In this lesson, we’re going to travel up the neck in the key of G using the 1st position hybrid country guitar scales. I’ll teach you the four main scales you need to learn in the 1st position and I’ll show you how to use these scales to get a country and bluegrass sound out of your guitar. Then I’ll show you some of my favorite country and bluegrass fill riffs in the 1st position key of G.
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.
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
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 |
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 |
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.
| 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 |
| 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 |
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.
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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.
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | A Good Song to Use for Practice |
| 02:00 min | Lesson Recap |
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.
After you’re done here