FTX-918 - Learning folk guitar - JOHN PEARSE

Here's help in accompanying ballads and blues from John's original study tape called "Licks and Picks" recorded before he started his series of teaching folk guitar on television called "HOLD DOWN A CHORD". It includes 10 songs and a final word about song introductions and styles of performance.

1. TUNING UP THE 6 STRINGS - 0'19"

2. BASIC SCRATCH and song "GIMME CRACK CORN" (G capo 5th fret to C) - 3'03"

3. FIRST SCRATCH VARIATION - 0'39"

4. SECOND SCRATCH VARIATION - 1'00"

5. HAMMERING ON - 1'03"

6. PULLING OFF with song THE KEEPER (G capo 2nd fret up to A) - 1'35"

7. BASIC PLUCKING/ BALLAD LICK with song "OFF TO SEA ONCE MORE" (Am capo 2nd fret up to Bm) - 1'41"

8. BASIC RIPPLE with song "THE SQUIRREL" (Em capo 2nd fret up to F#m) - 1'43"

9. WALTZ-TIME RIPPLE with song "HENRY MARTIN" (Am capo 2nd fret up to Bm) - 2'16"

10. ARPEGGIO PICKING with song "BLACK IS THE COLOUR" (D capo 7th fret up to A) 1'35"

11. FULL ARPEGGIO with song "I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING" (C no capo) - 1'35"

12. BLUES: BASIC COUNTRY PICK - 1'14"

13. THE BASS PULSE with song "TROUBLE IN MIND" (E no capo) - 1'19"

14. THE MISSISSIPPI LICK - 2'19"

15. THE ABILENE LICK with song "ABILENE" (D no capo) - 1'12"

16. THE MEMPHIS LICK with song "BLACK GIRL" (C no capo) - 1'58"

17. FINAL WORD with song "HENRY MARTIN" (Am capo up 1 fret to Bbm) - 2'51"

Recorded by Peter Kennedy, London 1960. Edited by Peter Kennedy & first published on Folktrax cassettes 1976.

This recording is to help those who want to play guitar acoustically as an accompaniment to ballads and blues. As nearly all folk guitar styles involve the use of finger-picking, rather than using a plectrum, the choice of strings is important. For a Spanish guitar they should be gut or nylon, at least for the upper three strings (1st, 2nd & 3rd or E, B & G) with wire-wound or nylon for the lower three (4th, 5th & 6th or D, A & E). Never put steel strings on a guitar built for gut or nylon. On steel-strung guitar use light guage for 1-4 and medium guage for 5-6. Finger-nails on the left (fretting) hand should be kept short to allow finger-tips to come down vertically on the finger-board, while those on the right (picking) hand should protrude a short way beyond the tips.