When He Calls Me, Part 1

from: Fingerstyle Blues Guitar with Orville Johnson

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

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About This Course

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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The Fingerstyle Blues Guitar Subscription Includes:

32 extensive Fingerstyle Blues Guitar video lessons
In-depth instruction in fingerstyle and bottleneck blues
23 complete fingerstyle blues songs to play
Notation and tablature for all lessons
High-quality video with multiple camera angles so you can see closeups of both hands in action.

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When He Calls Me

When He Calls Me, Part 1

When He Calls Me, Part 2

When He Calls Me, Part 1

In this lesson you’ll learn an arrangement of the gospel song “When He Calls Me,” which Orville learned from the great old-time country blues musician/singer Howard Armstrong. This arrangement is in the key of C and uses just C, F, and G chords. Orville shows you how to play an important version of the F chord, fingered with the thumb over the neck on the bass string and the index finger on the top two strings, but without using a barre. This shape will make it easy to go back and forth between C and F, which happens a lot in “When He Calls Me.” In the first part of the lesson, you’ll learn how to play the verse of “When He Calls Me.”

"When He Calls Me" Part 1 (Available to subscribers)

Previous Lesson

← Slide Guitar Basics, Part 3: Your First Slide Tune

Next Lesson

When He Calls Me, Part 2 →

Previous Lesson

← Slide Guitar Basics, Part 3: Your First Slide Tune

Next Lesson

When He Calls Me, Part 2 →

Previous Lesson

← Slide Guitar Basics, Part 3: Your First Slide Tune

Next Lesson

When He Calls Me, Part 2 →

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