If you’re interested in playing bluegrass or country lead guitar, one of the first things you’ll want to work on is the art and technique of flatpicking fiddle tunes. Not only are fiddle tunes great music in themselves (and fuel for many jam sessions), but learning to play those cascades of eighth notes with fluidity and ease is a great way to work on your right-hand technique. The most important technique that may be new to you, and one that is important to get right when you’re just starting, is alternating picking. To play a steady stream of up-tempo eighth notes in time, you’ll have to get your flatpick to consistently alternate between downstrokes and upstrokes. In other words, if you count a measure of 4/4 as 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and, all of the beats that correspond to numerals will be played with downstrokes and all of the beats that correspond to and will be played with upstrokes. Another way to think of it is to tap your foot in a rapid 1 2 3 4. Imagine maintaining tension on a string tied from your shoe to your pick—every time you tap your foot, the pick is pulled down. Then it springs upward when you lift your foot off the ground. To get the idea, try playing a repetitive stream of eighth notes on one open string. Take it slowly and keep your right arm relaxed. Try for an even, unaccented flow of notes—in other words, the upstrokes should have the same emphasis as the downstrokes.

There currently seems to be a lot of discussion in various flatpicking forums about whether strict alternating picking is really necessary. Most naysayers cite various wielders-of-the-triangulated-plastic-attack-device (including Tony Rice and Clarence White) who have managed to carve out a style that occasionally uses consecutive downstrokes or upstrokes, or a seemingly random combination of both. My own feeling, as one who has been caught straying from strict alternating picking, is that learning alternating picking is how you develop good pick control. Once you have learned to control your pick, you can make it do whatever you want, but until you do so, your pick will control you—not a pleasant sight or sound.

But let’s get back to playing fiddle tunes. There are a number of fiddle tunes with fairly simple melodies that can be played without a lot of eighth notes but can also be embellished to include them. One of these is a standard called "Soldier’s Joy." We’re going to look at how you can play this tune in its most basic form (a good way to get the tune in your head before you drown in eighth notes) and then how you can begin to embellish the tune until you sound like a popcorn machine.

FIDDLE TUNE BASICS

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with fiddle tunes, I’ll get a few of the basic concepts out of the way first (the fiddle tunes FAQ file). Most fiddle tunes are played in a specific key, so it is important to learn them in that key. Most fiddle tunes have two eight-bar sections, each of which is repeated once before proceeding to the next part. (There are countless exceptions to this rule.) When playing fiddle tunes with other people, there are two protocols, which we will call the old-time version and the bluegrass version. In the old-time version, the entire tune is repeated en masse, ad infinitum (some might say ad nauseum), without individual solos. In the bluegrass version, each player plays one entire cycle of the tune, then makes way for the next soloist. Neither protocol is better than the other; each has its own advantages. Put simply—the old-time way promotes group solidarity and groove, while the bluegrass way promotes individual expression and virtuosity. It’s an age-old dilemma.