The weather was gorgeous yesterday evening; I sat out on the front porch with Ms. Fretboard while the Dauphin and four of his friends drifted back from the park and fell into assorted conversations in the front yard.

They're all about to graduate; some of them know where they're heading off to, others don't. They all still have exams coming up, which has put a serious dent into their senior slump, but they have today off for some reason, so they made a point of enjoying their aimlessness last night as best they could.

Hence the park, and a bit of a nostalgia trip involving a couple of scooters fished out of a hodgepodge of bicycles and related gear on the side of the house. Eventually, they mobilized, all piling into one car for a dinner expedition. It will definitely suck next year when these kids are no longer letting themselves in through our front door on any random day after school.

While the Dauphin & co. were sorting out their evening, Ms. F. and I did a bit of picking on the porch. We have two of the worst chairs for guitar playing out there, and somehow neither of us has seen fit to remedy the situation so far. (My money's on Ms. Fretboard, and I'm sure hers is too.)

Once the kids split, Ms. F did too – friends in the neighborhood were having a music night at their place, and I promised I'd be along soon, once I finished this newsletter. Ms. F, having gotten her homework done before dinner, had no such limitations, and was off like a shot with her OO-15.

This group of friends is the main reason I've worked to expand my repertoire of "social songs" over the past few years. It's nice to have a handful of tunes up your sleeve that lend themselves to soloing and harmony vocals and don't have too many weird chord changes. Also, playing covers helps me keep my ego below a certain temperature, and that makes for a more fun hang, too.

I did post one of my own tunes here on the channel last week. And I've been asked several times inside my Fingerstyle Five membership if I'd explain how to play my song "Ten Pounds Of Trouble." I've held off, because while I do teach some of my own instrumentals in the membership, when it comes to vocal tunes I'd rather stick to arrangements of traditional material.

But I know there are people interested in that place where fingerstyle blues and songwriting converge. So for this morning's live stream on Youtube, I'll be talking about "Ten Pounds Of Trouble" specifically and about blues and songwriting generally. You can join me using the link below:

Ok, Here's How I Play That

Next week, I'll be making the three first Reliable Source workshops available again for a limited time. If you missed out on Freddie Green Chords, The Swing Scale, and Bebop For Beginners the first time around, or have wanted to access the replays for another year, I'll have more details about that coming soon.

More soon,

David