Cashville Lesson Overview

Okay, so that was Cashville from the debut grade for the Rock School. It's a very cool tune, actually.

Melody Line

It's really nice and simple and has a wonderful melody line for you to get your fingers around.

• What I like about a melody line is it's:
  • Very easy to play.
  • Also includes some tricky techniques in beginner level to try and get under your fingers.

These techniques will definitely carry into your future playing as they set the groundwork for:

• Playing single note melody lines.
• Chords at the beginning and the end, letting them chime out cleanly.

Country Style

This piece is very much written in the country style. As you can probably tell from the pun of the title, which is a cool play on Cashville, it has that sort of Johnny Cash feel with those guitars.

Amp Settings

Let's talk briefly about the amp settings. This does not really need to be overthought at all.

• You want a very nice, clean, glassy tone from your amplifier.
• The chords should chime out and, when you play, you should get a nice sustain to your note.
• I wouldn't put any overdrive on.
• I've got the amp set to what I would say is quite a trebly sound, but not overly trebly because you don't want it to be too cutting.

This is quite a loud amp; I've got it running at about a fifth of what it can actually do, which is probably loud enough for you to still get the guitar resonating and chiming, but without blowing your examiner's head off in the room.

Guitar Choice

A little note on the guitar: This is an American Fender Telecaster that's only about 12 years old. For country music, this is the go-to guitar for many players.

• However, you don't need to go out and buy a Telecaster; this piece can be played on any guitar you have.
• If your guitar has a pickup near the bridge, I would recommend using that pickup.

Pickup Selector

This is what the selector is for:

• Two together (both pickups).
• This one for the back.

Your guitar probably has a similar setup. I would definitely play this tune with the bridge pickup because this is where the strings are the most twangy, which is what you want for your country tune.

Techniques to Focus On

With technique, it's very achievable with practice. There are a few passages I've identified to look out for that I think your examiner will be looking for you to nail. One in particular is Letter C when we switch to the E minor.

Chimed Chords

Here's a nice little passage where you have these chimed chords that also include the single notes:

• You'll want them to let ring. This means rather than playing them as single notes, you should treat them more like an arpeggiated chord.

When you see me moving the guitar a bit, I'm using elements of vibrato within the single lines to make the melody sing a little more.

• So again, if we go back to Figure B, I'm putting a little wobble on the notes.

This is a slightly more advanced technique, but it's something you could experiment with.

Vibrato Technique

With vibrato, you're just gently bending the string up and down, giving the melody line a more lyrical feel rather than a static melody.

Muting Techniques

Going back to Figure C with the chimed notes, there's another technique to look at, which your teacher will likely emphasize.

• With these spread chords, the chord changes in the next bar allow the notes to ring out.
• For Bars 3 and 4 of Figure C, I slightly mute the lower string with my hand so the previous notes don't ring into the G chord.

To mute, you can use the palm of your picking hand. Just rest your palm on the strings you don't want to ring out.

Key Points on Resonance

The guitar is a very resonant instrument. Keeping track of which strings you want to ring out and which you don't is a key part of your playing:

• If you have a few of these techniques down, the examiner will see you're on the way to mastering some heavyweight techniques for future grades.

Additional Recommendations

If you enjoy this sort of melody (which you likely do if you chose this tune), there are lots of other things you can check out. Personally, once my mum realized I was taking my guitar playing seriously, she bought me a Jam Along with the Shadows book.

• Hank Marvin, one of the guitarists, made a career out of playing single note melody lines over a band.

Recommended Tunes

I would recommend checking out:

• Apache (very famous for its single note guitar line).
• FBI (a fun track to jam along with).

After you've nailed this track, consider experimenting with the melody line and developing your own take on it, there's a good chord sequence that lends itself well to that.

Conclusion

So there we are, Cashville. Have a lot of fun with it, and good luck!