Here is the link to Am I a fool
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/tabs/lonesome-river-band/am-i-a-fool-4282.html
Here is the link to guitar progression and Flatpicking for Arkansas Traveller
http://www.bluegrassguitar.com/pdf/ArkansasTraveler.pdf
Here is the link to Am I A Fool song
http://youtu.be/81WkNEkzO38
Here is the link to Long Gone song
http://youtu.be/o-AhlVZh51o
If you don't have the tabs to Long Gone I'll bring copies for all. I do want to discuss a little on this months songs. Long Gone is pretty straight forward. Am I A Fool is a little bit of a challenge, but this is a Workshop. It's suppose to be a learning experience. I realize the song has 5 chords, but each chord is in the natural progression of the key. From last weeks session I can see there are a lot of people stuck on GCD and their Parking Lot Pickers books. We really need to branch out. When I went to the key of A for this song, seemed like everyone got lost. Several of the instruments can capo. The mandolin players can use movable chords. For breaks, capo instruments should know there scale, G Scale. For Mandolin players, there is an easy pattern I can show you for any scale you're in. Does everyone know all of there minor chords? If Capos, scales, minor chords, changing keys are an issue please let me know. We can have a mini workshop to cover these topics and get everyone up to speed. If you don't say anything I'm assuming you understand these topics. I can teach a short mini course on these topics pretty quickly. As we progress through the months we are going to cover more present day groups and these topics will come up again. I think this is a positive direction and will make you all better musicians. "this ain't your grandpa's Bluegrass anymore". New Bluegrass has evolved, it's not just GCD. Bill Monroe actually performed many of his songs in Bb. It's really not that hard. New groups are incorporating more and more minors in their songs and each generation of Bluegrass seems to pick more and more complex.
We can just sit around and play songs out of the Parking Lot Pickers book, you won't need me for that, or we can progress in our musical knowledge and accept the challenges it brings. And as far as the Nashville Number System goes; it is important, it's the building block for changing keys and understanding what you're doing.
Sorry for the soap box speech. I'll get off my soapbox now and let's play some music. If this isn't the direction you all want to go let me, Jim or Joann know.
Thanks
Jeff
