Carter Style – Country Guitar Online

Country Bluegrass Jam in G – 12 Bar Picking Workout

April 24, 2025 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0223

Looking to improve your acoustic guitar chops for country and bluegrass? Here’s a 12-bar picking workout that’s perfect for building your flatpicking technique and rhythm skills. This short guitar lesson features a classic 12-bar progression in a traditional country and bluegrass style.

Every time I sit down to practice, I like to warm up with something like this—simple, melodic, and rooted in the traditions of acoustic country and bluegrass guitar. This wasn’t rehearsed or polished—just some spontaneous flatpicking, strumming, and riff ideas I thought I’d share with tablature included.

If you’re a fan of players like Tony Rice, Norman Blake, or Doc Watson, or you’re just starting your journey into bluegrass and country acoustic styles, this video is for you. Take a listen, grab the tab, and pick up a few new licks for your next jam session.

12 Bar Picking Workout TAB Woodtone Strings

“Dear Mr. Arizona” Cowboy Waltz by Soonka

March 14, 2025March 14, 2023 by Devin

mr-arizona-by-soonka-classic-cowboy-country-music

Video lesson coming soon! In the meantime, find the guitar tablature for Instrumental Breaks 1 and 2 below. Click the download button in the top right corner of the PDF viewer to download a print-friendly tab sheet.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There’s an unusual B7/F# chord in this song (chord chart in tablature). Learning this B7/F# chord and practicing this song has made me a better guitar player so wanted to share!

The B7/F# is your standard B7 chord, you just need to move your middle finger from the 5th string to the 6th string (same fret). That’s it! It’s a chord shape that I wasn’t used to landing on, and playing through this song using this chord shape helped expand my rhythm guitar skills. It’s useful especially for adding country baseline walks to your rhythm guitar.

READ SOONKA’S STORY BEHIND THE SONG:

There’s a cool story behind this song that you can read in the description of Soonka’s video on YouTube here ➜ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2eeFlYdy88

Be sure to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to Soonka on YouTube — more song performances coming soon!

Listen to the Song

Easy Flatpicking Intro – Grateful Dead

April 11, 2025May 23, 2021 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0197

In this guitar lesson, we’ll take a look at some simple rhythm and lead from the song “Ripple” by Grateful Dead. First, we’ll work through two basic chord progressions in G and we’ll add some vocals for those of y’all wanting to sing with this song. Then, in the second half of this lesson, you’ll learn a nice guitar intro that mixes the melody of “Ripple” with country & bluegrass strumming.

Overview

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Verse Chord Progression
02:08 min	Chorus Chord Progression
03:02 min	Verse Progression with Singing
04:26 min	Chorus Progression with Singing
05:38 min	Bass Line Walk – Transition from Verse to Chorus

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Measures 1 through 4
04:16 min	Measures 5 through 8
07:49 min	Measures 9 through 12

Chords & Lyrics Flatpicking Intro TAB Woodtone Strings

Flatpicking in the Style of Norman Blake

April 11, 2025January 13, 2021 by Devin

randall-collins-norman-blake-guitar-tablature

Lesson ID: A0193

In this guitar lesson, we’ll work on some Norman Blake style flatpicking using a progression that we’ll borrow from Norman’s song “Randall Collins.” In the first part of this lesson, you’ll learn a nice flatpicking break that goes along with the song’s melody, and later in the lesson, we’ll work on the rhythm guitar part. Guitar tablature is available for download below the lesson video.