Piedmont Blues

Piedmont blues is the fingerpicked guitar tradition of the southeastern United States, named for the plateau running from Richmond to Atlanta. Its players, among them *Blind Willie McTell*, *Blind Gary Davis* and *Elizabeth Cotten*, developed an alternating-thumb technique in which the thumb maintains a steady bass pattern while the fingers articulate syncopated melody, reproducing the architecture of ragtime piano on a single instrument. Absorbing ballads, gospel songs and dance tunes into a broad songster repertoire, the style favored rhythmic precision and melodic clarity over the intensity of Delta blues, and its technique passed into folk revival guitar playing worldwide.