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Week Two: Keeping an Active Fretting Hand This will give a you feel for the correct timing of the chords, without being overly concerned with getting all the picking down immediately. Try making the chord changes, but just play the bass pattern along with the metronome. If you find this difficult, go slow set a metronome at around 60 bpm and make sure you can keep the bass going as you move from chord to chord. You should be able to move between chords without losing the bass pattern or timing. In this version, the chords change every measure. Both take time.Įxample 4 applies the fingerpicking pattern to a G7 chord, while Example 5takes you through the last four measures of a typical 12-bar blues. Pretend like you are gripping a shovel or rake applying the proper amount of pressure to the strings is as much a matter of finding the grip that works for you as it is about developing strength. If you have never used your thumb to fret string 6, this might prove a bit challenging.
Go play along tablature player plus#
Many blues players, however, only used one or two fingers, plus the thumb, for fingerpicking.Įxample 3 applies the same picking pattern to the F chord. I tend to dedicate my index finger to string 3, middle to 2, and ring to 1. Pick the bass notes on strings 5 and 4 with your thumb ( p), and use any combination of your index ( i), middle ( m), and ring ( a) fingers on strings 1–3. Note the characteristic syncopation-in the first measure, there’s a melodic note on the “and” of beat 3, while in the second bar there are notes on the “ands” of both 2 and 3. This grip works better here than a standard six-string barre chord, as it frees up the fourth finger for chordal embellishments.Įxample 2 gives you a two-bar fingerpicking pattern for a C chord, which you will use throughout the lesson. You will need to wrap your fretting hand’s thumb around the neck to fret the low F on string 6. The version of F shown in Example 1 may be different from what you are used to. In C, the 12-bar progression consists of three familiar chords: C (I), F (IV), and G7 (V). Along the way you will work on alternating-bass patterns, hammer-ons and pull-offs, and explore when and where the steady bass pattern-a staple of early country-blues guitarists-can be interrupted and replaced with single-note runs. In this lesson we will look at three ways to play a 12-bar blues in the key of C major, through the lens of the old blues masters, so that you can ultimately incorporate more nuances into your playing.
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These breaks were opportunities to create single-note runs that would have been difficult while fretting chords.
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While these players all used their picking-hand thumbs to some degree to create chugging rhythms, some would occasionally drop the bass pattern to emphasize the melodic phrases. Each player had a signature sound, created by idiosyncratic right- and left-hand techniques, requiring careful study to master. Getting a handle on the myriad styles of prewar blues guitarists such as Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy, and Blind Blake can be daunting, to say the least. From the May/June 2020 issue of Acoustic Guitar | By Pete Madsen