Folk Études

This chapter turns everything from the folk and acoustic part into music: three complete, original fingerstyle guitar pieces, from easy to advanced. Each one has a clear form with an intro, a verse and an outro, so you learn to carry a whole piece instead of looping a single pattern.

Barn Swallow Morning is a gentle tune in G major with open chords only. Your thumb holds the bass and your ring finger plays the melody on top of each pinch, letting it sing a little louder than the rest. Saltmarsh Lane is a Travis-picking piece in C major: a steady alternating bass over C, Am, Dm and G7, with hammer-ons and pull-off licks for color. Ferry Lights at Dusk is the advanced étude, in D major: open D, A and low E strings keep a drone going while the melody climbs up to the 10th fret and back, using slides, position shifts and everything else from this part.

Learn each section slowly with the click, then play the piece from start to finish. These are fingerstyle songs you can actually play for someone.