Al Petteway – Blues Guitar Arrangements in DADGAD Tuning

Create fingerstyle blues instrumentals, from Delta swamp to Piedmont bounce, and transform your guitar arrangements with new ideas and thrilling sounds! Al Petteway, one of our most musically inventive guitarists, teaches you six original tunes, each highlighting a different rhythmic and melodic feel and utilizing the unique qualities that DADGAD tuning offers.

It’s Only the Blues employs a steady “dead thumb” bass with lots of slinky licks – a very swampy sound based on a Hendrix idea.

Octave Jam simulates a 12-string as played by Leadbelly, using parallel octaves, plucking and snapping the strings for a grooving bass pattern.

Darling Cory brings bluegrass harmonies to the blues as you play the haunting melody in parallel 5ths while keeping the bass moving.

Sweet Potato Fries combines the sounds of Robert Johnson and Big Bill Broonzy, while Walking Stick and It’s Good To Be Back Home simulate the alternate-bass Piedmont blues styles of Doc Watson and Etta Baker.

This lesson will open up exciting new possibilities and musical explorations for guitarists at all levels.

Bio

Grammy Award-winning guitarist Al Petteway is known for his original compositions and arrangements of traditional tunes for acoustic fingerstyle guitar. His playing can be heard on over 75 recordings, including 15 of his own, and on the soundtracks of many of Ken Burns’ acclaimed PBS documentaries.  Al was voted one of the Top Fifty Acoustic Guitarists of All Time by the readers of Acoustic Guitar Magazine, where he also won medals in the magazine’s Player’s Choice Awards.  His acclaimed 2012 CD, “It’s Only the Blues,” was the inspiration for this lesson. Al’s “Appalachian Fingerstyle Guitar in DADGAD Tuning” has been one of Homespun’s most popular instructional DVDs.