Month 6, Lesson 1: Camptown Races Lead
Source: Guitar Lessons
Camptown Races Lead
“Camptown Races” It was written in 1850 by Stephen Foster (1826–1864), known as the “father of American music”, who was the famous songwriter in the United States of the 19th century. The song’s official title was “Gwine to Run All Night”, and it is also known as “De Camptown Races”
About This Lesson:
Although this is a simple song, I have spiced it up quite a bit with extra notes called fill-in notes and with some chords. When a musician or guitarist does this, he is said to arrange the song, or make a song arrangement. This is kind of like a freedom where you can express your musical knowledge and make revisions or embellishments (improvements) to a song to really bring it to life.
Learning Points:
Fill-In Notes:
Although this song can be played much simpler with less notes, it would loose a lot of its interest or color that makes it more interesting for people to listen to. Fill-In notes are extra notes that are added by the music arranger (that is me for this selection).
The goal is for you to take basic melodies and add fill-in notes to make the song sound better, more colorful and have more interest. Be aware this is not an easy thing to do, so do not become discouraged if you can’t do it at first. It will come to you gradually as you become more skilled at guitar playing.
Arpeggio Chords:
Arpeggio: According to the dictionary: is Italian for broken chord where the notes are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously. I prefer to call it a slow strum rather than a normal chord strum. If you play it about 1/2 the speed of a normal strum it will sound about right.
Be sure to listen to the Guitar Pro file. I have created the arpeggio chords so should correctly in that file.
Hammer-Ons:
There is only one hammer-on in this song and it occurs in the second to the last measure. Remember to only strike only the first note of a hammer on and let the next finger sound the second note by hammering on the string. With practice you will hardly hear any difference. The reason we use hammer-ons in that it gives the right hand a break when you play notes fast.
About the Tab Notes:
No additional explanation is required
Articles You Should Read:
Down Up Strokes of the Pick: important as always
Using down ups is the only way to play them fast enough.
Chords in the Key of C Major
Hammer-ons: Read this article againg to master them as they are used with the guitar all the time.
Music Theory You Should Know:
Time Signature
Rest
TAB
C Scale
TAB Staff
Dotted Notes
Goals:
Goal #1:
Play the arpeggio chords smoothly and consistently. Listen closely to the Guitar Pro file. You should connect the relation between the arpeggio chords and the rhythm chords that are labeled above the notation score and see they are the same.
Goal #2:
This song is usually played along at a pretty good pace. I would say to try to play it at about 150 to 160 beats/measure by the end of your practice week – if you can’t maintain that speed, you probably need to concentrate more on your chords and transition to chords to smoothen your playing out.
Goal #3:
Notice in the second to the last measure that the eighth notes are strung out and are really forming a C major chord.
Goal #4:
If you already know this song (i.e. you can sing it), then try to pick out all of the fill-in notes. Try to understand how notes are added to make a song sound more full and exciting sounding. Think of fill-in notes and arrangements of songs as putting a suit and tie on the song. We are adding sparkle. We will do a lot more of this in future lessons and I will show you how to begin arranging songs.
See our How To Practice article:
Again, this would be a great song for you not only to memorize but to play for you friends and relation. This would be a good time for you, if you have not already done so to search out another guitar player to team up with and play duets ( A duet just means 2 people playing music or singing together).
Help Us Out:
Lastly and most importantly, give us feedback, either good or bad. We want to improve this site and we want kids to learn how to play the guitar. If you have suggestions for us, leave a comment. If you appreciate these lessons, leave a comment on that too.
Songs in Downloadable Format:
If you have difficulty reading this score information, we have this score information available free of charge for you with an instant electronic download. Just click on the song title below and you will be taken to our secure server site. You will get a PDF file of the above score complete with the Tab Notes. Be sure to download Adobe Acrobat Reader v6.0 or above. This version will allow you to turn the Tab Layer on or off.
Also you will get the Guitar Pro file. You can download Guitar Pro and get a free trial so you can play along with this song in real time on your computer. If you upgrade to the full version of the song you will have a lot more features available to you, such as the RSE modules which give you realistic guitar files – they sound just like an Acoustic Guitar.
Guitar Pro File – Camptown Races Lead
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PDF File – Camptown Races Lead
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Go to Camptown Races Lead, Lesson 6.1 Score
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