Learning to play the style of Dylan and Van Ronk
PART II
Of course, when I began to play the acoustic
guitar I learned the songs from Peter Paul and
Mary, and the Kingston Trio, and the New
Christie Minstrels, and the Back Porch Majority.
In between rock bands I would get some friends
together from High School and we would work out
songs like “500 Miles” and “Man of Constant
Sorrow” and more traditional folk music. Then
along came Bob Dylan. His music gave a new life
to the sounds of acoustic guitar music and he of
course led me to singer/songwriters like Tim
Hardin, and Phil Ochs, and then to the great
guitar playing of Dave Van Ronk and the task of
learning to finger pick.
I would sit for hours playing picking patterns,
but all I could come up with were the arpeggio
fingerings,
thumb-finger-finger-finger-thumb-finger-finger-f
inger. It would drive me crazy. I would ask my
friend who could do the alternative pattern, “Do
I have it, yet?” He would say “no not yet” and
I would try some more. Finally, one afternoon
my thumb started to play alternate to my fingers
and the elation I felt was really something. I
would still rather finger pick than play any
other style.
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Bob, thank you for taking the time to share this post, it is a pleasure to read. And thank you for your never ending commitment to the beauty that is acoustic guitar music – there is nothing better! See you in the store soon. FYI, I wrote a review of AMR (on your Facebook page) expressing my thoughts regarding the wonderful things you do for all of us. Steve B.