Learning new pieces for the acoustic - recommendations please

ToneControl · October 2020

I think this would have not been seen my most acoustic players if posted in "Playing", so I put it here

I've been playing the same old pieces and my own stuff too much recently

What's the most effective way to learn a larger number of famous pieces?

I have lots of tab books, but most pieces in each don't appeal

I have a music stand, yesterday today I was trying out a 10 inch Kindle Fire with Tab apps, I found quite a lot of pieces on there, and it seemed to have more pieces available than going via my PC and printing out pieces, which is my main previous tactic.
I sold my iPad about 5 years ago, but please tell me if there is a killer app. I could run it on my iPhone, and screenshare on to a TV

I'm looking for fingerstyle mostly, not virtuoso level stuff, probably up to Grade 7 level
I play some stuff classical-style on steel string, and sometimes on nylon, I like Charlie Byrd, but don't plan to learn many pieces as complex as his arrangements.

I love lots of strings left ringing on overtone-rich guitars like Goodall / Avalon / Lowden models

Not sure I want to learn Celtic pieces, although I love DADGAD, but more from the Roy Harper perspective

I also like playing with other tunings

tomjax · October 2020

If you want to enjoy some alternative stuff in DADGAD, I recently came across this book which has some really great tunes and fun to be playing the blues in DADGAD!

Rob MacKillop presents DADGAD Blues. It's on the Melbay book label and available on Amazon. If you look up his website, there are several videos showing the book tunes so you can decide if you fancy them or not.

markj · October 2020

tomjax said:

If you want to enjoy some alternative stuff in DADGAD, I recently came across this book which has some really great tunes and fun to be playing the blues in DADGAD!

Rob MacKillop presents DADGAD Blues. It's on the Melbay book label and available on Amazon. If you look up his website, there are several videos showing the book tunes so you can decide if you fancy them or not.

Just ordered this book from Amazon on your recommendation.

drofluf · October 2020

tomjax said:

If you want to enjoy some alternative stuff in DADGAD, I recently came across this book which has some really great tunes and fun to be playing the blues in DADGAD!

Rob MacKillop presents DADGAD Blues. It's on the Melbay book label and available on Amazon. If you look up his website, there are several videos showing the book tunes so you can decide if you fancy them or not.

I’ve got his Easy Celtic DADGAD Guitar book and have learned a lot from it but it may be too easy for @ToneControl ? The Celtic book has mainly single note melodies which may be a little simple for Grade 7 level.

Either that or, highly unlikely, I’m better than I thought

more · October 2020

I not sure what your looking for . If it's ,not too difficult finger style guitar using different tunings . Have a look for John Fahey , here is an example John Fahey - On the Sunny Side of the Ocean - YouTube
This tune is in G

tomjax · October 2020

drofluf said:

tomjax said:

If you want to enjoy some alternative stuff in DADGAD, I recently came across this book which has some really great tunes and fun to be playing the blues in DADGAD!

Rob MacKillop presents DADGAD Blues. It's on the Melbay book label and available on Amazon. If you look up his website, there are several videos showing the book tunes so you can decide if you fancy them or not.

I’ve got his Easy Celtic DADGAD Guitar book and have learned a lot from it but it may be too easy for @ToneControl ? The Celtic book has mainly single note melodies which may be a little simple for Grade 7 level.

Either that or, highly unlikely, I’m better than I thought

Good point, but It's definitely more engaging and challenging than the celtic book, but as I say he has lots of videos of the tunes being played on his website so it's easy to check out the tunes first to get an idea if they're of any interest.

DulcetJones · October 2020

I was in the same place until earlier this year when I paid up for a year on "Blues Guitar Institute"(no affiliation). The wealth of material in various tunings, but mainly standard covers fingerstyle blues from whole songs to short, focused technique primers and has kept me busy and happy. There's lots of videos on youtube for anyone wanting to check it out. Members can download tabs in pdf or Guitar Pro format. I've got a huge background playing classical, flamenco, Celtic etc..., but I never really dug into fingerstyle blues, so this has been a lifesaver what with the current situation in the world.

TrevinDevon · October 2020

Have a look at the site Six String Fingerpicking. There are loads of lessons on there for all abilities. The video lessons are all free but you have to pay if you want the tabs. For old-time blues, Daddy Stovepipe is the go-to guy. He has quite a few free lessons up on YT, and his paid-for stuff is reasonably priced. I like Yoni Schleisinger's stuff too, although I think most of it's paid for. (I did learn 'Sultans of Swing' from him for free, though. I was so pleased with myself I sent him a donation!)

Kilgore · October 2020

As mentioned already BGI and Daddystovepipe are good for fingerstyle blues. Active Melody is also worth a look.

Toms_Dad · October 2020

I have a great book by the classical guitarist David Russell. It’s called “Messages of the Sea” and it is a collection of Celtic pieces. There’s a couple of reels, but also arrangements of “Bonnie Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond”, “Skye Boat Song” and others. They have been used on the Trinity guitar syllabus in recent years.

Lomond is grade 7 and the “Bucks of Oranmore” reel is grade 8.

If I remember rightly, from your previous posts, you are also a classical guitarist so I imagine you read notation. There isn’t any tab in this book.
They should work great on a steel string. There are also some YouTube videos of him playing them.

ToneControl · October 2020

Toms_Dad said:

I have a great book by the classical guitarist David Russell. It’s called “Messages of the Sea” and it is a collection of Celtic pieces. There’s a couple of reels, but also arrangements of “Bonnie Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond”, “Skye Boat Song” and others. They have been used on the Trinity guitar syllabus in recent years.
Lomond is grade 7 and the “Bucks of Oranmore” reel is grade 8.
If I remember rightly, from your previous posts, you are also a classical guitarist so I imagine you read notation. There isn’t any tab in this book.
They should work great on a steel string. There are also some YouTube videos of him playing them.

Self-taught classical (and acoustic and electric for that matter)
I can work it out very slowly from the notation

I'll have a look thanks

ToneControl · October 2020

TrevinDevon said:

Have a look at the site Six String Fingerpicking. There are loads of lessons on there for all abilities. The video lessons are all free but you have to pay if you want the tabs. For old-time blues, Daddy Stovepipe is the go-to guy. He has quite a few free lessons up on YT, and his paid-for stuff is reasonably priced. I like Yoni Schleisinger's stuff too, although I think most of it's paid for. (I did learn 'Sultans of Swing' from him for free, though. I was so pleased with myself I sent him a donation!)

ta
these are all going in the to-do list

ToneControl · October 2020

tomjax said:

If you want to enjoy some alternative stuff in DADGAD, I recently came across this book which has some really great tunes and fun to be playing the blues in DADGAD!

Rob MacKillop presents DADGAD Blues. It's on the Melbay book label and available on Amazon. If you look up his website, there are several videos showing the book tunes so you can decide if you fancy them or not.

sounds good

ToneControl · October 2020

drofluf said:

tomjax said:

If you want to enjoy some alternative stuff in DADGAD, I recently came across this book which has some really great tunes and fun to be playing the blues in DADGAD!

Rob MacKillop presents DADGAD Blues. It's on the Melbay book label and available on Amazon. If you look up his website, there are several videos showing the book tunes so you can decide if you fancy them or not.

I’ve got his Easy Celtic DADGAD Guitar book and have learned a lot from it but it may be too easy for @ToneControl ? The Celtic book has mainly single note melodies which may be a little simple for Grade 7 level.

Either that or, highly unlikely, I’m better than I thought

happy to play less than Grade 7, that's just my limit, and I can't do all the Grade 7 techniques for that matter ;-)

ToneControl · October 2020

more said:

I not sure what your looking for . If it's ,not too difficult finger style guitar using different tunings . Have a look for John Fahey , here is an example John Fahey - On the Sunny Side of the Ocean - YouTube
This tune is in G

I used to listen to his stuff a lot when I was 20, I shall have another look, I never used to play open tunings then, and have one tuned to open G now

tomjax · October 2020

TrevinDevon said:

Have a look at the site Six String Fingerpicking.

Thanks for this link, I've just taken a look and there's some fun stuff on there.

GTC · October 2020

If you want a challenge then you could try the latest Pierre Bensusan book, "Guitar Collection". It features full transcriptions from his recent "Azwan" album plus live pieces.

It is a beautifully produced bilingual (English /French) book - spiral bound with a lot of photos, tips and insights

ToneControl · October 2020

GTC said:

If you want a challenge then you could try the latest Pierre Bensusan book, "Guitar Collection". It features full transcriptions from his recent "Azwan" album plus live pieces.

It is a beautifully produced bilingual (English /French) book - spiral bound with a lot of photos, tips and insights

Just listening to that album now, sounds challenging!

Balrog68 · November 2020

The `Songster` android app has fingerstyle tab as well as the the usual `song` tab. It also has the advantage of you being able to hear it played if you have the payed for version, rolling tab, variable tempo etc.

BahHumbug · November 2020

If you look on the Registry of Guitar Tutors web site and ferret around long enough you'll find their list of alternative exam pieces for their acoustic guitar syllabus. They've basically listed a bunch of books and then applied grades to all the pieces therein.
When I did my grade 8 i referred to this list and ended up getting Duck Baker's Fingerstyle Blues 101. The pieces are graded 5 to 8 by RGT, and I have had some real fun out of some of them (others may be forever beyond me).

guitarjack66 · November 2020

Ultimate Guitar and Songster apps are popular. I know some of them are not accurate,I am not experienced enough to spot them,but there are plenty of different versions of the same songs so I'm sure you could find one or two if you wanted.

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Learning new pieces for the acoustic - recommendations please

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