I started playing guitar 2.5 years back, and picked up a DVD featuring Ramblin' Jack Elliot and commentated by you. It was great to watch the master at work on the guitar, but the DVD was little more than a visual aide. He did little explaining of what was going on.

You, on the other hand, kept asking those pointed questions that were at the forefront of my mind: "How did you ever learn exactly what to pick and why?" and things of that nature. Jack explained the best he could, but mostly just played instead of talked.

I get the impression that if you were to make your own instructional DVD on some folk songs, you would explain everything to the level I was hoping Jack would. It'd be a fantastic aide!

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Unfortunately, the internet in general (including YouTube) only has helped me along to such a point. And I have yet to run into a single person in real life who plays folk music to any half-serious level. Both during my time at college and in my year since.

I'm worried that in the decades to come, the only way to understand what's going on in a number of classic songs, will be through mastery of the guitar in general. And even then, it's not all too likely that someone who has the adequate experience on the guitar would take folk music to be as serious as it is. Not serious enough to want to pass on the complexities of it alone.

By the way, if anyone reading this is curious, here's a good judge of my skill level so far.

http://www.box.net/shared/cnqns67per
http://www.box.net/shared/1val4jguak

I guess I'm OK for only having played a little over two years, but there's still so much more to learn. Uncovering new things to try, unfortunately, takes up the bulk of the time.

I can see it now:

Ok, for our first lesson, hold the guitar like this and.........ya know, I just thought of something...... I don't mean to interupt the lesson or nuthin'......but........................

Hey Xavean, Welcome! My computer won't let me download or view the stuff you posted....I don't think it does boxnet or something.....I'm sort of new at the cyber game, actually downright ignorant! But to your question without having heard you play, there are lots of different ways of learning. Watching and listening to someone is one of the best, but I find that listening, I mean really LISTENING! is the key, because then you will be able to better understand what you are watching. Ive been playing almost 40 years, and with all the great stuff on youtube these days (including and especially Arlo), there's a lot to watch and listen to, and lately I've been learning all kinds of new (to me) stuff. And Arlo is a great teacher of many things, not just music.....but I get the impression that he's kind of busy.....an Arlo guitar pickin' video would be a beautiful and blunderful gift for him to give us for Christmas though ( Are you gettin' all this ADG?)

Oh yeah, almost forgot.....Do Not try to learn how to tune a guitar from him.....he tunes by sight....A long time ago I heard Arlo say that he tuned by sight, so when I got home I figured, If Arlo does it, it must be really great.....messed me up something awful. As people around here will tell you, I've never been right since..........

.....but there's a guy out in the backyard smellin' the satellite dish!.....

Thanks for the warm welcome, Norton!

Here are two new links I have, since Box.net seems to give you troubles:

Guitar + Singing: http://www.supload.com/music/Demo-download-SH3ALQMDHF9X.html

Guitar + Harp: http://www.supload.com/music/Demo-download-JCGLQGEBPOJ0.html

You're right, though. Keeping a good ear open to music is always important. But so far, I've found the best learning comes from someone explaining what is actually going on, too. For me, at least. And sadly (or happily ), Arlo is touring his butt off, so he probably won't have any time in the near future. But hey, if he finds himself looking for a new project, this could be it!

And like others said, can you imagine the side stories we'd get? It might end up being a instructional DVD 6-disc box set!

Yeah. This first lesson could begin on one coast and end up on the other.....

I played <with> an electric guitar for about ten years, without much progress. But I loved doing it.

But I began to lose interest, later on.


But then,.............. I was driving home from a neighboring town and passed a yard sale. I just happened to notice an ACOUSTIC guitar leaning against a tree. So I slammed on the brakes and turned around. I paid THREE DOLLARS for this antique Sears Roebuck guitar with four strings on it. I got it home, put three good strings on it,... (to this day, the three "wound" strings are still the ones from the yard sale),... and began to learn to STRUM a guitar.

Suddenly, I began to get it! The very first song I taught myself was American Pie. I even became co-ordinated enough to SING while I play!

..... This "acoustic" stuff is pretty cool!

And just a year later, Don McLean came to my area, performing at a local Indian casino. I brought my old acoustic to the show and he was singing autographs and selling CD's after the show and he SIGNED MY GUITAR!!!

How cool is THAT! American Pie was the first song I learned how to play on THAT guitar, and HE signed it!

Later, I purchased a nice twelve string and inherated another six string. And here,... about ten years since........... the six-string has been autographed by Gordon Lightfoot and Ray Stevens,..... and ARLO SIGNED MY TWELVE STRING!!!!!

And,..... on the back of the twelve string...(Arlo should sell signature guitars like this),... there... THERE on the other side,..... in the MIDDLE of the other side,..... away from EVERYTHING ELSE on the other side....... in parentheses....... capital letters......... quotated........... reads the following words.....

.....*("Kid,.......Have You Rehabilitated Yourself?")*

(I thought that was cute).


Anyway, yep,..... Don McLean turned me into an autograph hound.


Anyway,........ practice, practice, practice..... and if you LOVE what you're doing, it'll come to you... in time.

Luckily, theres a LOT of video on YouTube with Arlo playing...and from this, even from a distance, you can see: what chord is he using? How many frets is he capo'd up? Therefore, what key is he playing in? What other chords does he use in the song? Is he flatpicking or fingerpicking? What rhythm is he using?
If you listen really well, and pay attention, you can glean a lot of info from his performances, and learn from that. Arlo has great hands;I can usually see what he's doing from a good distance away. He doesn't bar everything or depend on "power chords"(which makes it really hard to figure stuff out!) so you can actually figure out what is going on in the song. I don't always know what he's doing when he does stuff up the neck, but that's my problem for not taking the time and working on that...it's not hard to see what position his fingers are in and what fret he's gone to.
I think Jackie has 210 educational videos up on YouTube now...that's a wealth of information for you!

Welcome to the site! An instruction video would be cool. Meanwhile you'll want to view the videos Sue recommended. I tune my top string with an electronic tuner and then I tune the other strings from it string to string method. Can't do it totally by sight or it'd be really outta tune...

My personal favorite...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBjbNlhiXo0