We are delighted to welcome Acoustic Guitar Master Chris Eldridge to the Sonic Junction teaching team. 

3-time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Awards, and 3-time Grammy nominee, Chris' expertise in bluegrass flat-picking has earned wide critical acclaim.  With his elegantly intelligent approach, Chris brings a vitality and intimacy to the roots music tradition.  Chris' artistic success is evident as a founding member of the The Punch Brothers, and in his work alongside a diverse cast of musical luminaries including Paul Simon, Renee Fleming, T-Bone Burnett, John Paul Jones, Marcus Mumford, Elvis Costello, Jerry Douglas, Del McCoury among others. More recently, as a celebrated duo with renowned jazz guitarist Julian Lage, Chris continues to deliver thoughtful stylings that put him at the forefront of acoustic music.

Chris grew up in the rich bluegrass heritage of his father, noted banjoist Ben Eldridge of the Seldom Scene, and under the guidance of incomparable Tony Rice.  We are thrilled Chris is passing along his skill by teaching vocal and acoustic guitar lessons here at Sonic Junction.  

Chris will give new lessons each week, starting Friday, September 4th.

A note from Chris on his teaching approach:

" I'll be teaching many of the concepts and techniques, both large and small, that have helped me become a better musician and guitar player. For me to actually learn something, I have to understand why I should learn it. I'll discuss these concepts and techniques in the context of a song or arrangement, so that their relevance will be more clearly understood. In the first lessons I'll be starting out with basics, because I believe that every single musician will stand to benefit from stronger fundamentals. For instance, holding the pick is still something that me and my guitar buddies still talk about. You never master those things, but you should always be working on them. Eventually we'll get into more advanced topics like chord voicings, different approaches to improvising, building up technique, musicianship, etc. Over the course of the year we'll learn about 10 new songs, but each week I'd like to illuminate different approaches that can be applied to these songs. I'll also share what I've learned about singing and delivering a song to an audience."

                                                          -  Chris "Critter" Eldridge

Here's a taste of Chris' insightful teaching: a lesson breaking down scale degrees and the melody to the Stanley Brothers' classic 'White Dove'

Click here for sample lesson

See you here Sept.4th for Chris' launch--I think you'll enjoy Chris' lessons as much as I have.  

Mike

that ts great thanks

Very cool! Congratulations, Mike. 

I couldn't agee more with Chris' comments about tableture.

Cheers

Steve

Ditto Steve! Welcome to SJ Chris - love what I've seen so far, looking forward to digging in

Hello Everyone! I'm very excited to be joining the community here and sharing some of what I've learned over the years. My plan is to start with fundamentals, and basic philosophy, and move out from there. If anyone has any questions, comments, requests, etc., I'm all ears! I'd love to know what you all would like to learn from me.

Cheers,

Chris

Chris

I have heard others refer to tableture as the Nashville numbering system or something to that effect. Anyway, we should be able to take your lessons beyond the relm of Bluegrass, correct?

Cheers

Steve

Steve,

Tablature and the nashville number system are two different things. Tablature literally tells you where to put your fingers (i.e. 6th string, 3rd fret), and accordingly it can encourage the development of muscle memory, rather than a real, contextual understanding of what you're playing. The number system is all about context. It's a very useful day to day tool. 

A lot of things that we'll be talking about will apply to music and musicianship in general, not just bluegrass. For what it's worth, I don't actually think of myself as a "bluegrass" musician. All music is built from the same building blocks: rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and soul. Fluency in those elements will equal fluency in music. Ultimately, that's what I'm interested in, and that's what I want to encourage people to pay attention to. But that's not to say we won't have fun getting inside some hardcore bluegrass on our way there!

Cheers,

Chris

Hey Steve,

Yes, when using numbers to indicate chords, that is the "Nashville" system. Otherwise you can also just use the numbers to indicate the scale degree.

Chris

I had not yet encountered sonicjunction until the google tube dropped me here. I was poking around the ethernets for some more Chris Eldridge and Julian Lange music. Now I'm a sonicjunction subscriber.

At this time, sonicjunction has three lessons on bluegrass fundamentals by Chris Eldridge. Unsurprisingly, these lessons focus on flatpicking: he details the importance of posture, arm position, and pick grip, using the Stanley Brothers' song White Dove as an instructional vehicle. He emphasizes the need to relax and expel tension. He demonstrates how pick dynamics (like angle of contact and direction of force) control string vibration and thus tone. By the end of the third lesson, he has covered boom-chuck rhythm alternations, rhythm embellishments (G-runs and so on), and integration of this material with other musical parts (like White Dove vocals). These fifty minutes of patient, detailed instruction and artful demonstration are full of useful insights to aspiring guitarists. IMHO, any musician can learn something from this material.

I would welcome a progression of another 30 or 40 lessons from Chris with the same granularity of focus, generosity of detail, and quality demonstrations. Concentration on bluegrass works for me, but I won't lose interest if that boundary is blurred to take in other musical elements. Bluegrass is, after all, an ensemble more than a genre. I especially enjoy bluegrass performances that borrow from other genera, as Tony Rice, Doc Watson, and my other favorites often do.

I appreciate Chris Eldridge's approach to Jimmy Martin's "Honey You Don't Know My Mind": First, demonstrate the rhythm pattern and suitable variations, then focus on bass runs to punctuate and ornament the rhythm. I am learning.

Jed,

Thanks so much for the kind words! Glad you're learning and feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Cheers,

Chris

Ditto on Jed and what you wrote Chris. 

Hi Chris, I just signed up. I am a novic guitar player and very excited to what I am seeing and that you will be teaching singing.   I knew nothing about music when I got started;  I'm exploring.... so your teaching style is very exciting to me. 

I understand why it is a life time of learning... It may take me the whole year to learn White Dove; I would love to ask questions when needed.  Thank you Chris.

This is all very exciting to me

Chris wrote: 

[A lot of things that we'll be talking about will apply to music and musicianship in general, not just bluegrass. For what it's worth, I don't actually think of myself as a "bluegrass" musician. All music is built from the same building blocks: rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and soul. Fluency in those elements will equal fluency in music. Ultimately, that's what I'm interested in, and that's what I want to encourage people to pay attention to. But that's not to say we won't have fun getting inside some hardcore bluegrass on our way there!]

I was excited to see the fundamentals on scale degrees and melody.  It has been hard work as I worked at learning to use my ears to hear the "colors" of the notes as you describe it. This has been my main focus rather than just learning songs to play at a jam (getting my mind to see the intervals and notes, ear training and seeing if I can learn to sing, working on it). Still very new to it; and beginning to find some melodies on my own.  So very excited with the lessons for White Dove. 

I am learning about guitars; internet reading; thinking of buying a new one.  In the lessons for White Dove, what guitar to you have and what strings do you use?  You mentioned that you like Blue Chip for a guitar pick,  Which one?  http://shop.bluechippick.net/flatpicks/

Thank you.

Pamela

Thanks Chris.

I was using D'Addario, Phosphor Bronze, EJ17; however It was quite a workout for my fingers and I couldn't do barre notes/chords --You made the strings seems so easy to play is why I asked.  I thought the action might be hard; I just switched to EJ16, much easier for me to play.  I have a martin D-18 '75.  I like the sound of med strings but I couldn't seem to build strength to play them; especially barre chord shapes since I wanted to learn how to play up the neck.  Exploring and learning--thanks.

On the topic of tablature, Chris affirms its usefulness as a tool but also warns against its negative utility. Tablature invites the learner to engage the music as a sequence of pick strokes and physical operations at fretboard locations. This mental model for a musical piece can be a problem. Chris even mentions a diagnostic for this problem: when a learner plays with others and misses a beat or a chord change, his mental model of the music (the sequence of physical locations on the fretboard) is disrupted and he can become lost at sea, unable to recover his part. This explanation has the ring of truth to it. I have experienced this when playing with others, for whom it is entertaining only the first dozen or so times it occurs. Chris suggests a remedy: know how to sing the music. Initially, for me, this advice recommended an alternative model of the music as a sequence of sounds (or musical intervals). When you miss a beat or a chord change, you only need pick up the next elements in the sound sequence to continue playing your part. In particular, you need not look ahead to project an appropriate location in the sequence to re-enter the pick strokes and fretboard mechanics depicted in the tablature. In practice, however, I think that imagining the tune as a sequence of musical intervals supplements other musical models (like standard notation or tablature) employed while playing guitar. This insight may seem obvious, but it wasn't to me. The subtle difference is beginning to help me recover my part when I mess up while playing with others. As for now, I'm playing the tune in my head as I play it on the guitar.

Hi Chris, Some words and one question at the end.

1/First of all, I love you ! Not that I’m gay or what :-D but love the way you’re playing, singing and transmit emotions and passion trought various medias and perfomances. Love, when you start playing and singing, your face that tranform into a little child one full of emotions.

2/ I also love you because it’s you that gave me the envy to play for the first time with a flatpick and bluegrass. I discovered bluegrass throught the awesome movie « the broken circle breakdown » (« Alabama Monroe » in french) 6 month ago (we don't know bluegrass in France). Since it’s a belgium movie, I don’t know how much this film is known in USA, so, if you don’t know it, I hardly recommand you to see it and to listen the soundtrack  ! It’s that movie that gave me the envy to start again playing guitar and to really work it. I never really worked guitar, was just playing very simple stuff when I was 14yo to 20yo (I’m 37yo), simple pop strumming and some simple pentatonic scale solos on blues chords, all with fingers (never loved playing with a flatpick). After this period I forgot guitar, and I just start playing again. Kind of mid-life crisis I guess ;-)

I liked this music but I couln’d imagine it could be interesting playing it solo without a band, so I started again by learning fingerpicking for the first time. I went to Sonic Junction for Corey Harris, who is a great artist too, I discovered you and I stayed for you. Was kind of revelation when I first saw you playing solo guitar bluegrass on SJ ! I knew a little bit about Tony Rice playing in a band but when I heard you, I understood that bluegrass could be very very interesting just with one guitar and a voice (didn’t know the TR solo tunes). So Tony Rice is awesome but I feel that you’re my modern guitar hero.

I also really love your work with Julian Lage. Your music is such elegant, subtle...  the best example is for me your live on the lake (butter and eggs) that is particularly beautifull. 

So I’m here working my first two flatpikcing tunes ever with a flatpick, Church street blues (TR version) and 9PH (your awesome version). Ok it isn’t reasonable at all to begin with, but Im’ not a reasonable guy and I play what I love, and, surely it was your case too, this Church Street blues intro became an obsession. I have to play it ! So I’ve been working hard on it for few days.

3/ Here some suggestions for upcoming lessons if you lack ideas ;-)

·         Would love to learn from you playing « the boy who wouldn't hoe corn » or « will the circle be unbroken » both from the soundtrack I suggested to you.

·         I didn’t watch all your lessons, so maybe there’s what I’m searching for in one of them. I would love to see a lesson on improvising in bluegrass music, beyond melody based solos. There is a lot of material that exist and I’m a little confused. Where to start ? I guess all jazz material (modal scales and so one) isn’t necessary to play bluegrass unless you’re Julian Lage, but maybe I'm wrong ? According to you, what should be the main directions to follow to develop improvisation material and skills without getting lost ( Which major/minor scale use on each chord, arpeggios... ) ? For example, I don’t know why does TR play Cmin chord scale on the « G » chords on 9PH ( not a question, seen on a homespun instructional tape). All of this is complex and a step-by-step lesson would be great or at least a lesson with directions to follow.

·         Now that I know TR « Church street blues » awesome album, I would love to learn  « streets of london » or « House carpenter » taught by you on SJ J

4/ My question. On the video on the Church Street Blues' Tony Rice version, at 7’04, the pull-off part (A G C notes) , you say that it’s down stroke -down stroke but it seem that in the beginning (4'30) you play down stroke and up stroke, and in the homespun instructional video it seem that tony Rice did too. Is it an error from you or was it done on purpose ? It seem easier when it’s down-up.

Many thanks for all Chris.
Best regards (and sorry for my english level, Im’ french, hope you’ll understand me J )

Rémy, thank you so much for the kind words and also for the suggestions! There hasn't been a ton of material on the nuts and bolts of improvising, mostly because I find it to be difficult to talk about without concrete musical examples, but I will do a bit more of that in the future. Also great suggestion on the songs. I would love to cover both of those in the future. Church Street Blues as a record has so much good material! 

Cheers,

Chris