Folk Guitar

The term "folk guitar" can mean different things to different people.

The first thing that comes into my head when the term is mentioned is the song Blowin' in the Wind. This is closely followed by Puff the Magic Dragon, Home on the Range and Streets of London.

I'm not sure if this is very complimentary to folk guitar music in general, but I guess things have changed a lot over the past 50 years, especially now that music styles overlap into folk-rock, country-folk and others.

Perhaps the one thing that is most synonymous with folk guitar music is the flat-top acoustic guitar. This can come in Jumbo, Dreadnought and small body sizes to name just three and is usually played fingerstyle.

You can pay thousands for a top quality folk guitar, but thankfully there are plenty of low cost model available for the beginner to choose from which continues to maintain the popularity of learning to play the instrument.

About Learning Folk Guitar Fingerstyle

It is a bit ironic that if you demonstrate something slowly so that it is easy to understand, some people are unimpressed. On the other hand, if you play something fast and at full speed so that it is difficult to follow - let alone to play - many people think that it is really good!

The fact is, it is the same music played slowly or fast, it's just that slow is perceived to be boring and fast is perceived to be good, but if you can play it slowly you can play it fast too - with a bit more practice.

The best musicians from most styles of music practise slowly for the following reasons:

• They are less likely to make a mistake
• It is easier to hear imperfections
• They are programing muscle memory into their fingers
• When you play slowly the brain has more time to absorb and remember the moves

These are just a few reasons why learning to play the folk guitar or any other instrument slowly, is a good idea.

Right hand pattern on D major

Here's an example of a typical accompaniment pattern.

http://www.fingerstyle.co.uk

The good thing about a pattern on the chord of D major is that the thumb bass notes are close to the notes played by the fingers.

This makes learning the pattern slightly easier than if the G chord was chosen, then you would alternate sring six with string four.

Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar

The fingerstyle discussion on this blog is mainly about folk and vocal accompaniment styles of playing. With a few riffs thrown in for good measure (pardon the pun), we'll examine some of the popular finger patterns that are regularly used and chords that are really useful for the added extras.

One of the main features of folk guitar fingerstyle is the use of the thumb. It operates rather like a bass guitar, often playing alternate notes of the first and fifth (or tonic and dominant) degrees of each chord.