suzuki harpmaster is equal to the special 20 and lasts much longer

Hi Duke. Here's a Pee Wee Crayton song that I think is just great from start to finish, his song "Do Unto Others" written and apparently produced by Dave Bartholomew. If I had to guess, I'd say that a copy of this 78 made it over to Liverpool in the 1950s because that guitar break sure sounds familiar! 

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.

FYI that Duke used a stock 65 deluxe reverb reissue for the Blues A Rama and Swingin the Blues series of lessons.

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

Hi, Duke, Herb Ellis is one of my other favorite gutiarists and I know you two recorded together. (I've been listening a lot to how you two played "Moten Swing", as I'm working on that tune lately).

How did he influence your playing? Which of the "conversations in swing" you two had are your favorites? (And if you know, which were Herb's?)

Any chance you'll do a lesson on "Stuffy"? That's such a fun tune.

Chris 

I must of had a brain cramp when I wrote last. What I meant to ask is if the numbering system you are referring to in the lesson is the Nashville number ing system? 

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

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

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

Thanks Bruce --- I'm really looking forward to Chris's lessons.  

It's cool because he's taking a very holistic approach (ear, theory, technique, artists, songs and mental approach).  

Chris is also a great vocalist and works with an amazing group of musicians.

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

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

Cheers

Steve

Hi Jerry,

First I will like to highlight that is a privilege having you shearing your knowledges with us. I'm exploring the 3er position for minor tunnes and I will like to know if there's a lesson I can refer to. Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards,

Very cool! Congratulations, Mike. 

that ts great thanks

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

Hi Bill --- thanks, that helps.  To confirm, you have a Windows XP machine.  When you play the smaller videos on the Artist Hub page --- they are mostly in sync --- and when you play the larger videos on the lesson page --- they have latency issues / are out of sync.

My guess is you have an older PC that is having issues playing our high bandwidth video.  The problem is worse on the lesson page because the videos are bigger.   If this is the case, the two solutions are:

1. try different browsers (such as Google Chrome, Safari or Firefox) --- as they may be more efficient at playing the larger videos

2. try a different computer / iPad if you have one

Please let me know how it works for you.

When I  go to Dukes main page with all his videos showing and just click on the video with the play arrow,This video is OK and only slightly out of sync but acceptable. It's when I click on the GO TO LESSON under the video it brings me to the lesson page with the 3 speed larger video and the tabs,loops, etc the normal speed video is out of sync video with the Audio...............

Hi Mike

i have Comcast cable internet

when I click under the video " go to lesson" it opens another page with a video the video is larger and has latency lag behind the audio out of sync 

Thanks for the note and sorry for the issue.  A couple questions so we can figure out what's going on

1. what lesson are you experiencing the issue with?

2. what is your internet connection --- cable, DSL, dial-up ?

3. can you describe what you mean by "lantency" in a couple sentences ? --- we want to make sure we understand the exact issue.

Thanks.

https://youtu.be/ltLHsD_A9I4

Would you please tell me your setup at this concert? I love the tone! 

Regards,

Jim

I just recently signed up. Love the site But.........If I just click the play arrow on the video there is no latency is  But when I click on the lesson tab the audio and video latency are intolerable

I'm still running windows XP

Why does the lesson video have so much latency?

Can this be corrected?

the explanation of vibrato starting by pushing up has really been an " aha"  moment for me. Thanks mike.... Also duke hope ur on the mend

Kinds regards terry

Great to hear! There's no substitute!