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By Wayne Erbsen
Native Ground Books & Music, 2010
offers a fresh new approach to learn flatpicking guitar. This book/CD set comes from Wayne Erbsen, a well-established writer of Roots music instruction books and song books.
The book is written in a folksy, down-home way that will have you chuckling in pretty near every paragraph. It's not ALL fun, though. There are introductory chapters on pioneers of flatpicking, how to tune and how to hold the guitar and a flatpick.
The book then teaches some basic chords and applies these in playing rhythm guitar on familiar "campfire" songs. You'll get your rhythm chops started on favorites like "Oh Susanna" and "Red River Valley."
The next part of the book is where it breaks new ground. Wayne introduces a new kind of tablature that might challenge even experienced tab readers. Instead of using the traditional method of showing the fret number to be played on each string on the tablature staff, this method places the note names on the strings. I found this to be a bit disorienting at first, but after a while it came fairly easy.
The big benefit of this new tablature method is that you learn the note names where they occur on the fret board. That's a great teaching tool. I'm not sure that this new tab method will replace the standard system out there, but I think that many flatpickers who try it will find that it will help them visualize the note names on the fretboard much better after a little practice.
After introducing the new tab system, the book goes on to cover scales and then moves on to teaching the melody leads to some 40 Roots music standards. Along the way, it covers six common keys (G, C, D, A, Am and Dm). Additional topics covered in the book include using a capo, jamming, and backing up fiddle tunes.
A companion CD is provided with the book, making this an excellent overall package. The CD even includes song lyrics when put into a computer.
Flatpicking Guitar for the Complete Ignoramus! is a fun and inviting way to learn how to flatpick the guitar. Kudos to Wayne for bringing out some new ideas in the guitar instruction world!
BluegrassGuitar.com
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