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April 3, 2026

Recently I have had a few students asking about bass notes, and particularly alternating patterns used in country songs (like Folsom Prison Blues). After establishing that usually you want to alternate between the root and fifth of the chord, the question came up of when you might want to use the third in the bass. That inspired the tune I opened with, which does use the third as a step toward the next chord. It was the closing piano part to Layla.

Our recent lesson included I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag by Country Joe And The Fish and The Family Tree by Venice.

Things ended with a familiar Pink Floyd progression with some melody worked in, as I have been re-listening to some of their more obscure albums lately, not that the closing tune was one of those.

Neil