

arpeggioexercises

hat

guitarplayers

can

practice

o

improve heir

knowledge

of the fingerboard. However,

or the

purposes f this

book,

you

only

need familiarize

yourself

with

the

simple wo

octave rpeggios

hownbelow

or

G and

C.

For homework,

you

can figure

out the arpeggio

or D,

or any

otherchord.

The G.

C,

andD examples

t the

bottom

of the

page

show

the chord tones

rom

those

chords

hat

you

will

usemost requently n the

construction

f

bass

uns n

this book.

t l

Flatpiching Essentials Volume 1: Rhythm,

Boss

Runs,

and

FiIl Licks

'r

A

\-,

\J

FI

9



CD

Track

List:

0l Examples

to 5.mp3

02 Examples

to

l0.mp3

03 Examples I

to

15.mp3

04

Alternating

Exercises.mp3

05

Examples

16

to

20.mp3

06 G Runs

to

10.mp3

0TGRuns l t o20 .mp3

08

Examples

I to 23.mp3

09 G Rhythm.mp3

l0

C

Rhythm.mp3

11

D Rhythm.mp3

I 2

Syncopation.mp3

I 3 Alternate

Strums.mp3

14

Lonesome oadBlues.mp3

15

CharlieMonroe I .mp3

16

Charl ieMonroe2.mp3

l7 Roy Harvey .mp3

18 Roy Harvey2.mp3

19Edd

Mayfield I

.mp3

20

Jimmy Martin.mp3

2l Brad Davis

I .mp3

22 Brad Davis

2.mp3

23 Earl Scruggs.mp3

24

CharlesSawtelle .mp3

25 Tom Paley.mp3

26

Riley Puckett1.mp3

27 Doc Watson.mp3

28 Riley Puckett2.mp3

29 Edd Mayfield

2.mp3

30

Edd

Mayfield 3.mp3

31

Peter

Rowan n A.mp3

32 Sawtelle

(Key

of

E).mp3

33

Ragtime

Annie.mp3

Flatpicking Essentials Vol1

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