One of the most useful tools of the beginning fingerpicker, is a little recorder in your mind that lets you replay your mistakes, when you catch the wrong string and it sounds good; or at least, interesting. -BG-


As you progress to trying different forms of syncopation; walking bass lines; playing melodies on either the treble or bass strings or both, within an overall chord structure; your mistakes will lead you to interesting riffs and cool rythms. The embellishments to my ragtime showoff version of "Alice's Restaraunt", and some other bluesy tunes, mostly came from figuring out why some mistake sounded good, and adding that type of sound to my bag of tricks.

I taught myself these tricks 40 years ago so I can't be of much more help to you than to tell you not to be afraid to play so fast your fingers can't keep up, and they take unplanned paths.

"The road less traveled" so to speak.

Jeff Smith