This month, Ethan’s workouts focus on picking in 6/8 time. The most familiar tunes in this rhythm are called jigs, and they are common in traditional Irish, Scottish, and New England repertories, as well as in various Canadian idioms. Unlike hoedowns, reels, hornpipes, marches and other tunes in 4/4 or 2/4 time that are best played with a fairly strict alternating up-down picking pattern, jigs are in two accented clusters of three quarter notes and require a different approach. Most often this will be a down-up-down, down-up-down pattern. Ethan’s lessons will get you up to speed with this kind of picking. In this week’s video, Ethan shows you the basic down-up-down pattern and how it differs from what you might be used to playing.
