I’m a 50 year old blues/rock player who has a 15 year old son that is on the cusp of being a monster flat picker/rhythm player(didn’t see that coming lol).I have flat out struggled trying to play with him.I struggle with the feel more than anything.I know I need to basically start from scratch “to be able to help him advance.This is exactly what I needed.Thank you

@pickinlessons

2 жыл бұрын

You're absolutely correct...I was the same to a degree, after years of rock playing, bluegrass flatpicking certainly does require a different approach and a solid knowledge in the open position...Good luck!!

@Nick-ii9pg

8 ай бұрын

Stop doing drugs with your son Harold.

I’m new to guitar and playing fastgrass is my ultimate dream. It’s been difficult to find good tutorials since i don’t know scales and music theory but this video is truly great.

@VonHanzee

4 ай бұрын

Its bluegrass, its always fast. No need to Gen Z rename everything that already has a name.

I’m two weeks into my guitar journey, I had to play the first lick 100+ times before it made sense to me, thanks so much for an awesome lesson buddy!

You are a great teacher! Explaining the essence and keeping it interesting ❤

Great lesson. Beautiful how running them together works

@pickinlessons

3 жыл бұрын

Cheers, Dave.

That opening!!! WOW!!!

This is fantastic, thank you for what you are doing! I keep learning….

Excellent lesson! Thank you SO much!

Great playing. I love learning new bluegrass licks. 🤓👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🎸

@pickinlessons

2 жыл бұрын

Me too!

Outstanding lesson! Keep em coming! Subscribed and Liked

Really good lesson mate, I love a tutorial that just jumps into it without too much hand holding. Shows that you know who to target with the lesson and make the correct assumption that the viewer has enough know how to follow along.

@pickinlessons

9 ай бұрын

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed 🙏

WOW ! Thank you for your commitment and energy level as a teacher .

@pickinlessons

9 ай бұрын

You’re welcome, and thank you for your feedback 😊

This is really great, I'm into this,, been playing guitar for over fifty years, for some reason I'm drawn to the bluegrass style, your teaching approach is excellent..

Useful and clear!

I have been playing classic 60s 70s R&R, blues,.country and some jazz for 60 years. I recently retired to pretty much bluegrass heaven. I figured it is time to get with the program. Thank you for the video, I have to admit Clarence White is my favorite guitarist and I did get to see him three times with the Byrds. I went to a lot of concerts with big name guitar players and I do believe he was the best I ever saw. He would have been a real monster, he was stretching out from his bluegrass roots and who knows what he might have become? I will practice and listen to some more bluegrass. When it is good, it kicks butt. I never got to play any. My dexterity is there, no problem. Subscription added, thumbs up.

@pickinlessons

25 күн бұрын

How cool to have seen Clarence! Sounds like the bluegrass bug has bit!

@j.dragon651

25 күн бұрын

@@pickinlessons I am finishing up a recording of a Chicago Style blues tune and the third example, to my surprise, worked just as well for a blues rift in the key of E. Click my avatar for some originals if interested.

Great lesson mate. Keep doing what you do

@pickinlessons

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Jaysah 😊

Just what I needed many thanks

Being brought up in Prog Rock and since hearing Billy Strings and enjoying that kind of bluegrassy music whilst trying to learn it, i found your video perfect and informative. Thanks.

@pickinlessons

9 ай бұрын

Excellent!

@DoctahToboggan69

28 күн бұрын

Billy Strings is influencing me to pick up bluegrass! And also to never attempt it lmao xD I used to play guitar but gave up due to 'not getting it' but now that I know how to actually learn I feel much more confident about it

Nice work, Keith, done well Mate, love this stuff.

@pickinlessons

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Greg! Cheers, Heath 😊

Great lesson sir

Awesome flat pickin', my friend!!!

Awesome!!❤🎉

Wowwwwww🎉❤🎉❤🎉❤🎉❤🎉❤🎉❤🎉🎉❤ que hermosura gracias hermano eres muy generoso compartiendo esta belleza uffffffff eres un genio total !!!!!

Great lesson. Thanks

@pickinlessons

3 жыл бұрын

My pleasure!

Over here in Florida, both my wife and I half retired learning how to play and pick up bluegrass licks. Totally have been enjoying your tutorial thank you so much for sharing this. You made a very applicable and easy-to-understand. We thank you

@pickinlessons

8 ай бұрын

You’re very welcome ☺️. Good luck with your picking 👍

@Gunz4glory

8 ай бұрын

John, where in Florida? There's lots of places to jam around the state.

Great lesson!

@pickinlessons

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it!

Thank you!! Just bought an expensive guitar... now I've got to learn to play the damn thing. This is a huge help!

Nice, very tuneful and melodic, great to hear something different from the dreaded minor pentatonic "Boring Blues" scale, well played.

@davorgolik7873

8 ай бұрын

Exactly the same here! I want bluegrass adventure, to rest from pentatonic 👍

Good Teacher,THANK YOU

@pickinlessons

Жыл бұрын

You’re welcome ☺️

EXCELLENT !!!! New sub!!

Im a 69 yr Jazz/Blues singer and gùitarist. You teach very well and have an open mind approach. (Subscribed )

@pickinlessons

25 күн бұрын

Thank you 😊

Love this style of music!!! Wish I could play it. But…someone has to be the listener

@pickinlessons

3 ай бұрын

😎👍

Dude you just taught me something so awesome! People like you have their way about them that makes a person trust and easy to learn. You have very special gift. I pray you give to God the glory for your gift! Thank you thank you thank you

@pickinlessons

Жыл бұрын

You’re very welcome ☺️

And thanks again ✌🏼

This is just what I need to start really spicing up my songs! I’m playing live more and need some more tricks I learn my ear and am not good with tabs and such. Thanks

@pickinlessons

Жыл бұрын

Good luck and enjoy!!

@alan4sure

4 ай бұрын

Learning by ear beats tabs by a mile or 10👍

very good

Wonderful Thank You

@pickinlessons

Жыл бұрын

You’re welcome ☺️

Australian bluegrass music?? Amazing!

super leçon merci professeur lointain

@pickinlessons

Жыл бұрын

You’re very welcome ☺️

Cheers my man great lesson I’m a fingerstyle player this flatpicking takes some practice in the open positions I think I need to go ver my open scale s again !! Cheers from Ireland 🇮🇪 Brian 🎸🎸

@pickinlessons

11 ай бұрын

Yeah, for sure. The open position can be surprisingly challenging at first. Enjoy!

@user-cr1kb3gt9y

10 ай бұрын

Feint greet playing

So glad I came across your KZread vids. Thank you so much.

@pickinlessons

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Gregory 😊

That Santa Cruz man... it's gorgeous!!

@pickinlessons

25 күн бұрын

Thanks man! It’s very sweet to play

these are fun and i can actually do them!

@pickinlessons

10 ай бұрын

Nice 👍

Fluency is understatement. Is it “Teke”? I’ve always been in awe of that clean, speedy fluency a good BG picker has. You have it but even better you are a great instructor, putting this over the plate so to speak, in a confidence inspiring manner. I have a strange desire for a Martin guitar…Salud mate!

@JohnnyRebKy

2 жыл бұрын

Don’t wait to long for that Martin guitar. Life is short man. . A sweet sounding Martin D28 is expeNsive but being the richest man in the cemetery does you no good. Buy that guitar !

@JustinBeyerlin1

2 жыл бұрын

@@JohnnyRebKy I’ll second that! After 24 years of playing guitar, I finally went and bought myself a D28 last month. Almost brought me to tears… absolutely amazing guitar. I’ve had a lot of guitars over the years, and I wish I would have made the jump earlier. Still, many, many years left to enjoy this Martin’s sound!

@markshutts9112

Жыл бұрын

This one is a Santa Cruz....

@Jagarchitect

11 ай бұрын

@@JustinBeyerlin1HD-28 owner here. Waited too long to pull the trigger. I’ve had it for 3 years and bought it 21 years after starting. This thing is unreal.

My goodness, I wasn’t expecting an Aussie voice!

@pickinlessons

Жыл бұрын

😌

thanks

This video helps a lot. But the people that made the actual licks blows my mind

I live in Bluegrass of Kentucky and an English dude teaches me Bluegrass.

@GrahamToppHongKong

3 ай бұрын

Australian I think

@pickinlessons

3 ай бұрын

Spot on 😊

@jacobwells7860

2 ай бұрын

Same here 😂

@hughashby5147

18 күн бұрын

Actually I believe his accent is Austrailian

YEAH!!!!

Graandee!!

Muy buen anal hermano!! Gracias! Ya suscripto. GraCiAs!!

Great lesson. Thanks. 🙏

@pickinlessons

9 ай бұрын

My pleasure!

Great lesson! What kind of strings do you have on that Martin? Sounds great!

@pickinlessons

2 жыл бұрын

I use Elixir medium lights...although the guitar in this video is a Santa Cruz D-PW. The Martin's been in getting a neck reset and some other maintenance for the last several months, should be back any day now!

Great people show you how play licks in blue grass on guitar.

@pickinlessons

11 ай бұрын

😊

This is a great video AND you like like Eric Idle in disguise.

@pickinlessons

9 ай бұрын

Yes! Thank you!

👍👍👍

Great lesson, what type of guitar are you playing.

@pickinlessons

Жыл бұрын

Thank you 😊. This guitar is a Santa Cruz D/PW.

I suck at guitar. Thanks for helping me suck a little bit less. 🤣😆😂

@pickinlessons

10 ай бұрын

You’re welcome 😌 stick at it!!

What do you mean by resolving and passing licks? Awesome lesson btw!

@pickinlessons

6 ай бұрын

Thanks :) Resolving licks = played and ends over the one chord - feels complete. Doesn't need to be a whole measure. Passing licks = not resolving. eg. lick plays over the D, but then resolves as you enter the G. You could string together many passing licks, not resolving the phrase for many chord changes down the road. No rules.

So I'm back again after a year, I see. Time flies. Well, I had the same question this year, but looking in the comments/answers I see we've been through this. HOWEVER, on closer examination I see you use both the 2 and 3 to play the 4th fret, but your explanation says you favor the 3 rather than bringing the 2 over. I guess it's the small changes that enable the speed required to make bluegrass sound proper

@pickinlessons

6 ай бұрын

Fingering is all about context. Where you come from, but more importantly, what you need to play next. As long as it's efficient, and not clunky. Can be a personal choice, but IMO there are always 'better' options. BUT...Django did only use 2 fingers, so work with what you can!!

I went though a Gypsy Jazz phase. I sucked at it…but it significantly changed and improved my picking skills. Gypsy Jazz is the same 50 songs written in the 1940s over and over. I love the melodies and tone of bluegrass so I am going to go down this rabbit hole. What is the “Minor Swing” of bluegrass? Meaning, what is the one song everyone works on first? The “Stairway to Heaven” of bluegrass (but without the stigma haha). By the way, Stairway is a great song. Maybe someone can tell me the top 3 beginner tunes to learn? I am an intermediate player. I can play ‘Windy and Warm’ and have some chops (usually in the pentatonic realm where us untalented people go to die haha). Thanks. I like Billy Strings and he’s what got me into this. Stephan Wembrel got me into Gypsy Jazz. A tune like ‘Dust in a Baggie’ would be my goal.

@pickinlessons

3 ай бұрын

Nice work! Gypsy Jazz is awesome, you'll love bluegrass! You could look at the 'popular' session fiddle tunes first. Tunes like: Salt Creek, Red Haired Boy, Soldier's Joy, Arkansas Traveler, Black Mountain Rag, Big Sciota, Billy In The Low Ground, Cherokee Shuffle, Goldrush, John Hardy, Whiskey Before Breakfast...That'll get you started and pretty much every bluegrass picker you meet will know these standards.

@bestself2438

3 ай бұрын

@@pickinlessons Hey thanks for the list of standards. I really think I can do it. I have one video of me on KZread but you can’t put links in comments. I will literally use this list. Thanks.

@bestself2438

3 ай бұрын

@@pickinlessons kzread.info/dash/bejne/g5uop9OkgrSvnrQ.htmlsi=ijbShpQj1mBVkian This was 12 years ago and was the first tune ever learned.

@pickinlessons

3 ай бұрын

Love it!!

Do you reccomend learning how to read music or just watch videos like this over and over until you memorize it? My guitar has been collecting dust and its time i learn some but i have no idea where to start. I have no musical knowledge

@pickinlessons

Жыл бұрын

Learn to read tab for a start. Don’t need notation, but understanding rhythm would certainly help. Although, nothing wrong with learning by ear either - depends on you really. Using both strategies would be beneficial. To start off, learn some tunes, that appeal to you and practice a few scales to help develop technique. Keep it interesting so you stop that guitar from collecting dust!!

Question: On the second passage you're playing an open G note at the end but I don't see that in the tab. Where does that last note fall in the rhythmic scheme?

@pfelice157

4 ай бұрын

I just figured it out; it's the first note in the next passage.

@pickinlessons

4 ай бұрын

Each of the first 4 licks resolve/conclude on beat 1 of the following measure 👍

Is the first bar/lick tab missing the final open G note you verbally mentioned? The last open note is in the D string.

@pickinlessons

2 жыл бұрын

Nope, the G is played on the first beat of the 2nd measure. The lick resolves on beat 1 - not on the 4+.

@scrappy291

2 жыл бұрын

@@pickinlessons Got it. Thank you.

@pickinlessons

2 жыл бұрын

You’re welcome ☺️

Can a finger picker do this? Never used a pick.

@pickinlessons

8 ай бұрын

To achieve the speed, clarity and tone - unlikely. You could certainly use the ideas differently and approach it with you fingers :)

can i play without using a pick?

@pickinlessons

9 ай бұрын

It would be very difficult, but not impossible.

I'm confused by the fingering of the 3rd lick. Starting with the middle on the 3rd fret, then the Index on 3rd fret followed by the ring on the 4th fret. But the tab shows a 3-4 slide! Why wouldn't the index slide from 3 to 4? Or, if not the index slide, why wouldn't the middle come over to play the 4? Seems strange to see the ring right after the index with the middle stuck in between.BTW: Seems all the bluegrass licks I've studied never address the fingering. Thanks if you could explain the reasoning

@pickinlessons

2 жыл бұрын

G'day Doug, Great question! Fingering can often be a personal choice and there is usually more than one way of going about. Here is my approach & logic - we're playing in position 2, finger 2 starts out on string 1-fret 3 (G). We need to make use of finger 1 on string 3-fret 3 (Bb) to smoothly transition. This gives you 2 options for the hammer-on which comes next on to fret 4-string 3 (B) - your suggestion is fine with finger 2, my personal choice is finger 3, as this maintains the 2nd position fingering, and because we've just made use of the 2nd finger (on the first string) I personally feel it is easier to hammer on to the 3rd finger. Fingering choice is usually dictated by where you come from and what you are playing next. If the hammer-on was on it's own, your suggestion would be spot on. But we're in the middle of a series of notes, so not so straight forward. IMO :) Hope that helps shine some light on the subject. Cheers, Heath. Oh, and if you did alter the lick using a slide instead of a hammer-on, of course you would use the 1st finger :) But, considering we're about to move to the 2nd fret-4th string (E) and playing a fast tempo, a slide would only make it harder to play.

@douglesw

2 жыл бұрын

@@pickinlessons I think I don't know the fret assignments for position 2. By your explanation I am guessing 1 2 3 4 fingers are should line up with 2 3 4 5 frets on the high E? If that's the case then I can see where finger 3 works on the 4th fret. Possibly you can direct me to a discussion of positions? Thanks

@pickinlessons

Жыл бұрын

You are correct. 1st finger begins at the position you're in, and each finger takes a fret from there. Everything is open to variation, but that should be your guide.

I bought a guitar...can I be saved? My excuse is that it will make it easier to follow a guitarist on my banjo 😆

@pickinlessons

Жыл бұрын

It’s a good plan!!

Why the picking pattern? Its like youre playing triplets instead of swung 8th notes

@pickinlessons

4 ай бұрын

No triplets in the rhythm, but lots of syncopation. Picking direction is always following the down/up beat pattern. For example, in the 4th preparation lick, the 3 up pick strokes all fall on the off beat.

Wait a minute, your ain't no hillbilly.

@pickinlessons

2 жыл бұрын

Nope 🤠

@markwhited1785

2 жыл бұрын

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

@pickinlessons

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly 👍

Well i hate country. But bluegrass is magic

@BP-or2iu

Ай бұрын

I have a feeling that when you say "country" you're probably thinking of bad rock with an accent.

It kills me how so many of the best players of American guitar styles aren't even American lol.

THAT'S TOTALLY *NOT* THE KIND OF *ACCENT* THAT I *EXPECTED* TO HEAR!!! 😮😮😮HAHAHA😂😂😂

@pickinlessons

4 ай бұрын

😂😎