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Country Blues Travis Picking – 12 Bar Fingerstyle Workout

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Lesson ID: A0224

This 12-bar fingerstyle guitar workout is a great way to develop your acoustic picking skills in the country and blues tradition. It’s a fun and challenging Travis Picking riff with that classic country blues feel—perfect for players who love the sounds of artists like Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, or Mississippi John Hurt.

The riff features an alternating bass line played with your thumb (I’m using a thumb pick, which helps get that punchy, percussive tone), while your index and middle fingers pluck melody notes in between. It’s a loopable 12-bar progression that makes for a solid warm-up or focused practice routine.

You can download the full tablature below the video and follow along. If you’re an acoustic guitarist wanting to dig deeper into fingerstyle country, blues rhythm guitar, or solo bluegrass flatpicking, sign up today to unlock all of my premium guitar lessons and tablature here at Country Guitar Online.

Country Bluegrass Jam in G – 12 Bar Picking Workout

ountry Bluegrass Jam in G – 12 Bar Picking Workout
Lesson ID: A0223

Looking to improve your acoustic guitar chops for country and bluegrass? Here’s a 12-bar picking workout that’s perfect for building your flatpicking technique and rhythm skills. This short guitar lesson features a classic 12-bar progression in a traditional country and bluegrass style.

Every time I sit down to practice, I like to warm up with something like this—simple, melodic, and rooted in the traditions of acoustic country and bluegrass guitar. This wasn’t rehearsed or polished—just some spontaneous flatpicking, strumming, and riff ideas I thought I’d share with tablature included.

If you’re a fan of players like Tony Rice, Norman Blake, or Doc Watson, or you’re just starting your journey into bluegrass and country acoustic styles, this video is for you. Take a listen, grab the tab, and pick up a few new licks for your next jam session.

“Dear Mr. Arizona” Cowboy Waltz by Soonka

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Video lesson coming soon! In the meantime, find the guitar tablature for Instrumental Breaks 1 and 2 below. Click the download button in the top right corner of the PDF viewer to download a print-friendly tab sheet.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There’s an unusual B7/F# chord in this song (chord chart in tablature). Learning this B7/F# chord and practicing this song has made me a better guitar player so wanted to share!

The B7/F# is your standard B7 chord, you just need to move your middle finger from the 5th string to the 6th string (same fret). That’s it! It’s a chord shape that I wasn’t used to landing on, and playing through this song using this chord shape helped expand my rhythm guitar skills. It’s useful especially for adding country baseline walks to your rhythm guitar.

READ SOONKA’S STORY BEHIND THE SONG:

There’s a cool story behind this song that you can read in the description of Soonka’s video on YouTube here ➜ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2eeFlYdy88

Be sure to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to Soonka on YouTube — more song performances coming soon!

Listen to the Song
TABLATURE – Instrumental Break 1

– Instrumental Break 1 starts at 0:59 in the YouTube video.

– DOWNLOAD THE TAB by clicking the small download button (top right corner of PDF viewer).

TABLATURE – Instrumental Break 2

– Instrumental Break 2 starts at 2:06 in the YouTube video.

– DOWNLOAD THE TAB by clicking the small download button (top right corner of PDF viewer).

Dust in a Baggie by Billy Strings

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Lesson ID: A0209

In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play the guitar solos from “Dust in a Baggie” by Billy Strings. We’re going to cover the popular version on YouTube where Billy is playing this song on a couch. We’ll cover all the guitar breaks that Billy plays in this version. The tablature files are available for download below the lesson videos.

Guitar Break 2

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Guitar Break 3

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Guitar Break 4

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Backing Track

This backing track loops the Guitar Break Chord Progression over and over. Enjoy!

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