How Many New Acoustic Finger Picking Songs To Learn at One Time

[Silly Moustache]

As of spring 2020 (covid era) I was approached, first by one guy (from Atlanta and then many more (mostly from the USA but all over including France, Italy, Spain and ... Russia!

Frankly I did not have a teaching method, but , had to develop something pretty quickly.

When Charlie Watts mentored me to play drums, he didn't teach me songs, he taught me technique.

Now, I never assume what the client wants to achieve, I ask them to play for me, for a few minutes which teaches ME where they are, and what kind of music interests them. Of course they mostly come to me after watching my YouTube channel, so most share American singer -songwriter and acoustic country material.

We will agree one or two songs tat THEY like, and use it less to play tat song as we've heard it, but what it needs as far as technique , mostly to accompany songs (I often teach them to sing too!)

That was my problem back in the '60s -I couldn't describe what I wanted to do ii.e effectively sing and play like Tom Rush!)

It REALLY helps if my clients have determined what they'd like to do. If not we research that together.

Then we use a really simple song to learn technique, and how to apply it to anything (within reason) i.e not jazz, electric or classical, and i don't use talature or notation because I feel that that produces musical instrument "operators"rater tan players with their own style.

[Coler]

If you want to play fingerstyle you're going to want to know how to read tab at last.

Doesnt make you less of a musician. The opposite in fact.

Frankly, those teachers who suggest learning tab, sight reading, musical notation will stifle you somehow strike me as spoofers.