Four main aspects to learn for guitar backing (applies to all tunings – DADGAD, Drop D, Standard):
Understanding these will take you a long way. Practice, ear, improvisation, and experience is the rest of it.
Listen to ITM so that you know the tunes: What they sound like (major minor), their rhythms (jigs, reels, hornpipes, etc.), where they are going, and recognizing when they don’t fall in typical patterns. Here are some well-known guitarists to listen to:
There are many tunes on this site, as you gain experience, practice backing them.
Chord Fingering / Shapes:
Here’s one nice D scale pattern (can be used ascending or descending)
Today we’ll work on a well known reel, “My Love is in America”. It is a two-part reel in D.
Play along with My Love is in America
