{"id":126055,"date":"2022-02-22T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=126055"},"modified":"2023-05-31T19:59:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T02:59:18","slug":"roots-guitarist-happy-traum-reflects-on-a-life-in-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/roots-guitarist-happy-traum-reflects-on-a-life-in-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Roots Guitarist and Educator Happy Traum Teaches a Few Songs from His Storied Career"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In 1954, when Happy Traum was an art student at New York City\u2019s High School of Music and Art, some classmates invited him to go see a <a href=\"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/letters-from-pete-how-pete-seeger-mentored-and-inspired-generations-of-musicians\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pete Seeger<\/a> concert. At 16, Traum was not really familiar with Seeger or active in music, but he tagged along\u2014and was stunned by what he discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe whole idea of hearing somebody on a stage by himself, with an instrument, was the antithesis of the pop music I was listening to on the radio, where you couldn\u2019t do that yourself,\u201d Traum recalls. \u201cHere was a guy who told us, pretty much, \u2018You could do this, too. You just stand here and play some chords and sing songs.\u2019 And Pete was singing about peace and freedom and civil rights\u2014that was something I felt but didn\u2019t know you could express. It just blew open my head. I had to go get a guitar and start learning how to play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After that encounter with the legendary folksinger, Traum not only devoted himself to the guitar, he also embraced Seeger\u2019s lifelong mission to help others make music themselves. So, along with embarking on a career as a performer, Traum became a guitar teacher\u2014and he ultimately made a signal contribution to modern music instruction by starting Homespun Tapes with his wife, Jane, in 1967. From reel-to-reels to cassettes, VHS tapes, DVDs, and online video, Homespun has released some 700 lessons by many luminaries of American roots music\u2014including <a href=\"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/requiem-for-a-bluegrass-giant-bela-fleck-richard-hoover-david-grisman-chris-eldridge-and-bryn-davies-on-tony-rice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tony Rice<\/a>, Norman Blake, Jorma Kaukonen, Chris Thile, Jerry Douglas, and Seeger himself, with a video version of his pioneering book <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3tZAHSg\" target=\"_blank\">How to Play the Five-String Banjo<\/a><\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On a balmy summer afternoon, I visit Happy in Woodstock, New York, at the house he and Jane began building in 1970 in an old farm field, living in a tent with their kids for a few months during the construction. More than 50 years later, Happy remains a pillar of the Woodstock music scene, alongside friends and collaborators such as John Sebastian, Larry Campbell, and Cindy Cashdollar. \u201cIt\u2019s still a thriving music community,\u201d Traum says. \u201cI feel like an elder statesman in a funny way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve known Traum since the beginning of <em>Acoustic Guitar,<\/em> interviewed him multiple times, and worked with him on my own Homespun video series teaching acoustic arrangements of Grateful Dead songs. Whether he is teaching in a workshop, in print, or on screen, I am always struck by his gift for breaking complex technique into clear steps, with a low-key, encouraging manner that makes the whole process accessible and fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At 83, Traum is remarkably youthful\u2014still playing concerts and teaching at music camps like Richard Thompson\u2019s Frets and Refrains and Jorma Kaukonen\u2019s Fur Peace Ranch, in addition to his ongoing work with Homespun. Never caught up in the music business rat race, Traum always seems genuinely to play music\u2014as suggested by the title of his most recent album\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3CAc7dP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Just for the Love of It<\/em>.<\/a> And he is still creating content for Homespun, such as a new lesson on Woody Guthrie songs, as well as nearing completion of another solo album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sitting in his sunroom with his <a href=\"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/guitar-review-santa-cruz-ht-13-happy-traum-signature\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Santa Cruz HT\/13, a brand-new signature model<\/a> with a gorgeous redwood top and tone to match, Traum shares a few stories and songs from across the years. What follows is a retrospective of Traum\u2019s life in music as captured by six songs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"brownie-s-blues\"><strong>Brownie\u2019s Blues<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Just a few years after first hearing Pete Seeger, Traum made another life-changing musical connection. He was a student at NYU\u2014then with its main campus in the Bronx, where he grew up\u2014and a friend gave him the Folkways LP <em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3zuzUtM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Brownie McGhee Blues<\/a>,<\/em> featuring the great blues guitarist solo rather than with his duo partner Sonny Terry on harmonica. Traum obsessed over the music and learned that McGhee lived in New York, so he looked up the bluesman in the phone book and called to ask about taking lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Happy-Traum-Ian-Buchanan-Dave-Van-Ronk-Dick-Weissman-Washington-Square-1957-Courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Happy-Traum-Ian-Buchanan-Dave-Van-Ronk-Dick-Weissman-Washington-Square-1957-Courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?resize=750%2C500&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Hanging in Washington Square, circa 1957 (clockwise from center left): Happy Traum, Ian Buchanan, Dave Van Ronk, and Dick Weissman\" class=\"wp-image-125665\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Happy-Traum-Ian-Buchanan-Dave-Van-Ronk-Dick-Weissman-Washington-Square-1957-Courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?w=750&amp;ssl=1 750w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Happy-Traum-Ian-Buchanan-Dave-Van-Ronk-Dick-Weissman-Washington-Square-1957-Courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Happy-Traum-Ian-Buchanan-Dave-Van-Ronk-Dick-Weissman-Washington-Square-1957-Courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?resize=600%2C400&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Happy-Traum-Ian-Buchanan-Dave-Van-Ronk-Dick-Weissman-Washington-Square-1957-Courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;ssl=1 360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Hanging in Washington Square, circa 1957 (clockwise from center left): Happy Traum, Ian Buchanan, Dave Van Ronk, and Dick Weissman. Photo courtesy of Happy Traum<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At McGhee\u2019s apartment on 125th Street, Traum got a deep immersion in a style of Piedmont blues fingerpicking that\u2019s still at the core of the music he plays today. In these informal lessons, he recalls, \u201cWe\u2019d just start playing together. If I saw something he was doing that I didn\u2019t know, I\u2019d stop him and say, \u2018What was that?\u2019 and he\u2019d show it to me. He was very patient.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of McGhee\u2019s core lessons was the importance of keeping steady time with the thumb. McGhee played mostly monotonic bass\u2014thumping on a single bass note under each chord\u2014with a thumbpick, while covering the higher strings with two metal fingerpicks.&nbsp;\u201cHe would stress to keep your thumb and your foot going at the same time,\u201d Traum says. \u201cI do that to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"#ex-1-2\">Example 1<\/a> <\/strong>shows a 12-bar blues pattern that McGhee taught, and used in \u201cGood Morning Blues\u201d and other songs. Play either a monotonic bass, as notated, or double up the bass notes with a shuffle rhythm (see the video for a demo). On top, play single notes that outline the E7, A7, and B7 chords\u2014McGhee\u2019s term for this was \u201cbreaking up the chords.\u201d Interestingly, McGhee did not typically play a B bass note under the B7 chord; he just continued the six-string E on the bottom (as in measure 9), muted so it didn\u2019t clash too much with the harmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Traum remained friends with McGhee well past his years of lessons. One of Happy\u2019s first dates with his future wife, Jane, in fact, was driving McGhee and Sonny Terry circa 1958 up to Bard College, where Happy opened for the duo. He also profiled his blues mentor in one of his early books, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3zqdMAB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Guitar Styles of Brownie McGhee<\/a>,<\/em> published in 1971.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"a-new-world-of-song\"><strong>A New World of Song<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond lessons with McGhee, the place where Traum furthered his roots music education was the buzzing folk scene centered around Greenwich Village\u2019s Washington Square Park. \u201cPeople like Tom Paley [of the New Lost City Ramblers] would show me fingerpicking,\u201d Traum recalls. \u201cOr Dave Van Ronk would be sitting there playing, and I\u2019d be figuring out what he was doing.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/The-New-World-Singers-Happy-Traum-Delores-Dixon-Bob-Cohen-Gil-Turner-by-Maurice-Seymour.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"615\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/The-New-World-Singers-Happy-Traum-Delores-Dixon-Bob-Cohen-Gil-Turner-by-Maurice-Seymour.jpg?resize=750%2C615&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"The New World Singers, (clockwise from top left): Happy Traum, Delores Dixon, Bob Cohen, and Gil Turner.\" class=\"wp-image-125664\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/The-New-World-Singers-Happy-Traum-Delores-Dixon-Bob-Cohen-Gil-Turner-by-Maurice-Seymour.jpg?w=750&amp;ssl=1 750w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/The-New-World-Singers-Happy-Traum-Delores-Dixon-Bob-Cohen-Gil-Turner-by-Maurice-Seymour.jpg?resize=300%2C246&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/The-New-World-Singers-Happy-Traum-Delores-Dixon-Bob-Cohen-Gil-Turner-by-Maurice-Seymour.jpg?resize=600%2C492&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><br><em>The New World Singers, (clockwise from top left): Happy Traum, Delores Dixon, Bob Cohen, and Gil Turner. Photo by Maurice Seymour<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One prominent musician in the Village was Gil Turner, a Pete Seeger disciple and banjo picker whom Traum met at a protest march. Turner started a group called the New World Singers with the gospel singer Delores Dixon and rhythm guitarist Bob Cohen, and he invited Traum to join as lead guitarist. Along with gigs at clubs like Gerde\u2019s Folk City and the Bitter End, Traum joined his bandmates in 1963 for his first time in a professional recording studio. A benefit for <em>Broadside<\/em> magazine, the session was an extraordinary gathering of political songwriters, including Seeger, Phil Ochs, Peter La Farge, Mark Spoelstra, the Freedom Singers, and a young guy billed on the record as Blind Boy Grunt\u2014soon to be rather well known as Bob Dylan. (He\u2019d just signed with Columbia so couldn\u2019t use his name.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was quite a group, all in one studio, all at the same time,\u201d says Traum. \u201cWe would just get up in front of a microphone, one take, sing the song, you\u2019re done.\u201d The New World Singers recorded three songs, most famously laying down the first-ever recording of \u201cBlowin\u2019 in the Wind\u201d while the songwriter listened. Another Dylan debut that day was \u201cI Will Not Go Down Under the Ground (Let Me Die in My Footsteps),\u201d which Traum sang while Dylan backed him on guitar and harmony vocals. Both tracks are available on the Folkways reissue <em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3AzhcTg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Broadside Ballads, Vol. 1<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On \u201cBlowin\u2019 in the Wind,\u201d Traum played an intro similar to <strong><a href=\"#ex-1-2\">Example 2<\/a>,<\/strong> based on the refrain. Use C shapes, capoed at the second fret to sound in D, and alternate double-stops on the fourth and second strings with the open third string. Play fingerstyle, or hybrid style with a flatpick and your middle finger. Traum frets the F bass note in measure 3 with his thumb, but grabbing that note with the first finger works fine, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"fingerpicking-masters\"><strong>Fingerpicking Masters<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>During his time with the New World Singers, Traum continued to dig deeper into his true passion: traditional folk and blues fingerpicking. That was the topic of his first lesson book, <em><meta charset=\"utf-8\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3lPdcaL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fingerpicking Styles for Guitar<\/a><\/em><\/em> (1965), which dug into songs and arrangements by seminal players such as Elizabeth Cotten, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, and Mississippi John Hurt.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like many other guitarists of the folk revival, Traum was inspired by the melodic picking of John Hurt, and he had the chance to meet the gentle guitar master at the Village\u2019s Gaslight Caf\u00e9, in the tiny kitchen that served as backstage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe amazing thing about John Hurt to me is that I play maybe a half dozen of his songs, and every time I go back and actually listen to him, I realize\u2014I thought I was doing it like he was, but it\u2019s not even close,\u201d says Traum. \u201cI don\u2019t know what it is. Maybe it\u2019s the fact that his fingers were all callused from doing hard work all his life. But he had some special thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few years after Hurt passed away in 1966, Traum wrote the tribute song \u201cMississippi John,\u201d and eventually recorded it with his brother, Artie, for the 1975 album <em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ACoLso\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hard Times in the Country<\/a><\/em>. \u201cMississippi John\u201d remains in Happy\u2019s repertoire; on YouTube you can find a 2014 live version with Traum accompanied by jug band maestro Jim Kweskin. Traum fingerpicks in a classic Hurt style, using C shapes (capo 4 to sound in E) with an alternating bass. <strong><a href=\"#ex-3\">Example 3<\/a><\/strong> shows the verse accompaniment (as you\u2019ll see in the video, he adds some variations in the second pass) and the instrumental interlude, which is based on Hurt\u2019s version of \u201cMy Creole Belle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As with the earlier Brownie McGhee blues example, the thumb is the key. \u201cWhen I\u2019m doing those kinds of songs, my style is very much that relentlessly steady bass,\u201d Traum says. \u201cThe only time I vary from that is if I\u2019m doing a ballad with more of a flowing feel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"jamming-with-bob-dylan\"><strong>Jamming with Bob Dylan<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1966, Happy and Jane Traum moved upstate from New York City to spend a summer in Woodstock, a hub for artists long before the famous festival made it a hippie\/tourist mecca. As it happened, another recent arrival in Woodstock was Bob Dylan, who was off the road and recuperating from a motorcycle accident. So Dylan and Traum reconnected, and after the Traums moved to Woodstock permanently in 1967, they often played music together informally.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This friendship resulted in Dylan inviting Traum to play bass in a memorably chaotic recording session in 1971 with beat poet Allen Ginsberg that included the multi-instrumentalists David Amram and Jon Sholle, a Buddhist monk, and, as Traum recalls, poet Gregory Corso \u201crunning around, raising a ruckus.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That same year Dylan called with another invitation\u2014to bring a bass, guitar, and banjo down to the city for a duo session. \u201cHe wanted to record some songs that he had written but other people had had hits with. Bob\u2019s idea was whatever we would do sitting around the living room, just jamming, was what he wanted to put on this record.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Schlepping his instruments down to the city on the bus, Traum had no idea what he\u2019d be playing, so everything was off the cuff, in one or two takes. In the end he and Dylan recorded four songs. Traum played banjo and bass on \u201cYou Ain\u2019t Going Nowhere\u201d (which had been covered by the Byrds in 1968), and he added guitar to \u201cI Shall Be Released\u201d (featured on The Band\u2019s debut album) and \u201cCrash on the Levee (Down in the Flood)\u201d; Dylan\u2019s and Traum\u2019s duets of these three songs appeared on Dylan\u2019s <em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2XFLS7a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Greatest Hits, Vol. II<\/a><\/em>. Traum figured that the fourth song they recorded, \u201cOnly a Hobo\u201d (which Dylan actually had recorded in the earlier <em>Broadsides<\/em> session as well), was lost or rejected. But 20 years later, it unexpectedly surfaced on Dylan\u2019s <em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3zt7L6j\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1\u20133<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"#ex-4-5\">Example 4<\/a> <\/strong>shows the type of part thatTraum layered on top of Dylan\u2019s rhythm guitar on \u201cI Shall Be Released.\u201dWhile Dylan played out of G shapes with a capo at the second fret (to sound in A), Traum added figures up the neck. On the C#m and Bm in measures 5 and 6, roll the chords by picking the strings quickly in sequence, low to high, with your thumb and fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dylan\u2019s music continues to be a touchstone for Traum. He\u2019s created lessons for Homespun with his own fingerpicking arrangements of Dylan songs, and on his 2015 album <em>Just for the Love of It<\/em>, he revisited \u201cDown in the Flood,\u201d trading solos with his guitarist son, Adam Traum\u2014now a performer in his own right as well as a video producer\/editor for Homespun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tapping-into-tradition\"><strong>Tapping into Tradition<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A major part of Traum\u2019s musical life was collaborating with his younger brother, Artie, from the late \u201960s right up until Artie passed away in 2008. The two had sibling musical chemistry, for sure, but also very different styles and interests.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Artie-and-Happy-Traum-Newport-1968-courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"492\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Artie-and-Happy-Traum-Newport-1968-courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?resize=750%2C492&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Artie (left) and Happy Traum at the 1968 Newport Folk Festival.\" class=\"wp-image-125663\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Artie-and-Happy-Traum-Newport-1968-courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?w=750&amp;ssl=1 750w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Artie-and-Happy-Traum-Newport-1968-courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?resize=300%2C197&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Artie-and-Happy-Traum-Newport-1968-courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?resize=600%2C394&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Artie-and-Happy-Traum-Newport-1968-courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?resize=100%2C65&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Artie-and-Happy-Traum-Newport-1968-courtesy-of-Happy-Traum.jpg?resize=260%2C170&amp;ssl=1 260w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em> Artie (left) and Happy Traum at the 1968 Newport Folk Festival. Photo courtesy of Happy Traum<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was a very talented guitar player and songwriter,\u201d Happy says of Artie. \u201cHe was always more adventurous musically than I was. I was always pretty strictly traditional and stuck with blues, folk songs, and ballads. He started on banjo, but when he started playing guitar, he actually took a couple of lessons with Jim Hall, the great jazz artist. So when he was a teenager, he was already stretching out into jazz stuff.\u201d In the \u201990s and early 2000s, Artie found considerable success with instrumental smooth jazz on guitar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even with his jazz leanings, Artie was \u201cvery well grounded in the traditional stuff,\u201d Happy adds. \u201cWhen we played together, he fell into what I did more than I fell into what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The duo\u2019s first album, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ay4nZ4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Happy and Artie Traum<\/a>,<\/em> released by Capitol in 1970, closed with the song \u201cGolden Bird,\u201d which sounds like an old mountain ballad but actually is a Happy original that\u2019s been covered by a number of other artists\u2014notably fellow Woodstock musician Levon Helm, in a haunting performance on his final studio album,<em> <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3EDiizz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Electric Dirt<\/a><\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGolden Bird\u201d dates from when Happy had recently moved to Woodstock and was first starting to put songs together with Artie. \u201cI was living right up the hill,\u201d Happy says. \u201cI had Doc Watson in mind when I wrote the song, thinking, \u2018What kind of a song would he like?\u2019 And then I came up with that kind of folk tale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the original recording of \u201cGolden Bird,\u201d Happy played clawhammer banjo while Artie flatpicked the guitar; in 1978, Happy revisited the song on the solo album <em>American Stranger<\/em> with his own flatpicking guitar. Nowadays, though, he plays fingerstyle exclusively and has arranged \u201cGolden Bird\u201d in dropped-D tuning, as shown in <strong><a href=\"#ex-4-5\">Example 5<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The song is in the key of G, and while singing he plays a boom-chuck-type pattern, picking bass notes with the thumbpick and strumming the treble strings with his fingers. The notation shows a Carter-style instrumental break. Pick the melody with your thumb and add touches of the chords with your fingers, especially on beats 2 and 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re familiar with Helm\u2019s take on \u201cGolden Bird,\u201d by the way, it\u2019s interesting to note that not only did Helm slow the song way down, but his arrangement does not use the V chord at the end of the progression. Instead, he went straight back to the I. In Traum\u2019s key, G, that would mean substituting a G for the D in the last two bars\u2014a very different, starker sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"timeless-melodies\"><strong>Timeless Melodies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Traum is proud of songs like \u201cGolden Bird,\u201d songwriting has never been his focus\u2014he estimates he\u2019s got around eight or ten original songs in his repertoire, plus some co-writes with Artie. In the writing process, Happy says, \u201cI keep getting a few lines into a song and then I think, \u2018Wait a minute. There are so many great songs out there. Why do they need me to do this?\u2019 I don\u2019t have that drive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What does drive him is arranging great songs for guitar. One lovely example is his take on \u201cThe Water Is Wide,\u201d played in dropped-D tuning and featured on <em>Just for the Love of It.<\/em> His video demo for this lesson isn\u2019t precisely the same as the album track; in performance, he may follow the general shape of a worked-out arrangement, but the details vary each time. (A complete transcription of his album version is available from Homespun.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Traum is a big fan of dropped D, for songs not just in D but in G, A, and other keys. One of the obvious draws of the tuning is the octave D notes on the open sixth and fourth strings\u2014great for alternating bass. \u201cAnd then when you move up the neck, you can use all six strings,\u201d he says. \u201cEven in E, when you\u2019re tuned to standard, if you go up the neck, you have your bass E but you don\u2019t have the [open] fifth and fourth strings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"#ex-6\">Example 6<\/a><\/strong> shows one instrumental pass through \u201cThe Water Is Wide.\u201d The picking style, he says, is \u201cthe antithesis of the steady thumb,\u201d with bass notes often ringing out for two beats or skipping beats entirely. In measures 3, 6, and 9, shift up to fifth position, taking advantage of the open-string bass notes. Bars 6, 8 and 14 each include a quarter-note triplet, adding a nice flow to the ascending melody lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[<em>Ed. Note: For an additional dropped-D guitar arrangement by Traum, see the transcription of \u201c<strong>Worried Blues<\/strong>\u201d.<\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"sharing-the-music\"><strong>Sharing the Music<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Toward the end of my visit, Traum opens his iPad and shares some rough mixes from his in-progress solo album. He has a long history with many of the songs, including Brownie McGhee\u2019s \u201cLiving with the Blues\u201d; the traditional ballad \u201cWhen First Unto This Country\u201d; Blind Willie McTell\u2019s loping blues \u201cIn the Wee Midnight Hour\u201d; his own \u201cLove Song to a Girl in an Old Photograph,\u201d written a half century ago; and even a Broadway tune\u2014a solo guitar arrangement of \u201cHow Are Things in Glocca Morra?\u201d from <em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/39ot3rl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Finian\u2019s Rainbow<\/a><\/em>. With guests like Larry Campbell, Bruce Molsky, Geoff Muldaur, John Sebastian, and Cindy Cashdollar, the album will be, as always, a reflection of Traum\u2019s musical friendships and community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No doubt when the album comes out, it\u2019ll also be accompanied by lessons to help other guitarists play these great songs. Traum\u2019s desire to share his discoveries and passions doesn\u2019t fade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf I\u2019m learning some new song or some new technique on the guitar,\u201d he says, \u201csomewhere in the back of my mind I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Now how can I show this to other people? How can I convey to other people the fun I\u2019m having with this?\u2019 Even now, at this advanced age, I\u2019m still thinking in those terms.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" id=\"ex-1-2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX1-2.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"925\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX1-2.png?resize=925%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"How to play like Happy Traum guitar lesson page 1\" class=\"wp-image-126061\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX1-2.png?resize=925%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 925w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX1-2.png?resize=271%2C300&amp;ssl=1 271w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX1-2.png?resize=768%2C850&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX1-2.png?resize=542%2C600&amp;ssl=1 542w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX1-2.png?w=1080&amp;ssl=1 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 925px) 100vw, 925px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\" id=\"ex-3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX3.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX3.png?resize=781%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"How to play like Happy Traum guitar lesson page 2\" class=\"wp-image-126062\" width=\"781\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX3.png?resize=781%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 781w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX3.png?resize=229%2C300&amp;ssl=1 229w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX3.png?resize=768%2C1007&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX3.png?resize=457%2C600&amp;ssl=1 457w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX3.png?w=1084&amp;ssl=1 1084w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 781px) 100vw, 781px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" id=\"ex-4-5\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX4-5.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"823\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX4-5.png?resize=823%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"How to play like Happy Traum guitar lesson page 3\" class=\"wp-image-126063\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX4-5.png?resize=823%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 823w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX4-5.png?resize=241%2C300&amp;ssl=1 241w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX4-5.png?resize=768%2C955&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX4-5.png?resize=482%2C600&amp;ssl=1 482w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX4-5.png?w=1079&amp;ssl=1 1079w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 823px) 100vw, 823px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" id=\"ex-6\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX6.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"943\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX6.png?resize=943%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"How to play like Happy Traum guitar lesson page 4\" class=\"wp-image-126064\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX6.png?resize=943%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 943w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX6.png?resize=276%2C300&amp;ssl=1 276w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX6.png?resize=768%2C834&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX6.png?resize=552%2C600&amp;ssl=1 552w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/AG331_HAPPY_TRAUM_EX6.png?w=1079&amp;ssl=1 1079w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 943px) 100vw, 943px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n<div style=\"display: inline-block; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; margin: -5px 5% 0px 5%;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/collections\/back-issues\/products\/no-331-november-december-2021\"><br><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 150px; height: 198px; margin: 0px 20px 10px 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/001_331_Cover_150px.jpg?w=1290&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a>\n<p style=\"font-family: sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 15px 0px;\">This article originally appeared in the <a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/collections\/back-issues\/products\/no-331-november-december-2021\">November\/December 2021<\/a> issue of <em>Acoustic Guitar<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n<\/div> <br clear=\"all\">\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/collections\/folk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/acoustic-guitar-folk-bluegrass-country-lessons.png?resize=600%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"folk, bluegrass, country lessons from acoustic guitar magazine\" class=\"wp-image-122563\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/acoustic-guitar-folk-bluegrass-country-lessons.png?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/acoustic-guitar-folk-bluegrass-country-lessons.png?resize=300%2C100&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At 83, the guitarist Happy Traum is remarkably youthful\u2014still playing concerts &#038; teaching. Here is a retrospective of his life in music as captured by 6 songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":128613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"At 83, the guitarist Happy Traum is remarkably youthful\u2014still playing concerts & teaching. Here is a retrospective of his life in music as captured by 6 songs.\u00a0","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1152],"tags":[1356],"ppma_author":[1559],"class_list":["post-126055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-play-like","tag-november-december-2021","post_format-post-format-video"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Happy-Traum-playing-Santa-Cruz-guitar-by-Franco-Vogt-copy-cdrop.jpg?fit=750%2C325&ssl=1","authors":[{"term_id":1559,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"jeffrey-pepper-rodgers","display_name":"Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/About-Us-8.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/About-Us-8.jpg"},"user_url":"https:\/\/www.jeffreypepperrodgers.com\/","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":"Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, founding editor of <em>Acoustic Guitar<\/em>, is a grand prize winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and author of <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3P3hwn9\"><em>The Complete Singer-Songwriter<\/em><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/collections\/instruction\/products\/beyond-strumming\"><em>Beyond Strumming<\/em><\/a>, and other books and videos for musicians. In addition to his ongoing work with <em>AG<\/em>, he offers live workshops for guitarists and songwriters, plus video lessons, song charts, and tab, on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/jeffreypepperrodgers\" target=\"blank\">Patreon<\/a>.\r\n"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126055"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137002,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126055\/revisions\/137002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126055"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=126055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}