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I’ll Fly Away in the Style of Alan Jackson

April 13, 2025March 28, 2017 by Devin

ill fly away bluegrass flatpicking solo break guitar lesson tablature

Lesson ID: A0119

In this lesson, I’ll teach you how play the traditional gospel song “I’ll Fly Away” in the style of Alan Jackson. First we’ll go over the chord progressions and a few strumming patterns you can play behind your vocals. Then I’ll teach you two variations of the instrumental break — the first instrumental break will mix a nice melody line with strumming and the second instrumental break will be loaded with some awesome bluegrass flatpicking licks. Chords and lyrics along with tablature can be downloaded below the video!

Overview

Progressions

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Lyrics

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Strumming

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Basic Instrumental

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Bluegrass Solo

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Backing Track

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Chords & Lyrics Melodic Instrumental Tablature Bluegrass Solo Tablature Woodtone Strings

Wayfaring Stranger in the Style of Johnny Cash

April 13, 2025February 18, 2017 by Devin

wayfaring stranger guitar lesson johnny cash country bluegrass

Lesson ID: A0115

Learn how to play the traditional American folk song “Wayfaring Stranger” in the style of Johnny Cash. First, we’ll break down all the chords and show you some strumming patterns that will make your rhythm sound country and bluegrass. Then, we’ll teach you the chord progressions along with the lyrics. For those of y’all that aren’t interested in singing this song, we’ll also have a nice acoustic guitar arrangement that incorporates the song’s melody. PDF files are available for download below the video! If you like this lesson, you might also like our Classic Country & Bluegrass Strumming Course.

Overview

Chords & Strumming

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	“Boom Chick” Strumming Pattern
02:06 min	Alternating Bass Line over Am Chord
03:01 min	Alternating Bass Line over Dm Chord
03:59 min	Alternating Bass Line over E7 Chord
05:19 min	Alternating Bass Line over F Chord
07:41 min	Alternating Bass Line over C Chord
09:34 min	Two More Strumming Patterns

Chords with Lyrics

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Intro Chord Progression
02:11 min	Verse 1 with Lyrics
05:33 min	Chorus 1 with Lyrics
07:31 min	Instrumental Break Chord Progression
07:57 min	Verse 2 with Lyrics
08:53 min	Chorus 2 with Lyrics
09:36 min	Song Ending

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Song Intro

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Listen to the Intro with Tablature
00:50 min	Pickup Measure and Random Tips
02:11 min	First Half of the Intro – Breakdown with Tablature
04:44 min	Second Half of the Intro – Breakdown with Tablature
06:41 min	Make the Intro Fancier with Some Accent Strums

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Instrumentals

Short Instrumental Break (over verse progression):

Johnny Cash played “Wayfaring Stranger” with the short instrumental break that you’ll learn in this video. This short instrumental break is basically the verse progression played in a fancier way to incorporate the song’s melody.

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Overview
00:39 min	Listen to the Short Instrumental
01:59 min	Measures 1 through 5 – Breakdown with Tablature
03:55 min	Measures 6 through 10 – Breakdown with Tablature
06:33 min	Measures 16 and 17 – Breakdown with Tablature
07:06 min	Practice Along with Me

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Long Instrumental Break (verse + chorus):

In this next video, we’re going to play a longer instrumental arrangement over the song’s verse and chorus. The first half will be the exact same as the Johnny Cash “verse” instrumental taught in the previous video. Then, we’ll break down the second half that’s played over the chorus.

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Structure of the Long Instrumental
01:10 min	Listen to the Long Instrumental
02:23 min	Play Through the “Short Verse Instrumental”
03:19 min	Instrumental over the Chorus – Breakdown with Tablature
10:38 min	Practice Along with Me

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Backing Track

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Chords & Lyrics Song Intro TAB Short Instrumental TAB Long Instrumental TAB Woodtone Strings

Intermediate Stock Bluegrass Licks

April 13, 2025February 10, 2017 by Devin

bluegrass guitar licks improvising course lesson 3 easy pentatonic licks blues scale beginner riffs

Lesson 3 – Bluegrass Guitar Solo Improvising Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0114

In this bluegrass guitar lesson, we’ll increase the difficulty a bit! I’ll show you four more bluegrass guitar licks that will take your picking skills to the next level. I’ll also talk more about the guitar scales that we’re using to create these bluegrass licks. After you master the guitar licks, practice the arranged solo and your bluegrass improvising skills with the jam track!

Overview

Lick 1

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	First Measure – Breakdown with Tablature
01:40 min	Proper Pick Stroke Direction for Speed
03:16 min	Second Measure – Breakdown with Tablature

Lick 2

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Lick 1 Breakdown with Tablature
02:11 min	Combine Lick 1 and Lick 2

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Lick 3

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	How Lick 3 is Formed Around the D Chord
01:07 min	Lick 3 Breakdown with Tablature
03:21 min	Combine Lick 1, Lick 2, and Lick 3

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Lick 4

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Lick 4 Breakdown with Tablature
01:53 min	How to Practice the Bluegrass Licks

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Scales Discussion

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Guitar Scales for Bluegrass Licks
01:41 min	How to Visualize the Scales When You’re Improvising
02:52 min	Bluegrass Guitar Licks Formed Around Open Chords
06:21 min	Breaking out of the Pentatonic Scale Box When You’re Soloing
09:49 min	Combining the Melody of Bluegrass Songs with Stock Bluegrass Licks

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Jam Track

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Overview
00:29 min	Listen to All Four Bluegrass Licks Played in a Row
01:10 min	Bluegrass Lick Example with the Jam Track

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Guitar Tablature Woodtone Strings

Country Bluegrass Chord Embellishments with Triplets

April 13, 2025October 13, 2016 by Devin

Lesson 9 – Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0097

Till now in this series, we’ve learned the 5th position scales in the key of G that are used to create country and bluegrass style fills. We combined all these scales into one “hybrid” scale and applied it to different chord progressions. Most of the riffs we studied were played with eighth notes and sixteenth notes.

In this lesson, we’re going to add a bit more rhythm variety to our country and bluegrass fills with triplets. I’ll give a brief overview of triplets in the first video below. If you’d like to read more about triplets, you can head over to our triplets music theory page. In the second video of this post, I’ll teach you six nice triplet style chord embellishments that you can play over the G, C, and D chords. In the third video, we’ll run through a chord progression example you can use for practice.

Overview

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Lesson Overview
03:14 min	What’s a triplet?
06:09 min	Using Triplets with Country and Bluegrass

Chord Embellishments

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Overview
00:28 min	Sixteenth Note Country & Bluegrass Rhythm
01:51 min	Syncopated Rhythm Breakdown
05:29 min	G Chord Embellishments with Triplets
10:39 min	C Chord Embellishments with Triplets
15:45 min	D Chord Embellishments with Triplets
18:40 min	Practice with a Chord Progression

Practice Along

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Progression – Rhythm Only
00:58 min	Progression with the Chord Embellishments
04:00 min	Practice Along with Me

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Chord Embellishments TAB Practice Progression TAB More About Triplets Woodtone Strings