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VERY Basic GuitarThis is part of the "How To Folk" series of articles. In an effort to "jump start" your enjoyment of Folk music and your ability to join in, no matter what instrument you play, we are providing some very basic notes about guitar chords and how to recognize them, even if you don't play guitar. Note: - This part of the Folkarama page, which is dedicated to helping beginners "get into" Folk music and join Folk communities as easily as possible, with simple articles and links to resources that provide hands-on instruction in traditional acoustic instruments. Folkarama, in turn, contains many references to more extensive articles and resources in Paul Race's CreekDontRise.com site, as well as other related pages. Knowing a Little Bit Can Help a LotEven if you never intend to play guitar, in public, or at all, knowing a few common chords can make it far easier to join in. If a guitar player leading a song doesn't tell you what key you're in, or what chords they're using, you can often figure it out just by watching his or her left hand. Don't laugh. Folk musicians do this all the time. There are other ways to predict, or at least guess, which chords a song will use, but this is an invaluable shortcut.Why Guitar?Guitar is the default for 98% of people playing Folk or Folk-influenced music. Because I play guitar, I can follow along on almost all of that repertoire simply by watching the guitar player's left hand, even if I'm playing mandolin, dulcimer, banjo, autoharp, ukulele, or any other instrument.Again, this isn't about becoming proficient on the guitar, it's about basic knowledge that will help you "get on board" with new songs or new circles of musicians far more quickly. Not to mention that ability to play some chorded instrument will help you write songs and create harmony parts when you're singing with other folks. Or providing a rudimentary accompaniment when you're out and about, and someone says, "Say, play that song you were telling me about." ResourcesThere are plenty of guitar instruction materials, online, of course. But we are working on a few that will help you learn the most basic, but necessary, information quickly.The current resources we have published are:
Other resources should follow soon. ConclusionThese suggestions are just a start, of course. But for all of its variations and even contradictions, Folk music is a discipline in itself, and a rewarding one of that. The more you play, sing, practice, and hang, the more you'll get out of it, the faster you'll learn in the future, and the better you'll be at whatever you already do have "under your belt."Other resources will be listed as I get to them. Sister SitesOther sites we started to keep this site from getting too big to be useful include:
For information about other music collections and projects, check the links at the bottom of this page. Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you come away with some great ideas for "sharing the joy." And please stay in touch! All material, illustrations, and content of this web site is copyrighted (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
For questions, comments, suggestions, trouble reports, etc. about this page or this site, please contact us.
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