M.Ted, Thanks, that's high praise indeed. And thanks for the additional but very important thoughts.

Captain Birdseye:
The pattern I tried to explain in nos. 1 - 3 above is sixteen quavers or eighth notes (two measures or bars) long and only the final quaver is a rest. The down-down-up (DDU) pattern repeats without variation save the final quaver rest. You're playing a pattern of three pick strokes against eight quavers so the beginning stroke (and the accent) will change with each new bar. Five repetitions of a three quaver pattern is fifteen quavers. Add a quaver of rest and you've completed two bars of music.

The Carter Family song Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone as played by Ralph Stanley's band in the early 1970s is often played using G chords with a capo being used to achieve the keys of A or B to match the singer's range. The first four bars of the guitar break might be played as follows:

    Q=148
    G
   4/4
    Q  E E E E E E   E E E E E E E E   E E E E E E E E   Q  Q  Q  Q
  |----3-----------|-----------------|---------3-----3-|------------|
  |----------0-----|-0-----0-----0---|---0---0-----0---|------------|
  |--------0-----0-|-----0-----0-----|-0---0-----0-----|-0-----4--2-|
  |-0----0-----0---|---2-----0-----0h|=2---------------|------------|
  |----------------|-----------------|-----------------|------------|
  |----------------|-----------------|-----------------|------------|
    d  u d d u d d   u d d u d d u d   d u d d u d d u   d     d  d
  

Where "Q" indicates a crochet and "E" a quaver. I've noted the pick direcdtion below the tab example.

If you're interested in becoming more accomplished in the Shuffler-Napier style, you might wish to know that Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is offering an "End of Summer" special price on the Clinch Mountain Guitar DVD I cited above together with the magazine issue that featured James Alan Shelton. The combined price is only $22.00 USD with an option to buy the audio recording of the tabs in the magazine issue. I haven't personally seen these items but their material is generally high quality and would certainly be a valuable aid in learning the style.

Good luck.

      - Mark