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 became anxious and went through this chord progression lesson. Still working on the elementary strumming patterns, but like the idea of adding the Am F C G to the practice routine. No issues with fingerpicking those progressions. Great lesson!
This was so much fun!! It’s a perfect intro to the Blues Box and minor pentatonic scale. Truly less can be more!!! This alone was super helpful to me. It took away the overwhelm. I also loved playing along and would love more backing tracks to play along with. Thanks Dan for this awesome lesson!!! Looking forward to more!!!
Thanks, Krystal. Super pleased to hear this. Yeah, overwhelm can be horrible and as we all know there are countless things we can learn on the guitar. Sometimes stripping things back a little can go a long way. Glad you enjoyed and I will do more for sure. 🙂
I really like the flow of these lessons. The way you ease from one skill to the next level while emphasising the need to remember the basics is brilliant and much appreciated. It is going to take some time to integrate these strumming patterns into my repetoire. But as you stated: Practice, practice, practice. Thanks, Dan.
I am so loving learning Amazing Grace, a song that means so much to me. I was wondering though about whether I should be always picking the high E with my ring finger and B with my middle finger. I find I am sometimes “inter-changing” fingers when picking those strings. Am I creating a bad habit for myself by doing this? I also use a different finger occasionally than in the video with the fretting hand.It works for me but…. Any advice is very welcome. Loving Dan’s teaching.❤️
Great stuff, Joe. Super pleased to hear it. It is a wonderful song for sure. In terms of picking it, ideally I would say alternate your picking fingers between the index and middle for this piece. Using the high E string with the ring finger is ideal when playing fingerpicking patterns but for more melody based stuff, the index and middle fingers are ideal. Cheers and keep enjoying it! 🙂
Found in my travels this winter, people are more interested in hearing strumming than fingerpicking. So I am diving into strumming. My plan is to be able to strum well enough to keep people listening and intersperse fingerpicking songs. Although I still prefer to fingerpick. Glen Campbell’s “Gentle on My Mind” is coming along very well.
It’s interesting you say that. I think it depends on the situation. Strumming is great for outgoing singalong people – strumming songs can really come to the fore then. For more performance pieces I prefer fingerstyle but I digress. Strumming is great too and you have to learn what you like the most for sure. Glad to hear about your progress with it all! 🙂
Took me 11 minutes. 0 errors. I don’t know if that is good, bad or indifferent. But, it is a great exercise in learning the fretboard. Which is what I am working on. Thanks!
I had 15 of 16 correct. I was way off on # 16. E E C# B, to me, sounded like what I heard. Once I read the answers and replayed the notes, I discovered the error of my ways. lol
Thanks for the lesson Dan.
I had never put the Circle of Fifths and chord progressions together. Long ago, I had made a spreadsheet with all the major and minor keys and the notes of each key. Looking at the circle at first, I was confused as, for example, the key of C Major has no sharps or flats. I had to go back and research the Circle of Fifths to discover it is made up of notes a fifth apart which provide the best tonal harmony. Now, 1,5,6,4 in C sounds much better using the Am instead of the A major chord. Thanks Dan!
Very pleased it has helped, John. Yeah, a lot of theory can be confusing for sure but having some clear visual guides can really help. It’s great you studied the circle before and I’m pleased this lesson helped. 🙂
I enjoyed this lesson so much. It’s on my bucket list to learn to play the blues, but so many teachers start with pentatonic scales. It’s a whole lot easier to stick to a couple of notes.
I recognized the chord progression immediately! The intro to John Denver’s “The Eagle and The Hawk”. I had never attempted to learn it and here it is, handed to me on a platter! Thanks for the lesson Dan.
Maybe a temporary glitch. Can you try switching browsers (that can sometimes help with issues like this), or if you use a VPN that can be the cause. Please keep us posted though if it persists.
Never, ever understood this before, or even what it was for. I would run across it, look at it and go “Greek” – “leave it”. But it’s so simple and incredibly handy. Thanks!
That’s great. Really pleasing to know this as that was the aim – to take something possibly daunting and make it something you can confidently use. Great stuff, Larry. 🙂
Great stuff, cheers, Mike. Yeah, for sure, mixing the lead and chords will be a fun lesson. Will hopefully get on that soon. Keep enjoying the blues! 🙂
I am really enjoying these circle of fifth lessons. I get that theory isn’t everyone’s jam, but I really want to learn enough to be able to make my own music someday. One thing that I asked you a while ago is answered quickly on the circle – How do you find the relative minor? Still working through Guitarist Get Theory.
That’s great to know. The circle is super useful and the cool thing is everyone can get more understanding of music and more enjoyment from it using the circle. That can be studying songs, analysing them, or just jamming in different keys. Pleased you’re enjoying it. 🙂
Congratulations to Sandy Williams, Jim Davis, and Rich Augugliaro for winning Gold, Silver, and Bronze in the Leaderboard for April 2024! Prizes on the way to you and a big well done to everyone for the progress made in April! 🙂
Dan, you talk about learning the melody first and then adding base notes and filler notes. I have a song that was listed as easy guitar and it is totally just the melody notes. I can play them but I want to add some base notes and maybe even some filler notes to make the song sound better. I am not sure where to begin with that. Any suggestions?
Hi Teresa, sounds like a great song to do this for. The key is finding out the underlying chord for each bar. You can then take the root note from each chord and add it in on beat 1 of each bar along with the melody. There’s a little more detail on the method in this freebie I created some time back which you can check out HERE. Let me know if this was helpful. 🙂
Thanks! Very helpful. Worked on the first song and it sounds pretty good. Now I have a couple more I can use it on, including the ones I learned the melody- without-tab on.
That’s great, Rich. Well done. Yeah, it is a real challenge but very pleased you have stuck with it and you are seeing great progress. This will be a great song to play for years/forever so it’s worth it. Nice one. 🙂
Hi Dan been following the lessons starting with the 3 ps. Really tough going trying to correct the fundamentals. I know this is important for me to become a decent guitarist. This workout plan seems right. I will follow it and see how I progress. When my motivation is down I turn to listening to the stunning songs and tell myself that this is how I want play. Thanks Dan for giving this old man hope of becoming a better guitarist.
Hi Mike, you will absolutely correct those bad habits and great work keeping at it. If you keep on and keep using the lessons you will be well on your way. I love how you are keeping your inspiration topped up too. If you have any questions at any point, do please let us know. Happy to help. 🙂
Wow! Takes me back to when I was learning the double bass at school. It is so important to develop good left hand technique and I can see how regularly revisiting the sticky fingers and walking exercises is going to build that dexterity. On the double bass correct placement of the fingers and thumb, using the weight of the arm and avoiding a vice like hand grip means avoiding severe cramp in your hand and forearm, and also allows precise, accurate playing. I can see a very close similarity with working on correct fretting hand technique in guitar playing –… Read more »
Cheers, Peter. I can imagine how important these sort of skills are on double bass too! A lot of people who teach other string instruments mention these sort of things I find but not so much on the guitar. Still, it’s of course, super important on the guitar, and essential everyone gets these nailed. Thanks for the comment and good stuff applying all this. Keep up the good practice 🙂
Oddly enough, I was messing about with a version of Dust In The Wind right before the email came! What a fun little adventure you have created. Thanks!
Hi all. I’ve made a decision to use a thumb pick. I like the clarity of sound I get with one plus my thumb tends to hit adjacent strings sometimes when not using one. One difficulty I’m having though is that when plucking two or more strings simultaneously the string that’s being plucked with the thumb pick overshadows the others volume wise. It almost sounds like that is the only string being played. I’m trying hard to hit that string more softly, but am not having much success so far. Has anyone else had this problem and if so have… Read more »
Hi Steve, what you mention tends to be one of the bigger problems with using a thumb pick. A lot of folk like to use palm muting on the bass strings when using a thumb pick to dampen the sound and volume and little. That could be one option. The other is to work on the picking of the other strings in terms of technique and volume. I find I have to work with many students on getting them to pick with their fingers with more volume. Isolated practice with each finger, aiming to increase volume, is a good way… Read more »
Great arrangement and lesson! I’m loving working on this. Got the verse section locked in much faster than I expected (gasp, am I improving?) but the interlude/solo bit which I thought wold be the easier part when first listening is proving to be much trickier for me. The jump down to that first A chord near the end is hard to stretch and land quickly, and that run of double stops is tricky to get clean. Practice, practice!
Good stuff, and it certainly sounds like you are improving for sure! Well done nailing the verse already. Yeah, that is a tricky jump and double stops can be quite tricky for sure, especially if you have never really played them and switched between them in a quick way, like we do here. Still, you are on the right path, so keep it up. 🙂
Hi, I am a 76yr. male have survived cancer. I am from Hampshire, uk. England.
I love music and keen to learn how to play the guitar. My wish is to quietly play outside in the garden for myself and also to keep the “grey matter” alive.
But my left wrist and fingers is not as flexible as i would wish but will have to find a way to overcome it.
Hi Pat, thanks for the comment. I’m glad you are here and I hope you are in good health now. I highly recommend you use the classical position as mentioned in the course. It can really help reduce strain on the wrist (and there are many other benefits of it too). Most of all, enjoy and keep us posted with how you get on. 🙂
Hey Dan, I’m Terry from Long Island NY I’m loving the 7 day course,taking my time and have the fingerpicking course as well once I feel totally confident to move on to it. Your teaching style is so enlightening as well as encouraging and entertaining. I’m recently retired and now have the time and desire to play and practice much more and I’m so happy I found you. I’m extremely motivated
to work with you as your approach to teaching is so awesome!!!
Hi Terry, very pleased to hear it and thanks for the comment. That’s so nice to hear, thank you! Keep up the great practice and keep enjoying every second of it all. Love to hear about more of your progress as you keep developing! 🙂
Just started your course a week ago and cant tell you how much im enjoying it, not played fingerpicking before but loving it …i am practising Spanish Romance at the moment it will take some time ill get there …..its a lot of fun
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”!
Before I went down the page and found this, I copied a blank tab sheet and worked out “Brown Eyed Girl”. lol
I’ve been playing this on my own for a while, but not as near as well as you teach the melody. Great! Thanks.
Great lesson, Dan.
I play this with the capo on the 2nd fret (G). Plays much easier for me. Your thoughts?
117 BPM is a workout. I have a tendency to slow it down a bit, which works better for adding feeling to the melody.
I like the Haley Reinhart version. No capo. Fits much better into my vocal range.
I became anxious and went through this chord progression lesson. Still working on the elementary strumming patterns, but like the idea of adding the Am F C G to the practice routine. No issues with fingerpicking those progressions. Great lesson!
This is the best lesson I’ve ever had on the circle of fifths. So helpful. THANKS DAN!!
That’s great to hear. Thanks so much and very happy to know it helped. Keep up the great practice. 🙂
Enjoyed the beautiful sound of these chords. And I like how it builds up. All 3 levels were helpful and nice to play! thanks Dan!!
Thanks. Delighted to hear it. Yeah, I really enjoy playing this too and glad the 3 levels were helpful. 🙂
This was so much fun!! It’s a perfect intro to the Blues Box and minor pentatonic scale. Truly less can be more!!! This alone was super helpful to me. It took away the overwhelm. I also loved playing along and would love more backing tracks to play along with. Thanks Dan for this awesome lesson!!! Looking forward to more!!!
Thanks, Krystal. Super pleased to hear this. Yeah, overwhelm can be horrible and as we all know there are countless things we can learn on the guitar. Sometimes stripping things back a little can go a long way. Glad you enjoyed and I will do more for sure. 🙂
I really like the flow of these lessons. The way you ease from one skill to the next level while emphasising the need to remember the basics is brilliant and much appreciated. It is going to take some time to integrate these strumming patterns into my repetoire. But as you stated: Practice, practice, practice. Thanks, Dan.
Thanks, John. Really appreciate the kind words and very pleased the lessons are helping you! Keep up the top practice. 🙂
I am so loving learning Amazing Grace, a song that means so much to me. I was wondering though about whether I should be always picking the high E with my ring finger and B with my middle finger. I find I am sometimes “inter-changing” fingers when picking those strings. Am I creating a bad habit for myself by doing this? I also use a different finger occasionally than in the video with the fretting hand.It works for me but…. Any advice is very welcome. Loving Dan’s teaching.❤️
Great stuff, Joe. Super pleased to hear it. It is a wonderful song for sure. In terms of picking it, ideally I would say alternate your picking fingers between the index and middle for this piece. Using the high E string with the ring finger is ideal when playing fingerpicking patterns but for more melody based stuff, the index and middle fingers are ideal. Cheers and keep enjoying it! 🙂
Found in my travels this winter, people are more interested in hearing strumming than fingerpicking. So I am diving into strumming. My plan is to be able to strum well enough to keep people listening and intersperse fingerpicking songs. Although I still prefer to fingerpick. Glen Campbell’s “Gentle on My Mind” is coming along very well.
It’s interesting you say that. I think it depends on the situation. Strumming is great for outgoing singalong people – strumming songs can really come to the fore then. For more performance pieces I prefer fingerstyle but I digress. Strumming is great too and you have to learn what you like the most for sure. Glad to hear about your progress with it all! 🙂
Took me 11 minutes. 0 errors. I don’t know if that is good, bad or indifferent. But, it is a great exercise in learning the fretboard. Which is what I am working on. Thanks!
Great stuff, John. Very well done. Zero errors is super! Keep up the great practice. 🙂
I had 15 of 16 correct. I was way off on # 16. E E C# B, to me, sounded like what I heard. Once I read the answers and replayed the notes, I discovered the error of my ways. lol
Thanks for the lesson Dan.
Super stuff, John. Very well done with how well you did and pleasing to know you sorted the reason why with the one wrong. Great stuff. 🙂
Hi Dan. Is there any tabs available for all the Riffs above. Regards Brian
Hi Brian, not for these. There is more explained about this HERE. Let me know if you have any questions on this though. 🙂
I picked up on this pretty quick using a pick, which I am now starting to strum with. Now for seeing if I can perfect this method while fingerpicking.
Good stuff, well worth perfecting it both using a pick and fingers – and the 10x Method will help. Enjoy the process too. 🙂
Just starting to pick up on pentatonic scales and found this lesson fun and informative. Thanks Dan!
Great stuff, cheers, John. Hope you have loads of fun with it. 🙂
I had never put the Circle of Fifths and chord progressions together. Long ago, I had made a spreadsheet with all the major and minor keys and the notes of each key. Looking at the circle at first, I was confused as, for example, the key of C Major has no sharps or flats. I had to go back and research the Circle of Fifths to discover it is made up of notes a fifth apart which provide the best tonal harmony. Now, 1,5,6,4 in C sounds much better using the Am instead of the A major chord. Thanks Dan!
Very pleased it has helped, John. Yeah, a lot of theory can be confusing for sure but having some clear visual guides can really help. It’s great you studied the circle before and I’m pleased this lesson helped. 🙂
I enjoyed this lesson so much. It’s on my bucket list to learn to play the blues, but so many teachers start with pentatonic scales. It’s a whole lot easier to stick to a couple of notes.
Thanks, Leslie. Very pleased to hear it. You are right – fragments of scales can be super powerful… and more fun to learn too. 🙂
Love the idea of more on chords and the minor pentatonic box .
Super, cheers, Martin. Will be a fun lesson creating this. 🙂
I recognized the chord progression immediately! The intro to John Denver’s “The Eagle and The Hawk”. I had never attempted to learn it and here it is, handed to me on a platter! Thanks for the lesson Dan.
My pleasure, John. Glad you recognised it – wasn’t aware the great John Denver played this already! Will have to check this tune out. 🙂
I like it! This is something I will play around with as a jam.
Good stuff, Larry, and glad to hear it. Let us know how you get on 🙂
I can’t see the video. My screen says, “VIDEO DOES NOT EXIST”
Maybe a temporary glitch. Can you try switching browsers (that can sometimes help with issues like this), or if you use a VPN that can be the cause. Please keep us posted though if it persists.
It’s there now! Thank you,
That’s great, temporary glitch by the sound of it. Thanks for letting me know and enjoy. 🙂
FUN FUN FUN!!
Great stuff. 🙂
That is beautiful! Thankyou!
Thanks and pleased to hear it. Always nice to teach/create something that is both technical and musical. Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Never, ever understood this before, or even what it was for. I would run across it, look at it and go “Greek” – “leave it”. But it’s so simple and incredibly handy. Thanks!
That’s great. Really pleasing to know this as that was the aim – to take something possibly daunting and make it something you can confidently use. Great stuff, Larry. 🙂
Love BB King and love this! More please.
Cheers, Larry. Pleased to hear it. Will do! 🙂
Nvm. Video 2 was acting up but a reboot fixed it. I don’t know how to delete my comment, so I edited it instead
Ah, okay, cool, thanks for letting us know, James. 🙂
I am really trying to focus on blues these days, so this is a particularly brilliant lesson for me! I would love to have lead and chords mixed
Great stuff, cheers, Mike. Yeah, for sure, mixing the lead and chords will be a fun lesson. Will hopefully get on that soon. Keep enjoying the blues! 🙂
I am really enjoying these circle of fifth lessons. I get that theory isn’t everyone’s jam, but I really want to learn enough to be able to make my own music someday. One thing that I asked you a while ago is answered quickly on the circle – How do you find the relative minor? Still working through Guitarist Get Theory.
That’s great to know. The circle is super useful and the cool thing is everyone can get more understanding of music and more enjoyment from it using the circle. That can be studying songs, analysing them, or just jamming in different keys. Pleased you’re enjoying it. 🙂
Congratulations to Sandy Williams, Jim Davis, and Rich Augugliaro for winning Gold, Silver, and Bronze in the Leaderboard for April 2024! Prizes on the way to you and a big well done to everyone for the progress made in April! 🙂
Hi Dan, Great advice in this video.
Great stuff, very pleased to hear it and keep up the great practice 🙂
Dan, you talk about learning the melody first and then adding base notes and filler notes. I have a song that was listed as easy guitar and it is totally just the melody notes. I can play them but I want to add some base notes and maybe even some filler notes to make the song sound better. I am not sure where to begin with that. Any suggestions?
Hi Teresa, sounds like a great song to do this for. The key is finding out the underlying chord for each bar. You can then take the root note from each chord and add it in on beat 1 of each bar along with the melody. There’s a little more detail on the method in this freebie I created some time back which you can check out HERE. Let me know if this was helpful. 🙂
Thanks! Very helpful. Worked on the first song and it sounds pretty good. Now I have a couple more I can use it on, including the ones I learned the melody- without-tab on.
That’s great. Thanks for the update and delighted to hear it. Keep it up 🙂
This is very challenging but it sounds great…I can do the first 8 bars without looking now which is a good move forward for me…
That’s great, Rich. Well done. Yeah, it is a real challenge but very pleased you have stuck with it and you are seeing great progress. This will be a great song to play for years/forever so it’s worth it. Nice one. 🙂
I enjoyed your playing. Can’t wait to learn those songs.
Thanks Leslie!! All the songs I played I learned from the DTAA!! Dan’s a great teacher!
Well done, Denise! I love your persistence in learning guitar! You sound great!
Thank you Michelle!! 😊
Left a comment about how much I was inspired by your playing of five songs. Now I’m also inspired by your interview!
Wow!! Thank you for your comments!! Dan is a great teacher and for the first time, I’m actually making progress with my playing!!
Hi Denise, amazing job and so inspiring! 👏🏻
Thank you!! 😊
Hi Dan been following the lessons starting with the 3 ps. Really tough going trying to correct the fundamentals. I know this is important for me to become a decent guitarist. This workout plan seems right. I will follow it and see how I progress. When my motivation is down I turn to listening to the stunning songs and tell myself that this is how I want play. Thanks Dan for giving this old man hope of becoming a better guitarist.
Hi Mike, you will absolutely correct those bad habits and great work keeping at it. If you keep on and keep using the lessons you will be well on your way. I love how you are keeping your inspiration topped up too. If you have any questions at any point, do please let us know. Happy to help. 🙂
Wow! Takes me back to when I was learning the double bass at school. It is so important to develop good left hand technique and I can see how regularly revisiting the sticky fingers and walking exercises is going to build that dexterity. On the double bass correct placement of the fingers and thumb, using the weight of the arm and avoiding a vice like hand grip means avoiding severe cramp in your hand and forearm, and also allows precise, accurate playing. I can see a very close similarity with working on correct fretting hand technique in guitar playing –… Read more »
Cheers, Peter. I can imagine how important these sort of skills are on double bass too! A lot of people who teach other string instruments mention these sort of things I find but not so much on the guitar. Still, it’s of course, super important on the guitar, and essential everyone gets these nailed. Thanks for the comment and good stuff applying all this. Keep up the good practice 🙂
Oddly enough, I was messing about with a version of Dust In The Wind right before the email came! What a fun little adventure you have created. Thanks!
Ha, nice coincidence. Super pleased you are enjoying it. Fun to write and hopefully fun for everyone to read too. 🙂
Hi all. I’ve made a decision to use a thumb pick. I like the clarity of sound I get with one plus my thumb tends to hit adjacent strings sometimes when not using one. One difficulty I’m having though is that when plucking two or more strings simultaneously the string that’s being plucked with the thumb pick overshadows the others volume wise. It almost sounds like that is the only string being played. I’m trying hard to hit that string more softly, but am not having much success so far. Has anyone else had this problem and if so have… Read more »
Hi Steve, what you mention tends to be one of the bigger problems with using a thumb pick. A lot of folk like to use palm muting on the bass strings when using a thumb pick to dampen the sound and volume and little. That could be one option. The other is to work on the picking of the other strings in terms of technique and volume. I find I have to work with many students on getting them to pick with their fingers with more volume. Isolated practice with each finger, aiming to increase volume, is a good way… Read more »
Thanks Dan. I’ll focus on that, trying to get more volume from the other fingers.
Good stuff, Steve. You’ll get there with focus. Let us know how you get on. 🙂
Great arrangement and lesson! I’m loving working on this. Got the verse section locked in much faster than I expected (gasp, am I improving?) but the interlude/solo bit which I thought wold be the easier part when first listening is proving to be much trickier for me. The jump down to that first A chord near the end is hard to stretch and land quickly, and that run of double stops is tricky to get clean. Practice, practice!
Good stuff, and it certainly sounds like you are improving for sure! Well done nailing the verse already. Yeah, that is a tricky jump and double stops can be quite tricky for sure, especially if you have never really played them and switched between them in a quick way, like we do here. Still, you are on the right path, so keep it up. 🙂
You really make everything simple to understand! Then it’s up to us to practice,practice,
practice and make permanent☮️👍
Thanks a million, Terry. Pleased you are enjoying the lessons. That’s right, precise practice and lots of focus and fun. 🙂
i’ve seen a number of online discussions on the circle of fifths and yours is
the by far the easiet to understand.
Cool, thanks for letting us know, John. Super pleased to hear it 🙂
Hi, I am a 76yr. male have survived cancer. I am from Hampshire, uk. England.
I love music and keen to learn how to play the guitar. My wish is to quietly play outside in the garden for myself and also to keep the “grey matter” alive.
But my left wrist and fingers is not as flexible as i would wish but will have to find a way to overcome it.
Hi Pat, thanks for the comment. I’m glad you are here and I hope you are in good health now. I highly recommend you use the classical position as mentioned in the course. It can really help reduce strain on the wrist (and there are many other benefits of it too). Most of all, enjoy and keep us posted with how you get on. 🙂
Hey Dan, I’m Terry from Long Island NY I’m loving the 7 day course,taking my time and have the fingerpicking course as well once I feel totally confident to move on to it. Your teaching style is so enlightening as well as encouraging and entertaining. I’m recently retired and now have the time and desire to play and practice much more and I’m so happy I found you. I’m extremely motivated
to work with you as your approach to teaching is so awesome!!!
Hi Terry, very pleased to hear it and thanks for the comment. That’s so nice to hear, thank you! Keep up the great practice and keep enjoying every second of it all. Love to hear about more of your progress as you keep developing! 🙂
Just started your course a week ago and cant tell you how much im enjoying it, not played fingerpicking before but loving it …i am practising Spanish Romance at the moment it will take some time ill get there …..its a lot of fun
Super pleased to hear it, Douglas. That’s great you’re enjoying it and keep having fun! 🙂
Hi there. I’m wondering why I cannot access the next star quiz. I’ve passed the first one and would like to look into the second star quiz. Thanks.
The 2-star quiz is not quite ready yet but it will be very, very soon. Hope you enjoyed the first one 🙂