# Guitar/Folk Guitar

## Introduction

!The folk singer Woody
Guthrie Folk music
is considered to be music that originates from the people. It is not the
preserve of professional composers because its themes and melodies are
derived from the experiences and lives of people who usually have no
professional musical training. The lyrics are usually an expression of
social or personal conditions. Work songs are a common folk theme and
are an excellent example of community and the lives of those who exist
within that community. Sea shanties and farming songs are two types of
folk music that have work related themes. It is only natural for
communities to express their joy at the arrival of spring and the
promise of a bountiful harvest or for sailors to celebrate their arrival
home after a long time at sea.

Folk music before modern recording tended to be regional and sung in
local dialects. The invention of sound recording meant that for the
first time these regional songs could be captured and preserved and
heard by people from different backgrounds and countries. Folk music had
always been passed down orally from generation to generation but
industrialization had led to the fragmentation of traditional rural
communities as people moved to industrial urban towns and cities.
Musicologists became very aware that the old songs were disappearing and
soon there was a movement to capture the songs using the technique of
field-recording. Alan Lomax is one of the most famous of these early
scholars who took to the roads of America with the aim of recording folk
music for the Archive of American Song of the Library of Congress. In
England the work was done by the composer Percy Grainger.

Despite all these changes, folk music will always have its place in
society. The form that the music takes may change but never the reason
for its existence.

## Playing Folk Music

!Joan Baez and Bob
Dylan The recording
of an old Lead Belly (Huddie Ledbetter) song \"Goodnight, Irene\" by The
Weavers in 1949 revived general interest in folk music and gave rise to
a new movement in the 1950s that was called the American folk music
revival. The next decade
saw the distinction between popular music and folk music becoming
blurred. In the US and many other countries, folk music and folk guitar
became very popular and musicians like Bob Dylan wrote contemporary folk
music that encapsulated the feelings and politics of the 1960s. This
style most often uses an acoustic guitar, open chords, simple chord
progressions and vocals. You can
play folk guitar with a pick, or by finger
picking. This style is simple,
yet diverse enough to let you play a variety of tunes.

Folk music evolved during the 1960s into folk-rock and the electric
guitar started to take on the role once reserved for the acoustic
guitar. However many of the 1960s rock bands also featured acoustic
guitar songs on their albums. These songs are not \"folk music\" in an
historical sense but they are a modern adaption of the older folk style
and are now generally referred to as \"acoustic music\". Often they use
the same progressions as older folk songs but incorporate a catchy
strumming pattern, rhythm or singing style. Here\'s a short list of
songs that have a folk influence:

-   House Of The Rising Sun - The Animals
-   The Times They Are A Changing - Bob Dylan
-   Sloop John.B - The Beach Boys

These are songs that have become immensely popular, such that many
people can sing them communally though they may need prompting to
remember the next verse. Although these songs can often be performed on
an acoustic guitar, they are not quite \"folk\". You are encouraged to
learn these songs and perform them with the view of encouraging others
to sing along.

This section will provide the basics of folk guitar. By taking open
chords and learning some common (and
important!) chord changes, you will learn the principles of folk guitar.

## E to A

File: E major chord for guitar (open).png\|**E major** File: A major
chord for guitar (open).png\|**A major**

This is an E major changing to an A major. This is one of the easiest
progressions to play since the chord forms are so similar.

## C to G

File: C major chord for guitar (open).png\|**C major** File: G major
chord for guitar (open).png\|**G major**

This is a C major changing to a G major.

## D to G

File: D major chord for guitar (open).png\|**D major** File: G major
chord for guitar (open).png\|**G major**

This is a D major changing to a G major.

## F to C

File: F major chord for guitar (open).png\|**F major** File: C major
chord for guitar (open).png\|**C major**

This is a F major changing to a C major.

## Am to C

File: A minor chord for guitar (open).png\|**A minor** File: C major
chord for guitar (open).png\|**C major**

This is an A minor changing to a C major.

## Em to G

File: E minor chord for guitar (open).png\|**E minor** File: G major
chord for guitar (open).png\|**G major**

This is an E minor changing to a G major

## Dm to Am

File: D minor chord for guitar (open).png\|**D minor** File: A minor
chord for guitar (open).png\|**A minor**

This is a D minor changing to an A minor

