Easy to intermediate Fahey?

I'm interested in working on my fingerstyle alternating thumb bass playing. I've been obsessed with Fahey lately (again!) and I'd like to learn one his tunes. I gave up on When the Springtime Comes Again after realizing it wasn't as easy as I thought it sounds. So my question is, are there any easier Fahey tunes I could work on to help train my thumb to keep the bounce going? Sligo River Blues sounds like a good one to try, any thoughts guys?

I think many of his tunes are in alternate tunings. That might be why it wasn't as easy to play as it sounded. I'd like to learn "Sunflower River Blues", but someone said it's in an open C tuning or something like that. If you want to train your thumb, I recommend just going back and forth between low E and D at different tempos then try adding one or two melody notes as you go along. Good luck.

My thumb gets tripped up with the syncopation in his playing. I was just practicing Sligo River Blues and I can't seem to capture the same feel in the song. I sound lifeless in comparison.

Try only playing the bass parts - in other words, only use your thumb and play the entire piece, bass notes only. Get it down cold, then start adding in the fingers. It's a matter of practice, for which there is no substitute.

Something in an open tuning should be easier to play, not harder - that's the whole point of the open tuning.

Poor Boy Long Ways from Home is really easy. It's in open D.

Something in an open tuning should be easier to play, not harder - that's the whole point of the open tuning.

Poor Boy Long Ways from Home is really easy. It's in open D.

Possibly - but you still have to master the timing and syncopation of the bass parts regardless of the songs simplicity.

I think of Fahey as one of those old style, untrained, "just play" kind of guys, akin to the old blues players that didn't think or care about notes, key, exact time or rhythm, they just played. That's why I've never been able to cop what he does note for note, just get the basic idea of the song and do my own thing with it. Worked for him, oughtta work for me too.

I'm obsessed with Fahey too, Pizza. I'm not sure that there is any easy Fahey. He seems to take what appears simple and create something almost transcendental with it. I've been listening and watching this video a lot recently

OAdmDyUAESs

Just blows my mind!

Have you checked out his book?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51m5MXTdoSL._SS500_.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/American-Primitive-Guitar-John-Fahey/dp/0786662085/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336608116&sr=1-1)

I confess, I got it for Christmas a few years ago, but haven't ever sat down with it. I'd love to play some of his stuff, but I'm just not of a book-learner. Thanks for reminding me of it! Maybe I'll make an effort give it a try.

Fahey is one of those enigmatic artists who just stick with me. I saw him a few years before his death, and still regret passing up the opportunity to buy one of his paintings. I just didn't like them! Usually I believe in not buying something just because of its cache if it doesn't speak to you, but I wish now that I had one of them on my wall. I feel like any creative output from his strange mind must have something of value even if it's not apparent on the surface, and I wonder how my perception of it would have changed over the years. Oh well, at least I have his prose and music.

I've been working on Sligo for two days now and i cant seem to figure out how he's playing the melody with his fingers. I can keep the thumb going all day with the bass by itself and i can pluck melody notes at the same time as the thumb just fine. I run into trouble once the syncopation comes into play. My hand literally shuts down.