Jon Loomes

When people talk about retuned guitars in the British folk tradition, they often begin with Davy Graham and DADGAD. That is understandable, as it is one of the most widespread alternative folk guitar tunings, but it isn't the whole story.

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Notes on judgement, restraint, and responsibility in ballad singing.

Technique can be admired in isolation. Style can be imitated. Judgement can be learned second-hand. But interpretation is irreducibly personal. It is the sum of prior decisions, revealed only at the…

An outline of a non-linear approach to guitar accompaniment in narrative song.

Most guitar pedagogy assumes a linear instrument. Melody is expected to move along a string, step by step, fret by fret, while harmony is supplied by stacked intervals…

Why ballads function through causality rather than emotion.

There is a habit of speaking about traditional song as though it were fragile: something to be protected, conserved, or carefully handled. This is a misunderstanding. The ballads that have lasted are…