{"id":139261,"date":"2023-07-21T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=139261"},"modified":"2023-07-20T14:15:23","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T21:15:23","slug":"learn-docs-guitar-doc-watsons-fingerstyle-tour-de-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/learn-docs-guitar-doc-watsons-fingerstyle-tour-de-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn \u201cDoc\u2019s Guitar\u201d\u2014Doc Watson\u2019s Fingerstyle Tour de Force"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Doc<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Doc Watson was not just a flatpicking titan, but a fingerstyle force as well, whether in the context of playing accompaniment or solo guitar. The brilliance of Watson\u2019s right-hand technique<\/a> can be clearly heard on his composition \u201cDoc\u2019s Guitar,\u201d a punishingly fast instrumental that crams a nonstop flurry of notes into barely over a minute\u2019s worth of music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This transcription of \u201cDoc\u2019s Guitar\u201d comes from the version that appears on The Best of Doc Watson: 1964\u20131968<\/a><\/em> (Vanguard). The piece is played in the key of C major, with a capo at the second fret causing it to sound in D. Based on simple chord shapes in the cowboy position, it isn\u2019t terribly demanding of the fretting fingers, but the syncopated fingerpicking patterns can be tricky, to say the least, to master at tempo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn the piece, it would be best to play it very slowly\u2014say, half speed or lower\u2014using a metronome or playing along with the original recording using software to adjust the playback tempo. As you would in learning any fingerpicking piece, pay close attention to where the thumbpicked notes (those with downward stems) fall in relation to those played by the fingers (upward stems), and to which notes are picked versus articulated with hammer-ons or pull-offs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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