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Changing Keys, Maybelle Style

This lesson is part of the course Maybelle Carter–Style Guitar with Cathy Fink.
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About This Course
 
Learn to play guitar like the legendary Maybelle Carter of the Carter Family, whose recordings are one of the backbones of the old-time country music and bluegrass repertoire and helped create the country music genre. Includes transcriptions of Maybelle’s thumb-lead style on classic songs.
 
 
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The Carter Scratch
 

Cathy gets you started playing melodies in the bass in this video. She starts by showing you how to play a C major scale with your thumb while your left hand stays in a C chord shape as much as possible. Then she shows you how to alternate melody notes with the thumb and your index finger stirring the chords.

 
 
 
The Maybelle Carter–Style Guitar Subscription Includes:
  • Detailed instruction on Maybelle Carter’s thumb-lead style of guitar playing
  • Transcriptions of Maybelle's leads on classic songs like “Keep on the Sunny Side,” “The Worried Man Blues,” “Wildwood Flower,” “My Dixie Darling,” and more
  • Examples of Maybelle's fingerpicking style on "Victory Rag,'" "Cannonball Rag," and "Hello Stranger"
  • 20 complete songs to play
  • High-quality video with multiple camera angles so you can see close-ups of both hands in action
  • Detailed notation and tablature for each lesson
  • Play-Along Track videos and audio downloads so you can play along with Cathy
 
 
$20/Month For One Course
 
Additional courses only $10/month each!   •   Save 20% with an annual subscription
 
 
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Changing Keys, Maybelle Style  
 
Changing Keys, Maybelle Style  
 
Changing Keys, Maybelle Style
Changing Keys, Maybelle Style
 

The Carter Family repertoire is centered around songs, as opposed to instrumentals, even though this course is focused on Maybelle Carter’s instrumental style. Singers, of course, choose the key that suits their voice the best, but Maybelle’s playing is centered around the C, F, and G7 chord shapes. When she wanted to change keys, instead of using different chord shapes, Maybelle used a capo to play in keys higher than C, and, to play in keys lower than C, she did what she called “running her guitar down.” For example, the Carter Family recorded their classic song “Wildwood Flower” in the key of Bb, so Maybelle tuned her guitar down a whole step, which makes the key-of-C shapes sound in Bb.


 
 
 
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    ● Instructors
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    ● Notation Guide
    ● For Beginners
 
 
    ● Vintage Vault
    ● New Gear
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    ● Advice
    ● Repertoire
 
 
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