This one has some real nice songs on it! Chosen and rearranged for guitar from fiddle and rag time tunes. Out of these 5 instrumentals some are more difficult than others and for both hands. Not only do you need to know your fingerstyle basics but you need to know your neck notes too and up the neck not just up to the first five frets. Advanced!
We start out with the song "Colored Aristocracy" which is a challenging one - a finger twister - which has easy and difficult sections to it. Stefan tells us to be able to play it slowly is very important. Once again the steady alternating bass is paramount to provide foundation to some interesting complex finger picking.
This is definitely for advanced finger style students and die hard advocates of this steady thumb guitar style. It has some real nice melodies in it and I must say and they aren't blues! The first two songs are in the key of A an we dampen the fifth and sixth strings setting up a nice percussive droning sound over which we are going to add melody. The second song is called 'Boys, My money's all Gone' and was arranged for the guitar by the same person back in the 1960 as the first song.
The difficulty for me is in the right hand especially as he teaches us some counterpoint. Stefan places emphasis on our playing speed and wants us to be able to pay the hard parts as the same speed as the easy parts.
If the wind will not serve, take to the oars. –Latin Proverb