Hello and welcome once again
to Flatpicking Guitar Magazine’s free lesson portion of our monthly
e-mail newsletter. As many of you know, when you click here each month,
you never know what style of flatpicking tune your going to find.
From bluegrass to swing and Irish to klezmer—I try to keep an
open mind and offer tunes from all genres and styles of flatpicking.
“Willaford” is no exception as it originates from the Scottish fiddling
tradition.
I learned “Willaford” from Florida fiddler Aisha
Ivey. After hearing her play the tune one time I found myself humming
it all day. This is the mark of a great melody. If it can
hook me in one listen it must be doing something right. As I have
stated in previous e-lessons, I enjoy learning melodies from fiddle
players as it ensures an authentic and unique guitar version. I have
enjoyed learning and arranging “Willaford” for guitar and I’m certain
you will see and hear why I have chosen this tune to share with all of
you.
“Willaford” is a wonderful alternate picking study. While the melody
does not consist of steady eighth notes, it does contain melodic
picking patterns that require correct pick direction to get the feel of
the tune. When picking the melody to “Willaford” you will encounter
phrases that begin on up-stokes. The last three notes of measure 2, for
example, are picked up-down-up (see pick direction notation in the
tablature).
This cool picking pattern is heard throughout the
tune and helps give the tune its bouncy and addictive feel. Please
refer back to my free “pick stroke theory” lesson if you have any
questions about the how, why, and when of proper pick direction as it
applies to flatpicking.
In addition to the unique note groupings found in
the melody, “Willaford” also contains a set of really hip and
enlightening chord changes. Instead of relying solely on the
traditional I, IV, V chords (D, G, and A in the key of D), “Willaford”
introduces some well placed I, vi, ii, V (D, Bm, Em, A)
progressions. This chord progression (D, Bm, Em, A) is often
called the 50’s rock and roll progression and is found in countless
oldies rock tunes such as “Earth Angel” and “Blue Moon.” When used in a
fiddle tune, it gives the melody a really cool sound that still
resembles that 50’s rock and roll groove. Most of us find this sound
quite pleasing.
Make sure to click on the lesson mp3 to hear the melody and
chords in action. I hope you enjoy working on this neat melody and
adding to your ever growing list of flatpicking tunes. As always, if
you have any questions or comments on this e-lesson or great ideas for
tunes you’d like to see featured here in the future just drop me a line
at [email protected]
