Single Song Downloads
These "mini-lessons" feature a single song, instrumental or technique that our Homespun instructors felt would be valuable for you to learn. Each one will give you plenty to work on and will give you a valuable additon to your repertoire.
Keep Your Hand On The Plow
Happy Traum
Easy Fingerpicking For Starting Players
Keep Your Hand On The Plow is a famous old spiritual and civil rights anthem that's great for learning basic fingerpicking. Happy's user-friendly lesson will help beginning pickers keep their steady-thumb, alternating bass technique going while picking out the easily accessible melody notes on the treble strings. Since the song only has two chords (A minor and E7 ...
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$7.95
"Little Sadie" in DADGAD Tuning
Al Petteway
A Homespun Instant Access Download
"Little Sadie" is one of the most widely played songs in the American folk and Southern Appalachian traditions. Originally made popular by North Carolina banjo player Clarence Ashley, the flatpicked versions by Doc Watson and Tony Rice have become iconic among guitar pickers. Hundreds of other players, from Jerry Garcia to Bob Dylan, have added their licks and styles to ...
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$7.95
Lord Jamie Douglas (Waly Waly)
Martin Simpson
Alternate Tuning with Slide For a Scots Slow Air
Martin Simpson is revered for his fingerstyle playing and for his creative use of open and alternate tunings on the guitar. His haunting arrangement of this beautiful 16th Century Scottish air is played in his favorite tuning: CGDGCD (“Gsus4 over4”) with the added cross-cultural flourish of the use of the bottleneck slide.
Martin touches on essential slide technique, showing ...
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$7.95
Make Me a Pallet #1
Happy Traum
A Download-Only Single Song Lesson
Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor can be traced back to the 19th Century, but it has been a standard of the folk and blues revival for over 50 years. It has been recorded by numerous artists through the years, including Mississippi John Hurt’s famous version (called Ain’t No Tellin’) from 1927, as well as renditions by Big Bill ...
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$7.95
Make Me a Pallet #2
Happy Traum
Lesson Two - 20 minutes, includes tab
In his second, slightly more advanced lesson, Happy expands the fretboard by moving up the neck and playing some great riffs based around the F shape. He shows some double-stops, bass runs, a diminished chord and some great single-string licks to build movement into this fingerpicking standard. He caps off the lesson with a 6-2-5-1 turnaround that you can add ...
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$7.95
Make Me a Pallet, Two-Lesson Set
Happy Traum
43 minutes, includes tab
Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor can be traced back to the 19th Century, but it has been a standard of the folk and blues revival for over 50 years. It has been recorded by numerous artists through the years, including Mississippi John Hurt’s famous version (called Ain’t No Tellin’) from 1927, as well as renditions by Big Bill ...
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$14.95
Minor Swing: An Easy Introduction to Gypsy Jazz
Lisa Liu
In her first lesson for Homespun, virtuoso guitarist Lisa Liu methodically breaks down the perennial Django Reinhardt favorite, Minor Swing, unlocking the secret to the haunting gypsy jazz sound for players who are new to the genre.
Utilizing one invaluable, 3-string moveable chord shape, Lisa demonstrates the simple chord progression, discussing how to get the correct percussive sound from ...
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$7.95
"Miss Delta" - A Slow Blues Instrumental in E
Mary Flower
A Single Song Lesson
Learn this sweet, slow fingerstyle blues instrumental in E by the terrific Mary Flower. “Miss Delta” includes plenty to chew on for both basic and experienced guitarists: Descending chord walk-downs, moving basses, interesting chord progressions and rhythmic variations, and some "New Orleans-sounding" licks. This piece packs a lot in! We're sure you'll get a lot out of ...
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$7.95
"Moonshiner"
Adam Traum
A Classic Folksong
“The Moonshiner” is a favorite traditional song that has been recorded by the Clancy Brothers, Tex Ritter, Bob Dylan, the Punch Brothers, Uncle Tupelo and innumerable other artists and groups through the years. Adam Traum has made an enjoyable and very accessible arrangement of this folk standard that can be played (and sung) by acoustic guitarists as a solo piece ...
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$9.95
Right Hand Training for Fingerstyle Guitar
Josh Yenne
Methodical Exercises For Your Picking Hand
Having good picking-hand technique is an indispensable tool for all acoustic guitar players. Its proper use can create beautiful accompaniments and ear catching instrumental solos. Josh Yenne’s training session provides aspiring guitarists with a solid fingerstyle foundation that opens up all kinds of exciting possibilities. It can be used by beginning players or by those who are more experienced and ...
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$9.95
"Ripple" - A Grateful Dead Classic
Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
A Single-Song Download-only Lesson
Here's one of the Grateful Dead's most beloved songs, arranged with great accuracy by an acknowledged expert on their music. It should be easy enough for even novice players to master, while more experienced guitarists will find lots in this simple song to embellish on. Playing with a flatpick, Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers takes it slow and easy with ...
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$7.95
Shenandoah - A Single Song Download
Happy Traum
An Easy Fingerstyle Exploration of an American Classic
"Shenandoah" is among the best-loved traditional songs in the American repertoire. It has been sung and recorded by countless artists in styles from folk to bluegrass to classical. This lovely arrangement for solo guitar will delight novice and intermediate fingerstyle players who are looking to build fingerboard technique while developing a methodolgy for creating instrumental pieces using the compelling sounds of dropped ...
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$7.95