Flatpicking

When I first started learning the guitar, I was a huge fan of John Denver with an affinity for other singer songwriters also.  Folks like Harry Chapin, James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, and others.  So my initial efforts on guitar were mostly about learning chords and songs.  Just a few years later, I found Doc Watson and flatpicking.  For the next 25 years or so, I worked toward learning to flatpick the melody of songs.  I have had some success, and at times come short of my aims. 


In the past 5 or so years, I fell back on my flatpicking skills, allowing David to take the lead in picking while I did more of the talking and singing.  Now that I am performing solo, I began to want to do more flatpicking again.  So I started woodshedding and reworking the skills I had and tunes I already knew.  Then I made the decision to attend the Steve Kaufman Acoustic Kamp for flatpicking this June (It was an easy decision once I saw who the instructors were).  While I don't expect to learn everything I want to in a week, I do hope to get a  direction to help me improve over the next year or two.  In anticipation of this camp, I knew I needed to get my hands in shape to be able to hold up picking for a week, and to be ready to learn.  So I started in mid April by making a list of the flatpicking tunes and songs I already knew, then working on picking them as cleanly as I possibly could.  After a couple of weeks of work, I realized I needed a harder regimen if I was to be as strong as I needed to be for camp.  So, I called David Buchanan and asked a favor.  I asked if he would help me get ready by meeting and practicing on Mondays through May.  He agreed, and I now feel the strongest in my picking that I have in several years.  A long way from where I want to be, but better than I was last year, or even 2 months ago.  Thanks David for the help and I am looking forward to moving forward and trying to raise my skills a level or two.


See you down the road.