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12 Bar Blues with a Country Twang

country 12 bar blues guitar lesson
Lesson 16 – Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course
Lesson ID: A0148

In this country guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a variation of the 12 bar blues that has a country & bluegrass twang. In both arrangements below, we’ll use triplets to spice up our country fills and we’ll also replace strumming with crosspicking in certain measures to make our rhythm sound even more country. These country 12 bar blues progressions are in the key of G and you can use the fill riffs that we’re studying in this guitar lesson with a bunch of other country & bluegrass songs. Pay close attention to how we’re structuring each country guitar lick around the rhythm chords.

Lesson Overview

Playthrough with Tablature

Video 1 – First Round Playthrough

Video 2 – Second Round Playthrough

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Full Breakdown

Video 1 – First Round Breakdown

Video 2 – Second Round Breakdown

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Backing Track

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George Jones Rhythm with Country Fills

george jones style country rhythm guitar lesson fill riffs choices chords tablature
Lesson 9 – Country & Bluegrass Rhythm Course
Lesson ID: A0134

Let’s spice up our country rhythm guitar even more! In this guitar lesson, I’ll teach you a classic country rhythm guitar pattern and we’ll practice using a progression in the style of “Choices” by George Jones. I’ll also show you some old school melodic country fills in the Key of D. We’ll break down the entire practice progression with tablature and I’ll give you some helpful country rhythm tips throughout the guitar lesson. After you master the progression, practice along with George Jones! Download tablature below the video.

Overview

Playthrough with Tablature

Full Breakdown

Practice

Practice picking your country rhythm over the song “Choices” by George Jones. Play “Choices” below using the embedded player from Spotify. We’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.

Railroad Bill

railroad bill finger style guitar lesson
Lesson 5 – Hybrid Picking Rhythm Course
Lesson ID: A0140

“Railroad Bill” is an old traditional song based on a legend about a man in south Alabama during the post-Civil War era known as Railroad Bill. Sources suggest that Railroad Bill was a “Robin Hood” type of character that would steal from food trains and sell items to poor families at below market prices. As legend has it, Railroad Bill’s ghost is still roaming the L&N Railroad tracks to this day.

This song has a great melody that we’ll play using Chet Atkins and Merle Travis style picking. This is a challenging tune, but if you relax your right hand and take it slow, everything will fall into place with a bit of practice. We’ll focus on hybrid picking in this lesson, but feel free to play these arrangements with a thumb pick or finger plucking if you find that more comfortable. Download the tablature below the lesson video. Hope y’all enjoy learning this one!

Lesson Overview

Playthrough with Tablature

Arrangement 1

Video Start Time Lesson Topic
00:00 min Arrangement 1 Preview
00:42 min Line 1 Breakdown
04:10 min Extra Hybrid Picking Detail
07:36 min Line 2 Breakdown
13:05 min Line 3 Breakdown
15:53 min Practice with Me

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Arrangement 2

Video Start Time Lesson Topic
00:00 min Arrangement 2 Preview
00:54 min Line 1 Breakdown
05:28 min Line 2 Breakdown
10:21 min Line 3 Breakdown
13:33 min Practice with Me

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Listen

Here are some nice YouTube videos of other folks playing “Railroad Bill”…

Kentucky Waltz Country & Bluegrass Strumming

kentucky waltz guitar lesson bill monroe
Lesson 10 – Country & Bluegrass Rhythm Course
Lesson ID: A0136

In this guitar lesson, we’ll take a look at another strumming pattern used all the time in classic country and bluegrass music. This strumming pattern is in 3/4 time (waltz time) and we’ll count it out by saying “one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three”. Beat one will be the down beat and that’s where we’ll pick the bass note string. Then, we’ll down strum on beats two and three. After you learn the strumming pattern, we’ll practice over a couple of chord progressions borrowed from the old classic “Kentucky Waltz” by Bill Monroe. I’ll also show you a few fills you can use to transition between chords.

Overview

Strumming Pattern

Progressions

Chord Fills

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Listen

Practice picking your country strumming over the song “Kentucky Waltz” by Bill Monroe. Play “Kentucky Waltz” below using the embedded player from Spotify. We’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 or e-mail.

Backing Track

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