Hi, everyone. I wanted to start us off with a comment to get the ball rolling. I would LOVE it if you could leave a short comment introducing yourself to the other members. I’m Dan Thorpe, from Birmingham, UK (not Alabama!). I love fingerpicking – Paul Simon, James Taylor, Tommy Emmanuel and about a gazillion others! My favourite thing about playing guitar is having some quiet time to play for myself (music is a great outlet for everything in life) and to jam with my 4 year old boy, Archie! I used to be terrible at guitar but after years… Read more »
Hey everyone, I would love to know what lessons you would like to learn. More on fingerpicking, Travis picking, chord changes, theory, jamming???… you name it, leave your ideas below!! This is the place to do so.
Hi Dan, I am an intermediate player, but am fascinated about finger style, and very anxious to get started. But i must admit i do struggle a bit with the dreaded Barr Chords, but am improving a bit. I am a Viet Nam vet, who suffers from PTSD, I am very private, so if you don’t hear much from me please understand. Thanks
Steve
Hi Steve, thanks for getting in touch. It`s great to have you here. Barre chords are tough but do make sure you take your time and use good technique with them.
No problem at all regarding being private and I hope you are doing well regarding the PTSD. Just know that the comments section and the mini-forum is there for you when needed. All the best.
Cool, for sure, let us know some more details. What sort of slaps and slides? The crazy stuff or solid on beats 2 and 4 type thing? What sort of guitarists have inspired this? (I ask, so I know I’m on the right path). 🙂
No particular artist comes to mind but I would say on beats 2 and 4 nothing crazy (yet). Slapping all the strings I find okay, it’s the thumb slap I have trouble with on the low E A strings.
I have come across slaps in the odd piece of music, done right sounds amazing. Just something I would like to add to my repertoire.
Ah, okay cool, thanks for letting me know. The slaps on beats 2 and 4 are very cool. The grooves these can add are great. Will get something ready on this. 🙂
If you would like to submit a video, you can add it to your comment by including a video LINK (for example, a YouTube, Vimeo, or Dropbox link). (Email Dan for help if you get stuck uploading a video)
YouTube and Vimeo links are the preferred video format. Make sure that your links are set to unlisted (not private!) and then only we will see it.
Hopefully, you have all noticed the new comments section at the bottom of each page in the DTAA! I would love for you to comment, ask questions and say “hi”!
I have been watching your pull offs on other videos for other lessons. It always looks like you are really just lifting your finger. I had to come back here to see that you were doing what I thought you were. Yep, you just make it look effortless.
It’s all just technique and repetition with focus. Getting good at these techniques, was a case of doing them over and over in a slow, focused way, like an early version of the 10x method. Keep doing the same 🙂
I am really enjoying these little musical interludes that have special techniques in them. I have a bunch of them (several are days from this course, some are from DTAA) in a special Just Messing About section of my notebook. It is fun just to pull them out and play them one after another – I find it a relaxing and fun way to practice techniques like hammer ons, pull offs, slides, etc.
Great stuff. I like how you are organised with the lessons. Definitely something worth doing! That’s great that you enjoy them like this. Keep it up. 🙂
I’m feeling very successful with this one. I was able to follow and stay with you on the second run through the video. Kinda love “the groove” and wonder where I can apply this to my repertorie. Maybe some Dylan songs. Cool lesson. Thanks, Sensei, on a good day that your Claret and Blue beat Tottingham.
Good stuff. It’s great when you “lock in” with the groove. You can apply this to anything you like really, songs or jams of your own, your own versions of songs, Dylan would work, and it is a cool strum for any song where the original has a pretty boring straight strum pattern – this will spice it up. Yeah, the Aston Villa lads are doing well! One more game to go! 🙂
I enjoy this little piece. It’s very soulful yet not too difficult to play. Just working on getting the hammers to fit smoothly with the rest of the piece.
Great stuff, Rich. I think every musician out there can get a lot of benefit from more rhythm work, so I’ll be sure to be providing this for the DTAA members. Will be fun. 🙂
Ok, now I am going to take that back . . . A little more practice and I am playing it faster and it sounds much better. (Also playing on a different guitar so that may have something to do with it too).
That’s good. One thing to be aware of in that measure is the two B notes played directly after each other (4th fret G string and open B). Any slight tuning issue can make the notes clash. It may be that playing the G string open sounds even better. 🙂
Hi Dan First of all I would like to wish you a belated happy birthday. I’m sorry I missed it. I hope it was a great one and that you and Archie are both doing well! The reason I am writing today is to talk about stepping away from guitar for a bit. I’m not sure if you track your students online or not but you may have noticed that I have not logged in very often lately. Back in October I had open heart surgery. I had the aortic valve replaced as well as a double bypass. I had… Read more »
Hi Danimal. Thank you for the birthday wishes — and for sharing what you’ve been going through. I’m sorry to hear what you had to go through. Stepping away was likely the right call. You protected your love for the guitar by giving yourself space. Of course, you haven’t let me down one bit. I’m really glad to hear you’re in a better place now and ready to pick it back up. Let’s ease back in and make it fun again. Looking forward to it and thanks again. 🙂
Dan, I was intimidated when I heard you play this, but you broke it down into something manageable. I can play all of the bars, but I need to work on putting them together and adding some tempo. I love it. I’ve worked on each month’s content without yet becoming a master of any. But skill development is happening. And other stuff’s getting easier. Happy Unbirthday, amigo.
Hi Tom, thanks, so pleased that you got past the intimidated feeling. One thing I LOVE to hear is what you mentioned here… How breaking it down and working on each skill/technique drives progress and gives belief you can do it. Really good stuff and I hope you take lots of confidence from this. Well done. 🙂
Love all these strumming tips & the ones from last month too Dan.
would love some song suggestions to practise them on, or should I just try to apply them to various songs?
Happy to hear it. If a song is already a strummed song with a pretty flat down up rhythm, the main pattern from this lesson will spice it up. To be honest, you can choose literally any song out there and apply these ideas to them I find. Just get the chords (or work them out by ear) and get jamming. That will give you your own spin on them. 🙂
Sounds beautiful Dan.. If i can get it sounding like yours I’ll be a very happy girl.
thanks for teaching us how to do it in bite size pieces. This will be fun & interesting to work on.
Great training. It’s surprising how easy it is to get out of rhythm. This is so simple and such a good way to practise the changing rhythm patterns.its good Dan thanks.
Very true. So easy to let the rhythm slide, just like it’s easy to forget to practice rhythm training. This will help though and glad you’ve found it helpful so far. 🙂
Glad to hear you like it, Larry. Nailing this technique, especially the main pattern, will help with your strumming, and it’s a fun pattern to play when you get the groove locked in fully. 🙂
Hi Dan… I really like the emphasis on the 10 times method especially on this one bar. I was having trouble using the correct picking fingers (keeping the M R P) on the correct strings. The skipping of the B string and then adding it back in was throwing my pattern off. By slowing it down and using the 10x method I was able to get my fingers back in a good pattern. This is a great reminder for me to use this in everything that have a problem getting right… as in certain bars of House… and other songs.… Read more »
That’s great, Logan. Really pleased to hear it. I knew this bar could be problematic with the string skip, rhythmic shift, and legato, but glad it helped. It’s a good reminder of the power of 10x! Keep it up. 🙂
Hi Don, thanks, yeah it’s an original piece. I didn’t want to make it too long as there are multiple things going on in it, and it can be repeated (and varied if you want to), but I’m happy to extend it further if you all want me to. 🙂
Hi there. I’m from Sydney, Australia and my 1st guitar lesson was probably more than 20 years ago … and I’m still not very good. My practice is irregular. My current goal is to competently play Blackbird (by the Beatles).
Hi Neil, a big warm welcome to you. Glad you are here. Keep at it with this course, it will help all your playing and your fingerstyle, including being able to play any song like Blackbird smoother. All the best and let us know how you get on. 🙂
LOVE LOVE LOVE it…. been Woking on it and doing it very slowly and actually have it down pretty good. Now to build up the speed some… it does sound good done slowly as well. Thanks again for this one Dan!
That’s great, Logan. Some excellent progress already then. Keep enjoying it and feel free to develop it further and extend it if you like (I may extend this piece myself if everyone wants me to.) 🙂
A huge well done to the Leaderboard winners for April 2025. Those were Gold – Jim Davis, Silver – Teresa Halvorson-Fox, and Bronze – Don Mehan. (Plus, the best comment prize goes to Stephen Russo for his comment HERE). Was hard to choose a best comment but that was a great one. I will be in touch with the prizes! 🙂
When listening to music at the gym, I heard Johnny Cash’s version of “I Walk the Line”. While not so inspiring as Tom Dooley, the bass line made me think of Travis Picking. The bass should be easy to learn, and the melody should be doable, though there are some key changes.
I have been trying to learn the guitar for 50 years, but it has never clicked. I have decided to give it one last go. So today i put on a set of new strings, tuned the guitar and I will allocate time everyday and try my best to do this. Fingers crossed something clicks this time. I will let you know how its going after seven days. Wish me luck
Hi Michael, welcome aboard. Very pleased to hear you are back to it and willing to give it what it takes. Keep going after the 7 days, you will see a difference but keep at it, the biggest differences will come the more you use the course and lessons. Most of all, enjoy! 🙂
Hey Dan – I went to look at the new class covers today and discovered the Retired Courses and this message: ”Note: To keep the site clean and uncluttered, I will be removing these “Retired” courses from the site by the end of 2025 so if you still want them please download the courses. (Rest assured all other courses will remain on the site).” Do you have any advice on how to download them? There are four on my page. One I have completed, one I haven’t started and two I definitely want to keep. But I have no idea… Read more »
Hi Teresa, I will be updating those courses with download links soon. Just need to get the links sorted and checked. I’ll send out an email when this is done too and rest assured you’ll have plenty of time to get them. Hope that is okay. 🙂
I’m really having difficulty with the A shape barre chord. My ring finger doesnt bend back the way yours does so I can’t cover all the strings for the A shape. In the simplified version I have difficulty stretching my middle, ring and pinky fingers up two frets. I can do the rest of the shapes. Should I just practice the three shapes that I can do and give up on the A shape?
What you mention is fairly common. The A shape is tough and not enough people talk about that. I wouldn’t give up on it entirely, but probably would take a break from it, and perfect the others even more. Then, when you come back to the A shape fresh, you will be better for it. Plus, you can do the 3 finger version of the A shape which has two options (1 – play it as power chord or 2 – play the D, G, B strings and lose the root note). Both work for different situations. Let me know… Read more »
Nice lesson! The Hammer-ons and pull offs are a challenge but they are worth the effort.
The mood that the piece evokes is something to build on.
Excited to keep exploring with this.
I’ve been working on Bluesmas1 since December and finally have all those down. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on Bluesmas 2 and have them all pretty well learned, except for the final Travis picking one, which I’m still working on. It was fun to see that I already know number 5 because I’ve been working on Sweet Double Stop Blues quite a lot. I’ve so enjoyed learning these little riffs.
It’s the middle of April and I’m still working on this piece, as well as the Minor King Blues. I like both of them and want to add them to my repertoire as memorized pieces. I find this one to be particularly fun, and although it still needs a little polishing, I’m getting there and enjoying the journey.
Thanks, Rich. Pleased you like this. For sure, will do, love it when members enjoy the creative side of things. It’s great for pushing your musical skills forward. Keep having fun with it! 🙂
Hi Dan, This is really a blast! I do hardly any strumming, so I figured I’d pass on this one… Then I decided to give it a go and so glad I did. It really opens up a lot of possibilities. I like the idea of using the pick on variation 1 and then doing it without the pick – both are fun. Also, on variation 3 I love that it shows how strumming on different locations can really change the sound. Great lesson!!! Cheers
Hi Logan, thanks. Very pleased to hear it. I know, strumming is something we can easily forget to work on but there’s a lot of fun to be had with it! Very happy to know you are enjoying these. Great you enjoyed the variation on where to strum too – little things that make a big difference. Keep enjoying it! 🙂
Hi, I am Keith Siddle. pushing 90 come end of August. I live at Brigsley DN37 0RH, North East Lincolnshire. Ive been Learning slowly for c 2years , I already have a quality video course,and am around two thirds through that. My aim is to be able to play well enough for my own entertainment and friends and family occasions, no stage ambions of course. just want to be reasonably goo periodsd at it, and Satisfy my ego. I Started after losing my/our superb 15.25yrs old Springer Spaniel, Liver and White, Danny, and a great companion sadly Missed. I thought… Read more »
Hi Keith, welcome to the course. Pleased you are here and I hope you enjoy it. It’s such a shame when a pet passes away. I hope the guitar helps. We used to have a springer spaniel called Tyler. He was ace. I hope you enjoy the course and do let us know how you get on! 🙂
Amazing! Whilst playing this I feel like a real musician…This sounds just like a never-ending stream that flows gently through the valley. Thank you Dan for teaching “musicality”..its rare treasure.👍 Love it.
That’s great. Love the comparison you made to it being like a never ending stream. That is the beauty of creativity, it can keep flowing in different directions. 🙂
This is so beautiful…. am just loving these lessons on the high E string in EM.What a beautiful scale. This piece, as you say, has so many different elements to focus on.. it is immediately beautifully sounding even without the hammer on & pull offs…. & a lovely piece to practice them on. Great goal! GO PINKIE!
Thanks again Dan for such interesting lessons.
Thanks, Diane. My pleasure. Very pleased you are enjoying the sound of it and can see the layers in it. I love short pieces that work multiple elements and that are both fun for students and myself to play. Keep enjoying it and well done for your progress so far. 🙂
This piece sounds ultra-cool and sort of mysterious. However, it’s going to be a real challenge to get my pinkie to make much of a hammer-on sound, especially where the fourth and fifth fingers are trying to work together.
Glad you like it and yeah, I know what you mean about the mysterious edge to it. Do be patient with the pinkie hammers. They will need isolated practice (using the 10x Method ideally) but if you keep at it diligently, by the end of the month you will see big progress, I am confident. 🙂
Love this one Dan…. It’s going to be a challenge getting the G A B section down… but I love that you used the 10X method with this lesson – that will be a great tool in nailing this one! Thanks!
Ace. That is nice to hear. Yeah, that section will take a little more time than the rest but is worth the effort for sure. Delighted you see the benefit of it regarding the 10x method too! Nailing this with that method will be great and I’m sure will lead to even more effective practice in other pieces too. 🙂
Excellent challenge Dan. What I really like about it is that it is going to help me coordinate keeping the pattern in time while keeping the scale fretting correctly. I tend to let the two throw me off a lot, and this is already helping. I’m anxious to see where this goes with getting the scale and pattern smooth and then getting into the creativity part. It’s awesome how using something this simple can go a long way in improving my coordination of both hands working together. GREAT Challange Dan!!! Cheers
Cheers, Logan. You’ve hit the nail on the head with how simple things can go a long way. It really will. Keep enjoying it on a simple level and then add the slightly more intricate stuff in bit by bit, and above all, have fun with it, which I know you will. 🙂
I like this piece Dan. Fun to play. Question: in part one you mention to alternate your index finger and middle finger with the high E string. Bit of a challenge which I obviously could get down with some practice. But it’s much easier for me to just use my middle finger and it sounds just as good in my opinion. Is there an advantage to alternating your index and middle finger in this piece? Thanks.
Pleased to hear it, Don. Good question. Some pieces you can pick using one finger and that works – usually if the tempo is not too fast or everything is on the same string… but the alternating middle and index finger picking is a good habit to develop, as it will help when you play faster pieces or have to pluck melodies on adjacent strings. I hope that helps and makes sense. 🙂
Cool exercise Dan. Helps that I already learned your tutorial for “Spanish Romance”
part 1, that uses part of that strumming pattern in this two minute challenge. Good stuff.
Cheers, Don. Pleased you liked it and any time you learn something from elsewhere, it’s a good thing to jam it and adapt it in this sort of way if that makes sense. 🙂
Big congratulations to the Leaderboard winners for March 2025. Those were Gold – Jim Davis, Silver – Michel Lafontaine, and Bronze – Denise Gillard. (Plus, the best comment prize goes to Leslie Denning for her comment HERE). I’ll be in touch with these about the prizes! Well done to everyone for the progress made this month. 🙂
I love Eric Clapton!! Tears in Heaven. So heartfelt, the loss of his son. He turned an awful tragedy into something beautiful with that song.
Music is the greatest love of my life.
Great tips Dan super duper 😀
Cheers, Angie. Glad to hear you like the lesson. Keep coming back to it too. 🙂
Hi, everyone. I wanted to start us off with a comment to get the ball rolling. I would LOVE it if you could leave a short comment introducing yourself to the other members. I’m Dan Thorpe, from Birmingham, UK (not Alabama!). I love fingerpicking – Paul Simon, James Taylor, Tommy Emmanuel and about a gazillion others! My favourite thing about playing guitar is having some quiet time to play for myself (music is a great outlet for everything in life) and to jam with my 4 year old boy, Archie! I used to be terrible at guitar but after years… Read more »
Hey everyone, I would love to know what lessons you would like to learn. More on fingerpicking, Travis picking, chord changes, theory, jamming???… you name it, leave your ideas below!! This is the place to do so.
Hi Dan, I am an intermediate player, but am fascinated about finger style, and very anxious to get started. But i must admit i do struggle a bit with the dreaded Barr Chords, but am improving a bit. I am a Viet Nam vet, who suffers from PTSD, I am very private, so if you don’t hear much from me please understand. Thanks
Steve
Hi Steve, thanks for getting in touch. It`s great to have you here. Barre chords are tough but do make sure you take your time and use good technique with them.
No problem at all regarding being private and I hope you are doing well regarding the PTSD. Just know that the comments section and the mini-forum is there for you when needed. All the best.
I would love to see some lessons on guitar slaps and slides please. That is if you possibly find time in your busy schedule.
Cool, for sure, let us know some more details. What sort of slaps and slides? The crazy stuff or solid on beats 2 and 4 type thing? What sort of guitarists have inspired this? (I ask, so I know I’m on the right path). 🙂
No particular artist comes to mind but I would say on beats 2 and 4 nothing crazy (yet). Slapping all the strings I find okay, it’s the thumb slap I have trouble with on the low E A strings.
I have come across slaps in the odd piece of music, done right sounds amazing. Just something I would like to add to my repertoire.
Ah, okay cool, thanks for letting me know. The slaps on beats 2 and 4 are very cool. The grooves these can add are great. Will get something ready on this. 🙂
If you would like to submit a video, you can add it to your comment by including a video LINK (for example, a YouTube, Vimeo, or Dropbox link). (Email Dan for help if you get stuck uploading a video)
YouTube and Vimeo links are the preferred video format. Make sure that your links are set to unlisted (not private!) and then only we will see it.
Post your video below…
Hopefully, you have all noticed the new comments section at the bottom of each page in the DTAA! I would love for you to comment, ask questions and say “hi”!
I have been watching your pull offs on other videos for other lessons. It always looks like you are really just lifting your finger. I had to come back here to see that you were doing what I thought you were. Yep, you just make it look effortless.
It’s all just technique and repetition with focus. Getting good at these techniques, was a case of doing them over and over in a slow, focused way, like an early version of the 10x method. Keep doing the same 🙂
I am really enjoying these little musical interludes that have special techniques in them. I have a bunch of them (several are days from this course, some are from DTAA) in a special Just Messing About section of my notebook. It is fun just to pull them out and play them one after another – I find it a relaxing and fun way to practice techniques like hammer ons, pull offs, slides, etc.
Great stuff. I like how you are organised with the lessons. Definitely something worth doing! That’s great that you enjoy them like this. Keep it up. 🙂
I’m feeling very successful with this one. I was able to follow and stay with you on the second run through the video. Kinda love “the groove” and wonder where I can apply this to my repertorie. Maybe some Dylan songs. Cool lesson. Thanks, Sensei, on a good day that your Claret and Blue beat Tottingham.
Good stuff. It’s great when you “lock in” with the groove. You can apply this to anything you like really, songs or jams of your own, your own versions of songs, Dylan would work, and it is a cool strum for any song where the original has a pretty boring straight strum pattern – this will spice it up. Yeah, the Aston Villa lads are doing well! One more game to go! 🙂
I enjoy this little piece. It’s very soulful yet not too difficult to play. Just working on getting the hammers to fit smoothly with the rest of the piece.
That’s great to know. Glad you like it and keep enjoying the process of smoothing it out. 🙂
Love all the strumming tips. Would also love tips on walking between chords!
Thanks, pleased to hear it. For sure, that will be a great lesson! 🙂
These are fun and very doable. I tried them on two pretty different guitars. It was a lot of fun!
That’s great to know. Always fun to compare how things sound and feel on different guitars too! 🙂
Dan, I really need this type of training…as much as you can provide will be appreciated. Thank you.
Great stuff, Rich. I think every musician out there can get a lot of benefit from more rhythm work, so I’ll be sure to be providing this for the DTAA members. Will be fun. 🙂
I love this pattern – it is one of my favorites. But the third measure of level one doesn’t sound good to me – it stops me in my tracks each time.
Ok, now I am going to take that back . . . A little more practice and I am playing it faster and it sounds much better. (Also playing on a different guitar so that may have something to do with it too).
That’s good. One thing to be aware of in that measure is the two B notes played directly after each other (4th fret G string and open B). Any slight tuning issue can make the notes clash. It may be that playing the G string open sounds even better. 🙂
Hi Dan First of all I would like to wish you a belated happy birthday. I’m sorry I missed it. I hope it was a great one and that you and Archie are both doing well! The reason I am writing today is to talk about stepping away from guitar for a bit. I’m not sure if you track your students online or not but you may have noticed that I have not logged in very often lately. Back in October I had open heart surgery. I had the aortic valve replaced as well as a double bypass. I had… Read more »
Hi Danimal. Thank you for the birthday wishes — and for sharing what you’ve been going through. I’m sorry to hear what you had to go through. Stepping away was likely the right call. You protected your love for the guitar by giving yourself space. Of course, you haven’t let me down one bit. I’m really glad to hear you’re in a better place now and ready to pick it back up. Let’s ease back in and make it fun again. Looking forward to it and thanks again. 🙂
Love this lesson— beautiful, moody little piece and actually much more manageable to play than it sounds. Please continue into a longer version!
Very happy to hear you like it so much. Great stuff, and for sure, will create a more extended version of this. Will be lots of fun to do. 🙂
Dan, I was intimidated when I heard you play this, but you broke it down into something manageable. I can play all of the bars, but I need to work on putting them together and adding some tempo. I love it. I’ve worked on each month’s content without yet becoming a master of any. But skill development is happening. And other stuff’s getting easier. Happy Unbirthday, amigo.
Hi Tom, thanks, so pleased that you got past the intimidated feeling. One thing I LOVE to hear is what you mentioned here… How breaking it down and working on each skill/technique drives progress and gives belief you can do it. Really good stuff and I hope you take lots of confidence from this. Well done. 🙂
Love all these strumming tips & the ones from last month too Dan.
would love some song suggestions to practise them on, or should I just try to apply them to various songs?
Happy to hear it. If a song is already a strummed song with a pretty flat down up rhythm, the main pattern from this lesson will spice it up. To be honest, you can choose literally any song out there and apply these ideas to them I find. Just get the chords (or work them out by ear) and get jamming. That will give you your own spin on them. 🙂
Sounds beautiful Dan.. If i can get it sounding like yours I’ll be a very happy girl.
thanks for teaching us how to do it in bite size pieces. This will be fun & interesting to work on.
Thanks, Diane. I have total confidence you will do so. Keep at it and keep learning and practising it in the bite size pieces. Enjoy! 🙂
Great training. It’s surprising how easy it is to get out of rhythm. This is so simple and such a good way to practise the changing rhythm patterns.its good Dan thanks.
Very true. So easy to let the rhythm slide, just like it’s easy to forget to practice rhythm training. This will help though and glad you’ve found it helpful so far. 🙂
Very nice!
Glad you like it. 🙂
This is really nice and useful material Dan…I appreciate it. Thanks.
Great stuff, Rich. Cheers, and glad you like it. 🙂
I admit I haven’t done this kind of rhythm training in a while. Thanks for keeping us on track!
That’s great it is helping. I do find small and regular doses of rhythm training can go a long way. 🙂
this really helpful, especially for the timing. Thanks, Dan!
That’s great to know. Always love to hear how everyone gets on and the progress they make with the 10x Method. 🙂
Great stuff, Dan! Love this.
Thanks, Sharon. Pleased to hear it. 🙂
Very cool piece! Love what you’re doing here.
Cheers, pleased you like it. Hope you have lots of fun with it. 🙂
Strumming is my weakest skill, so this is something I def need help with. I like this one – keep em coming !
Glad to hear you like it, Larry. Nailing this technique, especially the main pattern, will help with your strumming, and it’s a fun pattern to play when you get the groove locked in fully. 🙂
Hi Dan… I really like the emphasis on the 10 times method especially on this one bar. I was having trouble using the correct picking fingers (keeping the M R P) on the correct strings. The skipping of the B string and then adding it back in was throwing my pattern off. By slowing it down and using the 10x method I was able to get my fingers back in a good pattern. This is a great reminder for me to use this in everything that have a problem getting right… as in certain bars of House… and other songs.… Read more »
That’s great, Logan. Really pleased to hear it. I knew this bar could be problematic with the string skip, rhythmic shift, and legato, but glad it helped. It’s a good reminder of the power of 10x! Keep it up. 🙂
That is a very cool piece. Is that your arrangement Dan? If so, please come up with another 15 seconds or so. Don’t leave us hanging. 😁 Beautiful.
Hi Don, thanks, yeah it’s an original piece. I didn’t want to make it too long as there are multiple things going on in it, and it can be repeated (and varied if you want to), but I’m happy to extend it further if you all want me to. 🙂
Hi there. I’m from Sydney, Australia and my 1st guitar lesson was probably more than 20 years ago … and I’m still not very good. My practice is irregular. My current goal is to competently play Blackbird (by the Beatles).
Hi Neil, a big warm welcome to you. Glad you are here. Keep at it with this course, it will help all your playing and your fingerstyle, including being able to play any song like Blackbird smoother. All the best and let us know how you get on. 🙂
DAN!!!! The after version is beautiful!!!! I love it and am looking forward to playing it!
Cheers…
Cheers, Logan. Pleased to hear it. Hope you get a lot of fun and inspiration with this. 🙂
LOVE LOVE LOVE it…. been Woking on it and doing it very slowly and actually have it down pretty good. Now to build up the speed some… it does sound good done slowly as well. Thanks again for this one Dan!
That’s great, Logan. Some excellent progress already then. Keep enjoying it and feel free to develop it further and extend it if you like (I may extend this piece myself if everyone wants me to.) 🙂
That’s awesome Dan – I was actually going to mention this would be great as a longer piece.
Take care ….
Cheers Logan. Will be fun to extend it 🙂
A huge well done to the Leaderboard winners for April 2025. Those were Gold – Jim Davis, Silver – Teresa Halvorson-Fox, and Bronze – Don Mehan. (Plus, the best comment prize goes to Stephen Russo for his comment HERE). Was hard to choose a best comment but that was a great one. I will be in touch with the prizes! 🙂
When listening to music at the gym, I heard Johnny Cash’s version of “I Walk the Line”. While not so inspiring as Tom Dooley, the bass line made me think of Travis Picking. The bass should be easy to learn, and the melody should be doable, though there are some key changes.
I have been trying to learn the guitar for 50 years, but it has never clicked. I have decided to give it one last go. So today i put on a set of new strings, tuned the guitar and I will allocate time everyday and try my best to do this. Fingers crossed something clicks this time. I will let you know how its going after seven days. Wish me luck
Hi Michael, welcome aboard. Very pleased to hear you are back to it and willing to give it what it takes. Keep going after the 7 days, you will see a difference but keep at it, the biggest differences will come the more you use the course and lessons. Most of all, enjoy! 🙂
Hey Dan – I went to look at the new class covers today and discovered the Retired Courses and this message: ”Note: To keep the site clean and uncluttered, I will be removing these “Retired” courses from the site by the end of 2025 so if you still want them please download the courses. (Rest assured all other courses will remain on the site).” Do you have any advice on how to download them? There are four on my page. One I have completed, one I haven’t started and two I definitely want to keep. But I have no idea… Read more »
Hi Teresa, I will be updating those courses with download links soon. Just need to get the links sorted and checked. I’ll send out an email when this is done too and rest assured you’ll have plenty of time to get them. Hope that is okay. 🙂
That is awesome! I knew you would take care of it!
I’m really having difficulty with the A shape barre chord. My ring finger doesnt bend back the way yours does so I can’t cover all the strings for the A shape. In the simplified version I have difficulty stretching my middle, ring and pinky fingers up two frets. I can do the rest of the shapes. Should I just practice the three shapes that I can do and give up on the A shape?
What you mention is fairly common. The A shape is tough and not enough people talk about that. I wouldn’t give up on it entirely, but probably would take a break from it, and perfect the others even more. Then, when you come back to the A shape fresh, you will be better for it. Plus, you can do the 3 finger version of the A shape which has two options (1 – play it as power chord or 2 – play the D, G, B strings and lose the root note). Both work for different situations. Let me know… Read more »
sounds good! Thanks Dan! I’ll try working on the A shape by playing the D, G, and B strings without the root and high E strings. This I can do!
Glad to hear it, Denise. Yes, that is a good method. Keep it up, you’ll nail it and then can build from there later on with it. 🙂
Nice lesson! The Hammer-ons and pull offs are a challenge but they are worth the effort.
The mood that the piece evokes is something to build on.
Excited to keep exploring with this.
That’s great to know you’re enjoying it. Great for technique (now and in the future) so keep it up. Pleased you enjoy the mood of it too! Well done. 🙂
I’ve been working on Bluesmas1 since December and finally have all those down. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on Bluesmas 2 and have them all pretty well learned, except for the final Travis picking one, which I’m still working on. It was fun to see that I already know number 5 because I’ve been working on Sweet Double Stop Blues quite a lot. I’ve so enjoyed learning these little riffs.
That’s great. Sounds like you’re making some really good progress! Keep it up and keep having fun with the blues. Great stuff! 🙂
It’s the middle of April and I’m still working on this piece, as well as the Minor King Blues. I like both of them and want to add them to my repertoire as memorized pieces. I find this one to be particularly fun, and although it still needs a little polishing, I’m getting there and enjoying the journey.
Ah, that’s great. Pleased you are enjoying it and getting joy from it. Keep it up and hope you enjoy these forever! 🙂
Dan, this is really interesting…please continue to include more lessons with info like this. It challenges dexterity and creativity. Thx.
Thanks, Rich. Pleased you like this. For sure, will do, love it when members enjoy the creative side of things. It’s great for pushing your musical skills forward. Keep having fun with it! 🙂
Hi Dan, This is really a blast! I do hardly any strumming, so I figured I’d pass on this one… Then I decided to give it a go and so glad I did. It really opens up a lot of possibilities. I like the idea of using the pick on variation 1 and then doing it without the pick – both are fun. Also, on variation 3 I love that it shows how strumming on different locations can really change the sound. Great lesson!!! Cheers
Hi Logan, thanks. Very pleased to hear it. I know, strumming is something we can easily forget to work on but there’s a lot of fun to be had with it! Very happy to know you are enjoying these. Great you enjoyed the variation on where to strum too – little things that make a big difference. Keep enjoying it! 🙂
Hi, I am Keith Siddle. pushing 90 come end of August. I live at Brigsley DN37 0RH, North East Lincolnshire. Ive been Learning slowly for c 2years , I already have a quality video course,and am around two thirds through that. My aim is to be able to play well enough for my own entertainment and friends and family occasions, no stage ambions of course. just want to be reasonably goo periodsd at it, and Satisfy my ego. I Started after losing my/our superb 15.25yrs old Springer Spaniel, Liver and White, Danny, and a great companion sadly Missed. I thought… Read more »
Hi Keith, welcome to the course. Pleased you are here and I hope you enjoy it. It’s such a shame when a pet passes away. I hope the guitar helps. We used to have a springer spaniel called Tyler. He was ace. I hope you enjoy the course and do let us know how you get on! 🙂
Amazing! Whilst playing this I feel like a real musician…This sounds just like a never-ending stream that flows gently through the valley. Thank you Dan for teaching “musicality”..its rare treasure.👍 Love it.
That’s great. Love the comparison you made to it being like a never ending stream. That is the beauty of creativity, it can keep flowing in different directions. 🙂
This is so beautiful…. am just loving these lessons on the high E string in EM.What a beautiful scale. This piece, as you say, has so many different elements to focus on.. it is immediately beautifully sounding even without the hammer on & pull offs…. & a lovely piece to practice them on. Great goal! GO PINKIE!
Thanks again Dan for such interesting lessons.
Thanks, Diane. My pleasure. Very pleased you are enjoying the sound of it and can see the layers in it. I love short pieces that work multiple elements and that are both fun for students and myself to play. Keep enjoying it and well done for your progress so far. 🙂
Great piece. May take several 10x’s!
Cheers. Yeah, this piece will definitely encourage use of the 10x Method for most (as well as encouraging patience (Keep having fun too!). 🙂
Glad you like it and yeah, I know what you mean about the mysterious edge to it. Do be patient with the pinkie hammers. They will need isolated practice (using the 10x Method ideally) but if you keep at it diligently, by the end of the month you will see big progress, I am confident. 🙂
Love this one Dan…. It’s going to be a challenge getting the G A B section down… but I love that you used the 10X method with this lesson – that will be a great tool in nailing this one! Thanks!
Ace. That is nice to hear. Yeah, that section will take a little more time than the rest but is worth the effort for sure. Delighted you see the benefit of it regarding the 10x method too! Nailing this with that method will be great and I’m sure will lead to even more effective practice in other pieces too. 🙂
Excellent challenge Dan. What I really like about it is that it is going to help me coordinate keeping the pattern in time while keeping the scale fretting correctly. I tend to let the two throw me off a lot, and this is already helping. I’m anxious to see where this goes with getting the scale and pattern smooth and then getting into the creativity part. It’s awesome how using something this simple can go a long way in improving my coordination of both hands working together. GREAT Challange Dan!!! Cheers
Cheers, Logan. You’ve hit the nail on the head with how simple things can go a long way. It really will. Keep enjoying it on a simple level and then add the slightly more intricate stuff in bit by bit, and above all, have fun with it, which I know you will. 🙂
I like this piece Dan. Fun to play. Question: in part one you mention to alternate your index finger and middle finger with the high E string. Bit of a challenge which I obviously could get down with some practice. But it’s much easier for me to just use my middle finger and it sounds just as good in my opinion. Is there an advantage to alternating your index and middle finger in this piece? Thanks.
Pleased to hear it, Don. Good question. Some pieces you can pick using one finger and that works – usually if the tempo is not too fast or everything is on the same string… but the alternating middle and index finger picking is a good habit to develop, as it will help when you play faster pieces or have to pluck melodies on adjacent strings. I hope that helps and makes sense. 🙂
Cool exercise Dan. Helps that I already learned your tutorial for “Spanish Romance”
part 1, that uses part of that strumming pattern in this two minute challenge. Good stuff.
Cheers, Don. Pleased you liked it and any time you learn something from elsewhere, it’s a good thing to jam it and adapt it in this sort of way if that makes sense. 🙂
Great exercise Dan. Simple, but it makes you think and explore. Thanks.
Thanks, Rich. Glad it’s helpful in getting you exploring. Keep it up. 🙂
This was fun!
Pleased to hear it, Susan. 🙂
Big congratulations to the Leaderboard winners for March 2025. Those were Gold – Jim Davis, Silver – Michel Lafontaine, and Bronze – Denise Gillard. (Plus, the best comment prize goes to Leslie Denning for her comment HERE). I’ll be in touch with these about the prizes! Well done to everyone for the progress made this month. 🙂
The rolled chord sounds lovely. I’ve done it with a pick before but never with my fingers.
Glad to hear it. Yeah, it’s a subtle technique but makes such a difference I find. Pleased you like it. 🙂
The first riff on Sunshine sounds like a piano!
How did you get that tone?
I honestly can’t remember. I think it may be the settings in the audio processor – there may have been some crazy compression on. 🙂
I love Eric Clapton!! Tears in Heaven. So heartfelt, the loss of his son. He turned an awful tragedy into something beautiful with that song.
Music is the greatest love of my life.
He really did. Such a sad, tragic event. Great song with a lot of power and meaning for sure.