I remember the day I brought home my first guitar and excitedly opened the popular British instruction manual ‘Play In A Day’ by Bert Weedon. This classic book is still available, and its impact is summed up by the description on Amazon: “Play in a Day remains the world’s most successful guitar tutor. It is as much a legend as the stars who’ve learnt from it – Eric Clapton, Mike Oldfield, Paul McCartney, Steve Hillage, George Harrison, John Lennon, Sting, Brian May, Pete Townshend and dozens more. Play in a Day is easy to use, inexpensive and can help to turn you into a legendary performer too.
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How could I go wrong? In my own case it appeared that I had a mountain to climb. Bert starts you off on a C chord, which made my fingers weep. Coupled with having to manage that tricksy little plastic pick in my other hand it seemed that I needed the skills of a digital juggler. I was all fingers and thumbs.
Gradually things improved. I was able to play simple chords and became a tyro folk singer. A light bulb moment came when I discovered that chords became much more interesting if you picked out individual notes with your thumb and fingers, and that you could link chords with bass runs. The fingers and thumb(s) were making sense and becoming disciplined.
The first night I attended a folk club in my home town the guest of the evening was Bill Clifton. He played solo, without a band, and treated us to an evening of beautifully performed old-time songs – and he used a flatpick! This was a revelation, and once I started listening to bluegrass bands it seemed that flatpicked guitar was the thing. (At the time I wasn’t really aware of Lester Flatt and Carter Stanley’s use of the thumb pick.) In my mind finger picking, however delightful a guitar style (as played by Merle Travis, Doc Watson and Chet Atkins, not to mention countless blues and ragtime musicians), was not essential to a bluegrass band. Anyway, my head at this time was turned by the sound of the five string banjo, which kept my right hand fingers busy for a number of years, until focal dystonia kicked in, but that’s another story.
Since the advent of broadband and streaming music videos I have realised how much I have missed. The wonder of seeing finger pickers like Mississippi John Hurt and Elizabeth Cotton in action has entranced me. Now I can see what they were doing all those years ago! Watch John Hurt’s fingers at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85BvT5X6WSo (You Got To Walk That Lonesome Valley) and hear that rock-steady beat of his thumb. Elizabeth Cotton’s unique finger style is clearly displayed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5MTbScgKVE To quote from some comments on this page: “Ragtime played upside down on guitar. My mind is officially blown.” “Human hands are incredible devices.” “She plays so technically and clean and beautiful, and she’s playing it backwards in a totally self-taught style.”
I’ve always thought that to improve your playing in any style you need to focus, work hard and not get discouraged. That has been my experience, from my first days with the Bert Weedon manual. Indeed Bert says “Nature did not fashion our fingers for guitar playing specifically, but Nature has given us a mind to think with, willpower, patience and determination. With all these things at your command, guitar playing will come quite easily.” The only thing I can add to that is that Bert’s follow-up manual, effectively Part 2, is entitled “Play Every Day”. ‘Nuff said!
John Baldry
October 2019
