Licks and Tricks – Page 5 – Country Guitar Online

Flatpicking in the Style of Kenny Smith

April 11, 2025April 18, 2021 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0196

In this guitar lesson, we’ll take a close look at a flatpicking break in the style of Kenny Smith. This is a fairly advanced guitar break that will really help you build up some strength in your fretting hand. The hardest part is the “double pull-off” that happens a couple times throughout the arrangement. Before you begin, you’ll need to tune your A string a whole step down to the note G for a tuning of EGDGBE. We also have our capo on the 4th fret. Good luck!

Be sure to out Kenny Smith and his wife Amanda Smith on their website kenny-amandasmith.com where you can learn about their upcoming live shows.

If you like the sound of my guitar in this lesson, I’m playing on a Martin D-18 with an ambertone finish and I’m using Woodtone Country Series acoustic guitar strings.

Overview

Playthrough

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Full Breakdown

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Listen

Guitar Break TAB Woodtone Strings

Cold Frosty Morning

April 11, 2025February 20, 2021 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0194

In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play the traditional bluegrass tune called “Cold Frosty Morning”. This song dates back to the 1700s and it has become a favorite tune played at bluegrass jams. It’s a great song to use for working on your bluegrass flatpicking — practice picking the melody at a slow pace in the beginning and increase your speed in increments. Also, don’t worry about volume at first. Try to pick each note with a nice, clean, and soft pick stroke. This will help you build the right technique and the speed and volume will develop over time. “Cold Frosty Morning” guitar tablature is available for download below the lesson video.

Overview

Arrangement 1

Video 1 – Playthrough with TAB – Low-Pitched Arrangement

Video 2 – Full Breakdown – Low-Pitched Arrangement

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Measures 1 through 4
02:38 min	Measures 5 through 8
04:57 min	Repeat Measures 1 through 6
06:10 min	Measures 9 and 10 (A Part – Second Alternate Ending)
07:07 min	Measures 11 and 12 (Beginning of the B Part)
09:09 min	Measures 13 through 16
11:50 min	Measures 17 and 18 (B Part – First Alternate Ending)
13:02 min	Repeat Measures 11 through 16
13:48 min	Measures 19 and 20 (B Part – Second Alternate Ending)
15:22 min	Practice Along with Me

Arrangement 2

Video 1 – Playthrough with TAB – High-Pitched Arrangement

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Video 2 – Full Breakdown – High-Pitched Arrangement

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Chord Progression

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Backing Track

Video 1 – Slower Backing Track 160BPM

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Video 2 – Faster Backing Track 200BPM

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Arrangement 1 TAB Arrangement 2 TAB Woodtone Strings

Jerusalem Ridge

April 11, 2025October 9, 2020 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0190

In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a flatpicking guitar arrangement that goes along with the old classic bluegrass fiddle tune “Jerusalem Ridge” by Kenny Baker and Bill Monroe. This is a catchy flatpicking guitar arrangement that will help you work on your pick control and timing. We’ll begin by covering an intro for this song, and then we’ll go over the four main melodies in this song (A Part, B Part, C Part, and D Part). Download the guitar tablature below the lesson video.

Overview

Playthrough with Tablature

Full Breakdown

Backing Track

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Instrumental Break TAB Woodtone Strings

Flatpicking in the Style of Molly Tuttle

April 11, 2025August 7, 2020 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0187

In this guitar lesson, we’ll work on some flatpicking in the style of Molly Tuttle using a common “I-IV-V” chord progression that we’ll borrow from the song “White Freightliner Blues” by Townes Van Zandt. Molly Tuttle adds her own twist to this song and we’ll take a look at how she uses chord embellishments, crosspicking, and fill riffs to spice up her bluegrass rhythm guitar playing.

Lesson Overview

Full Breakdown

Playthrough

Bonus Guitar Solo

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Main Progression TAB Bonus Guitar Solo TAB Woodtone Strings