Rhythm Guitar – Page 12 – Country Guitar Online

Country Strumming & Fills in the Style of Willie Nelson

April 13, 2025April 1, 2018 by Devin

willie nelson style rhythm guitar technique fill riffs bass walks

Lesson 3 – Country & Bluegrass Rhythm Course

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Lesson ID: A0143

In this guitar lesson, I’ll teach you a classic country strumming pattern in the style of “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” by Willie Nelson. First I’ll break down the strumming pattern and give you some strumming tips that will help you get those clean alternating bass line picks. Then I’ll show you a couple of Willie Nelson style chord progressions to use for practice. After that, we’ll start working in some classic country bass line walks and I’ll teach you a couple of Willie Nelson riffs that’ll spice up your country rhythm guitar.

Overview

Playthrough

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Strumming

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Strumming Pattern Breakdown
01:09 min	Right Hand Pick Technique
02:46 min	Willie Nelson Hammer-On
04:11 min	Alternating Bass Line over B7 and A Chords

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Progressions

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Progression 1
00:54 min	A Major Accent Chord
02:37 min	Progression 2
03:24 min	How to Practice with “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain”

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Bass Walks

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Bass Line Walk 1
01:17 min	Bass Line Walk 2
03:42 min	Bass Line Walk 3
04:50 min	Bass Line Walk 4

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Fill Riffs

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Willie Nelson Style Fill Riff 1
04:14 min	Willie Fill Riff 2 for a Song Ending

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Practice

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Practice with Willie Nelson

Practice your classic country strumming and fills over the song “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” by Willie Nelson using the 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.

Chord Progressions Lesson Tablature Woodtone Strings

Drop D Country Guitar Riffs

April 13, 2025March 29, 2018 by Devin

Lesson 17 – Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course

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Lesson ID: A0149

In this country guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play six intermediate country guitar riffs in drop D. We’ll also have three easier drop D riffs for the newer country pickers. I’ll play the drop D licks with tablature and give you a full breakdown along with some helpful music theory tips. After you learn the licks, practice along with our jam track and also test them out over “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde” by Travis Tritt.

Lesson Overview

Six Intermediate Riffs

Intermediate Riff 1

Intermediate Riff 2

Intermediate Riff 3

Intermediate Riff 4

Intermediate Riff 5

Intermediate Riff 6

Three Easy Riffs

Easy Riff 1

Easy Riff 2

Easy Riff 3

Using the Riffs

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Jam Track

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Travis Tritt

Practice with Travis Tritt

Once you get these drop D country guitar riffs up to speed, try to play them over the song “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde” by Travis Tritt using the embedded player from Spotify. The chord progression is similar to our jam track progression, but just a bit quicker. 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. Also, check out Travis Tritt on iTunes. He’s got a ton of other great songs to choose from.

Intermediate Riffs TAB Easy Riffs TAB Woodtone Strings

12 Bar Blues with a Country Twang

April 13, 2025March 13, 2018 by Devin

Lesson 16 – Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

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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Lesson Tablature Woodtone Strings

Angeline the Baker

April 13, 2025January 18, 2018 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0145

“Angeline the Baker“, also known as “Angelina Baker”, is an old traditional song that was written by Stephen Foster and published in 1850. Foster was one of the first commercial pop composers and he wrote “Angelina Baker” for a group called Christy Minstrels. Since 1850, this song has been recorded by several artists and it’s become a standard for country and bluegrass jams. In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn two flatpicking breaks for “Angeline the Baker” along with tips for playing the rhythm guitar part.