In the previous lessons of this course, I taught y’all one of the most important strumming patterns in country and bluegrass music and we practiced it over a really common chord progression. We also applied the strumming pattern to the chord progressions in “Forever And Ever, Amen” by Randy Travis.
In this lesson, we’re going to expand upon the strumming pattern we’ve been studying this series and make it a bit more complex using the bluegrass song “Foggy Mountain Rock”. We’ll cover all the song’s chord progressions, extra strumming techniques, a few common bluegrass licks, and some awesome bass line walk-ups that’ll spice up your chord transitions. If you like the guitar licks and bass line walks, you might also like our Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course.
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Song Structure |
| 01:11 min | A Part Chord Progression |
| 02:57 min | Alternating Bass Line Notes |
| 04:26 min | B Part Chord Progression |
| 05:40 min | Practice Along with Me |
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Adding Accent Strums |
| 02:08 min | When to Use Accent Strums |
| 05:51 min | Practice Over the A Part |
| 06:50 min | Live Chat |
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Overview |
| 00:18 min | Intro Lick |
| 01:16 min | Turnaround Lick 1 |
| 04:24 min | G Licks and Bluegrass Rhythm |
| 05:16 min | Turnaround Lick 2 |
| 06:35 min | Syncopated Rhythm |
| 08:03 min | Ending Lick |
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Easy Walk-up to C Chord |
| 02:40 min | Easy Walk-up to D Chord |
| 04:22 min | Intermediate Walk-ups |
| 05:09 min | Intermediate Walk-up to C Chord |
| 07:18 min | Getting Your Speed Up |
| 08:34 min | Intermediate Walk-up to D Chord |
| 10:48 min | Intermediate Walk-up to G Chord |
| 12:55 min | Practice Drill over A Part Progression |
Listen to “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” performed by a few different bluegrass artists below using the embedded player from Spotify. I’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.
Really great teacher. Thanks!
Hey Man, awesome lesson. You’re videos are helping me a lot. Can you teach some more of these bluegrass songs?
Thanks! For sure…I’m actually wrapping up a lesson on Gold Rush now. Should have some pretty cool bluegrass flatpicking you’ll like..hoping to have it posted by tomorrow afternoon.
Great lesson! A lot to work on. Thanks!
Thanks for all the tips. Very nice lesson!
Absolutely great -will be working on this one for a while
Thanks Devin good work.
Thanks Terry! Really appreciate the comment.
Devin after trying out your site I am ready to commit to a years subscription – as soon as the month trial is up I am on board. I believe that your knowledge and style can take me to a level I had not dreamed of – thanks and looking forward to a long association.
Awesome, thanks Terry! Thanks for supporting my lessons and for the kind words. I’m really glad you found the site and hope you enjoy the lessons for many weeks to come. I’ll be posting new videos every week so just let me know if you ever have a lesson request! – Devin
Devin thanks – you really are one of a kind.
There’s a lot of great stuff in this lesson. Thanks Devin!
Ooh man! I really appreciated those turnarounds. Very interesting Devin…great lesson. Two thumbs up!!!
Thanks Jocelyn!
Looking forward to the Jam Track for this song and links to those Bluegrass artists you mentioned.
Hey Phil, I may record a full jam track to this one at some point…in the meantime, you can listen to it played by four different artists on the “Listen” tab…you’ll have to create a free Spotify account to listen straight from the site..if you haven’t used Spotify, I’d recommend it. I used to use Pandora for my online radio, but Spotify’s so great since you can search for any song to play. I’ll see if I can post a jam track for this one soon!
This is probably a dumb question and I understand rules can be broken, but why is it okay to use notes such as C# and A# when they’re not actually in the key of G? What key are they taken from or am I just thinking too strict about all of this?
Great question…actually get this one a lot. C# and A# aren’t in the G major key but they’re taken from the key of G minor pentatonic and blues scales. You can see them here in these blues scale charts https://countryguitaronline.com/blues-scales/ . It’s okay to use the minor pentatonic and blues scales to solo over major chord progressions in many cases…usually works well over I – IV – V chord progressions like G – C – D. Using the minor pentatonic and blues scales will give riffs a “bluesy” sound…also gives riffs a country/bluegrass twang in my opinion. With that being… Read more »
Fantastic lesson. Love this stuff! I have some questions about where the turnaround licks fit in. Does turnaround lick # 1 always go after the A part and lick 2 always go after the B part? Or does lick #1 go after the first A part and lick 2 go after the repeat of the A part? Does #1 or 2 ever get played after the B part? Or, are the licks just played where they feel good 🙂
Thanks, glad you like this one! I usually play these turnaround licks at the end of the first line of the A part…turns you back around to play the second line of the A part, and then into the B part. Both of those licks would work great right there. You are right on though…you could also play these licks in the B part in the same way or at the end of several different chord progressions in the key of G. They’re pretty great all around licks.
Working through the first turnaround and I always want to down-pick the D on 3& since my last picking motion was an up-pick. Do you “ghost” a down-pick on the hammer on to keep the up / down rhythm going?
Yep exactly…I like doing a “ghost” down-pick there to pass over the string on the hammer-on to keep the alternate picking down up down up going. I usually use a pretty strict alternate picking pattern for most of these type of licks…it helps me build momentum and get my speed up, but I’ll stray away from it a bit here and there if something feels more comfortable. I’d say, if you can pick a lick more comfortably a different way, nothing wrong with going with it. Tony Rice used some interesting pick direction to play his licks and he worked… Read more »
Thanks for the reply! Always a tough balance trying to figure out whether you should go with what’s comfortable or force a better technique. I’ve gotten into some bad habits before, so while I’m learning picking technique I’ll stick to your suggestions until I feel I know better 😉
Love the lessons so far, thanks so much.
I’ve been working through your Foggy Mountain Rock and my main interests are licks, walkups and the like. I’m learning an awful lot from all your courses. Excellent stuff. One thing: I try to follow your up/down picking pattern as closely as possible, but since I’ve been playing guitar for quite some time, I find that I don’t always pick down when it should be up or vice versa. I understand that cross-picking is primarily for efficiency and speed, but should I follow your up/down recommendations to the letter or can I cheat sometimes if the end result is the… Read more »
Hey Olav, Glad you’re enjoying the lessons! I’d say it’s fine to cheat sometimes if you think there’s a more efficient way for your style of playing. I didn’t switch over to the strict alternate picking until later in my career either…had been playing for a while before I switched. I think it did help me pick up some speed here and there but I’ll even stray away from the alternate picking on some licks just because I can play it faster a different way. Also, Tony Rice definitely used some interesting pick stroke directions in his licks and he… Read more »
Awesome lesson Devin! Time to get to practicin’
Outstanding lesson Devin I learn a ton of stuff every time I open one of your lessons.
Like this one…
Hi Devin could you explain what is the difference between a turnaround and a « G run »…thanks Devin!
A standard G run could be used as a turnaround lick at the end of a chord progression, but a G run could also be played at other places in the chord progression…G runs don’t just have to be played at the end of a progression as a turnaround. You probably already know a lot of this, but here is a detailed explanation for anybody interested… A turnaround lick would be a lick that is usually played during the last measure or two of a chord progression. The most common kind of a turnaround lick is in a 12 bar… Read more »
Thanks Devin now I understand…
It can’t get too basic for me. Thanks for this breakdown.
Improving a bit everyday. Thanks!
Hi Devin. my name is Jose I am from the carribean. Dominican republic. but I love Country Music. I am enjoying your lessons. could you let me know what martin model your guitar is? another question, is bronze 80-20 strings recommended for country and blugrass. ? which string are you currently suing? thank yhou so much and keep up this excellent work. God Bless you
Hi Jose! Glad you’re enjoying the lessons so far. The Martin in this video is a D16-GT. You’ll also see me playing my old Martin D-15 in other videos and now I’m playing my new Collings D2H the most. I usually recommend phosphor bronze strings for country because I like the tone on an acoustic guitar. My favorite strings are John Pearse phosphor bronze mediums. They rust quickly so you’ll probably want to also get some Fast Fret to apply to the strings after you play so they last longer. I also like Elixer Nanoweb phosphor bronze mediums…slightly more expensive… Read more »
Thank you Devin for your quick response. very appreciated. and expecting to become the country boy of the carribean with your lessons. 🙂
exciting Basic Bluegrass licks
Dieter
I’ve come back to this lesson as I realised I was getting too far ahead of myself and hadn’t mastered the basics as cleanly as I want. I’ve spending a long time on this getting it as perfect as I can.
great tips…really refining my skills now
Is it possible in these lessons to get one pdf that combines the chord progressions with the licks and walk-ups? Difficult to go between 3 different docs to play a song.
This is what I came up with… nevermind, i guess image upload does not work.
Intro Lick
G | G | G | G > C walk-up
C | C | G | G > D walk-up
D | D > G walk-up | G | G
Play A part twice then Turnaround Lick #1
C | C | G | G > C walk-up
C | C | G | G
G > D walk-up | D | G | G
Play Turnaround Lick #2
A part > Turnaround Lick #1
B part > Turnaround Lick #2
A part > Turnaround Lick #1
B part > Turnaround Lick #2
Ending Lick
I’ve finally graduated myself to working on the licks and walk up lesson on this thread. You have it broken down so well and made it so easy to follow along. First, when I watched you play this, I thought I’d never be able to do that. Amazed myself working on this. Music comes out of my guitar. Thanks Devin.
need guitar solo for blue eyes crying in rain
THANKS DEVIN!
I’ve been having so much fun with your lessons in general. But for whatever reason this one has been even better I’m having a ton of fun with these licks! Thank you so much for everything
Hi Devin, really great lesson. Finding it testing, but that’s great. You mentioned that you’ll do a lesson on syncopation. Has that been done already?
When does the learning start lol … 4th lesson a lot of talkie talk … come on Devin hit it
Ha Ha… Okay everyone and Devin…I’m the butt head in the room. I posted a comment right around this or the next lesson or two that said essentially nothing but talking when the teachine … lol welll to my surprise I was listening to the intro over views 🙁 Sorry all … I see now how to wrok thru the lessons… So yea and great stuff too … Sorry Devin
Hey there Devin. What bpm do you recommend practicing this song at?