Will The Circle Be Unbroken
A campfire favourite - I've had a lot of requests for this one.
Learn a version of this song exclusively with Thumb Lead style. There's a lot of time to fill up between the lines, you can use Square Roll and/or Pinches to do that.
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This song has a lot of long notes in it. We will be using the Pinch to play the long notes. There are also gaps after every line. In this video I just say ‘Gap’ or ‘Square Roll’ whenever there’s a gap. in the next video, we look at how to use the Square Roll to fill those gaps.
Now fill in the gaps using Square Roll
Staying with the Thumb Lead style.
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You can see there’s a lot of scope for how you fill up the gaps. You can play most of the song with just Pinches if you like, or add in the Square Rolls wherever you like the sound of them.
You don’t need to play it the same way I do, but it’s important to stick closely to the melody and stay with the rhythm. Keeping the picking Thumb on the beat all the time makes it a lot easier to do that, that’s why I like playing this style so much!
You also need to follow the chord changes. The D7 change on the last line is fairly easy to play. Pay close attention the the C chords, you will need to coordinate three fingers of the fretting hand at the same time. There’s an exercise to practice the C chord plus Square Roll in Lesson 1 Part 4.
Let's play a simple version together
After three, come in and give everything you've learnt a try!
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Get extra help
Practice the Square Roll + C chord
The combination of Left- and Right- hand techniques you use on the C chord in this song is covered in more detail in Lesson 1 Part 4.
You will practice forming a C chord whilst picking out a Square Roll, and learn how to play any melody you like on the 3rd and 4th strings, open and fretted on the 2nd fret.
A great exercise to practice if you struggle with changing chords quickly and smoothly. Try switching between the open G chord and the C chord for extra progress.