TheFolksinger's Fingerstyle Guitar Lesson #1

[trilobite3339]

sounds like 4th time around

[marizpiano]

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[PetiteProvence]

Finally sat down and tried a few lessons - great! Off to try some others...

[TheFolksinger]

@PetiteProvence Good to see you here, Love PetiteProvence and you as well. Come often, and next summer we should play together a lot.

[budzyy9]

is learning to play the guitar as easy as it looks?

[TheFolksinger]

@budzyy9 It is easy. Probably as easy at it looks. That having been said, it is always necessary to get a guitar, get a proper hold on it, and start practicing. Without constant practice, nothing really happens. The nice thing is, if you enjoy guitars, practicing is fun! Thanks for the question.

[djngar]

what hes doing is amazing;. TALKING FLUENTLY and playing at the same time

[TheFolksinger]

@djngar Each of those skills, though separate, can be combined by practice.

[Hoopermazing]

Every time I see that Hirade, I'm overcome with guitar envy.

[TheFolksinger]

@Hoopermazing I was lucky to find it, second-hand but unplayed, at a discount in Grand Rapids, MI, some sixteen years ago. It has been a real friend.

[Hoopermazing]

@TheFolksinger Grand Rapids! Doh! It could have been mine. Sixteen years ago, I was in college just outside of Grand Rapids... specifically, Allendale.

[TheFolksinger]

@Hoopermazing Yup, glad I got there first. The A-1 Guitar shop no longer exists. I have performed in a little Allendale school years ago. I think it was around 1980. It was a nice town then, and probably still is.

[jason2sonytv]

awesome..i really like this....

[TheFolksinger]

@jason2sonytv Thanks, friend.

[sk8ter756]

you should do some covers on Jack Rose, or John Fahey. Great lesson sir!

[TheFolksinger]

@sk8ter756 Thanks for the encouragement, and for the suggestions. These are fine performers to consider covering, and I will consider it.

[ComedownScream]

I really like your videos =)

But i have one question

what do you play at the begining of this video?

I really like this "melody"

[TheFolksinger]

@ComedownScream I believe it is just an improvisation done in the key of E while I am talking. Hopefully, I will do a video in just a few days concerned with playing simple melodies in a fairly "fancy" style in the key of E. You may find the approach similar to the lead in on this video. Thanks for the comment.

[DrOwl26]

Ah this is perfect! Just what I'm looking for to help me develop my skills and knowledge. Do you use a nylon string guitar? Is it OK to play folk on a nylon string or should I get a steel? Thanks so much for posting this and your other lessons, one of the clearest, well-paced tutorials I have seen!

[TheFolksinger]

I have both nylon and steel, but I usually use the nylon string guitar, since I focus on finger picking rather than picking with a pick. Thanks for the encouragement.

[cubesolvr]

I heard that this will make your fingers bleed at first for a while until you develop some callouses. Is that true?

[TheFolksinger]

Not if the guitar is of reasonable quality, and you don't spend more than an hour at a time practicing without a break.  In my own case that happened, but I started with a 27$ guitar with steel strings about an inch above the fretboard. And I was determined to make some chords. The callouses finally came.

[madfortrad5958]

brilliant video

[TheFolksinger]

Thanks for the kind words.

[lizardman2135]

Great video! Easy to understand....

[TheFolksinger]

Thanks for the encouragement.

[halfdano1]

I really appreciate that you are spending your time on teaching on youtube. I am looking forward to learning your other lessons...

[TheFolksinger]

I enjoy doing it. Thanks for the encouragement.

[Puppysbreath]

Wow - great tutorial. I've been trying to 'hack it' on my own (to learn fingerpicking) but this tutorial was very educational and gave some excellent insight. Thank you for taking the time to post these videos. :)

- Jen <3

[TheFolksinger]

You are most welcome.

[Toracube]

Well taught. With heart. Practiced along. Andy

[TheFolksinger]

Thanks, Andy. Glad to know this. It's important to play along, I think.

Cheers!

[thetattytruth]

really charming i am going to practise this, thanks :D

[TheFolksinger]

You are welcome. And you are right to "practice" it. I am busy learning to play The Chapman Stick at the moment, and one thing is clear: practice is the main thing.

[lpkn2304]

thank you for the great lesson.However you can have a better filming angle,maybe?

[TheFolksinger]

I hope so. I've experimented with others. This was the first video I posted, so it was bereft of video-technique-experience.

[ramontieneuncamion]

Thank you very much :)

[Joskun]

wow, I wanted to let you know that this lesson is very helpful to me. I'm trying to master different styles, folk, flamenco etc..

I can't wait for lesson 2 :)

[TheFolksinger]

It's there somewhere on Youtube, I think with a #2 attached. Thanks for the encouragement.

[emokidknife]

yeah me 2...

[ridgeA6]

mann ur pretty good

[TheFolksinger]

Thanks for the encouragement. "pretty good" ,I believe, comes mostly by patient practice. So it's within reach of just about everybody who is willing to persist.

Cheers!

[Rocknpeace101]

been playing 6 months and i'm glad i came across ur videos

[TheFolksinger]

Glad you are here. Keep coming back.

[R1DDL3RS]

How do I know which strings in finger style to strum like with the D chord...I could pick which strings?

[Sharki91]

I've strummed chords and sung along for 20+ years without having the "big picture" of the guitar, fretboard, and music for that matter. Following your lessons has me seeing the guitar in a new way. I am beginning to see the forest through the trees. I'm starting to see the "why" and the "how" behind chords, scales, and their relationship to one another. It takes a bit of genius to show others how to make the complicated simple. If only Obama had that genius...

[TheFolksinger]

Thanks for this encouragement.

[murthax]

wtf does Obama have to do with this lesson. Can't you curb your politics? f man.

[FunBoy15]

I agree...

[vauxhall908]

thank you for your lessons...

[Sence900p]

A bit annoying when u play and talk at the same time in the start.

otherwise a ok video..

[Disputed1]

very nice lesson. much appreciated

[m16xxx]

hey man thanks a lot for the gershwin summertime lesson. you guys played it beatifully how it should be. i never could play ad-lib lead guitar(i am still at the bottom end of intermediate, i guess)but now its flowing out of me when i play along with your Summertime, thanks again. you´re the best teacher on you tube i found so far, really.

[TheFolksinger]

Thanks for the compliment and the encouragement."Summertime" is a great song to use as a basic one, because it makes use of both major and minor chords to support a beautiful melody.

[TheFolksinger]

Thanks. Unfortunately, because of the pressure from some publishers to claim copyright infringement, I decided to remove the Gershwin numbers and other covers. I'll try to replace them with original material that can serve the same teaching purposes.

[sammiepup]

Education should present both sides and allow students to decide for themselves. Too many times only one side is presented and that is not the true path to enlightenment. You have your right to support the Big O as I have the right to oppose him. I came looking for guitar inspiration. If I wanted to hear more McCain \ Palin bashing or more misguided Obama praise I would tune in to NBC. This is my final posting so reply if you like but do not expect continued dialogue. Good day.

[sammiepup]

I agree 100%.  I also came here to expand my knowledge and enjoyed lesson 1. However, after I listened to the Sarah Palin song there is no way I will watch, contibute or join this liberal's gang. Too bad you chose to inject your political views (which you certainly are entitled to have) into an educational venue....OOPS!!!!!my bad, that is the norm in our educational system. I forgot, the point is NOT to teach anything but rather to indoctrinate and expand the "dream of socialism." See ya.

[TheFolksinger]

Sorry that an opposing point of view turns you off. But, hey, I am a folksinger, and I do support Obama and have hope that he may prove to be a great leader for the US at home and in the way the US deals with the rest of the world. And folksinger's have a long history of questioning the right (and sometimes wrong) sides of government.

If you think about it a bit more, your comments are much more doctrinal than my song. The song means to leave one free to make his own choice.

[sondheimfan1]

Don't listen to these extreme right trying to push their ideas upon society...keep doin' exactly what you're doing man. As a musician myself I alway find myself questioning the establishment.  DON'T CHANG A THING ABOUT YOUR VIDEOS...they're awesome lessons!

-Vote Blue '08

[TheFolksinger]

Thanks for the encouragement. My absentee ballot, and my wife's, were submitted last week.

Cheers!!!

[sunglasses20]

I came here looking for guitar lessens but after listening to the PRETTY SARA PALIN SONG.I came to the conclusion there is no intelligent life here.FOX NEWS CAN HELP YOUR PROBLEM.

[TheFolksinger]

FOX NEWS.  Right.

[ALANJUN]

Hey :) Wondering if you are still in egypt , im egyptian , if you have an email ?

[TheFolksinger]

Still here, though I don't usually put my email on YouTube. But send me yours through one the TheFolksinger sites, and I can reply.

[keddie68]

Hey, I am a beginner and I understand it all.

Although it is not my language !

Thank you very much for teaching me

Greetings from germany

[TheFolksinger]

Thanks for the comment. It's encouraging to hear that someone finds the lessons helpful. I hope to put some more lessons up, but they will have to wait till I have recovered from my broken leg in Michigan and have returned to Cairo. Probably in mid May. Wish I could pass through Germany on my way; one of my favorite moments was hering the organ in the cathedral in Koln. Long ago...in the 1970's.

[xman7727]

Thanks a lot! I learned something new

[playmorebluegrass]

hey...thanks!! I have some new chord forms now!

[rightsaidshane]

great lesson!

[TheFolksinger]

I often do, but more or less to relative pitches. Someday I'll hook up an electronic tuner and get it perfect.

[guitargt]

good

[BobDylansMystic]

Fantastic....... great lesson

[Psychox]

Greetings from Egypt, I'd love to meet you :)

[TheFolksinger]

back now from a trip to Nigeria, and soon will start the new term teaching at AUC. Holed up at home now in Masr Gideeda. Hope to do some new videos for Youtube ASAP.

[Psychox]

Awesome, there are a lot of guitarists in AUC.

Masr Gideeda yea? I live in Heliopolis..sweet.

[willied42]

Very Good Lesson. Well Done!.........Memphis Blues Man

[KOOLprankster1234]

THanks grandpa it was very helpful....

[TheFolksinger]

Would gladly join if I were anywhere near Brooklyn. I do have a son, Sten, who lives in B. Heights. Looked up the site online, and it looks like it will be a good thing.

[ikansusu]

much impressed, thanks for the effort.

[Griswolm]

As a new guitarist looking for some nice things to learn, that was very nice. ONce I get the hang of it I'll be back for more.

[Gitpia]

Thanks, fot your time and also I learning this good musicstyle.

[McMillan753]

Man,this is THE video set Ive been searching for,I already play and sing (Badly but good enuff for me)

on fingerstyle guitar and piano.This is gonna be good

for me,so much so I wont watch any more until I have

mastered this lesson. My kids are convinced this is me on the video,same age group,same musicstyle,same beard!! Thanks Bill I appreciate it.Greetings and yet more thanks from Bonnie Scotland. Mac

[chussssss]

hey man, the link was forwarded to me by a PTP member, nice lesson and very useful.. hope to see more.