Solo flatpicked guitar can sound surprisingly rich and full. It is possible for us non-fingerpickers to play a melody whilst accompanying ourselves. And perhaps the best part is that it's actually pretty easy. The secret is getting the up/down flow going in your right hand mechanism so that you can switch between playing single notes and playing a gentle arpeggiated rhythm.
Chris
Topics and/or subjects covered in this lesson:
standards
Chris Eldridge
Banks of the Ohio
Bill Monroe
Doc Watson
Joan Baez
Print Chords & Tab
Loop 0:00 Run-Through of Melody
Loop 0:49 How to Flatpick a Melody with Rhythm
Loop 7:50 Practice Loop of Melody in Isolation
Loop 8:28 Slow Example of Melody and Chord Practice Loop
Loop 10:47 Practice Loop of Melody with Rhythm
Loop 11:22 Closing Thoughts and Outro
Comments
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This any better? I personally like the bobble head I've added in for visual effect haha! geeze
Yes, sounds great! That's a fully legit reading of the song. One thing that I personally would do differently (so take this or leave it) is I probably wouldn't emphasize the upstrokes and their corresponding beats quite as much. But it's very musical and well executed. Great job!
Used some stuff from the next lesson while singing.
Sounds like music to me! One thing that you can do to make it a little more interesting is include the higher strings in the melody accompaniment as well. Notice in my version at the beginning of the video how I'm using all 6 strings. Maybe a better way of thinking about it is that you can use notes that are above and below the melody. That way you frame it a bit more.
Hi Chris,
I just joined the site and worked throught the Banks of the Ohio lesson. Here is my recording of it. I tried to position my laptop camera so you can see my right and left hand. Please let me know how I can improve.
Drew
Drew,
That sounds very good! The main thing I would focus on integrating the melody into the rhythm and vice versa. That's something that I really strove to learn to do on songs like this: make it so that melody and rhythm kind of blend into each other and so that the seams between the two aren't distinct. You did this really well at 0:13-0:15. Try to make the rest of it as seamless. Keep up the good work!
Chris