G Archives

Common Bluegrass Flatpicking Licks

April 13, 2025August 6, 2016 by Devin

common bluegrass flatpicking guitar licks with tablature

Lesson ID: A0083

In this guitar lesson video, I’ll teach you 16 common bluegrass flatpicking guitar licks that will come in handy at your next bluegrass jam. We’ll break down each lick with tablature and I’ll show you how you can use these guitar licks with the majority of bluegrass songs. All of these flatpicking licks are in the key of G and they’re designed to help you improvise your own guitar solos. If you like this guitar lesson, you might also like our Bluegrass Lick Library.

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Lesson Overview
02:16 min	Using Licks with Songs
05:52 min	Lick 1 and Other Tips
10:32 min	Lick 2 Breakdown
11:53 min	Lick 3 Breakdown
12:33 min	Lick 4 Breakdown
13:17 min	Lick 5 Breakdown
15:02 min	Lick 6 Breakdown
15:41 min	Lick 7 Breakdown
16:46 min	Lick 8 Breakdown
18:03 min	Lick 9 Breakdown
18:35 min	Lick 10 Breakdown
19:51 min	Lick 11 Breakdown
20:26 min	Lick 12 Breakdown
21:16 min	Lick 13 Breakdown
22:22 min	Lick 14 Breakdown
23:22 min	Lick 15 Breakdown
24:05 min	Lick 16 Breakdown

Lesson Tablature Woodtone Strings

Improvising with Bluegrass G Licks

April 13, 2025May 1, 2016 by Devin

bluegrass g licks guitar lesson flatpicking

Lesson ID: A0070

In this guitar lesson video, we’ll break down the scales that are commonly played in key of G open bluegrass licks. They’re called “open” licks or open riffs because they incorporate a lot of hammer-ons and pull-offs to and from the open strings. These licks are used all the time in country and bluegrass music and they sound great over a standard I – IV – V chord progression. Clamp on your capo and you can play these open riffs at any location on the guitar neck!

Lesson Video

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Lesson Overview
01:31 min	How to Use Open G Licks
02:21 min	Bluegrass Scale Chart Breakdown
05:37 min	Creating Licks with the Chart
06:35 min	Most Common Open G Lick
07:31 min	Mixing Major and Minor Pentatonics
09:02 min	Blues Note
09:51 min	Hammer-On Ideas
15:16 min	Double Stop Technique
17:51 min	Pull-Off Ideas
20:43 min	Lesson Recap

Jam Tracks

Standard Open Tuning

Capo 2nd Fret

Capo 3rd Fret

Capo 4th Fret

Capo 2nd Fret

Open Standard Tuning

Capo 3rd Fret

Open Standard Tuning

Capo 3rd Fret

Open Standard Tuning

Capo 2nd Fret

Open Standard Tuning

Open Lick Chart

Member Content

Country Rhythm Practice Drills

April 13, 2025April 25, 2016 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0069

We’ve got a couple drills here in this lesson video that’ll help you build right hand pick accuracy for playing country and bluegrass rhythm guitar. These country rhythm patterns will make your rhythm guitar sound more melodic and complex. We’ll show you exactly how to incorporate these techniques into chord progressions so your guitar will sound fuller when you’re singing and strumming country songs.

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Lesson Overview
01:02 min	Drill 1
02:15 min	Alternate Picking
03:06 min	Let the Notes Ring
04:48 min	How to Practice Drill 1
07:47 min	Apply Drill 1 to Country Rhythm
14:30 min	Drill 2
17:06 min	How to Practice Drill 2
19:19 min	More Rhythm Practice Tips

Blackberry Blossom Tony Rice Style

April 13, 2025April 15, 2016 by Devin

blackberry blossom guitar lesson with tablature

Lesson ID: A0067

Blackberry Blossom is an old traditional fiddle tune that has become a popular tune for bluegrass flatpickers to play on acoustic guitar. In this lesson video, we’ll slow down this tune and play along with interactive guitar tablature note for note. Be sure to use the playback speed controls on the video player.

Lesson Video

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Song Overview
00:55 min	Important Tips
03:24 min	Tablature Play Through – Slower Speed
06:33 min	Practice Along – Faster Speed

Extra Pointers

Member Content

Blackberry Blossom Guitar Tablature Chord Progressions Woodtone Strings