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!
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 |
G G G G | G G C C | D D D D | G G G G
G G G G | G G C C | D D D D | G G G G | G G G G
G G G G – G G | C C C C | D D D D | G G G G
G G G G – G G | C C C C | D D D D | G G G G
Pick D Pick D — we’re calling this one the “boom chick” pattern
Pick DU Pick DU — hear this one in action at 08:45 in the video above
Pick DU Pick UDU — crank it up a notch with this one at 10:28
Pick D Pick D Pick Pick Pick U UDU — hear a sample at 12:19
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 |
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 |
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 |
G Major Scale

G Blues Scale

G Hybrid Country & Bluegrass Scale
