The Not So Carter, Carter Style Variations

In the last post I showed how to arrange a tune in Carter Style, and now we’re going to extend that into a slight variation using the same concept.

Octave displacement is when you take a note, chord, or melody, and play it an octave higher, or an octave lower. In the last post we played the melody in the lower octave, so in this one we’ll play it an octave higher. For anyone who doesn’t know what an octave is, it’s playing the same note twelve half steps above or below the current note. On guitar, or mandolin that’s 12 frets higher, or lower, depending on your starting point. Some notes, chords, or melodies aren’t playable above or below your starting point, but it’s good to understand how you might do it, if you can. In the last post we worked on Red River Valley, and if you haven’t tried it yet check it out here, otherwise here’s the same song an octave higher:

Now we’ll apply the Carter Style. Remember every time we hold a note we’re going to put a strum in on the chord.

If you’d like PDF versions of each arrangement you can get them here, and here.So there you have it – The Not So Carter, Carter Style Variations. I know that this may look easy, but it takes practice to take a tune, and apply these ideas, so I’d recommend doing it with as many songs as you can. The more you do it, the faster you get at it, and the faster you’ll be able to take that arrangement and create a Cross-Picking version. With enough practice you be able to do it on songs you’ve just learned.

Now that I’ve shown you two ways to arrange a song in Carter Style, we’ll explore Why Carter Style Is The Gateway Drug To Cross-Picking.

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Happy Picking!