Essential Repertoire For Beginning Flatpicker

[Jim Samuel]

I am newcomer to flatpicking and wonder what others would suggest as an essential repertoire of tunes to learn, both in terms of the tune itself and the learning opportunity it presents. Here's the list I have so far of tunes I want to learn to play well (with "well," of course, being a relative term):

Arkansas Traveler
Black Mountain Rag
Bill Cheatham
St. Anne’s Reel
Big Sciota
Red Haired Boy
Beaumont Rag

What others should go on my "must learn" list?

I have a complete collection of Flatpicking Guitar magazines and CDs, so I do have all the tab in the magazines to draw from.

Jim

[Nanessence]

Hi Jim,

Like you, I'm just beginning to do flatpicking. Each month I drive two hours to attend a folk music jam where a couple dozen folks play various folk instruments together on songs selected from a book that everyone grabs as they walk in the door.

Sometimes I play - rhythm guitar - and sometimes I just watch what the others are doing. I will share with you my "Need To Know" list:
..Take a basic fiddle tune
..Know the key and chord progression
..Know the rhythm part
..Know how to transpose mentally (chords-no capo)
..Know how to improvise around the basic tune

So far, that's what I have gathered from the group. Good luck!

[Bill Sincler]

Try Steve Kaufman's Guitar Solos Every Parking Lot Picker Should Know Vol 1.
These should get you through most jams.

Arkansas Traveler, Big Sandy River, Bill Cheatham, Billy In The Low Ground, Blackberry Blossom, Under The Double Eagle, Flop-Eared Mule, Fisher's Hornpipe,Forked Deer, Gold Rush, Old Joe Clark, Salt Creek, Soldier's Joy, St. Anne's Reel, Nothin' To It, Ragtime Annie, Red-Haired Boy, Sweet Georgia Brown, Turkey In The Straw, Whiskey Before Breakfast.

Then there is a Vol 2

Alabama Jubilee," "Black Mountain Rag," "Blackberry Rag," "Cherokee Shuffle," "Cricket on the Hearth," "Dixie Hoedown," "Down Yonder," "8th of January," "John Hardy," "June Apple," "Katie Hill," "Liberty," "Mississippi Sawyer," "Peacock Rag," "Red Wing," "Stoney Creek," "Temperance Reel," "Texas Gales," "Wheel Hoss," "Wildwood Flower."

Brad Davis Flatpick Jam series is good too. Except, unfortunately, he doesn't have the advanced versions tabbed out like Steve does.

Cheers,
Bill

[Chris Davis]

Hi Jim

I think a lot of people probably have this same question. I certainly did when I first became interested in flatpicking. It led to frustration for me, particularly in instances when I ran into a "must-know" tune that I didn't really like. I think that your own taste should be the guide when in question of which tune(s) to learn. Listening to recordings and to people at jams should no doubt give you a lot of "WOW" moments; when you hear a tune that really grabs you, make it your business to learn it. Of course you could buy some of the infinite supply of instructional material, but I think that if you learned tunes by ear you eliminate much of the learning curve by being more proactive in the learning process. I for one really like transcribing materials myself, and it's not very difficult when you have a decent ear and some modest tools. For example, the software application Transcribe! will allow you to slow down audio recordings as slow as 25% of the original speed without affecting the pitch of the recording, to give your ear a chance to actually get inside and figure out the music. (This is, by the way, a hi-tech way of doing what other greats did when they were learning music - slowing down records.) This isn't to say that you should transcribe all of Tony Rice's breaks and play them note-for-note, but it is a really helpful way to learn some idiomatic "vocabulary". I rambled on a bit here, and I strayed from your original question a great deal, but maybe you'll find this helpful.

Chris

[Jack Elmore]

Hi Jim,
One more suggestion would be to get one or both of Steve Kaufman's 4 hour workout books. There is a fairly easy version of the tune tabbed out for you and then you have backing tracks to play with as you practice. Between the two books you would have almost 100 songs to learn. Both books would cost a little more than one of the parking lot series books. That would get you a basic repertoir and then you could get more in depth with the tunes if you bought some of the parking lot material. Adam Grainger also has a book with 500 fiddle tunes if that doesn't sound like enough of a challenge. :)
Good luck,
Jack

[Jim Samuel]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I am set.

I have the Granger book, Steve Kaufman's 4-hour workout book and two volumes of the parking lot pickers series, plus a complete collection of Flatpicking Guitar magazine.

Jim

[Kathy Barwick]

I really like the "easy version" as a first outing on a tune. That's how I do it, learn a "basic" version (the melody, really), then work on making it fancy. The thing that's good about that is that you always have a "home" to return to in case things go south.

I have a friend who is learning banjo; he puts someone's solo on the slowdowner, then tabs it & learns it. He's having a heckuva time, can't ever get it solid, and I think it's because he's trying to play solos that are created by professionals with years of experience.... when simple, basic version done well would serve him so much better (e.g., a basic Scruggs version). It's shown me that such studies are better done by the intermediate or advanced student, AFTER the basic version is so well known that at any point you can just go back to it.

Oh, and what about songs? Songs (and banjo tunes) are fundamentally different from fiddle tunes. In some ways they're way more fun to play, as there are fewer melody notes. Of course for beginners that can be confusing (what do you do with all that space?)... I used to pick for hours with my friend Jack Leiderman and we never played a tune... just solos to songs (sometimes in several different keys). Big fun.

Just some thoughts on the eve of an early flight to Maryville in the morning....

[Nanessence]

Thanks, Kathy. That's a very good point. Because I have been learning to play by copying other people's versions of fiddle tunes, I get confused as to what the basic tune is. For example, I can play "Billy in the Lowground" several different ways, but if you asked me to whistle the basic tune, I wouldn't know how to pick it out of the versions I've memorized.

[Ben Clark]

Blackberry Blossom

[Tim McGaughy]

I don't know that anyone has really has a must learn list with out a particular purpose in mind. For example if you want to join in a fiddle tune jam your list is great start if those are the tunes that are being played in your jam. If it's a Bluegrass jam you'll have a different list. Monroe jam? Yet another list. Solo performance? Pick your own.

Steve Carr has a page at BluegrassGuitar.com with the Top 10 tunes that visitors have voted on .

I keep a list both physically and mentally of tunes that I would like to learn. Never ends that there's a new tune that catches my ear and I want to get it under my fingers. Around here (Amarillo) we may go from Bluegrass to Western Swing to Folk to Rags so the list is ever changing.

I've heard Steve Kaufman mention that he learned 100s of tunes when he first started out. That got me to thinking that like in classical music where they study etude after etude and study after study that fiddle tunes provide that same aspect of practicing technical skills.

Arkansas Traveler and Blackberry Blossom are scales. Tunes like Liberty, Bill Cheatham and Spinning Wheel have lots of arpeggios in them. etc. etc. So my suggestion is pick tunes you enjoy and that will have a purpose. It's cool you're setting goals, most of us don't.

[Dave Engel]

Hi All,

New to the forum and also a beginning flatpicker (classical & rhythm for 30+ years). Didn't know what I was getting myself into, always enjoyed bluegrass and old classic country (grew up watching Hee-Haw), but anyway, just blindly ordered Mel Bay's Complete Flatpicking Guitar Book by Steve Kaufman...lucky hit. This book has everything...more than I could learn in a lifetime. Don't know that there really has to be an "essential" reportoire per say. Does there? Play and be happy. Life is good, but it's really good when your playing your guitar! ;-)

Dave