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”!
Hi, I’m Steve, been playing on and off for over 15 years. Still can’t play a full song. Really like Fingerstyle and I plan to really work on this and stick with it. I live in AZ, if anyone is in this area give me a shout.
Glad to hear it. Yeah, much more practical I find and definitely helps with the association of hearing notes in relation to the fretboard. Plus, can help learn the note names too. Cheers. 🙂
I had no musical training in my childhood, but have thought a lot recently about how useful it would have been. And this is exactly what I had envisioned I might have done with a piano, given a teacher back then. Cool stuff!
Thanks. Yeah, a lot of musicians get trained in this sort of thing but for some reason guitar tuition often lacks ear training, instead people preferring to teach via TAB for fast results. Ear training though, although harder, definitely gives excellent medium and long-term results. 🙂
My problem here is stretching the pinkie to fret five on the B while holding the second fret on the D string. I’m switching from the barre A to just using my index on the D and pinkie on the B. Tough. Otherwise, this isn’t too tough. Any advice? I’m almost frustrated enough to abandon this.
It is a big stretch. You can use a capo to practice the piece at around fret 3 or 4. That will shorten the distance the pinkie has to stretch. You can then move the capo down one fret at a time until you get comfortable. Otherwise, you can play the E on the open high E string instead of fret 5 of the B string as mentioned in the TAB and video. It’s a good option but it means the picking hand has to make a change of strings. Let us know how you get on. 🙂
I could have figured this out myself, Dan. It was just easier to get frustrated. I learned that, and the workaround here is WAY easier than that stretch (and more possible!). Thanks for the guidance, Sensei.
I know what you mean, Tom and that is not uncommon (been there myself). Of course, always ask if you’re unsure, and pleased you’re finding it easier! 🙂
This is a fun and challenging exercise. As a person who enjoys singing and playing, this exercise is useful to slow things down and help me feel connected to the sound of the guitar .Thanks Dan!
Super pleased to hear it. Great name for it too. If I ever record the EP I plan on one day, I’d like this piece to be in it. Maybe that would be a good name for it. 🙂
LOVE IT. it flows beautifully Dan. It’s a very sweet. Thank you for creating the bridge so quickly after the first piece. Thank you so much for this beautiful piece, its amazing.
That’s great. Delighted to hear it. My pleasure. It was a joy to create and I hope you get many hours of fun from it, as well as inspiration for anything you ever want to create, or songs you want to spice up. 🙂
hi Dan , just going over this again & want to say that I love it when you explain the timing & count it out . That helps me a great deal to get it right from the beginning until I get the timing right.
so thanks for that.
Hi Diane, pleased to hear it and glad the counting helps. Will look to do more of this for sure but also if you need a specific counting video, that could be something I could do – it would help for everything. Let us know if you’d like that. 🙂
Congratulations to the May 2025 Leaderboard winners! Gold goes to Teresa Halvorson-Fox, Silver to Jim Davis, and Bronze to Dawna Brissette. A special shoutout to Dan Garrioch for winning the Best Comment prize with his heartfelt message HERE.
I’ll be in touch regarding the prizes. Well done to the winners—and to all members! 🙂
Dave Jellison in Dallas, TX – but Dan might remember me when I was in Zurich, Switzerland. I’m now 69 and been somewhat musical my whole life – choir, piano as a kid, and later picked up guitar with some friends and even played in church services. I absolutely enjoy messing around with guitars and piano now, but want to take it more intentionally and improve dramatically. I realize the key is to make sure it is fun, and not turn into the bad old days of dreading practice sessions.
Hi Dave, welcome back. That’s a really interesting history with music you have. I know what you mean. The key is to keep it fun. Every day for the next month at least, ensure you do something you enjoy each day on the guitar. Don’t force the progress, at this stage, you will likely see progress come with the fun if that makes sense. Cheers. 🙂
I went back through my DTAA lessons and revisited all the Dyads, Triads, power chords and barre chord lessons. I think I just made a jump in my understanding of theory.
Beautiful,
As Leslie said what a sweet soulful piece & not too difficult yes great piece for practicing & refining hammers, pull offs & vibrato. Nice thank you Dan.really enjoy this piece.
I have been using these two exercises to ‘equalize’ my two very different guitars. Lately, I mostly play on a 60s/70’s classical guitar (nylon GBE) of unknown origin. But I also have a fairly new steel string Seagull guitar that I bought myself a few years ago. It is more difficult to play – dreadnaught size, thicker strings, thinner neck so strings closer together – but has a gorgeous sound and I know I can play it because I used it exclusively before I was given the vintage classical. This is an excellent practice piece for getting back to being… Read more »
That’s great to know. Always fun playing things on different guitars. It’s always an eye-opener I find, in terms of highlighting pieces and techniques, when using different guitars. Keep enjoying the piece! 🙂
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.
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”!
Hi, I’m Steve, been playing on and off for over 15 years. Still can’t play a full song. Really like Fingerstyle and I plan to really work on this and stick with it. I live in AZ, if anyone is in this area give me a shout.
I like this method of ear training – much better than any of the apps I found. Could use it t9 help learn the fretboard too.
Glad to hear it. Yeah, much more practical I find and definitely helps with the association of hearing notes in relation to the fretboard. Plus, can help learn the note names too. Cheers. 🙂
I had no musical training in my childhood, but have thought a lot recently about how useful it would have been. And this is exactly what I had envisioned I might have done with a piano, given a teacher back then. Cool stuff!
Thanks. Yeah, a lot of musicians get trained in this sort of thing but for some reason guitar tuition often lacks ear training, instead people preferring to teach via TAB for fast results. Ear training though, although harder, definitely gives excellent medium and long-term results. 🙂
My problem here is stretching the pinkie to fret five on the B while holding the second fret on the D string. I’m switching from the barre A to just using my index on the D and pinkie on the B. Tough. Otherwise, this isn’t too tough. Any advice? I’m almost frustrated enough to abandon this.
It is a big stretch. You can use a capo to practice the piece at around fret 3 or 4. That will shorten the distance the pinkie has to stretch. You can then move the capo down one fret at a time until you get comfortable. Otherwise, you can play the E on the open high E string instead of fret 5 of the B string as mentioned in the TAB and video. It’s a good option but it means the picking hand has to make a change of strings. Let us know how you get on. 🙂
Thanks, Sensei. Great suggestion. The fretting hand is the big problem.
No problem, Tom. Glad you find it useful. Keep trying these suggestions and the fretting hand will behave. 🙂
I could have figured this out myself, Dan. It was just easier to get frustrated. I learned that, and the workaround here is WAY easier than that stretch (and more possible!). Thanks for the guidance, Sensei.
I know what you mean, Tom and that is not uncommon (been there myself). Of course, always ask if you’re unsure, and pleased you’re finding it easier! 🙂
This is a fun and challenging exercise. As a person who enjoys singing and playing, this exercise is useful to slow things down and help me feel connected to the sound of the guitar .Thanks Dan!
Cheers, Stephen. Thanks, and pleased to hear it. Yeah, good for the ear, the voice, and getting a better connection for sure. Keep at it. 🙂
Challenging for me Dan, but I will be practising this to improve my ear training.
Good to know a simple way to do this so it will work for me.
It is definitely a challenge and not easy at first but I’m glad you like it and can see the benefits. Keep at it and you will see results. 🙂
Really nice Dan, this is fun to play and it sounds very pleasing to the ear.
Thanks, Rich. Really pleased you enjoy both playing it and listening to it. Keep it up. 🙂
This is the cherry on top for last month’s lesson. I love playing it all the way through. I’ve decided to call this piece “Misty Autumn.”
Super pleased to hear it. Great name for it too. If I ever record the EP I plan on one day, I’d like this piece to be in it. Maybe that would be a good name for it. 🙂
LOVE IT. it flows beautifully Dan. It’s a very sweet. Thank you for creating the bridge so quickly after the first piece. Thank you so much for this beautiful piece, its amazing.
That’s great. Delighted to hear it. My pleasure. It was a joy to create and I hope you get many hours of fun from it, as well as inspiration for anything you ever want to create, or songs you want to spice up. 🙂
hi Dan , just going over this again & want to say that I love it when you explain the timing & count it out . That helps me a great deal to get it right from the beginning until I get the timing right.
so thanks for that.
Hi Diane, pleased to hear it and glad the counting helps. Will look to do more of this for sure but also if you need a specific counting video, that could be something I could do – it would help for everything. Let us know if you’d like that. 🙂
Fun little groove, Dan. Thanks!
Glad to hear it, Jim. Hope you enjoy. 🙂
Beautiful Dan!!! I can’t wait to start on this!!! AWESOME!!!
Cheers, Logan. I hope you have loads of fun with this. I know you will! 🙂
Congratulations to the May 2025 Leaderboard winners! Gold goes to Teresa Halvorson-Fox, Silver to Jim Davis, and Bronze to Dawna Brissette. A special shoutout to Dan Garrioch for winning the Best Comment prize with his heartfelt message HERE.
I’ll be in touch regarding the prizes. Well done to the winners—and to all members! 🙂
Dave Jellison in Dallas, TX – but Dan might remember me when I was in Zurich, Switzerland. I’m now 69 and been somewhat musical my whole life – choir, piano as a kid, and later picked up guitar with some friends and even played in church services. I absolutely enjoy messing around with guitars and piano now, but want to take it more intentionally and improve dramatically. I realize the key is to make sure it is fun, and not turn into the bad old days of dreading practice sessions.
Hi Dave, welcome back. That’s a really interesting history with music you have. I know what you mean. The key is to keep it fun. Every day for the next month at least, ensure you do something you enjoy each day on the guitar. Don’t force the progress, at this stage, you will likely see progress come with the fun if that makes sense. Cheers. 🙂
Something clicked for me here today! I love it when that happens!
I went back through my DTAA lessons and revisited all the Dyads, Triads, power chords and barre chord lessons. I think I just made a jump in my understanding of theory.
Ah, I see. That’s really cool when the dots get connected. Love to hear of those moments. Well done! 🙂
That’s great to know. What was it? 🙂
Beautiful,
As Leslie said what a sweet soulful piece & not too difficult yes great piece for practicing & refining hammers, pull offs & vibrato. Nice thank you Dan.really enjoy this piece.
Cheers, Diane. Very pleased you are enjoying this and glad you are enjoying the skills involved. Keep up the great practice. 🙂
I have been using these two exercises to ‘equalize’ my two very different guitars. Lately, I mostly play on a 60s/70’s classical guitar (nylon GBE) of unknown origin. But I also have a fairly new steel string Seagull guitar that I bought myself a few years ago. It is more difficult to play – dreadnaught size, thicker strings, thinner neck so strings closer together – but has a gorgeous sound and I know I can play it because I used it exclusively before I was given the vintage classical. This is an excellent practice piece for getting back to being… Read more »
That’s great to know. Always fun playing things on different guitars. It’s always an eye-opener I find, in terms of highlighting pieces and techniques, when using different guitars. Keep enjoying the piece! 🙂
Those harmonic notes are cool!
Glad to hear it. Yeah, I love the sound of those too. 🙂
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! 🙂