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Difficulty: 3.5 out of 5

Smooth Flowing Bass Line w/ Hammer-Ons

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Lesson ID: A0227

Download the guitar tablature below! There are many ways to add accents to your country & bluegrass guitar rhythm, but here’s how you can do it by combining bass line notes with hammer-ons. This style of guitar playing is heavily influenced by Doc Watson, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice. Try these smooth flowing chord embellishments in my new 12 bar flatpicking workout in the key of G!

Also, if you like the progression in this lesson, try combining it with the 12 bar progression that I teach over in Lesson A0223 Country Bluegrass Jam in G – 12 Bar Picking Workout.

Don’t forget to use the AB Loop toolbar below to SLOW DOWN the video for easy learning.

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 Travis picking skills in the country and blues style. 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.

Don’t forget to use the AB Loop toolbar below to SLOW DOWN the video for easy learning.

12 Bar Fingerstyle Workout TABWoodtone Strings

Chicken Pickin’ Lick 2 in A

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Lesson ID: A0216

Here is Chicken Pickin’ Guitar Lick 2 in the key of A. This electric guitar riff is extremely useful because it sounds amazing over just about every country chord progression in the key of A. Many country guitar licks are designed to be played over specific chords, but this chicken pickin’ electric guitar lick works well over most chords in A (especially the I, IV, and V chords). After you learn this country guitar lick, practice playing it over the full-length backing track that comes with this lesson.

I prefer using Woodtone Triangle Picks (black) in .71mm for chicken pickin’ because shape, size, and flex of these picks feels perfect.

Backing Track
Woodtone Strings

Chicken Pickin’ Lick 1 in A

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Lesson ID: A0215

Here’s a classic country chicken pickin’ lick in the key of A. That first bend with your middle finger is pretty tricky — make sure you bend with your middle finger without bending the 1st and 2nd strings with your pointer/ring fingers. After you learn the chicken pickin’ lick, practice it with the backing track at the end of this video.

Video Start Time Lesson Topic
00:00 min Listen to the guitar lick
00:14 min Lick played twice at slow tempo with TAB
00:55 min Backing track practice
Woodtone Strings