This is a style I have always explored, but when my late, great friend Danny Gatton and I recorded “Tequila” for my eighth album, I really had a chance to stretch out with this style and learn from Danny what he chose to do within this unique technique!
This style requires either “hybrid” picking, or straight fingerpicking to properly be executed, and you are basically playing an open string in combination with every “closed” position note you play. I originally developed this technique to re-create Buddy Guy’s closed harmony lick style, but this is a more challenging and broad style.
The foremost thing to keep in mind when doing a technique such as this is to understand what the open string’s musical role and value is. Of course, whenever you change positions this open string takes on a whole other musical value, and therein lies the challenge of discovering new and exciting positions for this technique.
In this lesson you will be introduced to this sound and style, and I will show you as much as I can in as short a time as possible to really get you going so you can then teach yourself!—Arlen Roth
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