In this lesson Randall introduces the partial capo (using a short-cut capo by Kyser) and talks about how it can make the life of a beginner easier.
Taught by Randall Williams in Lessons with Randall Williams seriesLength: 12:46Difficulty: 0.5 of 5
Randall Williams is a dynamic, powerful, classically trained acoustic musician who interest is found in the dynamic and relevant world of folk. One of Randall's specialties includes the style of cut or partial capo.
Lesson 1
In his introductory lesson, Randall Williams discusses music theory in a useful and practical context. This knowledge will be required for his future lessons.
Length: 26:39 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 2
Randall Williams returns with the second part of his lesson on useful music theory. In this lesson, he talks about using a capo, ornamenting chords, and the minor scales.
Length: 36:38 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 3
In this lesson Randall introduces the concept of open tuning. He will talk about how open tunings work as well as how they alter your chords and scales.
Length: 31:48 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 4
Randall Williams returns to the world of open tunings to talk about open d, open g, and open c. He also give tips on slide guitar and playing in these tunings.
Length: 41:30 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 5
In this lesson Randall introduces the partial capo (using a short-cut capo by Kyser) and talks about how it can make the life of a beginner easier.
Length: 12:46 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 6
In this lesson Randall returns to the world of the partial capo (or cut-capo). He covers additional right hand techniques and a few sample songs.
Length: 18:00 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 7
Randall returns to the world of the partial capo. In this lesson, he talks more about playing songs and chords. He also introduces a second capo.
Length: 9:41 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 8
Randall returns with the fourth part of his partial capo for total beginners lesson set. Randall introduces more right hand patterns and talks about playing with a disability.
Length: 11:28 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 9
Randall Williams shares his technique toolbox in this lesson. He explains over twenty different rhythmic patterns that can be applied to a chord progression.
Length: 27:38 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 10
Randall shares part two of his toolbox mini-series.
Length: 25:47 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 11
Randall Williams shares many new ideas in part one of his Partial Capo Techniques mini-series.
Length: 38:25 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 12
Randall Williams shares part two of his fantastic Partial Capo Techniques mini-series.
Length: 16:30 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 13
Randall shares part three of his Partial Capo Techniques mini-series.
Length: 19:29 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 14
Randall Williams continues on to part four of his exciting Partial Capo Techniques mini-series.
Length: 29:34 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 15
Randall concludes his Partial Capo Technique mini-series.
Length: 32:08 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 16
Randall Williams explains and performs the song "Causeway" by Daithi Rua.
Length: 8:24 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 17
Randall Williams takes a look at his original song "Stronger For Your Flame" and offers a wonderful performance.
Length: 10:18 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 18
Randall Williams shares an inspiring, original song called "Draw the Line."
Length: 6:06 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 19
Randall Williams shares his beautiful original tune, "Praying for Land" in this lesson.
Length: 7:50 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 20
Randall Williams teaches his original song "Ghost in the Machine."
Length: 9:37 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 21
Randall Williams shares his touching original song, "I Will Come For You."
Length: 8:38 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 22
After sharing many great tunes in his Exploring Songs mini-series, Randall Williams says a few words about performing.
Length: 10:29 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 23
Randall Williams creates a song with you from scratch in this fascinating lesson about short form songwriting.
Length: 31:18 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 24
Randall Williams presents his introductory lesson on singing with the guitar.
Length: 10:36 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 25
Randall explores more singing topics in this lesson. He provides sample exercises and encourages you to sing along.
Length: 26:15 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 26
Randall Williams shares another beautiful original tune called "Guatemala" in this lesson.
Length: 6:55 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 27
Randall Williams continues his exploration on songwriting. In this particular lesson, he focuses on musicality and the creative process.
Length: 14:39 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 28
Randall Williams continues his discussion on musicality and creating songs.
Length: 23:34 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 29
Randall continues his discussion on songwriting in part 3 of his songwriting mini series.
Length: 21:06 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 30
Randall Williams concludes his mini-series on songwriting in this lesson.
Length: 13:24 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
About Randall Williams
View Full Biography
He felt that classical music lacked the inclusiveness of folk music, and that the inevitable division between performer and audience was unbearable. And so Randall returned to the world of traveling with his guitar, writing songs in train stations and sleeping on couches, then singing and playing on street corners, cafï, and pubs. For a time he lived aboard a 20' sailboat that he bought for $800, teaching himself how to sail by single-handing through the Baltic and North Seas with his guitar sleeping in the berth beside him at night. He wrote a book about the trip, which begins with the story of almost getting squashed by a tanker before dawn one morning in the North Sea.
He moved to North Africa, then set off across the Sahara by hitching with locals - bouncing through a minefield on the way that made his mother have bad dreams. He loved the adventure, but he missed the music.
In 2005, Randall returned stateside to scrounge up a career as a performing songwriter, hoping it wasn't too late. So far, it hasn't been. As the "Partial Capo Guy," Randall has written two books for Hal Leonard, recorded a DVD for Kyser Musical Products, and given workshops at some of the biggest festivals in United States. As a performer, Randall has been a finalist in the Founder's Title and Mid-Atlantic Song Contests, A regional finalist at Kerrville, a showcase artist at Northeast and Midwest Folk Alliance, and at the International Folk Alliance in Memphis, and an Audience Favorite at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. His 2007 live release, "One Night in Louisiana" made a respectable dent in the folk DJ charts (One single, "Lebanon," was #8 in May,) and he's generally a nice guy to have around, capos or not.
Randall is as much at home in a Bangkok slum or a Senegalese village, at the Kennedy Center in D.C. or the Fine Arts Palace in Brussels sandwiched between a twitchy orchestra and a full house, or shoeless on the floor of your living room. Randall has sung in a dozen languages in over 35 countries.
Lynne Andrews: "When Randall left the confines of classical music largely behind, they lost a great talent, but the world gained a good friend - a friend who will tell its stories with grace, compassion, humility and humor."
Randall began playing guitar seriously in 1988, and played his first open mic one year later. Randall kept playing and learning more and more. Randall began teaching guitar in 1992, while studying musical composition, analysis, and performance. Randall got his undergraduate music degree in 1996, then studied flamenco for about a year (1997) before beginning studies at the royal conservatory of music in mons, belgium.
From 1998 to 2001, Randall studied voice, analysis, and harmony at the conservatory, with classical guitar lessons on the side for about 6 months. Randall's undergraduate study and the conservatory courses added a degree of musical structure to his improvisational ability, and gave him a strong music theory base. He recieved the premier prix for concert singing from the conservatory in 2001.
Randall's most recent discoveries: how to build a structure for creating chords in open tunings, and learning how to structure placement of partial capos in standard and alternate tunings.
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Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.Great teaching philosophy and creative ideas from this lesson. I saw an interview with Mark Knopfler where he said to become really good at the guitar it has to possess you - when you fall asleep at night with the guitar in your arms, then you know you're playing because you need to, not because you have to. Thanks for a great lesson. Now I just need to source some short-cut capos. BTW - nice singing voice!!
When I look at the notes of the cut capo with nothing fretted, unless I made a mistake, I get: EBEABE, with the low 6 string open, and the first 2 strings open B and E, assuming standard tuning. So then when you fret the 4th fr 3 str, a B, I am seeing the notes: EBEBBE, or an E5, which is called the 1 chord, fair enough, but it was called the D chord. I think that it should have been called the E chord. Then for the 5 chord, the 4th string, 4 fret was fretted, an F# leaving us with the notes: EBF#ABE. Since this was called the 5 chord, I'd have to assume that the F# was the 5th of B (the fifth chord of E, not D), and the A would be the dom7 of B, with E as the sus 4, giving a B7sus chord, which is fair to call the 5 chord. But for the next chord, the C# was fretted, the 5th string, 4th fret, giving the notes EC#EABE. I don't see any F# in here to call it a 2 chord, but I see the C# as the 6th of E. So I'd call this a 6 chord, not a 2 chord, some sort of C#m7 aug5, but easier to just call the 6 chord, since i Know that you like the approx method. They are beautiful chords, and I like the 1 finger approach to it, and the cut capo, but I always like to drill down to the actual notes out of force of habit. So - I did pause the video.
just got my first cut capo looking forward to it
You are such an imaginative teacher, Randall! But how do you make or where do you buy a short capo? --Victoria
Randall your too hard to learn from, im allways rolling around on the floor laughing :D
I think I need a little more convincing. I just don't hear it.
burb, thanks for that - you don't hear the chords, or the difference between them?
Another simple and wonderful lesson. Thanks Randall. One question: you showed both the simple and the complete form of some chords. Could it be possible to have in the "supplemental content" section the chart of these chords? More. Could it be possible to have chords and tabs even of the previous lessons when you played some wonderful pieces? Thanks Stefano
The chord charts for this lesson can be found under the "Info About This Lesson" tab. I couldn't do the normal JamPlay chord charts for this lesson due to the cut-capo. I'll get the tabs up for everything that Randall plays in lessons 4 and 5 as soon as I can. I'm guessing this will probably be this coming Tuesday (9/30).
Wow...where do I get such a CAPO..that is cool.
I like the training wheels comparison. Can't wait to see how they do the supplemental. You have a great demeanor that sounds like it really coaxes into the party those people who need a quick identification with being guitarists right off the bat. Straight shot to the fun. What could be more winning. Great lesson.