Hello Fellow Flatpickers!
We’ve got a new tune to start working on this week: Cherokee Shuffle. It comes from a great Alabama fiddler named Tommy Jackson. Mr. Jackson played a slightly more crooked version than I’m showing you. His form was AAB rather than the AABB from that I’m showing you, but if you ever jam this tune with another person it is almost guaranteed that they will play the AABB form. That said, if you’re so inclined you should listen to Tommy Jackson’s version. Some of the notes will be different but it will be clearly identifiable as the same tune. But I digress….
Cherokee Shuffle is in the key of A and the chords move pretty quickly, but they are super satisfying musically. It’s fun to play both the melody and to improvise over this song. I think the structure of the chords have a lot to do with that. In this lesson I’ll point a couple of passing chords that help move the tune along.
Enjoy!
Chris
Topics and/or subjects covered in this lesson:
Bluegrass
Print Chords & Tab
Loop 0:00 Run-Through of Cherokee Shuffle
Loop 2:14 Breakdown of Cherokee Shuffle
Loop 15:55 Closing Thoughts
Loop 16:55 Practice Loop of Rhythm
Comments
Log in to leave a comment
I've looked at this 100's of times. Studied it and learned most of it (I think) except the majority of what I assume is Chris improvising which is fun to try and play also. Fun for the entire family. Happy 4th of July everyone ... be safe.
Great pickin' James but tell me about your new friend. What do you have there - looks and sounds sweet.
Thanks so much Kip! It's kinda hard to tell from the vid but it's a Santa Cruz Tony Rice model. It's an absolutely killer guitar and I've been lusting after it for a while. Such an incredilbe sound and a dream to play. Words can't fully express how much I love it!
Oh man - congratulations - it's a beauty and sounds great. Thanks for sharing.
James, you sound great! And so does your new guitar! It really has that robust, powerful midrange that the best SCTRs have. Congrats - I think you got a really good one!
That guitar sounds absolutely heavenly. Tell us more, please, Chris.
Why thank you Allen! It's an old 1935 000-18. I love it!
Gorgeous guitar. You're getting quite the collection of vintage Martins!