Diminished and Flat Ninth Chords

Dad just posted another video on YouTube. This one talks about syncopation and using rubato in Travis picking. There are other good tips on how to make Wabash Cannonball and City of New Orleans interesting.

Learn the elements of blues playing.  

Don’t just play a song. Make it memorable by creating a performance. Here are some of the elements you might use.

I love the Beatles classic, Yesterday. It is a very sophisticated song, sweetened by a string section and arranged by the talented George Martin. There is syncopation, as in most Beatles songs, a suspended chord for interest, and Martin uses counterpoint to bring out the melody of the song and to provide a nostalgic feeling…

This is a discussion of basic music harmony. It includes scale structure, intervals, chord structure and chord progressions. I am hoping to provide a foundation for discussion of some more complex musical topics in the future. Watch it on

Dad posted a video on YouTube that shows how to Travis Pick Freight Train in a particular style. He uses thumb and three fingers to get a different sound and feel.