A Study in Flatpicking
[Solo Flatpicking] [Book & Online Audio]
In this book, journalist, composer, songwriter, teacher, and 2003 Winfield Flatpicking Guitar Champion, Jeff Troxel, delivers a masterclass in arranging fiddle tunes for flatpicking guitar. These 20 themes and variations on favorite bluegrass melodies are designed to improve overall musicianship and augment your own arranging skills. Ideal for the intermediate to advanced flatpicking guitarist, the author reveals techniques for enabling readers to create their own theme and variations settings. Suggested rhythm guitar chords and light left-hand fingerings are also provided.
Troxel points out that one of the unexpected benefits of learning and memorizing themes with variations is that the process will ultimately facilitate linear and harmonic improvisation. It would be a painstaking process to learn this skill from a teacher or a harmony textbook, but once memorized, the scale and arpeggio patterns within these tunes and variations will set you on a viable path towards original improvised lines.
As a bonus, the author includes a generous appendix containing several of his Flatpicking Guitar Magazine articles that deal with aspects of musicianship that every guitarist should know. While written in standard notation and tab, if you have relied solely on tablature and recordings in the past, this book can provide the key to understanding essential music theory and reading standard notation.
If you’re not quite ready to learn to read standard notation, you can still use the tab and the author’s excellent online recordings to learn these delightful arrangements. In any case, it will be fun to get these settings of standard bluegrass tunes “in-hand” and use them in future jam sessions.
Introduction/How to Use This Book
Arranging a Fiddle Tune
The Girl I Left Behind Me (with variations)
Tunes
Arkansas Traveler
Bayne Water
Beaumont Rag
Bill Cheatham
Billy in the Lowground
Blackberry Blossom
Cattle in the Cane
Cherokee Shuffle
Cooley’s Reel
Cottonwood Reel
Crossing the Big Sandy
Cuckoo’s Nest
Fisher’s Hornpipe
Flowers of Edinburgh
Forked Deer
June Apple
Morning Glory
Off to California
Red Haired Boy
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Appendix
Interview with Jeff Troxel
“Sharpening the Axe” Articles
| Featured Product | Yes |
|---|---|
| Composer | TROXEL, JEFF |
| Availability | Available |
| TAB/Notation | Music Notation PLUS TAB |
| Additional Media | Online Audio |
| Description | In this book, journalist, composer, songwriter, teacher, and 2003 Winfield Flatpicking Guitar Champion, Jeff Troxel, delivers a masterclass in arranging fiddle tunes for flatpicking guitar. These 20 themes and variations on favorite bluegrass melodies are designed to improve overall musicianship and augment your own arranging skills. Ideal for the intermediate to advanced flatpicking guitarist, the author reveals techniques for enabling readers to create their own theme and variations settings. Suggested rhythm guitar chords and light left-hand fingerings are also provided. Introduction/How to Use This Book Arranging a Fiddle Tune The Girl I Left Behind Me (with variations) Tunes Arkansas Traveler Bayne Water Beaumont Rag Bill Cheatham Billy in the Lowground Blackberry Blossom Cattle in the Cane Cherokee Shuffle Cooley’s Reel Cottonwood Reel Crossing the Big Sandy Cuckoo’s Nest Fisher’s Hornpipe Flowers of Edinburgh Forked Deer June Apple Morning Glory Off to California Red Haired Boy Whiskey Before Breakfast Appendix Interview with Jeff Troxel “Sharpening the Axe” Articles |