Guitar Tab Fisher's Hornpipe- Beginner

Guitar Tab - Fisher's Hornpipe - Beginner: In this lesson of Guitar Tabs from Ultimate Guitar OnLine we will explore another popular Fiddle Tune. Fisher's Hornpipe. This is another flatpicking song with which you should be able to play several breaks. We have arranged and beginner version here.

All of these files were authored in eMedia's Guitar-Pro. This is the favorite tab and notation authoring software for us here at Ultimate Guitar OnLine. It is filled with features and is simple to use - even without a manual. It is compatible with PC and Mac. We use it on the Mac here and it is a pleasure to use. To see a full review click HERE. Otherwise if you would like to try a free copy of it, you can download the demo HERE and use it for 15 days.

If you are not familiar with reading Guitar Tab, click HERE for a quick tutorial. If you are not familiar with reading notation click HERE for some online lesson material we have put together. Otherwise will be give you hints along the way by hovering your mouse over certain keywords in this text.

Having trouble with Crosspicking technique? We have a great article on Learning How to Crosspick.

Watch your up and down strokes carefully. It is critical that you keep them consistent. Down strokes are almost always on the downbeat and upstrokes are often on the upbeat, but not always. We have clearly shown the down and up strokes below each note in the tab. The down-up strokes are shown on the tab below the Guitar Tab staff.

If you are being challenged by crosspicking, this song will be hard for you at first. It is however an excellent song with which learn crosspicking and you will get much satisfaction once you master it.

Left hand fingering is clearly shown below the tab sections and each number is representative of a finger with the index finger being 1 the middle being 2 the ring 3 and the pinky number 4.

Measure 5 watch out for that quarter note on the third beat. Be sure to get your down-up picking correct at that obstacle. Similar at the 7th & 10th measures.

Work hard on the 7th & 8th measures to get up to speed. Play smoothly and slowly first.

In the 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th frets, be sure to get the timing right for the dotted quarter note (1-1/2 beats), and catch the last eighth note in the measures with an upbeat and up-stroke of your pick so you will be ready for the down-stroke in the next measure.

There are a lot of eighth notes and fast picking on this song, so start slowly and gradually work up to speed. Know the song by heart and be able to play it nearly flawlessly before you attempt to play it up-to-speed. This piece is usually played at about 220 bpm.

Beginners should start this song at about 120 to 140 bpm until fully memorized and mastered. Then gradually work up to about 180 to 200. The 220 to 240 gets you into expert status territory.

Guitar Pro has a really cool feature called speed trainer. you can set a loop of accompaniment chords to be played and after each loop the speed increased by a percent that you specify. I love this feature and it gives you milestone very clearly as to you speed conditioning.

Each quarter note = one beat in the measure so there are 4 quarter notes in just about every measure.

Although this song is tabbed in the key of C major, it is most often played in the key of D Major. Therefore use a Capo on the second fret and play it in C and you will be playing automatically in D. With a Capo on the Second Fret, it tends to play a bit easier also, since the frets are closer together. Watch for this technique a lot in flatpick guitar pieces.

Make sure to memorize your songs. What is the easiest way to do this? Unless you have perfect pitch, you will have to learn one section or measure at a time. Once you can play flawlessly move on to the next measure and add it to what you have memorized. Continue this and make sure you can play the first half of the song, including the second ending.

Once you have the first half memorized, move on to the second half, doing the same thing with the second half of the song.