Flatpicking Guitar – Eric Thompson’s

Flatpicking Guitar Country Style- The Roots of Bluegrass Guitar: “Eric Thompson is a virtual encyclopedia of flatpicking” – Frets Magazine

Eric Thompson will have you flatpicking lead breaks in styles from Maybelle Carter to Doc Watson. You’ll learn to pick out the melody to songs like East Virginia Blues, Sad and Lonesome Day and Shady Grove. You will learn to embellish your playing with “hammer-ons” and “pull-offs” for the real old-time country sound. You’ll build a solid technique, advancing step-by-step through single note arrangements of Thompson’s Rag, fiddle hoedowns Arkansas Traveler and Soldier’s Joy, and a bluesy bluegrass break for Good Old Mountain Dew (employing slippery slides and hot runs). Eric’s invaluable tips on left hand fingering and right hand pick technique are clearly illustrated in split-screen close-ups.

Flatpicking Fiddle Tunes- Reels, Rags and Hoedowns: Old-time fiddle tunes are the bedrock upon which acoustic guitar flatpicking is built. Eric Thompson’s strong, melodic picking has set a benchmark for taste and tone for nearly four decades. In this lesson Eric shares soulful arrangements of seven of his favorites, guiding you slowly, line-by-line through classics like Texas Gals, Fish In The Millpond, Scotish-Irish rooted Miller’s Reel and Stony Point, mountain modal Falls of Richmond, swingin’ Kennedy Rag and the bouncy East Tennessee Blues.

You’ll build your repertoire and hone your technique, exploring fingering patterns in six different keys which are all clearly illustrated in split-screen close-ups.

Bluegrass Crosspicking Guitar: Crosspicking is an exciting flatpicking technique that is an essential part of every bluegrass guitarist’s arsenal. Utilizing repeated patterns on three-string groups, crosspicking captures the bounce of a fiddler’s double shuffle and the drive of three-finger banjo Scruggs-style rolls.

Eric Thompson lays it out for you in easy to understand steps, illustrating the basic patterns with arrangements of Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss, Blackberry Rag, Beaumont Rag, Wildwood Flower and Cross-Eyed Fiddler. Split-screen slose-ups let you see exactly what and how Eric is playing.