Flatpicking Guitar Magazine Archives

Flatpicking Guitar Magazine releases Beginner’s Page book

Guitarists who remember the 20 years of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine will surely recall their Beginner’s Page column which ran in each issue while the magazine was in publication. Written by Dan Huckabee, it included tips and tricks for players new to the flatpicking scene, along with simplified solos for many classic bluegrass songs and fiddle tunes.

FGM publisher Dan Miller has now assembled all of Dan’s Beginner’s Page columns into a book, offered on paper or as a digital file. Every one of his offerings from the magazine is in there, which includes 80 solos plus all of the helpful exercises and commentary. It is titled simply, Dan Huckabee Columnist Compilation, and can be ordered online.

Though the publication of Flatpicking Guitar ceased in 2015, Miller has taken it as a goal to keep this material available as new pickers fall in love with solo acoustic guitar. He says that he thinks all of Huckabee’s articles will be useful to anyone new to this style of guitar playing.

“I had asked Dan if he would be interested in writing this column because I was familiar with the instructional books and videos that he had released through his company, Musician’s Workshop, and I thought he would do a great job writing a column that beginners could identify with and understand. His instruction on his company’s projects was always very clear and I felt that his method and delivery instilled confidence in the reader/viewer. I think that Dan’s teaching always reflects the attitude of a very good and encouraging teacher because his presentation is one that lets the student know, ‘you can do this!’ Dan carried those great teaching qualities into all of the columns that he wrote for us, and I feel fortunate to have had him as a columnist and am very happy that he stayed with us for all twenty years.”

Dan Huckabee Columnist Compilation is offered for $29.95 in print form, and $27.95 as a download. A complete list of song/tune titles included can be found on the FGM web site, one that features classics like Big Spike Hammer, Gold Rush, Blackberry Blossom, Will You Miss Me, Nelly Kane, Old Home Place, and many others.

Orders can be placed online.

20 years of Flatpicking Guitar on a thumbdrive

Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, now sadly no longer in print, is offering a special opportunity that might solve a gift-giving headache for bluegrass guitarists on your holiday list.

The magazine, published for 20 years by Dan Miller, ceased operation in 2016 after creating six issues per year during that time. Each issue would contain a cover feature on some prominent flatpicker, along with album and product reviews, and dozens of pages of helpful hints for steel string guitarists at every level. You could always count on several new tunes to learn every other month, plus exercises, practice tips, and improvisational approaches from top touring pros.

Though the magazine is no longer in production, Miller is offer six string aficionados the opportunity to own all 20 years of back issues in PDF form on a single 16 GB flash drive, packaged in a lovely rosewood case. That is more than 8,000 pages of FGM, complete with a detailed and clickable index to make searching for material a simple matter, even among the 1,700 tunes, and 520 book and CD reviews.

Currently, the PDF archive is being offered at a special price, as is the separate archive of MP3 recordings that had been available to subscribers with each issue. These were audio demonstrations of the various tunes and exercises printed in the magazine’s many columns over the years. A single flash drive is also available with both the PDF and MP3 files contained therein.

Visit the Flatpicking Guitar Magazine web site for full details.

Flatpicking Guitar to bow out after 20 years

Dan Miller, publisher and editor of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, has announced that the bi-monthly print periodical for steel string, acoustic guitar enthusiasts will cease publication at the end of 2016. That will take the magazine through 20 years of offering tips, tricks, and tunes to flatpicking fans around the world.

But they’re not done yet! Miller is planning five more issues, and promises a great deal of special content to mark the final volume. Current plans have the September/October 2016 issue marked as the last one to roll off the press.

Dan will continue to operate the FGM web site, which offers all sorts of guitar accessories and instructional items, plus back issues of the magazine available in both printed and PDF formats. The various teaching videos produced by Flatpicking Guitar will also remain on the market, as DVDs or downloads, along with their Flatpicking Essentials book series.

In assessing his reasons for closing down the magazine, Miller finds the same problems that have plagued all of print media in recent years. Declining subscription rates and increases in print and postage costs have taken their toll to the point that each issue now mails out at a loss to the company. But he wants to go the full 20 years as a personal goal.

“I thought it would be worth the effort to finish out 20 years of publication. In our 20th year we are featuring all of the heroes of flatpicking…David Grier, Bryan Sutton, Jim Hurst, Tim Stafford, Kenny Smith, Cody Kilby, etc. So, it will be a fun year and we will go out with a bang.

It was a great run.”

Subscriptions are still available for the magazine’s final year, and individual issue sales will be offered online.

Once Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is complete, Dan plans to return to school and complete a PhD in mathematics, something he has put off long enough. Already possessing a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a Masters in Electrical Engineering, Miller jokes that he wants to get the doctorate before Alzheimer’s sets in.

We’ll all be sorry to say goodbye to FGM. Hat’s off to Dan Miller for keeping it in print for 20 years!

Flatpick Rhythm Guitar – a Joe Carr archive

When Joe Carr died just before Christmas last year, we lost not only a talented musician and an engaging performer, but one of the most dedicated and effective teachers in all of bluegrass.

After touring for several years as a member of Country Gazette, Joe joined the faculty of South Plains College in Levelland, TX where he remained for the next 30 years. There he served as both a lecturer and private instructor on guitar and mandolin, molding a generation of young bluegrass artists into skilled and tasteful players.

Joe also wrote a series of instructional books for Mel Bay, and authored a recurring column for Flatpicking Guitar magazine on acoustic rhythm guitar for 18 years.

Now all of these columns, more than 100 in total, have been assembled by the magazine into a single volume entitled Flatpick Rhythm Guitar: A Collection of Joe Carr’s Articles from Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. Running to 228 pages, the book comes with a pair of audio CDs with the various exercises and examples demonstrated.

A variety of rhythm styles are discussed in these columns, including bluegrass, folk, blues, Irish, swing and jazz. Much of the content features the accompaniment techniques of early masters like Riley Puckett, Red Smiley, Jimmy Martin, Jimmie Rodgers, Edd Mayfield, Hank Snow, Doc Watson, Rodney Dillard, John Herald, Josh White, Charlie Monroe, Homer Haynes, Eldon Shamblin, Tommy Allsup, Charlie Waller, Arther Smith, and Lonnie Johnson.

Flatpicking Guitar editor Dan Miller has also included a sprinkling of photos of Joe throughout his career, supplied by his wife, Paula.

A complete chapter listing can be found on the FGM web site, where orders can be placed for either a bound print ($29.95) or digital download ($24.95) edition.

The Guitar Player’s Guide to Developing Creative Solos

Flatpicking Guitar Magazine has published a comprehensive manual on developing solos for acoustic guitar. Written by FGM publisher Dan Miller, The Guitar Player’s Guide to Developing Creative Solos runs to 260 pages and includes a pair of audio CDs covering what the author describes as three different approaches to building solos.

The first method is based on what is often called the Carter style, based on finding the melodies to songs by working around familiar chord shapes. By holding down the chords you already know, this style involves either lifting a finger in the chord to expose an open string, or simply striking a fretted note or a note on a nearby adjacent fret, to pick out the tune of most simple folk songs. Examples are shown for 14 jam favorites.

Dan then explores the concept of soloing based on scales and a basic knowledge of music theory to guide in the selection of notes in building solos. Five scale types are demonstrated: major, minor pentatonic, major blues, minor blues, and chromatic. These are applied to dozens of examples in standard songs, along with suggestions for how to mix the scales types in a single solo.

Finally, the book turns to what is called an “intuitive approach,” where the player starts to trust their own skill and knowledge, and combining these various pathways already discussed into a method for much more free improvisation. Of course examples for doing so can’t really be given, since learning free playing can only come from doing, but several ways of thinking about it are presented.

All in all, more than 150 song arrangements are shown, all played on the two audio CDs packaged with the book. You can see a table of contents on the FGM web site, showing just how complete and in depth this material is handled.

This isn’t a songbook, but instead a roadmap to these three ways to approach building solos in a flatpicking style.

The Guitar Player’s Guide to Developing Creative Solos is offered for $29.95 in hardcover, and $24.95 for the digital edition.

Dan Miller is Going Through A Phase

Opening disclaimer: I’ve known Dan Miller for the past 20 years, ever since he moved east from California to southwest Virginia in 1998.

Dan had uprooted his young family and bought a home in the thriving metropolis of Hiawassee, VA to be closer to the bluegrass scene, as he had recently launched Flatpicking Guitar magazine, now a staple in the diet of thousands of guitar fiends. The plan was to replicate the success he had achieved previously in the martial arts publishing world.

While serving as an officer in the US Marine Corps, from the time he graduated from the Naval Academy in 1982 until he resigned his commission in ’92, Miller made a personal study of Pa Kua Chang, a Chinese method of self defense. As a civilian, Dan created the Pa Kua Chang Journal, a magazine for students and masters alike, and offered supplies and teaching materials to his readership.

That magazine was sold in 1997, just a year after Flatpicking Guitar was introduced, and the Millers moved to Virginia one year later, setting up a business office in Pulaski where it remains to this day. Dan followed the same model as his prior venture, publishing bi-monthly, and creating and marketing a wide array of instructional methods, concert recordings and other learning materials for flatpickers.

While his trusty staff managed the mail order (and now online) business, Miller traveled the country, offering merch and promoting the magazine at festivals across the country. After his marriage dissolved, Dan followed his two young daughters back to California to maintain his role as a doting father, while still touring the country, increasingly as a performer as much as a rep for Flatpicking Guitar, appearing with Brad Davis and Tim May.

I say all that to say this… After being a notable fixture in the guitar world this past 18 years, Dan Miller has recently released his first-ever recording, Going Through A Phase, which finds him in the role of singer, songwriter and lead guitarist. He is ably supported by Tim May on banjo and reso-guitar, Robert Bowlin on fiddle, and Brad Davis on rhythm guitar, mandolin, bass and harmony vocals. Jane Accurso also sings harmony. The album is released on the magazine’s FGM Records label, one started several years ago to make recordings available from notable pickers.

All but one of the tracks are Miller originals, with several co-writes with Davis. The lone cover is Grandpa Was A Carpenter from John Prine, and you can hear Prine’s influence on many of the new tracks as well. This is particularly true of Bring Me Back, a call to live in a simpler time, and Staying Close To Home, which tells of a talented roper and rider who decides that home is the place to be.

Most of the songs are arranged in a bluegrass style, like Ida Jane and Ramblin’ Boy & Stay Home Girl, with a few taking on more of a blues or old time feel. And of course, there are a couple of flatpick instrumentals, Goddess Waltz and Sara’s Dance, which demonstrate that Dan has picked up a thing or two while running the magazine. Another instrumental, Spring Valley, is done here as a lovely mandolin tune.

Miller has a pleasant voice, again owing a bit to the influence of John Prine and, as is often the case, delivers his original material with conviction. All in all, this is a comfortable album of homespun songs.

Special kudos to Brad Davis, who played so many of the instruments, engineered in his BDM Studios, and co-produced with Miller. It’s long been established that Brad is a monster in every area of music, and his work here does nothing to diminish that record.

Going Through A Phase can be purchased on CD from The Flatpicking Guitar Mercantile, and as a download from CD Baby, where audio samples for all 12 tracks can be found. It will also be available in iTunes in the next few days.

More from NAMM 2012

This report from Winter NAMM comes from Dan Miller, publisher of Flatpicking Guitar magazine.

The 110th National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show was held in Anaheim, California, from January 19th to the 22nd. There were 1441 exhibitors and 95,709 registered attendees at this year’s event.

With those kinds of numbers you might think, “That place must have been like a zoo.” And you’d be right! This event is like a circus, zoo, costume party, and insane asylum all rolled into one.

This event is a trade show where music product retailers can meet face-to-face with manufacturers to make purchases and gain product knowledge. Everything that you can think of that you might find in any music store is on display here. Although every musical instrument and every musical genre is represented, pop and rock are most prominent. At first glance, there doesn’t seem ilke there is much happening for the bluegrass player, however, most any company that you might find at the International Bluegrass Music Association’s convention is represented here, they are just a bit harder to find.

While roaming the enormous convention hall I was able to find exhibits by Martin Guitars, Deering Banjos, Colling Guitars and Mandolins, Bourgeois Guitars, Breedlove Guitars and Mandolins, Saga Musical Instruments, Eastman Guitars and Mandolins, Mel Bay Publications, DR Strings, D’Addario and Planet Waves, Shubb Capos, John Pearse, L. R. Baggs, Fishman, and many others companies that make the products that bluegrass players know and love.

Some of the highlights for me were finding Del McCoury at the Martin Guitar booth, checking out Saga’s new limited edition Bill Monroe Kentucky mandolin, finding some new accessories, like DR’s new Dragon Skin Strings, Shubb’s new ultra light capo, and discovering a new bluegrass instructional series from Mel Bay called “School of” (i.e. School of Bluegrass Guitar, School of Bluegrass Mandolin, etc.).

Of course, it was also great fun checking out all of the instruments that were on display and listening to various artist’s perform at some of the booths, including the Kruger Brothers at the Deering Banjo booth, Tim May at the Breedlove booth, Brad Davis at the Takamine booth, the Saga Bluegrass Band at the Saga booth, and many more.

The NAMM show is a great place to find out what is new in the musical world in terms of instruments, accessories, learning tools, software programs, phone apps, sound reinforcement, recording studio gear, and anything else that pertains to your musical life. It is a bit overwhelming and somewhat tiring because of the vast numbers of vendors and attendees – with its resultant chaos and noise.

However, if you are interested in discovering and testing out the latest and greatest instruments and gear, it is the place to be.

Flatpicking Guitar picks up Bluegrass Now subscribers

We posted several times last year about the demise of Bluegrass Now, which had published continuously for 18 years. Stung by the widespread downturn in print periodicals, publishers Wayne and Deb Bledsoe closed the magazine down after the December 2008 issue.

Bluegrass Now tried going all-digital in March 2008, hoping that eliminating the print and mailing costs would allow them to survive with an online subscription model, but unfortunately for the entire bluegrass community, it was not to be.

The Bledsoes spelled it out in in their farewell message…

Although Bluegrass Now has avoided the magnitude of problems afflicting the major publishers, the economic downturn has impacted us in a variety of ways. After prolonged deliberations, we have decided that rather than compromise the integrity and quality of the magazine, which we have sought to maintain since its inception in 1990, we will cease publication at the end of this year.

One thing left unresolved was the status of the existing online subscribers when the magazine closed up shop. That issue has finally been resolved, and all current subscribers as of 12/08 will be offered an online subscription to Flatpicking Digital, the online home of Flatpicking Guitar magazine.

FGM publisher Dan Miller explains how the switch-off will work.

“Before they went out of business they were only offering a digital version of the magazine, so I’m allowing all of those people who still had issues remaining on their subscription to Bluegrass Now to have a one year digital subscription to Flatpicking Guitar Magazine – both our digital magazine and the audio files.”

Former BN subscribers can contact FGM for more details if they have not yet been contacted about this offer.

Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
PO Box 2160
Pulaski, VA 24301
Phone: 800-413-8296
Fax: 540-980-0557
info@flatpickdigital.com

Toy Hearts on YouTube

Toy Hearts, one of Britain’s top bluegrass acts, has a new video on YouTube.

It’s the title track of their current CD, When I Cut Loose, recorded earlier this month at the Ely Folk Festival in Ely Cambridgeshire, UK.

The group is a “grown up” family band, based around banjo picker Stewart Johnson and his two daughters, Hannah on mandolin and Sophia on guitar. In addition, Bradley Blackwell is on bass and Howard Gregory on fiddle.

We spoke recently with Sophia, who was featured in the July/August issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. She shared a few words about the video, and the band’s plans for the rest of this year.

“That song was written by me, my sister and my dad – its our attempt to add to the ‘train song’ genre!!

The Toy Hearts will be coming over to the USA for a 5 week tour starting at the beginning of September.

We will be starting at the Tristate bluegrass festival in Kendalville, IA, then driving and gigging through St Louis, Oklahoma City and on into Texas. We are playing at the Bluegrass Heritage Festival in Arlington TX, then spending 2 weeks gigging in Texas before finally going up to Nashville for IBMA. We already have 5 after hours showcases confirmed.”

Sophia also told us that she had just quit her day job to manage Toy Hearts full time. Bluegrass is thriving in the UK, it seems.

You can find out more about the band on their web site or MySpace page.

Flatpicking Bluegrass

Flatpicking Bluegrass is the latest CD from FGM Records, the label branch of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. The CD features 12 flatpicking masters on 12 traditional bluegrass numbers. These are all vocal tunes, no instrumentals here. According to Dan Miller, publisher of FGM, the goal of the recording was to highlight the role that can be played by lead guitar in a strictly vocal, bluegrass setting.

While many still think of “flatpicking” the guitar as taking solos on fiddle tunes, the flatpickers on this recording are here to show you that the guitar also has something to say on traditional bluegrass vocal tunes.

The majority of the tracks were recorded in Nashville, and the band remains the same on each song with the exception of the guitar player/lead singer, and the occasional harmony vocalist.

The back up band includes Shad Cobb on fiddle, Charlie Chadwick on bass, Chris Joslin on Dobro and banjo, and Dave Harvey on mandolin. Tim May and Brad Davis provide harmony vocals on most tunes, although others also sing harmony on select tunes.

The line up of guitar players is impressive, as is the song list of traditional tunes.

My Home’s Across The Blue Ridge Mountains – Steven Mougin
East Virginia Blues – John Chapman
Six White Horses – Jeff White
When The Golden Leaves Begin To Fall – Jim Hurst
Long Journey Home – Josh Williams
I’ll Stay Around – Tim Stafford
Banks Of The Ohio – Brad Davis
Why Don’t You Tell Me So – Richard Bennett
In The Pines – Chris Jones
Teardrops In My Eyes – Jim Nunally
Gone Home – Tim May
Air Mail Special On The Fly – Kenny Smith

The consistency of the band from track to track lends a unity to the disc, which, when paired with the diversity of vocal and guitar styles represented, results in a very pleasant and interesting 40 minutes of music.

Choosing a favorite track would be nearly impossible. Each player brings a unique approach that distinguishes each track from the others. There is something to be appreciated and enjoyed from each recording.

Fans of both flatpicking guitar and traditional bluegrass should equally enjoy this CD. If you happen to be a fan of both, Flatpicking Bluegrass is custom made for you!