Folk Song Favorites: Wild Wood Flower - Guitar Tutorial

Folk Song Favorites: Wild Wood Flower - Guitar Tutorial VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION

Chris Becknell: Hello friends, Chris here with BeginningGuitarOnline.com. In this episode of Folk Song Favorites, we're going through that beloved western classic, Wildwood Flower.

And here with a closer view. One, two, play.

Using the Pinky for High G

And a couple of pointers as we play through that again here with a close up of the left hand. You'll notice that I'm using my pinky. on this high G here, and I think it's never too early to begin this great habit of playing this high G with the pinky. That frees us up in the future to build chord tones across the strings.

You notice I can put my third finger down on the D and get that great ringing chord tone as I play the high G, D, and open third string. It also then will allow me to reach over and play the bass notes with my first and second finger. Then allowing me in the future to move them to a C chord With a nice suspension in it and back and forth and then I can also Use my third and second to play both of those chords And a C here

Anchoring that pinky on the G. So as we play through this melody, I'm a big fan of using the pinky on the high G here. Let's go real slow. We're gonna allow the notes to ring where possible. One, two, play.

Practicing Upstrokes

Another great thing a piece like Wildwood Flower gives us a chance to work on are some upstrokes in our picking. We end up developing a pretty good downstroke as guitar players when we're first starting out. And we need to make a concerted effort to try to get some upstroke practice in our playing. So we can play through Wildwood Flower and give ourselves a light accompaniment with the G and the D string as we're playing the melody.

So I'm going to play through the melody, alternating pick strokes wherever possible, and then often doing an upstroke on the G string and the D string as we play through. So the melody will sound like this. Here's a playthrough. One, two play.

Melody with Open String Accompaniments

And for those who find it helpful to see this picking pattern up close, here's the right hand doing those open G and D string notes in accompaniment of the melody. So we're playing along with the melody with those open strings. Let's take it from the top. One, and, two, and, one, and.

So going through playing the melody, with those droning open string accompaniments is a great way to kind of get some experience with the flat picking world. It sounds really complex, but in reality, it's very simple. You're just plucking that open G string and D string to accompany the melody. And the G and the D are chord tones of the larger G chord.

And then that D is the bass, the root note chord tone of the D7. which are the one in five chords in this song.

Accompanying the Melody with Chords

The G, D7, G. And here in this segment, we're looking at accompanying the melody just with the chords. So I'm not playing any of the melody notes here. I'm just playing the chords of the piece straight through.

You're welcome to use this portion to play the melody along with, or work on your chord changes along with me. We're emphasizing the root note of the chord before strumming the rest of the chord. So for G, we're going to play the 6th string, then follow through. For D7, we're going to play the 4th string open, follow through.

C, we're going to play the root note on the 5th string here, follow through, and then return to G. So as we go through, we're going to have the bass note sounding all by itself on beat 1 and 2. We're in 2 4, so it'll sound like 1 2 D7 1 2 C 1 2 And this is a classic way to accompany folk songs. You emphasize that root note on the strong beats, and then on the you're getting the whole chord sounding through.

So let's play together from the top. I'll give you the pickups one and two. And one and two, and.

And on the last beat there, just to give it a sense of finished. I'm just strumming the G all by itself. I didn't do a, a boom chuck. I didn't hit the bass note and then the chord. I just hit the whole chord all together. Alright, let's play through it one more time. One, and two, and one, and One, one, one, one, one, one, one.

Tips for Holding a Pick

Some tips for beginners on holding a pick are to first off hold the pick at a right angle from your thumbnail so we see the triangle lower portion of the plectrum sticking out past our thumb side. Then on the other side, It's helpful to curl the first finger around, perhaps even a little bit of support from the second finger knuckle, to create a stable hold.

One thing you can play around with is starting to understand how, at different speeds and strength of picking, this finger is really the wild card. When you're really laying in, this finger will press in and sometimes get the support of the second finger for more powerful strums. When you're playing more delicately, this finger can really find itself leaning at a 45-degree angle there.

We have a lot of 45-degree angles in guitar playing, and that will help you just simply allow the pick to be supported, but a little bit flexible as it guides through the strings. You'll feel the pick moving between your fingers as you drag through the strings.

Dynamic Pick Practice

If you tighten up your grip, you'll create more resistance for the pick against the string, and you'll create a louder, more brash tone.

My hand moved at the same speed, my arm moved with the same amount of weight, but just by engaging that little bit of squeeze on the pick, I was able to get a real forte dynamic there. With the finger slightly to the side and a lighter hold, I'm able to play at a more mezzo forte or piano dynamic. And when I'm playing really soft, I'm making sure to hold the pick securely, but I'm just allowing the pick to do all the work of grazing across the strings.

That dynamic pick practice will really take you far in adding another level of expression to your strumming.

Conclusion and Further Resources

As always, thanks for watching. Hope you found this video helpful in your journey to become a better guitar player. Head on over to BeginningGuitarOnline.com, check out all the free resources we have for you, and be sure to sign up for the Woodshed newsletter so you don't miss any future posts.

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