In this guitar lesson video, I’ll teach you one of my favorite country & bluegrass guitar licks that sounds great on acoustic guitar. First I’ll play through the lick a couple times, then one time slowly with the tablature, and then I’ll break it down measure by measure. I’ll also show you how to play the rhythm guitar part that you heard me play at the beginning of the video and we’ll get some practice playing this G lick as a fill riff with rhythm.
Rhythm Guitar
Hank Williams Style Strumming and Lead
In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn three country strumming patterns that work great for classic country. Then we’ll practice the country strumming patterns over a couple of chord progressions in the style of the old classic song “Your Cheatin’ Heart” by Hank Williams. After we work through the rhythm guitar parts, we’ll switch gears and I’ll teach you a simple classic country guitar solo that you can play along with “Your Cheatin’ Heart”. Overall this is a great lesson for classic country strumming and lead guitar.
Video 1 – Playthrough with Tablature
Video 2 – Full Breakdown
Practice with Hank Williams
Practice this lesson’s strumming patterns and solo over the song “Your Cheatin’ Heart” by Hank Williams using the embedded 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.
Using Jazzy Chords in Your Bluegrass Rhythm
In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to use jazzy chord shapes in your bluegrass rhythm guitar. This technique will really make your rhythm guitar stand out at your next bluegrass jam. First, we’ll go over some useful jazzy chords that you can use to replace standard open chords. Then, you’ll learn some strumming patterns that work great with these jazzy chord shapes. Finally, we’ll work through a practice progression so you can get an idea of how to use these jazzy chords in a bluegrass song.
Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
---|---|
00:00 min | G6 Chord |
02:13 min | C7 Chord |
03:29 min | D7 Chord |
04:05 min | “Foggy Mountain Special” Chord Progression |
06:24 min | Alternate Voicing for a G Major chord |
08:07 min | C9 Chord |
09:14 min | D9 Chord |
09:38 min | Strumming Patterns |
15:24 min | Standard Bass Line Walk (Available to CGO Members) |
19:06 min | Jazzy Bass Line Walk (Available to CGO Members) |
23:57 min | Extra Tips (Available to CGO Members) |
Salt Creek
“Salt Creek” is a popular bluegrass flatpicking tune that you’ll hear at bluegrass jams all the time. This song was originally titled “Salt River” and it was renamed by Bill Monroe in the 1960s to honor the actual Salt Creek in Indiana near the location of Monroe’s annual Bean Blossom Festival. This song has been recorded by several bluegrass artists over the years, including Tony Rice, Doc Watson, Bill Monroe, Norman Blake, Clarence White, Billy Strings, and many others.
In this bluegrass guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play two flatpicking guitar solo breaks for “Salt Creek”. Both of the guitar solo breaks have a ton of momentum and they are loaded with some really nice bluegrass guitar licks. First we’ll play through each of the flatpicking guitar solos with guitar tablature. Then Devin will teach you each solo line by line and he’ll give you some helpful flatpicking tips along the way. The “Salt Creek” guitar tablature is available for download below the lesson videos.
Video 1 – Playthrough with Tablature
Video 2 – Full Breakdown
Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
---|---|
00:00 min | Kickoff – Measures 1 through 4 |
03:27 min | A Part – Measures 5 through 8 |
08:55 min | A Part – Measures 9 through 12 |
14:06 min | A Part – Measures 13 through 16 |
15:52 min | A Part – Measures 17 through 20 |
18:47 min | Practice the A Part with Me |
20:14 min | B Part – Measures 21 through 24 |
25:24 min | B Part – Measures 25 through 28 |
30:05 min | B Part – Measures 29 through 32 |
31:42 min | B Part – Measures 33 through 36 |
33:16 min | Practice the B Part with Me |
Video 1 – Playthrough with Tablature
Video 2 – Full Breakdown
Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
---|---|
00:00 min | A Part – Measures 1 through 4 |
03:09 min | A Part – Measures 5 through 8 |
08:46 min | A Part – Measures 9 through 12 |
10:17 min | A Part – Measures 13 through 16 |
16:01 min | Practice the A Part with Me |
17:30 min | B Part – Measures 17 through 20 |
22:39 min | B Part – Measures 21 through 24 |
27:50 min | B Part – Measures 25 through 28 |
28:57 min | B Part – Measures 29 through 32 |
31:37 min | Practice the B Part with Me |