Slide in Open G, Part 1: “Little Boy Blue”

from: Fingerstyle Blues Guitar with Orville Johnson

This lesson is part of the course Fingerstyle Blues Guitar with Orville Johnson.

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Learn to play fingerstyle blues, with a bottleneck slide and without, through songs from blues legends Mississippi John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins, Tampa Red, Blind Willie Johnson, and more.

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“Heavy Time” Fingerpicking

“Heavy time” is a style of blues fingerpicking that is more driving and forceful than the somewhat bouncy feel of alternating bass fingerpicking, as played by Mississippi John Hurt, Willie McTell, and others. In this lesson, Orville shows you a tune that illustrates the “heavy time” feel. Heavy time is all about what your thumb is doing—in this case, the thumb constantly pounds the beat, four beats per measure. Another thing that makes this style different is that the melody notes are played just with the index finger. Orville walks you through the piece phrase by phrase.

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Little Boy Blue

Slide in Open G, Part 1: “Little Boy Blue”

Slide in Open G, Part 2: Damping and Pick Blocking

Slide in Open G, Part 3: “Little Boy Blue” Accompaniment

Slide in Open G, Part 4: “Little Boy Blue” Solo

Slide in Open G, Part 1: “Little Boy Blue”

In this lesson, you’ll learn some great ideas for playing slide in open-G tuning (D G D G B D), using the blues song “Little Boy Blue.” The guitar part to “Little Boy Blue” includes some nice double-stop slide licks, a couple of interesting turnarounds, and a few different chord voicings. In this first video, Orville shows you how to get into open-G tuning and shows you the intro to “Little Boy Blue.”

Slide in Open G: "Little Boy Blue" (Available to subscribers)

Previous Lesson

← Slide in Standard Tuning, Part 2

Next Lesson

Slide in Open G, Part 2: Damping and Pick Blocking →

Previous Lesson

← Slide in Standard Tuning, Part 2

Next Lesson

Slide in Open G, Part 2: Damping and Pick Blocking →

Previous Lesson

← Slide in Standard Tuning, Part 2

Next Lesson

Slide in Open G, Part 2: Damping and Pick Blocking →

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