This video shows you how to tune your guitar to Open D tuning (D-A-D-F#-A-D). Open D is the same relative tuning as Open E, just a whole step lower. In general, I recommend using Open D rather than Open E as it usually results in better action and fewer broken strings. (If you need to play in the key of E, you can use a capo on the 2nd fret.) Open D tuning is popular among slide guitar and fingerstyle players – great for country / blues riffs, new age fingerstlyle, slack key, just about anything really. I hope you have fun exploring the possibilities of this tuning.
If you want to explore more of this tuning, you can check out my lesson on Barcelona, by George Ezra, which is a fingerstyle song in Open D.
I’m lucky in that I have great fingernails and don’t need fake / acrylic nails. A lot – probably most – great fingerstyle players use fake nails however, so if your nails aren’t naturally strong enough and you want to use fake nails you’ll be in good company. For me though, I find my regular nails work fine and I really enjoy not having to fool with fake nails. In fact, I don’t even use nail files for shaping my nails anymore. In this video I’ll talk about the fingernail approach that has worked for me, and the only nail tool I use (hint: clipper). Again, this isn’t going to work for everyone, but I do recommend that you try your natural nails FIRST before you get into using acrylic / fake nails as it will save you time / money if you can use your natural fingernails.
Continuing his series of great songs about European cities that start with the letter “B,” George Ezra gives us a moody song about Barcelona. This is a fun song on guitar, and very manageable if you know a little fingerpicking and don’t mind using an open tuning. If you have some experience on guitar and want to learn some fingerpicking and play in an open tuning for the first time, this would be a good song to try out. I teach the song in Open D, though the recorded version is in the key of F – it looks like George is tuning to open E and putting a capo on the 1st fret. I prefer to tune down to Open D, and you could put the capo on the 3rd fret to get to the key of F. (People who want to sing & play the song can experiment with different keys by moving the capo around.) This is such a fun tune that I’m really looking forward to future songs from George Ezra about Berlin, Bologna, Bordeaux, Brno, Bratislava, Brussels, Bergen… Anyway, hope you have fun with this song.
Part I – Picking patterns, chords, melody, playing through the song
Part II – the solo / instrumental section
Lesson road map:
Part I
00:04 – Play-through
01:12 – Introduction, difficulty level
01:51 – Tuning: Open D, tuning & capo considerations
03:42 – Picking pattern: bass pattern, finger-string assignment
06:50 – Picking pattern: basic picking pattern, rhythm count
08:42 – Verse: chord progression
09:42 – Verse: 1st string melody line
13:21 – Verse: combining 1st string melody w/ picking pattern
16:20 – Verse: play-through with rhythm count
18:09 – Chorus: chord progression
20:19 – Chorus: picking pattern, rhythm count
22:45 – Chorus: play through
23:50 – 2nd Verse is structured differently, play-through
25:00 – Song structure from 2nd chorus through outro
26:42 – Parting thoughts
Part II
00:04 – Play-through & introduction
00:59 – Structure & chord progression
01:37 – Melody notes
05:35 – Play-through of melody over the I chord
06:09 – Combining melody & picking pattern
09:30 – Rhythm & counting through the solo section
11:07 – Play-through with rhythm count
11:59 – Play-through at slower tempo (guitar only)
12:40 – Parting thoughts
Morning Moon is a combination of two existing ideas, the first being a song I wrote shortly after watching a lunar eclipse. The second idea came years later, resulting in a song with different interweaving parts. The more energetic latter part of the song is a take on some of the ideas in the mellower first part, taking the song in a different direction. I decided to call the song Morning Moon after looking at the still-visible moon one morning, well after daylight.
Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.
All rights reserved to this song, however students may perform the song in public.
If you’ve never really tried one for an extended period of time, you should use a thumbpick for several months to see what it’s like. Of course you can play fingserstyle with a thumbpick, but you can also hold it like a flatpick for strumming chords and playing single note runs. Try wearing one for a couple of months, and just hold it like a flatpick most of the time. After a while, you’ll find that you are using a combination of playing with your fingers and holding it like a flatpick – the best of both worlds.
Using a thumbpick is obviously great for folk / fingerstyle on acoustic guitar, but you can also use it on electric guitar to great effect. The thumbpick lends itself to roots music of all sorts, including blues and country. Chords come alive with dynamic control in jazz, and riffs can really pop when you’re playing rock. Even bluegrass – that traditional bastion of flatpick on guitar – can benefit from a thumbpick… and as mentioned you can still flatpick with it.
For the most part, you don’t give up much when using a thumbpick as a flatpick, though certain techniques like picking/pinch harmonics won’t come off the same way. You may not be able to get quite the same dynamics, but overall what you gain will probably be more useful. (As another bonus, because a thumbpick is secured to your thumb, you won’t drop it.)
As noted in the video, I prefer Fred Kelly’s Delrin Slick Picks – generally using medium for acoustic, and heavy for electric. These picks have a snug fit which may feel too tight at first, but they do loosen up a bit after you wear them for a while. They also make a ‘large’ size version of the pick, and of course there are many other brands / styles that fit differently which you can try. (One trick – that may not work with all pick materials – is to run them under hot water for a while, and then you can loosen / tighten the fit.) Use your common sense and intution – obviously avoid thumbpicks that are outright painful, but be willing to try out ones that are merely uncomfortable for a while, potentially adjusting them, to see how you like them.
One final note – generally I do not recommend thumbpicks for beginners unless they only want to do fingerstyle guitar. I think it’s better to develop your technique with a flatpick and then add a thumbpick later on. I may change my mind on this in the future, but for now that’s how I feel.
Fred Kelly page for Delrin Slick Picks – http://fredkellypicks.com/product/delrin-slick/
Note – this page is more for reference. To order Fred Kelly picks a few at a time, try the Elderly link below. They also have other brands / styles you can try.
If you want to try out different picks and just order a few at a time, Elderly has a great selection – http://elderly.com/accessories/cats/PKTB.html It might be good to order several different sizes / shapes styles to see what you like.
My mom is a big fan of Bruce Springsteen and used to play the Born In The U.S.A. album a lot. Listening to it again as an adult, it’s a sad, powerful album with some great tunes. I’m on Fire is a really cool little song – almost a sketch at under 3 minutes long, but it really creates a great atmosphere in that short amount of time. I had fun playing it fingerstyle and hope you enjoy my arrangement. Here’s to The Boss.
Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.
All rights reserved to this arrangement, however students may perform the arrangement in public.
Here is a fingerstyle guitar arrangement of Auld Lang Syne I came up with. It’s a slack key tinged version with an added bridge/transition, but otherwise follows the familiar melody closely.
Happy New Year!
All rights reserved to this arrangement, however students may perform the arrangement in public.
Also – if you’re interested – here are the original lyrics to Auld Lang Syne, as penned by poet Robert Burns:
Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
On Old long syne.
CHORUS:
On Old long syne my Jo,
On Old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
On Old long syne.
While working on some other songs in this tuning, I was hit with some divine inspiration for this arrangement of Amazing Grace. I like the sparse sound of the arrangement.
All rights reserved to this arrangement, however students may perform the arrangement in public.