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New School Fingerstyle

The new, funky and soulful school of fingerstyle blues guitar

Marty FriedmanTommy EmmanuelSteve VaiEric GalesEric Johnson

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New School Fingerstyle
David Hamburger

David Hamburger

Educator

fingerstyle, acoustic blues, blues

Genres

About this course

Pull up a desk at the New School of Fingerstyle Blues and let David Hamburger show you the right-hand grooves and left-hand moves that will take your solo fingerstyle chops to the next level and expand your repertoire at the same time. You'll discover the new world of fingerstyle blues and how to update traditional twelve-bar country blues and ragtime picking and keep everything funky, bluesy and soulful.

New School Fingerstyle Blues introduces you to fresh new grooves, licks and chord voicings, many inspired by the playing of Professor Longhair, James Booker, and other blues piano masters.

You'll learn how to hold down syncopated, two-beat and walking bass lines; add jazz and blues voicings up the neck; incorporate double stops and chromatic blues licks; use rakes, hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides; slip in blues and jazz turnarounds; apply 9th and 13th chords to blues and rag forms; and play blues ballads with an after-hours feel.

What you'll learn

  • Execute the complete arrangement of FretBoard Confidential
  • Execute simultaneous melody and alternating bass lines
  • Play a complete blues-jazz fingerstyle arrangement with multiple sections
  • Integrate single-note melody lines over fingerstyle bass patterns
  • Apply different thumb techniques based on musical context (vamp vs. lick)
Release date: 11/10/2005 • 3h 14m runtime
late intermediateadvancedacoustic guitarguitarsongsfingerpickingtechnique
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Sample lessons
Bryant On Six
Bryant On Six
Lesson
Bryant On Six
Bryant On Six
Breakdown
Ham's Blues
Ham's Blues
Lesson
Ham's Blues
Ham's Blues
Breakdown

What's included

41 lessons • 14 charts

New School Fingerstyle
Bryant On Six
I really can't say enough about Ray Bryant. I love the way he sounds, and I'm determined to swipe as much as I can from his solo piano approach to the blues. Check out his recordings Alone With The Blues (Prestige), Solo Flight (Pablo) and Alone at Montreux (32 Jazz) to hear the chord changes from "Bryant on Six" in their original context. The more you steal from musicians besides guitar players, the sooner you'll start sounding like you have your own thing. Reference Source: Ray Bryant (http://www.jazzdisco.org/bryant/dis/c/)
Bryant On Six
I really can't say enough about Ray Bryant. I love the way he sounds, and I'm determined to swipe as much as I can from his solo piano approach to the blues. Check out his recordings Alone With The Blues (Prestige), Solo Flight (Pablo) and Alone at Montreux (32 Jazz) to hear the chord changes from "Bryant on Six" in their original context. The more you steal from musicians besides guitar players, the sooner you'll start sounding like you have your own thing. Reference Source: Ray Bryant (http://www.jazzdisco.org/bryant/dis/c/)
Ham's Blues
I came up with this little riff tune at the end of the sessions for my Blues Alchemy course, and Truefire mastermind B. Wendkos titled it when I wasn't looking. I've always needed a hip nickname, of course, so I guess this will be it for the time being. This kind of stompin', straight-eighths steady-bass groove is a great way to break out of the alternating-thumb box. The simplicity of the bass also frees up your brain to concentrate on improvising something new on top.
Ham's Blues
I came up with this little riff tune at the end of the sessions for my Blues Alchemy course, and Truefire mastermind B. Wendkos titled it when I wasn't looking. I've always needed a hip nickname, of course, so I guess this will be it for the time being. This kind of stompin', straight-eighths steady-bass groove is a great way to break out of the alternating-thumb box. The simplicity of the bass also frees up your brain to concentrate on improvising something new on top.
Harriet The Chariot
Once I got this tune off the ground, I realized I'd nicked the bass line from "Blue Thumb" by fingerstyle giant Jerry Reed. But then, he nicked it from about twenty years worth of swing-era jazz, so what the heck. I ran it by John Knowles while we were teaching a workshop in San Francisco, and since the melody and the B section were totally different, he thought I was in the clear. There's been no word from the guitar police, so I guess he's right. Reference Source: John Knowles (http://www.johnknowles.com/)
Harriet The Chariot
Once I got this tune off the ground, I realized I'd nicked the bass line from "Blue Thumb" by fingerstyle giant Jerry Reed. But then, he nicked it from about twenty years worth of swing-era jazz, so what the heck. I ran it by John Knowles while we were teaching a workshop in San Francisco, and since the melody and the B section were totally different, he thought I was in the clear. There's been no word from the guitar police, so I guess he's right. Reference Source: John Knowles (http://www.johnknowles.com/)

+ 34 more lessons

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Reviews

13 results

richardorme

Verified buyer

03/21/26

This is a great course if you're interested in progressing beyond standard 12-bar blues, and learning how to make your blues playing fuller and richer-sounding. Plus there are some excellent tunes to learn. Finally I would strongly recommend checking out David's playing on YouTube if you're not already familiar with it - I don't know a better fingerstyle blues player!

Hent03

Verified buyer

10/30/25

Great selection of fingerstyle blues songs to help you build a repertoire along with some great insight and direction for learning to develop your own songs.

harrygaab

Verified buyer

10/21/25

Great stuff - David breaks down each song to where it’s doable -

SteveAckers

Verified buyer

08/28/25

Challenging, but well worth putting in the effort.

This collection of fingerstyle blues tunes doesn’t utilize the latest Truefire technology but still manages to present the material effectively. Not for the faint of heart and I recommend it only for late intermediate to advanced players.

ButterflyCosmic

Verified buyer

06/12/25

Très bien

David Hamburger est un guitariste que j'apprécie beaucoup et présente ici des morceaux de blues très intéressants.

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