Temperance Reel, Part 1

from: Advanced Flatpicking Guitar with Scott Nygaard

This lesson is part of the course Advanced Flatpicking Guitar with Scott Nygaard.

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Learn the essential techniques of bluegrass flatpicking guitar through classic and lesser-known songs and tunes, from bluegrass blues to old-time fiddle tunes to country swing sounds.

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Home Sweet Home

In Part 2 of the lesson on crosspicking, you'll learn the first part of Scott's arrangement of "Home Sweet Home," which mostly uses the traditional 3-3-2 roll. Since crosspicking is usually used to play song melodies, it's a good idea to learn the melody of a song before tackling a crosspicking arrangement, so Scott starts by making sure you know the melody to "Home Sweet Home" and then takes the arrangement apart phrase by phrase (or roll by roll).

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Temperance Reel

Temperance Reel, Part 1

Temperance Reel, Part 2

Temperance Reel, Part 3: Variations on the Melody

Temperance Reel, Part 4: Play-Along Track

Temperance Reel, Part 1

“Temperance Reel” is an old Irish tune that has become a favorite of bluegrass guitarists and is popular at jam sessions and pickin’ parties. When learning fiddle tunes, it’s a good idea to go back and find the original version of the tune and not rely on guitarists’s versions. These are “fiddle” tunes after all. “Temperance Reel” can be found in some old early-20th-century tune books and the original melody to the A part contains a nice phrase that is not often heard in bluegrass versions of the tune, which often play the A part as if it’s “Billy in the Lowground” in the key of G. In the first part of this lesson, you’ll learn the A part note-for-note as well as how to think about the tune’s overall structure.

Temperance Reel" (Available to subscribers)

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Previous Lesson

← Pick Technique: Upstrokes and Swing

Next Lesson

Temperance Reel, Part 2 →

Previous Lesson

← Pick Technique: Upstrokes and Swing

Next Lesson

Temperance Reel, Part 2 →

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Temperance Reel, Part 1

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