One day I was listening to music on shuffle, and heard Vic Chesnutt’s song “Guilty by Association”. I was taken aback by the simplicity of the arrangement and how much emotional resonance it has.

I have a tendency to make things I play as complicated as my ability allows, so it is good to be reminded to scale back.

This pattern started as a direct attempt to create a similar feeling. In the end, it ended up becoming much faster and going off in a slightly different direction. I’ve been playing this for a couple years now, and often alternate between fingerpicking and strumming. At the end of this recording I shift into the more strum based pattern.

This was played on my Kala tenor ukulele.