The Most Important Part Of The Song

Let's say that you hear a song that you want to learn. The only problem is that it's not just a solo guitar playing it. There are horns, violins, piano, drums and a washboard all merrily playing along. How do you take that from a large group sound to a small group or solo sound ?

Take a listen to the first video playing "Digga, Digga, Doo" in a tradtional jazz band setting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg4ByUZ-zEo

Then see how it's done in a duo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9_4ecNUqpw

What do they have in common? The melody. Without the melody, you're sunk.

This applies even if you did the same song as a soloist. After the melody's established is the time to get fancy.

The easiest ways to embellish melodies are by using intervals like 6ths and 10ths and triads. Learning how to use small, harmonized groups of chords can broaden your playing.

New Lessons

I've added a simple survey asking for feedback on the lesson. I want to know if the information in the lesson is helpful to you. The only way that I'll know that is if you tell me.

I'll be adding this survey to other lesson pages, as well. Thanks in advance for sharing your opinion with me.

On the subject of lessons, I do offer live online lessons.

One other feature that I'd like to tell you about is the flag counter on learn-fingerstyle-guitar.com's Home Page. It shows where the visitors of learn-fingerstyle-guitar.com come from. I feel a bit overwhelmed to know that so many people share my love of fingerstyle guitar and visit my site. THANK YOU!

I hope that you'll be encouraged by it as well. You may be the only person that you know who's interested in playing fingerstyle guitar. But, in truth, you're a member of a family that is found in 99 different countries (this mornings count). That's a pretty big family.

That's it for this month's edition. As always, contact me with any questions or comments.

See you next month!

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