Hey there folks- Proud owner of new D2H.Looking to learn some bluegrass flatpicking. I have a book by Joe Carr that is great. I really enjoy it.Thinking about getting the Brad Davis jam dvd
volume one, or maybe the whole set. That should keep me going for a while.Anyone recommend this?
Do I need the tabs for the dvds?
Thanks,

Tim

Steve Kaufmann has several excellent instructional videos on Homespun, all of which include tablature. I personally find it better to have someone there in front of me actually doing it. After I've absorbed part of it, I can take the tab with me wherever and practice. And practice. You picked the right guitar, no pun intended. welcome to the cult. tom

Tim you picked the right guitar ALL PUNS intended, Barnabas Collings, I love it, I will turn 50 in one month from today, & in my younger days I would run home after school to catch Dark Shadows
Tim tabs, videos, you tube lessons all good stuff, but the best is to find some open jams a latch on to some good players as your skill & knowledge grows find better players then find some new players that look to you to learn from & show them what you know, it's a wonderfull circle to be in

Barnabus, awesome guitar huh? I bought a used D2H about a month ago and I've been ignoring my wife and children ever since.
I bought Kaufmann's Bluegrass Guitar Solo's and it's been extremely helpful getting me started.

I have said it here before, but I HIGHLY recommend the Brad Davis DVDs. With these DVDs, you have a jam partner ready to play any song you want (from the list, of course) at any speed, as many times as it takes you to get it right. These DVDs helped me learn how to switch from lead to rhythm and back again, how to listen to the rhythm section to keep time, and how to level my lead and rhythm volume. Also, you can play mandolin, banjo (perish the thought) or any other instrument along with the jam.

There is no instructional material here. Brad simply says the name of the song, and counts it off. You can, however, get most of the tab free from the FGM website, or you can use your own arrangement.

My second favorite piece of flatpicking instructional material is Adam Granger's book of tunes in easy tab. Highly recommended as well. Kaufmann's stuff is great and lots of people have used it successfully. But that's part of the problem; lots of people have used it. If, for example, you learn all of the breaks in the "Parking Lot Picker" series, you're likely to find yourself in a jam with someone who plays the exact same breaks that you do.

My $.02, but that's pre-tax, so it really isn't worth much.

--David

I'll second David's recommendation of the Brad Davis series. Excellent!

The Bryan Sutton DVD is the best guitar instruction video I've ever seen. He goes into great detail as far as right hand technique. I watched it again the other day and I'm convinced I need to rewatch it every month as a reminder.

Aside from that you just need to build the repertoire. You can get a list of the most common jam tunes from Steve Kaufman's website and you can find tabs for most of those on the web.

That's pretty much the approach I've been taking.

I go to Camp Bluegrass in West TX for a week each August. This year, the guitar teachers were Gerald Jones, Adam Granger and Tim May. There are workshops, am/pm classes, jams of all levels and nightly concerts.

There are several of these camps all over the US every summer. Steve Kaufman's is well known. If you can get away for a week, these are good.

I would put another vote in for Kaufman's parking lot picking series. He does an excellent job breaking the songs into beginner (not cheesy versions..good solid stuff), intermediate and advanced versions. REally opens up the neck and shows you how to come up with variations on tunes.

This would be a great compliment to Brad Davis series as Kaufman breaks down pretty much every tune that Davis plays rhythm for. I would say Kaufmans stuff is the better place to start as he is such an excellent teacher. Davis you are more on your own.

Of course once you get a sense of things don't be a slave to the tab. I cant tell you how many jams I've been to where guitarists play Davis or Kaufmans stuff note for note and can't play an original solo to save their life.