Figures 1-2 Dale Turner from the Musician's Institute in Hollywood shines some light on the technique of blueglass legend Doc Watson, who, at age 88, is still influencing new players. These examples are inspired by Watson's take on "Black Mountain Rag," which he's been performing for decades. The video above starts out with a fiddle-like riff in open C that incorporates some flat picking between "double strumming." After that, we see how Watson mimics fiddle and bass parts -- and we add the hint of an F chord.
This is the Player for GW V2.0
Figures 3-5 This video gets into some tricky cross-picking, some quick alternate picking and a barn-burning passage that incorporates a bit of thumb voicing, plus a touch of G7 and F. If you're not used to alternate picking, be sure to start out slowly until you get the hang of these fun riffs. The results will be well worth it!
A singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/film composer, Musician's Institute instructor, and author of 50+ transcription/instructional books, Dale Turner is also Guitar World's "Hole Notes"/"Acoustic Nation" columnist, and the former West Coast Editor of Guitar One magazine. Some of Dale’s old, weird, rare, and/or exotic instruments are featured in his score for WEEDS, the first animated short completed within the Filmmakers Co-op at Disney Feature Animation. His most recent CD, Mannerisms Magnified, was praised by Guitar Player magazine for its "Smart pop tunes that are crammed with interesting guitar parts and tones ... Like what the Beach Boys might do if they were on an acid trip that was on the verge of getting out of control. Yeah!"
