This week we're going to take a look at how Norman Blake played Church Street Blues from his excellent album Whiskey Before Breakfast. To me, Norman's approach to this song extends the Mother Maybelle Carter approach of playing chords and melody at the same time beyond to another place. It sounds joyous and resonant, and there is a constant sense of forward motion. Remember, it's very important to stay physically and mentally relaxed to achieve the easy, breezy sound that Norman gets.
Good luck and have fun!
Chris
Topics and/or subjects covered in this lesson:
Bluegrass
Chris Eldridge
Church Street Blues
Norman Blake
Print Chords & Tab
Loop 0:00 Run-Through of Norman Blake Style Church Street Blues
Loop 0:28 Breakdown
Loop 19:15 Closing Thoughts and Outro
Comments
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Thank you so much for these Norman Blake lessons! You've made one of my favourite songs accesaable to me for the first time. I can't beleive I'm finally playing Church Street Blues!!
Can I ask about your finger? In the video your favouring your index finger and mention its a litte sore. This happens to me often. My index knuckle swells up and sometimes takes weeks before I can play guitar with it again. Is there anythng you do when this happens to help recovery? Or any preventive maitenece you take to prevent injury in your finger? Its so frustrating to feel like I'm finally making real progress only to stopped by this knuckle injury.
Jody, I can really relate! These days there have been times when I feel like I'm making progress (often because I've been playing a lot) that are interrupted because I aggravate my hand. The best advice I can give is that and the first sign of soreness take a break and get up and walk around. Move your body. I think that a lot of those problems can be worked around by keeping one's entire body loose, limber and relaxed. Another thing to try is icing your finger. DON'T TRY TO JUST PLAY THROUGH IT. This is your body talking to you. Usually when it gets bad I have to take a few days off from the guitar. It can be frustrating, but you can use these times to work on other sides of your musicianship such as singing, theory, focused listening, etc.
Best of luck with it!
Chris