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The Fingerstyle Five

Play Complete Songs • Learn To Groove • Play Better Guitar

Three new programs starting in October!

  • Play, arrange and improvise on "Key To The Highway"
  • "6 Steps To Playing Fingerstyle Blues" Interactive Course
  • 10-Week Fingerstyle Orientation for all new members
Join Now
 

The Fingerstyle Five

Play Complete Songs
Learn To Groove
Play Better Guitar

Three new programs starting in October!

  • Play, arrange and improvise on "Key To The Highway"
  • "6 Steps To Playing Fingerstyle Blues" Interactive Course
  • 10-Week Fingerstyle Orientation for all new members
Join Now
 

Better Groove, Better Blues

What if, on any song, you could trust your hands not to stumble, stay relaxed, and remember what comes next? What if you understood why you were playing the things you play, and could retain more of what you practice and learn?

 

I've been teaching my Fingerstyle Five method for the past five years, and have seen it work for every level of player. It addresses the whole picture – groove, repertoire, technique, improvisation. And it can help you learn complete songs, understand music better, and play better guitar.

 

Fingerstyle guitar has a lot of moving parts, so a big part of getting better involves identifying those various parts and isolating them so you can iron them out.  Isolate the bass to learn the form and the chord progression. Isolate the melody and you'll understand the phrasing of a tune. And isolate the right hand rhythms, and you'll finally get control over your thumb and fingers.
 
When you combine musical understanding of a tune with right hand control, you get a reliable groove. And with a reliable groove, you can make everything – even the simplest ideas – sound great.
 
I learned much of this the hard way, banging my head against a wall – or a metronome – trying to figure out how to improve my time, play more "in the pocket" and make sure my thumb and fingers were doing all the right things. Nothing is more frustrating than encountering problems in your own playing, and having no path for how to fix them. Especially something as vague as "groove," "good time" or "the pocket."
 
It was only when I figured out how to isolate my problems – to identify and then work on one aspect of my playing at a time – that I was finally able to sharpen my sense of time and gain control over my groove.

 

Granted, blues is a visceral, emotive and somewhat intuitive music, so all this talk about working on one thing at a time, examining each aspect of your playing, may sound a bit sterile or counterintuitive. Shouldn't we all just be able to feel it?
 
Maybe so, but if you really think about it, even the most legendary blues musicians served long apprenticeships, learning whatever they could, wherever they could, honing their skills and putting in their hours before finally becoming known. In short, while they might not have worked every morning with a Youtube playlist and a metronome app, the Howlin' Wolfs (wolves?) and B.B. Kings of this world practiced as much if not more as anyone else to be able to play the way they did.
 
Musical skills and awareness allow you to channel your feelings through your instrument. If you're willing to take the time, and to work in a thoughtful, incremental way, grooving and improvising are no less attainable than learning scales and chord shapes or memorizing a song from tab.

Three Reasons To Join Now

"Key To The Highway"

October is the start of a new quarter in the Fingerstyle Five, and we'll be working on one of the most-requested songs, the eight-bar blues "Key To The Highway."

Six Steps Live

Learn the essential right-hand techniques, vocabulary and chord voicings from my "Six Steps To Playing Fingerstyle Blues" in a live-streamed format with plenty of time for everyone's questions.

New Member Orientation

Over the first ten weeks of your membership, I'll introduce you to all the essential concepts in the membership and provide a guided tour of the extensive library of traditional and contempory songs.

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The Songs • The Lessons • The Tools

ALL THE CONTENT

When you join the Fingerstyle Five, you get immediate access to all the past lessons: every song, live stream, PDF and more.

The membership runs on a quarterly schedule, introducing a new song every three months. Starting in October, you'll learn how to play and arrange your own version of "Key To The Highway" and even start improvising on it as well.

 WEEKLY LESSONS

There  are three hour-long live streams in a month. I'll walk you through each week's material and answer your questions along the way, so you can take each idea, exercise or lick, make it part of your practice routine, and ultimately add it to your vocabulary.

Every live stream is also archived and available for on-demand viewing immediately after it airs.

COMPLETE ACCESS

You'll have complete access to everything in the membership for as long as you're a member. In addition to the archives of traditional and contemporary blues songs, you'll also get:

  • The Guitarist's Intro To Theory
  • Fundamentals of Improvisation (Eight volumes and growing)
  • Vamps, Embellishments and Shout Choruses for every song
  • Special membership-only workshops on Freddie Green Chords, Maintaining a Repertoire, and more
  • Ongoing technique tips for everything from hammerons and pulloffs to ghost notes and fingerings 

BLUES CLASSICS

In addition to the current quarterly song, you can work on over two dozen other hand-picked steady bass and alternating-thumb classics, including:
  • Nobody's Dirty Business
  • How Long Blues
  • Matchbox Blues
  • Trouble In Mind
  • Rollin' and Tumblin'
  • You Got To Move
  • Crow Black Chicken
  • See See Rider
  • St. James Infirmary
  • Baby Please Don't Go
  • Crow Jane
Want to apply some jazzier sophistication to your instrumental blues? I've included over a dozen original tunes as well, you help you learn new chord voicings, bass lines, turnaround licks and other variations on the basic blues forms.

 

ALL THE TOOLS YOU NEED, FOR EVERY SONG:
  • The Horizontal 3-Step: Isolate the bass line, the melody, then put them back together
  • Rudiments: Isolate right-hand rhythms to hone your groove
  • Fundamental and Embellished: Start with a basic version of the tune, then start dressing it up with syncopation, chord voicings, bass lines and more
  • The Seven-Step Arc: Combine the Fundamental and Embellished tune with a vamp, shout chorus and solo to create your own complete arrangement of the song
ALL THE ESSENTIALS
The Fingerstyle Five covers both steady bass and alternating-thumb styles, in all the essential keys: E, A, D, C, E minor and A minor.
Start focusing on tunes, timing, technique and understanding, so you can play the kind of music you love better than ever before.
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HOW IT WORKS

Sign Up

Use the secure form below to sign up now using Paypal or Stripe

Join The Membership

Get immediate access to the entire song archive, and start learning "Key To The Highway" in October

Transform Your Blues

Get your groove together, play more complete songs, and become a better musician.

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REWATCH THE GROOVE MASTER CLASS UNTIL 10/02/24

LEARN TO PLAY WITH CONFIDENCE AND EXPRESSION

 

The Fingerstyle Five

There is no long-term commitment when you join The Fingerstyle Five. Sign up now for $29/month, pay monthly, and cancel at any time.