Welcome to the 'guitar workshop'! here you can learn the basics of some
different 'fingerpicking' guitar styles that I have picked up during my
travels. There are short movie files of each song, whereby my left and
right hand are filmed separately. For orientation purposes, I have
included some simple tabs for the positions. Good Luck!
Burnside style...
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R.L. Burnside - "Poor Black
Mattie"
I learned this song, Poor Black Mattie, from Burnside. This
'traditional' used to be his opener at concerts, and is played in
the typical "Mississippi Hill" style, that is played in the Northern
part of the state. The guitar is tuned in open A, also known as
'Spanish' tuning among blues guitarists. The tuning is as follows:
E-A-E-A-C flat-E, in other words the D,G and B string are tuned up
two positions. This is also the tuning in which Keith Richards plays
a lot of his guitar parts.
Foto:
Els Offermans |
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FILMCLIPS
LEFT HAND
RIGHT HAND
TOTAL SHOT |
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E |
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3 |
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Cis |
1 |
\3 |
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A |
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0 |
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0 |
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E |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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A |
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0 |
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0 |
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3 |
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0 |
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E |
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Skip James - "Devil"
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This song is probably played for over a hundred
years in the small village called Bentonia, which lies close to
Jackson, the capital of Mississippi. I learned this version from
Jimmy Holmes, the last living guitarist who plays in the Bentonia
style. However, this song is more known in the version of Skip
James, while Jack Owens recorded it too for several times. The
guitar is tuned in E-minor, or: E-B-E-G-B-E. The A and D string are
tuned up two positions. This tuning is typical for this village, and
is used nowhere else as a blues tuning.
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FILMCLIPS
LEFT HAND
RIGHT HAND
TOTAL SHOT |
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E |
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0 |
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0 |
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B |
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0 |
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2 |
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G |
2\4 |
2 |
0-1 |
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E |
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0 |
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0 |
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B |
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0 |
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E |
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0 |
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0 |
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Ali Farka Touré - "Djimbala"
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Djimbala is a music style in Mali that is used
to sing about spirits and demons. On behalf of Farka himself I would
like to stress that it is not wise to play this style after
midnight, for you will run the risk of being visited by evil
spirits. The guitar is tuned in the typical Songhai tuning, a people
that live in the Northern part of Mali, and of which Farka himself
is part. The tuning is as follows: G-A-D-G-B-E, in other words the
thick E string is tuned up three positions. It is important to play
this style in a subtle fashion, Malian guitarists rarely bang away
on their guitars.
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FILMCLIPS
LEFT HAND
RIGHT HAND
TOTAL SHOT |
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E |
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1 |
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B |
1 |
3 |
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G |
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3-4-3-0 |
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0 |
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D |
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4\5 |
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5 |
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A |
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G |
0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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