dave marshall guitar studio

I'll be constantly updating this section, so please check back soon.

(For the sheet music, click on the title, for the sound clip, click on the speaker icon.)

Accompaniment

Most guitar method books don't cover the important subject of accompaniment.  It is one of the great enjoyments of playing guitar--playing behind a voice (your own or others) or backing up other instruments.  There are a few basics the fingerstyle guitarist should know in this regard.  First, in playing a chord, it is important to play the proper bass note followed by a down stroke strum or picking the treble strings for the given chord.  This is followed by playing an alternate bass and executing the strum or plucking action,  In the sample below, I show the proper bass/strum pattern for the major chords we play on the guitar. Bass 1 is played first. After strumming/plucking the treble strings, bass 2 (alternative bass) is played followed by the strum/plucking action. In the sample, I also show how the fingerstyle guitarist can play broken chords as a variation to the standard patterns of playing. I like to mix the two patterns to give the accompaniment variety.

Chord Accompaniment Practice 

Fingerstyle Chord Patterns

Fingerstyle guitar offers an almost endless variety of broken chord patterns to add variety to your playing. Here are a few of my favorites that I subconsciously seem to return to time and time again in my accompaniments.

The first is a series of triplets that work great in the key of A. To count a triplet, say a three-syllable word as you play. I have always used “trip-o-let.”

The second pattern is a calypso rhythm—one of my all time favorites. Note the bass is syncopated, adding musical interest. I intersperse this rhythm with the more traditional North American “straight” rhythms.

The third pattern is what I refer to as a typical folk style. It works for many occasions, and, thus, a basic pattern for me.

Finally, the forth pattern I learned in Pete Seeger's banjo book that he refers to as “bum ditty,”which describes the rhythm. Pay attention to the notes with their stems pointing down. They indicate those notes that should be played by the thumb.

Broken Chord Patterns 

Suspended Chords

One of my favorite chord forms are the suspended seconds and suspended fourths. These chords are created when we add the 2^nd or 4^th interval to a major chord. For instance, adding G to the D chord creates a Dsus4 chord. The name “suspended” comes from the musical nature in which the added note seems to demand resolution back to the major chord. The G added to D wants to resolve back to the D chord. As with augmented and diminished chords, suspended chords provide rich texture to the music, if not overdone. The Suspended Chords exercise allows the guitarist to get to know how to play suspended chords in various keys. Please note that, for a driving rhythm, the thumb is played on every beat—even for the high notes of the chord.

Suspended Chords  

Playing Blues with a Constant Bass Line

Many of the old time blues players would often accompany themselves with a non-alternating bass line. If played in excess, it could get a little monotonous, but in small measures, it is a very effective musical device. Here's an example I wrote for practice.  I like to play it with a muted bass, but it works fine without it.

Constant Bass-Line Blues    

Playing Blues with an Alternating Bass Line

Most of the time, we play the blues—as other musical forms—with an alternating bass. Here's one I wrote in the Merl Travis style, complete with muted bass. 

Doc Watson has described Merl's style as:

"When Merle plays the guitar, he gets a rhythmic beat going by bouncing his thumb back and forth on the bass strings, which he mutes with the edge of the palm of his hand." 

I couldn't say it better.

I urge my students to start out playing the bass line alone to get a feel for the thumb action. Once your comfortable with it, play the high notes alone. Finally, combine the two.

Alternating Bass-Line Blues