Introduction to Country Bluegrass lead guitar playing – 7:57 min

In this lesson Ben Zinn teaches an introduction to country bluegrass lead guitar playing. This lesson will focus on using open strings in the key of G and the scales Ben teaches include open G major and open G major Pentatonic scales. Ge tusked to playing these scales up and down the neck and eventually you will want to learn them in all positions across the neck – but you can chip away at that goal a little each day. The G major scale is G, A, B, C ,D, E, and F#. And G major pentatonic is G, A, B, D, and E. Ben then gets into the bluegrass licks and techniques. Learn how to work up the scale and then back down. Very common device in bluegrass playing that you have probably heard many times. Bluegrass is often played fast so be sure and practice these examples slow at first and work them up to speed over time. Try to vary these licks and change up the order and put your own spin on them. Get creative with them and experiment – and have fun!

Hybrid picked country licks in the style of ROY NICHOLS – 7:15 min

In this lesson Dave Nassie gets into some hybrid picked country licks and lead lines in the style of Roy Nichols. This lesson is in the key of A and Dave gets into some chicken picking on a fender telecaster. Dave first gets into the A major pentatonic scale and gets into some hybrid picked doublestop licks. Notice the picking and plucking going on with the pick hand. Dave slows it down and you want to get the motion with the hybrid picking down. It takes some time to get proficient at the hybrid picking techniques – chip away a little each day at it and you will get it down in no time. Dave then gets into some hybrid picked licks using A minor pentatonic. You can also mix the major and minor for some great tones in this style. Get creative with these licks and put your own spin on them. In case you are not familiar with Roy Nichols – he was a country guitarist best known for playing lead guitar for the Merle Haggard band. He was with Merle for more than two decades. Roy was well known for his guitar technique in which he mixed fingerpicking and pedal steel-like bends, usually played on a Telecaster. 

Sizzling country hybrid picked licks mixing major and minor pentatonic scales inspired by JD Simo – 6:25 min

In this lesson Dave Nassie teaches some absolutely sizzling county lead licks inspired by epic Nasville guitarist JD Simo. This lesson is in the key of D and features a lot of low to high movements up the guitar neck. This lesson features the use of hybrid picking and when Dave states “pluck” the string – he means to use your pick hand finger to sound that string or note in the lick. Here you will mix major and minor pentatonic scales to get these sounds. Take note of the picking and plucking Dave utilizes with his pick hand. Start off slow with these licks and work up the speed over time. They will take some practice to get to super fast speed but chip away a little each day. These licks will open up some of the possibilities with mixing scales, low to high movements, and hybrid picking. Have fun and keep on rocking!