Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

Transcription

$6.00
Magazine
Volume 17, Number 3 March/April 2013
Ramblin'
Jack
Elliott
Scott Law
Chris Luquette
March/April 2013
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800/388-4447 . fax 800/860-6913
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March/April 2013
March/April 2013
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March/April 2013
March/April 2013
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CONTENTS
Flatpicking
Guitar
Magazine
Volume 17, Number 3
March/April 2013
Published bi-monthly by:
High View Publications
P.O. Box 2160
Pulaski, VA 24301
Phone: (540) 980-0338
Fax: (540) 980-0557
Orders: (800) 413-8296
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.flatpick.com
ISSN: 1089-9855
Dan Miller - Publisher and Editor
Connie Miller - Administration
Jackie Morris - Administration
Contributing Editors:
Dave McCarty
Chris Thiessen
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All contents Copyright © 2013 by
High View Publications unless
otherwise indicated
Reproduction of material appearing
in the Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is
forbidden without written permission
Printed in the USA
FEATURES
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott Flatpick Profile: Chris Luquette & “Down in the Willow Garden”
CD Highlight: Scott Law & “Bells of Unity”
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COLUMNS
Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar: “False Hearted Lover”
Joe Carr
Beginner’s Page: “Why Don’t You Tell Me So”
Dan Huckabee
Kaufman’s Corner: “Rights of Man”
Steve Kaufman
Taking It To The Next Level: “Bolero” Part II
John Carlini
By Request: “Spinning & Twirling”
Dan Miller
Sharpening the Axe: “Bistro Fada” Jeff Troxel
“Coleman’s March” Kathy Barwick
“Roving Gambler” Orrin Starr
“Look At It Rain” Dix Bruce
Range Extension II and “Bill Cheatham” Mike Maddux
Flatpicking Fiddle Tunes: “Dubuque”, “Off to California”
“Winnipeg Reel”, “Niagara Hornpipe” Adam Granger
The Muted Strum Brad Davis
Classic Bluegrass: “Crossing the Cumberlands”
Steve Pottier
More of the Other Stuff
Dan Crary
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Reviews
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Podcast
We are now broadcasting a new Podcast every month
Interviews, flatpicking tunes, and more. Check it out:
http://www.flatpick.com/podcast.html
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March/April 2013
The Flatpicking Essentials Series
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 1: Rhythm, Bass Runs, and Fill Licks
In the “Pioneers” issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine Dan Miller laid out a flatpicking learning method that followed the chronological development of
the style. This step-by-step method started with a solid foundation in the rhythm guitar styles of flatpicking’s early pioneers—a style that includes a
liberal use of bass runs and rhythm fill licks, combined with rhythmic strums. Volume 1 of the Eight Volume Flatpicking Essentials series teaches this
rhythm style and prepares you for each future volume. If you want to learn how to add interesting bass runs and fill licks to your rhythm playing, check
out this 96-page book with accompanying CD. This book and CD are available in spiral bound hardcopy form, on CD-Rom, or as a digital download.
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning to Solo—Carter Style and Beyond
Hardcopy: $24.95 Digital: $19.95
The second book in the Flatpicking Essentials series teaches you how to arrange solos for vocal tunes by teaching you how to: 1) Find the chord
changes by ear. 2) Find the melody by ear. 3) Learn how to arrange a Carter Style solo. 4) Learn how to embellish the Carter Style solo using one
or more of the following techniques: bass runs; hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, & bends; tremelo; double stops; crosspicking; neighboring notes; scale
runs and fill-licks. Even if you are a beginner you can learn how to create your own interesting solos to any vocal song. You’ll never need tab again!
This material will also provide you with the foundation for improvisation. This book and CD are available in spiral bound hardcopy form, on CD-Rom,
or as a digital download.
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 3: Flatpicking Fiddle Tunes
Flatpicking and fiddle tunes go hand-in-hand. However, in this day and age too many beginning and intermediate level players rely too heavily on
tablature when learning fiddle tunes. This becomes a problem in the long run because the player eventually reaches a plateau in their progress because they don’t know how to learn new tunes that are not written out in tablature, they do not know how to create their own variations of tunes that
they already know, and it becomes very hard to learn how to improvise. Flatpicking Essentials, Volume 3 helps to solve all of those problems. In this
volume of the Flatpicking Essentials series you are going to learn valuable information about the structure of fiddle tunes and then you are going to
use that information to learn how to play fiddle tunes by ear, and create your own variations, utilizing the following a series of detailed steps.
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 4:
Understanding the Fingerboard and Moving Up-The-Neck
The fourth book in the Flatpicking Essentials series teaches you how to become familiar with using the entire fingerboard of the guitar and it gives you
many exercises and examples that will help you become very comfortable playing up-the-neck. With this book and CD you will learn how to explore
the whole guitar neck using a very thorough study of chord shapes, scale patterns, and arpeggios. You will also learn how to comfortably move up-theneck and back down using slides, open strings, scale runs, harmonized scales, floating licks, and more. If you’ve ever sat and watched a professional
players fingers dance up and down the fingerboard with great ease and wondered “I wish I could do that!” This book is for you!
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 5:
Improvisation & Style Studies
Are you having trouble learning how to improvise? To many flatpickers the art of improvisation is a mystery. In the 5th Volume of the Flatpicking
Essentials series you will study various exercises that will begin to teach you the process of improvisation through the use of a graduated, step-by-step
method. Through the study and execution of these exercises, you will learn how to free yourself from memorized solos! This Volume also includes
“style studies” which examine the contributions of the flatpicking legends, such as Doc Watson, Clarence White, Tony Rice, Norman Blake, Dan Crary,
Pat Flynn, and others. Learn techniques that helped define their styles and learn how to apply those techniques to your own solos.
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 6: Improvisation Part II & Advanced Technique
Flatpicking Essentials, Volume 6 is divided into two main sections. The first section is Part II of our study of improvisation. Volume 5 introduced
readers to a step-by-step free-form improv study method that we continue here in Volume 6.
The second section of this book is focused on advanced flatpicking technique. We approached this topic by first having Tim May record “advanced
level” improvisations for nineteen different flatpicking tunes. Tim selected the tunes and went into the studio with a list of techniques, like the use of
triplets, natural and false harmonics, note bending, quoting, alternate tuning, syncopation, twin guitar, minor key tunes, hybrid picking, advanced
crosspicking, string skipping, etc. There are a ton of absolutely awesome flatpicking arrangements by Tim May in this book, with explanations of
each technique.
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 7: Advanced Rhythm & Chord Studies
Flatpicking Essentials, Volume 7 is a 170 page book, with 67 audio tracks, that will show you how to add texture, variety, and movement to your
rhythm accompaniment in the context of playing bluegrass, fiddle tune music, folk music, acoustic rock, Western swing, big band swing, and jazz.
The best part of this book is that it doesn’t just present you with arrangements to memorize. It teaches you how you can create and execute your
own accompaniment arrangements in a variety of musical styles. Don’t rely on the arrangements of others, learn a straight-forward and gradual
approach to designing your own rhythm accompaniment.
March/April 2013
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Flatpicking
Essentials
EDITOR'S
PAGE
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
I’m honored to have Ramblin’ Jack Elliott featured on the cover of this issue. I
had a great time researching Jack’s fascinating life. I want to thank Jack for taking
the time to sit down and conduct the interview with me and pose for photos. As
I say in the article, Jack is a true American legend and someone that all American
musicians should know about. If you haven’t explored his guitar style, take a little
bit of time and listen to his recordings, I think you’ll learn something. It will be
time well spent.
Flatpicking Workshops
I was very busy in 2012 teaching workshops either by myself or with my good
buddies Tim May and Brad Davis—80 workshops total last year. In 2013 we are
planning more of the same. We now have four main workshop topics:
1) Developing Speed, Accuracy, and Tone
2) Creating Solos by Embellishing the Melody
3) An Approach to Improvisation
4) Rhythm, Timing and Groove
We have also added an Advance Rhythm and Advanced Improvisation workshops
as follow-on topics to those listed above. If you’d like to host one of our workshop
events, please contact me: [email protected]. We’d love to come to your town!
Flatpicking Camps
I just finished teaching my first camp-style workshop event this year on the
cruise2jam cruise to Mexico. It was an awesome event! If you like jamming and
cruising, this is the event for you. I’ve been asked back for the 2014 cruise, so
stay tuned for details!
This year I will also be returning to teach at Camp Bluegrass in July and the
Grand Targhee Music Camp in August. Search the web for information about these
events and start planning! I’d love to see some of you at these camps. Now is the
time preparing for a great summer of flatpicking!
New in 2013
(800) 413-8296
www.flatpickingmercantile.com
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We have a lot of new, exciting, and fun magazine issues and instructional material
planned for 2013. First, we are currently in the middle of a major website upgrade.
It should launch sometime in March. Lots of new content for the flatpicker will
be provided. Also, in the coming months we will be releasing a new book on Irish
music and a new book on Old-Time music for the flatpicker. Second Editions of
our Speed, Accuracy & Tone book and Scales & Arpeggios book will be released
this spring, and we will also be releasing new books on rhythm, improvisation,
and learning the fingerboard in our Guitar Player’s Guide series. It is going to be
a great year for flatpicking!
March/April 2013
Flatpicking Guitar
Digital Academy
Flatpicking Guitar Digital Academy is an amazing self-contained software environment where you can
browse, purchase, instantly download, and enjoy high quality flatpicking video titles. You get every
bit of the quality of a DVD, and in some cases better! We currently offer over 70 flatpicking guitar
titles from Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, Homespun, Mel Bay, Accutab, and more! Learn instantly
from Tony Rice, Doc Watson, Bryan Sutton, David Grier, Tim Stafford, Wyatt Rice, Dan Crary,
Norman Blake, Tim May and many others. And we will continually be adding new titles!
Go to: http://www.flatpick.com/digitalacademy/
Study with your Flatpicking Heroes
Instantly, at Home, High Quality,
on your Computer!
Over 70 Video Titles Now Available!
March/April 2013
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Photo by Jamie Soja
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
When Johnny Cash sang “I’ve Been
Everywhere” he was talking from
experience. Cash was famous for staying
out on the road in his tour bus, which he
referred to as his “cocoon.” He put over
one million miles on his last tour bus, which
he bought in 1979. Although Johnny Cash
was a traveling man, when he introduced
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott as a guest on his
television show in September of 1969 Cash
said, “You know, I’ve done a lot of traveling
in my time. Anyplace, I guess, that you
could mention: from Maine to California
to Alaska to Europe…Asia. Done a lot of
traveling. But nobody I know—and I mean
nobody—has covered more ground and
made more friends and sung more songs
than the fellow you’re just about to meet
right now. He’s got a song and a friend for
every mile behind him. Say ‘Hello’ to my
good buddy Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.”
Jack Elliott started his life of ramblin’
in 1947 when, at the age of fifteen, he ran
away from home and got a job grooming
6
horses with a traveling rodeo. Today, as
he approaches his 82nd birthday, he is still
out on the road picking and singing and
passing along the tradition of American folk,
roots blues, and cowboy music like only
he can. Few, if any, people in music today
have had such a profound influence and
deep connection to the roots of traditional
American music and culture. He is best
known as a singer and storyteller; however,
he has also been a professional cowboy, a
truck driver, and a sailor. When he sings
and tells stories he can do so with authority
and authenticity because he has been there.
He has lived those songs.
Jack’s authenticity is not only tied to
the singing of songs and telling of stories.
When Jack plays licks on his guitar that
are rooted in the style of guys like Woody
Guthrie, Lead Belly, Cisco Houston, Tom
Paley, Brownie McGhee, Jesse Fuller,
Reverend Gary Davis, Josh White, or Big
by Dan Miller
Bill Broonzy, he can play those licks and
phrases with authority because he learned
how to play while sitting close by and
watching what those icons of American
music were doing. He not only heard their
music, he felt their music and he lived their
music. Arlo Guthrie has said, “Other people
talked about it. Jack lived it.” Sam Shepard
called Jack, “A wandering true American
minstrel.”
Ramblin’ Jack is most famously known
for being the protégé of Woody Guthrie,
and for his influence on a young Bob Dylan.
Some have accurately called him the “link
between Guthrie and Dylan.” Much of
what Bob Dylan got from Woody Guthrie
actually came through Jack Elliott. But
Jack’s connection to music and culture,
and his influence on the world of American
music, encompasses a much greater sphere.
When President Bill Clinton awarded Jack
the National Medal of the Arts in 1998, he
called Jack an “American treasure.” Jack’s
story is a great American story.
March/April 2013
This was not unusual. Horses pulled the
milk wagons that routinely traveled down
the road where he lived. On this morning,
however, Jack heard the sound of hooves,
but not the sound of a wagon behind it. He
ran outside to see a lone cowboy riding
down the road. He hopped on his bicycle
and caught up with the cowboy. He learned
that the cowboy’s name was Tiny Westley
and he was riding to Long Island where he
was boarding his horse.
The next day Jack skipped school and
made his way—via subway, train, bus, and
a few blocks of walking—to where Tiny
Westley was boarding his horse. Tiny was
there and although he was surprised to see
Jack, he entertained Jack with discussions
about horses and music. Tiny, who played
the guitar, learned that Jack had been trying
to learn how to play and brought Jack to
a friend’s home to listen to some music.
Listening to Tiny and his friend pick was
Jack’s first exposure to a live cowboy and
hillbilly music jam session.
In May of 1947, Jack ran away from
home and, after a bit of roaming around,
ended up in Washington, D. C. where the
J. E. Ranch Rodeo was appearing. Jack
found the rodeo’s headman, and explained
that he wanted a job. Bill Parks hired him
as a groomer for $2 a day. He slept on the
ground and covered himself with saddle
blankets at night. When the cowboys
asked his name he shyly replied “Elliott
March/April 2013
Adnopoz.” Since the cowboys had a hard
time pronouncing Jack’s last name, they
decided to nickname him “Pancho.”
While working with the rodeo, Jack met
a rodeo clown named Claude W. “Brahma”
Rogers who played guitar and banjo. Jack
said, “Brahma lived in an airstream trailer
with his wife and son and he would play
and sing for the cowboys and rodeo hands
between the riding and roping events. He
had a voice like Grandpa Jones. He’d pass
around a hat and we’d all throw a quarter
in it for him.” Jack remembers that tunes
like “Stay All Night,” “Mountain Dew,” and
“Montana Cyclone” were part of Rogers’
repertoire.
After Jack left home his parents had the
Missing Persons Bureau release a missing
persons handbill. Since they knew of
Jack’s fascination with cowboys, they
suspected that he was on a ranch or with a
rodeo and sent copies of the handbill to all
active rodeos that they could locate. When
Colonel Jim Eskew, the rodeo’s owner, saw
the handbill he recognized the photo as his
groomer Pancho. Colonel Jim had a talk
with Pancho and he told Jack to write his
parents a letter.
Jack’s parents were relieved that their
son was not in any trouble and told him that
he could stay with the rodeo if he wished.
He decided to return home and finish high
school after a rodeo clown named Lost John
Crethers told him that if he finished high
Photo Courtesy of Happy Traum
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott was born Elliott
Charles Adnopoz on August 1st, 1931
in Brooklyn, New York. His father was
a doctor who worked at Cumberland
Hospital in Brooklyn. When asked about
early musical influences, Jack remembers
listening to blues, boogie woogie, and New
Orleans jazz on the radio. He said that his
first musical exploration was to try to play
boogie-woogie on his mother’s piano. But
music was not what occupied Jack’s early
years. He mostly loved cowboys, trucks,
and sailing ships.
Jack hadn’t known much about cowboys
or cowboy music until October of 1940
when his parents took him to a rodeo at
Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Jack said, “Before I went to that rodeo, I
didn’t know what a rodeo was and I didn’t
know anything about cowboys other than
seeing a Gary Cooper western when I was 5
or 6.” At the rodeo Jack became fascinated
with the cowboys and when Gene Autry
came out and performed “Back in the
Saddle” and “Go To Sleep Little Buckaroo,”
Jack said, “That threw me for a loop.” From
that day forward he was crazy for cowboys
and cowboy music. He said, “I started
reading Will James novels and listening to
Gene Autry’s radio program.”
A year later Jack went back to the rodeo
at Madison Square Garden and got a chance
to meet a real cowboy. He said, “We were
going in the front entrance on 49th Street
and walked past the employees entrance.
There was a cowboy leaning against the
wall wearing a white shirt, Levi’s, and black
boots. He told me his name and shook
my hand. He was very rugged and didn’t
have flowers stitched into his shirt.” That
meeting, along with observations that he had
made at the first rodeo, caused Jack to think
twice about the authenticity of a cowboy
singer like Gene Autry who wore a clean
and ornate cowboy costume with shinny
boots and spurs.
Inspired by Autry’s singing and songs,
Jack wanted to learn how to play the
guitar. His first guitar was a “Collegiate”
that his mother bought for $12 at a store in
Brooklyn. He took a few lessons, but the
teacher was not teaching the kind of music
that Jack wanted to learn, so the lessons
didn’t last long. He said that the action on
the guitar was high and it was difficult to
play. So, he didn’t pursue the guitar much
farther at that time.
In 1945, when Jack was 14 years old,
he awoke one morning to hear the sound of
horse hooves on the street outside his home.
Jack Elliott and Arlo Guthrie
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had been hanging in
the window for about a
year and the binding had
bleached. The guitar
was worth about $300
in good condition, but
the store owner let it go
for $75.
Jack famously played
that Gretsch from the
day he bought it through
the late 1960’s, when
it was stolen from a
home in Hollywood,
California. Twentythree years later Jack got
that guitar back and he
still owns it to this day.
In 1958 Jack bought a
brand new Martin D-28
from the same store in
Manhattan. That guitar
was stolen from the
green room at a show
in Miami when Jack was
Jack Elliott with Linda Ronstadt
on tour as the opening
act for Cat Stevens in
1972.
That
year
Jack
replaced it with a
school he could be anything that he wanted
new
1972
Martin
D-28.
The 1972 Martin
to be, including a cowboy. But if he didn’t
is
the
guitar
that
Jack
still
plays to this day.
finish high school, he’d be nothing but a
He
bought
it
from
Harry
Tuft
at the Denver
cowboy. He concluded by saying, “You
Folklore
Center.
Jack
said,
“When
I bought
think it is fun now, but it may not be fun
the
last
Martin,
I
was
actually
looking
to
after a while.” Jack decided to go home.
buy
a
D-35,
but
the
sound
of
the
D-28
fit
After hearing Brahma Rogers play the
my voice better.”
guitar, tell stories, and sing songs, and after
After he returned home from spending
meeting a bull riding cowboy and guitar
three
months with the J. E. Ranch Rodeo,
playing friend Todd Fletcher, who Jack
Jack
not
only practiced his guitar with a
said “had that Texas guitar style,” Jack
new
found
zeal, he also started listening to
dug his guitar out of the closet with a new
a
lot
of
hillbilly
and cowboy music on the
determination to learn how to play. He
radio.
He
said
that
he was nuts about the
obtained a book of cowboy songs, which
WSM
Grand
Ole
Opry
broadcast and left it
included chord diagrams, and set out to
on
as
long
as
he
could
at
night. He tried to
teach himself how to play the guitar. He
play
along
with
the
radio
and also bought
said that he was playing for about five hours
some
recordings.
Some
of his favorite
a day. The first song he learned was “Red
bands
included
Roy
Acuff
and
the Smokey
River Valley.”
Mountain
Boys,
Earnest
Tubb
and
the Texas
After about six months of diligent practice,
Troubadours,
Merle
Travis,
the
Carter
Jack’s Aunt Mildred, a music teacher, saw
Family,
Jimmie
Rodgers,
Bill
Monroe
and
how determined Jack was to learn and
his
Bluegrass
Boys,
and
the
J.
E.
Mainer
set up formal guitar lessons. The teacher
Mountaineers. He said that he liked singing
was a classically trained Cuban guitarist.
Acuff’s version of “Wabash Cannonball”
Although Jack didn’t stay with that teacher
and he also learned “Blue Eyes Crying in
long, the most important suggestion that
the Rain” so that he could sing it to his high
the teacher made was that Jack needed a
school girlfriend.
better guitar. The teacher brought Jack to
Jack’s first “recording session” was
Harry Newcorn & Sons Music Store on
an
amateur
attempt back when he was
Third Avenue in Manhattan and Jack found
“borderline
no
good.” His old cowboy
a Gretsch 75 hanging in the window. The
friend
Tiny
Westley
took him into Nola
guitar, called a “Rancher” in the catalog,
Studios on 6th Avenue in New York where
8
you could pay $5 and make a 78-rpm wax
record. Jack said, “The grooves were cut
into the record as you were singing.” Tiny
backed him up on his Gibson L-5 guitar and
Jack sang “Wabash Cannonball.” Jack said,
“I was real nervous and I sang too fast.”
Regarding his early favorites, Jack said,
“Ernest Tubb was my favorite singer. I
liked his guitar playing too. I thought that
Merle Travis was the best guitar player in
the world and Tom Paley was second.” Jack
met Tom Paley when he started joining the
jam sessions in Washington Square Park in
New York City in about 1947. Paley was
a big early influence on Jack, encouraging
him, picking with him, and introducing
him to other of New York’s folk singers
and mountain music enthusiasts, including
Roger Sprung, Harry and Jeannie West, and
others. Occasionally, some of the more
notable folk singers, such as Pete Seeger
or Woody Guthrie, would show up in
Washington Square. But this is not where
Jack, who was now calling himself Buck
Elliott, would meet Guthrie.
Jack’s first brief encounter with Woody
Guthrie’s music was through a radio
program that started in 1945 on WNYC.
It was called “Folksong Festival” and was
hosted by Canadian folksinger Oscar Brand.
Guthrie was a guest on the show when Jack
tuned in and heard Woody telling stories
about riding the rails hobo style. Later, in
early 1949, Jack attended a live taping of
Oscar Brand’s radio program and actually
saw Woody briefly, but did not get to meet
him. Jack said, “My cousin Bobby Snyder
was working as a radio engineer on Oscar
Brand’s program. He called me and told
me that Lead Belly (Huddie Ledbetter)
and Woody were going to be guests.” Jack
attended the live broadcast and was able
to watch Lead Belly play and saw Guthrie
from a distance.
Jack first met Guthrie in 1951. Tom Paley
was going to be a guest on Oscar Brand’s
program and Paley asked Elliott if he’d like
to attend the session. After the broadcast
Paley had been invited to attend a party at
Woody Guthrie’s home in Coney Island.
Jack asked if he could tag along. Jack had
been listening to a 78-rpm recording called
Struggle: Asch Documentary #1, which was
put together by Moses Asch. The album
included Guthrie performing some of his
most famous songs. Guthrie’s style of
singing and guitar player intrigued Jack. He
said that Woody sang like “a workingman,
like someone who had been there.” When
asked about Woody’s guitar style, Jack
March/April 2013
Guthrie. Jack told Woody his name had
changed to Jack. Woody said, “There’s
a thousand Jack’s for every Buck!” Jack
arranged to meet Woody at a party at an
apartment near Washington Square Park.
Woody Guthrie’s guitar style was very
idiosyncratic. There are not many musicians
who were adept at following his dropping
and adding of beats at his whim. Jack had
spent so much time working on Woody’s
songs, however, that he was able to follow
him better than most and Woody liked that.
Jack went home with Woody after the party
near Washington Square Park and they
resumed their jamming in the morning. It
wasn’t long before Jack was living at the
Guthrie home and he ended up staying there
for about three years, 1951 - 1953.
Jack said that for a while their daily
routine was to get up in the morning and
jam for a few hours, while drinking. By
the early afternoon Woody would start to
get “dizzy spells” and have to lie down.
They would later learn that these dizzy
spells were a result of the onset of Woody’s
Huntington’s disease. After Woody took a
nap for a few hours Jack and Woody would
collect Guthrie’s children and take a ride to
Sheepshead Bay or the Belt Parkway.
Today Woody’s children Arlo and Nora
speak fondly of those days when Jack was
staying at the house. Woody knew he was
sick and that he may not be around much
longer and was happy to have someone to
mentor. In turn, Jack helped take care of
Woody at home, in town, and on the road.
March/April 2013
Jack learned a lot about guitar playing by
watching Woody. Woody wouldn’t directly
show Jack what he was doing. He told Jack
that once Lead Belly had told him, “You can
steal what you like, but I’m not giving it
away.” So, Woody took the same approach
with Jack. Jack recalls that he really liked
Woody’s version of “Buffalo Skinners.”
He said, “I’d heard the song before and it
was in my Cowboy song book, but it was
too operatic for my taste and I didn’t like
it. But when I heard Woody sing it, I could
hear the dust in his voice and I liked that.”
The unusual thing was that Woody played
a C major chord on his guitar while singing
the song in a minor key. Jack couldn’t figure
out how to do that, so he asked Woody
about it. Guthrie pointed to a stack of 78
rpm records by the piano and said, “It’s on
the record Jack!”
Jack said that he learned a lot about
playing rhythm guitar when he would back
up Woody’s fiddle playing. When asked
exactly what it was that he learned, he
said, “Woody told me not to play too fancy
behind his fiddle playing. He said, ‘You
are a drum. I just want to hear the rhythm.
Don’t play any fancy notes, I’m doing that
on the fiddle.” Jack spent hours with Woody
soaking in every detail of his singing,
guitar playing, story telling, mannerisms
and gestures. He learned to mimic Woody
down to the last detail. He learned to play
and sing so much like Woody Guthrie that
he would later be criticized for being too
much like Guthrie. Jack wasn’t bothered
Photo by Gaynell Rogers
said, “He had a very relaxed way of playing
without being sloppy.” His early favorite
Guthrie tunes were “Hard Travelin’” and
“Talking Sailor Blues.”
While Paley was not comfortable
bringing Jack to the party, since he was
not the host, he did give Jack Woody’s
phone number and said, “You can call him
yourself. He is a friendly guy.” About a
week later, Jack mustered the courage to
call Woody. He introduced himself as Buck
Elliott, a friend of Tom Paley’s. Woody
told Jack that he should come visit “one
of these days” and bring his guitar. But
Woody said that Jack couldn’t come that
day because he wasn’t feeling well. Jack
waited about two days and called again. This
time Woody’s wife answered the phone. He
was told that Woody was in the hospital with
appendicitis. Jack asked if he could visit
Woody in the hospital, but Woody’s wife
advised against it.
Jack found out that Woody was at the
Coney Island Hospital and after a few
more days of waiting decided to go for a
visit. Jack found Woody’s room, however,
Woody was in no condition to receive
guests. Woody suggested that Jack go
across the street to the Guthrie household
and introduce himself to his wife and kids.
Jack did as Woody suggested and introduced
himself to Woody’s wife, Marjorie, and his
three children, Arlo (3 and a half), Joady
(two) and Nora Lee (one).
Shortly after his first visit at the
Guthrie home, Jack traveled to Westport,
Connecticut to visit Cole Cooper – a college
friend. But before meeting Guthrie Jack
spent a short time in New York, living on
the sailing ketch Argosy and playing music
with his friend Eric Von Schmidt. He also
traveled to California with Cole Cooper and
once there he volunteered for a job in the
San Francisco Bay area working at the The
San Francisco Maritime Museum restoring
old sailing ships. Jack had been fascinated
with ships since he was a young boy back
in Brooklyn where he had read books of
sea adventures and discussed sailing with
his neighbor, a harbor pilot captain named
Robert Hinkley.
While working in San Francisco, Jack met
Warwick Jr. “Commodore” Tompkins. He
introduced himself to Commodore as Buck
Elliott, however, Tompkins mistakenly
introduced “Buck” to his mother as “Jack”
and the name stuck. His has been Jack
Elliott ever since. When Jack arrived back
in New York City in May of 1951, after hitch
hiking across country, he phoned Woody
Jack Elliott with Pete Seeger at the Newport Folk Festival
9
by the criticism. He said, “It didn’t affect
me.” He also recalled that Woody didn’t
seem to mind either.
In addition to soaking up Woody’s
songs and guitar style, Jack also had the
opportunity to meet Woody’s friends and
blues masters Brownie McGhee and Sonny
Terry. He also later met other bluesmen
like Josh White, Jesse Fuller, and Big Bill
Bronzy. Jack loved to play and sing the
blues and soaked up all he could from the
great bluesmen that he met. Although
many of the traditional acoustic blues guitar
players played fingerstyle, Jack took what
he heard them play and played it with a
flatpick on his guitar. He said, “I found that
I could get the sounds quicker and easier
with a flatpick.”
Being part of the music scene in New
York City, Jack was exposed to artists and
bohemians of all sorts. Through his friend
Helen Parker he met Jack Kerouac and the
two became friends. Elliott sang tunes for
Kerouac and in turn, Jack Elliott had the
opportunity to hear Kerouac read from
pages of a novel that he was writing that
was to be titled On The Road. Jack said,
“He read that book to me about four years
before it was published.”
Jack not only hung out at the Guthrie
home, in 1953 he also began traveling with
10
Woody. He took a trip
to Florida with Guthrie
early in 1953. He took
another trip south that
summer without Guthrie
in search of the roots of
folk music. He traveled
with folksingers Frank
Hamilton and Guy
Carawan and was able
to meet Mike Seeger in
Washington, D.C., banjo
player Bascom Lamar
Lunsford in Asheville,
North Carolina, and
banjo player Ted Sutton
in Maggie Valley, North
Carolina. They also
went to the Grand Ole
Opry and listened to Roy
Acuff, Grandpa Jones,
Hank Snow, and Earl
Scruggs. In 1954 Jack
took another trip with
Woody Guthrie. This
time they, and two other
friends, traveled all the
way out to California to
visit the artist community
in Topanga Canyon.
Once Woody and Jack reached Topanga
Canyon they parted ways, however, Jack
stayed in Topanga through the summer
and met banjo player Derroll Adams, who
he would later tour with in Europe. They
would also record under the name The
Rambling Boys. It was in Topanga that he
also met his first wife, June Hammerstein,
an aspiring actress who introduced Jack to
another actor friend of hers named James
Dean. Jack said, “His first big movie hadn’t
come out yet, so he wasn’t famous when
I met him.” Jack and June were married
in May of 1955. The two then hitchhiked
to New York and in September of 1955
boarded an ocean liner headed for Europe
because June had always wanted to travel
there.
Once they arrived in England, Jack
started busking to make money in order
to support their stay. This was something
that he was very comfortable doing in the
United States and so he felt he could do the
same in Europe. At the time England was
in the middle of the skiffle music craze,
which was based on American folk music.
Jack was an instant hit in England because
they considered him “the real thing.” Using
contacts that he’d been given by Pete
Seeger, included folklorist Alan Lomax
who had left the United States in 1950, he
was able to start recording and performing.
His first album was an 8-inch LP of Guthrie
tunes called Woody Guthrie’s Blues for
Topic Records. It was recorded in October
of 1955.
Jack ended up staying in Europe for the
better part of five years. He recorded and
performed by himself and he also recorded
and performed with his banjo-playing friend
Derroll Adams, who Jack had invited over in
1957. By the time Derroll arrived, Jack was
already a celebrity and the two were in high
demand. They released an album called The
Rambling Boys in 1957. The Rambling Boys
album was released at about the same time
as Jack’s second solo album on Topic, Jack
Takes the Floor. This album had very little
Guthrie material and thus started to establish
Jack as his own act and not just a Guthrie
imitator. Through these and other albums
recorded during his years in Europe, and as
a result of his many live performances, Jack
became a big name in England and Ireland.
He influenced later British Invasion rock
and roll artists such as Mick Jagger, Paul
McCartney, Donovan, Rod Stewart, Eric
Clapton, and others.
Except for one trip back to the United
States in 1958, Jack spent 1955 through
1960 recording and touring in Europe. By
the time he returned to the United States in
1960 (some sources say it was 1961, Jack
doesn’t remember exactly), he was ready to
return home, but came back alone. Both his
wife and Derroll stayed behind. June went
to Israel and Derroll to Belgium.
Jack returned to find that the “folk
boom” in America was in full swing and
he was an instant celebrity among folk
music enthusiasts as they recognized him
as Woody Guthrie’s protégé and the leading
interpreter of Guthrie’s music. Although
Guthrie was still alive at this time, he
was greatly affected by his disease and
could barely play the guitar and could not
communicate very well. Woody Guthrie
passed away on October 3rd, 1967.
Jack first met a young Bob Dylan in 1961
and they became good friends and often
played music together. Dylan had studied
the recordings that Jack made in England
and he would ask Jack questions about his
guitar playing. In Dylan’s early days on the
folk circuit he was known as a Jack Elliott
mimic. Although some were upset that
Dylan was stealing Jack’s act, Jack wasn’t
bothered by it at all. In fact, Jack defended
Dylan when others would criticize him.
Once he returned to the United States,
March/April 2013
Jack started touring and recording. His
biggest commercially successful recording
was Young Brigham, released in 1968.
Because of certain issues that he had had
with record labels, Jack refused to record
in the United States for nearly 25 years
(between 1970 and 1994), but he has never
stopped performing.
Jack’s captivating stage presence,
combined with his laid back authentic
singing style, tasteful guitar work, and
skillful story telling, made him a favorite
at folk music clubs and festivals. He
can be quirky and off-beat, sometimes
stopping in the middle of a song to tell a
story, sometimes telling stories that seem
to ramble on forever (another reason for his
nickname “Ramblin’” Jack), but there is an
authenticity about what he does on stage, in
both story and song, that draws you into his
world. You know that he is a guy who has
“been there and done that” and for that little
slice of time, you get to be there with him.
Jack appeared twice on The Johnny Cash
Show and Johnny actually recorded Jack’s
tune “Cup of Coffee” — one of the few
original songs that Jack has ever written.
Like Cash said when introducing Jack in
1969, “he has covered more ground and
made more friends and sung more songs
than the fellow you’re just about to meet.”
The list of people who Jack has shared stage,
recording sessions, songs, and stories with
is vast; everyone from Woody Guthrie,
Pete Seeger, Mike Seeger, Tom Paley, John
Herald, Ralph Rinzler, Brownie McGhee,
Sonny Terry, Josh White, Reverend Gary
Davis, and Big Bill Bronzy, to Bob Dylan,
Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson,
John Prine, Jerry Garcia, Lester Flatt and
Earl Scruggs, Doc and Merle Watson, Jerry
Jeff Walker, Norman Blake, Emmy Lou
Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Wier, Guy
Clark, John Hartford, Arlo Guthrie, and
many, many more of the elite musicians
of folk, rock, country, blues, and bluegrass
music.
With all of the recordings that Jack has
made in Europe and the United States and
the subsequent reissues, rereleases, and
compilations, it would be difficult to list
all of his recorded projects in this article.
The most notable of his early recordings
in Europe include Woody Guthrie’s Blues,
Jack Takes the Floor, The Rambling Boys
(with Derroll Adams), Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
in London, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott Sing Songs
By Woody Guthrie and Jimmie Rodgers, and
Muleskinner on Topic Records UK.
Of his American releases between 1960
and 1970, the most notable are Ramblin’
Jack Elliott, Jack Elliott at the Second Fret,
Country Style, Talking Woody Guthrie, and
Young Brigham. In 1970 Jack recorded a
studio album in America titled Bull Durham
Sacks & Railroad Tracks. In 1980 he
recorded another album titled Kerouac’s
Last Dream in West Germany. Those were
the only two studio albums that he recorded
between 1970 and 1994.
In 1994 Jack recorded South Coast
for the Red House label. The album was
released in 1995 and won a Grammy in
the “Best Traditional Folk Recording”
category. Jack next recorded Friends of
Mine, singing duets with old friends Arlo
Guthrie, John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker,
Peter Rowan, Rosalie Sorrels, Tom Waits,
Emmylou Harris, Guy Clark, and Bob Weir
and then The Long Ride, both nominated for
Grammy’s and produced by Roy Rogers.
Jack’s most recent album A Stranger Here,
released in 2009 and produced by Joe
Henry features Jack singing blues tunes.
This album won a Grammy in the “Best
Traditional Blues” category. In 1998 Jack
was also awarded the National Medal of the
Arts for his contribution to American Folk
music from President Bill Clinton.
In August of this year (2013) Jack Elliott
will turn 82 years old, and he is still on the
road. He said, “I might retire at the end
of this year because I’m getting tired of
traveling in airplanes. If I had a bus, I might
keep going. But I don’t want to travel by air
anymore.” For a guy who first hit the road
with Woody Guthrie back in 1951, I’d say
that 62 years of hard travelin’ is probably
plenty.
If he does really decide to stop traveling,
he will be greatly missed because Jack
Elliott is not only a singer and storyteller, he
is an authentic link to America’s past. Here
is a guy that has first hand experience with
the traditional old blues men, the pioneers of
folk music, the early stars of rock and roll,
and iconic writers and actors such as Jack
Kerouac, Shel Silverstein (who was the best
man at Jack’s second wedding), and James
Dean—not to mention a long list of old
school cowboys, truck drivers, and sailing
captains. He truly is an American treasure.
During my interview with Jack he
jokingly said, ‘I’m not really a music lover.
I like cowboys, trucks, and sailing ships. I
just play music so that I can afford diesel
fuel and cat food.” I’m here to say that I’m
one guy that is very happy that the kid from
Brooklyn who became cowboy crazy after
seeing his first rodeo at the age of nine and
ran away from home to join the rodeo at the
age of fifteen, decided to learn how to play
the guitar and spent over 60 years telling his
stories and singing his songs. Jack Elliott
Jack’s 1972 Martin D-28 features custom fret inlays and a painting of
a bull rider where the pick guard is supposed to be. The painting was
done by one of Jack’s friends. It was covered by a clear piece of acrylic,
however, at some point in time a drink was spilled on the guitar, ran
under the acrylic and erased the cowboy’s head. He bought the guitar
new in 1972 and has played it ever since.
March/April 2013
11
tells the story of America, and it is a story
that every American should hear.
Currently blues guitarist Roy Rogers
is working to document an oral history
of Jack’s life by recording Jack telling
stories. When asked about his work with
Jack, Roy said, “It is always ‘interesting’ to
work with Jack, to say the least. He truly
lives ‘in the moment’ at all times with
whatever he is involved in, whether that
be performing, recording or a conversation
(or observation). It is my great pleasure
to know him as a friend and also to have
produced two recordings for him with many
guest artists involved. The love for Jack
was abundant from EVERYONE at those
sessions! His guitar-playing is deceptively
good—better than most people realize, I
think. He knows exactly what he is doing
to play a song a certain way—especially in
support of the story he is telling in song...
We are presently working on a spokenword recording which will be a delight
to everyone—from his early days to the
present. The stories he has to tell are really
‘something’ to hear (especially when told
to us by the source). You never know what
subject he will segue into next (which is OK,
because sometimes the sidebar stories are
the best part!)—and he has a great memory...
It may take some time to edit, but it will be
worth it. Stay tuned.”
12
Jack Elliott Guitar Style
In the Homespun instructional video
The Songs and Guitar of Ramblin’ Jack
Elliott, released in 2001, Jack modestly
says, “Don’t take my guitar playing too
seriously.” Although Jack is known more
for his singing and story telling than his
guitar picking, there is a lot to learn from
the Jack Elliott flatpicking guitar style. One
of Jack’s real gifts on stage is his ability to
effectively bring the story of his songs to
life in the minds and hearts of his audience.
His guitar work is a big part of that talent.
Jack’s guitar playing tastefully and expertly
fits the song. That is an ability that many
guitar players today seem to ignore.
Many singers in the folk music world
don’t develop their guitar playing to a
level where their skill as a guitar player is
adequate enough to expertly support the
song. Typically they will monotonously
strum through the chord changes without
adding the guitar embellishments that
would give more life and meaning to the
words. On the other hand, there are some
guitar players in the bluegrass world who
are greatly skilled on the guitar and tend to
over play on some tunes to the point where
the pyrotechnics of the playing detracts from
the meaning and message of the song.
When listening to Jack play the guitar, it
is obvious that he worked hard to develop
his skill to the point where he has enough
technique to fully support his songs.
Although his style has its foundation in the
Woody Guthrie style, which generally was
an interpretation of the Maybelle Carter
style, Jack moved beyond his mentor. One
reviewer accurately described Jack’s guitar
playing as “a polished and developed form
of Woody Guthrie’s style.”
Like Guthrie, Jack can be unpredictable
in his playing and singing. He adds beats
or drops them at his whim because he plays
and sings more by feel than by the rules and
guidelines of consistent metronomic tempo.
Although this may make it difficult for other
musicians to follow him if they are playing
together, he is supporting his presentation of
the song the way he hears it and feels it. In
the early 1960s Jack opened for Lester Flatt
and Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain
Boys. During their set, they invited Jack to
come out and sing a tune with them. Jack
said that they had a hard time following him
because his timing was unconventional.
When Jack related that story to me, I said,
“Arlo Guthrie told me that people had a hard
time following his Dad, too.” Jack replied,
“I learned that from Woody.”
In addition to folk performers, country
artists, and bluesmen, Jack also has
experience with great bluegrass players.
Over the years Jack has played on the same
show as Doc Watson many times. Norman
Blake played on one of Jack’s albums
(Bull Durham Sacks & Railroad Tracks)
and also backed up Jack during his second
appearance on The Johnny Cash Show
in 1971. Jack also heard Clarence White
play many times at the Ash Grove with
the Kentucky Colonels. Additionally, Jack
was part of a tribute to Earl Scruggs show
in January of 1973 in Manhattan, Kansas.
The show was filmed for the documentary
film Banjoman. The Byrds, with Clarence
White, were also featured on that show.
This show occurred just six months before
Clarence’s tragic death. So, Jack has had
an opportunity to see some of the best
bluegrass flatpicking up close.
When asked about bluegrass flatpickers,
Jack said, “Bluegrass players are
unbelievable! I could never keep up with
them. I didn’t ever like to get up and play in
front of those guys.” During my interview
with Jack he related a story about playing a
show with Doc Watson in Seattle. During
Doc’s set the MC asked if Doc would like
to have Jack Elliott come out and play one
with him. Doc agreed and as Jack walked
out on stage, Doc said, “What do you
want to play Jack?” Jack hesitated and so
Doc, knowing that Jack had also recorded
“Tennessee Stud,” said, “How about if we
play the ‘Tennessee Stud’?” Jack told me,
“I didn’t really want to play the ‘Tennessee
Stud’ with Doc because he played it so much
March/April 2013
March/April 2013
Photo by Gaynell Rogers
faster than I did. While I was thinking about
it, Doc started to play the tune. It was all
I could do to keep up playing the rhythm.
I let him do the fancy stuff. I loved Doc.”
When asked how he approaches each
tune on the guitar, Jack said he does it all by
feel. He doesn’t usually plan anything out,
however, once he finds certain licks that fit a
song he will keep those in there most every
time he plays it. There is a very nice threenote arpeggio lick that Jack plays in the tune
“Roving Gambler” (see Orrin Star’s article
in this issue). When I asked Jack where he
got that lick, he said, “I played it exactly the
way I heard Cisco Houston play it.”
At its root, Jack’s flatpicking style is a
bass-note strum method that can be traced
back to Maybelle Carter, with added fill
phrases placed between vocal pauses. His
fills and his bass-run selections are always
interesting and very appropriate to the song.
Through his study of various early country
blues players, Jack has developed a very
nice flatpicking blues style and also uses
those blues phrases as fills on certain songs.
He said, “I usually play off the cuff, but
there are certain licks that I keep in certain
songs. The guitar playing embellishes the
meaning of the story.”
We don’t have a recording of Jack
playing any of his tunes for this issue,
however, I asked our columnist Orrin Star
if he would roughly transcribe some of
Jack’s guitar playing from a recording of
“Roving Gambler” for this issue so that
readers could get a feel for the Jack Elliott
style. If you’d like to explore his style in
more depth, I recommend that you buy any
one of his various albums (you can visit his
website: http://www.ramblinjack.com/), or
you can download the complete Homespun
instructional video at: http://www.flatpick.
com/digitalacademy/
Author’s Note: The information in
this article was collected from four main
sources. The first was an excellent awardwinning film titled The Ballad of Ramblin’
Jack, which was directed by Jack’s daughter
Aiyana Elliott. The second source was a
very well researched book titled Ramblin’
Jack Elliott: The Never-Ending Highway
by Hank Reineke. The third source was the
Homespun instructional video The Songs
and Guitar of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. In
this video Jack is interviewed by his good
friend Arlo Guthrie. Lastly, after gathering
information from the above-mentioned
sources, I conducted a three-hour interview
with Jack Elliott near his home in western
Marin County, California.
Jack Elliott with Van Dyke Parks
13
œ
3
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Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar
H.O.
0
1
2
0
2
by Joe Carr
0
0
Flatt and Scruggs’ 1961 album Songs of
the Famous Carter Family featured “False
Hearted Lover” with “Mother” Maybelle
Carter on autoharp, Josh Graves on Dobro
and presumably, Earl Scruggs on lead
guitar. Maybelle played the guitar lead on
the original Carter family recording of the
tune that featured Sara Carter’s lead vocal.
The original recording is in the key of F with
the guitar tuned down a whole step so that
it is played in G position.
Josh who played the Dobro in Flatt &
Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys band,
recorded the tune on recordings of his
own. Larry Sparks, whose vocal and guitar
work first became famous with Ralph
Stanley’s band, played this song as a guitar
instrumental under the name of “Carter’s
Blues.” Here are the lyrics:
As I woke up one morning fair
To view the fields and take the air
For to view the fields and the meadows around
I thought I heard some mournful sound
I thought I heard my true love say
“Oh, do turn and come this way” [Yodel]
You love some other, you don’t love me
You care not for my company
You love some other, and I know why
Because he has more gold than I
But gold will melt and silver will fly
My love for you will never die [Yodel]
The best my research can reveal, “Carter’s
Blues” and “False Hearted Lover” are the
same song. The older title has fallen out
of use in recent times. On the next page
is a flatpicking version that closely copies
Maybelle’s thumb and finger style. It is
common now to insert an F C G rhythm
figure in measures 7 and 8. This seems to be
an invention of Larry Sparks’ that is imitated
by nearly every player today.
There is a flower, I’ve heard them say
That can be seen from day to day
And if that flower I only could find
To cure this aching heart of mine [Yodel]
So fare you well, my charming little love
Oh, meet me in that land above
And when we meet there in that land
We’ll take no more this parting hand [Yodel]
DocFest: A Musical Tribute to Doc Watson
and his musical partners Merle Watson and Jack Lawrence
featuring Many of Today’s Top Pickers
Call 800-413-8296
Check it out at www.flatpickingmercantile.com
Flatpicking Essentials,
Volume 5
14
Flatpicking Essentials,
Volume 6
Right Hand Workout
Music Theory
March/April 2013
False Hearted Lover
Audio CD
Track 3
œ œœœ
.. œ œœ œœ œœ œœ
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& 4 Œ œ œ œ # œj œ
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Arranged by Joe Carr
œœ
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D7
0
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œœ
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2.
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S
0
0.
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0
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Œ
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March/April 2013
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Beginner’s
Page
by Dan Huckabee
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Why Don’t You Tell Me So:
Tony Rice Style for Beginners
Tony Rice, in my opinion, is a true
traditional bluegrass guitarist who has taken
the style a step beyond his mentors, while
maintaining the original integrity (and that’s
not easy to do!). In this issue, I’m going
to attempt to introduce the beginner to the
mechanics of his style. I’m hoping this will
demonstrate how easy arrangements evolve
into advanced arrangements, while trying
to help you to gain a deeper appreciation
for this master. With a little luck and
perseverance, you might even be playing
this solo before you know it. So if you’re
tired of hearing people say “you’re not
ready,” lets just ignore ‘em and throw
caution to the wind. I’ll promise you two
things: You won’t sustain any permanent
damage, and we’ll return to easier material
next issue.
This is Tony’s solo of the Flatt & Scruggs
classic: “Why Don’t You Tell Me So,” as he
played it on his 1984 Cold On the Shoulder
LP. Both Tony and Lester Flatt sang it in
F. Tony chose D-position capoed to the
3rd fret, which is a common practice in
traditional bluegrass flatpicking. Somewhat
less common, is that Tony tuned his 6th
string down to D for this solo.
So after you’ve tuned your 6th string down
to D, and capoed to the 3rd fret, the intro
starts on an “off-beat.” This means that
you pick the first note UP. This is a seven
8th-note intro (very unusual). Even Tony
wouldn’t have kicked the song off with an
off-beat, but this was an interior break, and
the tempo was already established. At this
point, let me say that you will be more likely
to succeed if you buy the original Cold on
the Shoulder CD, and listen to it (along with
my slowed down lesson).
The main two issues throughout are going
to be correct pick position and position
changes. I am including the fingerings in
the tab that show the position changes.
Remember: it will take longer to learn this
solo if you don’t know where the position
changes occur. They are indicated under the
note where they change. When you see a
number in parenthesis (1) under a note, use
the finger in parenthesis to play that note.
Basically, it starts in 2nd, then 1st (for a
short time), back to 2nd, then 5th, then 7th,
5th, 3rd, and 2nd.
The most significant difference in this
solo and others from my column, is playing
up the neck. I get asked for up the neck
material all the time, and believe it or not,
it’s easier than open stuff, because the frets
are closer together. So don’t be intimidated.
Your listeners will be impressed.
You are welcomed to call me if you
have any questions or just to yell at me for
giving you such a mammoth project. 800543-6125.
And by the way, I have just completed
a new instructional CD/Booklet called:
Festival Favorites for Bluegrass Guitar.
The details are in the Musician’s Workshop
ad in the back of this issue. Now go out
and earn your next belt rank in flatpicking.
The Guitar Player’s Practical Guide to Scales & Arpeggios
by Tim May & Dan Miller
This new 160 page book (with 136 audio tracks on 2 CDs) by Dan Miller and Tim May
not only teaches you how to learn scales in a way that is easy, fun, interesting, and informative,
it also shows you how to practically apply scales when learning new melodies, embellishing those
melodies to create your own solos and variations, and in exploring improvisations.
The scale study method in this book uses six phrases as follows:
1) Scale pattern study and practice 2) Melody recognition practice 3) Improvisation practice
4) Scale mode practice
5) Scale interval practice
6) Ear training practice
The book is broken down into four sections (“The Big Four”): straight scales, folded scales
(scale patterns), harmonized scales, and crosspicking arpeggios. By presenting scale and arpeggio
knowledge in these six phases and four categories, the authors are able to clearly demonstrate
how a knowledge of scales and arpeggios can be easily and practically employed.
16
March/April 2013
Why Don’t You Tell Me So
Audio CD
Tracks 5 & 6
Transcribed by Dan Huckabee
## 4
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March/April 2013
17
K a u f m a n ’s
Corner
Rights of Man
Hi Friends and welcome back to my little
corner of FGM. As we stated in the last
issue, most of us have been around a little
while so I’ve bumped up the level of the
article some. I will keep it this way unless
I hear from you all so write me at steve@
flatpik.com and let me know.
This tune has been around for centuries
I would imagine. I feel like I’ve known
it close to that long. It is a Celtic tune
(pronounced Keltic just so you know) in
honor of St. Patties Day. The chord structure
is one I learned from a David Bromberg
record I believe and is not always typical in
structure to the Celtic way of play but has
some nice changes.
In playing out the melody – get ready!
I play this tune primarily in 2nd position
so my 1st finger gets all the 2nd fret notes
and 2nd finger gets the 3rd fret and so on.
The only time this changes is when I have
to reach back for a 1st fret note. As soon
as that is done and I have an open string, I
switch back to 2nd position.
Measure 1: Try playing this with only
the lead triplet note as a quarter note. Four
quarters going B-A-G-F#. Also be sure to
play them Down- Down- Down- Down.
Over an dover to get the time and then when
you are sure of it add in the triplet hammer
on pull offs.
Measure 3, 7, 12, 23 and 31: you have a
2-3-2 HO PO. Listen to the recording. You
can play with the timing of these by holding
the 1st note out a little longer and cutting
the other two short. This will change up
the sound and not sound like straight time
triplets.
Measure 9: This is a measure that is
straight time and original to the song. It
can replace measures 1, 5 and 13 is you
want. They are all the same measure – same
theme.
Measure 13: You will need to hit all
these triplets. Do not sweep the pick down
through the strings. Your timing will be off
and the sound will stink! Each set of triplets
are hit DUD. And it is tough getting from
one set to the next on time but hey…..
Measure 16: End of the [A] part and onto
the [B]. Finger the two pick up notes with
the 2nd and 4th fingers on the G and the A.
This will set you up in 7th position and the
18
by Steve Kaufman
1st finger will hit all the 7th fret notes etc.
Measure 17: Nice position jump. If you
are not used to it, you will need to play this
measure in a loop slowly until there is a flow
up and down the neck.
Measure 27: Again with the triplets?! I
play this measure as triplets with straight
DUD UDU DUD UDU all the way through
it. It seems more comfortable here than
in measure 13 and this measure also ends
up even with the pick ready to hit the first
beat of the next measure on a Down swing.
Measure 27 replaces Measure 19 so if you
don’t like the triplets or they bog you down
until you have them, just swap out measure
19 for 27
Measure 31: I’ve marked the two up
swings in a row. This is because of the pull
off. You will see as you smooth this measure
out. If you don’t use two ups, you have a
huge chance of playing out of time.
Let me know how this one treats
you. Visit my site often because I am
constantly adding new free items to the Free
Downloads side and another feature I’ve
started lately are Single Song Downloads.
These were inspired by you all. Many of you
write to me to see if I have a specific song
written out and now if I find it is not done
yet, I do a video lesson of it. The Single
Song Downloads are mostly video lessons
with PDF tab and note sheets. Check them
out at www.flatpik.com and let me know
what songs you would like to see.
Bye for now, Steve Kaufman
Now on iTunes
Come to the Gold Award Winning Acoustic
Kamps : Old Time and Traditional Week:
June 9-15, 2013
Bluegrass Week: June 16-22, 2013
www.flatpik.com
www.palacetheater.com
FGM Records Presents:
Andy Falco
Sentenced to Life With the Blues
This is a long awaited recording
from one of the top young flatpickers
in Nashville, the Infamous
Stringduster’s Andy Falco, and
includes some of Nashville’s most
outstanding bluegrass performers
in support, including Josh Williams,
Cody Kilby, Adam Steffey, Luke
Bulla, Jason Carter, Andy Hall,
Noam Pikelney, Jim Van Cleve,
Andy Leftwich, Alecia Nugent, Rob
Ickes, Tim Dishman, and more.
Call 800-413-8296 to
Order
March/April 2013
Rights of Man Hornpipe
Audio CD
Track 8 & 9
Arranged by Steve Kaufman
Key of Em
3
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# 4
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3
20
2
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2 4
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Em
0 1
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4
Em
2
3
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12
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320
30
3
(C) 2013 Steve Kaufman Enterprises Inc 800-FLATPIK
Single Song Downloads at www.flatpik.com
March/April 2013
32
3
3
2
0
œœ
0 2
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0 0
19
Rights of Man (con’t)
Em
D
D
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0
0
March/April 2013
Taking It To The Next Level:
Ravel for Flatpickers II
by John Carlini
The second theme of Ravel’s “Bolero”
takes us to a deeper harmonic space. It starts
begins on the note Bb, the flatted seventh,
so it emits a hint of the blues. Ravel was
absolutely a fan of jazz and one can hear that
influence in this and other compositions.
That opening 3-bar phrase is a really C
mixolydian statement.
But then at the end of bar 4 he veers off
of that mode and goes up to a Db, the flatted
9th, and then “hammers” away at it until bar
7 when he descends through altered notes
and ends up on E, the third. What a rush!
It forces the listener to “hear” the tension of
the Db’s and the Ab’s against the constant
drumming of the bass on C and G. Very
cool! As it develops from there you can
certainly hear the Basque, Flamenco, bluesy
influence in the rest of the piece.
This is a challenging piece of music and
was presented as an orchestration that built
in layers of sound as these 2 themes were
repeated over and over and over. However,
I really think that the original essence of the
piece is in our instrument, the guitar! And I
think that my friend, George Maull, agrees.
To tie up this study next time we will take
the implied mode of Bolero and apply it to
modern chord changes so that you can use
the sound in your own playing.
Enjoy Bolero!
Please visit John’s web site (www.
johncarlini.com) to sign up for the latest
performance and teaching info and acoustic
music news. John is now giving live oneon-one lessons on guitar and 5-string
banjo using Skype technology. More info is
available on the web site.
March/April 2013
Tim Stafford
“Endless Line”
800-413-8296
21
Bolero
Audio CD
Tracks 10 & 11
Arranged by John Carlini
œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œœ œ œœ ˙
œœ
3
&4
A
q = 100
T
A
B
8
6
7 8 10 8 7
8 8
10
œœœ œ œœœ œ œ ˙
&
9 7
10
10
7 9 10
8
10
7 8
˙
9 10
8
10 9 7 9 10
8 10 8
10
7
Œ
R
10
8 7
10
7 8
10 8 7
8 7
10
8 7
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœ
&
8
10
7
10
8
œ
œ œ œœœœ œœ œ
&
B
19
&
10
10
8
9 7
7
7
10
7
10
7
9 10
8 10
5
8 6
6 8 5
8
6
5
8
6
5 6 5
8
10
œœœœ
8
10 9 7
bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œœœ
6
22
10
7
10
10 10 10
œ œœœ œœ ˙
14
7
10
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6 5
7
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10 10 10
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∑
10
bœ œ œ
œ ‰ J
j
œ bœ œ œ œ
J J
6 8 9
9
j
9 9 9
March/April 2013
Bolero (con’t)
24
&
bœ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ bœ œ bœ bœ
œœœ œ
3
9 9
9
9
8
6 9
œ
& œ œ œ œ bœ œ
29
3 5 3
33
˙
&œ
J
5
3
6
3
9 8
6
9 8 6 5
3
j
3
5 3 5 6
œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ
5
œ bœ œ bœ œ
3
8 6
Œ
bœ
œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
J
3 5 3
3 5
5
3
5 3
6
3
œ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
4
4
6
4
3
6
J
6 5
4
4
6
3
5
œ œ œ œ bœ œ
3
˙
3
5 3
Œ
6
∑
3
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine &
S i m p l e Fo l k P r o d u c t i o n s P r e s e n t :
Josh
Andy
Chris
Williams, Falco & Eldridge
Live at the Station Inn
“Guitarmageddon”
In this one-hour DVD Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and SimpleFolk
Productions present three of today's top young flatpicking guitarists
performing together in a live concert setting at the “World Famous”
Station Inn in Nashville, Tennessee. Josh Williams, Andy Falco,
and Chris Eldridge perform in a trio setting, as duo pairs, as solo
performers, and with a full bluegrass band (with guests Cody Kilby
and Mike Bub). Guitar players will appreciate the left and right
hand close-ups that are prevalent throughout this DVD.
March/April 2013
23
Bryan McDowell:
The Contestant
Spinning and Twirling
by Dan Miller
In March of 2010 FGM Records released
a recording called Doves, Crows, and
Buzzards by Davis Miller May. The last
tune on the recording was an instrumental
number that I wrote called “Spinning and
Twirling.” I had written this song years
before when my daughter Emily was about
5 or 6 years old (she is now 17). She
was playing with a hula hoop and I was
practicing my guitar. I asked her to dance
around the room with the hula hoop and I
would play the guitar for her dance. She
started spinning and twirling around the
room and this song popped out of my guitar,
hence the title.
Since the release or the Davis Miller May
CD, numerous subscribers have asked if I
would tab out my arrangement of his tune in
the magazine. I had a little bit of extra space
in this issue, so I thought I’d go ahead and
provide it here in our “By Request’column.
I hope you enjoy learning and playing
this tune!
Bryan McDowell is perhaps the most
successful all-around contest player of
all-time. During the past two years he
has won an unprecedented number of
contests on a variety of instruments.
Anyone who has not heard Bryan play
and is curious about this young talent,
should check out Bryan’s new CD.
flatpickingmercantile.com
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NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED! Learn the ear skills used in real bluegrass.
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I feel that it is
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whole new world for me.
24
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March/April 2013
Spinning and Twirling
Audio CD
Tracks 12
## 4
& 4 Ó
1
6
&
Œ
Ó
T
A
B
##
Written by Dan Miller
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March/April 2013
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25
Sharpening the Axe
by Jeff Troxel
Tribute to Pete Huttlinger
I hope you enjoyed playing Matt Flinner’s
tune “Black’s Fork” from the last issue.
Matt’s a great composer as well as a player
and his tunes are refreshingly well-crafted. I
heard from a few of you who were working
on it and I hope to get some mp3 recordings
from you soon.
There’s more that I want to do to follow
up the thread we’ve been working on, but
this time around an opportunity presented
itself to do something different, and I’m sure
you’ll agree it’s worth the detour.
About a thousand years ago I went to
school at Berklee College of Music with my
friend Pete Huttlinger. We were both from
rural areas, shared a love of acoustic music,
and took lessons from the same teacher, Joe
Rogers. Once a week we’d take off after
class and go play in the Boston subways,
sometimes for several hours. Pete was a
great player even back then and those gigs
kept a couple of starving students in pizza
and beer money.
Over the years I watched with admiration
as Pete molded himself into one of the
preeminent fingerstyle guitarists of our
time, not to mention a terrific teacher,
session player, and even flatpicker. But in
my opinion, his greatest accomplishments
have happened just in the past few years.
Pete had some serious health issues come
up a while back, including end-stage heart
failure, which resulted in a 5-month hospital
stay and the installation of a heart pump, and
a debilitating stroke that seriously affected
his playing. He’s been slowly but surely
returning from that setback and, against all
odds, has resumed a full playing schedule.
So while most of us struggle to master our
instrument just once, Pete had to re-learn
how to play the guitar. He overcame
obstacles that would dishearten and defeat
almost anybody else. But Pete is the most
tenacious and focused person I know, and
his response to this challenge is inspiring,
but not surprising.
Over the holidays he sent me a recording
of himself playing “Bistro Fada” by
Stephane Wrembel. He told me that after his
stroke he could hardly hold a pick much less
play anything. As he worked to rebuild his
technique this song became the yardstick by
which he measured his progress. As you can
hear from the recording, he seems to have
made a good recovery. As an interesting
sidebar, Pete told me his cardiologist from
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr.
Frank Fish, is playing bass on the recording.
I hope with this column that you’ll not
only have a great new tune to play, but a
measure of inspiration to carry with you as
you work on it. I’m going to keep Pete in
heart and mind as I navigate 2013, striving
to be a better and stronger person.
As I put the finishing touches on this first
issue of the new year, I’ve got a pizza in the
oven and a cold beer in front of me. To old
times and new, here’s to you Peter “Grits”
Huttlinger. Your best work is yet to come.
800-413-8296
26
March/April 2013
Bistro Fada
Audio CD
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March/April 2013
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2
The Guitar Player's Guide to
Developing
Speed, Accuracy, & Tone
by Brad Davis & Dan Miller
Learn How To Improve:
•
•
•
•
•
Right and Left Hand Mechanics
Right and Left Hand Efficiency
Volume, Speed, & Tone
Note Accuracy and Clarity
Overall Smoothness and Fluidity
In this book (with accompanying audio CD), by Brad Davis & Dan Miller, the authors have designed a step-by-step
program that will help you improve your right and left hand mechanics and efficiency, increase your volume and speed,
allow your notes to ring out more accurately with clarity and rich tone, and improve the overall smoothness and fluidity
of your solos. This program is designed to help players of all levels. Even though he is a seasons professional, Brad
Davis uses the exercises that are presented in this book to warm up for all of his shows and studio sessions and he has
taught this method to his private students and workshops attendees (beginner to advanced) with tremendous results.
Available in spiral bound hardcopy or as a digital download.
flatpickingmercantile.com
30
flatpickdigital.com
800-413-8296
March/April 2013
Coleman’s March
by Kathy Barwick
It seems fitting to present this tune in
honor of Marcy Marxer’s recent cover story
in this magazine. Marcy and her partner
Cathy Fink have played this tune for years,
and you can find several wonderful versions
of them playing this tune on Youtube
(including a recent version with a sitar and
tabla from their recent tour in Malaysia!).
You can also find some great information
about this tune at the Traditional Tune
Archive, which is a great resource about
for traditional music (on the web at www.
tunearch.org).
“Coleman’s March” should be played
at a slow tempo. This of course makes it
a great tune for dressing up with a bit of
crosspicking.
My arrangement is in D, with the low
E string tuned a step down to D (“drop D”
tuning). Next place a capo across strings
1-5, leaving the low D string open. We’ll be
playing out of the key C. I’ve given chord
diagrams for accompaniment. Strings with
an “X” should not be played/or be muted.
Notes in parenthesis can be fretted and
played OR not fretted and not played. Or, if
you wish, just play your regular chords on
strings 1-5 and skip the low D, although it
sounds great with the open D against all the
chords (with the possible exception of the
Am in the second B part) and so can serve
as a drone note.
OK, on with the tune. First I present a
basic melody. There are of course many
slight variations that can be just as valid; it’s
always helpful to listen to many versions of
a tune so you can decide for yourself how
it goes.
This arrangement illustrates the concept
of finding the melody in and around the
chords in the tune’s progression, considering
these important comments about left-hand
fingering:
1. Start off with your index on the 2nd string
first fret, and your ring finger on the 5th
string 3rd fret... that is, a C chord without
the 4th or 6th strings.
2. At the end of M2, notice that the change to
the F chord that happens in M3 is anticipated
here in beat 4. In order to let things ring
through, make that change from C to F by
leaving your first and fingers down (on the
two C notes, moving your middle finger
to the 3rd string 2nd fret, and putting your
pinky on the 4th string 3rd fret (the same
strategy should be used in M11). Reverse
that action for the return to the C chord in
M4, but leave your two C notes fretted as
you complete that measure.
3. Leave the index on the C note all the way
through the piece until you need to lift it in
the second have of M6. Put it back on the
2nd string first fret at the top of M9, even
though you’re not using it. Leave it down
again, until the same spot in M14 where it
must be lifted. Note that at the end of that
measure it came back down in preparation
for the F chord in the beginning of M15,
even though I didn’t play that note in that
measure. (I don’t know for sure, but I bet
my index finger stayed down all the way
through the end of the first A section. I’m
guessing that I kept my index on that second
string C note for the entire two A sections
(except for those two places where I needed
to lift it to get an open B.)
4. In M21simultaneously fret the first and
third strings as you play that first open note.
5. The second B part has a chord substitution.
In place of the C chord used in the first B, I
use its relative minor, the Am. This measure
uses a nifty “floaty” version of a partial
Am scale.
6. At the end of M26, we use the ring finger
to slide up to part of a “D shape” chord (see
Figure 1). But, I’ve left the middle note
(open G) unfretted. Use the series of open G
notes in M27 to move your left hand down
2 frets for the partial F chord (Figure 2) in
M28. Use the open note on the 1& beat to
move your left hand down to the “F shape”
partial chord (Figure 3) that starts on beat
2 of this measure. DO NOT LIFT your left
hand ring finger when making this move;
lift your middle finger off the 2nd string, lift
the pressure off the 4th string (but remain
in contact with the string) and slide it down
to the third fret.
That’s it for this time! I hope you enjoy
this arrangement of Coleman’s March.
Kathy Barwick has played guitar since
the late 1960s, when she learned folk-style
fingerpicking. Kathy also plays banjo,
March/April 2013
resophonic guitar, mandolin and acoustic
bass, and has performed over the years
with bluegrass and Irish bands. A founding
member of The All Girl Boys, Kathy now
plays guitar and dobro in the duo Barwick
& Siegfried, and resophonic guitar and
mandolin with The Mike Justis Band.
Kathy’s critically-acclaimed solo recording
“In My Life” was released in 2011 on the
FGM label.
A Sacramento resident, Kathy teaches at
music camps and gives private lessons on
guitar, resophonic guitar, and banjo. She
welcomes your feedback and/or comments;
you can contact her at kbarguitar@
yahoo.com or visit on the web at www.
kathybarwick.net.
C
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31
Coleman’s March (melody)
Audio CD
Tracks 15-17
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March/April 2013
Coleman’s March (solo)
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March/April 2013
3
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33
Coleman’s March (con’t)
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0
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26
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0
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H
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2
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3
2
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2
3
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2 0
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3
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3
Ó
Ó
Orrin Star’s
Flatpicking Guitar Primer
What The Tab Won’t Tell You
A comprehensive introduction to bluegrass lead guitar playing by one of America’s top flatpicking
teachers, this video brings to light vital, yet often overlooked, subtleties that are at the heart of this
exciting style—those things that the tablature won’t tell you. Among them:
• how to think like a fiddler and get the “dance pulse” into your playing
• the central role of strums in lead playing (as applied to Carter-style and Blake-style)
• right hand fundamentals like: how to properly alternate your pick, how to modify
your right hand technique when strumming, performing double-stops, and rest strokes
• the role of double-stops and harmonized leads
• using lyrics & singing styles to guide your solos
Starting with a simple scale and then progressing through eight cool arrangements of classic tunes,
this 2-hour video doesn’t just spoon feed you solos—it provides a systematic guide to the thinking
behind and within the style.
Call 800-413-8296 to Order
34
$24.95
March/April 2013
Flatpick Profile:
Chris Luquette
by Dan Miller
On the first day of the 2012 Wintergrass
festival in Bellevue, Washington, I had just
finished setting up the Flatpicking Guitar
Magazine booth when a group of musicians
started jamming about ten yards away.
The participants in the jam were all highly
skilled players and after listening to the
song selection and tight vocal harmonies, I
guessed that they were probably all from the
same band. They sounded way too polished
for a pick-up group of jammers. A person
who I knew to be a local musician came by
the booth and I asked if he knew who those
guys were. He said, “They are all in a local
band called Northern Departure. The guitar
player just recently joined Frank Solivan
and Dirty Kitchen.”
Later that afternoon Frank Solivan came
by the booth and said, “You’ve got to hear
our new guitar player, Chris Luquette, he
is a talented young man.” I told Frank that
I had heard Chris pick in a jam earlier that
day and that he did sound really good. I
asked Frank about the personnel change
and he said, “When Lincoln Meyers gave
his notice to pursue other projects, I started
the search for a guitar player to kick off the
new year with a bang. In January, we had
an Alaskan tour booked. I was in need of
someone to help us out in a bad way. I met
Chris last year at Wintergrass. We kept in
touch a bit and jammed at IBMA’s World
of Bluegrass in Nashville. Shortly after in
December, we were finishing up a northwest
tour at the Seattle Folk Festival, and Chris
and I picked again. Musical sparks flew.
So I asked him if he could be available to
fill in and play Alaska with us.”
Frank continued, “We only rehearsed a
couple of times before hitting the stage in
Fairbanks. We didn’t even rehearse all the
songs on the set list and were pleased to find
a natural fit. Chris obviously had been doing
his homework. We had a wonderful time
working up new songs and getting to know
one another on that trip. The tour ended in
Kodiak and after the last notes were played,
I offered him the job. Over the next few
weeks, we discussed how things worked in
the band and we officially announced his
employment from the stage at Wintergrass.
That was exactly one year after meeting him
at the same festival. It’s funny how things
work out.”
Chris Luquette, now 22, grew up in
Renton, Washington, listening to classic
rock with his dad. He said, “When I first
heard the Beatles, it grabbed me. I loved
it.” Inspired by the Beatles music, Chris
asked if he could get a guitar when he was
ten years old. When he asked his parents if
they would buy him a guitar, they dug out
an old guitar of his mother’s that was hidden
away in a closet. They took his mother’s
old guitar to a guitar shop to get it set up,
but the shop owner said that the guitar was
not in great shape and recommended that
they buy a new one.
Chris’ first guitar was a nylon string acoustic
and he immediately started taking classical
guitar lessons from Robert Vierschilling.
Chris said, “I started taking classical guitar
so that I could learn technique and learn to
read music, however, my teacher recognized
that I also wanted to learn Beatles songs.
So for half of the lesson I was learning
classical technique and for the other half
of the lesson I was learning how to play
chords and strum Beatles tunes with a
flatpick.” Chris continued lessons with
Robert Vierschilling for nearly two years
and only quit when Vierschilling moved
out of the area. During that two year period
he had learned how to play some classical
March/April 2013
pieces, some classic rock, 12-bar blues, and
had started to dabble in jazz.
After Robert Vierschilling moved out
of the area, Chris started studying with
Josh Ottum. The first thing that he learned
from his new instructor was the Beatles
“Blackbird.” Shortly thereafter he got an
electric guitar for Christmas and started
to learn more about lead blues and rock;
learning tunes from bands like the Beatles,
Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and the Who.
Additionally, he was delving into blues
players like Muddy Waters, B.B. King,
Albert King, Roy Buchanan, and following
that back to Delta blues players like Robert
Johnson.
When he was about thirteen, Chris’
instructor Josh Ottum gave him a copy of
the Miles Davis Kind of Blue album. He
said, “That is when I really started to get
interested in jazz. I found the extended
solos on that album every bit as intriguing
as Jimmy Page.” Chris continued to study
and work with major scales and minor
pentatonic scales and was taught how to
apply those scales over chord changes in
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35
natural interest in tracing the music back in
order to discover its roots. He said, “I didn’t
discover bluegrass by listening to Old and In
The Way. I read a book about the Grateful
Dead and learned about the influence of Bill
Monroe and started exploring traditional
bluegrass. I went to the library and found
a copy of Bill Monroe Live at Newport
1963. Del McCoury and Bill Keith were in
the band and I just loved the sound of Bill
Keith’s banjo playing. That was my second
musical revelation. When I heard Bill Keith
play ‘Devil’s Dream’ I had the same reaction
as when I heard Duane Allman play the
slide guitar.”
When asked what it was about bluegrass
music that drew him in, Chris said, “It was
the note clarity, the speed, the timing, the
power, and the tone. I also loved the vocals
because they sounded heartfelt and true.
All of my favorite music had been music
that felt very honest and it is the same with
bluegrass. I started pursing bluegrass from
that time on. I started researching stuff
and found out that Bill Keith also had a
love for jazz, modes, and chord melodies
on the banjo.”
In 2005, when Chris was 15, he saved
the context of blues, rock, and jazz.
Chris said that his first big musical
“revelation” came when he listened to
the Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore
East and heard Duane Allman play the
slide guitar. He said, “When I listened to
that album I discovered my love for rock,
blues, and jazz all happening at once. I
started transcribing every Allman Brothers
solo note-for-note. I thought that the chord
progressions and the improvisations over
the changes were very sophisticated. I still
use what I learned from those recordings
today.”
When he was 14 or 15, Chris was
talking with some friends about the Allman
Brothers and they asked him if he had ever
listened to the Grateful Dead or any similar
jam bands. Once Chris listened to the
Grateful Dead and traced their roots back
to folk and bluegrass music, he started to
explore acoustic music. He discovered
through Grateful Dead music that he loved
the sound of the mandolin. He found a
cheap mandolin and started teaching himself
how to play that instrument.
Chris said that any time he has ever
learned any style of music, he has had a
up enough money to buy a Martin D-16 at
Guitar Center and he dove into learning
bluegrass. He didn’t give up playing blues,
rock, and jazz though. He told himself that
he was going to try and learn as many styles
as possible. He wanted to try and put a band
together so that he could explore playing
with others, however, he had a hard time
finding kids his age who would commit
to playing with any consistency. He said,
“I participated in one rock jam with some
friends and it was a lot of fun, but no one
was willing to get together on a regular
basis, so I was frustrated.”
While in the middle of feeling very
frustrated over not finding anyone who
was willing to jam or form a band, Chris’s
Mother saw a flyer for a bluegrass jam at
the Senior Center in Kent, Washington.
He said, “I went to the jam and walked in
with my Martin guitar and cheap mandolin
not knowing anyone. I was much younger
than anyone there. I joined in with a group
of guys who were picking, laughing, and
cracking jokes. I didn’t know any of the
tunes, but they asked if I wanted to go up
on stage at the open mic and play with
them. I had no idea what I was doing, but
Old-Time Gospel
Crosspicking
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36
Learn 30 great crosspicking
solos on some of the bestloved Old-Time gospel
songs! CD & book with
melodies, TAB, chords,
etc. Full instruction in
the crosspicking style.
Useful tips on how to
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EVERY solo at both slow and reg. speeds.
FREE downloadable Old Time Gospel Lyrics book!
Old-Time Gospel Crosspicking Guitar Solos
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31 solos on the most popular and best-loved
traditional Christmas songs. $22.99 plus shipping.
Order both sets for special price. Details online.
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Order online: www.musixnow.com
March/April 2013
I thought ‘What do I have to lose.’ I ended
up having so much fun that it really lit a fire
under me. I started going back to the jam
month after month. To this day I remain
close to the same fellows who invited me
up onstage that very first jam, Scott Lau,
Sparky Niehaus and Rollin Gray.”
About the time Chris discovered
bluegrass, his guitar instructor went on tour
with his band and so the guitar lessons were
hit and miss for a while and then fizzled out
all together. He said, “From a flatpicking
perspective, I really didn’t know what it
was supposed to sound like. I didn’t think
that I could just play my slow blues licks.
I learned a G-run and from there I filled
out solos by applying scales. I played
instinctively, relying on what I had learned
about improvising. I didn’t have much help
other than learning “Wildwood Flower” out
of a Mel Bay type book. I started picking
out melodies by ear and then improvising
around the melody. In doing that, I started
to make a connection between melody and
improvisation.”
In the summer of 2006, Chris got to
attend a Doc Watson concert in Seattle.
A friend mentioned that he might want
to also listen to Tony Rice. Chris said, “I
came from rock and jazz and was applying
what I learned there to bluegrass in my own
way. When I listened to Tony Rice solos
and heard the blues scale applied over the
I-IV-V bluegrass progressions, and heard
him mixing major and minor pentatonics, I
figured out that I could adjust the timing and
rhythm of my blues licks and they would
work in bluegrass.
At the first jam that Chris attended in
Kent, Washington, he had met an older guy
named Tom Massey who had a band called
Covington Grass. About four or five months
after Chris’ first jam, when the mandolin
player left the band, Chris was asked to
join. The group played every Tuesday night
at social gatherings and old folks homes.
Chris found out that he loved playing for an
audience and he stayed with that band for
about a year and a half, slowly improving
his mandolin skills.
In 2007 Chris was invited to join Al Price
and the VZ Valley Boys on mandolin. He
said that by then his mandolin chops were
becoming proficient and he was continuing
to play the guitar on the side. He said, “I
never played the guitar in a band until 2008,
but I always practiced because I wanted to
keep my chops up.” Al Price remembers, “I
met Chris at his first bluegrass jam when he
was maybe 15. He was playing guitar that
day and knew his way around the fretboard
even then. A couple of years later, we were
on the lookout for a mandolin player. Our
bass player, Sparky, said he knew someone
and would bring him to our next practice.
He brought Chris. Son of a gun, if he didn’t
play the mandolin almost as well as the
guitar. As we played through the years,
you couldn’t help but notice that Chris had
something new in his arsenal every time.
During band breaks, he’d grab the guitar
or banjo or bass and play the fire out of
them. He just couldn’t keep his hands off
an instrument.”
In January of 2008, when he was 17
years old, Chris attended the River City
Music Festival in Portland, Oregon, and
met a group of pickers that were about his
age. He said, “That was my first experience
jamming all night long. We did it for three
nights straight. We discovered that we all
lived about a half hour away from each
other. We decided to form a band.” That
band, Northern Departure, quickly became
one of the most sought after bands in the
Pacific Northwest and played a number
of major festivals and venues on the west
coast. Chris played guitar with the band for
nearly four years (October 2008 through
August 2012).
Before he met his Northern Departure band
mates, most of Chris’ bluegrass explorations
where focused on the traditional bluegrass
of bands like Bill Monroe and Flatt &
Scruggs. The other members of Northern
Departure were influenced by bands with
a more contemporary sound, like Allison
Krauss and Union Station and Mountain
Heart. When he joined the band Chris
was exposed to younger guitar players like
Bryan Sutton, Clay Jones, and Jake Stargel.
He said that through the study of those
players he learned a lot about bluegrass lead
guitar and the driving force of the guitar in
bluegrass rhythm.
Chris started attending Wintergrass in
2006. In 2010 he met mandolin player Frank
Solivan and started following Frank’s band
Dirty Kitchen. At Wintergrass 2011 Chris
introduced Frank to his Northern Departure
bandmates and they all jammed together. In
August of 2010 Dirty Kitchen had released
a new CD. Chris said, “I got that CD and
popped it into the CD player of my car. I
stopped at a red light and the music hit me.
I thought ‘This is unbelievable!’ It was
another one of those musical epiphanies.
The band had great vocals and the music had
everything you’d want to hear—dynamics,
tone, great material. I listened to that CD
March/April 2013
non-stop and Mike Munford became my
new music hero.”
At the 2011 International Bluegrass
Music Association (IBMA) convention in
Nashville, Tennessee, Chris saw Frank and
the band and got the opportunity to jam
with them. One of Chris’ friends jokingly
asked, “When are you going to join Frank’s
band?” A few months later Chris got the
call. Lincoln Meyers was leaving the band
and Frank wanted to know if Chris could fill
in during the band’s Alaska tour in January
of 2012. During the two week Alaska tour
Chris got to know the band and the band got
to know him. At the end of the tour he was
offered the full time job.
When asked what he learned during the
first year of playing with Dirty Kitchen,
Chris said, “Before I joined the band,
I tended to lean towards playing faster
material, and with a heavier handed touch.
Playing with this band, I’ve learned to lay
back and play more dynamically. This band
stresses and rehearses dynamics. Mike
Munford has been around for a long time
and has played with everyone. Playing with
guys like that gives me new ideas. I think I
had always been looking for a configuration
where I could expound on the ideas and the
music I had in my head. With Dirty Kitchen
37
Become A Better
Rhythm Player.
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Workshop
In The Comfort of
Your Home.
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WIth Brad Davis’
Flatpick Jam
I feel like I’m expanding my boundaries.
Playing with a new set of musicians,
especially ones of this caliber, helps me to
break past walls. I know that I can push it
and they will be there.”
When asked about Chris’ contribution to
the band, Frank Solivan said, “It has now
been a year since Chris joined us. I’ve found
that Chris’ playing is a diverse amalgamation
of musical styles from traditional Finnish
music, to the Allman Brothers, and from
Bluegrass and Brazilian styles, to Blues.
He is always learning something new and
continually pulling from his musical tool
bag to shape his expression and find his
own voice. In addition, his youthful energy
is inspiring. Chris’ picking and singing can
be heard on our upcoming release On The
Edge. Look for it this spring.”
During the past few months Chris has
become very interested in the music of
the New Grass Revival. He said, “Lately
traveling in the van we’ve been listening
to New Grass and I’ve been picking up on
their dynamics, virtuosity, songs, vocals
and supporting lead lines. I think since the
beginning of my music career I’ve been
heading in that direction. I’d never found a
common bond between bluegrass, jazz, and
rock I’ve really dug as much as I have until I
heard New Grass. I love all of those genres
and I can’t keep them separate.”
Chris continued, “I like to stay versatile
and see a huge picture. I think I’ve always
been on the New Grass type of trajectory.
I’m a big fan of traditional music, but I also
like to move things forward and blend them
together. I always like to try something new
and I never play the same thing twice. I
like to avoid stagnating by always keeping
things changing.”
Chris currently plays a sunburst Martin
D-18 Authentic that he bought from the
Elderly Instruments booth at IBMA in
2011. He said, “This is my first ‘bluegrass
cannon’ guitar, but is remarkably versatile.
It sounds great playing Bluegrass, Acoustic
Jazz, Scandinavian Folk Music, my favorite
Neil Young songs...anything. I really enjoy
it’s personality.” For this issue’s audio CD
Chris has provided a version of “Down
in the Willow Garden” that was recorded
a couple of years ago with his Northern
Departure band mate Nick Dumas on
mandolin. We hope you enjoy learning this
arrangement.
Chris is one of the rising stars in
flatpicking and bluegrass. Frank Solivan
and Dirty Kitchen is one of the hottest
band’s in bluegrass. It is a great fit. If you
want to hear some extremely fine bluegrass
music and flatpicking guitar, do your self a
favor and visit http://dirtykitchenband.com/
and check their tour schedule. When they
come to your town, go out and see them
perform live. You’ll be happy that you did!
Fiddle Tune
Practice Tracks
For All Instruments
You’ll Always Have
A Pickin’ Buddy
800-413-8296
38
Tune List Disc 1
1. Arkansas Traveler
2. Bill Cheatham
3. Billy in the Lowground
4. Blackberry Blossom
5. Cuckoo’s Nest
6. Fisher’s Hornpipe
Tune List Disc 2
1. Old Joe Clark
2. Red-Haired Boy
3. St. Anne’s Reel
4. Temperance Reel
5. Turkey in the Straw
6. Whiskey Before Breakfast
March/April 2013
Down in the Willow GardenArranged by Chris Luquette
Audio CD
Track 18
Transcribed by Alois Kleewein
    
 
D
q = 94

E
B
G
D
A
D
 
 

 
  
 

0
0

2
Bm
 
 



2
0
D
5
0





0
5
2
0
0
D
D


4


2



0
0
2
0
0
D

 

3
4
4
2
 
0
0




2
0
5
0
2
Bm




2

5
0
0
D




2
0
Bm

   


4
2
0


2
 
0
0
 
 


0
0

2
0

5
0
2
D
0

    

2
0
0
0
  
 

0
2
4
2
0


3
0
2
0

4
2
2
G
2
0
2




0
2
0
0


0
 
 
4
2
0
4
0
5
5
3

 
2


 
0


0
4
0
5
5
0
0
 

D




nat. harmonics
7
7
7
7
7
7
4
0
D
D
D
 
  
  
D
Bm
21
7
7
7
2
2
D

  



4
A7

2
0
2

0


0
A7
16


5

4
2
6
4
2
D


3
6
D


4
11
  
  
 



3
4
4
2

Bm
6

 

Bm
0
0
2
0


 50 
2

0
5
0
March/April 2013


2
0


4


2
0


0
0


2
0



2
4
0

  
 
3
4
4
2
4
2
4
4
0
0
2
0
39
Down By The Willow Garden (con’t)
 

  

  
D
D
Bm
Bm
  
  
26


 50 
 
  



0
5

2

0

4
2
0


2
2

0
0
D

4


2
0





0
0


2
0
D
0
0
0
0
0
0
2 0
4
2
0
0
D
4
0
5
0
5
5

5
0
2
5
0
5
 








D

D



0
5
0
2
0




4
2


40

 50 
2

5

2
5
0
4

2
0

0
0


2
0
4
5
2
0
0
0
5
5
0

3
4
3
2
4
0
2
0
4
0
5
5
0
2
0
D
  

 

   

3
 

4
0
2
0
0
   



G

2
4
2 4
Bm
4
0
4
   


2


0
0
0
D


0
D
4
D



5
0
0
3
0
2 2 4 2 0
0
Bm
46

3
0
2
0
2 4 2 0
2
0
5
5
5

 

         
 
G
0
4
0
5
5
5
0
A7
2
0
0
0
41
4
0
5
5
2
2
0

  

 



  



0
 
  
 





  
G
0
4
0
5
4
G
2
0
0
0
  
   

D
0
4
0
5
5
4
 

  


       
D
2
     
  




3
0
 
 
4
G
2
2
0
3
4
4
4

0
36

3
4
4
2
D


0
31


D
0
5
4
0
5
5
0

      
 

2
0
2 4 2 0
0
0
0

March/April 2013
Down By The Willow Garden (con’t)
 

51

A7

 

2
0
2
D
   
2
4
2

0
D

0

4



2

 

4
0
0
2

Flatpicking Essentials
Volume 4:
Understanding the Fingerboard
& Moving Up The Neck
The fourth book in the Flatpicking Essentials
series teaches you how to become familiar with
using the entire fingerboard of the guitar and
it gives you many exercises and examples that
will help you become very comfortable playing
up-the-neck.
With this book and CD you will learn
how to explore the whole guitar neck using
a very thorough study of chord shapes, scale
patterns, and arpeggios. You will also learn
how to comfortably move up-the-neck and back
down using slides, open strings, scale runs,
harmonized scales, floating licks, and more.
If you’ve ever sat and watched a professional
players fingers dance up and down the
fingerboard with great ease and wondered “I
wish I could do that!” This book is for you!
March/April 2013
To Order:
800-413-8296
www.flatpickdigital.com
41
THE
O
Ramblin’ Jack’s
“Roving Gambler”
Being on the tail end of a health sabbatical
(why I was absent last issue) I was glad
when Dan suggested I transcribe Ramblin’
Jack’s version of “Roving Gambler” for this
issue since it’s a bit simpler than my usual
fare (or so I thought before delving in ;)
This version—from the 1964 Vanguard LP
Jack Elliott—differs from more common
bluegrass ones, like Peter Rowan’s, which
I learned years ago and which foregoes the
minor chord. But it definitely has its own
mojo. What we’re covering here are the
two opening two sections of the recording:
an instrumental turnaround followed by the
rhythm he plays during the singing of the
first verse.
- ZONE
by
Orrin Star
As with many essentially Carter-style
arrangements, this one is based on a C chord
and never leaves first position. It reflects
a pragmatic musical approach that is just
right for a solo performer. But the stand-out
element here is the ear-catching triplet bass
run that Jack deploys throughout. And—
after detailed analysis by the entire Studio
C audio team— I’m happy to report that
the unique sound of the lick derives in part
from the fact that it’s played with three rest
strokes: In other words, consecutive ‘down’
strokes instead of the usual alternation.
(And they’re fast.) Also notable is the
way the rhythm interacts with the vocal,
responding to the melody during a pause
here, playing unison with the melody there.
As always there’s no substitute for hearing
it played. In addition to my rendition on
the CD accompanying this issue (which
also includes some guidance on getting the
triple-down lick just right). Jack’s can be
found on YouTube.
Editor’s Note: For more about the “rest
stroke,” see page 45.
Orrin Star is an award-winning guitar,
banjo & mandolin player based in the
Washington, DC area. The 1976 National
Flatpicking Champion, he has toured and
recorded widely, is the author of Hot Licks
for Bluegrass Guitar, and performs mostly
solo and duo. He offers private music
instruction both in person and online. See
www.orrinstar.com.
Flatpick Jam The Complete Package!
On this DVD-Rom disc you will find all of the Flatpick Jam (play-along) tracks for the 48
tunes that appear on all of the Volumes of Brad Davis’ Flatpick Jam series. Additionally, in
the “Flatpick Jam Tabs” folder on this disc, you will find a folder for each tune that includes
transcriptions provided by Brad (the numbered transcriptions), plus any arrangement of that
particular tune that has appeared in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine during our first 10 years of
publication. This means that you will get anywhere from 4 to 10 different variations of every
tune tabbed out. Additionally, the audio tracks that are companions to those FGM arrangements
are also included. This is the ultimate Flatpick Jam package and a must have resource for
anyone who wants to build their flatpicking repertoire, learn variations, and study different
arrangements of all of the standard jam session tunes. And you are able to practice all of your
arrangements at four different tempos by jamming along with Brad Davis!
C a l l 8 0 0 - 4 1 3 - 8 2 9 6 t o O r d e r o r v i s i t w w w. f l a t p i c k i n g m e r c a n t i l e . c o m
42
March/April 2013
Roving Gambler
Audio CD
Tracks 20-21
4
&4
1
T
A
B
5
&
œ
0
1
0
œ œ œ
œ
0
1
H
3
0
3
œ
9
œ
œœ
œ
œ
œ
0
0
2
0
2
˙˙
˙
17
&
œ
0
1
0
1
0
3
œ
œ œ
3
œ
0
1
0
>
œœ
œœ
1
2
1
0
œ
>
3
2
0
2
˙˙
˙
œœ
œ
a
roving
0
1
0
0
1
0
I'm
˙˙
˙
œœ
œ
0
1
0
œœ ..
œ.
..
.
œœ œœ œœ
J œ
H
when ever
0
1
J
œ
I gam-bled
1
0
0
1
0
0
2
œœ
œ
œœ
œ
0
1
0
0
1
0
˙˙
˙
down
1
0
2
œ
I
2
œœ ..
œ.
> > >
j
œ
0
1
0
..
.
in
œœ
J œ
0
1
3
March/April 2013
0
3
0
1
0
0
1
œœ ..
.
œ œ œ
town
.
0 .
H
1 .
0
J
a
2
2
Am
œ
deck
0
˙˙
˙˙
J
0
1
0
2
œœ
œ
0
1
0
3
œœ œœ
œ œ
3
gam - bler
œ
with
0
0
1
˙˙
˙
œ
œœ œ
2
œœ
J œ
2
3
œœ
œ
0
1
0
meet
0
3
œ
0
1
0
H
J
0 2
3
œœ œ œœ
0
1
0
P
3
œ
œœ ..
.
œ œ œ
.
0 .
1 .
H
0
œ œ œ
3
3
0
1
0
3
0
1
0
>
3
œœ
œ
and
0
œœ
œ
œ
3
&œ
œœ œœ
œ œ
C
0
1
0
13
0
2
G
3
&
œœ œœ
œ
C
Transcribed by Orrin Star
œ
0
1
0
3
œœ œœ œœ
J œ
œ
œœ ..
œ.
œœ œœ œœ
J œ
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
J
0
1
0
0
1
3
œœ
œœ
of
cards
0
1
2
2
0
1
2
2
F
œ
I
œœ
œ
lay
..
.
G
œ
0
1
œœ
œ
my money
1
2
3
1
J
0
1
0
0
0
0
3
43
21
&
C
œ
down
3
25
&
C
œ
œœ ..
œ.
œœ œœ œœ
J œ
.
0 .
1 .
0
0
1
0
1
0
J
3
0
1
0
0
1
J
.
0 .
1 .
0
0
1
œœ œœ œœ
J œ
œ
..
.
œœ ..
œ.
œ
œœ ..
œ.
down
3
Roving Gambler (con’t)
0
1
0
œ
3
œœ
œ
0
1
0
1
0
J
0
1
0
œ
œ œ
>
3
2
3
2
>
0
> = rest stroke
3
œ
lay
Boys
0
1
œ
œœ
œ
œ
0
1
0
2
3
3
>
0
1
œœ œœ œœ
J œ
œ
G
œœ
œ
my
0
0
0
œ
œœ
œ
0
0
0
0
mon - ey
3
œœ
œ
œœ
0
1
0
0
1
3
œ
œœ œ
> > >
3
2
0
3
œœ ..
œ.
œœ œœ
œ œ
J
0
1
0
0
1
0
..
.
J
0
1
0
3
Volume 8:
Introduction to
Swing & Jazz
The eighth and final book in the Flatpicking
Essentials series teaches you how to begin
to play swing and jazz tunes in the context
of a flatpick jam, including how to learn to
improvise over swing and jazz chord changes.
After presenting how to study and utilize
scales and arpeggios in the context of using
them as “road maps” for improvisation, this
book presents three variations of ten standard
swing and jazz tunes. You will learn the basic
melody, plus two arrangements of each tune
by Tim May. The tunes presented include:
Avalon, Bill Bailey, 12th Street Rag, The
Sheik of Araby, Rose Room, After You’ve
Gone, St. James Infirmary, St. Louis Blues,
Limehouse Blues, and I Ain’t Got Nobody.
44
To Order:
800-413-8296
www.flatpickdigital.com
March/April 2013
p
March/April 2013
Swing Stroke
p
p
In Orrin Star’s arrangement of “Roving Gambler” (see
the previous two pages) he provides several examples
of a three-note “rest stroke.” This is a very important
flatpicking technique to learn. It is a technique that is
most commonly used on the famous bluegrass “G-Run.”
However, many bluegrass players will use the rest stroke
on any picked single note that is a quarter note duration
or longer, including all quarter note bass notes and bass
runs when playing rhythm. The technique provides a
very solid, powerful, loud, and focused note with rich
tone. So it is worth spending the time to learn this
technique if you don’t already know how to execute it
in your playing.
The term “rest stroke” is borrowed from the terminology
of the classical guitar style. Classical guitar has two basic
techniques for plucking the strings: apoyando (Spanish
for “resting”) and tirando (Spanish for “pulling,” also
known as the “free stroke”). The rest stroke is the easiest
and usually the first one learned by classical guitarists.
For flatpickers it is the other way around. We usually
learn the “free stroke” or “swing stroke” first and then
later add the rest stroke to our set of skills.
If you will take a look at the diagram at the top of
the next column I have used a cross-section of the guitar
strings and vector lines to show the difference in attack
between the swing stroke and the rest stroke. In the swing
stroke the pick comes down at an angle, hits through the
string and then swings back out again so that the pick
only hits one string and avoids the adjacent strings. In
the execution of a rest stroke the pick pushes through the
string at a downward angle and literally comes to rest on
the next string (without plucking it).
The “rest” stroke is a very important flatpicking
technique, especially if you’re after more of a Clarence
White/Tony Rice/Charles Sawtelle sound. Steve Pottier’s
rest stroke article in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
suggested the idea of using picks to play tiddly-winks.
Place the pick on a coin and snap it down—that’s the
motion you’re looking for. On the guitar, you need a
quick, snappy motion to drive through the string and
then you immediately stop solidly when the pick comes
to rest on the next string.
The angle of the pick stroke is about 45 degrees down
through the string and towards the guitar’s top. The note
you just picked is very strong and solid, which is the
purpose of this technique. A rest stroke provides great
power and volume and is used for emphasis. You can
modify it with a hammer-on, pull-off, slide, or just let it
ring.
Try this technique with the example shown above. I’ve
p
The Rest Stoke
Rest Stroke
1
&
#
G
œ
œ
œœ
œ œ œ
œ
œ œœ œ
œ
œœ
œ
u
3
0
0
0
Rest Strokes
3
0
0
0
u
0
2
0
3
0
0
0
3
indicated two rest strokes in a row here—the last note of
measure 1 and the first note of measure 2. Execute a solid
rest stroke on the first note. When the next note comes
up, repeat another solid rest stroke. It’s entirely possible
to play an entire solo, with plenty of notes, using only rest
strokes. You’ll get a distinctly White/Rice/Sawtelle sound,
and using the rest stroke on G-runs gives you that solid
popping G-run statement that really provides your rhythm
playing with great dynamics.
In order to become a great acoustic guitar player, you’ll
need to become very familiar and skilled with both swing
strokes and rest strokes. Knowing when and how to use
each of these techniques will add a great range of dynamics
to your guitar playing. Work with the simple G-run shown
in the example above using the rest stroke. Then play
through Orrin Star’s “Roving Gambler” using the rest
stroke as he has indicated. Notice that when you get it
right, those notes will really pop. Work with a metronome
to make sure that your timing during the execution of the
rest stokes remains solid.
45
“Look At It Rain”
Kick Off and Solo
by Dix Bruce
In this column we’ll look at the guitar
kickoff and solo to a song I wrote called
“Look at it Rain.” “Look at it Rain” is the
title song from my new CD with mandolinist
and singer extraordinaire Julie Cline.
Let’s look at the kickoff first. You can
use this kick off on just about any hot,
fast bluegrass-style song that starts out in
the key of G. Obviously you can capo up
and down the fingerboard to other keys as
well. The kickoff is played solo, without
accompaniment, before the rest of the band
enters. So you can use it as a kind of presong guitar feature to get things rolling.
The kickoff starts on the first string, third
fret G note, which is the root of the G chord.
After that I throw in some blue notes, which
in the key of G major are the F natural and
the B-flat. Normally these notes would be
F sharp and B natural. The blue notes give
the kickoff…well… kind of a bluesy feel!
As I mentioned, the kickoff starts on
the first string, third fret G note and moves
down the scale and fingerboard from there,
ending of the fifth string, first fret Bb. The
first few notes you play will be eight note
Gs. Fretting finger suggestions are shown
between the standard music staff and the
tablature staff. If you find these to be too
difficult, improvise your own fingerings.
The kickoff ends with a fairly standard G–
type run and a staccato third string open G.
After you play the note, dampen the string
to cut off the sound. This type of ending on
a run is often referred to as a “rip.”
I came up with the kick off out of
necessity: we had to get into the song
somehow. So I tried a few things and this is
the one that stuck. I just wanted something
relatively hot and fast, an exciting way to
get into the singing.
The guitar solo is really only half of a
full solo on the song. In our recording the
mandolin, played by Julie Cline, takes a
second half of the solo. You could extend
the solo over the course of the verse or pass
the second half off to someone else, as I did.
Like the kickoff, the guitar solo includes
a lot of blue notes. In fact, you’ll see a B-flat
and an F natural in the first measure of the
solo. In the second measure you’ll play four
quarter note Gs in a row alternating between
the open third string G and the fifth fret
fourth string G sliding up to these fretted
notes. This echoes the eighth note Gs in the
kickoff. In the fourth measure you’ll play
an eighth note C followed by seven eighth
note Ds. Following that, in measure five,
you’ll play more Ds and F naturals. The solo
essentially ends in measure eight on the D
chord. Two measures later you’re back to
rhythm over a C chord where the mandolin
takes the lead.
My goal with the solo was to play
something that was somewhat melodic or at
least followed the contours of the melody.
Beyond that, I played in and around the
melody adding blue notes here and there.
I hope you enjoy playing both the kickoff
and the solo.
Dix’s latest CD is “Look at it Rain” with
Julie Cline. It’s available from his website,
www.musixnow.com/dixandjulie.html,
where you can pre-view all the songs, from
iTunes and from CD Baby
Dix’s latest guitar book/CD set is Oldtime Gospel Crosspicking Guitar. Recent
publications include “The Parking Lot
Picker’s Songbook” series and “Gypsy
Swing & Hot Club Rhythm, Vol. I & II”
for guitar and mandolin. Log on to www.
musixnow.com for information on new
releases and tons of free music, tablature,
and MP3s to download and learn.
Learn to
Improvise!
800-413-8296
46
March/April 2013
Look At It Rain
Audio CD
Tracks 23-26
Arranged by Dix Bruce
# 4 Gœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ n œ œ œ
j‰ Œ Ó
b
œ
& 4
œ
œn œ œ œ
œ
œ
œ
bœ nœ
Kickoff
3
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
T
A
B
#
Solo
& Œ
5
1
Œ
13
3 1
3
3
3
0
1
0
3
0
1
0 2
2
œ œœœœœ
0
0
2
3
h
3 4 0
3
s
s3
3
0
0
5
5
2
0 2
2
2 h
œ b œn œ œn œ œ œ œ œ
2
0 2
0
133 3 3 3 3 3
1
1
#
& ˙
0
œ
0
3
3
1
1 2
3
1
œ
2
2
C
œ
3
3
3 1
3 1
œœ
œœ
0
1
0
2
‰1
œ
3
1
3
1
œœ
œœ
0
1
0
2
3
3
3 0
œ
3
J
‰ŒÓ
1 3
h
1
2
0
0
œœœ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ# œ œ n œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ b œ
œn œ
# œ nœ
&
3
1
G
9
3
3 1
3
3
3
œœ
œœ
0
1
0
2
D
œ œ œ œ
s
0
œ
3
5
5
0
œœ
œœ
0
1
0
2
3
Arrangement © 2013 by Dix Bruce
March/April 2013
47
Music Theory:
Mastering the Fingerboard
Technical Studies for Flatpickers
by Michel A. Maddux
Range Extension Continued -Beyond Fifth Position
17th frets respectively are not commonly
used so they are omitted.
I want you to be comfortable playing
in any position on the fingerboard. Since
each note occurs in more than one place on
the guitar it is useful to be able to find any
note in any position. In the exercises I have
shown examples of finding the notes G-C-D
in multiple positions along with chords that
fall in those positions. Subsequent exercises
are examples of moving licks into new
positions, both in the same register and in
a different registers.
Notice that the same note occurs on the
next string down but higher up the neck.
Practice finding other notes. For example in
first position play an E note then find every
occurrence of it on the fingerboard.
The chords shown are to illustrate the
point and are examples of major chords in
that position. There are many more possible
chords. I want you to study these notes
and chords, and then move them to other
notes and chords to be certain that you can
find the right note, and a nearby chord that
works with it in the right key. For example,
move to Eb by moving the D form up one
fret. Note that unless you have a cutaway
guitar the chords for C and D on 15th and
About the Tune –
Extending Bill Cheatham
In the early 1990’s on a cloudy, windy,
45 degree September Saturday morning in
Winfield, Kansas, I played “Bill Cheatham”
as one of my contest tunes for the National
Flatpicking Championships.
Twice the contest official called me to
the stage and then told me to go sit down and
wait because the wind had blown the roof
off of the stage and someone was up there
nailing it back on. On the third attempt,
seated on the open stage in front of the main
grandstands I began to play and about three
notes into “Bill Cheatham” it began to rain.
With a detached and slightly bemused
interest I played through my arrangements
while I watched rain hitting the neck
and fingerboard of my guitar. The cold
rain and wind didn’t really improve my
performance that year and after the first
round of the contest I spent the rest of the
day congratulating the winners and getting
ready for the long drive back home.
As an aside, after my entry the contest
officials opened up the heated trailer next
to the stage as a warm up area and moved
the contestants out of the rain to the back
of the stage. That notwithstanding, this is
a great tune and should be a part of every
pickers “bag” with variations.
I do not have a recording of the way that
I played that day, so this is the way that I
am thinking about “Bill Cheatham” in 2013.
The first time through the B section is the
“standard way” to play the B section of
the song. Notice that it uses a simple roll
pattern through the G-C-D changes, moving
up the neck. In subsequent variations I use
the examples provided in the exercises to
keep changing and providing interesting
variations on the basic melody, moving from
first position all the way up to the 15th fret.
As the late great Charles Sawtelle
once said “Art is repetition with constant
variation.”
Have fun, and keep on pickin’!
About the Author:
Mike’s guitar music can be heard
regularly in the Rocky Mountain West.
Contact information on recordings, books,
and correspondence can be found at: http://
www.madduxband.com/ and at http://
reverbnation.com/mikemaddux. Search
Facebook and YouTube for the latest clips
and news.
Flatpicking
Guitar
Magazine
Podcast
We are now broadcasting a
new Podcast every month
Interviews, flatpicking tunes,
and more. Check it out:
http://www.flatpick.com/
podcast.html
48
March/April 2013
Maddux Exercises
Audio CD
Track 28
4
& 4 .. œ œ œ œ
.
.
T
A
B
0
0
5
œœ
œ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œ
8
7
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10
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7
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8
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10
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1
1
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10
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.
.
œ
7
0
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0
œ
7
12
12
March/April 2013
7
7
7
5
œ œ œ œ
3
3
4
5
3
3
3
0
5
3
8
.. ..
. .
. .
œ
3
10
10
11
12
8
8
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15
œ
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10
17
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5
5
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5
7
8
13
12
14
15
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10
3
0
5
˙˙
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8
8
9
10
15
3
4
5
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œ
10
10
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3
œ
œ
˙˙
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œ
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œ
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3
3
4
8
Exercise 2
10
3
2
4
5
# ˙˙
˙
˙
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œœ œœ
3
3
4
5
5
3
˙
# ˙˙˙
2
3
2
0
œ
3
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8
5
5
5
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15
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1
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2
3
5
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œ
15
12
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5
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12
5
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15
15
œ
5
3
3
0
0
10
œ
Exercise 3
14
&
œ œ œ œ
5
œœ
& œœ
6
18
œœ
œœ
œ
Exercise 1
1
Arranged by Mike Maddux
2
3
2
4
5
œ
10
..
.
.
49
Maddux Exercises (con’t)
Exercise 4
œœœ
œ
.
.
& œ œ œ #œ œ
œ œ #œ œ œ
21
.
.
S
4 5
0 0 0
3 5 3
5
3
0
0
4 5
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œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
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3 5
3 3
Exercise 5
26
& .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ
.
.
1
2
1
0
2
0
2
0
3
2
0
2
Exercise 6
3
4
2
4
2
4
2
4
2
0
2
0
0
8
1
0
2
3
3
2
3
2
0
7 8 10
7
8
9 7
8
9 7
Ó
0
9
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
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& œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
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30
8 8 8
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˙
8
10 8
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8
9 10
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..
.
.
8
8
9
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8
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9
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9
7
9
7
10 7
5
5
7
7
5
The Bluegrass Guitar Style of
Charles Sawtelle
In addition to the tablature and standard notation of
27 Sawtelle solos, this book also includes:
A detailed Sawtelle biography, An in-depth interview with Charles, A section on
Charles’ rhythm style, Charles Sawtelle Discography, The first ever Slade biography, Notes on each solo transcription, and Dozens of photographs. A must for
all Sawtelle and Hot Rize fans!
1 (800) 413-8296
or visit www.flatpickingmercantile.com
CALL
to order with Mastercard, Visa, or Discover
Now Available as a digital PDF Download at www.flatpickdigital.com!
50
March/April 2013
Bill Cheatham
Audio CD
Tracks 29 & 30
Arranged by Mike Maddux
# 4
œ
& 4 œ œ œ œ # # œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ
œ
œ
œœ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ
# œœ œœ œ
#
œ
œœ
œœ œ
T
A
B
1
0
2
3
G
1
6
&
C
S
0 2
#
0
2 3
3 4 4
0
4 2 0 4 2 0
2 0
1 2
3
0 2 3 0
D
S
3 0
G
0
3
0 2
0
D
2 3
3 4 4
0
G
2
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œ
œ
.
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ
œ œ œ
œ œ œ œœ . œ œ œ œ œ
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3
2
0
4
2
0
2
0
3
0
3
2
3 0
3 0
2
.
.
3
C
3
4
3
5
D
5
œ œ
# œ œ œ
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G
C
7
10 8
9
8
9
8
3
5
7
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D
12
7
5
8
2
0
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2
2
3 2 0
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4
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G
7
0
.
.
3
3
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3
# .œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
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G
10
&
1
0
C
4
14
G
8
D
0
3
3
0
3
2
3
0
3
0
2
0
3
2
œ Gœ œ œ Gœ œ œ œ œ
D
œ
œ
œ
#
œ
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œ
œ
10
11
10
14 15
12 14
15 12
15 12
12
15 12
15
14 12
14 12
œ œ
12
0
18
&
#
G
C
D
œ œ œ œ
3
0
2
3
G
G
D
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G
œ œ
œ
œ
#
œ
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3
S
0
2
3
4
March/April 2013
0
0 2 4
3
0
4
0
2
0
0
2
0
1
2
0
1
2
3
5
51
Bill Cheatham (con’t)
22
&
# œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ ˙˙
G
3
C
5
3
5
3
S
5
7
5
7
D
G
œœ œ œ Gœ œ # œ œ œ œ
œœ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œœ
œ
D
G
5
7
7
8
8 10
7
8
9 10 7
8
9
7
8
9
7
9
0
3
3
0
0
3
New Standards for Flatpicking Guitar
Original Flatpicking Guitar Tunes Performed in Duo
by Many of Today’s Top Pickers
Call 800-413-8296
52
March/April 2013
PICKIN’ FIDDLE TUNES
by Adam Granger
photo here
Travelogue
Dan has probably visited all of the locations in
our travelogue, just in the last month. These four offerings are all square, 32-bar tunes.
Dubuque is a straight-ahead Southern old-timey
tune, with very typical “low” and “high” parts.
Off to California is an Irish Hornpipe with
many other names, including The Fireman’s Reel and
The Juggler. It is best played at a moderate tempo, in
the hornpipe tradition.
Winnipeg Reel is by Jean Carignon, whom many
consider to be Canada’s premier Quebecois fiddler. He
knew thousands of tunes, and his influence on French-
DUBUQUE
I C
•
•
3
03
0
II C
5
•
•
3•
5
3•3
3•0
02
02
F
2
0•012
F
310131•••6
1•
5•
2
6
1
20
5•
2
68
March/April 2013
3
5
G
02
86
3
0
0
Pick with an alternating style:
down-up-down-up-down-up
etc. The first note of each measure should be a downstroke,
the last an upstroke. Include
rests in this alternating pattern.
This keeps you “in sync”, playing downstrokes on the beats,
so that, no matter what the configuration of notes and rests in
an eight-unit measure, the right
hand plays them down-updown-up-down-up-down-up.
READING EASYTAB
FOR
BEGINNERS
Canadian fiddlers and fiddle music is immeasurable.
Niagara Hornpipe is a composition of the 20thCentury Nova Scotian fiddler Tom Doucet. It’s in Bb
(which means we guitarists capo three and play in G),
which is a very common key for northern and 19th-century tunes.
None of these tunes, save Dubuque, have anything needing explication in their innards. They’re
straight-ahead melodies which lay quite naturally on
the guitar neck. There are occasional forays up one position but, again except for Dubuque, there is no other
voodoo.
Audio CD
Track 31
C
303
Easytab is like conventional
tablature, except that timing notation has been streamlined and
simplified. Since fiddle tunes are
comprised mainly of eighth notes,
Easytab uses the eighth note as its
basic unit. An eighth rest is indicated by a dot. Therefore, a note
with a dot after it is a quarter note,
and a note with three dots after it
is a half note. There are a total of
eight notes and rests per measure.
Hi, everyone. Welcome to my 99th column, which means that this is
the 99th issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. Which means, if I can still
add, that the next issue will be the hundredth.
If anyone had told me, when Dan Miller called me some eighteen
years ago, that I’d be writing a hundred columns for him and his magazine,
I would have signed their commitment papers, and yet here I am. And a
wonderful relationship and friendship it has been!
For my hundredth column, I’m preparing an index to my first 99
columns, including both tunes and topics.
Given this column’s title, it seems only appropriate that I dedicate
this column to Dan Miller, who each year travels to dozens of festivals and
conducts dozens of workshops.
He travels so much, that he gave up a permanent residence and lives
in a motor home. Now, I had no address when, in 1971, I was on the road
constantly, working out of Nashville, but it’s one thing to live like that when
you’re 21, and another thing to do so when you’re. . .well. . .older.
3
C
3•1•5
03
3•
0
5
3•3
3•0
02
02
KEY: D (CAPO 2)
F
2
0•012
310131•
G
1•
2102
2
13
1
20
32
0530
G
C
3
0
•
•
23•••
C
31031•••
•
•
53
Now, about the fingering of the high (second) part of Dubuque and the tags on Winnipeg Reel: It is very
common for fiddle tunes to go a third higher than the root note of the current chord, i.e., to a B above G, or, in this
case, to an A above F. This can be fretted as I have indicated here, by moving up the neck and playing out of what
I call the C shape, or it can be fretted by stretching the hand across a five-fret breadth to fret 1-3-5 (or 3-5-7) on
the high E string. In my tab, I instruct the former only because people complain that they can’t make a five-fret
reach because their hands are too small. This is a concept which I categorically reject: with proper training, even
small hands can make this reach. Since, however, I can’t be with everyone who will be playing this tune (much
as I’d like to be), I defer, reluctantly, to the more compact position. But try these lines both ways.
KEY: G
Audio CD
OFF TO CALIFORNIA
I
G
C
03
•
• 0•4020
0
02
20
II
Em
D
02320320
•
•
Em
3
20
4
30
020
G
3
02323
0
3
G
303
323
0
3
C
30
30
G
02
•
•
II
0
3
0310
20
G
023235320
•
•
3•••3•
02
C
3
G
023
•
•
II
0
3
0310
G
303
3
2•0
303
3
4
3
3
3
0
3
0
24
0
4
02
Bm
303
2
303
4
0420
20
03
0•4020
0
G
3
C
20
0
03
30
02323
3
0310
20
G
0•
Em
0
C
0•0
023235320
D
3
02320
D
303323
0
G
3
3
D
20
3
G
3
02323
3
0
3
30•31
2
4
0
020
3
0
0
78
G
78
4
0
0
0
30
3
0
02
2323
020240•
•
•
D
30
7
7
8
8
0
G
020240•
•
•
0
C
D
3
30
C
3
30
30
D
4
G
0
0
24
0
4
02
G
02
3
0
02
4
D
30
0•
•
•
G
02
4
0•
•
•
KEY: Bb (CAPO 3)
C
02
D
KEY: G
3•••3•
C
0
C
G
G
310
C
Audio CD
Track 33
G
02•••2•
0
30
Audio CD
Track 34
Em
02
2•0•
D
310
0
C
G
202•222•02
C
0•••0•023530
G
30•31
G
023
•
•
D
2•0•
D
02420
Track 32
G
D
NIAGARA HORNPIPE
I
02420
C
WINNIPEG REEL
I
D
2
0
01
G
4
D
4
02
01
20•0•0•
•
•
G
4
20•0•0•
•
•
Okay, friends, there you have our little tour of North America. Having been to all of the destinations included here, I can heartily recommend their visitation. Until the hundredth issue, I remain YHOS.
Adam’s only teaching travel this summer will be to Canada to teach rhythm guitar at the International Fiddle Camp. Adam used to like
traveling: the open road, out on one’s own and all that. But, after fifty years, the bloom is off the travel rose, and Adam would just as soon stay in
Minnesota. Travel, however, affords consort with colleagues who would otherwise not be consortable, so destinations like Steve Kaufman’s Flatpick
Kamp are still worthwhile, necessary and desirable. Otherwise, Adam does his traveling through his music.
54
March/April 2013
By Brad Davis
The Muted Strum
Hello Friends and welcome to my
column. In this issue I wanted to introduce
you to a rhythm technique that I really enjoy
called the “muted strum.” I have three
examples for you to work with, which are all
pretty straight-forward once you can grasp
the technique.
The idea is to strum the guitar while
completely muting the strings with your
right hand during the beats that I have
Audio CD
Track 35
# 4 .
& 4 .
1
T
A
B
.
.
‹‹ ..
‹.
Example 1
œ
‹‹..
‹.
3
indicated in the tab with Xs. You mute the
strings by lifting off the pressure with your
right hand without lifting your fingers off
the strings. You will simply lay the fingers
of your right hand across the strings.
Using this technique can help change the
feel and groove of your rhythm playing and,
when used sparsely, can be quite effective.
In this article I have simply provided one
measure examples for you to work with
œœ œœ œœ
.. ..
J œ
3
3
J
3
3
0
. .
. .
3
3
œœ
œ
Example 2
œ
3
3
0
so that you can become familiar with the
technique. In the next issue I’ll show you
how to use these examples in the context
of a song. On the audio CD, I’ve split the
channels. On one side you’ll hear the muted
strum, on the other side I keep the regular
full strum rhythm going. Have fun!
‹‹ œœ
.. ..
‹
œœ
œ
Example 3
œ
0
‹‹
‹
3
3
3
. .
. .
œ
3
3
3
0
œ
0
‹‹ ‹‹
..
‹
‹‹ ‹‹
.
‹
.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine DVD-Rom Archives
Twelve Years of Magazine
Nine Years of Audio Companions
on 2 DVD-Rom Discs
The magazine archive DVD-Rom contains the first 73 issues
(PDF files), which were published from November/December
1996 (Volume 1, Number 1) through November/December
2008 (Volume 13, Number 1). The audio DVD-Rom contains
the audio companion tracks (in mp3 format) that were released
between September/October 1999 (Volume 3, Number 6) and
November/December 2008 (Volume 13, Number 1).
800-413-8296
March/April 2013
55
Classic Bluegrass
by Steve Pottier
Crossing the Cumberlands
“Oh God!!” was Peter Rowan’s
exclamation on stage as Bill Monroe went
into an unbelievable solo on this tune,
“Crossing the Cumberlands.” This was
from a live tape recorded at The Gaslight
in New York City ca. 1966. The band was
Bill Monroe, Pete Rowan, Lamar Grier
(David’s father) on banjo, and Richard
Greene on fiddle. I think James Monroe
was playing bass. The moment was magical,
even for someone listening on a reel to reel
tape years later. The tune always creates a
haunting mood for me, and I think about the
early settlers passing west over the southern
section of the Appalachians into Tennessee
and Kentucky. It’s good to keep this tune at
its slow careful pace.
Bill Monroe later recorded the tune with
Vic Jordan on banjo, Roland White on
guitar, Kenny Baker on fiddle and James
on bass. You can hear it on the Bear Family
box set of Monroe, 1959-1969. Definitely
find it to give a listen to some fine rhythm
guitar work from Roland—it’s definitely
worth studying, and it’s recorded pretty
hot, so you don’t have to dig down to far to
hear it clearly.
The tune is in Gm, and in this arrangement
the guitar plays out of Em capoed at the
3rd fret where the chords fall a bit easier.
Play each part twice (as shown), though on
Monroe’s recording the players were pretty
loose with how many times they played
each part. The first part is very close to the
banjo break, using the open first string of
the guitar instead of the fifth string of the
banjo. Part two is more guitaristic. I played
two endings, only slightly different, but I
wrote them out anyway.
Example 1, a-d are some suggestions for
possible variations for starting part one. I
left the rest blank for you to come up with
the complete variations!
The late, great Charles Sawtelle with his Thompson Dreadnought (circa 1986)
In the tradition of the
great guitars of the 1930’s
www.pkthompsonguitars.com
56
ThompsonGuitars_1-4pg-2.indd 1
9/17/12 9:03:08 PM
March/April 2013
Capo 3
# 4 .œ
& 4 .
Em
1
.
.
T
A
B
5
&
# œ
Em
0
# .
& .
9
.
.
14
&
#
0
œœœ
D
12
0
12
œœ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ nœ #œ nœ #œ œ
12
œ œ œ
D
12
0
12
Crossing the Cumberlands
Em
10
10
Am
0
10
8
10
10
0
10
8
7
Em
œ #œ
#œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ #œ œ œ
1 2
8
0
P
1
0
2
0
1
2
0 2
8
˙
0
5
5
5
1 2
5 3 (3 ) 0 (0 )
0
3
0
3 4
# 4
œœÓ
œ
& 4 œ
Ex 1a
0 4
5
4
7
9
8
7
8
7
9
7
8
H
7
6
7
H
7 7
9
0
7
0
P
1
0
0
..
.
.
0
0
2
Em
œ œ Œ
œ œ nœ œ #œ
œ
#
#
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ #œ œ œ œ
2 0
1
2
1
2
2
Œ
2
1
2
1 2
B7
Em
0
0
0
P
T
A
B
5
#œ œ œ œ nœ œ
rake
1
7 8 7 8 7
9
7
6
0
1
0
2
0
1
Em
œ œ ( œ) œ œ
œœ œœ œœ . 2œ œ( œ) œ œ
œœ ˙˙
(
)
#
œ
n
œ
#
œ
n
œ
.
œœ
œ œ œ œ œ œœ
œ œ œ ˙
˙
œ œ œ #œ
0 2
5
B7
3 4
B7
2
5
Arranged by Steve Pottier
B7
Em
B7
œ œ Em œ Am œ Em
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ ˙
12
0
7
Em
Ó
Ex 1b
œ
œœœ
0 7
7
7
March/April 2013
2 0
Ó
Ó
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57
More of the
Other Stuff
by Dan Crary
One of the things that interests me
most in music is how people learn the
guitar, also how they fail to, or how
they get bogged down and slog along
without much progress. It’s why I write for
Flatpicking Guitar (in addition to my fat
fee… little inside joke with Dan Miller our
fearless editor), and why I look forward to
workshops: somewhere in Dante it says hell
will be less hot for people who help others
learn to play the guitar (forgot the chapter
and verse, but I’m sure I ran across it once).
But if I jest about Dante and his inferno, I
do believe that helping people advance on
the guitar is a way of making our world a
little better by injecting something beautiful
and enriching like guitar music.
Last year was the 60th anniversary
of that moment in the Spring of the year
when I held not only my first guitar, but
also the first guitar I had ever actually seen.
Strange to think, acoustic guitars were not
around much, very few people played one
seriously, and in my school of 1000-1500,
I was the only kid with a guitar. Among
the unforgettable things I remember from
those times is how much the thing meant
to me, how different life was after starting
to play. So I dearly love to see you guys out
there having some of the same experiences,
and I feel privileged to get to join you and
hopefully help on that journey.
One of the things I try to pay attention
to is how people actually get to be players,
sometimes not exactly in accord with formal
methods, standard lesson approaches, and so
on. And for fun today I would like to point
out a few aspects of learning the guitar that
will help your playing, and probably won’t
appear in your guitar instruction book.
These are non-obvious things guitar learners
often neglect, and some of them are just as
important as that scale you’re working on.
First, seek out a concert or show with a great
guitar player, buy a front section ticket,
and watch closely as a virtuouso knocks
your little socks off. I’ve alluded to this
58
before, so I’ll make it short: it’s like playing
tennis with someone better than you. Your
game improves, it’s inspiring to see the
possibilities, and it gives you a realistic
benchmark to assess your progress. Hard
on the ego? Well yes, but getting better is a
sweet reward for a little ego pain.
Second, see last issue’s column on the
dangers and also the payoffs of jamming.
But NEVER go to a jam session without
stealing a good idea or lick from another
player… the stuff you pick up that way is
organic and alive, and it will sound different
and powerful.
Third, in answering to the question, “what
do you want for your birthday?” tell them
you want to take your guitar in for a setup.
Amazing how many of us are fighting bad
setup, including high action, worn frets,
dead strings, and so on. Put wings on your
fingers by dropping a couple of Franklins on
getting your instrument in playable shape,
and listen to the improved music. This is
especially important if you are responsible
for a kid’s guitar… Dante predicts a real
heatwave in hell for people who let a kid
get discouraged because his or her guitar
is hard to play.
I’m indebted to my friend David Grier for
this idea: learn to play “Happy Birthday.”
I heard the story that David, who has been
known to give both wise and occasionally
oblique advice, once answered a question
about improvisation with a suggestion about
learning to play “Happy Birthday.” I think
he was talking about being able to play a
tune in your head whilst (as my English
friends say) imagining where it would be
on the fingerboard if you were playing
along. I hope I’ve represented David right.
But there’s wisdom in this: the wisdom is
that as you’re learning to play, an important
part of teaching yourself is to pay attention
to what’s going on, and notice things like,
where would a familiar tune fall in several
different keys, and what different intervals
and scale numbers sound like.
I don’t mean for that to sound technical or
advanced, because you need to start noticing
such things right away, so you can move
toward the freedom of thinking up stuff on
the spot, improvising and creating. Part of
what’s going on in improvising is that as
the other guy/gal is playing a certain chord,
can you visualize where on the fingerboard
a little tune, run, or lick would fall? In some
ways, playing the guitar is playing little bits
and pieces of tunes as though you made
them up on the spot. So give yourself this
assignment: pay attention to things like if I
learn a short run in G, where would I play
it in D. Take David literally: learn to play a
familiar tune (“Happy Birthday” will work,
or for a real workout, try “Mary Had a
Little Lamb”) and find it in several different
keys. The virtue of a simple and familiar
(memorized) tune is that it frees you up to
notice where things fall in different keys;
when you can do that you’re becoming
a player, someone who can think guitar
music and decide on the spot what you
want to play.
I advise people just starting or to be
patient and alert, take ‘er easy, but also
immediately start “playing around” as a part
of teaching yourself to play.
Last point about learning to play the
guitar, as obvious as it sounds, this is my
best advice: Love guitar music. I’ve taught
guitar lessons for years, and people take it
up for many reasons, including be in a band,
accompany some songs, attract cute girls,
and many others. That’s all OK with me, I’ll
show you what I know, and you can learn.
Maybe. But there’s one motivation that is
unstoppable: Love guitar music. If that’s
you, don’t worry, nothing can stop you,
you’re on your way.
Thanks to those of you who have visited
dancrary.com, asked great questions, and
generally looked us over. To the rest, c’mon
on over, always room for more.
March/April 2013
June 9-15: Old Time Banjo, Mt. Dulcimer,
Flatpicking, Fingerpicking, Old Time Fiddle and Songwriting
June 16-22: Flatpicking, Bluegrass Banjo, Mandolin,
Bluegrass Fiddle, Singing, Dobro ™ and Bass
Old Time and Traditional Week - June 9-15: Flatpicking: Robin Bullock, Tyler Grant, Andy Hatfield,
Steve Kaufman, Marcy Marxer and Robert Shafer; Fingerpicking: Pete Huttlinger, Happy Traum and
Tim Thompson; Old Time Fiddle: Josh Goforth and Peter Ostroushko;
Mountain Dulcimer: Joe Collins; Old Time Banjo: Cathy Fink; Songwriting: Kate Campbell
Bluegrass Week - June 16-22: Flatpicking: Russ Barenberg, Mark Cosgrove, Beppe Gambetta,
Mike Kaufman, David Keenan, Tim May and Fred Sokolow; Mandolin: Alan Bibey, Andrew Collins, Matt Flinner,
Emory Lester, John Reischman and Don Stiernberg; Bluegrass Banjo: Gary Davis, Bill Evans, Bill Keith and
Ned Luberecki; Dobro ™: Ivan Rosenberg, Mike Witcher; Bass: Rusty Holloway, Missy Raines, and Steve Roy;
Bluegrass Fiddle: Fletcher Bright, Kenny Kosek, Annie Staninec; Singing Class: Kathy Chiavola and Don Rigsby
Jam Instructors Both Weeks: Keith Yoder, Tony Anthonisen; 101 Instructor: Cindy Gray
Call 800-FLATPIK - 865-982-3808 to Register
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Held each June in Maryville, TN
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Located On The Campus of Maryville College in Maryville, TN - Just 17 mi. So. of Knoxville, TN.
Call or Write for your Kamp Brochure or go to www.flatpik.com
Your $850.00 Paid Registration Entitles You To:
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donating instruments for our big Door Prize Give Away! More to be added!
Limited Spaces -Registrations and Kamp Info: www.flatpik.com
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March/April 2013
59
CD Highlight
Scott Law: Black Mountain
by Dan Miller
Scott Law is one of those guys who can
do it all on the guitar. He can play rock,
blues, R&B, country, jazz, bluegrass, folk,
fiddle tunes, slide, flatpick, fingerpick…
you name it. Unlike some players who start
out in rock and blues and then transition to
mostly playing bluegrass and other forms of
acoustic music, Scott still does all of it on a
regular basis. He writes his own music and
performs that music in both acoustic and
electric format bands and he also performs
with Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings and
with the old-style California country band
Brokedown in Bakersfield.
I’ve known about Scott and his versatility
on the guitar for several years. So many
of the guitar players from Washington and
Oregon, who I know and respect, have
pointed me in Scott’s direction that I knew
he was someone who should be featured
in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. Last
summer when I heard Scott’s contribution
to mandolin player Joe Walsh’s excellent
solo album, I was reminded to move Scott
towards the top of our feature artist list.
When I called Scott regarding the possibility
of an article and discovered that his newest
recorded project, Black Mountain, features
acoustic flatpick-style guitar playing and
fiddle-based music, I thought the time was
ripe to introduce our readers to Scott and
his music.
Scott Law developed an interest in
learning how to play the guitar when he
was about four years old. His family was
living in southern California and he saw a
commercial on television that advertised
a “quick picking, fun strumming” guitar
course that included a songbook and
recordings. He said, “I got it into my head
at an early age that I liked the guitar.” I
guess television ads are good for something!
Scott’s father was a “serious audiophile”
and had an extensive record collection.
Scott recalls listening to country, rock, and
folk music when he was very young. He
said, “My dad had a broad pallet when it
came to music. My early music education
was through listening. I remember hearing
Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Buck
Owens, Tammy Wynette, Chet Atkins, Ella
Fitzgerald, Louie Armstrong, Pete Seeger,
60
Classical music, Jazz, the Beatles… quite
a wide variety of stuff.”
In 1972, when Scott was six years old,
his family moved to New York. He said,
“Just after we moved to New York I started
into the rock phase and became hugely
interested in the Beatles. I had wanted to
play the guitar since I was four, but was
told my hands were too small, so I took
an interest in the drums.” Once the family
moved to New York, Scott did take some
guitar lessons, learning basic open chords
but that gave way to the drum set and he
didn’t pursue the guitar with any level of
commitment until much later.
Scott remembers that as a kid his first big
live concert experience was Merle Haggard
at Madison Square Garden. His second
concert was Johnny Cash. He recalls being
very attracted to that clean, sparse country
sound that was supported with simple guitar
arrangements. He said, “The songs were
simple, but really good. The music was
pieced together well.” Even though he
liked the guitar playing that he heard at the
concerts, he decided to continue focusing
on the drums.
When he was in fourth grade the music
teacher at school gave Scott a choice
between drums, violin or flute. He again
landed on drums and played them in school
until he was fifteen years old. In late 1980,
Scott’s family moved once again. This
time they went to Seattle and in the next
year Scott formed a band with a gang of
neighborhood friends. He remembered,
“We already had two drummers around,
but only one guitar player. I borrowed a
cheap electric guitar (a Lyle 335 copy with
a Bigsby-type tremelo bar) and started
playing the guitar in that band! I had learned
a pentatonic blues scale so I applied that to
everything. I was horrible, yet determined.”
They played music by the Rolling Stones,
Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, and Neil
Young. Jerry Garcia’s sound and approach
captured most of his attention.
Since the time that he first picked
up the guitar Scott has been attracted to
improvisation. He said, “It is that spark, that
moment of creation, the flow of the moment,
of never playing the same thing twice…
that Grateful Dead ethos. I wanted to be
fearless. I got with the band and said, ‘Let’s
just play! We’ll find the notes eventually.
We have to get out there on the edge and
play!’ I really got into it.”
Scott’s first band ended up being one of
the regular high school party bands at his
school. In order to get deeper into the idea
of free range playing, Scott started studying
music theory. He said, “I wanted to learn
how it all comes together and I began a
lifelong process of mining for sounds.
The theory study helped me catalog things
that I would process later. I realized that
I needed a channel for developing my ear
and I knew it would be a long haul to get
the encompassing view. I caught the first
glimpse of music as a life’s work sort of
endeavor.”
On the first day of school during their
senior year, the band set up in the lobby
and were playing as students first entered
the building in the early morning. Scott
said, “Our drummer cooked this one up
to convince the faculty to give it a go and
they let us do it. It went over real good! I
think the coolest thing in the world about
playing live is to get people to gather and
connect through music. That has become
my mission statement.”
March/April 2013
After graduating from high school,
Scott entered Cornish College of the Arts
in Seattle to study jazz performance.
He stayed in the program for a couple
of years and learned a great deal about
improvisation mainly from two instructors,
saxophonist Hadley Caliman and pianist
Randy Halberstadt. Scott said, “I never
really had a guitar mentor per se. I was
always trying to figure out stuff from other
instruments.” Scott only stayed in the
program at Cornish for a couple of years.
He said, “I learned so much in that time that
I needed to pull back and metabolize the
information. I stopped after I’d received a
good foundation.” After leaving Cornish,
he earned a Bachelor’s degree in History
from the University of Washington while
still remaining active, playing in various
northwest bands.
In about 1992, Scott decided that
in order to go deeper into the study of
the guitar he would have to explore the
acoustic guitar. He said, “Jerry Garcia had
so many influences. On the acoustic guitar
he credited players like Clarence White,
Mississippi John Hurt, and Reverend Gary
Davis as his influences, so I decided to go
down that rabbit hole. I had played the
guitar for ten years and had never really
explored acoustic music. I dug way in.”
Scott started listening to bluegrass
players like Tony Rice, Bill Monroe, David
Grisman, and Tim O’Brien. He also became
aware of a strong attraction towards fiddle
music. He said, “When I started playing
the acoustic guitar I quickly realized that
my technique was a mess. I couldn’t get
good tone and I couldn’t play fast. With
the electric guitar, so much of it is about
the amp. Starting on the acoustic was like
realizing that I didn’t know how to swim. It
kicked my butt! Everything on the acoustic
guitar is so stark and bare. What you put in
is what you get out. It is all in your training
and in your hands. I had to reinvent a lot of
wheels.” Scott credits Dobro master Orville
Johnson as being a major influence on
him in the acoustic world. Orville recalls,
“When I first met Scott he was looking for
an entry point into acoustic music. It was
easy to see that he loved playing and loved
learning new things and that attitude has
served him well. I’m happy to see what he’s
accomplished and I know he’s still searching
for the next great tune to play!”
Once Scott began focusing on acoustic
music he also started to work on developing
his songwriting skills. He said, ”I got the
idea that the best investment in the long
term would be to write and develop original
material. So, I began that journey and started
playing solo and small ensemble acoustic
gigs.” Scott began exploring performance
in the duo format with Orville Johnson,
Michael Gray (from Pearl Django), and
Bill Nershi (from String Cheese Incident).
Scott’s relationship with Bill Nershi
(see Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, Volume
14, Number 5) began in the mid-1990s.
He said that from the beginning they
loved to pick and write songs together.
Their collaborations led to a trio called
Honkytonk Homeslice, which included
Nershi’s wife Jilian. The band started
performing together in the summer of 2005
and has recorded a couple of albums. They
played a variety of music from bluegrass,
old-time, traditional country, psychedelic
country (Gram Parsons), and a few String
Cheese tunes.
For the past six to seven years Scott
has also been appearing in Darol Anger’s
Republic of Strings band and as a duet
with the pioneering fiddler. Darol’s website
describes Republic of Strings like this:
“Somewhere beyond or behind all musical
March/April 2013
borders lies a creative terrain where
bluegrass, jazz, classical, pop, and various
world musics mingle, played by musicians
who care more for inspiration than they do
for genre. If that place has a name, it’s surely
the Republic of Strings, for no one knows its
contours better than musicians Darol Anger,
Scott Law, Mike Block, Lauren Rioux, and
a tightly knit community of young brilliant
string players.”
After Darol moved to Portland, Oregon,
in around 2006, he sat in on one of Scott’s
electric gigs and the two became fast
friends. Scott said, “Darol has been a hero
of mine. When we started working together
I would sit in the living room and dig into
his whole compositional trip. He has a great
balance to his writing and there is integrity
in every thing that he does. I really worked
hard to learn his music on the guitar and I’ve
learned a lot of lessons by unraveling what
he is doing on the fiddle.”
In addition to working on Darol Anger’s
fiddle tunes, Scott said that he also spent
a lot of time transcribing and watching
other flatpickers and mandolin players,
including David Grier, Mike Marshall and
61
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62
Tim O’Brien. He said, “I worked on things
like playing with the tips of my fingers to
produce better tone, making hammer-ons
and pull-offs sound just as loud as fretted
notes, right hand economy of motion, pick
angle, right hand position in relation to the
sound hole, keeping everything loose and
uniform, and pick direction. I practiced
to stay relaxed and let gravity do the work
for me as much as possible.” For the first
several years of acoustic flatpicking he said
he sounded like a guy who played electric
rock and switched, but now he feels like
it’s become more natural than anything
else. “Acoustic playing definitely feeds the
electric playing these days, not so much the
other way around,” he says.
In 2009 Scott released a solo CD titled
Living Room. This recording mostly
highlighted Scott’s fingerstyle guitar
playing and his songwriting. His newest
project, Black Mountain, features more
flatpicking and bluegrass-style fiddle
music. The ten track recording includes
both vocal songs and instrumental tunes and
contributions from a very talented cast of
supporting musicians. All of the members
of the Deadly Gentleman (Greg Liszt, Stash
Wyslouch, Mike Barnett, Dominick Leslie,
and Sam Grisman) appear on the record,
as well as Aoife O’Donovan and Tristan
Clarridge (of Crooked Still), country/folk
artists Tim and Nicki Bluhm, Darol Anger,
Luke Price, Tashina Clarridge, and Anders
Beck (of Greensky Bluegrass).
Scott said that the concept for the
recording was to try and bring together
and honor various elements of American
roots music in his own writing. He wants
to feel that old convergence; the sound of
early Appalachia where immigrant fiddle
melodies started to blend with the call &
response and syncopation of the blues. He
said, “I have no allusions of it’s authenticity
or whatever, it’s a pure acoustic string-band
thing, heavily influenced by fiddle music
and recorded on 2-inch analog tape. In the
end, it came together pretty easily, as one of
the most organic and fun projects I’ve ever
spearheaded. I greatly enjoyed the process,
the result and getting into the studio with
these musicians was a stellar experience.”
The recording is very strong in every
aspect. After listening through several
times I cannot point to any weakness. The
tunes are well written and extremely well
executed. The instrumental performances
are superb. Every song is captivating. I was
specifically drawn in by the arrangements
of vocals and the instruments. The way
the instruments are layered, especially the
fiddles, creates a depth to the music that
grabs and holds your attention.
Scott’s versatility on the guitar is evident.
As I listened from one tune to the next it was
exciting to hear how he approached his solo
on each tune because he really knows how
to craft his solos to fit the feel, meaning,
emotion and energy of each individual tune.
This is a recording that I can listen to over
and over again and discover something new
each time. Highly recommended!
After the current project has been released
in fall 2013, Scott is planning to start work
on a follow-up electric record that will
represent more on the urban side of that
musical confluence. He said, “If you take
the Scruggs banjo roll and you slow it down
and drop out everything but what the thumb
is playing, you get that New Orleans style
three-against-two rhythm. I think that all
American roots music has a meeting place
somewhere in these rhythms. To me, it’s
not as much about everything that vibrates
on top as it is about the underlying patterns.
The roots crossover in the rhythms; they’re
American, they’re African, European and
really above all, human. When I write and
record, my goal is to weave threads of my
experience through all of that.”
This summer Scott will be touring
under his own name, playing both electric
and acoustic shows. He will also appear
with a new “all-star collective” band
called Brokedown in Bakersfield. The
band’s website describes them as follows:
“Brokedown in Bakersfield is a collective of
acclaimed West Coast artists joining forces
in a spirited tribute to the Bakersfield sound:
California country music made raw and
rocking, spiked with twang and sweetened
with heartfelt harmonies.”
First appearing to hundreds of music
fans on a sunny Saturday morning at the
2011 High Sierra Music Festival, the group
features Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz of ALO on
pedal steel, Scott Law on Telecaster, singer
Nicki Bluhm of Gramblers fame, Tim
Bluhm of The Mother Hips on vocals and
acoustic guitar, and ALO rhythm section
partners Steve Adams and Dave Brogan.
Drawing from the powerful songbooks of
Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Gram Parsons
and more, Brokedown in Bakersfield
showcases the striking songwriting and
instrumentation of guitar-slinging country
sounds that added oil to the Dust Bowl life
of ‘60s-era Southern California—on the
road, in the truck, out the back, and at the
honky tonk.
March/April 2013
Regarding the band’s history, Scott said,
“I had never really played a set of straight
up country before, but I was asked to be part
of this “playshop” at the High Sierra festival
that Lebo organized. I had to borrow a
telecaster and learn all these tunes. When
I started to do that, I realized I knew this
music innately, this is what I grew up on!
When we played that first time, I had never
even met Tim and Nicki until soundcheck
on the gig. What transpired was that rare
and delicate thing, a heartfelt and reverent
festival set where the crowd and the band
chemistry just became one around those
songs. Tim and Nicki crushed it. We all
decided right then and there that we had
to tour!” The group played several west
coast festivals and did three west coast
tours during that first year, including the
Kate Wolf and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
festivals, and plan to play more dates well
into the future.
Currently Scott plays a Santa Cruz DPW
Custom guitar. He said that it behaves like
an older D-18, but has Italian spruce on
the top, vintage-style saddle, hide glue and
custom bracing that is stiff in the middle
and loose towards the sides. He said, “I
told them that I needed a loud guitar that
would cut through the volume of the fiddles
and sound good on a mic. They nailed it.
I got it in May of 2011. I also have a Santa
Cruz 0-29 that I use for fingerstyle playing.”
For this issue’s audio CD Scott has
provided us with a cut from his Black
Mountain CD. The tune is titled “Bells of
Unity.”
Here are some notes that Scott provided
about the tune: “Bells of Unity” is in drop-D
tuning and features Tashina Clarridge and
Luke Price (fiddles) with Tristan Clarridge
(cello). The title comes from an experience
I had in 2010 of drifting off in that weird
in-between waking state, still conscious, but
dreaming and hearing these beautiful church
bells on a sun-showery spring afternoon in
the small town of Unity, Maine...
The tune is a rolling triple-meter thing,
notated in 6/8, with four differentiated parts.
The A and B sections have good essential
hammer-ons and pull-offs plus a few basic
Celtic-style “cuts” in the rhythm for the
right hand. These can be expanded on and
inserted more throughout once it gets more
comfortable I have found. Slight variations
crop up in the section endings and in the
first line out of the solo section if you decide
to go there.
The C part is like a close cousin of A &
B but with a bit of syncopation to pull on.
The D part is all about little chord outlines
that I picked up from Tony Furtado’s banjo
playing. Very simple 1-5-1-9-3 shapes with
melodic landings. These are handy and have
lots of uses in the world outside for outlining
chord tonality in single note passages like a
piano might do. Thinking chord skeletons.
In the standard notation staff, slurs (as
opposed to ties) indicate where the hammerons and pull-offs are to make the rhythm of
it go. Upward direction slurs are hammerons and downward slurs, pull-offs.
I usually do an intro of the A1&2 as solo
to begin.
The chart form is like this:
A1&2 – B1&B1 – A1&2 – B1&B2 – C (w/
repeat, as written) – D1 – C again - D2 –
solos? – D1 – A1&2, A1, then A2 first three
bars, then to Coda.
Visit
www.Flatpick.com
March/April 2013
63
Bells of Unity
Audio CD
Track 38
Arranged by Scott Law
Drop D Tuning
To Coda
# A6 .
œ
œ
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& 8 .œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
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.
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6
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1
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1
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64
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‰
‰
March/April 2013
Bells of Unity (con’t)
# .
& .
23
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&
#
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7
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7
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# œj œ .
& ‰ œ ‰ œ ..
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43
C
0
3
j
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Play C again, then D with 2nd Ending
.
‰ 5 ‰ 5 .. ‰ 30 ‰ 30 ..
5
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0
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.
March/April 2013
0
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65
Bells of Unity (con’t)
C
fi
œ œ
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# œ œ œJ œ
& œ
49
G
10
12
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7
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.
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.
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# œ œ œ œ œ
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54
.
C
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0
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5
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4
0
3
0
0
3
4
.
‰
‰
The Legacy of Doc Watson by Steve Kaufman
This wonderful compilation of Doc Watson’s life and music serves as both a biography and an instructional book that offers the reader
and guitarist insight to the world of Doc Watson. The classic tunes included in this book are: Black Mountain Rag, Blackberry Rag, Blue
Ridge Mountain Blues, Carroll County Blues, Doc’s Guitar, Doc’s Rag, Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down, Down Yonder, Fisher’s Hornpipe,
Devil’s Dream, Freight Train Blues, I Am A Pilgrim, I Heard My Mother Weeping, New River Train, Rising Sun, Roll On Buddy, Salt
Creek/Bill Cheatham, Sheeps in the Meadow/Stoney Fork, Sittin’ Here Picking the Blues, Texas Fales, Tom Dooley, and Will The Circle
Be Unbroken.
C a l l 8 0 0 - 4 1 3 - 8 2 9 6 t o O r d e r o r v i s i t w w w. f l a t p i c k i n g m e r c a n t i l e . c o m
Blind But Now I See:
The Biography of Music Legend Doc Watsonby Kent Gustavson
From the day he stepped off the bus in New York City, North Carolina music legend Doc Watson
changed the music world forever. His influence has been recognized by presidents and by the heroes
of modern music, from country stars to rock and roll idols. This is a biography of a flatpicking legend.
Featuring brand new interviews with:
• Ben Harper of The Innocent Criminals
• Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show
• Pat Donohue of The Prairie Home Companion
• David Grisman of Garcia/Grisman and Old and in the Way
• Sam Bush, The Father of Newgrass
• Guy Clark, Texas Songwriting Legend
• Michelle Shocked, Greg Brown, Mike Marshall, Tom Paxton, Maria Muldaur
• And many more!
Available at www.flatpickingmercantile.com
66
March/April 2013
Reviews
John Lowell
I Am Going to the West
Reviewed by Chris Thiessen
Every so often the universe (or the US
Postal Service) reminds me that a steady diet
of flatpicked fiddle tunes – as wonderfully
intricate and complex as I think they may
be – is not a satisfactory musical regimen.
So when John Lowell’s latest project I Am
Going to the West arrived in the mail, I set
aside my guitar, made some coffee, and
put on the headphones. I was immediately
rewarded: Montana-based Lowell embodies
the balladeer-guitarist that drew me to
the instrument in the first place. (For
those unfamiliar with John Lowell, refer
to the cover story for Flatpicking Guitar
Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 2, January/February
2009).
What struck me first was John’s control
of the balance between his guitar and vocals,
and how this recording has the immediacy
of a performance in a small venue. I was
even more impressed to read in the liner
notes that John double-tracked the guitar
leads over his accompaniment. Without that
information, I would have assumed a second
guitar was taking those leads. John’s guitar
technique – whether he’s accompanying
his vocals or soloing – is firmly based on
the melody of the tune. His leads are not
flashy or notey; his playing is restrained
and allows the inherent melody of the tune
to come through. Throughout the album I
found myself playing the same tune several
times to try and figure out what he was doing
with his accompaniment.
Of the 12 cuts on this CD, 9 are
original Lowell tunes, which tell stories
of separation from home and loved ones
(“Angus MacKenzie” and “Where the
Heart Is”), of love unrequited (“Lakes
of Ponchatrain”), of tragic death (“Sara
Hogan”), of long-held dreams finally acted
upon (“Rhythm of the Wheels”), and of
affairs of the heart gone wrong (“Am I Not
Enough”).
Sprinkled in is a re-telling of the Tom
Dooley (or Dula) love triangle (“Laura
Foster”), a tale of the trials of modern
married life (“Mama Don’t Like It”),
and the archetypical Grandpa Jones tune,
“Eight More Miles to Louisville.” Whether
Lowell performs his own tunes or covers old
standards like “Waterbound” or “Buffalo
Skinners,” he brings a melodic clarity
to the tune. In fact, I especially enjoyed
his rendition of “Buffalo Skinners”: his
voice and guitar refresh a time-worn song.
“Buffalo Skinners” was first cited in John
Lomax’s 1918 publication Cowboy Songs,
and Other Frontier Ballads, and has been
covered by everyone from Woody Guthrie,
Jack Elliott, Dylan, and Tim O’Brien. Tim’s
version had been my previous favorite, but
John’s rendition rekindles the authenticity
of the tune, eliminating the performance
aspects of the tune and reducing it to its
essential story.
The CD ends with “I Am Going to the
West,” the title cut written by Connie Dover.
Lowell talks – and plays – again of the pain
of separation, of traveling over the inland
sea of grain to the great mountains beyond,
alone and away from the consolation and
companionship of loved ones.
Lowell is a consummate balladeer, who
packages his stories around an approachable
melody and transforms a string of words
into a living story. For more information
on John, point your browser to www.
johnlowell.com. I Am Going to the West
is a great listening CD, which has and will
continue to get a lot of repeat plays in my
household. Excuse me while I try to figure
out some more of his accompaniments!
Tune List: Waterbound; Angus
MacKenzie; Eight More Miles to Louisville;
Lakes of Ponchatrain; Buffalo Skinners;
Rhythm of the Wheels; Am I Not Enough;
Mama Don’t Like It; Sarah Hogan; Laura
Foster; Where the Heart Is; I Am Going to
the West
March/April 2013
John Schwab
Old-Time Backup Guitar
Learn from the Masters
Reviewed by Dan Miller
Whenever I teach a guitar workshop, I
always recommend that students learn how
to develop their technique based on the way
technique on their instrument developed
chronologically. For instance, if you are
going to learn rock and roll guitar, don’t start
with Eric Clapton, go back and start with
the early blues masters and the rockabilly
players. Similarly, if you are going to learn
how to flatpick the acoustic guitar, don’t
start with Bryan Sutton, David Grier or
Tony Rice. Don’t even start with Clarence
White or Doc Watson. Dig deeper. Start
with the players who influenced a young
Doc Watson.
Tim May and I developed our Flatpicking
Essentials book series on the chronological
approach and the place where we started,
and the place where we recommend that all
aspiring flatpickers start, is with the rhythm
guitar players of the 1920s and 30s. These
guys were providing great rhythm for fiddle
players and string bands and it is here that
the art of flatpicking as we know it today
begin to develop and take shape. Of course,
it probably started prior to the 1920s, but we
don’t have any recorded history of music
prior to the 1920s, so that is where we have
to start.
In Volume 1 of the Flatpicking Essentials
course we transcribed and arranged some
examples of this style of rhythm playing
to get students started, but then we moved
67
along to more contemporary bluegrass styles
of rhythm playing. We did recommend,
however, that students download some old
recordings, listen, and then start transcribing
in order to dive deeper into old-time rhythm.
The problem with transcribing is that it
can be a frustrating exercise for a beginning
player working with old recordings. If
you are someone who has tried to hear the
rhythm guitar buried in the mix behind the
fiddles and banjos on old recordings and
has become frustrated with that process,
help is has arrived! Recently John Schwab
has released a really incredible book titled
Old-Time Backup Guitar: Learn from the
Masters. This is one that you need to have
in your library!
After reviewing the contents of this book,
there are several things that really impressed
me. First was the very thorough, well
thought out, and well researched written
material in the front of the book. The author
provides 33 pages of stylistic commentary,
history, helpful hints, and “wisdom” from
contemporary players as a prelude to the
tablature section. This section will provide
anyone interested in old-time back up a very
good education and solid place to start. In
fact, it is good information no matter what
kind of rhythm guitar style you play.
In the tablature section, John provides
transcriptions directly from old-time rhythm
players and the disc that comes with the
book includes audio tracks that feature
recordings of the old “masters.” Yes! The
actual recordings that were made back in
the 1920s and 1930s are what you get to
work with here. They have been cleaned
up, dialed in to concert pitch, played at
four different tempos, and engineered so
the guitar is easier to hear.
Reading through and working with the
tablature is great. But, to me, the real genius
and beauty of what John has provided here is
the audio disc (with 120 mp3 files). You not
only get to hear what great old-time rhythm
players like Edgar Boaz, Asa Martin, John
Booker, Roy Harvey, Luches Kessinger,
Hub Mahaffey, Grady Moore, Joe Solomon,
and others are playing, but you get to play
along and actually back up fiddlers like Doc
Roberts, and Clark Kessinger, and bands
like the North Carolina Ramblers! It is the
perfect learning tool for anyone interested
in improving their rhythm playing. Even
if you are a bluegrass player, this is an
excellent resource that you can use to
improve your rhythm playing.
The one notable early guitar player
who does not appear in the book is Riley
Puckett. Riley is mentioned, but there are no
transcriptions of his playing. When asked
about Riley, John said that he wanted the
book to focus on the more traditional and
standard rhythm styles of the day. Riley
tended to have a unique guitar voice among
his contemporaries. His guitar playing
tended to be busier and ruckus, which was
part of Gid Tanner and the Skillet Licker’s
sound.
If you want to improve your rhythm
playing, whether you play bluegrass,
old-time, folk, or Irish music, I highly
recommend that you get John’s book and
spend some time working with it. These
transcriptions are rich with great rhythm
ideas, especially bass runs. Learning the
inventive way that these old masters of
rhythm guitar used short bass walks to move
between chord changes is worth the price of
this book. Being able to practice them right
along with those who created the music is
the icing on the cake. To order, visit: http://
www.l-century.com/
Fiddle Tune Practice Tracks
Tune List Disc 1
1. Arkansas Traveler
2. Bill Cheatham
3. Billy in the Lowground
4. Blackberry Blossom
5. Cuckoo’s Nest
6. Fisher’s Hornpipe
Tune List Disc 2
1. Old Joe Clark
2. Red-Haired Boy
3. St. Anne’s Reel
4. Temperance Reel
5. Turkey in the Straw
6. Whiskey Before Breakfast
The Essential Clarence White
Bluegrass Guitar Leads
by Roland White & Diane Bouska with Steve Pottier and Matt Flinner
For fans of the legendary Clarence White, this is the ultimate book and CD package. The photo and
biographical information are worth the price of this book alone. Not to mention detailed transcriptions
for 14 Clarence White solos and 2 audio CDs. The best part of this book is the performance notes,
practice suggestions, and examples that are provided with each tune. These detailed notes will help
students understand the techniques that Clarence is using in each song. A lot of work was put into
this project by Roland White, Diane Bouska, Steve Pottier, and Matt Flinner. It is the best Clarence
White resource available!
To Order call 800-413-8296 or visit:
68
March/April 2013
March/April 2013
69
70
March/April 2013
CLASSIFIEDS
Classified ads will be accepted for guitar and musical related items @ 40¢ a word, 50¢ a word for
bold lower case type, 60¢ a word for bold upper case type. Please call (800) 413-8296 to order, or
send ad to High View Publications, P.O. Box 2160, Pulaski, VA 24301
Now you don’t have to
buy the whole course...
Instructional Material:
GUITAR JAM: Play leads to “Blackberry
Blossom,” plus 11 other classics with our
back-up band. A fun way to develop timing.
Tape and TAB booklet $16.95 ppd.
Custom Practice Tapes now available!
Choose from almost 400 songs and we’ll
play them slow and fast for twice the
jamming. Andy Cushing, 6534 Gowanda
St. Rd., Hamburg NY 14075
MUSIC THEORY COURSE
FOR GUITAR
Correspondence Course. Certificate issued
on completion. Beginning courses also
available. Course outline and enrollment
order form for this and other home study
courses, write to: Jim Sutton Institute of
Guitar, 23014 Quail Shute, Spring, TX
77389 E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://guitar-jimsuttoninst.com
800-621-7669
FREE HAROLD STREETER
CATALOG
Over 1,000 flatpick and fingerstyle tabs and
CDs, beginning to advanced. Bluegrass,
country, Celtic, Gospel, blues, jazz, and
more. LeWalt Publishing, 4930 East
Horsehaven Ave, Post Falls, ID, 83854,
USA 208-773-0645, www.lewalt.com
GUITAR LICK CARDS: from standard
to stellar, 81 licks are isolated on playing
cards. Line them up with the same chord
progression as your favorite song and voila!
It’s a new arrangement! Rearrange the licks
for endless variations. They’re inspiring!
Available for mandolin and banjo too.
$11.50 ppd. per set. Andrew Cushing, 6079
McKinley Pkwy, Hamburg NY 14075
Downloads
& Singles
are Here!
FLATPICKING MERCANTILE
Flatpicking Mercantile has a full line
of instructional books, CDs, and DVDs for
the flatpicking guitar player. Bluegrass,
Celtic, Western swing, Gypsy jazz, and
more! Check out:
How much has your playing improved
this year? Not that much? Free E-books,
lessons, playing tips and backing tracks
www.ckomusic.com
STEVE KILBY’S TUNE OF THE
MONTH
Try my subscription service, an
acclaimed and detailed method for learning
flatpicking tunes. Each package features:
TABLATURE for LEAD including BASIC
and ADVANCED version, CHORD CHART
and CD with tune broken down by phrases
along with plenty of practice tracks for
back-up and lead at different speeds.
Subscription price is only $15 per month,
plus shipping. For details contact:
276-579-4287 www.kilbymusic.com
The Flatpicking
Guitar Network
Meet new flatpicking friends,
exchange tunes, share photos
and videos, ask questions, and
find new jamming buddies.
Find it all at flatpick.ning.com
25% Off!
First Time Customers
Quality Bluegrass Music
Instruction Since 1973
MusiciansWorkshop.com
Place your order
& enter
coupon code
2348
at checkout
www.Musicians-Workshop.com
Offer Expires: 12/31/12
March/April 2013
71
CLASSIFIEDS
Instructional Series
Ever feel like you’ve hit a wall in your
practice or reached a plateau that you can’t
get beyond? We can help you! The EightVolume Flatpicking Essentials Instruction
Method, developed by Flatpicking Guitar
Magazine editor Dan Miller, provides
you with over 1000 pages of information
taught in a specific step-by-step sequence
so that your flatpicking knowledge and skill
sets are complete, with no holes, or gaps.
Starting with Volume One (Rhythm, Bass
Runs, and Fill Licks), this series teaches
you how to develop in an easy to follow
graduated method. This course is available
as spiral bound books with CD, or as digital
downloads. For more information visit
www.flatpickingmercantile.com or www.
flatpickdigital.com.
continued
Guitars, Strings, and Accesories:
DAN LASHBROOK
ACOUSTIC GUITAR SET UP
Custom Bridge Pins, Nuts, and Saddles.
Neck Re-sets, Fret Jobs, Crack Repairs.
Specializing in helping you get the
best performance out of your guitar.
Occasional high performance guitars for
sale. [email protected]
Call 828-649-1607
LANHAM GUITARS
Handcrafted by Marty Lanham
Available from Nashville Guitar Company
www.nashguitar.com
phone: 615-262-4891
EUPHONON COMPANY STRINGS
First quality major manufacturer strings in
bulk at fantastic savings. Same strings you
buy in music stores, without the expensive
packaging. Acoustic guitar sets: extra-light,
light, or medium: 80/20 Bronze $32.50/
dozen, $20.00/half dozen; Phosphor Bronze
$34.50/dozen, $21.00/half dozen. Post paid.
Call for price larger quantities. Twelve
string, electric guitar, banjo, mandolin,
dulcimer, special gauges available. Request
String Catalog. Euphonon also offers guitar
repair and building supplies. Request
Luthier’s Catalog. EUPHONON CO. PO
Box 100F Orford NH 03777. 1-(888) 5174678.
www.hotworship.com/euphonon
Visit www.fgmrecords.com
Specializing in Acoustic Guitar Music!
Flatpicking the Blues
Book/DVD/CD Course
by Brad Davis
Call 800-413-8296
to Order
In this course, Brad Davis shows you how to approach playing the blues using
both theoretical and practical methods. You will learn how to play blues style rhythm,
learn blues scales at several positions on the neck, and learn how to apply those “blues
notes” in a free-form improvisational style over the twelve-bar blues progression.
This section increases your knowledge of the guitar fingerboard as it relates to the
blues and provides you with a method for increasing your improvisational skills.
Brad then examines common blues phrasing, technique, and standard blues licks
and demonstrates how to apply them. He also shows examples of licks played in the
style of great blues guitarists and even demonstrates how Bill Monroe’s blues licks on
the mandolin can be incorporated on the guitar. This course also includes blues ear
training.
In addition to teaching you how to play straight blues, Brad also demonstrates
and teaches how you might take tunes that you may already know from the standard
flatpicking repertoire and spice them up with blues licks. If you are tired of playing
flatpicked fiddle tunes and bluegrass songs the same old way you will greatly
appreciate Brad’s instruction on how you can add excitement and interest to songs that
you already play by adding a blues flavor.
Visit the Website for More Information and Blues Guitar Lessons
www.flatpick.com/blues
72
March/April 2013
March/April 2013
73
74
March/April 2013
March/April 2013
75
Chris Hillman’s  Collings DS1H A
76
serious guitars
www.collingsguitars.com / ()-
March/April 2013

Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

Transcription

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