Guitar Workshop: Tommy Emmanuel

This week's installment of "Guitar Workshop" gives a shout to the intermediate-to-advanced pickers in our viewing audience. Tommy Emmanuel is a phenomenal picker out of Australia. Born in 1955, he first heard Chet Atkins at age seven, and went professional with the family band at age nine. The influence that contributed to his unique style -- there's obviously more than one influence at work here -- is found in this piece called "Guitar Boogie".

Pay attention to the middle of the first clip, where he uses a flatpick for that steady bass line, while using his middle, ring, and little finger to pick the melody. You barely notice it here, because it's so subtle, and because much of the left hand work is covered by the mic, which is why ...

... we're grateful to have a second clip, where he explains the various parts (with French subtitles). Future installments of this series will include lessons about working your way up the neck. There's a fingering position for the blues scale, which can be used at any place on the fingerboard.

And as you can see, this dude is all over it.
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