Workshop: Country Blues Accompaniment

This is the first in a series of workshops Rachel will lead on The Art of Playing Along! This is a workshop for guitar and fiddle simultaneously, focusing on the relationship between the instruments and accompaniment in a country-blues style. The fiddlers and guitarists will begin together, then break out according to instruments to work on their parts, and then come back together to try out what they've learned.

The fiddlers will learn:

• How to find the melody over a more blues-influenced tune structure
• How to make room for and play with run-heavy guitar 
• Using timing as a variation

The guitarists will learn:

• Ways to take more melodic and rhythmic (as opposed to just chording) approach to backing up a tune
  
• How to find and play runs that work as secondary lines to support or counterpoint the melody
• what to listen for in the melody line
• basic harmonic moves and turnarounds for country blues string band

We can only syncopate together! So let’s learn this one together: guitars and fiddles.

Here's something to listen to for inspiration:

If you’re unsure about being at the right level for this workshop, plan on coming and listening - we’ll be doing a lot of demoing if you want to make recordings and then learn the tunes and runs at your own speed at home. 

Prerequisites: Fiddle 2 or Guitar 2

This workshop is appropriate for individuals 13 years and up.