Flatpicking || Old Joe Clark

Here's a bari-playable flatpicking version of Old Joe Clark from the share ShareOutLoud site. Click on this link in order to see the TAB on the DGBE strings.

BOOK: Flatpicking Guitar for the Complete Ignoramus

I would like make a rant about the popularity of books for "idiots", "dummies", or now "ignorami." But the American marketing ploy has worked on me more than once. I guess we are for the most part an unpretencious lot. The irony is that I go by the Humble monicker too. Perhaps, it's just me! I do have a wonderful standard ukulele book with a semi-pretentious title, "Helping you go from lonely strummer to life-of-the-party." Now that's a book with a title and an aspiration all-in-one.

Well what about this book? I think its stocked full of good stuff and it includes a CD too! I love this book because it has so much to offer in small-one-page chunks. One of the best features I see is that there is a very unique large-font-tablature which has the NOTES, not a number. There is a lot of historical items for many of these bluegrass style songs. You say but it's based on guitar, yup it is, and only 10 songs work solely for bari and that's a bit of a bummer. But, I think this book has some keys to really getting to know your DGBE fretboard really fast.

"Click to Enlarge"

I found Richla's book review on Amazon.com to be quite interesting...

"I bought Wayne's banjo book, as I couldn't even tell you how a banjo is tuned, let alone played. That book got me up and running on simple songs, and actually having a lot of FUN. I liked the method so much, I thought "it would be nice if somebody would do the same thing for flat-picking guitar." I happened to look at Wayne's website, and to my surprise, he has indeed written such a book. I have used this book for a few weeks now, and like his banjo book, it's a lot of fun. There is about 40 songs included. Lot of classics like "Whiskey Before Breakfast" "House of the Rising Sun", etc. Wayne also gives just enough theory to get pretty much anyone going, but not overwhelmed. He also departs from the standard TAB format and explains that he does not want you dependent on memorizing TAB. He's 100% right. I have memorized songs in tab format for far more years than I want to admit. Unfortunately, a dependence on tab does not really help you understand music theory at all. (for example, can you take a simple version of "Amazing Grace" and play it with improvised licks up and down the neck??) With this book, I am now taking simple arrangements of classic songs, flat-picking them, and sprinkling in my own improvised licks, based on taking basic scales and moving them up the neck. I have a shelf full of books full of guitar music, but I'm really USING this book, and taking Wayne's suggestion and trying to develop my ear, not just memorize TAB. As you can tell, I think this is an excellent book, and wish this was available twenty years ago. If you are like me, you may have been focusing a LOT of years on trying to play material that was far too advanced. If you are a beginner, this is THE place to start, not go back too years later, like me. By the way, I wrote to Wayne's website in the hopes I could get him to answer a question regarding banjo technique, and he responded promptly. I can't say enough good things about his method, or about him, he seems like a great guy with a sincere interest in putting FUN back in music."

Flatpicking Robert Johnson's Blues Style

BOOK || Flatpicking Guitar MAGAZINE

There's not much to be found directly for the Baritone Ukulele so the largest source of reference comes down from guitar information or up from ukulele information. I am an explorer and my two favorite S.F. Bay Area music stores for Folk, Flatpicking, Blues, etc. are in Berkeley (The 5th String) and Palo Alto (Gryphon Strings).

I have been experimenting with flatpicking but just using my fingers and not a pick as a personal preference. Came across this FLATPICKING GUITAR MAGAZINE for a $6.00 cover price. The magazine has a quality color cover and 76 durable bond pages. This particular magazine has:

• Bill Nershi article (6 full pages long, plus 3 pages of 2 arrangements)
• Walk With Me arrangment (2p)
• Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar + arrangement (2p)
• Beginner's Page + arrangement (2p)
• Kaufman's Corner + arr. (3p)
• Taking it to the next Level + arr. (3p)
• Nashville Flattop The Rest Stroke; Rest Stroke G-runs + arr. (3p)
• Sharpening the Axe Inversions, Triads up the Neck (4p)
• Bluegrass Guitar Duets: In The Pines (2p)
• Crosspicking as Filler Will the Circle be Unbroken (3p)
• The O-Zone Morrison's Jig (3p)
• Favorite Scales & Exercises, Part 3 (6p)
• Music Theory: Mastering the Fingerboard (Circle of 4ths & 5ths) (5p)
• Pickin' Fiddle Tunes (5.5p)
• John McGann's Eclectic Accoustic
• and a few more

Quite a broad selection... The drawback for Bari players is that the arrangements are made for guitar, so only (3) arrangements are really clean for Bari.

1. Will the Circle Be Unbroken
2. Old Joe Clark
3. Great Basket Island (except 2 notes)

There's a huge amount of high quality material here including theory and various skill building concepts. The subscription rate is $30 for 6 issues and $60 for 6 issues plus a CD for each.

e-mail: highview@flatpick.com

website: http://www.flatpick.com/

Mel Bay Music Book || Fancy Fiddle Tunes for Flatpicking Guitar

I found this book at the 5th String in Berkeley, Calfornia but it should be readily available. I picked this out because it has several old-time fiddle tunes translated into guitar tablature but also including the standard musical score. There are 16 arrangements but almost 9 are played exclusively on the DGBE strings. I have been working on the Blackberry Blossom arrangement. The songs are folksy-bluegrassy songs and are predominantly 1/8 notes since they were fiddle tunes.

The best thing about this book is that it comes with 3 CD's that were recorded in the 1970's but do not feel dated. Each song is played at speed first, then the song is broken down into several parts and suggested fingershifts and strum directions are talked about in detail. I did not have the luxury of having any musicians in my family growing up so I find these instructions fascinating. If you have any questions please leave a comment.

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Also, I especially like this book because it has movements up and down the neck. The author has succeeded in creating more interest and made the arrangements just a bit more complex to make it a serious and challenging arrangement without being overly difficult.

The basic flatpicking technique uses a pick. The "beats" are typically played with a downstroke and the "ands" are picked "upward." Also a pick is not mandatory but the author believes the pick will increase your speed. I have been using my fingers and experimenting a bit with the fingers.