Challenge Feb 2026 – Dieter/Keb Mo

[Dieter]

Keb Mo is one of my big favorites on the blues scene because he makes wonderful melodic music, because he enriches the blues with lots of unusual chords, and because he comes across as very modest, friendly, and relaxed.

I stumbled across his “Life is Beautiful” by chance and was immediately impressed, but also challenged by his picking, with which he conjures up wonderfully varied accompaniment without much effort.

Because the song sounds in D with a capo on the 2nd fret, it fits quite well into this challenge, even though it is actually
based on C in terms of fingering.

Despite intensive practice, I was unable to achieve the original tempo. At a higher tempo, it just didn’t sound as confident to me. I downloaded the vocals from the internet.

Have fun with it.

Dieter

[Brendan G]

I really enjoyed that and I learnt something aswell.

Well done.
Brendan

[Guido]

A beautiful song, brilliantly played Dieter! Your finger picking is spotless and sounds great, very articulated, with great timing and every note stand out very clearly. Sometimes it’s better to play a bit slower than fast, playing beautifully as you did!

Guido

[Paul S.]

You finger pickers always astonish me, and that goes double when you can sing over it. In this case the best part is the feeling you put into the vocal, I don’t think the pace is a problem at all. In fact, it seems like it complements the vocal expression and mood, Beautifully performed.

[JoeD1]

That was some mighty fine finger picking Dieter. You did a really good job on this. I like to hear some Keb Mo in the morning.

Joe

The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge

[AndréM]

Dieter man I really enjoyed this one.
I was a fan of Keb Mo before he made it.
You played it top notches.

AndréM

AndréM

[James B]

Nice finger picking, Dieter. That style of playing is tricky but oh so satisfying. Great song with your accompaniment.

James

[Michael L]

Hi Dieter, some sweet finger picking on this lovely song. I really enjoyed the whole thing. You produced it seamlessly, in addition to your light and agile accompaniment.

[sciencefiction]

Nice picking, Dieter. Very enjoyable!
Larry

[Werner]

That is a wonderful submission, Dieter. Excellent picking and a very entertaining choice for this challenge. Vielen Dank dafür, hervorragend.

Thank you, Werner

[Alan L]

Guitar part has a wonderful bounce, drives it right along. Vocals are fantastic. Well done! 👍

[JoLa]

Excellent playing, Dieter!
Your fingerpicking skills are strong – especially with the thumb pick which, to me, always feel like a foreign object. Your mention of having downloaded the vocals from the internet just made me realize that playing with a “singer” is a good exercise! For some reason I never thought of doing that before, I might give it a try now.

🎸JoLa

[sunjamr]

Well played, Dieter! That’s one of my favorite Keb’ Mo songs.

Sunjamr Steve

[Michael Krailo]

Wow, that was a great song. Amen to this performance.

Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.

[Martin W]

Impressive finger style arrangement , that rolled along nicely with the thumb pick keeping things in check .

Martin

[Mark T]

Wonderful picking, Dieter – beautifully played and great recording too. Nicely done 👍🎶😎

[Author]

Posts