The Fingerstyle Five Membership Is Open

Published: Thu, 10/28/21

going to make my costume at the last minute." This goes for all four of us, but so far the only year it really worked was the time we all went as artists. The Dauphin picked Vincent "Just After The Ear Incident" Van Gogh because, of course, bloody head bandage. Our resident feminist went as Frida Kahlo. That left me with '70s icon and meme-in-the-making Bob Ross, which turned out to be considerably more in tune with the zeitgeist than I'd anticipated. I hate feeling trendy, but I do love a costume where the wig does most of the heavy lifting.

This year, I'm woefully up against it again, and Ms. Fretboard has been too preoccupied with her Astros to have put much thought into an outfit yet either. Not so the kids, who've got it pretty dialed in this time – I spent part of yesterday evening helping do things with an Xacto knife to a big cardboard box and watching his majesty get busy with thirty-six feet worth of six-inch flexible ducting. For the record, he is not at work on a robot costume.

The thing about Halloween is that it's only once a year. I can't get into a groove on that kind of timetable, so I'd probably make a pretty lousy migratory bird or deciduous tree. I think what works for me about music is that it is, at heart, as much a practice as it is a project. It works best when you show up on a regular basis, put in at least a modicum of ongoing effort, release any expectations of immediate, dramatic change, and place your faith pretty exclusively in the benefits of the long game.

Over the past week's three live streams, we've looked at specific, step-by-step strategies for improving your groove, building your improvisation skills and arranging an eight-bar blues into a complete song. It was probably more material than anyone could reasonably absorb in six days, but that wasn't entirely the point. Playing music – as opposed to, say, composing it, or recording it – is an ephemeral art; it only happens when you sit down to do it. In that sense, you're only as good as what you can reliably deliver in the moment, and that comes not from the occasional herculean effort, but from focused, attentive, ongoing practice.

That requires knowing both what to work on and how to work on it, so I've tried to clarify not only what's important (groove, improvisation and arranging) but how to actually get better at those things (the Horizontal 3-Step, the 5 Resolutions, the 7-Step Arc). At this point, you could take the PDFs from these lessons, work through the material over the coming months, and apply it not only to "Nobody's Fault But Mine" but any other tune you want to develop and put into your repertoire.

All well and good, but as anyone who's ever practiced anything knows, the hardest part isn't even knowing what to work on and how. It's actually sitting down to work on it, deciding what to tackle first, and figuring out when to move on to the next thing.

That's where the Fingerstyle Five membership comes in. If you've enjoyed these lessons and are ready to get better at fingerstyle blues, the membership is the best way to take the guesswork out of how to get good. From figuring out what tune to learn next, to receiving groove, improvisation and arranging lessons tailored specifically to each song you tackle, the Fingerstyle Five is for guitarists who want a clear, organized way to build their repertoire, learn to improvise and start playing with confidence, control and creativity.

To learn more about the membership – the kinds of songs you'll learn, how often new lessons come out, how you can take part and move forward without gettng overwhelmed – join me at 2:30 pm central this afternoon for a live stream and Q&A all about how the Fingerstyle Five can help you play better fingerstyle blues guitar.

Next Steps: The Fingerstyle Five Membership

More soon,

David

P.S. If you're ready to sign up now, registration is open. Go to www.fretboardconfidential.com to learn more and join the Fingerstyle Five.