Wednesday, April 6, 2011

BOOKS || Mel Bay Flatpicking


Mel Bay has put together several instruction books for Guitar players. They are all written in musical notation as well as tablature. I have written about this book previously and thought it would be good to take a look at it again following Rhan Wilson's Bluegrass Lick.

Below is a small snipet of the book. It shows a portion of the song Dubuque. Notice that the examples (and the entire song) are only on the DGBE strings. And the flatpicking uses the rhythm of the Up and Down movements to maintain timing. I have 5 or 6 of these superb Mel Bay books but perhaps this is my favorite. Since they are made for guitar players I suggest looking thru them a to make sure your getting the best deal for your money.




Also note that the books in this series come with CD’s. The songs are played at full speed, which is quite speedy for me, but then they are broken down masterfully a bit at a time – taken into logical short segments – all the way into finger usage and placement. Eric Thompson is a brilliant instructor. I recommend this Fancy Fiddle Tunes for Flat Picking Guitar to anyone that wants to challenge their fingers a bit and play some fun tunes. [Note: about 9 of the 16 songs in the book are bari-uke ready.]

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