"folky lead guitar"

[bobcs71]

Hey! I've been asked to do this for a band with an upcomming gig. I wanted to hear what ideas or examples might be from my fellow TGPers:

folky lead guitar sounds.... most songs are upbeat with a cut-time woodsy Tennessee/Alabama feel

Any thoughts about that description from the front man?

[Prairie Belt]

Check out the bluegrass guitar guys. Doc Watson, Tony Rice & Norman Blake are good examples. Also, David Bromberg does cool stuff. A lot of open position licks & getting down with the capo.

[bobcs71]

Great idea. I've got some Doc Watson stuff to listen to. One odd thing is he wants me to play electric. I suppose I could still use similar licks.

[Poppa Stoppa]

Don't forget Richard Thompson for some good folky ideas.

[Prairie Belt]

Some cool examples-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JFgC3Ub10E&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKLgXgVRqjk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3ZWdyhkkLQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi_RtsjKU60

Also, any Gillian Welch/David Rawling stuff.


Bluegrass licks work great on electric. Clarence White with the Byrds is a cool example of that.

[bobcs71]

Thanks for the links. I'll go over those tonight.

[marcher5877]

Dont forget Jerry Garcia.

[derekd]

Dont forget Jerry Garcia.

Who? :huh

[marcher5877]

Jerry Garcia plays banjo and guitar on the bluegrass albums Old and In the Way and Shady Groove.

[bobcs71]

Last night at rehearsal in addition to bluegrass flavored stuff on electric guitar they wanted slide on a few songs. I sure wish I was a good slide player!

[GuitarsFromMars]

check out Luther Dickenson on the last 2 Hiatt albums.

[marcher5877]

I'll second that Luther Dickenson shout too.

His work with The Word is some of my favorite music in the world. The Word was a brief project made up of the North Mississippi All-Stars, along with organ player John Medeski of MMW and slide guitar phenom Robert Randolph.

[Tim Pourciau]

I have been playing with a folk guy for about a year. He sounds a lot like Dylan or Woody Guthrie. Anway I found that playing bluegrass licks work well as well as steel guitar type lines. I try and get fancy every now and then and play some chromatic type lines, but the majority of what i play resides in major pentatonic lines. It just fits with the music. Sometimes some mixolydian licks (thank you Jerry Garcia). No need to try to over think it, just play what sounds good. The guy i play with wanted me to play slide on some of the stuff too, but I am terrible at playing slide. I just started playing those pedal steel type things (double stop bends or whatever you want to call them) and he really digs that.

[waxnsteel]

Try playing blues without any feeling.:jo

[bobcs71]

Try playing blues without any feeling.:jo
I've been doing that for years!:puh

[sixty2strat]

used to do that with a local folkie....PLAY MELODIC and melodies. MAjor scales never fail