There used to be these ads in Guitar Player for John Fahey's Takoma Records label. They were mostly text, in about 7-point type, and I wish I could dig one up right now to quote it more exactly, but they always started off along first-person lines before hyping the latest records on Takoma, something like "It is I, John Fahey, guitar player, label owner, ad man."

Ad man? I knew, even as a kid, that that was sort of funny even if I wasn't sure quite why, beyond being pretty sure musicians and ad men were cultural opposites. That the advertising world – my incredibly hip, stride-piano-playing, agency-owning paternal grandfather notwithstanding – was strictly for squares, and Fahey was clearly no square.

And yet. I find myself, here on the fifth anniversary of the Fingerstyle Five membership, describing myself somewhat as John Fahey did. Guitar player, business owner, ad man...And it is of course largely in my ad man capacity that I have been busiest this past week, making epistolary contact on a nearly daily basis. 

Today is the last day of that, though – tomorrow, the fall quarter starts in the Fingerstyle Five, and with it the three things I've been talking about the most: the lesson plan for "Key To The Highway," the new ten-week Orientation program for new members, and the live-stream reboot of Six Steps To Playing Fingerstyle Blues.

Now, as the New Digital ad men would have it, this is the time to start jumping up and down, bellowing about Ending Soon and Last Chance and Do It Now and You'll Be Sorry and all of that. But, you know...who needs it?

Now, ok, the Groove Master Class live streams will come down from Youtube later this week, because they're so specific to what's starting in October, it will just make things confusing to leave them up. So they'll get archived in the membership.

And we are starting three new programs in the membership in October, and so yes, if you don't join this week, you won't get the experience of working through those lessons right as they begin, taking part in those first live streams, and having a specific cohort of fellow newcomers to compare notes with.

But...if it's not a good time to start something new, it doesn't matter if you join now. If you don't have the bandwidth, you won't be able to really take advantage of the new material right away anyway. So, ad man or not, I won't be jumping up and down about all you'll miss out on, because it just isn't relevant.

Now, I'm pretty sure the best part of being John Fahey, Label Owner, Ad Man was telling readers of a magazine like Guitar Player about all the cool records his label was about to make available. And in that respect, I am going to enjoy these next couple of paragraphs, because they are my chance to engage in the fun part of being David Hamburger, Business Owner, Ad Man.

I am genuinely excited to be teaching "Key To The Highway" this fall, because it is one of the landmark tunes in my own guitar education and one that many people have been asking about for almost the entire life of the Fingerstyle Five.

And I think the way we're going to work on it can really help you play better fingerstyle guitar – that in the process of taking the tune apart and putting it back together, you can not only learn a great song but also dramatically improve both your right-hand coordination and your musicality.

Finally, I am really looking forward to providing the new Orientation and Six Steps programs to every new member. Everyone in the Orientation will now have a way to figure out which material is best for them, and how to pace themselves without getting overwhelmed. 

Meanwhile, the Six Steps material will reinforce the E blues material in the "Key To The Highway" lessons while providing some additional fun licks, chords and turnarounds to add into the mix.

Fingerstyle blues is the only thing we do in the Fingerstyle Five. So if you want to play solo blues guitar with a better groove, play more complete songs, and become a better musician in the process – and you want to do so now – I hope you'll join us today, and start learning how tomorrow.

Join The Fingerstyle Five

More soon,

David