I gotta admit I'm a bit of a folky at heart. Some of my favourite musicians are folk artists: Neil Young, James Taylor, Bob Dylan - I guess the kinda protest songs resonate with me... but I also love the physical playing of the style too - at the same time simple and complex... the melodies can be simple but have a bed of complex fingerstyle patterns behind them. So in the Folk Fingerstyle Module I hope to give you all the tools you need to go forth and explore this genre :) And then as I get time I plan to do some more lessons on more advanced techniques...

Folk Fingerstyle Module (Intermediate Method)

This Folk Style Module should be done after you have done all the lessons in the Intermediate Method Foundation. It is designed to help you use and develop the techniques we looked at in that! You really should have a grasp of Practical Music Theory, barre chords and open chords and rhythm patterns.

I had done lessons before on Folk Fingerstyle, but I'm not happy with the quality of them, so they have been re-made and further developed for this course. I'm sure you will enjoy it!

FO-100 • Folk Fingerstyle Module Introduction
In this important lesson I go through the basic principles and some important tips and FAQ about fingerstyle guitar and chat about making the most of this course. Don't skip this or you'll miss out on some important info!!

FO-101 • Folk Fingerstyle Patterns 1
We start here with a very simple pattern that will train your thumb and fingers 1 and 2 to work the right way.

FO-102 • Folk Fingerstyle Patterns 2
Next up we develop the patterns by adding in finger 3, enabling us to play more complex patterns.

FO-103 • Creating Fingerstyle Patterns
Before we get too complex I want you to understand how easy it is to make up your own patterns - it's a key skill and after a good lot of practice you will be able to improvise within it!

FO-104 • Major Chord Scale Relations (C, G and F)
Learning the scale positions for C Major and how to link it with the C, F and G Major Scales. Explore the fingering and options.

FO-105 • Easy Happy Birthday Chords and Melody
Everyone should know how to play Happy Birthday, so in this lesson we look at a very simple way of combining the chords with the melody notes, using the chord scale relationships we learned in the last lesson!

FO-106 • Minor Chord Scale Relations (Amin, Emin and Dmin)
Now we look at the minor chords in the key of C and how they link up with the scale.

FO-107 • Waltzing Matilda Chords and Melody
In this lesson we're using the chord scale relations AND the folk fingerstyle combined to play the Australian classic folk song Waltzing Matilda.

FO-108 • Basic Travis Picking
Now we look at a common alternating bass pattern and apply it to barre chords. Great development for your barre playing and good for the brain too 'cos it gets more complex.

FO-109 • Adding Hammer-ons and Flick-offs
Just to share with you some ideas here about this interesting technique which can be a bit tricky, but like everything else just takes some practice, and it's quite common getting into the 'real world' of folk fingerstyle.

DVD Only Lessons
As with all of the Intermediate Style Modules, there will be 9 lessons free and bonus lessons that will be for DVD (or Download) only. In this case I have developed the two tunes we looked at in the course and taken them further and included the video lesson on one of my songs...

FO-110 • Happy Birthday with Folk Fingerstyle Patterns (12 minutes)
Taking the classic birthday song, putting into 4:4 and adding in the folk fingerstyle. DVD users might want to do this lesson between FO-105 and FO-106.

FO-111 • Advanced version of Waltzing Matilda (25 minutes)
In this lesson we take the Australian Folk Anthem we looked at earlier and add in a more complex fingerstyle pattern, some chord substitutions and generally make it sound cooler.

Page 99
As well on the DVD I've included the 28 minute lesson on my song Page 99 because it uses pretty much all the techniques covered in this course and a few more and I think most people on the course will enjoy playing it! It's been on YouTube a while but never before on DVD... Filmed in 2010 it's in 4:3 ratio (not widescreen).

Folk Fingerstyle Module on DVD This DVD contains all 10 lessons from the Folk Fingerstyle Module found online PLUS 37 minutes of exclusive bonus material, more complex versions of Happy Birthday and Waltzing Matilda PLUS a 28 minute lesson on my song Page 99. You'll also find all the tab examples in an easy to print pdf ebook - and buying products helps keep this site (and further style modules) free for those that can't afford to contribute financially!

Other area's I plan to check out in the future, but might be some time away...

I've yet to migrate other Folk lessons to this page but I will get onto that soon, and also make some more advanced Folk lessons...

Nails and nail care
Slack Key
Open Tunings (Open G, DADGAD, CGCGCD, etc)
Percussion on guitar (Tommy, Andy McKee and company...)
Middle Finger Percussive Hit (Nick Jones style).