Andrew Lardner

Doc's Guitar

Added 2020-10-01 13:30:02 +0000 UTC

This month we are looking at Doc's Guitar. Areas to consider when tackling this one, he uses only thumb and index finger in the right hand, and he's playing just over 280bpm! My video is faithful to his right hand approach, I cheat a little in the left hand which I'll explain more in the instructional video.

Doc's performance career started to pick up in the early 1960s as the folk revival grew. He played several folk festivals in 1962, but the ignition point for his career was his performance at the 1963 Newport Folk festival. Here he plays an early version of Doc's Guitar which he introduces as "Ticklin' the Strings." Notice the harmonic form is a little different in the A section, and the B section starts with with a different melody and a move to an A major chord as opposed to the more common A minor a year later. You can hear this version here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUQmNGLvL3U&t=85s

His debut solo album came the following year. Now the piece is titled "Doc's Guitar." Interestingly, it is the only title on the record that is not a traditional tune or attributed to someone else.

The attached transcription corresponds exactly to the 1964 recording on Doc Watson. I plan on making another post with a second transcription of "Doc's Guitar" to document how it evolved over the course of a few years.

Here's my performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQjUXKi8suk

Here's my instructional play through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8n-0fef5uo&feature=youtu.be

Here's Doc's recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPxG4i6BpUM

Early footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl63N_gxhPg

Transcription attached below! Until next time.