The Bluegrass G chop chord

Torture machine for strengthening fingers

While developing the big stretch 7523 4-finger G chop chord I was hoping to get away with the three-finger X523 chord but it didn't work. As you chop downwards you can avoid hitting the open 1st string at the bottom but you really need to hit (and thus fret) the 4th string at the top. The same goes for all other three-finger chops, i. e. they need to consist of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings rather than the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings.

Somewhat late in the day I noticed the 452X G3 chop chord which is recommended for beginners, children and others with small hands, and that provides a quick fix to help smooth the transition. It's particularly good when playing in D as the changes between D, G and A are easy. And that also goes for the Key of E which I simply treat as the Key of D moved up two frets. Despite the reservations I expressed before, moving chords up the neck proved much easier than expected.

The 452X is less useful when playing in the Keys of G or C because the C chord shape is rather different. In G or C it's easier to play the 455X G chop chord as it has similarities with C and is identical to the 233X F chord shape. Although these chords cover three strings, they require only two fingers.

So, if I am using 452X in D (and the same shape moved up two frets for E) and 455X in G and C, when do I get to practice the 7523? I'm using that for songs in A which I treat as G moved up two frets. As the frets get smaller towards the bridge the stretch is easier. Once I've mastered this shape for A I'll attempt to move it down for G.

In the meantime I'm building up the strength in my left-hand fingers, particularly the little finger, with a D'Addario finger exerciser.

Swapping to chopping progress

Coal Porters on the Stade, Hastings, 26 Sept 2015

As well as changing from open to Bluegrass chop chords I will also be abandoning the capo as far as possible. I have also changed plectrum from a rather flexible 0.50mm to a stiffer 0.60mm which works better for chop chords and will also be better for picking individual notes.

The prospect of changing all my songs all at once seemed daunting, so I started with the three-chord trick for songs in G. I was already familiar with using X523 for G and 523X for C, so I just had to learn 245X for D. At first I tried to play this D chord with the first, third and fourth fingers but then switched to the first, second and third fingers. It's more of a stretch but less of a mental challenge. I'll try to develop the G into a 7523 G later.

Next up it was songs in the key of D, requiring the D, G and A chords. Having done the D and G chords it was just a question of adding the extra two fingers to the 2200 A chord to create a 2245 chop version. In terms of fingering shape this A chord is closely related to the 245X D chord so changing between them is easy.

Other keys I need to play in are A, Bb and E, but they are simply obtained by moving the chord shapes for G and D further up the neck. This requires more accuracy. If you're playing chop chords in first position and you accidentally hit an open string you can get away with it, but if you do that further up the neck they won't be in the same key and may sound out of tune. In order to flatten the learning curve I'm currently shoe-horning A songs into G and E songs into D.

The G/A and D/E songs account for over half the songs in my current repertoire. That leaves a couple of C songs, several minor/modal songs, and a few songs that really call for seventh chords or relative minors if I am playing solo. I've worked these out. All I have to do now is smooth out the chord changes.

The Bluegrass 7452 D chop chord

The 7452 chord (left) is actually only a D3 chord like the
745X (right). The 245X (centre) is a full D chord, albeit
an inversion.

I've felt for some time now that my playing style was too intermediate, i.e. it tended towards Bluegrass in speed and rhythm but used open chords. Apart from anything else, this created a lot of volume and drowned my vocals, especially in a purely acoustic environment. I learnt to counter that by muting the strings with my right palm during the verses, but I've now decided to play chop chords in order to go in a more authentic Bluegrass direction.

One thing that long intimidated me about playing in Bluegrass style was what I presumed to be the importance of the four-finger 7452 D chop chord, but further research in books and online suggests that even Bill Monroe more often used the three-finger 245X chord. And then there is the 745X D3 chord which is what I'm currently using for a closed D chord.

I realise that chords are not played in isolation and that the 7452 chord has its advantages in certain situations if you are able to play it, but I'm very glad to learn it's not mandatory as I'll be able gradually to switch over to closed chords without suffering any hiatus in performing.

Balancing rehearsal, maintenance and development

Daily practise is important not only for development but just for maintaining my voice, lyrics and playing.

Scheduling and prioritising my practice time has always been a big issue for me. Ideally I would do several 20 minute periods each day, but real life doesn't work like that. Some days I don't get a chance to do any music at all. On other days I'm reluctant to give up a practice slot after 20 minutes in case I can't get back to it. The end result is that I probably do an average of about 30-40 minutes a day (or 12-18 songs).

I currently have about 30 songs in my new repertoire of American roots music, with another 30 in development. There is obviously a great pressure to rehearse the songs I'm planning to perform next, but I also have to maintain the rest as well as working on new songs and techniques.

I've never found the perfect answer to this and my schedule keeps on changing. I'm currently dividing my time between:
(1) Learning new songs with the guitar.
(2) Rehearsing known songs and learning new songs with the mandolin.
(3) Reviving old songs with the concertina.

The songs with guitar have different styles of accompaniment so development of technique is intrinsic. I ought to be developing mandolin and concertina technique as well, but there just isn't time to do everything.

Dread nought!

Washburn WD10SCE

I've had a guitar of one sort or another since I was a teenager. In order to get one, I had to promise my academically-orientated parents that I would "never join a group". Perhaps that parental injunction induced a lifelong musical inhibition. Anyway, the guitar has just been a bedroom instrument and I've never publicly performed with it as far as I can remember.

The guitar was my first serious instrument, but I didn't give it the time that I was later to put into the concertina and mandolin. I'm not backtracking (yet) on my preference for playing the mandolin, but I decided that I wanted to be able to perform in more varied ways and the guitar was an obvious option given my long if undeveloped association with it.

My last guitar developed a warped neck which made it harder to play than my mandolin. I therefore decided to replace it with a Washburn WD10SCE Electro Acoustic Dreadnought Guitar which is remarkably good value. Although I perform acoustic music I wanted a model with an electric pickup owing to the decline of folk clubs and the growing ubiquity of open mic sessions.

I got the guitar just after Christmas and began to work up some songs - two traditional folk songs I've dabbled with over the years and a well-known Blues number I first started to learn but never pursued almost fifty years ago! After nine days of attempting to refresh my skills, I played all three songs at the Orpy practice session - the first public appearance with a guitar of my whole life! Whilst the songs are all at an early stage of development, the performance went better than I expected and I received some valuable advice and encouragement.

Tempted and tried

Ozark 5-string resonator banjo

I've long been tempted by the haunting sound of the five-string banjo, but I was worried about overextending myself again. Then the obvious occurred to me - that I could use a banjo (or, indeed, my guitar or mountain dulcimer) on the same repertoire of songs that I'm currently performing with mandolin. I would be stretching my instrumental focus but wouldn't necessarily have to extend my song repertoire.

Back in August a chance Google search for something else led me to a promising lot on eBay which I managed to win. It's an Ozark resonator model, i. e. the type most associated with Bluegrass, but that doesn't prevent its use for Old Time as well.

As I got it for song accompaniment, my initial plan is just to learn some very simple playing patterns, i. e. Clawhammer for Old Time and Alternating Thumb Roll for Bluegrass, and to play these over the chords. I'll just be dabbling with the banjo for now as it will, in any case, probably take months to get the right-hand patterns working smoothly, and I already have a lot of work to do on the mandolin.

The old love and the new

The Crane flies again

For the past year I've spent almost all my time on Bluegrass/Old Time music and playing the mandolin, and the  prospect of returning to my traditional English folk repertoire and playing the concertina was becoming more and more remote. However, I no longer have access to a regular Bluegrass session, and my recent attendance at this year's Tenterden Folk Festival - which is overwhelmingly devoted to English traditional music - made me feel that I should he more realistic about what kind of music is most appropriate to the opportunities I now actually have.

I therefore decided to revive my old repertoire alongside the new one. This does put some pressure on my 'psychological focus' - which I was trying to avoid - but it shouldn't put too much pressure on my time as I still seem to remember most of the lyrics of the circa 60 songs I was singing when I left the old repertoire behind. About 40 of these are acapella and it's just a case of refreshing the words.

The 20 or so songs accompanied on my Crane duet concertina are more problematical as I want to develop a style that is less melodic and more appropriate to accompaniment. This is partly to make performing easier and partly because that is the style I've always really wanted to achieve but didn't know how to. For that I need to go back to square one and start experimenting, i.e. have fun rather than pursuing some rigorous schedule. My hope is that if I can develop a general approach, I can then apply it without having to spend too much time arranging individual songs.

As hoped for, my concertina playing (in the old style) has become a little more relaxed and confident. This can hardly be down to the hiatus, but is presumably down to my experience with the mandolin which has been easier, helped me to become a more relaxed performer, and has hopefully improved my sense of timing. But one can't be complacent. All these things are fragile and need to be kept up.

OF&BC Annual Summer Festival

The Orpington Folk & Blues Club holds an Annual Summer Festival on the August Bank Holiday weekend at which I was invited to perform. The ticketed event combines music with a beer festival and BBQ open to the public, and raises money for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

This was effectively my first 'booking' for a public event, but not the first time I've been paid in beer! It was a very enjoyable day despite a little rain and a great privilege to share the billing with such talented artists.

Busking at Broadstairs (sort of)

I've been going to Broadstairs Folk Week since sometime in the 90s. As a former singer of mostly unaccompanied English folk songs, I'd always made for the singalongs, sessions and singarounds. This year was different because of my change in direction and I took in a lot more pub and concert acts, particularly if they were doing Americana. I enjoyed the upbeat music and lively atmosphere, but I was also interested to see what material they did and how acts presented themselves.

At festivals I usually spend the mornings keeping up my daily practice in some out-of-the-way corner. This year I practised by singing in front of passers-by, i.e. as if I was busking. I wasn't actually collecting money, but next year I'm thinking of registering as an official busker with a collection tin for contributions to the festival - if I get any! Busking is a great way to face your fears and get used to a public audience, and it gives you a lot more opportunity to develop your experience.

Taking it back to Weymouth...

Taking part in an American Roots/Bluegrass session
during the Wessex Folk Festival 2015

Weymouth in Dorset has a thriving folk scene with a strong emphasis on Americana. It centres on a Wednesday night session in the Sailor's Return pub and the annual Wessex Folk Festival on Weymouth quayside. There is also a monthly folk club in Hope Square and an American Roots/Bluegrass session on the coast road to Bridport. Since discovering the Sailors Return session by chance six years ago, the festival has been an annual fixture.

A predominance of Americana was not something I'd previously experienced. While it took a few years for the penny to drop, Weymouth was the main inspiration for my conversion from English to American roots music. Since my 'switch-over' last August and the invaluable experience I've since gained at the Orpington Folk & Blues Club's Grand Ole Orpy sessions, this May's WFF was my first opportunity to attend the festival as a singer/player of Americana.

I was able to join a number of sessions. Judged subjectively, it seemed to go well and I certainly enjoyed it.