“St. Anne’s Reel” is a traditional French-Canadian tune in the public domain that was made popular by Joseph Allard in the 1930s. This song was originally played on the fiddle but it has become a favorite flatpicking tune of guitarists at bluegrass jams.
In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a traditional melody for “St. Anne’s Reel” on guitar. We’ll work through two different flatpicking guitar arrangements with tablature. The first arrangement will be played at a higher octave and it will work up the guitar neck on the B and E strings. The second arrangement has a nice low-pitched sound that will turn some heads at your next bluegrass jam. After you learn the guitar breaks, practice your bluegrass flatpicking over our “St. Anne’s Reel” backing track in D.
Video 1 – Playthrough with Tablature
Video 2 – Full Breakdown
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Breakdown – Measures 1 through 5 |
| 05:34 min | Breakdown – Measures 6 through 9 |
| 08:36 min | Breakdown – Measures 10 through 17 |
| 10:38 min | Practice the A Part |
| 11:49 min | Breakdown – Measures 18 through 21 |
| 17:11 min | Breakdown – Measures 22 through 25 |
| 19:03 min | Breakdown – Measures 26 through 33 |
| 20:41 min | Practice the B Part |
New lesson! This is a great flatpicking tune to help build up good pick control. Definitely a standard that you’ll hear at bluegrass jams all the time.
Next lesson at CGO, we’re going to work on some old school classic country. Plenty more lessons on the way so keep the lesson requests coming! https://countryguitaronline.com/request-a-lesson/
Devin, it happened again!
I just learned about this tune two days ago and liked it so much that I put it on my to do list. I now found out that you have a lesson on it already. That’s about the fourth time I experienced this, so I think I’m with the right teacher here. 🙂
Thanks!
Sounds great Devin. Thank you. I’m struggling to find the time to practice just one of your lessons and you keep churning new ones out!
Good one, thanks Devin!
The backing track is very helpful…thanks Devin!
Hey Devin, I am really enjoying the CGO website and find it to be very professional. I have been working my way through the guitar course and I am up to lesson 7, Cripple Creek. The lessons are well done and in particular I like the way they are presented for beginners, one note at time until you work through the whole song. This lesson also provides a beginner version and an intermediate version, which is great. I found the site while looking for Angeline the Baker lessons. In addition to the course I have been working through that tune.… Read more »
Hey Richard! Glad you’ve been enjoying the lessons so far. Great question. My main goal with each lesson is to post something that a beginner could attempt, but at the same time, an advanced player could benefit from if they were to speed up the tempo. Songs like St. Anne’s Reel are great beginner songs if you play them slowly, but they get pretty technical the faster you play them. I’ve gone back and forth about labeling each lesson according to skill level. I feel like if I were to label a lesson as a beginner lesson, the more advanced… Read more »
Thanks so much
Thanks Devin, a very easy to follow lesson. I just joined your site, you have some great content. I am looking forward to having lots of fun learning from you. – Terry
Hey Terry – Thanks for joining! Glad you’re enjoying the site so far. Just let us know if you have any lesson requests after you’ve worked through a bit of the content. Have a good weekend – Devin
Great tune! Definitely helps with pick control!
Having trouble with fingering. I’m using my pointer finger over 1st fret. Then when I see the tab number, it is correct. I’m going to try the hand position you have today. I just have to get passed seeing a 2 finger and using the 1. Does anyone else have that problem?
Also, your teaching is the best way I have ever found to learn guitar. Thanks Devin!
I still fight the 1st finger muscle memory problem, Rick! I got the piece (mostly) memorized but often feel my fingers fumbling with the 1 or 2 finger
I can’t get the tab to download and print. I have printed other tabs successfully. But there’s a problem with this one. After I download it and go to print, text cones out of the printer, not the tab.
I love the arrangement Devin!!!
I love this song, the only problem I’m having is transitioning from the A part to the B part. I’m almost there. Not bad though for 85 years old.