Flatpicking Essentials - Volume 2: Learning How to Solo - Carter Style and Beyond [2]

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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lnt;oducflon Welcome to Flatpicking Essentials, Volume2: presentedhere. The more time that you spendtrying Learning to Solo-Carter Style and Beyondl I hope to developyour own uniqueand creativeways to use that you were able to spenda lot of time practicingthe all of the techniquesthat I presentin this volume, the bassruns, filI licks, and strum patternsthat you were easierit is going to be for you to learn how to arrange presented with in Volume I of this coursebecauseyou your own solosand improvise. aregoing to use them all here. I have alwaysthought On the nextpageI will beginto lay out a step-by-step that if a guitar studenthad a solid foundationin playing method that is designedto teachyou how to arrange rhythm and working with bass runs and rhythm fill your own solo to any song that you may hear without licks, that a very natural progressionwhen stepping the useof a book,magazine,or video. That might seem from rhythm playing to lead playing would be the like a monumentaltask right now, especiallyif you've Carterstyle of leadplaying. In the Carterstyle you are never done it before. However,after working with the executingthe sameright and left hand techniquesthat material that is presentedin this volume I think that you learnedand practicedin Volume I when you were you will feel differently. You will have the tools, the workingwith bassrunsand strums.The only difference techniques,a method,and the confidence.Good luck! is that in the Carterstyle the bassruns will be replaced If you have any questionsas you work through this by a melodyline. So,if you gaineda good level of skill book, pleasefeel free to contactme at: dan@flatpick. andexperiencein the executionof bassruns and strums com. Pleaseput "FlatpickingEssentials"in the subject while working with Volume I , you are ready to move line so that I caneasilvidentifv vour email. on and play Carter style lead. But Carter style lead is not wherethis book ends! Here in Volume 2 we are going to gain a solid lead A Note on the Arrangements in the Book: guitarfoundationwith the Carter style,but then we are In arrangingthe guitar solosfor certain sectionsof going to move on from there in an effort to add more this book I over-usedthe new techniquethat is being spice and interest to your lead guitar work. At first presentedin that section in order to give you more you will learn to addthe techniquesthat you learnedin practicewith a giventechnique.Thosesolosshouldbe Volume I -such as bassruns, fill licks, hammer-ons, practicedwith this in mind. I suggestthat you practice pulls, alternatestrum patterns,and slides-to basic the solos in the sections on tremolo, double stops, Carter style arrangements.After you have gained a and crosspickingin order to get a good feel for these good feel for using those techniquesin conjunction techniques,but then go back and learn how to "mix with Carter style, we will then start to add new lead and match" thesetechniqueswhen creatingyour own guitartechniquesone at a time. alrangements,as I havedone with the solosthat appear The first few new techniques that you will later in the book. Havefun! learn-tremolo, double stops, and crosspicking-are techniquesthat were developedin roots, bluegrass, and early country music by the pioneersof lead guitar playingin thosegenres.After you havedigestedthose techniqueswe will move on to take a look at some of the techniquesthat becamemore prevalentduring the "heroesera." Thesetechniquesincludethe use of neighboringnotes,scaleruns,and drones.Towardsthe end of the book we will also startto look at the useof a few commonflatpickingphrases,or licks, and how you might add thoseto your Carter style solosin order to developa more diverseand interestingarrangements. As with the materialin Volume I , I strongly suggest that you work to comeup with your own arrangements and your own way of using the techniquesthat I have iv

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Arrqnglng solos lot vocal rbnes Guitar playerswho have learnedto play the flatpick style usually spend the majority of their time and effort learning to play fiddle tunes. Many times this learningprocessinvolvesmemorizingsomeoneelse,s arrangementfrom a book, magazine,or instructional video. There is nothing wrong with that. It is a fine way to build a repertoireof tunes that you can play at your local jam sessionor festival, or with u pi.Kng buddy who knows the sametunes. However,at some point in time you aregoing to want to learnhow to solo on songsthat you have not mem orized,songsthat you can't find tab for, or even songsthat have never heard before. You are going to learn how to do that here. Beginningplayerswatch more advancedpickersat a jam sessionstake solos on song after song that they may have never heard before and wonder ..how do they do that!?" The answeris that thoseplayershave developeda skill that you too can develop and in this courseI am going to help you learn how to develop that skill, and we are going to startright away. In this volume of the Flatpicking Essentialscourse we will focus on techniquesthat will help you build your own solosto vocal tunes. Then in the next volume we are goingto do the samething with fiddletunes. The basic stepsthat we will follow in this volumeare as follows: l) Selecta Song 2) Learn the Chord progression 3) Learnthe BasicMelody! 4) Simplify the Melody 5) Find the Carter Style Arrangement 6) Embellishthe CarterStyleArrangement Before we get into any examples,ret me talk about eachof thesestepsin more detail so that you can get an ideaabouthow this processworks beforewe put our handson the guitar and startto practicethesesteps.

Step l-Setect a Song while this stepis the obviousplaceto start,I want to say that I feel that a very important elementof this first stepto consideris the type of songthat you select, especiallywhen you are first learning to create your own guitar solos to songs. The rule of thumb in this regardis Keep it simple! In fact, that rule applies to everythingthat you do. Start simply and slowly, then graduallymove forward. If you bite off more than you can chew at first, or if you try to tacklesomethinethat Flatpicking

is too far beyondyour currentskill level, you are going to get frustrated. That frustration may appear right away becauseyou will not feel like you are making enoughprogress,or that frustrationwill show up later when you realize that you have reacheda plateau in your playing due to the fact that you skipped over some important fundamentalsand have holes in your knowledgeor technicalskill. Theseholeswill prevent you from moving forward unlessyou back track and fill them in. So, my advice is to keep it simple and progressforward in small incrementalsteps. Keepingit simplein regardto selectinga songmeans thatyou selecta simplesongthat you haveknown your entire life. You may feel that you are above nursery rhymeslike "Twinkle Little Star" or simple old ,ongi like "You Are My sunshine,"however,this is the tvpe of materialthat you should focus on in the beginning becausethe chord progressionis usually simple, th; melodyis simple,it is a melodythatyou cansing,andit is a melody that you have probablyknown your whole life. Also, pick a songthat haswordsthat you know by heart. To recap,hereare the guidelinesthat you should use when picking a new song to use when learning a new skill or technique(I will discusseachof these,i"p briefly in this sectionand then we will go througheach stepin greaterdetail,with examples,in the sectionthat follows): 1) Pick a simple song. This meansthat the song has a simplechordprogressionandhasa melodythat stays in the rangeof a major scalein oneoctave. Songslike "Twinkle Little Star" and "you Are My Sunshine" use a total of threechords(I, IV, and v). They also each contain a total of only six different notes and all of thosenotesstay in the rangeof oneoctavein the major scale. when you begin to learn how to pick out melodies by ear on your guitar you are going to learn how to do it fasterand you will gain moreconfidencein your abilitiesif you only have six notesto choosefrom and you know that all of those notesreside in the major scalein one octave. If you try to pick out a songthat hasa morecomplexmelodybeforeyou havedeveloped your ear to the degreethat you can find that melody easily,you aregoing to get frustrated.

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and, Beyond

2) Pick a song that you know by heart. If you pick a song that you don't know very well you may not be exactly sure of how the melody goes and you may becomefrustratedduring stepstwo (learningthe chord progression)and three (learning the basic melody). Keep in mind, in this processyou arenot going to learn the chord progressionor melody from a book. You are going to sing or hum the song and find it by ear. In the earlystagesof developingthis skill it helpsif you know that songvery well. 3) Pick a song that you can sing. Nine times out of ten a vocal songis going to havea simpler,lessdense melody than an instrumentaltune. When you can sing the words to a song the chords and melody are easier to find on the guitar and easierto remember. So, start easyby finding simplesongsthat you can sing.

Stepz-Learn the Chord Progression Unfortunatelythis is a critical stepthat many players skip over until after they have learnedto play a lead alrangementof the song. However,learningthe chord progressionfirst will always help when it is time to learn the melody and createa lead arrangement.The chord progressionprovides the underlying structure to the melody. If the melody is analogousto the frame that holds up the walls of a house, the chord progressionis the concreteslabthat supportsthe frame. The chord progressionprovides a foundation for all that is happeningin the song. The melody,the words, and all of the solosthat might be interpretedfrom the melody have the chord progressionas their common will give you base. Figuring out the chordprogression a road map for figuring out the melody and for your solo arrangementand/orimprovisation.

arrangement,the solo does not make much sense. It makessenseto the audiencebecausethe audiencehears the rhythm player outlining the chord changesthat the soloistis playing against. But without that underlying chord structurethe solo does not make much sense, unlessthe solo arrangementitself strongly implies the chordprogression. On a similar note, here is what David Grier had to say in an FGM Podcast interview regarding the different betweensolo flatpicking and flatpicking with accompaniment: "When I play with other people in a group setting,or a band, or just a couple of other guitarplayers,I do play differentlythan I do when I'm playing by myself. Obviously,when other playersare playing behind you they are playing the chordsbehind the lead that you are playing and so you don't have to outline what chords are being played behind you becausethey are doing that. So you can concentrate more on single strings,whereaswhen I'm playing by myself I tend to try to outline the chords so when I'm 'Oh, playingpeoplehavea reference... he is doing that, over that chord. Oh, that is a G chord there.I wouldn't haveknown' (laughs)." All that in order to say, learn and memorize the chords of the song first, and later also learn how to make the chord progression prominent in your arrangementif you are not playing with rhythmic accompanimentfrom one or more other instruments.If you don't learnthe chordsbeforeyou learn the melody you will not havethe underlying or a soloarrangement, structureof the song in your mind as you are learning the melody or arranginga solo. You need to lay the foundationbeforevou build the house!

Step3- Learn the Melody

Arranging a solo in the context of the chord Onceagain,this is a stepthat may seemobvious, progression hasanotherimpo(ant componentbecause but it is a stepthat manypeopleskip whenthey learn thereare times when a solo that is playedwithout a a new songfrom a book, magazine,or video. What will not make mostpeopleleam whenthey learnhow to play a new strongoutline of the chordprogression senseto a listener. Casein point: At the National song on their guitar is someoneelse's arrangement, Flatpicking Guitar Championshipthat is held in whichtranslates to someoneelse'sinterpretationof the performon melody,plustheiraddedembellishments. Winfield,Kansas,eachyearthecontestants Do not learn stagewith rhythm accompaniment. Most contestants someoneelsetsarrangementfirst. I cannotemphasize guitarist, use a rhythm but someuse a mandolin,or this point enough.The first thing you shoulddo when bass. The audiencecan hear the rhythm instrument, you approacha new songis learnthebasicmelodyand however,thejudgescannot.Thejudgesarehousedin nothingelse.Learnonly themelodynotes.Again,this a differentareaso that they cannotseethe contestants is easiestto do if you take a vocal song,sing it, and and the only thing that is piped into their locationis find the notesthat go along with the words that you the lead instrument.Judgeshavetold me that unless are singing.So, an interim stepbetweenlearningthe the contestantoutlinesthe chord changesin his solo chordsandlearningthemelodyonyour guitarwouldbe 2

natpicking EssentialsVolumc 2: Learning How To Solo,Carter Styleand Beyond

to memorizethe words and sing the songwhile playing throughthe chord progression.The more time that you spendsinging the melody and playing the chords,the easierit is going to be for you to find the melody and then arrangeyour solo. Finding the melody is somethingthat you are going to do by ear. If you have not had much practice,or success, with findingnoteson your guitarby ear,don't worry. You are going to haveplenty of practicein this volume and we aregoing to work with simplemelodies that will not be difficult to find. By the end of this volumeyou will havedevelopeda degreeof confidence in your ability to find melodiesby ear. Onceyou find the basicmelody,the next critical stepis to work to etch it into your brain andunderyour fingers. You want to work with that melody until you can play it in your sleep,while you talk with other people,or while you are watchingTV...youwant that melody to becomesecondnaturebefore you try to embellishit, add to it, modify it, or do anythingelse. When I interviewedRichardBennettfor Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, he said that he made his students play only the melody until they got "melody burnout." I totally agree with this idea. The melody is the launchingpoint for all of your solo arrangementsand improvisations, if you don't havethatmelodyingrained into your "muscle memory" you are inevitablygoing to get lost during a solo and not be able to find your way back. The betteryou know that melody,the more confidentyou aregoing to be when you stepawayfrom it in a solo or improvisationand the easierit will be to get back to it if you get lost. Tastefulplayersall say "Melody is King!" and it is true. Many studentswill complainthat just playing the simplemelody is boring andthey will want to move on oncethey have it memortzedin their head. But, until it is memorizedin your musclesanddown to your bones, you don't really have it! If you are bored playingthe melody of one song over and over in the samespot, then play it in a different octave,at a different place on the fingerboard,or in a different key. Play it in all l2 keys! Just continueto play it until you could do it in your sleep. Then you will be readyto move on and add to it. If you don't believeme, take one song as an experiment.Chooseone song,learnits simplemelody andjust play that melodyover andover. Use it asyour warm up, use that melody to work on other technical aspectsof your playing like timing and tone and note clarity. Just continueto play that simple melody to Flatpicking

that one song over and over for five to ten minutes everyday. Later, when you start working on affanging and improvising I guaranteethat the song you worked with asyour "simple melody song"will be the songthat is easiestfor you to work with in termsof creatingnew arrangements and improvisations.Onceyou provethat to yourself, you too will be convinced regardingthe "melody burn out" method and apply it to every new songthat you learn. You may be thinking, "If Dan is suggestingthat I play just the melody over and over before I can play a more complex arrangement,then what about these guys who can learn a new song in a jam sessionand take a phenomenalsolo right away." Good question! And my answer is, you have to learn to walk before you can learnto run. Thoseguys have spentso much time learning songs and playing them on their guitar that they are able to processa melody and find it, and embellishments,on their guitar right away. You will eventually get there too. Taking it step-by-stepand working slowly through these stepsin the beginning is the way to get there. Eventuallyyou will be able to processthe stepsfaster and faster and you too will be able to learn a song and createa solo spontaneouslyin real time. However,if you skip stepsor don't spend enoughtime with eachstep,it will be more difficult for you to reachthat final goal.

A-Basic Carter StyleArrangement The flatpickingtechniquethat hascome to be known as "Carter Style" was adapted from the playing of Mother Maybelle Carter. Although Maybelle used a thumb pick on the downstrokes,followed by a strum with her fingers,the generaltechniqueis easily adapted to the flatpick. The technique is exactly that same as the bass-note/strumtechnique that you practiced extensivelyin Volume I , however,we are going to replacethe bassline with a melody line. Therefore,the Carter techniqueconsistsof playing the melody notes on the lower register strings and inserting a rhythmic strum between melody notes when there is adequate space(time-wise)to do so. Maybelle Carter didn't have a rhythm section when she played and sang with her sister Sarah and her brother-in-lawA. P. Carter. So when she took a guitar solo, she had to keep a rhythmic strumming patterngoing while she played the melody, otherwise the overall soundwould have lackeda rhythmic drive and would havesoundedtoo sparse.

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Audio Tra$ 1-03 C

Ex.1

Ex.3

At the top of this pageI have written out three examplesfrom the first line of the song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Example I is the melody, Example2 is a simplifiedmelody and Example3 is the simplifiedmelody with rhythmic strumsinserted betweenthe melodynotes.Takea look at Example3. you will find Ifyou play throughthesefour measures, thateventhoughsomeof the melodynoteshavebeen "removed,"you still hearthe melodyof the song.You alsogeta fuller soundthanjust playingthemelodyline of ExampleI becausein Example3 the chordsof the songareidentifiableand thusyour ear can follow the chordprogression andyoualsohavea moreperceivable rhythmic movement. Also, if you think about it, I didn't really "remove"themelodynotesin Example3 because thosenotesarecontainedin thechordalstrum. Theyjust arenot playedassinglenotes. Example3 is a simpleexampleof what I meanwhen I say "Carter style." HavingstudiedVolumeI ofthis series,you shouldnow be very familizuwith playingbasslinesin conjunction with rhythmicstrums.The only thing differenthereis that we are substitutingthe bassline with the melody 4

Flatpicking

line andthusplayingthemelodyof thesong.So,inone easystep,you've becomea soloist! The main reason that I had you play so manybassline/strumexamples in Volume I is so that you would be readyfor Carter styleleadplaying. My hopeis thatyou will find Carter styleplayingtobe a very easyandnaturalwayto begin to play lead solosafterhavingstudiedbassline/strum rhythmplayingin Volumel. Play throughExampleI aboveagain. Then play Example3. ExampleI soundsprettyplain andsimple. It soundslike somethingis lacking. Example3 sounds thatyou full andrhythmic;andit soundslike something could actuallyplay for peopleeven if you don't have you becauseyou havemelody, anyoneaccompanying chords,anda definedrhythm. In Volume I when I talkedaboutthe "history of flatpicking"I saidthatflatpickingwasanensemble style dueto the fact thatit wasdifficult to provideyour own accompaniment while alsoplayinglead lines. Fiddle tune flatpicking,the way mostpeoplelearnit, doesn't soundtoo greatwithout a rhythm section. However, Carter style lead playing with a flatpick can sound full and interestingbecauseit haschordsandrhythm.

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

When I interviewed Charles Sawtelle for Flatpicking Guitar Magazine,hesaid, "If I'm playing aroundthe house,or playing solo, I try to play something that peoplecan relateto as guitar music.If you were to play ten fiddle tunesfor your grandmother,for example,by the third one she would be falling asleep.The music doesn'tmake any senseto them. I prefer to play tunes that are guitar like. So I will play Carter Family tunes like "Little Moses" or "Wildwood Flower," something that can be understood.I'd play somekind of tune that hasrhythmic structureto it. It is cool to play that other stuff if you have a band.But when you areby yourself, it can get really boring for everyone,real quick." Therearemany reasonsto startlearningyour first solo arrangementof any tune as a Carter style arrangement. First,it is usuallygoing to be the simplestand easiest arrangementof that tune that you will ever learn. And simpleis always good when you are startinganything! Next, asmentionedabove,the Carterstyle arrangement soundsfuller and more rhythmic when you play it in a solo setting. I don't know how many times I've been with friendsor family and they've askedif I could play my guitar for them. When all I knew was a bunch of fiddle tunesI was very reluctantbecausewithout back up I knew it wouldn't sound like much. Now when peopleask me to play I alwaysI follow two rules: (l) play using the Carter style technique,and (2) play a songthat they aregoing to know. I learnedthe secondrule from experience. If you chooseto play a bluegrassstandardand the person doesn'tknow bluegrassyou don't get quite as good as a reactionas you do when you play somethingthat they know by heart. If they recognizeit, they usually enjoy it more becausethey have a reference. This is one of the reasonsthat I have selectedmany songsfor this volume that everybodyknows. I want you to learn songsthat you haveknown for your whole life so that you know the melody inside and out, and I also want you to know thosesongsso that you can play them and your non-bluegrass friends and family will recognize whatyou are playing! Don't think thatbecauseyou areplayinga simpleold songthat it is going to sounddull and be boring to play. The degreeof dull andboring is going to be up to you. If you've ever heardDavid Grier render"Michael Row Your Boat Ashore" you'll know what I mean. David takesthat simple song and makes it sound incredibly complexas a solo guitarpiecewhile still maintaininga solidmelodyline. That is what you aregoingto startto learnhow to do in this volume of the course.and whv

I've titled it "Carter Style and Beyond." The Carter styleis just our startingplace. The next reasonwhy Carter style is a good place to startis becauseby playing the Carterstyle arrangement over andover again,you aregoingto get an innatesense of how the melody and chord progressionwork and soundtogether,both mentallyand physically. You will be hearingboth the melody and the chord progression in your head and executingthem together with your hands. This will inform your playing and give you a senseof how the melody lays on the chord progression. If you are called on to play this song solo, you will alreadyknow an arrangementthat soundsbest in that setting. Then if you are later called upon to take solo when you are playing with other musicians,you will be able to easilyadaptto that situationand play a solo that is appropriateto that setting. Most of the solos that you learnfrom tab booksarewritten for the soloist who is playing with a band. If you copy and memorrze that arrangement,it is not necessarilygoing to sound good in a solo settingor when you areplaying in a duo with a fiddle player or banjo player. By learningthe Carter style arrangementfirst you can build on that as a foundationand have an easiertime coming up with variations.

Step5- Simplify the Melody This is another step that many people miss, or don't think much about. When you work to learn the melody of a songyou will first sing the tune and then find thosenoteson the guitar. The notesthat you find on your guitar will correspondwith the notesthat you are singing. This processgives you the accurateand completemelody of the song. However, if you study thosenotesand pay attentionto their placementin the song,and the meaningthey give to the melodic line, you will discoverthat someof thosemelodynotesplay more of a defining role that others. We can call these notesthe "stable" melody notes. In other words, some melody notesare more importantto defining the song than others. Many times those notes that are not so important are melody notesthat are repeatedor notes that transitionor lead to the stablenotes. Usually the most stablenotesare the notesof the chord (lst, 3rd, or 5th tones of the scale). Notes that may not be so importantto the melody aresustainingnotes(notesthat repeatthe previousnote),transitionnotes(notesoutside the chord that are leading to chord notes) or leading tones(the 7th note of the scale). Remember,theseare simplyrulesof thumb. Therecancertainlybe stable,or

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

defining notes,that are not in the chord. However,it is thosenot-so-stablenotesthat may be the first that you can examine and decide if you might be able to leave out and still havethe melody represented. As an exampleof this concept,look againat the first four measuresof "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" that I've wrote out on page 4. In the first line, Example l, I've written the melody as it is sung. However,on the secondline (Example2)I' ve simplifiedthe melody by removing the repeatednotes. Play through both. Although the secondline is not the exact melody, you can certainly still recognize the song even with about half of the melody notesmissing. Now you may be wondering, "Why do I want to simplify the melody? I havea hardenoughtime filling in those gaps betweenmelody notes. Now you want me to createbigger gaps!" Yes! First of all, learning how to recognize which of the melody notes really definethe melody will help you later when you startto arrangeand improvise becauseyou will want to state the melody so that listenerscan recosnizethe song,but you'll also want to leave yourself as much room for your own unique,creative interpretationas possible. That may be hard for you to fathom right now, but you'll learn how to do that in this book So, learning how to identify and use the fewest numberof notesof the melody, while still strongly defining the melody, will serveyou well in that regard. Another reasonthat you learn how to simplify the melody to a song has to do with tempo. If you find yourselfin a jam sessionand the musiciansareplaying at a tempo that is beyondyour skill level, even if you are simply playing the melody and not throwing in then your next stepto try in an other embellishments, effort to keep up is to simplify the melody and only play the fewestnumberof notespossible.If you area beginnerand have not built up speedand you step into a jam with a banjo playerwho likes to play everything in overdrive,simplify your melody,play lessnotes,and you may be able to keep up. We will talk about this techniquemore in Volume 3 when we addressplaying fast fiddle tunes. A third reasonthat you want to learnhow to identify the most important melody notes is to leave yourself if room to provideyour own rhythmic accompaniment you areplayingsolo,or of you areplayingin a bandthat does not have a rhythm section. We will be learning, and applying, this skill right away in this volume by learninghow to play CarterStyle leads. Flatpicking

Step 6-Embellish Arrangement

The

Carter

Style

Once you learn how to play the basic Carter style arrangementof a song (Step 4), the next step is to "superchargeit" a la Norman Blake or David Grier. Norman and David are both mastersat creating a full soundingsolo flatpicking guitar arrangement. In this volume I am going to give you tools and techniques that you can use to superchargeyour Carter style so that you canlearnto developinteresting arrangement solosto vocal songsthat will soundfull without rhythm accompaniment. In Volume 3, when we discuss instrumentaltunes and fiddle tune picking, we will practicetechniquesthat will help you learn how to solo whenyou arewith a bandanddon't haveto worry about providingyour own rhythm. But in this volume I want you to feel comfortablein knowing that you can sound good all by yourself. Let's face it, unlessyou are in a band,you areprobablyplaying by yourself most of the time. So why not learnhow to developa full soundin that settingbeforelearninghow to apply the techniques that soundgood with the full band? Unfortunately,most flatpickers learn fiddle tunes first. As I statedin Volume I , I think that is a backwards way of learning.I feel that if you first learnhow to solo on vocal tunes and learn how to sound good without accompaniment, then it will be easyto later learnfiddle tune flatpicking and how to play in the band setting. One of the hardest things for flatpickers who learn fiddle tune flatpicking first to learn is how to solo on vocaltunes(becausethey don't know how to fill in the longerpausesbetweenmelody notes)and to learnhow to play solo guitar (becausethey haven't learnedhow to provide both melodic and harmonic content at the sametime). We'll fix thatherebecausewe aregoing to studyhow to solo on vocal songsand play solo guitar first,then we will takea look at fiddle tunes. The techniquesthat we will study in this volume that we will add to the basic Carter style include: tremelo,double stops,crosspicking,using scaleruns and neighboringnotes, adding bass runs, varying strumpatterns,and usingdronestrings. Also, as in the last volume,we will also add alternatestrum patterns, pull-offs,and slides. hammer-ons, Now that you have an idea of what stepswe will be takingto createsolosin this volume,let'sgo aheadand get started!

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Step One Selecl o Song As I statedpreviously,wheneveryou are learning something new, start with the simplest and easiest conceptor idea and build slowly. If you alwayskeep thatconceptasa rule of thumb,thenyou will continually move forward without havingany gapsin your skill or knowledge.Therefore,Isuggestthatyou havea stable of simple tunes that you go back to anytime you are trying to learn a new conceptor practicean unfamiliar technique. Keeping this "Keep It Simple" conceptin mind, and knowing that stepstwo and threeof the processwe will be working with in this book areto first find the chords and then find the melody, our goal will be to selecta song that hasjust 2 or 3 chordsand only a handful of melody notes. In order to selecta song,I suggestthat you go back to the simplestsongsyou know. Thosethat you learnedto sing back in kindergardenor elementary school. Start with somethinglike "Mary Had a Little Lamb." That songonly has2 chordsand only 4 unique melody notes. In the key of C the chordsarethe I chord and the V chord (C and G). The four notesusedin the melody are C, D, E, and G. All four of thosenotes residein the range of one octaveof the C major scale (betweenthe C note on the 3rd fret of the A string and the C note on the l st fret of the B string). fHint: If you aregoingto give this one a try in thekey of C, startwith the E note at the 2nd fret of the D string corresponding to the first word of the lyrics: "Mary." Then proceed from there.l Finding the chord progressionand the melody for a song like "Mary Had A Little Lamb," is going to be far easier than if you tried to start with a song like "Blackberry Blossom." "Blackberry Blossom" has more chords,more melody notes,has no words, and has a more complex melody. If you are new to picking out chord progressionsand melodic lines by ear,chancesare that "Blackberry Blossom" is gong to frustrateyou and causeyou to think "I can't do this! This is too hard!" We don't want that to happen,so start simple. Here is a list of a few songsthat you will no doubt be familiar with. All of thesesongshavesix, or fewer, melody notesand three,or fewer,chords. I ) When the SaintsGo MarchingIn 2) London Bridges 3) Shortnin'Bread 4) The AlphabetSong 5) You Are My Sunshine Flatpicking

Here is anotherlist of songsthat have six, or fewer, melodynotesand3 , or fewer,chords.While the melody notesof thesesongsstay within the major scale,some of the notesare lower than the low root note- meaning that if you are in the key of C, some of the melody notes will be lower in pitch than the C note on the A string. Give thesea try: I ) Farmerin the Dell 2) Old MacDonald'sFarm 3) Skip to My Lou In this volume I've providedyou with songsthat are all going to be familiar to most people and fairly easy to work with. In addition to all of the songs I will presentin this volume, here is a list of 40 other tunesyou might want to try to work with. Pick one a day,or one a week, and seeif you can find the chord progressionand melody on your guitar: I ) CamptownRaces 2) 'Round the Mulberry Bush 3) Polly Put The Kettle On 4) Twinke, Twinkle, Little Star 5) JackAnd Jill 6) PeasePorridgeHot l) YankeeDoodle 8) ATisket,ATasket 9) FrereJacques l0) Happy Birthday 11) Merrily We Roll Along 12) Michael Row Your Boat Ashore 13) BicycleBuilt for Two 14) Good Night Ladies 15) MarinesHymn 16) Dinah.Blow Your Horn l7) Billy Boy l8) SilentNight 19) Auld Lang Syne 20) Pop Goesthe Weasel 2l) BeautifulBrown Eyes 22) My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean 23) Gold Watch and Chain 24) I Ain't GonnaWork Tomorrow 25) Go Tell Aunt Rhody 26) I'll Fly Away 21) I Saw the Light 28) Ashesof Love 29) Will You Miss Me 30) Blue Moon of Kentucky 3l) AngelBand

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To SoIo, Carter Style and Beyond

that describesand gives an example of the processof picking a key, singingthe tune,and findingthe chords. So, in just a minute I'll have you listento Track 0l of the audio CD that accompaniesthis book so that I can give you an audioexampleof the chordfindingprocess. But first let me give you someguidelinesthat will help you when you are searchingfor thosechords. Chord progressions, especiallyvocal songs,have certain patternsthat are typically followed. Once you learnthe generalguidelinesthat thesepatternsfollow, it will be easierfor you to figureout chordprogressions. In an article written for Flatpicking Guitar Magazine back in July of 1999,Joe Carr provideda list of seven "GeneralChord ProgressionRules." I'll reprint those herefor your convenience, and I've addedan eighth.

32) Beautiful Dreamer 33) Greensleeves 3a) My Country Tis of Thee 35) TakeMe Out To The Ball Game 36) On Top of Old Smokey 31) Lavender'sBlue 38) Hard TimesComeAgain No More 39) Clementine 40) Cocklesand Mussels

Obviously,the list could go on and on and someof thesewill be harderthan others. I provide this list to give you a rough ideaabout the kind of tunesthat you want to work with whenyou arefirst beginningto learn theprocessof arrangingyour own solos.The main rule of thumb is to startsimple. If you think thesesongsor too simple, or too dull, remember: There aren't any Joe's General Chord ProgressionRules boring songs,just boring arrangements!The level of complexity,diversity,andexcitementis your challenge 1. Songsusuallystartand end on the I (one) chord.If as the arrangeror improviser. it's in G, the last chord is almost alwaysG. The first chord is often G too, but there are many exceptions. Step One and a Half: For instance,in the key of G the first chord of "John

Beforewe moveon to the nextstep,an intermediary stepmaybenecessary. Steptwo assumes thatyou know the words and/ormelodyof the song. If you do not know the words and/ormelodyof the song,then you obviouslyaregoingto haveto find themandmemorize them beforeyou can find the chords. You probably alreadyknow the majorityof the songsthat areon the list on thepreviouspageandyou will probablyalready knowthemajorityof thesongsthatI will be presenting in this volume. However,if you do not, you shouldalwaysresearch thesongandlearnthelyrics andmelody.In the caseof vocaltunes,learning howto singthesongwill give you an ideaof the simplemelody. However,instrumental tunescanbe trickierbecauseif you hearsomeoneelse play the tune,you don't know for sureif he or sheis playingthe simplemelodyor embellishingthemelody. I'll discusswhat to do in that instancewhen we talk aboutinstrumentalnumbersin the next volume. For now,let'sfocuson simplevocalsongs.

Hardy" is C. 2. If the lastchordis I. (which it almostalwavsis). the nextto lastchordis mostoftena V chord.In ihe key of G, D or D7 is oftenthe nextto lastchord. 3. Many bluegrassand folk tunes use a I-IV-V progressionwhich, in the key of G, is G, C, and D. Learnthe I,IV, V sequence in everykey you play in. A largenumberof bluegrassandold-timecountrysongs use-these threechordJin differentorders. 4. Manyoldermountainsongshavea singleprogression for the verseandchorus(i.e.,..pigin a pen"). 5. If the verseandchorusaredifferentfrom eachother, chancesare the chordswill do somethingnew at the beginningof the chorus.If the songhasbeenloping alongin G duringthe verse,look for a C (IV) or D (V) to startthe chorus.Thesearenot the only possibilities, but thev areverv common. f. tt ttr. progressionmovesto a major chord other than I, IV, or V, try II or Vl. In the key of G, an A (lI) chord sometimesshowsup (..Good-byeOld pal") or occasionally anE (VI) or E7 ("SaltyDogBlues").

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Now that you haveselecteda songand know how to sing it, the next stepis to choosea key and then find the chords. The executionof this step is easier to explain via audioinstruction,so I've put a track on the audio CD 8

III minor, or a VI minor. In the key of G, theseareAm (II-) as in the "Beverly Hillbillies Theme," a Bm (III-) as in "Dixie Hoedown"' or an Em (VI-) as in "Foggy Mountain Breakdown'" 8' Many standardfiddle tunes will go to the flat VII chord. In the key of G, the flat VII chord is the F chord.

natpiching Essential.sVolume 2: Learning How To Solo,Carter Styleand Beyoncl

Songslike "Red HairedBoy," "Paddyon the Turnpike," "JuneApple," "Salt Creek,""Old JoeClark," and "Big Mon" includethe flat VII chord in the progression.

If you discoverthat the progressionstartswith a G chord and then movesfrom G to D (which againis likely due, once again,to the I, VI, V rule), then the next chord will probablybe a G chord. If the progressionstartsout on the G chord and you find that the C chordandthe D chordsdon't soundright for the secondchord of the progression,the next chord to try is the E or Em chord (next one up the rung from C). If that works,thenthe progressionwill mostlikely move back down the ladder and thus the chord that follows the Em chord can be the C, A or Am, the D, or it could go all the way back down to the G. Eachtime the progressioncyclesback down to the root chord, it will them pop back up to one of the higher chordson the ladder and cycle back down to the root, eventually stoppingon the root at the end of the song. Here are someexamplesto look at that all follow the chord ladder: Blue RidgeCabinHome: I-IV-V-I Will the Circle Be Unbroken: I-IV-I-V-I Red Haired Boy (A part): I-IV-I-flatVII-I-IV-V-I CherokeeShuffle(A part): I-vi-IV-I-V-I Dixie Hoedown(B part): l-iii-IV-I-V-I Salty Dog Blues:I-VI-II-V-I

All of theseguidelinesfollow rules of music theory, however,at this point in time in the coursewe will not delveinto thosetopics.I'll savethatdiscussionfor later when we talk about things like the "Circle of Fifths" and creating"tensionand release"in Volume4. The illustrationbelow is called a "Chord Ladder" and gives a visual image to some of the guidelinesfor chord progressions(uppercaseindicatesmajor chords, lower caseindicatesminor chords). The way the ladder works is that everythingflows from top to bottom once you move from the root chord (I) to the first chord that follows it in the progression. For instance,if you are in the key of G, the next chord is most likely going to be a C chord(followingthe I,IV, V convention).If the progressiongoesfrom G to C, thenoncethe progression jumps from the G up to the C, it will then most likely flow down the ladder. So, the next chord is probably going to be a D or and F chord, or it might flow all the way back down to G. So if you are trying to flgure out a chord progressionand you have found that the song startswith a G chord and then moves to a C chord, the ladderwill tell you that the next chord after that C will Does all that make sense? Do you see how the most likely by a D or a G, or possiblyan F. progressionlikes to cycle from the root up the ladder and back down the ladderto the root? Try someof the

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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songsthat you alreadyknow and seehow they flow on the ladder. While the guidelines and the ladder are rules that can easily be broken and thus many songsdon't fit the guidelines,you will find that most songs do follow theseguidelines. So, keepingthem in mind, listento the first track of the audio CD and I'll let you listen to how you go aboutfiguring out the chord progressionto a simplesong.

Sfep Three Flnd the Melody Now that you have selecteda song,you know how to sing it, and have figuredout the chord progression, you are ready to find the melody. While using your ear to find the melody is, in a sense,a fingerboard hunting expedition-"seek and you shall find"-there are guidelinesthat you can use so that your hunting is limited to a very small area of the fingerboard,and the best thing to use as road map is the major scale. For the simple songsthat we will be working with in this book, you can expectthat nearly all of the melody noteswill be thosenotesthat can be found in the major scale of the key that you have chosen. Therefore,in most instances,you aregoingto only haveto hunt in an eight note neighborhood. If you are working with the key of C and you know the C major scale,you aregoing to decreasethe amount of detectivework that you will have to do in order to find the melody. The relationshipbetweenthe pitch of any two notes in a melody is called an "interval." Later in the courseI will dive more into the theory of the various intervals,but for now simply know that the musical "distance" between any two notes in a melody is called an interval. As your ear gainsskill at identifyingthesevariousintervals,your ability to pick out melodieswill graduallyimprove. Once again, the best way for me to show you how to find a melody is for you to hearme do it, so the bulk

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of his lessonwill be explainedon the audioCD, Track 02. On that track I'll take you throughthe processof singing, or humming, the first note of the melody and then finding it on your guitar. But beforeyou play that track, here are a few guidelinesregarding melody in mind. I ) Melodies usually start on the I st or 5th note of the scale.Thereareexceptions, themostcommonbeingthe 3rd note of the scale(you'll rememberfrom Volume I that notesof a majorchord arethe I st, 3rd, and5th notes of the scale). So, if you are having trouble matching the note on the guitar to the note you are singing, try one of thosethreenotesfirst. 2) Most all melodieswill end on the first note of the scale(the root note). In otherwords,the last note of the melody will be the first noteof the scale. 3) Guideline I also applieswhen the chordschange. The first note of a chord changewill probably be the I st or 5th note in the scaleof the chord to which you are moving. For instance,if you are in the key of C and you are moving to an F chord,the first ngte of that chord changeis probably going to be an F note or a C note. If you are moving to a G chord, the first melody note of that chord changewill either be G note or a D note. If the first not in the chordchangeis not the I st or 5th, your next guessshouldbe the 3rd note. 4) Most melodiesfollow step-wisemotion, which meansthey moveup or down the scalein small"leaps" (also calledconjunctmotion) as opposedto lar-eeleaps (disjunct motion) that jump all over the place. The next note in a melody will probablyonly be one, two, three,or four notesaway,up or down, in the scale.The exceptionto this is the leap of sevennotes(the octave leap). You will find the octave leap used more often than a leapof five or six notes. In the exampleon the audiodisc,I've usedthe song "You Are My Sunshine"to demonstrate how to go about finding a melody to a song by ear. Listen to that now

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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and then look at the transcriptionthat I've providedon this page. Notice that all of the notesin this melody are notesthat make up the first six notesof the "lower octave" C major scale (shown at the bottom of the previous page). If you analyzethis melody,you will seethat it adheresto all the guidelinesthat are printed above. It startson the root note and it endson the root note. The first note of every chord changeis either the lst,3rd, or 5th note in the scaleof that chord. There Flatpicking

are no large leapsbetweenany two melody notes. So, for this song our guidelineshold true. That may not alwaysbe the case,but for most simple songsI think you will find that the guidelinesthat I've presentedfor both chordsand melodylineswill hold true. While the eventualgoal is to hearthe chord changes and the melody line without having to think about the guidelines,you canrely on them for now while you are working to developyour ear.

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

11

Practice:

Homework:

Now that you've learned the melody to "You Are My Sunshine"in the key of C, try to memorizethat melody by playing it over and over again on your guitar. This would be a good time to get out that metronomeand tap your foot along with it. There is a lot of empty spacebetween some of those melody notes and working with empty spacewhile the metronomeis ticking away is a very good exercise.You needto work with the simplemelody of this songuntil your startto reach that "melody burnout" stage. You want to be able to watch TV or hold a conversationwith someone while playing this melody. Try to really get the melody notes and the melody's timing solidly lodgedin your musclememory and your brain.

Onceyou've learnedhow to play the melody to "You Are My Sunshine" in the key of C on the lower register, move the entire melody up an octaveas showntn the tab at the top of the next page. Before really examining that tab,, try to do it by ear. After you've accomplishedthe higher octavein the key of C, then move on to find the melody at the lower and higher octavein the key of G (you canusethe scaleswritten below as a guide). Next moveon to the key of D, then the key of A. I've only written out one octaveof of the song in D, and I've not given you any help with the key of A. Learningto play a melody,by ear, in a numberof different keys is a great ear training and fretboard familiarity tool.

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

More Homework: After you haveworked throughthe processof finding the chordsand melody to "You Are My Sunshine"in four differentkeys and at two different octavesin each of thosekeys, you should be pretty familiar with that melody. Now that you haveworkedthroughthe process with this song,pick out anothersongfrom the list of 40 that I previously presentedand go through the whole processagain (learningwords, chords,and melody). Rememberto play that melody so many times that it becomeslodgedin your brain and your fingers. If you think thatyou aregettingboredplaying the same simple thing over and over, try focusing on different aspectsof your playing every time you go through the song. Whenyou know a melodyso well that you don't haveto think aboutwhereyour fingersaregoing you are thenreadyto really focuson thingslike timing, tuning, tone, note clarity, economy of motion, volume, etc. Listen carefully with full attentionto eachnote. Does the note sound in tune? Are you getting good tone? Are you playing in perfecttime with the metronome? Does your playing soundconfident? Are your hands relaxed? Is your movementefficient? Focus closely on a different aspectof your playing every time you play the melodyand you shouldneverget bored. The bestway to improveall aspectsof your playing is to play somethingthat is simple, play it slowly, listen carefully, and really play with full awareness of everythingthat is going on. Most studentsare so concernedwith rememberingwhere their fingers are supposedto be going that they are completelyunaware of all of thesubtledetails.By thetime theyhaveworked with a songlong enoughto really have it memoized, they think they are now ready for the next song and they moveon to strugglewith the memorizationprocess againwithout taking enoughtime with the first songto really learnhow to play it well. After six months,or a year,they know how to play a dozensongs,however, they can't play any of them smoothlywith good time or tone. The notessoundmuffled and they aren't clearly delinedor playedwith confidence. If you don't think that the above describesyour processor your playing,try recordingyourselfandthen re-evaluate. Recordingyourselfcanbe a very humbling experience. I highly recommendit. If you record yourself and feel as though you have great timing and tone, good for you! However,if you feel like you do fit the profile,slow down, pay attention,and get back to basics. Flatpicking

By the way, if you feel like you do needto work on the basicsof timing, tone, tuning, technique,etc. I highly recommendthat you purchaseand watch Tim Stafford's instructional DVD titled Acoustic Guitar Fundamentals.Even if you've beenplayingfor years, you will get a lot out of this DVD. Tim will teachyou about the things that you need to be paying attention to, how to think aboutthem,and how to work on them. The DVD is availableat www.flatpickingmercantile. com.

gfep Four: Boslc Corfet Style Onceyou get the melodyof a songfirmly implantedin your brain,runningdown your arm to your fingers,and out the soundholeof yourguitar- with goodtone,good - it is time to adda little harmonic time, andconfidence and rhythmic contentby filling in any time gapswith a few extra quarternotesand/orstrums. Believeit or not, it is that simpleto havea guitar solo thatreallydoesn't soundtoo bad. Don't believeme? Turnto thenextpage and play throughthe basicCarter style arrangementof "You Are My Sunshine."If you havebecomefamiliar with the melody in the key of C, this shouldbe easy for you. Having finishedworking with the contentof Volume I , both the right and left hand shouldbe very accustomed to this styleof playing. For this simple Carter style arrangementthe rule of thumb that I appliedwas pretty straightforward. It involvedfour elements: I ) If therewas a quarternote I left it alone. 2) If therewas a quarternote rest on a downbeat(first or third beat),I simply addeda singlequarternote (as i n m e a s u r e3s, 5 , J , 9 , a n d l l ) . T h e n o t eI c h o s et o usewas identicalto the notethat appearson the second beatof eachof thosemeasures. 3) If there was a half note on the downbeatof any measure(first or third beat), I shortedthat note to a quarter note and then followed it with a quarternote s t r u m( m e a s u r e2s, 4 , 6 , 1 0 ,1 2 , 1 4 ,1 5 ,& l 6 ) 4) If there was a whole note on the first beat of any measure,Ichangedthatmeasureto havea quarternote, strum, quarternote,strumpattern(as in measure8). Although the end resultfollowed thesefour rules, I did not sit down and think aboutthe rules. Having a very good commandof the melody and a knowledgeof bassnotesandstrumsfrom playingrhythm(asoutlined in Volume l),I simplyplayedthe melodyandput in a strum where I felt like I had room to do so.

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To SoIo, Carter Style and Beyond

15

You Are tly gunshlne Baslc Ceifter EtVle ln C

Audio Track l-07

With practice,youwill beabletodothisspontaneously Carterstylesolo. This songis a little uniquein that in with measures 3,5,'7,9, and I I you havethatquarternote aswell. Howeuer,untilyou becomecomfortable to dealwith' Asong combininga melody with strummingin "real time," reston thefirstbeatof themeasure you can flllow the iour guidelinesandwork out each that is idealfor Carterstyle is one wheresomeof the andskill melodynotesarequarternotes(which we leavealone) tune. Eventuallyyou wili gaintheexperience or they are otherwisehalf notesor whole notesthat to do it all sponianeously. Most simple songsthat you will encounterwill landonbeatsoneor threeofeachmeasure.If thereare first be a little bit iasier to deal with than "You Are My rests,theyareideallyhalf notereststhatfall on the fits Sunshine',in termsof takingthemelodyandcreatinga or third beatsof the measure.A songthat ideally 16

Flatpicking Essentials Yolume 2: l*arning

How To Solo, carter Style and Beyond

in this way is the song"Will the Circle Be Unbroken." If you will skip aheadfor just a secondand look at the melodyfor this songon page20, you will seewhat I'm talking about. This song has a sparsemelody and fits all the criteria for the ideal CarterStyle song. It is not that a song like "You Are My Sunshine" doesnot fit the Carterstyle,becauseyou can seethat it doeson the previouspage. However,when we haveto repeatquarternotesdue to the quarternote rest on the first beat of a measure(or chosesomeother option, as we discussin the next section),it doesn'tflow quite so well and it doesnot soundas full. In the next section we'll takea look at how we might altertheCarterStyle version of "You Are My Sunshine"to give it a fuller sound, however, first how about a little Carter style practicewith your guitar and somehomework?

Practice: Practice working with the arrangementof "You Are My Sunshine" that appears on the previouspageuntil you canplay it withoutlooking at the tab. After you have done that, then try to figure out how to apply the basic Carter style techniqueto the melodiesthat you practicedin the previoussectionfor "You Are My Sunshine"in the key of G and in the key of D. Playing it in the key of G is fairly easy. The key of D is a little tricker.

Homework: Once you've learnedhow to play the Carterstyle arrangement to "You Are My Sunshine"in the keys of C, G, and D, go back to the songsthat you workedto find the melodiesfor in the lasthomeworkproblem and try to play a Carterstyle arrangement for those songs. The more practicethat you get picking out a song, finding the chord progression,picking out the melody, and then playing a Carter style arrangement,the better you will get at it and the more naturalit will become. This entireprocess is very good training for your ear and for forging a connectionbetweenwhat you hear in your head and what you can find on your guitar. The more you practice,the easierit gets and the faster you will get at finding thosenoteson the guitar. Flatpicking

Sfep Flve SlmplZlZedtlelo dV Earlier I talked about simplifying the melody and gave some reasonsfor learning how to do it. Now we are going to practicedoing it. Searchingfor those notesin a melody that are the "stable" notes-those notesthat define the song and must be either present or implied in the solo in order for the song to be recognizable-is an art form. Mastersof this art form can manipulatea melody in dozensof differentways in their arrangementsand improvisationsand the song is still alwaysrecognizable.Real pros know how to do it just right so that the melody is stated,yet they always seemto play it differently every time they render the tune. Unfortunately,therearemany amateur"hot licks" players,who do just the opposite. The play so many licks that the melody gets totally lost. The eventual goal is to learn how to play a solo that is creativeand exciting,yetstill maintainsthe melody of the song. Remember,Melody is King ! One rule of thumb to follow statesthat someonewalking into the room in the middle of your guitar solo should be able to recognrze the songafter only listeningto a couple of bars. If you are so far away from the melody that someonecan't figure out what song you are playing, then you are goingto loseyour audience.Of course,like everything elsethereare exceptionsto the rule, especiallyin jazz, but we are not thereyet! So for now, keep it all simple andkeepthe melodyrecognizable. Like everything else, we are going to start with the easystuff. We are going to manipulatethe melody the easiestway possibleand then eventuallywork up to making more dramatic changes. The easiestplace to start on a song like "You Are My Sunshine"is to simply removethe notesthat arerepeatedand thenplay through it and seeif you can still recognrzethe song. Remember,we are strippingit down in order to build it back up later. But for now, going through the exercise of learninga melody and then stripping it down to its definingelementswill be a valuableexercisewhen you begin to work to create your own affangementsand improvisationslaterin this course. Take a look at the simplified melody for "You Are My Sunshine" that appearson the next page. Play throughit a few times and seeif you can recognizethe song. Although we have removeda numberof notes, the songis still recognizablebecausewe havekept the notes that are the most stable and defining notes for that melody. If you look at all of the open spacethat removingthesenoteshasleft for us, you will recognize

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that we now have a lot of room for interpretationand creativity.While all of this open spacewill strikefear in the hearts of some becausethey are not sure how they will be able to fill that spacewith somethingthat is goingto soundinterestingto the listener,my goal in this courseis to get you to the point where you know enoughandhaveenoughexperience filling in that space that you will look at this openspaceas a good thing. 18

Flatpicking

On the next pageI have takenthe simplifiedmelody shown above and insertedCarter style strums. If you play throughthis arrangementyou may noticethatthere are more strumsand thus, as a whole, a fuller sound. However,you may alsonoticethat if you play all of the strumsexactly the sameand as you were taught in the first volume of this series,that someof thoseprominent melodynotesthatappearin the simplifiedmelodydon't

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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sound so prominent here becausethey are buried in a strum. I have indicatedthese strums in the tab above with a'5" abovethe strum and I've put the strum tab numbers in a bold face font to indicate that you may want to play thesestrumsas "accentedstrum. If you play thesestrums with a little more precision in the articulation of each note of the strum and play the strum with a little bit more of a heavy hand, the melody note will pop out and thus the song will retain

that strong senseof melody that we are looking for in this Carter style arrangement.Takea listen to the audio CD and I will explain how this strum is executedand let you hear what it soundslike. Then I will play the tab that is shown above so you can hear the accented strum in context. Using the accentedstrum is just one way that you can remain true to the melody, yet add some additional flavor, or harmonic content, to your arrangement.

Flatpicking EssentialsVolume 2: Learning How To Solo,Carter Styleand Beyond

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Before we move on to add more variations and lets techniquesto our simpleCarterstyleaffangements, go throughthe processof finding a melody and playing the simpleCarterstyle arrangementone more time with the song "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." I've tabbed out the melody and written the chord changesin the key of C below, but I encourageyou to try to find them on your guitar by ear beforeyou look at what is written on this page. After you have found the chords and melody for "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" in the key of C, go ahead and work out the Carter style arrangement.Since this is a relativelysimpleand sparsemelody to begin with,

we don't really need to go through the simplification processhere. However, if you want to experiment with the simplificationstepon your own, be my guest. Its good practice! I've tabbed out my Carter style arrangementin the keys of C and G on the next page. Then I've followed that by Carterstyle alrangementsin the keys of D and A on the pagethat follows. Try to work out melodiesandCarterstylearrangements in all four of thesekeys on your own beforeplaying through what I've written. Finding chords,melody and Carter arrangementin several different keys is always a great exercisefor your ear and for fretboard familiaritv.

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How lo Soto, Carter Styte and, Beyond

Practice: Now that you've played "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" in four different kevs. do the same thing for a few new songs. Go throughthe entire processof picking out the chords, picking out the melody, and creatingyour own simple Carter style arrangementin severaldifferent keys. The more comfortableyou becomewith this process, throughpractice,the easierit will becomeand the better trained your ear will be and the better you will get to know how to find noteson your guitar.

Homework: Sit down with your guitar at least5 to 10 minutesper day and try to find the chords and melody to any song that comesto mind. It could be a themefor a TV show,it could be a jingle for a TV commercial,it couldbe your high schoolfight song,your favorite showtune,a bluegrassvocal that you like to sing, or a Beatlessong. Try to find the melody of the first songthat entersyour head. Some songswill have a melody that is more challengingthanothers.For now,if you find that a melody has you stumpedafter severaltries, move on to somethingelse that may be easierto find. Don't allow yourselfto get too frustrated.During this time, just find melodies,don't worry about strumsor Carterstyle. This is just melodyfinding, eartraininstime.

Usc Wheil You Alrecrdy Know Now that you havesomeexperienceworking with a simple Carter style arrangement,our focus for the remainderof this volume will be to graduallyadd new techniquesto thosearrangementsin an effort to make the arrangementsmore varied and interesting,yet still maintaina strongsenseof melody. The first thing that you can do to makeyour Carter style affangementsmore interestingis to use some of the techniquesthat you practicedin Volume I , like alternatestrums, hammer-ons,pull-offs, slides, bass runs, and fill licks. You already know how to use them to spice up your rhythm playing, so why not usethem to spiceup your Carterstyle leadplaying as well? After having worked with thesetechniquesin Volume l, you should not have any problem adding

them to your Carter style affangements.On the pages that follow I'm providing you with the melodiesand arrangementsof several tunes where I've employed some of thesefamiliar techniques. Let's look at each of theseexamplesand then you can work to come up with arrangements of your own. She'll Be Coming Around the MountainOn the page25 you will find the melody and chord changesfor "She'll Be ComingAround theMountain." Like always, I recommendthat you try to figure out the melody and chord changesyourself before you look at what is printed on the next page. It'll be good practice.Then,just for fun, go aheadandwork through that "melody burnout" phase. Don't just memorizethe melody in your head, build that "muscle memory" to the point whereyou can play the songwithout thinking about what notescome next, they just come. Next, go aheadand figure out a simply Carterstyle arrangementof your own for this song. After you've donethat,work on addingsomeof thosealternativesand embellishmentsthat you worked to add to your rhythm playing in the last volume. Seewhat you cancome up with on your own beforeyou look at what I've done. I recommendthat you alwaystry to figure out something on your own before you look at what I've written. What I've arrangedfor you in this course,or what Tony Rice, Doc Watson,David Grier, or Bryan Suttonhave arrangedfor their recordingsshouldonly be something you use to learnnew techniquesand to get new ideas. If you memorize someone else's arrangement,I recommendyou use that to gain information,but then move away from that exactarrangementassoonas you can by creatinga variationof your own. I'll mentionherea processthat I feel like you should usefor the remainderof this volume and the remainder of this course: I ) For any song that is written in this book the first thing that you should do is try and figure out the chords, melody and simple Carter style arrangement for yourself beforeyou look at what I havewritten. 2) Once you take a look at what I have written, study it for any new technique or cool sounding embellishmentthat you'd like to learn. Play through my affangement. If you like it and want to memorize it, go aheadand do that, but get away from the tab as soon as possible. If you've worked with the melody and Carter style arrangementsufficiently,you should be able to get my affangements"off the paper" in a matterof ten to fifteen minutes.or less.

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3) After you canplay throughmy affangementwithout looking at the tab, work to changemy affangementby addingvariousembellishments and techniquesof your own. You don't have to make drastic changesright away. Changejust one or two measures.Add a bass run here,add a hammer-onthere,etc. Start to make it somethingof your own as soonas you can. In the pagesthat remain in this volume I'm going to be providing you with fairly straight-forward affangementsof simple vocal songs. If you work throughall of the stepsthat I haveoutlined,you will not only endup addingall of thesesongsto your repertoire, you will also end up with your own arrangements of thesesongsand gain a lot of confidencein your ability to move forward and make up your own arrangements to any song. OK, now thatI've saidthat,let'sgetbackon trackand take a look at my anangementfor "She'll Be Coming Aroundthe Mountain"on page26. I've not printedout the "simplify the melody" step separately,however,I haveprintedthose"stablenotes"in bold print. Again, it would be a good exerciseif you could work out the simplifiedmelody on your own beforeyou look at my arrangement.Here is a quick synopsisof what I've doneto the melody of "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain": l) In measuretwo, I've addedtwo hammer-onsand two strums. Thesechangesdon't really have an aftect the melody. In the simplified melody there are two "stable" notes in this measure-the C note on beat I and the C note on beat 3. The hammer-onhits that secondC note a eighthnote early,but it is still ringing as you strum on beat 4 and thus still presentsthe ear with the melody at the right time. 2) In measurefour I have modified the melody a little on beats3 and 4. However, rememberthat when we simplifiedthe melody it openedup that second beatfor somemodification without affecting any of the stable notesthat are definingour melody and making the song recognizable. 3) In measure5 I simply addeda strum. 4) In measure6 I've added a hammer-onand two strums.Again, the stablenoteon beat4 hasbeenshifted forwarda beat,however,it is still ringing on beat4 and thusimpliesthe melodynote there. 5) In measures8 and9 therewas a lot of openspaceso I executedan baserun that movesdown the G arpeggio andinsertedstrumsbetweenthe bassnotes.You learned this kind of run in Volume I . 6) Measure l0 is like measure6, however,I haveadded 24

Fbtpicking

a fuller strum so that the melodynotesarepicked up in the chord. 7) In measurel2I addeda strumandI alsoaddedthe C note on beat4 for flavor and interest.I havegoneaway from the melody by hitting that note,but I don't think that I took away from the overallflow of the song,and throwing in an unexpectednote here and there makes the listener'sear perk up. By this time in the song we have playedenoughof the solid melody notesthat the listeneris very awareof the songand is thinkingof the melody in their mind as you play. Throwing in a note that momentarily takes them away from the flow of anticipatednotesthat the listeneris predicting in their mind addsa bit of flavor and excitement. 8) In measure14,I did a similarrhing to what I did in measure12,l addeda shortbassrun that didn't really agreewith the melody, but led up to the first note in measure15. It is a small diversionfrom the melody, but then I get right back to it to finish out the song,so I think it works. Although I've analyzedmy arrangementfor you here,I did not sit down and think abouteachmeasure before I played it. I played the song off the top of my head,the way if felt right for me, and then later I analyzedwhat I had done. If you can do it that way, I think that is the best way to arrangebecausethe music is then coming from your heart and your gut and not your brain. Sometimes,if you are stuckor don't have experiencewith improvisation,then you may have to take it one measureat a time and come up with your arrangement that way, and that is OK. However,our true goal in this courseis learninghow to improvise. When beginnersgo to a jam sessionand they see experienced playersat thejam, or professionalplayers on stage,takesoloaftersoloandplay it differentlyevery time, andplay soloson songsthatthey may havenever heardbefore,the typical reactionis "Wow, how do they do that?" To a beginnerthis can seemlike a complete andtotal mystery-almost like magic. But you too can get thereand if you'd like to getthere,I encourageyou to startworking at it right now. Don't wait until you think that you are "good enough"becauseby then it will be too late. If you startright now, you can get it. Before we move on to the next song, let me talk for just a little bit about this mysteriousthing called "improvisation."(Work through "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain" first and then I'll meet vou on the othersideof that song).

EssentialsVolume 2: Learning How To Soto,Carter Styleand,Beyond,

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Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Improvlsotlon "Improvisation"in music is basicallythe art of composingmusic "in the moment." It is the act of spontaneously arranginga guitar solo basedon your feeling in that "moment" and/oryour reactionto what the othermusiciansare doing. Most beginner'sthink "Thatsoundsprettyadvanced.I could neverdo that.I'm just a beginner."Right!You area beginner,so you need to beginright now alsobeing a beginningimproviser! If all you play on your guitar right now are thosethings that you've memor\zedfrom tab or beentaughtby your teacher,thenyou aregoing to havea hardtime breaking out of that "memorize and regurgitate"rut later. The longer you stay with memorizedsolos that are based on someoneelse's arrangement,the harder it is going to be for you to eventuallybreak away and createyour own solos. WhatI'm goingto encourage you to do in this volume, and throughoutthis course,is to alwayswork to come up with your own arrangements. Sincewe are starting with simple ideasand then moving forward gradually, I haveconfidencethat you can do it. The processthat you are learning here is going to help. The stepsof learning the chords, learning the melody, learning a simple Carter style arrangement,learning how to simplify the melody,andthen learninghow to add your own techniques andembellishments in orderto comeup (on your own!) is how with an interestingarrangement you startmoving towardsthis ideaof improvisation. If you go throughthe stepsI've outlineaboveenough times,with enoughdifferentsongs,in enoughdifferent keys, you will start to be able to executethose steps at a faster and faster pace. The processwill become naturalto you and you will eventuallystartto be able to executethem spontaneously and in the moment. It is just like driving a car. The first time you drovea car you hadto think aboutall of the stepsone-by-one,now you just get in and drive without reallyhavingto think aboutit. My definition of improvisationstatedthat it was "compositionin the moment." What you are going to work on in this courseis arrangement and composition of songs starting with the melody and then moving towards adding a number of techniquesthat will embellishthat melody. At first every step may take a little while. As you get better,the amount of time it takesyou to accomplisheach stepwill shorten. As time -qoes by, believeit or not, you will get to that place

whereall of the stepswill occurat once,spontaneously, and in the moment. But first work each step one-byone,without skippingsteps.You will get there. So, getting back to what I was talking about in my analysisof "She'11Be Coming Around the Mountain." When I arrangedthat solo, I did it "in the moment." I picked up my guitar, decidedthat I would play this song in the key of C and I just startedplaying. At the time it was a songthat I had neverplayedbefore. The arrangementyou see on the previous page came out spontaneously.I didn't have to think aboutit. It just happened.It is not a very complex affangement,but your arrangements and improvisationsdon't haveto be complex. Start simple, but start! For every song that is presentedin this book I want you to come up with your own arrangement, I don't want you to memorize and copy mine and staywith my affangement.You can learn mine, but then changeit. And as I statedbefore, the changesdon't haveto be radical. Just changeit a little. Then the next time you play it, changeit a little more. Then a little more. Pretty soon,you'll have a varietyof arrangements and they will all be your own. David Grier is one of the mostcreativeflatpicking guitar players in the world. He can play one song and come up with a seemingly endlessnumber of variations. People are amazedat his inventiveness and versatility. How did he get to where he is today? When I interviewed David he told me that when he was a young kid he would sit down and figure out an arrangementfor a song and then play it for his father. His father would say, "That's great David! Now go back and seeif you can figure out anotherway to play that song." David was encouraged, from a very young age, to continuallythink about new ways to play the samesongs. I want to encourageyou to do the same thing. You can learnmy version,but thensit down and figure out anotherrvay to play it basedon the tools and techniquesthat you havelearned. One more thought and then I'll step off of my improvisationsoapbox. I think that most peopleare afraid to come up with their own arrangements and are afraidto improvisebecausethey areafraidthat they will "get it wrong," or "make a mistake." You needto get beyondthat. You needto be OK with steppingoutside your comfortzone.I've heardDanCrarysaysomething like, "The peoplewho are the bestat improvisationare thosewho are not afraid to improvise." That is exactly right! So, in the remainderof this course,hereis what I'd like you to do. Onceyou learnthe chords,the melody,

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and a simple Carterstyle solo, startmessingwith it in real time. Play throughit and begin adding a hammeron here, a slide there, a bass run, and alternatestrum pattern,etc. Do it "in the moment." Don't worry about makingmistakes.I'll be showingyou a varietyof new techniquesin this volume like tremolo, double stops, crosspicking, neighboringnotes,and scaleruns. As you learn each new technique,add it to your "bag of tricks." Go back and play "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain" and "You Are My Sunshine"and "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" again and try to use the new techniques.Play the song over and over and try to see if you can come up with something a little different eachtime. If you stumble,then go back, slow things down, and take your time arranging something. But alwaysspenda little bit of time trying new things "in the moment" everyday. If you start doing that right now you will eventuallyget to that place whereyou are the personeveryoneat thejam sessionis looking at and saying"How doeshe (or she)do that!" Now let's moveon! Let's takea look at a few more songs. I'm not going to analyzethem in as much detail as I did for "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain." I'm going to let you do the analysisof eachsong.I want you to try the songon your own and then look at what I did with the song. But pleasetry it on your own first, going through eachof the steps,and then look at mine. Below I'll simply state what I'm trying to demonstratein my arrangements of eachof thesesongs. Nine Pound Hammer"Nine PoundHammer" is shownon the next page. I wantedto usethis songbecauseit is popular,opento a lot of variationandinterpretation, and it is the first song in this book that has a few eighth notesin the melody (measures3 and 7). In my arrangementI wanted to maintainthoseeighthnote melody runs, plus I wanted to add some hammer-ons.pull-offs, and slides.Plus I throw in a nice little G lick at the end.which you should recognizefrom Volume I . JesseJamesFor this songI triedto throw in bassnoteswhereI might haveotherwiseselected to strum.You'll rememberf rom VolumeI that therewere somearrangements of our G, C, D rhythm wherewe made liberal use of strumsand otherswhere selectedto use more bassruns. You can Flatpicking

do the samething with lead arrangements.Sometimes they sound nice with strumsand other times applying more bassruns soundsgood. Red River Valley Here is an arrangement of "Red River Valley." Instead of providinga separate tabfor the melodyby itself,I've indicatedthe melodynotesin bold. In this arrangement I stuck with a simple Carter style solo that is based on the melody,but I've also addedin some alternate strumming patternsduring a couple of the long vocal pauses. I also usedthat bassrun in G that descends down the G arpeggioin measure8. It's the sameone I usedin measure8 of "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain" and measure8 of "JesseJames." I guess like that one! Old Joe Clark"Old JoeClark" is a vocalsongthatis oftenalsoplayed as a "fiddle tune" instrumental. Fiddle arrangements tendto be full of eighthnoterunsandcan be difficult to play on the guitar,especiallyat high tempos.However, if you are in a fiddle tunejam, do not feel as if you have to play so many notes! If you look at the basic melody for "Old JoeClark" you can seethat thereare no eighth notesin the melody. Most flatpickerswho learn this song will learn someone'sfiddle tune style arrangementwithout first learnin-ethe basic melody. One of the problemsthey run into with that approachis that if they get in a jam and the other musiciansare playing at a fast tempo, thencan't keepup. Learninga fiddletune solo is great, however,if you learn the basicmelody first, you can go back to it if you find you are in a situation where the tempo is just too fast to play your eighth note fiddle stylearrangement.When you playjust the melodyyou arecutting the numberof notesthat you haveto play in half! My motto is: "If the tempois high-simplify!" I choseto use "Old Joe Clark" as an examplehere becauseI wantedto use it to demonstrateanotherway of addingchordalstrumsto a melodyline that is a little different than the standardCarter style. If you take a look at my arrangementof "Old JoeClark" you will see that I've kept all of the melody notes,but insertedan eighthnote up-strumin-betweenthem. This technique adds a drone soundingharmoniccomponent. It is a very simple way to fill up spacewhen your melody notesare quarternotes.

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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Jesse Jeimes: Cglfte? Style (con l,

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Flatpicking Essentials volume 2: Learning How To soio, carter style and,Beyon,d.

.JO

In this affangementI addeda few baseruns and a few quarternotesto help spice up the arrangement.If you Waltz time, or 314time, is somethingthat we did can play throughthe secondarrangementof "Down in not cover in the last volume. I felt that we had our the Valley" without much trouble, then go aheadand plate full with the bassruns and fill licks in 414time try to play the arrangementof "Amazing Grace" that is and I wanted you to stay focused on that. However, on the pagethat follows "Down in the Valley." Now take a look at the "Waltz Lick" that I have now that you have spentplenty of time practicingthe material in Volume I , I think you are ready to handle providedon the next page. Rememberback in Volume a changeof time signature.[f you havebeenplaying I when we worked to develop all of thosevariousbass the guitar for any length of time, you have probably lines? You can do the exactsamething in3l4 time. In run into songs or instrumentaltunes that are played the first measureI'm using a two-notechromaticwalk in 314time. It is a populartime signaturein European up that moves from G to D. At the end of the second and Americanmusic. However,if you havenot had a measureI'm usingthatF# leadingtoneto move from D chanceto play a songin waltz time, this sectionwill be backto G. At the endof measurethreeI'm playrnga3l4 your introduction to waltz time and you will have the versionof a simpleG run. After you havehad a chance opportunityto practicea couple of waltz time songsin to play throughthe WaltzLick and havea good feel for it, take a look at the "Waltz Lick with Triplets". In this the Carter style. Let's startby giving you anexperientialunderstanding exampleyou'll see that I've extendedthe chromatic of 314 time. Listen to the audio track of "Waltz walk up in measureI . In order to extend this walk ExerciseI " and then pick up your guitar and play that up, I've madeit an eighth note "triplet." In executing exerciseas shown on the following page. The first an eighth note triplet, the three notesof the triplet are thing you notice is that in waltz time there are 3 beats given the sametime.valueas two eighthnotes. Listen per measureinsteadof 4 beatsper measure.You will to the audio track to get a feel for this timing. I've no doubt recognizethis timing if you ever had to learn added anothertriplet in measurethree. The notes of how to danceback in elementaryschoolandthe teacher this triplet shouldbe familiar to you from Volume I as c o u n t e d1 . 2 . 3 . - 1 . 2 . 3 . . . . ayso u a w k w a r d l ys t e p p e d well becausethey outlinea G major arpeggio. aroundthe room. If you everfind thatyou can't get your mind working in the 314meter,simply play througha progression like Practice: that in Waltz Exercise I in order to get that groove in Play through Waltz Exercises I your head,and then launchinto the song. Give that a and2with a metronomeuntil you "Down with first Valley" try the arrangementof in the have a sood feel for waltz time that I have provided on the page that appearsafter the rhythm. Then practiceplaying both arrangements waltz exercises. Play Waltz Exercise I a few times of "Down in the Valley" and the arrangementof "Amazing Grace"that areprovided. through, then the last time through, substitutethe pick up measureof "Down in the Valley" for the last measureof Waltz ExerciseI . The first affangementof Homework: "Down in the Valley" is a very simply melody-based After working with the "WaltzLick" Carter style arrangement.You will notice that I have and the "Waltz Lick with Triplets," put the melody notes in a bold font. If you can play try to apply some of the other bass Waltz Exercise I , you should not have any problem runsthat vou learnedin Volume I to with that first "Down in the Valley" arrangement. 314trme. Work with a l, VI, V chord progressron After you have spentsometime working with Waltz asyou did in Volumel, however,this time do it in Exercise I and the first arrangementof "Down in the waltz time. Valley," move on to try Waltz Exercise2 as shownon After working with waltz time rhythm for a thenextpage.In this exerciseI've thrownin a few more while, try picking out the chordsand melody for quarternotesand someeighthnotes. If you arenot able otherwaltztime songsandcomeup with your own to get a feel for the timing by readingthe tab, refer to Carter style arrangements.Try it with something the audiotracks. After working with Waltz Exercise2, like "Blue Moon of Kentucky." try the second arrangementof "Down in the Valley."

The Wllrltzz 3/,4 Tlme

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Audio Track 1-18

Wsltz Ererclse I

Wlrltz Exerclse 2

Wolltz Llck wlfh tr.irplets

l:l

r1 q -

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo,Carter Style and Beyond

tf/

Down 7n tlte Volley: Cs;let ttyle

Hang your head o

Audio Tiack l-19

hear the wind

blow

Down ln ffie Volley: Cefiet $fle wltlr Added Brrss Runs

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and, Beyond.

Amozilng Grace: Cq;let Style

ng

Grace. -

found. -Was

blind, -

bu - t

Cutting Off the Strum: A Note on Measure 8: In measure8 of this arrangementI've used a techniquethat we have not discussedthus far in this course. Insteadof playing a quarternote strum on the last beatof this measure,I played an eighth note strum followed by an eighthnoterest. The differencebetween the two is that if I had of played a quarternote strum I would haveallowedthe strumto ring for a quarternote. Insteadwhat I did, for effect,is play the strum and then I immediatelylightened the pressureof my left hand on the stringsso that they still contactedthe strings, Flatpicking

how

now-

the

sweet

D

G

I am

G

G7

G

no-w

AudioTtack 1-20

s6unfl,-

That

G

I

but the stringswere no longer pressedagainstthe fret. What this does is mute, or cut off the ringing soundof the strum. If you listen carefully to the audio CD you will hear the effect. This is anothertool that you can useto add interestto vour strumming.

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

39

PtqctTce wiflr Csrte; StYle Beforewe move on to take a look at a new techniques, I want you to first work to build up your Carter style song repertoire. In order to help you with that I have provided you with simple Carter style arrangements for 16 new songs. You should alreadybe familiar with most,if not all, of thesesongs. Here is the list: I ) Jimmy Brown the Newsboy (Key of C) 2) Grandfather'sClock (KeY of C) 3) Old SpinningWheel (KeY of C) 4) Uncloudy Day (Key of C) 5) Home SweetHome (KeY of C) 6) John Hardy (Key of G) 7) JohnHenry (Key of G) 8) Buffalo Gals (Key of C) 9) LonesomeRoad Blues(KeY of G) 10) Wildwood Flower (KeY of C) I I ) Cripple Creek(KeYof G) 12) Banks of the Ohio (KeY of C) l3) EastVirginia Blues(KeY of C) 14) Keep on the SunnYSide (KeY of C) 15) Bury Me Beneaththe Willow (Key of C) l6) Yellow Roseof Texas(KeY of C)

40

Ftatpicking

As I havestatedseveraltimes previously,it would be bestfor you to work to find all of the chords,melodies, andCarterstyleaffangementsof thesesongsby yourself beforeyou look at my alrangements.I've includedthe keys that I used so that you can try them in the same keys if you'd like. I know that it will be a lot of work to come up with your own anangementsof all of these songs,however,going through stepsI through5 with all l6 of thesesongsshouldreally help you build your confidence,and speed,in creating your own Carter Stylearrangements. Once you have learnedthese l6 songs,combined with the nine songs we have worked with already in this book, you will have a repertoire of 25 son,esin Carterstyle! I suggestthat you really getto know these songswell becauseI will be using variationsof many of thesesongsto demonstratethe new techniquesthat I will introducein the remainderof this book. We will alsouse someof thesesongswhen we work with more advancedtechniquesand arrangementslater in this course. So, if you learn a basic affangementsnow it will help you later. Good luck!

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Jlmmy Browntlte Newsboy: Csrtet ttyle

Every

body

knows that I'm the Newsboyof the

got no hat

Flatpicking

Audio Ttack 1-21

on

my

hcad no

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and. Beyond,

up - on my feet.

41

Grandtstherts Clock Cantet Etyle

MyIt

42

was

AudioTrack 1-22

grand

clock-

was

large-

the

tall

half -

than

old -

him

Vears-

on

pen -

ny - weight more.

the

floor.

Flatpicking

It was

boueht-

on the

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Clock Cg,ftel' Style (con l,

Grandlslltefs

(

no chord

with - out

I stop

(tick,

time

tock,

( no chord

)

stopped-

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Styte and Beyond.

5[sfi-

nev - er

go

a-

43

Old Spinnlng Wheel: Colrtet Etyle

Audio TFack 1-23

wheelold

dreams

go,

maid-

44

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Old Splnnlng Wheel: Colrter Style (con't,

and

Low"

an

lor,

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

old-

dreams-

of

45

Uncfoudy Dcy: Colrtel' Etyle

Oh, they

home-

where no

me

of

Audio Track 1-24

home-

storm-

yond-

Oh, they

they

me

of

an

cloud- ed

46

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Uncloudy Doy: Csftet ghyle (con't,

day,

cloud - ed

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyon.d

47

Home 9weef Hofnet Cqtter ttyle

Audio TFack 1-25

Which seek

48

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Home gweef Homes Csfter Stvae(con'0,

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

49

John Hcrdy:

50

Colrter tfle

Flatpicking

Audio TFack 1-26

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

John Henrlr: Cqrtet Style

ham- mer and

me,-

a

Lord.-

tlc

Lord-

Audio Trackl-27

of

Ham-mcr-

that-

Ham-mer-

Flatpiclzing Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

will

be the death ol

be

the death o[

me-

Bufleilo Gols: Cqrte; Etyle

Audio Track 1-28

Gals,won't you

Gals,won't you come out

52

tonight And

Flatpicking

dance

light

of the

moon.

As

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Styte and Beyond,

lonesorne Road Blues: Csrtet Sfie

Audio Track 1-29

G

golng

Pqrtleil Chords: So far I havebeenusingfull chordalstrumswhenever I have inserteda strum. Coming up on the page after next I provideyou with a higher octavearrangement of "CrippleCreek"that usestwo note"partial chords". When you play Carter style arrangementsand the melodymovesup to the G or B strings,thesetwo note chordswill help you maintainthe full sound. These two note "chords" are also called "double stops."We

will work with them extensivelylater on in this book and they will be explainedin more detail at that time. Their usein "Cripple Creek"will be a first introduction to the useof these"doublestops."

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

a.l

Wlldwood

Floweft

Colrte; Etyle

Audio Ttack 1-30

gles and and the

54

Flatpicking

black SO

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

crlpple creek: Cg,fter stvler lower Reglstes

up

Cripple Creek, my brit - ches

Cripple Crcek, Cripple Crcck

run knees

Up Cripple Creek to have some old Cripple Creek as I

run whirl

Crlpple C;eek: Upper R.egZslet

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning Hou, To Solo, Carter Style and, Beyond,

Cripple Creek to have some Cripple Creek to see my

Audio Track l'32

Bonks ol rhe ohlo: cglrtet t*yle

bout-

ito

our-

wed - ding

Ftatpiching EssentialsVolume 2: Learning

How To Solo'Carter Styte and Beyond

EelsfVlrglnlo Blues: Coftet ttyle

Audio Track 1-33

R.epesled EZghlh Nofes: When you work throughthe arrangementof "Banks of the Ohio" on the previouspage,you will noticethat I've insertedsometwo-notedurationrepeatedeighth note phraseshere and there. When the majority of the song is basedon quarternote timing, these repeated eighthnotesadd a little flavorto the mix. We will work with this conceptin muchmoredetailwhen we address playingtremoloslaterin this book.

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

57

Keep On The Sunny 9lde

Colrtet Etyle

Audio Track l-34

bright,-

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Keep On The Sunny glde

Col;le?Style (con't}^

Keep-

Keep-

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

59

Bury ille Beneaflr lhe Wlllow: Colcle; ttyle

h,

60

Flatpicking

v

me-b-e

will

know

Audio Tiack 1-35

-ne

wh - crc

athI

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Yellow R.oseof Texeis:Coftet Etyle

Audio Track 1-36

,J There's a

yel

low-

rose of

That

I

am going to

No-

see-

LJ C

to broke my

hcart-

And

find

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

part.-

61

Tremolo OK, now that you have worked with a number - some simple and of Carter style arrangements othersaddinghammer-ons,slides,pull-offs, and bass runs- it is time to startlearningsomenew techniques. Following our chronologicaldevelopmentof the style of flatpicking,the nexttechniqueI'd like to addto your "bag of tricks" is the tremolo. Many of the early lead guitarplayersin countrymusicborrowedthis technique from mandolin players,in fact, George Shuffler calls this techniquethe "quick-wrist mandolin style." The techniqueis very straight-forwardand involves filling up the holesbetweenmelodynotesby simply repeating a melody note, in eighth note repetition,until the you reach the next melody note. Below I've tabbedout a purely tremolo arrangementof the first four bars of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to demonstratethe technique. Of course,using the techniquethis much soundsvery monotonous,however,you get the idea. If you'll look back and the previouspage,you will see that in my arrangementof "Yellow Roseof Texas"I put a few two-notetremolosin the arrangement(measures 5 , 6, and 9). That will give you an idea of how the techniquecan be usedsparingly. I have provideda coupleof more examplesin this sectionthat utilize the techniqueto varying degreesso that you can have somepracticewith it. But first,take a look at the tremoloexerciseon the next page. This is a warm-up exercisethat you can use to get your right hand accustomto playing repetitiveeighth notes. Set your metronomeon a slow tempoand play alongwith the click. The "X" figure in the notationmeansthat you aremutingthe stringsduringthis exercise.Simply placeyour left handacrossthe stringsso that the strings are muted. Practicingright handexerciseswith muted stringshelps you focus completelyon the right hand without left handdistraction.

As you can see,you are working a patternfrom the low E stringto the high E string. Onceyou reachthe end of the exerciseas shown(measure24)continueplaying the patternuntil you reachthe low E string again,and then you can move back in the other direction. Start at a slow tempo and then gradually work your way up to faster tempos. There are severalvariationson this theme that you could createon your own. The pattern jumping to the next I've shownis eight notesrepeated, string with four, then the next string with four. As a variation,you could cut that in half and play four notes on the first string,jump to the next string and play two notes,thenthe next stringfor two notes,etc. This kind of exercise helps improve right hand accuracy and dexterity. Give it a try! After you have worked with the tremolo exercise, turn the page and play through the four arrangements that I haveprovidedin this section.The first is a tremolo versionof "You Are My Sunshine."I follow that with a tremolo version of "Worried Man Blues," which usessomelonger tremolo runs. Next I've arrangeda tremolo versionof "Bury Me Beneaththe Willow" that is based on a recording of this tune by the Delmore Brothers (they called the song "Bury Me Under the WeepingWillow"). It is not an exacttranscription, but it is similar. The Delmore's, and other performersof their era, used this techniqueextensively. Since this technique is very straight-forward,I think that you should have a good understandingof it after working with just a coupleof songs. After "Bury Me Beneaththe Willow" I've provided a variation of "You Are My Sunshine"that includes "neighboring notes" to help spice up the tremolo technique.We will talk moreabout"neighboringnotes" later, but as the name implies, they are notesthat are one half stepup or down from the melody note. Take a look at the secondvariationof "You Are My Sunshine" and you'll get a feel for this technique.

Itdnkle, Itrinkle, Tremolo C

F

Audio Track 2-01

G

Flatpicking

C

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Tremolo Exerclse

LJ I-] L.J L]

LJ LJ I.] t.J

9

/\

/\

/\

a\

/\ /\ /\ /\

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

/\

/\

z\^\/\a\

/\

z\

You Are My Sunshlne Slmple Tremolo Style Verslon Audio Track 2-02

64

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Worded tlqn Blues: Slmple Tremolo Sfyle Verslon Audio Track 2-03

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

65

Bury tle Benestltthe Wlllow: Tremolo ttyle

Audio Ttack 2-04

C

Nelghbodng Nofes: Hanging aroundon any given note too long can sound a bit repetitive. One way to vary the tremolo techniqueis to toggle back and forth on neighboring notesinsteadof repeatingthe samenote over and over again. A neighboringnote is, as the namesuggests, a note that is just one half step,or one fret, away from a melody note. Checkout measuretwo of "You Are My Sunshine"on the nextpage. Insteadof repeatingthe E note, as I did in the last arrangement,I alternatedthe E notewith an E flat note. I alsoaddeda neighboringnote hammer-onin measureeight and a chromaticwalk-up in measuresten and fifteen. 66

Flatpicking

You will noticethat in this arrangementI alsospiced thingsup a bit by moving the tremolo notearoundmore, as in measuresix. In that measureI playedtwo-note tremolos while following the outline of the F chord. There are many various ways that you can modify the tremolo to spice up your solo arrangements.They are fairly simple to add betweenmelody notesand easyto execute. As an exercise,go backto the previoussectionof the book and take someof thoseCarter style arrangements and spicethem up with a few tremoloshere and there. Have fun with it!

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

You Are ftly gunshlne Splced-Upftemolo Verslon

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Audio Track 2-05

67

ALatlle Boogle-Woogle In the first sectionof Volume I , when I discussed the history of flatpicking,I talked about the short lived "boogie-woogie"era in countrymusic. During the late 40s and early 50s "boogie" tunesbecamepopularand actuallyplayed a role in the developmentof rock and roll. The techniqueusedto play boogie-woogietunes on theguitar involvesboth the tremoloandneighboring note techniquesthat we have been working on in this section,so let's give it a try. I've arrangeda tunecalled "Boogie-WoogieBlues" that is similar in structureto a lot of the boogie songsof the early 50s. I'm using the same l2-bar blues template that you worked with in Volume I and you will noticethat I'm also usinethe

arpeggiobasslines that we worked with in Volume I . So the structureof the song shouldbe familiar to you, now we just add the tremolo and neighboringnotes conceptsto the basslines and you've got your boogiewoogie! Playthroughthe tabbelow. You'll noticethatin some phrasesI'm using the tremolo(repeatingnotes)and in otherplaces(like measures four and six),I'm usingthe neighboringnotes. You can use either alternatively. Have fun with this and then if you feel inspired,throw a little booeieline into someof vour arransements !

Boogle-Woogle Blues

Audio Track 2-06

G

t-J 68

Flatpicking Essentia ls Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Double Sfops The next techniquethat we are going to work with is the "double stop." The term came from the idea of fretting (or "stopping") two notes at the same time. Basically,that is all there is to the technique. Instead of playingjust one note,you play two notesat the same time. Usually,and for the majority of examplesshown in this volume, the two notesthat you play are taken from the notesof the chord you areplaying at the given time. The arrangementof "Bile The CabbageDown" shown below demonstratesthe use of double stops. You will notice that for each phraseof the song I'm holding down two notesof the chord. For the G chord I'm using the "F shape"G chord at the third fret (see diagramon the next page). For the C chord I'm using the "A shape"C chord at the third fret (seediagramon the next page). For the D chord I'm usingthe standard D shape.In the last measureI move to two opennotes in the G chord. "Bile the CabbageDown" is one of the tunesin the beginnerfiddler'srepertoirethat they will first useto explorethe ideaof playingdoublestops.

If you'll take a look at the diagramsshown on the next page you'll see that I've put together various double stop notes that can be used with the various chord shapes. I've simply laid out the chord shape and sequentially played notes that are on adjacent strings. For now, that is all you have to do to execute a double stop. When you play the melody note also strike throughan adjacentnote in the samechord. The techniqueallowstwo notesto ring out andgivesa fuller soundto the arrangement. There are many ways to get creativewith double stops using slides and passing notes when moving from one chord to the other. We will explore various examplesof thosetechniquesin this course. For now, in order to famili arrzeyourself with the use of double stops,playthetunesthataretabbedout on the following pagesand get a feel for how to usedouble stopsin the arrangements of simplesongs.

Blle The CerbbageDown: Double Slop Sfyle G

B ile t hem -

C

C a b -b a e e -

D

G

Turn them-

down-

s i ng

Flatpiching Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Audio Track 2-07

hoc-cakes-

round-

fsys Thc-

Flndlng Double Sfops ln Chord Shcpes

Audio Track 2-08

A shape C chord

C chord

ffi

ffi3rdFre'1

F shape G chord

G chord

ffij'cF-'l

D Chord

70

F Chord

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

You Are ftly $unshlne Double Sfop Sfi/e

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and, Beyond.

Audio Track 2-09

7l

Buffolo Gcls: Double Sfop Sfyle

Audio Track 2-10

Crlpple C;eek3 Wlfh Double Sfops

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Wlldwood Flower: Wilh Double Sfops ln B Secllon Audio T)ack2-12

glcs and and thc

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

73

Worrled tlon Blues: Colfier Stvle qnd Double Sfops Audio Track 2-13

74

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

$fueets of loredo: Wlflr Double gfops

As

I-

walk-ed

Audio Track2-14

of Lo

I-

walk-ed

LJG

rvrappcdin

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To SoIo, Carter Style and Beyond

they-gunned him

li)

Crossplcklng "Crosspicking" is a guitar technique that was popularizedbyGeorgeShufflerin the late 1950swhen he was playing with the StanleyBrothers. Regarding his use of the technique,Georgesaid, "Back then all there was on lead guitar was Maybelle Carter and Merle Travis,and neitherone of thosestyles fit what the Stanleyssang. They sang those slow, mournful mountainsongswith long dwells at the end of a line. That crosspickingroll filled in when they stoppedto swallow and get their breath.Little single string stuff just wouldn't fill it in. The crosspickingroll would makeit full and solid." Thebasictechniqueconsistsof holdinga chordshape and then "rolling," similar to a banjo roll, acrossthree consecutivestrings.The first figure below on this page depicts the basic crosspickingpattern played across muted G, B, and high E strings. Muting the strings helpsyou focuson the right handtechnique. You'll noticethat I've indicatedtwo differentright hand picking patterns. The first is the pattern used by GeorgeShuffler and others who have played with Ralph Stanley'sClinch Mountain Boys, including the currentguitarplayerJamesAlan Shelton.This "down-

down-up" patterngives crosspickinga certainfeel that Georgefelt fit the Stanleysound. The secondpattern is the standardalternatingpick patternthat you learned in Volume 1. I suggestyou try both and seewhich one feels bestto you. One is not "better" thanthe other. Below the muted stringexerciseyou will seeI've providedthe sameright handpatternwhile holding a C chordwith the left hand.On thetop of thenextpageI've provideda C chord crosspickingexercisethat expands the pattern,in threestring sets,acrossall six strings. If you are not familiar with the crosspickingtechnique, or feel as though you need some practice with it, I suggestthat you work with theseexerciseswhile your metronomeis clicking at a fairly slow tempo. At the bottom of the next page I've provided a comparisonof the first few barsof "Wildwood Flower" playedfirstintheCarterstyleandtheninthecrosspicking style. The crosspickingroll simply replacesthe Carter style strums. If you'll play throughboth of theselines you can get a feel for how the crosspickingtechnique providesa fuller sound. You'll noticethat the roll is adjustedto adaptto the changingmelody line. In the secondmeasurethe melody is on the G string, so the roll moves acrossthe G, B and high E strings. Then when the melody moves to the D string in the second measure,the roll movesto the D, G, and B strings.

tlufed Stu?ngCrossplcklng Exerclse

Pattern 1: Pattern2:

FI TV FIVT

V

tl V F ft |t V n V

V FI FI V F T V FI V T V FI FI Y

Baslc Crosspickin g Poltletn

Flatpicking

fl |l

n

Y

|l V

F

V |l fl V |l

ft V ||

V

tt

V FI |r V tl V T V FI

l..l FI

Audio Track 2-15

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

C Chord Croesplcklng Erercise

sswlldwood Flowef,

Audio Track 2-15

Colftet Style

"Wifdwood Flowef, Cro.rsplck Etyle

on the pagesthat foilow I've providedyou with crosspickingaffangements to severalof the songsthat you have practicedin the carter style sectionof this book. Play throughthesearrangements and studyhow they compareto their carter style counterparts.After you havepracticedthesesongsusingthe crosspicking Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter

technique,work to seeif you cantakesomeof theother carter style arrangementsthat you have learnedand play them in the crosspickingstyle. you don't have to convert every measureto crosspicking,but adding the crosspickroll here and therecan help spiceup any arrangement.

Styte and. Beyond

l'l t'| , a

Bonks oi the Ohlo: Crossplcklng

78

Flatpicking

AudioTrack 2-16

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Wlldwood Flower: Crossplcklng

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Audio TFack 2-17

79

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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Altenqte crosspicrri ng P.,tterns while the standard"forward roll" crosspicking different right hand roting described foryouarthebeginning patterns,including parterns ofthii that roll across more l;:ffi llilj thanihr.. strings. rn order to give you a head start on a coupre of these arternate of thesongsin thissecrion patterns,f've provided ii", r didn,tarwaysstay two beltw_Ur, ,"verse with and the alternating roll rot Try the muteo string exercise with thesetwo rort. After you g., a good feer for these two rolls' hord down u c .ho.d andpractice theserors all six stringsasyou did earlierwith th. for*urd ff;:*

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Plon eer Technlques Sumrnoty At this point we have coveredthe main techniques that can be attributedto the "pioneers" of flatpicking, namely: Carter style,bass runs, hammer-ons,slides, pull-offs,tremolo,doublestops, alternatestrumpatterns, and crosspicking. Although the early pioneersdid use other techniquesthat involved neighboringnotes, scaleruns, drone notes,and fill licks (techniquesthat we will discussin the next sectionof this book), these techniqueswere not usedas widely by the pioneersas they were by those players who would follow in the "heroesefa." Before you move on to the next sectionof the book, I highly recommendthat you becomevery comfortable with all of the stepsused in creatinga solo to a vocal songthat I outlinedearlierin this book. After working through all of the examplesthat I have provided thus far, I suggestthat you try to work the six stepsoutlined below with vocal songsthat you have yet to learn. Again the stepsare: I ) Selecta (Simple)Song 2) Learn the Chord progression 3) Learnthe BasicMelody (melodyburnout!) 4) Simplify the Melody 5) Find the CarterStyle Arrangement 6) Embellishthe Carter Style Arrangementusing all of the techniquesthat have beenpresented thus far in this book. The more you practiceworking through these six steps,the easierit will be for you to learnhow to create your own arrangements to progressivelymore difficult chord changesand melody lines and the easier it is goingto be for you to learnhow to improvise. If you learn all of the tunes that I have provided in this book, and then learn 10 or 15 more on your own, you will have a repertoireof around 50 vocal tunes that you can participatein at your localjam sessionor perform for your family and friends! And if you've spentenough time with the melody and enough time learninga basic Carter style version, I guaranteethat you will be able to createyour own new arrangements and improvisationsto all of thesesongsin no time at all. Regardinga methodto use to begin creatingyour own arrangementsof these songs, I recommendthat once you have memorized(muscle memory,not just headmemory!) a Carterstyle arrangementof a songas I havewritten it in this book, you then openthe book to Flatpicking

to that song and work through it measure-by-measure changewhat I have written hereto somethingthat you comeup with oneyour own. It doesn'thaveto be a big change.If I've presenteda measurethathasa coupleof melody notescombinedwith a coupleof strums,then changethose strums to tremolos,or double stops,or maybeevena crosspickingroll. Startby making small changes. If you go throughthe whole song and only changethreeor four measures,that is just fine. Learn this new version and play that for a while. Later, go back and change 2 or 3 more measuresand then learn that version. If you go throughthis exerciseenough, you will eventuallyfind that every time you play that song it will start coming out differently. You will naturally start to mix and match the various versions that you've created. As always,take this whole processvery slowly. If you try to changethe songtoo much,or try to memorize changesto too many songs,you will get confused. I recommendthat you start the processby just focusing on one song. This will be your onesongthat you work on to come up with new versions. Work on it a little bit everyday. The reasonyou see"You Are My Sunshine"show up so much in this book in various forms is that for about a year I used this song as my "new version" song. Meaning,I spenta little bit of time playing that song every time I picked up my guitar and I'd try to play it a little bit differently every time I went through it. By the wo), the reasonI pickedthis song to be my "new version"songwas becauseI'd also selectedthat songas my first "melody burnout"song. I spenttime learningthat melody in every key andat every position on the neck I could think of. By the time I got around to inventingnew versions,I knew that melody inside and out and that made all the differencein helping me createvariousarrangements of that song. So, please, don't rush throughthe "melody burnout" phaseof the process. In the next sectionof this book I'm going to provide you with a short introductionto a few techniquesthat we will continueto explore in more detail in the next volumeof this series.In the next volumewe will work on instrumentaltunesand I feel like you will have an in the fiddle tune easiertime learningthesetechniques contextif you've first had an opportunityto work with them in the contextof vocal tune arransements.

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

83

Nelghbodng Nofes, Scnles Runs, ond Drones In this section we are going to take a look at neighboring notes, scale runs, and the use of drone notes. You had a brief introduction to neighboring notes in the tremolo section and we also used them on the boogie-woogietune. If you needto, look back at the arrangementof "You Are My Sunshine"in the tremolo sectionto refreshyour memory. Also take a look at the "Boogie-WoogieBlues." Neighboringnotestend to spiceup an arrangement becausethey provide "tension." Becauseyou are moving just a half note away from a melody note, or a scalenote,you aremostlikely goingto be playinga note that is not in the scaleand thus it'Just doesn'tsound quite right." But that is OK if the tensionis followed by "release." The tensionprovidesthe listener'sear with somethingthat is not expectedbecausetheir ear expectsto hear melody,or at leasta note that naturally fits with the melody (notes of the scale). When an unexpectednote reachesthe listener'sear it causesthe "tension," but then if you follow the unexpectednote with a melodic note,or phrase,the tensionis "released" andthe listenerrelaxesagain. Scaleruns, as this name implies,are simply runs that move up or down the musical scale. The notes don't necessarilvneedto stav in an exactascendingor

descendingorder, they can be mixed up in sequence. However,they generallymove in one direction or the other,or move in one directionand then back the other way. Takea look at the "ClarenceWhite Excerpt" shown at the bottom of this page. This is a phrasefrom one of Clarence'ssolosfor the song"Shuckin'the Corn." In this phraseClarenceusesboth neighboringnotes and scaleruns. In measuretwo he toggles back and forth betweenthe A note and the A# note on the B string. He is playing againsta G chord. The A note is in the G scale,but the A# note is not. The toggling back and forth on thosetwo notesprovides a bit of that tension and release. In the third measureClarenceexecutesa scalerun, walking up the G scaleplaying D, E, F'#,G, A, and B. Then he startsback down the scale,playing the A and G notes. In measurefour Clarence does somethingreallycool,which he did a lot. He usedwhat I would call a "neighboringnote phrase,"meaninghe took the phrasedefinedby the lastfour notesof measure 3 and moved that whole phraseup a half step. This is a really nice trick and if you listencloselyto Clarence White's playing you will notice that he liked to use this technique. You'll also notice in this excerptthat Clarenceuses anotherscalerun in measuresfive and Audio Ttack 2-20

Cleirence Whlfe Exce?pt (from 3'ghucklnt the Corntt):

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Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

"Seiltv Dog Bluestt using Cleirence Whlte Llck G

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Audio Track 2-20

A

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six to help him move from the D chord to the G chord. in the context of the tune. The secondexample is a Just for fun, I've arrangeda solo to the verseof descending run in C, but you'll noticethatit doesnot go "Salty Dog Blues" using Clarence's "neighboring directlydown the C scale. The descendingpart of the phrase"idea so you can seeit in context. In measure run movesdown the C scalefrom B, to A, to G, to F, to 3 I walk up the A scale,then I insertClarence'sphrase E, to D, but then insteadof resolvingto the root C after in measure4. In this sectionI've arrangeda coupleof the D note, Doc throws in the A and B notes to throw other tunesthat will give you somepracticewith the in a very short ascendingrun beforeresolvingto the C more conventionaluse of neighboringnotes,but keep note. Combiningpiecesof scalesin variousascending the idea of the "neighboringphrase"in mind because and descendingsequencesand combinationsis an art we will explore that again in later volumes of this that you will want to study and masterin flatpicking. Doc is the first masterof this techniqueand everyone course. On the top of the next pageI've provideda couple who has followed after him uses scale runs in their more examplesof scaleruns takenfrom a transcription flatpicking.I'm merelyintroducingthis conceptto you of a Doc Watson solo to the song "BeaumontRag." here in this book. We will explore it in more depth in Doc is the first acousticguitar player who really used future volumes. By the time you completevolume 6, a lot of scaleruns in both his rhythm accompaniment you should be very adept at creatingand using your and his solos. In the first exampleDoc repeatsthe own scale runs. To give you a little bit of practice sameC scalelick two times in a row. He first moves with neighboringnotes and scaleruns, I've arranged down the C arpeggio(G to E to C) and then movesup a versionof "She'll be Coming Around the Mountain" the C scalegoing from C, to D, to E, to F, to G, to A. in this sectionthat makesuse of thesetwo techniques. Then he moves back down the C arpeggio,using the Play through this arrangementand you'll begin to get G and E notesto connectback to the root C, and then an ideaof how to add neishboringnotesand scaleruns he movesback up the samescale,this time endingon to your solos. the G note. This is a nice little phrasethat fits perfectly Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

85

Doc Wclson Excetgt 2z

Doc Wofson Ercetpt lz

Audio Ttack 2-21

nYellow Rose of lexeistt Ercetptz

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The third topic to discussin this sectionis the use of dronenotes.A"drone" is a sustained orrepeatedsound. If you useone dronenote in a solo, it will typically be the root note of the chord you are playing over. If you use more than one drone note you will typically use notesfrom the chord. We will not addresschorddrones in this book,but we will addressthem in volume3. In this book I will discusstwo ways of using dronenotes. The first is using the droneas a single picked note and the secondis usingthe dronein doublestops. Take a look at the example above that is titled "'Yellow Rose of Texas'Excerpt." This is a phrase from my arrangementof "Yellow Rose of Texas" that I providedearlier in this book. The excerptis from measures8 and 9. You'll see that the melody notes in thesetwo measuresare spaceda quarternote apart. When you have a long string of melody notes that are a quarternote apart, it doesn't leave you a lot of room to add any of your own noteswithout changing the melody a bit. However,if you simply throw in a G note drone betweeneach melody note (becausewe are playing over a G chord), as shown in measures3 86

Scrme Phreise wlllr G ttrlirng Dronet Audio Track 2-21

and4 of the exampleabove,you can add a bit of spice to the measureswhile maintainingthe integrity of the melody. Dronescanalsobe usedin conjunctionwith themelody notesif you play the dronestringas a doublestop with the melody note. Take a look at my arrangementof "Buffalo Gals" in the key of G that appearsin this section. I've addeda droneto the descendingline in the B section(measures9 & l0 and 13 & l4). When you have a descendingline in a melody and can play it on one string, addingthe doublestop dronehelpsfill out the sound. of In this sectionI've alsoincludedan alrangement "Wabash Cannonbail" and two arrangementsof "You Are My Sunshine." I've added neighboringnotes, scale runs, and drone notes here and there in these arrangements,along with various other techniques, so that you can gain more experiencewith all of the techniquesthat you've learnedso far in this book. Havefun with theseaffangements and,asalways,work to come up with somearrangements of your own using all of thesenew techniques.

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and. Beyond

Shetll Be ComTngAround the tlounfaln

After playingthroughthis arrangement of "She'll Be ComingAround the Mountain" shownabove,compare it with the Carterstylearrangementthat appearson page 26. If you comparethe two, you will seehow I was able to place the runs and licks into the arrangement without really changingthe melody of the song. The

Audio Track2-22

melody is still very recognizable, but the solo is more interesting. However,sinceI am moving fartheraway from the Carterstyle(harmoniccontent),I am gettingin that zone whereI may needanotherrhythm instrument to pull off a solo like this one. Keep that in mind when addingsinglestringruns.

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

87

Buffolo Gqls: Uslng Drone Slfings Tnlhe B gecflon Audio Track2-23

LJ G

88

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Wobeish Cannonboll

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

shore-

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You Are ftly Sunshlne Slmple Embelllshmenfs ln C Audio TFack 2-25

90

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

You Are My Sunshlne Anolhet Veidclllon ln C

Flatpicking

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Audio T)ack2-25

91

Llcks e:nd Sololng

A lot of times you will hear a sad song played in bluegrassand the instrumentsare not paying attentionto the words." "Sometimeswhen I am teachingstudents,I will hear this real jazzy banjo chorus on a sad song like "Memories of Mother and Dad." I'll ask, "Well, what is this song about?"They say, "I don't know." I say, "Have you ever listened to the words?"They'll say,"No." This is a really sad song about a guy losing his mom and dad and it is a true story about Bill Monroe's father and mother.It containsthe line, "There is a little lonesome graveyard, on these tomb stones it doessay,on mother's'gonebut not forgotten'on dad's 'we'll meetagainsomeday.'" If you go to Rosine,Kentucky,to the family graveyard,their tombstonesare thereand that is what they say.It is heavy." "A lot of times peopleare not awarewhat the songis about.I try to think what the songis about and what it is sayingand how can the guitar keep sayingit without interruptingthe flow." "I also try to be consciousof what the other instrumentsare doing. If the banjo just did this real hot lick thing, I will either take up where he left off and keep the hot lick going, or I will make it different so that it will stand out a little bit andmakeit more interestingto the audience.I try really hard to soundgood even though I don't alwayssucceed. But my goal is to try to play stuff that soundsgood, is a little different,and getsthe messageacross." "I alsotell my studentsthat if they work out a really difficult break that can be played no faster than I 15 beatsper minute and then get on stage and the banjo playergetsexcitedand rips it off at 130,don't try to take that breakbecausethey are going to flop. Peopleout in the audiencearen't going to say,"He almost pulled it off." They are goingto say,"He doesn'tsoundvery good."But if he plays somethingsimpler that he can play, then the audienceis going to think it was pretty good.I try hardto be really awareof that. If there was a solo that I might usuallycrosspick,I won't always do it that way if the tempo is too fast on stage.I've got a limit to the speedthat I can crosspickand I know what it is. I would rather soundgood than try to go for the hot lick." "When I am improvisingI try to play a solo that soundsgood. I try to get good tone. I think

Licks are basicallyfamiliar, or sometimescliche, phrasesthat you insertinto your musical arrangements. Hopefully you will learn to tastefully insert them at appropriatemoments and not overusethem.' The dictionarydefinescliche as "a phraseor word that has lost its original effectiveness or power from overuse." The samecanbe trueof musicalphrases.If you overuse If them, they will loose their power or effectiveness. "melody you always keep the words is king" in your when arrangingsolos or improvising, consciousness thenyou can avoid becominga "lick player." A lick player is someonewho simply insertsa string of memorized licks over chord changes with little or no regard for melody. It would be analogousto someonetalking to you in conversationand stringing togethera bunch of cliche phrases.They wouldn't be sayinganythingthat you could understandor haveany meaning. A well placedfamiliar phraseor sayingin a conversationcan havepower and meaning,however,if it is overusedor usedin conjunctionwith otherphrases with no apparentconnectionbetweenthem (meaning a fluid stream of thought or subject in conversation, or a melody line in music),then nothing is being said that is of interestto the audience.When jazz player's talk aboutsomeone'ssolothey will praisegoodplayers by saying"he was really saying something"and they will critique bad playersby stating,"he wasn't saying anything." In a musicalarrangement the melody and the lyrics defineyour subject,the licks andphrasesyou inseftare your personalthoughtson that subject. Think about that when you are affanging your solos. If you are simply stringingtogetherlicks, then you really are not addressingthe subjectat hand. If you are stating the melody and insertingyour own licks and phrasesin a way that keepsthe melody recognizableand maintains the feeling of the songthat is conveyedin the melody and lyrics, then you are "saying something"and you arecontributingto the musicalconversation. All that to saythat licks canbe good tools,but if they are overused,or used inappropriately,then they can annoy your audienceand the musicianswho you are performingwith. Before we move on I'd like to quote CharlesSawtelleon the topic of creatingsoloson the guitar. Charlessaid: "l think aboutwhat the song is about.lf I am going to record a song,I want to know what the wordsare.I wantto know what the sonsis about. 92 Flatpicking Essentials

Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

aboutthe chordsand the tempo. I'll also think, "Well, did I play this lick in the last five songs?" If so, I'll try somethingelse. I try not to repeat licks.I alsotry to be consciousof wherethe capo is, meaningthat if we play a few songsin a row in D, I might play one of them in open D and then the next in C position with the capo at the secondfret in order to provide some variety.So I am consciousof that stuff.I can't alwayspull off a perfectsolo, but I try my best." I think that if you keep the melody out front, if you keepthe lyrics in mind, if you listen to what the other players are doing, and you do not continually repeat yourself, then using familiar licks can work out for you. We are going to talk more about licks in the next volumewhen we discussfiddle tunes,then again in volume 5, which coversthe stylistic flatpickingof various guitar heroes.In that volume we will present C Lick 1

C Lick 2

C Lick 5

C Lick 7

the heroes'signaturelicks and phrases,thosethat help definetheir style. So throughoutthis coursewe will be addingto your "lick library" and I recommendthat you startcollecting a bunchof licks that you like. Just use them sparinglyandyou'll be fine. At the bottom of this pageI've presentedsevenlicks in C and a couplein G. Of course,all of the C licks can be transposedto other keys and I suggestthat you do that as an exercise. In fact, as an exampleof that I made G lick 2 the exact samelick as C lick 7 so that you can seehow one lick can fit in differentkeys. The first four C licks are simple, short fill licks that you can useto fill up spacebetweenmelodynotes.The first threecan eitherstayin C by resolvingto the C note on the A string, or they can move to G by resolvingon the open G note on the G string. Try them both ways. The fourth C lick can stay in C or it can move to D by resolvingon the open D note on the D string. Try this one both ways as well' AudioTrackz-26 C Lick 4

C Lick 3

C Lick 6

G Lick 1

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

G Lick 2

The next threeC licks are longer licks that represent typical phrasesthat flatpickerslike to use. I've shown them here becauseI've insertedthem in some of the arrangementsthat appearon the pagesthat follow in this section.The first G lick is one of thosehandyG fill licks that you will heara lot in bluegrass,so I thought I'd throw that one out there for you to try. As I said before, the secondG lick is simply a repeatof C Lick 7. but in the key of G. I don't want to overwhelmyou with licks or phrasesin this volume becausewe will have plenty of time to explore licks in future volumes. However, I wanted to give you a brief introductionto licks herein this volume so that you could begin to see how they are usedto fill in gapsin melodylines. Below, and in the pagesthat follow in this section I have arrangedguitar solos for a few songsand I've

Jlmmy Brownthe Newsboy

Flatpicking

tried to consciouslyemploy all of the techniquesthat we've coveredso far in this course. We will startbelowwith "Jimmy Brown theNewsboy." You've worked with this song earlier in this book, but here I've addeda few fills licks (measures4 and 16), bassruns(measures 6, 8, 9 and 14),a neighboringnote phrase(measurel2) and various slidesand hammerons. You will noticethatI've maintaineda strongsense of the melody and the affangementstill has a Carter style flavor,but I've spicedit up here and there with the othertechniques.You may note that the fill licks in measures 4 and l6 arethe exactsamefill lick. but thev are in differentkeys. Sometimesusing the samefill lick in variousplaces in a song can be a good thing if you do something slightly differentwith it eachtime. In the last volume Audio Track2-27

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

The Crowderd Song I

Audio Track 2-28

C

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we'll

go-down

to

the crawdad hole oh Hon

we talked aboutthe idea of using a run or fill a couple of timesto allow it to sink in to the listener'sbrain,and thenby usingit again,but changingit slightlyor taking it in a new direction the listener has both familiarity and variety in the same arrangement. If you take a look at the arrangementof "The Crawdad Song" that I've presentedabove,you'll noticethat I usethe exact samefill lick in measures 2,6, 10,and 14,however,in measure2 I resolveto a D notein a C chord;in measure 6I resolve to a G note and a chord changeto G; in measurel0 I resolveto an F note and a chord change to F; and then in measure14 I play the lick over a G Flatpicking

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chord, play the B note insteadof the E note on the last beat,resolveto a C note, and changeto the C chord. So,althoughI usethe lick 4 timesin a l6 bar solo,I'm moving in a different direction each time and thus it provides both familiarity and variety to the listener's ear and (I hope)doesn'tsoundmonotonous. On the next page I have provided anothersolo for "The Crawdad Song." This one moves farther away from the melody than the arrangementabove. Both of thesesolos are taken from a recording of this song that Brad Davis and I made for the FGM Records project called Docfest. The solo that appearsabove

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

95

The Crawdod Eong 2

Audio Track 2-28

is the first solo of the recording. The rule of thumb when arrangingvarioussolosin the samerecordingor performanceof a song is that the first instrumentthat takesa solo shouldstaycloseto the melodyof the song, but thensubsequentsoloscan move a little fartheraway sincethat first solo,andthe vocalist,hassetup a strong senseof the melody in the listener'sear. I startedoff this solo with a long lick in C. The lick in measures 2 and3 waspresented a few pagesagoasC Lick 5. From there I kept the arrangementrather sparse. I have a cool little syncopatedlick in measure7 , a neighboring note lick in measure10, an outline of the F arpeggio in measureI l, and thena little C run at the end. Even thoughI strayedawayfrom playing the exactmelody, I think I kept enoughof it in tact so that the song is recognizable.

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Flatpicking

On the next page I've providedtwo variationsof "Nine Pound Hammer." In the first I've used a few licks, but otherwiseI've kept it very sparse. In the secondarrangement I've thrown in somecrosspicking, a double stop, a bend, and a popularD moving to G ending phrase. We will discussbendsin more detail later in the course. To executethis bend simply place your finger on the string and push it upward along the fret just atler you pluck the string. I end this sectionwith two famousCarterFamily tunes,"StormsAre On the Ocean"and "Old Spinning Wheel." With "Storms Are On the Ocean" I keep it plain and simple,mostly employingthe useof double stopsand crosspicking, but you'll also find a couple dronesand sometremolo. With "Old SpinningWheel" I get a little more adventurousby trying to throw a little bit of everythingin there.

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Nlne Pound Hammer I

Nlne Pound Heimtne?2

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Audio Track 2-29

Audio Track2-29

97

Sforms Are On The Ocean

I'll -

98

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Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Sforms Are On The Oceein (contf)

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Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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Old Splnnlng Wheel

Audio Track 2-31

Flatpicking Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

Old gplnnlng Wheel (con'f)

101 Ftatpiching

Carter Style and Beyond Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo,

Flddle lbnes Fiddletunes,andotherinstrumentaltunes,aregoingto consumeour attentionin the next volume of this series, however,I wantedto give you a brief introductionhere just to demonstratethat you can still usethe Carterstyle techniquein your fiddletune playing. In fact, all of the stepsthatyou haveusedin this volumeto comeup with solosto vocal tunescan alsobe appliedto fiddle tunes. Let's take a look at the song "ArkansasTraveler." Like many fiddle tunes that are typically played as instrumentalnumbers,"ArkansasTraveler" does have words. If you are learninga fiddle tune I suggestthat you searchthe internet to find out if there are words to the song,knowing the words will help solidify the melodyin your head. On the next pageI've presented the words and melody for "ArkansasTraveler." The first thing you may notice is that this melody is more "dense" than the melodiesthat we have been working with so far. That is why it makes a great instrumentaltune on the fiddle. However,if you will work throughthe "simplify the melody" step,you will seethat you can createenough holes in this melody to make a nice Carter style arrangement.See the Carter style arrangementthat I came up with on the page that follows the melody page. You can seethat I've taken out a lot of the melody notes in order to create space to play the strums and combine them with quarter notes,however,if you'll play throughthe Carter style arrangementI think you will easily recognize the melodv of "ArkansasTraveler."

r02

Flatpicking

As I mentionedpreviously,the "learn the melody" and "simplify the melody" stepscan be very helpful in many waysandone of themhasto do with jam session tempo. If you have learneda fancy arrangementof a tune that you can play in the privacy of your home at 120 bpm and you find yourself in a jam and the first personkicks of the tune at 240 bp-, you are not going to be able to play the fancy version you memorized. However,if you havelearnedthe melody,andsimplified melody,you shouldbe ableto handlethe highertempos withouttrouble. On the pagethat follows the Carterstyle arrangement of "ArkansasTraveler" I've provideda more singlenote style solo. I start off using a few Carter style strums,but them I move on to the singlenote stuff that is more indicativeof fiddle tune guitar playing. See how fast you can play that arrangement,or one like it that you may alreadyknow, versusthe Carter style arrangement.I think that you'll agreethat it would be much easierto pull of the Carter style arrangementat very high tempos.Plus,if thetempois fast,the simpler arrangement will still soundfull becausethe noteswill be comingout so rapidly. After "ArkansasTraveler"I leaveyou with a simple arrangementof "Red Wing" that makesuse of double stopsin the A part and Carterstyle strummingin the B part. Work a bit with "ArkansasTraveler" and "Red Wing," then see if you can apply all of the stepsthat you have learnedin this volume to a few fiddle tunes that you may alreadyknow. Then you will be readyto tackle Volume3 !

Essentials Volume 2: Learning How To Solo, Carter Style and Beyond

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