Vol_3_No_5

$4.00

Magazine Volume 3, Number 5

July/August 1999

 Jeff  White Cody Kilby Doug Rorrer  John Doyle  Arnold Guitars

CONTENTS

Flatpicking Guitar

FEATURES

 Jeff White Flatpick Prole: Cody Kilby John Arnold Guitars Jam Tunes: “Fisher’s Hornpipe” Masters of Rhythm Guitar: John Doyle By Request: Wyatt Rice’s “Wheel Hoss” Tricks of Transcription Guitar Highlight: The Dudenbostal 12 Fret D

Magazine Volume 3, Number 5

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July/August 1999

COLUMNS

Published bi-monthly by: High View Publications P.O. Box 2160 Pulaski, VA 24301

Greenelds of America Craig Vance  Beginner’s Page: Harmony Harmony Singing Part III III Dan Huckabee  Flatpicking Rhythm: Crosspicking Crosspicking Rhythm Joe Carr Guitar Maintenance & Repair  Frank Ford  Kaufman’s Corner: Corner: “Banks of the Ohio”  Ohio”  Steve Kaufman  Flatpicking & Folk/Acoustic Folk/Acoustic Rock John Tindel Nashville Flat Top: Improvisation Brad Davis The O-Zone: “Nashville Blues” Orrin Star Way Down Town Dix Bruce  Music Theory: Mastering Mastering the Fingerboard Fingerboard Mike Maddux  Flatpicking Fiddle Tunes: Tunes: Spiffy Tunes Adam Granger  Exploring Bluegrass Guitar: Starting Up The The Neck Steve Pottier  Eclectic Acoustic: Bear Island Island Reel John McGann

Phone: (540) 980-0338 Fax: (540) 980-0557 Orders: (800) 413-8296 E-mail: highview@atpick.com Web Site: http://www.atpick.com ISSN: 1089-9855 Dan Miller - Publisher and Editor Mariann Miller - Sales and Advertising Connie Miller - Administration A dministration Contributing Editors: Dave McCarty Bryan Kimsey Cover Scan - Jason Hungate Subscription Rate ($US): US $22.00 Canada/Mexico $27.00 Other Foreign $32.00 All contents Copyright © 1999 by High View Publications unless otherwise indicated Reproduction of material appearing in the Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is forbidden without written permission

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Printed in the USA

DEPARTMENTS

 

On The Web New Release Highlight: Doug and Taylor Rorrer Reviews

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Cover Photo by Jim McGuire  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

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EDITOR'S PAGE Merlefest Winner We would like like to congratulate Cody Kilby, Kilby, winner of the Merlefest atpicking guitar guitar contest. contest. Cody also won the the National Championship Championship last year at Wineld. Wineld. We have featured Cody in our “Flatpicking Prole” column in this issue. See page 17.

New “Old” Pick Guard Material John Arnold is featured in this issue’ issue’ss “Guitar Builder” column. During the interview we conducted with John, he told us about a new pick guard material that is being produced by Henry Stocek at Deep River Vintage Instrument Supply in Deep River, River, CT.. This new material is actually “old” because Henry is having it produced from the same material and via the same manufacturing manufacturing process as the pre-war pre-war Martin pickguards. pickguards. Henry’s three year research and development process grew out of his frustration in trying to nd pickguard material to exactly match the old pickguard on a D-28 he was restoring. Henry has sent us samples of the new material material and we will provide a review of this material in an upcoming issue.

Brad Davis’ New 30 Minute Lessons on CD Brad Davis fans will be happy to know that he has just completed work on three new 30 minute instructional instructional courses. He has one on right hand technique, one on his double-down-up picking method and one on improvisation (see his column column in this issue). Each course is approximately thirty minutes in length and comes in a CD with instruction booklet format. The best news is that each each course is only $12.95, including including postage. See Brad’s column for ordering information. Dan Miller Editor and Publisher

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Jeff White by David McCarty Jeff White’s world of bluegrass is a place where wayfaring strangers come face to face with death and destiny in a little cabin among the trees and cold-hearted girlfriends jilt you without a second thought and then skip town with your car. Despite the often-tragic outcomes of the songs he writes and sings, Jeff bounds on-stage to perform with all the open-faced eagerness to please of a golden retriever pup. From his perfectly phrased atpicking guitar intros and solos to his clear, soaring tenor voice, it’s clear that here’s a guy who wouldn’t trade what he’s doing for anything. It’s not just that boyish enthusiasm that sets Jeff White apart; he possesses the especially rare gift of being a brilliant songwriter and singer in addition to being one of today’s great atpickers. His career already includes such credits as playing and recording with Alison Krauss and Union Station, touring Japan with Texas mandolin great Dave Peters, recording with former Hot Rize banjo player Pete Wernick, and performing with Tim O’Brien both as a member of the O’Boys and with the newly formed Flatheads. When he’s not playing bluegrass, Jeff holds one of the most prestigious touring gigs in all of country music as rhythm guitarist and backup singer to superstar Vince Gill, himself an excellent bluegrass player who selects only the very best players to perform and record with him. More recently, Jeff exploded to even greater recognition with the release of his first solo CD, The White Album, on Rounder Records. That album, lled with outstanding original tunes, superb musicianship and emotionally charged vocals, sat atop the bluegrass charts for several weeks, spawning several strong singles, and wound up on many lists as one of the top bluegrass albums of 1998. As a followup, Jeff released his second solo CD, The Broken Road   on Rounder 4

earlier this year. Backed by Vince Gill on mandolin, Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Alison Krauss on vocals, Pete Wernick on banjo, and many other top players, Jeff’s new CD features even more of his unique, powerhouse atpicking guitar style. Born in Syracuse, NY on August 2, 1957, Jeff started playing music as a drummer in 4th grade, then switched to saxophone. “I played in my middle school  jazz ensemble. We actually made some TV appearances,” Jeff recalled. Just as he entered high school and began to get interested in playing guitar, the White family (no relation to Clarence and Roland) moved from New York to Indiana. Jeff met a couple of girls at his new church who showed him a few guitar chords and,

as he puts it today, “That’s where it all started.” Through high school, he pretty much stuck to strumming chords and playing popular music. But when he started college in 1975, Jeff discovered a student living in his dorm who was really into bluegrass. “He loaned me The Essential Doc Watson and hearing Doc play ‘Black Mountain Rag’ blew me away,” Jeff said. Shortly after that, he heard Tony Rice’s rst album, and from there started learning about players like Norman Blake and Dan Crary. “That got me involved in learning to atpick,” he explained, and he also started playing with other bluegrass musicians. Upon graduating college with a degree in sociology, Jeff headed to Bloomington,

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July/August 1999

Indiana to begin graduate school. Longknown as a hotbed of musical activity, Bloomington’s thriving acoustic music scene and its world-renowned School of Music already had attracted such future stars as Edgar Meyer, guitarist and vocalist Cathy Chiavola, and ddler Lisa Germano, who went on to play and record with Indiana native John Mellencamp. Jeff quickly made a name for himself as a great atpicker and singer and began hanging out with members of Pink and the Naturals and other local bands playing bluegrass and David Grisman’s “Dawg” music. After a year and a half of graduate school, Jeff dropped out to become a musician fulltime. “My professor and I made a mutual decision that I’d pursue music,” he said. The fact that his academic advisor had avidly played jazz bass, but then literally smashed his bass as a symbolic break from music when he earned his Ph.D. undoubtedly inuenced Jeff’s decision to leave the academic world behind for music. Even before leaving school, Jeff had been performing on weekends at gigs around Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. One early connection had been with Alison Krauss, whom he met and jammed with at Indiana’s legendary bluegrass festival at Bean Blossom when the budding bluegrass diva was just 13 years old. “She did ‘I Know What It Means To Be Lonesome’ and she really belted it out even back then,” Jeff recalled. Once Jeff was playing fulltime, he received a call asking if he’d audition for the guitar chair with Union Station. Impressed with his brilliant guitar work and soulful lead and harmony vocals, he got the job. “I was with her from about 1987 until about 1990; about two, two and a half years,” he explained. “We did  I’ve Got That Old Feeling  and the Two  Highways albums.” Following his tenure with AKUS, Jeff hooked up with mandolinist Butch Baldassari and bassist Mike Bub to replace Chris Jones in Weary Hearts. “We played some festivals and I made some connections with the guys from Hot Rize. That’s when I started talking with Tim (O’Brien) about playing music with him at some point,” Jeff noted. About that same time, Jeff met Dave Peters, the only person to win the prestigious mandolin championships at Wineld three times. Peters was putting together a band with ddle virtuoso Randy Howard and national banjo champion James  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

McKinney to tour Japan for six months. “I was a little hesitant, but Dave said we’d make great money,” Jeff said. “I thought if I go there and make a chunk of money, I could move to Nashville and be close to what’s going on down there.” Returning from Japan in 1991, Jeff and his wife moved to Nashville as planned and began playing some gigs with Tim O’Brien. About that same time, though, he got a call from Vince Gill inviting him to join his touring band. “It was a really difcult decision for me to make because I like them both so much,” he said. Jeff ended up deciding to go with Vince Gill and joined the group in 1992. “It’s coming up on seven years now,” Jeff recalled. “It’s been really one of the best possible types of gigs.” “Vince has been a sideman and backup singer on hundreds of records, and he really values the musician part of it more than the showbiz part of it. He’s always been very supportive of the people who are with him making their own records with other people and doing their own things. He’s never put a damper on that.” Recognising Jeff’s growing reputation as both one of the hottest atpickers around and one of bluegrass music’s most intelligent, thoughtful songwriters, Flatpicking Guitar Magazine sat down to talk with Jeff White about his music.

July/August 1999

How did The White Album come about? I’d been talking to Ken Irwin at Rounder for awhile, and Pete Wernick was very supportive of me. I said I wanted to make a record with these people, are you interested? I think they realized with all the people I have on the record, Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, Pete Wernick, Jerry Douglas, Mike Bub and Jeff Gurnsey, it wasn’t such a bad gamble. How did the album go over? It did really well. It cracked the top ten on Americana Radio and did really well on bluegrass radio. “I Never Knew” was maybe the most popular song off that CD. What impact did the release of a solo CD have on your career? Getting gigs as Jeff White had been difficult being in Vince’s group, so the CD helped me go out and do the the kind of gigs I wanted to. I did Merlefest and the Ryman bluegrass series; those kind of higher prole gigs. Bluegrassers tend to be parochial. Has your association with Vince Gill been a handicap in any way? I don’t know whether people see me as a part time bluegrasser. I just gure that people realize that if I wanted to make coun-

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Jeff White with Pete Wernick, Vince Gill, and Andrea Zonn at the Ryman Bluegrass series in 1996 5

When we played at the Ryman, Sam Bush was playing mandolin and he gave me the nicest compliment. He said when I go to take a break, it’s not like everyone else has to back off for me to be heard. I like to play hard and barrel on through. I guess when I was younger and playing in contests, the most prized thing was playing fast and clean and having an interesting arrangement. At Wineld, the guys I was most impressed with all had interesting arrangements. Then when I started to play in bands that were less instrumentally oriented like Alison Krauss, you still had material that allowed you to play fast, but you had to do something other than regurgitate licks. I think that’s what mainly has helped me become stronger melodically. I’d rather hear something pretty melodic than hear mind-boggling licks.

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Jeff White singing with Del McCoury in Nashville, 1998 try records, I’d have gone off and done that. Bluegrass is my home turf, but I also play country and feel blessed I can sing and play with the best country players in the business. It’s taught me a lot about songwriting and singing and playing. Also, I greatly appreciate what Vince has done on my records. I don’t think there’s another country artist capable of jumping into a bluegrass band and singing great tenor and playing great mandolin. He brings excellent musicianship to my records.

Do you see a change in your musicianship as a bluegrass guitarist now? I guess I tend to look at it more songoriented than instrumentally oriented. I’ve had some criticism from friends about not putting any instrumentals on my CDs. I understand that some people get miffed listening to me sing 14 songs; that would get on anyone’s nerves! (laughs) I wanted to do a guitar instrumental on The Broken  Road , but I ran out of room. How about your growth as a atpicker? When I was playing bluegrass fulltime, I probably technically could play faster and had more licks, and that side has diminished a little bit. Now I guess I look at (my playing) in terms of how it adds to the song. I’m trying to do something that complements the song. 6

What do you think makes your playing so unique compared to other contemporary atpickers? I know I am not Bryan Sutton, although Bryan says what he likes about my playing is that I play loud and hard. What those guys do is totally unique to them. David Grier does what he does, and I don’t want to make instrumental records like he does. So I’d say that where maybe I have diminished slightly in me pickingwise, I’ve improved in my lead and harmony singing. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. (laughs) Do you still have that sort of gunslinger mentality at all as a atpicker? All I really want to do is make that rst tier of guitar players. I’m the rst to admit that I don’t have any delusions that I’m the next Tony Rice or Clarence White. But I think when it comes to atpicking and the picking side of bluegrass, people are immediately enthralled by how fast someone can play and all the jaw-dropping licks they can play. I enjoy that as much as any guy, but I don’t want to do that all night long. So I don’t have that contest mentality. There’s room for all kinds of guitar players in bluegrass music. How would you evaluate your evolution as a atpicking guitar player?

Flatpickers seem to fall into one of two camps these days about instruments: either they ddle constantly with different makes and models of guitar like Norman Blake does or they find one instrument that expresses their sound and stick with, like Tony Rice does. You’ve certainly been in that later group. What is it about the Mossman you like so well? I bought it new at a music store in Wabash, Indiana where I was teaching in 1977. It’s a Great Plains model. I heard Crary’s Mossman on his  Lad y’s Fan cy album and heard how clear it sounded, so I got one. I’ve always sought out guitars that had a lot of volume. I think the reason I like it so much is that I played in a band with a loud banjo player and I needed to cut through to be heard. I had been playing a D-18, but I just never got the volume I needed, especially when I was jamming. The Mossman seemed to cut through better. Also, you can hear each individual note. Each note rings distinctly, so there’s not a low rumble on the bass strings. It’s very effective over a mic. I don’t have that lowend problem some other guitars have when miked. I just got another Mossman Great Plains from the same year, and on that one I had the saddle compensated on the E and B strings; otherwise it’s pretty much standard. You do always manage to punch out your solos. How does your guitar setup contribute to that? I use D’Addario medium gauge phosphor bronze strings, and I have my guitars setup

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July/August 1999

with pretty high action, mainly because I play pretty hard and in order to not get too much buzzing, I need to set it up fairly high. For picks, I like a good, heavy pick, like a tortoiseshell or the purple Tortex picks. I have a Baggs pickup under the saddle.

D AN DEL ANCEY

gigs. I had a huge thrill recently when the Del McCoury Band was supposed to do the Josh Graves benet, but Del was sick, so I subbed for him. I was Del McCoury for the night! (laughs) I’m going to continue to write songs. And to be able to play with the guys in Vince’s band and sing with Vince and Patty Loveless, and then be able to sit in and play with bluegrass guys like David Grier and Bryan Sutton and Chris Thiele, that’s the best of two kinds of music.

How do you like to record your guitar? I pretty much leave the recording mics up to the engineers. They usually use two mics and position one below the soundhole and one either pointing at the ngerboard where it meets the soundboard or they’ll put it at the lower bout where your arm comes over. The best engineers will take their time and even stick their head in front of the guitar and move it around to try to hear you and nd the spot where the guitar sounds the best.

F L A T P I C K

G U I T A R “ 

Listening to him  play, it is certainly evident that arrangement is something Dan does very well. His arrangements are interesting, exciting, tasteful and well performed.

NEW CD RELEASE

” 

—Dan Miller, Editor

 A FEW F AVORITES

Selected Discography:

 Liner Notes—  “A Few Favorites” by Dan DeLancey  “From the rst note of “The Girl I left Behind Me” to the last lick in “Clarinet Polka” you can tell that Dan DeLancey is a powerhouse guitar player. His playing is up-lifting and soulful. The song selection is splendid! Dan is backed by a group of super musicians who know how to make a recording work. A nicely thought out project that will remain a favorite of mine as I know it will be of yours. The only down side— and it was hard to nd one—is that the recording is over too soon for me. It only means that I’ll have to hit re-play all day!! Enjoy “A Few Favorites”  as I have.

Solo Recordings: The Broken Road , Rounder Records CD 11661-0455-2 The White Album, Rounder Records CD 0385 With Alison Krauss: Two Highways , Rounder Records CD 0265  I’ve Got That Old Feeling, Rounder Records CD 0275

So what’s next for Jeff White? Do you see yourself continuing to split your time between bluegrass and country? I’d like to be able to do as much of both as I can. I’m playing with the Flatheads in the Ryman bluegrass series, but that’s just an occasional gig. I’m playing some with the McCoury’s when Ronnie does his solo

Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

With Peter Wernick: On A Roll, Sugar Hill SH-CD-3815

Titles include: The Girl I Left Behind Me, Redwing, Memories Waltz, Uncle Herman’s Hornpipe, The Shelter Of Your Eyes, Golden Eagle Hornpipe, Pass Me Not, Farther Along,

With Butch Baldassari: A Day In The Country, Pinecastle Records PRC 1028.

To order your CD, please send $15 to: DAN DELANCEY • 7911 HUNTER RAYTOWN, MO. 64138 • 816-356-1879

Windy City Rag  As played by Jeff White on Alison Krauss and Union Station’s Two Highways CD (Rounder CD 0265)

Arranged by Jeff White  Transcribed by Matt Flinner 

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Greenelds of America by Craig Vance Having just completed a journey to Ireland with my band, and not having heard anything new in the short amount of free time I had during the trip, I thought that the tune “The Greenelds of America” would be appropriate for the rst column after my return. Although we did sit in on some traditional music sessions, most of what we were exposed to in Ireland was country and folk music. The local musicians that we ran into during our trip preferred to play the music that we were more accustomed to in our country. It was either that or they were just being polite! Nevertheless, we enjoyed our visit and the musicians that we did get to play with were quite knowledgeable of their instruments. “Greenelds of America” can be found on many recordings across the acoustic fence. It is still played by square dance bands, bluegrass bands, and celtic bands alike. The rst recorded version I heard was by Fennig’s All-Star Band. The arrange-

ment presented here is pretty straight forward and in the key of G. Unlike many of the other ddle tunes for guitar, this one does not have to be completely melodic. Accents and triplets can easily be added as embellishments. I think you’ll find that this tune would also work well in a medley of one or two other tunes of this length. I remember that Norman Blake would occasionally play this tune in a medley with two or three others during his live performances. Have fun with this and try to experiment with some additional lls.

New Release! Rebel - 1749 Chris Jones  FOLLOW YOUR  HEART  Guests include: Harley Allen Ron Block Paul Brewster  Mike Compton Wayne Benson Stuart Duncan Aubrey Haynie Rob Ickes Sally Jones Ron Stuart

Also Available By Chris Jones Rebel 1739

For Bookings: Contact Chris Jones P.O. Box 984 Franklin, TN 37065 e-mail:[email protected]

Rebel Records P.O. Box 3057 Roanoke, VA 24015 www.rebelrecords.com  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

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Beginner’s Page 

gcdgcdgcdgcd by Dan Huckabee 

Singing Harmony: Part III (baritone)

In the last issue we gured out our rst harmony part from scratch! I hope it was fun and easy for you. It was the “tenor” part to the song “Woah Mule, Woah.” If you’ll remember, the tenor part is the chord tone above the melody, and it’s also the logical place to start when examining harmony parts to songs. Your assignment for this issue was to figure out the “baritone” part all by yourself. Don’t worry if you couldn’t get it, but if you tried, then you gained some valuable experience. If you didn’t quite get it all, or weren’t sure if you got it right, we’re going to do go through it now. Baritone is considered to be the “last puzzle part.” Well, that’s partly true. We learned in the rst part of this series that there are 3 possible notes in a triad chord. If the melody sings “G,” and the tenor sings “B,” then there is only one note left in the “G-chord,” which would be “D.” (a G chord consists of the notes G, B, and D ). Therefore, by process of elimination, the “baritone” singer will start off singing a “D.” But where are we going to put that “D”? Answer: anywhere you want it, because this is art and you have a choice. The most common place to put it would be “under” the melody. This would be a “low-D.” As was mentioned in Part I, you could put it above the tenor if you so desired. So how do we decide where to put it? We decide by the comfort range of the person who is going to have to sing it. In other words, a woman might put it above the tenor, and a man might put it below the melody. (Please refer to Part I of this series for more details.) For the purpose of our exercise in this issue, we are going to put the baritone part below the melody, but it can be sung an octave higher if you choose. OK, let us get right into our exercise for this issue and start to nd the baritone part (for your reference, the standard notation  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

and guitar tab for all three parts is shown on the next page): “Woah mule woah, woah mule I say…” From our examination in the last issue we know that in the melody the rst note of the song is a G note in the G chord. We gured out that the tenor note was the next note in the G chord above the G, which was the B note. Therefore, by process of elimination, we know that the baritone part is going to start on the D note. From the last issue we also know that the D note is held until the word “say.” In fact, if you’ll remember, the chord to the song changes from G-chord to D-chord on that word as well. The melody goes to an F#. The notes of the D chord are D, F#, and A. The tenor guy is going to sing that A note, therefore the baritone will change to a “D.” SAY WHAT? The baritone guy is already singing the “D”! That’s right! The melody changed to the F# of the D-chord, and the baritone will be D, but D of the D chord, rather than D of the G chord. Confusing, but the “note” D is common to both G-chord and D-chord. Remember G-chord is spelled: G,B,D and D-chord is spelled: D, F#, A. The baritone guy is going to stay on the same D note for the rst eleven notes of the tune all the way through “Ain’t got time to kiss you now…” (Pretty easy to sing). That one long string of singing one “monotone D-note.” Let’s review: “Woah mule woah, woah, mule I say. Ain’t got time to. . .” (Can you believe it? All that stayed on one note!) The next phrase in the song is, “kiss you now.” What are we going to do here? Look back at part II. On “kiss you now,” the chord changes to C. The melody was on E (of the C-chord). The next lower note of the C-chord is C. It’s the 3rd fret of the 5th string. Next we have, “mule’s run a way.” OK, we gotta see where the melody is here because our goal is to conform to the

July/August 1999

melody. The chord is D, the melody is on the 4th string open D, so the baritone will now sing the 5th string open A. Next the melody and the tenor ran up the G-scale as the mule (ran a w ay). So for the baritone, we’ll do the same thing. A, A, B, C# D. We’ve basically walked up the D-scale from A to D. That’s it, we’re done. “Mule’s run a way.” A, A, B, C#, D. So the puzzle parts are nished. Melody, tenor, and baritone walked up the scale and ended on a perfect G-chord. They ended on your 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings open. Man, that was easy! Perfect three-part harmony! Stack it any way that suites you. It’s tight, it’s precise, and if you can sing it relatively in tune, it’s “plum purdy!” Folks, we have now completed a process, a simple “formula.” You can follow this formula for other songs. Keep in mind that it’s normal to forget your part when you hear the other guy sing his part. There’s no real trick to that. You gotta work on it, and you gotta jump in there and try. You can develop your own little survival tactics like plucking that string that has your note on it. You gotta concentrate. Don’t give up—everyone gets thrown off at rst. That’s why here at Workshop Records we have pre-recorded cassettes to help you get past that little problem. You can practice with the cassettes while you are “all alone.” Its nice if that “guy” you are trying your part with isn’t a real person. This way you can’t get embarrassed, and embarrassment won’t cause you to lose your train of thought. No pressure, no red face, no stress. If you’d like any of these tapes give us a call, toll free, at: 800-543-6125. In the next issue we are going to construct a bass part for “Woah Mule”! The “formula” for the bass part is completely different than what we have been learning, but it is easy and fun. See ya then.

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July/August 1999

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by Joe Carr

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(see Exercise 1). Pay close attention to pick direction. This style can be played with alternating pickstrokes, but use downdown-up if you want the “real deal.” Wyatt plays “Billy in the Lowground” to demonstrate this rhythm style. I have taken several of the most useful (and cool) licks out of this arrangement to make exercises. Practice these phrases at a moderate tempo until they are comfortable. Exercise 2: On the rst beat, hold a six string C chord and strum it aggressively. Notice that the strum is aimed to include the 6th through 3rd strings. Its OK if you strum more of the strings, but Wyatt seems to concentrate on the lower strings of the guitar. Finish the measure with the downdown-up picking pattern.

Wyatt Rice and Crosspicking Rhythm Some of you readers have been asking for the hard stuff, so here it is. Today we are talking about crosspicked rhythm styles and Wyatt Rice—a recognized master of this challenging technique. In music circles, private tapes of famous musicians are often passed from player to player. We all have listened to concert or workshop tapes made by a friend. Often these tapes capture a special moment and so we don’t mind the poor quality. Last year, one of my guitar students brought to me a tape of a private guitar lesson with Wyatt Rice. Some generous guitar player paid to have a lesson with Wyatt. (Wyatt gets paid once, but hundreds share the information.) This guitarist must have taped the lesson and made a copy for a friend. So now I have a copy of a copy of a copy. This is exactly what public health ofcials have warned us about for years! Of all the interesting concepts and licks Wyatt teaches durning the lesson, the section on crosspicked rhythm really caught my attention. Wyatt demonstrates the technique with a rhythm pattern in D

Exercise 3: This lick, which covers a G to C situation, can be picked at least two ways. For most of us alternating picking will feel the best right away, but spend some time with the down-down-down-up pattern. The following rhythm transcription is an approximation of what I hear on the tape. (How’s that for a disclaimer?) It is the underlying concept that is important here, so don’t get too hung up on playing this arrangement exactly as written.

This technique gives a big full sound to guitar accompaniment. Study the examples carefully and try to work these ideas into your rhythm playing. Just a few minutes playing through this music will give you a new found respect for Wyatt Rice’s incredible right hand technique. As a bonus, I have transcribed Wyatt’s solo on this jam session favorite. The delicious lick in the last four measures can be played in several positions on the neck. The one shown seems to suit my hands the best. Have fun! If you get something out of this article, please send $20 to Wyatt. (Editor’s note: He is not kidding folks! Let’s support guitar teachers! If you like this article and want to make a contribution, send a check to the magazine and we will get it to Wyatt.) Wyatt Rice is currently teaching lessons at his home in Damascus, Virginia. You can contact him through the magazine. Also look for Wyatt on the new CD from the Yates family:  John Yates and the Yates  Brothers with speci al guest Wyatt Rice.

Wyatt recorded “Billy in the Lowground” on this new project and said his backup playing on the record is similar to what is presented here.

Exercise 2

Exercise 1

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July/August 1999

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July/August 1999

Flatpick Prole Cody Kilby by Allen Shadd

Last year a friend of mine and I made the trip to Merlefest to compete in the mandolin and guitar contests, respectively. When we arrived sign-up had already begun for the mandolin contest, so I stood in line to purchase our tickets while Steve went up the hill to sign in. Twenty minutes later he returned with a very stressful look on his face. As he approached me he remarked, “There’s some young kind up there warming up for the contest. He is just wearing it out! I don’t feel so good about this.” Since the sight of “some young kid”—the same young kid—“wearing it out” had become common over the contest circuit in recent years, I just looked at Steve and knowingly replied, “Cody Kilby.” Cody went on to win the mandolin contest that day and placed second in both the guitar and banjo contests that weekend. He returned to Merlefest this year (1999) with a vengeance and won both the guitar and banjo contests. (Editor’s note: With the win at Merlefest, Cody Kilby is now the atpicking guitar contest “triple crown” winner. He won both the Steve Kaufman Guitar Camp contest and the National Flatpicking Championships in Wineld, Kansas, in 1998. The win at Merlefest this year gives him the “triple crown”—an honor previously held by Allen Shadd, the author of this article.)

During the past year I have had the pleasure of accompanying Cody (as his rhythm player) in his conquests. Additionally, Cody and I have been performing in trio with fellow Wineld Champion Mark Cosgrove. During that time I have come to know Cody pretty well and we have become good friends. At the request of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine  editor Dan Miller, I conducted an interview with Cody for the magazine. But before you read the interview, let me introduce you to Cody. If you have been attending many contests, concerts and/or festivals lately, you have probably noticed that some of today’s best talents are very young—Nickel Creek is a good example. So it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that Cody Kilby is only eighteen years old this year. He won the National Flatpicking Championship at the age of seventeen. He won the National Mandolin Championship at the age of fteen. Addi Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

tionally, he has placed as high as second in the National Banjo Championship. He could literally open a music store with all of the instruments he has won in competition. Just for fun, we tallied up his winnings and discovered that he had won two mandolins, ve banjos and nine guitars at the time of this writing. Hearing other contestants talk about Cody, you almost imagine some larger than life monster. When I was competing against him, I talked about this guy with icewater in his veins who would chop your head off if given the chance. When my girlfriend and her mother nally had the opportunity to met Cody, they see this clean cut, very mannerly, young man who shyly asked (in a “very cute” southern drawl, as they later pointed out), “You know what you’re gonna play?” I was immediately labeled the bad guy because of the image I painted of him in their minds. Cody was raised in Cowan, Tennessee, and still lives there today. His father, Ronnie, was in the grocery business and was given a banjo by the Martha White Company for setting up a number of displays. Ronnie started taking banjo lessons and after a month began to show his eight year old son what he had learned. Cody picked it up immediately. Ronnie saw that his son had potential and two weeks after Cody rst put his hands on a banjo, he began taking lessons from Benny Williams. After two years on the banjo, Cody decided to take up the guitar as well. He was a natural talent on that instrument and his parents began taking him to local contests where crowds would gather to watch the young picker. The notoriety he received at contests landed him a spot on TNN’s Crook and Chase Show  and he was even featured in the  National Enquirer as the “Half-Pint Picker.” He was also booked to play Branson, Missouri, at the Country Tonight Theatre.

July/August 1999

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In 1995, at the age of fourteen, Cody competed at Winfield for the first time. He placed second that year in the guitar competition (behind Mark Cosgrove) and second in the banjo contest. Over the next three years he would return to win the mandolin contest (1996), place third in banjo, and make the top three in guitar every year—third in 1996, second in 1997, and rst in 1998. After Cody was announced as the winner at this year’s Merlefest atpicking guitar contest, one contestant jokingly remarked, “Next year let’s have the contest at night, past curfew, so us old guys stand a chance!” As I have become more familiar with Cody over the last year, one thing I have discovered is that there is much more to his abilities than playing four hot songs in a contest. On a recent tour with the trio (Cosgrove-Shadd-Kilby), we played a show in Florida on Friday night and a show in Georgia on Saturday. In the middle of our show on Saturday Cody played a really cool riff in one of the tunes which was exactly the way Mark had played it the night before. I looked over and saw a bug-eyed Mark looking at Cody in disbelief. I had to laugh because Cody had done the same thing to me. I had once shown him a little “triplet lick” that is a bear to get through. I saw him play it in a contest three weeks later cleaner 17

and faster than I had ever played it. After that contest, Steve Kaufman remarked that you had to really listen to realize that Cody was playing as fast as he was because it was so clean it felt slower. Even though he is just eighteen, Cody has already recorded several CDs. His latest is a Rebel release titled  Just Me where Cody plays every instrument on the recording, including dobro and bass. His next solo project is nearly complete and in June our trio releases a CD which features the contest tunes each of us used when we won the National Championships at Wineld. These cuts will be the actually contest performances which were recorded live at Wineld and the CD will be appropriately titled  Live from Wineld . I recently talked with Cody for Flatpicking Guitar so that readers would know more about him.

What make was your rst guitar? My Daddy brought home two guitars about the same time; a Martin D-35 and a Gibson J-45, I think. I always played the D-35. I eventually got a 1941 Martin D-18 which is what I played until I started winning guitars in contests. I still have the D-18 though. What is your main “axe” these days? I mostly play a Collings D2H. I’ve been using my (Gallagher) Doc Watson model at lessons. So you teach? Yeah. A couple of nights a week at a music store in Tullahoma; Horns, Strings & Things. I also teach at the Opera House Music in South Pittsburgh (Tennessee). Do you sing? No. I took voice lessons from Kathy Chiavola when I was nine. I like to sing, it’s fun, you know? I just don’t like anybody to hear me. Who was your rst inuence in music? Earl Scruggs on banjo and then later, when I started playing guitar, Tony Rice. Do you still listen to a lot of Tony? No, not really. Well, yes, if I’m listening to bluegrass. Who do you listen to these days? I like Albert Lee. He’s the man! I listen to Brent Mason a lot. I also listen to Django and Steve Morse. You got me listening to him. 18

Probably Eric Johnson more than anybody right now.

When you are preparing for a contest is there anybody you listen to or avoid? Not really. When I rst started the contests I listened to Steve Kaufman and Dan Crary. But I was told that you wouldn’t do very well if you played their arrangements. Rob Pearcy got me started listening to them. Did you ever have Rob as a teacher? No, I just met him on the contest circuit. You play several different instruments. Does one help the other? I always said I was going to learn some banjo licks on guitar, but I never have. I do some mandolin licks on guitar. I mean, I use some of the same ideas. You know what I mean? Yeah. Okay, drop some names for me. Who all have you played with? I dunno (laughing embarrassed). Sam Bush, he’s funny. Carl Jackson, Roy Husky, Jr., Bill Monroe, and Mike Snyder. Mike is really a nice guy. Everyone thinks he is  just funny, but he is a great player. Bobby Clark is real good (mandolin player with Mike Snyder). I’ve got an old album of his when he had long hair. He played some crazy stuff. Of all the people you’ve played with, who did you enjoy the most and who had the most inuence? Randy Howard. Randy showed me more than anybody. Especially on the mandolin, and that is the truth. He’s helped me more than anybody. Yeah. Randy has had the biggest effect on me too. In your opinion what set you apart form other players in contests? I dunno. I never really thought much about that. Let me answer that one for you then. Two things I see are that you play cleaner than most, and quicker, such as triplets. Not too many players are doing those. Is there a trick top getting those so clean, or is it just plain hard work? You play them! (laughing) What do you think? I don’t know, that’s just hard to explain. I just play them. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, but you are not helping me here (both of us are laughing now). Did you get the idea from the mandolin, because I hear a lot of mandolin players play them? No. Probably from listening to Brent (Mason). He plays a lot of them. You are talking about double stops now, not triplets. Are double stops something you’ve adapted from your electric playing? Yeah, and Randy Howard showed me some. Tell me about your CD  Just Me . You played all the instruments. How did you record it? I recorded it at Brent Truitt’s studio. We recorded a click track rst and then whichever instrument kicked it off. Then we recorded a rhythm track and dropped the rest of the lead tracks. I know that’s kind of a weird way to record, but I guess it worked. What about your current project; is it going to be like your last one? It’s going to be a little different. All of the songs are original on the new one. I recorded it at home in my studio. By the time this interview is printed, you will have graduated from high school. Any college plans? Maybe. I’ve been up to Berklee in Boston and Belmont in Nashville. I’m not sure about any of it yet. I just know I want to make a living in music. I may have to do more than just pick to do that. Cody Kilby already has a resume that would t someone about forty years old. I have a feeling that it’s just going to continue to grow. In the last few years I have watched this young man mature as a musician and a person. His parents generally accompany him to the contests and will gloat in a heartbeat, as proud parents do, but Cody seems to keep things in check pretty well. Look for Cody at the contests, although there aren’t many left that he can compete in because of the “winners barred” rules. Or you can catch up with Cody at some of the Collings Guitars sponsored workshops that he performs regularly. If you sit down with him for just a few minutes, you will be like the rest of us—proud of him and proud to know him, and, if you are a contest participant, darn thankful that he can’t compete anymore!

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

Cotton Patch Rag (con’t)

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 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

Guitar Maintenance and Repair by Frank Ford

Now, this nut looks good, too, don’t you think?

One More Time Looking at Nuts Last time I described my general technique for making a new nut. Now I’d like to nish up the discussion of nut design and give you a few tips about working with nuts. Here’s a picture of an ideal guitar nut:

The strings lie in their slots and protrude about 1/3 above the surface of the nut. The strings bear on a broad enough area to allow good support across about 2/3 of the width of the nut. Looking from the ngerboard you can see that each slot is neatly cut just a hair wider than the string itself.

That way the string will draw cleanly across the nut without pinching or binding.  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

But it has a problem. If you look really closely at the “leading” edge of the slots you’ll notice that the nut material itself has actually been drawn forward by the downward pressure of the strings. This is a perfect example of the problem with some synthetic nut material. While it may be hard and strong, it can “ow” almost as if it had been heated and melted. This nut, by the way, is on a guitar less than a year old. It sounds just ne, but it is wearing out prematurely. So what material is best? Certainly it’s a matter of opinion, and if you’d like an opinion of what material sounds best, then you probably don’t want to talk to me. Of course, radically soft material really deadens the brilliance of steel strings, and is to be avoided at all times. You wouldn’t want to make a guitar nut of pine, which, in addition to sounding dull, would almost be cut by the downward pressure of the strings as they are tuned. I prefer bone nuts. Bone and ivory are traditional and expected on ne guitars, although ivory has its difculties. Apart from being politically incorrect these days, ivory is a bit softer than most bone, and on slotted headstock guitars ivory may cause the strings to bind a bit as they’re tuned. Good hard bone that hasn’t been subjected to the softening action of too much bleach makes a nut that looks good, wears well, and sounds just fine. So-called “fossil”

July/August 1999

ivory (just ancient, not really a fossil because it’s not mineralized) varies from rather soft to extremely hard, and can be a terric nut material. Mother-of-pearl is harder than any of the bones or ivories, and makes a nut that virtually never wears out. It’s expensive and difcult to work, and has traditionally been used on only the most deluxe instruments. In the 1970s we saw a widespread use of brass nuts. Brass works ne as a nut, and its extra mass and hardness may increase sustain. It looks terribly untraditional, and I wonder why anyone would want to increase sustain at the nut because the open string already sustains more than any fretted note. Take a look at this guitar nut:

The slots are cut very deeply and the string sits quite low in the nut. No problem here because the string is properly supported at the correct height, and the notches fit well. It just looks a bit less delicately crafted. Another unsightly nut that’s doing  just ne:

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These nut slots are way wider than they need to be. The string spacing could use some improvement, but I don’t notice that when I play the guitar. Each string sits in its notch, is supported well at the bottom of the notch, and draws nicely when tuned.

If the nut is properly glued in place, even a soft or resilient shim won’t affect the tone because the nut is rigidly held by glue at the end of the ngerboard. (A loose tting, unglued, shimmed nut can cause deadening of tone.)

This nut is kind of skinny:

How about a quick review of nut slots?

Not a big issue, but it will wear out faster than the nut at the top of this article. Although it was neatly crafted, there’s simply less material supporting the string. A nut with a pointy top like this one may look “precise” to some, but it looks weak to me:

There’s so little material supporting the wound string that it just “saws” its way deeper as the string is tuned. Not surprisingly, the sixth string of this six month old guitar was already too low and buzzing like crazy! A thick shim like this one may look unsightly from the edge, but it doesn’t necessarily detract from the nut’s performance:

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The strings in “A” and “B” are held properly in place, with nice bearing surfaces below. Most of us don’t like the general look of “B” but it works well nonetheless. Sometimes a at bottom slot (“C”) may allow the string to rattle a bit, but usually, the string simply “leans” to one side, and avoids causing any problems. The only nut slot conguration that’s guaranteed not to work is “D.” The V-shaped notch holds the string tightly and keeps it from rattling. Unfortunately, the string is so tightly pinched that it will “ping” or even break as it’s tuned up. The tiny bearing surfaces at the edges of the V-shaped notch wear very quickly, causing the string to sit lower in the nut. Last time I described how I le the nut slots to their correct depth. This time, I’ll deal with a nut that’s too low. I don’t always want to replace a low nut, sometimes because of cost, and sometimes because of wanting to preserve originality. Raising a guitar nut is not a difcult procedure, and I think I have enough space to go through a bit of that process. Guitar nuts are virtually always glued in place before the instrument is nished. That means you’ll have to score the nish around the nut to avoid chipping. In addition, it pays to cut through the peghead veneer just behind the nut to avoid damaging it. I use the thinnest “X-acto” hobby saw, which takes only 0.010" kerf. I hold the blade tightly against the back edge as I make a tiny cut just to the depth of the veneer:

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

Once I have assurance I won’t damage the finish, I can simply tap the nut out using a block of hardwood and a light hammer:

raise the nut a lot, I’ll use a bit of wood veneer, or, better yet, make a new nut. The little paper label is hardly noticeable from the edge, and makes a ne shim. I’ll replace the nut and glue it to the end of the ngerboard. No glue is needed under a nut in any case. If only one string is too low, I can make an emergency repair with medium viscosity cyanoacrylate (super glue) by placing a drop of it right in the string slot:

It doesn’t matter what kind of glue was used. A sharp blow from my little hammer will break the nut out cleanly because no glue holds well to the end grain of a ngerboard. Here’s what happens if you don’t cut through the veneer behind the nut: The cyanoacrylate hardens very quickly, and I can le the notch to set the string action after only a few minutes. I have found that it’s important to allow the ll to harden at least 24 hours before full use. That means I’ll ll, le, and detune immediately, taking the string out of the slot so the ll can cure properly. With that bit of precaution, the lled slot will perform solidly for a long time. You either chip the veneer or crack the back corner off the nut. With the nut out, I can make a quick shim by simply placing the nut on the sticky side of a computer mailing label:

Frank Ford has been a full time professional luthier ever since he and his partner, Richard Johnston, founded Gryphon Stringed  Instruments in 1969. Frank has written repair articles for a number of guitar and luthier publications, and currently serves on the board of directors of the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans. He is a regular guest instructor at the RobertoVenn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, and at the American School of Lutherie in  Healdsburg, California. Frank created and maintains FRETS.COM (www.frets.com), the largest acoustic instrument maintenance and repair reference site on the Internet.

I cut around the nut with my sharpest knife, and I have a simple thin shim nicely adhered to the bottom of the nut. Placing the nut back in position, I can tune the guitar up and check the action. If one label isn’t enough, I can repeat the process. I don’t want to add too many labels, so if  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

23

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 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

Kaufman’s Corner by Steve Kaufman

Welcome back to my corner of he world. By the time you read this article the 4th Annual Flatpicking Camp will be over and plans for the Millennium Camp will be well under way. This is looking like a fun year for Flatpicking for me and I hope it will be for you too. To continue with our established theme of articles—tips for the solo atpicker—we have a great tune that will help demonstrate back up runs and lls. The rst 17 measures is the bare melody of the song, just as it could be sung. Be sure to memorize this part as well as the back-up chords above these measures with  just a bass/strum pattern. Let’s look at the vocal back-up section that follows. This is arranged in a way that I might play it while singing the lead or backing someone else up. Practice the measures with the runs in them over and over. In fact, try putting them into a loop. Play measure 18 over and over without stopping. Same with measure 20, 29, 32, 36, and 40. These are all one measure runs. Measures 24-25, 34-35, 42-43 and 44-45 are all two measure runs. Be sure to watch out for the down-ups. All quarter notes are down swings. All eighth notes are downup-down-up. The 1st eighth is the down

the last eighth is the up. If you have any notes tied for a hammer or pull off look at the last sentence to gure out the right hand pick direction. Measure 18 is the rst example. Pick Direction: Down, Down, Down-up (hammer) up would be correct. Have fun with this one and next time we’ll work on a lead. If you want to get a head start look at page 7 in my Championship Flatpicking Book for a version. We will do something different—of course. Never play the same way twice if you can help it I always say. Even if you just change one little note. See you down the road somewhere and until next time—Best always, Steve Kaufman 800-FLATPIK (now from Canada) or www.atpik.com

Call for a FREE Flatpicking Mercantile Catalog  Instructional Material, Guitar Gear, CDs, and more

Call

800-413-8296

The Bluegrass Guitar Style of Charles Sawtelle To order, send

$19.95 plus $3.00 Shipping and Handling  to: High View Publications P.O. Box 2160, Pulaski, VA 24301 or call

1 (800) 413-8296 to order with Mastercard or Visa

In addition to the tablature and standard notation of 27 Sawtelle solos, this book also includes: Detailed Sawtelle biography, An in-depth interview with Charles, Section on Charles’ rhythm style, Charles Sawtelle Discography, The rst ever Slade biography, Notes on each solo transcription, Dozens of photographs

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

25

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Flatpicking Flatpicking & & Folk/Acoustic Folk/Acoustic Rock Rock by byJohn JohnTindel Tindel

Improving the Improv A friend of mine recently asked about my views on improvising. He said he felt like he was fairly dexterous and had a good basic knowledge of scales but that he wasn’t able to free up his ow and be expressive on the guitar. In the course of thinking about this, I’ve come up with several observations that may be of some use to anyone looking to “improve their improv,” as it were. Effective improvising depends on the successful juggling of a myriad of interconnected concepts.

(1) Think Ahead. Of utmost importance amongst these is the knack of thinking ahead in a tune at the same time as you’re playing it in the present moment. In fact, if we look at the root of the word “improvise” we see that it comes in part from “providére” —to see ahead. Indeed, if one can “see” an upcoming chord change or transitional moment approaching, one can plan for it by building up to it using dynamics, note selection, or phrasing to delineate the song’s structure. This is much easier to do with a familiar song or one with predictable changes. However, even in jam situations one can often feel when a shift is eminent, if one has their temporal antenna properly tuned out ahead of the action. (2) Work From the Melody.   Always improvise from a rm grasp of the melody line, whether in an instrumental tune or a vocal one. This may mean sitting down and guring out the best hand and nger position for the melody, even guring out the notes themselves, which isn’t really improvising, is it? We’ll get to that later. If a solo occurs, for instance, over the verse chords, pick out the shape of the melody  just like it’s presented by the singer, at least for the rst phrase or so. The listener has been hearing the melody sung already. It’s a nice change to hear it again in the 28

guitar’s voice. It helps to establish a link between the melody and the underlying chord changes, a common frame of reference. After achieving this solid foundation, start inventing, and have some fun w ith all the possibilities inherent in the song. Our hypothetical listener is more likely to go there with you if he or she can hear where you’re starting.

(3) Decide On the Amount of Control. There seems to be two broad schools of improvisational thought. The difference between them boils down to the degree of control one prefers to have. At one extreme we have the spontaneous, in the moment, Jerry Garcia scenario, in which we cast caution to the winds and let the subconscience, the inner musician, have complete control, full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes. Those of us of this persuasion reap great rewards, but court correspondingly great risks, as well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Over here in the other corner, we have the guys who prefer to come from a slightly more structured place; one in which an “improvised” solo actually consists of elements that have been carefully orchestrated and arranged in advance. So, which approach to use? Well, that segues nicely into. . . (4) Stylistic Appropriateness. Always be sensitive to the stylistic appropriateness of what you’re playing as it relates to the mood of the piece. Some types of songs just naturally lend themselves to the free ow “jamming” kind of an approach, whereas others may well require something a little more arranged or fabricated. Knowing the difference between these two and when each is appropriate is what we’re after. (5) Play with Connence. It’s important to play condently, just as it is to portray a condent demeanor in other aspects of life. One way to being a more condent

player is to have fast access to an arsenal of chops; a working knowledge of lots of runs; chord variations and voicings; the foundation of some basic music theory; and things you can pull out on the y and use in a hurry. Indeed, one of the denitions of the word “improvise” is “to fabricate out of what is conveniently at hand.” The more materials you have at hand, the more expressive you can be. Having the ability to access all this quickly is the key, as is the ability to do it in a musical, tasteful, condent way. Easily said, you say? Well, you can always go work on your. . . .

(6) Ear-training.   That magical loop between ngers and voice and ear in which you scat-sing a line and then nd it on the guitar. This will help you become a more uid improviser, create tastier lines, and help with phrasing, among other benets. When the great B.B.King was asked how he comes up with his wonderful improvised leads, he indicated that all he’s trying to do is play lines that he’s actually singing to himself in his head. Well, heck, if it works for B.B.... So start doing your best Ella Fitzgerald impersonation and start forging that voice-box to fret-board connection. Become George Benson for just a few minutes a day and you’ll be a better improviser for it. (7) Viable Exit Strategy. It’s always important to have a viable exit strategy. Again, as in life itself, a graceful ending can save an otherwise mediocre effort. As you approach the end of the allotted time for the lead break, be thinking ahead (sound familiar?) about your best ending strategies. How one chooses to nish ends up having a relatively large impact, as it’s the last thing that’s heard. It’s always nice

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

to nd something with a nice “wow” factor, I mean, why not? Try a hammered-on, pulled-off descending rst position scale from the top string to the bottom, topped with some lovely chiming harmonics. Or try switching from major key mode playing to minor blues-based playing with some gritty string bends. Try something geometric,  jazzy, really fast, really slow, classical. Try quoting game show and sitcom theme music phrases; the skies the limit. When all these elements and many more not touched on here are in place, improvising can be an exhilarating ride. To use a slightly Santa Cruzian metaphor, it can be much like paddling into a big, foaming bluegreen wave, the rush of the approaching surge, the stomach-lurching drop over the lip, the time-stopping interlude within the grasp of the immense power that surrounds you, the intuitive sensing of when to get out, hopefully with stylistic verve and air. . .as opposed to getting caught unaware, ailing over the falls to be pinned down, lungs bursting. Let’s avoid this second scenario if possible, shall we?

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

So, before you step up to the plate for your next lead break, just keep these seven handy tips in mind: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Think ahead Work from the melody Decide on the amount of control Stylistic appropriateness Play with condence Play your internally sung phrases Viable exit strategy

In place of tab this time, take an old tune you know that you usually play by rote and try applying the points illustrated here and see if that won’t help “improve your improv .” ‘Til next time, “ears” to listening, big ears to all and to all a good solo.  Joh n Tind el perform s regularl y in th e  Monterey bay area with his band, Santa Cruz-based RST, as well as doing studio and session work at their Seacliff Studios, occasional national touring, watercolor art commissions and portraiture. For more info on John, Seacliff Studios, or RST contact  [email protected]

July/August 1999

29

On The Web by David Dugas

Welcome to On the Web! In this issue I’m going to cover a lot of different web sites, so hang on to your picks… After my comment in the last issue of FGM concerning the lack of Clarence White web sites , Joel Stein sent me the following CW URL: http://www.urban.ne.jp/home/ koa7/byrds.htm This site contains links to subscribe to the Clarence White Newsletter  as well as an archive of the past newsletters. I found another Clarence White web site, but unfortunately, it doesn’t cover as much of Clarence’s acoustic work as the site listed above. It’s more of a Byrds fan site than a Flatpicking Clarence web site, but it’s still very informative: http://www.waxing-eloquent.com/byrds/ Cwhite.html Have you ever wanted to listen to Bluegrass Music   on the radio, but your local stations don’t broadcast it? Or, maybe you’ve wanted to listen to Bluegrass Music while working on your computer and the reception is terrible? Well, I have a great web site for you! It’s the “Bluegrass Radio Network”: http://www.bluegrassradio.com/ OK, you’ve put in your hours struggling with scales, learning every Tony Rice and Norman Blake tune and you’ve decided its time to record yourself playing the guitar. But, you ask yourself “How do I get started”? “What recorder should I buy?” “How many tracks do I need?” “What microphone do I need?” These questions and many more are answered at the Home Recording web site: http://homerecording.com/

http://w1.865.telia.com/~u86505074/ capomuseum/index.htm You’ve heard me mention the FLATPICK-L e-mail listserve here at FGM and have probably wondered how to subscribe, or view past archives. Here is the archive location which also contains instructions for subscribing to the list: http://listserv.nodak.edu/archives/ atpick-l.html Here’s a great web site dedicated to music theory: http://www.guitarmain.com/ It’s geared towards the jazz guitarist, but the curious atpicker can learn a lot too. If you know the title or key phrases of a tune and would like to know the complete text, there is a good chance you will nd it at the Digital Traditions Folk Song Database: http://www.mudcat.org/folksearch.cfm It’s almost summer, which means it’s almost festival time. A great place to start your search for local or national festivals is: http://www.festivalnder.com/ I’d love to post a list of Bluegrass Associations   that are accessible on the web. Here are the two that I currently know of: in the Atlanta, Georgia area we have the South Eastern Bluegrass Association at http://www.sebabluegrass.org/ The Central Texas Bluegrass Association represents the Austin, Texas area at http://www.zilker.net/~ctbg/ If your BG association has a web site please send me the URL at:  [email protected] and I’ll publish it in this column. That’s

Are you a capo-holic? I certainly am! Ever wonder what a capo looked like in the 18th century? Have you seen a capo that is built into the neck of a guitar? Bo Parker found this wonderful collection of old and not-so-old capos at The Sterner Capo Museum: 30

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

 John Arnold Guitars by Bryan Kimsey By now most of you have heard of Dudenbostel and Lucas guitars, two of the banner carriers of the new golden age of small shop luthiers. There’s another guy you should know about, though. Dude and Lucas certainly do, since they consult him frequently for advice and opinions. That fellow is John Arnold of Newport, TN. While his guitars may not be quite as high prole as some other small luthiers, they are nevertheless of impeccable quality and he’s made a respectable 56 of them. Of the 56, one was built for Doc Watson, two for Norman Blake, and one for Nancy Blake. Part of the reason his new guitar output isn’t larger is because Arnold spends most of his time repairing instead of building guitars. I had a good chat with John at MerleFest ’97, but this year, at Merlefest ’99, we sat down and put it on record.

How long have you been building guitars? I started when I was 15 years old (he’s 44 now). I had some woodworking experience and just decided to build a guitar. My rst one had a curved back like an Ovation. How’d that sound? It was kind of thin. I didn’t number that one. Numbering started with the next one. Did you start working professionally as a luthier right away? No, I got a degree in mechanical engineering and did that for a few years, then built cabinets for a few years. I was repairing guitars on the side the whole time, though. It wasn’t until the 80’s that I started cutting wood, Appalachian or red spruce, with Ted Davis and that’s when I started working with guitars full-time. What are your favorite woods? Well I like a lot of the local woods. I like locust very much, it’s very rosewood sounding. I like walnut. And cherry’s a good wood— it’s very much like maple. ..and Brazilian rosewood? I’ve got quite a bit of Brazilian. I stashed it before they banned it, so it’s pre-CITES wood.  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

What kind of tone differences do you hear in various woods? Most of my customers, if they can get Brazilian, want it, because I don’t price it that high. I’ve only built a few guitars out of Indian rosewood. To my ears, they’re both very similar, but Brazilian is just a little bit brighter. Do you get much call for mahogany? Yes, I’m getting more and more. Up until recently I had not built a mahogany Dreadnought. I’m a ngerpicker and I favor smaller bodied mahogany guitars, but there’s been more demand for mahogany D’s recently. One thing I did with this guitar was go ahead and use ivoroid binding, so it’s not your typical D-18 style guitar. Let’s talk about top-woods—what do you like there? Since I’m cutting red spruce, that is all I use. What kind of sonic difference do you hear between top-woods? Sitka tends to not have the trebles of red spruce. It’s a more exible wood and will bend a lot without breaking. It’s more brous and you can really see that when you sand it. The Englemann I like is the stiff stuff with knots and whirls, and it’s not very pretty wood. It makes great guitars but it’s just not much to look at. How’s the availability of red spruce? It’s here and it’s being cut. The problem right now is that the trees are small. It’s hard to nd one big enough for a 2-piece guitar top. You can nd a lot of trees big enough for 4-piece guitar tops, though. Plus, all the trees tend to be the same age, so if you nd a big tree, it just grew faster than the other ones and the grain will be wider. We take core samples and can tell without cutting the tree what the situation is. What kind of glues do you use?

July/August 1999

  s   a   g   u    D    d    i   v   a    D   :   o    t   o    h    P

I pretty much just use yellow glue like Titebond.

Do many customers request fossil ivory or do they prefer bone? There was a trend there for awhile of using fossil ivory, but I think it’s dying down a little now. I’ve taken off just as much fossil ivory as I’ve put on. To my ears, good quality bone sounds better. You can get a little more volume from ivory but it seems a little too much sometimes…a little too piercing on some guitars. It’s really hard to beat good quality bone. Do you have a preference for long or short saddles? I like long saddles better. To me they  just look better. They’re a little harder to set up, you have to t them more carefully, and not give them too much break angle of the strings going over the saddle, and things like that. I don’t think there’s much sonic advantage over a short saddle, but I  just like the looks. Certainly short saddles are easier to shim and to put pickups under, although I’ve put pickups under long saddles by routing out the bridge beneath the saddle. Bracing? Back when I first started building guitars for bluegrass players, I followed Tony Rice around for awhile and the rst thing I noticed about his guitar was the 31

forward X bracing (bracing that crosses 1” from the soundhole). Before that, nobody had ever heard a thing about “forward X” bracing. I started building all my guitars like that and before long we knew all about it!

We briefly touched on bridgeplates awhile ago; let’s talk more about them. I’ve used ebony, pernambuco, snakewood, black locust, and others. My favorite is black locust. The bridge plate can have a big effect on the attack and punch of the sound. A stiffer wood will let you use a smaller bridgeplate and that just gives you a lighter and more responsive top. How about large soundholes? There was another trend for awhile toward larger soundholes, but I think that’s dying down a little and people are going back to regular sized ones. I think a larger hole takes the boom out of the bass. Doesn’t take the bass away, just takes the boominess out of it. You have some nice looking pick guards. What kind of material are you using? The new material I am using comes from Henry Stocek at Deep River Vintage Instrument Supply in Deep River, CT. This material is made of celluloid and is just like the pick guard material Martin used prior to World War II. The material is begin manufactured in Italy using the exact same process that was used in making the prewar pickguards. Except for isolated pieces that I have run across over the years, this new material is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to the pre-war Martin material. It is made just like the old stuff. Being involved with vintage repair work, there is a constant need for this kind of pick guard material. Until Henry did the research and found someone who could do it the way it had been done in the past, there was nothing on the market that so closely matched the old stuff. Tell me about the pickguards that you hand-paint to look like real tortoise shell. I take a clear plastic hard vinyl and paint a pattern on the back with tinted lacquer. I make either the broad stripped or spotted patterns. I can get a real good imitation of a hawk bill tortoise shell design.

32

How would you rank the various components of a guitar with respect to their effect on the sound? The top is the most important, by far. The actual top and the braces work as a unit and I consider them together. Then the back and sides. Neck width has an effect in that a bigger neck is usually more massive—width itself doesn’t have as much to do with it as the mass. The old T-bar truss rod have the sound that they do because they’re so heavy in relation to a hollow bar. Another thing we kind of touched on there, related to the width of the neck, is the spacing at the bridge. I think a wider spacing at the bridge gives a little more separation of the notes. Because the strings are spread out, I think it just tends to load the top a little bit different. And then after that, the details such as nut, saddle, tuners, and nish come into play. How do you go about building a guitar to a customer’s specs? I like to have them come into the shop, so I can see how they play, what style they play, and then I like to talk with them about what kind of guitar they’re looking for and that sort of thing. And your waiting list is how long? About 7 years right now. I only build 6-8 guitars a year. Most of my time is spent repairing still. That’s where I make most of my money—I’d have to charge too much to make a living building guitars. Got any advice for up and coming repair people? Number one is patience and number two is practice on cheap instruments. I work primarily on Martins, so I’m pretty comfortable with them by now. And where can you be reached? (Turns and points to the banner hanging behind his booth) Right there on the banner! John Arnold 437 Ruble St. Newport, TN Phone: 423-623-2245

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

By Brad Davis Improvising with the “Plug-In” Method I have a method for learning how to improvise that I call the “plug-in” method. This involves taking a song you already feel condent with and plugging in brand new licks in selected areas. It requires both a data search of your present lick gallery and making an effort to learn some new licks as well. You can create exciting new solos by plugging in new licks in the place of old ones you already use and, in the process, begin to become familiar with improvisation. I recommend starting to learn how to use this “plug-in” method by utilizing a song that you already know because you will be familiar with the song format and can concentrate on the licks, and where to tastefully plug them in. NOTE: I feel it is a good idea to respect the song’s original melody when starting a solo. Some songs have melodies that are the very heart of the song itself and other songs have melodies that are not quite as important and thus give the picker more freedom to improvise. Songs with serious melodies like “Huckleberry Hornpipe” or “Blackberry Blossom” might not lend themselves as easily to this “plug-in” method. Let’s get at it, shall we? Below I have tabbed out a simple, straight-forward, melody-oriented version to the familiar bluegrass song “I’m On My Way Back To The Old Home.” If you do not already know how to play this song, work through my version until you become familiar with it and can play it comfortably. Once you are familiar with a break to this tune, whether it is one of your own or the one I have tabbed out here, go through the “licks” that I have provided on the right side of this page. There are a total of six different licks. Some of them are simple, others are more difcult. Some use the  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

traditional down-up-down picking pattern while others use the double-down-up method we discussed in the previous issue. Play through them all until you are familiar with them. Once you have a good feel for these licks, try plugging them into “I’m On My Way Back To The Old Home.” To help get you started, I have tabbed out a shell of the tune with the licks plugged into measures where they could possibly be used. This is by no means carved in stone. You can use them where ever you would like. You might start by just plugging one or two of the licks at a time into the simple solo. You can mix and match however you would like and thus come up with dozens of variations on this solo. Have fun! There is no companion tape for this issue, but I am offering a longer lesson that will incorporate this lesson along with additional detailed information about improvisation. I provide this thirty minute lesson on compact disc, which is packaged with an additional tablature booklet. I couldn’t see wasting CDs on a 5 to 15 minute companion course, so that is why I am offering this longer lesson on improvising. I am also offering a similar 30 minute CD/tab book packaged lesson on the

July/August 1999

topics of right hand technique and the double-down-up technique. The CD improvising course, right hand technique course, and double-down-up course are $12.95 per course (price includes shipping and handling charges). You can order by check or money order: bdm publishing, PO Box 890, Madison, TN 37116. You can also call in or e-mail a visa or mastercard number: PH (615) 266-5066, e-mail: [email protected]. Feel free to call or e-mail with any questions concerning this any of my instructional courses. Our web site is bdmpublishing.com.

SANTA CRUZ GUITAR COMPANY

328 Ingalls Street Santa Cruz, California 95060 831-425-0999

33

“Fisher’s Hornpipe” by Peter McLaughlin The “jam tune” for this issue, “Fisher’s Hornpipe,” comes to us from Peter McLaughlin. We featured Peter in our very rst issue and ran a tab of his original tune “Augusta Ridge,” which he played on his Cliffs of Vermillion CD. The break to “Fisher’s Hornpipe” presented here can also be found on that same CD. In the rst break, Peter begins both the A and B parts (measures 1-9 and 18-25 respectively) with a very straight forward treatment of the tune. Beginning players who are not familiar with this tune may want to stick with just repeating the rst A (measures 1-9) and rst B (measures 18-25) parts before trying the more difcult sections.

36

In the second A (measures 10-17) and B (measures 18-33) parts, Peter begins to add some hammer-ons and pull-offs to spice up the tune a little bit. Peter says, “I seem to use them to smooth the notes and break up the monotony of picking every note.” He recommends that you hold the chord shapes down while playing through this section in order to allow the notes to sustain. Intermediate players should enjoy playing through this embellished version of the tune. For intermedite-to-advanced level players, Peter has also provided an up-the-neck break to the tune (measures 34-65). Peter says that if you are not playing with a cutaway, there are some good pinky stretches in there for you to work out. Have fun with “Fisher’s Hornpipe”!

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

THE

O

- ZONE by Orrin Star

Those Nashville Blues We all know songs that we like but have never tried to play. So they reside in our heads, sometimes for years, until something—a jam session, a new recording, a student with a CD—nally jogs us into working it up. And then we can’t stop playing it. This just happened to me with “The Nashville Blues.” These back-to-back solos start straigtforwardly then get a little fancy. Though I created them, they feel very Doc-like: a

strong melody statement garnished with a tasteful bluesy topping. Repeating sets of strums (starting with the big C hit in measure two and the four lines of notes that follow it) appear throughout. And the chief challenge is getting your right hand to transition smoothly from the looseness of a strum to the more focused picking of individual notes. In particular, there are several pairs of eigth notes (the first two in measure #3 for example)—in which the “down” stroke is a

strum and the “up” stroke that immediately follows is a lead note. Also, select “down” notes need to played as rest strokes to sound right, and these are indicated by a ‘>’ above the note.

 The Nashville Blues Arranged by Orrin Star 

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . 4 œ œ œ œ œ &4 Œ œ œ œ œœ .. œJ œ œ œ .. Œ . J . œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . &œ œ œ. J œ œ .. J C

1

S

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1

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 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

H

0

2

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1

July/August 1999

Masters of Rhythm Guitar:

 John Doyle

Creative Celtic Rhythm Master by Bryan Kimsey

We’ve covered quite a few rhythm guitar masters in this column, but John Doyle is really something else. Frankly, I’d never heard him until MerleFest 1999 when my buddy and FGM photographer David Dugas nudged me backstage and said “There’s John Doyle.” “Who?” I asked. When Dugas mentioned the band “Solas” I nodded vaguely. Well, then we heard Doyle playing rhythm for banjoists Bela Fleck and Tony Trischka, and I knew we had to interview Doyle. I’d simply never heard rhythm guitar the way he plays it. He uses drop-D tuning (tune the low to D), a lot of moveable chords, and a very percussive picking hand (he’s a lefty, so we’ll call them “picking” and “fretting” hands) that sounds like a whole rhythm section all by itself. When Doyle really gets going, you’ll hear droning bass, bass lines, modal chords, percussion, back-strums, and complex rhythms, all going at once. It’s an incredible sound and I was really curious to see how he does it. Here’s what we found out about the rhythm guitar style of John Doyle. First, he uses some incredibly heavy strings, with a .072" low E string running down to a .014" high E. This, in combination with the drop-D tuning gives him an extremely powerful bass sound. Doyle works out of a “D-shaped” chord a lot and moves this and several other chord forms and inversions up and down the neck to produce his bass lines. He plays mostly

full-strums, rarely bass-strum forms like bluegrass players would use. However, he doesn’t always play all the strings, but often concentrates on just the 3-4 bass strings, particularly when trying for a more percussive sound. For a pick, Doyle uses a thinner one than most bluegrass players are used to- something in line with a .060 mm. He says the thin pick, held loosely, is essential for getting the right Celtic strum sound. To get a percussive sound, he’ll turn the pick so that it strikes on edge, and will also use a karate chop motion with his picking hand to produce an audible “thump” on occasion. At MerleFest, Doyle was playing a Lowden guitar strung with mediums, but explained that this wasn’t his normal stage guitar. He was just there to hang out and hadn’t planned on playing until Fleck and Trischka asked him to back them up. He normally uses a $400 Takamine for touring, citing the durability and built-in electronics. John uses the Lowden for recording, though. We asked John how he got started. You’d think that a guy with his sense of rhythm might’ve put some serious time in with a metronome, but, no, he does not work with one and never really has, preferring

  s   a   g   u    D    d    i   v   a    D   :   o    t   o    h    P

to develop his chops by playing with other musicians. For inuences, he specied The Bothy Band and Paul Brady, citing Brady as a powerful player. Richie Havens was a non-Celtic inuence. Although Doyle doesn’t play leads often on stage, we heard him blast off several atpicked ddle tunes as he was demonstrating his guitar style during the interview. On-stage, he prefers to concentrate on rhythm and on driving the band and creating a full sound. He feels that switching to lead hurts the rhythm sound of the band. For softer sounds, he’ll use ngers in combination with a atpick, or even just ngers alone. Stylistically, there doesn’t seem too much he can’t do! While his rhythm style is perfect for Celtic music, we were curious as to whether

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 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

it could be adapted to a more bluegrass-ish style. “For some tunes, especially old-time fiddle tunes, I think this style could be perfect, although you might have to use it in context with your own band. I don’t know how strict old-timey style is, but if you tried my rhythm in a jam, you might get thrown out!” he laughed. On-stage with Bela and Tony, John whipped through an interesting version of “John Hardy” and the rhythm seemed perfectly appropriate, if different from what you’d normally hear. All this talk about John Doyle’s rhythm style is ne, but there’s no way you can fully appreciate the power, drive, and sheer funkiness of his style without hearing or seeing him do it. And guess what? Homespun Video has captured him in action in full color and Hi-Fi stereo sound (Homespun Video, VD-DOY-GT01.  Irish  Rhyt hm Guit ar — accompanying Celtic tunes , taught by John Doyle). Hoping to capture some of his magic, I checked out the video. This could be a very short review: “highly recommended,” to which I’d add “essential for serious rhythm guitar students.” In typically excellent Homespun

Learn the tunes and solos of your choice, in any format.

fashion, this 85-minute video covers the John Doyle style from start to nish. You can see him use strumming patterns, palm percussion, damping, bass lines, chord shapes and more. Doyle is an excellent teacher with good on-screen presence who clearly explains what he’s doing. It would be impossible to accurately play some of his patterns from tab alone, but by listening and watching in addition to looking at the music, I think you’ll be able to get most of them. At the very least, I’m positive you’ll be inspired. At best, you’ll learn the right way to play jigs (not the bluegrass psuedo-jig style), how and where to use substitute and passing chords, when to simplify, various pick directions and patterns, and much more. Numerous tunes serve as vehicles for these examples, and all are tabbed out, including the melody line (played by John Williams on button accordion) and chord names. You’ll see the chord shapes he uses and get to watch his picking hand move. Oddly enough, I found it easy to copy his fretting hand. Because he’s a lefty, what you see on the screen is a mirror image of your hand, and

I thought it was even easier than watching another right-handed guitarist. If you’re at all interested in playing Celtic music, I highly recommend giving John Doyle a listen and I consider his Homespun video to be essential in capturing some of his style. Even if you don’t play Celtic (and c’mon, who doesn’t play “Red Haired Boy”?), Doyle has some very interesting techniques that could easily be applied to a modern bluegrass style. Better order those .072 bass strings, though!

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 Huss and Dalton Guitars July/August 1999

43

Doc Watson’s “Way Down Town” by Dix Bruce As many of you know, Mel Bay Publications has just released my book  Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley: The Original Folkways Recordings 1960-1962  based on

the double CD set of the same name from Smithsonian / Folkways. (See below for availability.) It was a delight to study and transcribe the playing on these 48 historic recordings which include so many great standards from the bluegrass, old time, and folk, repertoire: “The Crawdad Song,” “I’m Sitting on Top of the World,” “The Coo-Coo Bird,” “Rising Sun Blues (House of the Rising Sun),” “Shady Grove,” “My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains,” “Way Down Town,” “Banks of the Ohio,” “Little Sadie,” “Fire on the Mountain,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” “Amazing Grace,” “Sally Ann,” “Old Ruben,” “Skillet Good and Greasy,” “The Old Man at the Mill,” “Footprints in the Snow,” “Handsome Molly,” “John Henry,” and “Wayfaring Pilgrim,” to name just a few. All the playing is superb, but Doc’s playing on these, his rst commercially produced acoustic guitar recordings, is exceptional. While you can hear him working on some of his signature licks here and there, for the most part he bursts forth as a fully formed artist, a virtuoso with a completely developed and unique approach to playing the acoustic guitar. And what an approach it was! Awesome in its technical acuity, encyclopedic in its range and depth. It would be impossible to say too much about Doc’s playing in this collection or overemphasize his inuence on atpickers and atpicking. In the process of writing the book I transcribed melodies, lyrics, chords, and my main task was, of course, to detail Doc’s great lead guitar solos. But I also found his rhythm guitar playing to be especially interesting and decided to include several of his backup guitar parts in the book. They range from the familiar “bass note-strum” patterns to variations of Carter-style “lead / rhythm playing” to complex counterpoints with, or doubling of, the lead voice. Many of the tunes are combinations and variations of all three approaches and as I studied 44

them I was amazed at how much went into each tune. Let’s look at Doc’s rhythm playing on one of his greatest hits: “Way Down Town.” (You lead players stay tuned. In my next column we’ll look at Doc’s advanced Carter-style lead on the same song.) “Way Down Town” was the rst Doc Watson song I learned from the inuential early 1970s album Will the Circle Be Unbroken  with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and many other great traditional musicians. “Way Down Town” is one of those great standards that guitarists play the world over. I included a version of it in my rst atpicking book Beginning Country Guitar  Handbook   (Mel Bay Pub.). If you’re not familiar with the song, the melody, chords, and lyrics are shown on the next page. On the pages which follow is a transcription of Doc’s rhythm guitar playing on “Way Down Town,” rst behind his vocal (measures 1-16) and later behind the ddle solo (measures 17-32). In measures 1, 2, and 9 (M1, 2, 9) of the vocal backup, Doc plays the low 6th string F bass note, probably with the thumb of his fretting hand. Of course he may be barring the F chord and using his rst nger. Either way, it’s a stretch if you’re a beginner, but it can be a very useful bass note to have in your repertoire. Most of Doc’s rhythm playing comes from the rudimentary “bass-strum” or Carter style which is built on playing a bass note, usually the root of the chord, followed by a chord strum, then an alternating bass note (the ve or the three of the chord) followed by another strum. But in M 3 Doc breaks this pattern, as he does quite often in this collection, by repeating the C bass note. I was taught from an early age to always play alternating bass notes but when I hear Doc do it this way, I realize it’s a ne way to go. In M 6 he begins playing a pattern of beautifully funky hammered bass notes and double strums. This gives the backup a wonderful lopey feel. He uses this technique again in backing up the ddle solo. In M 15 & 16, Doc plays one

of his earliest and hottest signature single string licks. The trick to playing it is to move from the rhythm mode to the lead mode and back smoothly. Easy for me to say! Doc’s backup to the ddle solo begins in M 17. Again he plays the sixth string F bass note and then goes on to develop further the lopey hammer bass note rhythm he played behind his vocal. The hammered bass notes really give the rhythm a kick in the pants and propel the whole group. In M 25 he includes another hot lick which moves from the fourth string F to the low sixth string F. M 27 & 28 have subtle bass note lls and connecting runs. As I mentioned before, there’s a lot going on here. If you listen to the recording, you’ll hear that Doc plays it all perfectly and it never interferes with whatever lead is going on simultaneously with his backup playing. In fact, it serves the lead and expands the ensemble sound. It works not only because of what he’s choosing to play (and choosing not to play) but also because of the way he plays it. He is right on the beat, never dragging or rushing, always grooving. He shows great taste and excellent execution. Doc instinctively knows that when he’s playing rhythm, he’s playing a supportive role. Yet his subtle innovations fit perfectly with the lead or vocal and make the ensemble sound more than the sum of the parts. Next time we’ll look at Doc’s lead playing on “Way Down Town.” Dix Bruce’s book “Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley: The Original Folkways  Recordings 1960-1962” is available with the accompanying CDs from the author. Call Toll Free 1-877-219-0441 (M-F 9 am to 5 pm Pacific Time), Musix PO  Box 231005, Pleasant Hill, CA; e-mail:  [email protected].

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

Way Down Town

Key of D

(melody and words)

Capo at second fret 

& 44 . œ ˙ . F

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Chorus: Verses:

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Way Down Town

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(rhythm)

Guitar backup behind verse

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 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

H 0

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July/August 1999

Way Down Town (rhythm - con’t) 23

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2

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July/August 1999

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47

Music Theory: Mastering the Fingerboard Technical Studies for Flatpickers. Alternate and painful ngerings... by Michel A. Maddux

Over the past few months (and issues) we’ve taken a look at different ways of playing music on the guitar. We’ve seen the relationship between major and minor scales, blues scales, and last issue we looked at an open string, or oaty scale, in the key of D. Today I want to continue to work a bit with some oaty patterns, this time for G and A minor. These forms use the G and A minor Pentatonic form. The Pentatonic scale uses only 5 notes of the possible 7 (remember that an 8 note octave scale repeats the root, or 1st note of the scale an octave higher to yield the standard 8 note octave scale). For the G Major Pentatonic scale we’ll use the I, II, III, V, and VI notes of the scale, leaving out the 4th and 7th scale degree notes. For the A Minor Pentatonic we will play the I, bIII, IV, V, and bVII note of the scale, leaving out the 2nd and 6th scale degree notes. For the A Minor form, the stretch from 7-5-3 should be ngered 4-2-1, both ascending and descending. At the top, slide from the 8-10-8, both up and back down, while maintaining a steady right hand picking stroke.

scales and licks that we’ve studied in the past two issues. (For a review of the D Major open string scale, refer to the May/June 1999 issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, pages 49-50.) In spots this arrangement is pretty tricky. The rst time through the A section we state the basic melody in rst and second position. The second time through we use the new oaty scales and licks to create an alternate version of the melody. The B section has a lot of cross-picking. Maintain the DUDU picking throughout. The A section then repeats with a slight variation and the tune ends.

How to Practice? Focus on the down-ups and the right hand. These forms can be played accurately using the strict DUDU (down-up down-up) alternating pick direction. It’s tricky because you wind up skipping strings but not changing the pick direction. Practice with a metronome, slowly at first, and always accent the first of each group of 4 notes. Remember, quality before quantity! Where to use it? “Cedar Hill” is a great tune that I first heard on the 1981 David Grisman album “Mondo Mando.” The tune takes an interesting twist on the standard bluegrass I-IV-V format, by using the minor ii in the A section, then adds the minor v in the B section. “Cedar Hill” is an AABA form. That means that you play the melody, the A section, through twice, play the B section, also called the bridge, through once, then repeat the A section. All of that is one time through the tune. This arrangement is designed to show how you might use the open string oaty

Well, that’s enough for this time. Have fun and keep on pickin’!

 Ab out th e au th or: Mi ke Ma dd ux has been atpicking since 1981. He performs regularly in Colorado Springs and the western United States with his wife Bertye and “The Mike and Bertye Band.” His

G Major Pentatonic Open-String Scale. Repeat 8-16 times without stopping:

# œ œ œ œ œ œ 4 œ œ œ # . œ œ . œœœœœ œœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œœ Œ Œ Œ & 4 œœœœœœ . . ŒŒŒ 1

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 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

2 3 2 0

July/August 1999

 By Request . . . Wyatt Rice’s “Wheel Hoss”  Over the past few months we have received a lot of requests for a transcription of a tune from Wyatt Rice’s  New Market Gap   CD. Several weeks weeks ago someone specically requested Wyatt’s version of the tune “Wheel Hoss,” so here it is!   Wyatt’s New Market Gap CD came out in about 1990 and was a long-awaited solo venture from Wyatt, who had previously recorded with his brother Tony, and had spent years as a sideman in the Tony Rice Unit. Wyatt’s first solo outing did not disappoint atpicking guitar guitar fans. fans. It also proved to the bluegrass world that Wyatt could denitely stand on his own. When asked about how the project came to be, Wyatt said that he had been jamming a lot with his friends Sammy Shelor and Rickie Simpkins when he decided it would be a good idea to pull together some of his favorite picking buddies and bring them in the studio to record an album.

Wyatt said Wyatt said that that the tunes he selected selected for this record where mostly tunes he liked to  jam on. Some of the Bill Monroe tunes, including “Wheel Hoss,” Wyatt had learned from some old Bill Monroe albums that Tony owned. He said that his goal in playing the Monroe tunes was to try and play a melody oriented version on the guitar like Bill Monroe and Kenny Baker had played on mandolin and ddle, respectively, re spectively, on the original recordings. recordings. The break to “Wheel Hoss” that we have presented here is Wyatt’s second break on the cut from  New Market Gap. The New Market Gap CD includes the following songs: songs: New Market Gap, Fishers Fishers Hornpipe, Swift Was Thy Flight, Wheel Hoss, Back Up and Push, Shenendoah Breakdown, Crazy Creek, Panhandle Country, New Camptown Races, Dave’s Place, and I Am a Pilgrim. If you don’t have have this CD in your atpicking collection, you need to pick it up. It is well worth the price!

Wyatt Rice currently teaches guitar lessons Wyatt at his home in Damascus, Damascus, Virginia. Virginia. Those wishing to contact him for lessons can contact him through the magazine. magazine. He has also performing with Tim Yates and is on a new CD with  John Yates and the Yates  Brothers (with special guest Wyatt Rice). Wyattt Rice endorses Santa Cruz Guitars. Wyat

Flatpicking ‘97 CD and Transcriptions in One Package!  This new Mel Bay Publications project provides the Flatpicking ‘97  CD  CD packaged in a book which contains the solo transcriptions for each tune. Also included is a biographical sketch of each artist.

To order, send

$19.95 plus $3.00 Shipping and Handling  to:  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

High View Publications P.O. Box 2160 Pulaski, VA 24301 or call

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PICKIN’ FIDDLE TUNES  by Adam Granger 

A COUPLE OF SPIFFY TUNES Hello pickheads! The cottonwoods are in bloom, the beaches are packed, the dog’s tongue is lolling on the living room oor like uncooked bacon and the walls are sweating. Don’t wanna mow, don’t wanna cook, don’t wanna sleep. I know, let’s learn a couple of ddle tunes! Forget trying to stay cool: get hot, perspire freely, pop a cold whatever and let’s do some pickin’. . .

Grant Lamb’s Breakdown is of French-Canadian heritage, although some consider

it a New England tune (which I’m sure it is, sometimes). And so the debate continues. . . It’s a dandy tune, and a sort of rare bird in that it’s in the key of C. Relatively few come to mind: I think right away of Texas Gals (aka Texas Gales) and the bluegrass/old-time warhorse Sandy River Belle. Note the astonishingly close relationship this tune has with the C scale: every note except one in Grant Lamb’s Breakdown is one of the seven notes in the C major scale! And you were impressed by velcro. For those who are rusty on this scale, you’ll nd it in my “First Postion Scales” column (Vol 3, No 1). If we were looking for a dramatic example of the value of learning scales, we need look no further.

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GRANT LAMB’S BREAKDOWN I

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KEY: C

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II

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The Silver Spear  is a quintessential Irish D reel. (Is a

quintessential tune ve times more important than an essential tune?) There’s no arguing the Irish lineage of this little gem, although it’s made its way into Cape Breton collections as  Mist on the Loch. Other Irish names are Miss Lane’s Fancy, The New  Mown Meadows, Silver Tip and The Top of the Cliff . If you really want to legitimize this tune, you can add what are called trills to it. Trills, known in ddling circles as bowed triplets, are one of the most popular forms of Irish ornamentation.

54

The most obvious places to inject trills into Silver Spear are the rst two notes of the rst, third, fth and seventh measures of both parts. That’s a lot of opportunity to practice a fairly tricky technique, so go at it, you trill-seekers. To turn two unison notes into a trill, you simply add a third unison note. Easier said than done. We’re converting a down-up sequence into a down-up-down sequence. Now here’s the hard part: you’ve then got to follow these three notes with another downstroke to keep your alternate picking in synch with the beat.

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

In the rst measure, for example, you would normally pick the two 4s down-up. The 2 which follows the 4s would then be picked down. So far so good. Adding a third 4 to make a trill requires a down-up-down, and then we’ve still got to pick the 2 with a downstroke to stay in synch. This creates a down-up-down-down situation (not to be confused with a "fourth-down situation").

This is the same technique we employ with jigs (see “A Little Chat about Jigs”, Vol 1, No 2). Jigs are in 6/8 time, so we’re faced with a series of eighth-note triplets, which are picked down-updown-down-up-down. Try to nd some Irish guy who’s been doing this all his life and see if he’ll sell you his right hand. Barring that, at least study his technique. It’s quite stunning to see the right hand essentially go double-time in little urries.

SILVER S PEAR  I D

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 NOW, ABOUT THEM CHORD PROGRESSIONS. . . I’ve mentioned several times in the past the malleability of chord progressions behind ddle tunes: One rhythm guitarist’s meat is another’s poison and all that. Indeed, chordal accompaniment is a rather new concept in Irish music, and as a result the Irish tend to have a more tolerant and creative approach to chording than exists in the bluegrass and old-time idioms. Chordal accompaniment is determined, of course, by ddle tune phrases, usually in multiples of four eighth notes, which is, not coincidentally, the space of one rhythm guitar “boom-chick”. Since we’ve discussed several times in past columns that the overwhelming majority of ddle tune content is comprised of scales and arpeggios, the obvious approach to determining chords is to follow the cue offered by the melody. Four eighth notes almost always provide a strong cue as to the most obvious chord to use. The standard chords for most tunes, then, are a done deal. The ambiguity arises in two areas: That where we want to play a different chord for avor, variety or just to be different, and that where a clear guidepost is not provided by the melody. This latter condition can arise either because of vagueness of an eighth note phrase or because of the presence of quarterand half-note phrases, which are respectively two and four times less denitive than eighth-note phrases. The fth and sixth measures of the rst part of Grant Lamb’s Breakdown, for example, could be accompanied C G C C, as shown (the obvious

choice), or C G Am C. If you really want to get gonzo about it, you could play C Dm Am C7. Stay exible and creative about your chording. I’ve been having fun lately playing an E major instead of an E minor on the second part of  Blackberry  Blossom. (Try this at home rst!) If you can clear your head of the probably-long-established concept of this as an E minor kind of part, it sounds really neat. It comes out sort of rocky, with the melody taking on a pentatonic sort of feel instead of an E minor sort of feel. Always be on the lookout for opportunities to invent new progressions, but also always practice the utmost diplomacy and tact when introducing them to your partners in musical crime. For example, I nd the above-mentioned  Blackberry Blossom changes to be a particularly hard sell because the shift from major to minor is so startling, but once I’ve applied a bit of harmonic psychology to my compatriots, all but the most tight-sphinctered dig it (or at least get it). Selling an alternate chord progression is just like selling vinyl siding: if you believe in the product yourself, you can successfully pitch it to others.

 Adam Granger has been playing guitar since Ike was president. He worked on A Prairie Home Companion  for three years, as leader of the house band, The Powdermilk Biscuit Band. He has judged the National Flatpick Guitar Contest in Wineld, Kansas, and serves on the faculties of The Puget Sound Guitar Workshop and Camp Bluegrass in Levelland, Texas. When Adam was ten, he fell off of the backyard clothesline pole upon which he had been sitting (don’t ask) and caught his right hand on one of the large hooks to which the lines were attached. He hung by his hand, feet off the ground, until the neighbor boy saw him and unhooked him. His tendons were narrowly missed. Had Adam swayed an inch or two as he fell, he might well have ended up as the guy who sells you vinyl siding instead of the guy who talks incessantly about picking ddle tunes on t he guitar.  His book, Granger’s Fiddle Tunes for Guitar , is the largest collections of ddle tunes in guitar tablature, and, along with the accompanying set of recordings of the 508 tunes, it comprises the largest source of ddle tunes for atpickers in the world.

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

55

Exploring Bluegrass Guitar Starting Up The Neck by Steve Pottier ^

Like learning to improvise, learning to play up the neck is a process of organizing the territory so that you can relate ideas in your head to places on the ngerboard. The simpler your basic organization, the easier it is to nd what you hear in your head. Probably everybody develops a slightly (or not so slightly) different view of the neck. Orrin Starr wrote several great columns on his views of playing up the neck. My own views are in some ways very similar, and in some ways different from Orrin’s. Let’s get started. At right I’ve listed six chord shapes, 3 major and 3 minor. The major chord shapes F, D and Bb should look pretty familiar to you (especially if you think of the Bb as an A chord moved up 1 fret). We’ll put aside the minor chords for now, but feel free to use them for reference. These chords, or partial chords (by this I mean that you are only using 3 or 4 strings instead of the entire barre chord), are set up with no open strings: you only play the fretted strings. This means they are completely movable. Move the F chord up 1 fret, it’s an F#. Count the frets like the chromatic scale, that is A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G Ab A etc. Move a C chord up 2 frets, you get a D and so on. We have movable chords. For each position, there is a V mark on the fretboard diagram. This is the fret number I refer to in the tables. Fingering is shown on the diagram.

     I

F shape:

     M

1

     R

2

3

Fret 1 3 5 6 7 8 10 F G A Bb B C D ^      M

D shape:

1

3) Now try “Bile ‘em Cabbage Down, ” just strumming the shapes indicated. The actual chords are shown, with the shape and where to fret the shape shown in parenthesis. For instance G(f3) would be a F shape at the 3rd fret.

     R

     I

2

3

Fret 2 4 5 7 9 11 12 D E F G A B C ^      I

Bb shape:

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1

2

3

Fret 1 3 5 7 8 10 12 Bb C D E F G A  ^      I

Dm shape:

     P

     R

1

2

Fret 1 10

3

3

6

     R

Chords Up the Neck 1

I contend that you can start playing up the neck if you can play these 3 major chord shapes. Here’s the plan: 1) Start memorizing G, C and D in each of their chord shapes, and where to nd them on the neck. G is an F shape at the 3rd fret, a D shape at 7th fret and a Bb shape at the 10th fret. Find the 3 positions in C and D, using the F, D and Bb shapes. 56

2

Fret 1 2 3 8 10

3

5

7

^

Fm shape:

     I

1

2

5) For many of you this will seem very simplistic. Well, it is simple, but the idea is to get used to nding the chords easily and changing them easily up the neck. When you are comfortable with this in at least one key, you can start expanding on what you know (remember the ducks on a pond theory?)

8

     I      M

4) Now try the same song, substituting different chord shapes but keeping the same chords . Try G(d7) to start (that would be a D shape at the 7th fret).

Expanding On What You Know

4

^

Bbm shape:

2) Practice moving from one shape to the other in the same chord: for G, start at the 3rd fret with an F shape, jump up to the D shape at the 7th fret, then back down to the F shape at the 3rd fret. It’s all G. Now include the Bb shape. Do this same exercise with C and D.

3

Fret 1 3 5 7 8 10

The thing about using these chords as the basis for your knowledge of the neck, is that bluegrass melodies are chordally based. This means that if you hold the chords, you are already holding most of the melody notes!! When I rst saw Doc Watson I was astounded that he always just seemed to be holding chords, but still got all this great melodic music coming out. Well, duh! Country and bluegrass melodies are in the chords! OK, let’s try “Wildwood Flower” up the neck, holding the chords, and strumming. Move one nger to get the extra notes, but nothing fancy yet. We’re looking to see if we can hear the melody holding the chords.

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

Bile’ em Cabbage Down G(f3)

C(Bb3)

G(f3)

D(d2)

# & 44 ’’’’’’’’ ’’’’’’’’ ’’’’’’’’ ’’’’’’’’ 1

G(f3)

C(Bb3)

G(f3)

D(d2)

G(f3)

# & ’’’’’’’’ ’’’’’’’’ ’’’’’’’’ ’ ’’’ 5

Wildwood Flower - Up the Neck  Arranged by Steve Pottier 

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 4 œ . Œ Œ &4 . Œ Œ b œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœ œœ œ œœ ##œœ .. œœ œœ # œœ œœ .œ J &œ . J œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & C(f8)

1

8 8 9

6

C(f8)

8 8 10

C(f8) 1.

10

8 8 9

8 8 8 8 8 10 9 9 9

8 8

8 8 10

10

8 8 9

8 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 10

C(d12)

C(f8) 2.

8 8 8 8 8 8 9 9

8 8 8 8 9 9

8 8

11 12 11

8 8 9

C(f8)

7

9 10 9

8 8 9

G(d7)

8 8 8 8 9 9 9

10

9

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

8 8 8 8 9 9 9

8 8 8 8 9 9

9

July/August 1999

8

10

9

7 7 8 8

C(f8)

7 7 8 8

7

10

7

7 7 8

9

7

8 8 8 8 9 9

8 8 8 8

œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ

B (d10) C(f8)

11 11 12 12 11 11

11

8

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G(d7)

F(Bb8)

8 8 8 8 9 9 9

8 8 8 8 9 9

8 8 8 1010

10

10

œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœ œ Œ Œ ŒŒ   C(f8)

10

7 7 8 8 7 7 9

8

10

8 8 9

57

Holding the chords doesn’t mean you have to just strum them. Here’s the second part of Bill Cheatham:

Bill Cheatham (B part)

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & 4 œ œ œ C(Bb3)

G(f3)

1

3

3

4

3

5

5

G(d7)

D(Bb5)

3

5

7

7

7

5

7 8 7

8

D(d2)

G(f3)

3

4

3

3

0

2

3

0

3 0

0

0

2 3 2

2

I’ll get around to more things to do using this kind of framework, but the goal for now is to move around the neck with chord prgressions you already know, substituting these shapes so that you can play the chords in different positions on the neck. Feel free to try to pick the notes in the chord as well as strum them, and maybe add a nger here and there to get a note that’s not in the chord. I’ll leave you with a little break for Foggy Mt. Breakdown using these chord shapes. Measure 13 is all D in the backup, kind of looks like “Bill Cheatham” in reverse.

Foggy Mountain Breakdown

Arranged by Steve Pottier 

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ & 4 1

G(f3)

G(d7)

G(f3)

G

Em(Bbm7)

S

S

3 3 4

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4

7 8 7

7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 7 7 7

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4

2

3 3 0 0

0

7

S

8

9

4

0

9

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ # & G(d7)

6

7

8

7 9

8

7 9

8

9

Em(Bbm7)

7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 7 7 7

7

12

8

9

7

9

8

7 9

8

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 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

John McGann's Eclectic Acoustic More Celtic Flatpicking  “Bear Island Reel” Celtic music is a group of old, rich, and deep traditions, in which lead guitar playing is a fairly recent development, as it is in bluegrass and American ddle tune styles. Having fewer melodic guitarists to study (copy) isn’t all bad, as it directs one’s attention to instruments other than guitar. Guitarists do tend to pay much more attention to other guitarists, which can lead to musical ruts. It’s a good idea to listen to and learn from all instruments, which will help your overall musicianship, and expand your own style of playing. There are literally thousands of tunes easily available on recordings and through books such as O’Neills Music of Ireland . A great feature of the current line of cassette players (and digital gizmos) is the availability of half speed. If you take a ddle performance and play it back at half speed, the notes are not only slower, but an octave lower, easy to nd in open position on the guitar. Bear in mind the ddle’s low note (G) is the same as your open G (3rd string), so if you learn note-for-note in the ddle’s octave, you are missing the bottom half of your instrument. The octave

transposition at half speed puts this note on your low E (6th string) 3rd fret. I rst heard “The Bear Island Reel” played by my Scottish ddler friend Johnny Cunningham. The key of E minor is a natural for guitar, although the tune shifts from major to minor in the 1st section. I’m not certain whether this tune is recently composed or traditional. It’s the 2nd tune in the medley of reels I recorded on my CD Upslide (Green Linnet), available through my website. A few excellent Celtic lead guitarists that come to mind are Arty McGlynn (Ireland), Dave MacIssac (Cape Breton, Canada) and Zan McLeod(USA). Any questions, comments etc. welcome via email: [email protected]

Flatpicking ‘98

Featuring 20 of today’s best atpicking guitarists: • James Alan Shelton • Dan DeLancey • Charles Sawtelle • Richard Bennett • • Russ Barenberg • Dan Crary • Sean Watkins • Larry Sparks • Richard Starkey • • Luke Bulla • Craig Vance • Adam Granger • Jimmy Haley • Orrin Star • • Mike Maddux • Jim Nunally and Dix Bruce • Chris Jones • • Jeff Autry • John McGann • Joe Carr •

Flatpicking Guitar Magazine Presents:

Flatpicking ‘98 Featuring 20 tunes that have been transcribed and presented in the second volume of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

 A Great Flatpicking Guitar Sampler!  Send a check or money order for $15 (includes postage costs) to: Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, PO Box 2160, Pulaski, VA 24301 or call 800-413-8296

Listen to Want You Have Been Reading!  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

59

New Release Highlight 

Doug and Taylor Rorrer: Tradition Reviewed by Dan Miller 

The name Doug Rorrer is probably more familiar in old-time music circles than it is in atpicking or bluegrass. His roots run deep in the old-time music tradition. The Eden, North Carolina, resident says he grew up listening to his great uncles Charlie Poole and Posey Rorer on old 78s that were owned by his father. In the early days Doug aspired to play guitar like his heroes Roy Harvey, of Charlie Poole’s band, Riley Puckett, the famous blind guitarist with Gid Tanner’s Skillet Lickers, and Gene Meade, a rhythm man who played with a atpick in the style of R iley Puckett and was best known for accompanying the legendary ddler Clark Kessinger. Although Doug has played old-time music his whole life, and continues to play that music today, he has also become an avid, and talented, atpicker due to Doc Watson’s inuence. Doug said he rst saw Doc on a Hootenany show in the 1960s and that it was Doc’s playing that really turned him on to wanting to learn how to play lead guitar. In the late sixties Doug’s brother, Kinney, was attending college in Boone, North Carolina—just down the road a piece from Doc’s home in Deep Gap. When Doug was still in high school he and Kinney sought out Doc and visited with him for a while at his home. Since that day Doc has had a great inuence on Doug’s music and, in fact, his newest CD Tradition was recorded as a tribute to Doc and Merle Watson. When asked what it was that attracted him to Doc’s music, Doug said, “Doc plays with soul . . . his phrasing, his time . . . he is the genuine article.” Like most guitar players aspiring to learn to play like Doc in the late sixties and early seventies, Doug began listening closely to Doc’s recordings and trying to pick out the notes Doc was playing. During his junior year in college at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, Doug also met another bluegrass music enthusiast named Gene Wooten. Gene, who is now a very well known Nashville-based dobro player, became Doug’s roommate during their senior year in college and thus they had the opportunity to jam together frequently. During those college years, Doug also played in a band that was featured at the  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

Tweetsie Railroad, a local tourist attraction. After graduating from college, Doug initially went into radio broadcasting, but then became a career elementary school teacher. He held that position for 14 years and then became a school librarian for 6 years. He retired from the school system in 1995. During his years as a teacher and librarian, Doug was still involved in music. He and his brother played in a number of oldtime bands with Buck and Alice Easley and had the opportunity to play with Lonnie Austin and Norman Woodlieff, the former fiddler and guitar player, respectively, for Charlie Poole’s North Carolina Ramblers. These bands played a wide range of music including old-time dance tunes, breakdowns, and big band numbers. Lonnie Anderson died in 1997 at the age of 92. Doug says that he learned a lot about back-up guitar work from Lonnie who, among other things, taught him about passing chords and up-the-neck inversions. Currently Doug performs in an oldtime band called either Shooting Creek or the New North Carolina Ramblers, after Charlie Poole’s old band. This band features his brother Kinney on old-time banjo and Kirk Sutphin on ddle. Doug has performed at such prominent locations as the Chicago Folk Festival; the Heritage Festival in Elkins, West Virginia; the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival in Ferrum, Virginia; MerleFest in Wilkesboro, North Carolina; the Alaska Folk Festival; and the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend,

July/August 1999

Washington. He has also conducted guitar workshops at a number of these locations. In 1986, while still working as a school teacher, Doug started a recording company and record label as a sideline. He continues to work in his home based studio and produces CDs under his Flying Cloud label. Although he has recorded many notable artists from the southern Virginia/northern North Carolina region, such as John and Jeanette Williams, Doug did not put out a CD under his own name until 1997 when he recorded and produced his rst solo project Under The Inuence . Doug explains that the title was a “play on words” because it was a tribute to all of the musicians who had had an influence on him over the years. Based on the success of his rst CD, Doug went back in the studio in January of 1998 and began recording Tradition. He took his time with this project, going into the studio with various friends when they would be traveling through the area. He did not nish recording until October of 1998, but the wait was well worth it as he was able to get the likes of Wyatt Rice, Kenny Smith, David Holt, Bob Carlin, Wayne Henderson, Jeanette and John Williams, Larry Rice and a host of others to come into the studio with him and record his tribute to Doc and Merle. Additionally, Doug’s fourteen year old son, Taylor, plays rhythm guitar on 7 of the tracks and not only does an outstanding job, but shows that the Tradition will continue in the Rorrer family. Tradition Doug starts off this CD with an absolutely awesome four minute and nineteen second version of “Cherokee Shufe.” This is one of my all time favorite tunes and Doug, swapping guitar licks with Wayne Henderson, gives flatpickers plenty of new material to chew on here. Larry Rice’s mandolin, Bob Carlin’s banjo , and the ddling of Jim Van Cleve add to the tremendous guitar work. The next tune is the classic Delmore Brothers song “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar.” When Doug starts singing this one 61

my ears perked up and triggered my brain to ask, “Is that Doc singing on this CD?” Doug’s voice has the same rich and smooth baritone sound that we have all come to know and love in Doc’s singing. Both Wyatt Rice and Kenny Smith add to Doug’s guitar work on this tune. Need I say more? Rice and Smith also join Doug on a great version of “Black Mountain Rag,” the sixth cut on the CD. Flatpick ddle tune enthusiasts will also enjoy Doug’s treatment of the jam session standards “Forked Deer,” “Bill Cheatem,” and “June Apple.” Each of these tunes features both Doug and Wayne Henderson on lead guitar. In addition to the above mentioned instrumentals, where Doug shares the lead work with some other great guitar pickers, there are an additional four instrumental numbers, “Rock That Cradle Joe,” “Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Peeler Creek Waltz,” and “New Five Cent Piece,” where he stretches out and performs all of the lead work by himself. On all of these tunes, I nd Doug being very true to the tasteful playing we have all come to love from Doc Watson. He is not copying Doc’s licks by any means, but the same feeling is there. In addition to the previously mentioned “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar,” vocal numbers included are: “Make Me a Pallet,” “Keep On the Sunny Side,” “Carry Me Back To The Mountains,” “Sweet Sunny South” (sung by Jeanette Williams), “Write A Letter To My Mother,” and “Today Has Been A Lonesome Day.” Doug’s lead voice is smooth, rich, and very easy to listen to. The addition of John and Jeanette Williams on harmony vocals creates an even more pleasurable listening experience. Doug Rorrer’s tribute to Doc and Merle Watson is highly recommended. Doug Rorrer can be reached at:: Flyin’ Cloud Records 168 Glenridge Dr Eden, NC 27288

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 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

New Five Cent Piece

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July/August 1999

Reviews  CD Reviews Tony Trischka: The Early Years

(Rounder CD 11578) Skyline with Tony Trischka: Ticket Back

(Flying Fish CD FF 664)

Reviewed by Joel Stein The ve string banjo certainly has been the subject of derision in bluegrass lore, yet it is the instrument that most would identify as the core instrument of the genre. So closely is the ve string entwined with bluegrass and mountain music that hip urbane country acts frequently forgo any hint of banjo in recording to attempt a crossover success. In fact, while guitars, ddles, mandolins and other instruments have crossed into various other schools of music (and in some instances, some of these players are credited with creating their own amalgam a la dawg), the banjo  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

has largely remained the province of folk and traditional country forms like old timey and bluegrass. With the advent of these two releases compiling some of ve string master Tony Trischka’s early work (both as a composer and as a player) it is clear that a re-examination of the development of “new acoustic music” is called for. While no new music can grow in a vacuum, neither can it grow without people leading the way. For the record, Trischka, along with his early collaborators (Russ Barrenberg on guitar, Andy Statman on mandolin and reeds, Kenny Kosek on ddle and piano and John Miller on guitar and bass) was melding elements of modern jazz with bluegrass and spicing it up with eastern European flavorings—largely Statman’s inuence—years before Grisman formed the rst of his venerable quintets. Credit Scruggs with enabling banjo players to get the speed and drive with three finger rolls. Credit Bill Keith (or, if you prefer, Bobby Thompson) with developing an intricate chromatic style that enabled banjo players—like nger style guitarists—the opportunity to pick out intricate solo lines (think cross picking with three ngers). Credit Jerry Garcia with bringing the banjo into the rock vocabulary, as under utilized as it was, and Bela Fleck for taking the banjo to electric proportions. But for the modern mastery of the instrument, the man who bridges the gap between the deep traditional of gourd banjos to driving bluegrass to inventive, complex harmonic excursions that owe as much to John Coltrane as they do Earl Scruggs, you need look no further than Tony Trischka. From his earliest recordings with Country Cooking (71-72) it was clear that Trischka represented a new voice on the ve string banjo. And what a voice indeed. Tony Trischka: The Early Years reissues Trischka’s rst two solo efforts,  Bluegrass Light (recorder ’73, released ’74) and Heartlands (recorded ’74-75, released ’75) on one CD. Recorded in the years between Country Cooking and his tenure with Breakfast Special, Trischka’s recordings of this period rely heavily on the close knit circle of collaborators previously mentioned.

July/August 1999

Starting the kick-off to the lead track, “Two If By Night” we hear an indebtedness to Scruggs that quickly moves into far more  jazz inuenced harmonic concepts. As the dobro (Moshe Savitsky) takes the lead to hand off to Kosek’s ddle we are set up for Statman’s Ornette Coleman inuenced mandolin solo—starting with some chopping moving in rapid re bursts of single note fury. It is clear that this is no ordinary bluegrass band. Of the twenty six tracks included here, eighteen were written solo by Trischka, one was a jointly written among the band members, one, the stand out “Twelve Weeks At Sea” by bassist Miller, and the remaining numbers either traditional or written by friends. It is as a composer that one is forced to reckon with Trischka’s legacy. His writing, much like his playing, is infused with a worldly humor, pulling from a variety of cultures, traditions and cultural legacies to make his point. He can be, by turns, touching as on the gentle “For You” with its gentle bass introduction. Or he can be downright funny as on “My Birdcage Needs A New Paper (Because My Parakeet’s Already Read The One That’s In There)” where Trischka’s banjo is surrounded by essentially an avant garde jazz outt: two electric guitars (lead by John Lanford and rhythm supplied by Danny Weiss), bass clarinet (Paul Stomper) and electric bass and drums. It is centered around the banjo but it ain’t bluegrass. While the playing is extraordina ry throughout, three of the more recognizable titles shed most light on Trischka’s —and his cohorts—place in the development of modern acoustic music. “Remington’s Ride” is simply transformed. Again, it starts with a fairly straight banjo kick off, mando, guitars chopping in support. The mando takes over for a frenetic Statman chorus, while the band lays low behind him. As Statman veers off, the band, now with drums and saxophone, come in behind. All the while, Trischka is rolling his banjo ultimately trading in the cacophony with the sax. It is unbridled joy. On “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” the tune is kicked off with a series of drums rolls, breaking way into Trischka’s read of the tune. Again, Statman follows with an 65

inspired and adventurous break. Next up is Barrenberg who contributes a monstrous solo—starting with a slide up then one quickly letting loose with a urry of notes, bluesy but keeping the melody in the front. The fiddles sweep in for a panoramic chorus, leading us back to Trischka who makes way for a honking sax solo. Again, the effect is tremendous. Trischka and his band mates take the familiar tune and instruments and put both in a new context forcing us to reexamine it all. “Soldiers Joy” is given a similarly unique treatment. Beginning with a downward cascade of chordal shapes, a sax takes the lead on the melody in a slow mournful style both reminiscent of the Kentucky Colonels, “New Soldiers Joy” and evoking a Southern battle eld. This leads way for a more traditional reading by Trischka with a sax playing the long drawn notes we’re accustomed to hearing from the ddle. Next up is a swinging ddle break as the band moves into a comp back up. Barrenberg lets loose with a typically strong solo before letting the reed back in for a twisted restatement of the melody. The tune is wrapped neatly in a bow with Trischka’s closing banjo statement and the coda from

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the sax ddles and saxes. Ticket Back , the second of these re-issues focuses on one of Trischka’s more successful forays into the world of bluegrass/ pop. Like his previous efforts with Breakfast Special, and to a lesser extent, The Wretched Refuse, Skyline was more of an experiment in fusing the world of bluegrass instrumentation with the sensibilities of an urban pop/rock band. As an added bonus, Ticket Back offers two new tracks recorded a 1996 reunion stint. Joining Trischka at the core of Skyline were Danny Weiss on vocals and guitar, formerly with the Monroe Doctrine, Barry Mitterhoff, an adventurous and extraordinary mandolin player from the Bottle Hill Bluegrass Boys. Added to the mix were Dede Wyland a solid back up guitarist and singer formerly with Gas Food & Lodging and Larry Cohen, new to bluegrass but jazz and classically trained on bass. Like many of Skyline’s contemporaries—New Grass Revival and Red White and Bluegrass, come to mind—Skyline infused tight harmony and instrumentation with solid original material and well picked songs by friends and other sources. The title tack, “Ticket Back” comes from Martha Trachtenberg, once a member of one of the original all female bluegrass bands the Buffalo Chips (later to renamed the Buffalo Gals) whose one record was produced by Trischka. Other tunes come from Jim Tolles (Breakfast Special), Vince Gill (then with the Pure Prairie League), Michael Smith (the stand out vocal cut here, “Stranded In The Moonlight”) and Bob Dylan. There are four instrumentals among the sixteen tracks here—one by Mitterhoff and three by Trischka. For those familiar with Mitterhoff’s work, his compositional style can veer off to the jazz styling of Gershwin

or other Broadway composers. Mitterhoff’s “Pour Tessa,” with its dramatic mandolin sweeps and building is within that style. As for Trischka’s three originals, by the far most adventurous is “Steam,” described in the liner notes as a series of jazz exercises coupled with the spirit of Monroe’s “Wheel Hoss.” Opening with a single bended note leading to a single note phrase on the banjo, “Steam” builds rst as Trischka employs his full ngered assualt as the band come in. Weiss in particular offers a muscular guitar solo replete with bends and turns up the neck while the band offer stop time backing. While the banjo may continue to be the joke of the bluegrass world, you can’t knock solid musicianship. Tony Trischka may play the banjo, but he is a rst rate musician and composer—perhaps without equal on his chosen instrument. Certainly, these two releases beg for a reexamination as to the roots of what has been labeled new acoustic, or Dawg, music. What Trischka—along with Barrenberg, Statman, Kosek and others—were doing is under the guise of music before all the self promotion came along.

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 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

Dix Bruce and Jim Nunally The Way Things Are

Musix CD-105

Reviewed by Bryan Kimsey I Get Blue; Folsom Prison Blues; That’s The Way Things Are; Nobody Sleeps At My Place; Something I Don’t Want To Know; Darling Will You Ever Think Of Me?; Pretty Boy Floyd; She’s Gonna Say Bye-Bye; Darling, You’re A Fool; Home’s Where I Long To Be, Sally Goodin’; Way Out In The Jungle; When I Die

It’s really rare for a CD to grab me right from the opening notes, but that’s exactly what Dix Bruce and Jim Nunally’s “The Way Things Are” did. And I mean literally from the opening notes, with their two voices kicking off “I Get Blue” in outstanding “brother” harmony style. They sound like the Everly Brothers on this song, with a lot more nitty-gritty and with some nice guitar playing. The CD continues on with an up-tempo version of “Folsom Prison Blues” and just keeps on getting better and better. The album has a lot of depth and a lot of highlights. There’s Bruce and Nunally’s excellent and well-blended vocals, their tasty and appropriate atpicking, the excellent songs (most written by the two stars), a wide span of material from swing to blues to folk to ddle tunes, and there’s that overall “sound” that exceeds the sum of the parts. While there’s some hot atpicking here, it’s not the focus of the CD. Instead, we get some great “hooks”, nice rhythm parts, and melodic playing. This album reminds me a lot of Tony Rice’s sparse and effective “Church Street Blues,” in both the material and presentation. With drums (very tasteful and appropriate), string bass, and a horn section appearance, the instrumental depth is a little greater than on Rice’s album, but the same sort of feel is there. Dix and Jim are both excellent players and get great tone  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

from their D-21 and D-28, respectively. Their original songs are outstanding, both lyrically and melodically. I particularly like Nunally’s “Something I Don’t Want to Know” and “Home’s Where I Long To Be” and Bruce’s “Darling, You’re a Fool” and “When I Die.” Their voices blend incredibly well and I can’t hardly believe they’re not brothers. They’ve got to be distant cousins at least. The main trouble with this CD is that I can’t think of enough new adjectives to properly praise it. Normally, when I’m reviewing a CD, it’ll get played 2-3 times initially and then I’ll put it away and listen to it again a week or so later. The Way Things Are   got listened to non-stop for about 4 hours the rst afternoon, non-stop that evening, non-stop the next day, and I nally had to pop in another disc in need of reviewing. As soon as that one was done, though, guess what went back in the player? I think you get the idea, and if you don’t get this CD, I think you’ll be sorry! Good job, Dix and Jim. Guess I’m going to have to break out the checkbook and get your other CD’s, too.

Hot Strings  Douce Ambiance

proponents of the “New Hot Club” movement, and this reissue of their debut album shows why they’re appreciated on both sides of the Atlantic. The quartet of two guitars, bass and violin, adheres closely to the time-tested formula developed by Django and Stephane in the 1930s, and many of the tunes here come straight from the Gypsy jazz legacy. Some are well-known such as Minor Swing, Tears and Anouman; others are rare pearls such as Webster, Douce Ambiance and Troublant Bolero. The band also covers classic standards such as Sweet Georgia Brown, Shine and Limehouse Blues with authority and great authenticity. Fere Schiedegger does an excellent job on lead guitar, and Martin Abbuhl provides an impressive melodic and harmonic counterpart on violin.  Dou ce Ambian ce   doesn’t push the boundaries of Gypsy jazz, but it delightfully plays within the established borders. For fans of this fascinatingly exotic and effervescent style, this CD will be a welcome addition.

Instructional Video Reviews

Jazzology Records, JCD 294 Learn to Play Waltzes Flatpicking Style Steve Kaufman Homespun Video VD-KAU-WZ01

Review by David McCarty Song List: Lover Come Back To Me, Songe D’Automne, Si Tu Savais, Minor Swing, La Foule, Tears, Sweet Georgia Brown, La Grande Mer, Webster, Dodo, Limehouse Blues, Anouman, Chez Jacquet, Petite Fleur, Shine, Douce Ambiance, Troublant Bolero

Reviewed by Bryan Kimsey

Gypsy jazz continues to gain fans around the world, especially among atpicking guitarists who appreciate the demanding technical challenges and intensely emotional and passionate energy behind this powerful music. Hot Strings is one of Europe’s leading

Steve Kaufman has sure come a long ways from the kid hitch-hiking to festivals and working at the gate in exchange for a ticket. This guy is a living example of what hard-work, dedication, and persistence can produce. I would tell you how many videos, cassettes, CD’s, and books he’s come up

July/August 1999

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with (they’re listed on the back of the insert for this video), but I can’t count that high, even using my toes. Needless to say, the standard response to any new atpicker asking “Where can I learn to _____?” is “Call 1-800-FLATPIK and ask for Steve”. This video is one I’m glad to see. Waltzes are a vastly overlooked atpicking form and I personally think every CD should have at least one or two, and every contest should require a waltz. Waltzes require a slightly different mind set from your average hell-bent-for-leather ddle tune, and that’s where Big Brother Steve is here to help you. In this Homespun video, he starts off with a simpler version of each tune and then builds on it, using slides, hammer-ons, triplets, chords, and melodic variations. Kaufman is the consummate teacher, teaching more workshops in a month that most of us have attended in a lifetime, and it shows. He explains each variation in detail, offering all kinds of tips along the way. Steve knows all the tricks to dressing up a tune and he shows us all of them in this video. The songs include “When I Grow Too Old To Dream”, “Star of the County Down”, “Ookpick Waltz”, “Memory Waltz”, and

“Skater’s Waltz”. Tunes are tabbed out in an accompanying booklet which includes chords, standard notation, and source. Hard to go wrong there. The split screen work is typical of Homespun videos and adequately shows what’s going on. One aw I did notice is that Steve’s voice is mixed a little lower than the guitar which makes it a little hard to hear what he’s saying sometimes. No big deal, though. If you’ve ever tried to gure out a tune from a scratchy LP, you’ll never criticize even the worst video lesson! Overall, I highly recommend this video to atpickers looking to expand their technique and repertoire. If everyone would play a waltz every so often, the atpicking world would benet from it. And here’s an easy test- play a hot, fast ddle tune followed by a waltz for your grandmother and see which one she likes best. Everyone likes waltzes, especially melodic, well-played ones like those on this video.

Performance Video Reviews Richard Bennett & Blue Towne Rebel Records

 Reviewed by David McCarty Song List: A Long Lonesome Time, Walkin’ Down The Line, Doin’ My Time, Banks of the Ohio, Today’s The Day I Get My Gold Watch and Chain, Big Mon, Sounds of Winter, Don’t That Road Look Rough and Rocky, Pallet On The Floor, Water Our Fields With Love, Salt Creek, Roan Mountain Rag

Flatpicking Guitar Magazine maintains a

 Transcription Index at our web site. Visit the following web page: http://www.atpick.com/Pages/  Tab_Index/Tab_Index.html

 This index includes an alphabetical listing of every song that has been transcribed in this magazine and tells you which issue the tab is in, what page number it is on, and who arranged and/or transcribed it. Use this web page as a handy reference whenever you are itching to learn a new tune, but can’t nd it in your stack of back issues. 68

 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

July/August 1999

Richard Bennett is one of the top atpickers in bluegrass these days. he’s also a damn ne singer and a strong band leader. So it’s not a surprise that his rst performance video comes up a winner. Running through 12 cuts that alternate between live performance video shot during the group’s appearance at Kentucky’s historic Sipp Theater and in a small recording studio where the band could lay back and concentrate on making great music, Richard Bennett and Blue Towne make a wonderful impression here. Bennett, of course, is well known to FGM regulars for his stint as guitarist and singer with J.D. Crow and the New South and for his two solo albums, “A Long Lonesome Time” and “Walkin’ Down The Line.” A highly accomplished flatpicker, Richard has absorbed many lessons from Tony Rice and other great players, but emerges here as a thoroughly mature artist with his own style. Although a few “Rice licks” emerge from time to time, all his playing comes from his own musical perspective. There’re plenty of opportunities for Bennett to display that considerable

atpicking repower here, as well, with great instrumental work on “Big Mon,” “Salt Creek,” and his ne original, “Roan Mountain Rag.” Backing Bennett on this project are former New South Dobroist Phil Leadbetter, Dean Osborne on banjo, Randall Barnes on bass and wife Wanda Bennett on ddle. Together, the group produce a clean, tight style that gives Bennett plenty of support for his formidable guitar solos.

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Tricks of Transcription How to Figure Out Chords and Solos From Recordings by Joe Carr  After many years of teaching guitar, I realize I have been holding out on my students. A student will bring in a recording and ask if he/she can learn the chords or a solo to a certain song. I’ll listen and decide whether the student is ready for this material and if so, I’ll write out the chord progression or transcribe the solo into tab or standard notation for the student. The process may take only a few minutes, but transcriptions may take up one entire lesson or more. Although I ask the student from time to time whether he hears a slide here, an open string there, a IV chord here, I do most of the work. The sad part is that while the student goes away happy, I haven’t really helped him become a self-sufficient musician. For those of us who learned to play before the current education explosion, learning to play was a slow process of trial and error—breaking down the licks on recordings one-by-one or maybe asking a good player to show us a lick or phrase. Although this kind of learning is slow, the concepts and techniques have time to sink in really well. OK, I’ve decided to come clean. Here are my tricks of transcription. I’ll start simple and build from there. Let’s say we are trying to learn a Tony Rice song and solo from a CD. Tools: a. Pencils and Standard Music or Tab paper OR Computer Notation program. b. CD player c. Adjustable speed tape player or digital “Lick Grabber” d. Guitar tuned to standard pitch

A. KEY and POSITION Listen to the entire song to determine the key and position the guitarist is using. Modern recordings generally use standard tuning, but older and non-professional recordings may not be tuned to A 440. Flatt and Scruggs tuned high on many of their early recordings to achieve a bright tone. Listen for the characteristic sounds of each instrument for clues as to the tuning. A 70

stray open, ringing string on any instrument may be just the clue you need. In G position, guitars and banjos sound the same capoed at the third fret or fourth fret, but ddles and mandolins sound very different played in Bb and B. Use your guitar to nd matching notes and chords. If you think you have found the key, let’s now focus on the guitar part. On stereo recordings, the guitar may be louder on one side. Even if the guitar is placed in the middle of the mix, the ddle or banjo may be panned hard to the left or right. Use the balance control to nd the place where the guitar is heard the best. Listen to the recording again and try to “hear” what position the rhythm guitar is playing in. The “G” shape, for example, has a characteristic sound no matter where the capo is placed. In other words, even capoed at the 4th fret, a “G” chord sounds like a G chord because of the order of intervals in that particular chord shape. Also, use your guitar sense. If you think the song is in the Key of F, where would it most likely be played on the guitar? The possibilities are many, but let’s look at the more common ones: 1. Open (non-capo)- While open F is possible in bluegrass music, it is unusual. Certainly, Tony Rice could do it, but it is much more common in swing styles. If you hear ringing strings in the chords on the recording, chances are there is a capo somewhere. 2. First Fret Capo - E position - The great open E sound is unmistakable. 3. Third Fret Capo - D position - D position is also readily recognizable and is a popular way to play in F. (Be aware that guitarists sometimes tune down the E string to D when playing in this position.) 4. Fifth Fret Capo - C position - Lots of pickers use this for “Beaumont Rag.” Most folks can hear the sound of C position. The last note (and the highest note in pitch) strummed in a chord (often the rst string) is a good clue of the capo position. If you keep hearing the A note (rst string,

fth fret) every time an F chord is played, chances are the capo is at the third fret.

B. CHORD CHANGES Before you tackle the specic chord changes of the Tony Rice song, let’s look at Joe’s General Chord Progression rules. These may be very obvious to many of you, but it has to be said: 1. Songs usually start and end on the I chord. If it’s in G, the last chord is almost always G. The rst chord is often G too, but there are many exceptions. For instance, in the key of G the rst chord of “John Hardy” is C. 2. If the last chord is I, (which it almost always is), the next to last chord is most often a V chord. In the key of G, D or D7 is often the next to last chord. 3. Many bluegrass tunes use a I-IV-V progression which, in the key of G, is G, C, and D. Learn the I, IV, V sequence in every key you play in. A large number of bluegrass and old-time country songs use these three chords in different orders. 4. Many older mountain songs have a single progression for the verse and chorus (i.e., “Pig in a Pen”). 5. If the verse and chorus are different from each other, chances are the chords will do something new at the beginning of the chorus. If the song has been loping along in G during the verse, look for a C (IV) or D (V) to start the chorus. These are not the only possibilities, but they are very common. 6. If the progression moves to a major chord other than I, IV, or V, try II or VI. In the key of G, an A (II) chord sometimes shows up (“Good-bye Old Pal”) or occasionally an E (VI) or E7 (“Salty Dog Blues”). 7. If a minor chord appears, it will often be a II minor, a III minor, or a VI minor. In the key of G, these are Am (II-) as in the “Beverly Hillbillies Theme,” a Bm (III-) as in “Dixie Hoedown,” or an Em (VI-) as in “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” Here are the chords and numbers in the key of G:

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G (I): usually played major A (II): usually played minor, sometimes major B (III): usually played minor, sometimes major C (IV): played major, sometimes 7th D (V): played major or 7th E (VI): played minor, sometimes major F# (VII): rarely in bluegrass, sometimes as major (Ex. “Sitting Alone in the Moonlight”) Using these rules as a guide and your ear as a tool, play the CD and pause the recording at the first suspected chord change. Sing the rst note of the song at the place of the change and try to nd the appropriate chord. When you think you have found it, double check with the recording and then move on through the piece. Once you have made it through a verse and a chorus, most of the work is done.

C. THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR 1. Most bluegrass songs use the chords of the verse for the solo section (breaks) but some use the chorus and others use both. 2. Be aware that some songs have a “bridge” which may occur only once and may be unrelated chordally to the rest of the song. 3. If a song changes key or modulates, it usually moves up in pitch one whole step or two frets (G to A). Half-step modulations (one fret) also occur (G to G#). To modulate to a new key, musicians often use the V chord of the new key. To get from G to A, you might use an E7 (the V chord of A). This skill only develops through practice, so promise yourself to learn at least one new song a week from a recording.

D. TRANSCRIBING SOLOS After you have determined the key of the recording, the position the guitarist is using, and the chord changes, you are now ready to start breaking down the solo. There is a possibility that the soloist is capoed differently than the rhythm guitar. Bands with two guitars and multi-track recording make this possible, so check that the solo guitar sounds like it is in the same position. If this checks out, move on. I use a two speed cassette recorder for most of my transcription work. The  Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

desired passage is recorded at full speed and then played back at “slow” speed which is approximately one-half the “fast” speed. The result is that you then hear the passage half as fast and one octave lower than it was originally recorded. The trick is that you have to hear the octave drop and adjust for it when you search for the note on your instrument. I switch between speeds often to check that I am still in the right octave. If the solo moves to the fth and sixth strings of the guitar, it gets harder to distinguish the individual notes. I’ll save my tricks for this problem for the end of this column. As a teenager, I used a four speed record player to slow down recordings. Thirtythree and a third RPM records can be played at 16 RPM with the same resultant octave drop. A little ne tuning of my guitar to the record and I was on my way. South Plains College Creative Arts Director John Hartin told me of the lick stealing technique he used as a kid. With guitar in hand and a standard record player on the oor, John would place his foot against the side of the record. With careful pressure adjustment, he could slow the turntable down enough to understand the fastest licks. In my twenties, I bought a reel-toreel recorder and used the seven and a half and three and three-quarters speeds to slow down the licks. Somewhere I still have piles of tapes lled with solos—no songs,  just solos. Digital technology has produced machines and computer programs capable of slowing music down without changing pitch. This technology continues to improve, but for now I’ll stick with cassette tape. The basic techniques are the same no matter what system you use. If you are working with a cassette player or a digital “Lick Grabber,” you should transfer the solo section from the CD to cassette or into the “Graber’s” memory. Listen to the solo several times at full speed. Transcribe as much as possible at full speed. Play the rst few notes of the solo and try to sing them. Now look for those notes on the guitar. Try for the rst note only if necessary. Once you think you have the rst notes, play the music at half speed and try playing along. Any mistakes should be obvious. Make adjustments and move on. If you are writing tab or music, write down these notes in whatever notation form you are using. (Some players prefer to memorize as they go. It takes longer, but you will know the solo when you nish.

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Many times I write as I go and then I’ll have to learn the solo from the paper at a later date.) If you are new to tab or music writing, don’t worry too much about getting the music into proper measures with correct time values. Just get the numbers on the right tab line or notes on the staff. This music is just for you and you already know how it sounds. You just want a reminder of where to put your ngers! Continue note-by-note or phrase-byphrase until you reach a logical stopping place. Play what you have done so far over until you can play it without stopping and compare it to the full speed original. You may hear subtle differences that you missed at rst: 1. Are there left hand techniques such as slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends? 2. Do some of the notes seem to ring longer than others indicating open strings? 3. Do the notes sound thin and tinny like unwound strings or more fat and dark like wound strings? Make any needed adjustments and rest your ears. A few minutes of hard listening

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will really tire your ears and brain. If you reach sections you just can’t gure out, skip them and continue with the easier parts. Many times I’ll get stumped and quit for a day. The next day, the notes sound incredibly clear and obvious to me. Continue until you have completed the solo. Congratulations! Right or wrong, you have begun.

E. OTHER ISSUES Now that you have one under your belt, let’s look at some issues. As any given note can be played several places on a guitar, nding the right one can be a big job for the transcriber. I have sometimes written entire phrases in two or three positions and learned each one to see which one made the most “sense.” Sometimes using questions 2 and 3 above help me hear where the notes are being played. A combination of positions might be the answer. Slides and open strings are often indications that the guitarist is shifting position. If you are studying one particular artist, some things may start coming easier. After transcribing ten Tony Rice solos (or learning them from someone else’s transcription), you will have a sense of some of Tony’s favorite “places” on the neck. Armed with this knowledge, you may develop an intuition about where a given Tony solo is headed. This kind of insight into how a player is thinking is one of the invaluable benets of transcription work. After you have nished with a section or the whole solo, try to get some feedback from a musical friend or a guitar teacher.

What you want to know is: “Does this (me) sound like this (the recording)? As you develop, you can trust your ear more and more, but early on, you should get some feedback. Don’t get discouraged if your transcription is way off base. Ear skills can be improved with work. Its funny that ear skills are among the most important skills for improvising musicians and yet there is very little instructional material available. I’m afraid we teachers would rather keep you coming back by doling out licks and solos instead of giving you the tools to do it for yourself. (Give a man a sh, he has a meal; teach a man to sh, he has a livelihood.)

F. ADDITIONAL TIPS 1. If the original recording used a capo and I want to slow it down just a little, I use the variable speed feature to drop the pitch a whole tone or more and adjust my capo accordingly. Example: If the original recording is capoed at the second fret and played in G position (key of A), I can adjust the recording to play back in G (one step lower) and remove the capo from the guitar to play in G. This is especially helpful on bass runs that turn to mush at half speed. 2. If necessary, I will retune the guitar one whole step or more lower. This way I can take a song in G and lower its pitch one whole step to F. With the retuned guitar, I can still play along in G position. 3. By combining the effects of the variable speed and half speed controls, I can nd a place where the music is slower and the low guitar notes are understandable. Then I tune the guitar accordingly. The two most helpful positions are : (1) Full Speed, minimum variable, and (2) Half Speed, maximum variable. 4. Some modern guitarists, mostly in rock music, tune their guitars down a step or more for a bigger sound.

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Guitar Highlight:

Dudenbostel 12 Fret Dreadnought: D-18S by Mike Whitehead

Guitars and the Meaning of Life Do you ever wonder why the neck of Norman Blake’s guitar joins the body at the 12th fret instead of the 14th? Are you often kept awake at night pondering the reasons Martin shifted away from 12 fret Dreadnoughts in the mid 1930’s? Maybe Dan Miller asked me to write this article because I am the only non-institutionalized hominid living below the Arctic Circle who responded with an emphatic “Yes” to both questions. Before we get into the guitar at hand, I would like to briefly discuss the journey of the 12 fret Dreadnought guitar. History The Dreadnought size guitar was primarily designed by F.H. Martin and Harry L. Hunt. The rst prototypes made under the Martin name appeared about 1931, had 12 fret necks, and were called D-1 and D-2. Later that year, the experimental D-1 evolved into the D-18. Only a few were made the rst few years, but production increased with the growth of folk and country music. About 1934, the D-18 grew a 14 fret neck in response to customer demand. The 12 fret D-18 disappeared from the regular Martin line for about 30 years, then re-emerged in the 1960’s, again due to nicky customer demand.* (Those baby boomers always seem to demand whatever is not readily available.) What is it about those early 12 fret guitars that make us salivate like a Pavlovian dog when we hear them? What factors contribute to the unequivocal 12 fret mystique? While reviewing this ne guitar, I was able to approach some level of understanding to these questions. 1996 Dudenbostel D-18S (#15) The body of the guitar consists of high quality quarter sawn mahogany back and sides with a red spruce top. The wood puring around the sound hole and body in conjunction with a long slot bridge give the instrument a simple, but polished look. Made to customer specications, the shape of the 1.75" (at the nut) rounded V neck is 74

modeled after a 1935 Martin D-28. A set of Waverly tuners hung on a rounded slot peghead with a Brazilian rosewood overlay provides just the right look and feel. The neck angle was on target as well. As I slipped my dental mirror and light into the sound hole, I got a very pleasant surprise. The workmanship inside the body is immaculate. The scalloped bracing appears to be typical vintage Martin style. The maple bridge plate has an ebony inlay to help protect the top from damage caused by the ball ends of strings. Farfegnugen! The materials and workmanship in this guitar are among the best I have seen. But the real deal is “How does the axe sound?”

Sound Test and Answers to Life After about ten minutes of playing, I was able to summarize my thoughts to the guitar owner into “Uh...You don’t have plans for the next couple of hours, do you?” I was expecting a lot, but received a lot more. In short, this is one of the most powerful, yet well balanced guitars of this type I have played. It has that unmistakable 12 fret timbre that is difcult to explain on paper. The sustain is just right and all the notes seem to be clear and distinct, with no boominess or harsh tones anywhere on the neck. As I was enjoying myself, I stumbled across another epiphany - My voice sounds different when I sing with this guitar. It is almost eery, but the tone of this 12 fret Dudenbostel seems to better compliment my voice than most 14 fret Dreadnought guitars. After 20 minutes of playing and singing, I experienced ashbacks of Norman Blake, Josh White, and Joan Baez - all at the same time. After researching this phenomenon a little further, I discovered that Martin believed the 12 fret tone was better suited to vocal accompaniment all along.* So what cosmic force drives customer demand for tone? Is it El Nino? Is it simply gravity pulling the blood from our heads? We may never understand why we do what we

do. But one thing is true for sure - Lynn Dudenbostel is one of the premier luthiers of our day. One would be hard pressed to nd a better instrument than this 12 fret D18S. My recommendation is two fold: 1) Seriously consider a 12 fret Dreadnought for your next guitar; and 2) The next time we see him, let’s all “Ask Norman.”

Reference: *  Martin Guitars - A History Copyright 1975 by Mike Longworth Colonial Press Division Universal Graphics Corporation Horsehill Rd, Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927

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CLASSIFIEDS Classied ads will be accepted for guitar and musical related items @ 40¢ a word, 50¢ a word for bold lower case type, 60¢ a word for bold upper case type. Please call (800) 413-8296 to order, or send ad to High View Publications, P.O. Box 2160, Pulaski, VA 24301

Instructional Material: VIRTUAL BAND BLUEGRASS METHOD. For Guitar, Dobro, Mandolin, Banjo, Bass or Fiddle. Progressive and matching arrangements for each instrument. Includes theory, technique, backup, with multiple tempos. Book and play along CD  $23.00 ppd. Specify instrument. Jay Buckey, 4017 N. Torrey Pines, Las Vegas, NV 89108 (702) 396-7824.     GUITAR JAM: Play leads to “Blackberry Blossom,” plus 11 other classics with our back-up band. A fun way to develop timing. Tape and TAB booklet $16.95 ppd. Custom Practice Tapes   now available! Choose from almost 400 songs and we’ll play them slow and fast for twice the  jamming. Andy Cushing, 6534 Gowanda St. Rd., Hamburg NY 14075

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TEXAS MUSIC AND VIDEO PRESENTS SUPERCHARGED FLATPICKING! David Grier slows down Wheeling, Old Hotel Rag, Engagement Waltz, Bluegrass Itch, That’s Just Perfect, Eye of the Hurricane, Impulsive, Shadowbrook, Smith’s Chapel, Porkchops and Applesauce, and Lone Soldier - $29.95. Also videos from Joe Carr, “60 Hot Licks for Bluegrass Guitar” and “Bluegrass Flatpick Favorites,” $29.95 each or both for $49.95. Advanced Concepts, PO Box 830, Levelland, TX 79336, 1-800-874-8384, Fax 806-894-2580, Web: www.musicvideo.com

GUITAR LICK CARDS: from standard to stellar, 81 licks are isolated on playing cards. Line them up with the same chord progression as your favorite song and voila! It’s a new arrangement! Rearrange the licks for endless variations. They’re inspiring! Available for mandolin and banjo too. $11.50 ppd. per set. Andrew Cushing, 6534 Gowanda St. Rd., Hamburg NY 14075.

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CLASSIFIEDS

continued

Guitars, Strings, and Accesories: TONY RICE PROFESSIONAL model by Santa Cruz duplicates most closely the specications of Tony Rice’s personal Santa Cruz guitar. Four examples currently in stock, including one with rare vertical grain Brazilian Rosewood. Steve Swan Guitars (510) 527-1734, Fax (650) 401-7306, email [email protected], website www.steveswanguitars.com SANTA CRUZ TONY RICE model redened the modern bluegrass dreadnought. Eight new examples in stock in various combinations of Brazilian Rosewood, Indian Rosewood, Sitka Spruce, European Spruce, and Adirondack Spruce. Steve Swan Guitars (510) 527-1734, Fax (650) 401-7306, email [email protected], website steveswanguitars.com BLUEGRASS and VINTAGE ARTIST dreadnought Santa Cruz models give you a vintage sound with modern playability advantages. Seven new examples in stock in various combinations of gured Mahogany, Indian Rosewood, Brazilian Rosewood, European Spruce and Adirondack Spruce. Steve Swan guitars (510) 527-1734, Fax (650) 401-7306, email [email protected], website www.steveswanguitars.com

FOR A GOOD TIME   try a free sample copy of The Vintage News, monthly review of the most special, superb sounding fretted instruments. Subscriptions: $15 a year for 12 issues ($20 overseas). Mandolin Brothers, 629 Forest Ave, Staten Island, NY 10310; tel 718-981-8585; fax 816-4416; website: www.mandoweb.com; email: [email protected]

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