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Magazine Volume 18, Number 2 January/February 2014
David Rawlings
Seth Taylor Scott Coney Hooper Guitars Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February January/February 2014
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February January/February 2014
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CONTENTS
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
FEATURES
David Rawlings & “Caleb Meyer” Flatpick Profile: Seth Taylor & “Passive Aggressive” Flatpicking Highlight: Scott Coney & “Long Hard Road” Summer Camps Ken Hopper Guitars & Mandolins
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COLUMNS Volume 18, Number 2 January/February 2014 Published bi-monthly by: High View Publications P.O. Box 2160 Pulaski, VA 24301 Phone: (540) 980-0338 Fax: (540) 980-0557 Orders: (800) 413-8296 E-mail: highview@atpick.com Web Site: http://www.atpick.com ISSN: 1089-9855 Dan Miller - Publisher and Editor Connie Miller - Administration Jackie Morris - Administration Contributing Editors: Dave McCarty Chris Thiessen
Subscription Rate ($US): US $30.00 ($60.00 with CD) Canada/Mexico $40.00 Other Foreign $43.00 All contents Copyright © 2014 by High View Publications unless otherwise indicated Reproduction of material appearing in the Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is forbidden without written permission Printed in the USA
“Pretty Bird” Craig Vance Chords and Keys Joe Carr Beginner’s Page: “Little Girl of Mine in Tennessee” Dan Huckabee Kaufman’s Corner: “San Antonio Rose” Steve Kaufman Taking It To The Next Level: “Pupville” John Carlini Nashville Flattop: “ John Hardy” Rhythm Brad Davis “Little Annie” Kathy Barwick “Stetson’s #2” Orrin Starr “Long Journey Home” Dix Bruce Scale Exercises: Modes in G Dan Miller Arpeggios and Moving Lines Mike Maddux Sharpening the Axe: “Sand Coulee Reel” Jeff Troxel Flatpicking Fiddle Tunes: “Soppin’ The Gravy”, “Cotton Patch Rag” Adam Granger Classic Bluegrass: “We Live In Two Different Worlds” Steve Pottier They Must Have Been Giants Dan Crary Making A Demo Kacey Cubero
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Cover Photo by Mark Seliger
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine Podcast We are now broadcasting a new Podcast every month
Interviews, fatpicking tunes, and more. Check it out: http://www.fatpick.com/podcast.html 2
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
The Flatpicking Essentials Series
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 1: Rhythm, Bass Runs, and Fill Licks In the “Pioneers” issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine Dan Miller laid out a atpicking learning method that followed the chronological developme nt of the style. This step-by-step method started with a solid foundation in the rhythm guitar styles of atpicking’s early pioneers—a style that includes a liberal use of bass runs and rhythm ll licks, combined with rhythmic strums. Volume 1 of the Eight Volume Flatpicking Essentials series teaches this rhythm style and prepares you for each future volume. If you want to learn how to add interesting bass runs and ll licks to your rhythm playing, check out this 96-page book with accompanyi ng CD. This book and CD are available in spiral bound hardcopy form, on CD-Rom, or as a digital download.
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning to Solo—Carter Style and Beyond
Hardcopy: $24.95 Digital: $19.95
The second book in the Flatpicking Essentials series teaches you how to arrange solos for vocal tunes by teaching you how to: 1) Find the chord changes by ear. 2) Find the melody by ear. 3) Learn how to arrange a Carter Style solo. 4) Learn how to embellish the Carter Style solo using one or more of the following techniques: bass runs; hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, & bends; tremelo; double stops; crosspicking; neighbori ng notes; scale runs and ll-licks. Even if you are a beginner you can learn how to create your own interesting solos to any vocal song. You’ll never need tab again! This material will also provide you with the foundation for improvisat ion. This book and CD are available in spiral bound hardcopy form, on CD-Rom, or as a digital download.
Hardcopy: $24.95 Digital: $19.95
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 3: Flatpicking Fiddle Tunes Flatpicking and ddle tunes go hand-in-hand. However, in this day and age too many beginning and intermediate level players rely too heavily on tablature when learning ddle tunes. This becomes a problem in the long run because the player eventually reaches a plateau in their progress because they don’t know how to learn new tunes that are not written out in tablature, they do not know how to create their own variations of tunes that they already know, and it becomes very hard to learn how to improvise. Flatpicking Essentials, Volume 3 helps to solve all of those problems. In this volume of the Flatpicking Essentials series you are going to learn valuable information about the structure of ddle tunes and then you are going to use that information to learn how to play ddle tunes by ear, and create your own variations, utilizing the following a series of detailed steps.
Hardcopy: $24.95 Digital: $19.95
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 4:
Understanding the Fingerboard and Moving Up-The-Neck
The fourth book in the Flatpicking Essentials series teaches you how to become familiar with using the entire ngerboard of the guitar and it gives you many exercises and examples that will help you become very comfortable playing up-the-neck. With this book and CD you will learn how to explore the whole guitar neck using a very thorough study of chord shapes, scale patterns, and arpeggios. You will also learn how to comfortably move up-theneck and back down using slides, open strings, scale runs, harmonized scales, oating licks, and more. If you’ve ever sat and watched a professional players ngers dance up and down the ngerboard with great ease and wondered “I wish I could do that!” This book is for you!
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 5:
Hardcopy: $29.95 Digital: $24.95
Improvisation & Style Studies
Are you having trouble learning how to improvise? To many atpickers the art of improvisation is a mystery. In the 5th Volume of the Flatpicking Essentials series you will study various exercises that will begin to teach you the process of improvisation through the use of a graduated, step-by-step method. Through the study and execution of these exercises, you will learn how to free yourself from memorized solos! This Volume also includes “style studies” which examine the contributions of the atpicking legends, such as Doc Watson, Clarence White, Tony Rice, Norman Blake, Dan Crary, Pat Flynn, and others. Learn techniques that helped dene their styles and learn how to apply those techniques to your own solos.
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 6: Improvisation Part II & Advanced Technique
Hardcopy: $29.95 Digital: $24.95
Flatpicking Essentials, Volume 6 is divided into two main sections. The rst section is Part II of our study of improvisation. Volume 5 introduced readers to a step-by-step free-form improv study method that we continue here in Volume 6. The second section of this book is focused on advanced atpicking technique. We approached this topic by rst having Tim May record “advanced level” improvisations for nineteen different atpicking tunes. Tim selected the tunes and went into the studio with a list of techniques, like the use of triplets, natural and false harmonics, note bending, quoting, alternate tuning, syncopation, twin guitar, minor key tunes, hybrid picking, advanced crosspicking, string skipping, etc. There are a ton of absolutely awesome atpicking arrangements by Tim May in this book, with explanations of each technique.
Hardcopy: $29.95 Digital: $24.95
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 7: Advanced Rhythm & Chord Studies Flatpicking Essentials, Volume 7 is a 170 page book, with 67 audio tracks, that will show you how to add texture, variety, and movement to your rhythm accompaniment in the context of playing bluegrass, ddle tune music, folk music, acoustic rock, Western swing, big band swing, and jazz. The best part of this book is that it doesn’t just present you with arrangements to memorize. It teaches you how you can create and execute your own accompaniment arrangement s in a variety of musical styles. Don’t rely on the arrangements of others, learn a straight-forward and gradual approach to designing your own rhythm accompaniment.
Hardcopy: $29.95 Digital: $24.95 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
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Flatpicking Essentials
EDITOR'S PAGE FGM Website Updates for 2014 We are continuing to work on the upgrade and update of our web site at atpick. com. The rst phase was to combine atpickingmercantile.com, fgmrecords.com and atpick.com into one site. We have done that and have worked out most of the bugs. The next phase will be to combine our digital site, atpickdigital.com with the atpick.com site. That integration will occur in January of 2014. All digital subscribers who currently get their subscription at atpickdigital.com will be able to download each issue at atpick.com by mid-January. When we get that change implemented, then atpickdigital.com will be closed. New features on the new site should allow our digital subscribers more exibility. After atpickdigital.com and atpick.com are combined, the next phase will be to start adding new features. We’ve already added a “custom transcription” page. On this page you can request that our transcriber, Nick DeSebastian, transcribe any recorded song. Nick’s prices are very reasonable. For about the cost of a one hour private lesson Nick will transcribe the recording of your choice and provide you with a written transcription. It is a great deal. We also plan to start carrying a variety of guitars, from student level up through high-end custom built guitars. The guitars we select, like all of the gear and accessories that we select to offer on our site, will be models that we have personally tested and believe to be the best quality available for the price. We also plan to facilitate a “Used Guitar Market Place” where people who have guitars to sell can connect with people who are interested in buying used guitars. We will let you know when these features are available. Another new feature that we will add to our site later this year will be video lessons. These lessons will be streamable and downloadable and will be short 10 to 15 minute lesson on a large variety of music and guitar topics. They will all be very affordable. We started lming these lesson back in October and we are very happy with the results so far. We will also start to implement single song downloads this year. We know that sometimes when you are looking for that one song to learn you do not want to have to purchase an entire book. We are currently putting our single song arrangements together and will have close to 100 arrangements of popular atpicking tunes (tab and audio le) up on line later this year. We want to continue to provide you with a wide variety of learning opportunities. If you have any suggestions for us, we’d love to hear them. Send me an email:
[email protected] Thanks!
(800) 413-8296 www.flatpickingmercantile.com 4
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Flatpicking Guitar Digital Academy Flatpicking Guitar Digital Academy is an amazing self-contained software environment where you can browse, purchase, instantly download, and enjoy high quality atpicking video titles. You get every bit of the quality of a DVD, and in some cases better! We currently offer over 70 atpicking guitar titles from Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, Homespun, Mel Bay, Accutab, and more! Learn instantly from Tony Rice, Doc Watson, Bryan Sutton, David Grier, Tim Stafford, Wyatt Rice, Dan Crary, Norman Blake, Tim May and many others. And we will continually be adding new titles!
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Study with your Flatpicking Heroes Instantly, at Home, High Quality, on your Computer! Over 70 Video Titles Now Available!
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
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David Rawlings
r e g i l e S k r a M y b o t o h P
Over the past two decades David Rawlings and Gillian Welch have gained a huge following in the worlds of folk and Americana music. Their sparse instrumentation blends perfectly with soulful voices that deliver expertly crafted lyrics in a way that is extremely captivating. It is music that penetrates and grabs hold of you. The music transports listeners back to simpler, more rugged days—be they the happiest or hardest of times. The duo’s sound is so authentic to rural Appalachia that you’d guess that they both learned how to play and sing sitting on the front porch of their respective small family farms 6
somewhere in mountains of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, or North Carolina. But this was not the case for either of these ne musicians. David Rawlings grew up in Rhode Island. His family did not play music. Gillian Welch was born in New York and grew up in Los Angeles. The two met in about 1990 at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where David was studying guitar and Gillian songwriting. How can these two musicians, whose roots are so far away from the hills and hollers of the southern mountain ranges,
by Dan Miller
sound like they descend from generations of old-time and bluegrass musicians of the rural south? I thought that the music would have to be part of your DNA to sound so authentic. After speaking with David Rawlings about his background, I felt like what he has done to nd his sound with Gillian is combine an enthusiastic reverence for Appalachian music with a deep connection to the sound, vibration, and soul of the music. Add to that a lot of hard work and the creative determination it took to not only nd “that sound,” but to also nd “their sound,” and you can start to understand how two musicians with no history in rural southern music can sound like they were born and raised with it. After speaking with David for a couple of hours I also discovered something interesting about his approach to the guitar. For most guitar players I think that the technique that they study and gain the most prociency with helps create a style and from that style they develop their “sound.” For David, I sense that it was the other way around. In his case, I think that the “sound” he was searching for created the guitar style. In order to better understand that statement, let’s take a look at David’s background. Although David Rawlings is a well known guitar player with a recognizable and distinctive acoustic guitar style, he said that he actually started playing the guitar “by accident.” He remembers playing around with a ukulele when he was in grade school and he also played the saxophone in the 3rd and 4th grade, but it wasn’t until he was 15 or 16 that he started playing the guitar at the request of a friend. He remembers, “One of my best friends and I were walking home on a winter day after getting pizza. He said, ‘See if you can get your parents to buy you a guitar for Christmas so we can enter the school talent show together.’ David’s friend, Glen Chausse, planned to ask for harmonica for Christmas and wanted Dave to accompany him while he sang and played Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” in the contest. As a sixteen-year-old kid growing up in Rhode Island in the mid-1980’s, David did not have any musical relatives, nor did he know anyone who made a living playing music. He said, “I didn’t even know that playing music for a living was a viable option.” He admits to always having been attracted to music, with a special interest in stringed instruments. He said, “I remember plucking rubber bands and stretching them out to get different sounds.” His experience
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
with the saxophone in grade school was positive. He said, “I learned to read music and I enjoyed practicing. It wasn’t a puzzle. I could do it.” So when Glen asked him if he’d get a guitar and join him in the talent show, Dave was up for it. He said, “It wasn’t my idea to learn how to play the guitar, but I did get a guitar for Christmas.” David’s friend Glen had introduced him to folk rock acts such as Neil Young; Crosby, Stills, and Nash; and Buffalo Springeld. David’s father introduced him to Bob Dylan. He remembers, “I was outside one day and my Dad called me in and said, ‘Listen to this!’ It was Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues.’ I made a mental note that my Dad liked Bob Dylan and then I gave him Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits for his birthday. He had it for about a week and then it drifted into my collection. I became a big Dylan fan.” In preparation for the talent show with Glen, David got a Mel Bay instruction book and started working through it. He had never seen anyone playing the guitar up close, but recalls having good hand-eye coordination and that the material didn’t feel too complicated for him. The book focused on learning melodies, so David started learning how to pick leads before learning how to play chords. Although he was learning and making progress, as the talent show approached, he still had not learned anything about playing “Heart of Gold.” Luckily, he met another kid, Matt Silvia, who was able to show him how to play that tune. Matt, a kid who was a couple of grades behind David in school, lived nearby and came from a musical family. Matt’s father, Gerry, had been a guitar teacher and Matt also had siblings who played music. Matt showed David the rst lick of “Heart of Gold,” then put him in a room and said, “Practice that until you have it, then come out and I’ll show you the next lick.” David remembers, “As soon as I started playing the guitar, that is all that I wanted to do.” David found out that Matt’s father had previously taught guitar lessons. He asked Gerry Silvia for lessons and at rst Silvia was reluctant because he had given up teaching, but David stayed after him. Mr. Silvia eventually agreed, but not until he made David promise that he would be very serious about practicing. Gerry started teaching out of the Aaron Shearer Classical Guitar Technique books. David describes them as being “more modern, not just old classical pieces.”
David practiced hard and his group took second place in the talent show. Rawlings recalls that he really liked being on stage and playing for people. He started getting together with friends and learning tunes by Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and Bob Dylan. He remembers that one of the kids, who was considered a good player because he could play Neil Young’s “Needle and the Damage Done” told him that he “had to practice 20 minutes a day.” David remembers thinking, “If 20 minutes a day is good, what about 8 hours a day?” After taking lessons from Gerry Silvia for about a year and a half, Gerry told him, “You’ve learned to play about as good as I can now,” and he sent David out on his own. David continued to explore music by joining bands. He saw a want ad in the paper for a punk band seeking a guitarist. In addition to listening to 60’s and 70’s folk and folk rock, David was also listening to alt-rock bands like The Smiths and The Pixies and had saved up enough money from his paper route to buy a Fender Squire Stratocaster. He auditioned for the punk band gig and got the job. In addition to the job in the punk band, David also got a job as the lead guitar player in a country band, Silver Steel. The band played four sets three or four nights a week at clubs. David had been interested in country music, having been introduced to
it through Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline record, but he had never really explored it on his guitar. When he auditioned for the band, the bandleader, Craig Webb, told him, “You are a good guitar player, but you don’t know country.” He gave David a tape with a few country tunes and said, “Figure out these guitar parts and come back.” David did his homework and Craig was impressed. He gave David some more tapes and said, “Learn these other forty songs and you are hired.” Again, David did his homework and got the job. Playing in these bands gave David a lot of live music performance experience. He said, “Something every musician should do if they get the opportunity is play in a band that does four sets a night several nights a week. By the third set on the second night you get to a place that you can’t get to without having that much live stage experience.” That experience didn’t last too long though because after he graduated from high school, David received a scholarship to the University of Richmond and moved to Virginia to study English. While in Richmond, David played the classical guitar and joined the school’s jazz band. Although he was an English major, he was so focused on music that he completed every music class that the school offered in the rst two semesters. Hungry for a more intensive music program D avid
David Rawlings and Gillian Welch performing at Merlefest
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David Rawlings and Gillian Welch checking out the vintage guitar collection at Intermountain Guitar and Banjo in Salt Lake City, UT left Richmond after one year and entered the Berklee College of Music in Boston. While in Boston he concentrated all of his classes during a few days of the week and played in bands on the non-class days. He was in alt rock bands, country bands, and also joined school ensembles. He became the “go to” guy for students who needed a good lead guitar player. Before attending Berklee, David had not had much exposure to old-time music or bluegrass. The huge variety of country music songs that he played in Craig Webb’s band did lead him to search out the traditional country music that he eventually captivated his interest—the Louvin Brothers, Townes Van Zandt, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Buck Owns, and Hank Williams, Sr., to name a few—but he still had not explored older American music styles. His rst exposure to bluegrass came through a Berklee classmate from North Carolina who wanted David to join him for a show on International Music Night. The theme of the show called for performers to go up on stage and play music from their home country. David’s friend wanted to play music from his home state. The home state being North Carolina, the music he selected was bluegrass. David’s friend approached him on a Monday. The show was on Thursday of that same week. He gave David a tape of 8
Tony Rice and Norman Blake and asked if he could learn three tunes—“Salt Creek,” “Monroe’s Hornpipe,” and “Blackberry Blossom.” David borrowed a attop guitar. His only exposure to this style of playing in the past had been on Dylan’s Nashville Skyline recording, featuring Norman Blake on the guitar. David listened closely to the Rice & Blake recording, practiced hard, and was able to perform the tunes. The experience learning the atpicking tunes for the International Music Night show led David to seek out a group of people at Berklee who liked to play old-time and bluegrass music. Through that group he met former Flatpicking Guitar Magazine columnist John McGann and took a few lessons from John. David said, “John told me that I needed to use a heavier pick and he taught me how to play with the back edge of the pick. I still do that.” Another member of that group was Gillian Welch. Gillian introduced David to the Stanley Brothers and he started exploring other traditional American roots music that was available to him on vinyl recordings at Berklee. He discovered the Lilly Brothers, Son House, Uncle Dave Macon, the Monroe Brothers, the Blue Sky Boys, and many others. David said, “When you are young, you are like a sponge. All this was happening at the same time for me. I went from punk gigs to country gigs, from folk rock, to
traditional American music, all at the same time. It was all good for me.” David entered Berklee primarily as an electric guitar player, but by the time he left in 1992 he had started playing more acoustic. Although Rawlings attended Berklee for three years, he decided to leave and head for Nashville before he graduated. In 1992 he packed up his Stratocaster, his Telecaster, and a Taylor 810 and made the move south. When David first hit Nashville, he was hanging out with other friends from Berklee who had also made the move. Gillian Welch had made the move about a month before David because he was playing lead guitar in Boston with the band John Hicks and Revolution and had to wait for a replacement. Once in Nashville, David again became the guy singer/songwriters would turn to when they needed a guitar player. One of those singer/songwriters was his friend from Berklee, Gillian Welch. At rst David was backing up Gillian when she went out to perform at open mic nights. As time progressed they started developing their sound and putting together an act. They felt like their voices sounded good together and they discovered that they were most comfortable performing as a duo. David enjoyed atpicking in the duo setting where the guitar was not overpowered by a banjo or ddle. The logistics of traveling and performing as a duo, versus a full band, were also easier. During their early days in Nashville, Gillian and David would perform a few of the original songs that Gillian had brought with her from Berklee, along with traditional numbers like “Long Black Veil,” “Been All Around This World,” and “Pig in a Pen.” They were huge fans of the old brother duet sound and their version of “Long Black Veil” was based on a Lily Brothers arrangement. David remembers that at one show, where they performed in a shopping mall, he noticed that an older woman holding shopping bags had stopped to sing along with them as they sung “Long Black Veil.” After their performance was over the woman came up and introduced herself as Mary John Wilkins, the writer of “Long Black Veil” (Mary John Wilkins co-wrote the song with Danny Dill). She said that she liked their performance. David describes another occasion early in their career together when he and Gillian join ed a grou p of ol d-time musici ans playing in a big house in North Carolina. That night the duo performed a few Blue Sky Boys (Earl and Bill Bolick) numbers.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Later that evening they discovered that several of the Bolick brothers’ relatives were in attendance when one of them commented that he “loved the way they performed his uncle’s songs.” This kind of feedback validated the authenticity of what David and Gillian were doing and gave them condence to continue. Regarding his guitar style, David feels like the style that he plays when he is performing with Gillian developed as a result of integrating the sound of his guitar with Gillian’s guitar and voice. He said that he likes to think of the music as coming from a single instrument, not two guitars. He said, “Gillian plays great bass lines and there is a real delicacy to how many strings she hits on a strum. There is a lot of nuance in her playing. I try to arrange what I play around what she is playing so that it paints a panoramic picture and sounds like a single instrument. We do everything from making a lot of sound and having a lot of volume, playing big full chords, all the way down to not playing at all. We explore the full panoramic range.” David says that he has always been interested in how notes sound ringing against other notes. One of the reasons he did not stay with the saxophone as a kid was that it was a single note instrument. He said, “I love trying to get the feeling like Bob Dylan playing the harmonica. It sounds a little sloppy, but it is not. I like hearing the sound of one chord on top of another and I like to hear some dissonance. I like that sound because there is freedom and an ‘on the edge’ feeling.” Part of David’s sound and style is his willingness to explore dissonance. He said that he likes to use 9ths and 11ths, especially on top of minor chords. In an video interview with Scott Nygaard, of Acoustic Guitar Magazine, David discusses some of his ideas about playing notes on top of chords and comments on instances where he might chose to play a 9th or 11th on top of the chord in order to “expand the sound outward” and “create space and atmosphere” instead of playing a 3rd, which would “hold it in.” He even relates a funny story about an Internet comment that he read where his use of dissonance in a song caused the listener to think that his guitar was out of tune. David says that what he plays today when he is performing with Gillian doesn’t exist without her guitar and voice as a part of the equation. He stated that he has never felt as natural or comfortable playing the guitar as
a solo act because he likes to play against other instruments. He said, “I like to have other notes to react to and reect upon. Instead of a guitar player, I feel more like an arranger who plays the guitar.” Although David can point to players like Norman Blake, Tony Rice, Doc Watson, and Clarence White as guitar players that he has listened to over the years, he said that he has never felt comfortable trying to copy what other players do on the guitar. He said, “I can’t play other people’s licks and make them sound good at all.” David’s approach to learning the guitar has always been based around performance and thinking about the overall sound of the ensemble. He has developed his style of playing by working hard, performing a lot, and taking chances on stage. He said, “Going for it is part of the process. I think that I would be far less accomplished if everything that I played had been written out.” Many guitar players shy away from “going for it” because they are afraid of making mistakes. Rawlings said, “In any situation, if something funny happened, if I made a mistake, my inclination was to laugh about it. I never felt ashamed; I thought that it was funny. I didn’t mind going for something and having it not work out. The audience is there to have a good time. What does it matter if you go for something and you are off? It doesn’t stop people from having a good time.”
When asked about how much of his guitar playing is improvised, David said that what he plays on stage is about half improvised and half arranged. He said, “If I have stuff that I know works on a song, I will play it the same.” As an example, he said that when he rst performed “I Want To Sing That Rock and Roll” at the initial Down From The Mountain concert he had only the barest idea of what to play during the short solo, but he knew he wanted it to sound exciting. What he improvised worked out so well, that he decided that he had to learn it and play it that way every time. He said, “If something is functioning, I will use it. But, I’m always open to other inclinations. If you are in the middle of the solo and inspiration ags, it is nice to have something to come back to so you are not left out on a limb.” Two elements that are apparent in David’s guitar style are the use of crosspicking and heavy downstrokes. When asked about these techniques, David said that he like using the crosspicking roll because it gives the music motion. He said, “Crosspicking is the default of what I do.” Regarding the heavy downstroke phrases, David said, “I was obsessed with Bill Monroe’s mandolin style. I wanted to gure out how he got that drive. That comes from Bill and from wanting to have something that sounds exciting and purpose driven.” During my interview with Dave, whenever he talked about music, he would
David Rawlings and Gillian Welch performing with Emmylou Harris
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
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refer to creating a “sound.” He talked of not enjoying playing the saxophone in grade school because it was a single note instrument and he more enjoyed the sound of notes against each other. He talked of the sound he discovered when stretching out and plucking rubber bands when he was very young. He never talked about copying licks or techniques, or playing certain notes or phrases to create solos. He said that his style of guitar playing when performing with Gillian was a response to the sound of Gillian’s guitar and voice. The discussion of guitar playing had much more to do about creating a sound than learning technique. Over the past 18 years I’ve interviewed hundreds of guitar players and David is the rst one who, when talking about music, focused more on sounds than techniques, licks, songs, or influences from other players. Thinking of himself as an arranger instead of a guitar player and thinking about the two guitars in the duo as one instrument “painting a panoramic picture” with sound are interesting perspectives. Starting with a sound in your head and then working backwards to nd that sound on your instrument is kind of like reverse engineering. I rst became aware of this idea when I was watching Victor Wooten’s Groove Workshop DVD. Victor has been highly creative and inventive on the bass 10
guitar and I had always wondered how he came up with all of the techniques that he invented. In his DVD he reveals that it all started with a sound. He heard a sound and wanted to reproduce that sound on his instrument. The sound could have come from another bass player, or another musical instrument, or a sound in nature, or something out on the street. He took his instrument in hand and then developed a technique that allowed him to recreate that sound. During my interview with David, he told a story about being at Steve Winwood’s home and Winwood playing some arrangements for him of songs that he had learned as a kid. Winwood had listened to some old blues recordings where the guitar player was playing in an open tuning with a slide. Winwood had worked out some “crazy arrangements” that imitated what he had heard, but he did it in standard tuning with no slide. He was not copying exact licks or techniques, but he was copying sounds. David said, “He made it work.” Over the past decade I have often been asked about David Rawlings guitar playing. People ask me, “What is he doing?” I could talk about it to some degree because I could recognize certain techniques that he was using. After interviewing David I would now answer that question differently because I don’t think that he has approached learning the guitar by learning techniques and then stringing techniques together to t the framework of a given song. I think that he starts with the overall sound “picture” and then paints that picture. In other words, I’m not sure that you could copy David’s technique and sound exactly like David because you’d be missing a part of the picture, which is the sound of the other instruments and voices that make up that picture. A part of the sonic pallet that David creates in his shows with Gillian Welch is his 1935 Epiphone Olympic archtop guitar. He was playing a Taylor up until the time he and Gillian recorded their rst CD. He said that he had been thinking about changing
to an archtop when he found this guitar, in the winter of 1995, covered with saw dust under a work bench at a friend’s home. David picked up the guitar, which didn’t have strings or a bridge, and knocked his knuckles on the guitar’s back. He liked the knock tone of the guitar and asked his friend if he was willing to sell it. David’s friend was not willing to sell the guitar, but was willing to offer David a trade. He said, “If you can get me a Band Master Reverb amplifier head, I’ll trade you.” David said, “I’d never even seen a Band Master Reverb head. I’d never even heard of one. I discovered that it was an amp that Fender made in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s. I went to Boston the next day, to Allston Music, and there amongst the amps was a silver Band Master Reverb head!” David talked the store owner down from the price that was marked on the amp head so that he could cover the cost with the money that he had on him at the time. He then returned to his friend’s home with the amp. When David showed up at his friend’s home with the amp, the day after the trade had been offered, his friend was shocked. David said, “He never thought I’d nd this amp because he had been looking for one forever.” The trade was made and David had his Epiphone archtop. David took the guitar back to Nashville and gave it to a repairman to have a bridge built, since the guitar was missing the bridge, and get the guitar set up and in good playing condition. Months later he received the guitar back just before he and Gillian were scheduled to go into the studio in Los Angeles, with producer T-Bone Burnett, to record Gillian’s debut album, Revival. Almost as an afterthought, since they had an extra shipping box, David decided to go ahead and ship the archtop to Los Angeles along with the other instruments that they were shipping to use in the studio. David said, “As soon as we were in the studio with T-Bone and I heard this guitar on the mic, I said, ‘This is it!’ I was so stoked at the way the guitar was sounding.” The Epiphone guitar continues to be a part of the Gillian Welch and David Rawlings sound. Even though he recently acquired a 1939 Martin D-18 that he bought from Norman Blake, he said that he said that he would continue to play the Epiphone with Gillian. In addition to his guitar playing, songwriting, and singing, David also is a talented producer. After T-Bone Burnett produced Gillian’s first two recordings ( Revival and Hell Among the Yearlings),
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
David stepped in to produce Gillian’s third, fourth, and fth albums— Time (The Rev ela tor ) , Soul Journey , The Harrow & The Harvest . He also produced Old Crow Medicine Show’s commercial debut O.C.M.S . and their follow-up recording Big Iron World . Additionally, David produced Robyn Hitchcock’s CD Spooked in 2004. In addition to recording and performing as a duo with Gillian, since 2006 David has also fronted his own band, called the Dave Rawlings Machine. The group recorded a CD in 2009, titled A Friend of A Friend and they continue to tour periodically. They recently finished a southeast tour with John Paul Jones, of Led Zeppelin fame, on mandolin, Paul Kowert, of the Punch Brothers, and Willie Watson, formerly of Old Crow Medicine Show. When performing in the duo, the main focus of the act is Gillian’s lead singing and songwriting. Gillian is also a member of David Rawlings Machine, but in that group she is in more of
a supporting role and David steps out front. David’s guitar style can be edgy, hard driving, and up-in-you r-face. A great example of a solo that fans love is on the Gillian Welch and David Rawlings tune “Caleb Meyer.” So that our readers can learn how David employs those heavy Bill Monroe style downstrokes, we’ve transcribed two solos from a live performance of “Caleb Meyer.” We’ve included the segment of the song that includes these two solos on the audio CD that accompanies this issue. But if you really want to capture what David is doing on this tune, you can also watch him play what we have transcribed on youtube. You can nd the clip at this URL: http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=Xwh7lYGaeN4 (or search on “Half an hour GILLIAN WELCH and DAVE RAWLINGS live @ Paradiso 2012”). The rst solo starts at about 1:17 and the second solo starts at 2:02.
Nearly ten years ago I was traveling across country and I made a stop in Salt Lake City to visit a great music store called Intermountain Guitar and Banjo. When I walked in the store there were only two other people there besides one of the store’s owners. The two people, who were sitting in chairs and surrounded by vintage instruments that the owner was pulling out of the back room, were Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. I introduced myself and Gillian said, “You should feature David in your magazine.” I agreed right then and there and I’m very happy that we were nally able to get it done. I think that David Rawlings guitar playing is something that all atpickers should take time to examine and study. If you do, I think that you will nd it to be well worth the effort.
The Guitar Player's Guide to Developing
Speed, Accuracy, & Tone by Brad Davis & Dan Miller Learn How To Improve:
• • • • •
Right and Left Hand Mechanics Right and Left Hand Efciency Volume, Speed, & Tone Note Accuracy and Clarity Overall Smoothness and Fluidity
In this book (with accompanying audio CD), by Brad Davis & Dan Miller, the authors have designed a step-by-step program that will help you improve your right and left hand mechanics and efciency, increase your volume and speed, allow your notes to ring out more accurately with clarity and rich tone, and improve the overall smoothness and uidity of your solos. This program is designed to help players of all levels. Even though he is a seasons professional, Brad Davis uses the exercises that are presented in this book to warm up for all of his shows and studio sessions and he has taught this method to his private students and workshops attendees (beginner to advanced) with tremendous results. Available in spiral bound hardcopy or as a digital download.
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
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Pretty Bird by Craig Vance Here is tune that I learned a few years back. This was on Norman’s Nashvi lle Blues LP. It’s an uplifting piece that is a great showcase tune as a solo. The second half has a melodic climb similar to the beginning “Molly Bloom” (see FGM vol. 9 no. 4). This also pairs nicely with any other ddle tunes in C mode, such as “Whiskey Before Breakfast.” Have fun with this gem of a tune.
Share Tunes, Videos, and discuss Flatpicking Topics with 4000 Flatpickers! Join the
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Flatpicking Essentials Volume 4: Understanding the Fingerboard & Moving Up The Neck The fourth book in the Flatpicking Essentials series teaches you how to become familiar with using the entire ngerboard of the guitar and it gives you many exercises and examples that will help you become very comfortable playing up-the-neck. With this book and CD you will learn how to explore the whole guitar neck using a very thorough study of chord shapes, scale patterns, and arpeggios. You will also learn how to comfortably move up-the-neck and back To Order: down using slides, open strings, scale runs, harmonized scales, oating licks, and more. 800-413-8296 If you’ve ever sat and watched a professional www.flatpickdigital.com players fingers dance up and down the ngerboard with great ease and wondered “I www.flatpickingmercantile.com wish I could do that!” This book is for you! 14
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
16
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
œ
Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar
œ œ œ œ œ#œ œ H.O.
by Joe Carr
0 0
1
2
0
2
0
3
Chords and Keys Monroe’s beautiful instrumental waltz “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz” has become a favorite since it was recorded for general release in 1970. The original chord changes are (each chord get three beats): Dm Dm F Dm Dm Dm G A Dm Dm F Dm CCFF Bb Bb F F GGCA Dm Dm F Dm CCFF
What key is this in? When I rst started playing, I would have said D minor. Here is a number chart assuming the tune is in D minor.
1m 1m b3 1m 1m 1m 4 5 1m 1m b3 1m b7 b7 b3 b3 #5 #5 b3 b3 4 4 b7 5 1m 1m b3 1m b7 b7 b3 b3
This chart is much more readable. “Sweet Georgia Brown” presents a similar problem. D7 is often the rst chord as shown here:
With flatted third, flatted sevenths, and sharped fths, this chart is a little scary. If we assume the song begins on a 6 minor, we are now in the key of F. Here’s the chart:
D7 D7 D7 D7 G7 G7 G7 G7 Dm A7 Dm A7 F D7 (GC) F
6m 6m 1 6m 6m 6m 2 3 6m 6m 1 6m 5511 4411 2253 6m 6m 1 6m 5511
The key is F not D. With these types of tunes, it is often the last chord rather than the rst that determines what key we are in. Other tunes with this feature include “Right or Wrong” and “Salty Dog Blues.”
D7 D7 D7 D7 G7 G7 G7 G7 C7 C7 C7 C7 F C7 F A
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine & SimpleFolk Productions Present:
Jo s h
A nd y
C h r is
Williams, Falco & Eldridge Live at the Station Inn “Guitarmageddon” In this one-hour DVD Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and SimpleFolk Productions present three of today's top young flatpicking guitarists performing together in a live concert setting at the “World Famous” Station Inn in Nashville, Tennessee. Josh Williams, Andy Falco, and Chris Eldridge perform in a trio setting, as duo pairs, as solo performers, and with a full bluegrass band (with guests Cody Kilby and Mike Bub). Guitar players will appreciate the left and right hand close-ups that are prevalent throughout this DVD.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
17
Gcdgcdgcdgcd
Beginner’s Page
gcdgcdgcdgcd by Dan Huckabee
Little Girl of Mine in Tennessee Why should you bother to learn the Flatt & Scruggs classic “Little Girl of Mine in Tennessee”? Because it will help you understand how to ornament a bluegrass melody, and it will give you another solo that is commonly played in jam sessions. I’ve recorded the audio in G-position, capoed to the 2nd fret, sounding in the key of A. It’s mostly played in 1st position, but I do move to 2nd position to avoid using my pinky and to give it more bluegrass punch (optional). If you’ll listen to the full speed version rst to get familiar with the sound, then the slow version for the details, it
18
will help you to understand what it should sound like when you are going through the tablature. With a little patience, you’ll have it up to speed in no time. As always, call me if you have any questions at 512-328-5055 and check out the Musician’s Workshop ads in the back of this issue.
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Kaufman’s Corner San Antonio Rose Hi Friends and welcome back to my corner of the magazine. This time we are taking a trip to Texas with the “San Antonio Rose.” This is a great Texas swing tune that works just right for atpicking. This is not the straight melody so you may want to listen to Bob Wills sing this classic a time or two in order to hear where this solo is coming from. Always do your homework and nd recorded versions of the song you are working on. Rhythm: I played this with the standard boom-chuck method on the recording (bass-strum-bass-strum), but another way would be to use closed position chords. These chords are played with four strums per measure. Let the rst strum ring and the 2nd strum vamp by releasing left hand pressure right after the strum, 3rd strum rings and fourth strum vamps (strum-vampstrum-vamp for each measure). Strum only the strings you are holding and mute the strings not held. The C chords would change to a C6. C6 is held like a combination of an Am and a C. Hold an Am and use the little nger to hold down the 5th string at the 3rd fret. C7 is a C7: A C chord while holding down the 3rd string at the 3rd fret with the little nger
by Steve Kaufman
F is a four-string chord. Don’t hold the rst string but hold the 2nd string 1st fret, 3rd string 2nd fret, 4th string 3rd fret and the 5th string 3rd fret. D7 is a C7 at the 3rd fret. G and G7 are the forementioned F chord at the third fret. That ought to get you through the chords. The Lead: The lead is pretty straightforward ngering-wise so I will only go over places you may have question. Measure 10: Use the third nger and slide from the 3rd to 5th fret. Leave it ringing over the 1st string 3rd fret strike then turn loose the frets to nish the measure. Measure 23: This slide requires the same ngering as in measure 10. Measure 24: I use the rst nger on the 3rd fret and the third nger on the 5th fret. The chorus starting at measure 33: These are all melodic double-stops, where you hit two notes as one. When you strike through the strings you should hear the two notes hit as one and no delay from the 1st to 2nd note in the double stop. The second nger remains on the 3rd string during the entire passage of double-stops. Use the rst and third ngers on the 2nd string notes as they are needed.
Measure 48: Use the first and second ngers for the rst two double-stops even though they are on different sets of strings. Then the last two double-stops in measure 48 are hit using the rst and third ngers. These hints will get you through the entire chorus and then you are back to a section that is played like the rst part of the song. Have a great time with this tune. Boomchuck the rhythm then switch to swing rhythm. Record your rhythm and play the lead along with the recording. Don’t play it too fast and enjoy! Bye for now, Steve Kaufman Now on iTunes Come to the Gold Award Winning Acoustic Kamps Old Time and Traditional Week: June 8-14, 2014 Bluegrass Week: June 15-21, 2014 www.atpik.com www.palacetheater.com
Check Out our New Store at www.flatpick.com! We now have all the items that Flatpickers love, including the Tony Rice monel strings from Martin, Blue Chip Picks, Wegen Picks, Straps, Capos, Tuners, Gig Bags, Cases, and much more!
20
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
San Antonio Rose (con’t)
œ œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ C
C7
F
D7
G
G7
25
0
0
3 1
2 0
3
2 0
0
3
2
3
3
0 2 0
3 3 2
3
1
0 3 0
0
0 2
1
2
0
0
4
0
0
2 3
2 0
# œ œ n œ n œ œ œ n œ œ œ œ b œ n œ œ b b b œ œ œ œ œ b n & œœ œœœœœ œ C
C
G
G
D7
D7
D7
˙ ˙
˙ ˙
˙ ˙
˙ ˙
31
0
1
2 0
3
# &
1 3 2 0
0
1
3 3 4 4
2 3
3 4
1 2
0 0
3 4
7 7
7 7 7 7
6 6
5 5
6 6
7 7
7 7 7 7
6 6
3
˙ ˙
œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ##œ œ œ bbœ nnœ œ
5 5
5 5
D7
5 5
G
G
G
G ˙ ˙
œ
D7
3 4
7 7
œ œ bnœ
˙ ˙
38
4 5
3 4
3
0
3
1
0
2
0 0
0
1 2
2 3
3 4
3 4
2 3
3 4
1 2
0 0
7 7
7 7
6 6
œ œ # n œ œ n œ œ n œ œ œ œ œ b œ b œ œ œ œœœœœ œ œ œ # œ b œ # & D7
D7
D7
G
G7
C
˙ ˙
44
5 5
5 5
6 6
C7
7 7
5 5
3 4
2 3
1 2
5 5
F
3 4
1 2
0 0
1 2
D7
2 3
3 4
5 6
6 7
3 5
1 3
G
0
0
3
1
2
0
3
G7
œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ nœ œ #œ œ œ &œœœ œ œ œ œœ œœœ œ 50
2
0
3
0
2
3
3
0
2
0
3
2
0
3 2
3
1
0
3
0
3
2
0
2
0
0
4
0
2
0
3
0
1
(C) 2014 Steve Kaufman Enterprises Inc 800-FLATPIK Single Song Lesson Downloads at www.flatpik.com
22
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
San Antonio Rose (con’t)
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ &œ œœœœ œ œ œ C
C
C
C7
F
55
1 2
2
0
3
D7
2
0
0
2
3
0
1
G
0
3
0
3
1
0
2
G7
0
0
3
2
3
0
C
2
3
0
3
2
1
C
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 60
3 0
3
1
0
2
0
3
0
0
2
4
0
1 2
3
0
2
3
0
2
3
2
0
3
2
0
3
(C) 2014 Steve Kaufman Enterprises Inc 800-FLATPIK Single Song Lesson Downloads at www.flatpik.com
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Each CD contains about 75 tunes. The title is announced, then the tune is played once at a moderate tempo, with rhythm on the left track and lead on the right. The 7-CD set comes in a black plastic box, and includes separate indexes for each disc.
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23
Taking It To The Next Level: Arranging “Pupville” by John Carlini This time I’d like to share part of my experience of being the guitarist with the David Grisman Quintet back in 1989. That particular DGQ personnel led to a tour that ended in a concert at Carnegie Hall and the release of the Grammy-nominated CD, Dawg ‘90. Our friendship and professional association began when David asked me to be the guitarist/arranger in the Great American Music Band, replacing guitarist and long-time friend, Jerry Garcia. That was likely the rst real Dawg Music band and it created a huge opportunity for me to write and arrange for David and it led to arranging and orchestration projects such as Mondo Mando, Dawg Jazz, Back to Back , and the lm, King of the Gypsies. I was thrilled when David called again and asked me to be the guitarist for the Dawg ’90 band. By then David had composed a whole new “batch” of tunes that the band was already performing. When I arrived I had a lot a “shedding” to do in order to get up to speed. That process is the subject of this column.
During the rst few rehearsals I carried a music manuscript pad, pencils, and erasers and scribbled like mad to come up with chord changes and rhythm figures that David wanted the guitarist to play. In 2 or 3 days I had crafted a “guitar book” that I was able to play with a minimum of rehearsal time. “Pupville” is an example of one of those tunes. I suggest that you listen to the track and follow the chart multiple times until it begins to internalize. The style of this Dawg piece is bluegrass-ish and is in cut time. We’ve discussed this in earlier columns. That means that it is notated in 4 but pulses in 2. It is therefore easier to read because the common denominator time value becomes an 8th note instead of a 16th note. Notice that the intro ends with a rhythm hit on the 4th beat of measure 3. The melody (head) and solos are a standard 32 bar form that always ends with the rhythm gure in the nal 2 bars. At the end of the last head you play the coda ending gure when you get to the nal bar of the form.
By writing guitar parts I could notate exactly what David expected right from the start. Next time we’ll discuss chord forms and soloing for Pupville. Meanwhile, enjoy playing along! John Carlini Please visit John’s web site (www. johncarlini.com) to sign up for the latest performance and teaching info and acoustic music news. John is now giving live one-onone lessons on guitar and 5-string banjo using Skype technology. Also see John’s new site, www.fretmate.com. Be sure and check out the entire catalog of David Grisman CD’s at http://acousticoasis.com/catalog.html.
Blind But Now I See: The Biography of Music Legend Doc Watson by Kent Gustavson From the day he stepped off the bus in New York City, North Carolina music l egend Doc Watson changed the music world forever. His inuence has been recognized by presidents and by the heroes of modern music, from country stars to rock and roll idols. This is a biography of a atpicking legend.
Featuring brand new interviews with: • Ben Harper of The Innocent Criminals • Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show • Pat Donohue of The Prairie Home Companion • David Grisman of Garcia/Grisman and Old and in the Way • Sam Bush, The Father of Newgrass • Guy Clark, Texas Songwriting Legend • Michelle Shocked, Greg Brown, Mike Marshall, Tom Paxton, Maria Muldaur • And many more!
Available at www.fatpick.com 24
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Pupville
Audio CD Track 12
Written by David Grisman Arranged by John Carlini
Fast Bluegrass
4 &4 1
E7
Intro
Œ’ ^
∑
∑
∑
∑
Head & Solos A m
F
E7
A m
5
& .. ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ . F
C
E7
A m
13
&’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ F
C
E7
fi
21
& ’ Œ ’ Œ ’ Œ ’ Œ ’ Œ ’ Œ ’ Œ ’ Œ ’ Œ ’ Œ ’ Œ’ ’ Œ Œ ’ 29
^
E7
fi
&
∑
A m
’ ’ ‰ j’ ’ ’ Ó >
∑
^
^
>
^
>
Orrin Star’s
Flatpicking Guitar Primer What The Tab Won’t Tell You
A comprehensive introduction to bluegrass lead guitar p laying by one of America’s top atpicking teachers, this video brings to light vit al, yet often overlooked, subtleties that are at the heart of this exciting style—those things that the tablature won’t tell you. Among them: • how to think like a ddler and get the “dance pulse” into your playing • the central role of strums in lead playing (as applied to Carter-style and Blake-style) • right hand fundamentals like: how to properly alternate your pick, how to modify your right hand technique when strumming, performing double-stops, and rest strokes • the role of double-stops and harmonized leads • using lyrics & singing styles to guide your solos Starting with a simple scale and then progressing through eight cool arrangements of classic tunes, this 2-hour video doesn’t just spoon feed you solos—it provides a systematic guide to the thi nking behind and within the style.
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By Brad Davis “John Hardy” Rhythm Late last year Dan Miller and I taught a series of workshops in the midwest that we titled “Rhythm, Timing, and Groove.” We had such a great response from the workshops that Dan and I have decided to produce a book and instructional video on the topic and so in October of 2013 we went into the studio to shoot the video. During the video shoot, Dan asked me if I’d come up with a rhythm arrangement of a standard bluegrass song whereby I would use techniques such as muted strums, closed position major chords, and passing chords. I used the tune “John Hardy” as an example and came up with the rhythm accompaniment that is presented on the following two pages. If you take a look at the tab, you may notice that it looks pretty complicated. Don’t let that intimidate you. Listen to the audio track in order to get a feel for the rhythm and then work with it slowly, a few measures at a time. If you are new to the muted strum, you’ll have to spend a little
time working with that. To execute the muted strum, simply lay your ngers lightly across the strings so that you dampen the sound. To my ear the muted strum adds a lot of drive and percussiveness to the rhythm. The muted strings are indicated with an “X” in the tablature. If you are having trouble with the muted strum, refer to my article about this topic back in Volume 17, Number 3 of this magazine. In this arrangement the closed chords and passing chords that I use are actually “diads” or two note gures (root and fth). The rock players call these “power chords.” For instance, at the end of measure 4, I’m using a Bb power chord (Bb note with an F note) to walk up to move from the G chord to the C chord. The C chord that I’m playing in measure 5 is also a closed position “power chord” that uses only two notes—the C note and the G note. In measure 8 you’ll notice that I once again walk from G to C using closed position power chords. This time I move from G to Bb to B, then to C. I execute a
similar move in measure 12 when I move from the G chord in measure 11 to the D chord in measure 13. This time I use the same closed chord shape to move from G to C to C#, then to the closed position D. In this tune the D chords is held for 6 measures. To break that up I start in the closed position D chord, move to an open position D chord, then substitute an F chord (measure 15) and move back to the open position D. In the second pass I use similar chord shapes and passing chords, but then I throw in a walk from D to F#dim7, to G#m6 to Am6 to once again add variety over the six measures of D. When you are working with these arrangements try not to worry too much about the exact strum patterns, just give the chord shapes and passing chords a try and use whatever strum patterns feel best to you.
The Bluegrass Guitar Style of
Charles Sawtelle In addition to the tablature and standard notation of 27 Sawtelle solos, this book also includes: A detailed Sawtelle biography, An in-depth interview with Charles, A section on Charles’ rhythm style, Charles Sawtelle Discography, The rst ever Slade biography, Notes on each solo transcription, and Dozens of photographs. A must for all Sawtelle and Hot Rize fans!
1 (800) 413-8296 or visit www.fatpickingmercantile.com CALL
to order with Mastercard, Visa, or Discover
Now Available as a digital PDF Download at www.flatpickdigital.com! 26
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
“John Hardy” Rhythm
Audio CD Track 12
Written by Brad Davis
C
G
# 4 & 4 œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ ¿¿¿ 1
T A B
# & 5
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ ¿¿¿ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ n b œœ ¿¿ œœ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ œ œ b œ ¿ œ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿ ¿¿ ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ j j œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ ¿ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ ¿ n bb œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ ¿¿ ¿¿ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ ¿¿ ¿¿ j œ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœœ n bb œœœ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ # nn œœœ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ œ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ J J J j œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œœ ¿¿ ¿¿ b # œ ¿ ¿ œœ . œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ . œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œj œ œ¿ œ¿ œ¿ œ¿ œœ œ ¿ ¿ # œ ¿ ¿ ... ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ J J œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ n œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œœœœ œ œ œ œœœœ 1 0 2 3
1 0 2
1 0 2
1 0 2
1 0 2
1 0 2 3
1 0 2
1 0 2
1 0 2
1 0 2
3 0 0
H
2
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
H
3
C
3 3 1
3 0 0
2
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 3 1
0 0 0
3
G
5 5 3
5 3 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
3 0 0
H
3 0 0
3 0 0
0 0 0 0
3 3 1
4 4 2
2 3
# & 9
C
G
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
H
3
# & 13
3 0 0
3 0 0
0 0 0 0
5 5 3
6 6 4
F
7 7 5
7 7 5
7 7 5
7 7 5
# œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ & œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ ¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿ 17
2 3 2 0
3 0 0
2 3
D
5
3 0 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2
7 7 5
2 3 2
2 3 2
2 3 2
2 3 2
5 6 5
5 6 5
5 6 5
5 6 5
5 6 5
0
G
œœ ¿¿ ¿¿ ¿¿ n b œœ ¿¿ ¿¿ ¿¿ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ ¿¿ ¿¿ œ ¿ ¿ ¿ b œ ¿ ¿ ¿ œj œ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ 5 5 3
3 3 1
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
H
J
2 3
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
0 0 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
n bb ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ # œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ # n œœœ ¿¿ ¿¿
3 3 1
3 3 1
3 3 1
3 3 1
4 4 2
27
John Hardy Rhythm (con’t) C
G
# œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ & œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ ¿¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ n bb œœœ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ # nn œœœ œ œ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ # ¿ œ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ ¿¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ ¿¿ œœ œœ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ # œ œ œ œ œ ¿ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ¿¿ œœ¿ œœ¿ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œ œœ œœ œœ # œœœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œœ ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ # n œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ # œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ œ œ œ ¿ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ b œ & œ œœœœ¿¿ œ œœœœ¿¿ # 21
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
3
5 5 3
3 0 0
5 5 3
3
25
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
5 5 3
3 0 0
H
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 3 1
4 4 2
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
H
3
2
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0 4
3 0 0
3 0 0
3
G G
C
1 0 2 3
1 0 2
1 0 2
1 0 2
1 0 2
1 0 2
1 0 2
1 0 2
1 0 2
3
D
2
F#dim7
2 3 4
2 3 4
2 3 4
2 3 4
œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œœ n œœ D
37
2 3 2 0
3 3 0 0
3 3 0 3
¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ 2 3 4
3 3 0 3
3 3 0 3
2 3 2 0
5 5 4
5 5 4
3 0 0
H
3
3
2 3 2 0
3 0 0
G
2
33
3 0 0
3
C
5 5 3
29
3 0 0
5 5 4
œœ œ
œœ œœ œœ n œœ
2 3 2 0
3 3 0 0
3 3 0 3
5 5 4
3 0 0 2
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3
3 0 0
Am6
G#m6
¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œœ 6 4 6
6 4 6
6 4 6
6 4 6
G
3 3 0 3
3 0 0
3
5 5 4
3 0 0
3 3 0 3
0 2
3 3 0
3 3 0
0 0
6 4 6
¿¿¿ ¿¿¿ œœ œœ œœ ¿ 7 5 7
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
7 5 7
7 5 7
7 5 7
7 5 7
¿¿¿ ¿¿¿
Ó
˙
3 3 0
3 3 0
3 3 0 0
¿
Ó
3
28
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Flatpick Profle:
Seth Taylor b y Dan Miller
Stepping in to ll the lead guitar spot in the well-established and extremely popular band Mountain Heart would be a pretty tough job. It would be challenging for any new band member to step in and learn that band’s wide-ranging repertoire and coalesce with their remarkable groove. Add to that the pressure of playing alongside bluegrass legends like Tony Rice and Terry Baucom, who occasionally sit in with the band, and then consider that you are lling the shoes of guys like Clay Jones and Jake Stargell. It would not be an easy job at all. But for the past two years Seth Taylor has not only lled that role, he has excelled as Mountain Heart’s new lead guitar player. Remarkably, Seth was still a teenager when the band asked him to ll the vacancy left when Jake Stargell moved on to tour with Sierra Hull. How does such a young man step into one of the most challenging guitar spots in bluegrass music? It is a demanding job with an established band and seasoned veteran band mates. It seems hard to imagine until you learn that Seth has been playing the guitar since he was four years old and was good enough to perform on stage with Brad Paisley by the time he was eight. At 20 years of age, Seth Taylor has already rmly established himself in the world of professional bluegrass. There is no telling where he will go from here. The sky is the limit for this young man. Seth grew up in the town of Bryson City, North Carolina. The mountains of western North Carolina seem to be a breeding ground for great bluegrass and old-time musicians and Seth remembers being interested in music at a very young age. He said, “I was listening to music all of the time and I asked my parents for a guitar when I was two years old.” Yes, he said “two”; that is not a misprint. His parents obliged and got him a toy guitar that he carried around the house with him. By the time Seth was four he had a playable guitar and was taking lessons. He said, “I liked watching CMT
music videos. I learned a few chords and learned enough to play a few songs.” Not long after he started learning how to play, the woman who cut Seth’s hair heard that he could play the guitar. She was in a band that was performing at a local Fourth of July celebration and asked if Seth would like to get up on stage and play a song. Seth and his parents thought it would be fun, so between the band’s sets Seth got up on stage and played along with a CD. A local bluegrass guitar player, Kevin Tuck, saw Seth that day and offered to teach him lessons. Seth remembers, “When I started taking lessons from Kevin I was ve years old. I already knew major chords and I could play ‘Guitar Boogie.’ So, he started me pickin’ on songs like ‘Salt Creek’ and ‘Gold Rush’ right away.” Seth studied guitar with Kevin for a year and a half and then started studying banjo with him. Seth has always been a country music fan and every year his parents would take him to Nashville for the Country Music Association’s Fan Fair. The Fan Fair (now called CMA Music Festival) encompasses four days of country music concerts and musician and fan interactions. In 2002 Seth had the opportunity to meet Brad Paisley and play a song for him. Brad was so impressed that he invited Seth to come up on stage with him at his next show. At the time Seth was still playing a small student guitar, which he did not have with him at the show. When he walked up on stage to play with Paisley, Brad handed Seth his guitar. Seth said, “That guitar was as big as I was!” Seth played along with Brad and the band on one of Brad’s tunes. The interesting result of Seth playing on stage that day with Brad Paisley is that a young Jake Stargell was in the crowd that day. When we interviewed Jake for the cover story of our March/April 2012 issue (Volume 16, Number 3) he said, “Back when I was about 11 or 12 I went to a Brad Paisley
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
concert. During the show Brad called this little kid up on stage to pick a tune with him. It was Seth Taylor. He performed with Brad Paisley and he wore it out. I had never seen anyone who was about my age play like that. I had just started playing the guitar and seeing Seth play on stage with Brad Paisley really inspired me. That memory stayed with me.” When he heard that story, Seth said, “Jake inspires me now! I like everything that he did with Mountain Heart. He is such a cool player.” While Seth’s guitar teacher was a huge Tony Rice fan and taught Seth how to play bluegrass guitar in the Tony Rice style, Seth also points to inuences in country music. He said, “My dad was a huge fan of old country music and I grew up watching videos on GAC and CMT. I loved listening to country guitar players like Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Keith Urban, and Steve Wariner. I love how Keith Urban feels stuff. He is not real notey.” In addition to studying with Kevin, Seth also played along with CDs and would try to gure out the guitar parts. By the age of seven he was entering contests. He said, “I played in as many contests as I could from the time I was seven up until I was 15 or 16.” Highlights include winning both the guitar and banjo at Renofest in 2007, winning Merlefest on the guitar in 2008, winning rst place on the guitar at the Georgia State Championship in 2007 and 2008 (he won rst place on the banjo in Georgia in 2006), and in 2005 he won the “Best Overall Entertainer” award at the Smithville Fiddler’s Jamboree. Seth has only entered the National Flatpicking Guitar Championship in Wineld, Kansas, one time (in 2005) and although he did not place in the top three, he made the top ve cut. Making the top 29
ve cut at the National Championship as a 12-year-old is an incredible achievement! In addition to participating in contests, Seth joined his first band, Reel Time, when he was twelve. Seth’s guitar and banjo teacher, Kevin Tuck, and Kevin’s wife were in the band, as was another very talented young musician from western North Carolina, Bryan McDowell (see the Flatpicking Guitar Magazine cover story in the March/April 2010 issue). Seth said that when he was working up contest tunes or learning new material for the band he would start by rst learning the song’s melody. Then he would expand on the melody by adding in licks and phrases that he had learned by studying recordings, working with his teacher, or watching other players at jam sessions. Seth gained a lot of experience with Reel Time as the band “played somewhere almost every week.” After performing with Reel Time for a couple of years, Seth got a job playing the banjo with Pine Mountain Railroad when he was 15. At 17 he moved on to play guitar with Monroeville, a band that describes its sound as a “crossover between progressive bluegrass and acoustic country.” While Seth
30
was with the band they had a gig playing at the Old Smoky Mountain Distillery 6 days a week, 10 hours a day. The Distillery is a tourist attraction in Tennessee that boasts that it is “America’s most visited distillery.” It is a place that “showcases the art of superior mountain-made moonshine” where you are able to “see grains of corn converted into clear corn liquor.” Monroeville played 15-minute sets on an outdoor stage for the tourists walking through the facility. Seth said, “We played bluegrass standards, pop songs… anything that we wanted.” It was during his time with Monroeville that Seth really had the opportunity to develop his skill as a stage performer and hone his guitar chops. While Seth was with Monroeville he also opened the door for the Mountain Heart gig. The rst Monroeville CD was produced by Mountain Heart’s fiddle player Jim Van Cleve. Jim was impressed with Seth’s musicianship and writing abilities. The two co-wrote the tune “Passive Aggressive” for the Monroeville CD (this tune appears on the audio CD that accompanies this issue). Seth had also had the opportunity to jam with Mountain Heart’s mandolin player, Aaron Ramsey. So, when Jake Stargell left Mountain Heart, the band gave Seth a call. Seth said, “I was thrilled when I got the call because I had always been a huge Mountain Heart fan.” Since joining Mountain Heart, Seth said that he has learned a lot about listening and “laying back and falling into the groove.” He said, “This band is all about the band sounding tight. There is no person that stands out. Back when Adam Steffey and Clay Jones where in the band they created a certain sound and groove. I’m learning how to feel that groove and how to play what makes the song sound better.” In order to prepare for the Mountain Heart gig Seth said that he spent time in the “woodshed” listening to Mountain Heart recordings and YouTube videos. He said, “I listened to everything that Clay and Jake were doing. I especially love Clay’s rhythm. It is so aggressive and powerful.” While Seth did work up some material in order to prepare for his rst gigs with the band, he said that now what he plays on stage is mostly improvised. He said, “Everyone else’s solos change every night, so now I do that too.” While playing with one of the most popular bands in bluegrass music would be a dream job for any 20-year-old bluegrass
guitar player, it turns out that Seth gets the opportunity to perform with another of bluegrass music’s most popular acts— Daily and Vincent. He was hired by Daily and Vincent to accompany them on their Christmas tour last year and has since played other dates with them whenever his schedule allows. When asked about the difference between the two bands, Seth said, “Daily and Vincent have a straighter rhythmic feel. Their music is more traditional and more country. It is cool going back and forth between the two bands.” When asked about his plans for the future, Seth said that he is currently in the early stages of guring out tunes for a solo album. He said, “I don’t just want it to be a ddle tune bluegrass record. I’d like to have the Mountain Heart guys join me and also have a few other guests.” On stage and in the studio, Seth’s main guitar is a Collings D2H that he bought in 2005. When asked about current inuences, Seth said that lately he has been listening to The Band. Already, at the age of 20, Seth Taylor is solidly in the bluegrass spotlight. Touring with two prominent bluegrass music acts is quite an accomplishment for a bluegrass guitar player at any age. I predict that we will see a lot more of Seth Taylor in the future. Make sure to go out and give him a listen the next time that Mountain Heart is in your area and keep an eye out for his solo CD. I’m condent that it will be great. We’ll let you know when it is available and we’ll keep you informed as Seth’s career continues to blossom in the future.
Tim Stafford “Endless Line” www.flatpick.com
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Passive Aggressive
Audio CD Track 13
= 270
C#m
B
F#
F#
2 4
5
0
6
6
4
4
6
6
2
G
2
4
6
Arranged by Seth Taylor Transcribed by Alois Kleewein
2
2
2
2
3
4
4
8
3
0
4
4
4
4
7
7
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5
9 7
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6
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7
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2
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F#
4 4
G
G
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11
0 0 2
2
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3 4
3 0
3 4
4
G
4
4
0
5
3 0
0
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C#m
2 0
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5
B
3
5
3 5
3
6 6
F#
7
3
3
3 6
F#
16
3
0 6
5
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4 5
6
5
6
4 6
2 6
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4
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3 4
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4
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C#m
21
5 8 0
7 5
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7
6 7
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5 6
9
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
4 7
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10 9 7
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Passive Aggressive (con’t) B
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E
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2 4
0
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0 0
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full
1/2
6 9 10
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8
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9
6 9
9
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6 5
8 6
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Am
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Am
11 9
7
G
41
9 10 11
11
9 9
11
9 11
10
12
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8
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7
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0 8
G
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Little Annie by Kathy Barwick There are many great guitar players who we just don’t hear that much. One of these is Greg Townsend, who recently and unexpectedly died of cancer. His passing inspired me to go back and listen to his guitar work and share a little bit of it with you. Originally from southern California, Greg played guitar in a number of Sacramento/ Grass Valley based bands before he moved to the San Francisco Bay area in the early 1980s to become one of the founders of The Grant Street String Band. After one recording, in which you can hear his Clarence White-based yet distinctive style, Greg left the band. Upon returning to the Sacramento area, Greg became one of the area’s most loved bluegrass music instructors, teaching banjo, guitar and mandolin. During this time he focused his own playing mostly on the mandolin, but he never lost his fantastic touch on the guitar. To remember and honor Greg’s great playing, I present here the two of us jamming on the melody of “Little Annie” (a variant of the Stephen Foster song “Gentle Annie”). You can hear what would be the denitive version of this song (for us northern Californians) on The Vern Williams Band’s album Bluegrass from the Gold Country (on which the song is titled “When Springtime Comes Again”). My solo comes rst, then Greg’s. Greg was a real student of Clarence’s music, and collected hundreds of recordings
(mostly on cassette tape) in order to study Clarence’s distinct style. There are a number of features in both solos that are reminiscent of Clarence’s style, mostly in the syncopation—lots of notes tied over the bar line, and lots of advanced or delayed melody notes. There are some specic and very cool things in Greg’s solo I want to point out. Right at the start (M33), his intro begins on the “1&” right smack dab after I end my solo on the 1 count. And he gets to the main melody note—the low C—on the “2&,” rather than the 1, of the next measure (M34). Similarly, in M35, he hits the next main melody note on the “1&” of M35. And in M41, the resolution to the low G melody note happens on the “1&,” instead of the 1. And so on, until the end, where Greg advances the resolving C note to the “4&” beat right before the “real” end of the song. This kind of anticipation takes a simple melody and makes it really interesting and fun to listen to. Notice especially the cool phrasing in M55. A note about the recording: I recorded this several years ago, although not for the purpose of using it for an instructional piece. Both guitars are on a single track, and so are not separable, making some passages rather hard to sort out. There are places where I inferred what was played. Specically: in M14, and 24, some parts are inaudible, so I put in something I might have played. In M54, I am similarly “lling in” in the rst
half. Finally, as you can hear, in M62, the two guitars clash a bit. I’ve given it my best guess as to what Greg played. Oddly enough, it was easier for me to hear what Greg did in this section at full speed than on the Slowdowner; I could at least hear the general shape of what was going on. I hope you enjoy working through some of the ideas in these two arrangements. The syncopation can be complicated, but it really shows how you can take a simple melody and make it interesting just by advancing or delaying notes by a half-beat or more. Kathy Barwick has played guitar since the late 1960s, when she learned folk-style finge rpi cki ng. Kat hy also plays ban jo, resophonic guitar, mandolin and acoustic bass, and has performed over the years with bluegrass and Irish bands. A founding member of the bluegrass band The All Girl Boys, Kathy now plays guitar and dobro in the duo Barwick & Siegfried, and resophonic guitar and mandolin with The Mike Justis Band. Kathy’s criticallyacclaimed solo recording In My Life was released in 2011 on the FGM label. A new solo project is in the works. A Grass Valley, California resident, Kathy teaches at music camps and gives private lessons on guitar, resophonic guitar, and banjo. She welcomes your feedback and/or comments; you can contact her at
[email protected] or visit on the web at www.kathybarwick.net.
Neotech Slimline Slimlock Straps are now available at www.fatpick.com or you can call 800-413-8296 to order Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
33
THE
O
Stenson’s #2 ~ Love of the Irish As any of you you who have seen seen me me perform perform (or follow this column) know, in the past few years Irish tunes have become an important part of my musical stew. And, like all who’ve endeavored to get a foothold on that dauntingly large repertoire, I’ve spent lots of time recently researching and learning tunes. So for this issue I thought I would not only teach you a ne reel, but also share how I went about learning it—a process involving nods of the hat to both tradition and technology. technology. One key difference between how Irish and American instrumentals are played is that Irish tunes are routinely grouped into medleys (“sets”). One nice consequence of this is that as you research a given jig or reel you inevitably encounter others that have been joined with it. In other words, the basic architecture of Irish traditional music lends itself to serendipitous discoveries. A few weeks ago I was revisiting a reel that I’d learned briey but couldn’t recall called “The Gravel Walks.” YouTube had a version by the San Francisco-area group The Gas Men. They played it second in a four-tune set. And the set opened with a tune called “Stenson’s”. “Stenson’s”. It was atpicked solo by guitarist Kyle Alden, and it grabbed me right away. (In particular it had this compelling twomeasure end phrase a la “Coleman’s March” that was repeated in both halves.) I immediately set about learning it. Because the guitar was easy to hear and the video had some good left hand shots, it didn’t take long to recognize that he was capoed on the seventh fret and playing out of D (in regular tuning). After intently listening to multiple plays I was able to gure out the end phrase and basic contours of the tune. But something told me that I hadn’t gotten to the bottom of it. And if there’s there’s one thing I’ve learned from my explorations of ddle music it’s that it always pays to listen to as
- ZONE by
Orrin Star
many versions of a tune as you can: they vary wildly. So back to YouTube, where I then located a clip of the recording by Irish ddle master Kevin Burke. Burke’s version had a completely different feel to it: a different hierarchy of accents, more triplets, and done blazingly fast. (Burke’s video also revealed the tune’s full name: “John Stenson’s #2”.) I wanted in on some of that new melodic DNA. But it was too fast to decipher at that speed. Enter software stage left. To render online recordings digestible you need two applications: an audio capture program (which lets you record a sound le from anything you can play online) and a learning program (enabling you to slow down sound les without changing their pitch). It’s hard to overstate how useful these relatively recent tools are; I can’t imagine being without them. (On my Mac I use Audio Hijack Pro for capture and Amazing Slow Downer for learning. I like them both. But they are the only two I’ve ever tried; there are several options available for both Mac and PC.) Having captured and slowed down Burke’s recording I was able to really get inside “Stenson’s #2”. It’s quite infectious; it feels like one of those deep hypnotic southern old-time tunes that you just want to keep repeating. (In fact it is played, albeit more simply, in some old-time circles; it seems to be popular among mountain dulcimer players.) Though this arrangement owes the most to Burke’s reading of the tune it is in truth a hybrid: I ended up preferring Kyle’s end phrase (the one on guitar) to Kevin’s. And also injected a few of my own double-stop choices along the way. Thus proceeds the folk process. This is an A tune. By playing it in D high up the neck (and mostly on the bass strings) you get a certain sweetness from the guitar that doesn’t occur elsewhere.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February January/February 2014
And since so much of the fretted action occurs on the second and fourth frets this is mostly an index and ring nger affair; it plays very nicely. nicely. One aspect of Irish fiddle music I find compelling (which occurs twice in “Stenson’s”) is the occasional playing of a single note twice in a row. It is almost the audio equivalent of an optical illusion: our ears are so used to hearing changes in consecutive notes that a repeated note (perhaps played with a slightly different accent or fretted and then on an open string) stri ng) sounds fresh and different. Lastly, that catchy end phrase requires a pause. Instead of actual silence I nd it better to ll that pause with what I call a “ghost strum”—the barest of strums, more hitting the tip of your index nger than the pick. Those are the two strums with parentheses around them in the tab. Note: the other great great cyber resource resource for Irish tunes besides YouTube is Comhaltas (http://comhaltas.ie), a group which promotes traditional Irish music and which has a huge store of proprietary audio and video on its website. Orrin Star (ww.orrinstar.com) is an award-winning guitar, banjo & mandolin player based in the Washington, DC area. The 1976 National Flatpicking Champion, he has toured and recorded widely, is the author of Hot Licks for Bluegrass Guitar, and performs mostly solo and duo. He offers off ers private music instruction instruct ion both in person and online.
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“Long Journey Home” by Dix Bruce I’ve always liked the song “Long Journey Home.” It’s a true standard of the old-time and bluegrass repertoire and everybody seems to play it at jam sessions, on recordings, and in concert. As such, it’s a good one to know how to sing and play. Here’s a relatively easy solo to “Long Journey Home,” which is also known as “Two Dollar Bill,” played out of the key of G. The song has a verse/chorus format, but both parts are the same. The rst verse, at least the way I sing it, is: G 1. Black smoke’s a rising and it surely is a train, C G Surely is a train boys, surely is a train, Black smoke’s a rising and it surely is a train, D G I’m on my long journey home. Every verse is followed by the chorus: G Chorus: Lost all my money but a two dollar bill, C G Two dollar bill boys, two dollar bill, Lost all my money but a two dollar bill, D G I’m on my long journey home.
A couple of other verses are shown at the end of the text. The melody and chords are the same in both the verse and the chorus and solos are played over one of those parts. The solo is in kind of a modied Carter style with just one hammer-on, in measure 7. The most challenging part, if there is one at all, is probably in measure 12 where you’ll use your fourth fretting nger to fret the 2nd string, 3rd fret, D note. Keep your nger there for the strums that follow until beat four of measure 13, where you’ll move it back to the 1st string, 3rd fret, G note. You’ll need your fourth nger again in measure 14. If you’re not used to using your fourth nger, these passages may give you some difculty. If that’s the case, the only way to get that fourth nger into shape is to use it. And, if you don’t play with your pinkie at all, you’re missing out on the use of twenty to twenty ve percent of your ngering possibilities. (That percentage depends on you label the thumb as a fretting “nger.”) As always, listen to the recordings and play through the solo a few times to hear how it unfolds. This “Long Journey Home” solo is from a new project I’ve been working on with banjo player Bill Evans and bassist Cindy Browne., The Parking Lot Picker’s Play Along: Guitar. I expect it will be published by the time you read this.
We wanted to provide pickers with a band to play along with on some of the most popular songs and tunes in the bluegrass and old-time genre. It’s based on this concept: The best and fastest way to learn a musical instrument is to play it. And play it. And then play it some more. And, one of most fun ways to play music, play it, and play it some more is to play with other people in a band situation. But not everybody has easy access to like-minded players. So the three of us got together and recorded a bunch of great songs and tunes at both slow and regular speed for people to jam along with. The end products will be titled The Parking Lot Picker’s Play-Along series. I’ve used the concept of jamming along with a band before in my BackUP TRAX series and also my Gypsy Swing and Hot Club Rhythm book/CD sets. I really believe in the approach and see the good it has done my playing. You can hear a preview of the whole series in the recordings accompanying the “Long Journey Home” solo. Just like all the recordings I make for Flatpicking Guitar Magazine , one is at the slow speed, one at regular speed. Both have band back-up, recorded solos, and spaces left open for you to ll. Each of the sample recordings has two open solos and then fades out to
The Guitar Player’s Practical Guide to Scales & Arpeggios by Tim May & Dan Miller This new 160 page book (with 136 audio tracks on 2 CDs) by Dan Miller and Tim May not only teaches you how to learn scales in a way that is easy, fun, interesting, and informative, it also shows you how to practically apply scales when learning new melodies, embellishing those melodies to create your own solos and variations, and in exploring improvisations. The scale study method in this book uses six phrases as follows: 1) Scale pattern study and practice 2) Melody recognition practice 3) Improvisation practice 4) Scale mode practice 5) Scale interval practice 6) Ear training practice The book is broken down into four sections (“The Big Four”): straight scales, folded scales (scale patterns), harmonized scales, and crosspicking arpeggios. By presenting scale and arpeggio knowledge in these six phases and four categories, the authors are able to clearly demonstrate how a knowledge of scales and arpeggios can be easily and practically employed.
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save time on the FGM CD. The recordings packaged with the book are full-length.
If you nd that both the slow and regular speed versions of the song are a little quick for you right now, work with them using a slow downer which will drop the speed of any recordings without changing the pitch. We have the technology! Julie Cline sings harmony with me on the track. Good luck! Here are two more verses for this tune: 2. Cloudy in the West and it looks like rain, Looks like rain, boys, looks like rain, Cloudy in the West and it looks like rain, I’m on my long journey home.
Dix’s latest CD is “Look at it Rain” with Julie Cline. It’s available from his website, www.musixnow.com/dixandjulie. html, where you can preview all the songs, from iTunes and from CD Baby. Dix’s latest guitar book/CD set are AllTime Favorite Parking Lot Picker’s Guitar Solos and Old-time Gospel Crosspicking Guitar. Recent publications include “The Parking Lot Picker’s Songbook” series and Gypsy Swing & Hot Club Rhythm, Vol. I & II for guitar and mandolin. The Parking Lot Picker’s Play-Along: Guitar is currently in production. Log on to www.musixnow. com for information on new releases and tons of free music, tablature, and MP3s to download and learn.
Learn to
Improvise!
3. Dark and a’ raining and I want to go home, Want to go home, boys, want to go home, Dark and a’ raining and I want to go home, I’m on my long journey home. www.atpickingmercantile.com 800-413-8296
Flatpicking Essentials Volume 8: Introduction to Swing & Jazz The eighth and nal book in the Flatpicking Essentials series teaches you how to begin to play swing and jazz tunes in the context of a atpick jam, including how to learn to improvise over swing and jazz chord changes. After presenting how to study and utilize scales and arpeggios in the context of using them as “road maps” for improvisation, this book presents three variations of ten standard swing and jazz tunes. You will learn the basic melody, plus two arrangements of each tune by Tim May. The tunes presented include: Avalon, Bill Bailey, 12th Street Rag, The Sheik of Araby, Rose Room, After You’ve Gone, St. James Inrmary, St. Louis Blues, Limehouse Blues, and I Ain’t Got Nobody. 40
To Order: 800-413-8296 www.flatpickdigital.com www.flatpickingmercantile.com Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Long Journey Home
Audio CD Tracks 19-20
Arranged by Dix Bruce
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Scale Exercise: Modes in G By Dan Miller Various scale practice exercises form one of the practice routines that has really helped me learn how to play all over the guitar’s ngerboard and also learn how to improvise on a variety of tunes. I love to create new practice exercises using scales. Each one teaches me something about the ngerboard, familiarizes me with the ngerboard road map, and helps me get the tonality of various keys and modes into my head. One of the exercises that I love to practice and has been extremely helpful in teaching me how to move up the neck and play in various positions is a scale mode exercise that rst covers the open position and then moves all the way up the neck on the highest pitched three strings. In their most rudimentary form, modes are nothing more than playing a scale starting on different scale notes. Most of us are familiar with playing a major scale starting on the root note. For instance, in the key of G you’d start with the G note and walk up the scale until you hit the G note at the next octave and then you could descend back down the scale (as shown in measures 1 and 2 on the next page). This is a mode of the major scale that music theorists call
the Ionian mode. But, there is no need for you to know that name. All you need to know is that you are playing a major scale and starting on the root note. In measures 3 and 4 on the next page I play the same G scale notes, however, I start on the A note. This is called the Dorian mode, but it is nothing more than playing the G scale starting on the A note. This exercise continues in measures 5 and 6 by playing the G scale starting on the B note. Then I play the same scale, ascending and descending, starting on the C note in measures 7 & 8. I continue with this pattern (starting the scale on the D note, then E note, then F# note), until I’m back to the next octave G note in measures 15 & 16. You could call this “mode scale practice” or you could also call it an “8-note folded scale exercise.” To me, the value in going through this exercise is that it really familiarizes your ngers and your ears to the layout, position, and tonality of all the notes in the scale of a given key. After I’ve run through this exercise a number of times I like to randomly start on any note of the G scale and improvise in that mode. Then I like to put on a I, IV, V rhythm track and as each chord changes I will play in the mode that
is associated with the root of the chord. In other words, when the rhythm track changes to the C chord in the key of G, I will hit the root note of the chord and then improvise using the scale that is shown in measures 5 & 6. It is a great way to hone your chord tone targeting skills. On page 44, I’ve provided the second half of this exercise. Here we start with the scale that we ended with in the rst exercise and then move up the neck on the G string each time we change to the next scale note. In other words, start on the open G string and play the G scale, then start on the A note at the second fret and play the G scale, then move to the B note at the 4th fret and play the G scale, etc. This pattern will really help you gain familiarity with the G scale moving all the way up the neck. After you’ve learned these patterns. Try the same improvisation exercise using these positions. It is a lot of fun!
Flatpick Jam The Complete Package! On this DVD-Rom disc you will nd all of the Flatpick Jam (play-along) tracks for the 48 tunes that appear on all of the Volumes of Brad Davis’ Flatpick Jam series. Additionally, in the “Flatpick Jam Tabs” folder on this disc, you will nd a folder for each tune that includes transcriptions provided by Brad (the numbered transcriptions), plus any arrangement of that particular tune that has appeared in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine during our rst 10 years of publication. This means that you will get anywhere from 4 to 10 different variations of every tune tabbed out. Additionally, the audio tracks that are companions to those FGM arrangements are also included. This is the ultimate Flatpick Jam package and a must have resource for anyone who wants to build their atpicking repertoire, learn variations, and study different arrangements of all of the standard jam session tunes. And you are able to practice all of your arrangements at four different tempos by jamming along with Brad Davis!
Call 800-413-8296 to Order or visit www.flatpickingmercantile.com 42
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Flatpick Highlight:
Scott Coney b y Dan Miller
When the history books are written about the prominent sidemen in country music, Scott Coney’s name should denitely be listed among them. He has earned his stripes. His rst job in Nashville was with Martina McBride in 1993 and 1994. Since that time, going on twenty years now, he has consistently been on the road with a major country music artist—including ve years with George Jones and going on ten years now with Alan Jackson. But Scott did not grow up playing country music. From the time he was ten years old until he got a job playing country music during his last years in high school, Scott was a die-hard bluegrass fan and bluegrass guitar player. Today, although he has been making his living for two decades playing country music, Scott is still incredibly enthusiastic about bluegrass. You can image how he felt when his current boss, Alan Jackson, came to him and announced that he wanted to record a bluegrass record. Scott said, “I thought that he was kidding.” But, he wasn’t! The new Alan Jackson release, titled The Bluegrass Album , features Jackson singing bluegrass style songs accompanied by an all-star cast of bluegrass talent. The album includes Adam Steffey on mandolin, Sammy Shelor on banjo, Rob Ickes on the Dobro, Tim Crouch on ddle, Tim Dishman on bass, and Scott Coney on guitar. Plus, Don Rigsby and Ronnie Bowman were brought in to sing harmony vocals. For Scott, the most phenomenal moment came when he realized that he would be the guy that Alan was relying on to pick the members of the band. Regarding his choices for the musicians on this recording, Scott said, “I picked friends and heroes. Every person on this recording is someone that I’ve always wanted to play with. The rst guy I thought of was Tim Crouch on ddle. I’ve idolized Tim since I was a young kid in Arkansas. He is one of the greatest musicians I know. I also knew right away that I wanted to
include Tim Dishman. Tim is a good friend and my favorite upright bass player. He is also a great atpicker. From there, I just thought about what guys in bluegrass that I’d really want to pick with.” Imagine walking into the studio with your dream band! Scott said, “When we sat down to play the rst song it was magical. Not only are these guys the greatest musicians, they are fantastic people. There was a lot of comradery.” Although the majority of the time in the studio focused on the material for the recording, Scott said the band did get a chance to jam a little bit on traditional tunes when they were warming up. He said, “It was amazing! When these guys play, every solo sounds like it is the last solo that they are ever going to play.” Although Scott Coney has had a lifetime of incredible opportunities and experiences in music, listening to the excitement and enthusiasm in his voice during our interview told me that being a part of this bluegrass recording is among the highlights of his long and distinguished career. I’m sure that working with these bluegrass musicians, both in the studio and on the road, has brought back pleasant memories all of those days that he spent in his youth learning how to play Tony Rice solos and listening to hours and hours of bluegrass music. Scott started playing the guitar when he was ten years old. By that time his dad had been learning how to play the guitar for about a year. Scott said, “I was around it during that first year that my dad was learning how
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
to play, but I never cared much about it. But one day when he was sitting down to practice I decided that it was something that I might like to try, so he started showing me basic chords and he taught me how to play ‘Wildwood Flower.’ Shortly after that he bought me a D-18 copy made by Cortez.” Scott’s dad would later say, “I taught Scott everything that I knew and it only took one night.” Scott worked hard on the Cortez. His parents noticed both his determination and his progress. In 1981, when Scott was 11 or 12, his dad surprised him with a brand new Martin D-28. Scott said, “All I could think about was playing that guitar.” One of Scott’s father’s partners at work was a atpicker and called Scott out to his truck saying he had something that he wanted Scott to hear. Scott said, “He popped in a cassette and I heard Tony Rice for the rst time. Tony was playing and singing ‘Old Train.’ I knew that was what I wanted to do. It sure lit a re in me.” Scott started buying Tony Rice recordings and slowed them down to try and gure out what Tony was playing. He not only bought records that were under Tony Rice’s name, he even purchased every recording that he could nd that listed Tony Rice as the guitar player. He said, “I transcribed all of that stuff.” Exploring Tony’s recordings and his background, Scott also discovered his other two main inuences—Clarence White and Wyatt Rice. He said, “I became very closed minded and focused on Tony, Clarence, and Wyatt. The stuff I heard them do molded and shaped my playing.” Like all Tony Rice fans, Scott loved Tony’s lead playing, but he was also fascinated with Tony’s rhythm style. Scott said, “I’ve always thought that rhythm was
Scott Coney 45
more important than ashy lead playing. I wanted to be a rhythm player because I always thought it was important. I was very happy sitting down and playing rhythm all night long. So, I studied Tony and Wyatt’s rhythm playing.” Scott’s parents wholeheartedly supported his enthusiasm for the guitar by taking him to contests, concerts, and festivals. Scott said, “I had very supportive parents. My dad and I would take off with the pop up camper every weekend to attend every bluegrass festival that was within driving distance.” Attending festivals allowed Scott to meet and jam with other musicians. In 1984, the same year that he won the Arkansas Flatpicking Championship, Scott met Brad and Greg Davis and the three became friends. The Davis brothers had a bluegrass band, called Davis & Company, with Brad on guitar, Greg on banjo, and their father on bass. They invited Scott to join the band on mandolin. Scott remembers, “Brad and Greg were big New Grass Revival fans. Brad told me, ‘Learn everything that Sam Bush plays on the mandolin.’ I played with their band for one whole summer when I was about 13 or 14 years old.” As he approached his last years in high school, Scott realized that there was not a lot of money to be made in bluegrass and if he wanted to be a professional musician he might have to widen his focus. He had always loved to listen to country players like Roy Nichols, Don Rich, and James Burton, so he bought himself a Tele and joined a country band. Scott said, “There was so much good traditional country music in Arkansas—in the tradition of artists like Merle Haggard, George Jones, Buck Owens and Ray Price—that there were more opportunities to play country than bluegrass. So, I put bluegrass on the back burner for a while and started playing clubs on the Telecaster to make some money.” Through his college years, Scott had been juggling classes with performing on the road with a country band and by the time he was a senior he was itching to move to Nashville to see if he could make it in the big leagues. By that time Scott’s old band mate Brad Davis was living in Nashville and had a job in Marty Stuart’s road band. Marty’s opening act was an up-and-coming country singer named Martina McBride. Brad heard through the grapevine that Martina was looking for a ddle player. He called Scott and Scott “put his name in the hat.” Scott ended up being selected for the job and in late 1992, before he nished his senior 46
year in college, he moved to Nashville to go on the road with Martina McBride. He has been on the road with a major country artist ever since. Although Scott enjoyed being on the road with Martina, he wasn’t crazy about being a ddle player. His rst love was the guitar. After playing with McBride from early 1993 through mid-1994 he heard that Chely Wright was looking for a guitar player and so he went on the road with her to play the electric guitar. He worked with her through mid-1995 when he got a job working for singer and songwriter Frank Myers. Myers has written songs for John Michael Montgomery, Eddie Rabbit, Crystal Gayle, Lonestar, Alabama and others. In 1995, Myers and frequent songwriting partner Gary Baker recorded one album on Curb Records as the duo Baker & Myers. Scott was hired to go out on the road with Baker & Myers in support of that recording. After working with Baker & Myers, Scott’s next gig was with James House. House, who has written songs for Diamond Rio, Dwight Yoakam, and Martina McBride, charted two top 40 singles on Billboard’s country charts in 1994, including the top ten hit “This is Me Missing You.” House had also made an appearance on The Beach Boys’ album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1, which featured re-recordings of Beach Boys songs with country music artists. As a result of that album, House went on tour during the summer of 1996 as an opening act for the Beach Boys. Scott was House’s guitar player for that tour. After the Beach Boys tour, James House decided to focus more on songwriting. House’s bass player left the band and got a job as Lorrie Morgan’s tour manager. He told Scott that Lorrie was looking for a guitar player. Scott auditioned and got the job in late 1996. He left that job early in 1997 because he said, “That gig was not for me. She was more pop oriented and I wanted to be closer to roots country.” His next job was with Tracy Byrd. Scott was in Tracy’s band from 1997 through 2000. Tracy had charted a number one hit with “Holdin’ Heaven” in 1993. Byrd’s rst album had gone gold and his second album had earned a double-platinum certicate. Tracy Byrd’s career was riding high in the late 1990s, but by 2000 things had started to slow down and Scott thought that it might be time for a change. He said, “I quit that Tracy Byrd job with nothing on the horizon. It was the rst time that I’d quit a job without having another one waiting
for me. I took a leap of faith. I played my last show with Tracy on a Saturday night in Warsaw, Indiana, and then headed for home.” When he arrived back in Nashville there was a message on his answering machine from George Jones’ tour manager. George’s guitar player, Dwayne Phillips, was leaving the band and had recommended Scott. Scott, a huge George Jones fan, accepted the job immediately. Scott stayed on the road with George Jones from 2000 through 2005. He said, “I would have stayed longer, but in 2005 the opportunity came up to be a utility guy for Alan Jackson. It was a great opportunity. It was more money for less work and Alan was twenty-ve years younger than George.” Another great thing about the Alan Jackson job was that Scott would go back to playing the acoustic guitar, which is something he had been wanting to do since he left bluegrass music when he was in high school. Scott said, “When I joined Alan in 2005 I sold all of my electric guitars and gear. I have not played the electric guitar since.” One of the events that prompted Scott to want to return to the acoustic guitar was Flatpicking Guitar Magazine’s release of the Wyatt Rice Advanced Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar instructional video. Scott said, “I bought that video when I was w ith George Jones and when I saw Wyatt’s right hand up close, I decided that my goal was going to be to learn that rhythm technique. I decided that I was going to get back to playing the acoustic guitar and I was going to get serious about it. I made an audio copy from the video of Wyatt playing rhythm on ‘Sally Goodin’ and I took it with me everywhere on the road. I worked on it until it became second nature. To me there is no better rhythm than that Rice style rhythm.” After working with the DVD, Scott had the opportunity to watch Wyatt play live. He said, “I’d been playing for thirty years and it took me that long to realize that it is all about nesse. I sat about two feet from Wyatt and watched him play and it was eye opening for me because I realized that he was not bearing down and digging in. He was playing quiet and the whole band reduced their volume and came down.” After Scott had been out on the road with Alan Jackson for nearly nine years— as Alan’s “utility guy”—playing acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, and fiddle— Jackson played a new song for Scott one day to solicit his reaction. Scott listened to the tune and told Alan that he thought that it was “pretty grassy.” Jackson said, “I’ve
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written some others and I’d like to do a bluegrass record. Let’s put a band together.” Evidently, Jackson had been thinking about recording a bluegrass record for years and now was the time. Regarding the recording of this project, Scott said, “We all got together and cut it like we were having a jam session in the living room. Alan wanted to have that raw, live sound. It only took a day and a half to cut fourteen songs. There were a lot of rst takes and no song took more than three takes.” The results are impressive. With the line up of musicians that were gathered, you can guess that all of the instrumental work and harmony singing would be stellar, and there are no disappointments along those lines. Although Jackson does not have a “hard core” bluegrass voice (a la Bill Monroe or Ralph Stanley), he does have a strong singing voice and does a great job on the lead vocals. The song selection and song writing is also superb. Overall it is a very enjoyable album. Scott’s guitar work on the recording is powerful and uid. In the interview I conducted with Scott, he made no secret about being a huge Tony Rice fan and you can denitely hear the Tony Rice inuence
in his solos, however, some of his solos get away from the Rice inuence. There is a good mix of technique and style. For instance, on the rst cut of the recording, “Long Hard Road,” Scott’s solo sounds more like something you’d hear from Kenny Smith than Tony Rice. But on a tune like “Appalachian Mountain Girl” it is Tony Rice all the way. On other solos you can hear a mixture of the Rice sound with other inuences. When I asked Scott if he thought that his years playing country music had changed his bluegrass guitar playing he said that he didn’t feel like it had. In promotion of the recording Alan Jackson booked a limited number of dates and he made sure that all of the musicians that were on the recording were the musicians that he also took out on the road. Scott said that Jackson understands that bluegrass players like to improvise and so he did not expect the solos in the live shows to be exactly like the solos on the recording. He said, “Bluegrass players like the challenge of going out on a limb. During the live shows nobody played anything like what was on the record, but every solo was jaw dropping.” Although Scott has owned a number
of pre-war Martin guitars over the years, he currently plays a Brazilian rosewood D-28 style guitar that was built by Dave Musselwhite. He is also very excited about a new Brazilian rosewood D-28 style guitar that Wayne Henderson is building for him. It is now in the nal stages and he expects delivery soon. After spending twenty years on the road playing with major country music acts, I don’t think that Scott will be coming back to playing in a bluegrass band any time soon. But his boss’ foray into the world of bluegrass gave Scott an opportunity to get back to his roots and play music that he loves with musicians that he respects and admires. Who knows, maybe this experience will inspire Scott to sit down in the studio and record his own bluegrass guitar CD! How about it Scott!? On the pages that follow we offer a transcription of Scott’s solo on the album’s first cut, “Long Hard Road.” Due to licensing issues, we were not able to provide an audio recording of this song on our audio companion CD, but you can go to iTunes and download the cut if you are interested in hearing Scott’s solo. It would be well worth the small fee.
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See us online at www.mandolinmagazine.com Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
43 guitar solos of Favorite Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Gospel Songs! Aimed at beginning and intermediate guitarists, this book is packed with songs, solos, and techniques that every guitar player should know. Carter style solos, back up guitar parts, crosspicking solos, harmony parts, ddle tunes for gui tar, & much more! Solo list and complete details online.
All-Time Favorite Parking Lot Picker’s Guitar Solos book/ CD set by Dix Bruce. $24.99 plus shipping. Be sure to check out our crosspicking, Christmas, and gospel guitar solos book/CD sets.
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Order online: www.musixnow.com 47
Music Theory:
Mastering the Fingerboard Technical Studies for Flatpickers by Michel A. Maddux
Arpeggios and Moving Lines Very likely one of the rst ways that you have learned to play in the bluegrass genre is to change chords by playing connecting notes between the chords. These connecting notes help the listener anticipate the next chord. In the case of Example 1, when the connecting notes lead from C down to G, the listener anticipates the G or 5th chord as the next one in the song. When the notes move up, as in C up to F, the anticipated chord is the F, or 4th chord. These simple lines use the notes of the scale to move up and down. This does not imply that leading notes would always and only lead to the IVth or Vth. To make it interesting I like to play leading lines that might even be licks or other riffs that “land” on the right note of the next chord. The next section of the exercises demonstrates “landing” on the Em chord, but starting on the G note above. Experiment with this type of playing and make up your own ways to start a lick and “land” on the root note of the next chord. The next two exercises will increase your uency and provide alternative ways of moving between chords during a solo line. Memorize the pattern in G, and then work it out in D and C to ensure that you have
notes under your ngers. You should be able to smoothly play this type of lick in all 12 keys, but start with the most common keys. Moving Arpeggio The word arpeggio means “a broken chord.” By broken it means that the notes of the chord are played individually instead of as a strum. Any pattern of picking works with the arpeggio, depending upon the song of course. This includes top-down, bottom-up, inside-out, and any other way that you can think of playing the notes that works for your song. In the last exercise the C chords walks down while playing the notes of the chord on top, then moves to the G chord, followed by a similar walk-down from D to G. The Song The song for this time is one that I made up called “Walk With Me,” and it’s designed to provide you with an opportunity to apply some of the exercises from this time in a tune that you can learn and play with your friends. In order to learn to improvise I want to you think about substitution in the melody lines by taking one of the exercises and substitute it in your playing when you go through the song. This is a good way
to learn to improvise. Try new licks on a regular basis to make the song your own. I hope you enjoy adding this song to your musical repertoire. Have fun, and keep on pickin’! Mike’s gui tar mus ic can be hea rd regularly in the Rocky Mountain West. Contact information on recordings, books, and correspondence can be found at http:// www.madduxband.com/ and at http:// reverbnation.com/mikemaddux. Search Facebook and YouTube for the latest clips and news.
Jane Accurso Untanglin’ My Heart This new recording from Missouri-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jane Accurso also features Brad Davis, Dan Miller, Tim May, and Gretchen Priest-May To Order: 800-413-8296 or
atpick.com Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
49
Maddux Exercises
Audio CD Track 23
Arranged by Mike Maddux
Exercise 1 C
œœ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ
G
C
4 & 4 œ œœ œ œ œ 1
T A B
3 3 0 0
1 0 3
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œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Ó œ Ó 5
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Exercise 2 G
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E m7
œ . œ & . œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ .. 8
Π.
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Π..
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Exercise 3 G
& .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 10
.. 50
1 0 2 4 0 2 4
1 3 2 4
2 0
. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ œ .. 0
0
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
0
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January/February 2014
Maddux Exercises (con’t) Exercise 4
œ œ œ . & . #œ œ œ nœ œ G
D
13
..
0
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0
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2
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3
œœ . . œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ .. ..
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3 3 0 0
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G
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Ó
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Exercise 5
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ &œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 16
0 3
3
2
3
2
0
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0 2
3 3
3 0
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˙ ˙ ˙
Œ
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Œ
0 3
3
The Flatpicker’s Guide to Old-Time Music by Tim May & Dan Miller
www.atpick.com 800-413-8296 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
Although this new book by Tim May and Dan Miller will teach you how to play 11 old time ddle tunes, with variations and suggested rhythm ideas, the extra added value in this 160-page book (with 2 audio CDs), is the 50 pages of focused instruction on old-time rhythm playing. This material will not only help anyone learning how to play in an old-time music ensemble, it will help any atpicking guitar player who plays with a small ensemble (duo or trio that does not include a bass) learn how to play solid rhythm with an interesting array of bass note selections, bass walks, and bass runs. This is a “must have” addition to any atpicker’s library!
51
Summer Music Camps By Dan Miller As we roll into the new year, it is time to start thinking about how you might spend your musical summer. Festivals and jam sessions are a lot of fun, but another way to really help take your playing to the next level is to attend a summer music camp. These camps are like the total immersion method of learning a foreign language. They provide an atmosphere of constant learning, jamming, and listening that will ll your mind, work your ngers, and inspire your musical soul. There is nothing else quite like the experience of spending a full week studying with expert instructors, jamming with likeminded music enthusiasts, and listening to concerts by some of the best players in the business. At the end of the week you feel like you are on overload—like eating way too much at the buffet. But, it’s OK. After you go home and digest all that you have absorbed, you will nd that the experience has had a great positive effect on your musicianship and you are usually inspired to practice harder. This past summer I participated in three music camps, one in June, one in July, and one in August. The camp in June was Steve Kaufman Acoustic Music Kamp in Maryville, Tennessee. I attended that camp as a Dobro student. In July I went to Camp Bluegrass in Levelland, Texas. There I was on the teaching staff as a guitar instructor. In August I went up to Alta, Wyoming, to attend the Grand Targhee Music Camp. At that camp I was also on the guitar teaching staff. Let me tell you a little about each of these camps. They are all a little different. Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Music Kamp Steve Kaufman’s Kamp is located on the campus of Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee. Most students stay in college dorm rooms, although some opt to stay in local hotels. The same is true of the meals. Most students will eat in the school cafeteria, while others might choose to go out into the town of Maryville and visit one of the local eating establishments. Steve’s Kamp is the largest summer music camp that I have ever attended and it might
just be the largest in the country. Steve has divided the Kamp into two weeks—the old-time week and the bluegrass week. I attended the bluegrass week and there were over 400 campers who attended along w ith me that week. All of the teachers that Steve selects are top-notch. The advantage of attending a large camp is that there a lot of diversity. You have a larger selection of teachers, you have a larger body of students for jamming groups, and you have a larger and more diverse faculty concert series. At Steve’s Kamp there are plenty of opportunities for instructor-student interaction, jamming, and listening. There is always something going on. Steve and his wife Donna do a superb job hosting and running this camp. It is a well oiled machine. They have thought of every student need and are ready for any problem that might possibly arise. After running this camp for nearly twenty years, they know what they are doing and can anticipate your needs before you can even think of them. I attended this camp back when if rst got started in 1996 and it was only a guitar camp. I was impressed with it then and now that it has grown into a large event with many instruments and acoustic music topics, I am even more impressed. If you are an acoustic musician, I highly recommend that at least one time in your life you make the trip to Tennessee and attend this camp. It is a winner! Camp Bluegrass Camp Bluegrass in on the campus of South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, and is run by Joe Carr and Alan Munde (with lots and lots of help from Joe’s very busy and very capable wife Paula) . This camp has been held once a year for about thirty years and so, like Kaufman Kamp, is very well organized. Also like Kaufman’s Kamp, Camp Bluegrass is on a college campus and so most of the students stay in the dorms and eat in the cafeteria. Levelland is a bit more remote than Maryville and so there are not as many off campus opportunities and if
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
you don’t live in west Texas or eastern New Mexico, it can be a long trip getting there. At Camp Bluegrass the number of students and the staff are smaller than what you see at Kaufman’s Kamp—about a quarter of the size. While you don’t get the diversity at a smaller camp, there is more intimacy. After a week you’ve had some interaction with nearly everyone there. It is a very relaxed and laid back atmosphere. Joe and Alan, and the rest of the staff, make sure that having fun is the number one priority. The Grand Targhee Music Camp The Grand Targhee Music Camp in Alta, Wyoming, was the smallest and most intimate of the three camps that I attended last summer. Like the other camps, the teaching staff was outstanding and all of the learning, jamming, and listening opportunities that the other camps provided were also there for the student’s enjoyment. This camp is run by Thomas Snead, who does a phenomenal job bringing it all together. The camp is held at the Grand Targhee Ski Resort and precedes the Grand Targhee Music festival. So although this location is rather remote, you can stay for both events and get an even bigger dose of great music. You learn for a week and then spend the weekend listening to great bands and jamming with an even larger number of people. The Grand Targhee Ski Resort is up at about 8000 feet and sits on the western slope of the Grand Tetons. For scenery and setting, it is hard to beat the location of this camp. Campers can stay in the ski lodge or chose to camp in tents or recreational vehicles. The food is catered, so it is a bit more upscale than the college cafeteria food provided at the other camps. Like the other camps, this one was a lot of fun and was attended by really nice and friendly students and instructors. At every camp you have the opportunity to make life-long musical friendships. If you have never been to summer music camp, I recommend that you give one a try this summer. You will not regret it! 53
Ken Hooper Guitars & Mandolins By David McCarty We’ve all seen the phenomenon of a young musician emerging on the scene with a display of technical skill, precision, and maturity that belies his or her young age. These phenoms—whether Mark O’Connor, Allison Krauss, Sierra Hull, Mike Marshall, or Chris Thile—often go on to enjoy long and productive careers as top echelon touring or recording musicians. Other players take years to refine their skills as they grow and mature, but still arrive ultimately at that same pinnacle of professionalism and craft. When it comes to building guitars and other stringed instruments, with all the educational materials and expertise available online these days, it’s not too hard to turn out a fairly decent guitar or mandolin on your rst or second attempt. What’s exceptionally rare, though, is someone who can bring what appears to be decades of hard-won expertise and craftsman to the rst few instruments leaving his shop. But it’s just what North Carolina luthier Ken Hooper has done. Count him denitely in the early bloomer category. To nd a parallel, you need to compare his story to famed luthiers like Lynn Dudenbostel, Will Kimble, Randy Lucas, and a handful of others. From early on, Hooper’s guitars exuded a sense of heritage and fine craftsmanship and design that immediately helped them stand out.
As word spread of how his elegant, precisely assembled instruments played, looked, and most of all sounded, he immediately began attracting the kind of online buzz and excitement few luthiers ever attain. The Ken Hooper thread on the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum started in 2009 and now has 400+ posts. Most rave about his brilliant design, meticulous craftsmanship, keen sense of aesthetics, and how easy he is to work with. Customers awaiting their new Hoopers post sequential photos of their “builds,” as Hooper works his way through each phase of the instrument’s construction. They proudly share their guitar “baby photos” with other Hooperheads online and debate choices in wood, binding, rosettes, nishes and other minute details. Currently available either through one dealer, Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville (www.cartervintage.com) or through direct order (www.hooperguitars.com), Hooper’s guitars have been a major hit amongst the bluegrass and atpicking community for their near-perfect construction, great tone and playability, and affordable pricing. A new Hooper D-18 starts at around $3900, and that includes hide glue construction and other high-end construction features. Such attention to every detail and nuance of tone, playability and appearance originated at the very start of Hooper’s career as a luthier. He’d been playing guitar and mandolin since the early 1990’s,
and was amazed consistently that some instruments could be so signicantly better than others. One turning point was when he accompanied a friend to retrieve a guitar that had been repaired by one of the world’s nest instrument craftsmen, the legendary Wayne Henderson. Here Ken tells that rst encounter in his own words: “I remember going in to his small shop. The dust, wood, shavings and guitars in various states of completion everywhere really made an impression on me, but most of all I was blown away that someone could actually build something like that themselves and that it didn’t come from some machine somewhere. It was at that point that a ‘need’ to build an instrument was born (those of you who build and make things with your hands will understand completely when I say I needed to make an instrument),” Hooper writes on his website. “To this day, I give credit to Wayne for being my initial inspiration in building instruments. He has always been willing to answer any questions that I had and help out where he could as he has to so many other people as well.” Like so many luthiers, Ken decided to build something better than the instrument he had at the time. Inspired by Henderson, Ken bought Roger Siminoff’s How To Build a Bluegrass Mandolin and set about making a mandolin. After the rst one, he
The Essential Clarence White Bluegrass Guitar Leads
by Roland White & Diane Bouska with Steve Pottier and Matt Flinner For fans of the legendary Clarence White, this is the ultimate book and CD package. The photo and biographical information are worth the price of this book alone. Not to mention detailed transcripti ons for 14 Clarence White solos and 2 audio CDs. The best part of this book is the performance notes, practice suggestions, and examples that are provided with each tune. These detailed notes will help students understand the techniques that Clarence is using in each song. A lot of work was put into this project by Roland White, Diane Bouska, Steve Pottier, and Matt Flinner. It is the best Clarence White resource available!
To Order call 800-413-8296 or visit: www.flatpick.com 54
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
did a second, and soon was building guitars, as well. “I was blessed enough that my rst few guitars were good enough that people liked them and I started getting requests to make more,” he recalls modestly. Living in the heart of bluegrass country in Elkin, NC, in the northwest corner of the state, Hooper had access to great local materials like red spruce. He also was surrounded by good players who could give him immediate feedback on the quality of his guitars, and discovered a wealth of knowledge in nearby builders like Henderson, John Arnold, and Don Wilson who were free with their constructive advice on how to improve his instruments. Such success was not an accident. Ken grew up in an environment hand-made for ne craftsmanship. His father is a craftsman and tinkerer, hand-carving waterfowl decoys, tying elegant fishing flies and building gorgeous, delicate bamboo y rods. “As far as how I did it, I don’t know. But I cracked the code and have been working with wood and working with my hands all my life,” he explains. In college, Hooper put those skills to use doing silversmithing for a local custom saddlemaker and fancy engraving for highend rearms. Wooden waterfowl decoys were another big draw to him. So it’s no surprise Ken Hooper brought that same touch of elegance and perfection to his work as a luthier. His rst guitar came from a StewartMacDonald kit. “It was like a miniature course in guitar building,” he says today. “From that, I saw what I needed to be doing.” Ultimately, he and his wife, Robin, decided to make the plunge and started Ken Hooper Guitars as Ken’s full-time profession. So far, his guitars have been mostly inspired by the Martin D-sized instruments from the 1930s, with some experimentation in woods never used by the builders in Nazareth, like cocobolo for the back and sides and Carpathian spruce for some tops. But Ken’s quick to add that he’s “not hidebound by the Martin mode of rosette or puring and herringbone. What I am hidebound by is attention to detail, meticulous craftsmanship, and sound more than anything else,” he reports. Some typical Hooper details include elegant details like using tortoiseshell plastic for the rosette on his D-18-style guitars. He manufactures snakewood bridge
Ken Hooper pins with a matching heel and endpin to maintain a consistent look to the guitar. For atpickers, Ken says he pays strict attention to the customer’s needs and usually hews close to the traditional Martin dreadnought pattern of scalloped, forwardshifted X bracing. “If people ask me what my favorite guitar is, I always say it’s the D-18,” he tells FGM. “It’s just hard to beat mahogany.” Ken works a lot at nding the right balance between warmth and volume and to bring out a clear, not muddy, bass from the D-sized guitar body. “I spend a lot of time on the back bracing,” he adds. “I subscribe to the theory that the back plays a high role in the sound of the guitar. And the top and back have to work together. I spend lot of time thinking about the back, how it plays in to the sound. It comes down to there’s nothing mystical. There’s a ex, the amount of ex in the back and the top, that is optimal. For a atpicker who wants a lush, balanced tone, I ex the top and the back and focus on the X braces in the top. I tap the top to nd sustain, but from a ex standpoint, I bend that top and there’s a point—it’s hard to quantify—where the x brace exes the way I’m looking for. It works on both the top and back; the ex point is the business end of the guitar. I want to even feel the neck vibrating. It’s not rocket science, but the secret is in getting the top and back to couple together and work as one. That’s where it all happens.” Playability is also key, and Ken says his necks use a similar prole to the legendary
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
Martin D-18 Authentic 1937 prole, but scaled down 12 percent to accommodate a broader range of player preferences. I happen to own both a Hooper D-18 and a D-18A ’37 and nd I can interchange between those guitars quite easily. As far as tone woods go, Hooper enjoys working with traditional materials such as Honduran mahogany and red spruce, but also will incorporate Cuban mahogany or Carpathian spruce if that suits the customer’s needs. Honduran rosewood is his best Brazilian alternative, but he builds guitars from cocobolo, as well. Today, there’s about an 18 month wait for a Hooper ordered directly from Ken, although a portion of his production does end up for sale on spec at Carter Vintage, so watch their website if you’re interested. That’s also a great way to try one before placing an order. Ken will be at this year’s Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) meeting in Nashville, and will have several guitars and maybe a mandolin with him, too. One of the best parts of his new venture, he adds, is the regular interaction he has with his customers, many of whom are now on their second or even third Hooper guitar. “I really enjoy that interaction, it’s the best experience I can have. For most of my customers, buying a custom guitar is a once-in-a-lifetime event. I want to talk to them, pick out the wood and the ngerboard and help them be part of that process,” he explains. 55
Kaufman University Coming Near You!
www.flatpik.com Steve Kaufman Three Time National Guitar Champ The World’s Guitar and Mandolin Teacher A Decade of Gold Awards for the Best Camps and Conferences Upcoming Workshops and Concerts Hatteras, NC - January3-4 Guitar Workshop and Concert 252-216-8231 or
[email protected]
Ripley, OH - January 17-18 Guitar Workshop and Concert Contact Jim at
[email protected]
Alcoa, TN- January 24-25 All Level Mandolin Workshop 865-982-3808 or
[email protected]
Tempe, AZ - Jan. 31-Feb. 1 Mandolin, Guitar Workshop and Concert 602-295-5946 or email
[email protected] Frankfort, IL - February 6-7-8-9 Mandolin, Guitar Workshop and Concert 815-469-6321 or
[email protected] Alcoa, TN - February 15 All Day Beginner Flatpicking Workshop 865-982-3808 or
[email protected] Simpsonville, SC - March 1 Mandolin, Guitar Workshop and Concert 864-430-1003 or
[email protected]
Alcoa, TN - March 7-8 Int/Adv Flatpicking Workshop 865-982-3808 or
[email protected]
Come on an African Flatpicking - Photo Safari Johannesburg, S Africa November 12-20, 2014 Photo Safari Hunts and Flatpicking Small Group - Register Today! Steve’s Complete Tour Schedule, Best Selling DVDs, Books, CDs, NEW - Single Song Lessons Downloads
Flatpik.com 865-982-3808 P. O. Box 1020 Alcoa, TN 37701 56
Hooper D-28 Dreadnought Guitar Today, Ken Hooper Guitars has emerged as one of the leading custom guitar builders in the bluegrass community. He’s expanding his line to include OM-style instruments, and is working hard to create a production process that is efficient enough to turn out a reasonable number of instruments without infringing on the passion for superb craftsmanship and tone his guitars are known for. One exciting new project is a replica of a 1939 J-35 he’s building from a set of blueprints from John Arnold, his rst-ever Gibson-inspired guitar. Away from his tidy, well-organized workbench and shop, Ken Hooper enjoys his family, church, and flying radiocontrolled model airplanes that he builds from scratch. And he loves to get outdoors to hunt or sh when the time is right. For someone who’s living the oftendemanding life of an independent luthier, Ken Hooper seems perfectly suited to what’s he’s doing, utilizing the skills he honed as a child in a way he could never imagined back in the day. “As a kid, I was always picking up a pocket knife to make something,” he recalls. “I always had this desire – almost a need – to make something, to create something. Even when I was a little kid, I always had something going on. Instrument making satised that need. All facets of it. People talk about how amazed they are at how good I am at doing this, but I really can’t take the credit. It just comes so easily for me, to
carve a neck; it’s easy for me to do. It’s a God-given thing.” Author Davi d McCa rty has been a contributing editor for Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and a contributing writer for many other music magazines for more than 30 years. Follow him on Twitter @ mcgroup53.
New From FGM Records: Dan Miller Going Though A Phase 12 Tunes 11 Original 9 Vocal 3 Instrumental
With Tim May, Brad Davis, Robert Bowlin, and Jane Accurso
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Sharpening the Axe by Jef Troxel Sand Coulee Reel A few weeks ago I had an email from someone asking for a PDF of one of my tunes called “Sand Coulee Reel.” I told him that I’d never taken the time to write it out but that it might be an idea for a future issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. And since there’s no time like the present, here it is, dedicated to my friend David Artman. I wrote and recorded “Sand Coulee Reel” several years ago as part of a medley with another song called “Sand Coulee Road.” I played guitar, bass and high-strung guitar on the recording, and the mandolin was played by Pete Huttlinger. This tune is somewhat unique as atpicking songs go in that it’s played out of E position. This gives us access to some very useful opens strings: low E, high E, and open B. This arrangement takes full advantage of that opportunity and care should be taken to let those notes ring in a chordal fashion whenever possible. The song is pretty easy to play overall, but the challenge is in bringing out some of its subtleties. More on that in a moment. There’s a lot of information contained in the score; fingerings are included in the standard notation staff while left-hand position is indicated by Roman numerals between the staves. The tab staff of course shows which strings are being played at any given time. Take care to keep the lefthand ngers coming in straight to avoid dampening desirable notes, and be precise with the many position-shifts needed to execute the arrangement. Millimeters matter when it comes to hand position. Some of the subtleties I mentioned earlier occur in measure 21. On beats one and three the rst nger pulls-off the B note at the 7th fret to open E. At the same time, the nger playing the 2nd string holds its note for a full beat during this pull-off. The same thing happens in measure 22 with the fourth nger pulling off the 1st string while the third nger holds. A bit of nesse comes in handy to make this sound musical. Many notes ring longer than the notation indicates, as in the open 6th-string E in measures 16 and 26, and the open 5th-string A in measure 20. Also be sure to
pay attention to timing when executing the various slurs throughout. There’s a natural tendency to rush hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides, or to make them less precise than picked notes. Success with this arrangement will rely on your attention to detail. “Sand Coulee Reel” is a fun little ditty to play, if I do say so myself. Overcoming its challenges will make you a better musician, and playing my music will bring you good
fortune and lots of new friends. And if none of those things happen, at least you might get some ideas to help you write your own songs in E position. Let me know how it goes and feel free to contact me with any questions that come up. Until next time, good luck and have fun.
The late, great Charles Sawtelle with his Thompson Dreadnought (circa 1986)
In the tradition of the great guitars of the 1930’ s
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
www.pkthompsonguitars.com 57
Sand Coulee Reel
Audio CD Track 27
Capo 3
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Arranged by Jeff Troxel
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
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PICKIN’ FIDDLE TUNES by Adam Granger
photo here
REMEMBERING R.D. , , . l ti -i f er Hi, pickers. This time, I pay homage to my old departed friend Dick “R.D.” Nund s tsi et er te a o o n et d r a o n n l a o s u e n n a s o t o i s neley. I rst met R. D. when he was a senior at the University of Oklahoma in 1972. He a n t Y g f it e d n a a r s o e a n e n i e t t , e S i h n t u n t s ts o e was playing mandolin in another bluegrass band, from whom I unashamedly stole him. He a r t t i m e r m h l n A a i o r er v er of el gi t u h d e m n t t E a and I, along with banjo ace Ken Landreth and New York City jazz bassist Bob Cuadrado, q e er d p a ht e o h a f d e a e st e e c g r h r o h r i t t s B h s e i formed a band initially called The Blue Velvet Band , until we found out Jim Rooney and G g e s h yl e e i t t T A ik pe n cn ni eh e . itr h hT er N company had already appropriated that name, whereupon we changed our name to The UpI T l cx ee iS a ts nA to te ti .e dna f si b w d t m e e a . D s s o per Middle Grass (get it?). We played throughout Oklahoma, until I moved to Minnesota, in et s d a t.i t , d u n a e te o e e b A o y s n f r o b h d ir at i l n b u the summer of 1974. I went to work for Garrison Keillor in The Powdermilk Biscuit Band , u a n a a t l t E n t p a y c d h a y p i oi ht l h s et s m s d a R the rst house band for his brand-new radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, and Dick t b i gi mi a a a o a n a a s t t s c b c w a i e E E went to work for atpicker Royce Campbell, of northeast Oklahoma, in his great band, The Natural Grass. (I presented two of Royce’s compositions, The Happy Traveler and Rolling , - n t : p - , e . - s Your Own, in FGM V9 N4 and FGM V9 N6). When I left the Biscuit Band , I talked Dick e u a e d r n y t n i h p . l e k u e l a a o s i g u p y o t p e c t r - u r l s and his wife Judy into moving to Minnesota, where we formed a mostly-swing duo called s n m t c t b S t e e e n , a h w s n p ” e t h r h w n g o c n I R n a w g c h The Eclectic Brothers. We played together through most of the decade of the ’80s, adding d t , o w i t t o e t d a n e . i n n y n h E a r d d f o e a p s t d u o k bassist Gordy Abel along the way, then Dick went on into Peter Ostroushko’s Mando Boys, R N n a o s u w e s m p r n e a o n i u e r a s t r t e r t e o e h l n o e t e “ e t and I went solo. We kept in touch for the next twenty years, until Dick’s tragic and untimely t a w n b s O N t n k t n l u m p I a o f t s w o t u a o F n r i s o t a d s y r d death a few years ago. l n i G - s m o n y d s u a h a n u h p n o p t l t p n o o e e E t i u h t , i To say that R. D. and I were important mutual musical inuences is rank under n e w h t h p u s i o t B w n T s l a s k d a a g r i d n s h k w . e t i e t u statement: we met at a time of personal growth and development. Dick had as ne a right n r s c c u e e h g o g n a w i o t o n s a h d P d e s h t r T i hand and as good tone and timing as I’ve ever heard, and served as a constant exemplary reminder to try to improve the same in my playing. We were also on longer than one expects they will, and jazzy, raggy content. complementary in our repertoire choices, with my introduction of Soppin’ the Gravy is probably best known as the title cut of Mark swing jazz to the mix, and his wonderful interpretations of Mis- O’Connors’s 1981 Texas tribute album of the same name, and Cotsouri-Oklahoma-Texas-Arkansas (MOTA) ddle tunes and styles. ton Patch Rag is such a standard down there that it’s law that dThis column features two of his mandolin arrangements, adapted dlers have to have it in their repertoires. Dick’s versions reect the by me, pretty much note-for-note, to guitar. style and approach of Missouri ddler Lyman Enloe who, until his These are both MOTA standards, and are both extremely death in 1997, was a doyen of MOTA ddle styling. Texas in feel: languid tempos, strings of eighth notes which go Give ’em a try.
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January/February 2014
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COTTON PATCH RAG I
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Of Four-Fret Fingering and Playing up the Neck Two things that really throw my students are nger - on keeping the ngers close to their assigned frets. This exercise ing four-fret passages and playing up the neck. The difculty can be moved up and down the ngerboard, of course, to simulate of these two stems from the same origin: Both require uid and actual up-the-neck playing. efcient use of all four ngers of the left hand. 99.9% of ddle There are several places in Cotton Patch Rag where a tune picking can be done in the rst position, so it’s pretty easy 1-3-5 reach is called for. Many pickers contend that their hands to pick tunes using only the rst three ngers of the left hand, but are too small to make this reach, but I have seen many smallwhen we have to depart the womblike comfort of that rst posi - handed players who are able to do this. It’s all about training, tion to play notes that can’t be found there, things get tough and practicing, exercises, drilling and all of those other guitar player the whining begins. cuss words. Collectively, we are loath to do these things, and I Once the tears have stopped, I prescribe any of several contend that this is due to the “learn to play in ve minutes” men nice stretching exercises, like this one: position your left hand tality that surrounds the poor guitar. On almost any other instru between the fth and eighth frets and fret 5-6-7-8-7-6-5-6-7-8- ment, rudiments are taught via the above-mentioned profanities, 7-6-5 on the string of your choice with the four left-hand n - but they are a tough sell for us guitar teachers. The world needs gers. Do this exercise slowly—one note per second—and focus a little less “instant guitar” and a little more “no pain, no gain.” Adam had a great time on the Prairie Home Companion Mediterranean Cruise in August. The tour started in Barcelona, then p roceeded through Marseille, Monaco, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples, Montenegro and Ravenna, ending up in Venice eleven days later. Also on board were Joe Ely, Dean Magraw, Pat Donahue, Peter Ostroushko, Butch Thompson and Robin and Linda Williams.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
61
Classic Bluegrass By Steve Pottier
We Live in Two Different Worlds I don’t know if Fred Rose was inspired to write this song from the ying saucer scare of the 50s, but I started thinking about it again as I watched Star Trek episodes with my son. Who knows where inspiration will strike? I heard the bluegrass version of this on a Red Allen record (Red Allen & The Kentuckians with David Grisman on mandolin, Porter Church on banjo, Jerry McCoury on bass, and Craig Wineld on Dobro®—an all star band!). The melody is a little off the well-beaten bluegrass path, but especially well handled by Porter Church. If you don’t have a bluegrass version for reference, there’s a really nice
(but excruciatingly slow) version by Hank Williams YouTube. This guitar break uses a chromatic walk down to the opening melody note, then a modied G-run up to the high strings. The melody kind of treads water on “worlds dear....” and that’s a good place to put a little crosspicking (m4). M7 uses a little syncopation to the melody, then right into more crosspicking on the D chord, an idea from Doc Watson in “Sweet Georgia Brown.” I was trying to keep it from sounding too notey with a lot of eighth notes, so there’s a bit of Carter style in m10 and m14, some quarter- and half-notes in m11, and a slow double-stop slide in m12. I slide with my third and fourth ngers in that measure. Finally, there’s the ddle-like exit at the end of the tune.
Here’s the chorus as sung by Hank: We live in two different worlds dear That’s why we’re so far apart You made your world out of vows that were broken I built a world in my heart I hope you enjoy this great country/ bluegrass song!
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
They Must Have Been Giants by Dan Crary Like to start off thinking about our roots and the effect of revisiting the classic players; listening to the old guys will make us better players. Then we’ll segue into two of our very classic contemporary colleagues who have won major honors. I have been at this music of ours for a very long time. I started listening to our music when I was a little kid in late 1951, scarcely ve years out from the Big Bang (when bluegrass was invented by Bill, Lester, Earl, and Chubby). I took up the guitar in 1952 and from then on followed our music as closely as I could, mostly on the radio: I was avid on The Blue Grass Boys, Lester and Earl, and The Stanley Brothers, and I especially loved Mack Wiseman and The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers. Oh my God, how I loved that music, all the more precious because I had to wade through hours of 50s commercial country music to catch one of these tunes. Our family doctor loaned me his old Webcor dictation wire recorder with a crystal mike, and I kept it very close to my well-worn AM radio so I could hit “record” whenever I heard a bluegrass song. This presented certain problems: for one, it took one verse of a song for the Webcor’s tubes to warm up, so I had the last twothirds of “Mother’s Not Dead, She’s Only a’ Sleeping,” “Jimmie Brown, The Newsboy,” and “Rainbow In the Valley” and a bunch of others on a couple of spools of wire. In addition, much of what I heard came in on WSM: their 50-kilowatt, clear-channel AM signal was pointed north, so it could melt the snow in Skagway, but Kansas City w as sort of off over to the side (in more ways than one), so the signal faded in and out of the late-night WSM static. Sometimes I lay on the oor with my ear up against the old speaker and the volume all the way up just to hear the music through the static; needless to say, the music sounded even more wild and lonesome and far away because I did. Later, when I actually got a clean copy of the record of “White Dove” by the Stanley Brothers, it didn’t sound as good without the interference. So this gives me, I hope, certain credentials, a certain perspective which I call on occasionally to say to my friends 64
who are learning atpicking: if you want to really enrich your playing, then remember to take the long view, the fundamental view of our music, and avail yourself of some of these same experiences. Revisit these same players, performances and songs that originally dened our music. They’re available to you via recordings, and hearing them closely will change how you play. I have never tested this, but I have often boasted that I could perceive by listening to them which hot young contemporary bands had actually ever listened to Flatt & Scruggs, the greatest band of the rst generation. If you’re a progressive, sassy, newgrassy, jazzy, punky, I’ll-do-it-myway player or band, or if you’re among the club of the so-called “traditional” players, you should give a close listen to the mid50s Flatt & Scruggs, who played with a smoothly elusive authority and power that has never been surpassed. We are a little like those shepherds and shermen of antiquity who wandered wonderingly among the great ruined buildings of the Mycenean civilization (ca. 1100 BC) and thought “they must have been giants.” You and I should take the occasional little stroll back among the monumental recordings of the 50s greats; they actually were giants, and what they did can restore in us a little awe and inspiration. Herewith, then, a few suggestions for us atpickers: here are some past atpicking guitar greats you should know, appreciate, and emulate in some ways. The rst great atpicker of the 50s was Hank Snow, one of the greatest country music stars of the time who also championed the acoustic guitar, often or always playing acoustic guitar solos on his millions of records. Snow was not exactly bluegrassy, but his tone and attack, and the way his solos slid gracefully between verses of famously beautiful songs is worth paying attention to. Another guitar guy you should visit is Don Reno, who is known as one of the seminal banjo players of the rst generation. I heard him say once that he often wondered if he should been primarily a guitar player; we’re happy now that he had the wisdom to be both. Reno and Smiley recorded instrumentals that featured
Reno on guitar, but the key recording is their “Country Boy Rock and Roll,” arguably the rst out-and-out atpicking piece. Then in the late 50s the Stanley Brothers moved over to King Records, and made albums that used only the banjo and two guitars. These recordings are some of the most soulful, break-your-heart beautiful stuff they ever did, which is going some. One time I asked Ralph why they recorded with just two guitars and banjo. So help me, Ralph said to me without any trace of irony, that Syd Nathan, the president of King Records loved bluegrass, but he didn’t like ddles. mandolins, and basses. The resulting recordings feature George Shufer and Bill Napier in some of the most perfect old-timey sounding guitar breaks ever laid down. Take particular note of the guitar on “That Good Old Mountain Dew.” Later that same tradition was picked up by Larry Sparks who continues in his great role as a great original contemporary player and one of the classic guitarists, deep in the Stanley tradition. But the killer recording of acoustic guitar of the 50s, the towering, beautiful, perfect, unforgettable masterpiece, is a piece of “atpicking” that was probably played with ngerpicks in a kind of atpicking style. In their rst record for Decca after leaving Mercury Records, Flatt & Scruggs recorded one of the top ve or ten albums of all time, the stunning, bleed-from-the-ears, one-cutgreater-than-the-next, never-surpassed, Foggy Mountain Jamboree. On it is a cut that just killed me when I heard it as a kid, and it sounds as perfect today as it did 60 years ago. The playing is quietly powerful, the two guitars blend like an alloy under re, and even the recording itself, 50s, mono, and beautiful, is one of the best pieces of audio you’ll ever hear. It is Lester and Earl on guitars, Lester (open-position rhythm) and Earl (seventh fret capo’d lead) doing “Jimmie Brown the Newsboy.” Not only are the execution, tuning, and recording perfect, but it’s a master’s degree’s worth of how rising and falling dynamics create
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
power, and how an instrumental break can slither seductively between verses of a song to make an unremarkable old chestnut into a brilliant classic. You and I will know when you have paid attention to this recording; it will show. If you fail to, the whole world will know. Have you heard Clarence White? Do it now: Clarence was the great young champion of atpicking of the early 60s. He later went famously and brilliantly to rock ‘n roll, but his acoustic recordings are available today: they are before-their-time, ironic, deeply bluegrassy, rhythmically powerful and engaging, and for the time, out-of-nowhere original and great. And of course, there is Doc Watson. He and Merle Watson were the great prophets of the steelstring guitar, who, in their world travels, launched the new world-wide rule that requires that every second or third human being on earth must now possess and play a steel-string guitar. Listen to Doc’s energy and perfection, his musicality and taste. And be amazed by the “Vs,” the virtuosity and versatility of the man who could bluegrass it up with Flatt & Scruggs, folk it up solo, and jazz and blues and old-timey it up with seemingly no limits or barriers. And from
the same era, pay close attention to the rock of the Country Gentlemen band, Charlie Waller, maybe the greatest rhythm player of all, and who, later in his career moved out into beautiful solo playing as well. But Charlie’s thundering accompaniment is a cause for awe and inspiration. Now I want to conclude by reminding you to listen also to a couple of modern, living classics of our music who have recently won well deserved high honors. Perhaps you know of these, but some may not, and I want to add my voice to the congratulations. First, as you may know, Tony Rice was inducted into the IBMA Hall of Honor a few weeks ago. As I wrote to Tony in a message to him, his induction got me thinking about our history, and I believe the members of IBMA really made a great choice. If anybody ever deserved that honor after Flatt & Scruggs, surely Tony does. As I add up all the things he has done to inuence the music, vocals, guitar stylings and techniques, repertoire, and openness to many artistic inuences, I don’t think anyone has ever put a more inuential stamp on our music than Tony Rice. Through it all he has played with the signature authority and power that are his unmistakable trademark. So congratulations
to Tony on this great honor from his fans and colleagues; he is a mighty chapter in the history of our music and the guitar. Another tribute is due to our pal Jens Kruger of the Kruger Brothers. The Kruger Brothers did the impossible: moved their lives and families from their native Switzerland to the US and made a distinguished career for themselves in a deeply American art form. At the same time, in a stunning example of how globalization in the traditional arts can work, they enriched our deeply American music with some old-country ideas and perspectives, making their music both authentic and also original. Jens himself was recently awarded the Steve Martin banjo award and appeared on the David Letterman Show playing the most blazingly perfect and original banjo music in the history of national television. You should see the video clip: it was a moment. And if you ever get a chance to stand close to Jens whilst he plays, don’t miss this guy, the master. Congratulations to Jens and the Kruger team. And let’s remember the work of the past greats, our roots, our founders; remember, be grateful, and try to be worthy of them if we can.
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June 8-14: Old Time Banjo, Mt. Dulcimer, Old Time Singing, Hammered Dulcimer, Flatpicking, Fingerpicking, Old Time Fiddle June 15-21: Flatpicking, Bluegrass Banjo, Mandolin, Songwriting Bluegrass Fiddle, Bluegrass Singing, Dobro ™ and Bass Old Time and Traditional Week - June 8-14: Flatpicking: Dan Crary, Roy Curry, Roberto Della Veccia, Jim Hurst and Steve Kaufman, Fingerpicking: Clive Carrol, Todd Hallawell, Pat Kirtley; Old Time Fiddle: Brad Leftwich and Stacy Phillips; Hammered Dulcimer: Linda Thomas, Old Time Singing: Evie Laden; Mountain Dulcimer: Joe Collins; Old Time Banjo: Jim Pankey Bluegrass Week - June 15-21: Flatpicking: Mitch Corbin, Mark Cosgrove, Mike Dowling, Chris Jones, David Keenan, Chris Newman, Wayne Taylor, Doug Yeomans; Mandolin: Carlo Aonzo, Bruce Graybill, Barry Mitterhoff, Steve Smith, Roland White, Radim Zenkl; Bluegrass Banjo: Gary Davis, Eddie Collins, Murphy Henry, Ned Luberecki; Songwriting: Kate Campbell; Dobro ™: Stacy Phillips, Jimmy Heffernan; Bass: Rusty Holloway, Missy Raines, and Steve Roy; Bluegrass Fiddle: Becky Buller, Josh Goforth, Annie Staninec; Bluegrass Singing Class: Sally Jones, Don Rigsby; Jam Instructors Both Weeks: Keith Yoder, Annie Savage, Tony Anthonisen
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
Making A Demo By Kacey Cubero Thinking of making a demo? Whether you plan on presenting it to a record company, manager, agent or club, the appropriate demo of your music and voice does take some planning and effort. It does not, however, have to cost you a ton of money. The more organized and focused you can be the better. Here are some tips for being efcient in the studio and making the most of your presentation. First of all, what is a demo? It is a “demonstration” of your work. Therefore, you want to keep it nice and short. You do not want to overwhelm your listener; so put no more than 3-5 songs on a demo. Most people neither have the time nor will take the time to listen to much more. So, you want those few songs to be a well-rounded representation of what you do and what you and your band sound like. Put your best track rst, followed by two or three in descending order of relative strength. And, unless you are a torch singer, I would not recommend putting more than one slow tune on the demo. Remember you want to motivate people and get them moving, not put them to sleep. Most booking agents and clubs are looking for rocking upbeat songs to keep their audiences around all night. If you are looking to book these kinds of gigs, you may want to make sure your demo includes one or two great renditions of some popular
and appropriate cover songs. You can mix in your originals somewhere too, but most clubs are looking for songs they recognize. Record companies, on the other hand, are not. They are looking for new material, so it is strongly recommended that you not include any cover songs on a demo going to record company. You may not likely be taken seriously as an artist otherwise. There are two schools of thought when sending in a demo to a record executive. One is to send in something perfect and polished and fully produced so no one has to think too much and the product is ready to go. The other is to leave some room for the executive who wants to be “involved in the creative process” and eventually be able take some credit for that. How well developed and exible you are will most likely determine the extent of time, money, and effort you put into a demo. That will be your decision. It’s good to know in advance who and what type of label you will be sending your demo to so you can improve your chances of making the appropriate impression and possibly getting that chance at a record deal. However, this process is really so much more complex than we will get into right now. In general, and to keep it simple, you should be sharing and sending the rst few demos you make to a ton of people.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014
There are two very effective ways to send out your demo these days. One is, of course, the physical CD. This is the one you will send out in the mail and which you should always have with you to hand out to the appropriate people at clubs, etc. And, believe me, you never know which big producer or record exec you may run into at any studio or music event at any time. So, be prepared with your product. And make sure the CD has all the appropriate contact info, a website address, and song titles. When sending in a CD demo you may want to include lyrics, if appropriate, and/or have them available on your website. The second portal is called an EPK (electronic press kit). The EPK is incredibly efcient and now often preferred over the physical CD. The EPK is something of a mini postcard that you can email to the appropriate listener. It should include a few MP3s of the recorded songs on your demo, a photo, a very short bio, and all your contact information, including a link to your website. And if you have any really impressive live footage, you may want to include a small amount of that as well. Remember, your website should cover the extensive info, more music, and more video. The EPK is supposed to be short and to the point. The actual recording of the demo can be done a few different ways. For those of you who are “techies,” there is great inexpensive software available to facilitate your recording at home on your computer. Just be careful here that the product you come up with sounds like you. There is a big difference between knowing how to record via software, having the correct tools to follow through, and experimenting with new technology resulting in some abstract recording of your songs. If you are recording in a studio, make sure to pick an engineer who is knowledgeable, easy to work with, and has reasonable rates. Ask for recommendations and speak with people who have worked with that engineer and at that particular studio. 67
For you vocalists, it’s very important to know what microphones a studio has available to you. When you meet with an engineer, see about experimenting with a few different mics in advance, if possible. The right mic can make all the difference in how your vocals are presented and received. And, depending on the song, you may even want to switch between mics from one song to another. This is a whole other topic that I would like to address down the line. Work out your budget in advance with your musicians, engineer, and studio so there are no surprises and you have the funds to rehearse, pay your musicians, and complete your demo. Keep in mind that after you have recorded the demo, there are expenses for reproducing, labeling, and sending it out. If you are hiring musicians, hire the best ones available to you. They may cost you more up front, but will be worth their weight in gold in the studio. You will spend less time and money recording with session players. Seasoned musicians not only save you time in the studio, but will lend some signature essence to your tunes that is often priceless. Also, have charts ready and if you are able to in advance, have your musicians
rehearsed so that when you get to the studio you aren’t guring out your material at the studio rate per hour. In the end, make sure your recording does your music, your songs, and your voice justice. Don’t over or under do it. There are a million ways to record a song. Hopefully, your vision will be the outcome of your recording session. Before signing off on it, listen to your demo in different places— the car, home, computer, etc. Listeners will be using listening on various kinds of equipment, so you want to make sure the levels are consistent accordingly. Are the vocals over the music? Does this sound like your band, or did you lose something in recording? Trust your gut, be exible where you can, listen to your fellow musicians, and be open to their suggestions. Those studio guys will most often take your demo to a higher level if you let them. And please, copyright your songs in advance of sending your demo out. For more info go to: http://www.copyright.gov/
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January/February 2014
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January/February 2014
CLASSIFIEDS Classied ads will be accepted for guitar and musical related items @ 40¢ a word, 50¢ a word for bold lower case type, 60¢ a word for bold upper case type. Please call (800) 413-8296 to order, or send ad to High View Publications, P.O. Box 2160, Pulaski, VA 24301
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CLASSIFIEDS Flatpicking Essentials Instructional Series Ever feel like you’ve hit a wall in your practice or reached a plateau that you can’t get beyond? We can help you! The EightVolume Flatpicking Essentials Instruction Method, developed by Flatpicking Guitar Ma gaz ine editor Dan Miller, provides you with over 1000 pages of information taught in a specic step-by-step sequence so that your atpicking knowledge and skill sets are complete, with no holes, or gaps. Starting with Volume One (Rhythm, Bass Runs, and Fill Licks), this series teaches you how to develop in an easy to follow graduated method. This course is available as spiral bound books with CD, or as digital downloads. For more information visit www.atpickingmercantile.com or www. atpickdigital.com.
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Flatpicking the Blues Book/DVD/CD Course by Brad Davis
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In this course, Brad Davis shows you how to approach playing the blues using both theoretical and practical methods. You will learn how to play blues style rhythm, learn blues scales at several positions on the neck, and learn how to apply those “blues notes” in a free-form improvisational style over the twelve-bar blues progression. This section increases your knowledge of the guitar ngerboard as it relates to the blues and provides you with a method for increasing your improvisational skills. Brad then examines common blues phrasing, technique, and standard blues licks and demonstrates how to apply them. He also shows examples of licks played in the style of great blues guitarists and even demonstrates how Bill Monroe’s blues licks on the mandolin can be incorporated on the guitar. This course also includes blues ear training. In addition to teaching you how to play straight blues, Brad also demonstrates and teaches how you might take tunes that you may already know from the standard atpicking repertoire and spice them up with blues licks. If you are tired of playing atpicked ddle tunes and bluegrass songs the same old way you will greatly appreciate Brad’s instruction on how you c an add excitement and interest to songs that you already play by adding a blues avor.
Visit the Website for More Information and Blues Guitar Lessons www.flatpick.com/blues 72
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
January/February 2014
April 24-27, 2014
Alan Jackson
Dr. Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys
Steep Canyon Rangers
Featuring: Richard Watson
Dailey & Vincent with Jimmy Fortune
Donna the Buffalo Dr. Ralph Stanley and The Clinch Mountain Boys Frosty Morn (with Joe Smothers, Richard Watson, Bob Hill, T. Michael Coleman and more) Happy Traum I Draw Slow Jeff Little Trio Jerry Douglas Kickin Grass Band Larry Keel and Natural Bridge Laura Boosinger Lonesome River Band Mandolin Orange Mark Bumgarner Mark Johnson and Emory Lester Mark Newton and Steve Thomas Mary Flower Nashville Bluegrass Band Nora Jane Struthers & The Party Line Nu-Blu Pete and Joan Wernick Peter Rowan Red June Riley Baugus Roland White Rory Block Roy Book Binder Sanctum Sully The South Carolina Broadcasters Scythian The Sigmon Stringers Sleepy Man Banjo Boys Steve and Ruth Smith Sutton, Holt & Coleman Terry Baucom Banknotes The Claire Lynch Band The Duhks The Hillbenders The Steel Wheels The Waybacks Time Sawyer Todd Snider Tony Williamson Tut Taylor Volume Five Wayne Erbsen Wayne Henderson Zephyr Lightning Bolts And many more! See the complete lineup at www.MerleFest.org. •
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Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott
Sam Bush Band
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Jim Lauderdale
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Larry Keel and Natural Bridge
Della Mae
www.MerleFest.org 1-800-343-7857
facebook.com/merlefest MerleFest and WCC are 100% Tobacco Free.
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine January/February 2014 The views presented are not necessaril y those of Wilkes Community College or endorsed by the college.
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