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A Song A Week for the Native American Flute & Accompanying Guitar is a collection of 52 public domain songs (with two versions of two of them) presented in "flutie" tablature (flute-like symbols showing which holes need to be covered to play a particular note) and guitar chord symbols. Each song also includes full lyrics, which makes them great for sing-alongs, or to aid in learning the timing of the notes in the songs.

The Native American Flute (NAF) was not designed to play Euro-American style music (which I call western music), so there's a chapter that explains how to extend the basic pentatonic minor scale native to the NAF to be able to play western style music. This chapter also explains how the extended scale may not be playable on all NAFs, or may require alternate fingerings on some flutes. Suggestions are made in choosing a flute if you are looking for one that plays this type of music.

I chose the "flutie" tablature to allow a flute player with absolutely no music training to easily pick up the flute and start playing, with no need to learn any formal music notation, as required by other tablature formats. The beginning musician is shown how to count the timing of the individual notes, depicted by the flutie symbols. This may still be too much of a challenge for learning a new song, so the companion CDs demonstrate what the song should sound like. bridging the gap between reading the written songsheets and actually playing the songs.

The flute tablature can be played on a NAF in any key. The actual key the song plays in therefore depends on the key the flute has been tuned to. For consistency in the songs in this book, the guitar chords are represented to play along with a flute tuned to the A-minor pentatonic scale (typically just called an "A" flute). There is another chapter in this book that walks the guitar player through the process of transposing the chords to play with a flute in any key. When transposing to play with a different key flute, the necessary chords may be beyond the skill of some players, so the chapter also explains how to use a capo to come up with chord fingerings that are easier to play.

To aid in learning these songs, the songbook is accompanied by two companion audio CDs. On these CDs there are three tracks for each song in the songbook (54 total songs): the first track plays the song played with the mixed flute and guitar, and the other two provide the parts played on the individual instruments. These instrument tracks allow you to learn that instrument's part from one track and then use the other instrument's track to accompany your playing. You will have hours of audio help to assist you learning these songs.

Songs in A Song A Week for the Native American Flute & Accompanying Guitar

The songs in this songbook are all public domain, meaning that they are not protected by any copyright. That allows you to learn these songs, adapt them to your playing style, and then perform them in public or even put them onto your own CD to sell or give away.

The songs in this songbook are time-honored classics, American and world folk songs, patriotic songs, hymns, spirituals, gospel songs, and even a few Christmas carols. You probably know many of these songs already. Others will be songs you will want to learn once you hear them. Here is a list of all the songs in this book, divided by the discs on which their recordings are found:

Look Inside This Book

Click on the cover image above to see a PDF excerpt of the book. Click on the "Frankie and Johnny" songsheet image above to see this sample page in PDF. Click one of the links below to hear the three CD tracks associated with this song: Flute & Guitar parts together Guitar part alone Flute part alone

Table of Contents 1. Introduction      - Background 1.1 Playing Euro-American Music on the Native American Flute      - Scales      - The Octave      - The Chromatic Scale      - The Major Scale      - The Natural Minor Scale      - The Pentatonic Minor Scale      - "Standard" NAF Tuning      - Tuning the NAF 1.2 Playing a Pseudo Chromatic Scale on the NAF      - Cross-Fingered Notes      - Half-Holing the NAF      - Moving into the Next Octave on the NAF      - Playing the Major Scale on the NAF      - The Second Charastic of a Note: Duration 2. Native American Flute Tablature 2.1 Playing with Feeling 3. Guitar Accompaniment 3.1 Chords 3.2 Flutes and Guitars Playing Together "Improv Style"      - Flute Player Takes the Lead      - Flute Player Follows the Guitarist 3.3 Flutes and Guitars Playing Songs from this Songbook Together      - Somebody Has To Take the Lead 3.4 Tuning the Guitar to Play with Native American Flutes 4. Music Songsheets 4.1 Songs in this Songbook 4.2 The Accompanying CDs      (songsheets) Appendix A - NAF Tablature Symbols Appendix B - Guitar Chord Chart Appendix C - CD Contents

Ordering Your Copy of 
A Song A Week for the Native American Flute & Accompanying Guitar

A Song A Week for the Native American Flute & Accompanying Guitar sells for a cover price of $40.00 per copy. Shipping and handling within the continental United States is $15.00, or $12.00 within Florida, shipped by USPS Priority Mail. Delivery will normally be 2 to 3 business days. If shipped within the state of Florida, please include Florida's 7% sales tax on the total. (Total: $55.00 outside Florida or $55.64 if shipped to a location within Florida.)

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