ghoiseth
Verified buyer
01/11/26
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The Art & Craft of Acoustic Guitar
Interactive Video Masterclass for Acoustic Guitar
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About this course
British guitar phenomenon Clive Carroll’s masterful compositions, coupled with his versatility and unparalleled technical virtuosity, have rendered him one of today’s most admired and respected guitarists. He has toured the world garnering praise for his sublime performances of everything from 16th and 17th-century lute music to Jazz standards, Blues, Irish reels and his own groundbreaking compositions. Acoustic Magazine sums up his extraordinary musicality, ”Sensational instrumental music that knows no boundaries”.
We’re thrilled to welcome Clive to the family with his first TrueFire course, The Art & Craft of Acoustic Guitar. You will likewise be captivated as you play your way through Clive’s engaging and insightful curriculum for acoustic guitar.
”I’ve been drawn to the art and craft of composing and performing music on the acoustic guitar for my entire life. I’m inspired by a wide variety of genres and their underlying techniques, all of which are fused together to create my own voice on this instrument. Music and education are of central importance to me and I’m always open to sharing with others who are passionate about the guitar.”
Clive organized the course into five sections. Each section is focused on a set of creative approaches and key techniques that you’ll find useful when composing or performing on the acoustic guitar. You’ll first play through a series of etudes to help you get a grip on them. And then, Clive will perform and breakdown an original tune of his to illustrate how those approaches and techniques can be applied.
”The five original tunes cover a broad range of styles. We’ll play Montreal Rag, a piece in the classic American rag style. Promise of Spring features a cascading melody played over an alternating bass pattern. There’s “In the Deep” which focuses on a steady rolling groove in the bass while projecting a bluesy pentatonic melody over the top. Reed All About It is loosely based on the guitar style of one of my favorite American guitar pickers, the great Jerry Reed. And finally, we’ll play Eliza’s Eyes. This has a contemporary groove that incorporates a lot of different textures and musical lines in order to evoke the sound of a full band through one solo instrument.”
Clive will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson. You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let’s dig in with Clive Carroll!
We’re thrilled to welcome Clive to the family with his first TrueFire course, The Art & Craft of Acoustic Guitar. You will likewise be captivated as you play your way through Clive’s engaging and insightful curriculum for acoustic guitar.
”I’ve been drawn to the art and craft of composing and performing music on the acoustic guitar for my entire life. I’m inspired by a wide variety of genres and their underlying techniques, all of which are fused together to create my own voice on this instrument. Music and education are of central importance to me and I’m always open to sharing with others who are passionate about the guitar.”
Clive organized the course into five sections. Each section is focused on a set of creative approaches and key techniques that you’ll find useful when composing or performing on the acoustic guitar. You’ll first play through a series of etudes to help you get a grip on them. And then, Clive will perform and breakdown an original tune of his to illustrate how those approaches and techniques can be applied.
”The five original tunes cover a broad range of styles. We’ll play Montreal Rag, a piece in the classic American rag style. Promise of Spring features a cascading melody played over an alternating bass pattern. There’s “In the Deep” which focuses on a steady rolling groove in the bass while projecting a bluesy pentatonic melody over the top. Reed All About It is loosely based on the guitar style of one of my favorite American guitar pickers, the great Jerry Reed. And finally, we’ll play Eliza’s Eyes. This has a contemporary groove that incorporates a lot of different textures and musical lines in order to evoke the sound of a full band through one solo instrument.”
Clive will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson. You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let’s dig in with Clive Carroll!
What you'll learn
- Perform country-style guitar riffs on steel string guitar
- Apply bass note muting technique by dampening the fifth string
- Execute Jerry Reed-style finger patterns using i and m fingers together
- Control dynamics between thumb and fingers independently
- Understand how to construct a coda using repeated sections with variations
Release date: 03/26/2020 • 4h 49m runtime
Sample lessons
Promise of Spring
SECTION 2: Overview
Broken Arpeggio Groove
Practice Study 1
Single String Melody
Practice Study 2
Promise of Spring
Performance
What's included
48 lessons • 21 charts
The Art & Craft of Acoustic Guitar
Hi, I'm Clive Carroll. Welcome to The Art and Craft of Acoustic Guitar!
I've been drawn to the art and craft of composing and performing music on the acoustic guitar for my entire life.
I'm inspired by a wide variety of genres and their underlying techniques, all of which are fused together to create my own voice on this instrument. Music and education is of central importance to me and I'm always open to sharing with others who are passionate about the guitar.
I've organized this course into five sections. Each section is focused on a set of creative approaches and key techniques that you'll find useful when composing or performing on the acoustic guitar. We'll first play through a series of etudes to help you get a grip on them. And then, I'll perform and breakdown an original tune of mine to illustrate how those approaches and techniques can be applied. The five original tunes cover a broad range of styles.
All of the performances are transcribed and you'll be able to sync the tab and notation to the video using TrueFire's learning tools. You can loop or slow down the videos so you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
OK, it's time to dig into the art and craft of acoustic guitar!
I've been drawn to the art and craft of composing and performing music on the acoustic guitar for my entire life.
I'm inspired by a wide variety of genres and their underlying techniques, all of which are fused together to create my own voice on this instrument. Music and education is of central importance to me and I'm always open to sharing with others who are passionate about the guitar.
I've organized this course into five sections. Each section is focused on a set of creative approaches and key techniques that you'll find useful when composing or performing on the acoustic guitar. We'll first play through a series of etudes to help you get a grip on them. And then, I'll perform and breakdown an original tune of mine to illustrate how those approaches and techniques can be applied. The five original tunes cover a broad range of styles.
All of the performances are transcribed and you'll be able to sync the tab and notation to the video using TrueFire's learning tools. You can loop or slow down the videos so you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
OK, it's time to dig into the art and craft of acoustic guitar!
Montreal Rag
This is a piece written in the classic American rag style. Technically it focuses on separation between an alternating thumb technique (left hand of piano) and the other fingers which will play the melody.
There are a couple of riffs which are fun to play, and there's a full variation based on inversions of the chords in the original harmonic progression. I'll also show how you can create a variation of your own.
There are a couple of riffs which are fun to play, and there's a full variation based on inversions of the chords in the original harmonic progression. I'll also show how you can create a variation of your own.
Independence Workout
Here's a lesson to help gain independence between an alternating-thumb groove and block chords with the fingers. It might sound simple but the discipline of counting out loud while you play the exercise can help improve thumb/finger independence and ultimately allow your melodies to sing and give your bass parts a good groove!
Syncopated Picking
This study is similar to "Study 1" but instead of picking the high chord on the beat, this time we're playing on the 'and' of each beat. It's a little more tricky but very worthwhile.
Mix & Match Workout
There's a lot happening in Study 3! The alternating thumb groove stays the same but the chords above are played on and off the beats to create an independent musical line to the bass part. Practice this study until you don't have to think about it anymore! Then you'll be ready to move on to Montréal Rag.
Montreal Rag
I really hope you enjoy learning this piece. I wrote it in Montréal many years ago for a workshop in England and I'm so glad that it continues to bring so much pleasure to guitar players around the world. Maybe I'll get to hear you play it at some point in the future!?
Montreal Rag: Main Part
Here is a thorough breakdown of Montréal Rag's main head. The piece opens up with the alternating thumb technique along with the block chord melody over the top. The three studies will have prepared you for the opening of the piece.
These sections of music are interrupted by a couple of single-line riffs that I hope you'll really enjoy learning! You might even find those single note riffs useful when hitting the chord of G in another piece!
These sections of music are interrupted by a couple of single-line riffs that I hope you'll really enjoy learning! You might even find those single note riffs useful when hitting the chord of G in another piece!
+ 41 more lessons
Reviews
25 results
Alexallin
Verified buyer
07/01/25
Clear and easy to follow didactic pieces
halgausman
Verified buyer
12/08/24
Good Stuff
Great lesson on improving thumb work and getting a groove going. I think this lesson is best for people that have been playing for a bit and want to to improve skills.
Nicolaas B.
01/29/22
Wonderful music
Of all the courses that I did dduring the last few years, The art & craft of acoustic guitar is one of my favorites. Beautiful songs, played so clean and clear, that you only wish to play them too. Because of the instruction of Clive Carroll it is very doable. I've read somewhere that Clive Carroll is one of Tommy Emmanuel's favorite guitar players. That doesn't surprise me at all!
seanprez
Verified buyer
10/08/21
From the exercises to the repertoire of songs that Clive, there is something for everyone from this master player/teacher!! Highly recommend to anyone looking to further their fingerstyle playing!
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