Finger styling

The best thing about the guitar is its ability to accommodate the three basic elements of any piece of music -- bass line, melody and chords -- all in one handful of notes ... well, I guess not even a handful, since rarely is the pinkie on the right hand used.

The guitar was designed to be played with the fingers. Its tuning also facilitates this "mini orchestra" approach to making music, since chords are the prime ingredient. Their constituent notes group themselves into convenient clusters on the fretboard, ready for the plucking.

I've created a new movie-tab-midi-commentary lesson at www.guitarforbeginners.com of that wonderful country-pop tune "Still the One", a tune we've all heard a million times at least. It's a solo finger style instrumental version of it, arranged in the usual fashion: bass line underpinning everything, melody on the top, and sandwiched between the two, when convenient fingers avail themselves, a hint of chord. It doesn't take all that much to convey any tune, and this is a good example of that minimalist approach.

Once again, pardon the speed-bump I put in the way of accessing the free lessons. I'm sure you will understand.

Don't forget, if you're still wondering what the TRICK is to seeing the way Music lays itself the length of the fretboard, drop in on PlaneTalk, The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book. It reveals and explains the underlying fretboard map that is the secret to being able to improvise freely over any piece of music. There are many free lessons there also.

All the best, until next week, when I'll post the chorus section of Still the One.

Kirk
www.kirklorange.com