Ken Burns was on my mind at the top of today’s update, well his new documentary on Country Music specifically. I was not familiar with the term ‘Carter Scratch’ but had explained the technique hundreds of times, which is basically what we now think of as the flatpicking technique used in the Bluegrass style where the melody is played on the lower strings, as opposed to the fingerpicking technique of playing the melody notes on the higher strings.

This week’s new lessons included Linger by The Cranberries, The River by Bruce Springsteen, and The Beatles’ arrangement of Till There Was You. Of course their recording certainly brought the tune to a much bigger audience than The Music Man, which was the musical which featured the original by Meredith Wilson.

The main tangent that popped up today was an attempt at arranging Till There Was You for solo guitar, which I had never really explored much. When you see the holes I dug trying it on camera you will see what I mean. But who knows? It might be worth another look if anybody is interested.

I also am still working on lessons on a couple percussive songs that are being problem children and I touched on those at the end. Since our International Guitar Camp is coming up really soon these will have to go back on a side burner for a bit.

Till next week… Stay Tuned & In Touch,

Neil