Fingerstyle (AKA Fundamentals) with Don Ross
I’ve been trying out the JamPlay video course, Fingerstyle With Don Ross, and I have to say, it’s really good. For a few reasons:
- Don is a really likable guy.
- He’s very clear in his teaching and easy to follow.
- The exercises build in a sensible and achievable way.
- The technical side of the course (audio/video quality, etc.) is all high quality.
The Real Reason
I’ve played finger style acoustic guitar for a while, but what strikes me in this course is how much room there is for improvement in fundamental techniques.
For example:
Ross does a nice job in the opening lessons of building up to an intermediate level fingerpicking pattern. Thumb and three fingers working a Travis picking pattern over G - Em - C - Am. Shouldn’t be too much of a challenge, right? Au contraire, mon frere!
When Ross plays, it sounds flawless, evenly timed, and with great tone. When I tried to follow along? Well... let’s it was less than flawless. Keeping consistent time across the chord changes proved to be harder than I expected.
So I’ll be finishing up the course over the next couple weeks. Evidently I need to work on my fundamentals. And as Michael Jordan once said,
“Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise."
Screenshot from Video Course.
More info on Don Ross here: www.gobyfish.com