ENTIRE CONTENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

I. Flatpicking Guitar Essential Basics...for the beginner and intermediate player. There's an infinite wealth of knowledge available to the flatpicking guitarist...this video would only be part of your learning journey...hopefully, a giant stepping stone moving you closer to become an accomplished flatpicking/fingerstyle guitarist...All of the basics are covered...and most importantly, the focus throughout will be establishing a foundation of proper technique...so that your progress for the many years ahead of you will not be impeded by poor technique and bad habits. How would we define "flatpicking guitar"? Flatpicking guitar, as a general definition, encompasses the medium of using a flatpick and an acoustic guitar. Therefore, the name itself: Flatpicking guitar...and as many who use it feel the same, is an approach to an acoustic medium as opposed to referring to anything electric. Yes, you can play an electric with a flatpick, and yes, it would still be referred to as flatpicking...however, the phrase: Flatpicking Guitar is usually used in context with playing an acoustic guitar with a flatpick. This approach to acoustic guitar is very popular in the bluegrass genre...with this video, we hope to cover many styles and approaches to flatpicking an acoustic guitar...this video would also be a good starting point for the average beginner who just wants to learn to play guitar. There will be lots of focus on bluegrass flatpicking...even so, these melodies and exercises, that fall within this genre, are contributory to the beginner fast becoming an all-around accomplished acoustic guitarist. Therefore, as a beginner or intermediate guitarist, keep an open mind on the many approaches and styles offered within the flatpicking medium. Learn as much as you can from all styles and approaches and you will never fall short in most any playing setting...Each style of music you learn will be contributory in building technique for other styles you hope to learn in the future.

II. General Orientation to Your Acoustic Guitar

A. Overview on Parts of a Guitar and General Set-Up: I'd like to start out by explaining the different parts of a guitar...how they fit together...and, how the contribute to the function of your acoustic guitar.
B. Choice of Strings
Choosing your gauges...Types of Strings...Acoustic/Electric Strings...Characteristic of Strings

III. How to Tune Your Acoustic Guitar

* Tuning Your Guitar
* Tuning Tools: The Electronic Tuner

IV. Position and Tools

* Your Medium and Approach
* How to properly hold your pick...there are many ways to hold your right hand...you'll need to experiment to determine what works for you...here are some examples:
* A. With wrist braced on bridge...
* B. With a floating hand...
* C. Using a full forearm approach...
* D. Pivoting the little finger on the soundboard...
* E. Developing speed with your right hand...and the use of a Metronome...
* How to properly hold your left hand...
* Your First Right-Hand Exercise: Count to 4 and learning down/up picking motion.
* Your First Left-Hand Exercise: Chromatic Scale
* Developing good timing...

V. Playing Melodies

* Learning your first melody: Dixie
* Key of G Exercises: The G Scale...G Runs...& G Endings
* Key of C Exercises:
* Key of D Exercises
* Key of A Exercises

VI. Progessing with Melodies

* Learning to flatpick familiar melodies: after practicing the many exercises we've covered, you're now better prepared to start knocking out flatpicking melodies.
* General Melodies
* C. Ghost Riders in the Sky
* D. Oh Shenandoah
* Fiddle Tune/Bluegrass Styles
* A. Black Mt. Rag
* B. Cripple Creek
* C. Arkansas Traveler
* D. Eighth of January

VII. Playing Chords

* Learning Chording
* C Chords
* G Chords
* D Chords
* A Chords
* Arpegiatting your chords...

VIII. Crosspicking Techniques

* Touching on Crosspicking
* Home Sweet Home

IX. Conclusion on Flatpicking

* Continued Studies in Flatpicking
* Where to go From Here

Copyright ®2003 Mickey Cochran?

All rights are reserved on this video for all audio files, all tunes,
all photography and all videography.
Please enquire if interested in reproducing this video for review...
and, thank you kindly for not reproducing without permission from the author.
Keep on Pickin', Mickey Cochran