“Little Darling Pal of Mine”—Learn to Flatpick This Classic Folk Tune

A handful of smartly placed harmony notes in a melody can transform a flatpicking arrangement from simple to stunning. While speedy licks have their place, I find that a slower song with a hummable melody is best served by a solo that builds off the vocal line. In this lesson, I walk through how I approach the task, using strums, arpeggios, and cross picking over the classic song “Little Darling Pal of Mine.”

Example 1 presents the melody and chords in the key of G major. Before moving on, I recommend three important steps. First, listen to many recordings of the song. Three versions come to mind: the iconic Carter Family recording, Earl Scruggs’s banjo arrangement, and Doc Watson’s folky fingerpicked rendition. It also appears on the new Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton album Live at the Legion. Next, memorize the chords using a boom-chuck pattern—if you need a refresher, see Cathy Fink’s Basics lesson in the January/February 2023 issue. Finally, memorize the song’s melody so you’re able to play it confidently and in time without referring back to the notation. Only use downstrokes, as every melody note lands on a beat; this approach continues in the following examples unless otherwise noted.

In Example 2, the same melody is fleshed out with a partial strum on the downbeat of each chord change. These strums do not strike every string of the chord but instead keep the melody as the top note. You can use a rest stroke when strumming the chord to highlight that melody note (see the accompanying video for this technique). Be sure to let the lower notes of the chord continue to ring out as you play the rest of the melody. This stripped-down way of combining melody and chords helps build the framework for the following examples.

Example 3 incorporates arpeggiated chord tones between the melody notes. As before, let the underlying chord ring while you play the melody along the higher strings. For instance, in measures 3–4 you can let the D and G strings ring out while playing the notes along the B string. Astute guitarists may notice the low C note in measures 5 and 14 is a bit out of place for a D chord; I find this note (which makes it an inverted D7) adds some nice color and movement to the phrase.

Example 4 expands into cross picking. The primary melody line still uses a downstroke quarter-note rhythm but is interspersed with an eighth-note pattern of alternating down- and upstrokes that rolls across three strings. For players unaccustomed to this technique, the example will be much more difficult than the previous ones. Pay close attention to the pick directions, and see Molly Tuttle’s “Cross Picking 101” (from the April 2017 issue) for a deep dive. While the right-hand picking is complex, the left-hand approach remains nearly identical to the previous examples.

The last version is the most challenging, but it’s not meant to be the pinnacle. Once you master each of these approaches, try mixing and matching phrases from all four examples to build a well-rounded arrangement that allows the melody to shine.