Chords for Acoustic Guitar Lesson - Leo Kottke-style Lesson

[D] _ [A] _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Eb] _ _ [F] _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] _ [Bb] _
[F] _ [E] _ _ _ [G] _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _
Hi, I'm Doug Young.
I'm a contributing editor with Acoustic Guitar, and I'm here today to
demonstrate the examples in Acoustic Guitar's 20th anniversary lesson on the Okake.
_ Kaki's
1969 album, Six and Twelve String Guitar, was a watershed moment in the history of fingerstyle
guitar.
His powerful approach and huge sound inspired a generation of guitarists and continues
to be influential today.
_ Kaki has a surprisingly diverse set of styles, but it is his driving,
_ syncopated approach that many people associate with him and that continues to be unique to him
today.
_ So let's take a look at example one.
_ Kaki uses an alternating bass in a lot of his pieces,
but he introduces a lot of clever twists that disguise the pattern and break up the monotony.
In this example, we want to emphasize every fourth eighth note, _ which creates, by creating an accent,
a little bit of syncopation, propels the sound forward.
So I'll play it slowly and then I'll
play it up [C] to speed. _ _
[G] _ _ [Am] _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _ [G] _
_ [Am] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [C] So what we're shooting for here is a sound that of the leading, the fourth
eighth note leading into the next bass note, like this, [G] _ _ [A] _
_ [G] _ _ _ [C] giving the song a more of a bounce than a
typical alternating bass.
Let's play a little faster and a little more staccato, which should
sound a little more like Leo.
[G] _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [N] To sound much more like Leo, it helps to be playing a 12 string guitar,
preferably tuned down two steps.
So let's take a look at how this example sounds on a low tuned
12 string guitar.
_ _ [Ab] _ [Eb] _ [Ab] _ [Eb] _
[Ab] _ [Eb] _ [Fm] _ [Eb] _ _ _ Example two [G] is in Drop D tuning and it shows another example of a way to disguise
an alternating bass.
So in this case, in this example, the bass line is [D] simply _ back and forth,
[Em] [N] but I'm going to play some chords over top of that pattern and those chords are going to be
in a syncopated pattern that anticipates the beat.
Let's try it slow and then a little faster.
[G] _ _ [D] _ _ [A] _
_ [G] _ [A] _ _ [G] _ [D] _ _ _
[A] _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] And now a little faster.
[D] _ [A] _
[G] _ _ [A] _ [G] _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
So now let's [C] see how this example sounds on a [Eb] 12 string.
[Bb] _ _
[F] _ [Eb] _ [F] _ [Eb] _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _
_ Example three
_ shows another syncopation technique.
In this case, the example is straight eighth notes,
but every third note is emphasized and also each of the three notes sort of outlines a
chord.
We'll play it slow and then a little more up to [Am] speed.
_ [G] _ _ [C] _
[D] _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ Kaki also likes to take advantage of the low strings on the guitar and also often takes
advantage of unisons.
So I'm in Drop D tuning, _ which if I fret the fifth string at the fifth
[D] fret, I get a lot of D notes and we can [Ab] take advantage of that to create a huge rumbling line.
I'll play it slow and then up to speed.
[Db] _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ [G] _ [Gb] _ [A] _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ [Bb] _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [N] _ _
This example works especially well on 12 string with the additional octave strings on all the
bass notes.
Let's try it out on a 12 string.
[Bb] _
You _ _ [F] _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ [D] can get the sheet music for these examples and
read my full article on Leo Kaki either online at AcousticGuitar.com or in the February 2010
issue of Acoustic Guitar.
For Acoustic Guitar, I'm Doug Young.
_ [A] _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ [F] _ [N] _ _