Carter Style Guitar Tutorial

The purpose of this video is to explain how we develop a Carter style tune. There are no tabs for this so you'll need your eyes and ears (and possibly a rewind button). We want you to come up with your own Carter style arrangements, so hopefully you find this little tutorial we put together helpful! Good luck, and let us know if you have any requests or tips on how we can make these more informative. Feel free to post a video response of your own Carter style tune, if you get the urge. Thanks for watching!
The tunes covered are Norman Blake's version of "Jordan Am A Hard Road to Travel" ( • Norman & Nancy Blake p... ) and Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" ( • Woody Guthrie- This La... ).
By the way, I've since been informed that this is not technically "Carter Style" because Mother Maybelle Carter played primarily with a thumbpick and fingerpick. This is really the modern flatpicking interpretation of Carter style. I suppose you could call it "Blake Style" since Norman is primarily who Nick learned it from...

[@jmac509]

No problem. We had a great time doing this video. A lot of what Nick has learned over the last few years has been gleaned from various guitar forums and youtube, so it's nice to be able to give a little back now that we can.

[@The1mulc1]

Thx for this i love it. Its nice to see young people playing old songs.

[@sedonamudsquid]

I love the Carter family, too! Thanks for sharing.

[@RandyHooHa]

Really useful video. It's a fun technique, and a great way to work out your own personal arrangements for tunes. Thanks for posting!

[@keithmcknight1343]

Thank you for the video. I really enjoyed it. I will be implementing this into my playing.

[@bdematteis]

WOW. Thanks for sharing. This is so interesting. I love the Carter Family.

[@fo76]

Excellent playin'! I like the style you're presenting here and I'm gonna try to work on the tunes... ... but just out of curiosity (or ignorance): isn't Carter Style more like thumb lead (with a thumb pick) & strum? Anyways - thanks for sharing!

[@hatleeband]

Thanks, guys!

[@jmac509]

Thank you very much. The strings came with the guitar, which we bought used, so we have no idea what brand they are. Based on look and feel they're Phosphor Bronze mediums, and we think they're coated because they lasted for several weeks of hard, constant playing after we got it. We just changed the strings and put on some Elixir 80/20's (Nick's previous string of choice) but they don't sound as good as these so we're going to switch back to Phosphor Bronze when we change the strings again.

[@ringbolt9]

fantastic stuff

[@JohnWilson-bn1xs]

Lately, I've made good use of the guitar lessons on youtube. There's lotsa stuff out there..and some are better teaching tools than others. This one is particularly good...because the camera is close to the left hand. And because Norman's licks are played in real time...AND SLOWED DOWN---so the viewer can really see what the finger positions are. TX A MIL. THIS VIDEO IS EXCEPTIONALLY HELPFUL...AND STANDS OUT among the hundreds of video tutorials out there. One thing--what's the name of the picker?

[@jmac509]

John Wilson John, Thanks so much for the feedback and the kind words. That's my son Nick Weitzenfeld. This was filmed 2.5 years ago and he had just turned 12. He's 14 now and still pickin' like crazy! Lots more videos on my channel including some more recent ones. Not a ton of instructional videos but if you have a specific request I'm sure he'll be happy to help if he can. He's also in a youth band called Gravel Road Bluegrass Band that's really coming along - check them out on youtube and facebook under GravelRoadBluegrass. Thanks again! Here's a good video of the band: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXvWXmeJhLR5o9k

[@jmac509]

Really? You mean the same chord progression? That's pretty cool. Nick is actually learning that one too. Maybe I can talk him into doing a video of it...

[@Vapor40]

You have good hands.

[@bryanMabe7238]

this is exactly Murder in the City by The Avett Brothers

[@claudialenoir9783]

this is not Carter style guitar.

[@jmac509]

You should read the description before you comment. I'm way ahead of you.