The Chimes of Freedom

Published: Fri, 05/26/23

The school year ended yesterday here in Austin. Generally speaking, I would clear the decks for that kind of day. And I more or less did, only to realize how out of date that thinking was. My services were, shall we say, not required, except for a little mild taxi duty around twilight. Casa Fretboard's junior associates were awash in social plans, some anticipated, some spur of the moment, none requiring much in the way of parental involvement save the aforementioned taxi action and a spot of palm-greasing here and there – despite the festive mood in my immediate vicinity, favorite after-school rice-ball restaurants and locally celebrated spring-fed swimming holes were still charging admission, and ponying up for these things remains a parental specialty of the house, for at least a little while longer.

Nor did the chimes of freedom exempt me from the swift completion of my appointed rounds. I would be deceiving my public if I implied I wrote my newsletters or edited my Youtube videos weeks in advance, and I definitely spent at least part of yesterday both finalizing the lesson I am about to link to and crafting (ahem) this email you are currently reading. I'm pleased to report, however, that after last week's daily videos about swing improvisation and last weekend's Swing Scale workshop, today marks a return to what a more corporate-minded guitar pedagogue might call "our core mission and values," viz., fingerstyle blues.

I've had a bee in my bonnet for ages about phrasing, and how essential it is to getting good at improvising. That was, in fact, a big part of what I discussed in last weekend's workshop, but it's also what I talk about in today's new fingerstyle blues lesson: how you can immediately improve your soloing on the eight bar blues "Trouble In Mind" just by paying more attention the rhythms you play, and the notes you land on. You can find it at the link below:

Blues Licks On Trouble In Mind

More soon,

David
 
The Fingerstyle Five membership offers organized, ongoing lessons to help you strengthen your right-hand groove, build your repertoire and start to improvise. Learn more and sign up at fretboardconfidential.com
 
david@davidhamburger.com

P.O. Box 302151
Austin TX 78703
USA


Unsubscribe   |   Change Subscriber Options