Chord Embellishments – Page 11 – Country Guitar Online

Country Bluegrass Chord Embellishments with Triplets

April 13, 2025October 13, 2016 by Devin

Lesson 9 – Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0097

Till now in this series, we’ve learned the 5th position scales in the key of G that are used to create country and bluegrass style fills. We combined all these scales into one “hybrid” scale and applied it to different chord progressions. Most of the riffs we studied were played with eighth notes and sixteenth notes.

In this lesson, we’re going to add a bit more rhythm variety to our country and bluegrass fills with triplets. I’ll give a brief overview of triplets in the first video below. If you’d like to read more about triplets, you can head over to our triplets music theory page. In the second video of this post, I’ll teach you six nice triplet style chord embellishments that you can play over the G, C, and D chords. In the third video, we’ll run through a chord progression example you can use for practice.

Overview

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Lesson Overview
03:14 min	What’s a triplet?
06:09 min	Using Triplets with Country and Bluegrass

Chord Embellishments

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Overview
00:28 min	Sixteenth Note Country & Bluegrass Rhythm
01:51 min	Syncopated Rhythm Breakdown
05:29 min	G Chord Embellishments with Triplets
10:39 min	C Chord Embellishments with Triplets
15:45 min	D Chord Embellishments with Triplets
18:40 min	Practice with a Chord Progression

Practice Along

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Progression – Rhythm Only
00:58 min	Progression with the Chord Embellishments
04:00 min	Practice Along with Me

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Chord Embellishments TAB Practice Progression TAB More About Triplets Woodtone Strings

Honey, You Don’t Know My Mind

April 13, 2025October 4, 2016 by Devin

Lesson 8 – Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0096

Last lesson, we used the hybrid country and bluegrass scale to improvise with fill riffs over the song “Cripple Creek”. We went over the chord progression, some beginner nice fill riffs, and some more advanced fill riffs for the intermediate players.

In this guitar lesson, we’re going to practice the 5th position key of G hybrid scale over the song “Honey, You Don’t Know My Mind”. First, we’ll break down the song’s chord progression and strumming. Then, I’ll teach you three different variations of the song’s instrumental break — we’ll have a version for the beginner pickers, a more complicated intermediate version, and an advanced version for the experienced pickers. This is another great song to play at your next jam!

Lesson Overview

Rhythm Breakdown

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Instrumental Break Chord Progression
01:59 min	Verse Chord Progression
04:42 min	Strumming Overview
06:00 min	Alternating Bass Line
09:08 min	Strumming – Pick DU Pick DU
10:28 min	Strumming – Pick DU Pick UDU
12:19 min	Strumming – Pick D Pick D Pick Pick Pick U UDU

Intro & Instrumental Break Chord Progression

Verse Chord Progression

Strumming Pattern Ideas

Pattern 1

Pick D Pick D — we’re calling this one the “boom chick” pattern

Pattern 2

Pick DU Pick DU — hear this one in action at 08:45 in the video above

Pattern 3

Pick DU Pick UDU — crank it up a notch with this one at 10:28

Pattern 4

Pick D Pick D Pick Pick Pick U UDU — hear a sample at 12:19

Instrumental Breaks

Scroll down on this tab to watch three different instrumental break guitar lesson videos — beginner, intermediate, and advanced. The beginner break is a combo of the “boom chick” strumming pattern and a nice melodic bass line. The intermediate version adds a little more complexity to the beginner break. The advanced version is tricky but I’d recommend trying to learn it if you’re a beginner to intermediate player because it’ll push your pickin’ to the next level!

Video 1 – Beginner Instrumental Break

Video Start Time	Beginner Break Topic
00:00 min	Overview
02:01 min	Measures 1 and 2
04:37 min	Measures 3 and 4
07:00 min	Measures 5 and 6
09:22 min	Measures 7 and 8
11:00 min	Measure 9
11:56 min	All the way through for practice

Video 2 – Intermediate Instrumental Break

Video Start Time	Intermediate Break Topic
00:00 min	Measures 1 and 2
03:12 min	Measures 3 and 4
04:45 min	Measures 5 and 6
07:01 min	Measures 7 and 8
08:24 min	Measure 9
08:59 min	All the way through for practice

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Video 3 – Advanced Instrumental Break

Video Start Time	Intermediate Break Topic
00:54 min	Measure 1
05:05 min	Measure 2
07:12 min	Measure 3
08:52 min	Measure 4
11:11 min	Measure 5
12:46 min	Measure 6
15:02 min	Measure 7
15:23 min	Measure 8
17:28 min	Measure 9
18:02 min	Recap
20:05 min	All the way through for practice

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Short Fill Riffs

In this video, I’ll show y’all 16 awesome country/bluegrass sounding fill riffs. These’ll be short fills that you can play over C and G chords. They sound great with “Honey, You Don’t Know My Mind” or you can use them with any other song in the key of G. I’ve added some scale charts to the next tab for reference. Each fill riff in this video is built around the 5th position key of G hybrid country/bluegrass scale. Visualize the scale as you learn each fill so you can start piecing together where these notes are coming from.

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Fill Riff Overview
01:58 min	Four Beginner C Chord “2e&a” Fill Riffs
04:15 min	Four Intermediate C Chord “2e&a” Fill Riffs
07:17 min	Four Beginner G Chord “2e&a” Fill Riffs
10:07 min	Four Intermediate G Chord “2e&a” Fill Riffs

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Scale Charts

G Major Scale

G Blues Scale

G Hybrid Country & Bluegrass Scale

Chords & Lyrics Beginner Break TAB Intermediate Break TAB Advanced Break TAB Short Fills TAB Woodtone Strings

Country Bluegrass Riffs over “Cripple Creek”

April 13, 2025September 26, 2016 by Devin

improvise bluegrass licks over cripple creek

Lesson 7 – Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0095

Last lesson, we looked at the 5th position hybrid scale in the key of G. I talked about how this is the most important scale for making your guitar sound country and bluegrass. We also used this hybrid scale to add some bass line fill riffs over a simple progression.

In this lesson, we’re going to use this hybrid scale to improvise with fill riffs over the bluegrass song “Cripple Creek”. First, I’ll give you a quick recap of the hybrid scale. Then, I’ll teach you the “Cripple Creek” chord progression, some beginner fill riffs, and some more advanced fill riffs for the intermediate players. Everything we’re covering in this lesson will come in very handy at your next bluegrass jam!

Hybrid Scale

Chord Progression

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Chord Progression
04:21 min	Detailed Rhythm Breakdown
04:44 min	Kickoff “G” Potatoes
07:00 min	“A Part” Breakdown
09:38 min	“B Part” Breakdown

Beginner Riffs

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	A Part – Line 1
03:28 min	A Part – Line 2
04:49 min	B Part – Line 1
06:35 min	B Part – Line 2

Intermediate Riffs

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	A Part – Line 1
01:52 min	A Part – Line 2
03:20 min	B Part – Line 1
06:05 min	B Part – Line 2

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Backing Track

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Homework

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Lesson Tablature Chord Progressions Woodtone Strings

Makin’ It Country with Blues Riffs

April 13, 2025September 13, 2016 by Devin

Lesson 5 – Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0093

In the previous lesson of this series, we learned the 5th position of the G minor pentatonic scale and I showed y’all some nice country and bluegrass riffs to get you started with your improvising. Now let’s make it sound even more country by adding in a couple extra “blues” notes. The blues scale is basically the minor pentatonic scale with one extra note added per octave — the sharp 4th or flat 5th degree. With the right combinations, these blues notes will really make your playing sound country and bluegrass. Let’s break down the blues scale, important fill techniques, and six country and bluegrass riffs with tablature.

Scale Breakdown

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Lesson Overview
01:48 min	Blues Scale Breakdown
05:31 min	Practice Tips
06:31 min	Fill Riff Example
09:15 min	Using Blues Fill Riffs with Chord Progressions

Fill Riffs

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Video Overview
00:17 min	Riff 1
03:36 min	Riff 2
05:43 min	Riff 3
08:03 min	Riff 4
10:05 min	Riff 5
13:04 min	Riff 6

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Scale Charts

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Practice Tablature Woodtone Strings