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Makin’ Your Rhythm Guitar Country with Hybrid Picking

country hybrid picking rhythm guitar course
Lesson 1 – Hybrid Picking Rhythm Course
Lesson ID: A0121

This is the first guitar lesson in a series of videos where we’ll be showing y’all how to make your rhythm guitar sound country with hybrid picking. In this lesson, I’ll teach you a really useful hybrid picking pattern that can be applied to a ton of different country songs. This pattern will help get you comfortable using your pick in combination with the middle and ring fingers of your right hand. As we progress through this course, we’ll increase the hybrid picking difficulty and we’ll take a look at several different patterns that sound great in country, bluegrass, and folk music.

Video Start TimeLesson Topic
00:00 minHybrid Picking Overview
02:38 minHybrid Picking Pattern over G Chord
06:44 minHybrid Picking Pattern over C Chord
07:48 minHybrid Picking Pattern over D Chord
08:48 minHybrid Picking Pattern to Use When You’re Singing
10:41 minPractice Progression
12:30 minYour Homework and Lesson Recap

Country Fills Up the Neck with 1st Position Scales

easy beginner country rhythm guitar fill riffs pentatonic scales
Lesson 10 – Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course
Lesson ID: A0117

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.

Overview

First Position Scales

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Easy Fill Riffs

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Intermediate Fill Riffs

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Scale Charts

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Wayfaring Stranger in the Style of Johnny Cash

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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Seven Essential Country Strumming Patterns

easy beginner country strumming patterns guitar lesson tutorial bluegrass rhythm
Lesson 6 – Country & Bluegrass Rhythm Course
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.

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