Accompaniment Styles
In this lesson you will learn your first basic songs and a picking pattern to accompany that song. Each accompaniment will use patterns and techniques that were studied in the previous lessons.
Pick-up Notes
Sometimes a song does not begin on the first beat of the bar. Any notes which come before the first full bar are called pick-up notes. When pick-up notes are used, the last bar is also incomplete. The combined notes in the pick-up and last bar add up to one full bar.
The following tune Man of Constant Sorrow begins on the second beat of the bar. The melody is relatively simple and can be played solely on the first and second strings. The chord progression to Man of Constant Sorrow is a sixteen bar Folk progression. Practice the melody to this song first before trying the accompaniment in the following exercise.
Now try the accompaniment to Man of Constant Sorrow which uses the first fingerpicking pattern. You may encounter difficulties with playing the pattern in time to some of the chord changes. For these instances try either omitting the last note before the chord change or substitute an open string note (see Changing Chords, Lesson 2).
Picking Three Notes Together
The picking of three notes together is when the right hand fingers pick two treble strings at the same time a bass note is picked. In the following example the i and m fingers play the first two strings at the same time. It is important to pick all strings as evenly as possible so each string has the same volume and tone.
The technique described in the previous paragraph will be employed for the accompaniment to the song Banks of the Ohio. First practice the melody line.
Banks of the Ohio features the chords C, F, G and G7. Several of the fingerpicking patterns studied throughout the book are used including optional bass patterns and the picking of three notes together. Bass runs are also incorporated on some chord changes.
Songs in Three Four Time
Some songs are in three four time. Three four time is also known as waltz time. A song in three four time has the ^ time signature at the beginning of the music notation. It indicates there are three beats (three quarter notes) in one bar of ^ time. As there are only three beats to the bar the standard alternating bass is modified to fit into three beats.
A variety of patterns can be constructed using the previous ^ bass line by incorporating notes from the treble strings.
Now try the accompaniment to The Streets of Laredo.
