Piedmont Blues Guitar Lesson

[GodMadeEverything]

piedmont blues finger picking patterns popular with people like ......0:10

[youcancallmedusty]

Dood, thanks a lot!

[blusygal]

I hope you do more videos .Its enjoyable seeing someone so natural and down to earth you play so easily and naturally you have your own style .

[Stringyheads]

I love John Hurts music, I totaly agree he would have to be one of the best Delta Kings

[PeluMaad]

Elephants Always Develop Gout Before Easter  ...dude...first, find out what Piedmont blues are...try Blind Boy Fuller.

[PeluMaad]

Elephants Always Develop Gout Before Easter ...dude...first, find out what Piedmont blues are...try Blind Boy Fuller.

[PeluMaad]

Elephants Always Develop Gout Before Easter

[noddlit]

Thanks, that's great. Too bad you cut your eyes off - a bit freaky seeing a talking 1/2 head, but really helpful stuff. More of the same, eh?

[stachel2000]

a little ....ääh...but..it works....thank you !!!!!!!! it works....i´am learning by watching...:o)

[BrounWright]

Thanks for the lesson!! Good thorough explanations, except for maybe instead of "this fret here or this fret here" you could say "e string 2nd fret or b string 2nd fret".

[sirswedishmike]

that may be helpful. I did this lesson on quick improv style though, so it is what it is.

[slash46xx]

elephants and dinsaurs grow beards easily!!!! is the 1 i was taught lol

[daddyblue123456]

Hey Mike,

You were wrong a year ago!!! Standard tuning EADGBE is..."Elephants Always Dance Good Before Eating".  LOL

Great Lesson!!!

[sirswedishmike]

Elephants Are Damn Good Being Eaters...haha I'm sure there is more out there....haha

[VonSaxenCoburg]

@daddyblue123456

Eddy ate Dynamite, GoodBye, Eddy? :-) I love those little memoryjuggers!

[ccfliege]

kool playing, next time you sing along!!

[ex0ja]

love the guitar

[noogiebrown]

hey this is nice. ive tended to be a plectrumer, but wanna get into picking more, now im getting more into old blues.

i think ry cooder, or some associated with beefheart, said god gave us fingers to pick the blues, or something like that.

[sirswedishmike]

ha ha yeah for sure. Once you start playing with your fingers for a few years, you just won't go back. That's the way it is for most I think. For me, I just don't use a pick for anything, any style of playing anymore. It just feels better to use fingers personally.

[HammeroftheBlues]

Nicely done, Mike! Thanks for keeping the blues alive. You rock.

[dvsdds]

Thanks for posting, Mike. I heard a piedmont style discussion on "BB Kings Bluesville" on satellite radio and started looking up lessons. I enjoyed your layed back style and historical referances!

[sirswedishmike]

It is a style that is pretty obscure these days, but it is still going strong where the roots are laid.

[floridamg]

Never tried this style of blues until I watched your videos. Thanks. You're making it happen for me.

[sirswedishmike]

I'm flattered and stocked for you. For me it's one of my favorite things to play on teh guitar.

[oliiscoolish]

beautiful guitar. even if it is old

[davealockhart]

You're lesson was really helpful. Thanks for that!!

[sirswedishmike]

glad you liked it. It is a pretty simple style once you get some basic right hand picking stuff going, and super enjoyable to play.

[JOHNZIM1]

what make and model guitar is tht

[sirswedishmike]

It is an old harmony, not sure the model.

[2nahavemercy]

Ha. i got an old Stella by Harmony.

Sounds like shit for sure, but my playing is the main reason ha!

[bestchess]

you do a great job teaching you have givin a gift to people world wide bless you

[maxime1392]

thanks for tyhe lesson , you got a blues guitar .... beautiful

[nolahoff]

nice lesson man. thanks for sharing

[Silvabokis]

Hey mate - I've only been playing for a year and I really want to play good blues music.

Your lesson unlocked something in terms of experimenting with a regular rhythm style and then playing with pinky finger placement & sliding finger position to vary the sound. It was a real breakthrough for me - thanks again.

[sirswedishmike]

It really changes the whole sound huh? It goes from chord sounds, to melodies over the chords. It is so fun to play too!

Cheers, glad you smashed another Plateau. Progress is really going through one plateau to the other, and sometimes plateaus really take some time to move past.

[grimcurry]

SO GOOD MAN, very helpful, thanks 4 the post.

[sirswedishmike]

Isn't it an amazing guitar tradition?

[SWEENEYsweetie13]

thanks so much! this is really helpful. i'm trying to learn and i like how you break down what each finger is doing.

[sirswedishmike]

glad it's useful! Listen to a lot of mississippi john hurt.

[RandyHaddock]

Great video, man!

[ayavner]

Hey this is great stuff! I am planning a trip to Fur Peace Ranch later this year, so kinda starting to investigate this style so I can have some of it under my skin. This is a great resource and you make it look so easy. Thanks~!

[thebuzzells1]

where are you from and who did you learn from? did you learn from you tube?

[bratlien]

Thanks for posting!

Another Piedmont player to check out: Charlie Parr. Excellent stuff.

[deckysimon]

great thanks for that. been looking for the nme of that style, i was callin it ragtime!

any ideas about,trucking my blues away by blind boy fuller

[sirswedishmike]

I would love some video responses on other people's piedmont blues styles, since all piedmont blues players seem to play things a bit differently. Just an idea!

[pawneola]

hey man i suck so thanks

[sirswedishmike]

We all suck until we learn. I like to think of things not as easy or hard, but familiar or unfamiliar.

Even really technical things are easy to someone who has been playing for a while, so it isn't really easy or hard, it is familiar or unfamiliar. I think if people thought of it in those ways, they wouldn't get as discouraged, and reach their goals easier. That's just my take. Keep playing!

[Roguemarlfox]

Nice lesson, and that guitar looks legit. I love playing blues on a guitar that looks like it knows firsthand what it means to have the blues.

[sirswedishmike]

for sure. I got it from an old estate in oklahoma. When I got it, it had old smoke paste all over it, an NRA sticker and some insurance sticker on it, and yeah some kind of bullet looking holes on the tail. I would love to know the story of this old guitar, but I've already made my own kind of story with it as well. It sounds incredible, I get people wanting to take it off my hands pretty often.

[spanishclashstream74]

Wow, it's really seems more complicated than piano.. but i would like to learn this one day! #___#

[sirswedishmike]

I am trying to learn piano now. I know all the theory and can read notes and understand most of the stuff, but I have no cordination, no speed, my fingers are very confused. we are crossed, but the same frustration.

[scrimmerman]

Nice little lesson. For everyone's information.

(Not that it really matters, just to set the record straight) I'm a native North Carolinian from the Piedmont region (Charlotte) It IS pronounced Peed Mont with a double e sound, NOT Pied mont with an "I" sound

Thanks!

[sirswedishmike]

good to know.

[jessupar]

when playing in E, this is just me of course, but usually when i switch to the A i just bar the top 4 strings (DGBE) at the 2nd fret and leave the A string open so i can fret the high E string on 2, 3 and 5 very easily.

good lesson... but i laughed every time you said piedmont. i say it like pie... not pee... so i dont know who's right, but it really dosnt matter.

[sirswedishmike]

ha ha, I'm from idaho, I don't claim that anything I say is gramatically or geographically correct.

[sirswedishmike]

however, it is very difficult to play piedmont blues with a pick only, since it really is a fingerpicking style, but that doesn't mean that it can't be done. some people use the pick and their fingers together at the same time. They use the thumb and pointing finger to hold the pick and then the other fingers to pick notes. But in piedmont that thumb bass alteration is so important.

Make up your own style! There is so much variation with prewar blues players, make your own style.

[DorianGre]

Thanks. If you ever feel like it, I would love a close up and slowed down. For those of use who grew up using a pick, this isn't so easy.

[sirswedishmike]

ha ha. for sure. You can improvise and use a pick as well to play this. When there are notes played together just strum all notes and with the back of the other fingers mute the strings you don't want to sound out.

In the next video, it might be a good idea to talk about pick and/or finger stuff. Thanks for the heads up. I forget that people use picks, cause I never use one personally.

[DorianGre]

I really appreciate the reply. In rereading, I seem to be a little pushy (in a douchy kind of way). Sorry about that. Please just keep up the great work.

[oreodontist]

Good stuff. I like the way you keep it loose and informal. I find it's the 'small things' like that slide into the E on the first and third string that are the gems. These gems slowly build up into a healthy repetoire to improvise on.

EADGBE:

that GB (George Bush) is just too easy sitting their between a 'D' for Dumb and... Lesson much appreciated

[sirswedishmike]

ha ha. "Easy Adding, Dumb george bush economics." I don't know, that one kind of sucks. ha ha.

[toomanyhumyns]

what is the tuning for this lesson? is it just standard e?

[sirswedishmike]

yes. EADGBE, or the acronym, "Every Acid Dealer Get's Busted Eventually."

[TCA8888]

I always went with (starting with the high e)Every Body Gets Drunk At Ernie's.

Yours is way better.

[sirswedishmike]

for younger kids, avoid acid acronym. I used it with a 7 year old once ,and he was like, "every what?" Opps!! Elephants And Dogs Got Big Ears. And I can say "got" instead of the proper "have". cause I live in idaho dammit. (Idaho & Proper don't mix)

I haven't heard the drunk one. I heard the funniest one the other day, I wish I could remember it, it was one that my amazing boise songwriting friend Kris doty made up. It was the opposite of what it was intended to do. It was difficult to remember

[TCA8888]

I personally do not avoid acid.... but I'm not a dealer either,lol Regardless, it's the new acronym I will use(unless with small kids).

[lastelin]

Eat All Day, Get Big Easy :)

[lastelin]

Eat All Day, Get Big Easy...american recipe :)

[sirswedishmike]

this is rad, if anyone has more, please post them.

[chainthatdoor]

Earn A Dollar, Go Buy Elephants

[sirswedishmike]

hahah

[Normanskie]

Edgar Ate Dynamite Goodbye Edgar.

[JDontheRox]

u gotta make that site of yours and let us all know as soon as you do.. these are the best lessons around... especially for the style your teaching.. keep up all the good work and keep it coming cause you got me hooked

cheers

[Sefrono]

PIZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA­AAA Boysi Idioh

[fiffel456]

Hey! If you want a real piedmont blues lesson, check out Piedmont Project. They keep it real!

[sirswedishmike]

I've checked them out before. They seem to be having fun, but I don't know of them offering a lesson anywhere on the web. Also, piedmont blues tradition is a one man/woman and one guitar, not a band like the piedmont project band. They don't keep it real from that fundamental perspective... BUT... Keeping it real is subjective of course when you get into technical junk, and what REALLY matters is that you love what you play. And yeah, they are a groovy band for sure, I'd love to hear em.

[imperfectgomer]

Hi MIke,

Great channel. I am studying Piedmont Blues here in NC as a musciologist but now learning how to play this incredible music!

Keep it coming.

[sirswedishmike]

wow, that is rad!!! Pink Anderson represent!!!

[fiffel456]

Check out the swedish group Piedmont Project. They keep the piedmont blues alive. They have at great fingerpicker!

[sirswedishmike]

I suggest visiting back often and rewatching as I think it is the best way to get the most out of a lesson. It is like re-reading a book, various things sink in more and you get things out of it you didn't the first time around.

Cheers!

[ramblinrodger]

fantastic lesson! I'm a delta/ragtime/piedmont/hokum blues student and your lesson is great. I thought learning Robert Johnson songs were difficult but try a Pink Anderson or Blind Boy Fuller song and you'll appreciate Piedmont. Thanks for showing people how to start playing my favorite blues, Piedmont. If your ever in LA, look me up. Your helping to keep this art form alive!

[sirswedishmike]

thanks. I am a big pink anderson fan. Haven't explored blind boy fuller to much yet. Yeah it is an amazing art form!

[oreodontist]

I got more out of your lesson than out of a couple of blues books.

Your teaching style is real smooth and flowing. I played around with that 'slide into' E chord and it really helps. Even random single notes on that chord have a nice sound. I've mostly been a 'finger' guy...use a pick now and again...then come back to fingers. I've found using fingers on an accoustic is like learning to driving with a standard shift.

Definitely bookmarked. Thanks (from just over the border in B.C.).

[sirswedishmike]

groovy, gracias.

if you are ever thru boise, write me and we can sit down and I'll give you anything I got.

watch more delta or piedmont lessons on youtube and then incorporate common licks into your own playing... and then when they are comfortable... twist them a bit ...wherever your ear wants and then you are writing in that style. It doesn't take long to make it sound good, and it is an amazing style.

[joeninetyjoe]

Great lesson. This style comes natural to you guys but to we Brits it's pretty much alien to us. Two fingers and thumb? We just never play that way - but I will now. Always looking to add to my guitar techniques. Bet it works on banjo too.

[osuman222]

What kind of guitar is that, brotha?

[sirswedishmike]

an old harmony! Not sure what model, it is pretty faded and old, the back is coming off, and it has holes on the bottom, but is sounds great to me!

[66KAJA66]

thnx...very good video...id like to see something on the thumb over the low e as base...also, do they use open e or other open tunings

[sirswedishmike]

yes, open tunings are used in piedmont, but open tunings are even more common when playing slide like in many delta styles. But if it works for you, then you should do it. Open tunings are fun.

[scriber2b]

love those optimistic carolina blues. can you pls do a closeup on some of the licks you play? thnx thnx thnx!

[sirswedishmike]

yeah me too. type in mississippi john hurt fingerpicking patters in google, and I think you'll get some stuff. I will see if I can do a movie soon on that.

[crguitar411]

"Shake that Thing" would be a good tune, giving it revolves around 1 chord ...the G

[dinnycash]

thanks man please do more on johnny cash thanks

[sirswedishmike]

do as much thumb brush technique with strumming as possible and you'll be in that genre pocket in no time.

[Clayph0to]

Just as a little known trivia fact too. Did you know that Blind Blake was a tourning freestyle skateboarder? Can't remember his signature move though.

[sirswedishmike]

ha ha. thanks for making me smile!!!

[jackiewhitt]

Nice. Can you post some tab for some of that?

[sirswedishmike]

I could, but honestly I am too lazy, there are no "correct" ways to play this style, so gt the jist and when it sounds good to you, keep going with it. I haven't watched the "The Fingerpicking Blues Of Mississippi John Hurt" dvd, but I do know that it has tab, and it would teach you a similar style as I do. Any song that you learn from john hurt will help you develop this style further. Enjoy!!!

[LittleBrotherBlues]

Great job my cyber blues friend!!!

[Clayph0to]

Excellent lesson guy! I'd definately hire ya as a teacher based off of that. And you have a great sound to your playing. Keep it up!

[sirswedishmike]

thanks for all the comments people. So glad that some of you are finding this stuff useful and fun to play.

[ariellehunter]

Great lesson! Thanx!

[NuG919]

very cool

[Rubydoobiedee]

Thanks Mike...really enjoy your style

[sirswedishmike]

thanks a lot man. Check out lonesome valley by mississippi john hurt on youtube, my favorite of this style!

cheers!

[ShalomYal]

Just found you tonight - love your playin

If at all possible slow it down a tad and then link it into a whole 12ish bar progression. It might take you mor than 1 vid on a topic. keep it coming THANKS