Chord Embellishments – Page 10 – Country Guitar Online

Wayfaring Stranger in the Style of Johnny Cash

April 13, 2025February 18, 2017 by Devin

wayfaring stranger guitar lesson johnny cash country bluegrass

Lesson ID: A0115

Learn how to play the traditional American folk song “Wayfaring Stranger” in the style of Johnny Cash. First, we’ll break down all the chords and show you some strumming patterns that will make your rhythm sound country and bluegrass. Then, we’ll teach you the chord progressions along with the lyrics. For those of y’all that aren’t interested in singing this song, we’ll also have a nice acoustic guitar arrangement that incorporates the song’s melody. PDF files are available for download below the video! If you like this lesson, you might also like our Classic Country & Bluegrass Strumming Course.

Overview

Chords & Strumming

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	“Boom Chick” Strumming Pattern
02:06 min	Alternating Bass Line over Am Chord
03:01 min	Alternating Bass Line over Dm Chord
03:59 min	Alternating Bass Line over E7 Chord
05:19 min	Alternating Bass Line over F Chord
07:41 min	Alternating Bass Line over C Chord
09:34 min	Two More Strumming Patterns

Chords with Lyrics

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Intro Chord Progression
02:11 min	Verse 1 with Lyrics
05:33 min	Chorus 1 with Lyrics
07:31 min	Instrumental Break Chord Progression
07:57 min	Verse 2 with Lyrics
08:53 min	Chorus 2 with Lyrics
09:36 min	Song Ending

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Song Intro

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Listen to the Intro with Tablature
00:50 min	Pickup Measure and Random Tips
02:11 min	First Half of the Intro – Breakdown with Tablature
04:44 min	Second Half of the Intro – Breakdown with Tablature
06:41 min	Make the Intro Fancier with Some Accent Strums

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Instrumentals

Short Instrumental Break (over verse progression):

Johnny Cash played “Wayfaring Stranger” with the short instrumental break that you’ll learn in this video. This short instrumental break is basically the verse progression played in a fancier way to incorporate the song’s melody.

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Overview
00:39 min	Listen to the Short Instrumental
01:59 min	Measures 1 through 5 – Breakdown with Tablature
03:55 min	Measures 6 through 10 – Breakdown with Tablature
06:33 min	Measures 16 and 17 – Breakdown with Tablature
07:06 min	Practice Along with Me

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Long Instrumental Break (verse + chorus):

In this next video, we’re going to play a longer instrumental arrangement over the song’s verse and chorus. The first half will be the exact same as the Johnny Cash “verse” instrumental taught in the previous video. Then, we’ll break down the second half that’s played over the chorus.

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Structure of the Long Instrumental
01:10 min	Listen to the Long Instrumental
02:23 min	Play Through the “Short Verse Instrumental”
03:19 min	Instrumental over the Chorus – Breakdown with Tablature
10:38 min	Practice Along with Me

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Backing Track

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Chords & Lyrics Song Intro TAB Short Instrumental TAB Long Instrumental TAB Woodtone Strings

Seven Essential Country Strumming Patterns

April 13, 2025December 17, 2016 by Devin

easy beginner country strumming patterns guitar lesson tutorial bluegrass rhythm

Lesson 6 – Country & Bluegrass Rhythm Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0107

In the previous lessons of this course, I taught you several important strumming techniques that’ll make your rhythm guitar playing sound country and bluegrass. We covered the basics in lesson one of this series, and then we worked our way up to some fairly complex country bluegrass rhythm in later lessons.

In this guitar lesson, I’m going to show you seven different strumming patterns that will make your playing sound even more country. I’ll break down each strumming pattern in detail and then we’ll practice our country strumming over the classic country song “Write This Down” by George Strait.

Lesson Overview

Strumming Patterns

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Rhythm Guitar Course Recap
02:32 min	Down Beats and Up Beats – Pick and Strum Direction
03:58 min	Strumming Pattern 1
05:06 min	Strumming Pattern 2
08:05 min	Strumming Pattern 3
09:50 min	Strumming Pattern 4
11:41 min	Strumming Pattern 5
14:23 min	Strumming Pattern 6
16:00 min	Strumming Pattern 7
17:14 min	Creating Your Own Strumming Patterns

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Chord Progressions

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	How to Practice
01:16 min	Intro Chord Progression
02:22 min	Verse Chord Progression Breakdown
04:27 min	Verse Chord Progression Playthrough
05:06 min	Chorus Chord Progression
06:35 min	Instrumental Break
06:48 min	Helpful Tips, Bridge, and Ending

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Listen

Practice playing the seven strumming patterns we learned in this guitar lesson over the song “Write This Down” by George Strait. This song is great for practicing country rhythm technique because it’s played at a relatively slow pace and it has that classic country sound we’re focusing on in this lesson series.

The embedded player below is brought to you by Spotify — I’d highly recommend using Spotify for online radio. If you don’t have a Spotify account, click here to sign up FREE with your Facebook account or e-mail.

Strumming Pattern Charts Practice Progressions Woodtone Strings

Accent Picks and Strums in Country Bluegrass Rhythm

April 13, 2025December 9, 2016 by Devin

Lesson 5 – Country & Bluegrass Rhythm Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0106

In the previous lessons of this course, I showed you several techniques that will make your rhythm guitar sound more country and bluegrass. You learned how to play the most important strumming pattern in country and bluegrass music, and we practiced our strumming over some nice country bluegrass chord progressions and songs.

In this lesson, we’re going to make our strumming a bit more complex by adding country sounding accent picks and strums. I’ll break down the entire strumming pattern and show you how to play it over a few common open chords. Then we’ll apply the strumming pattern to a country bluegrass chord progression and practice strumming with a modern bluegrass song.

Lesson Overview

Strumming

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Strumming Overview
01:01 min	Strumming Pattern with Accent Picks and Strums
02:35 min	Down Beats and Up Beats – Pick and Strum Direction
03:34 min	G Chord – Bass Line Picks
05:26 min	The Best Way to Play an F Chord
07:24 min	F Chord – Bass Line Picks
09:46 min	C Chord – Bass Line Picks

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Progression

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Progression Overview
00:56 min	Strumming Dynamics
01:41 min	Strumming over a Two Measure Chord Group
03:29 min	Bass Line Picks over a Two Measure Chord Group
05:02 min	Listen to the Entire Progression
05:40 min	G Chord Bass Line Hammer-on

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Chord Embellishment

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Listen to the Chord Embellishment
00:52 min	Chord Embellishment Breakdown with Tablature
03:02 min	Pick Direction
04:44 min	Play the Chord Embellishment with the Progression
05:46 min	Practice Tips

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Song Practice

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	A Good Song to Use for Practice
02:00 min	Lesson Recap

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Listen

Practice playing the strumming pattern and chord progression we learned in this guitar lesson over the song “Thorn Tree Shade” by Volume Five. Although the strumming pattern we learned in this guitar lesson isn’t the same exact strumming pattern you hear in “Thorn Tree Shade”, it blends very nicely with this song and I think it will be a fun way to practice this style of strumming over an actual piece of music.

Chord Embellishment Tablature Practice Progressions Woodtone Strings

Country Strumming in the Style of Randy Travis

April 13, 2025November 16, 2016 by Devin

classic country bluegrass strumming series lesson 2

Lesson 2 – Country & Bluegrass Rhythm Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0103

In the previous lesson of this course, I taught y’all one of the most important strumming patterns in country and bluegrass music. We also discussed how to use alternating bass notes with several different chords and we practiced strumming with a common country and bluegrass chord progression.

In this lesson, we’re going to practice this country strumming pattern using the song “Forever And Ever, Amen” by Randy Travis. This song is a great practice tool because it’s played at a relatively slow pace and the lyrics aren’t too difficult to learn. We’ll go over all of the song’s chord progressions and I’ll give you some important strumming tips as we work through the lesson.

Lesson Overview

Chords & Strumming

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Overview
01:38 min	Alternating Bass Line over the D Major Chord
02:48 min	Alternating Bass Line over the G Major Chord
03:31 min	Alternating Bass Line over the E Major Chord
04:34 min	Alternating Bass Line over the A Major Chord
05:10 min	Alternating Bass Line over the B Minor Chord
06:07 min	Counting the Strumming Pattern

Chord Progressions

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Intro Chord Progression
01:58 min	Verse 1 Chord Progression Without Singing
03:44 min	Verse 1 Chord Progression With Singing
05:27 min	Chorus 1 Chord Progression Without Singing
07:05 min	Chorus 1 Chord Progression With Singing
08:07 min	Instrumental Break
08:47 min	Verse 2 and Chorus 2 Recap
09:23 min	Ending Chord Progression

Intermediate Breakdown

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Intro Chord Progression
00:51 min	Verse 1 Chord Progression With Singing
02:28 min	Chorus 1 Chord Progression With Singing
03:23 min	Instrumental Break
04:04 min	Verse 2 and Chorus 2 Recap
04:41 min	Ending Chord Progression

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Listen

Listen to “Forever And Ever, Amen” by Randy Travis below using the embedded player from Spotify. I’d highly recommend using Spotify for online radio. If you don’t have a Spotify account, click here to sign up free with your Facebook account or with an e-mail address.