Get ready for some fast, hot picking, because we’re about to take a crash course in bluegrass guitar.
Be forewarned, though: this is no sit around-the-campfire strum-fest. It’s a true
Get ready for some fast, hot picking, because we’re about to take a crash course in bluegrass guitar.
Be forewarned, though: this is no sit around-the-campfire strum-fest. It’s a true guitar workout.
So grab your guitar—an acoustic is traditional, but these licks sound great on electric guitar too—and sharpen your flat-pick. We’re going to delve into the flashiest licks this side of the Appalachians. We’ll learn nine licks before we jump into a full-blown solo full of lots of great licks you can use in your own playing.
RUN TO THE HILLS
Bluegrass is a fusion of folk and country music and is usually played at a very brisk tempo. In traditional blue grass jams, fiddle, banjo, and mandolin players get most of the soloing glory, while the guitarist is typically relegated to rhythm chores and the occasional fill. But thanks to such luminaries as Doc Watson, Clarence White, Tony Rice, and Ricky Skaggs, the guitar has become a soloing voice in many bluegrass groups.
Often referred to as the “Lester Flatt run” (Flatt was the guitarist and vocalist of the famous duo Flatt & Scruggs), FIGURE 1A represents the cornerstone of bluegrass soloing. If there were to be a first commandment of the genre, it would read “Thou shalt play this lick—or some variation of it—in every solo.” Basically, it’s a simple run up the C major pentatonic scale (C-D-E-G-A) with a passing b3rd (Eb) thrown in. (You might say that the b3rd puts the “blue” in bluegrass.) Practice this lick in all 12 keys and in every position on the fretboard. FIGURE 1B, a variation of FIGURE 1A, is extended over three measures and fueled by a combination of hammer-ons and slides. Many bluegrass players