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Accent Picks and Strums in Country Bluegrass Rhythm

country strumming patterns
Lesson 5 – Country & Bluegrass Rhythm Course
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.

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 with an e-mail address.

Country Strumming in the Style of Randy Travis

classic country bluegrass strumming series lesson 2
Lesson 2 – Country & Bluegrass Rhythm Course
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.

 

Intro to Classic Country and Bluegrass Strumming

easy classic country bluegrass strumming pattern
Lesson 1 – Country & Bluegrass Rhythm Course
Lesson ID: A0102

This is the first lesson in a series of videos where I’ll be teaching y’all a ton of my favorite classic country and bluegrass strumming patterns. In this lesson, we’re going to start with the basics and learn one of the most important strumming patterns used in country and bluegrass music. We’ll break down the pattern in detail and then I’ll show you how to use it with several common open chords. After that, I’ll give you some info on the chord numbering system, and finally, we’ll practice the strumming pattern using a really common country and bluegrass chord progression in four different keys.

Video Start Time Lesson Topic
00:00 min Lesson Overview
01:19 min The Basic Strumming Pattern
02:07 min Alternating Bass Notes
04:29 min Country and Bluegrass G Chord Hammer-On
06:42 min Using the Pattern with Common Guitar Chords
09:32 min How to Count the Strumming Pattern
11:48 min Let’s Use the Pattern with a Country and Bluegrass Chord Progression
16:29 min Practice Along with Me
17:51 min Changing Keys Using the Chord Numbering System

How to Mix Country Crosspicking with Your Strumming

country and bluegrass crosspicking patterns guitar lesson
Lesson ID: A0098

In this guitar lesson, we’ll show you some country and bluegrass crosspicking patterns that’ll help you improve your pick control. After we learn the patterns and discuss proper technique, we’ll go over how you can mix these patterns with your country strumming to spice up your rhythm guitar playing.

Video Start Time Lesson Topic
00:00 min Crosspicking Overview
01:25 min Crosspicking Pattern 1
03:31 min Pick Direction
04:21 min Crosspicking Pattern 2
05:17 min Proper Technique
06:47 min Changing Chords
08:07 min How to Mix Crosspicking with Country Strumming
15:38 min Shifting to Different Strings
16:48 min Intermediate Crosspicking/Strumming Rhythm