How to sound like Peerie Willy Johnson PART 1 – jazzy Irish and Scottish backing guitar tutorial

In this week’s free Scottish and Irish guitar lesson from Folk Friend, I’ll be looking at the playing of the amazing folk / gypsy jazz fusion artist Peerie Willy Johnson, a fantastic traditional guitar player from the Shetland Isles. In the first part of this video I’ll be showing you a set of guitar chords he used together often and some of the principles behind his chord choices. I’ll also be showing you how you can emulate his “La Pompe” strumming pattern (as borrowed from Django Reinhardt and other gypsy jazz guitarists). In the second part, I’ll be looking at his recording of the classic, traditional hornpipes Harvest Home and Ragtime Jane, taken from the amazing Willy’s World album, and showing you how he applies jazz theory to come up with outstandingly original chord progressions for folk music and how you can take his chord choice techniques and apply them to your own guitar playing!