Lesson 5 – Bluegrass Guitar Solo Improvising Course
Lesson ID: A0157
In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn several barn-burning bluegrass guitar licks that’ll turn some heads at your next bluegrass jam. We’ll also talk some more about how to use bluegrass licks, how bluegrass licks are structured around common bluegrass chord progressions, and how you can combine bluegrass licks to create catchy bluegrass guitar solos. By the end of this guitar lesson, you should be able to play a nice bluegrass guitar solo break over the bluegrass standard “Wreck of the Old ’97”.
Licks & Tricks
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Lesson Overview |
| 01:07 min | Bluegrass Lead Guitar Improvising Tips |
| 08:41 min | Bluegrass Lick 1 over G Chord |
| 10:21 min | Bluegrass Lick 2 over C Chord |
| 11:36 min | Bluegrass Lick 3 over G Chord |
| 12:41 min | Helpful Tip for Improving Your Pull-offs |
Playthrough with Tablature
After you’re done here
New lesson! Here’s a nice guitar solo to play over “Wreck of the Old ’97” and we’ll also take a look at some more bluegrass improvising ideas. More bluegrass improvising lessons are on the way soon along with some more classic country lessons. Thanks for all the lesson requests!
Good one! Thanks Devin….
I’t s a very interesting solo. I realize now that each lick begins or ends or both with the root note of the chord,or goes from the root note of the chord to the one of the next chord. I know it’s obvious, but now I feel it deeply. The chord is maybe more like a effect, the real cause is the root of the chord.
It begins to sing in my head : G C D, and I begin to memorize those licks more rapidly thank’s to that.
Great lesson, thank you !
It is starting to make more sense! THanks, very helpful lesson
Gidday devon.
Gary here from newzealand. I’ve been struggling with guitar for years and joined a few online lesson sites but have only progressed slowly because nobody really teaches the basic fundamentals of how to properly string chords and licks together in an easy to understand way. Until now . I joined your site about a month or so ago and now because of the way you teach all the peices are finally coming together and i finally have got people asking me to play.
Thankyou and i look foward to your future lessons.
Gary .
I love these lessons. I need to have more time to sit with them, but kids… Anyway, I’ll keep at ’em. This is so great.
Hello new member here from Glasgow, Scotland. Got to finish off those Youtube licks!
These are the best sounding licks around I can’t wait to learn them. Thanks Devin.
Thanks Randy! More like this on the way very soon. I’m actually sitting at the computer right now putting together the next lesson in this course. Planning to get it posted to CGO next week. We’ll go over more lead guitar improvising ideas like these and next lesson will be a good one…taking a look at different ways to pick out a song’s melody and then looking at how to mix the melody with licks in your solos. Keep an eye out for it next week…
Devin, i hear this solo all the time at Bluegrass jams this is the one i really want to learn. i have been practicing it till my fingers feel like they’re going to fall off. This is a great lesson.
You are making this competition really tough!!! LOL! I can’t keep up!
I just wanted to remind everyone about the rules of the contest that you can read here under the heading “Other Important Rules” https://countryguitaronline.com/monthly-giveaway/ The third one is pretty important also 😉
naskorhan I’ll apologize to everybody now if I don’t reply to one of your comments because it’s pretty impossible to keep up and add new lessons, but I’ll do my best to chime in when I can sit at the computer for a bit! Thanks everybody – Devin
Devin, I have the licks down and i can play them all the way through but i’m having a hard time playing them to the backing track. even when i slow every thing down i seems either I loose track of where i’m at with the licks or loose track of where i’m at with the backing track. Do you have a suggestion.
Nice! Sometimes my timing will get off too when I can’t hear the backing track well enough…you might try turning up the practice track volume so your guitar doesn’t drown out the track. Also, I’m usually not a fan of practicing with a metronome, but it always helps me work on my timing when I’m learning a new “fiddle tune”…start out at a slow comfortable pace and increase the tempo in increments. Metronome practice just seems boring sometimes! I would much rather practice along with music…and practicing with music is great ear training. Other than that, keep picking on the… Read more »
This is a great lesson. I’d love to see more where you get a little into the theory side of things and explain why you’d play a certain riff/scale over a given chord. I love bar 13. Thanks!
Devin do you always have to start your lick on the root of the chord can I start it on the 3rd or 5th or 7th if your playing a 7th chord
Hey James! A lot of the standard licks that I use to solo over a I-IV-V chord progression start on the root note of the chord but you don’t have to start with the root note. I think starting with the root note makes it a lot easier to hear how the solo is following along with the rhythm progression, but there really are no absolute rules on this…you could start a lick on the 3rd 5th or 7th..for me, it all depends on which lick I played in the previous measure and where I’m headed next. Also, when I’m… Read more »
Nice lesson this one Devin..thanks
Hey Devin,
Yet another great lesson.. (per usual)…quick question…I haven’t quite finished the lesson so maybe it’s too soon to ask …but…which scale does the D# in measure three come out of?
…would it actually be e-flat, the blue third in the key of C?
…it sounds awesome …regardless…
Excellent lesson
Super, vielen Dank Devin!
Devin, I’ve been playing for 30 years and got the bluegrass bug bad about a year ago. I don’t think there is a more fun genre to learn and play, and when you finally start to rip some of those ‘hot’ licks, it is so rewarding. With that said, I was struggling until I found CGO, but now that I have, I’m having more fun than ever and I have ‘breakthroughs’ about once a week thanks to your lessons. IMO, CGO is the best bluegrass teaching tool on the web. Keep it coming, Devin, and thanks!
Thanks Matt, I appreciate the positive feedback! Really great to hear. I remember when I got hooked on bluegrass also… once you get started with it, there’s no turning back! Hope you have a great week!