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The underlying boom-chuck rhythm of bluegrass and old-time country guitar playing has been at the heart of old-time and bluegrass guitar since the dawn of recorded country music. Learn the basic pattern and some variations, as well as the classic Lester Flatt G-run, and use them to play the bluegrass standard “Long Journey Home.”
Learn simple fingerstyle accompaniment patterns for basic chord shapes. You’ll learn the basic alternating-bass pattern and a Carter-style thumb/brush pattern, and how to use them both to play the chords to the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song “Teach Your Children.”
Dropped-D tuning is a great alternate tuning for beginning fingerstylists because it gives you two low D notes on which to practice your alternating bass. You’ll learn to play the melody to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” while playing a steady alternating bass.
Learn the basics of bluegrass and old-time country rhythm guitar playing: the boom-chuck pattern, along with some variations and the classic bluegrass G-run.Then you’ll put them all together to play rhythm to the Monroe Brothers’ classic “Long Journey Home.”
Learn a simple but cool slow blues shuffle in E that combines slide licks in the bass with single-note slide melodies on the high E string.
Marla talks about the role of the mandolin in Irish music, its evolution as a traditional Irish instrument, and her own approach to playing Irish music on the mandolin.
For over 35 years, Marla has played the 1922 Gibson A-model mandolin that she fondly recalls her grandfather playing in the 1960s and ‘70s, and it has become a key element of her musical voice.
Irish music is dance music, so creating a solid rhythmic feel is essential. Marla gets you started thinking about your picking-hand technique by explaining alternate picking (or “rhythmic picking”) and showing you a good basic picking motion for your picking hand. She talks about stressing the downstrokes to get the underlying rhythm for an Irish reel, and gives you a picking exercise for practicing putting a stress on the backbeat.
John Reischman’s Gibson F-5 Lloyd Loar mandolin is considered by many to be one of the greatest mandolins ever made. It was built in 1924 and was signed by Gibson’s acoustic engineer Lloyd Loar early on February 18, a day that produced a number of great mandolins, including those owned by Chris Thile and John Paul Jones. John talks about how he acquired the mandolin in 1981 and how he changed the fingerboard to a radiused fingerboard early on. He demonstrates it by playing his waltz “The North Shore,” which showcases the deep bass sound of this instrument.
In this video, John talks about his pick technique, starting with the shape and thickness of pick he uses: a 1.2–1.5 mm. triangular pick with three rounded shoulders. Then he shows you how he holds the pick and the angle at which he strikes the strings. He also shows you how he rests his palm lightly on the bridge, how he sometimes locks his wrist and uses more of his forearm and sometimes he plays with a loose wrist. In addition he demonstrates how he plays tremolo and talks about how he practices tremolo with a metronome, starting with a very slow setting and playing triplets for each beat and then gradually speeding it up.
John demonstrates his fretting-hand technique in this video. He talks about using the proper fingers in open position, with the index finger playing the first and second frets, middle finger playing the third and fourth frets, ring finger playing the fifth and sixth, and pinky playing the seventh. He also gives you an exercise that will help you learn that fingering (and also work your pinky), and talks about playing cleanly by fretting close to the fret as well as creating a smooth legato line by letting the notes sustain into each other. You’ll also learn the two closed-position scale positions he uses.
Learn to tune the guitar with an electronic tuner.
The chord changes in a song are often referred to by numbers rather than letter names. This is called the Nashville number system, but it’s used by lots of musicians, especially in jam sessions and song circles. Learn what it means when someone says the chords are 1–4–5.
Suppose you sing a song in one key and your friend plays it in another. What do you do? One solution is to use a capo to change keys. Learn to play songs you already know in different keys by using a capo.
Learn the basics of pick technique on the mandolin, including down/up or alternating picking, in which you play downstrokes on the 1, 2, 3, and 4 beats of every measure (of 4/4), and upstrokes on the ands between those beats. One of the trickiest things to get right is the crossing of strings, the motion of the pick as it moves from string to string, so you’ll also learn some simple exercises to practice string crossings.
Evie gets you started on your clawhammer banjo journey by talking about the African roots of the style, showing you the parts of the banjo, and explaining open-G tuning (the most common banjo tuning). She also gives you advice on how to hold your banjo comfortably, what kind of banjo works well for clawhammer, and what gauge strings to use. You’ll also learn good hand position for both hands and how to get in tune.
The I, IV, and V chords are the most commonly used chords in any key, and in the key of G those chords are G, C, and D. You’ll learn to play the bum-ditty pattern with G, C and D chords and then play (and sing) “You Are My Sunshine” with the same chords. You’ll also learn some handy exercises that combine chords with the bum-ditty pattern as well as single-string patterns.
G is the most common key to start playing the banjo in, and the G major scale consists of the notes you’ll need when you start playing melodies in the key of G. Learn how to find the notes of the G major scale in relation to the chords you already know.
By using pull-offs, hammer-ons, and slides you can get different sounds on the banjo, play more melody notes, and create more intricate rhythms. You'll learn to play each one and how to add them to the bum-ditty pattern.
Learn the tunes and techniques of one of the legends of old-time clawhammer banjo and one of Bruce’s personal heroes: Wade Ward.
Wade Ward’s solo version of the square dance tune “Mississippi Sawyer” is a little different than the way it would be played for a square dance, in that it drops a beat at the end of each part. It’s played in double-D tuning: aDADE, where the fourth string is D, third string is A, second string is D, first string is E, and fifth string is A. Bruce shows you the tuning and gives you advice on getting in tune. In addition to walking you through the basic A and B parts of Wade Ward’s version of “Mississippi Sawyer” phrase by phrase, Bruce shows you some of the embellishments and variations that Wade Ward played on “Mississippi Sawyer,” including some cool pull-offs and slides. He also talks about how Wade would accent the brush on the offbeats by playing all four strings and separate the brush from the melody on the high strings, giving it a great propulsive feeling.
Wade Ward played the traditional song “Reuben” (also called “Reuben’s Train”) in an unusual E major tuning (g#EG#BE), in which the fourth string is tuned to E, the third string to G#, the second string to B, the first string to E, and the fifth string to G#. Bruce shows you the tuning and then walks you through both parts of Wade Ward’s version of “Reuben,” which includes a short (four-bar) B part that starts with an E7 chord and a strong melody note on the seventh. You’ll also learn a pull-off embellishment you can add to the basic bum-ditty pattern.
The fiddle tune “June Apple” is an old-time music standard and, not surprisingly, Wade Ward had a unique way of playing it. It’s in A tuning, the same as G tuning, but tuned up a whole step, and the B part includes a flatted seventh chord, G in the key of A.
“Wade’s Lost Indian” is in an unusual tuning: F#DADE, which is like double dropped-D tuning but with the fifth string tuned down to F#. The A part is “crooked,” meaning that it isn’t just a straight eight or four bars, but consists of two 4½-measure parts. And while it has only a couple of melodic phrases, they occur in different places in the second half of the A part. The B part of “Wade’s Lost Indian” is straighter than the A part, with four regular phrases played in succession. In addition to walking you through the basic A and B parts of “Wade’s Lost Indian,” Bruce shows you a few variations on the last phrase of the A part as well as a “reverse double thumb” lick you can use at the ends of the B part phrases.
Wade Ward’s recording of the song “Married Man’s Blues” is one of the first he ever made, recorded in 1925 for OKeh Records. In this lesson you’ll learn how to play “Married Man’s Blues” instrumentally as well as how to backup your singing. Bruce starts by showing you the tuning he sings “Married Man’s Blues” in: an F tuning that is the same as G tuning but tuned down a step. Then he shows you the instrumental version, which is based on a simple bum-ditty strum and includes some bluesy slides and drop-thumb licks. Bruce also shows you how to give the song a nice syncopated feel by leaving out the first note in the drop-thumb pattern. You’ll also learn how to backup your singing on “Married Man’s Blues” by taking a simple bum-ditty strum pattern and adding some of the melody notes as you sing.
“Polly Put the Kettle On” is a classic old-time dance tune and Wade Ward’s version has some interesting rolls and drop-thumbing. It’s in double-D tuning (aDADE), and the B part of consists of three four-bar phrases. In addition to the basic A and B parts of Wade Ward’s version of “Polly Put the Kettle On,” you’ll learn some variations, including a couple different ways to play the roll that starts the A part and some syncopated phrases in the B part.
Wade Ward recorded the square dance tune “John Lover Is Gone” (also called “Johnny Lover’s Gone”) with fiddler Glen Smith. It’s in the key of D and played in double-D tuning. Bruce plays the whole tune through slowly and then breaks it down phrase by phrase, starting with a roll across the top two strings and a thumb note on the fifth string on the downbeat.
Wade Ward’s version of the old-time favorite “Shady Grove” has two parts and some unusual timing. It’s in an A modal tuning: aEADE. Bruce breaks it down for you phrase by phrase and talks about accenting the backbeat and varying the timing of the pull-offs that start the tune and the hammer-ons in the middle.
“Sally Ann” is a favorite tune in the Round Peak area of Virginia and in all old-time music circles. There are some different versions of the tune, but Wade Ward plays the standard two-part tune in his own inimitable style. It’s in the key of D and played in double-D tuning. In addition to showing you Wade’s version of each part, Bruce also gives you a few variations that Wade played on the A part.
The fiddle tune “Old Joe Clark” is one of the most popular in the fiddling world and there are many versions. Wade Ward’s version is very distinctive and is illustrative of how “Old Joe Clark” is played in the Round Peak area of Virginia, with, for example, an E chord in the B part instead of the G chord that is used in most other versions. “Old Joe Clark” is played in the key of A, and Bruce tunes his banjo up to A tuning (aEAC#E), which is the same as G tuning, but tuned up a whole step. Wade Ward’s version of “Old Joe Clark” includes reverse double thumbs, rolls, and a cool sliding double stop.
Like so many of Wade Ward’s versions of standard tunes, Wade approaches it a little differently than what has become standard. Many of the common versions of “Cluck Old Hen” use a G chord (the bVII in the key of A) in the B part, but Wade, like many musicians in his part of Virginia, plays an E chord instead of G.
The old-time tune “Jenny Baker” is known in Ireland as a hornpipe called “The Boys of Blue Hill” and also as “Twin Sisters” by the great West Virginia fiddler Melvin Wine. This version is more of a square dance tune and was recorded in the 1930s by Kentucky fiddler Andy Palmer with the Jimmy Johnson String Band. Bruce talks about how, when learning fiddle tunes, it’s important to think of melodies the same way you think of spoken language.You’ll learn the melody to “Jenny Baker” as well as the bowing, which is based on a common pattern called shuffle bowing. Once you’ve learned the melody and basic bowing pattern, you’ll learn how to add embellishments—bowing variations, accented bow strokes, drone strings—that give the tune a syncopated pulse.
The version of this great old tune you’ll learn comes from West Virginia fiddler Edden Hammons. It uses an A Mixolydian scale and is played with the low G string tuned up to A. The bowing of the A part of “Fine Times at Our House” is not so much pattern-oriented as it is designed to put the accents in the right places. The B part can be played either with a straight shuffle bowing or the more-syncopated bowing that Bruce shows you. You’ll also learn where to add drones and double stops.
“The Blue Goose” comes from Kentucky fiddler Buddy Thomas. It’s in the key of G and is played in standard tuning. The melody includes some nice trills, slides, and blue notes and it has a very specific bowing. You’ll also learn where to use open-string drones and doubles stops.
“Soldier’s Joy” is one of the most popular in the fiddle tune repertoire. The version you’ll learn here comes from the great Tommy Jarrell from the Round Peak region of North Carolina. Tommy was one of Bruce’s heroes when he was starting out and has been a mentor to many a young old-time fiddle enthusiast. His playing has a unique swingy syncopated feel, with some characteristic rhythmic bowing patterns that Bruce shows you here. “Soldier’s Joy” is in the key of D, and is played in “high bass” tuning: A D A E. After learning the melody you’ll learn a couple bowing exercises so you can get comfortable with Tommy’s bowing patterns. You’ll also learn how to add a figure-eight motion to your bow arm, which gives an additional syncopated accent to the bowing.
The great old-time fiddler Lowe Stokes recorded “Katy Did” in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929. “Katy Did” is played in standard tuning in the key of C and has some nice bluesy, ragtime elements. The bowing to “Katy Did” alternates between shuffle bowing and single “saw” strokes, of which Lowe was a master.
“Georgia Horseshoe” comes from Bill Hensley, of western North Carolina. It’s a four-part dance tune in A tuning: AEAE.The bowing to the A part has a nice syncopated “hemiola” rhythm. Bruce gives you advice on using drone strings to get the whole fiddle to ring as well as how to add accents to give the bowing a more syncopated feel.
This version of the well-known old-time fiddle tune “Cumberland Gap” comes from the great North Carolina fiddler Tommy Jarrell. It’s in an unusual tuning: ADAD, which gives your fiddle a unique resonance.You’ll learn Tommy’s bowing, along with advice on adding a circular motion to your bow arm and how to fit it into the bowing pattern, with a counterclockwise motion for the first part of the pattern and a clockwise motion for the second half.
The great dance tune “Citaco” comes from Georgia and was recorded in the 1920s by one of the most famous fiddlers of that era, Lowe Stokes. “Citaco” is in GDAD tuning, which just involves lowering the E string to D. The bowing has a nice syncopated feel, and you’ll learn a couple of bowing variations as well as drones for both parts.
“Blue Tail Fly” was recorded in the 1920s in a skit by Seven-Foot Dilly and His Dill Pickles. It’s in the key of G in standard tuning. You’ll learn the bowing and what drones and double stops work well, as well as how to punctuate the rhythm by accenting some of the drones.
Bruce teaches you one of his specialties: singing and playing the fiddle at the same time. Specifically, playing harmony parts with the fiddle. You’ll learn the traditional song “Green Grows the Laurel,” but first Bruce gives you a couple of exercises to get started thinking about singing with the fiddle. After learning the melody, you’ll learn how to play chords behind the melody, and a simple parallel harmony below the melody.
The dance tune “Jenny on the Railroad” was recorded by the Carter Brothers and Son in 1928. It uses an A Mixolydian scale and has several parts that share melodic phrases. A good approach to bowing “Jenny on the Railroad” is to think about the sense of “gallop” in the rhythm. You can achieve that by using straight shuffles and using a few early bow strokes to give it some excitement.
A popular tune in the old-time repertoire, “Shove the Pig’s Foot” comes from Marcus Martin from western North Carolina, who recorded for Alan Lomax and the Library of Congress in the 1940s and who recorded this with his son Wayne in the late 1950s. The bowing in “Shove the Pig’s Foot” isn’t as pattern oriented as some tunes. The bowing, instead, responds to the phrasing and rhythm of the melody, which can be likened to speech, with punctuation, breath, etc.
“Pickin’ the Devil’s Eye” comes from Mississippi fiddler Enos Canoy, who had a bluesy, syncopated style of fiddling. Bruce’s version has evolved since he first learned it and the tune has become a vehicle for different ways of creating rhythm on the fiddle. It’s also in an unusual tuning, AEAC#, sometimes called “Black Mountain Rag” tuning.You’ll learn the bowing as well as “pulses” that emphasize the second note played with one bow stroke.
West Virginia fiddler Edden Hammons was recorded in 1947 by a collector named Louis Chappell. Hammons’ playing has a Scottish influence, with strongly detailed phrases and an old-fashioned style of intonation. You’ll learn his version of “Greasy Coat” in AEAE tuning in this lesson.Bruce shows you how Hammons often played thirds and sevenths slightly flat, and trilled the third.
Tommy Jackson was a Nashville session fiddler in the 1950s. He also recorded a series of square dance records designed for people to dance to and wrote “Acorn Hill Breakdown.” Most of the tune is played with a shuffle bowing, with a few exceptions. Bruce points out the string crossings to watch for as well as some variations in the shuffle pattern.
One of the most popular fiddle tunes in the Round Peak area of North Carolina, “Backstep Cindy” is a three-part dance tune with crooked phrasing and interesting bowing, played in a high-bass tuning with the G string tuned up to A: ADAE. You’ll learn some ways to add double stops and chords with a circular bow movement as well as some rhythmic variations used by Tommy Jarrell and others.
This ragtimey tune in the key of C comes from Corbin, Kentucky, and the playing of Alex Hood and his Railroad Boys, who recorded it in 1930. The B part of “L&N Rag” has a repeated phrase with an extra beat. It can be played with a straight shuffle, but Bruce shows you some variations, which sound especially good at the beginnings and ends of phrases.
The song “Goodbye Old Paint,” is in the Alan Lomax cowboy song books and was recorded years ago by Harry McClintock, the version closest to the one Bruce teaches here. Bruce sings “Goodbye Old Paint” in the key of A and plays it on the fiddle in AEAE tuning. He starts with an exercise to help you get used to singing with your fiddle, first by singing an A major scale in unison with your fiddle and then in harmony with your fiddle.After learning the fiddle melody, you’ll learn to accompany your singing with some basic double stops for the chords of A, E, and D, as well as how to play the melody along with your voice, and even add some harmony notes on the fiddle.
This version of “Apple Blossom” was recorded by the John Lusk String Band for the archive of the Library of Congress in the 1940s. “Apple Blossom” is in the key of D, played with the G string tuned up to A, and it has a lot of similarities to “Sally Ann.” It’s a very rhythmic tune, so Bruce spends some extra time on the bowing in this lesson.
There are a number of versions of “Fort Smith.” The version you’ll learn here comes from Luke Highnight and His Ozark Strutters, who recorded “Fort Smith Breakdown” in the 1920s. It’s in the key of G in standard tuning. Most of it is played with a straight shuffle bowing, but in the first anticipated phrase of the A part, you stretch the bow strokes out to match the rhythm of the melody, and there are a few other variations to the shuffle pattern as well. Bruce also shows you how to play the A part in the higher octave and how to add punch to the rhythm with some open string hits.
Alan Lomax recorded a lot of great fiddlers on his 1937 trip to the South, including Eastern Kentucky fiddler Luther Strong, the source for this version of “Glory in the Meeting House.” It’s in the key of E minor, but in an unusual tuning: EDAE, with the lowest (G) string tuned down to E.The first part of “Glory in the Meeting House”has a nice syncopated bowing while the B part mostly uses straight shuffle bowing. Bruce shows you some variations, including how to put an emphasis on the downstrokes of the shuffle pattern.
The old-time favorite “Susananna Gal” is known by a few other names, including “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss” and “Western Country.” The version Bruce teaches you here, in ADAE tuning, is from the Round Peak area of North Carolina, home to great fiddlers like Tommy Jarrell, Kyle Creed, and others.
“New Money” comes from Kentucky fiddler Doc Roberts, who recorded it in the 1930s. It’s a lyrical tune in the key of C in standard tuning and has a bit of a ragtime flavor. The bowing for the A part mostly uses shuffle bowing, but with a couple variations for the syncopated “raggy” parts of the melody. The B part has a few more variations on the shuffle pattern, including a syncopated bowing Doc Roberts often used.
This great old tune is from Fiddlin’ Bob Larkin, who played with a band called the Melody Makers in the 1920s. It’s played in AEAE tuning and the bowing is mostly a shuffle pattern, with some variations to match the phrasing of the melody.
The version of “Blackberry Blossom” you’ll learn in this lesson is not the tune common in the bluegrass world and which comes from Arthur Smith. This tune is much older and is sometimes called “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” to differentiate it from the bluegrass fiddle tune. There are a number of great recordings of this version of “Blackberry Blossom” by Ed Morrison, Snake Chapman, and Ed Haley.
The beautiful old love song “Old Virginia” is a great song to sing with the fiddle. You’ll learn a few different ways to accompany your singing in this lesson, starting by just doubling the melody on the fiddle. Once you’ve learned to play and sing the melody together, Bruce shows you some simple double stop chords and how to add them to the melody.
“Jeff Sturgeon” comes from John Morgan Salyer of Salyersville, Kentucky. It’s a “crooked” three-part tune in A E A E tuning, and uses the major and Mixolydian scales. In addition to the melody and a fairly straightforward bowing, you’ll learn some of Bruce’s favorite variations to “Jeff Sturgeon,” many of which involve taking straightforward rhythmic phrases and syncopating them, as well as adding open strings to get counter rhythms. You’ll also learn some cool double stops as well as a bow triplet and how to add a pulse to the bow pattern.
“Going to Town” comes from the great Arthur Smith, who was one of the innovators on the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930s and very influential on old-time and bluegrass fiddlers and all who heard him. “Going to Town” is a happy, bright, uptempo tune in the key of G. The bowing starts with straight shuffle bowing, and then Bruce varies it with some longer bow strokes. You’ll also learn some things Bruce does to flesh out “Going to Town,” including double stops and syncopated rhythmic accents.
“Grigsby’s Hornpipe” comes from the Texas fiddler Eck Robertson. It’s in AEAC# tuning (also called “Black Mountain Rag” tuning or the Devil’s tuning) and has lots of parts, many of which are very similar. The bowing uses a lot of “pulses” and drones. You’ll also learn an alternate E part, one of Bruce’s variations with some cool syncopation.
Tommy Jarrell’s “Rockingham Cindy,” a distant cousin to the kids song “Get Along Home, Cindy,” is a great showcase for Tommy’s fiddle style. It’s a two-part tune in the key of D, played in “high-bass” with the G string tuned up to A: ADAE. You’ll learn the bowing Tommy Jarrell used on “Rockingham Cindy,” including how he “rocks” the bow on some phrases and uses a circular figure-eight motion on others. You’ll also learn a bowed triplet that Tommy Jarrell often used at the ends of phrases.
The lovely “Peeler’s Creek Waltz” comes from a fiddler named Oscar Wright, but Bruce learned it from the great Highwoods String Band, a popular old-time string band in the 1970s. “Peeler’s Creek Waltz” is in the key of G in standard tuning and is a great tune for dancing. You’ll also learn the bowing Bruce uses in “Peeler’s Creek Waltz” to give accents and a pulse to the tune and some drones, double stops, and ornaments you can add.
The Texas fiddle waltz “Midnight on the Water” has become popular with all sorts of roots musicians. The version you’ll learn here comes from Texas fiddle icon Benny Thomasson, whose father, Luke, wrote “Midnight on the Water.” It’s in an unusual tuning, DDAD, and, Bruce shows you how to use the open strings to create beautiful drones and double stops.
Midwest fiddler Dwight Lamb is the source for this great old tune. Lamb comes from the Missouri fiddling tradition, though he was born in Iowa, in 1934. “Casey’s Reel” is a straightforward tune in the key of D, played in standard tuning. It can be played with straight shuffle bowing, but there are some phrases that benefit from accents created by bowing tailored to each phrase. The contrast between those phrases and the phrases played with straight shuffle bowing is really nice.
The traditional favorite “Red Rocking Chair” has been recorded by many people and has some alternate titles (“Honey Babe,” “Ain’t Got no Honey Baby Now,” etc.). Bruce’s version, which you’ll learn here, is a combination of a fiddle version by Norman Edmonds and lyrics culled from different sources. You’ll learn to play the fiddle version and sing the song with your fiddle providing accompaniment in Bruce’s inimitable style.
This great old square dance tune comes from John Dykes, who recorded it with his group Dykes Magic City Trio in 1927. “Red Steer” is a three-part tune in GDGD tuning, which is similar to AEAE tuning, but down a step. Bruce shows you how to get into GDGD tuning by lowering the A and E strings down one whole step to G and D and then shows you the melody and bowing, which has a lot of pulses. The bowing to the B part is straight shuffle bowing and Bruce shows you how to emphasize the backbeat with shuffle bowing.
As one of the most popular of old-time fiddle tunes, “Cotton-Eyed Joe” has probably been played by every old-time fiddler, so there are lots of versions. The version you’ll learn here is Bruce’s own, developed from hearing many great versions over the years, including some by Tommy Jarrell, Fred Cockerham, and other Round Peak fiddlers. You’ll learn the basic tune in AEAE tuning as well as a characteristic syncopated Round Peak bowing pattern and a couple variations. Bruce also shows you how to “rock” the bow and add pulses to the basic pattern as well as how to play the melody with a straight shuffle pattern.
There are a lot of versions of “John Brown’s Dream,” and a few tunes, like “Little Rabbit,” that are very similar to it. Bruce’s version, in AEAE tuning, is a four-part tune largely influenced by Tommy Jarrell, with a lot of the rhythmic syncopation and bluesy pulse characteristic of the Round Peak fiddling tradition.
“Big Scioty” (also called “Big Sciota”) comes from West Virginia fiddler Burl Hammons, and it has evolved into a version that has made its way in the last few decades into the bluegrass and festival jam session worlds. Bruce breaks down the melody and bowing of each part, giving you advice about fingering and pointing out the rhythmic similarity of the phrases as he goes. Bruce also talks about different ways of fleshing out and making “Big Scioty” your own, including adding double stops to fit the chords that may be played by an accompanist. He finishes by playing a tune with a similar melody, John Salyer’s “Kentucky Winders.”
The dance tune “Chinquapin Hunting” comes from Virginia fiddler Norman Edmonds though it has evolved a bit from Norman’s version, as tunes often do. It’s a three-part tune in AEAE tuning. The A part is crooked, with an extra half measure, and all three parts are short. The melody of “Chinquapin Hunting” calls for a fairly syncopated bowing. Bruce shows you a syncopated pattern he uses for the A part and then shows you how it fits the melody. He also shows you how to drone the open A and E strings against the basic melody and how to play the melody on the bottom two strings.
The Southern mountain ballad “Pretty Saro” is well-known and probably originated as an English folk ballad. Bruce’s version, influenced by a recording of Gaither Carlton, has no consistent time signature, but rather a “broken” meter that follows the lyrics of the song. Bruce starts by teaching the fiddle melody and then shows you how the fiddle melody relates to the sung melody. You’ll also earn some different ways to add chords and double stops to the fiddle part you play behind your singing.
Robert Sykes is one of the lesser-known fiddlers from the Round Peak area of Virginia. He’s probably best known for a unique version of “Black-Eyed Suzie” as well as his tune “Robert’s Serenade,” which is in AEAE tuning and closely related to “Clinch Mountain Backstep.” It’s a crooked tune with a number of syncopated five-beat phrases, and Bruce starts by getting you to feel those phrases, before walking you through the melody. You’ll also learn a bowing exercise that will help give the bowing in “Robert’s Serenade” a nice pulse.
Kentucky fiddler William Hamilton Stepp was recorded in 1937 by Alan Lomax of the Library of Congress, and this great square dance tune “Stump-Tailed Dolly” (or just “Dolly”) was part of that recording session. Bruce’s bowing of “Stump-Tailed Dolly” is based around three patterns: the straight shuffle, a syncopated variation of the shuffle pattern, and single bow strokes. Bruce shows you how to play the tune with a straight shuffle and then how to vary it.
Bruce’s version of the square dance tune “Christmas Eve” is a combination of a couple of different recorded versions. It’s in the key of D and played in ADAE tuning. The bowing for “Christmas Eve” is pretty straightforward, combining shuffle bowing with a more regular quarter note bowing pattern. Bruce also shows you how to add a drone and double-stop accents to the second part.
“Martha Campbell” is a well-known dance tune in the key of D. Bruce’s version is taken in part from the great Kentucky fiddler Doc Roberts and it includes some of Doc’s signature rhythmic phrases. “Martha Campbell” is very notey but is glued together rhythmically by a very regular shuffle bowing. Bruce shows you how the melody fits with the shuffle bowing and how you can make shuffle bowing exercises out of the melodic phrases and give the shuffle pattern some syncopation by accenting the downstrokes.
The version of the great Kentucky fiddle tune “Flannery’s Dream” you’ll learn here comes from fiddler Santford Kelly, who was recorded by Peter Hoover in the 1970s. The second part of “Flannery’s Dream” is crooked, with an irregular number of beats, but Bruce suggests that you not try to learn it by counting beats but rather listening to the phrases of the melody. The A part can be playing with shuffle bowing, and Bruce also shows you an alternative syncopated variation on shuffle bowing, while the bowing of the B part is related to the phrasing of the crooked melody.
Missouri fiddler Art Galbraith had a very soft, sweet style of fiddling. “Waverley” comes from him. It’s in the key of G, played in standard tuning, and has a nice vocal quality. Bruce walks you through the melody of “Waverley” and then shows you the bowing, which has a lot of saw strokes. He ends by playing Art Galbraith’s version of “Flowers of Edinburgh.”
Kentucky fiddler Clyde Davenport’s tune “Five Miles from Town” is what’s known as a “crooked” tune, with an uneven number of measures and an unusual structure. It’s in the key of D in ADAE tuning. The A part has two identical phrases followed by a different phrase, while the B part has a couple of five-beat phrases followed by an ending that’s almost identical to the ending of the A part. The bowing on “Five Miles from Town” combines shuffle bowing with some single strokes and three-note slurs to fit the melody.
“Shaking Off the Acorns” (sometimes called “Shaking Down the Acorns”) comes from the great West Virginia fiddler Edden Hammons, who was recorded in 1947. “Shaking Off the Acorns” is in the key of A, but is in ADAE tuning, which is usually used for tunes in D. You’ll learn the melody and basic bowing for “Shaking Off the Acorns” as well as some different ways to embellish the bowing and punctuate the rhythm with double stops and drones.
This version of the classic old-time fiddle tune “Bonaparte’s Retreat” comes from Tommy Jarrell. It’s a two-part tune in DDAD tuning, with the highest and lowest strings tuned down to D and used primarily as drones. “Bonaparte’s Retreat” has a march feel, and the bowing matches the rhythm of the melody.
“Roscoe’s Waltz” is a beautiful waltz that comes from fiddler Roscoe Parrish, who was born in the late 1800s. Bruce walks you through the melody and bowing and and shows you some double stops and drones you can add to accent the chords as well as a bow trill, a common ornament in the Virginia/North Carolina region.
Lost Boy” comes from the great eastern Kentucky fiddler John Salyer. It’s a bit like the tune “Lost Girl” that has become popular in old-time circles. Salyer’s “Lost Boy” is in G, like “Lost Girl,” and has some similar melodic phrases, but it’s not “straight” like “Lost Girl,” it has an extra half measure in the A part, and some of Salyer’s distinctive phrasing. The bowing is based on a shuffle pattern with some modifications to fit the melodic phrasing.
The great Kentucky fiddler Ed Haley has his own version of the traditional “Lost Indian” played in AEAC# tuning, which some people call “Black Mountain Rag” tuning. Bruce explains the tuning and then shows you the melody, which has three parts. There are a lot of rhythmic possibilities in Ed Haley’s “Lost Indian.” It can be played in a straight shuffle bowing, but Bruce also shows you some more syncopated ways to bow “Lost Indian” and gives you ideas for punctuating “Lost Indian” with double stops. He also shows you a variation on the C part that uses some syncopated pulse bowing and different chords.
“Bunch of Keys” (also called “Old Bunch of Keys”) comes from North Carolina fiddle legend Tommy Jarrell. It’s in the key of A in a cross tuning that Tommy called “sawmill tuning”: AEAE. Before he shows you the melody, Bruce shows you one of Tommy’s distinctive syncopated bowing patterns, which you’ll use to play the A part. He also shows you how to add drones and double stops and put a pulse into Tommy’s bow pattern.
The source for the three-part D tune “Indian Ate the Woodchuck” is the great fiddler Ed Haley, who was from the eastern Kentucky/western West Virginia area, and whose playing was documented on home disc recordings made by his son in 1946 and 1947.
The first recorded version of the popular old-time song “Train on the Island” comes from J.P. Nestor and Norman Edmonds, and many people have put their own stamp on it since. Bruce talks about the evolution of the song and some of the people he’s been influenced by and then plays his fiddle-and-voice version, which is in GDGD tuning. As Bruce does with all his Singing and Fiddling lessons, he starts by giving you a scale exercise for learning to sing with the fiddle. After showing you the basic melody of “Train on the Island” (for fiddle and voice), Bruce shows you some simple double stops you can play along with your singing and demonstrates other chordal substitutions he uses.
“Julie Ann Johnson” comes from fiddler Emmett Lundy, who was recorded for the Library of Congress in the 1930s. Lundy was from the Galax, Virginia, area and his style, especially some of the things he does with the bow, harks back to Scottish fiddling.
“Pretty Little Shoes” is a straight-ahead square dance tune that comes from fiddler Ward Jarvis. It’s in AEAE tuning and is standard fiddle tune form, AABB, with two regular-length parts. In addition to the melody, Bruce shows you the bowing he uses to play “Pretty Little Shoes,” which is more lyrical than on some tunes, starting with a long down bow and following the contours of the melody rather than sticking to a specific pattern.
The crooked G tune “Muddy Creek” comes from Eastern Kentucky fiddler John Salyer. It’s a lyrical tune with odd phrase lengths that don’t repeat in the regular way that square dance tunes do. Bruce walks you through the melody phrase by phrase, showing you how to hear the individual phrases. You’ll also learn Bruce’s bowing and some of the things he does to punctuate the unusual melody.
The fiddle tune “Sandy Boys” comes from the great West Virginia fiddler Edden Hammons, who was born in 1875 and recorded in 1947 for the archives of West Virginia State University. “Sandy Boys” is played by most people these days much differently than the way Hammons played it, but in this lesson, Bruce gets deep into the way that Hammons originally played “Sandy Boys.”
“Kennedy Rag” is in the key of F and was recorded in the 1920s by the Stripling Brothers, Charlie and Ira, who were from Alabama. Much of their music has a ragtime influence and reflects the popular music of the time, and “Kennedy Rag” is no exception, with syncopated phrases and a song-like melody in the B part.
“Streak o’ Lean, Streak o’ Fat” was recorded in the late 1920s by Seven-Foot Dilly and His Dill Pickles, led by guitarist John Dilleshaw. The fiddler in the band when the recording of “Streak o’ Lean, Streak o’ Fat” was made was most likely Harry Kiker. “Streak o’ Lean, Streak o’ Fat” is similar to a tune by Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers called “Hell Broke Loose in Georgia,” but “Streak o’ Lean” has some extra parts, four in all.
Learn to sing and play Bruce’s arrangement of the Stephen Foster song “Hard Times Come Again No More.” Bruce starts by singing and playing the entire song through in the key of D, and then talks about and demonstrates the three different ways of accompanying a song with the fiddle: unison melody, chords, and harmony.
The old-time fiddle tune “Laughing Boy” comes from Texas and is in AEAC#, which some people call “Black Mountain Rag” tuning. It also has some pizzicato (plucking) in the B part, with the bow droning the lower two strings and your fingers plucking the upper two strings.
“Wild Hog in the Woods” was recorded by Lonesome Luke and His Farm Boys in 1931 in Kentucky. It’s a straightforward square dance tune in the key of F, so it’s a good tune for practicing playing in the key of F.
“Broken Down Gambler” comes from the rollicking 1920s Georgia string band Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers. It’s a straight-ahead dance tune in the key of G, in standard tuning. You can play most of the first part with a straight shuffle, while the bowing of the second part matches the phrasing of the melody.
“Cranberry Rock” comes from West Virginia fiddler Burl Hammons. It’s in the key of C and has some phrases familiar from other C tunes. Bruce’s bowing on “Cranberry Rock” combines shuffle bowing with bowing that matches some of the phrases of the tune.
Bruce’s version of “Last of Callahan,” a three-part tune played in AEAE tuning, mostly comes from Kentucky fiddler William Hamilton (Bill) Stepp, who was recorded by the Lomaxes in 1937. In addition to the melody, Bruce shows you the bowing he uses on each part of “Last of Callahan”: a syncopated Round Peak–style pattern on the A part and a shuffle with syncopated accents and minor variations for the B and C parts.
“The Devil’s Nine Questions” is an old English folk ballad that was recorded by Texas Gladden, a great singer who was recorded by the Library of Congress in 1942. For this song, Bruce tunes the fiddle down a whole step to FCGD, but fingers it as if he’s in the key of G. Bruce starts with an exercise to get your voice and fiddle working together. Then he shows you how to sync up your bowing of the melody with your voice, and how to create an arrangement by adding chords and harmony notes.
In this recording of his Facebook Live workshop, Bruce answers student questions, plays some great tunes (including “Walter Hooker’s Tune”, “Piney Woods,” “Drunkard’s Hiccups,” “Smith’s Reel,” “Cherokee Shuffle,” “Rockingham Cindy,” and “Pick in the Devil’s Eye”), demonstrates some common old-time bow patterns, and talks about how he learns fiddle tunes, the fiddles he plays, the strings he uses, and more.
“Robinson County” is a great old-time dance tune that was recorded in the 1920s by Sharp, Hinman, and Sharp. Bruce walks you through the melody of each part and shows you his bowing, which combines shuffle bowing with some three-note slurs and a few other variations that match the melody.
The dance tune “Old Dad” was originally an Irish tune called “Pigtown Fling,” but in the US it goes by many names, including “Old Dad,” “Wild Horse at Stony Point,” “Buck Creek Girls,” and more. It’s a two-part tune in the key of G, and Bruce’s version owes a lot to the way fiddler John Rector played it. In addition to the basic melody, Bruce also shows you a variation on the A part that John Rector played.
Alan and Elizabeth Lomax recorded Kentucky fiddler William Stepp playing “Ways of the World” for the Library of Congress in 1937. It’s a three-part tune played in AEAE tuning, and the B part is crooked, with an extra bar of 2/4 in the middle. Bruce walks you through the melody and his bowing, and also talks about William Stepp’s ornamentation and intonation.
The song “The Blackest Crow” has a number of different titles, including “As Time Draws Near” and “The Lover’s Lament.” It was first published in 1906 with lyrics supposedly taken from a Civil War diary. Bruce’s version, in GDGD tuning, is influenced by the singing and playing of Tommy Jarrell. In addition to showing you the basic melody of “The Blackest Crow,” vocally and on the fiddle, Bruce shows you some double stop chords (and variations) you can use to accompany the song and how to combine melody and harmony on the fiddle in your accompaniment.
There are a number of different versions of the old-time fiddle classic “Dusty Miller,” but this one comes from the pioneering Texas fiddler Eck Robertson. It’s in the key of A, played in standard tuning and has two parts. Bruce walks you through the melody of both parts of “Dusty Miller” and shows you his bowing, which combines shuffle bowing with some three-note slurs, saw strokes, and pulses that fit the melodic rhythm.
There are a couple of sources for the fiddle tune “Booth” (also called “Booth Shot Lincoln”), but the one you’ll learn here comes from western North Carolina fiddler Marcus Martin. These days “Booth” is usually played in AEAE tuning, but Bruce shows you the way Martin played it: in GDGD tuning.
Bruce’s version of the song “Lazy John” has evolved from a western swing recording by Johnny Lee Wills (brother of Bob Wills) in 1947 through Kentucky fiddler Clyde Davenport into Bruce’s hands. Bruce plays and sings “Lazy John” in the key of G, in standard tuning, and the song has two parts, verse and chorus.
“Half Past Four” comes from the great fiddler Ed Haley, who wrote the tune to commemorate the passing of his newborn son at 4:30 in the morning. It’s unclear from listening to Haley’s recording of “Half Past Four” whether he played it in standard tuning or AEAE but Bruce plays it in AEAE. “Half Past Four” is a standard 32-bar AABB fiddle, but the A part of “Half Past Four” has almost no repetition while the B part repeats the first syncopated phrase three times.
“Happy Hollow” comes from the great western North Carolina fiddler Marcus Martin. It’s a two-part tune in the key of A, played in AEAC# tuning, which has a few different names: “Black Mountain Rag” tuning, calico tuning, etc.
“Flying Indian” comes from the fiddling of Jesse Shelor, who was recorded by Victor Records in the historic 1927 Bristol Sessions in Bristol, Virginia, with the Shelor Family and Dad Blackard’s Moonshiners. This tune comes from some 1970s recordings made by his family at his home in Meadows of Dan, Virginia. It’s a straightforward, lyrical dance tune in the key of G.
“Duck Creek” comes from Texas fiddler Peter Tomlinson (P.T.) Bell, who was recorded in 1941 at the age of 74. “Duck Creek” is a bright, happy square dance tune in the key of A, played in AEAE tuning.
“Bull at the Wagon” comes from the Lewis Brothers of San Antonio, Texas, who were recorded in 1929. It’s a three-part tune in the key of A, played in standard tuning.
“Possum on a Rail” is a fun, syncopated dance tune in the key of G that was recorded in 1930 by the Mississippi Possum Hunters, with fiddler Lonnie Ellis, guitarist Pete Herring, and cellist John Holloway.
“Logan County Blues” is a bluesy dance tune in the key of D. There’s no specific origin for the tune but fiddlers Fred Cockerham and Greg Hooven each have recorded great versions. It’s a two-part tune (AABB), but the first part follows 12-bar blues form, while the second part returns to standard eight-bar fiddle tune form.
The four-part dance tune “Hangman’s Reel” comes from Virginia fiddler Albert Hash and is played in AEAE tuning. Bruce plays it mostly with shuffle bowing, using the open strings to punctuate the melody rhythmically.
“Evelina Two-Step” was probably written by the man who recorded it, Tennessee fiddler John Sharp, Sr., whose daughter’s name was Evelina. Sharp called it a two-step, but it also can be played as a schottische, if you’re playing for dancers who request a schottische. It’s a straightforward, lilting tune in the key of D that includes an interesting bowing pattern often called “rocking the bow.”
“Lonesome John” comes from eastern Kentucky fiddler John Morgan Salyer, who was recorded in the early 1940s. It’s a standard two-part dance tune in AEAE tuning and alternates between Mixolydian and major scales, though Salyer played his thirds and sevenths a little flatter than tempered tuning.
“The Devil’s Waltz” comes from Canada and the Métis fiddle tradition, which is a beautiful confluence of French, Scottish, and First Nations music. “The Devil’s Waltz” is played in “the Devil’s tuning” (also known as Calico tuning and “Black Mountain Rag” tuning): AEAC#.
“Crockett’s Honeymoon” comes from Crockett’s Kentucky Mountaineers, who made some recordings in the 1930s. It’s a straight-ahead dance tune in the key of G and it likely comes from the Irish “Honeymoon Reel.”
“Rocky Road to Georgia” comes from fiddler Frank Reed of Randolph County, Missouri. It’s a straight-ahead square dance tune in the key of D with some nice chordal movement in the second part. Bruce plays it in high-bass tuning (ADAE).
“Grey Owl” is an old-time fiddle tune from the Canadian prairies written by Métis fiddler John Arcand. It’s in the key of D and has some interesting bowing as well as an extra half measure in the A part.
“Devil in the Strawstack” was recorded by Tommy Jarrell, who learned it from Zack Payne, a Civil War veteran who died in 1930. It’s in the key of A minor, played in standard tuning, and has the strong, syncopated feel of Round Peak fiddling.
The dance tune “Nancy Dalton” comes from south central Kentucky fiddlers such as Jim Bowles, Isham Monday, and Pat Kingery. It’s a straightforward tune in the key of D, in standard tuning, with pretty backup chords.
“Indians Over the Hill” comes from West Virginia fiddler John Hannah, who was born in the 1920s and recorded in the 1980s by fiddler Jeff Goehring. Bruce’s version is based on Jeff’s version and is a bit more straightforward than John Hannah’s. It’s a three-part tune in the key of D and can be played in ADAE tuning, though Bruce teaches it in standard.
“Cowboy Waltz” is a beautiful fiddle waltz in the key of D that was composed by folk music icon Woody Guthrie.
This version of the fiddle tune “Dusty Miller” comes from Mississippi fiddler John Alexander Brown and is quite different from the more well-known versions. It’s in GDGD tuning with a minor feeling and some modified pitches (slightly sharped Bb and F notes.)
“Fiddler’s Reel” is a nice straightforward dance in the key of D that is not very well known. Bruce’s sources for the tune are Round Peak fiddler Benton Flippen and Mike Bryant of the New Dixie Entertainers. Bruce shows it to you in standard tuning, but it can also be played in ADAE tuning.
“Sallie Cooper” comes from Eastern Kentucky fiddler John Morgan Salyer, who was recorded by a family member in the 1940s. “Sallie Cooper” is in GDAD tuning, in which the high string is tuned down to D. It has two parts but the second part is played only once.
There are a lot of different versions of “Highlander’s Farewell,” including Irish and Scottish versions. Bruce has recorded a version of “Highlander’s Farewell” with Alasdair Fraser, Natalie Haas, Martin Hayes, and Dennis Cahill that explores a lot of the versions. The version you’ll learn here comes from Grayson County, Virginia, fiddler Emmett Lundy, who was recorded for the Library of Congress in the 1940s.
“Red Prairie Dawn” was written by Illinois fiddler Gary Harrison and has become very popular in old-time and bluegrass circles. Bruce teaches “Red Prairie Dawn” to you in AEAE cross tuning.
“Arkansas Traveler” is one of the most popular old-time fiddle tunes, and there are many versions. In this lesson, you’ll learn Bruce’s version, which is influenced by, among others, Wade Ward and Glen Smith, who start on the high part, although most people start on the low part. For this tune, Bruce tunes his fiddle to “high-bass” tuning (ADAE), but “Arkansas Traveler” can, of course, be played in standard tuning as well.
Bruce wrote “Isambard’s Waltz” a few years ago and recorded it on Molsky’s Mountain Drifters. It’s in the key of A, played in AEAC# tuning (often called calico tuning or devil’s tuning or “Black Mountain Rag” tuning).
“Tippy Get Your Hair Cut” comes from West Virginia fiddler Melvin Wine. It’s a dance tune in the key of G and is played in GDAD tuning.
“Liberty” is a popular jam session favorite. In this lesson, Bruce teaches you a version influenced by the playing of Surry County, North Carolina, fiddler Benton Flippen.
There are many versions of the crooked fiddle tune “Getting Upstairs,” but the version Bruce teaches you here comes from the great Kentucky fiddler Clyde Davenport. It has some interesting phrasing and bowing, and is played in GDGD tuning. Clyde liked tunes with phrasing in groups of three. The A part is six bars long and is played twice, and the B part can be thought of as being five bars long, with the addition of an extra two bars (the same as the last two bars of the A part) the second time through.
“Mississippi Breakdown” comes from the Mississippi fiddle and guitar duo of William Narmour and Shell Smith. It’s a syncopated dance tune in the key of G with some interesting circular bowing. There are three parts but Narmour also played the second part in two different ways.
“Paddy, Won’t You Drink Some Good Old Cider?” was recorded in the 1930s by the Jimmy Johnson String Band, with fiddler Andy Palmer, who called it “Drink More Cider.” Bruce recorded it with the band Big Hoedown. It’s a hoedown in the key of D, and the bowing follows the rhythm of the melody.
“Snake Chapman’s Tune” comes from Eastern Kentucky fiddler Owen “Snake” Chapman. It’s a crooked tune in the key of D, played in ADAD tuning, and the B part can be played two octaves.
“Little Billy Wilson” is a great three-part dance tune that first appeared on a recording by Texas fiddler Eck Robertson called “Brilliancy Medley”, which contains two of the three parts of “Little Billy Wilson. “Little Billy Wilson” is in the key of A and Bruce plays it in AEAE tuning.
The popular dance tune “Katy Hill” has been around for a long time. It was first recorded under the name “Sally Johnson” by Texas fiddlers Solomon and Hughes in the 1920s. There are also great recordings by Benton Flippen, Clark Kessinger, and others. It’s a two-part tune in the key of G.
“Wild Rose of the Mountain” comes from a wonderful album of the same name by the lyrical Kentucky fiddler J.P. Fraley, It’s a crooked tune in the key of A, with some nice long, drawn-out notes at the ends of phrases.
Ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax made a field recording of Kentucky fiddler Luther Strong’s “Ways of the World” in 1937. Not to be confused with a different melody by the same name that Bruce taught earlier in the course, Luther Strong’s “Ways of the World” is in the key of D, and played in the “cross tuning” (scordatura) of DDAE, with the G string tuned down an octave below the adjacent D string. The tune is in AAB form.
This peppy breakdown in DDAD tuning comes from Kentucky fiddler William Hamilton (Bill) Stepp, a source for several other tunes in this course. Alan and Elizabeth Lomax recorded Stepp playing “Piney Ridge” in 1937, and you can hear that field recording on the Slippery Hill site. Here’s a nice fiddle and banjo version played by the Lonesome Ace Stringband. Note that there is an extra bar of 2/4 in the B part, which makes this a “crooked” tune.
North Carolina old-time fiddler Benton Flippen (1920–2011) hailed from Mt. Airy, North Carolina, and was associated with the generation of “Round Peak” fiddlers that included Tommy Jarrell, Kyle Creed, Fred Cockerham, and other influential purveyors of that rich tradition. In describing Flippen’s fiddle style, musical colleague Paul Brown wrote, “It cries the blues, shouts a spiritual message, resounds with the celebration of a square dance or house party. It's full of syncopation and stretch, yet solidly down-to-earth." In this lesson, Bruce teaches “Benton’s Dream”, one of Flippen’s original tunes.
This month, Bruce introduces a schottische (often pronounced "shodish" in the U.S.), a bouncy tune played at a moderate tempo for the dance that goes by the same name. In some dance communities, waltzes and schottisches are played as breaks from the faster-paced square or contra dances on the program. Like the waltz, the schottische is typically danced by individual couples, and there are many regional variations around the globe. Set in 2/4 or 4/4 time, most variants include a series of short steps, hops, and pivots. You can see a schottische in action in this video. In this lesson, Bruce teaches an untitled schottische in the key of D from Kentucky fiddler Ed Morrison.
The 19th-century minstrel entertainer Dan Emmett composed many pieces that are still familiar today, including “Dixie,” “Old Dan Tucker,” and “The Boatsman’s Dance.” The latter has survived both as a song with lyrics and as an instrumental fiddle tune. There are numerous versions of “Boatsman” in different tunings, keys, titles, and structures circulating in the old-time music scene, including popular ones by Melvin Wine, Marcus Martin, and Mike Seeger. In this lesson, Bruce teaches a lovely setting that comes by way of Ed Haley, an early 20th-century Kentucky fiddler (b. 1885 in West Virginia) whose intricate bowing and expressive phasing made him what some have called “the greatest fiddler of his time.” You can listen to a field recording of him playing “Boatsman” in his unique style on the Slippery-Hill website. For this setting, the fiddle is in “sawmill” tuning, with the two low strings up a full step to AEAE. Although the melody typically has three parts, Bruce teaches Haley’s version, which repeats the B section at the end, rendering it a four-part tune with an AABBCCBB structure.
This great 16-bar tune in the key of G is played in standard tuning. Carter Brothers & Son first recorded it in 1928 on two fiddles and guitar, and the Skillet Lickers recorded it as “Nancy Rollin” at about the same time. The tune is a standard at old-time sessions today. For more information about the history of “Nancy Rowland,” visit the Traditional Tune Archive.
Rhythm is the foundation of Irish fiddling, so it’s important to develop good bowing habits. Dale begins by talking about single bowing, in which each bow stroke plays a single note, and then shows you how to add slurs, giving you two examples of bowing patterns that use slurs in different parts of the beat. You’ll also learn an exercise that combines the different bowing patterns on a simple scale. Dale also talks about intervals and shows you a two-octave pattern using thirds, which are very common in Irish tunes. You’ll use this thirds exercise to practice the different bowing patterns.
Dale’s fiddle was made in Germany around 1850. 19th-century German fiddles were made in a community, with different people contributing to different parts of the fiddle. Dale also talks about how he has the fiddle set up, and some of the repairs that have been done to it. He also talks about his bow, which was made by Port Townsend bow maker Christopher English, and the kind of bow he likes, usually one that is lighter at the tip.
Learn how to get in tune using an electronic tuner.
Doug gives you an introduction to playing in alternate tunings, advice about the kinds of guitars and gear that work well for playing fingerstyle in alternate tunings, and a basic introduction to fingerstyle guitar (in standard tuning) for those who are new to fingerstyle playing.
Doug gives you an introduction to alternate tunings in this video, talking about the benefits of using alternate tunings to get different sounds or make getting those sounds easier, the use of capos to play in different keys, how to make sense of all the different tunings, and more
Doug talks about the guitars and gear that work well for playing fingerstyle guitar in alternate tunings, including advice on choosing strings and tuners.
If you’re new to playing fingerstyle on the guitar, Doug shows you some basic techniques, using standard tuning so you can concentrate on using the fingers of your picking hand before you start learning new voicings in alternate tunings.
Learn how to get in tune using an electronic tuner.
Chad shares advice on holding the fiddle, including how to hold the fiddle with and without a shoulder rest.
The Irish tune “The Cuckoo’s Nest” has become a jam session favorite and has been recorded by numerous people, including Nickel Creek. Chad starts by showing you the chords to “The Cuckoo’s Nest” and then walks you through his version of the tune, including a couple of variations.
The melody of the B part of the jam favorite “Salt Creek” moves up into third position. After learning the melody to the A part, including Chad’s bowing and a few variations, like some bluesy slides and unison drones, you’ll learn how to move into third position on the E string, with an exercise to help you practice the shift.
A fun and popular old-time tune played in the key of C, “East Tennessee Blues” has a bit of a ragtime flavor. You’ll learn to play it by alternating single bow strokes with the Georgia shuffle bowing pattern. The B part of “East Tennessee Blues” has a lot of held notes that begin with slides, and you’ll learn how to attack the beginning of the slides to really give them a bluesy feel.
The old-time fiddle tune “Farewell Trion” is in the key of C and has three parts, the second of which has an extra half measure. The tune has become popular in old-time music circles lately, and Chad learned it from the fiddling of James Bryan. You’ll learn the melody and bowing and get advice on using short bow strokes on some of the quick single-bow notes.
“Red Wing” is a fiddle standard that all fiddlers should know. It’s commonly played in the key of G, which is the key you’ll learn it in this lesson. Chad walks you through the melody of each part phrase by phrase, showing you his bowing as he goes. You’ll also learn some double stops you can add to the basic melody as well as a couple of swing-style variations to the A part that use augmented and diminished chord arpeggios.
The old-time fiddle tune “Squirrel Hunters” was introduced to the bluegrass world by John Hartford and has become popular at jam sessions. It’s in the key of A Mixolydian and has an unusual chord progression, with each part ending on a D (IV) chord. Chad walks you through the melody of both parts of “Squirrel Hunters” showing you some drones and slides you can add to the basic melody. He also shows you some different ways to improvise on “Squirrel Hunters,” including varying the bow patterns and using target notes in the melody.
The old-time fiddle tune “Hawks and Eagles” is a one-part square dance tune in the key of D that has some interesting syncopation and bowing. Chad shows you the syncopated phrase at the heart of the tune it before he walks you the melody and bowing, which includes some cool “pulses” and double stringing. He also shows you the melody in the lower octave.
This Bill Monroe instrumental is in the key of G minor, which means you’ll mostly use the Bb major scale to play it. Chad shows you the Bb scale without the sixth step of the scale (Eb), since the melody doesn’t use an Eb or E. Then he walks you through the melody, phrase by phrase, showing you his bowing as he goes.
The old-time tune “Lost Girl” is in the key of G and comes from Kentucky old-time fiddler John Salyer. Chad talks about how he firms up the wrist of his bowing arm a bit to better fit the rhythm and feel of the tune. You’ll also learn double stops to play on each part of “Lost Girl,” mostly by droning the string that’s lower than the string the melody is played on.
Rayna Gellert’s “Swannanoa Waltz” has a beautiful and simple melody. In this lesson, you’ll learn to add layers like double-stringing, hammer-ons, and pulses to the “Swannanoa Waltz” to give it a nice waltz rhythm. Chad also talks about getting an old-time tone by adding a little pressure to your bow and slowing it down a bit. He also shows you how you can play the tune in ADAE tuning, and how to adjust your fingering on the lowest string when you do.
The traditional fiddle tune “Fisher’s Hornpipe” probably has Celtic origins but it’s played in old-time and bluegrass circles throughout the US. You’ll learn the bowing Chad uses, including a number of three-note slurs in the B part, and a couple of cool slides.
Bob Wills’ western swing classic “San Antonio Rose” is a great tune to work on playing double stops in third position. Of course, it’s also a great tune to play without venturing up the fingerboard, so you’ll start by learning the melody in first position without double stops. Then, when learning the double stop version, you’ll get some great advice on sliding the double stops from first to third position.
To learn to improvise on a melody it’s good to know the arpeggios of the chords that are used to backup a tune. In this lesson, you’ll learn arpeggios for each of the chords to “San Antonio Rose.” Chad shows you the root, third, and fifth of each arpeggio, making sure you know the names of each of the notes in the chords, and gives you a number of exercises that combine the arpeggios in different ways over the chord changes of “San Antonio Rose.” He also shows you how to use simple arpeggio-based lines to create a simple solo.
“Angeline the Baker” is one of the most popular fiddle tunes at bluegrass and old-time jams throughout the world. After learning the melody you’ll learn to add the fiddle “layers” that really make you sound like a fiddler, including hammer-ons, up-sweeps, anticipation, and double-stringing.
Learn the popular old-time tune “June Apple” and how to play the A part with the “Nashville shuffle” bowing pattern and the B part with the “Georgia shuffle” bowing pattern. You’ll also get tips on improvising on a fiddle tune like “June Apple.” Chad talks about his philosophy of improvising and shows you how he distills a tune down to its most basic elements, so that you can start playing around with the rhythm, varying the melody, etc.
“Old Joe Clark” is one of the best-known American fiddle tunes. It’s in the key of A Mixolydian, which means that the seventh step of the A major scale (G#) is lowered to a G natural. In addition to learning a shuffle bow pattern you can use to play both parts of the basic mleody, as well as some double-stringing and slides, you’ll learn a more “notey” version of the melody with variations on each phrase.
Another need-to-know fiddle tune, “Whiskey Before Breakfast” is in the key of D, and the B part includes some cool slides. You’ll also learn a few simple melodic variations.
John demonstrates his approach to playing rhythm to old-time tunes in this video. He takes his cue in large part from banjo-uke players in old-time string bands, playing open chords with a steady eighth-note picking pattern with an emphasis on beats two and four instead of the percussive off-beat chop common to bluegrass rhythm mandolin. He also shows you some of the two-finger chords he likes to combine with open strings for a drone effect.
John explains the basic picking technique you’ll use to play the tunes in his Old-Time Mandolin course: alternate picking. In this technique, you play downstrokes on the beats (1, 2, 3, 4) and “alternate” them with upstrokes on the “ands” of the beat.
Get started on the fiddle with these essential lessons.
Emerald introduces you to the fiddle/violin. She talks a little about the history of the fiddle and shows you the different parts of the instrument.
Emerald shows you the tuning of the fiddle (GDAE) and how to get your fiddle in tune.
Emerald shows you how to restring your fiddle, which you’ll only need to do when it’s time to change strings. But you can also use this video to learn how to change a string if you break one.
In this lesson, Emerald gives you advice on holding the fiddle and positioning your body in a relaxed way to avoid injury and tension. She talks about starting with good posture, so you have a good foundation to add your fiddle to; using a shoulder rest; positioning your fiddle on your shoulder and collarbone and your chin in the chin rest; resting the neck of the fiddle between the base of your thumb and the first knuckle of your index finger, etc.
Emerald shows you how to hold and move the bow in this video. She starts by showing you a “paintbrush” exercise to demonstrate how to move your bow arm without the bow. She talks about the parts and mechanism of the bow, how much to tighten it , etc; and explains where to place your fingers on the bow, starting with your thumb. Then Emerald shows you where to place the bow on the strings, how to move your bow arm so the bow stays parallel to the bridge, how much pressure to use, etc.
Cathy talks about what you’ll be learning in the Maybelle Carter–Style Guitar course.
In this lesson, you’ll learn Maybelle Carter’s picking-hand technique, commonly called the “Carter scratch.” Maybelle used a thumbpick and a fingerpick on her index finger, but she turned her fingerpick around so it was opposite to the way fingerpickers wear fingerpicks. This is because the Carter scratch includes a down strum with the finger, not an up pick used in fingerpicking. Maybelle’s daughter Anita said that what her mother did was play the melody notes on the bass (with the thumb) and “stirred the other strings with her fingers.”
The Carter Family repertoire is centered around songs, as opposed to instrumentals, even though this course is focused on Maybelle Carter’s instrumental style. Singers, of course, choose the key that suits their voice the best, but Maybelle’s playing is centered around the C, F, and G7 chord shapes. When she wanted to change keys, instead of using different chord shapes, Maybelle used a capo to play in keys higher than C, and, to play in keys lower than C, she did what she called “running her guitar down.” For example, the Carter Family recorded their classic song “Wildwood Flower” in the key of Bb, so Maybelle tuned her guitar down a whole step, which makes the key-of-C shapes sound in Bb.
These lessons introduce you to some of the most important aspects of playing western swing on the fiddle—swing rhythms, essential arpeggios, phrasing, and more. You can begin your western swing fiddle journey by going through all of these lessons before you dive into the individual song lessons, or start with a few of these technical lessons and then return for more after you’ve got some songs under your belt.
Chad gives you a quick lesson in swing rhythms with a call-and-response exercise on a 12-bar blues progression. He starts with just one note (G) and then adds one other note (E) so you can concentrate on the rhythms he’s playing with one- and two-note phrases. He also talks about the kind of phrasing that makes a melody swing.
Chad shows you two essential arpeggios (dominant ninth and major sixth) that are frequently used in western swing fiddling.
Chad shows you some phrases using neighbor tunes, a half step below each chord tone. He shows you how to do this on a G chord: G, B, D. Adding neighbor tones to those notes you get F#–G, Bb–B, and C#–D. He also shows you a cool Johnny Gimble lick that uses the neighbor tone below the chord tone along with the note in the scale above the chord tone.
Chad shows you some stylistic techniques that are essential for Western swing fiddle players: tails, slides, and what he calls “blops” or “blaps.”
Chad talks about the percussive bow attack used in western swing fiddling.
Chad shows you some basic scale patterns to help you get more comfortable improvising with a scale.
Flynn talks about the basic flatpicking technique used in 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4 time (reels, waltzes, and hornpipes) in Irish music: alternate picking, which involves alternating down- and upstrokes in a regular manner. It’s also the basic pick technique used in bluegrass, old-time music, etc. Flynn also shows you the most common scales you’ll use in Irish music: D Dorian, D Mixolydian, and D major, all played in open position. You can use these scales to practice alternate picking.
Jigs are in 6/8 time, with two beats divided into two groups of three eighth notes, so alternate picking doesn’t really work for jigs. Instead, in traditional Irish music the players of plectrum instruments (guitar, tenor banjo, mandolin, bouzouki) usually pick jigs with a down-up-down, down-up-down pattern, which creates a groove that works well with 6/8 time. Slip jigs, which are in 9/8 time, are also played with the down-up-down pattern. Flynn gives you a few scale exercises you can use to practice jig picking.
In Irish music, triplets are an important part of how people ornament the tunes, and in the tenor banjo tradition, picked triplets are essential. In this lesson, Flynn talks about different kinds of triplets and how they’re used. He also gives you a few ways to practice them.
Aaron talks about what he’s going to teach in his Jazz Violin course.
Wes talks about his banjo, a Hawthorn top-tension, explaining what top-tension banjos are, how they’re different, and why he likes them. He also talks about a few of the features of his banjo, including the radius fingerboard, Price tailpiece, Snuffy Smith bridge, and fifth-string “spikes.” He talks about tuning the head, which he tunes to F#, the same note Béla Fleck tunes his banjo to and a bit lower than some people tune the banjo to. He also talks about the picks and string gauges he uses.
This great Flatt and Scruggs song was recorded by JD Crowe and the New South on their classic self-titled album, with Tony Rice singing lead. It's a great example of a medium tempo bluegrass song played with a light swing feel. You'll learn a strum pattern that helps accent the swing feel, as well as some bass runs to use at the ends of phrases.
This classic Carter Family song is great for working on your waltz (or 3/4 time) rhythm. You’ll learn a couple variations on a boom-chuck-chuck 3/4 strum pattern, as well as some bass runs in the key of C. Scott also talks about a couple of different approaches to playing in 3/4 time, from an aggressive rhythmic approach that might work well for a dance to the more gentle approach that works well for a mournful song like “The Storms Are on the Ocean.”
Learn a straight-eighths country/country-rock feel to play the Hank Williams classic “Jambalaya.” “Straight-eighths” means that the eighth notes are played evenly, not swung, as in some previous lessons. “Jambalaya” was recorded by Hank Williams in the key of C, and Emmylou Harris recorded a great country-rock version in the key of A. You’ll learn it using key-of-A chord shapes, capoed at the third fret, which puts it in the key of C. In addition to a simple straight-eighths strum pattern, you’ll learn a rock-oriented bass pattern that can be fun to play during an instrumental or behind another singer.
Learn some simple Western swing–style closed chords to play this Bob Wills classic. The chords on the verses of “If No News Is Good News” are basically just D, G, and A, but you can use closed chords to get a swingin’ rhythm sound. You’ll also get advice on how to lift your fingers off the chord right after you play it to get a percussive “sock” rhythm sound. The bridge of “If No News Is Good News” ends with a short circle-of-fifths progression—B7–E7–A7–D7, which you’ll play using closed chords, with advice on how to negotiate those quick chord changes.
The Flatt and Scruggs song “I’ll Stay Around” is a bluegrass classic, with great recordings by Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, and many others. Scott uses “I’ll Stay Around” to show you a few contemporary bluegrass rhythm techniques, including some new bass runs and an accented strum that’s a good way to mark the beginning of a verse or instrumental solo. You’ll also learn to refer to chords by Roman numerals (I, IV, V) instead of letter names, so you can transpose songs to different keys more easily.
Getting a good, consistent and punchy boom-chuck is a matter of repetition, hours and hours of it. But practicing such a seemingly simple thing can be difficult by itself. The best way to practice rhythm guitar is with other people—behind a fiddle player, for example—but another good way to practice your basic boom-chuck groove is to learn simple songs that have a lot of verses and just a few chord changes. “Rove Riley Rove” is one of those: a great old-time song that’s fun to sing and play with just a couple of chord changes, in this case A and D.
The John Prine classic “Angel from Montgomery” is a good song to learn to work on two things: a medium-tempo rock strum pattern that Scott calls the “Neil Young strum” and an anticipated strum used when a chord change is played before the downbeat of the measure.
The bluegrass standard “Dark Hollow” is a favorite among a wide swath of roots musicians. In this lesson, you’ll learn some “stealth” chords you can add to the main G, C, and D voicings: G7, G9, Cadd9, Dsus2, etc. Played as the main voicings, these chords would give the song a completely different (contemporary or jazzy) sound, but played as “color” chords (quick variations of the main chords) they create variety without significantly changing the bluegrass feel and sound of the song.
Learn to play basic swing chords using a Western swing version of the jazz/blues standard “Trouble in Mind” It’s an eight-bar blues form, but the chords you’ll use to play “Trouble in Mind” swing style are G6, D7, G6/B, C6, C#dim, E7, Am7, C9, and Daug, with closed voicings you can use to play numerous swing songs. You’ll also get tips on moving between chords smoothly by figuring out which fingers stay in the same place and which fingers change positions as you move from chord to chord.
Steve Earle’s hit song “Someday,” from his 1986 debut, Guitar Town, has a cool riff that serves as an intro, ending, and instrumental interlude, and is also played at the ends of the lines of verses. As rhythm guitarists it’s often helpful to be able to play riffs or simple melodies like this. In this lesson, you’ll learn the riff to “Someday” and a medium tempo rock groove that can be played with all downstrokes or with a combination of downstrokes and down-up strums.
The bluegrass song “I Know What It Means to Be Lonesome” has a circle-of-fifths progression similar to “Salty Dog Blues” and others. The chord progression is C–A–G–D–C and you’ll learn some one-measure bass runs that lead into each new chord, as well as a couple longer runs and patterns that last for two measures.
The great bluegrass singer and banjoist Ralph Stanley’s “mountain music” was a major influence on the development of bluegrass. You’ll learn the gospel song “Green Pastures,” which was introduced to the bluegrass world by Ralph’s recording. It’s a fast waltz with some unusual phrasing, and you’ll learn a couple of variations on the waltz strum pattern that allow you to drive the rhythm along.
Alison Krauss’s hit recording of the ‘60s pop song “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You” uses some sus2 and add9 chords that come in handy when playing more contemporary bluegrass and country songs. You’ll learn the arpeggiated intro of the song, which includes a descending bass line, as well as all of the chords you’ll need to play “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You,” including Dus2, Cadd9, G6/B and Gm6/Bb. You’ll also learn what those chord names mean and how to turn the intro’s arpeggiated single-note pattern into the strum you’ll use to play the rest of the song.
The traditional Irish song “Lily of the West” was recorded by numerous American folk greats in the 1960s, and Tim O’Brien recorded a bluegrass version that you’ll learn in this lesson. It’s in A minor capoed up two frets, putting it in the key of B minor, and you’ll learn a cool intro riff that corresponds to the first line of the song, which you can play as an intro as well as an interlude between verses.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a style of “hybrid picking” in which you use your pick and one or two fingers to imitate fingerpicking, in particular the fingerpicking patterns Bob Dylan used to play his song “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.” In hybrid picking, your flatpick plays the bass notes that a fingerpicker would play with the thumb, while you play treble notes with one or two fingers of your picking hand.
The Beatles’ song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” makes a great beginning fingerstyle guitar piece. You’ll learn how to get an alternating bass going and find the melody on the treble strings. You’ll also learn some new chord shapes that allow the melody notes to ring together and get advice on how best to finger some of the chords to get all the notes to ring cleanly.
George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” is one of the most popular songs to play fingerstyle. It’s played with key of D shapes with the capo at the seventh fret. You’ll learn the verse, chorus (with its signature “three feel” and repetitive three-note riff with moving bass), and bridge (the “sun, sun, sun, here it comes” part).
French fingerstyle guitarist Marcel Dadi’s tune “Le Derviche Tourneur” (“The Whirling Dervish”) is a great pull-off workout. You’ll learn the whole piece and get advice on how to play clean pull-offs, as well as how to use palm muting to give your bass notes a percussive pop or thud, and make the sound of the bass notes distinct from the ringing melody notes.
This fingerpicking blues classic comes from the great Doc Watson. It’s a blues in the key of E in standard tuning and begins with a couple of distinctive chord positions up the neck: E7 and Edim7. You’ll also learn a few ways to play the turnaround at the end of the blues form.
There is no more well-known fingerpicking piece than “Freight Train,” which comes from Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten. It is played in the key of C, with just four chords (C, G7, E, and F). You’ll learn the basic tune as well as a number of variations with more slurs and melody notes occurring on the ands of the beat, as well as a more complex alternating bass and variations that include blue notes, banjo rolls, and sliding sixths.
The first fiddle tune you’ll learn is the old-time and bluegrass standard “Sally Gooden.” In addition to learning the basic melody in A, played out of G position, with a capo at the second fret, Scott gives you advice on keeping your fretting-hand fingers in position above the notes, as well as “planting” them: keeping them down on the fret until after you play the next note in the phrase. This is very important to work on, as it gives your playing a lot of fluidity and makes your fingering more efficient.
The old fiddle tune “Dry and Dusty” has a beautiful and simple melody and is also a good tune for working on playing in the key of D without a capo. You’ll learn the D major scale in open position as well as a couple of scale exercises. Scott also gives you advice on playing a hammer-on/pull-off triplet slur, and makes sure you understand the somewhat unusual phrasing of the B part.
Doc Watson’s performance of the old-time fiddle tune “Salt Creek” in the 1960s made it a flatpicking and bluegrass jam session favorite and a must-learn tune for any flatpicker. It’s also a good tune to demonstrate a style of flatpicking rhythm that imitates fiddlers’ shuffle bowing: down down-up, where the first down is a quarter note and down-up is two eighth notes. This maintains the strict alternating picking style you’ve been working on, and gives a nice rhythmic pulse to your playing.
“Cherokee Trail” sounds like an old tune but was actually composed recently by the great old-time banjo player John Herrmann. It makes a great guitar tune, with a melody that emphasizes downbeats and uses lots of slurs: hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides. Scott gives you advice on playing slurs and and shows you the hand movement necessary for playing clean pull-offs and hammer-ons. He also talks about the necessity of being precise in your movements when you slide from position to position.
Bill Monroe’s classic fiddle tune “Big Mon” is in the key of A, and played on the guitar with a capo at the second fret. The tune, like “Salt Creek,” features a flatted seventh note, which makes it a Mixolydian scale. The first part is a great scale and alternating-picking exercise, while the second part has some typical syncopations favored by Monroe as well as some typical bluegrass licks you’ll hear played by banjo and mandolin players as well as guitarists.
The old-time fiddle tune “Little Liza Jane” is often played by fiddlers in the key of A, but Scott has arranged it for guitar in C position. The C scale has the same notes as the G Mixolydian scale used to play “Big Mon” and “Salt Creek” so you should be familiar with that scale. “Little Liza Jane” has a simple melody but the second part includes some syncopation and unusual phrasing. You’ll also learn two versions of the B part of “Little Liza Jane,” one in the lower octave on the three lowest strings and one in the higher octave on the three highest strings. It sounds great on the guitar in either octave.
The fiddle tune favorite “Old Joe Clark” is a must-learn tune for every bluegrass and old-time musician. It has a simple repetitive melody that can be played entirely in quarter notes. In this lesson Scott uses “Old Joe Clark” to show you how to fill out quarter-note melodies by adding eighth notes. He starts by showing you the basic quarter-note melody and then teaches you a more elaborate version of the melody that demonstrates some of the strategies you can use to modify a simple melody: using open strings or slurs, adding notes above and below the melody, etc.
The popular old-time fiddle tune is a must-know jam favorite. It’s in the key of D, and guitarists often play it without a capo. In this lesson, you’ll learn it in the key of C, which allows you to fill out the melody with some simple ringing strings and chord tones. First you’ll learn the basic melody in C position, and then you’ll learn how to fill out the melody by adding a few open strings. You’ll also learn a few variations that change the melody slightly to allow you create a fuller sound.
“Cripple Creek” is one of the most popular bluegrass and old-time tunes, and one of the first tunes that banjo players and fiddlers learn. It’s very simple, so simple that many guitarists don’t bother to come up with a version that suits the guitar. But it’s a good tune for learning how to create variations on a simple melody by using the bum-ditty rhythm of clawhammer banjo players (the same rhythm fiddlers refer to as the Nashville shuffle): a quarter note followed by two eighth notes. You’ll learn the basic “Cripple Creek” melody and how to create variations by adding the bum-ditty rhythm to the melody and combining the bum-ditty rhythm with slurs: hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides.
Bill Monroe’s “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz” has a beautiful, haunting melody, and is a great tune for working on hammer-ons and pull-offs, as well as triplets played with slurs. It’s in the keys of D minor and F, but uses both the F and C major scales, as well as a few chromatic lines to connect melody notes. It’s also a good tune for working on phrases that start with upstrokes.
The old-time fiddle tune “Shove the Pig’s Foot a Little Further in the Fire” is a popular tune in old-time music circles. It has a simple but slightly syncopated melody that is fun to play and is also good practice for getting used to certain kinds of syncopations that come up frequently in bluegrass and old-time fiddle music. The B part is mostly played in a position with your first finger at the third fret, and Scott gives you advice on moving smoothly into this position. You’ll also learn a few different variations of the melody, including a variation on the A part in which you anticipate the main melody a beat early, a common rhythmic device in old-time music.
A must-know fiddle tune for flatpickers, “Whiskey Before Breakfast” has been recorded by numerous iconic guitarists, but probably the best-known is Norman Blake’s version, which is the basis for the version you’ll learn here. Like many fiddle tunes, the melody of “Whiskey Before Breakfast” can be played in many different ways and still retain its essential character. While there are some repeating phrases in the A part, Scott shows you how to vary the first basic phrase and how to think about the basic shape of a fiddle tune and not be stuck to a specific series of notes.
The fiddle tune “Stony Point” is another great tune for working on getting the shuffle rhythm in your picking hand: down, down-up, down, down-up, etc. It’s been recorded by numerous people, most famously for guitarists by Tony Rice on his 1978 album Manzanita. It’s in the key of G and has three parts; the second part moves to E minor, though it resolves to G. You’ll learn a few variations, including a variation of the third part that accents the shuffle rhythm.
John Reischman’s fiddle tune “Little Pine Siskin” is not that well known yet, but it’s a fun tune to play, has a catchy melody, and is good for working on playing in the key of D without a capo. It has three parts, but the B and C parts are only played once, so it’s the same length as a tune where the B parts are played twice. There are a couple of tricky things in the A part, including an old-time fiddle-style anticipation, where you hammer onto a note on the fourth beat of the measure and hold it through the downbeat, and a hammer-on/pull-off triplet lick on the D string.
The fiddle tune “Red-Haired Boy” is a jam-session favorite and one that every flatpicker should know. In this lesson, you’ll learn a version with a characteristic bluegrass syncopation that is good to become used to: eighth note, quarter note, eighth note, which takes up two beats. To pick this with strict alternating picking you’ll play down-up, up-down, with that second downstroke starting the next phrase. You can practice this by keeping your pick moving and “ghost” the downstroke that would normally be played between up strokes: down-up, _-up down. Many versions of “Red-Haired Boy” start with this rhythm, and you’ll learn a version with a few more examples of this syncopation slipped into the melody so you can get comfortable with it.
“Ookpik Waltz” is an old-time waltz composed some 50 years ago by Canadian fiddler Frankie Rodgers. It’s become quite popular recently among bluegrass and old-time musicians and has a very distinctive, haunting melody. The melody has a lot of phrases in which a dotted quarter note is followed by three eighth notes and other phrases where the rhythm is quarter, dotted quarter, eighth. Scott shows you how to keep the pulse in your hand during the dotted quarter by keeping your hand moving as if you’re playing a note on the second beat, and then starts walking you through the melody of “Ookpik Waltz.”
Earl Scruggs’ boogie-woogie banjo tune “Foggy Mountain Special” is popular at jam sessions and is fun to play, whether you’re playing the banjo melody, Lester Flatt’s G-run heavy guitar solo, or improvising on the tune’s blues form. You’ll learn the banjo melody and Lester’s solo in this lesson.
The old-time fiddle tune “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” was called just “Blackberry Blossom” by a lot of old-time fiddlers, but since another tune called “Blackberry Blossom” has become more popular in recent years, most people refer to the tune you’ll learn in this lesson as “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom.” You’ll learn two versions, with the same notes but different fingering, so this lesson will show you how you can finger melodies differently to get a different feel.
“Faded Love” is a beautiful old western swing fiddle melody (and song) that sounds great on the guitar. It’s a simple melody, and in this lesson you’ll learn some ways to fill it out without getting too complicated, but instead finding some chord tones and simple arpeggios to add to the melody. Scott walks you through his arrangement phrase by phrase, starting with a cool intro lick stolen from Tony Rice’s version of “Faded Love,” and giving you advice on fingering to make sure the strings ring out as much as they can.
The old-time fiddle tune “Squirrel Hunters” was made popular by John Hartford and has become a jam session favorite. It’s thought of as being in the key of A, but it uses the D major scale and the last chord in each part is D. As guitar players, we usually play A tunes with a capo at the second fret, using G major scales and chords, but “Squirrel Hunters” also works well played without a capo, in part because it uses the D scale. In this lesson, you’ll learn to play the melody in three different places: on the upper three strings without a capo, in a lower octave without a capo, and on the upper strings with a capo. In each case, the melody is exactly the same.
Rags like “Beaumont Rag” and “Panhandle Rag” are popular among flatpickers and they usually include some tricky syncopations. The three-part “Dill Pickle Rag” is another rag popular among guitarists. Although it may be a little complicated for intermediate flatpickers, it includes a couple of typical raggy syncopations that are repeated numerous times on different melodic phrases, making it a good tune on which to practice these kinds of syncopations.
Bill Monroe’s fiddle tune “Big Sandy River” has been a favorite of flatpickers ever since Dan Crary recorded it as “Cross the Big Sandy” on his 1970 instrumental album Bluegrass Guitar, one of the first albums devoted to flatpicking guitar instrumentals. “Big Sandy River” has a distinctive beginning, but from then on everyone plays it differently. The original Bill Monroe version features Kenny Baker on fiddle, and his version of the A part is very distinctive but a little unwieldy on the guitar, which is probably one reason guitarists started modifying it right off the bat. In this lesson, you’ll learn Kenny’s original fiddle melody as well as a way to play the tune that is more like the way guitarists generally play it.
Vassar Clements recorded his tune “Lonesome Fiddle Blues” on the original Will The Circle Be Unbroken album, and it’s been a bluegrass jam session favorite ever since. It’s in the key of Dm, but mostly uses a C major scale. Unlike the usual AABB fiddle tune form, the form of “Lonesome Fiddle Blues” is AABA, with a bridge or B part that is mostly a series of chord changes rather than an exact melody. In this lesson, you’ll learn the melody of the A part the way Vassar plays it as well as a typical solo on the chord changes of the bridge.
Ralph Stanley’s banjo tune “Clinch Mountain Backstep” has become a jam session favorite. While it’s a simple melody with just two chords, the extra half measure in the B part (the “backstep”) can be tricky, so it’s good to have a guitar arrangement for the tune if you’re going to play it at jam sessions. You’ll learn the melody of the A part the way Ralph phrased it on the banjo as well as a less syncopated version that works well on the guitar. You’ll also learn a couple of variations that will help fill out and add some variety to both parts of “Clinch Mountain Backstep.”
Now that you’ve got a few techniques under your belt, you’ll learn a variety of songs that cover the gamut of lead guitar blues styles.
Learn to play a lead guitar solo on the blues classic “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor.” You’ll learn an approach to soloing that starts with finding the melody and then fleshing it out by filling in the spaces in the melody using repeated-note licks, two-string harmonies, and string bends.
Learn an instrumental tune in the style of the blues guitar instrumentals that were popular in the 1950s and ‘60s. In addition to the melody, mostly played in double stops, you’ll learn some solos, a recurring riff, and a rhythm guitar figure.
The song “I Found a Dream” was recorded by blues and jazz guitar legend Lonnie Johnson in the early 1950s. Johnson began recording in the 1920s and was one of the first guitarists to play lead single-note breaks in blues and jazz songs. In this lesson you’ll learn a solo to “I Found a Dream” that includes some elements of Johnson’s solo style.
Learn to play the swingin’ blues shuffle “Remington Ride,” which was one of the great blues lead guitarist Freddie King’s showpieces. You’ll learn the melody and a couple of solos that include a fast hammer-on/pull-off lick, some cool double-stop ideas, and some triplet string-bending licks.
“Temperance Reel” is an old Irish tune that has become a favorite of bluegrass guitarists. When learning fiddle tunes, it’s a good idea to consult the original version. You’ll learn the original melody to “Temperance Reel,” which contains a few phrases not often heard in bluegrass versions. You’ll also learn to create variations by narrowing your sights and taking it a measure or two at a time.
Learn four ways to play the classic “Soldier’s Joy,” a simple old-time fiddle version, a version from some old fiddle tune books, bluegrass fiddler Richard Greene’s version (recorded with Bill Monroe), and Clarence White’s classic guitar version. Scott also talks about learning to recognize and think about a fiddle tune by its overall shape and distinctive melodic motifs rather than a specific series of notes.
When playing fiddle tunes on the guitar, it’s important to think not only about the notes you play but how you play them. You can pick each note or use slurs (slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs), and in many cases you can choose to play a note as an open string or by fretting it in a different position. The choices you make affect your tone, the rhythm of the melodic line, and the relative ease of playing the notes. In this lesson, Scott demonstrates different ways of articulating fiddle tune melodies, using Tony Rice’s version of the bluegrass standard “Gold Rush.” You’ll also learn some variations that Scott plays on “Gold Rush” and learn about Tony Rice’s distinctive picking style.
Many bluegrass guitarists tend to favor G and C positions, using the capo to play in other keys like A, D, E, etc. But open D position works well for lots of things, including fiddle tunes like “Fisher’s Hornpipe.” To get a lot of practice in open D, you’ll learn “Fisher’s Hornpipe” in two octaves as well as a harmony to the melody.
Doc Watson’s 1963 recording of “Black Mountain Rag” arguably created the style of flatpicking you hear today. The clarity, fluidity, and speed of his playing had not been heard before, and soon hundreds/thousands of guitarists were trying to “play like Doc.” Learn Scott’s version of Doc’s arrangement of “Black Mountain Rag” in this lesson.
Learn a fingerstyle arrangement in the key of C of the gospel song “When He Calls Me,” which comes from the old-time country blues singer Howard Armstrong.
This fingerstyle arrangement of the folk-blues classic “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor” is inspired by the playing of Mississippi John Hurt. You’ll learn a basic version and some variations.
Blues slide guitar great Blind Willie Johnson recorded in the early 1930s and played exclusively in open-D tuning. In this lesson you’ll learn his great song “Nobody’s Fault but Mine” and use it to work on getting a touch with the slide that will produce good tone without extra noise.
This great bottleneck blues song is in open-G tuning. You’ll use it to work on playing cleanly using damping and pick blocking. You’ll also learn an accompaniment, using a monotonic shuffle bass and nice fills between vocal lines, as well as a solo that includes a cool series of double stops that walk down chromatically from the 15th fret to the tenth fret.
The jazz blues “Blue Monk,” written by Thelonious Monk, is a great vehicle for looking at different ways to use the thumb in fingerstyle blues. Instead of playing alternating bass or a steady pulse, you’ll use your thumb to play a harmony line with the melody.
This arrangement of the pop tune “The Glory of Love” is based on the version recorded by Big Bill Broonzy. It’s in the key of C and is played with alternating bass in the Piedmont style, a la Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis, etc. You’ll learn a basic version as well as one that adds variety by changing the timing of the melody.
The song “You’ll Work Down to Me Someday” was recorded by Memphis bluesman John Henry Barbee in the late 1920s. It’s played fingerstyle in dropped-D tuning. You’ll learn an accompaniment to the vocal, which includes some nice call-and response-licks, as well as two solos. The first solo is a fleshed-out version of the accompaniment, while the second solo moves up the neck.
Mississippi John Hurt’s “Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me” is a classic of fingerstyle blues guitar. It features a strong alternating bass on C, G7, and F chords and a melody played on the treble strings.
Learn to play the traditional favorite “John Henry” with a slide in open-D tuning. This arrangement uses an alternating bass on the sixth and fourth strings throughout while you play the melody up high. You’ll also learn some variations that include two-string harmonies, a version of the melody played an octave lower, and strums played with the middle finger.
This cool instrumental slide tune comes from the great Tampa Red, who recorded from the 1920s all the way into the 1960s. He mostly played in open-D tuning, the tuning you’ll use to play “Boogie Woogie Dance.” You’ll learn the first 12-bar melody (the signature phrase of the tune) and three variations to the melody.
This traditional blues song was originally recorded in the 1930s by Big Bill Broonzy, and Eric Von Schmidt rewrote some of the lyrics in the 1960s. You’ll learn a version in open-D tuning that includes a few unusual chord voicings and some cool parallel-sixths harmony lines in the solos.
The great guitar player, singer, and songwriter Lightnin’ Hopkins played his “fast” songs, like “Fan It,” with a moving bass line played with the thumb and “upstrokes” on the offbeats with the index finger. You’ll learn a rhythm guitar part to “Fan It” that includes one of Hopkins’ favorite turnarounds. For solos, Hopkins just soloed on the I chord for a while and then came back in on the IV chord whenever he felt like it. You’ll learn a couple of solo ideas, one using some simple bends in open position and one using a pentatonic scale up at the ninth through 12th frets.
The inspiration for Orville’s arrangement of the blues song “Goin’ Down Slow” is the great Texas songster Mance Lipscomb, who plays it in the key of A, but using dropped-D tuning. Orville also capos at the second fret because that’s where he likes to sing “Goin’ Down Slow.” You’ll learn the chord positions Orvilles uses and the fills he plays while he’s singing as well as two solos. Orville also talks about Lipscomb’s picking style, in which he mostly played with his thumb and index fingers.
Learn a Mississippi John Hurt–inspired version of the traditional song “Salty Dog Blues,” which has more of a ragtime chord progression than the standard 12-bar blues progression. It’s in the key of G and the progression is E7–A7–D7–G. You’ll learn the basic chords and fingerpicking patterns including a variation on the E7 chord that Hurt played and that Orville uses in his first solo on “Salty Dog Blues.” Then you’ll learn two more solos using different chord voicings. The first uses a banjo-like picking pattern and the second solo combines chord shapes on the top three strings with pull-offs and descending sixths.
This early jazz song isn’t strictly a blues, but it is deeply rooted in the blues. Orville’s arrangement is influenced by 1920s jazz piano, with an alternating bass throughout and some chord voicings you may not have played in the blues before. You’ll learn “I Ain’t Gonna Give You None of My Jelly Roll” in two different keys (D and G).
One of the earliest recorded fingerstyle blues guitarists was Mississippi guitarist/singer Charley Patton, whose song “Some of These Days” you’ll learn in this lesson. Patton recorded in the 1920s and influenced Robert Johnson, Son House, and others. “Some of These Days” is in open-D tuning and is one of Patton’s sweeter songs. Orville plays and sings it through and then shows you what he plays for the verse and bridge of “Some of These Days,” including a harmony to the melody line and some different chord voicings.
“I’m Going Away” comes from the great folk/blues fingerstyle guitarist Elizabeth Cotten. It’s in the key of C and uses standard open-position chords with a steady alternating bass. In addition to basic versions of the verse and bridge, you’ll learn some of the things Elizabeth Cotten plays that add some interest to the basic melody and alternating bass rhythm, including different bass lines, some more syncopations of the melody, and using the index finger on the middle strings to give it a more loping feel.
Fred Neil was a great fingerstyle guitar player and singer who recorded in the 1960s and early 1970s. Orville’s arrangement of his song “The Other Side of This Life,” which has an eight-bar blues form, uses some of the fingerstyle blues techniques you’ve been learning and includes a swingin’ accompaniment pattern that uses thumb notes just before the downbeats. You’ll learn that pattern and some of the things that Orville plays on his solos in “The Other Side of This Life,” including some movable chord shapes with triplet pull-offs, pentatonic and blues scale licks, etc.
Mississippi John Hurt’s “Coffee Blues” is one of his classic fingerstyle blues tunes played out of A position. You’ll learn how John Hurt played the solos on “Coffee Blues” as well as a solo that Orville made up for “Coffee Blues” that uses some chord positions moving up the neck and a cool descending chromatic pull-off lick.
Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell were a 1930s piano and guitar duo who made many recordings, including “How Long Blues.” Orville’s arrangement of “How Long Blues” is rather unusual, however. It’s in the key of D, but Orville plays it in open-G tuning and uses his arrangement to get you thinking about playing in different keys in open tunings, not just the key the tuning is named for or tuned to. You’ll learn his basic arrangement as well as some of the things he plays on his solos in “How Long Blues.”
The Irving Berlin song “My Walking Stick,” written in the 1920s, was made popular among guitarists by Leon Redbone, who recorded the song played fingerstyle on his 1975 debut On the Track. In this lesson you’ll learn Orville’s version of Leon’s version. It’s in the key of A minor, and is not technically a blues, but, of course, has a blues flavor. You’ll learn two instrumental solos to “My Walking Stick.” The first follows the melody, while the second is more improvisational, with some single-string lines played with the thumb and index finger.
Orville uses the traditional blues “Motherless Children” to show you how you can play a song that has a minor or “modal” sound in a major-key tuning. You’ll learn to play “Motherless Children” in open-G tuning, even though the song uses the minor pentatonic scale. You’ll also learn how to create a modal sound by keeping the C note on the first fret of the second string held down with your index finger, and how to play the melody in three different octaves.
Most people think of Bill Monroe’s rhythm playing as consisting of hard chop chords on the offbeat, but he did a lot of other things as well. Mike talks about how, in the early days of his career, Monroe played a lot of strummy, melody-based things that old-time mandolin players would play. He also talks about the different ways you can play chop chords to influence the tempo, either pushing it forward or letting it lay back.
Tremolo in Monroe-style mandolin has many speeds, but it always references the tempo of the song. Mike talks about how important tremolo is to traditional bluegrass mandolin playing and demonstrates some of the nuances of Monroe-style tremolo.
This lesson builds on the picking-hand exercises by introducing you to reel rhythm. You’ll learn a “broken thirds” scale exercise as well as the reel “Anything for John Joe,” a “half reel” or “single reel.”
The first part of the Irish reel “Paddy’s Gone to France” is in the key of B minor, the relative minor of D. Marla explains how to use the D major scale to play in the key of B minor and talks about how it’s common for Irish tunes to mix the relative minor with its major counterpart.
There are many Irish tunes in the key of E minor, including “The Man of the House.” But in Irish music, E minor usually uses the notes of the D major scale starting on the E note, the E Dorian scale, which is, however, usually just called E minor in traditional Irish music. You’ll also learn a technique for playing the E at the second fret of the D string and the B at the second fret of the A string with the same finger, which Marla calls the “E minor squeeze.”
This reel uses another variant of the D scale often used in Irish music: the D Mixolydian scale, which flattens the seventh step of the scale, making the C# a C natural. Marla shows you the D Mixolydian scale and talks about the underlying harmonic structure of Mixolydian tunes.
In this lesson, you’ll review the modes and scales you’ve learned so far before learning the G major scale, along with its companion modes, A Dorian, E (natural) minor, and D Mixolydian. Tnen you’ll learn a reel that bridges the gap between D Mixolydian and G major: “The New Mown Meadow.” Marla also gives you advice on some tricky fingering, including a “lean” where you lean your finger to play notes at the same fret on adjacent strings.
“The Crooked Road,” sometimes called “The Crooked Road to Dublin,” is in the key of G major. You’ll start this lesson by learning some G major scale exercises, including a “broken thirds” exercise similar to the one you learned for the D scale.
The E minor reel “The Dunmore Lasses” uses the E natural minor scale, unlike the first E minor reel you learned, “The Man of the House,” which is in E Dorian. E natural minor has the same notes as the G major scale. You’ll also learn about some of the minor variations you’ll find in Irish tunes.
The popular Irish reel “Sporting Paddy” is in the key of A minor, or more specifically, A Dorian, another variant of the G major scale.
In this video, Marla talks about the “feel” (also called “swing” or “lift” or “lilt”) of Irish reels, in which the downstrokes are a little longer than the upstrokes. You’ll learn how to do this by playing with a relaxed wrist, so that the upstroke is the “return” stroke of a weighted downstroke.
So far, you’ve learned reels using all the modes in the G and D scales, except for one: A Mixolydian, which starts on the fifth step of the D scale. You’ll learn the A Mixolydian scale and a reel using that mode: “The Monaghan Twig.”
One of the first tunes John ever wrote, “Itzbin Reel” is basically a fiddle tune in the key of A, although the form is AABA rather than the standard AABB form of most fiddle tunes, and the B section has ten measures instead of the standard eight. In addition to showing you the melody, John talks about keeping a steady up-and-down motion with your picking hand so you stay in time even when you’re not sounding a note. This is helpful in “Itzbin Reel,” because it has a few syncopated phrases that emphasize offbeats. You’ll also learn the chords and voicings John uses to play rhythm on “Itzbin Reel,” as well as an intro and ending.
John learned the Puerto Rican tune “La Arboleda” from a recording of cuatro player Pedro Padilla. It has three parts, the first in A minor, the second in C major/A minor, and the third in A major, and the form is AABBACCA, a fairly common form for ragtime tunes and Brazilian choros, among other kinds of music. The notes of the melody are relatively simple, made up primarily of the notes of the chords, but the rhythm of the melody is syncopated and somewhat tricky. To play rhythm to “La Arboleda” John plays more open-sounding chords than the usual bluegrass chop chords. You’ll learn the chord voicings he uses as well as a calypso-style rhythm pattern.
“The Road to Malvern” is a contemporary old-time (“new-time”?) fiddle tune in the key of A and it’s one of John’s favorites. After showing you the melody, he also shows you a couple variations he plays and talks a little about improvising on a fiddle tune like “The Road to Malvern.” For playing rhythm to old-time tunes, John often likes to use open chords and play with more of a regular eighth-note-based strum, with emphasis on beats two and four. You’ll learn the voicings John uses and his strum pattern.
John’s tune “Little Pine Siskin” sounds like an old-time fiddle tune and has three parts, although the B and C parts only get played once each. John shows you how he keeps his pick moving, playing open-string chords, when there are long notes in the melody, and shows you the drone notes he plays on each part of the A part melody. He also shows you how he plays the C part up an octave when he repeats that part at the end of a performance, and how to play “Little Pine Siskin” up an octave in closed position with your first finger at the fifth fret.
The pop and jazz standard “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” makes a great solo mandolin piece played chord-melody style. John starts by showing you a versatile movable chord voicing he learned from Jethro Burns, and explains, for example, how a G6 voicing can also be used for Em7, C9, or A7sus4. Then he walks you through his arrangement of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” explaining how he tries to make each chord ring out with sustain, and allowing the melody notes, the top notes of the chord, to be heard clearly. You’ll also learn an ending, which alternates G and Ebmaj7 chords, and a variation of the bridge with a moving bass line that Jethro Burns played.
John recorded his tune “Birdland Breakdown” with the Tony Rice Unit in the 1980s, and it has since become a favorite of modern mandolinists. It’s in the key of D minor and uses a couple of minor scales, including D harmonic minor. John shows you how the melody matches the underlying chords and explains the D harmonic minor scale. You’ll also learn the chord voicings John plays on “Birdland Breakdown.”
John composed his minor-key waltz “The North Shore” in honor of Bill Monroe, inspired by his minor-key waltzes like “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz.” It’s in the key of G minor and features tremolo and double stops using a harmonized Bb major scale, with melody notes harmonized a sixth below in most cases. John shows you the Bb harmonized major scale, so you can get familiar with the double stops you’ll use in “The North Shore” and demonstrates the tremolo he uses in “The North Shore”: a two triplet pattern over one beat.
John’s tune “Nesser” is a happy tune in the key of A major that he originally conceived as a tune that would sound good on the banjo. The first part of the tune consists of phrases that contain many of the same notes, but are phrased in different ways. John shows you how to imitate clawhammer banjo with hammer-ons and how to add the E string as a drone. The B part has even more “frailing” phrases and open-string drone notes. You’ll also learn a variation on the A part that recalls a technique used in mandolin tunes like Buck White’s “Buck’s Run.” This involves playing notes up the neck so that you can use the open A string as a drone.
“Cazadero” is a four-part fiddle tune in the key of E major that was composed by fiddler Paul Shelasky and recorded by John on his North of the Border album. It was also recently recorded by Punch Brothers. The four parts are all distinct: the A part has some E major arpeggios, the B part includes some triplets, both picked and played with slurs (hammer-on/pull off), the third part has a more complicated chord progression and picked triplets, while the fourth part is less notey than the other three parts, with some descending half-note double stops and a crosspicked passage on the repeat.
John’s tune “Salt Spring” is another one of his “banjo-like” tunes, a relatively simple melody that imitates the sound of frailing banjo. It’s in the key of A, and the melody notes are mostly played on the second and third strings. Between melody notes, John plays a drone on the open E (and sometimes open A) string, which, along with his use of hammer-ons and slides, creates a banjo-like quality. John gets you started with a short exercise in which you play melody quarter notes played with a downstroke on the A string followed by two eighth notes (down-up) on the E string.
John wrote his lovely waltz “A Prairie Jewel” for his wife, who grew up on the prairies of Alberta, Canada. It’s a long-form melody with a somewhat complex chord progression, all in the key of D. You’ll learn the melody, the open-string chords John plays to accompany the tune, and a chord-melody arrangement of the A part.
John’s tune “Big Bug” is a fast bluegrass tune in the key of E major, with a lot of flatted sevenths and flatted thirds in the melody and a bridge that includes G and A chords. John shows you the E7 arpeggio you’ll use to finger much of the melody and then starts walking you through the melody phrase by phrase. He also talks about the tempo that’s best for the tune, and gives you a couple examples of how he would improvise on the E7 finger pattern.
The beautiful Venezuelan waltz “Como Llora Una Estrella” (“As a Star Weeps”) is perfect for the mandolin. It’s in the key of D minor and has two parts, the second of which is half as long as the first. The melody has a number of long held notes, and John shows you how to keep time by keeping your picking hand in motion, so you end up on the right pick stroke. He also shows you the open-string chord voicings and some of the rhythm patterns he uses to accompany “Como Llora Una Estrella.”
Bill Monroe’s fiddle tune “Cheyenne” starts in the key of G minor and modulates to the relative major Bb for the second part. Monroe’s mandolin solo is a good example of his syncopated downstroke style applied to an instrumental instead of a song. In this lesson you’ll learn both the fiddle melody, originally played by Bobby Hicks, and a Monroe-style solo.
This jazzy waltz was written by guitarist Tony Rice. John learned it when he was a member of Tony’s band, the Tony Rice Unit, in the 1980s. You can hear Tony’s recording on his album Acoustics, which features Sam Bush on mandolin. John walks you through the melody phrase by phrase, showing you a few variations as he goes, including how to play the A part in an upper octave. He also shows you the chords he plays to “Old Gray Coat,” including some nice closed-position voicings of minor seventh and sus chords.
The old-time tune “Salt River” comes from fiddler Norman Edmonds and John learned it from Bruce Molsky. It’s not the same as the bluegrass jam favorite “Salt Creek” but has a similar modal tonality. You’ll learn the melody for both parts played mostly on the top strings as well as a version of both parts played in the lower octave.
John’s tune “Indian Arm” is featured on his recording Walk Along John. It's a pretty, medium tempo tune in E minor and uses the E Dorian scale. John walks you through the melody phrase by phrase, showing you how the melody corresponds to the chords, giving advice on keeping your right-hand moving during some of the sustained melody notes, and showing you some of the slides he uses on “Indian Arm.”
David Grisman recorded his tune “Dawg's Bull” in the late 1970s on Hot Dawg. It's in the key of A major and the melody of the A part is based on arpeggios of the chords, but played up the neck (at the seventh fret or above) with a unique syncopation similar to a calypso rhythm. The B part has a simpler melody and is played in open position. John walks you through the melody of both parts, phrase by phrase, showing you the picking and fingering as he goes. He also shows you how you can find high and low harmony parts for the A part by moving chord shapes up or down on the same strings as the melody.
John learned this Civil War-era melody from Nick Hornbuckle, the banjo player in John Reischman and the Jaybirds. It’s a nice stately tune in the key of G minor. John shows you how he moves between first and second position on one phrase and adds some double stops to the melody. He also explains the anticipation at the beginning of some of the phrases.
John learned the old Argentinian waltz “Palomita Blanca” from a recording by French fingerstyle guitarist Pierre Bensusan and then arranged it for the mandolin, recording it on his debut solo album North of the Border. It’s a complex melody, with syncopated motifs that are repeated on different steps of the scale to match the chords.
Frank Wakefield’s beautiful “Waltz in Bluegrass” is a fun tune to play and also makes a good exercise in measured tremolo. It’s in the key of F and is mostly played in second position with your finger at the third fret. John shows you how he plays all the single notes with downstrokes and uses the same shape for most of the double stops. He also talks about practicing the measured tremolo he uses on the double stops.
The old-time fiddle tune “Little Liza Jane” (also known as “Liza Jane” and “Old Liza Jane”) is often played on the fiddle in A, but John plays it in D, and recorded it recently in that key with Peghead Nation instructors Scott Nygaard and Sharon Gilchrist on the album Harmonic Tone Revealers. In addition to the melody, John shows you a few variations and how he plays the B part with a clawhammer-style rhythm and drone strings. He also shows you how to find the melody of the A part an octave up the neck.
The Puerto Rican tune “Aguinaldo Cagueño” is a simple, catchy tune in the key of G. An “aguinaldo” is a type of tune played among jibaro musicians in Puerto Rico around the Christmas season. The main melody instrument in jibaro music is the ten-string cuatro, which has five courses (double strings) and is tuned a little lower in pitch than a mandolin. John got this tune from a recording of the great cuatro player Pedro Padilla. It has a simple melody based on G major scales and arpeggios in the key of G, but the rhythm is syncopated, making the picking a little tricky.
When John wrote “Indiana Firefly,” which he recorded on his album Up in the Woods, he was trying to come up with something Bill Monroe might write. It’s in the key of A with an interesting chord progression in the first part (A, D, C, G) and a melody that has more of a minor or Dorian sound. You’ll learn the melody of “Indiana Firefly” as well as a solo to the A that John came up with for his recording of the tune. The solo is inspired by Bill Monroe’s playing, but includes a lot of John’s original ideas.
John wrote “Daylighting the Creek” recently and it’s featured on the John Reischman and the Jaybirds recording On That Other Green Shore. It’s a fast tune in the key of A and played in John’s “clawhammer style”: a simple melody articulated with numerous hammer-ons and slides accompanied by ringing open strings. The form is AABB, but the B part is different when it repeats, with a new opening phrase and an extra measure that takes you back to the A part.
John recorded his fiddle tune “Eighth of February,” named for the day he wrote it, on his album Up in the Woods. The A part to “Eighth of February” mostly consists of eighth notes, and none of the phrases repeat, while the B part is more syncopated and has more repetition.
The fiddle tune “President Garfield’s Hornpipe” is in the key of Bb and is a good exercise in playing arpeggios in Bb. John starts by reviewing the Bb major scale and arpeggio before showing you the A part of “President Garfield’s Hornpipe,” which mostly consists of Bb and F arpeggios and a Bb major scale on the top two strings. The B part of “President Garfield’s Hornpipe” is a bit of a workout for your pinky. It starts on a long Eb arpeggio, followed by a Bb arpeggio, and then a tricky F arpeggio.
John recorded his tune “Greenwood” on Up in the Woods. It’s a medium tempo tune with a simple melody that can be enhanced by slides and hammer-ons. Along with showing you the melody in standard position, as well as some embellishments, double stops, and melodic variations, John shows you how, by practicing the melody with your second, third, and fourth fingers, instead of your first, second, and third, you can easily move the melody of “Greenwood” up an octave.
John learned the beautiful Puerto Rican melody “Juramento” from a recording of the great Puerto Rican cuatro player Pedro Padilla. It’s a slow melodic tune, with some unusual syncopation and a complex chord progression. In addition to the melody of “Juramento,” you’ll learn the montuno that Pedro Padilla plays at the end of his recording of the tune.
Tony Rice’s jazz waltz “Devlin” was first recorded for David Grisman’s Hot Dawg record, and John also recorded it with Tony a few years later. It’s in E major and features a vamp between Emaj7 and B7sus4 chords. The first part of the melody is played up the neck in a couple of E major positions, followed by the same melodic phrase played down a whole step, over a D major chord.
John recorded two versions of his tune “Side by Each” on his album Walk Along John, one as a duet with old-time fiddler Bruce Molsky and one with a full bluegrass band. In addition to walking you through the melody phrase by phrase, John shows you a couple of variations of the melody and how to play the melody in the lower octave.
John’s tune “Red Diamond” is a bluesy bluegrass instrumental in the key of E. The melody of the first part is based on a series of double-stop positions played with a syncopated rhythm. The second part goes to an E minor sound with major chord accompaniment. John walks you through both parts, showing you a couple variations on the melody as he goes.
John recorded the mysterious original tune “Ponies in the Forest” on Up in the Woods. The tonality is a little vague, hovering between the key of G and D, and on his recording, John tuned the E strings down to D, although it’s not necessary to do that to play the tune.
John’s arrangement of the traditional song “Little Maggie,” in which he plays the melody as a low air and as a frailing banjo tune, was influenced by a recording of Mike Seeger and Paul Brown. You’ll learn both versions in this lesson. John starts by walking you through the melody of the slow version, which is played rubato (without a regular pulse) and giving you advice on making the notes sustain into one another. Then he shows you the “frailing banjo” version, in which the melody is played in time with the addition of strums on the top two strings.
John wrote the jazz waltz “Brooks” more than 30 years ago, and recorded it on his debut solo album North of the Border. It’s a beautiful, mellow tune that requires a lot of sustain. John walks you through the melody phrase by phrase and also shows you the chord voicings he uses to accompany the tune.
The old-time fiddle tune “Half Past Four” comes from the great Kentucky fiddler Ed Haley, who was recorded by his son in a series of home recordings in the 1940s. It has also been making the rounds of bluegrass jams lately, and John recorded it with Sharon Gilchrist and Scott Nygaard on Harmonic Tone Revealers.
John wrote and named the uptempo bluegrass instrumental “Bluegrass Signal” for the San Francisco Bay Area public radio show “Bluegrass Signal.” It’s in the key of B minor and has two parts. The melody is not challenging, but it’s often played at a fast tempo, though it sounds good at a medium tempo as well.
There are a number of versions of the old-time fiddle tune “Cousin Sally Brown.” John’s version is influenced by the one recorded by old-time fiddler Joseph Decosimo, who called it “Sally Brown.” John recorded this version with Sharon Gilchrist and Scott Nygaard on Harmonic Tone Revealers.
The great jazz mandolinist Jethro Burns recorded Benny Goodman’s “Slipped Disc” on a record with banjoist Larry McNeely back in the 1970s. It’s a fun but tricky swing tune full of arpeggios and chromatic lines, and it’s a good workout for your pinky.
John recorded the Canadian fiddle tune “Old French” on a record with Butch Baldassari and Robin Bullock called Travelers. “Old French” is in the key of D, with a B part that only uses A and G chords, and the A part features triplets, both picked and played with hammer-ons.
John wrote this calypso a number of years ago and recorded it on his album North of the Border. “Belize” has a simple, catchy, syncopated melody in the key of G. It also has an extended ending: a syncopated vamp for soloists to improvise over.
“Suzanne McGehee” is a recent tune of John’s that he wrote while on tour in Ireland (he now calls it "Suzanne's Journey.") It’s a fiddle tune in the key of G with a standard AABB form and, appropriately enough, has a bit of an Irish flavor, with some triplet ornaments and minor chords. John walks you through the melody phrase by phrase and also shows you the chords and a minor variation.
John learned the old-time tune “Last Chance” from a recording of banjo player Hobart Smith, and recorded it with his band John Reischman and the Jaybirds on the CD Vintage and Unique. It’s in the key of F, an unusual key for an old-time tune, with some syncopated phrases.
John’s new tune “Sarafina” is a beautiful waltz in the key of D. It’s not a particular challenge for either hand; the challenge with a lyrical tune like this is to get the notes to sustain and ring with a full tone and play with a relaxed feel.
John wrote his tune “The Deadly Fox” on the mandola in the key of G, but he found that the melody also sounds good on the mandolin in the key of A, so he recorded it on Walk Along John in the key of A with a capo on the mandola at the second fret and overdubbed a mandolin part playing the melody an octave higher. In this lesson John shows you how he plays “The Deadly Fox” on the mandolin in the key of A. The basic melody of “The Deadly Fox” is simple, but, like with his tune “Salt Spring,” John adds a banjo-style drone on the A and/or E strings to the melody.
Django Reinhardt’s sprightly uptempo tune “Swing 42” was composed by the jazz guitar legend during World War II and has become a favorite of string jazz and bluegrass musicians, including David Grisman, who recorded it with Tony Rice on Tone Poems. It’s in the key of C and has an AABA form, with a chord progression for the first part commonly called “rhythm changes,” because it has the same progression as “I Got Rhythm.” The bridge modulates to the key of E and has a similar progression. In addition to the melody of both parts, John shows you a simple harmony for the bridge melody and the chord voicings he uses.
“Samba de Orfeu” was written by Brazilian guitarist/composer Luiz Bonfa and appears in the movie Black Orpheus. It’s a samba with a nice relaxed tempo and a typical AABA form, and John plays it in the key of D, though it’s often played in the key of C as well. John walks you through the melody of “Samba de Orfeu” and shows you the samba rhythm and chord progression.
“The Girl Who Broke My Heart” is a traditional Irish tune in the key of G that John recorded with Sharon Gilchrist and Scott Nygaard on The Harmonic Tone Revealers. It’s in the key of G but has a lot of F naturals, so it has more of a G Mixolydian sound, although there are a few F#s at the ends of phrases.
“Bud’s Bounce” is a country instrumental written by the great steel guitar player Bud Isaacs. It was originally written in the key of F, but in adapting the tune to the mandolin, John moved it to the key of G. It’s played with a medium tempo western swing feel and has some cool double-stop moves that will be applicable to many tunes.
John’s original tune “The Nootka Blues,” which he recorded on Up in the Woods, is a bluesy bluegrass tune in the key of B that uses a scale with the flatted seventh and both the minor and major third.
The jazz standard “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans” has been recorded by everyone from Louis Armstrong to Alison Krauss. John’s version comes from Stéphane Grappelli, who played it in the key of D, so that’s the key you’ll learn it in.
John recorded his original “Bitterroot Waltz” on the John Reischman and the Jaybirds’ album Vintage and Unique. It has two parts (the first part in B minor and the second part in D major) and features tremolo and a lot of double stops. You’ll learn the melody and the G major and D major harmonized scales, which will give you all the double stops you need to play “Bitterroot Waltz.”
To play the oid-time tune “Walk Along John to Kansas,” John often tunes to an open-G tuning (GDGD), which is how you’ll learn it in this lesson.
“Dandy Long Legs” is a new original tune of John’s that will be featured on his upcoming solo album. It’s a bluegrass fiddle tune in the key of E minor, but the chords include an A major chord, giving the tune an E Dorian tonality.
“Stoney Creek” is a bluegrass instrumental classic written by Jesse McReynolds. It has an unusual chord progression, so it’s fun to jam on. It’s in the key of A with an AABB form, but the B part modulates to the key of F.
“Manzanita” is the title track from guitarist Tony Rice’s classic 1979 album. It’s an instrumental in the key of D minor and the first part has an odd rhythmic structure. Though it’s one of Tony’s “spacegrass” tunes, there’s little improvising on the recording; Tony and the other soloists (Sam Bush on mandolin, Darol Anger on fiddle, Jerry Douglas on dobro) just take turns playing the melody, which you’ll learn in this lesson.
John’s original minor-key fiddle tune “The Coyote Trail” is a highlight of his album New Time and Old Acoustic. It’s a medium tempo tune in the key of E minor, although the B part tends to have more of a G major tonality.
John recorded the classic old-time fiddle tune “Sugar in the Gourd” on his album New Time and Old Acoustic. It’s a bright, fast, two-part tune in the key of A major.
“The Old Steeple” is another original tune of John’s that he recorded on his album New Time and Old Acoustic. It’s in the key of G minor and John plays it in GDGD tuning, with the A and E strings tuned down a whole step. It’s a relatively simple melody but John fills it out with open strings and his clawhammer banjo–style rhythm.
“Cascadia” is one of John’s original fiddle tunes in the key of A minor. For the recording on his album New Time and Old Acoustic he arranged it as a new acoustic tune, with an open-sounding intro and a syncopated vamp as an interlude and outro.
The leadoff track on the debut David Grisman Quintet recording in 1977, “E.M.D.” was originally written for the film Eat My Dust. It’s a fast, exciting tune in the key of E minor and has become a jam session favorite.
The classic bluegrass song “Man of Constant Sorrow” uses a scale called the modal scale or minor pentatonic scale. You’ll learn the G modal scale and the basic melody of “Man of Constant Sorrow” before adding forward rolls and some melodic embellishments to create a complete solo.
Learn to work up great Scruggs-style solos using the bluegrass classic “Blue Ridge Cabin Home.” You’ll start with the chord progression and learn to find the melody within the notes of the chord. Then you’ll learn to embellish the melody with hammer-ons, slides, and pull-offs before adding roll patterns.
It’s important to kick-off a song or break with a solid intro played in the rhythm of the song. In this lesson, you’ll learn some classic intros played by Earl Scruggs, J.D. Crowe, and other greats as well as a few endings, including the double-tag ending and the “shave and a haircut” ending.
The fiddle tune “Whiskey Before Breakfast” is a jam favorite of mandolin and fiddle players, but doesn’t lay out as well on the banjo. You’ll earn an easy solo banjo-friendly using chord shapes as well as some ways to back up the tune when fiddle or mandolin players are taking a solo.
Learn to play a solo on the bluegrass/folk/gospel standard “I’ll Fly Away” in the key of D. Sharon gives you advice on finding the melody of the song you want to build a solo for, and shows you the basic melody and chords of the verse and chorus of “I’ll Fly Away.” Then she shows you how to harmonize the melody with double stops, using the “short” and “long” double stops you’ve already learned. She also shows you a couple of simple “kickoffs,” one for the verse and one for the chorus.
The song “Nine Pound Hammer” is one of the most popular bluegrass jam songs, and is played in a few different keys. The version you’ll learn here is in the key of D, so Sharon starts by reminding you of the L shapes, arpeggio patterns, and double stops in the key of D. Then she walks you through the melody and chords of the verse and chorus of “Nine Pound Hammer”and shows you how to add double stops to the basic melody. She also shows you a typical Bill Monroe ending lick and gives you advice on practicing the solo in different keys.
“I’m on My Way Back to the Old Home” is a bluegrass standard, written by Bill Monroe. You’ll learn the melody and a basic double-stop solo in the key of D. Before showing you the melody, Sharon reminds you of the “L shape” in the key of D and arpeggios for D, G, and A. Then she shows you how to create a simple solo to “I’m on My Way Back to the Old Home” with a kickoff and double stops.
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” comes from the Carter Family and is one of the most well-known bluegrass and old-time country songs. As with the last couple of lessons, you’ll learn to create a melody-based solo to “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” in the key of D using the L shapes, arpeggios, and double stops.
The bluegrass standard “Long Journey Home” comes from the Monroe Brothers: Bill Monroe and his brother Charlie, and was recorded by them in 1936. You’ll learn it here in the key of G using the same shapes you’ve been using in the key of D, but over a string. Sharon explains how to move everything you’ve learned so far to the key of G, showing you where the roots, arpeggios, and double stops are. After showing you the chords and basic melody of “Long Journey Home,” she walks you through a double-stop solo.
Bill Monroe recorded the song “On and On,” which has become a bluegrass standard, in the key of A, so that’s where you’ll learn it, using the L shapes, arpeggios, and double stops you’ve used for the keys of G and D. It is, of course, common to play solos in open position in the key of A, but it’s good to know the up-the-neck shapes in A (with your index finger at the seventh fret) so you can easily move between the two positions. Before showing you the basic melody of “On and On” Sharon shows you the L shapes and arpeggios in the key of A. Then she shows you how to harmonize the melody of “On and On” with double stops, giving you a few ideas about alternate rhythms in your phrasing.
Sharon uses the bluegrass standard “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” to show you how to move out of the basic closed-position fingerings you’ve been learning to other nearby positions. After showing you the basic melody of “Bury Me Beneath the Willow,” Sharon shows you how to harmonize the melody with double stops, some melodic embellishments, and a typical Bill Monroe ending lick.
Sharon uses the folk and bluegrass standard “In the Pines” to show you another common way to move out of the closed-position L-shape fingerings you’ve been learning. “In the Pines” is in waltz time (3/4) and you’ll learn it in the key of D. After walking you through the melody and showing you how it relates to the chord progression, Sharon shows you how to harmonize the melody of “In the Pines” with double stops and some melodic embellishments, showing you where you can move out of the L shape to a nearby double stop. She also gives you ideas for starting to improvise and create variations on the solo.
Sharon revisits the two extensions you’ve learned (places you can move out of the basic closed position fingering), using the Flatt and Scruggs song “Your Love Is Like a Flower.” In addition to showing you how to harmonize the melody of “Your Love Is Like a Flower” with double stops, Sharon shows you how to vary the basic double-stop solo solo with melodic embellishments, rhythmic variations, sliding double stops, Monroe licks, and more.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a solo to the bluegrass classic “Sitting on Top of the World” in the key of B, which is not an unusual key for bluegrass bands. Sharon starts by showing you which open strings can be used in the key of B and the closed-position L shapes, scales, double stops, and arpeggio patterns in the key of B. Then she shows you the basic melody and chords of “Sitting on Top of the World,” how to harmonize the melody of with double stops, and how to vary the basic double-stop solo solo for “Sitting on Top of the World” with melodic variations, seventh chord double stops, Monroe licks, and more.
Learn a solo to the folk and bluegrass classic “Banks of the Ohio” that was played by Ricky Skaggs on Tony Rice’s first Rounder record. The solo is in the key of F, so Sharon starts by going over the closed-position L-shapes, double stops, and arpeggios in the key of F. Then she shows you the basic melody and chord progression, before walking you through Ricky Skaggs’s solo, which is based out of the same closed positions you’re been learning but introduces a few new things, including a new double-stop extension and tremolo based on triplets.
The bluegrass classic “Dark Hollow” is often played in the key of C, so that’s where you’ll learn it. Sharon starts by going over the closed-position L-shapes, arpeggio patterns, and double stops in the key of C as well as a closed-position C major scale. After walking you through the melody of “Dark Hollow,” pointing out the relationship between the notes of the melody and the chords that are accompanying it, Sharon shows you how to dress up the melody by using double stops and creating licks out of double stop shapes.
“The Last Thing on My Mind” is a folk song written by Tom Paxton, but became a bluegrass standard after recordings by Doc Watson, Tony Rice, and others. Sharon often played it with Tony in the Rowan/Rice Quartet. In this lesson, you’ll learn to play solos on the verse and chorus of “The Last Thing on My Mind” in the key of D.
The Osborne Brothers classic “Big Spike Hammer” uses the “six minor chord,” often noted as a vi chord, and Sharon uses it to show you how the vi is related to the I and IV. You’ll learn the arpeggios and double stops of the iv chord in the key of B and a solo to “Big Spike Hammer” in B.
“Down in the Willow Garden” is a traditional folk ballad that has long been a part of the bluegrass repertoire. This lesson builds on the patterning for the vi chord (in this case, Am in the key of C) and how it relates to the I, IV, and V chord positions.
Sharon uses the folk and bluegrass classic “Keep on the Sunny Side” to show you a new double stop and a series of double stops that occur in many songs. You’ll learn to play a solo in double stops on the verse of “Keep on the Sunny Side” in this lesson, which will be followed by the chorus in the next lesson.
As promised, you’ll learn a solo to the chorus of “Keep on the Sunny Side” in this lesson. Sharon starts by showing you the basic melody and then walks you through a double stop solo on the chorus that includes the double stop series she talked about in the last lesson.
In this lesson you’ll learn to play a double-stop solo to the folk classic “Freight Train” in the key of Bb. “Freight Train” has an unusual chord—a major chord on the third step of the scale, so in the key of Bb, that’s a D.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a solo to the bluegrass classic “Will the Roses Bloom (Where She Lies Sleeping)” in the key of D using a new double stop series and a new territory on the neck up at the tenth fret.
“Little Maggie” is a traditional bluegrass song that is associated with both Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley. “Little Maggie” uses the “flat seven chord”: an F chord in the key of G, which is where you’ll learn “Little Maggie” in this lesson. The solo you’ll learn combines double stops with some bluesy licks.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a fiddle solo played by Tater Tate on Bill Monroe’s 1989 recording of “Love, Please Come Home” from Monroe’s Live at the Opry album. The song is played in the key of B and uses the flat seven chord: an A chord in the key of B. The solo uses the major-pentatonic scale, which is easily played out of closed position.
“I Know What It Means to Be Lonesome” is an old song from the early 20th century that became a bluegrass standard through versions by Flatt and Scruggs, the Osborne Brothers, and others. It has a “circle of fifths” (VI–II–V–I) progression, in which all the chords are major chords. In the key of C major, that means the chords are A–D–G–C.
The melody of Bill Monroe’s popular “Kentucky Waltz” is a great vehicle for working on tremolo and adding double stops to a melody. You’ll learn a few different approaches to tremolo as well as a good way to stay in time while you’re playing tremolo by ending the tremolo right on the downstroke of the next beat.
The blues is a big part of bluegrass. In this lesson you’ll learn the classic bluegrass blues tune “Tennessee Blues,” which is the first tune Bill Monroe wrote. You’ll also learn a classic slide lick that doubles an open-string note, some variations on the melody, and how to find the “blue notes” in relation to the major scale.
David Grisman’s simple version of the traditional song “Banks of the Ohio,” which he recorded on Tone Poems, is a great example of how to enhance a simple melody with tremolo and double stops. You’ll learn the basic melody of “Banks of the Ohio” as well as Grisman’s rendition, including how he combines hammer-ons, double stops, and tremolo to play a single melody note.
The old-time fiddle tune “Chinquapin Hunting” has become quite popular on the bluegrass jam scene in the last few years. In addition to the melody, you’ll learn how to add a backbeat to the steady stream of eighth notes in fiddle tunes and get advice on backing up another musician in a duet setting, with ideas on varying the chord voicings of simple chords, using different rhythmic approaches, and mining the melody for ideas to fill out the accompaniment.
The fiddle tune “Cuckoo’s Nest” is a good tune for working on triplets, as well as being a jam session favorite. While learning the tune you’ll also learn a great technique for playing eighth-note triplets: picking the first note of the triplet with a downstroke, slurring the second note (with a hammer-on or pull-off), and picking the third note with an upstroke.
Bill Monroe’s “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz” has a unique chord progression and uses some atypical triplet rhythms in the melody. You’ll learn to play it in closed position with tremolo, as well as how to play triplets with a down-up-down pattern. Joe also talks about targeting the chord tones of each chord when you’re improvising a solo.
Learn “the pinch pattern,” a classic accompaniment pattern used in bluegrass banjo, and use it to play the popular gospel song “I’ll Fly Away.”
The forward roll is an essential element of bluegrass banjo because it provides the characteristic drive that defines bluegrass. Learn the basic forward roll along with a few variations and play them with G, C, D7, and D chords.
Learn how to use the forward roll on the bluegrass classic “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms.”
You can play the jam-session favorite “Wagon Wheel” with just two roll patterns, the alternating thumb roll and the forward-reverse roll. You’ll learn the chords to “Wagon Wheel” and get advice on keeping your roll pattern going while changing chords.
Your first clawhammer banjo tune, “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” is a well-known old-time fiddle tune with the typical AABB fiddle tune structure. And it features some of the pull-offs, hammer-ons, and slides you learned in the previous lesson, so it’s a good tune for practicing them.
With your second clawhammer tune, “Nancy Rowland,” you’ll begin to explore the fingerboard a little more. “Cotton-Eyed Joe” stays at the second and first frets but this great old-time dance tune moves you up the neck of the banjo. The B part starts up at the fifth fret, where you’ll learn a new D chord. Evie gives you advice on getting used to moving your fingers up and down the neck.
Bluegrass fiddle tunes are similar to old-time fiddle tunes, but they have a sound all their own, and often include more variations and improvising. Some lessons include the versions that bluegrass fiddle masters like Kenny Baker, Bobby Hicks, and Stuart Duncan played.
The bluegrass fiddle tune “Road to Columbus” was written by Bill Monroe and made famous by Kenny Baker on his album Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe. You’ll learn it here, including its unique intro and cool double stops. The B part to “Road to Columbus” is mostly played in third position and you’ll learn a quick vibrato that Kenny Baker uses on some of the high notes.
This version of “Cattle in the Cane” combines a Texas-style approach with a more bluegrass way of playing the tune. The tune has two parts, one low part in A minor and one higher part in A major. You’ll also learn two versions of the A part, one inspired by Texas fiddler Terry Morris and the other from bluegrass fiddler Aubrey Haynie.
Bluegrass mandolinist Herschel Sizemore’s popular instrumental “Rebecca” is in the key of B, an unusual key for old-time fiddlers but an essential key for bluegrass players to know. The tune is mostly played out of a closed position and you’ll learn some variations inspired by the way Bobby Hicks and Stuart Duncan played “Rebecca.”
The old-time fiddle tune “Bill Cheatham” has become a bluegrass jam session favorite. In addition to learning a great bluegrass version of the tune, Chad talks about his approach to improvising on “Bill Cheatham” and shows you the “target notes” in each part and how you can think about creating lines that get to those notes.
Here’s another bluegrass favorite written by a mandolinist in an unusual key: Bb. “New Camptown Races,” written by bluegrass mandolinist Frank Wakefield, moves to G minor, the relative minor of Bb, in the second part. You’ll learn the Bb major scale and how to play all the modes in Bb.
The first Irish tune you’ll learn is the jig “The Tar Road to Sligo.” Dale talks about the difference between jig rhythm and reel rhythm and how to get used to the 6/8 feel of jigs. You’ll also learn your first Irish ornament, the grace note, as well as a simple slur bowing. Then you’ll learn one of the distinctive ornaments in Irish music, the “roll,” which combines grace notes and slurs. You’ll get advice on practicing rolls slowly and repeatedly with a metronome so that the motion becomes natural. Dale also shows how you can use rolls in jigs whenever the first and third note of a three-note pattern are the same, and how to create variations on tunes by substituting different arpeggios into the melody.
The D-major single reel “The Boyne Hunt,” like many reels, has origins in Scotland. Much of it is played with single bows, but you’ll also learn a few important slurs. Once you’ve learned the basic melody and bowing, Dale shows you some ways to ornament “The Boyne Hunt” with rolls and slides, as well as some simple variations to the melody using different notes of the arpeggios that underlie the melody.
The Irish jig “The High Part of the Road,” also known as “Willie Clancy’s” and “The Blooming Meadow,” is a good tune for practicing rolls. Dale shows you some different bowing options and how you can roll any of the first three-note groupings in the melody. He also shows you some melodic variations and how you can play rolls in many of the melodic phrases in “The High Part of the Road.” Because you can’t play a roll on an open string, you’ll also learn a pipe technique in which you add multiple grace notes above the open string.
There are two tunes called “The Swallow’s Tail”: a jig and a reel, which are only related by name. In this lesson you’ll learn “The Swallow’s Tail Reel” and some variations on both parts. Dale also introduces the bowed triplet, giving you advice on how to play and practice this classic Irish fiddle ornament. You’ll also learn some other melodic variations using a variety of ornaments, including a series of rolls on the beginning of the B part.
In this lesson, you’ll learn another Irish dance style, the polka. Dale begins by talking about modes in Irish music: major, Mixolydian, Dorian, etc. The mode in “The Top of Maol” has a flatted seventh but no third (neither major nor minor), and while the melody doesn’t have a minor third, it does have a minor sound. You’ll learn the basic bowing pattern Dale uses to play polkas, a sort of back and forth bowing where the bowing changes on the beat. You’ll also learn some more nuanced ways to play polkas, including how to add a pulse or lift to the second half of each bow stroke, putting an emphasis on the offbeat rather than the downbeat.
Hornpipes are in 4/4, like reels, but they have a different feel. They can take a few forms and are often used for dancing. Hornpipes are often ornamented or filled out with triplet runs, which are different than the bow triplets you learned earlier. You’ll learn to add hornpipe-style triplets to the melody of the “The Galway Hornpipe” as well as a few good places to add rolls.
“The Whinny Hills of Leitrim” is a slip jig, which means that it’s in 9/8 instead of 6/8. The 9/8 rhythm is divided up into groups of three eighth notes, just as in the 6/8 of normal jigs, and in the “The Whinny Hills of Leitrim” the three-note phrasing is very clearly delineated, which makes it easy to hear and play the slip jig rhythm.
“The Kerry Reel” is in E minor, in Dorian mode, with minor thirds (G) and sevenths (D) and a raised sixth (C#). It’s a double reel, which means that it has eight-bar parts that are played twice, but the A part of “The Kerry Reel” consists of a four-bar phrase that’s repeated four times, so Dale shows you a few minor variations you can play on the repeats. Dale also gets deep into the bowing of “The Kerry Reel,” showing you some three-note slurs and how the addition of grace notes affects the bowing. He also shows you where he adds rolls, triplets, slides, and other ornaments to the melody.
The polka “The Man in the Moon” is from the Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music, although in that book it’s written as a slide (a type of jig), but Dale adapted it to polka rhythm. Dale shows you how the polka bowing works with the melody as well as a couple minor variations on the bowing pattern that give it a little variety and lift. You’ll also learn to play open-string drones and double stops on “The Man in the Moon.”
The jig “The Black Rogue” has an old sound and, although it’s in the key of D, starts on an implied A major chord. Dale talks about how to figure out what key a tune like “The Black Rogue” is in when the tonality is ambiguous. Dale also shows you how he slides into notes and how Irish slides differ from the way American fiddlers play slides. You’ll also learn how to create melodic variations of short phrases and where to use rolls on “The Black Rogue,” with advice on playing rolls cleanly on jigs.
Dale first heard “The Jug of Punch” played by the great fiddler Paddy Glackin, whose ending of the tune is a little different than the way some people play the tune. You’ll learn both endings in this lesson. “The Jug of Punch” is in the key of D minor, so Dale shows you the D minor scale, with F and C naturals. Dale shows you his bowing as well as some ornaments and melodic variations you can use on both parts of “The Jug of Punch.” You’ll also learn the difference between playing a “long roll” and a “short roll” using the long F note in the second part.
The jig “Truthful John” is in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland, an essential collection of Irish music, although the version in O’Neill’s is slightly different than the way Dale plays it. “Truthful John” sounds like it came from the piping tradition and that’s how you’ll learn it. Dale explains how to impart the character of the Irish pipes into “Truthful John,” showing you how pipers will ornament a tune and how you can imitate their ornamentation on the fiddle with things like vibrato, rolls, triplets, grace notes, crans, and more. Dale also shows you how to add notes and double stops to imitate the pipe’s regulators.
The polka “The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue” is a little different than the other polkas you’ve learned so far. Both “The Top of Maol” and “The Man in the Moon” are played with a bowing style where the bow changes on the downbeats. But to play “The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue” you’ll learn to use single bows on almost every note. This is more of a County Clare or American style polka and is used more for couple dances as well as beginning step dancers.
Written by flute player James McMahon, “The Banshee” has become a seisiún standard. It’s changed a bit since it was written, but you’ll learn the version that the Bothy Band recorded, which should fit in at any seisiún. It’s a good tune for working on three-note slurs, and in “The Banshee” the slurs are often combined with a single bow on the string below the slurs. Dale shows you how to make a bowing exercise out of the first phrase to practice the technique of playing three-note slurs followed by one bow stroke on the lower string. In addition to learning the basic melody and bowing of “The Banshee,” Dale gives you lots of ideas about melodic variation and shows you where to add rolls, triplets, grace notes, etc.
“The Diamond” is a single jig, and in this lesson, Dale talks about the difference between single jigs, double jigs, and slides. For example, double jigs usually consist of a series of eighth notes grouped into threes, while in single jigs and slides, the melodic rhythm is quarter note/eighth note, quarter note/eighth note, etc. Also, single jigs and double jigs usually have what Dale calls a “butter and eggs” ending. Dale also talks about how different kinds of jigs are used in dance competitions. The first part of “The Diamond” is in D Mixolydian, a D major scale with C naturals, while the tonality of the second part is a little different, with F naturals and both C sharps and C naturals.
A hornpipe in the key of G, “The Flowing Tide” involves a lot of G arpeggios that weave around themselves in interesting and complex ways. Both parts are long-form melodies with few repeating phrases.
Many slides don’t have names or are named after a fiddler the tune is associated with. If a tune doesn’t have a name, it’s often called “Gan Ainm,” which is Irish for “no name.” Such is the case with the slide you’ll learn in this lesson. Dale talks about the similarity of single jigs and slides, and the distinctive rhythmic endings of each. Dale also shows you how the down-two-three, up-two-three bowing can be used on this tune and gives you a couple of variations.
The four-part A minor reel “Farewell to Ireland” is known as one of the “big reels” and, like many reels, is originally from Scotland. In addition to the melody of all four parts, you’ll learn some of the ornamentation and variations that are often played on “Farewell to Ireland,” including some rolls, bow triplets, and melodic embellishment.
The popular reel “Drowsy Maggie” is one of the tunes that many Irish musicians start off on. It’s a deceptively simple tune that is great for practicing some basic techniques: rolls, triplets, string crossings, etc. The A part is particularly good for practicing bowed triplets and string crossings. You’ll also learn some bowing variations to the A part of “Drowsy Maggie,” as well as where to add bowed triplets, rolls, and grace notes to both parts.
“Angeline the Baker” is one of the most popular fiddle tunes at bluegrass and old-time jams throughout the world. After learning the melody you’ll learn to add the fiddle “layers” that really make you sound like a fiddler, including hammer-ons, up-sweeps, anticipation, and double-stringing.
Learn the popular old-time tune “June Apple” and how to play the A part with the “Nashville shuffle” bowing pattern and the B part with the “Georgia shuffle” bowing pattern.
“Elk River Blues” is a simple, evocative old-time tune from West Virginia fiddler Ernie Carpenter. It has “crooked” phrasing, in which some phrases have an extra measure of 2/4, and you’ll learn to add some nice hammer-on and drone notes to fill out the melody.
“Old Joe Clark” is one of the best-known American fiddle tunes. It’s in the key of A Mixolydian, which means that the seventh step of the A major scale (G#) is lowered to a G natural. In addition to learning a shuffle bow pattern you can use to play both parts of the basic mleody, as well as some double-stringing and slides, you’ll learn a more “notey” version of the melody with variations on each phrase.
Another need-to-know fiddle tune, “Whiskey Before Breakfast” is in the key of D and the B part includes some cool slides. You’ll also learn a few simple melodic variations.
A beautiful and popular waltz, “Tennessee Waltz” is played all over North America. It’s in the key of D so you’ll learn a D scale and a D arpeggio and get advice on getting the D and A notes to ring in tune. You’ll also learn a few variations that include hammer-ons and slides.
“St. Anne’s Reel” is a Canadian fiddle tune that has become popular wherever fiddlers are gathered. You’ll learn the melody, of course, and also how the melody fits the chords. Then you’ll learn some simple chord double stops to play if you want to play along with another fiddler or another instrumentalist taking a solo.
This pretty little A modal tune comes from West Virginia fiddler Lee Triplett and is now played by Celtic fiddlers, old-time fiddlers, and others. You’ll learn how to find the melody in the lower octave and how to add the fiddle “layers” like double stringing, slides, and hammer-ons.
The old-time tune “Seneca Square Dance” comes from a 1920s recording of fiddler Sam Long. In addition to learning the melody, you’ll pay particular attention to the bowing, which combines long held notes with quick bow strokes.
Learn tunes from old-time banjo greats like Matokie Slaughter, Claude Helton, Hobart Smith, and others.
“Jack Wilson” is a straight-ahead square dance tune in the key of D, played in double-D tuning (double-C tuning with a capo at the second fret). This version was recorded in 1941 by fiddler John Morgan Salyer and banjo player Claude Helton.
“Georgie,” sometimes called “What’ll We Do with the Baby-O,” comes from Virginia old-time banjo player Matokie Slaughter. It’s a two-part dance tune in the key of C, played in double-C tuning. The A part is pretty straightforward, but the B part starts with an alternate-string pull-off on the top string and includes some muting of the top string on the brushes. You’ll learn both parts and an alternate A part Matokie played in the lower octave.
“Chinquapin Pie” comes from banjo player and singer Hobart Smith of Saltville, Virginia. It has two parts and is in the key of G, played in G modal tuning: gDGCD. It includes double thumbing, crossovers, muting, and “hammer-ons from nowhere.”
“Five Miles from Town” is a dance tune that comes from Clyde Davenport, who is known more as a fiddler than a banjo player. “Five Miles from Town” is a somewhat crooked tune (especially in the second part) and is played in the key of D, in double D tuning (double C tuning with the capo at the second fret).
“Backstep Cindy” is a staple of the Round Peak old-time repertoire, and you can hear recordings of Tommy Jarrell, Fred Cockerham, and other old-time banjo icons playing it. “Backstep Cindy” is in the key of D, played in aDADE tuning (gCGCD, with a capo at the second fret), and has three parts, the second and third of which are crooked.
There are many versions of the traditional song “John Henry.” The one you’ll learn here comes from Virginia banjo player and fiddler Glen Smith, who had a unique, personal style of banjo playing, which is reflected in his version of “John Henry” in many ways, including the unusual tuning he chose: eBEBE.
This version of the old-time tune “Walking in the Parlor” comes from Lee Hammons of Pocahontas County, West Virginia. It’s a simple tune in double-C tuning and Hammons brings out the beauty of the simple melody with dynamics and subtle syncopation.
“Chattanooga” comes from fiddler Blaine Smith, but it lends itself well to the banjo. It’s a straightforward dance tune in G, played in standard banjo G tuning.
“Sugar Hill” is a great dance tune popular in Surrey and Stokes counties in North Carolina as well as Grayson and Carroll Counties in Virginia. It’s a two-part tune in the key of D, played in double-D tuning.
“Flying Indian” comes from Virginia fiddler Jesse Shelor and works well as a banjo tune. Bruce plays it on the banjo in an unusual tuning: gDGDE, which is sometimes called “Last Chance” tuning. To get into gDGDE you tune your B string up to D and your high D string up to E.
“Cleveland’s March to the White House” was popular among many of the older players around Galax and Grayson and Carroll counties, Virginia, including Roscoe Parrish, Emmett Lundy, and Bertie Dickens. It’s in an unusual tuning: with the capo at the second fret, the tuning sounds as gEADE (without a capo the top four strings would be DGCD).
“The Coo-Coo Bird” comes from Clarence (“Tom”) Ashley, and was included on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music. Ashley sang it in the key of A, but Bruce sings it in G and tunes the banjo to G modal tuning (gDGCD). He shows you the “turnaround” that Ashley plays between verses, which includes the fill you can play between vocal lines, and then shows you how to combine the vocal, fills, and turnaround.
“Twin Sisters” comes from some recordings of two brothers, Sidna and Fulton Meyers, who lived near Galax, Virginia. “Twin Sisters” is a solo piece played on the banjo by Sidna Meyers. It’s a two-part modal tune played in G modal tuning, gDGCD, and it includes some unusual techniques for both hands.
“Pateroller Song” comes from Hobart Smith of Saltville, Virginia. It’s a fast, aggressive tune played in A modal tuning, in this case tuned aEADE.
“Tildy Moore” comes from Roscoe Parrish from Coal Creek, Virginia, who was recorded near the end of his life by Tom Carter and Andy Cahan. It’s a straightforward square dance tune in the key of D, played in double-D tuning (aDADE).
“Cripple Creek” is one of the most popular old-time tunes and there are many versions. In this lesson, you’ll learn a version that comes from Tommy Jarrell, who is more commonly known for his fiddling.
The old-time fiddle tune “Old Dad” is popular all over and goes by many names, including “Stony Point” and “Wild Horses.” In Ireland it’s known as “The Pigtown Fling.” The version Bruce teaches you here is based on the fiddle playing of John Rector and uses a lot of double thumbing. It’s in the key of G, but Bruce plays it not in standard G tuning but in “Last Chance” tuning: gDGDE.
“Shooting Creek” is a popular square dance tune in the key of D, played in double D tuning. There are a lot of versions by various musicians, including the Fuzzy Mountain String Band and Bruce’s band Molsky’s Mountain Drifters.
The most well-known version of “Wandering Boy” is the song recorded by the Carter Family, but it was also recorded as an instrumental by Frank Jenkins, fiddler with Da Costa Woltz’s Southern Broadcasters. Bruce’s banjo version is influenced by Andy Cahan’s banjo version and is played in the key of C in double C tuning.
This version of “Sugar in the Gourd” comes from Uncle Norm Edmonds and is completely different from the popular fiddle tune with the same name played in the key of A. This “Sugar in the Gourd” is a great straight-ahead dance tune in the key of D.
This version of the traditional “Fiddler a Dram” (or as it was called by the announcer at the 1938 White Top Fiddle Convention “Fiddle or a Dram”) was recorded by C.B. Wohlford. It’s in the key of A and Bruce plays it with a capo on the second fret.
“Rockingham Cindy” is a favorite of Round Peak banjo players, and Tommy Jarrell’s version is particularly interesting. It’s in the key of D and Bruce plays it in double-D tuning.
“John Brown’s Dream” is a classic fiddle and banjo tune. Bruce recorded it as a solo banjo tune on his album Soon Be Time. It’s a three-part tune in the key of A but in an unusual tuning: aAAC#E (capo on the second fret), with the fourth string tuned to an A an octave below the third-string A.
“We’ll Have a Way Hoeing Corn” comes from African American fiddler Will Adams, who lived in Ken-Gar, a predominantly Black neighborhood wedged between Kensington and Garrett Park in Montgomery County, Maryland, and was recorded by Mike Seeger in 1951.
In this lesson you’ll learn a tune from Norway, quite a departure from the other tunes you’ve been learning. But Bruce has found that there are many Scandinavian tunes that fit well on the banjo. “Knut Ramlet’s Hambo” comes from Hardanger fiddler Anon Egeland, and Bruce plays it in double D tuning.
The song “The Blackest Crow” is in 3/4 (waltz time), which is an unusual time signature for clawhammer banjo, but it works well for some songs. Bruce plays and sings it in the key of G, using standard G tuning on the banjo. He starts by showing you a right hand pattern for 3/4 time and then shows you how to add in the melody notes.
“Christmas Eve” is a great old square dance tune in the key of D, played in double-D tuning. There are a few good sources for it, including Gribble, Lusk, and York; Isham Monday; and Jim and Zelma Bowles, whose version is most like the one Bruce teaches you here.
“Robert’s Serenade” comes from Surry County, North Carolina, fiddler Robert Sykes. “Robert’s Serenade” is similar to the bluegrass standard “Clinch Mountain Backstep” and Bruce plays it on the banjo in A modal tuning (aEADE, with a capo at the second fret).
“Red Rocking Chair” is a well-known traditional song and is also known as “Sugar Babe,” “Honey Babe,” and “Ain’t Got No Honey Baby, Now.” Dock Boggs recorded an important version in 1927, and Norman Edmonds also recorded an influential version. Bruce plays it in the key of G, in standard G tuning.
Bruce learned the square dance tune “Christmas Holiday” from Virginia musician Pug Allen. It’s in the key of D, played in double D tuning.
Bruce’s version of the solo banjo tune “Roustabout” comes from the great banjo player and fiddler Fred Cockerham, from Low Gap, North Carolina. There are numerous versions, including one recorded by the African-American banjo player Josh Thomas in 1959. Bruce plays and sings it in the key of A, with the banjo tuned to aDAC#E (with a capo at the second fret).
“Breaking Up Christmas” is one of the most important and popular tunes in the Round Peak repertoire. It’s in the key of A, played in standard tuning with a capo at the second fret.
Bruce’s version of the well-known square dance tune “Sourwood Mountain” comes mostly from the playing of Glen Smith, who recorded it on a fretless banjo in eBEBE tuning, which puts it in the key of E. Glen Smith used a lot of left-hand, open-string pull-offs to give his playing some extra rhythmic emphasis. After showing you the basic arrangement, Bruce shows you how to add the open-string pull-offs.
The first alternate tuning you’ll learn is probably the most common, and just involves tuning the low E string down to D.
The first alternate tuning you’ll learn is probably the most common, and just involves tuning the low E string down to D. Doug talks about some of the advantages of playing in dropped-D tuning and shows you how to get into dropped-D tuning.
The first tune you’ll learn to play in an alternate tuning is the traditional Irish song “Blind Mary.” It’s in the key of D and uses the basic chord shapes you’ll need to play in the key of D: D, G, A, Bm.
In this lesson, you’ll learn to play in the key of G in dropped-D tuning with the Irish folk song “Down by the Sally Gardens,” which uses the I, IV, and V chords in the key of G (G, C, and D) as well as the three minor chords in the key of G: Em, Am, and Bm. “Down by the Sally Gardens” has four four-bar phrases, with an AABA structure. Doug’s arrangement includes a couple of different ways to finger the melody against the G chord, including one that takes advantage of the open strings in dropped-D tuning.
In this lesson, Doug shows you how to play the song “Danny Boy” up the neck in dropped-D tuning using triads and chord inversions, a technique that is very useful no matter what tuning you’re in.
In addition to triads and chord inversions, it’s also important to learn the harmonized major scales in whatever tuning you’re in. In this lesson, Doug uses the traditional song “Shenandoah” to show you the harmonized major scale in dropped-D tuning.
“Angeline the Baker” is one of the most popular fiddle tunes at bluegrass and old-time jams throughout the world. After learning the melody you’ll learn to add the fiddle “layers” that really make you sound like a fiddler, including hammer-ons, up-sweeps, anticipation, and double-stringing.
“Cripple Creek” is a classic old-time and bluegrass favorite in the key of A that is a favorite of fiddlers as well as banjo players. You’ll learn the basic melody and how to add a shuffle bowing pattern that accents the backbeat.
Learn the popular old-time tune “June Apple” and how to play the A part with the “Nashville shuffle” bowing pattern and the B part with the “Georgia shuffle” bowing pattern.
“Elk River Blues” is a simple, evocative old-time tune from West Virginia fiddler Ernie Carpenter. It has “crooked” phrasing, in which some phrases have an extra measure of 2/4, and you’ll learn to add some nice hammer-on and drone notes to fill out the melody.
“Old Joe Clark” is one of the best-known American fiddle tunes. It’s in the key of A Mixolydian, which means that the seventh step of the A major scale (G#) is lowered to a G natural. In addition to learning a shuffle bow pattern you can use to play both parts of the basic mleody, as well as some double-stringing and slides, you’ll learn a more “notey” version of the melody with variations on each phrase.
Another need-to-know fiddle tune, “Whiskey Before Breakfast” is in the key of D and the B part includes some cool slides. You’ll also learn a few simple melodic variations.
A beautiful and popular waltz, “Tennessee Waltz” is played all over North America. It’s in the key of D so you’ll learn a D scale and a D arpeggio and get advice on getting the D and A notes to ring in tune. You’ll also learn a few variations that include hammer-ons and slides.
“St. Anne’s Reel” is a Canadian fiddle tune that has become popular wherever fiddlers are gathered. You’ll learn the melody, of course, and also how the melody fits the chords. Then you’ll learn some simple chord double stops to play if you want to play along with another fiddler or another instrumentalist taking a solo.
This pretty little A modal tune comes from West Virginia fiddler Lee Triplett and is now played by Celtic fiddlers, old-time fiddlers, and others. You’ll learn how to find the melody in the lower octave and how to add the fiddle “layers” like double stringing, slides, and hammer-ons.
The old-time tune “Seneca Square Dance” comes from a 1920s recording of fiddler Sam Long. In addition to learning the melody, you’ll pay particular attention to the bowing, which combines long held notes with quick bow strokes.
In the midst of learning tunes, it’s always good to review your technique and make sure you're addressing any technical deficiencies you may have. In these lessons, Chad answers some student questions about technique and gives advice about various issues that may come up.
Chad gives you advice on holding the fiddle and extending your bowing arm in this technique lesson. He starts by demonstrating that if you hold the fiddle parallel to the ground, the bow can rest on the strings. Then he breaks down some bow mechanics, showing you that, when bowing to the tip of the bow, if you extend your arm from the elbow, your bow will stay parallel to the bridge as it moves across the strings. He also shows you how to bring your bowing arm in when you're bowing to the frog.
You’ll learn your first Celtic tune (“The Kerry Polka”) and your first scales in this lesson. “The Kerry Polka” is in the key of D major, a common fiddle-tune key, so Emerald starts by showing you a D major scale (the notes you’ll use to play in the key of D) on the D and A strings and how you can use the same fingering on the bottom two strings (G and D) to play a G major scale and the same fingering on the top two strings (A and E) to play an A major scale.
The second Celtic tune you’ll learn is a popular Scottish song, “Mairi’s Wedding.” Emerald starts by showing you how to sing the melody, so you get it in your head, and then she walks you through the melody of “Mairi’s Wedding” on the fiddle.
In this lesson, you’ll learn your first Celtic jig: “Off She Goes.” Jigs are one of the most common Celtic dance styles and are in 6/8 time. Emerald starts by explaining jigs and suggests you think “jiggety-jiggety” to understand the 6/8 rhythm. “Off She Goes” is in the key of D, but it has a few more notes than the previous tunes you’ve learned. It also uses some arpeggiated phrases in the second part.
“The Skye Boat Song” is a classic Scottish song and fiddle tune. It’s most often played in the key of G, so that’s where you’ll learn it. You’ll learn the melody, of course, as well as how to drone on open strings to accompany the melody.
“Danny Boy” is a classic Irish song, and is often played as an instrumental. It includes some more involved melodic lines than you’ve learned so far—including string crossings, arpeggiation, and some simple ornamentation.
Although the Scottish jig “The Stool of Repentance” is named for a stool used for public humiliation in Scottish Reformation churches, it’s a bright happy tune in the key of A, and is popular in Scotland and Cape Breton.
“The Ballydesmond Polka #2” is the second in a commonly played set of three polkas called The Ballydesmond Polka Set. It’s the easiest one of the set and is in the key of A minor. The second part goes up to the high B note on the E string, which you’ll play with your pinky, so Emerald gives you advice on supporting your pinky while playing the high B note. She also shows you how to pair “The Ballydesmond Polka #2” with “The Kerry Polka” (which you’ve already learned) in a “set.”
In the first series of lessons in Bluegrass Guitar Fingerboard Mastery, Stash shows you how to find inversions of diatonic chords on two string sets, the DGB string set and GBE string set. You’ll learn triad inversion shapes for G, C, and D chords on the DGB string set and use them to play the traditional song “Lonesome Valley” in the key of G. You’ll also learn triad inversion shapes for C, F, and G chords on the GBE string set and use them to play the traditional song “Roll On Buddy” in the key of C.
In the first lesson on triads and inversions Stash begins by showing you the chromatic scale on the low A string, beginning with the open E string and moving up fret-by-fret to the 12th fret. Then he shows you the three different diatonic triad shapes for G, C, and D chords on the DGB string set and how to use them to play the traditional song “Lonesome Valley.” He also explains that these shapes are different inversions of a major triad, and how to find the three inversions up the neck for G, C, and D chords on the DGB string set.
In this lesson, you’ll learn triad inversion shapes for C, F, and G chords on the GBE string set and use them to play the traditional song “Roll On Buddy” in the key of C.
Stash shows you a great way to practice the triads and inversions you’ve learned in the previous lessons: crosspicking the triads. He starts by defining and demonstrating crosspicking and then shows you a 3–3–2 crosspicking pattern you can play on the DGB string-set triad shapes, which you can use to play “Lonesome Valley.” He also shows you two other crosspicking patterns: 3–2–3 and 2–3–3.
The first Carter Family song you’ll learn is “Worried Man Blues”, which the Carter Family recorded in May 1930. Cathy starts by showing you the melody, which is played with the thumb, and then adds strums, showing you a few minor variations as she goes.
The beautiful melody “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes” was recorded by the Carter Family in 1929 and again in 1935. It’s since become a bluegrass and country music classic, but the melody they used may be a bit different than one you’ve heard. There are a couple of places where you have to do a little “strum magic” worth with the phrasing of the melody.
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” is one of the most popular traditional songs of all time. You’ll hear it in almost any jam session you go to. The original Carter Family version of the song was called “Can the Circle Be Unbroken” and the timing was a bit unusual, but it’s become straightened out over the years. Cathy shows you the way most people play it these days, but also shows you how to play along with the original recording.
The Carter Family song “Gold Watch and Chain” has a beautiful melody and the two halves of the guitar part are almost identical. On the second half, Cathy shows you an alternate strum part for the G7 chord.
The beautiful song “Wildwood Flower” is one of the most iconic pieces in the Carter Family. Maybelle’s playing on “Wildwood Flower” has influenced generations of guitarists, and every country and bluegrass guitar player plays it.
“Keep on the Sunny Side” is another Carter Family classic and it’s one that has become a favorite in all styles of American roots music. You’ll learn a solo on the verse melody as well as Maybelle’s instrumental tag that uses the last line of the chorus.
“Kissing Is a Crime” is a particularly fun Maybelle Carter lead to play. It’s a little more complicated than usual, probably because there are more notes and words in the song, and Maybelle includes some chromatic passing notes in her solo.
Maybelle’s playing on “My Dixie Darling” has a nice bounce because she played the melody with a flatpick. Cathy teaches it to you with a flatpick, but she also shows you how to get a flatpick-like sound with a thumbpick and index finger. She starts with an exercise on playing down-up (alternating) picking with a flatpick and then walks you through Maybelle’s bouncy guitar solo.
“The Winding Stream” is a beautiful old song in 3/4 time with some interesting rhythmic things going on in the lead, which doesn’t quite match the phrasing of the sung melody. Cathy plays “The Winding Stream” with a flatpick and there are a lot of lead notes on the G and B strings.
“You Are My Flower” is one of the few examples of Maybelle Carter adding something to the song that isn’t the melody. In the verse and chorus she plays a fill behind the sung melody, and also plays the fill in her lead. Cathy plays “You Are My Flower” with a flatpick and starts by showing you the fill Maybelle plays, which includes a chromatic line.
“Jealous Hearted Me” has a 12-bar blues form (with an extra half measure in the middle), and Maybelle plays it with a flatpick in the bouncy style she likes.
The cowboy song “Buddies in the Saddle” is one of the rare songs that Maybelle Carter is credited with writing. The lead that she plays on the Carter Family is unusual for her because so much of it is in the high notes, on the upper strings instead of on the bass strings, and she has a rhythm guitar player playing behind her. In this lesson, Cathy shows you what Maybelle played on the Carter Family recording as well as how to play the melody to “Buddies in the Saddle” on the lower strings in typical Carter style.
“Give Me the Roses While I Live” is in 3/4 time with an AABA form. Maybelle only plays the first part (A) of the melody, but the B part is pretty easy to play, so Cathy shows you how to play it Maybelle style.
“There’s No Hiding Place Down Here” was recorded by the Carter Family in 1934. Maybelle’s lead is a great example of the Carter scratch, and there’s a lot of thumb–up–down–up strumming, which really fills out the sound.
Maybelle Carter played “Hello Stranger” in a fingerpicking style with steady alternating bass played by the thumb along with a couple of short single-note melodic lines. Cathy shows you Maybelle’s basic fingerpicking pattern and then walks you through her solo on “Hello Stranger” phrase by phrase.
“I Never Will Marry” is a very sad song, but the guitar part is really fun. Cathy shows you Maybelle’s lead as well as a couple of chromatic bass lines she plays under the vocal.
“Cannonball Blues” is a fingerstyle showcase for Maybelle Carter. She plays fingerstyle with her thumb and index finger but if you’re used to fingerpicking with your middle and/or ring fingers, you can do it that way as well. The most important thing is that you get the melody notes and keep your thumb steady.
“Victory Rag” is another fingerstyle showcase for Maybelle Carter. It has a ragtime-style chord progression, so Cathy starts by showing you the chords before showing you Maybelle’s arrangement of “Victory Rag.”
Maybelle’s lead to “Lonesome Pine Special” is another great demonstration of the classic “Carter scratch.” In addition to learning the main lead, you’ll learn Maybelle’s quirky intro, which doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the song but is fun to play.
Maybelle’s lead on “Coal Miner’s Blues” is an amazing confluence of early country music and blues. Unusually for Maybelle, it’s in the key of G (without a capo), with G, G7, C, and D chords. Cathy plays it with a thumbpick and index finger, but it can also be played with a flatpick.
In these lessons, you’ll learn the melody, chords, and a classic solo to some of the most well-known western swing songs.
“Sugar Moon” was written by Bob Wills and Cindy Walker, and was recorded by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in 1947. It reached Number 1 on the Billboard Country charts and stayed there for six weeks. Chad shows you the melody and chords to “Sugar Moon” and points out how they relate to each other, which will help you learn to improvise over the chords when it’s time to take a solo. He also shows you some double stops you can add to the melody.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a “Sugar Moon” solo that combines an A part played by Johnny Gimble on an Austin City Limits show with Asleep at the Wheel and the Texas Playboys and an A part from Joe Holley’s solo on the original Bob Wills recording.
“Right or Wrong” is a 1920’s jazz ballad that was recorded by a lot of early jazz bands and was later picked up by Bob Wills, who made it a western swing classic. There are many great versions, including versions by Bob Wills and Milton Brown. Country star George Strait’s recording of “Right or Wrong” includes a solo by Johnny Gimble, which you’ll learn in this lesson.
The instrumental tune “Panhandle Shuffle” comes from the Sons of the West, a Western swing group who played around the Amarillo, Texas, area during the late 1930s and early ’40s. They were founded in 1936 by fiddler Son Lansford, a cousin of Bob Wills.
“Corinne, Corinna” is an old folk and blues song that Bob Wills recorded in 1940 with Louis Tierney on fiddle. You’ll learn the tune in the key of Bb, so Chad starts by going over scales and arpeggios in Bb. Then you’ll learn the melody and Louis Tierney’s solo.
“Pretty Palomino” is a western swing fiddle tune in the key of A that comes from western swing fiddle great Johnny Gimble. You’ll learn the melody as well as Johnny’s fiddle solo.
“Take Me Back to Tulsa” is a western swing classic that was created when Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan put words to the fiddle tune “Walkin’ Georgia Rose.” In this lesson, you’ll learn the melody as well as a solo by fiddler Louis Tierney from the 1941 Bob Wills recording of “Take Me Back to Tulsa.”
In this lesson, Chad gives you some ideas and exercises to help you start improvising on “Take Me Back to Tulsa.” He gives you exercises with G6 and D9 arpeggios and neighbor tones and suggests you try singing with your fiddle.
“My Window Faces the South” was written in 1937 and first recorded by Fats Waller. Bob Wills recorded “My Window Faces the South” in 1938 and again in the mid-1940s for the Tiffany Transcriptions. In this lesson, you’ll learn the melody as well as a Johnny Gimble solo to “My Window Faces the South.”
“Silver Bell” is a Tin Pan Alley song from 1910 that became a favorite of fiddlers and old-time musicians like Clayton McMichen and Ernest Stoneman. It was recorded by Bob Wills in 1938. The first part of “Silver Bell” is in the key of D and the second part is in G. You’ll learn the melody and a swingin’ version of the B part from Johnny Gimble.
“Miss Molly” is another western swing classic from Bob Wills. It was written by Cindy Walker, who also wrote such western swing classics as “Sugar Moon,” “Bubbles in my Beer” and “Goin’ Away Party” as well as country hits for the likes of Ernest Tubbs, Gene Autry, Loretta Lynn, and many others. In this lesson, you’ll learn the melody as well as solos by fiddlers Randy Elmore (verse) and Johnny Gimble (chorus) from Willie Nelson’s recording of “Miss Molly.”
“Blues for Dixie” is another classic Cindy Walker song. Bob Wills recorded it in 1947 and there have been many other great recordings. You’ll learn the melody as well as a Johnny Gimble solo from a live Asleep at the Wheel performance. Chad also gives you ideas for soloing on the circle-of-fifths progressions in “Blues for Dixie.”
Bob Wills recorded the Fred Rose song “Deep Water” in 1947. In this lesson, Chad shows you the melody of “Deep Water” in the key of G and gives you ideas for coming up with your own solo.
“Bring It Down to My House, Honey” comes from the blues musician Blind Willie McTell (who called it “Come On Around to My House, Mama”). It became popular with western swing bands and was recorded by Bob Wills, Milton Brown and His Brownies, and many others. Chad teaches you the melody to “Bring It Down to My House, Honey,” with some western swing–style embellishments and variations, and talks about soloing and improvising on the song.
In this lesson, you’ll learn the Duke Ellington standard “Take the ‘A’ Train,” which was recorded by Bob Wills for the Tiffany Transcriptions. You’ll learn the melody as well as part of an Ella Fitzgerald scat solo on “Take the A Train.”
“Time Changes Everything” was written by Bob Wills singer Tommy Duncan and released by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in 1940. Since then, there have been many recordings, including a great one by Merle Haggard. In this lesson, you’ll learn to play the melody in the key of F in two octaves with and without double stops.
“I’m Satisfied with You” was written by Fred Rose and first recorded by Hank Williams in 1947. Chad shows you a swinging version of the melody and talks about soloing on “I’m Satisfied with You” in this lesson.
"Just Because” is a song from the late 1920s that was first recorded by Nelstone’s Hawaiians. It soon became a favorite of western swing bands, with recordings by both the Prairie Ramblers and the Lone Star Cowboys in 1935. You’ll learn the melody in the key of Bb as well as a solo from Johnny Gimble’s recording of “Just Because”: half a chorus from fiddler Cliff Bruner and the second half from Johnny Gimble.
“I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” was written in 1935 and made popular by Fats Waller’s recording. In this lesson, you’ll learn the melody as well as a solo inspired by Johnny Gimble's solo from a YouTube video of Willie Nelson and Johnny Gimble playing “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.”
“Stay All Night” (originally called “Stay a Little Longer”) was written by Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan and recorded by the Bob Wills band in 1945. You’ll learn the melody as well as a solo played by Johnny Gimble on the record For the Last Time.
“Tuamgraney Castle” is a hornpipe in the key of A minor (or A Dorian). It has a bouncy swing feel, and Flynn plays it with a few ornaments, including a roll on the A note at the second fret of the G string.
“The Morning Star” is a single reel in the key of G and its relative minor, E minor. Flynn ornaments it with grace notes (called “cuts” in Irish music) and triplets. Single reels are shorter than standard reels; each part is only four measures long and while each part is repeated, sometimes, as in “The Morning Star,” the second B part ends differently than the first.
“Garrett Barry’s Jig” is in the key of D modal (D Mixolydian) and is a very common seisiún tune. Like all jigs, it uses “jig picking,” so if you haven’t gone through the lesson on jig picking, you should do that before tackling this lesson.
In this lesson Flynn introduces you to playing triplets with “The Geese in the Bog,” a jig in the keys of C and A minor. Flynn first learned “The Geese in the Bog” while teaching Comhaltas Ceoltoírí Eireann classes in Boston. Comhaltas is an organization devoted to the preservation of Irish traditional music. Since “The Geese in the Bog” is the first tune you’ll learn with picked triplets (“trebles”), if you haven’t gone through the lesson on Picking Triplets, you should do that before you tackle this lesson.
“The Hare’s Paw” is a reel in the keys of G and E minor. Flynn plays a lot of it in second position and uses guitaristic slides, “trebles,” and slurred triplets.
“The Boyne Hunt” is a reel in the key of D major. It’s part of the Comhaltas Ceoltoírí Eireann catalog of standard tunes and is played all over the world. Flynn plays the entire tune in second position with two different kinds of trebles and a roll in the B part.
“A Fig for a Kiss” is a well-known slip jig and is popular at seisiúns. It’s in the key of E minor (E Dorian) and has a few ornaments: cuts and picked triplets. Slip jigs are in 9/8, so you’ll use jig picking to play “A Fig for a Kiss.”
“Planxty Irwin” was composed by the 18th-century harper Turlough O’Carolan, who lived around the same time as J.S. Bach. He wrote numerous harp pieces that are a combination of traditional Irish music and Baroque music, and many of them have become popular at trad seisiúns. “Planxty Irwin” is in 3/4 time in the key of G major.
“The Connachtman’s Rambles” is a jig in the keys of D and B minor and is a very common seisiún tune. The A part is clearly in D major and the B part is clearly in B minor. The B part includes some stretches and strong cuts on the top string.
“Elizabeth Kelly's Delight” is a slip jig in A minor (or D modal). Flynn was influenced by Paddy Glackin and Micheál Ó Domhnaill’s recording and there’s also a great Lúnasa recording of it. You can compare versions, if you want, on The Session.org. Flynn plays the whole tune in second position, fingering the B and C notes on the G string rather than the B string.
“Mrs. Carolan’s” is the name Flynn gives for a reel in the key of D modal that he learned when he was playing with acclaimed Irish button accordionist John Whelan, who recorded it on Come to Dance, where it was called “Sleepy Maggie.” Flynn plays “Mrs. Carolan’s” in second position, with a lot of trebles. In this lesson, he also shows you how a more flexible pick can help when you’re playing a tune with a lot of trebles.
“Lark on the Strand” is a jig that is commonly played in the key of G, but Flynn plays it in D because it sounds great on the guitar in D, and because there’s a great version of “Lark on the Strand” in D played by the band Dervish, with Séamie O'Dowd on guitar.
“Palmer’s Gate” is a reel in the key of E minor and G major. It was written by Joe Liddy and it appears on the Dervish album Midsummer’s Night. It includes some trebles and rolls on the E note on the second fret of the D string.
“Captain O’Kane” is a waltz written by Turlough O’Carolan. It’s in the key of E minor, and in the B part, the E harmonic minor scale appears in a couple of places, with a D# instead of a D natural.
“Jim Ward’s Jig” is a popular jig in the key of G major. It has a nice shift toward D modal in the B part. Flynn plays it entirely in second position.
“This Is My Love, Do You Like Her?” is a slide, which is similar to a jig. Slides are in 12/8 time and have more of a quarter/eighth feel than jigs. 12/8 can also be thought of as like 4/4 but with a triplet feel for the quarter notes. “This Is My Love, Do You Like Her?” is in the key of A minor, and there’s a great recording of it by the Bothy Band on the album After Hours.
“Stack of Barley” is a traditional hornpipe in the key of G major. It’s played with a swing feel, and there are quite a few triplets but Flynn plays them all with slurs. You’ll be shifting back and forth between first and second position quite a bit as well. Flynn’s arrangement is based on the Comhaltas Ceoltoírí Eireann version.
“Bryan O’Lynn” is a jig in A minor/D modal that Flynn first heard on a Steeleye Span record and is one of the first traditional Irish tunes he learned. Flynn also recorded “Bryan O’Lynn” on his Deadstring Rhythm album. His arrangement includes a lot of left-hand ornaments (rolls, grace notes, etc.)
In these introductory lessons, Ethan talks about some things that you will use in all of the weekly mandolin workouts, including posture, right- and left-hand technique, the concept of I–IV–V chord progressions, and more.
Ethan gives you some ideas about basic mandolin technique in this lesson, including posture, using a strap, left- and right-hand technique, and more.
In this lesson, Ethan talks about the theoretical concept of I–IV–V chords, which are the most common chords in roots music. He talks about the concept and then shows you a few chord voicings for the I–IV–V chords in the keys of G (G, C, and D) and C (C, F, and G), and how to find the I–IV–V chords in other keys. He also talks about the three minor chords in a key: ii, iii, vi or Am, Bm, and Em in the key of G and Dm, Em, and Am in the key of C.
Folk and Bluegrass Songs for Fiddle starts by working extensively on one song in four different keys. “Worried Man Blues” was recorded by the Carter Family in 1930 and has since become a popular standard and jam-session favorite in old-time, bluegrass, and folk music. You’ll learn the melody and get introduced to pickups, endings, fills, ornamentation, double stops, and more in the keys of D, A, G, and C
Lauren starts by showing you “Worried Man Blues” in the key of D. In addition to the melody, you’ll learn how to add pickups, endings, fills, blues notes, and double stops to the melody in two octaves.
Lauren shows you how to apply your previous work on “Worried Man Blues” to a new key: A. You’ll learn how to transpose the melody and chords, as well as add pickups, endings, fills, blues notes, and double stops to create your own solo in the key of A.
Lauren shows you how to move everything you’ve learned on “Worried Man Blues” to the key of G. You’ll learn how to transpose the melody and chords, as well as add pickups, endings, fills, blues notes, and double stops to create your own solo in the key of G. You’ll also learn a new handshape that you’ll use to play in the upper octave.
As with previous lessons, Lauren shows you how to apply your previous knowledge of “Worried Man Blues” to a new key. In this lesson, you’ll transpose what you’ve learned about creating your own solos to the key of C, where you can play the melody in two different octaves. You’ll be surprised how quickly you move through this key, since you’ve learned both hand shapes in previous keys.
In these first few lessons Grant talks about his approach to playing scales, arpeggios, and chords on the guitar, and how you can use this knowledge when you’re creating solos.
Grant takes a look at how major triads are built by moving up the major scale in thirds. Using this framework he “decodes” some of the common open-chord voicings on guitar. Although they have different left-hand shapes, he shows you how they contain the same elements. He also shows you the three different “voicings” of a major triad: root position, first inversion, and second inversion, and how to find them on different string sets.
In this lesson, you’ll learn an etude on “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” that features triads (as opposed to full chords) in different inversions. Grant’s arrangement retains the melody as the top note at all times.
In this lesson, Grant talks about “open triads,” in which the voices are spread more widely, and shows you a version of “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” in D that contains a little extra harmonic movement.
Grant talks about his relationship to playing scales on the guitar and how they relate to chords. He takes a look at the C major scale and how it connects to the different inversions of the I, IV, and V triads in the key of C up and down the neck.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a basic version of the classic bluegrass song “Long Journey Home.” Grant walks you through the melody, pointing out how it relates to the chords and which chord tones correspond to the melody notes.
In this lesson, Grant shows you how to come up with soloing ideas on “Long Journey Home” in a position up the neck from the fifth to the eighth frets using melodic and rhythmic variations and triad inversions.
The transition of a dominant-seventh V chord to the I (tonic) chord is common in Western music in general, and ubiquitous in vernacular forms such as folk, blues, and bluegrass. A firm grasp of the options for building seventh chords and resolving them will make any guitarist a more versatile player. In this lesson, Grant shows you his method of creating three-note seventh chords by taking the major triad and either moving the root down to the seventh or moving the fifth up to the seventh. He shows you how to do this on A triads in all triad voicings and in numerous positions, as well as how to resolve the A7 chords you’ve created to the nearest D chord triad. He also shows you the A Mixolydian scale that corresponds to each A7 chord.
Check out these lessons from Sharon’s Beginning Mandolin course before moving on to the other lessons in Creative Mandolin Backup if you’re unfamiliar with basic open and chop chord (Monroe chord) forms on the mandolin.
In this lesson you’ll get a complete overview of basic open chord shapes, some of which can be played with just two fingers. Sharon shows you the open chord family and then a 4/4 rhythm pattern in which you play the lowest note of each chord and follow it with a strum of the higher strings. You can use this pattern to practice playing any of the open chords you’ve learned. She also gives you some advice and simple exercises to help you practice changing chords.
The closed “chop” chords known as “Monroe chords” (after Bill Monroe) are what give your rhythm mandolin that classic bluegrass chop sound or bark. Sharon shows you the Monroe chord shapes for G and C, but since they’re closed chords (with no open strings) you can move these shapes around the neck to play any major chord.
West Virginia fiddler Burl Hammons is the source for the fiddle tune “Big Sciota” that has become a jam session favorite in bluegrass circles. His version of “Big Scioty”, however, is much more syncopated and illustrates the constant improvising that most old-time fiddlers engage in. Each A part is different from every other A part and the same is true of his B parts.
Grayson County, Virginia, fiddler Otis Burris’s version of “Fortune,” has more of a bluegrass feel, but it has a lot of the syncopated anticipations that characterize old-time fiddling as well as a lot of improvisation. Scott has boiled down those variations and improvisations to two A parts and two B parts.
“Ways of the World” is a three-part tune in A that comes from an amazing solo fiddle recording by Kentucky fiddler William Hamilton Stepp, who was recorded by Alan Lomax in 1937 for the Library of Congress. There are also great contemporary versions by Rayna Gellert and Bruce Molsky. You’ll learn “Ways of the World” with a capo on the second fret, played out of G position. Scott talks about deciding whether to play A tunes with a capo or not and then walks you through his arrangement, which includes two versions of each part.
The three-part tune “Bull at the Wagon” comes from the Lewis Brothers, Dempson and Denmon, a fiddle and guitar duo that was recorded in El Paso, Texas, in 1929. Scott also references Oklahoma fiddler Earl Collins’s version. Scott’s arrangement of this A tune is also played with a capo at the second fret.
Edden Hammons’s version of “Fine Times at Our House” is the usual source for contemporary old-time fiddlers, but Indiana fiddler John Summers’s version is also quite interesting and his B part is very different from Hammons’s. The A tune “Fine Times at Our House” sounds great played in open position, without a capo, although it does provide some fingering challenges.
Norman Edmonds’s “Chinquapin Hunting” is completely different from the D tune with the same that has become popular in bluegrass circles. Bruce Molsky’s version is many people’s source for the key-of-A “Chinquapin Hunting” these days.
The epic four-part “Lady Hamilton” is in the key of G and comes from Marcus Martin and Manco Sneed. Marcus Martin played four parts, but Manco Sneed apparently only played two. These days people usually play either three or four, but Scott teaches you Marcus Martin’s four-part version, so you can decide for yourself how many to play.
“Tucker’s Barn” comes from Gaither Carlton, Doc Watson’s father-in-law. Doc plays rhythm guitar on the original Watson Family recording and he also recorded a version with fiddler Mark O’Connor. Scott’s version is not based entirely on either, but is influenced more by the fiddlers he learned it from, who likely learned it from Carlton’s version.
“Done Gone” is most often played by bluegrass and Texas fiddlers in the key of Bb, but Georgia fiddler Clayton McMichen recorded a great version in the key of C in the 1920s. Scott’s version of “Done Gone” comes from both McMichen’s and Lowe Stokes’s versions as well as a more contemporary version from Ruthie Dornfeld.
“Rocky Pallet” is another three-part C tune that was recorded by the Skillet Lickers in 1929 and featured the old-time power trio of Clayton McMichen and Lowe Stokes on fiddles and Riley Puckett on guitar. There’s also a nice version from Tatiana Hargreaves and Bruce Molsky on Tatiana’s album Started Out to Ramble.
"Richmond Blues” is a well-known old-time song, and Kentucky fiddler Leonard Rutherford recorded it twice in the 1920s with two different singers and two different titles, though his fiddle break is virtually identical on each recording.
North Carolina fiddling legend Tommy Jarrell has a distinctive, syncopated bowing style, and Scott uses his version of the popular square dance tune “Soldier’s Joy,” to demonstrate how to approximate some of his phrasing.
The quirky D tune “Sullivan’s Hollow” comes from Freeny’s Barn Dance Band, one of the great Mississippi string bands recorded in the early 1930s. There’s a nice, contemporary version by Rayna Gellert, fiddler in the string band Uncle Earl.
“Pleasure of a Single Life” is a lovely, but infrequently played tune in the key of G. It comes from John Salyer, an eastern Kentucky fiddler who was recorded at home by his sons in the early 1940s. There’s also a great contemporary version by Dirk Powell.
In these three lessons, you´ll learn three styles of fiddle-tune backup: bluegrass, old-time, and Texas (also called “contest” or Western swing) style. Scott is joined by Peghead Nation fiddle instructor Chad Manning, who plays the fiddle tune standard “Sally Gooden” in A so Scott can demonstrate each style. In bluegrass style, you’ll use a capo at the second fret along with the standard bluegrass G chord shape and strum pattern. In old-time style you’ll play “Sally Gooden” without a capo, which allows you to use the low E in your alternating bass pattern. Texas-style backup evolved from 1940s and ’50s Western swing guitarists who used swing-style “sock” chords to back up fiddle tunes. The style features a moving bass line with passing chords, often using two chords per measure, even when the basic chord progression remains on one chord, as in “Sally Gooden.”
In this lesson, Stevie talks about a method for finding chord voicings anywhere on the neck using what he calls “the shape.” Stevie shows you “the shape” (created by the fingers in a chord where the root (1) and third (3) are on adjacent strings), how to find intervals on the guitar from the shape using the major scale, a handy way to play the major scale that you can move anywhere on the neck, and how to find intervals as they relate to the root and the third (“the shape”). He also gives you some cool practical applications of “the shape” in the key of E.
In this first lesson on learning how to play solos to songs, you’ll learn how to take the basic melody of the old-time and bluegrass classic “Little Sadie” and turn it into a solo. You’ll also learn one of Doc Watson’s melody-based solos to “Little Sadie.” Scott starts by showing you a simple version of the melody and then how to add simple strums to fill out the longer notes of the melody.
The bluegrass standard “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” was recorded in 1927 by the Carter Family and has been sung and recorded by numerous musicians since. The version Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice recorded on their 1980 duet recording has become a standard source for many people. In this lesson, Scott shows you the basic melody and then some ways to embellish it, including adding lead-in runs, fills, and other devices that you can use to embellish the melodies of many songs. He also talks about varying the phrasing of the melody and shows you how to start your solo with a “kickoff” or three-beat intro lick.
“Lonesome Road Blues” has been popular since the dawn of recorded country music. It’s also known as “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” and is played at nearly every jam session. It has a bluesy melody and a common chord progression that has been used for numerous other songs, including Bill Monroe’s classic instrumental “Rawhide.” You’ll learn a melody-based solo that includes a number of typical bluesy bluegrass licks.
The bluegrass standard “All the Good Times Are Past and Gone” was recorded by Bill and Charlie Monroe (the Monroe Brothers) in 1937 and has long been a jam session favorite. It’s in 3/4 time (also called “waltz time”). To play a solo on a song in 3/4, you can use the same approach you learned for “Lonesome Road Blues” and “Bury Me Beneath the Willow,” filling out the melody with intro licks, fills, and ending licks, but you’ll have to adjust your licks to fit the 3/4 time signature. Scott walks you through the basic melody, and then shows you two solos, one that is just a slightly elaborate version of the melody and one that includes different ways of articulating the melody and more extensive fills and melodic variations.
The bluegrass standard “East Virginia Blues” is a good example of a song in which the melody occurs mostly as lead-ins to the downbeat of a chord change. This means that using lead-ins to the melody as a method of embellishing a melody doesn’t really work because the lead-ins and melody occupy the same space. In this case, you’ll need to concentrate more on filling the space occupied by long melody notes. One great way to do that is by using cross-picking, arpeggios of the chords played like banjo rolls. In this lesson, you’ll learn to fill in the spaces of the melody of “East Virginia Blues” with some simple crosspicking patterns.
The melody to the gospel song “Down in the Valley to Pray” (familiar to some people as “Down in the River to Pray,” its title on the O, Brother Where Thou? soundtrack) can easily be turned into an instrumental, and either played by itself or as a solo to a sung version. Scott recorded a version on his album with Chris and Cassie Webster, 10,000 Miles. The melody has few holes and few of its phrases repeat, making it easy to fill out and turn into an instrumental on its own.
Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl” is one of her most popular songs and is also common at bluegrass jam sessions. It’s usually played at a slow or medium tempo, and Scott uses it to demonstrate how to make fingering choices to get notes to sustain and ring into each other when playing a melodic solo at a slow tempo. You’ll learn two solos, the first is simpler and follows the melody pretty strictly. The second solo is more elaborate, expanding on some of the melodic phrases instead of playing the melody verbatim.
The folk and bluegrass standard “In the Pines” is an eight-bar blues with eight short (three-note) melodic lines. There isn’t much space between the melody lines, so if you’re creating a solo there isn’t time to either lead into the melody or fill in the spaces. This makes “In the Pines” a good song for working on creating variations to simple melodies. In this lesson Scott gives you a few variations for each melodic line in “In the Pines,” emphasizing the bluesy nature of the melody and the underlying triplet feel.
The Flatt and Scruggs song “Some Old Day” is a medium tempo bluegrass song with a bit of a swing feel and a couple of unusual chord changes. In this lesson, you’ll learn a melody-based solo to “Some Old Day” in the key of D with a few swing-influenced lines and chord arpeggio licks.
“New River Train” is a bluegrass classic, and is often played at a fast tempo. In this lesson, you’ll learn not only a couple of solos to “New River Train” but how to play interesting melody-based solos when the tempo heats up. Scott starts by showing you the basic melody and then a solo that elaborates on the melody somewhat, with a couple of fills and an eighth-note ending lick. The second solo you’ll learn is based on the first, with some variations on phrases that you can mix and match or use as much of as you want.
Learn a fingerstyle arrangement in the key of C of the gospel song “When He Calls Me,” which comes from the old-time country blues singer Howard Armstrong.
This fingerstyle arrangement of the folk-blues classic “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor” is inspired by the playing of Mississippi John Hurt. You’ll learn a basic version and some variations as well as what Orville plays behind his singing.
The jazz blues “Blue Monk,” written by Thelonious Monk, is a great vehicle for looking at different ways to use the thumb in fingerstyle blues. Instead of playing alternating bass or a steady pulse, you’ll use your thumb to play a harmony line with the melody. Also learn a version of “Blue Monk” played up the neck, with the melody harmonized in sixths and played with the index and middle fingers, while the thumb plays drone bass notes.
This arrangement of the pop tune “The Glory of Love” is based on the version recorded by Big Bill Broonzy. It’s in the key of C and is played with alternating bass in the Piedmont style, a la Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis, etc. You’ll learn a basic version as well as one that adds variety by changing the timing of the melody.
The song “You’ll Work Down to Me Someday” was recorded by Memphis bluesman John Henry Barbee in the late 1920s. It’s played fingerstyle in dropped-D tuning. You’ll learn an accompaniment to the vocal, which includes some nice call-and response-licks, as well as two solos. The first solo is a fleshed-out version of the accompaniment, while the second solo moves up the neck.
Mississippi John Hurt’s “Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me” is a classic of fingerstyle blues guitar. It features a strong alternating bass on C, G7, and F chords and a melody played on the treble strings.
The great guitar player, singer, and songwriter Lightnin’ Hopkins played his “fast” songs, like “Fan It,” with a moving bass line played with the thumb and “upstrokes” on the offbeats with the index finger. You’ll learn a rhythm guitar part to “Fan It” that includes one of Hopkins’ favorite turnarounds. For solos, Hopkins just soloed on the I chord for a while and then came back in on the IV chord whenever he felt like it. You’ll learn a couple of solo ideas, one using some simple bends in open position and one using a pentatonic scale up at the ninth through 12th frets.
“Crosspicking” is defined as using a flatpick to play arpeggiated chords across the guitar strings, much like a fingerpicker would. In bluegrass, the term refers to arpeggiated patterns that imitate a bluegrass banjo player’s rolls. In the 1950s Stanley Brothers guitarists George Shuffler and Bill Napier used syncopated 3-3-2 rolls to fill out song melodies, and Clarence White, Doc Watson, and other flatpickers soon followed suit. Learn the basic crosspicking rolls and use them to play the old-time song “Home Sweet Home,” which Earl Scruggs also played as a bluegrass banjo instrumental.
The blues is an essential part of bluegrass, but the scale used in bluegrass blues, unlike the minor pentatonic blues scale favored by blues guitarists, uses both the flatted third and major third, as well as the flatted seventh. Learn some bluegrass blues sounds using the old-time murder ballad “Pretty Polly.” You’ll learn a basic version of the melody of “Pretty Polly” as well as some some variations on the melody that keep its basic shape.
Most of the great bluegrass guitarists use the song’s melody as a basis for their solos. Scott uses the bluegrass standard “Nine Pound Hammer” to show you how to create a melody-based solo to a song, as well as how to create multiple variations to each melodic fragment so that you can vary your solo and eventually start improvising in a melodic way. You’ll start by learning a break to “Nine Pound Hammer” similar to one Clarence White played on the Kentucky Colonels’ recording Appalachian Swing.
Learn about different minor scales, and how to know which one to play when improvising or creating a solo for a song in a minor key. You’ll learn a melody-based solo to “Shady Grove,” something like Doc Watson would play, sticking to the notes of the melody, which make up a D sus pentatonic scale, slightly different than the D minor pentatonic scale. You’ll also learn the D natural minor scale and the D Dorian scale, two other options for playing in D minor, and another melody-based solo to “Shady Grove,” this time with notes from the D Dorian mode as well as a bluesy lick with a flatted fifth.
Using the melody as a basis for improvising or composing solos is a great approach, but it’s also important to have a bunch of bluegrass guitar licks at your disposal. Learning some standard licks will also help you immerse yourself in the bluegrass blues language. In this lesson, Scott shows you 18 licks, borrowed from great guitarists like Tony Rice, Clarence White, David Grier, Kenny Smith and others, that you can use over a G chord when you are playing any bluesy bluegrass song.
Scott has a three-step method for creating bluegrass solos to songs, which you’ll learn in this lesson, using Ralph Stanley’s version of the folk classic “Worried Man Blues.” Step One is to learn the melody, so you’ll learn the basic melody and some easy ways to embellish and articulate the melody on the guitar. Step Two is adding short three-beat runs or intro licks to the melody notes. The idea is to always be thinking about where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. Step Three is what you do once you’ve gotten to where you’re going, which involves using cross-picking, strums, and place-holder licks to fill out the held melody notes.
The instrumental breaks played by guitarist Maybelle Carter during the Carter Family’s recording of the song “Wildwood Flower” created what is likely the first recorded country guitar instrumental, a must-know for all flatpicking guitarists. It’s also a good song to illustrate how to modify standard crosspicking patterns to create your own arrangement of a song melody. Scott shows you how Maybelle Carter played “Wildwood Flower” and how to flesh it out by using a standard 3–3–2 crosspicking pattern to play the first line of the melody. Then he shows you how he gradually modifies the pattern and creates variations on that pattern (and others) depending on how he wants to phrase the melody.
“Tennessee Blues” is the first original tune that Bill Monroe recorded (for his first solo recording for RCA in 1940). Mike explains how to play with a very regular and smooth down-up stroke for the tremolo and points out the preponderance of flatted thirds in the melody. He also demonstrates how Monroe “plays ahead” in the melody and points out the important accents in the tune. You’ll also learn the best way to finger the high notes in the B part, and the sliding double stops up the neck in the shorter A part.
Bill Monroe’s “Rocky Road Blues” has more of a western swing feel than the typical bluegrass offbeat chop feel. Mike explains the swing feel you should keep in mind as you’re learning it. “Rocky Road Blues” is played with all downstrokes, so Mike talks about the importance of staying relaxed and not traveling too far with each pick stroke.
This version of Bill Monroe’s “True Life Blues” is a pre-bluegrass arrangement with more of an old-time rhythmic feel that sounds a lot like western swing. You’ll learn two solos; the first includes octaves, flatted thirds, and slurred triplets and is played entirely with downstrokes. The second solo is quite a bit different and is played mostly with tremolo. Mike explains that the speed of the tremolo is essential to Monroe-style mandolin and that it should be metered off the beat, not played at an arbitrary speed.
Bill Monroe’s 1946 recording of “Blue Yodel #4” is actually Jimmie Rodgers’ “Blue Yodel #3.” It’s mislabeled on the record label. It was recorded at the beginning of the classic Blue Grass Boys lineup, with Lester Flatt, Chubby Wise, Earl Scruggs, and Cedric Rainwater, and the rhythm still has a western swing flavor. It’s primarily played with downstrokes except for a couple triplets that are played down-up-down. You’ll also have the opportunity to do something on the mandolin in this solo that you’d don't often get the chance to do: bend a string.
The solo to Bill Monroe’s song “How Will I Explain About You?” is played mostly in the third position, with the index finger at the fifth fret. It has a lot of double stops and slides and is played entirely with tremolo. Mike explains how he fingers some of the double stops and melody notes up the neck and gives advice on sliding.
Bill Monroe’s solo to “Little Cabin Home on the Hill,” which he recorded in 1947, uses slurs, slurred triplets, hammer-ons, and slides. It’s mostly played with downstrokes, except for when you’re playing triplets.
Learn some Monroe-style backup using the song “Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong,” which Monroe recorded in 1946. Mike plays the backup on one verse and then breaks it down phrase by phrase. He also shows you a variation to the backup.
The gospel song “That Home Above” was recorded by the classic Blue Grass Boys lineup of Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise, and Cedric Rainwater. The recording is pitched in Bb, but Bill Monroe plays the mandolin part out of A. The solo includes slurred triplets, lots of downstrokes, tremolo, and a bit of blues. Mike explains that Monroe’s tone on gospel songs was a little bit sweeter, with his pick striking the strings closer to the fingerboard and not so close to the bridge.
The old-time heart song “When You Are Lonely” is another one from the classic Blue Grass Boys band of Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise, and Cedric Rainwater. It’s in the key of G and the solo has a lot of arpeggiated lines over the chords, with some bluesy slides, slurs, etc.
The Bill Monroe classic “Can’t You Hear Me Callin’” was recorded in 1949 with Mac Wiseman singing lead. The solo has a lot of passages that combine tremolo with slides and moving double stops. Mike shows you how Monroe uses open strings to change positions, even if the open string doesn’t “correctly” fit the underlying chord.
The instrumental “Blue Grass Breakdown,” recorded with the classic Blue Grass Boys lineup of Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise, and Cedric Rainwater, is one of Monroe’s best-known tunes. He originally recorded it at 175 beats per minute (bpm) and the tune evolved throughout his career. The version you’ll learn here is the first version Monroe recorded. The rhythmic variations in the right hand are probably the most important part of this tune, as Mike demonstrates, showing you how to use “phantom” pick strokes to get Monroe’s syncopation.
Bill Monroe wrote four “boogie-woogie” tunes over the course of his career, including “Blue Grass Special,” a 12-bar blues in the key of A with a lot of blue notes (C’s and G’s instead of C#’s and G#’s). You’ll learn the main theme along with some variations. The first variation is played around the third-position A chord and Mike explains that if you keep your fingers in position you’ll always have a reference point for where you’re supposed to go next. You’ll also learn a variation that uses tremolo up at the 12th and ninth frets.
“Blue Grass Stomp” is probably the most popular of Bill Monroe’s “boogie-woogie” tunes. Monroe played seven variations in his solo on the studio recording of “Blue Grass Stomp.” You’ll learn the main theme and some of the most important variations. Mike shows you all of the nuances (triplets, slurs, etc.) of the main melody and the double stops you’ll use for the up-the-neck tremolo section. He also plays through the five other variations Monroe played, pointing out some of the more important aspects of each one.
“Blue Moon of Kentucky” is one of Bill Monroe’s most popular songs and has been recorded by Elvis Presley, the Stanley Brothers, and many others. This solo, which comes from Monroe’s original 1946 recording, is in the key of Bb and involves a lot of tremolo and sliding chord positions.
One of the most popular songs from the classic Blue Grass Boys lineup, “I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky” is in the key of A with lots of ringing A and E drone strings. It’s played with a very deliberate right hand that matches Earl Scruggs banjo roll. You’ll learn a classic Monroe ending that he played on lots of songs in the key of A.
Another song from the classic Blue Grass Boys lineup, “It’s Mighty Dark to Travel” is in the key of G and has lots of blue notes in the solo (Bb’s instead of B naturals). It has a little more swing or bounce than “I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky.” Mike gives you a couple of options for double stops and shows you where to put the accents that help spell out the melody.
Another of the songs recorded by Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise, and Cedric Rainwater, the original Blue Grass Boys, “Mother’s Only Sleeping” is a beautiful slow song in the key of F. Monroe’s solo is predominantly tremolo, working out of standard key-of-F chord shapes and double stops, with some nice one-fret slides.
Bill Monroe’s solo to his song “My Rose of Old Kentucky” (in the key of B) is played out of a closed position centered around the seventh fret. This solo is an example of what Monroe calls “short notes and long notes,” combining chord “bursts” with short single-note intros. Mike gives you advice on supporting your little finger with pressure from the back of the neck and with the other fingers.
Bill Monroe recorded Jimmie Rodgers’ song “Muleskinner Blues” on his first recording session in 1940 and recorded a version with new lyrics in 1950, calling it “New Muleskinner Blues.” His solo from the 1950 recording is primarily played with downstrokes, and the intro starts with a rhythmic phrase (16th/8th/16th) that is repeated throughout the solo.
“Toy Heart” is one of Bill Monroe’s most loved songs, and he’s recorded it a number of times, in different keys. The version you’ll learn here is the original, recorded with Flatt, Scruggs, Wise, and Rainwater in the key of C. You’ll learn two solos; the second is a little different than the first solo but includes some of the same things.
Recorded by Bill Monroe in 1949, with Mac Wiseman on guitar and vocals, Rudy Lyle on banjo, Chubby Wise on fiddle, and Jack Thompson on bass, “Travelin’ This Lonesome Road” is in the key of F, an unusual key for bluegrass songs. The solo includes some tricky fingering, sliding double stops, and shifts between positions. There are also some extra beats on the ends of the lines.
“Why Did You Wander?” is one of the fastest songs recorded by the original Blue Grass Boys lineup of Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise, and Cedric Rainwater. Monroe’s solo has almost no melody notes, but instead consists primarily of arpeggios played over the chord changes with a few connecting scalar lines.
The solo you’ll learn to Bill Monroe’s “My Little Honeysuckle Rose” comes from a live Grand Ole Opry recording of the original Blue Grass Boys lineup of Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise, and Cedric Rainwater. This is the first in a series of four solos that you’ll learn from that recording. The solo, in the key of G, includes a lot of eighth-note triplets, arpeggiated chords, and a 16th/8th/16th rhythmic phrase that Monroe uses throughout the live recording.
This version of Bill Monroe’s “If I Should Wander Back Tonight” also comes from the live Grand Ole Opry recording of the original Blue Grass Boys. The solo features some light double stop strums that really showcase the sound of Monroe’s Lloyd Loar mandolin as well as G and D arpeggios and some cool syncopated chromatic lines. Mike walks you through the solo phrase by phrase and then plays through a second solo Monroe played, showing you where it differs from his first solo.
Another of Mike’s live Grand Ole Opry transcriptions, the song “Daisy Mae” is in the key of C and Bill Monroe’s solo includes some of the same kinds of licks and phrases Monroe uses in the key of G. Mike walks you through the solo, phrase by phrase, pointing out the pick direction on individual phrases, since Monroe sometimes uses consecutive downstrokes and sometimes uses alternate picking.
The final in Mike’s series of live Grand Ole Opry transcriptions of the classic Blue Grass Boys lineup, “Love Gone Cold” is in the key of Bb, and Monroe plays his solos almost entirely out of closed position. Mike walks you through the solo phrase by phrase, pointing out some of the cool slides and double stops Monroe uses in Bb and showing you a couple of fingering alternatives for the Eb arpeggio up the neck.
Bill Monroe’s “Heavy Traffic Ahead” is a swingy song in the key of A. You’ll learn two solos, the solo from the original release as well as a solo from an alternate take. The first solo is played out of the A chop chord position while the second is played in open position, with some cool blue notes, syncopation, and jazzy A7 and E7 chords.
Bill Monroe’s solo on the gospel song “I’m Traveling On and On” (recorded in 1947) is very similar to his solo on “Shine Hallelujah Shine,” a kind of stock gospel solo in the key of A. Monroe’s solo is based more on the chord shapes than a specific melody line. Mike shows you the “I’m Traveling On and On” solo phrase by phrase, starting with an intro/turnaround Monroe plays to begin the song.
Bill Monroe’s two solos on “Shine Hallelujah Shine” are similar to the solo you learned for “I’m Traveling On and On.” Mike plays through them both and then shows you how they differ from the “I’m Traveling On and On” solo.
In this lesson you’ll learn two solos to Bill Monroe’s classic song “My Little Georgia Rose”: the solo that was originally released as well as an alternate take. The first solo is played with 32nd-note tremolo out of the C chop chord position with your pinky at the 12th fret. The solo on the alternate take is also played out of the C chop chord position but it mostly uses downstrokes and Monroe’s favorite 16th/8th/16th rhythm, as opposed to the 32nd-note tremolo of the original solo.
Hank Williams’ song “The Alabama Waltz” was recorded by Bill Monroe in 1950. Monroe’s solo is typical of the way he plays in 3/4 time, using tremolo with a triplet feel, for example. Mike goes through the melody without tremolo so you can get a feel for the melody and then walks you through the solo with tremolo. He also gives you advice on keeping pressure on the back of the neck with your thumb as you slide double stops up and down the neck.
Bill Monroe’s 1950 recording of “I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome” is usually thought of as being in the key of B, but Mike discovered while transcribing the solo you'll learn here that Monroe played it out of Bb, tuning his mandolin up a half step so that it sounds in B. The solo uses a lot of 32nd-note tremolo and 32nd-note ornaments, as well as slides into chord positions.
Bill Monroe’s homage to his fiddle-playing Uncle Pendleton Vandiver, “Uncle Pen,” is one of his most popular songs. In this lesson, you’ll learn two half solos, the original solo from the 1950s recording and another solo from the 1970s. They illustrate how Monroe's style changed over the course of a couple of decades. The solo starts after another instrument, fiddle or banjo usually, has played the first half of the solo. Monroe only plays the second half.
The solo Bill Monroe played on his 1951 recording of “Letter from My Darling” is one of his feistiest, played near the bridge with lots of downstrokes. It’s in the key of G, with lots of blue notes and bluesy slides. Mike walks you through the solo phrase by phrase, giving you advice on playing with authority and where to put accents.
“Ben Dewberry’s Final Run” has been recorded by Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Snow, and others, including Bill Monroe, who recorded the song in 1951. The solo you’ll learn here is from take four, the take that was released. It’s played at a medium tempo with a bit of swing feel in the key of G, with downstrokes and some of Monroe’s typical open-G position blues phrases. It also includes some second-position double stops on the IV chord (C).
In this lesson, you’ll learn two solos that Bill Monroe played on “Sugar-Coated Love,” but not the solo that was released on the commercial recording. The first solo you’ll learn is from the first take at the 1951 recording session. It has some cool Hawaiian guitar-style lines, as well as a bit of a ragtime flavor, and starts with a two-octave jump from the C on the G string all the way up to the C at the eighth fret of the E string. The solo played on take two of “Sugar-Coated Love” starts the same way as the first take and then changes halfway through the first measure.
“Rawhide” is one of Bill Monroe’s most famous instrumentals, a fast mandolin showcase in the key of C with a bridge that moves around the circle of fifths. You’ll learn the A and B parts from the first solo on Monroe’s 1951 recording as well as an alternate A part.
Bill Monroe recorded “Memories of You” in 1950 with Jimmy Martin on guitar, Rudy Lyle on banjo, Vassar Clements on fiddle, and Joel Price on bass. It’s one of the tunes where Monroe retunes the bottom strings on his mandolin, dropping the top G string to an F# and raising the bottom G to an A. You’ll learn the solos Monroe played on take one and take four, which is the take that was released commercially.
Bill Monroe’s multi-part instrumental “Bluegrass Ramble” comes from the 1950 session that included Jimmy Martin on guitar, Rudy Lyle on banjo, Vassar Clements on fiddle, and Joel Price on bass. It’s another of Monroe’s “crosstuned” pieces, this time in a tuning that resembles the tuning that fiddlers call “Black Mountain Rag” tuning. The G strings are tuned up to A, the D strings up to E and one of the E strings is lowered to C#, which makes an A major chord: AA EE AA AC#. You’ll learn the A and B parts of “Bluegrass Ramble” as well as some variations of the A part (A2, A3, and A4) and the C part, which sounds strikingly like “Dixie.”
Bill Monroe’s brother Birch wrote the song “Cabin of Love,” which Bill recorded in 1951 with a band that included Carter Stanley (guitar), Rudy Lyle (Banjo), Gordon Terry (fiddle), and Howard Watts (bass). It’s in the key of A and the solo uses a lot of Monroe’s typical phrases, including sixteenth-eighth-sixteenth rhythms and quick hammer-ons and slurs on blue notes. Many of the lines are simple note-wise but have tricky syncopated phrases.
Bill Monroe recorded “Get Down on Your Knees and Pray” at the same 1951 session (and with the same band members) as “Cabin of Love.” It’s a powerful and spooky song and there were a number of takes. Bill played an intro and two solos on the take that was released. They feature 32nd-note tremolo, triplets, and a lot of hammer-ons and slides. Mike walks you through the intro and first solo, phrase by phrase, and then plays the second solo, which is mostly 32nd-note tremolo on different G double stops, through at a slow tempo.
“The First Whippoorwill” is another Bill Monroe classic from 1951. It’s in the key of G and uses some of Monroe’s favorite key-of-G licks, as well as lots of tremolo and some 32nd-note and 16th-note triplet phrases.
“In the Pines” is one of Bill Monroe’s most popular songs and he recorded a number of different solos over the years. The one you’ll learn here was recorded in 1952. It’s in the key of E and is played out of E chord positions up the neck. The second half of the solo features downstroke triplets on double stops.
Bill Monroe’s 1952 recording of “Memories of Mother and Dad” is pitched in the key of F#, so there are a few odd notes (open strings) in his solo. Most of the solo is played with the index finger centered at the fourth fret (F# on the D string) and it includes some 32nd-note tremolo passages up the neck, which can be tricky if you’ve never played in F# before.
Bill Monroe’s song “Don’t Put Off Until Tomorrow,” recorded in 1952, is one of his most powerful vocal numbers, and the solo is played to match, played with aggressive downstrokes. The song is in G and the solo includes a lot of first-position arpeggios and full chords, as well as some of Monroe’s typical blues phrases.
Bill Monroe’s “My Dying Bed” was recorded at the same 1952 session as “Don’t Put Off Until Tomorrow,” “Memories of Mother and Dad,” and “In the Pines.” The solo includes a new sound for Monroe, an open drone D string against fretted notes on the A string up the neck, starting with an octave D at the fifth fret.
There are numerous live recordings of Bill Monroe playing “On and On” throughout his career, and he seemed to approach the solo differently every time. This solo, from his 1954 studio recording, includes a lot of Monroe’s usual blues phrases and arpeggios, along with a few idiosyncratic variations and some chimes (harmonics).
Bill Monroe’s version of the traditional song “John Henry” was recorded in 1954, with Jimmy Martin, Rudy Lyle, Ernie Newton, and Charlie Cline. Monroe’s solo on the fast tune starts with octave G’s and a syncopated sixteenth-eighth-sixteenth rhythm, which recurs in places throughout the rhythmic solo.
You’ll learn three solos from Bill Monroe’s 1954 recording of “White House Blues” in this lesson. The song was played at a very fast tempo in the key of B, and Monroe’s solos combine closed-position licks with open strings, creating some bluesy, jagged lines.
Bill Monroe’s instrumental “Pike County Breakdown” was based on the old folk song “Sweet Betsy from Pike.” Mike has transcribed five pages of Monroe’s solos on “Pike County Breakdown” for you, but instead of walking you through everything note by note, he shows you the first two solos, which are played in open position, and one that moves up into a position up the neck.
Bill Monroe’s instrumental version of the traditional song “Get Up John” is in open-D tuning, F#A DD AA AD, which gives the tune its distinctive sound. Mike’s transcription of Monroe’s 1953 recording includes a number of variations. The C part is mostly played on the lowest string set and Monroe plays three versions of this part. You’ll learn the A and B parts and all three variations on the C part.
Recorded by Bill Monroe in 1954, “Sitting Alone in the Moonlight” was one of his biggest hits and it continues to be a favorite in the bluegrass world to this day. It’s a waltz in the key of A with a triplet feel, which means that each beat of the 3/4 measure has an underlying triplet feel. You’ll learn Monroe’s 1954 solo on “Sitting Alone in the Moonlight” in this lesson.
The solos Bill Monroe played on his 1954 recording of “Happy on My Way” are good examples of his “gospel vocabulary,” in which he rarely plays the melody of the song and uses many of the same phrases he plays in other gospel songs. “Happy on My Way” is in the key of A, and you’ll learn both of Monroe’s 1954 solos in this lesson.
Bill Monroe recorded the gospel song “Working on a Building” a number of times. This fiery version is from his 1954 recording and is in the key of A. You’ll learn two solos in this lesson. The first is mostly played in open position, with a lot of open strings, downstrokes, and Monroe’s signature syncopated 16th–8th–16th rhythm, while the second solo is all in second position, out of the A chop chord, and has a lot of chromatic sliding notes and quirky syncopated phrases.
“Close By” is another of Bill Monroe’s 1954 recordings. It’s in the key of A, and Bill’s solo is mostly in closed positions, with a lot of tremolo and downstroke phrases, as well as a couple of triplets.
This solo comes from Bill Monroe’s second recording of “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” which he cut after Elvis Presley had a huge hit with the song. It’s a short solo, partly because the fiddles were becoming more prominent in the arrangements, so Bill wasn’t playing as many solos. The solo features tremolo in triplets, which can also be heard in his solo for “Sitting Alone in the Moonlight.”
Bill Monroe’s December 31, 1954 recording featured three fiddle-oriented instrumentals: “Wheel Hoss,” “Cheyenne,” and “Roanoke,” with Charlie Cline and Bobby Hicks on fiddles. All three tunes are bluegrass jam session favorites, with “Wheel Hoss” possibly the most popular. Bill played the melody of “Wheel Hoss” in a few different ways, making slight variations each time. You’ll learn the way he played it on the recording in this lesson, starting with the A part, which Bill plays three times, instead of the standard four times. In the B section of the 1954 recording of “Wheel Hoss,” Bill added an extra beat to the third measure, making it a bar of 5/4, which includes a chime. As if to make up for the extra beat in measure three of the B section, Bill drops a beat in the seventh measure.
Bill Monroe’s instrumental tune “Cheyenne” is in the key of G minor and Bb. On the original recording Bill only took a solo on the first part, which is in G minor, leaving the second part to the fiddler. Monroe’s solo includes some 32nd-note “spasms” at the ends of lines, every one of which is different. He also plays a C double stop against the D chord that the band is playing, and occasionally plays B naturals against the G minor chord.
“You’ll Find Her Name Written There” was the one song recorded at Bill Monroe’s December 31, 1954 recording, along with the instrumentals “Wheel Hoss,” “Cheyenne,” and “Roanoke.” Monroe only played a half solo, which consists of a lot of tremolo double stops in the key of G, along with a couple of typical Monroe key-of-G single-note licks. Mike walks you through the short solo, and also plays a Monroe solo from a mid-1960s live recording.
You’ll learn two solos and the intro from Bill Monroe’s 1955 recording of “Let the Light Shine Down” in this lesson. It’s in the key of D and Monroe uses a lot of his gospel vocabulary, following the chord changes but not the melody.
“Roanoke” is the final tune in the trio of instrumentals that Bill Monroe recorded on December 31, 1954. Monroe only played the intro and A parts of “Roanoke” in this recording, but in this lesson Mike includes a transcription of a solo Monroe played on a 1960s live recording that includes both parts. Monroe’s playing of the fiddle tune–like melody varies nearly every time he plays it. For example sometimes the first line is an arpeggio and sometimes almost a complete scale.
Bill Monroe recorded “Used to Be” in September 1955. His solo is on the beginning and end of the form, with the fiddles playing the middle section, so Mike fills in the middle section with some of Monroe’s typical phrases. The song is in the key of C and Monroe’s solo features strong, even tremolo and a few ragtimey sounding phrases.
“Tall Timber” is Bill Monroe’s version of the old-time fiddle tune “Katy Hill.” It was recorded in September 1955 with fiddlers Gordon Terry and Tommy Jackson. Mike shows you the half solo Bill played on the original recording as well as a complete solo from a later live recording with Peter Rowan, Lamar Grier, and Richard Greene from the mid-1960s.
Bill Monroe recorded “The Prisoner’s Song” in 1951 with a studio band that included electric guitar, piano, and drums. The mandolin solo is one of Monroe’s oddest and most characteristic, with some strange chromatic runs played with tremolo. The recording wasn’t released at the time, as the record company considered it a little too far out for a commercial release. Mike plays through the solo and talks about what he thinks Monroe was thinking about when he played it.
“Brown County Breakdown” is another of Bill Monroe’s triple fiddle tunes, recorded in September 1955, by Monroe and also by fiddler Kenny Baker in 1976 for his album Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe, with Monroe on mandolin. It’s a three-part tune in the key of E, and while Monroe played all three parts on Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe, he only played the third part on his original recording. The version you’ll learn here comes from a live recording in which Monroe plays all three parts.
Bill Monroe recorded “A Good Woman’s Love” in May 1957, in another session with triple fiddles. Monroe plays a sparse melody-oriented half solo in the key of G, with “little bitty” intro notes followed by long metered-tremolo melody notes.
Bill Monroe recorded the Jimmy C. Newman song “Cry, Cry Darlin’” in May 1957 with Don Stover on banjo, Bessie Lee Mauldin on bass, and Gordon Terry, Joe Stuart, and Dale Potter on fiddles. As on “Good Woman’s Love,” Bill only played a half solo. It’s in the key of A and the solo is played out of the A chop-chord position, with a lot of triplet phrases used to set up tremoloed long notes.
Bill Monroe recorded “I’m Sitting on Top of the World” in 1957 in the unusual key of C#, using chop chord positions at the ninth fret. Monroe’s solo features his favored sixteenth–eighth–sixteenth rhythmic pattern in many places as well as an unusual half-measure of eighth-note triplets.
“Out in the Cold World” is another of Bill Monroe’s 1957 triple-fiddle songs. Monroe’s solo, like “I’m Sitting on Top of the World,” is played up the neck in chop-chord position, this time in the key of C, with the middle finger at the eighth fret. It includes 16th-note triplets, a lot of syncopation, and some odd arpeggios that combine open strings with fretted notes up the neck
Bill Monroe recorded “In Despair” in 1957, the day after he recorded “Out in the Cold World.” For “In Despair” he tunes his mandolin to F#A DD AA EE, which is reminiscent of his tuning on “Get Up, John” and the song is played in the key of D. Bill’s solo begins with triplet tremolo for three measures.
Bill Monroe recorded “Come Back to Me in My Dreams” in 1957. It’s a waltz in the key of B, and Monroe’s solo uses straight tremolo and downstroke melodies played out of chop-chord positions.
Bill Monroe’s 1957 solo on “Brand New Shoes” (also known as “Breaking in a Brand New Pair of Shoes”) is in the key of A and is played out of open position with all downstrokes. It includes a lot of hammers and slurs, and many of the thirds and sevenths are natural instead of sharped (C’s and G’s instead of C#’s and G#’s), giving it more of a blues feel.
Bill Monroe recorded Hank Williams’s “I Saw the Light” in 1958 at a gospel session without fiddles or banjos, just Edd Mayfield on guitar, Bessie Lee Mauldin on bass, and Monroe on mandolin, of course. Monroe’s first solo uses his gospel vocabulary in B chop-chord position.
“I’ve Found a Hiding Place” was recorded by Bill Monroe in May, 1958 with just Edd Mayfield on guitar. Monroe’s solo is on a clipped version of the chorus form. It’s in the key of E and is mostly played out of chop chord positions, but it includes a distinctive passage where Monroe alternates notes in the chop chord position with open strings.
“Jesus Hold My Hand” is another of the gospel songs recorded at the 1958 sessions where Monroe was accompanied only by guitar and backup vocals. Monroe’s solo uses his key-of-A gospel vocabulary with a lot of unison E notes over the chord changes and some syncopated phrases.
Bill Monroe recorded “I Am a Pilgrim” at his 1958 gospel sessions. He didn’t play a full chorus solo, just turnarounds between the verses and a half solo, which you’ll learn here. The song is in B, and the solo is played out of the B chop-chord position.
Bill Monroe’s first solo on his 1958 recording of Hank Williams’s gospel song “House of Gold” is one of Mike’s favorites, with huge tone and a straightforward approach. It’s in the key of A and illustrates Bill’s self-confessed “short notes leading up to long notes, little bitty notes leading up to big notes” soloing style.
The twin-fiddle instrumental “Panhandle Country” was recorded in April 1958 with Kenny Baker and Bobby Hicks on fiddles. On this recording, Monroe just plays a half solo consisting of the B parts of the tune, which you’ll learn in this lesson. “Panhandle Country” is in the key of C, and Monroe plays the solo in open position.
“Scotland” is another multiple fiddle tune and was recorded at the same session as “Panhandle Country.” It’s a tribute to Bill Monroe’s Scottish ancestry and features a droning fiddle sound that mimics the bagpipes. It’s a three-part tune, and Monroe solos on the first and second parts, but in reverse order, playing the second part first, followed by the first part. He plays the solo out of the A chop-chord position but with lots of open strings.
Bill Monroe’s December 1, 1958 recording of “Gotta Travel On” is in the key of D and Monroe plays the solo in open position, with a lot of big chords and ringing open strings. The mandolin sound is very different from many of Monroe’s recordings, and one reason is that he played an oval-hole mandolin on this session.
Bill Monroe’s “No One But My Darlin’” was recorded in December 1958 and includes one of his most iconic solos, which bookends Bobby Hicks’s fiddle solo.
“Big Mon” is one of Bill Monroe’s most popular original instrumentals, a fiddle tune in A with three parts, although these days most people just play two parts. In Monroe’s solo in the original 1958 version he just plays the first two parts, but starts with the B part.
“Monroe’s Hornpipe” is a fast fiddle tune in the key of A and was first recorded at the same December 1958 session as “Big Mon.”
Bill Monroe recorded the Wilma Lee Cooper song “Tomorrow I’ll Be Gone” in January 1959. His solo is short, splitting a chorus with the banjo, and is played out of B chop-chord position, with some of Monroe’s favorite phrases, a lot of downstrokes, and some tricky pinky maneuvers.
“Dark as the Night, Blue as the Day” was recorded at the same 1959 session as “Tomorrow I’ll Be Gone.” In fact, the two songs were released as the A side on an Extended Play (EP) 45. Monroe plays a memorable half solo on the bridge between two twin-fiddle solos. The solo includes triplets, slides, hammer-ons, and tremolo.
The instrumental tune “Stoney Lonesome” was named after a town down the road from Bill Monroe’s park in Bean Blossom, Indiana. It was originally recorded in January 1959 and featured triple fiddles. Bill only recorded the first part of the tune, but he played all three parts later on a live workshop tape that Mike has transcribed.
“Lonesome Wind Blues” was written by Wayne Raney and recorded by Bill Monroe in November 1959 with Benny Martin and Dale Potter on twin fiddles, Jack Cooke on guitar, Bessie Lee Mauldin on bass, and Joe Drumright on banjo. Bill plays a half solo, with a lot of his typical key-of-G bluesy phrases, slides, and arpeggios. He also talks about what Bill might have played on a full solo.
“Thinking About You” was recorded at the same November 1959 session as “Lonesome Wind Blues” with Dale Potter on fiddle. Bill Monroe just plays a short intro on the recording so Mike has created a Monroe-style solo based on Bill’s solo and the melody of “Thinking About You.”
Bill Monroe recorded the Marty Robbins song “Come Go With Me” on November 5, 1959. His solo is only six bars long, because Monroe dropped out so that fiddler Dale Potter could finish the solo, but Mike adds two bars of his own devising to the solo so you’ll have a complete solo to play. Monroe’s recorded solo includes 32nd-note tremolo, some chromatic lines, and slides.
“Sold Down the River” was recorded by Bill Monroe on November 30, 1960. The song was written by Vaughn Horton, who also wrote “Muleskinner Blues,” “Sugar Foot Rag,” and pop and R&B songs like “Mockingbird Hill” and “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie,” as well as the Christmas classic “Jolly Old St. Nicholas.” Monroe plays “Sold Down the River” in Bb, and in his solo he plays out of the Bb, Eb, and F chord shapes, ignoring the melody notes but phrasing his solo along with the vocal
“Linda Lou” was written by Carl Butler, who played guitar on this recording and all of Bill Monroe’s November and December 1960 sessions. “Linda Lou” is a waltz in the key of G. There is no mandolin solo on the recording, so Mike wrote one that follows the melody and uses a lot of Monroe’s typical phrases in the key of G.
“You Live in a World All Your Own” is one of Monroe’s original songs and was recorded in November 1960. The first part of Monroe’s solo focuses on the rhythmic aspect of the melody instead of the melody notes, and the second half uses a lot of Monroe’s typical vocabulary in the key of B.
“Little Joe” is another of the songs Bill Monroe recorded in November 1960. It was originally published in 1866 as “The Death of Little Joe.” Bill’s 1960 recording is quite a bit different than the Monroe Brothers version from 1938, with almost a Latin feel on his solo and some of his typical chordal runs in the key of D.
The mournful waltz “Seven Year Blues” was written by Ira and Charlie Louvin (the Louvin Brothers) and Eddie Hill. Bill Monroe recorded it in December 1960 in the key of F, and his solo is one of Mike’s favorites. It includes triplet intros into sliding double stops and a couple of tricky slides.
Bill Monroe recorded the western swing song “Time Changes Everything” (written by Tommy Duncan and made famous by Duncan’s recording with Bob Wills) in December, 1960. Bill’s solo makes you wonder if he thought the title was “Timing Changes Everything.” It’s unlike anything he ever recorded. In the first six bars, Bill strums chord shapes, some of which are rather odd, and he finishes the solo with two bars of his typical key-of-G phrases.
Bill Monroe recorded “Lonesome Road Blues” in 1960, and his solo includes some of his classic “slidy” licks.
Bill Monroe recorded Johnny Cash’s hit song “Big River” in December 1960. It’s in the key of D but Bill plays a lot of open G notes under the D chords. Mike shows you what Bill played and then walks you through the solo, giving you some less dissonant options to play.
Bill Monroe first recorded “It’s Mighty Dark to Travel” in 1947 with Lester Flatt and Earl Scrugges. His December 1960 rerecording features Curtis McPeake on banjo, Dale Potter on fiddle, and a Monroe solo that owes less to the melody than the earlier version.
The rockabilly blues instrumental “Blue Grass Twist” (also called “Blue Grass, Part 1” on some albums) was recorded on December 3, 1960. Monroe plays three double solos back to back, for six solos in all. In this lesson, you’ll learn the first two solos. Throughout these solos Bill uses a lot of triplets and slides as well as hammer-ons and pull-offs, the latter of which was new for Bill. Monroe’s exuberance manifests itself in the presence of several complex measures with a combination of slides and 32nd notes where one might expect a sparser rendition. There is also a more modern rewrite of one of Bill’s “stock” endings using flatted fifths, flatted thirds, and slides, as well as triplets, as seen in measures 23, 48, and 52.
In this lesson, you’ll learn sections C and D of Bill Monroe’s 1960 recording of “Blue Grass Twist.” At the beginning of Section C, Bill pulls his E string off the edge of the fingerboard while fretting a G note, which produces a Bb in addition to the G, because of a faulty fret at the fifth fret. Mike teaches the solo straight instead of trying to reproduce the extra notes.
In this lesson, you’ll learn sections E and F (the last two parts) of Bill Monroe’s 1960 recording of “Blue Grass Twist.” The first seven bars of section E of “Bluegrass Twist” are played with 32nd-note tremolo, so Mike’s transcription is somewhat approximate as it is difficult to notate exactly.
Bill Monroe recorded “Little Maggie” on November 9, 1961, with Curtis McPeake (banjo), Jimmy Maynard (guitar), Bessie Lee Mauldin (bass), and Vassar Clements and Buddy Spicher on fiddles. The solo is played in fifth position with a lot of closed-chord arpeggios. Monroe uses a lot of his favorite sixteenth–eighth–sixteenth rhythms throughout and there are slurred triplets in measures 3 and 7. It’s in the key of B, but Bill uses a lot of open strings without regard for the key, with some open D and G strings.
Bill Monroe’s November 9, 1961 recording of “Toy Heart” is quite a departure in key and style from his original recording in 1946. The blues is quoted more in this version, which is in the key of E, and flatted thirds abound. Monroe also plays open A strings against the E chord. The solo seems to be based more on the rhythmic content (phrasing) of the melody than the actual notes of the melody.
Bill Monroe recorded this version of “Shady Grove” on November 10, 1961 with Curtis McPeake (banjo), Jimmy Maynard (guitar), Bessie Lee Mauldin (bass), and Benny Williams on fiddle. Bill’s solo is primarily played in second position in C. Chord voicings toggle between the root at the third and eighth frets. The melodic content in no way mirrors the sung vocal but is nevertheless a light-hearted and light-handed melodic frolic. There are sixteenth–eighth–sixteenth rhythms in measure 5 and slides in measure 6.
Bill Monroe’s 1961 version of “Nine Pound Hammer” is in the key of C, and is the most raucous of his recordings of “Nine Pound Hammer.” Downstrokes predominantly carry the load in Monroe’s solo, which leans heavily on chord forms for the body of the melody, with single-string lines on the turnarounds.
The Wiley Walker and Gene Sullivan song “Live and Let Live” was recorded by Bill Monroe on November 10, 1961, with Buddy Spicher and Vassar Clements on fiddles, Curtis McPeake on banjo, Bessie Lee Mauldin on bass, and Jimmy Maynard on guitar. It’s in the key of C, and Monroe’s solo is primarily played with 32nd-note tremolo throughout except for the last couple of measures where Bill does one of his signature downstroke endings.
Bill Monroe recorded the Ernest Tubb song “Journey’s End” on November 30, 1961, with Tony Ellis, Benny Williams, Bessie Lee Mauldin, Buddy Spicher, and Bobby Joe Lester. The solo (in the key of C) is one of Mike’s all-time favorites. Monroe plays it with a light touch and the solo has a raggy sound, with some E–Eb lines in measures one and five and sixteenth–eighth–sixteenth rhythm figures in measures one, three, and five.
The old folk song “John Hardy” was the first of three instrumentals that Bill Monroe recorded on December 4, 1961. (The other two were “Bugle Call Rag” and “Old Joe Clark.”) There are two solos, both of which have similar elements. There’s a slight Latin feel to Bill’s rendition due to his use of upstroke ties from one beat to the next, often using versions of the sixteenth–eighth–sixteenth rhythm.
Bill Monroe recorded the banjo instrumental “Bugle Call Rag” on December 4, 1961. It’s in the key of G and Bill plays two distinctly different eight-bar solos. The first follows a familiar thought process for running lines over the chord changes with a lot of arpeggiated 16th-note phrases. The second solo is on the zany side with an initial blast featuring three-note chord forms followed by a setup into an arpeggiated ride beginning at the V chord from third position D all the way up to the A and E strings at seventh position.
In his solo for the 1961 recording of “Old Joe Clark,” Bill Monroe takes his cue from the device he used in “John Hardy”: holding down the D note on the A string at the fifth fret through the most recognizable melodic sequence of the first part. Measures eight and 11 are dominated by a short series of eighth notes that deescalate the intensity, one going up, the other down. The second half of the B section is played with four-note A and E chords over a series of the ever-present sixteenth–eighth–sixteenth rhythm.
The key-of-F waltz “There Was Nothing We Could Do” is a vocal duet between Bill and Frank Buchanan recorded in April 1962. The first seven measures of Bill’s solo are played with standard double-stop forms in 1/16th-note tremolo, followed by sparse arpeggiated downstroke phrases. Both sections echo the sung melody and are decorated with Bill’s customary slides.
“I Was Left on the Street” is another fine duo by Bill and Frank Buchanan recorded in April, 1962, in the key of G. Bill’s solo, played primarily with downstrokes, consists of just a classic blues intro and a half solo, with two occurrences of the updated ending that Bill used so often throughout “Blue Grass Twist.” It includes flatted and natural note combinations, arpeggiated lines, and a couple of short chromatic passages.
Bill Monroe cowrote “Cheap Love Affair” with Chuck Carson, and recorded it during the fertile Decca sessions of April 1962. The track includes Bill Monroe (vocals, mandolin), Horace "Benny" Williams, Harold "Red" Stanley (fiddle), Frank Buchanan (guitar), Tony Ellis (banjo), and Bessie Lee Mauldin (bass). In the key of B, Monroe’s brief solo covers just half of a verse, and starts with a series of staccato 1/8th-note triplets accentuating downbeats played over the chord changes, an approach reminiscent of black country-blues stylings. These lines are played primarily with downstrokes. In the second half of his break, Monroe incorporates tremolo and uses phrases that more closely resemble the vocal.
Bill Monroe recorded “Big Ball in Brooklyn” during the same April 1962 sessions that produced the Bluegrass Special album. Although “Big Ball in Brooklyn” didn’t make the final cut on the album, the studio recording was included on singles collections from Decca and Bear Family Records, but you’ll need to tap Spotify to hear that version. This rare live recording from 1963 with Del McCoury on guitar, Bill Keith on banjo, and Kenny Baker on fiddle captures the raw energy of the song as performed at Monroe’s Bean Blossom Festival. Monroe claimed credit for the song, but earlier settings of the piece with a variety of titles were recorded by the likes of Gid Tanner & the Skillet Lickers and many others. As Mike notes, the break is based on one of Monroe’s favorite licks, a fiddle line from the instrumental “Roanoke.”
The early country duo of Jimmie Tarlton and Thomas Darby wrote “Columbus Stockade Blues” and recorded it in 1927. It was a staple of Bill Monroe’s repertory, and you can hear a yodel-heavy rendition by Bill and the Blue Grass Boys on this 1942 Grand Ole Opry performance. Monroe’s solo from a later recording for the Bluegrass Special album is the basis for this month’s lesson, and it is one of the more bluesy and unusual versions you’ll find of this number. (Monroe’s solo begins at 2:09 on that track.) The first two measures are played with harmonics at the 12th fret in a somewhat subdued voice followed immediately in the next measure by a rather biting blues interpretation of the melody which is continued for the rest of the solo. It’s primarily played with downstrokes and includes over a dozen flatted-third slides throughout. The G “chop” chord is a good starting place to locate melody notes.
Written in 1924 by Cliff Hess, a songwriter, pianist, and musical secretary to Irving Berlin, “Blue Ridge Mountain Blues” soon became popular with early country music recording artists including Riley Puckett and Vernon Dalhart. Bill Monroe recorded it on his May 3, 1962, session for Decca. It was released as a single the following January and later that year it was the opening track of Monroe’s Bluegrass Special album. Monroe’s solo primarily consists of arpeggiated lines played with all downstrokes. Although most of the solo can be played below the fifth fret, Bill elects to play the V chord lines out of third position which adds a good “snap” to his notes. For the most part, this rendition is a closed-position effort. The old standby sixteenth–eighth–sixteenth note rhythm pattern dominates here, with a hint of that “south-of-the-border” flavor for the resolution at the end of each half.
Bill Monroe first recorded Arthur Q. Smith’s waltz-time “How Will I Explain About You?” in 1946 and then again in May, 1962. This version appeared on the Bluegrass Special album — Monroe’s solo begins at 17:47. This break is only a slight departure from the 1946 rendition: both are in the key of G and played at the same tempo. Despite a similarity in the treatment of the melody in both settings, Bill expands the idea to include more of his trademark 1960s ideas in the later recording. The melody is played using two-note pickups into tremolo slides up to the third position with phrasing much more akin to the vocal, with downstroke arpeggios used to accent the ends of the first and second halves. This time the arpeggios are not played as triplet forms, but as eighth notes with accents on the downbeats.
Here’s yet another classic from Bill Monroe’s 1963 Bluegrass Special album. Written by Fred Rose, “Foggy River” was first released by Jimmy Lawson in 1946. Monroe’s solo on the Bluegrass Special track starts at the one-minute mark. Mike says, “This is one of my favorite solos of Monroe’s as it is so heavily in the blues pocket.” As he points out, the solo references the melody by following the general rise and fall of the overall melodic structure without actually stating the melody. Use downstrokes only to emulate Monroe’s distinctive right-hand style.
The first chord melody arrangement you’ll learn is for the 1920s jazz standard “Deed I Do.” It’s in the key of C and follows a standard 32-bar AABA form. Aaron walks you through his arrangement, explaining some of his arrangement and voicing choices and how he’s combined melody notes with the basic voicings you already learned. He also explains his single-note approach to the bridge of “Deed I Do,” in which he punctuates the melody with just a few chords.
In his arrangement of the jazz standard “Fine and Dandy” Aaron looks at how to exploit bass-note movement in chord voicings. He starts by talking about how to decide the right register to choose for a chord melody arrangement of a song. Then he walks you through the song phrase by phrase, explaining some of his chord-melody arrangement ideas as he goes.
“I Got Rhythm” is one of the most popular jazz standards in the jazz canon, and its chord progression has been used as the basis for many other tunes. Aaron’s arrangement takes a “big band” approach, combining chordal hits with the melody. “I Got Rhythm” is in AABA form, so the second A is the same as the first, but Aaron gives you a variation of the chordal hits for the second A part. The bridge of Aaron’s arrangement of “I Got Rhythm” takes a more traditional chord melody approach, and the last A part is similar to the first two A’s but with a two-bar tag. You’ll also learn a variation, in which you play the hits as single notes and the melody in chords.
Aaron’s chord melody arrangement of the jazz standard “Comes Love” is similar to that of “I Got Rhythm” in that he inserts chordal hits into the melody, rather than playing a chord for every melody note, and he takes a more traditional chord melody approach on the bridge.
Learn to play a G major scale melodic style and then use the technique to play the well-known fiddle tune “Devil’s Dream.”
You can play melodic style in other keys, of course, and in this lesson you’ll learn the D major scale melodic style and use it to play the melody to “Whiskey Before Breakfast” in the key of D, with the fifth string tuned up to D.
Learn to play melodic style in the key of A without a capo using the popular fiddle tune “June Apple.” “June Apple” uses an A Mixolydian scale, which is the same as the major scale but with a flatted seventh.
Learn a melodic-style arrangement of the Christmas-time classic “Deck the Halls” in the key of G. Bill shows you the melody in open position and reminds you how to play the notes of the G major scale melodic style. Then he shows you how to play the melody to “Deck the Halls” melodic style and add some rolls as well as scale and chord tones to make a full banjo arrangement.
In this lesson, Bill shows you a series of long descending licks using melodic patterns that you can combine with Scruggs-style playing in bluegrass tunes. These kinds of phrases were a hallmark of the playing of banjoists like Bobby Thompson, Ben Eldridge, and Alan Munde, and some of them come from fiddle tune melodies like “Blackberry Blossom.” Bill shows you descending melodic banjo licks that work over G, C, and D chords and how to combine these licks with Scruggs-style phrases.
Here are 24 great roots songs to play, with recommended strum patterns and full performances of each song so you can sing and play along. All songs include Chord and Lyric Sheets.
You can play the popular Beatles song “Eleanor Rigby” with just two chords: C and Em. Learn a handy strum pattern you can use in hundreds of songs in many styles: down, down-up, up-down-up.
This great alt-country song from Lucinda Williams is in 3/4 time and uses G, C, and D chords. You'll learn a waltz-time rhythm pattern as well as how to find the bass root notes of each chord.
This old hymn was first recorded by the Carter Family in the 1930s and has become one of the most popular songs in traditional music. Learn to play it with a simple “bass down-up” pattern using alternating bass notes.
Stephen Stills’ 1960s classic, which Rolling Stone ranked as the 63rd best song of all time, uses E, A, D, and C chords and can be played with a variation of the down, down-up, up-down-up strum pattern. You’ll learn how to mute the strings for a percussive effect. And if the key of E is too low for you, Adrianne also plays “For What It’s Worth” with a capo at the fourth fret.
Woody Guthrie’s song “This Land Is Your Land” has been been sung by everyone, but do you know all the verses? You’ll learn them here. Adrianne shows you the chords in the key of D and a couple of basic strum patterns.
Learn a version of the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” arranged for beginners. The original was fingerpicked, but Adrianne shows you how to play it using key-of-G shapes and a gentle strumming pattern.
Old Crow Medicine Show’s hit song “Wagon Wheel” has become a popular song at campfire singalongs and jams around the world. It uses G, D, Em, and C chords, and you’ll learn three new strum patterns.
“Killing the Blues” has been recorded by many people, including Shawn Colvin and Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. You’ll learn “Killing the Blues” in the key of D, using D, G, and A chords, and a strum pattern using all downstrokes.
Originally written and recorded by Ben E. King in 1961, “Stand By Me” has been recorded more than 400 times since. You only need four chords to play “Stand By Me” (G, Em, C, and D), and you’ll learn a couple of new percussive strumming patterns.
The gospel classic “I’ll Fly Away” is a standard at bluegrass jam sessions. Learn the version sung by Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch on O Brother, Where Art Thou?. It’s in the key of D, and you’ll learn how to find the bass notes in D so you can play the alternating-bass pattern.
Hank Williams’ song “Your Cheatin’ Heart” has been covered by Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, and many others. You’ll learn to play it in the key of G, using G, C, D7, and A7 chords, and a new version of the C chord: C/G (“C over G”).
Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl” was first recorded by Emmylou Harris on her classic Wrecking Ball album. It has become a bluegrass jam session favorite. You can play “Orphan Girl” with just three chords (G, C, and D) and a simple strum pattern that accents the second and fourth beats of each measure.
The traditional song “Say Darlin’ Say” is a relative of the classic lullaby “Hush, Little Baby.” You only need three chords to play it (D, G, and A) but the chords change in slightly unusual places. Play it old-time style with a simple bass-down pattern or add an upstroke for the bass down-up pattern.
From Wilco’s album Mermaid Avenue, an album of previously unheard lyrics by Woody Guthrie, “California Stars” is a great song for beginners because it uses just three chords (G, C, and D) and has the same chord progression all the way through. You’ll learn the rhythm pattern that Wilco guitarist/singer Jeff Tweedy uses and how to use “palm muting” to get a funky, rhythmic feel. If the key of A was too low for you, Adrianne also plays “California Stars” with a capo at the fifth fret.
Bob Dylan wrote “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” for the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. You’ll learn a couple variations on Am and C chords as well as the strum pattern Dylan played.
The folk song “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize” has been recorded by Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, and many others. It’s in the key of A minor, with Am, Dm, E7, and C chords. You’ll learn a simple bass run to play between chords.
“Take Me Home, Country Roads” was John Denver’s most popular song. Adrianne plays “Country Roads” in the original key of A, with a capo at the second fret, using G, Em, D, C, and two new chords: D7 and F. If the key of A is too low for you, Adrianne also plays “Country Roads” with a capo at the fifth fret, which puts it in the key of C.
The traditional folk song “Wayfaring Stranger” has been recorded by lots of people in many styles. The chords you’ll need for “Wayfaring Stranger” are Am, Dm, E7, F, and C. You’ll learn a couple of different ways to play an F chord and how to do a muted bass-down strum with an alternating bass.
Sam Cooke’s classic 1960s R&B ballad “Bring It on Home to Me” is fun to play and you only need four chords to play it, including two new chords: G7 and C7. You’ll learn how to modify G and C chords to play the new chords with a simple percussive strum.
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young’s hit “Teach Your Children” is from the band’s classic 1970 album Déjà Vu. It’s is in the key of D, and uses four chords, D, G, A, and Bm. Bm is often played as a barre chord, which can be difficult for beginners, but Adrianne shows you a few easier ways to play Bm.
The Band’s “Up on Cripple Creek” uses G, C, D, Em, and F chords, played with a capo on the second fret. Adrianne shows you a few different strum patterns, including the “Bo Diddley” beat.
Leonard Cohen wrote and recorded “Hallelujah” in 1984, but the song is better known as a Jeff Buckley song and has since been recorded by lots of people. “Hallelujah” is in 6/8 time, so you’ll learn a couple of different ways to play a simple strum pattern in 6/8.
Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” is a country classic. You’ll learn it in the key of E, with E, A7, and B7 chords, and a capo at the first fret, to match Cash’s recording on Live at Folsom Prison.
The country classic “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” was recorded by Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, and many others. This version is based on Willie’s recording. It’s in the key of E, and you’ll learn a bass run that connects the E and B7 chords.
The old-time fiddle tune “Cluck Old Hen” in the key of A has become a standard at bluegrass and old-time jams everywhere and is a great first tune to learn on the mandolin. You’ll learn the standard fingering for first position on the mandolin.
The old-time fiddle tune “Chinquapin Hunting” is in the key of D, so you’ll learn the D major scale, a D major arpeggio, and a D major chord, which will help orient your fingers to the key of D. You’ll also learn basic D, G, and A chords and a simple bass/strum pattern, so you can play rhythm to “Chinquapin Hunting” and other tunes.
A must-know tune for all roots music instrumentalists, “Angeline the Baker” is also in the key of D. You’ll learn to mark time with your downstrokes, even where there’s a rest, which will help you maintain a steady tempo.
The beautiful old-time fiddle tune “Squirrel Hunters” has a haunting “modal” sound. You’ll learn how to slide into melody notes and damp notes for a rhythmic accent.
Learning to play melodies and solos in closed-positions allows you to play in any key. You’ll learn to play a solo to the gospel classic “I’ll Fly Away” in a closed position in the key of G. You’ll also learn how to play the melody with double stops, how to move the closed-position melody to any key, and how to find the “blue notes” in closed position.
Learn a bluegrassy version of the traditional tune “Cluck Old Hen” as recorded by Alison Krauss and Union Station. Joe talks about using “anticipation” to change the phrasing of a tune and about how to improvise melodically by boiling a melody down to its important notes and creating variations that target those notes.
Double stops are a huge part of bluegrass mandolin vocabulary. Learning them can give you roadmaps for finding things all over the fingerboard. Joe shows you three double-stop shapes you can play for any major chord all over the neck and how to use them to play a solo on the folk standard “Irene, Goodnight.”
Circle of fifths progressions occur in many tunes, including “Salty Dog Blues,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” and “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down.” Learn what circle of fifths progressions are and how to negotiate these kinds of progressions. You’ll also learn the Mixolydian scale, which you can play over dominant seven chords, as well as some movable Mixolydian melodic ideas you can use over any dominant seven chord.
Learn the melody to the classic folk tune “This Land Is Your Land.” Once you’ve learned the melody and chords, you’ll add rolls to create a complete banjo break.
A great bluegrass banjo tune for beginners, “Banjo in the Hollow” primarily uses the forward-reverse roll, with a couple of simple chord positions up the neck.
One of the most common bluegrass tunes, “Cumberland Gap” is favorite of fiddlers and banjo players alike. You'll learn four different ways to play the forward-reverse roll, then use them to play this arrangement of “Cumberland Gap.”
The second alternate tuning you’ll learn (DADGAD) is common in Irish music and contemporary fingerstyle guitar, and there are a few great guitarists (Pierre Bensusan, Laurence Juber) who have made it their “standard tuning.”
In this lesson, Doug introduces you to DADGAD tuning, gives you a capsule history of the tuning, shows you how to get into DADGAD, and demonstrates some of the common chord shapes in DADGAD. He also shows you how to modify chord shapes you already know from standard tuning to create new chords in DADGAD.
Doug shows you one of the signature sounds of DADGAD: a harp-like effect created by playing scales across the strings. He shows you how to play a D major scale in such a way that most of the strings ring, and then shows you an Irish melody called “Three Lovely Lassies from Kimmage.” He also uses his own composition “Cross String” to demonstrate cross-string patterns up the neck.
Doug uses the Irish jig “Rose in the Heather” to illustrate another approach to playing scales in DADGAD tuning. In DADGAD, if you play the second and fourth frets (as well as the open string) you will only get notes of the D major scale. Doug walks you through the melody of “Rose in the Heather” and then shows you how he adds bass notes to the melody.
“The Skye Boat Song” is a traditional Scottish song that was written in the late 1800s and was recently used as the theme song for the television series Outlander. Doug uses this tune to introduce the idea of using intervals (thirds, sixths, and tenths), as he did in the dropped-D lesson on “Shenandoah.”
In this video, Chad gives you some simple exercises to help you keep your bow hand relaxed while you play.
Chad gives you a couple of simple exercises to help you keep your left hand loose and relaxed.
The major scale is the most used scale in bluegrass, old-time, and related music, so it’s good to really understand how it’s constructed. The major scale is made up of a sequence of whole steps (two frets) and half steps (1 fret) in this order: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half (wwhwwwh). Stash starts by showing you the G major scale all on the G string and then he gives you exercises to help you visualize the major scale, including exercises in octave displacement. He also shows you how to play the melody to the traditional hymn “Farther Along” in the key of C on one string.
In this lesson, you’ll learn the C major scale in open position. Stash also shows you how to analyze melodies according to their scale degrees and practice the scale while saying the names of the scale degrees. You’ll learn to play “Farther Along” in open position in two octaves.
Stash shows you the five most useful open-position scales on the guitar: G, C, D, A, and E. You’ve already learned open C, so Stash starts with the open-position G scale and then moves on to the other three. He also talks about internalizing the degrees of the scale as you practice them. You’ll also learn to play the old-time country song “Wabash Cannonball” in G position.
In this section you'll learn to play tunes in sets. First you'll learn the individual tunes, and then, once you've learned all the tunes in a set, Emerald will show you how to combine the tunes in a set.
“Campbell’s Farewell to Redcastle” is a traditional Scottish pipe tune in the key of A that uses the Mixolydian scale (with G♮s instead instead of G#s). Emerald shows you the melody and bowing as well as a couple of simple pipe ornaments.
“Cutting Ferns” is a special kind of tune called a strathspey, which is only played in Scottish music. It’s distinguished by a “Scottish snap” rhythm consisting of a dotted-eighth/16th rhythm, although it can also be played with more of a triplet feel.
In this lesson, you’ll learn your first reel, a Scottish tune in the key of A called “Mrs. MacLeod,” which is also played in Irish music in the key of G. You’ll also learn your first “set” of tunes: “Campbell’s Farewell to Redcastle”/”Cutting Ferns”/“Mrs. MacLeod” by combining “Mrs. MacLeod” with the last two tunes you learned.
“The Kesh Jig” is a beautiful Irish tune and one of the most popular jigs; it’s played in sessions everywhere.It’s in the key of G, in 6/8 time (like all jigs), and has two parts.
“Out on the Ocean” is another jig in the key of G and it’s one of Emerald’s favorites. In addition to showing you the melody to “Out on the Ocean,” Emerald shows you how to play double stops (two notes at once) in this lesson.
“The Atholl Highlanders” is a Scottish pipe march, but is also often played as a jig, which is how you’ll learn it in this lesson. It’s in the key of A and has four parts, but there’s a lot of repetition, so it’s not too daunting.
The Scottish pipe tune “Scarce o’ Tatties” is a fun jig in the key of A. After you learn it, you’ll put it together in a set with “The Atholl Highlanders” and “The Stool of Repentance.”
“The Humours of Tulla” is a popular Irish reel in the key of D that is often played in seisiúns. It’s more of an intermediate level tune, but Emerald shows you how to modify it a bit so you can play it in seisiúns.
“The Wind That Shakes the Barley” is another classic reel in the key of D. It’s in the key of D, but it starts and ends on an A note, the open A string. There’s a big jump in the first part of “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” from the open D string to the G on the E string, so Emerald shows you how to “rock” your bow to make this jump cleanly.
“The Butterfly” is a three-part slip jig in the key of E minor and one of the most popular traditional Irish tunes. Slip jigs are in 9/8, as opposed to normal jigs, which are in 6/8. It’s best to think of 9/8 as three groups of three eighth notes, so the pulse is more like 3/4, except that each quarter note is divided into three.
“The Boys of Ballisodare” is another traditional slip jig, this time in the key of G. It works well in a set with “The Butterfly.”
In these workouts, you’ll get four workouts a month to work on things like skipping thirds, diatonic arpeggios, chord scales, pentatonic scale patterns, and more.
In this first lesson, you’ll get four workouts using skipping thirds, also sometimes called broken thirds. You’ll use the G major scale and basically play intervals of a third starting on each scale tone. Getting comfortable with skipping thirds is a good way to start using and finding scale patterns. The first three workouts are in the key of G, and the fourth is in the key of A using closed position.
In this month’s workouts, you’ll learn diatonic four-note seventh arpeggios. It’s somewhat like the skipping-thirds workout, but you’ll be putting two thirds together to create a seventh chord. The first three workouts are in the key of G in open position, while the fourth workout transposes the workouts to the key of A.
In this series of workouts, Ethan uses the pentatonic scale to create some interesting patterns by skipping seconds in the pentatonic scale.
In this lesson, you’ll learn some pentatonic scale patterns that you can use to improvise on tunes like David Grisman’s “I6/16,” which has a soloing section with a vamp of Ebmaj7 and Dm7. Ethan shows you how you can use different pentatonic scale patterns to solo on each chord.
String crossings can be tricky, so practicing string crossings and crosspicking is essential in developing a fluid picking hand. There are two types of string crossings on the mandolin, assuming you’re using alternating picking: inside string crossings (where you play a downstroke on a higher string and an upstroke on a lower string) and outside string crossings (where you play a downstroke on a lower string and upstroke on an upper string). Ethan gives you some string crossing exercises and then gives you an arrangement of the traditional song “Handsome Molly” that uses crosspicking.
Left-hand slurs like hammer-ons and pull-offs are great articulations to add to your playing, and practicing them can strengthen your fretting hand. Ethan gives you a number of hammer-on and pull-off exercises and shows you how to use them to create syncopated phrasing on the fiddle tunes “Leather Britches” and “Big Sciota.”
Double stops are an integral part of the mandolin’s unique sound, and they’re a great way to add an additional bit of harmony to melody lines. In this series of workouts, Ethan shows you double stops in thirds and fourths on all the string sets in the key of G, and shows you how to fill out the melodies of the fiddle tune “Shove That Pig's Foot a Little Further Into the Fire” and the bluegrass standard “Long Journey Home” (also known as “Two Dollar Bill”) with double stops and drones.
In this series of workouts, you’ll learn various kinds of chord shapes, including chop chords, a wide variety of barre chords, seventh chord shapes that are great for swing playing, and more.
Using harp scales, a technique borrowed from the guitar, is a way to make the mandolin (or guitar) sound like a harp. The idea is to use as many open strings as possible and to have as many strings ringing at the same time as possible. On the mandolin that means you’ll play a lot of notes up the neck combined with open strings. You’ll learn to play G pentatonic and diatonic scales as harp scales and how to use the harp-scale technique to play the traditional tune “Elk River Blues.”
In this lesson, Ethan talks about the concept of chord scales, which can be thought of as the scales you would choose to play over specific chords in specific keys. You learn the chord scales for the I, IV, V chords in the key of G as well as for the C7, G7, and Am7 chords, and how to “voice-lead” lines through the chords. He wraps it up by showing you a chorus of 12-bar blues in G that uses voice-led lines and the scales and arpeggios you’ve learned.
In this series of workouts, Ethan shows you some ways to play scales in different places on the neck. You’ll learn four different closed scale positions and how to play “Billy in the Lowground” in a closed position up the neck.
This month’s workouts deal with syncopation and the correct pick direction you should use to play different syncopations. Ethan shows you some exercises playing a scale using a shuffle rhythm and some different syncopations, and then he shows you how to use them on the melody to the fiddle tune “Angeline the Baker.”
In this series of workouts, Ethan gives you advice on working with a metronome, with exercises using the fiddle tune “East Tennessee Blues,” although you can use any tune with a lot of eighth notes.
For this month’s collection of workouts, Ethan constructed a number of scale patterns using easy fragments—or “cells”—from familiar fiddle tunes. You’ll learn to play the derived patterns starting on each degree of the tune’s scale, starting high and going low, and vice versa. You’ll also learn to invert the cells for new patterns. The resulting exercises will build finger dexterity and help open doors for improvisation.
This month, Ethan demonstrates a variety of melodic devices that can spice up a basic tune, including “enclosures” and “approach notes.” Each week you’ll learn a couple of strategies for approaching an essential melody note with additional tones and how to work those embellished phrases up and down the scale. In the final week, Ethan will show you how to apply these ideas to “Texas Gales,” a classic three-part fiddle tune in the key of C.
Ethan bases his weekly workout patterns this month on arpeggio patterns derived from familiar fiddle tunes: “Soldier’s Joy,” “St. Anne’s Reel,” and “Fisher’s Hornpipe.” As with Ethan’s lesson on scale patterns based on tunes, you’ll learn to play the derived patterns starting on each degree of the tune’s scale. The resulting exercises will build finger dexterity and help open doors for improvisation.
Ethan’s workout regimen this month will build your improvisation chops via exercises derived from the familiar fiddle tune “Big Sciota” in the key of G. These drills will help improve the way you begin and end solos and help you to tie together variations on a musical theme.
Ethan’s workouts this month focus on understanding the Mixolydian mode and then learning a fiddle tune in that mode. The Mixolydian scale is similar to a major scale, but with a flatted seventh note. In the key of A, that would mean a G natural rather than G sharp for the seventh note. Music in the Mixolydian mode is often described as having a bluesy or funky sound, and in the case of some fiddle tunes, a lonesome quality. You’ll learn a number of Mixolydian scale patterns and then tackle “Shaking Down the Acorns,” a great fiddle tune in A Mixolydian.
This month Ethan introduces the Lydian flat seven (also called Lydian dominant or Mixolydian #11) mode and teaches one of his own compositions in that mode. The Lydian flat seven scale is similar to a major scale, but with a sharp fourth note and a flatted seventh note. In the key of G, that would mean a C# for the fourth note and an F natural for the seventh note, resulting in the scale of G, A, B, C#, D, E, F, G. Ethan describes music in the Lydian flat seven mode as having a “spooky, bluesy, crunchy” sound. In bluegrass and old-time circles, “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” might be the best-known tune in this mode. To get a sense of the mode in that context, listen to Adam Steffy’s version, or check out Joe K. Walsh’s lesson on the tune in his Bluegrass Mandolin Jam Favorites course. Over the course of the month, you’ll learn a number of Lydian flat seven scale patterns and then tackle Ethan’s original tune “Arthur” in G Lydian flat seven.
The folk and bluegrass favorite “Long Journey Home” was recorded by the Monroe Brothers (Charlie and Bill) in 1936, and it has become a popular song in jam circles. As with “Worried Man Blues,” Lauren leads you through “Long Journey Home” in four different keys. The first and third phrases of “Long Journey Home” are the same as the first and third phrases of ““Worried Man Blues,” so you’ll be surprised how quickly you learn this new song.
Lauren starts by showing you “Long Journey Home” in the key of D. In addition to the melody, you’ll learn how to add pickups, endings, fills, blues notes, and double stops to the melody in two octaves.
In this lesson, you’ll continue on your transposition journey of moving the melody, chord progression, and soloing ideas to the key of A. Remember, being able to transpose on the fly is a crucial skill when a vocalist’s range determines the key.
Lauren shows you how to apply your previous knowledge of “Long Journey Home” to the key of G in this lesson. Using transposition, you’ll be able create your own solos in two different octaves for the key of G, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you move through this lesson, since one handshape will be in your muscle memory and the new handshape will be familiar from your previous work on “Worried Man Blues.”
Lauren explains the “closed handshape” and how to use it in second position (II) for soloing in the key of C on “Long Journey Home.” This new skill will begin to unlock other more challenging keys in the future, so it’s well worth your time!
In this section, you'll learn the three tunes that make up the famous Tarbolton Set (or Coleman Set), which was recorded by legendary Irish fiddler Michael Coleman in 1934. “Tarbolton” is the first tune in the set, followed by “The Longford Collector” and “The Sailor’s Bonnet.”
“Tarbolton” is the first tune in a well-known set of tunes called the Tarbolton Set (or the Coleman Set), which was recorded by legendary Irish fiddler Michael Coleman in 1934. The other tunes are “The Longford Collector” and “The Sailor’s Bonnet,” which you’ll learn in upcoming lessons.
“The Longford Collector” is the second of the three reels in the Tarbolton Set. It’s in the key of G major and Flynn’s version is based on the way Michael Coleman played it, but he’s added some guitaristic things to it, like a slide on the G note that starts the tune. He also uses rolls on the high G and a couple of trebles on the open B string.
“The Sailor’s Bonnet” is, you guessed it, the third of the three reels in the Tarbolton Set. It’s in the key of D and Flynn’s arrangement uses trebles on the high F# and open B string. In the B part, you’ll shift between second and third position to reach the high B.
In these lessons, Grant talks about the importance of rhythm, with lessons on alternate picking, syncopation, and more.
There are all sorts of different approaches to flatpicking, but having a good grasp of alternate (down-up) picking is essential. And having the regular grid of alternate picking is a great way to conceptualize rhythm and potentially solve problems you may be having. Grant starts with a metronome to look at how the basic "boom-chick" strumming pattern works, and how the down-up of alternate picking relates to a simple strum pattern. Then he moves on to thinking about whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes—all played with downstrokes—and then incorporating eighth notes: upstrokes played with the natural movement of your hand.
Grant uses the syncopated melody of the swing blues tune “Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid” (written by tenor saxophone giant Lester Young) as an alternate picking exercise so you can get a feel for playing upstrokes on the upbeats.
Grant goes through the chords to the 12-bar blues “Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid” that you learned last month and gives you rhythmic ideas for accompaniment (“comping”), including using upbeats and playing the “Charleston” rhythm.
In this lesson Grant talks about the difference between quarter notes and quarter-note triplets and looks at a couple different ways to pick triplets. Then he shows you how to use quarter-note triplets to play a standard melody like “Lady Be Good.”
Grant uses Darol Anger’s great fiddle tune “Tree King Creek” to look at some ways to play eighth-note triplets and find different fingering solutions for complicated melodic lines.
In this lesson, Grant shows you how to use different pulse patterns on a metronome to build your listening skills and improve your sense of timing and rhythm. Using the familiar chord progression for “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” in the key of A, Grant starts with the metronome clicking on the offbeats (2 and 4), then just on beat 4, then just on beat 2 every two bars, then just on beat 4 every 4 bars. Grant emphasizes that the primary objective of the exercises is to enhance a deeply internalized sense of where beat 1 is in any piece of music.
In these next lessons you’ll learn how to connect closed positions and open positions so you can play solos in different parts of the fingerboard.
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to connect closed positions and open positions using the song “I’ll Fly Away” in the key of D, which you’ve already learned in closed position in another lesson.
In the previous lesson, Sharon showed you a two octave solo on “I’ll Fly Away” that moved from open position to a closed position in the upper octave and how to transition between the two positions. In this lesson, Sharon shows you a solo that does the reverse, starting in the upper octave and moving down to the lower open- position melody.
Here’s another in Sharon’s series of exercises designed to increase your musical vocabulary for moving between positions on the fingerboard. Once again using the familiar song “I’ll Fly Away” as a matrix for building a descending transition riff, Sharon teaches a new scale pattern using intervals a sixth below the root notes. She then shows you how to incorporate this new lick with lines you learned in earlier lessons.
Sharon has chosen the classic “Nine Pound Hammer” in the key of A for her next exercise designed to increase your musical vocabulary for moving between positions on the fingerboard. To date, most of the exercises for moving between positions have taken you from upper positions to lower ones using descending runs; this time, you’ll move up the fingerboard with a familiar scale pattern.
Neil Young’s song “Comes a Time” has an interesting chord progression and is good for practicing one-quarter-note bass runs and a new strum pattern: bass strum _up down-up. You’ll also get advice on playing Bm barre chords and the unusual Dm7 chord Neil plays at the end of the chorus.
The old-time song “Milwaukee Blues,” recorded by North Carolina singer/banjo player Charlie Poole in 1930, is a great song for working on more of the two-beat bass runs covered in the bass runs lessons. You’ll learn how to create more elaborate bass runs by substituting two eighth notes for one of the two quarter notes in the two-beat bass runs. “Milwaukee Blues” is in the key of C, so you’ll learn bass runs that connect C, G, and F chords, first by playing two eighth notes instead of the first quarter note, and then by playing two eighth notes instead of the second quarter note. You’ll also learn how to use these runs when you’re just staying on one chord.
The bluegrass standard “Old Home Place” was written by Dean Webb and Mitch Jayne and the Dillards and was famously recorded by J.D. Crowe and the New South, when that seminal 1970s bluegrass band included Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, and Jerry Douglas. It has a few chords not often heard in bluegrass, including a B7 in the key of G. You’ll also learn a few four-beat bass runs that connect the G and D chords, as well as the A (II) chord in the bridge.
Jimmy Martin’s train song “Mr. Engineer” has been recorded by Tony Rice and others, and is a good song for demonstrating bluegrass bass runs in 3/4 time. You’ll learn some modified G runs that fit well in 3/4 as well as some nice bass runs between G, C, and D chords. Since “Mr. Engineer” is not only a waltz but also has a swing/shuffle feel, some of the runs you learn will include triplets, and you’ll learn how to use slurs (slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs) to play triplets with just two pick strokes.
The traditional ballad “Pretty Polly” has been recorded by numerous musicians, including Ralph Stanley, the Byrds, Tim O’Brien, and many others. “Pretty Polly” is usually played with just one main chord and it’s often sung using a straight minor pentatonic scale, but many singers use both the minor and major third for more of a bluesy sound. In this lesson, you’ll learn to play “Pretty Polly” in dropped-D tuning with a few different bass runs and fills. You’ll also learn a cool “capo trick” you can use if you want to get the sound of dropped-D tuning in the key of E by using a partial capo that covers just the top five strings.
John Hartford’s song “Gentle on My Mind” was a hit for Glen Campbell in the 1960s, but it remains popular among roots musicians and was recently recorded by Alison Krauss as well as Molly Tuttle. It’s a fun song to play and deceptively simple, with just two main chords, but it has a cool descending melodic line that runs through those chords. In this lesson, you’ll learn some voicings of the two chords (D and Em in the key of D) that allow you to play that descending line and a boom-chuck, _a-chuck-a strum pattern that you can play with an emphasis on the treble strings. You’ll also learn a few variations on the chords and a more syncopated version of the strum pattern.
Blues slide guitar great Blind Willie Johnson recorded in the early 1930s and played exclusively in open-D tuning. In this lesson you’ll learn his great song “Nobody’s Fault but Mine” and use it to work on getting a touch with the slide that will produce good tone without extra noise.
This great bottleneck blues song is in open-G tuning. You’ll use it to work on playing cleanly using damping and pick blocking. You’ll also learn an accompaniment, using a monotonic shuffle bass and nice fills between vocal lines, as well as a solo that includes a cool series of double stops that walk down chromatically from the 15th fret to the tenth fret.
Learn to play the melody to “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor” in standard tuning in two positions. You’ll also learn a solo that includes some sliding ninth chords and get advice on how to use vibrato on long melody notes.
Muddy Waters recorded “I Feel Like Goin’ Home” in the 1950s with just slide guitar and bass. In this lesson you’ll learn a version of the song in E in standard tuning and a version of the way Muddy played it, in open-G tuning.
Learn to play the traditional favorite “John Henry” with a slide in open-D tuning. This arrangement uses an alternating bass on the sixth and fourth strings throughout while you play the melody up high. You’ll also learn some variations that include two-string harmonies, a version of the melody played an octave lower, and strums played with the middle finger.
This cool instrumental slide tune comes from the great Tampa Red, who recorded from the 1920s all the way into the 1960s. He mostly played in open-D tuning, the tuning you’ll use to play “Boogie Woogie Dance.” You’ll learn the first 12-bar melody (the signature phrase of the tune) and three variations to the melody.
This traditional blues song was originally recorded in the 1930s by Big Bill Broonzy, and Eric Von Schmidt rewrote some of the lyrics in the 1960s. You’ll learn a version in open-D tuning that includes a few unusual chord voicings and some cool parallel-sixths harmony lines in the solos.
“So Long Blues” recalls the 1920s “classic blues” songs of singers like Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, and Ma Rainey. The melody is played in standard tuning and is designed to be played with a rhythm section. You’ll learn how to get a “singing” quality in your playing: how to get the “notes in between the notes” and move them around in the beat, in the way that singers do.
Work on some up-the-neck scale positions in the key of G, including a common position at the seventh fret and an intermediary position at the fifth fret. You’ll also learn how to move between positions using open strings and slides and get some exercises to practice moving between the fifth-fret and seventh-fret positions. You’ll finish by learning a version of the fiddle tune “Blackberry Blossom” that moves between the seventh-fret and fifth-fret positions.
Learn scale positions in the keys of C and D, and how to move from position to position using open strings and slides. You’ll start with a position in C at the third fret, with some ideas about how to move there from open position, and then how to move to positions at the fifth and tenth frets. You’ll also learn up-the-neck positions for the key of D, which are only two frets higher than the C positions, and an arrangement of the fiddle tune “Forked Deer” in the key of D using multiple positions.
Matt plays and sings the early jazz standard “Singin’ the Blues” as a demonstration of ways you can introduce some early jazz elements into a song’s performance. Matt’s version employs bass runs, single-note lines, and chordal fills, all of which are hallmarks of the accompaniment styles of early jazz guitarists such as Eddie Lang and Nick Lucas.
Venture up the neck for another series of essential Earl Scruggs licks that Earl played in “Lonesome Road Blues,” “Foggy Mt. Breakdown,” and many other songs, including an up-the-neck lick from “Foggy Mt. Breakdown” that uses a “choke” or bend. You’ll also get advice on how to string these up-the-neck licks together for solos and backup.
On May 19, 1954, six months before Elvis Presley made his first records, Earl Scruggs recorded the first rock ’n’ roll banjo tune, “Foggy Mountain Special,” which you’ll learn in this lesson. It moves through a few different positions up the neck, so Bill shows you where and how to shift positions, using the fingering that he learned from Sonny Osborne (who learned it from Earl himself!).
“Sally Goodin” is one of the classics of the bluegrass and old-time fiddle repertoire, and Earl Scruggs recorded a great version on Foggy Mountain Banjo that’s an essential part of Scruggs’s repertoire. It’s played up the neck using some techniques that you can use in other tunes, like “Lonesome Road Blues,” “Sally Ann,” etc.
Earl Scruggs included “Fireball Mail” on his groundbreaking 1961 recording Foggy Mountain Banjo, and it’s one of the all-time great banjo tunes. You’ll learn Earl’s way of playing “Fireball Mail” down the neck as well as his classic up-the-neck solo, which will help you get used to the up-the-neck fingering you’ll use for many other tunes.
Learn an Earl Scruggs solo to the jam session favorite “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” as well as some variations. Earl played three solos on the version Flatt and Scruggs recorded for the Mercury Sessions in 1949. You’ll learn the first solo as well as some variations that Earl played in subsequent solos.
Earl Scruggs’ instrumental “Ground Speed” is a banjo classic and popular in jam sessions. It’s unique among Earl’s banjo tunes for a number of different reasons, which Bill explains to you as he walks you through Earl’s version of the tune, pointing out his fingering, roll patterns, etc.
Earl Scruggs’s instrumental “Flint Hill Special” is one of his classic tunes that features Scruggs tuners. The tune has three sections, as well as a short solo banjo intro using the tuners. Bill walks you through each part and also shows you a variation and ending Earl played on Flatt and Scruggs’s Live at Carnegie Hall album. You’ll also learn how to set up Keith tuners and how to use them to play “Flint Hill Special.”
The banjo instrumental “Pike County Breakdown” is one of the first tunes Earl Scruggs recorded when he joined forces with Lester Flatt in 1950. It includes some single-string playing, which was unusual for Earl. You’ll learn the first solo that Earl played, as well as the concluding solo from the record.
The theme song to the Beverly Hillbillies, “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” was a Number 1 hit song for Flatt and Scruggs, although in the version you’ll hear under the opening and credits of the TV show, the banjo part was played by Don Parmley of the Bluegrass Cardinals. In this lesson, Bill teaches you a version based on the banjo part played by Earl Scruggs on Flatt and Scruggs’ hit recording.
Bill Monroe’s “Road to Columbus” was recorded by the great bluegrass fiddler Kenny Baker on his album Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe. Joe explains how to pick some of the syncopated lines in the A part and how to play the slides and triplets. The B part has some long held notes, which fiddlers can sustain with their bow. You’ll learn the way Kenny Baker plays the B part and the way Joe has adapted the melody to the mandolin to fill out the long melody notes.
Fiddler Brittany Haas recorded a beautiful version of the Texas fiddle tune “Dry and Dusty,” which you’ll learn here, including the vamp intro and her arrangement’s unusual chords. You’ll also learn some of the fiddlistic ornaments Joe adds and some subtle variations using slides.
Bill Monroe’s haunting instrumental “Cheyenne” has been recorded by many people. The version you’ll learn here is based on the way Kenny Baker played it on Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe. The A part of “Cheyenne” is in the key of G minor, while the B part is in Bb. You’ll learn some cool double stops you can add to the melody of the B section and which minor scales you should use when playing over the Gm chord in the A part.
Newgrass mandolin star Sam Bush’s roots in Texas fiddling are displayed in his ornate version of the three-part contest fiddle favorite “Brilliancy.” The tune also illustrates how Sam embellishes a fiddle tune, as well as how he shifts positions on the mandolin. You’ll learn Sam’s version in this lesson, the basic melody as well as some of his variations.
The old-time fiddle tune “Farewell Trion” is in the key of C and comes from the fiddling of James Bryan. Joe recorded it on a record with Darol Anger called E-And’ A. “Farewell Trion” has three parts, the second of which has an extra half measure, or a measure of 6/4, depending on how you want to think of it. Joe walks you through each part and also talks about how Darol Anger arranged “Farewell Trion” for the recording on E-And’ A.
The traditional Scottish Tune “Golden Eagle Hornpipe” is a great workout for both hands, with long arpeggios and tricky string crossings. The A part is based on a G major arpeggio pattern that ascends through the different notes of a G chord while the B part has a much more complex chord progression that starts on a B7.
The three-part fiddle tune “Homer the Roamer” comes from John Hartford. Joe recorded it on Darol Anger’s E-And’ A album. The melody has some unusual syncopation/anticipations and ornaments, but very little repetition. Joe walks you through all three parts of “Homer the Roamer” in this video, making sure you understand the syncopation/anticipations and ornaments.
There are many versions of the old-time fiddle tune “Cumberland Gap.” Joe recorded this three-part version in the key of D on his album Borderlands. He learned it originally from the playing of clawhammer banjoist Adam Hurt and he was also influenced by Bruce Molsky’s version. In addition to showing you the basic melody he also shows you how to flesh it out a bit with chord tones below the melody.
The Canadian fiddle tune “Grey Owl” has become popular in bluegrass circles lately, in part because of the recording Joe did with Darol Anger on the E-And’ A album. The A section of “Grey Owl” has a couple of extra beats and is one long melodic line with no repetition, while the B part is more straightforward.
“Crockett’s Honeymoon” is an old-time fiddle tune that likely originated in Ireland as “The Honeymoon Reel” and was introduced to the bluegrass world via Scott Nygaard’s recording Dreamer’s Waltz. It’s a fairly straightforward fiddle tune in the key of G, but it can be a challenge to play at the fast tempo it’s often played at.
The A major fiddle tune “Crazy Creek” comes from Nashville fiddler Tommy Jackson. It has an AABA form and a couple of unusual modulations: the A section goes to the key of C for a while, and the B section is in the key of F. The A section is also ten bars long instead of the usual eight.
“Elzic’s Farewell” is a three-part old-time fiddle that is popular in old-time music circles, but has also made its way into the bluegrass and contemporary string band world via recordings by Scott Nygaard, Rob Ickes, Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, and others.
The old-time fiddle tune “Lost Girl” has become popular in bluegrass jam circles lately. It originally comes from Kentucky fiddler John Salyer, and the version you’ll learn here owes a lot to Bruce Molsky’s playing.
“Old French” is, as the title implies, an old French-Canadian fiddle tune, but it has become popular among American bluegrass and old-time musicians. It's in the key of D, with a B part played over A and G chords. It’s a great tune with a lot of arpeggios and is also a good jam tune. Joe shows you the melody as well as a harmony part.
“Twinkle Little Star” is a Texas and western swing fiddle tune. There are a lot of different versions. Joe’s version is inspired by Bobby Hicks’s version.
“Acorn Stomp” is an old-time fiddle in the key of F, which is, of course, somewhat unusual for old-time music. It was first recorded by the East Texas Serenaders as part of a medley of tunes called “Acorn Stomp.” The tune Joe teaches you here is the second of the tunes, and starts around 0:50 on the original recording.
This crooked, three-part, A-major fiddle tune (not to be confused with the “Chinquapin Hunting” in the key of D) comes from Virginia old-time fiddler Norman Edmonds. Joe learned this version from the playing of Bruce Molsky.
The fiddle tune “Tennessee Politics” comes from John Hartford and was recorded on The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Vol. 1. It’s in the key of D and is similar to another John Hartford tune called “Homer the Roamer.”
“Carroll County Blues” is an old fiddle blues from the 1920s that was recorded by Narmour and Smith in 1929. Since then it has evolved and been adopted by bluegrass musicians. There are numerous versions, including ones by Flatt and Scruggs and the Nashville Bluegrass Band, but Joe teaches it to you the way it’s most often played in bluegrass circles these days. It’s in the key of G and has an unusual form. In Joe’s version, the A part has phrases that are all five bars long, while the B part ends with a measure of 2/4 and a two-bar pause before returning to the A part.
Joe learned the key-of-D Missouri fiddle tune “Muddy Creek” from the recording by Peter Ostroushko and Norman Blake titled Meeting on Southern Soil. You’ll learn this melody as played by Peter on mandolin as well as a harmony part inspired by Norman’s mandola playing. (Note that there are other fiddle tunes that go by the same name, including a popular “crooked” tune from Kentucky.)
“Chinese Breakdown” is an old standard that has been played and recorded by many great musicians over the years, including fiddlers Ed Haley, Lowe Stokes, John Sharp, and Tommy Jackson. It’s also associated with banjo legend Earl Scruggs, and fellow banjo wizard Tony Trischka included it on his recent tribute album Earl Jam. The version Joe teaches in this lesson is based on the way that mandolinist Dominick Leslie played the melody on Tony’s record. This setting is in the key of C, but note that the tune is also commonly played in the key of D. The tune format here is AABB, but as Joe points out, the first part is twice as long as the second part.
Learn the classic old-time tune “Cluck Old Hen” in a new tuning: G modal, also called “sawmill” or “mountain modal tuning.” To get into this tuning you simply tune your B (second) string up a half step to C. This gives the banjo a haunting sound that is used in a lot of old-time clawhammer banjo music.
To play the old-time favorite “Waterbound” (also known as “Stay All Night” or “Water’s Up, and I Can’t Get Across”) you’ll go back to G tuning. In addition to the basic melody you’ll learn a few variations to each part, with slides, pull-offs, and drop-thumb licks.
There are several versions of the traditional favorite “Shady Grove.” The one you’ll learn here is in G modal tuning, the same tuning as “Cluck Old Hen.” “Shady Grove” is a one-part tune, and you’ll mostly play the melody, not chords, when you’re playing the melody by itself or singing the song. You’ll also learn some variations to the basic melody, including more hammer-ons and drop thumbing.
So far, you’ve learned tunes in G and G modal tuning. The old-time favorite “Say Darlin’ Say” is in a new tuning: double C. Evie starts by showing you how to get into double-C tuning and how to play the I, IV, and V chords in double C. You’ll play a simple bum-ditty pattern with these chords, so you can get used to fingering them, and learn the C major scale. “Say Darlin’ Say” has unusual timing, with just three short phrases, so you’ll start by singing the song and get it in your head before starting to learn it. Once you’ve got it down on the banjo, you’ll learn some variations on each phrase.
The old-time song “Goin’ Across the Sea” is also played in double-C tuning. Evie starts by playing and singing it through and then shows you the song’s chord structure. Then she breaks the melody down, playing each phrase in a “call and response” so you can play along with her. The variations you’ll learn include some drop-thumb licks that give a nice rhythmic variation to the melody.
The well-known murder ballad “Pretty Polly” is another modal tune, played in G-modal tuning. You’ll start learning it by singing the melody while playing a bum-ditty pattern on the open strings. You’ll also learn a hammer-on lick to play between lines of the song, and then learn the banjo melody by matching the banjo part to your voice.
The beautiful old-time song “The Blackest Crow” is a waltz (in 3/4 time). Evie sings it in the key of A, in G tuning with a capo at the second fret. You’ll learn how to use a capo, and either tune your fifth string up to A or use a “railroad spike” to capo your fifth string. Then you’ll learn how to turn the bum-ditty pattern into waltz time (bum-di-ditty) as well as another pattern where you play melody notes on the first and third beats of the measure. You’ll learn to play the chord progression with the bum-di-ditty rhythm before learning the melody to “The Blackest Crow.”
Chad shows you his approach to playing bluegrass solos using this standard song with a very common chord progression. You’ll learn the melody and chords in the key of E using standard “capo” positions, the major pentatonic scale, and other bluegrass fiddle techniques. You’ll also learn some exercises to help you learn to match the melody of “Your Love Is Like a Flower” with the chords, and how you can move the “capo” position to different keys, like B, Bb, etc. And you’ll get five play-along tracks so you can practice playing “Your Love Is Like a Flower” in the keys of E, A, G, D, and C.
Every key has its own sound and vocabulary on the fiddle, and in this lesson, you’ll learn some typical licks that sound great in C, with some seventh and ninth double stops, pentatonic scales, and raggy syncopation You’ll also learn how to vary each of the licks to create your own ideas and use the licks to improvise over a standard bluegrass chord progression.
The bluegrass and old-time classic “Train 45,” also called “Reuben,” “Lonesome Reuben,” or “Reuben’s Train,” is a great tune for working on bluesy slides and double stops as well as unison drones. Learn how to play the melody in second position and some different double stops. Chad also gives you ideas for improvising on “Train 45” and tunes like it, showing you how he shapes the melody through inflections, dynamics, and rhythmic variations.
Chad shows you how to construct a solo to the bluegrass standard “Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky,” starting with the basic melody and then giving you ideas for adding double stops, fills, melodic variations, etc. He also gives you ideas on improvising on the melody with different kinds of fills.
In this lesson, Chad shows you his process for creating a melody-based solo on a bluegrass song. To illustrate this he uses the song “Uncloudy Day” as sung by bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley. Chad shows you how he starts by figuring out the key notes of the melody and once he’s got that, he tries to capture the bluesy quality of how Ralph Stanley phrases the melody. He also shows you how to add bluesy licks, walk-ups to the main melody notes, double stops, and ending licks to create a complete solo.
In honor of the great bluegrass singer Mac Wiseman, you’ll learn solos to two of Mac’s songs. A lot of the solos on Mac’s recordings are played with two fiddles, so Chad shows you how you can imitate twin-fiddle breaks by playing a simple melody with double stops, using the double-stop scale. Both solos are in the key of A. The first is for the song “We Live in Two Different Worlds,” and the second is for “Four Walls Around Me.”
Dale learned the jig “The Girl from the Big House” from a recording of piper Joe McLaughlin. It’s in D and is a real piping tune, with a lot of interval jumps that translate to string crossings on the fiddle. Like a lot of piping tunes, “The Girl from the Big House” also has a lot of low D notes played on the open D string. To play ornaments on an open string, you’ll play a “cran” instead of a roll. Dale shows you some ways to play crans and how to ornament the tune in other ways, with grace notes, rolls, and bow triplets.
Dale learned the E minor reel “Rolling in the Barrel” from a 1959 recording of Clare musicians P.J. Hayes and Paddy Canny. It’s a great tune for working on rolls and a certain kind of bowing. Unlike lessons where Dale teaches the basic melody of a tune and then adds ornamentation, the ornamentation is integral to “Rolling in the Barrel,” so you’ll learn melody and ornamentation at the same time.
The hornpipe “The Little Stack of Barley” became popular through Michael Coleman’s 1930s recording. There is also a dance called “The Little Stack of Barley,” for which this tune is often played. Dale first shows you the basic melody of both parts of “The Little Stack of Barley” and then works through the tune from the beginning, showing you lots of different melodic variations and ornamentation.
The popular single reel “Mrs. Crehan’s” features a tricky double stop: the G on the D string combined with the D on the A string, both played with the third finger. Before showing you “Mrs. Crehan’s,” with bowing suggestions and ornamentation, Dale gives you advice on playing the G-D double stop in tune and with good tone.
The hornpipe “Jackie Tar” has scads of variations. The way Dale plays it is the way he’d play it for set dances, with couples, as opposed to competition dancing with a solo dancer. After showing you the melody, along with basic bowing and ornamentation, Dale shows you some things you can add to both parts of “Jackie Tar,” including double stops, melodic variations, triplets, rolls, and more.
The jig “Hide and Go Seek” is a great tune and can be found in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland, but it doesn’t get played very often. It uses both the E natural minor scale and the E Dorian scale and has a strong drive and chordal structure, making it great for dancers.
The reel “Jackie Coleman’s” is probably from Sligo, which is where the great fiddler Michael Coleman was from. It is in the key of D and has a very clear harmonic structure. It has a lot of string crossings, so as he’s showing you the melody, Dale also gives you advice on bowing. You'll also learn some ways to vary and ornament both parts of ““Jackie Coleman’s,” including bow triplets, rolls, melodic variations, etc.
Tom Billy was a blind fiddler and teacher in the Sliabh Luachra area of Ireland on the borders of County Cork and Count Kerry. Dale learned “Tom Billy’s Jig,” which is in the key of A and has three parts, from a recording of Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford, and he starts by showing you an unornamented version of the way they played the melody. He also shows you some ways to ornament and vary all three parts of “Tom Billy’s Jig” with rolls, slides, grace notes, double stops, and more.
“The Banks of Lough Gowna” is a popular jig that starts in the key of B minor. The second part goes to a D major sound and ends on B minor. In addition to the the basic melody and bowing, Dale shows you where to add rolls, grace notes, and other ornamentation to The Banks of Lough Gowna.”
“The Glen Road to Carrick” is a five-part reel from Donegal. Northern fiddlers tend to use more bow triplets and single bowing, in part because of the Scottish influence on Northern fiddling, and “The Glen Road to Carrick” is likely based on a Scottish tune. Instead of starting by teaching you a skeletal version of the tune and then adding ornamentation, Dale teaches “The Glen Road to Carrick” with ornamentation, primarily bow triplets and grace notes.
Put what you learned in the lessons on Scales and Chords to use in this lesson by adding double stops to the melody of the old-time and bluegrass favorite “Bury Me Beneath the Willow.”
The Bill Monroe instrumental “Bluegrass Stomp,” a swingy blues in the key of D, gives you the opportunity to work on some new bow techniques, in particular, learning to stop the bow, or “bow breaks.”
Bill Monroe’s “Kentucky Waltz” is one of his most popular songs. Chad talks about how the notes of the melody relate to the chords that go with the tune and how some of the phrases outline the chords. You’ll also learn to add harmony notes to the melody of “Kentucky Waltz,” with advice on fingering double stops so you get two clear notes.
The great singer and banjo player Ralph Stanley’s bluegrass banjo tune “Clinch Mountain Backstep” has become a bluegrass standard that players of every instrument should know. It’s in A Mixolydian and has an extra beat in the second half. You’ll learn how to anticipate or “jump” the beat as well as some bluesy slides and double stops.
Chad shows you his approach to playing bluegrass solos using this standard song with a very common chord progression. You’ll learn the melody and chords in the key of E using standard “capo” positions, the major pentatonic scale, and other bluegrass fiddle techniques. You’ll also learn some exercises to help you learn to match the melody of “Your Love Is Like a Flower” with the chords, and how you can move the “capo” position to different keys, like B, Bb, etc. And you’ll get five play-along tracks so you can practice playing “Your Love Is Like a Flower” in the keys of E, A, G, D, and C.
The Flatt and Scruggs song “Down the Road” is a bluegrass standard and has been recorded by many musicians, including the Bluegrass Album Band, whose fiddler Bobby Hicks inspired the first solo you’ll learn here. It’s a relatively simple tune, just eight bars long and with only two chords, but it’s in the key of B, so it’s a good song for practicing playing in B. Bobby Hicks’ solo includes some great pentatonic licks using the capo position. You’ll also learn a variation played by Stuart Duncan.
Learn to accent strums with a bouncy rhythm, using the folk classic “If I Had a Hammer.” You’ll also learn a new way to finger C and F chords that allows you to play a fun intro to the song. With Lyric/Chord Sheet
Learn the South African song “Siyahamba,” with a down, down-up, _up, down pattern using your thumb for the downstrokes and your finger for the upstrokes. With Lyric/Chord Sheet
Learn the great 1940s pop song “Accentuate (Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate) the Positive,” made popular by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. It uses a few new chords, including C6, A7, Dm7, and D7, which you’ll play with a relaxed down-up strum that gives the song a loping swing rhythm. With Lyric/Chord Sheet
Open-G tuning is a very popular tuning and is used in all sorts of folk and blues styles.
Open G-tuning is sometimes called “Spanish tuning,” not because it comes from Spain, but because it was the tuning for a guitar instrumental written in the mid 1800s, “Spanish Fandango,” which you’ll learn in this first lesson on open-G tuning.
In this lesson on playing in open-G tuning, Doug uses the Irish tune “Planxty Irwin” (written by the 17th-century Irish composer Turlough O'Carolan) to illustrate how to play melodies in sixths on the second and fourth strings.
Stash shows you the diatonic triads in the major scale, sometimes known as the harmonized major scale. He shows you how to create minor and diminished triads by modifying the major triad, and then shows you which kinds of triads correspond to each step of the major scale. He also shows you how to use these triads to play Norman Blake’s “Ginseng Sullivan” on the GBE string set in the key of D.
Stash shows you how to harmonize “In the Pines” with triads in this lesson. He starts by showing you the melody to “In the Pines” on the high E string and then, whenever a note of the melody is a chord tone, he harmonizes it with a triad on the GBE string set.
In this lesson, Stash shows you how to play the harmonized version of “In the Pines” with a crosspicking pattern. He simplifies the melody to “In the Pines” by just playing the melody notes that are on the first beat of the measure, and fills out the rest of the measure with crosspicking.
In this lesson, Stash gives you a couple of exercises to practice voice leading diatonic triads. He uses the song “Ginseng Sullivan,” which you previously learned in the key of D, but in this lesson you’ll learn it in E. Stash starts by walking you through the diatonic triads in the key of E on the DBG string set. Then he gives you two exercises: voice leading up and voice leading down using the chords to “Ginseng Sullivan.”
In this lesson, Stash introduces you to non-diatonic triads: a series of chords that deviates to some degree from the diatonic triad series of major (I), minor (ii), minor (iii), major (IV), major (V), minor (vi), and diminished (vii). Stash shows you the chord progression for the Louvin Brothers song “I Love You the Best of All,” which includes II, III, and VI major chords, and shows you how to voice-lead triads through the progression on the DGB string set.
In previous lessons you’ve learned triad shapes on the GBE and DGB strings sets. In this lesson you’ll learn the triads on the remaining two string sets: ADG and EAD. Stash uses the song “Columbus Stockade Blues” in the key of G to show you triads on these string sets. He starts by showing you chords on the ADG string set in three zones on the neck.
The western swing instrumental classic “Panhandle Rag” was written by steel guitar legend Leon McAuliffe and first recorded by Leon McAuliffe and His Western Swing Band in 1949. It has been played in a few different keys, but the original key was E, so that’s where you’ll learn it in this lesson. You’ll learn the melody and then a Johnny Gimble solo for the first two A parts of “Panhandle Rag” from a live Austin City Limits performance.
“I’m Confessin’”—also called “Confessin’” or “I’m Confessin’ That I Love You” was written by vaudevillian Chris Smith and became a popular jazz standard after Louis Armstrong’s 1930 recording. It’s been recorded hundreds of times, and there are also western swing versions by Johnny Gimble and Willie Nelson, among others. In this lesson, you’ll learn the melody to “I’m Confessin’” and Chad gives you ideas about playing backup to the somewhat complex chord progression.
The Harlan Howard song “Heartaches by the Number” was first recorded by Ray Price in 1959. You’ll learn the melody with double stops inspired by the steel guitar solo on Ray Price’s recording.
“Bubbles in My Beer” was written by Cindy Walker, Bob Wills, and Tommy Duncan and first recorded by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in 1947. You’ll learn the melody as well as Johnny Gimble’s backup to the second verse of the vocal from the recording of “Bubbles in My Beer” on For the Last Time.
“Maiden’s Prayer” was originally written by a Polish composer in the mid-nineteenth century. Bob Wills heard it and transformed it into a western swing fiddle tune. He first recorded it in 1938 and it became one of his signature pieces. He recorded it again in 1941, with lyrics sung by Tommy Duncan, and it went to #1 in Billboard magazine’s “Hillbilly and Foreign Records of the Month.” Chad shows you the melody with double stops and gives you advice on improvising on “Maiden’s Prayer” with double stops.
The Bob Wills classic “San Antonio Rose” started life as a fiddle instrumental and was recorded by Wills in 1938. It was so popular that Wills added lyrics and included them, sung by Tommy Duncan, on his 1940 recording called “New San Antonio Rose.” Chad shows you the melody (in the key of D) and gives you ideas for creating variations on the melody.
“Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” is a traditional song that was first recorded by Buster Carter and Preston Young in 1931. It has been recorded by numerous people since and has become a jam session favorite. There are great versions by Flatt and Scruggs, Buck Owens, and Doc Watson, among others. As with her previous lessons, Lauren shows you the melody and gives you ideas for soloing in the keys of A, D, C, and G, but in this song you’ll work a lot on playing in second position in the keys of C and G.
Lauren begins “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” in the key of A. The melody includes a lot of empty space at the end of each lyric line, providing many opportunities to fill up that space with fills, pickups, rhythmic and melodic variations, blues notes, and double stops.
In this lesson, you’ll transpose “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” from the key of A to the key of D, using your theory knowledge and familiar hand shapes.
By playing “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” in the key of C, you’ll gain more experience in second position and the closed hand shape.
To reinforce everything you’ve learned about playing in second position in the key of C, in this lesson you’ll learn to play “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” in second position (as well as open position) in the key of G. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how quickly you move through this key since you’re already familiar with both hand shapes.
“The Maids of Mitchelstown” is a slow reel in the key of D minor that was made popular by the Bothy Band’s recording on their 1977 album Out of the Wind, Into the Sun. The A part is only four bars long, and is repeated, while the B part is eight bars long but is not repeated. There aren’t a lot of ornaments in Flynn’s arrangement, just a couple of grace notes at the end of the A part and a couple of triplets in the B part.
Flynn’s version of “Michael Coleman’s Hop Jig” comes from Sligo fiddler Michael Gorman. It’s in A modal but there’s another popular version in E minor that comes from Kevin Burke and Mícháel Ó Domhnaill called “The Promenade”. Hop jigs are in 9/8, the same time signature as slip jigs, but they’re usually played a little faster than slip jigs, and have more of a quarter-eighth feel.
“The Floating Crowbar” is a reel written by accordionist Finbarr Dwyer. The version Flynn teaches you comes from guitarist Arty McGlynn’s 1979 album McGlynn’s Fancy. Arty played it with a capo at the third fret, putting it in the key of F, although it’s usually played in D. There are a lot of slurred triplets in both parts and a couple of trebles on the open G string.
The key-of-D jig “The Gander in the Pratie Hole” comes from the guitar playing of Scottish guitarist Dick Gaughan and his recording Coppers and Brass. It’s a mix of D modal and D major mostly played out of second position, and Dick Gaughan’s arrangement includes slurred and picked triplets as well as “crans” on the open D string.
This version of the A Dorian reel “The Rainy Day” is a transcription of the way guitarist Paul Brady played it on the recording Molloy/Brady/Peoples. Brady played it in DADEAE tuning and that’s how Flynn shows it to you here. To get into DADEAE tuning, you lower the sixth, second, and first strings by a whole step and the third string by a minor third.
This D Mixolydian jig from Co. Clare is associated with the great tin whistle player Micho Russell, who frequently paired it with a jig called “The Little Black Pig.” Flynn learned it from New Hampshire uilleann piper Anthony Santoro. Within the context of learning the melody, Flynn dissects some of the finer points of right- and left-hand ornamentation that give the tune its distinctive lift and character.
This two-part slip jig goes by many names, including “Paddy Be Aisy,” “Last Night’s Fun,” and “Wink and She’ll Follow You.” On their Full House album, English folk-rockers Fairport Convention recorded a tour-de-force setting that features fiddler Dave Swarbrick, guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Dave Pegg, and drummer Dave Mattacks all playing the melody in unison. Flynn teaches the D modal/G major tune in second position, and shows you how to incorporate some characteristic right-hand ornaments.
Flynn learned “Johnny’s Gone to the Ceilidh” (aka “Johnny Goin’ to Ceilidh” and “Back of the Change,” among other titles) from a track on Paul Brady’s classic 1978 album, Welcome Here Kind Stranger. On that recording, Brady played mandolin in a duet with the legendary fiddler Tommy Peoples. Flynn pays homage to Brady’s style on this D-modal single reel with lots of pick triplets and “crans,” an ornament adapted from uilleann pipes technique. An Irish ceilidh is a traditional social gathering, usually with live music, singing, dancing, and perhaps storytelling.
Flynn learned this great E minor/G major jig from the Bothy Band, one of the most influential ensembles to emerge from the energetic traditional Irish music scene of the mid-1970s. “The Leitrim Fancy,” played on wooden flute and uilleann pipes, opens the “Rip the Calico” medley on Out of the Wind—Into the Sun, the band’s third and final studio album. Like many traditional tunes, “The Leitrim Fancy” has a number of alternative titles, including “Daleystown Hunt,” “Rogha Liadroma,” and “The Sword in the Hand.”
Also known as “Barr An tSléibhe,” “The Crooked Way to Dublin,” and “Dillon Brown,” this popular session tune is a punchy single reel in the key of G. The Session website lists 90 recordings of “The Mountain Top,” and you can listen to many of the various performances on the Irish Tune Index, starting with influential Sligo fiddler James Morrison’s 1927 recording. Flynn learned this version from fiddler Tina Lech, and he ornaments the basic melody with some traditional right- and left-hand ornaments adapted for the guitar.
“The Black Rogue” is a popular session tune that appears on over 125 albums under various titles, including “An Rógaire Dubh,” “Billy O’Rourke’s,” “The Blarney Castle,” “The Sack of Potatoes,” and “Sail Round the Rocks.” The Dubliners called it “The Octopus Jig,” for reasons that are apparent in this performance. The first part of the tune sounds like it’s in A Mixolydian, but resolves to D in the last bar, and the second part is clearly in the key of D.
In these lessons, Grant explores advanced melody picking, improvisation, and accompaniment ideas in the context of some contemporary flatpicking classics.
The E minor instrumental “E.M.D.” is one of David Grisman’s classic tunes and Grant says he played it every night when he was a member of the David Grisman Quintet. It’s a simple melody but the chords make it a great jam tune. Grant shows you the melody and gives you ideas for improvising on and voicing the chords in the chord progression, which alternates between Em and C7 for a while before resolving with an A7 and then C7–B7.
Tim O’Brien’s “The High Road” has an intriguing chord progression and a great melody. Tim recorded it as a song on his 1984 album, Hard Year Blues. Instrumental interludes featured fiddle, mandolin, and other instruments playing the melody in unison, which gave the track more of an old-time or Celtic feel than conventional solo breaks would have done. Over the years, instrumental versions of the tune such as the one Grant teaches here have been in regular rotation in bluegrass and folk jams.
“Minor Swing” is a staple of jazz, swing, and even folk jams, and one common source in recent years has been a David Grisman recording from the mid-1970s. In this lesson, Grant goes back to the source: the classic 1937 recording by Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli, and the Quintette du Hot Club de France. That version was played with a percussive swing rhythm called “le pompe” (the pump) by manouche musicians. The tune itself is minimal: a simple arpeggiated intro and outro sandwiching a single-form “blowing section” for soloing. The heavy rhythmic accompaniment leans heavily on minor sixth chords with a variety of substitutions. Next month Grant will explore the Grisman setting.
Mandolinist David “Dawg” Grisman’s take on Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli’s “Minor Swing” is essentially a rewrite, with a different form length, different key, different rhythmic feel and tempo, and different chord voicings. Offered as an additional track on the CD release of the 1977 David Grisman Quintet record, the recording features Tony Rice on guitar. As Grant points out, this “Marin County in the ’70s” version has become the de facto standard for contemporary acoustic jamming. Grant uses the basic melody and chord structure to explore harmony, rhythmic feel, chord voicings, and musical colors.
Here’s a jaunty tune from mandolinist John Reischman’s lauded Up in the Woods recording from 1999. Grant’s setting for the guitar sits nicely on the fingerboard, and in this lesson he teaches the basic melody and somewhat challenging chord progression. As Grant notes in his introduction, the original recording of “The Eighth of February" features a hot guitar solo by Peghead Nation’s own Scott Nygaard (starting at 1:06).
In this lesson, Wes give you lots of ideas on creating variations to standard arrangements of a tune, using the banjo classic “Cripple Creek.” For those who may have never learned “Cripple Creek,” Wes provides a basic Scruggs-style version of the tune that includes the essential techniques of slides, pull-offs, and hammer-ons. The he shows you some ways to vary the melody of “Cripple Creek” and introduces the concept of “melodic style” banjo, which was invented by banjoist Bill Keith, who devised a way to play linear note-for-note melodies where you never play the same string consecutively.
In this lesson, you’ll learn something a little different: the melody to the old-time fiddle tune “Cousin Sally Brown” played “harp style,” with some fretted notes up the neck and some open strings, so the notes all ring into one another for a harp- or hammer dulcimer-like sound.
This arrangement of the Joni Mitchell song “Both Sides Now” comes from Chet Atkins. It's in G6 tuning, with a steady alternating-bass pattern, mostly on the fifth and fourth strings, and a few tricky fingerings.
The Beatles’ “In My Life” makes a great fingerstyle guitar tune. Stevie shows you his arrangement, in the key of D, including some new ways to finger some of the chords to let the melody notes sustain into each other and allow you to move to the next chord more efficiently.
Stevie’s original “Saltflat Rhapsody” is a fun fingerstyle tune that uses the fretting-hand thumb to play many of the bass notes. It has a regular alternating bass and some Merle Travis and Chet Atkins-influenced voicings in which you play higher notes on lower strings, for a ringing, chimey effect.
The tune “Walking in the Air” comes from the 1982 film The Snowman, which has become a holiday favorite. It has three parts, mostly in the key of Am, and it’s played in dropped-D tuning.
Learn Stevie’s original “622,” a fun instrumental tune in dropped-D tuning. It’s mostly in the key of D major, although the third part goes to D minor for a while, and it uses a number of C-A-G-E-D-based shapes up the neck, particularly the A-shaped D chord.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Bourrée in E Minor, the fifth movement of his Suite in E Minor for Lute, has become popular far outside the classical world, with Jethro Tull’s 1969 jazz/rock version springing it on an unsuspecting public and making it a must-learn piece for guitarists of all stripes. You’ll learn a jazzy arrangement of “Bourrée,” including the more complex second part.
Fingerstyle guitarist Rick Ruskin’s great tune “Microphone Fever” has a lot of activity in the fretting hand, with slides, pull-offs, hammer-ons, and even some cool Telecaster-style string bends. Stevie gives you great advice on supporting the string bend with your other fingers, playing a hammer-on in the fretting hand while picking a bass note, anticipating notes, fingering bass notes with the thumb, playing with dynamics, and more.
Stevie’s original tune “Mr. Oster’s Baby” is in the key of F, capoed up to the second fret to make it easier to play the low F note with your thumb. F is an unusual key of fingerstylists. You’ll learn to play the alternating bass on the F and Bb chords with palm muting, while allowing the top strings’ melody notes to ring out.
500-plus years ago, Hieronymous Bosch painted “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” which includes a piece of music tattooed on the naked posterior of a man upended beneath a musical instrument. The music was transcribed recently, and now you’ll learn it in Stevie’s arrangement. It’s in dropped-D tuning, capoed at the seventh fret, which makes it sound very mysterious, with lots of long tones and melody notes sustaining into each other.
The Beatles song “Two of Us” makes a great fingerstyle song in standard tuning in the key of G. It mostly uses alternating bass but there are some places where you stop the alternating bass to play sustained chords and the bass lines the Beatles used.
The Irving Berlin song “My Walking Stick” was made popular among guitarists by Leon Redbone, who recorded the song played fingerstyle on his 1975 debut On the Track. In this lesson you’ll learn Stevie’s version of Leon’s version. It’s in the key of A minor in standard tuning and includes a couple of voicings of a diminished seventh chord.
Mississippi John Hurt’s version of “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor” is a fingerpicking classic. Stevie’s version is influenced by Doc Watson and others. It’s in the key of E and features a few unusual chord voicings, including a couple of diminished chords, as well as a G#7 and F#7.
One of the great singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen’s early hits was “Suzanne,” a song that inspired Stevie in his early days of fingerstyling. You’ll learn Stevie’s arrangement in this lesson, which includes a cool fingerstyle pattern over the first long G chord, and then arpeggiated patterns over the Am, Bm, and C chords.
The chord progression from Blue Öyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” is also used in rock songs like “All Along the Watchtower” and many more. In this lesson you’ll learn some cool variations on alternating bass fingerpicking and fingerstyle accompaniment using the progression and main melody from “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”
The Beatles’ “Blackbird” has a classic fingerstyle accompaniment played by Paul McCartney in standard tuning. In this lesson, however, you’ll learn Stevie’s arrangement of the melody of “Blackbird” played in G6 tuning (GDDGBE) that includes many of the same chordal moves as Paul’s version. Stevie shows you how to adapt the familiar bass part to G6 tuning and then starts adding the melody, walking you through all the new chord shapes created by the combination of the melody and bass line. You’ll learn the verse to “Blackbird” in this lesson.
You’ll learn the chorus to Stevie’s arrangement of “Blackbird” in this lesson. The chorus is the part that starts “Blackbird, fly.” Stevie walks you through the chord voicings, some of which involve some tricky fingering, and shows you how to fill out the alternating bass pattern with the index finger hitting the same string as one of the alternating bass notes, a sound reminiscent of Leo Kottke’s playing.
Groucho Marx sang “Lydia the Tattooed Lady” in the Marx Brothers’ movie At the Circus, and who but Stevie would think, “That would make a good fingerstyle number.”? Well, it turns out Stevie was right. The song has a lot of what are commonly referred to as “jazz chords” and some typical jazz chord progressions, so even if you never want to sing the lyrics “She has eyes that folks adore so, And a torso even more so” you can learn a lot from learning “Lydia, the Tattooed Lady.” Stevie starts by walking you through the chords you’ll play in the first part of “Lydia” before showing you the melody.
The old-time fiddle tune “Big Sciota” has been a bluegrass jam favorite ever since guitarist Russ Barenberg recorded it with Jerry Douglas and Edgar Meyer on Skip, Hop, and Wobble in 1993. Scott also recorded it on his 1990 album No Hurry. There are some similarities between the versions and a few differences, so you’ll learn both versions.
Norman Blake is one of the pioneers of flatpicking, with a guitar style influenced by old-time music and mandolin playing, but with his own unique sound. He also writes great tunes that combine old-time fiddle melodies with contemporary ideas. In his three-part guitar tune “Coming Down from Rising Fawn,” the A part has a simple song-like melody that showcases Norman’s “almost crosspicking” style of melody and rhythm playing, while the B part is more like a fiddle tune. The C part begins with Norman strumming an unusual G–F–A–D chord progression and then moves into another characteristic Blake single-string lick where he bounces off the open first string while playing fretted notes up the neck.
The great Texas bluegrass fiddler Byron Berline’s tune “Huckleberry Hornpipe” has become a flatpicker’s favorite, in part because of Clarence White’s classic solo on the original recording. You’ll learn both the fiddle melody and Clarence’s solo, which is a great example of how to create a guitar-friendly version of a fiddle tune that might be tricky to duplicate exactly on guitar.
In the 1960s Doc Watson transformed the Texas fiddle rag “Beaumont Rag” into a flatpicking and bluegrass jam essential. If you’re a flatpicker, you have to play “Beaumont Rag,” and Doc’s recordings of it are definitive. You’ll learn Doc’s version in this lesson, including the way he played the second part, which may surprise you. Because the structure of “Beaumont Rag” is so repetitive, it’s a great tune to work on melodic improvising, so Scott gives you a few variations that you can alternate with Doc’s melody.
The gospel favorite “I Am a Pilgrim” was a signature instrumental for Clarence White. Scott gets you started on a basic version of the melody and adds a couple chordal fill licks, so you get a good sense of the vocal phrasing of the melody and how it relates to the chords. Then, since Clarence never played “I Am a Pilgrim” the same way twice, you’ll learn a “compilation” solo for “I Am a Pilgrim,” with many of the things Clarence played and explanations of his timing and how his variations relate to the basic melody.
The traditional song “John Hardy” has become a bluegrass jam session favorite, and guitar legend Tony Rice has recorded it a couple times. You’ll learn how he played it on his debut album Guitar. This solo showcases both his melodic playing, which includes a lot of syncopated and crosspicked phrases, as well as his more improvisatory style, with blues runs and licks that can be played over different chords.
“Alabama Jubilee” is an old popular song from the turn of the 20th century that was a showpiece for Clarence White and has become a popular instrumental at jam sessions. It has a ragtime-era chord progression and a simple melody and is usually played at a fast tempo. Clarence used syncopated crosspicking to play the open four bars, which is difficult to duplicate, but includes one simple pattern that is easier to play at a fast tempo. In this lesson, Scott shows you Clarence’s first chorus from the Kentucky Colonels’ Living in the Past recording and then shows you the simple 2–3 crosspicking pattern and how to use it to modify Clarence’s version into something a little more manageable.
“Listen to the Mockingbird” is a Civil War–era song that Clarence White turned into a guitar instrumental for the Kentucky Colonels’ album Appalachian Swing. It’s a crosspicking showcase but it rarely follows the standard 3–3–2 crosspicking. Clarence had his own favorite pattern (2–3–3), but he also adapted and varied the patterns according to how he wanted to phrase the melody, and “Listen to the Mockingbird” is a great example of that. In this lesson, you’ll learn Clarence’s first solo (with a few modifications) from Appalachian Swing.
The jig is the other most popular dance rhythm in traditional Irish music. It has its own challenges and picking technique. The jigs you’ll learn here illustrate common melodic patterns used in Irish music, such as “overs,” “unders,” “stairsteps,” and “delays,” for which you’ll learn exercises to help you get used to the patterns.
The first jig you’ll learn, “My Darling Asleep,” uses broken thirds in part of its melody so you’ll start by learning another jig exercise that will be helpful in learning “My Darling Asleep.”
The melody of the Irish jig “Donnybrook Fair” uses a melodic pattern Marla calls “unders,” in which the middle note in the trio of notes is the note “under” the first and third notes. Before learning the melody to “Donnybrook Fair,” you’ll learn a jig exercise that will help you as you learn the melody to “Donnybrook Fair.” “Donnybrook Fair” also includes some “overs,” phrases in which the middle note of the jig trio of notes is the note above the first and third notes. So you’ll learn an “overs” exercise as well.
“The Lilting Banshee” is a very well known jig that should be familiar to musicians at any Irish seisiún. It uses a broken thirds pattern Marla calls “stairsteps,” so you’ll start with a broken thirds exercise before learning the melody to “The Lilting Banshee.” Marla also talks about how to vary a jig while not venturing too far from the melody, showing you how she varies a few three-note phrases in “The Lilting Banshee.”
Before showing you the melody to “The Gander in the Pratie Hole,” a jig in the key of D Mixolydian, you’ll learn a jig exercise for “delays,” a melodic technique in which you get to the melody note an eighth note late.
The popular Irish jig “Banish Misfortune” is a good tune for working on keeping the jig rhythm moving even when the melody is a quarter note or dotted quarter note. Marla starts by giving you an exercise in which the middle note of the three-note jig rhythm is muted or stopped by a finger on your fretting hand. Once you have the basic melody, Marla gives you some ideas for playing different variations on the third part of “Banish Misfortune” that allow you to keep the jig rhythm going.
It’s in E minor, but “The Killavil Jig” doesn’t use a C or C#, so the scale is really a six-note (hexatonic) scale. It also uses the “E minor squeeze,” in which you flatten your index finger on the D and A strings at the second fret, so Marla gives you advice on getting clear notes with “the squeeze.”
This accompaniment technique uses movable chords. It’s great to use in a jam session when you want to get out of the way of the other instruments but still provide rhythmic support. You'll learn to vamp with F and D shapes in a variety of different ways and practice vamping on “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” “I’ll Fly Away,” and other bluegrass songs.
You’ve probably heard bluegrass banjo players playing rolls behind the singer in a bluegrass band, or behind another instrument’s solo. You’ll learn how to do that in this lesson, choosing the best forward rolls to use in open position in one- and two-measure patterns. You’ll combine those patterns with a G fill-in lick to play the chords to “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” and also learn a two-measure forward-roll pattern with a two-beat “escape roll” that allows you to easily start a new forward roll with each chord change.
Learn some of the classic up-the-neck backup licks you’ve heard players like Earl Scruggs, J.D. Crowe, and Sonny Osborne play behind singers. Bill shows you one-measure and two-measure “In the Mood” patterns using a forward roll up and down the neck with the F-shape chord position. Then he shows you how to play backup to “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” using the two-measure “In the Mood” pattern in the keys of G and C. You’ll also learn an important backup lick using the D chord shape that can be used for any major chord, up or down the neck.
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to back up a fiddler playing a fiddle tune, either in a duet context, a jam, or a band. Bill is joined by Peghead Nation fiddle instructor Chad Manning to demonstrate Scruggs-style fiddle backup on the classic fiddle tune “Sally Goodin.” Bill shows you a number of different roll patterns, licks, and vamps that you can combine to create a compelling and driving backup sound.
In this lesson you’ll continue learning to play backup for fiddlers, this time in the key of D, which a lot of fiddle tunes are in. Bill explains that he likes to play fiddle backup in D without a capo, and tuning the fifth string up to A. He reminds you of the I, IV, and V chord shapes in the key of D and then gives you lots of great ideas about what roll patterns and licks to use in D when you’re backing up a fiddler.
Bill shows you a concept he learned from a jazz piano player, the idea of targeting a note in the upcoming chord, and how to use that idea in your backup playing. Bill shows you how to use a two-measure forward-roll pattern with a two-beat “escape roll” to target notes in the next chord in a chord progression, using the chord progression to “Your Love Is Like a Flower.” He also shows you JD Crowe’s backup part on “Your Love Is Like a Flower” from the Bluegrass Album Band recording of the song.
Being comfortable playing with others is your goal as a banjo player and slow jams are a good place to start. Bill talks about what you need to know and do to get ready for a slow jam, including how to play songs that you don’t already know. Bill is joined by guitarist Scott Nygaard, who shows you what basic G, C, and D chords look like on the guitar so you can follow along in a slow jam if you don’t know the song. Bill and Scott also play and sing the bluegrass standards “Nine Pound Hammer” and “Long Journey Home” as you would in a slow jam.
Taking up where “Getting Ready for a Slow Jam” leaves off, Bill starts his Jam Survival Skills lesson with capo tuning tips, showing you a variety of capo and fifth-string tuning strategies for playing in all keys, including D, E and F. Then Bill gives you advice on quickly learning new tunes on the fly by analyzing the tune’s form, thinking about I, IV and V chords in new keys, and following the guitar player’s chords. He also discusses jam etiquette, talking about when it’s appropriate to join a jam session and how to choose appropriate tunes and tempos to keep all participants involved. Bill ends by playing and singing “Your Love Is Like a Flower” and “Little Maggie,” leaving space for your solos.
Two-finger backup (or “teardrop” backup, as Sonny Osborne called it) is commonly used on slow bluegrass songs. You can hear Earl Scruggs play two-finger licks on the Flatt and Scruggs song “I’ll Just Pretend.” Bill uses the traditional folk classic “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” to demonstrate slow-song backup using thirds and sixths in this lesson.
A well-known fiddle tune in the key of D, the melody of “The Eighth of January” was used by Arkansas school teacher Jimmy Driftwood for his 1950s hit song “The Battle of New Orleans.” You’ll also learn the technique of “finger planting,” a great way to keep the notes of a tune ringing into each other smoothly.
This bluegrass standard comes from the great banjo player Ralph Stanley, but it has a simple modal melody that suits all instruments. It has an extra beat in the second part and you’ll learn to “ghost” a note with your picking hand to make sure you get the timing right.
The old-time fiddle tune “June Apple” is a great tune to work on finger planting. You’ll learn about the importance of finger planting as a way to create “economy of motion” and play melodies in which the notes ring into each other without any gaps between notes.
A must-know tune in the bluegrass and old-time world, “Soldier’s Joy” is in the key of D, so in addition to learning the melody, you’ll learn the D major scale in two octaves.
This bluegrass standard comes from the great banjo player Ralph Stanley, but it has a simple modal melody that suits all instruments. It has an extra beat in the second part and you’ll learn to “ghost” a note with your picking hand to make sure you get the timing right. With Notation/Tab
A must-know tune in the bluegrass and old-time world, “Soldier’s Joy” is in the key of D, and in addition to learning the melody, you’ll learn the D major scale in two octaves. With Notation/Tab
The beautiful waltz “Midnight on the Water” comes from legendary Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson. You’ll learn how to use tremolo to play it and how to add drone notes to the melody.
The fiddle tune “Whiskey Before Breakfast” is a popular tune among all sorts of roots musicians. The chords to “Whiskey Before Breakfast” change fairly often, especially in the B part. Sharon shows you a handy way to memorize them so that they don’t seem so random. You’ll also learn a few simple variations on the A and B parts. With Notation/Tab
Learn how to make a simple melody swing, using the western swing classic “Roly Poly.” You’ll also learn a swing-style solo, a cool intro from the original 1946 Bob Wills recording, some swing chords for backing up another soloist, and ideas on improvising and making melodies (and your rhythm playing) swing.
The minor-key melody “Dark Eyes” is a Gypsy jazz standard, and a great “blowing” tune for working on playing in minor keys. Joe gives you tips on phrasing and syncopating the melody, ideas on what scales to play over the chord progression, and some new chords you can substitute for the basic chords when playing rhythm.
The Bob Wills song “Faded Love” makes a great instrumental tune for mandolin and fiddle. Bobby Hicks’ fiddle version includes some cool double stops and intricate voice leading. It’s a great example of how to use different contrapuntal lines and harmonies to add some harmonic motion to your playing.
The Bob Wills Western swing classic “Panhandle Rag” has become a bluegrass jam session favorite. Learn a swingin’ version of “Panhandle Rag,” the melody of which can be interpreted in a number of ways. You’ll learn how to make the melody swing by using syncopation and emphasizing upstrokes and Joe gives you some soloing ideas based on reinterpreting the melody, playing the melody in a higher octave, and using Mixolydian scales to solo over the chords.
Django Reinhardt’s “Daphne” has a simple melody over standard swing-style “rhythm changes” in the keys of D and Eb. You’ll learn the melody and some variations in two octaves as well as some closed voicings for the I–vi–ii–V progression in D and Eb. Joe also talks about soloing in Eb, showing you a closed-position Eb major scale as well as some scale exercises you can use to get more comfortable in Eb and some arpeggio exercises for the chord progressions in both keys.
The Django Reinhardt tune “Swing 42” was recorded by David Grisman and Tony Rice, and besides having a cool melody, is another good vehicle for practicing improvising. The chord progression of “Swing 42” uses repeated I–vi–ii–V progressions in the key of C in the A part and in the key of E in the bridge. Joe talks about soloing over “Swing 42” using closed positions for the bridge in the key of E and using the notes of the E major scale in different ways. He also talks about emulating the phrasing of the melody in your soloing.
The jazz standard “Lulu’s Back in Town” was first made popular by Fats Waller, and Thelonious Monk also recorded a great version that inspired Joe’s arrangement. In this lesson, Joe uses his arrangement of “Lulu’s Back in Town” to show you how to flesh out a melody with double stops and chord tones. Most of the chords in the song are dominant seven chords, so it’s a good song for working on dominant arpeggios and scales.
Blues progressions appear in all sorts of music, of course, and you can often apply ideas from one kind of blues to another. In this lesson you’ll learn the Charlie Parker blues “Now’s the Time,” and get some ideas about using some more advanced harmonic concepts when playing the blues.
The jazz standard “Russian Lullaby” was written by Irving Berlin and has been recorded by numerous musicians, including, most significantly for acoustic string musicians, David Grisman and Jerry Garcia. It’s a simple melody with a somewhat complicated chord progression that moves between D minor and F major, and has four distinct sections. You’ll learn the basic melody, the “line clichés” you can use with the chord progression, and how to flesh out the melody with chord tones. Joe also talks about some different ways to solo on the chord changes using the line clichés.
David Grisman dedicated his tune “Steppin’ with Stéphane” to the great jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli. It’s a jazz waltz with some unusual chord changes, including a few diminished chords. Joe walks you through the melody phrase by phrase and gives you ideas on backing up a waltz and using different chord voicings. He also shows you a diminished scale you can use when improvising on diminished chords.
As well as being half of the country comedy duo Homer and Jethro, Jethro Burns was one of the greatest jazz mandolin players ever, and he influenced generations of mandolinists. He wrote this swingy minor key tune, which you can hear on the record Back to Back with Tiny Moore, and named it after himself. It features a “super pull-off”—five notes with one pick stroke—and has a fun chord progression to improvise over.
This accompaniment technique uses movable chords. It’s great to use in a jam session when you want to get out of the way of the other instruments but still provide rhythmic support. You'll learn to vamp with F and D shapes in a variety of different ways and practice vamping on “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” “I’ll Fly Away,” and other bluegrass songs.
Also called “waltz” time, 3/4 is the time signature for numerous folk and bluegrass songs, including “Goodnight Irene,” which you’ll learn in this lesson. You’ll learn how to modify 4/4 roll patterns you already know so you can play them in 3/4.
The forward-reverse roll is a great roll to use when playing backup on bluegrass classics like “Nine Pound Hammer,” “Little Maggie,” and many others. You’ll learn some variations of the forward-reverse roll and then use them to play the chord progressions to “Nine Pound Hammer” and “Little Maggie.”
Learn three classic bluegrass fiddle solos to the Earl Scruggs banjo tune “Flint Hill Special,” as played by the great Benny Martin on the original 1952 Flatt and Scruggs recording. These solos include some variations of the sliding double-stop licks you learned in the lesson on G chords.
Paul Warren’s fiddle solo on the Flatt and Scruggs’ recording of the bluegrass standard “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down” is a bluegrass fiddle classic. It’s in the key of F, but “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down” has a circle-of-fifths progression that starts on the D chord. The solo starts with some cool sliding double stops on the D chord and then moves to a quick D augmented chord on the way to the G chord.
Most people consider the September 1946 Bill Monroe recording sessions with Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, and Chubby Wise to be the first bluegrass recording sessions. One of the songs recorded at that session was “Will You Be Loving Another Man,” on which Chubby took two classic fiddle solos. By learning both of his solos you’ll see how Chubby used two-note slurs to give his playing a swing feel and you’ll learn some of his sliding double stops and other licks that have become bluegrass fiddle classics.
Flatt and Scruggs’s recording of Earl Scruggs banjo tune “Pike County Breakdown” includes a classic solo by little-known bluegrass fiddler Benny Sims. It’s a great solo to play on “Pike County Breakdown” and it’s been quoted by numerous bluegrass fiddlers on all sorts of fast bluegrass tunes.
Bobby Hicks’s fiddle solo on the original recording of Bill Monroe’s “Dark as the Night, Blue as the Day” is a great bluesy solo using the E capo position, which means you can use the licks you’ll learn in this lesson in other keys. Chad walks you through the solo phrase by phrase, showing you some of the many ways you can do bluesy slides and add double stops. You’ll also learn a cool alternate intro/ending lick Bobby played in his second solo.
The bluegrass standard “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” comes from Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and has become a jam session favorite. In this lesson you’ll learn a fiddle solo to “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” that Bobby Hicks played on the Bluegrass Album Band recording of the song. The solo is in the key of Bb, and it has some classic bluegrass fiddle licks in the key of Bb.
The recording of the Bill Monroe classic instrumental “Rawhide” on True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe earned a 1997 Grammy nomination for Country Instrumental of the Year and helped propel the tribute to the music of Bill Monroe to a win for Bluegrass Album of the Year. It’s an amazing version of the tune, led by mandolinist Ronnie McCoury, and it features a blistering and inventive solo by fiddler Stuart Duncan that you’ll learn in this lesson.
Chubby Wise’s solo on Bill Monroe’s original 1949 recording of “Can’t You Hear Me Calling” is a classic, and a great example of bluesy bluegrass fiddling in the key of G. Chad plays the whole solo through and then breaks it down phrase by phrase. He also shows you a cool variation Chubby plays on his second solo.
Country singer Jimmy C. Newman’s song “Cry, Cry, Darling” is a bluegrass standard, having been recorded by Bill Monroe, Dolly Parton, Chris Thile, Laurie Lewis, and many others. The solo you’ll learn here comes from Johnson Mountain Boys fiddler Eddie Stubbs. It’s in the key of E and uses the double-stop scale in E, mostly in the E capo position.
The fiddle solo on Bill Monroe’s recording of his song “Highway of Sorrow” was played by a young Vassar Clements. You’ll learn that solo and, since his kickoff solo is only on half of the tune, Chad constructs the rest of the solo, so you’ll have a full Vassar Clements–inspired fiddle solo on “Highway of Sorrow” to play.
Chubby Wise played a great solo on Bill Monroe’s original recording of “Footprints in the Snow.” It’s in the key of E and features some nice double stops and classic Chubby Wise syncopation and phrasing.
Fiddler Richard Greene’s solo on Tony Rice’s recording of the bluegrass song “Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler,” is a classic. It’s in the key of Bb and is mostly played out of the Bb “capo position” using the pentatonic scale with some bluesy thirds and sevenths.
In this lesson, you’ll learn Bobby Hicks’s solo to the Flatt and Scruggs song “We Can’t Be Darlings Anymore” from the Bluegrass Album Band recording. Chad learned this directly from Bobby, and like many of Bobby’s solos, it includes some great double-stop licks and a nice long tag.
Vassar Clements’s solo on “Troubles ’Round My Door,” from the Red Allen album Family and Friends, is a great example of his idiosyncratic bluesy fiddling. It’s in the key of B and includes some B minor pentatonic scale lines in different positions as well as some of Vassar’s trademark chromatic licks.
“Bluegrass Special” is a Bill Monroe instrumental in the key of A with a 12-bar blues form. In this lesson, you’ll learn Chubby Wise’s original fiddle solo, as well as a couple of Kenny Baker’s solos to “Bluegrass Special.”
Chubby Wise’s solo on the original Bill Monroe recording of “Travelin’ This Lonesome Road” is a classic. It’s in the key of F and has some great double stops and bluesy slides. You’ll learn Chubby’s short kickoff to the song as well as his complete solo.
The bluegrass jam session favorite “Cripple Creek” is a great way to get started on the dobro.
The melody to the popular gospel classic “Amazing Grace” can be played almost entirely on the first string, making it a great exercise for practicing your intonation on the first string.
The old-time classic “Carter’s Blues” works well in two octaves on the dobro. You’ll also learn some variations with bluesy slides, harmonized licks, and pull-offs.
Venture out of the key of G to the key of C for the classic “Home Sweet Home.” You’ll also learn a few simple variations on the melody, with a few extra melodic embellishments and harmonies.
The bluegrass jam-session favorite “Red-Haired Boy” is a great tune for working on hammer-ons and pull-offs. It’s in the key of A, so you’ll learn it with a capo at the second fret using G-position shapes and scales.
Learn the great Tut Taylor tune “Dobro Country,” a blues shuffle in the key of E, which you’ll play with the capo at the second fret.
Mike’s arrangement of the old-time fiddle tune “Angeline the Baker,” a jam-session favorite, uses rolls, hammer-ons, and drone notes to fill out the simple melody in different ways. You’ll also learn a version of the melody in a lower octave and how to continue the roll pattern in the lower octave.
Bill Monroe’s classic “Big Mon” is usually played at a fast tempo, so using hammer-ons and pull-offs is essential. You’ll learn a few variations and ways to enhance the melody with some additional drone notes and roll patterns, and Mike also talks about when to pick a note or use a slide or pull-off.
In this series of four lessons, Marcy gives you some chord drills to help you improve your fluidity when changing from one chord to another. She gives you advice on the most efficient way to change fingerings, using the least amount of movement, and then gives you some drills in the keys of C, F, G, A. You’ll practice your chord-changing skills on the song “Keep on the Sunny Side,” which you’ll play in each of these four keys. With Lyric/Chord Sheets
In this first video, you’ll work on the major chords in the key of C (C, F, and G7). Marcy gives you advice on the most efficient way to change fingerings, using the least amount of movement, and then gives you drills that change from C to F, F to G7, G7 to C, and then C–F–G7–C, so you can practice them on “Keep on the Sunny Side” in C.
Put what you learned in the lessons on Scales and Chords to use in this lesson by adding double stops to the melody of the old-time and bluegrass favorite “Bury Me Beneath the Willow.”
The Bill Monroe instrumental “Bluegrass Stomp,” a swingy blues in the key of D, gives you the opportunity to work on some new bow techniques, in particular, learning to stop the bow, or “bow breaks.”
Bill Monroe’s “Kentucky Waltz” is one of his most popular songs. Chad talks about how the notes of the melody relate to the chords that go with the tune and how some of the phrases outline the chords. You’ll also learn to add harmony notes to the melody of “Kentucky Waltz,” with advice on fingering double stops so you get two clear notes.
The great singer and banjo player Ralph Stanley’s bluegrass banjo tune “Clinch Mountain Backstep” has become a bluegrass standard that players of every instrument should know. It’s in A Mixolydian and has an extra beat in the second half. You’ll learn how to anticipate or “jump” the beat as well as some bluesy slides and double stops.
Chad shows you his approach to playing bluegrass solos using this standard song with a very common chord progression. You’ll learn the melody and chords in the key of E using standard “capo” positions, the major pentatonic scale, and other bluegrass fiddle techniques. You’ll also learn some exercises to help you learn to match the melody of “Your Love Is Like a Flower” with the chords, and how you can move the “capo” position to different keys, like B, Bb, etc. And you’ll get five play-along tracks so you can practice playing “Your Love Is Like a Flower” in the keys of E, A, G, D, and C.
The Flatt and Scruggs song “Down the Road” is a bluegrass standard and has been recorded by many musicians, including the Bluegrass Album Band, whose fiddler Bobby Hicks inspired the first solo you’ll learn here. It’s a relatively simple tune, just eight bars long and with only two chords, but it’s in the key of B, so it’s a good song for practicing playing in B. Bobby Hicks’ solo includes some great pentatonic licks using the capo position. You’ll also learn a variation played by Stuart Duncan.
The bluegrass song “A Voice on the Wind” was written by Butch Waller and made famous by Tim O’Brien and Hot Rize. It’s a medium tempo song in the key of G. Chad shows you the melody and how to add some double stops and bluesy embellishments.
“Blue Ridge Cabin Home” is a bluegrass classic that comes from Flatt and Scruggs. In this lesson you’ll learn to play a simple solo on “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” in the key of A with drones and double stops.
Bill Monroe’s classic bluegrass song “True Life Blues” does not follow the classic 12-bar blues form, but rather, the chords are the same as the common “bluegrass chord progression #1.” The fiddle solo you’ll learn, played by Chubby Wise on Monroe’s original 1945 recording, includes some great bluesy licks in the key of A that you’ll be able to use in lots of songs. You’ll also learn a variation on the solo that Chubby plays at the end of the recording.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a solo to the bluegrass classic “Letter from My Darling” based on the solo fiddler Bobby Hicks played on the Bluegrass Album Band’s recording. Chad walks you through the solo phrase by phrase, giving you advice on bowing and phrasing as he goes. He also shows you a version of the solo with some drones and double stops.
Chad uses Tim O’Brien’s recording of Hazel Dickens’ song “A Few Old Memories” to show you some ways to play backup on a slow song in Bb, using capo positions and simple melodies that outline the chords of the song. He starts by showing you a pentatonic scale in capo position that you can use to play backup lines on the Bb, Eb, and F chords, and then gives you examples of the kinds of lines he would play in those positions. He also shows you how to embellish simple melodies with slides, hammer-ons, etc., and how to listen to the singer and play backup between their vocal phrases.
The bluegrass standard “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” comes from Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and has become a jam session favorite. In this lesson you’ll learn a fiddle solo to “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” in the key of A that is based on the solo that Bobby Hicks played on the Bluegrass Album Band recording of the song.
The fiddle solo, played by the great Benny Martin, on Flatt and Scruggs’ recording of “Someone Took My Place with You” is a classic, with some cool double stops, slides, and must-know bluegrass fiddle licks in the key of A. Chad walks you through the solo, phrase by phrase, first without double stops and then with them.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a solo to the bluegrass standard “Nine Pound Hammer” in the key of A. Chad starts by showing you the basic melody and then how to add variations, including unison drones, blue notes, and an ending lick, to create a bluegrass fiddle solo.
Fiddler Richard Greene’s solo on Tony Rice’s recording of the bluegrass song “Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler,” is a classic. The recording is in the key of Bb but in this lesson, you’ll learn a solo in the key of A based on Richard Greene’s solo, which uses the pentatonic scale along with some bluesy thirds and sevenths.
The song “Dark Hollow” is a bluegrass standard that is often played in the key of C. In this lesson, you’ll learn a solo based on the melody that includes double stops and bluesy slides. As “Dark Hollow” is a standard, it’s been sung by many people, of course, but Chad recommends listening to Larry Sparks sing it. Chad starts by showing you the basic melody and words and then shows you how you can turn the melody into a solo with the addition of double stops.
Doug introduces you to open-D tuning (DADF#AD), shows you some of the ways it’s similar to open-G tuning and DADGAD, and teaches you the old Scottish dance tune “Flowers of Edinburgh.”
Stash shows you the first in a series of closed-position scales on the fingerboard, using the Hank Williams song “We Live in Two Different Worlds.” Stash defines each position (or pattern) on the neck for each key by finding the lowest root on the low E string in that key. The lowest root in the key of G is played with the second finger on the low E string, so Stash calls that position Position 2E.
Stash shows you closed-position pattern 4A in this lesson. In pattern 4A, the lowest root of the major scale is played with your fourth finger on the A string. Stash starts by showing you the position on frets one through four, so the fret numbers correspond to the finger numbers. In this position, the root is Db, so moving this position up a fret gives you a closed-position pattern for the key of D.
You’ll learn closed-position pattern 2A in this lesson. Unlike the other patterns you’ve learned so far, the fingering of pattern 2A at the bottom of the neck (in this case, in the key of B) doesn’t correspond exactly to fret numbers on all the strings. Stash shows you position 2A in B and then shows you how to play “We Live In Two Different Worlds” with pattern 2A in the key of G, up at the 9th to 13th frets.
In Pattern 2D, the lowest root of the major scale is played with your second finger on the D string. Starting on the lowest position on the neck puts it in the key of E. Stash shows you position 2D in E and then shows you how to play “We Live In Two Different Worlds” with pattern 2D in the key of G, up at the 4th to 7th frets.
In Pattern 4E, the lowest root of the major scale is played with your fourth finger on the low E string, which puts you in the key of A. Stash shows you the pattern in the key of A and then in the keys of B, C, and D. He also shows you an exercise using all five patterns in one position on the neck, modulating around the circle of fifths from B to G (B–E–A–D–G). You start with the key of B using pattern 4E, then the key of E using pattern 4A, the key of A using pattern 2E, the key of D using pattern 2A, and the key of G using pattern 2D. Stash finishes up by showing you how to play “We Live In Two Different Worlds” with pattern 4E in the key of G, up at the 12th to 15th frets.
The folk and bluegrass classic “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” was first recorded by the Carter Family in 1927. Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice’s recording has been particularly influential on the way people sing and play it these days.
The folk and bluegrass classic “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” was first recorded by the Carter Family in 1927. Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice’s recording has been particularly influential on the way people sing and play it these days. That recording was in the key of G, so Lauren starts in the key of G, and then, as usual, shows you how to play it in the keys of D, G, and A. The melody of “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” has a lot of long, flowing notes, leaving plenty of room for fills and variations. Lauren’s solo ideas for this song include blue notes and melodic/rhythmic variations.
In this lesson you’ll move what you’ve learned on “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” up a whole step to the key of A. Many of Lauren’s solo ideas are the same as in the key of G, but of course in a new key you’ll use different double stops and drones. In the key of G you used the lower two open strings (G and D) to create double stops but in A you’ll use the higher two (A and E).
To play “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” in the key of D, you’ll use the two hand shapes you’ve learned in the keys of G and A and use them to play “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” in two octaves in the key of D.
Playing “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” in the key of C gives you another great opportunity to work on playing in second position, while the lower octave uses the same fingering and ideas you used in the key of G.
Wes introduces the concept of harmonized scales and explains how they are essential to learning to play melodies on the banjo, or any instrument. He shows you to play a major scale starting on the root and starting on the third and combine them to create a major scale harmonized in thirds. He walks you through the thirds on the second and third strings, pointing out how the shapes of the thirds change as they move up the neck, and how to play them within a roll pattern. You’ll also learn the harmonized scale in thirds on the top two strings and a version of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” using these shapes with the melody on the top string.
Norman Blake plays his song “Church Street Blues” out of C position but with a capo high up the neck at the seventh fret. He takes advantage of the high ringing sound you can get in this position by playing lots of full strums and ringing chords, including a couple of unusual voicings that allow those high strings to ring out. You’ll learn a short intro that imitates the way Norman plays his more-elaborate solo, as well as the chord voicings and strums he plays throughout the song.
The chords known as sus (suspended) and add chords can add a contemporary sound to your chord voicings. You’ve played a few of them in some of the previous lessons, but in this lesson, Scott goes through sus and add chords in the guitar-friendly keys of C, G, D, A, and D. He also explains the difference between, for instance, a sus2 and an add9 chord. James Taylor is known for using a lot of sus and add chords, and his version of Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” is a good example. Scott uses "Everyday" to show you how to use sus and add chords (as well as min7 and min11 chords) on a song, and shows you versions of "Everyday" in the keys of D and E.
The Western swing instrumental “Panhandle Rag” has become popular with bluegrassers, but it also makes a good vehicle for demonstrating swing-style phrasing, which is quite different than bluegrass or fiddle tune phrasing. You’ll learn a basic arrangement of “Panhandle Rag,” with advice on how to give the lines a swing feel and provide some variation in the phrasing. Scott also shows you a few ways to take each melodic fragment and syncopate it or elaborate on it so that you’re coming up with variations or improvising based on the melody rather than just playing licks based on the underlying chord.
Django Reinhardt’s tune “Minor Swing” has become a popular jam favorite among Gypsy jazz musicians as well as bluegrass and string band players of various instruments. In this lesson, you’ll learn the melody and chords as well as a solo from Django’s classic 1937 recording that illustrates many aspects of his approach to improvising.
Learn a swing blues tune from Benny Goodman, along with a Charlie Christian solo from the original Benny Goodman Sextet recording. “Benny’s Bugle” is a fairly straightforward uptempo blues riff tune in Bb. The first melody outlines basic Bb, Eb, and F chords (the I, IV, and V) in Bb, and the band plays a couple of other cool riffs later in the tune. Charlie Christian takes the first solo on the recording of “Benny’s Bugle” and it’s a classic, one of those solos learned by most jazz and swing guitarists.
This is as much a theory lesson as a “learning the fingerboard” lesson. Dominant nine chords and arpeggios are a common extension for playing V7 chords, you just add the nine to the root, third, fifth, and seventh of the dominant seven chord. If you remove the root from the dominant nine, you get a four-note arpeggio that is also a minor six (m6) and minor seven flat five arpeggio (m7b5), depending on which note is the root. Scott shows you three convenient shapes for this arpeggio on strings 4–2, 3–1, and 5–3, and how to combine the arpeggio with the corresponding scale for the shape. Then he shows you a few ways to use the dominant 9/minor 6 arpeggios, first as a dominant arpeggio on a circle-of-fifths progression and then as the ii7b5 chord in a ii7–V7 progression in a minor key and as the iv6 chord in a Gypsy jazz progression.
“Tin Roof Blues” is a simple 12-bar swing blues in Bb that was a favorite of early jazz and western swing bands. Scott uses it to talk about a handy closed position you can use to play in Bb or any closed position up the neck. Flatpickers can think of this as open G position, but with the index finger fretting notes that would be open strings in open G. Scott walks you through the melody, which ends with some handy swing licks, and then talks about other ways to use this position.
Diminished arpeggios and scales are used in swing, bebop, and contemporary jazz. In this lesson, Scott shows you a couple of convenient positions on the top four strings that you can use to play diminished arpeggios and scales and gives you examples of how diminished chords and scales are used in swing, mainstream, and contemporary jazz.
Learn a chord melody arrangement of “Bye Bye Blues,” a staple of traditional jazz and early 1920s music. Matt starts by going through the voicings you’ll use to play the arrangement, showing you specific fingerings that will help you move from chord to chord smoothly. He also shows you some different rhythmic ideas you can try with the picking hand when you’re playing melody notes that last for a full measure or two.
The jazz standard “Whispering,” first published (and recorded by Paul Whiteman) in 1920 has a very 1920s sound, with some characteristic harmonic movement. You’ll learn a chord melody version of “Whispering” in the key of C in this lesson. You’ll also learn some cool 1930s-style chord-melody variations that feature contrapuntal voice movement and chord substitution.
Nick Lucas’ instrumental tour de force “Picking the Guitar,” recorded in 1922, is one of the most important songs in the early jazz guitar canon. “Picking the Guitar,” along with another tune recorded by Lucas at the same time, “Teasing the Frets,” set a template for guitar playing that carried on through the music of Eddie Lang and even the Hot Club of France. Lang and Django Reinhardt shared a similar stylistic quality with Lucas in their use of picking-hand downstrokes, and “Picking the Guitar,” in addition to being a great tune to play, is a study in using downstrokes.
“I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” was written in 1938 and was a big hit for the Ink Spots. It’s a great tune for practicing sliding inversions when playing chord melody. Matt starts by singing it through so you get a sense of the melody and basic chords. Then he starts breaking down his chord melody version of the tune, which is in the key of F and includes some phrases with cool internal movement, a couple of dissonant Dick McDonough-style licks, and a chromatic descending line under the bridge melody.
Eddie Lang recorded his guitar showpiece “April Kisses” on April 1, 1927. Although he’s credited as the writer, nobody really knows where it came from. Matt shows you how Lang played it and gives you ideas about playing variations and making this “rhapsodic meditation” your own.
Matt uses the jazz standard “Honeysuckle Rose” to talk about song form. He tells you how to quickly communicate a song’s form to fellow musicians and then walks you through the basic form of “Honeysuckle Rose,” playing rhythm and singing the melody. Then you’ll learn a chord melody version of “Honeysuckle Rose” inspired by Dick McDonough and Bucky Pizzarelli.
The 1920s jazz classic “Somebody Loves Me” was written by George Gershwin, Ballard MacDonald, and Buddy DeSilva and was a hit for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and Ukulele Ike. It has an unusual chord structure, so Matt starts by singing and playing rhythm once through the song to give you a sense of the melody and basic chord progression. Then you’ll learn a chord melody arrangement of “Somebody Loves Me” that uses the Alan Reuss lick you learned in “Honeysuckle Rose” and has as some cool contrary motion on the bridge.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a single-note solo played by guitarist Bernard Addison, who was born in 1905 and played with a lot of the greats of early jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Fletcher Henderson, Coleman Hawkins, and Jelly Roll Morton, whose 1930 recording of “Fussy Mabel” this solo comes from. Addison was primarily a rhythm player, but his 1930s recordings with Morton included a lot of solos. He had a huge sound, and an incredible rhythmic facility that allowed him to match the kind of phrasing Armstrong was doing.
The jazz classic “I’ll See You In My Dreams” was written in 1924 by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn. Rather than an AABA format it has two 16-bar halves, the second of which has a harmonic twist that introduces a bit of pathos to the song. Matt starts by playing and singing it through so you get a sense of the overall harmonic content and melody. Then he shows you a chord melody version “I’ll See You In My Dreams” that includes some cool substitutions and contrary motion.
The early jazz guitar instrumental classic “Teasing the Frets” was written by Ralph Colicchio and first recorded by Nick Lucas in 1922. It’s a guitar rag played with the plectrum and is the first blues ever recorded on the guitar as well as the first minor blues ever recorded. Lucas recorded it a number of times and always played it differently, so the version you’ll learn here includes Matt’s favorite passages from Lucas as well as some of his own ideas. Matt walks you through all three parts phrase by phrase, giving you fingering and picking suggestions and a few variations to try.
One of the most widely performed standards in the great American songbook, “Pennies from Heaven” is also the basis for numerous bebop tunes and instrumentals. After playing and singing the song through, Matt shows you how to construct a chord-melody version of “Pennies from Heaven” in the key of C. He includes some chord passages with internal movement and a few harmonic variations.
Slip jigs are an important part of Irish dance music and are distinguished from “regular” jigs by their rhythmic pattern. They are in 9/8 time, as opposed to the 6/8 time used for double jigs.
“Dever the Dancer” is a good first slip jig to learn because the melody really emphasizes the 9/8 rhythm. Marla starts by explaining the slip jig rhythm and the feel of the three groups of three eighth notes, noting the slight secondary emphasis on the last group of three.
The slip jig “Hardiman the Fiddler” is a good tune to work on playing triplets in jigs. You’ll learn the melody of both parts of “Hardiman the Fiddler” first, making sure you understand the picking and rhythm of the slip jig melody. Then Marla explains the difference between the two kinds of jig triplets: one that starts on a downstroke, and one that starts on an upstroke, before showing you how to play the triplet that starts on a downstroke in “Hardiman the Fiddler.”
You’ll learn to play “up triplets” on “The Humours of Derrycrossane” in this lesson. To play jig “up triplets” you start the triplet on the second beat of the jig rhythm, which is an upstroke.
Marla uses the beautiful E minor slip jig “A Fig for a Kiss” to demonstrate how to keep your pick in constant motion and how to alter a tune that has some awkward phrases. You’ll also learn some different ways to vary “A Fig for a Kiss,” including melodic variation, muting strings, and adding double stops and up-triplets.
This well-known slip jig has four parts and is in the key of D major. Marla uses it to show you how she uses double stops. After learning the tune, Marla shows you how to play the jig picking pattern on the D and A strings, to get used to playing two sets of strings at once with the jig rhythm, and then shows you how to drone the D and A strings on the first part of the tune by opening your pick stroke to play both sets of strings.
Aaron plays the jazz standard “Almost Like Being in Love” as a rubato ballad, which is a great way to let the voicings you’re playing ring out and exploit the bass movement of the chords. He walks you through the melody and chord voicings, showing you how he articulates them in different ways, often by emphasizing the bass notes.
George Gershwin’s “Lady Be Good” is one of the most popular songs in the Great American Songbook and is also a favorite of mandolin players. Aaron’s arrangement starts with a short chordal introduction and then follows the melody with a standard chord melody arrangement, using different kinds of articulations of bass, melody, and chords.
Aaron’s arrangement of the jazz standard “Jeepers Creepers” incorporates many of the chord melody techniques you’ve learned in previous lessons. He starts with a rubato version of the first A section, with attention to the bass line, and then goes into tempo, playing bass and chords as he would if he were playing rhythm, but with the melody on the top of the chord. In the bridge, he approaches the melody with more syncopation. The C section is nearly identical to the A section, but with a tag, so Aaron takes advantage of the repeated melody to change the harmony of the first and fifth bars.
The jazz standard “Perdido,” which was written by Duke Ellington’s trombonist Juan Tizol, is a jam session favorite. Aaron’s arrangement includes a sixteen-bar introduction and ending, and his arrangement of both parts features chordal hits punctuating the single-string melody.
“All of Me” is a very popular jazz standard, written in the 1930s and recorded countless times, most notably perhaps by Billie Holiday with Lester Young in 1941. It’s in the key of C and has an AB form, and the melody often is the top note of chord voicings you’ve already learned. Aaron walks you through his arrangement phrase by phrase, and then gives you ideas for intros to “All of Me.”
The jazz standard “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” is a jam session favorite. It’s in the key of G and Aaron takes a traditional chord melody approach to his arrangement. He also gives you ideas for intros you can use for “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” starting by showing you how to use the last eight bars of the tune as an intro.
“Pennies from Heaven,” one of the most popular jazz standards, was introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1936 film of the same name, and recorded by Billie Holiday in the same year. Aaron starts his arrangement of “Pennies from Heaven” with a standard chord-melody treatment and then varies things with some single-note melodic lines and bass lines punctuated by chordal hits.
The old hymn “Wayfaring Stranger” is a perfect tune to play on the mandolin with tremolo. It’s in the key of A minor, which sounds great on the mandolin, so you’ll learn an A minor scale and arpeggio before learing to add tremolo to the melody. With Notation/Tab
Learn the bluegrass standard “I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky” using a common technique in bluegrass mandolin: playing melodies on two pairs of strings. You’ll learn the basic right-hand technique for playing two pairs of strings at a time, including how to keep the pick on the edge of the strings and not let the pick dig in past the strings, as well as how to slightly rotate your wrist so you can play all four strings (both pairs) at once. Then you’ll learn the melody to Bill Monroe’s “I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky” played on two strings in the key of A. With Notation/Tab
Bill Monroe wrote the song “Uncle Pen” about his uncle Pendleton Vandiver, a fiddler whose influence inspired Monroe to create bluegrass music. The solos are a little different than most bluegrass solos. Usually the fiddle will play the first part, which corresponds to the verse, while another instrument will play the chorus form. In this lesson, you’ll learn the fiddle melody to the verse and a solo to the chorus based on some of Bill Monroe’s solos. With Notation/Tab
Learn three variations to “I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky” that include some of the arpeggios you’ve learned in previous lessons as well as folding scales, sequences, and some typical bluegrass mandolin licks. With Notation/Tab
“Shady Grove” is a classic American folk song that likely originated in the 1800s. There are numerous versions, but Sharon teaches you a version of “Shady Grove” in the key of D minor that is similar to the way Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, Tony Rice, and others have played it. You’ll learn the D minor scale and chords and the melody the way David Grisman played it on The Pizza Tapes. You’ll also learn to play the melody in an upper octave, with your index finger at the third fret.
“Sitting on Top of the World” is an old folk and blues song that became a bluegrass classic. It’s very popular at bluegrass jam sessions, so it’s important to know how to play a basic, melodic solo on it. You’ll learn it in the key of A, which allows you to play open drone strings along with the melody. Sharon’s arrangement includes a kickoff and ending and some typical bluegrass licks.
“I’ll Fly Away” is a popular gospel and folk song. In this lesson you’ll learn to play a solo on “I’ll Fly Away” in the key of D in the lower octave using a lot of double stops, which gives it a full and rich sound. In most situations, people just play the verse to “I’ll Fly Away” for a solo, but sometimes people also play the chorus, which is very much like the verse, so Sharon shows you how to play both the verse and chorus.
With its roots in late 19th-century work songs popular with prison, railroading, and logging crews, “Nine Pound Hammer” is a staple of the folk, blues, and bluegrass repertories, and has well over 150 recorded versions by the likes of Merle Travis, Doc Watson, and Chris Thile with Billy Strings. Bill Monroe, who first recorded a version titled “Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy” with his brother Charlie in 1936, released the classic bluegrass setting in the key of C with the Blue Grass Boys on 1962’s Bluegrass Ramble. In this lesson, Sharon teaches you a basic version in the key of A, and then adds embellishments and variations.
Ninth chords are used like dominant seventh chords, so whenever there’s a dominant seventh chord in a chord progression, you can add the ninth to give it a jazzy sound. Chad shows you a basic ninth chord arpeggio and gives you exercises using ninth arpeggios on the chord progression from “Sweet Georgia Brown” in the keys of F and G.
Those lonesome-sounding tunes, like “Man of Constant Sorrow,” “Cluck Old Hen,” and “Clinch Mountain Backstep,” are called “modal tunes” and use a different scale, which you’ll learn in this lesson. Then you’ll learn a solo and backup for “Clinch Mountain Backstep.”
You learned how to accompany “I’ll Fly Away” with pinch patterns in an earlier lesson, but now you’ll learn how to use different roll patterns to play a solo for “I’ll Fly Away.”
The bluegrass jam favorite “Soldier’s Joy” is in the key of D, and is a good example of how to play in the key of D without using a capo. You’ll learn the chords in D, the basic melody of “Soldier’s Joy,” and how to fill in the melody with the alternating thumb pattern in the first part and forward-reverse rolls in the second part.
The seasonal favorite “Jingle Bells” is a great tune to break out at holiday parties, whether you want to accompany singing or play a solo. You’ll learn both an easy accompaniment pattern that combines the pinch pattern with the alternating thumb roll as well as an easy lead arrangement of the chorus of “Jingle Bells.”
Bill Monroe’s mournful “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz” is one of his most distinctive tunes. It’s in the key of Dm and has an unusual chord progression. You’ll learn the melody here, along with some cool bluesy slides and double stops, and get ideas for how to improvise over the “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz” chord progression.
“Big Sandy River” was recorded by Kenny Baker on the classic bluegrass fiddle album Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe. You’ll learn Kenny’s version along with a variation on the A part that includes some cool descending double stops.
Bill Monroe’s bluegrass fiddle tune “Big Mon” is a jam session favorite. It’s usually played as a two-part tune in jam sessions, but there’s a third part often played by the fiddle that you’ll also learn.
“Brown County Breakdown” is a three-part tune in the key of E, so it’s great for working on playing in the key of E, using the first finger “capo” position. You’ll also learn a great warm-up exercise with open strings, designed to help you get even, consistent tone with your bowing arm.
Bill Monroe’s classic tune “Jerusalem Ridge” is associated with his greatest fiddler, Kenny Baker. The version of “Jerusalem Ridge” that Kenny recorded on Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe has become the standard version and that’s the version you’ll learn here. It’s in the key of A minor and has four parts.
The bluegrass fiddle tune standard “Gold Rush” was written by Bill Monroe and fiddler Byron Berline. The version you’ll learn here is based on the way Monroe’s longtime fiddler Kenny Baker played it. You’ll also learn a version of the B part in the upper octave and get advice from Chad on how he improvises on “Gold Rush.”
Bill Monroe wrote the song “Uncle Pen” about his uncle Pendleton Vandiver, a fiddler whose influence inspired Monroe to create bluegrass music. The song begins with on a classic fiddle solo that gets repeated after every chorus. The first part includes a lot of unison drones and double stringing, while the B part has some cool sliding double stops.
Bill Monroe’s tune “Ashland Breakdown” was recorded by Kenny Baker on his classic Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe album. It’s in the key of C and has three parts, the first two of which are mostly played in second position. Chad walks you through the melody, phrase by phrase, showing you a couple different ways to bow some of the phrases and add drone notes and giving you advice on shifting positions.
This great Bill Monroe tune is a fast one in the key of C with lots of long double stops. Although it’s basically a two-part tune with the same chord progression in each part, there’s a variation that is usually played by the fiddle, making it functionally a three-part tune for fiddlers.
Bill Monroe’s fiddle tune “Wheel Hoss” is one of his most popular, a fast, galloping tune in G Mixolydian with some extra beats at the end of the second part that are usually filled with a guitar run. Chad walks you through the melody and talks about some different bowing patterns you can try, including single bows, the Georgia shuffle, and Nashville shuffle.
“Land of Lincoln” is a four-part Bill Monroe tune that Monroe’s great fiddler Kenny Baker recorded on his Dry and Dusty album in the early 1970s. The tune moves between the keys of A major and A minor, sometimes even in the same phrase, with C♮s alternating with C#s and G♮s alternating with G#s
Bill Monroe’s instrumental “Old Ebenezer Scrooge” has four parts and is in the key of A minor, although the chords go to A major in the second part. Chad’s version is based on the way Bill played “Old Ebenezer Scrooge” on the mandolin.
“Northern White Clouds” is a three-part Bill Monroe tune in the key of E major. Monroe recorded it with Tater Tate playing fiddle on the album Live from Mountain Stage.
To improvise on a fiddle tune like “June Apple,” the first step is to learn the chords. Chad shows you the chord progression as well as a nice backup rhythm. Then he talks about his philosophy of improvising and shows you how he distills a tune down to its most basic elements, so that you can start playing around with the rhythm, varying the melody, etc.
Learn how to improvise on a blues tune like “Bluegrass Stomp.” You’ll learn the D major pentatonic scale and how you can flat the third of that scale to play over the G (IV) chord, as well as a simple chord position to play on the A (V) chord and ideas about using seventh chords and singing along with your playing.
Learn a great way to improvise or play solos on bluesy bluegrass songs in the key of B. Chad starts by showing you the B minor pentatonic scale, which has the same notes as the D major pentatonic scale, and then shows you how, by just changing the D natural note to D#, you get a great blues scale in the key of B major.
Learn the melody to the swing tune “Summertime” in the key of E minor and work on learning to improvise on the melody. Chad gives you an example of how to improvise on the melody without thinking about the chord changes, and then how to improvise just using the E minor pentatonic scale. You’ll also learn how to practice improvising with the app/software program iRealPro.
This solo to “Nine Pound Hammer” combines the melody with simple rolls. Then you’ll learn some cool variations on each melodic phrase, including a classic Jerry Douglas lick from the Tony Rice recording of “Nine Pound Hammer.”
Slants are a great tool for harmonizing and playing double stops in smooth ways that you normally can’t do with a straight bar. Learn to play forward and backward slants and use them to play “Great Speckled Bird,” a classic Dobro tune played by Brother Oswald and Josh Graves.
Learn the bluegrass standard “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight” in the key of E all in closed position. This means playing without any open strings, so you can move the shapes and patterns to any key.
Bill Monroe’s song “Can’t You Hear Me Calling” is a bluegrass classic. In this lesson you’ll learn a solo to “Can’t You Hear Me Calling” that includes some great pentatonic blues licks.
A medium tempo western swing blues in the key of A, “Milk Cow Blues” mostly uses the A major pentatonic scale, along with some blue notes and a couple of cool triplet licks. Chad walks you through the melody, showing you how he articulates the bluesy slides and bows it with a swing phrasing. You’ll also learn a couple simple variations, using unison drones and double stops.
Sam Bush’s beautiful waltz “The Old North Woods” is in the key of G minor, and mostly uses the G natural minor scale. Chad starts by reviewing the G natural minor scale in two octaves and playing the whole tune through. Then he walks you through the melody of both parts of “The Old North Woods.”
Chad learned the old-time tune “Josie-O” (also called “Josie Girl”) from the fiddling of the great bluegrass and old-time fiddler Art Stamper. It’s a three-part tune in the key of G, and the third part goes to E minor. Chad walks you through the melody, phrase by phrase, showing you his bowing and how to add double-stringing below the melody. The second part has some long stretches up to the B note on the high E string, so Chad gives you advice on making the stretch.
The fiddle tune “Quail Is a Pretty Bird” comes from Missouri old-time fiddler Gene Goforth, by way of John Hartford (the melody is also very similar to Edden Hammons’ “Sandy Boys”). It’s in the key of A, with two parts, and the scale uses a couple different versions of the seventh, sometimes the G# and sometimes a note in between G# and G.
“The Butterfly” is an Irish slip jig, which means it’s in 9/8. It has an unusual melody that was written by Irish fiddler Tommie Potts, who meant it to mimic a butterfly that he was watching in his garden. It’s in the key of E minor and has three parts. Chad walks you through each part slowly, showing you the bowing as he goes. He also shows you some ornaments you can use once you have the basic melody down.
The old-time fiddle tune “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss” is a popular square dance tune in the key of D. It includes some typical old-time anticipations and bow pulses (or pushes). Chad walks you through the tune, phrase by phrase, showing you his bowing and some of the ways he accents the melody and attacks notes in different ways.
Bob Wills’s “Faded Love” is a Western Swing fiddle classic, a great tune that is often played in harmony with one or more other fiddlers. Chad starts by showing the basic melody before showing you some of the fourth finger unison drones that give the tune its distinctive sound.
There are a lot of versions of the old-time fiddle tune “Sail Away Ladies,” but the one recorded by Uncle Bunt Stephens in the 1920s is a great way to learn some Southern-style old-time bowing. It’s a simple melody, but the bowing and rhythm of the phrases can be tricky.
The fiddle tune “The High Road” was written by fiddler/mandolinist/singer/songwriter Tim O’Brien many years ago, and has become a bit of a bluegrass standard. It combines sounds from a lot of styles: old-time, bluegrass, Celtic, blues, and even Klezmer. It’s in the key of E minor and the second part has a couple of unusual chords and note choices.
“Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase” is a three-part “crooked” old-time tune in the key of C. “Crooked” means that the parts aren’t an even eight-bars long. In this case, the first and second parts each have an extra half measure. The third part has some typical old-time bowing patterns with more slurs and bow sweeps.
You’ll learn one of Chad’s original tunes, “Margaret’s Musical Mecca,” in this lesson. It’s a fun tune in the key of A, with some old-time bowing and drones.
Chad learned the six-part old-time tune “Rabbit Hash” from the fiddling of Tricia Spencer and Howard Rains, who recorded it on their album The Old Texas Fiddle, Vol. II They recorded it in the cross tuning of GDGD, but you’ll learn it here in standard tuning in the key of A.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a harmony part for the fiddle tune “Rabbit Hash,” which you learned in a previous lesson and which comes from the fiddling of Tricia Spencer and Howard Rains.
Chad’s version of the old-time fiddle standard “Dance All Night” comes from John Lusk, who was the fiddler with the African American string band Gribble, Lusk, and York. The trio were recorded in the 1940s for the Library of Congress, and “Dance All Night” is from their first 1946 recording.
Chad learned the old-time fiddle waltz “Green Valley Waltz” (also called “Green Valley Trot”) from the playing of bluegrass fiddle legend Chubby Wise. It’s in the key of G, using mostly the G major pentatonic scale, with some bluesy thirds. Chad walks you through the each part of “Green Valley Waltz” in this video, showing you the bowing and bluesy phrasing, and giving you advice on bowing and attack.
Chad shows you a harmony part to the “Green Valley Waltz.” Like a lot of bluegrass harmony parts it doesn’t harmonize each note of the melody, but mirrors it with bluesy licks and double stops.
The old-time fiddle tune “Over the Waterfall” comes from West Virginia fiddler Henry Reed, who was recorded by fiddler Alan Jabbour, whose band the Hollow Rock String Band recorded many of Reed’s tunes in the 1970s. It’s in the key of D and has the standard AABB form.
Orkney tuning is a Gsus tuning that is similar to a modal five-string banjo tuning and has been popular with guitarists like Tony McManus and Martin Simpson. but the tuning, CGDGCD, doesn’t roll off the tongue easily so fingerstyle guitarist (and Peghead Nation Clawhammer Guitar instructor) Steve Baughman named it Orkney tuning, and the name has stuck.
Doug introduces you to Orkney tuning, shows you some of the similarities between Orkney and DADGAD, and shows you how to play the Scottish song “Hector the Hero” in Orkney tuning.
In this lesson you’ll learn to play an arrangement of the Beatles’ classic “Norwegian Wood” in Orkney tuning in the key of G. Doug also uses “Norwegian Wood” to show you how to play major scales and modes in Orkney tuning.
Learn two Béla Fleck tunes from his classic bluegrass instrumental album Drive: “Up and Around the Bend” and “Down in the Swamp.” These are great tunes to play and also to jam on. Joe also includes his transcription of a live Chris Thile solo to “Up and Around the Bend” recorded in 2000.
This jazzy “new acoustic” tune comes from fiddler Darol Anger. The melody has some odd timing, with phrases that start in the middle of the measure and interesting syncopation. Joe shows you where to add tremolo and explains some of the harmonic ideas in the melody. You’ll also learn the chords and rhythm to the tune, including the vamp used as an intro. Joe also talks about improvising on the chord changes of the “blowing” section, which are different than the main melody.
Mandolinist John Reischman’s tune “Salt Spring” has become a modern standard, played at jam sessions by many people who think it’s a traditional old-time fiddle tune. You’ll learn the basic tune and a version that imitates a clawhammer banjo, something that John does a lot, filling in basic melodies with strums and chord tones.
Chris Thile’s “Jessamyn’s Reel” has become a modern solo mandolin classic and illustrates his style of combining quick arpeggios and melodies with slides and chords. Joe gives you tips on fingering some of the chord voicings and playing the up-the-neck arpeggios in the second part, with suggestions on when to shift positions and when to stay in the same fretting-hand position.
David Grisman’s “Dawg’s Waltz” is a great tune from his album with Jerry Garcia, Garcia/Grisman. You’ll learn the basic tune and some of the different ways Grisman phrased the melody, with some syncopated rhythms, slurred grace notes, tremolo, and hammer-on/pull-off embellishments. Joe also talks about how the chords relate to the melody, and about how he improvises a solo based on the melody. He also gives you some arpeggio exercises in which you play an arpeggio for every chord of the song starting on different notes of the chord.
Mike Marshall’s tune “Scotch and Swing,” from his album Gator Strut, is another classic modern mandolin tune from one of the great modern mandolin players. The A section includes a couple of nice “Celtic” ornaments and a melodic reference to Bill Monroe’s tune “Scotland,” while the B part has a number of chromatic lines and some syncopation that gives it a swing sound.
“Black’s Fork” is a three-part tune in A from Matt Flinner, which you can hear on Matt’s album The View from Here. The A part includes some important position shifts while the C section begins with a couple of extra beats and a syncopated strum figure on the E chord.
John Reischman’s “Itzbin Reel” is another contemporary mandolin classic. John first recorded it in the early ’80s and recently re-recorded it with Chris Thile playing harmony mandolin. You’ll learn John’s version of the melody as well as Chris’s harmony. Joe talks a bit about how to start finding harmony parts (starting a third above the melody) and points out some of the interesting rhythmic and harmonic choices Chris made in creating his harmony part.
Darol Anger’s wild fiddle tune “Ride the Wild Turkey” is a contemporary bluegrass instrumental classic. It’s a complex three-part tune (the form is ABCA) with a different number of measures in each part and some particularly unusual timing in the third part. “Ride the Wild Turkey” is almost “through composed,” meaning that there are very few repeated parts, and when there are repeats, usually the shape of the repeated part is similar to the first, but the details are different.
The contemporary mandolin tune “Baltimore Jonny” comes from the great Ronnie McCoury and was recorded by the Del McCoury Band. It’s a three-part tune in G dorian and shows hints of Ronnie’s two biggest influences, Bill Monroe and David Grisman.
Tim O’Brien’s great mandolin tune “Land’s End” can be heard on two recordings: one by the group New Grange (with Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, Alison Brown, and others) and one on Tim’s album Fiddler’s Green. It’s a three-part tune in the key of D in 3/4 time, and is a good tune for working on picking-hand technique. The B part of “Land’s End” can be played in two octaves, and you’ll learn both versions here.
Béla Fleck’s tune “The Open Road” comes from his groundbreaking recording Drive, where it starts with Sam Bush’s mandolin, so it has the feel and sound of a mandolin tune. It has three parts and some unusual melodic phrasing, where certain phrases can sound like they start on a different beat than they actually do. The A part is melodically fairly simple but the first phrase anticipates the downbeat and the last phrase has a tricky three-over-two syncopation. The B part involves some shifts between closed-position fingering for C and B chords, while the C section is played over one chord (D7) but uses a lot of notes that aren’t just the three or four main notes of the underlying chord, including some three-note arpeggios and some syncopated phrasing.
Joe’s tune “Pogo Big,” from his Borderland album, owes a debt to a number of fiddle players, including Darol Anger, Brittany Haas, and Bruce Molsky. It’s a happy fiddle tune in the key of G and includes some melodic lines you can use in other tunes. The chords to the B part of “Pogo Big” are a bit unusual for a traditional-sounding fiddle tune and you’ll also learn an alternate way to play the chords, using a descending line between changes. Joe also gives you ideas for soloing on “Pogo Big” using the diatonic scale.
Tim O’Brien’s fiddle tune “The Crossing” is a great tune to play and is also great for working on your right-hand precision. It’s in the key of A major, but occasionally includes some G naturals in a melody with lots of G#’s. You’ll learn the melody, chords, and melody to the B part in the upper octave, which is a common variation.
The contemporary mandolin tune “Montgomery Ball” comes from fiddler/mandolinist Aubrey Haynie. It has some great “chop chord” vocabulary and is played almost entirely over a C chord. After showing you the melody, Joe shows you how to add double stops to the basic melody and how to move the melody to other keys, including G and D.
David Grisman wrote his great Gypsy-jazz influenced tune “Tipsy Gypsy” for the movie King of the Gypsies, and it was included on Grisman’s DGQ20 album. It’s in the key of D minor but there are a lot of accidentals, with some G#s, C#s, and F#s in the melody as well as the notes of the D natural minor scale. This requires some fingering choices, and as Joe walks you through the melody of “Tipsy Gypsy” he shows you his fingering. Joe also shows you the intro used on Grisman’s original recording and talks about how to use some of the chromatic notes in the melody in your solos.
The three-part tune “Buck’s Run,” which comes from the great but under-recognized mandolin player Buck White, has become a bluegrass mandolin jam session favorite lately. It’s a fairly simple melody but uses some open strings and double stops in unusual ways. The melody of the A part is based around a B–C# hammer-on played up the neck on the D string, instead of the A string, which allows the A and E strings to ring with the melody line. The C section of “Buck’s Run” also uses some interesting double stops high up on the neck, played with a rhythm similar to the A part.
The simple melody of Béla Fleck’s tune “Big Country” combined with its unusual phrasing and interesting chord changes, makes it a great tune for improvisers of all stripes, and it sounds particularly good on the mandolin. Béla recorded “Big Country” in the key of E, but you’ll learn it here in the key of G. Joe walks you through the simple melody phrase by phrase, giving you a few suggestions of subtle rhythmic variations and double stops you can try.
Chris Thile’s instrumental “Stumptown” was a highlight of Nickel Creek’s 2005 album Why Should the Fire Die? It’s a bright tune in the key of E major, and it has some unusual approaches to shifting and fingering.
“The High Road” comes from Tim O’Brien who recorded it on his 1983 solo album Hard Year Blues with lyrics. These days it’s usually performed as an instrumental and Bryan Sutton and Casey Campbell have recorded it that way. The instrumental version has also become popular at bluegrass jam sessions. “The High Road” is in the key of E minor and features an unusual chord progression with an F# chord in the B part.
In these next lessons, you’ll learn arpeggios in the five scale positions you’ve already learned. Arpeggios are broken-up chords—all the notes of the chord played in sequence rather than all at once. Learning these melodic structures will help you play melodies and improvise solos in different positions on the neck.
In this lesson, you’ll learn G major seven and G dominant seven arpeggios using pattern 2E, as well as C major seven and C dominant seven arpeggios in pattern 2E.
In this lesson, you’ll learn D major seven and D dominant seven arpeggios using pattern 4A, as well as G major seven and G dominant seven arpeggios in pattern 4A.
In this lesson, you’ll learn C major seven and C dominant seven arpeggios using pattern 2A, as well as G major seven and G dominant seven arpeggios in pattern 2A.
In this lesson, Stash shows you how to play the melody and a solo to the Jimmy Martin song “Sophronie” using the arpeggios in position 2E. The solo starts with the melody and then adds arpeggios, scales, rhythmic variety, and an ending lick to create a more interesting solo.
In this lesson, you’ll learn G major seven and G dominant seven arpeggios using pattern 2D, as well as C major seven and C dominant seven arpeggios in pattern 2D.
In this lesson, you’ll learn the fifth and final pattern for major seven and dominant seven arpeggios: pattern 4E. You’ll learn A major seven and A dominant seven arpeggios, as well as D major seven and D dominant seven arpeggios, using pattern 4E.
In this lesson, Stash gives you an exercise to test your knowledge of arpeggios. The exercise goes through every G major seven and G dominant seven option, in order: 2E, 2D, 4A, 2A, and 4E.
“Sitting on Top of the World” was first recorded by the black string band the Mississippi Sheiks in 1930, and has since found its way into many genres, including folk, blues, jazz, Texas swing, and bluegrass.
There are many different versions of “Sitting on Top of the World” and occasionally different chord progressions, but Lauren keeps it simple with a basic I, IV, V progression. She starts in the key of D and then works through the keys of G, C, and A, giving you new ideas for bluesy licks, melodic variations, and syncopation.
Playing “Sitting on Top of the World” in the key of G will feel very familiar, because you’ll use the same handshapes you used in the key of D. The upper octave melody in G will feel the same as the upper octave melody in the key of D and the lower octave melody will feel the same as the lower octave in D, but Lauren displaces the melody in both instances to move phrase four up an octave.
For the key of C, you’ll learn to play “Sitting on Top of the World” in second position with the closed hand shape in the upper octave and then using the handshape you used for the upper octave in the keys of D and G in the lower octave. All of the solo ideas remain the same as the other keys.
To play the melody in the lower octave of “Sitting on Top of the World” in the key of A, you’ll use the same closed handshape you used for the higher octave in the key of C. And to play the melody in the upper octave you’ll use the same handshape you used to play in the lower octave in D.
Continuing with the lessons on harmonized scales, Wes shows you how to take the patterns you learned in the last lessons and move them to different keys, specifically the keys of C and D. He starts by showing you the harmonized thirds patterns in the keys of C and D, and then how to play “The Banks of the Ohio” using harmonized thirds in C.
The fiddle tune “Crazy Creek” comes from Nashville fiddler Tommy Jackson, whose 1950s records featured some great players like Jethro Burns on mandolin and some great tunes, like this one. “Crazy Creek” is in the key of A, but has some long sections in C that include F chords. It can be played without a capo, but it also works well with a capo on the second fret played out of G position. This means that the C and F chords translate to Bb and Eb with the capo on. Scott shows you how the Bb and Eb scales can be played quite easily in first position, using the open G, D, and even A strings for part of the scales.
The fiddle tune standard “Bill Cheatham” is played in the key of A by fiddle players and mandolin players, and most guitarists play it in the key of G, capoed at the second fret. In this lesson you’ll learn to play “Bill Cheatham” in A but without a capo. This is not only a good exercise for learning to play in the key of A without a capo but for learning a movable scale position that spans three frets on the top three strings (with your first finger playing the root of the scale on the third string).
A ragtime-sounding tune written by swing era pianist Joe Sullivan, “Little Rock Getaway” was later adapted to the guitar by Chet Atkins and Les Paul. It’s a fun tune with an interesting chord progression, and it makes for a good technical workout for both hands. The first four bars feature cascading arpeggios through a series of chords, and in addition to tricky crosspicking, it requires accurate and efficient use of your fretting hand, so Scott gives you advice on keeping your fingers in a single position to play all the arpeggios, and how to “plant” your fingers so that you keep a finger down as you play the next note in the arpeggio.
Bill Monroe’s fiddle tune “Wheel Hoss” has a unique chord progression and phrasing. A favorite of mandolin and fiddle players, it’s usually played at a fast tempo and the first part can be tricky on the guitar at high speeds, so it’s important to come up with a version you can play fast. In this lesson, you’ll learn a simplified version of the A part you can play when the tempo gets high as well as the note-for-note fiddle version of the melody. The B part of “Wheel Hoss” is not as complex, but when you’re coming up with a way to play it on the guitar, you’ll need to remember to just use phrases you can play at a fast tempo.
“Arkansas Traveler” is a must-know tune for flatpickers and all roots music musicians. In this lesson, you’ll learn a basic guitar arrangement of it and then Scott uses it to show you some different rhythmic variations, including rhythmic displacement and three against four phrasing.
The old-time fiddle tune “St. Anne’s Reel” has become a jam session standard, a favorite of guitarists, mandolin players, and fiddlers. Scott’s version is inspired by the playing of Russ Barenberg, who plays with a great syncopated bounce and, rather than improvising on the chord changes to create variations, as many contemporary players do, plays variations on the melody that keep the original drive and melodic shape of the tune. You’ll learn “St. Anne’s Reel” in D without a capo, and Scott’s version includes a pass through the tune in the lower octave, for which he tunes down to dropped-D tuning.
Mandolinist Frank Wakefield’s instrumental tune “New Camptown Races,” written and first recorded in the 1950s, has become a contemporary bluegrass favorite. It has an unusual chord progression and structure, with 16-bar A parts, and it’s played on the mandolin and fiddle in Bb. That would usually mean that a guitarist would play it out of G position with a capo on the third fret, but in this lesson you’ll learn to play it in Bb without a capo.
The melody of “Goodbye Liza Jane,” also called by some “Little Liza Jane” and “Liza Jane” has been around for at least a hundred years, and has morphed into numerous versions in that time. The 1940s recording by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys is probably the source for most bluegrass versions these days. In this lesson, Scott shows you his version, both a “composed” version that he would use to kickoff the tune, and one that reflects how he improvises on the melody.
The old-time fiddle tune “Red Apple Rag” comes from fiddler Arthur Smith, but Scott learned it from Seattle fiddler Hank Bradley and recorded it on his first solo record No Hurry. Hank’s version reverses the A and B parts and includes a third part. In this lesson you’ll learn the way Scott played all three parts on his recording, including a variation on each part.
The fiddle tune “Acorn Hill Breakdown” (also called “Acorn Hill”) was written by Nashville fiddler Tommy Jackson, a Nashville studio fiddler who played on many classic country records and made a few records of “Square Dances Without Calls” in the 1950s. Scott recorded “Acorn Hill” on his album No Hurry and bluegrass guitarist Kenny Smith has also recorded it recently, on his instrumental album Return. It’s in the key of D and Scott plays it without a capo. In this lesson, you’ll learn the basic tune, as well as a version in the lower octave, which is a great way to create a variation without significantly altering the melody.
The lovely “Margaret’s Waltz” was composed in 1959 as an English country dance tune. Marla explains the waltz rhythm and how it differs from a jig and a reel, with a rhythmic pattern in the right hand more like a reel. The one and, two and, three and of the waltz is played down-up, down-up, down-up, with a continuous hand motion, just like in a reel. To get your hand moving in waltz rhythm, Marla gives you a series of exercises and then walks you through the melody of “Margaret’s Waltz” slowly, showing you some different ways to phrase the melody. Marla also shows you some ways to add double stops and drone strings to the melody of “Margaret’s Waltz.”
This lovely three-part waltz in the key of D was recorded in the 1920s by Irish fiddler Michael Coleman when he was living in America, so it has some “American” influences. In addition to being a great waltz melody to play, it’s a good tune for working on playing triplets in waltzes. After showing the melody, Marla talks about adding triplets to waltzes, explaining that since your right hand plays waltzes much like it plays reels, triplets in waltzes will also be played as they are in reels. She also shows you how to add melodic variations, particularly to the descending quarter notes in the first part.
If you’ve got the basics of single-string style, you’re ready to play your first tune in this style: the jam session favorite “Red-Haired Boy.” You’ll learn two versions, including a slightly more elaborate version that fleshes out the melody with a few additional notes for a version that a flatpicker like Doc Watson might play.
Learn to play the fiddle tune favorite “Forked Deer” in the key of D in open position using single-string technique. You’ll get started by learning the D major scale in open position using some open strings and also in a closed position where you fret every note so you can move the position around the neck. Bill also gives you advice on getting a smooth legato sound while playing single-string style.
Learn the “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” roll, which, of course, is used in the classic Earl Scruggs banjo tune “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” It’s a little more complicated than some of the rolls you’ve learned already and it can be used in lots of songs. In this lesson you’ll use it to play the classic tune “Boil the Cabbage Down.”
The fiddle tune “Blackberry Blossom” is a popular jam tune. The first half has a lot of chords, but they’re all chords that you know, while the second half is in a minor key. You’ll learn to play through the chords and melody using a new roll pattern: the “middle leading” pattern, also called the “Osborne roll” after banjo great Sonny Osborne.
The great old-time fiddle and banjo tune “Ducks on the Millpond” comes from the Round Peak area of North Carolina and was often played by old-time masters Tommy Jarrell, Fred Cockerham, and others. The tune starts with a new technique that breaks the standard clawhammer pattern by putting the fifth string thumb note on the downbeat. You’ll also some variations, and get advice on practicing your drop-thumbing.
The classic old-time dance tune “Mississippi Sawyer” is in D with two standard-length parts of eight measures. The first part starts with a melody up at the fifth fret, so Evie gives you advice on fingering and walks you through each phrase, showing you some variations with drop-thumbing and hammer-ons.
The Civil War tune “Soldier’s Joy” is an old-time classic and played by all sorts of roots musicians. It’s in the key of D, played in double-C tuning with a capo at the second fret. You’ll learn to play and sing it, with some variations for the phrases of the melody that repeat.
The dance tune “Spring Creek Gals,” also in D, is a “crooked” tune, which means it doesn’t have the usual number of four or eight beats to a part. Evie starts by showing you the “crooked” A part, which includes a fair amount of syncopation. The B part of “Spring Creek Gals” is a little straighter than the A part, but still has some syncopation, and the melody is mostly played on the lower strings, which can be tricky.
The old-time fiddle tune “Big Sciota” entered the bluegrass repertoire through a recording by Russ Barenberg, Jerry Douglas, and Edgar Meyer in the early ’90s. It has since become a jam session favorite. You’ll learn Chad’s version and his bowing, which includes a few consecutive three-note slurs, as well as a variation on the B part that comes from fiddler Billy Contreras.
Randy Howard’s beautiful “Golden Fiddle Waltz” is in the key of F and is a great tune for working on double stops in F. In this multi-part lesson you’ll learn the melody without double stops, double-stop scales in F (one with the harmony below the melody and one with the harmony above), and the complete version with double stops.
Randy Howard’s “Golden Fiddle Waltz” has a complicated chord progression, and if you want to improvise on it, you’ll need to know the arpeggios for each chord. In this lesson, Chad walks you through the progression chord by chord and arpeggio by arpeggio, making sure you know the names of all the notes in the chords and giving you some exercises to practice the arpeggios in different ways. He also shows you how he improvises on the chord progression by just using chord tones.
“Cherokee Shuffle” is one of the all-time great bluegrass jam tunes. You’ll learn Chad’s version of the melody and how he bows each part, as well as a cool variation on the B part that adds the seventh note to some D chords and includes some cool slides up to the high C and C#.
Texas fiddler Eck Robertson’s 1922 recordings were probably the first country music recordings, and his version of “Sally Gooden,” with around a dozen variations on the melody, became a classic and a favorite of fiddlers everywhere. In this lesson, you’ll learn Chad’s Texas-style version of “Sally Gooden,” which was influenced by Oklahoma fiddler Orville Burns and Texas fiddlers Terry Morris and Benny Thomasson. It’s an elaborate version that presents some technical challenges because it relies on a lot of consecutive three-note slurs as well as drones using your pinky. You’ll learn two A parts and two B parts in this lesson.
You’ll learn three “high parts” to “Sally Gooden” in this lesson, including one in which you stretch your pinky up to get a C natural on the E string, and two that go into third position. Chad walks you through each variation, giving you advice on reaching the C natural with your pinky while staying in first position and showing you the bowing he uses in the first two variations. He also gives some ideas for different ways you can bow the third high part, including with Texas-style consecutive three-note slurs, the Georgia shuffle, and a more old-timey “train shuffle.”
You’ll learn Chad’s final six variations on “Sally Gooden” in this lesson. The variations include licks and phrases from Texas fiddle legends Terry Morris and Major Franklin, as well as some of Chad’s own variations.
This old-time tune has been making the rounds of the bluegrass fiddle world. Chad’s version of “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” is based on the playing of Ed Haley, Stuart Duncan, and John Hartford. You’ll also learn some variations and how to tweak the tonality by making the C slightly sharp or playing C#s instead of C naturals.
Bob Wills’ western swing fiddle instrumental “Maiden’s Prayer” is also popular at bluegrass jam sessions. As well as learning the melody in this lesson, Chad gives you lots of ideas about improvising on “Maiden’s Prayer,” showing you how to use the arpeggios of the A and E chords as jumping-off points for improvising. He also shows you how to use the pentatonic scale on each of the chords, as well as how to add the seventh and ninth to the A and E (V) chords.
Traditional music master Jody Stecher calls “Billy in the Lowground” the “mother of all C tunes.” You’ll learn Chad’s version in this lesson, as well as how he approaches improvising on “Billy in the Lowground.” Chad walks you through the melody and bowing phrase by phrase and then talks about his approach to improvising on tunes like “Billy in the Lowground,” which involves breaking the tune down to its essential elements. He shows you his skeletal version of “Billy in the Lowground” and then gives examples of how he improvises on that basic melodic structure.
The fiddle tune “Paddy on the Turnpike” is popular in the bluegrass, old-time, and Texas fiddling worlds. Chad’s version comes from some of his favorite fiddlers, including Benny Thomasson, Terry Morris, Gene Goforth, Vassar Clements, and others. You’ll learn two A parts and two B parts in this lesson.
In this lesson, Chad shows you some of the things that Stuart Duncan and Vassar Clements played on “Paddy on the Turnpike,” starting with part of a solo from a live recording of Stuart Duncan playing “Paddy on the Turnpike.” The solo from one of Vassar Clements’ recordings of “Paddy on the Turnpike” features some of his signature licks.
Vassar Clements’ “Lonesome Fiddle Blues” is a bluegrass fiddle classic, one of the few in the key of D minor. Vassar played it differently every time, and the bridge doesn’t have a melody, just a set of chord changes to improvise on (the form of the tune is AABA). Chad shows you a version of the A part melody and a bridge that uses some of Vassar’s licks and some of Chad’s own. You’ll also learn some variations to the A part that include a couple classic Vassar licks.
Kenny Baker’s epic tune “Bluegrass in the Backwoods” has five parts and an intro. You’ll learn the first three parts in this lesson. It’s in the key of D minor, and uses the D harmonic minor scale as well as the D natural minor scale, so Chad starts by showing you the D harmonic minor scale in two octaves, and also runs through the arpeggios you’ll use in the tune: D minor, A dominant seven, and G minor. Then he shows you the melody to the first three parts of “Bluegrass in the Backwoods.”
In this lesson, you’ll learn the rest of “Bluegrass in the Backwoods,” starting with the intro and the fourth part. The intro is played “rubato” or without a beat, while the fourth part is a long 16-bar part with no repeated phrases. The fifth part of “Bluegrass in the Backwoods,” like the fourth part, is a long part (12 bars this time). It starts on a C chord, and is mostly in the key of F major, finishing out Kenny Baker’s epic fiddle tune with four bars in the original key of D minor.
The old-time fiddle tune “Stony Point” has become a favorite of bluegrass players. It’s in G and E minor and has three parts. Chad starts with the E minor part, although some fiddlers play one of the G parts first.
“Old Gnarly Oak” is one of Chad’s original tunes, a fast bluegrass fiddle tune in A modal that includes some cool bow crossings and rhythmic punctuation.
The melody of “Goodbye Liza Jane” has been around for at least a hundred years. The 1940s recording by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys is probably the source for bluegrass versions of the tunes. It’s a great tune for creating variations and improvising on. Chad walks you through his version of both parts of “Goodbye Liza Jane” and gives you ideas for creating variations.
The bluegrass standard and jam-session favorite “Dixie Hoedown” was written by mandolinist Jesse McReynolds. It’s in the key of G and has a second part that features some beautiful double stops as well as a long line with chromatic neighbor tones. In addition to showing you his version of “Dixie Hoedown,” Chad gives you ideas about creating variations on the melody by focusing on the underlying chords.
“Two O’Clock in the Morning” is a fast breakdown that Chad learned from the fiddling of the great bluegrass fiddler Benny Martin. The first part is in the key of D, while the second part modulates to the key of A and begins with pizzicato.
“Back Up and Push” is another bluegrass barnburner. It’s in the key of C and features “hokum bowing” and some great sliding double stops.
Learn the old-time and bluegrass fiddle standard “Blackberry Blossom,” along with the bowing pattern Chad plays, which is primarily the “Nashville shuffle,” with a couple variations. You’ll also learn a short bluesy variation on the B part.
The jam-session favorite “Red-Haired Boy” is in the key of A Mixolydian. You’ll learn Chad’s bowing along with the melody as well as a more “notey” version of “Red-Haired Boy” and how to combine the two versions.
The beautiful “Ookpik Waltz” has become popular in old-time and bluegrass circles. It sounds traditional, but was written by Canadian fiddler Frankie Rodgers. In addition to learning the melody to “Ookpik Waltz,” you’ll learn a great warm-up exercise with open strings, designed to help you get even, consistent tone with your bowing arm.
“Soldier’s Joy” is a must-know fiddle classic. It has a fairly simple basic melody that everyone elaborates on in their own way. You’ll learn the most basic melody as well as a few variations. Chad also gives you some bowing tips and advice on string crossings and getting a solid tone on each note.
In this lesson, you’ll learn something a little different: the beautiful Irish waltz “Star of the County Down.” It’s not only a fun tune to play but, since it has a fairly simple melody, is a good chance to work on your tone and intonation. You’ll learn the melody, a few variations and embellishments, and how to play the melody in the lower octave.
The old-time tune “Lost Girl” is in the key of G and comes from Kentucky old-time fiddler John Salyer. Chad talks about how he firms up the wrist of his bowing arm a bit to better fit the rhythm and feel of the tune. You’ll also learn double stops to play on each part of “Lost Girl,” mostly by droning the string that’s lower than the string the melody is played on.
The traditional fiddle tune “Fisher’s Hornpipe” probably has Celtic origins but it’s played in old-time and bluegrass circles throughout the US. You’ll learn the bowing Chad uses, including a number of three-note slurs in the B part, and a couple of cool slides.
The beautiful waltz “Midnight on the Water” was written by Luke Thomasson, father of Benny Thomasson, one of the major innovators of Texas-style fiddling. “Midnight on the Water” is played in a cross-tuning, with the G and E strings tuned down to D: DDAD. Chad shows you how to tune to DDAD, how to add a steady pulse with the bow to the melody of the A part, which drone strings and double stops to play, and a few variations on the melody of the A part.
The melody of the B part of the jam favorite “Salt Creek” moves up into third position. After learning the melody to the A part, including Chad’s bowing and a few variations, like some bluesy slides and unison drones, you’ll learn how to move into third position on the E string, with an exercise to help you practice the shift.
Bob Wills’ western swing classic “San Antonio Rose” is a great tune to work on playing double stops in third position. Of course, it’s also a great tune to play without venturing up the fingerboard, so you’ll start by learning the melody in first position without double stops. Then, when learning the double stop version, you’ll get some great advice on sliding the double stops from first to third position.
To learn to improvise on a melody it’s good to know the arpeggios of the chords that are used to backup a tune. In this lesson, you’ll learn arpeggios for each of the chords to “San Antonio Rose.” Chad shows you the root, third, and fifth of each arpeggio, making sure you know the names of each of the notes in the chords, and gives you a number of exercises that combine the arpeggios in different ways over the chord changes of “San Antonio Rose.” He also shows you how to use simple arpeggio-based lines to create a simple solo.
The fiddle tune “Cluck Old Hen” is an old-time classic. It uses the A minor pentatonic scale, so Chad starts by making sure you know that scale, and then breaks down the melody of “Cluck Old Hen” phrase by phrase. After you’ve learned the melody, Chad shows you some layers to add, including hammer-ons, double stringing, double stops, and a bow sweep. He also gives you advice on giving a nice attack with your bow to the hammer-on and shows you how to anticipate the beginnings of phrases.
Learn the melody to the bluegrass classic “Long Journey Home” and start adding banjo-style rolls to the melody.
This classic dobro and banjo tune was recorded by bluegrass legends Flatt and Scruggs, whose dobro player Josh Graves introduced the dobro to bluegrass. You’ll learn the basic melody and then learn how to add rolls to the melody to give it the bluegrass dobro sound.
Marcy talks about using economy of motion in your fretting hand, finding ways to save effort in your hand so you can play easier and more smoothly. She goes through a few basic chords, getting you used to playing with the least amount of pressure on the strings. Then she shows you how to apply this concept to the chords in “The Hukilau Song.”
Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” is a great song to sing with just three chords in the key of C (C, F, and G7) and a basic strum pattern of down, down-up, down-up, down-up. You’ll also learn how to play a more rockin’ percussive strum using some different versions of the C, F, and G7 chords and how to accent the backbeat by relaxing your fretting-hand fingers.
The song “L-O-V-E” was made famous by Nat King Cole in 1965. You’ll learn to play it with some nice easy swing chords that flow easily into each other.
In this lesson on playing the summertime classic “Under the Boardwalk,” you’ll learn a number of techniques, including damping and the fan stroke, which you’ll use with the down, down-up, _up, down-up strum pattern. You’ll also learn three different ways to damp the strings to get a percussive sound.
The great old song “I Love a Ukulele” was recorded by popular Jazz Age singer Annette Hanshaw in 1930. You’ll learn some new chords and how to play the basic C chord with your pinky so you can play the quick C–Cdim–Dm7 turnaround without moving your pinky.
Learn Bob Dylan’s song “Forever Young” in Bb, which means you’ll learn some more new chords: Bb, Bbmaj7, Gm, Eb, and a new way to play an F chord. You’ll also learn to play it in G, with a few new versions of G, Gmaj7, Em7, C, D, and D7 chords.
In this lesson, you’ll learn the Civil Rights-era folk song “We Shall Not Be Moved.” You’ll use the down, down-up, _ up down-up strum and basic chords in the key of C. Marcy plays it through and then gives you advice on playing the down, down-up, _ up down-up strum with fingers or thumb, and then shows you the chords, along with a couple of variations.
Learn a great song to play with simple chords and a catchy chorus written by Alice Gerrard. All you need to know to play this song are C, F, and G7 chords and you can play it with a simple strum pattern. Marcy is joined by Cathy Fink, who sings the verses of the song and joins Marcy on the chorus. And then Marcy shows you some of the strumming variations she used to play “Get Up and Do Right,” including a rhythmic “chunk” pattern played by damping the strings with the side of your hand, giving you a down-up-chunk-up pattern.
To improvise on a fiddle tune like “June Apple,” the first step is to learn the chords. Chad shows you the chord progression as well as a nice backup rhythm. Then he talks about his philosophy of improvising and shows you how he distills a tune down to its most basic elements, so that you can start playing around with the rhythm, varying the melody, etc.
Learn how to improvise on a blues tune like “Bluegrass Stomp.” You’ll learn the D major pentatonic scale and how you can flat the third of that scale to play over the G (IV) chord, as well as a simple chord position to play on the A (V) chord and ideas about using seventh chords and singing along with your playing.
Learn a great way to improvise or play solos on bluesy bluegrass songs in the key of B. Chad starts by showing you the B minor pentatonic scale, which has the same notes as the D major pentatonic scale, and then shows you how, by just changing the D natural note to D#, you get a great blues scale in the key of B major.
Learn the melody to the swing tune “Summertime” in the key of E minor and work on learning to improvise on the melody. Chad gives you an example of how to improvise on the melody without thinking about the chord changes, and then how to improvise just using the E minor pentatonic scale. You’ll also learn how to practice improvising with the app/software program iRealPro.
G minor tuning is similar to G tuning (DGDGBD), but with the B tuned down a half step to Bb, so the tuning is DGDGBbD. Doug uses the folk classic “Wayfaring Stranger” to illustrate some of the things you can do in G minor tuning.
Like the relationship between G minor and open-G (major) tunings, D minor tuning has just one note different from open-D tuning. The F# in open-D tuning is tuned down to F, so D minor tuning is DADFAD. You’ll also notice that this is just one note different from DADGAD. The tune Doug uses to demonstrate D minor tuning in this lesson is an Irish harp tune, “Celia Connellan,” which comes from Thomas Connellan, a contemporary of legendary Irish harpist Turlough O’Carolan.
Learn some improvised solos from contemporary mandolin greats like David Grisman, Sam Bush, Mike Marshall, and more.
Contemporary mandolin guru David Grisman recorded the tune “Telluride” on his 20th-anniversary recording DGQ20. You’ll learn the melody, a harmony part (played by fiddler Mark O’Connor), and Grisman’s solo to “Telluride,” which is very illustrative of his soloing style. Joe shows you how Grisman constructs some of his typical lines to fit the chords he’s playing over and explains some of Grisman’s quirky phrasing, in which he ends or begins phrases on unexpected beats.
Learn guitarist Scott Nygaard’s tune “Where to Now?,” both the melody and Mike Marshall’s solo on Scott’s recording. The melody is very syncopated and includes some triplets and other ornaments, so Joe makes sure you get the timing right and shows you the right pick strokes to use for the syncopated lines. He also talks about different approaches to soloing over “Where to Now?” For example, because of the tune’s tempo and feel, you can play all the eighth notes as downstrokes and use alternate picking for double-time 16th-note runs or triplet phrases.
David Grisman’s tune “Dawgma” appeared on his Quintet 80 album in two forms, one as a swing tune and one as a slow bossa nova called “Dawgmatism.” In this lesson, you’ll learn the swing version of “Dawgma”: the melody, some cool chord voicings, and Grisman’s solo from Quintet 80.
David Grisman’s tune “Bow Wow,” from his recording Quintet 80, is one of his most accessible tunes, a fun medium tempo tune in A minor that’s easy to jam over. The A part has a signature phrase that gets repeated numerous times and the B part has a simple pentatonic melody, but with some tricky timing. As an intro to the tune, Grisman plays a melody that Beethoven wrote for the mandolin and you’ll learn that as well as the solo Grisman plays, which is a good example of how he uses a minor pentatonic scale with a flatted fifth to solo on minor-key tunes.
The two-mandolin tune “Macedonia,” written by Sam Bush and Mark O’Connor and recorded on Strength in Numbers, is a classic of contemporary mandolin. The tune starts with a call-and-response intro, and the first part features a simple melody with repeated notes, a motif that is continued in the second part, with modulations and rhythmic variations. In addition to the intro and melody of both parts, you’ll learn Mark O’Connor’s mandolin solo.
“Slipstream” comes from Béla Fleck’s groundbreaking 1988 album Drive. It’s a fast bluegrass tune in 4/4 with some syncopated accents and measures of 3/4, which give it a cool and complex rhythmic feel. You’ll learn the melody and Sam Bush’s solo from the album in this lesson.
“Shenandoah Breakdown” is a Bill Monroe tune that he recorded in 1963 with Bill Keith on banjo and Kenny Baker on fiddle, and it’s popular in bluegrass jam sessions. In this lesson, Joe shows you the melody as well as Dominick Leslie’s solo on “Shenandoah Breakdown” from the Russ Carson record Last Chance.
“Doggy Salt” is a banjo instrumental written by Tony Trischka and recorded on his album Double Banjo Spectacular. The recording features a spectacular mandolin solo by Sam Bush, which you’ll learn in this lesson. “Doggy Salt” is based on the bluegrass classic “Salty Dog Blues” and answers the question, “What would happen if you played ‘Salty Dog Blues’ backward?” It’s a 32-measure tune with an AABA form.
“Sally Ann” is an old-time and bluegrass fiddle tune favorite, with many settings and variations. This lesson focuses on Mike Marshall’s blistering solo (at 00:58) for “Sally Ann” as he played it on the star-studded NewGrange album. That project grew out of a collaboration between Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, and included Philip Aaberg, Alison Brown, Tim O’Brien, and Todd Phillips.
In this next series of lessons, Stash gives you arrangements of solos to bluegrass songs using scales and arpeggios in the patterns and positions you’ve already learned.
Stash shows you a break/solo to the Hank Williams song “Howlin’ at the Moon” in the key of D. The break combines the melody with crosspicking, arpeggios, double stops, and scalar lines and spans the 2nd to 14th frets.
This break to “Little Cabin Home on the Hill” is in the key of A (played without a capo, of course). Stash’s solo includes the melody played in pattern 2E, octave displacement, a Dmaj7 arpeggio, position shifting, a melodic fragment played entirely on the low E string, and more.
Stash’s break to the bluegrass classic “Salty Dog Blues” is in the key of G, but “Salty Dog Blues” has a circle-of-fifths chord progression (G–E–A–D–G), so the solo gives you lots of arpeggio practice on the E, A, D, and G chords. Stash combines the melody with arpeggios, a few bluegrass licks, three-note chords, and more to create a break that spans nearly the entire neck.
In this lesson, Stash shows you a variation on the classic fiddle tune “Fisher’s Hornpipe” that uses arpeggios on D, G, A, and E chords up and down the neck. If you don’t know the basic melody to “Fisher’s Hornpipe” you can learn it in this lesson in Scott Nygaard’s Advanced Flatpicking course. We’ve also included a version of the melody in the notation/tab that accompanies this lesso
Aaron gives you more intros you can use on classic songs like "Lady Be Good," "Pennies from Heaven" etc.
Aaron shows you four different intros you can use for the swing jazz favorite “Lady Be Good.” Each intro takes a different approach: repeating the first part of the melody over the chord progression of the first eight bars of “Lady Be Good,” playing a repeating rhythmic figure over that progression, playing a iii7–VI7–ii7–V7 progression, and more.
Aaron shows you four different intros you can use for “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.” The first two intros start with a bit of the melody and the last eight bars of the chord progression. The third intro uses the chord progression of the last eight bars but with a more rhythmic approach, and the fourth intro uses a different chord progression and a bit of walking bass.
Aaron shows you four different intros to “Pennies from Heaven” in this lesson. Each intro takes a different approach: playing the last eight bars of the melody, using the chords of the last eight bars with a rhythmic figure, pedaling on a V7 chord, and playing a series of turnarounds.
Aaron shows you four different intros for “All of Me,” two of which are based on the chords and melody of the last eight measures of the song and two of which use the chords and melody of the beginning of “All of Me.”
The song “Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky” comes from Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and it has been recorded by many people. Lauren’s version was inspired by the version recorded by The Wayfaring Strangers, with Aoife O’Donovan singing. “Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky” has a lot of long pauses in the melody, so it’s a great song to show you how to play fills between the vocal phrases.
Lauren starts by showing you the melody to “Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky” in the key of D for both the chorus and the verse in two octaves. Then she shows you fills for the eight places where you have two bars to fill between vocal phrases.
Lauren moves “Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky” to the key of C for this lesson. You’ll learn all the same fills you learned for the key of D in two octaves, but, as with the other lessons in C, you’ll play most of the melody and fills in the upper octave in second position.
To play the melody and fills for “Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky” in the key of A, you’ll use the closed handshape for the lower octave and the open handshape for the upper octave.
In the key of G, the melody to “Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky” feels most comfortable in the middle octave, so that’s where you’ll learn it.
Single-string style on the banjo is a way of emulating flatpicking or single-line melody playing, using your thumb for downstrokes and index finger for upstrokes. The style was pioneered in bluegrass by Don Reno in the 1950s and developed by Béla Fleck and other contemporary banjo players. In this lesson, Wes shows you the basics of the technique and gives you a series of exercises with various string crossings and groups of four, three, and two eighth notes. You’ll also learn the fiddle tune “Leather Britches,” with the first part played single-string style, and the second part melodic style.
Learn a couple different ways to play the blues on bluegrass and simple swing tunes, using Bill Monroe’s “Rocky Road Blues.” Both solos use a blues scale that includes both the minor and major thirds and the flatted seventh. Scott starts by teaching you a bluegrass-style solo based on the melody of “Rocky Road Blues.” You’ll also learn a 12-bar swing blues solo that incorporates the bluegrass blues tonality in closed-positions around the third to seventh frets.
The great contemporary bluegrass song “Colleen Malone” was popularized by Hot Rize and won the IBMA award for Bluegrass Song of the Year in 1991. In this lesson you’ll learn a solo inspired by Hot Rize mandolinist Tim O’Brien’s crosspicking and guitarist Charles Sawtelle’s bluesy Clarence White–inspired playing. The ending line to “Colleen Malone” is a good place to play some variations, so you’ll learn three variations on the ending line that illustrate how Scott moves up and down the neck through three-note F and G shapes.
The Delmore Brothers song “Blue Railroad Train” has been recorded by numerous people, but for guitar players Doc Watson’s and Tony Rice’s versions have become classics. In this lesson, you’ll learn the basic form of the song, with some variations, as well as the Delmore Brothers guitar line and Tony Rice’s solo from his album Manzanita.
In another lesson on creating solos to bluegrass songs, Scott looks at Bill Monroe’s recording of “Rose of Old Kentucky.” You’ll learn the sung melody and Monroe’s mandolin solo and look at how the two compare. You’ll also learn how Scott used Bill Monroe’s mandolin solo on “Rose of Old Kentucky” to create a guitar solo that combines guitaristic versions of Monroe’s melodic lead-in lines with crosspicking, fills, and placeholder licks in place of the tremolo that Monroe played on long melody notes.
Bill Monroe’s song “Footprints in the Snow” was a favorite of Clarence White’s: you can hear early recordings of him playing it on 33 Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals and he played a couple of classic melody-based solos on the 1973 Muleskinner recording. In this lesson, you’ll learn those 1973 solos and look at how Clarence based his solos on the melody of the song, using variations on some of his favorite licks.
Vassar Clements’ fiddle solo on Bill Monroe’s classic song “My Little Georgia Rose” is one of the most distinctive parts of Monroe’s original 1950 recording and most bluegrass fiddlers use it as a model for their solos on the song. Scott does the same when he plays it on the guitar, and in this lesson he shows you how he used the fiddle solo to construct a guitar solo, filling it out with crosspicking and some more guitaristic licks.
Tony Rice’s solo on the Bluegrass Album Band’s recording of “Your Love Is Like a Flower” is a classic: one of the best examples of his flashy, driving improvisatory style and a great example of how to create an exciting sound by anticipating chord changes and varying stock phrases by starting them in different parts of the measure. Tony’s solo ignores the melody for the most part, and, because “Your Love Is Like a Flower” has a very standard chord progression (sometimes called “bluegrass chord progression #1), you can use a lot of his ideas in songs with the same progression.
Learn the solo Scott played on Tim O’Brien’s recording of the Bob Dylan song “Señor,” from Tim’s acclaimed Red on Blonde album. While it was a partially improvised solo, Scott followed a lot of the concepts he’s been talking about in other lessons on creating solos to songs: targeting melody notes, using lead-in runs to the melody, etc. The song is in a minor key with an unusual chord progression, and has a contemporary bluegrass feel. Scott walks you through the solo note for note, sharing some of the things he thought about while playing the solo and giving technical advice on certain aspects of the solo, like the slow vibrato he used on some of the long sustained notes.
The traditional song “John Henry” is often played as a fast bluegrass instrumental, and it can be tricky to create a guitar solo for it. The form is unusual—20 bars, with five four-bar melodic phrases—and there are almost no chord changes. Scott shows you how he comes up with a solo for a fast tune like this, starting by listening to what other guitarists have done (in this case, Clarence White) and then creating a basic melodic solo that he can embellish.
Scott uses the old folk song “Been All Around This World,” which has been recorded by Jerry Garcia, Bryan Sutton, and many others, to illustrate how to take a simple Maybelle Carter–style arrangement of a song and make it your own. He starts by giving you ideas on expanding on a simple arrangement by adding lead-in lines, improvised cadence licks, and elaborate melodic variations. Then he walks you through a solo to “Been All Around This World” he created to kick off the song.
Tony Rice’s solo on the legendary 1975 JD Crowe and the New South recording of “Old Home Place” is a classic. But it’s only a half solo, so if you’re going to play a complete solo on the song, you’ll need to come up with your own second half. In this lesson, Scott shows you Tony’s solo as well as his own solo inspired by Tony’s. In addition to showing you Tony’s solo, Scott explains how Tony’s unique idiosyncratic approach to pick direction makes it more difficult for strict alternating pickers to play some of his phrases.
Scott recorded an instrumental version of the Carter Family song “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” that featured his crosspicking style on his 1990 Rounder Records debut No Hurry. In this lesson, you’ll learn his basic crosspicked arrangement and also the improvised two-chorus solo he played on the recording. As he explains, Scott’s crosspicking style is as influenced by the time he spent playing electric guitar in country and Cajun bands (where he imitated Cajun steel guitar players’ approach to playing the melody of Cajun dance tunes) as it is by the traditional crosspicking style of George Shuffler and Clarence White.
Tony Rice’s style changes quite a bit depending on what key he’s playing in. His driving bluegrass style is usually played in G position, and is much different from his playing in C position, especially when playing by himself, as he did on his recording of Norman Blake’s song “Orphan Annie” on Church Street Blues. In this lesson, you’ll learn his first solo from that record. It’s a great solo, but for some reason, Tony added an extra measure in the middle of both of his solos on the record, so while it’s a fun solo to learn, don’t try playing it verbatim if someone calls “Orphan Annie” at a jam session.
Scott shows you a few different ways to play triplets and demonstrates them on a solo to Bill Monroe’s “True Life Blues.” Playing triplets is always an issue for a picking style based on two notes, and the question is how to pick three notes when you usually pick two. The most common way is to slur two of the notes, so you can maintain a strict alternating picking pattern, but Scott shows you some other methods, including using “sweep picking” and down-down-up picking.
Because of their unique rhythmic feel, slides can be tricky to play on the mandolin. Marla introduces you to slides with the popular tune “The Road to Lisdoonvarna,” explaining the differences between slides and jigs and how to get the feel of slides on the mandolin by adopting a picking-hand approach that is more like that of a reel than a slide. She also shows you how to think of the triplet phrases in slides as ornamentation rather than as essential parts of the melody in order to get the feel of the slide. You’ll learn two versions of the melody of “The Road to Lisdoonvarna” in this lesson: the “standard” melody played as a jig and the melody modified for the mandolin so you can play it with a slide feel and tempo.
The slide “Apple Blossom” fits very nicely on the mandolin. It’s in the key of D, using a pentatonic scale, and the B part differs from the A by just a single note. Marla shows you how she would strip down the melody to its most basic form to get the pulse of the slide on the mandolin, and then how she would add triplets and double stops to fill it out a bit.
The lovely B minor slide “An Choisir” translates as “The House Party” or “The Wedding Party” and it suits the mandolin quite nicely. Marla shows you the basic melody to both parts and then shows you how and where to add some triplets and some variations to the descending B part melody.
The well-known slide “The Star Above the Garter” is good to know for playing in seisiúns. The melody has a lot of triplet phrases that you’ll need to modify slightly to be able to play it with a slide feel on the mandolin. Marla plays it as a slide and then shows you the melody as it might be written, with more jig-style triplets, and how she takes the middle notes out of the triplet phrases to be able to bring it up to slide tempo with the right rhythmic feel. Once you’ve learned the stripped-down melody, Marla shows you how you might add some triplets back in, to enhance the tune while preserving the feel of the slide.
“Going to the Well for Water” can be played as a slide or a jig. Marla first learned it as a jig and in this lesson she’ll show you how to play it as a jig and then how to turn it into a slide by removing the middle note of the three-note jig phrases and then adding back in some triplets from the melody if they don’t cross strings.
“I Know That You Know” is a jazz standard most famously recorded by Nat King Cole. Aaron’s arrangement, at least at the beginning, takes a different approach to chord melody than he’s shown you so far, arpeggiating the chords rather than playing block chords. The song has an AB form, and the first six bars of the B are the same as the first six bars of the A, so Aaron plays the B with a more traditional chord melody approach.
“After You’ve Gone” is one of the most enduring jazz standards, having been written in 1918, recorded hundreds of times since then, and still very popular with jazz musicians today. It has an AB form, but with an eight-bar tag, making it a forty-measure form. Aaron’s arrangement is based on what a big band might do—alternating single-note melodic lines with chordal hits.
The jazz standard “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” was made famous in the 1930s by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Aaron’s arrangement combines short melodic lines that outline the underlying chords with many of the chord melody voicings you’ve already learned. “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” has an AABC form. The C part is a repeat of the A part with an additional four-bar tag.
George Gershwin’s “Liza” is a perfect song for chord melody, since so many of the melody notes are the top notes of the chord, in most cases chord voicings you already know. Aaron’s arrangement starts with block chords and then alternates between chords and single-note lines. “Liza” has an AABA form, and on the second A, Aaron uses the same chord voicings but alternates the melody with chord hits in the first two bars.
“This Can’t Be Love” was written in 1938 by Rodgers and Hart for the musical The Boys from Syracuse, and it was a hit for the Benny Goodman orchestra soon afterward. It’s in the key of F, with an AABA form, and Aaron’s arrangement features a lot of block chords, using a chord for every, or nearly every, melody note. In addition to showing you his chord melody arrangement, Aaron gives you ideas intros you can use for “This Can’t Be Love,” starting with intros based on the melody and then based on the key center.
The jazz standard “How About You?” was written by Burton Lane and Ralph Freed for the 1941 film Babes of Broadway, starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, and was notably recorded by Frank Sinatra on his classic Songs for Swingin’ Lovers. Aaron’s arrangement is in the key of C and features single-note lines combined with block chords. It has an AB form, and the B repeats the first section of the A, although there’s not a lot of repetition, and when there is repetition in the melody, Aaron often changes the harmonization.
The jazz standard “Misty” was written in 1954 by jazz pianist Erroll Garner. Aaron’s arrangement is a bit different than the other arrangements you’ve learned. In this case, Aaron plays the entire arrangement rubato: out of time or without an obvious pulse. To match the melody with the chords, some of the voicings Aaron uses require some difficult stretches, but he shows you how to think of the chords as just melody notes on top of basic two- or three-note chord voicings you already know.
The 1920s jazz classic “Limehouse Blues” is popular in the Gypsy jazz and swing repertoire. “Limehouse Blues” is often played at a very fast tempo, so Aaron’s arrangement reflects that, and it begins with an introduction based on descending dominant seven chords. In addition to walking you through his basic arrangement, Aaron also gives you ideas on varying the arrangement in rhythmic ways: by emphasizing the bass notes or melody or chord, placing the chord on different beats, etc.
“Satin Doll” is one of Duke Ellington’s most popular songs, and one of the most popular jazz standards. The form of “Satin Doll” is AABA, and, as he does in many of his arrangements, Aaron approaches each A part differently. For example, in the first A part, he starts low on the fingerboard with two- and three-note block voicings, and in the second A part he separates the lower (bass) note of the voicings from the melody.
The jazz standard “Just Friends” is played in many ways: as an uptempo swing tune, as a ballad, etc. In this lesson, Aaron shows you a ballad version of “Just Friends” and uses it to show you some of the ways he plays rubato.
The Duke Ellington tune “C Jam Blues,” as you might have gathered from the title, is a blues in the key of C that is often played at jam sessions. Aaron’s chord melody arrangement starts with the melody and includes two variations that create different rhythmic riffs using block chords.
“Autumn Leaves” is one of the most popular jazz standards. Aaron’s arrangement (in the key of G minor) starts with a rubato treatment of the first half and then goes into time (a tempo) for the second half. Aaron starts by explaining what guided his interpretive choices before walking you through the arrangement phrase by phrase.
The jazz standard “I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love with Me” was written in 1926 and made popular through recordings by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, among others. It has an AABA form, and Aaron’s arrangement treats each A part in a different way. For his arrangement of the bridge of “I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love with Me,” Aaron uses a riff on the chords and ignores the melody.
“Exactly Like You” was written by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields in 1930 and has since become one of the most played jazz standards, with memorable recorded versions by Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Django Reinhardt, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others. Aaron’s arrangement uses a lot of ii7–V7 progressions, and he explains how you can use ii7–V7 changes as substitutions to move to the next chord in a progression.
The Duke Ellington song “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” is one of the most popular jazz standards. It’s usually played with a figure from the rhythm section that responds to the vocal melody, and Aaron incorporates that figure into his chord melody arrangement.
“September in the Rain” is a popular jazz ballad that was written in 1937 by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, and has since become a jazz standard, with popular recordings by George Shearing and Dinah Washington in the 1950s and ‘60s. Aaron approaches his arrangement in a traditional chord-melody fashion.
Billie Holiday recorded probably the most well-known version of the Benny Goodman composition “If Dreams Come True” but there are many other great versions as well. Aaron’s arrangement of “If Dreams Come True” starts with a classic chord melody approach with the melody on top in block chords, and then Aaron starts adding variations: arpeggiating the chord, emphasizing bass movement, etc.
The jazz standard “On the Sunny Side of the Street” was written in 1930 by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, and has been recorded by innumerable musicians. On the mandolin, it starts with a big leap: from the third fret G note on the E string to an E7 chord at the 12th fret. Aaron approaches the A parts of “On the Sunny Side of the Street” in standard chord melody fashion, combining single-note melody lines with chords, but he adds a walking bass to his arrangement of the bridge.
“Sweet Sue” is a popular song from the 1920s (full title, “Sweet Sue, Just You”) that became a jazz standard and has been recorded by numerous jazz icons (Django Reinhardt, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, etc.). It has a simple melody, in the key of G, and has an AABA form, which allows for a lot of possibilities for variations.
“Just Me, Just You” was written for the 1929 musical film Marianne and Cliff (“Ukulele Ike”) Edwards had a popular hit with it in that same year. It’s since become a jazz standard with numerous recordings. It has the standard AABA 32-bar form, so you have the opportunity to approach the A parts in different ways.
Fats Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose” is one of the most popular tunes in the history of jazz, and is played by everyone, everywhere, all the time. It’s in the key of F, and has an AABA form.
Aaron shows you four different intros you can use for “Honeysuckle Rose” and tunes like it. Each intro takes a different approach: using a piece of the melody, playing a common “shout chorus” for “Honeysuckle Rose,” repeating a simple turnaround with variations, and playing a chord progression that leads to the start of the tune.
The George and Ira Gerswhin song “A Foggy Day” was originally titled “A Foggy Day in London Town” and was sung by Fred Astaire in the 1937 film Damsel in Distress. Aaron’s arrangement of “A Foggy Day” is meant to be played as a rubato ballad.
Cole Porter wrote “Just One of Those Things” in 1935 for the musical Jubilee, and it has since become a favorite of jazz and popular singers, with numerous recordings, including a version by Peggy Lee that reached #14 on the Billboard charts in 1952. It has a more unusual form than most of the standards you’ve been learning. The AABA form is 64 bars long and the sections are 16 bars long, with 16-bar A parts in D minor and a bridge with eight bars in Eb and eight bars in C major, before a return to D minor in the last A part.
The beautiful song “Till There Was You” was written for the popular 1950s musical The Music Man, and was also recorded by the Beatles. It has a standard 32-bar AABA form, and Aaron plays it as a rubato ballad.
“For Dancers Only” is a well-known big-band tune that comes from Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra and was written by Sy Oliver, a trumpeter in Lunceford’s band. It’s a riff tune in the key of C and the melody works well with the standard chord voicings you’ve been using.
The beautiful ballad “I Remember You” was written in 1941 by Victor Scherzinger and Johnny Mercer and was originally recorded by Jimmy Dorsey. Dorothy Lamour sang it with the Jimmy Dorsey orchestra in the movie “The Fleet’s In” and it’s been recorded by numerous people, including the Beatles and Bjork.
Aaron shows you four different intros for “I Got Rhythm,” which can be used to kickoff not only the Gershwin standard, but all of the tunes and songs based on the song’s chord progression, commonly called “rhythm changes.” For that reason, the intros Aaron shows you are based more on the chord progression than the melody.
The 32-bar swing tune “Crazy Rhythm” was written in 1928 for the Broadway musical Here’s Howe and became a swing and big band standard, with numerous recordings, including one by Django Reinhardt, Coleman Hawkins, and Benny Carter.
“It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” was composed by Duke Ellington in 1931 and soon became a jazz standard, with recordings by numerous musicians, including Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. It’s in the key of G minor and has an AABA format.
The jazz standard “The Blue Room” was composed by Rodgers and Hart for the 1926 musical The Girlfriend. It has a standard 32-bar form. Aaron approaches his arrangement a little differently at times in order to match the phrasing of the melody, playing the melody on the first two beats of the bar and the chord on the third and fourth beats.
The beautiful jazz standard “East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)” was written in 1934 for a Princeton University stage production, and it became a hallmark of one of Princeton’s a cappella groups. It has been recorded numerous times, by artists including Charlie Parker, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, and many others. It’s in the key of G, and Aaron approaches it in a classic chord melody style.
“How Am I to Know?” was written in 1929 by Jack King with lyrics by Dorothy Parker. There are numerous recordings of this jazz standard, including one by the Frankie Trumbauer Orchestra that features guitarist Eddie Lang. “How Am I to Know” has an interesting chord progression and a melody with many long notes, which allowed Aaron to create an arrangement in which he plays the melody along with a rhythm-section part.
The beautiful ballad “What’ll I Do” was written by Irving Berlin in 1923. It was recorded by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, and since then it has been recorded by numerous singers, including Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, and even Bob Dylan. Aaron plays “What’ll I Do” simply and slowly (rubato) to put a focus on the melody.
The old standard “My Buddy” was written by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn and published in 1922. It was used in the 1927 silent film Wings, which won the first Academy Award for Best Picture. The melody to “My Buddy” is a bit repetitive and has a lot of whole notes. Aaron’s arrangement highlights a few different ways to deal with long notes, including playing rhythm figures with the chords.
“Makin’ Whoopee” was written by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn for the 1928 musical Whoopee! Notable recorded versions include those by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra (on the classic Songs for Swingin’ Lovers) and Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald (on their duet album).
“Easter Parade” was written by Irving Berlin for the 1933 musical As Thousands Cheer. It was performed by Judy Garland and Fred Astaire in the 1948 film Easter Parade, which was built around the song. Aaron’s arrangement of “Easter Parade” is in the key of Bb and uses a variety of his usual chord melody approaches.
The melody of “Smile” was written by Charlie Chaplin, who was inspired by the Puccini opera Tosca. It was used in Chaplin’s 1937 film Modern Times, and lyrics were added later in 1954. Nat King Cole was the first person to record “Smile” with lyrics. It’s a simple and spare melody, so Aaron arranged it to match its simplicity.
“Cheerful Little Earful” is a fun, swinging tune that was written in 1930 by Harry Warren, Ira Gerswhin, and Billy Rose for the musical Sweet and Low.
“Someday My Prince Will Come” was written for the 1937 Walt Disney animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. There are great jazz versions by Miles Davis, Bill Evans, and Dave Brubeck. “Someday My Prince Will Come” is a waltz (3/4 time) and Aaron’s arrangement is in the key of Bb.
“Rosetta” was written by legendary jazz pianist Earl Hines and was first recorded in 1933 by Earl Hines and his Orchestra. It quickly became a swing standard, with recordings by Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Fats Waller, and many others. Aaron’s arrangement takes advantage of the spaces in the melody to play some rhythmic chordal hits in between melodic lines to keep the pulse moving.
“Tangerine” was written by Victor Schertzinger and Johnny Mercer in 1941 and quickly became a jazz standard. It was written for the movie The Fleet’s In, and became a hit for Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra, who played the song in the film.
“Confessin’”—also called “I’m Confessin’” or “I’m Confessin’ That I Love You” was written by vaudevillian Chris Smith. Louis Armstrong’s 1930 recording of the song was very influential in it becoming a jazz standard, as was Fats Waller’s 1929 recording (with the title “Lookin’ for Another Sweetie” and different lyrics). There are lots of ways to play it, but Aaron’s arrangement aims to keep the momentum moving during the pauses in the melody.
George and Ira Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me” was written in 1926 for the musical Oh Kay! and was originally a medium tempo jazz tune. But singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra started singing it as a ballad, and that’s how it’s usually been played ever since. It has a beautiful melody and an interesting chord progression.
“Cute” is a classic swing tune written by trumpeter/composer/arranger Neil Hefti and recorded by Count Basie on Basie Plays Hefti. It was also recorded by Homer and Jethro, featuring Jethro Burns on mandolin. In Aaron’s arrangement, he harmonizes much of the melody with double stops, a technique he hasn’t used much in this course.
“Georgia on My Mind” was written and recorded by Hoagy Carmichael in 1930 and almost immediately became a jazz and pop standard. It has been recorded by more than 1,000 artists and Ray Charles’s version was a Number One pop hit in 1960. Aaron’s arrangement in the key of Bb features a relaxed, “elastic” approach to the rhythm, as well as chord voicings that emphasize melody notes interspersed with some single-note passages.
The beautiful waltz “Midnight on the Water” comes from legendary Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson. You’ll learn how to use tremolo to play it and how to add drone notes to the melody.
Another great old-time tune in the key of D, “Over the Waterfall” is great for working on playing your upstrokes at the same volume as downstrokes. You’ll also learn to let open drone strings ring out below the basic melody.
The keys of D and A are the most important to know on the mandolin, but now you’re ready to learn a fiddle tune in the key of G. “Seneca Square Dance” is an old-time dance tune with a simple, pretty melody that sounds great played at a medium tempo.
The old hymn “Wayfaring Stranger” is a perfect tune to play on the mandolin with tremolo and it’s in the key of A minor, another key that sounds great on the mandolin.
The fiddle tune “Whiskey Before Breakfast” is a popular tune among all sorts of roots musicians. The chords to “Whiskey Before Breakfast” change fairly often, especially in the B part. Sharon shows you a handy way to memorize them so that they don’t seem so random.
Bluegrass singers often sing in keys other than the usual keys of C, G, D, and A you’re probably used to playing in if you’ve mostly been playing fiddle tunes. So it’s important to be able to play in different keys. In these lessons you’ll learn how major scales and arpeggios are constructed so you can play them in any key, including two major scale finger patterns you can use anywhere on the neck. You’ll also learn about the importance of knowing about seventh chords, and how Bill Monroe used dominant seventh arpeggios to create a bluesy sound. With Notation/Tab and/or Chord Diagrams
In this lesson, you’ll learn arpeggios for the major chords in the key of D, including a new arpeggio fingering. You already know arpeggios for the D and A chords (the I and V in the key of D), so you just need to learn a G arpeggio to have arpeggios for the I, IV, and V chords in the key of D. Sharon provides audio rhythm tracks for practicing your arpeggios in the key of D as well as changing between chords: D–G, D–A, G–A.
Sharon shows you seventh chord arpeggios for the I, IV, and V chords in the key of G: G7, C7, and D7. In addition to showing you the arpeggio patterns, she gives you ideas for practicing the arpeggios two strings at a time so they become part of your playing.
Sharon talks about targeting chord tones in your improvising in this lesson. She shows you four different approaches to targeting different notes in a chord as you change from one chord to another: targeting the root, targeting common tones, using guide tones, and using half-step motion.
The fiddle tune “Old Joe Clark” is a bluegrass jam favorite and another opportunity to work on the “Osborne roll.” The second part of “Old Joe Clark” uses an F chord and Bill gives you a few exercises to help you get used to fretting it.
The great bluegrass singer and banjo player Ralph Stanley passed away recently. In this lesson you’ll learn a solo to the folk classic “Worried Man Blues” inspired by the Stanley Brothers’ version of the song using forward-reverse rolls.
The old-time melody “Reuben” was the first tune Earl Scruggs worked out using his three-finger picking style. It’s a popular tune at old-time and bluegrass jam sessions and it’s in D tuning. You’ll learn how to get into D tuning as well as a great solo that uses combinations of pinch patterns and alternating thumb rolls, along with an occasional forward-reverse roll. You’ll also learn two of Earl’s variations.
Made popular in the movie Deliverance, “Dueling Banjos” even reached #2 on the pop charts in 1972. It’s a great tune for learning the G major scale. You’ll learn all of the melodies you’ll need to play the first part of “Dueling Banjos” and the chord progression and rolls you’ll need on the “fast” second part.
Earl Scruggs’ banjo tune “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” is probably the most famous bluegrass banjo instrumental. Learn exactly how Earl played “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” starting with the well-known opening lick, which is played with the “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” roll.
The old-time country classic “Wildwood Flower” is a favorite instrumental of guitarists, who usually play it in the key of C. So it makes a good lesson in playing melodies in the key of C on the banjo. Bill gives you some advice about tuning your banjo when playing in C and then shows you the basic melody of “Wildwood Flower.” You’ll also learn the major chords in the key of C and how to add rolls to fill out the melody, along with a couple variations.
The jam session favorite “Cherokee Shuffle” is a fiddle tune, and when played by a fiddle or mandolin player it’s melody may contain a lot of eighth notes, but it can be played Scruggs-style on the banjo by simplifying the melody and adding roll patterns. “Cherokee Shuffle” is commonly played in the key of A with a capo at the second fret using key-of-G chord shapes.
Learn the old-time classic “Buffalo Gals” in the key of G. You’ll learn a few different ways to interpret the melody on the banjo, including some variations that use drop-thumbing, pull-offs, and the Galax roll.
The old-time tune “North Carolina Breakdown” is in the key of G and covers a lot of the fingerboard, from the low D string to the B note high up at the ninth fret on the first string. Evie begins by reminding you where the G-scale notes are up at the fifth, seventh, and ninth frets so you’ll be able to find them easily when the tune goes there. The B part of “North Carolina Breakdown,” which starts on the IV chord, is probably the most memorable part. Variations include a syncopated strum on the offbeats.
“Waynesboro” is another great old-time tune in G that uses the whole fingerboard. Well, at least up to the ninth fret. The A part uses some internal drop thumbing, in which you use your thumb on the G string. You’ll also learn a syncopated phrase (called an “I-skip”) that skips a note played on the downbeat. The B part of “Waynesboro” starts up at the ninth fret and moves back down through the seventh and fifth frets. You’ll learn some variations on this simple melody that use small chord shapes and drop thumbing.
In this lesson, you’ll learn Eddie Stubbs’s backup (and solos) on the Johnson Mountain Boys recording of “Teardrops Fell Like Raindrops,” a great example of midtempo bluegrass backup in the key of E. Chad starts by showing you Eddie’s kickoff to the song, which he also uses as the basis of his solo. Then Chad walks you through the backup to the first verse and chorus, the solo, and the backup to the second verse and chorus, as well as the ending.
Chad shows you a backup part for “Tennessee Waltz” in the key of D that includes lots of great double-stops and some chordal moves you can use in backing up other tunes in the key of D. Most advanced-level bluegrass fiddlers will know “Tennessee Waltz,” but Chad starts by playing the melody of “Tennessee Waltz” before walking you through his backup part.
Bobby Hicks plays some great backup fills on the Bluegrass Album Band recording of “We Can’t Be Darlings Anymore” and in this lesson, Chad shows you his backup behind the second verse of the song. He walks you through the backup part, and then shows you how to take some of the individual licks and vary them.
Chad gives you advice on holding the fiddle and extending your bowing arm in this technique lesson. He starts by demonstrating that if you hold the fiddle parallel to the ground, the bow can rest on the strings. Then he breaks down some bow mechanics, showing you that, when bowing to the tip of the bow, if you extend your arm from the elbow, your bow will stay parallel to the bridge as it moves across the strings. He also shows you how to bring your bowing arm in when you're bowing to the frog.
You’ll learn two positions for the G major scale at the 12th fret and use them to play “Amazing Grace” at the 12th fret.
Learn the melody to “Long Journey Home” in a closed position the 12th fret and then add a classic Josh Graves roll pattern to the melody.
Learn a closed-position version of the melody for the classic song “Banks of the Ohio” in the key of E.
Learn the bluegrass, folk, and gospel favorite “I’ll Fly Away” in the key of F in a couple of positions, with some variations that include some classic dobro double stop harmonies.
The pop hit “The Glory of Love” was written in the early 1930s. Marcy’s version was inspired by the blues guitarist and singer Big Bill Broonzy. You’ll learn to play “The Glory of Love” with two fingerstyle patterns: the pinch pattern and a finger roll, which alternates the thumb with the fingers in a simple rolling finger pattern.
Guitarist Elizabeth Cotten’s signature song “Freight Train” has become a folk and fingerstyle guitar classic. Learn to play “Freight Train” with a rolling fingerstyle pattern that emulates Cotten’s guitar playing. Marcy explains the pattern, and shows you which picking fingers to use on each string.
Olabelle Reed was one of the finest songwriters in bluegrass and country music. Learn her most popular song, “High on a Mountain” with a fingerpicking pattern in which the thumb plays the fourth string, the index finger plays the second string, and the middle finger plays the first string. You’ll also learn how to play a melodic solo to “High on a Mountain” using the pentatonic scale.
The solo J.D. Crowe played on the Bluegrass Album Band’s recording of the Flatt and Scruggs song “Gonna Settle Down” contains a lot of licks you can use in other songs.
J.D. Crowe played a couple of classic solos to “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” with the Bluegrass Album Band. Learning both solos gives you a great look at the possibilities for negotiating melodies on bluegrass tunes.
The bluegrass standard “Old Home Place” was written by Dean Webb and Mitch Jayne of the Dillards and famously recorded by J.D. Crowe and the New South in the 1970s, when that band included Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, and Jerry Douglas. That self-titled recording, often referred to as “0044,” the Rounder Records catalog number of the record, influenced the course of contemporary bluegrass for decades. You’ll learn J.D.’s classic solo from that recording in this lesson.
JD Crowe’s banjo solo on Jimmy Martin’s song “You Don’t Know My Mind” is a bluegrass classic. It includes a lot of cool pull-off licks, some of which were influenced by country and rock ’n’ roll guitar players.
Bill pays tribute to the music of banjoist JD Crowe and guitarist Tony Rice and the music they made together in JD Crowe and the New South from 1971 to 1975. In this lesson, you’ll learn two JD Crowe solos on “Nine Pound Hammer” from Tony Rice’s first album, Guitar.
In this lesson you’ll learn JD Crowe’s solo on the Bluegrass Album Band recording of the Osborne Brothers’ song “Big Spike Hammer,” featuring some of JD’s multiple hammer-on and pull-off licks. Bill also discusses the concept of note separation and how the left-hand can contribute to this important element of J. D.’s sound. He also discusses the 2–3 slide and hammer-on on the third string (the “Cripple Creek” slide) and how adding a slight bend to both embellishments can get you closer to both Earl and J. D.’s sound and technique.
Learn the old-time and bluegrass fiddle standard “Blackberry Blossom,” along with the bowing pattern Chad plays, which is primarily the “Nashville shuffle,” with a couple variations. You’ll also learn a short bluesy variation on the B part.
The jam-session favorite “Red-Haired Boy” is in the key of A Mixolydian. You’ll learn Chad’s bowing along with the melody as well as a more “notey” version of “Red-Haired Boy” and how to combine the two versions.
The beautiful “Ookpik Waltz” has become popular in old-time and bluegrass circles. It sounds traditional, but was written by Canadian fiddler Frankie Rodgers. In addition to learning the melody to “Ookpik Waltz,” you’ll learn a great warm-up exercise with open strings, designed to help you get even, consistent tone with your bowing arm.
“Soldier’s Joy” is a must-know fiddle classic. It has a fairly simple basic melody that everyone elaborates on in their own way. You’ll learn the most basic melody as well as a few variations. Chad also gives you some bowing tips and advice on string crossings and getting a solid tone on each note.
In this lesson, you’ll learn something a little different: the beautiful Irish waltz “Star of the County Down.” It’s not only a fun tune to play but, since it has a fairly simple melody, is a good chance to work on your tone and intonation. You’ll learn the melody, a few variations and embellishments, and how to play the melody in the lower octave.
The fiddle tune “Cluck Old Hen” is an old-time classic. It uses the A minor pentatonic scale, so Chad starts by making sure you know that scale, and then breaks down the melody of “Cluck Old Hen” phrase by phrase. After you’ve learned the melody, Chad shows you some layers to add, including hammer-ons, double stringing, double stops, and a bow sweep. He also gives you advice on giving a nice attack with your bow to the hammer-on and shows you how to anticipate the beginnings of phrases.
The beautiful waltz “Midnight on the Water” was written by Luke Thomasson, father of Benny Thomasson, one of the major innovators of Texas-style fiddling. “Midnight on the Water” is played in a cross-tuning, with the G and E strings tuned down to D: DDAD. Chad shows you how to tune to DDAD, how to add a steady pulse with the bow to the melody of the A part, which drone strings and double stops to play, and a few variations on the melody of the A part.
“Scotland” is a three-part fiddle tune in the key of A written by Bill Monroe. It has a simple melody played mostly on the A and E strings, and it can be played with A or E drones to imitate the Scottish bagpipes.
“Ora Lee” is a great old-time fiddle tune in the key of G. Chad walks you through the melody and shows you the bowing he uses to play “Ora Lee,” including pulses, three-note slurs, and slurred string crossings.
“Eighth of January” may be the only old-time fiddle tune that made it to the top of the pop charts— as “The Battle of New Orleans,” sung by country singer Johnny Horton in 1959. But, of course, it’s also a popular tune at bluegrass and old-time jam sessions.
The old-time fiddle tune “Arkansas Traveler” is one of the most popular fiddle tunes and is played at jam sessions everywhere. You’ll learn a basic version of the melody and then a version with fiddle layers, shuffle bowing, and variations. Chad also gives you ideas about improvising rhythmically on the basic melody.
“Goodbye Liza Jane” is a fiddle jam session favorite popular in old-time, bluegrass, traditional jazz, and western swing circles. It was published as a song in 1916, but likely dates back to the mid-1800s and minstrel shows. Chad teaches you a basic version of the melody and also shows you some more elaborate variations on the A part.
“Innisfree” is a song Joe wrote in which he set a William Butler Yeats poem to music. It’s in the key of E and has a bluesy, medium-tempo, straight-eighths feel that is different from a bluegrass feel, although you can play a lot of the same phrases you’d play on a bluegrass song in the key of E. Joe shows you how he plays the melody and some of the ways he embellishes it.
The opening (and title) track from Alison Krauss’s incredibly influential Every Time You Say Goodbye album opens with an immaculately crafted mandolin solo by Adam Steffey, which you’ll learn in this lesson.
Joe’s band Mr. Sun recently recorded a version of the Beatles’ song “Blackbird” on their album Extrovert, inspired to some degree by jazz pianist Brad Mehldau’s version. In this lesson, Joe shows you how to approach playing the song on the mandolin, including learning the melody, voicing the chords, and improvising over the chord changes.
In this lesson, you’ll learn Ronnie McCoury’s Solo on “Lonesome Road Blues” from the Del McCoury Band’s recording Old Memories. The solo includes a lot of great bluegrass vocabulary that can be played at a fast tempo.
Ronnie McCoury’s great solo on “I’m On My Way Back to the Old Home” (from the Bill Monroe Tribute album True Life Blues) is mostly played in closed position so the ideas and vocabulary he uses can mostly be transferred to other keys.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a Sam Bush solo on the song “John Hardy” from the Tony Rice record Cold on the Shoulder.
Sturgill Simpson has performed his hit song “All Around You” as a stripped-down rock ‘n’ roll anthem, as an extravaganza with horns and strings, and solo with just an acoustic guitar. One of his most charming versions is the bluegrass setting on his Cuttin’ Grass album, which boasts a roster of top-notch bluegrass players including mandolin phenom and singer Sierra Hull. Joe does a deep dive on Hull’s kickoff to “All Around You,” which is heavy on double-stops and phrases that are easily applicable to other solos.
This month’s lesson shines a spotlight on Ronnie McCoury’s outstanding mandolin kickoff to “Blue Darlin’,” a Jimmy Newman song on the Del McCoury Band’s 1996 album The Cold Hard Facts. The compact solo in the key of Eb is just 16 bars long, but it offers plenty of challenges by way of double stops for the left hand and more-or-less continuous tremolo for the right. Joe unpacks the mysteries of what he calls “one of the best melodic statements by a mandolinist as an introduction to a tune that I can think of.”
In this lesson, Doug talks about playing in keys other than the one most associated with a tuning. He revisits DADGAD tuning and shows you how to play in the key of G in DADGAD, using the traditional Irish song “The South Wind.”
In this lesson, you’ll learn to play in the key of A in DADGAD, using the Celtic and bluegrass favorite “Red-Haired Boy.” “Red-Haired Boy” mostly uses the A Mixolydian scale which has the same notes as D major, so DADGAD is a great tuning for playing in A Mixolydian.
Learn to play in the key of C in DADGAD in this lesson. You’ll also learn some jazz chords in the key of C and use them to play the song “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
“Been All Around This World” is an old American folk song with many variations and titles, including “Diggin’ On a New Railroad” and “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me.” There are great recent versions from Crooked Still and Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, among many others. You’ll learn “Been All Around This World” in the keys of A, C, G, and the new key of B.
“Been All Around This World” is an old American folk song with many variations and titles, including “Diggin’ On a New Railroad” and “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me.” There are great recent versions from Crooked Still and Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, among many others. In this lesson, you’ll learn it in the key of A, using the closed handshape in the lower octave.
In this lesson, you’ll venture into the key of B, which can be daunting to many fiddlers, because the closed handshape is pretty much a necessity. But B is a common key in bluegrass, so it’s good to become familiar with it, and you’ve already learned how to play “Been All Around This World” with the closed handshape in the key of A.
All of the work you did with the closed handshape, learning to play “Been All Around This World” in B, will be put to use when you move to the key of C, as you can just move that handshape up a half step to play in C in the upper octave. You’ll also learn the melody and solo ideas for “Been All Around This World” in a new handshape, with the first finger on the third of the scale in the lower octave.
You know how to play “Been All Around This World” with both of the handshapes you’ll use to play it in the key G, so you should be able to move through this lesson very quickly.
In this lesson, Wes shows you how he uses guide tones in his chord voicings. Guide tones are the most import notes in a chord, the notes that really define the chord and create a sense of movement from chord to chord. He shows you how to construct two voicings of seventh chords using the third, seventh, and fifth of the chord, and how to use them to play Earl Scruggs’s “Foggy Mountain Special” and “Salty Dog Blues.”
The old-time fiddle tune “Half Past Four” comes from the great Kentucky fiddler Ed Haley, who was recorded by his son in a series of home recordings in the 1940s. It has also been making the rounds of bluegrass jams lately, and Scott recorded it with John Reischman and Sharon Gilchrist on Harmonic Tone Revealers. Scott’s version is much like the way a fiddler would play it, but with fingering choices designed to make it flow on the guitar. You’ll learn “Half Past Four” in two octaves, played out of G position on the guitar.
“Crockett’s Honeymoon” is an old-time fiddle tune that Scott recorded on his album Dreamer’s Waltz. It’s in the key of G and is often played at a very fast tempo. It also sounds good on the guitar in two octaves, so it’s good for practicing playing on the bottom strings. Scott walks you through the melody phrase by phrase, explaining his phrasing and fingering choices as he goes. You’ll learn “Crockett’s Honeymoon” in two octaves in this lesson.
The fiddle tune “Abe’s Retreat” comes from the old-time repertoire and likely dates back to the Civil War. It’s in the key of A Mixolydian and Scott plays it without a capo, often as a solo guitar tune, so his arrangement includes some bass notes and open strings that ring through the melody to fill out the guitar sound. One advantage of playing it without a capo is that the melody can be played in two octaves, which is a common way to vary things in old-time fiddling.
“Home Brew Rag” was recorded by Georgia old-time fiddler Lowe Stokes in 1927. It’s full of ragtime-style syncopations and is a fun rag to play on the guitar. It’s in the keys of F (the A part) and Bb (th B part), so it’s also a good opportunity to work on playing in those keys in open position.
There are a number of versions of this great old-time fiddle tune (also called “Sail Away Ladies” or “Sally Ann”), but the one recorded by fiddler Uncle Bunt Stephens in 1926 is a particular favorite. It has a distinctive syncopation common to Southern Appalachian mountain fiddling that is important to understand if you’re going to play with old-time fiddlers. In this lesson, Scott shows you how he adapts old-time fiddle tunes to the guitar by getting as close as he can to the fiddler’s phrasing and timing, and then changing it to make it work on the guitar while retaining the original’s syncopation and rhythmic emphasis.
Fats Waller and Andy Razaf’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’” is a jazz classic and is essential to know if you play any style of jazz. You’ll learn it in the key of Eb, where it’s often played, which means that you’ll use a lot of voicings with the melody on the second string instead of the first string. Matt starts by singing it through so you can hear the melody and the basic chord progression. Then he shows you a chord melody arrangement of the whole song.
In 1927, Louis Armstrong featured guitarist Lonnie Johnson on his Hot Five recording of “Savoy Blues.” The recording includes a section where the rest of the band drops out, leaving Johnson and Johnny St. Cyr to play a 12-bar blues guitar duet. In this lesson, you’ll learn St. Cyr’s rhythm part and Johnson’s solo.
“Exactly Like You” is a well-known tune from the swing and Gypsy jazz repertoire. It’s in the key of C and has a distinctive melody, featuring a phrase of descending parallel fourths over the I chord and then the II7. Matt starts by singing it through so you can hear the melody and the basic chord progression. Then he shows you a chord melody arrangement of “Exactly Like You,” a basic version as well as some variations with internal movement.
Nick Lucas’s biggest hit was undoubtedly his 1929 recording of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips.” Matt starts by singing and playing the song, showing you the chords he uses to back up the melody. Lucas’s solos on “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” combine the melody with arpeggios and some of his odd distinctive flourishes. The solo you’ll learn here is a combination of some of Matt’s favorite Lucas licks and a few of his own. The bridge is more of a chord melody solo and includes a couple of strange harmonic choices typical of Lucas’s playing.
“Blue Guitar Stomp” is an early jazz/blues guitar tune recorded by Clifford Hayes’s Louisville Stompers in 1927 with Cal Smith on guitar. Smith played it on tenor guitar, but it works just as well on standard guitar, although there are some tricky fingerings. Matt walks you through the first two choruses Smith played, showing you the fingerings he uses to match Smith’s phrasing.
The jazz standard “Chinatown” is popular among traditional jazz, Gypsy jazz, early swing, and Western swing musicians. “Chinatown, My Chinatown” was written in 1906 and became a jazz classic when Louis Armstrong recorded it in the early 1930s. It’s usually played at a very fast tempo, and the chord melody arrangement you’ll learn here includes some subtle things that you can still play when the tempo heats up.
You’ve learned about some aspects of Eddie Lang’s rhythm style, but there are some key things that Eddie Lang does in his single-note lines that make his playing distinctive. Matt shows one of his signature runs, along with some variations, all of which lead into the third of the chord, often in the key of D or Eb. You can hear this very clearly on his recording with singer Alma Rotter of “Got Everything But You,”which includes a solo where Lang plays a wild version of the lick. Matt plays and sings “Got Everything But You” and then shows you Lang’s solo.
The beautiful ballad “Memories of You” was written in 1930 by pianist Eubie Blake and lyricist Andy Razaf. In his arrangement, Matt plays the melody of the A part primarily on the third string, with voicings on the lower strings of the guitar, as opposed to most of the other chord melody arrangements you’ve learned so far, which have put the melody on the first string. The bridge moves up into the upper octave with voicings that will be more familiar from previous lessons.
Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson’s 1929 recording of “Guitar Blues” is one of the pivotal early jazz guitar tunes. Lonnie Johnson is the primarily soloist, with Lang playing some beautiful backup and a couple of simple choruses. It’s a blues in the key of D, and Johnson takes numerous choruses. You’ll learn his intro and four of his first five choruses.
“Happy Feet” is a favorite of 1920s hot-jazz aficionados, and was originally recorded by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra with Bing Crosby. It’s in the key of Eb, but starts on the relative minor of Eb: C minor. Matt’s chord melody arrangement of “Happy Feet” requires more pick control than some arrangements, with chord voicings that don’t move around as much, but you’ll need to be careful which strings you’re hitting with your pick in order to bring out the melody.
Eddie Lang’s solo guitar piece “A Little Love, A Little Kiss” was written in the first decade of the 20th century by the Italian composer Lao Silesu. Matt’s version is based on Lang’s but has evolved somewhat since he first learned it 20 years ago or so. The piece is played rubato, and is a reflection of Lang’s European background more than the blues tradition. Matt talks about playing rubato, using the intro to the tune to demonstrate and then walks you through his arrangement of “A Little Love, A Little Kiss.”
The 1930s jazz standard “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” was popularized by Fats Waller. It’s often played at a fast tempo, but Fats recorded it at a medium tempo, which is reflected in Matt’s chord-melody arrangement of the song. In addition to a basic chord-melody arrangement, Matt shows you some idiomatic 1920s and ’30s chord-melody style variations with a lot of internal movement.
This is the first installment in a three-part lesson on the classic guitar duet “Chicken à la Swing,” written by Dick McDonough and recorded in 1937 by McDonough and Carl Kress. You’ll learn both guitar parts to all five sections (and intro) of the tune, starting with the melody part, which was played by Dick McDonough. In this installment of the lesson, Matt shows you the intro, A part, and B part.
The C section of “Chicken à la Swing” is in the key of F, and Dick McDonough’s melody part consists of single-note lines. It’s a short eight-bar part that is repeated with minor variations. After the C part, there’s a two-bar interlude where the tempo abruptly comes down to about half time, and the fourth part continues at the slower tempo, with a series of ascending thirds and some string bends up the neck. After the D section, there’s a repeat of the A section, followed by the intro, with a two-bar ending.
In this lesson, you’ll learn Carl Kress’s guitar part to “Chicken à la Swing,” an accompaniment to Dick McDonough’s melody part, but not exactly a rhythm guitar part, as Kress plays bass lines and counter melodies as well as chords.
“Fascinating Rhythm” is a Gershwin song from the 1924 musical “Lady Be Good” and was made famous by Cliff Edwards and Fred Astaire. It’s rhythmically challenging, harmonically complex, and is often played at a fast tempo. Matt starts by whistling the melody while playing rhythm so you can hear the basic chord progression with the melody. Then he walks you through his arrangement of the tune, which features some banjo-style passages. He finishes by giving you advice on picking technique.
The song “Wabash Blues” was popular with country and early jazz musicians, with recordings by the Delmore Brothers and Bob Wills as well as Duke Ellington and Sidney Bechet, among others. Matt’s chord melody arrangement “Wabash Blues” is centered in 1930s-style jazz, with some cool contrary motion lines and different ways to fill in the melody when a note is held for a bar or more.
In this lesson, Matt gives you some examples of the kinds of contrary motion phrases he uses inspired by early jazz guitarists and pianists. He talks about what inspired these lines and gives you a few one- and two-bar examples in a few different keys.
“Two Sleepy People” was written by Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser for the 1938 film Thanks for the Memory, where the song was sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross, but Fats Waller’s recorded version is probably the most popular. Matt’s chord melody arrangement in the key of Eb uses a lot of full voicings, with some bass notes on the fifth and sixth strings, and block chords on the top, giving it a 1930s-style swing guitar flavor.
“Jeannine (I Dream of Lilac Time)” was written for the movie Lilac Time and was recorded by Eddie Lang in 1928 with pianist Frank Signorelli. Lang’s version features folky chord voicings and a lot of single-line melodies with chordal accompaniment by Signorelli. Matt has arranged it as a solo guitar piece, and that’s the version you’ll learn here.
The jazz standard “It’s Only a Paper Moon'' was written in 1932 by Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg, and Billy Rose for the Broadway play The Great Magoo. The great guitarist Dick McDonough recorded “It’s Only a Paper Moon” in 1933 with Cliff Edwards (“Ukulele Ike”), and in this lesson, you’ll learn what he played behind Cliff Edwards’s ukulele. Matt starts by showing you the chords as they’re normally played, using Eddie Lang–style voicings.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a chord melody arrangement of “It’s Only a Paper Moon.'' It has an AABA form, so Matt starts by showing you a basic version of the A part, and then shows you another A part with a couple of triplet variations inspired by Dick McDonough. Then he walks you through the bridge arrangement and ends by showing a variation on the final A part that includes some contrapuntal two-note chords.
“Russian Lullaby” was written by Irving Berlin in 1927 and has been recorded countless times, most notably for guitarists perhaps by Oscar Alemán in 1939 and Jerry Garcia in 1974. It was originally written as a waltz, but by the time Benny Goodman recorded it in 1938, it had become a 4/4 swing tune. Matt’s version is inspired by Oscar Alemán’s recording. You’ll learn a chord melody arrangement of the tune as well as how Matt accompanies “Russian Lullaby.”
“I’ve Found a New Baby,” written by Spencer Williams and Jack Palmer in 1924, is one of the most popular standards in New Orleans jazz, swing, and Gypsy jazz. In this lesson, Matt shows you an accompaniment part to play while you’re singing “I’ve Found a New Baby” (or backing up another instrument), as well as a chord melody version of “I’ve Found a New Baby” that features four-note voicings.
Matt uses “I’ve Found a New Baby” to show you a great method of improvising chord-melody style using the Dm6 chord shapes you’ve already learned. Matt begins by showing you the four “drop two” inversions of a minor six chord and explaining what “drop two” voicings are. Then Matt shows you how to insert diminished/7b9 voicings between the minor six voicings to create a chord-melody scale and how to solo using these voicings.
“Red Hot Dan” is an obscure song that was recorded by Fats Waller in 1927, and it featured a solo by the great unsung guitarist Bobby Leecan. Leecan was a country blues and early jazz guitarist who performed around New York and Philadelphia in the 1920s, and his playing reflects the mix of blues and jazz that was happening at the time. The recording is in the key of Ab, but Leecan’s solo sounds as if he was playing out of G position, with his guitar either capoed at the first fret or tuned a half step high. In this lesson you’ll learn how to play Leecan’s in Ab as well as Matt’s chord melody arrangement of “Red Hot Dan.”
The early jazz standard “Some of These Days” was written in 1910 by Shelton Brooks and was a big hit for Sophie Tucker, who first recorded it on a wax cylinder in 1911 and later on a 78 RPM record in 1926. It has an unusual 32-bar form in which none of the eight-bar sections are repeated (ABCD), and it doesn’t reach the tonic of the key it’s in (in this case, F), until the C section. You’ll learn an Eddie Lang–style accompaniment and chord melody version of “Some of These Days” in this lesson.
The early jazz classic “If I Could Be with You” was written by James P. Johnson and Harry Creamer. You’ll learn the melody and accompanying chords in the key of Db, as well as a chord-melody arrangement inspired by a recording of guitarist Allan Reuss with the Benny Goodman orchestra.
Guitarist Al Casey recorded hundreds of songs with Fats Waller over the course of ten years, including the guitar showcase “Buck Jumpin’” in 1941. While showing you the tune, a 12-bar jump blues in G, Matt shows you how to take some of the shapes Casey uses to play chord solos and single-line solos and use them to create your own jazz ideas and solos.
Sigmund Romberg’s “When I Grow Too Old to Dream” is a favorite among New Orleans jazz musicians, mid-century swingers, and even the waltz crowd. It was written in 1934 as a waltz, so Matt starts by showing you how it was played as a waltz, and then how a swing singer like Nat King Cole transformed it into a 4/4 swing ballad. Then he shows you his chord melody version of the melody of “When I Grow Too Old to Dream.”
The Rodgers and Hart classic “You Took Advantage of Me” was written in 1928 and is a favorite of swing players and singers. It has a bridge that moves quickly through the circle of fifths and an A part with a typical swing chord progression with both I diminished and I# diminished chords.
Traditional jazz bands have been playing Jelly Roll Morton’s “Wild Man Blues” since 1927, when it was recorded by both Morton and Louis Armstrong. In this lesson, you’ll learn guitarist Teddy Bunn’s solo from the 1938 Johnny Dodds recording of “Wild Man Blues,” which is a great demonstration of Bunn’s playing.
The song “Sunday” was made famous among jazz musicians through Bix Beiderbecke’s 1926 recording with the Jean Goldkette Orchestra, which included guitarist Eddie Lang, among others. In this lesson, you’ll learn to accompany the vocal and play a chord melody version of the melody in the key of C.
In the first part of this two-part lesson, Matt uses the early jazz standard “Up a Lazy River” to talk about the two-beat accompaniment style, which was a favorite of guitarists Eddie Lang, Nick Lucas, Oscar Alemán, and many others. He shows you how to play three- and four-note chord voicings with bass lines between the voicings, as you move through the circle-of-fifths progression in “Up a Lazy River” (D7–G7–C7–F).
In this lesson, Matt analyzes the melody of “Up a Lazy River” and shows you how to play it as a single line melody and as a chord melody arrangement.
Guitarist/singer Nick Lucas recorded “My Blue Heaven” in 1927. His version was different than the pop hit recorded just a few months earlier by crooner Gene Austin. In this lesson you’ll learn how Lucas played it, both his accompaniment and his solo.
In this lesson, you’ll learn Matt’s chord-melody arrangement of “My Blue Heaven” in the key of Eb, the key in which it was written, and with the original chord changes.
In this lesson, Matt shows you some variations on his chord melody arrangement of “My Blue Heaven,” including fills with contrary motion and drop-two voicings.
“Angeline the Baker” is one of the most popular tunes in traditional music. You’ll learn a version of the tune played clawhammer style in double-C tuning (CGCGCD). Steve walks you through his arrangement, showing you where to play the melody with open-string pull-offs and hammer-ons and where to play regular pull-offs and hammer-ons.
“Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss” is another old-time fiddle tune that sounds great played clawhammer style on the guitar. Like “Angeline the Baker” you’ll learn it in double-C tuning (CGCGCD). Steve takes it apart, phrase by phrase, showing you a few melodic options as he goes.
Stephen Foster’s beautiful melody “Hard Times” is a good tune to learn a form of clawhammer guitar that uses gentler strums, a sort of rake across numerous strings with the fingernail that produces a more chordal sound. Steve’s arrangement is in double-C tuning (CGCGCD) with some cool moving lines and chord voicings.
Learn to play the old-time ballad “Little Sadie” in G modal or “mountain modal” tuning (DGDGCD). Steve shows you the basic melody before showing you how to “bum-dittify” the tune, which just has one part. He also shows you a few things to spice up your arrangement, including playing different strings with your thumb, adding percussive slaps, and a cool octave bass lick.
Steve’s arrangement of the traditional song “Reuben’s Train” is in open-D tuning (DADF#AD) and includes a lot of great clawhammer techniques. In addition to the basic melody of both parts, you’ll learn a few simple embellishments and variations you can add, like open-string pull-offs and percussive slaps.
In this second lesson on playing “Reuben’s Train,” Steve adds a number of variations, including one that sounds a lot like the great clawhammer banjo player Wade Ward’s tune “Peach Bottom Creek.” He also introduces some new techniques. You’ll learn “clawmonics” (in which you play the melody with 12th-fret harmonics), how to use a slide on the ring finger of your fretting hand, and more.
Learn the old-time banjo favorite “Cluck Old Hen” in double dropped-D tuning, in which you drop both E strings down to D (DADGBD). In addition to a basic arrangement of the tune, Steve shows you how to spice it up with clawmonics, double stops, harmony lines, and open-string pull-offs.
The American folk classic “Home Sweet Home” sounds great played clawhammer style in open-G tuning. You’ll learn a basic version as well as a variation on the second part that uses barre chords.
“Old Joe Clark” is a popular old-time and bluegrass tune. In this lesson you’ll learn an unusual Texas-style version of “Old Joe Clark” that comes from fiddler Howard Rains. Steve’s arrangement is in open-G tuning, and after playing it through a few times he breaks down the melody of both parts, showing you a few variations as he goes. He also shows you how you can move the thumb up to the top strings to give it a lighter, gentler sound.
There are a few different versions of the old-time fiddle tune “Brushy Fork of John’s Creek.” Steve’s version is in Orkney tuning (CGDGCD), which is like G modal tuning, but with the low D string tuned down to C.
The minor-key four-part tune “Falls of Richmond” comes from fiddler Edden Hammonds. Steve plays it in DADGAD tuning.
The popular fiddle tune “Billy in the Lowground” is in the key of C. You’ll learn how to kick it off and get tips on making the transition between the end of the A part and the beginning of the B part, as well as how to shift positions between phrases. With Notation/Tab
Bill Monroe’s epic fiddle tune “Jerusalem Ridge” has four parts and is in the key of A minor, the relative minor of C. You’ll learn the version played by Monroe’s long-time fiddler Kenny Baker in this lesson, rather than the way Monroe played it on the mandolin. Baker’s version has become standard for all bluegrass instruments. With Notation/Tab
The fiddle tune “St. Anne’s Reel” may come from the Celtic tradition, but it’s become a jam session standard in bluegrass and old-time circles. It’s in the key of D, so Sharon reminds you of the two-octave version of the D major scale. She also points out the small arpeggios that are part of the melody and some places where you should use finger planting. The chords to the second part of “St. Anne’s Reel” can be played in a few different ways, so you’ll learn the chords for each variation, and get play-along tracks for each version. With Notation/Tab
The bluegrass fiddle tune standard “Gold Rush” comes from Bill Monroe and fiddler Byron Berline. Sharon gives you advice on learning by ear, suggesting that you try to learn these tunes by ear and only use the tab/notation as a reminder when you don’t have access to the video. She also shows you the distinctive rhythmic accent in the B part that is usually played by the rhythm section, and how to fill in the rhythm by adding some strums to the basic chop pattern. With Notation/Tab
The classic fiddle tune “Red-Haired Boy” is a popular bluegrass jam tune and one that every bluegrass picker should know. In addition to learning the melody, and a variation that includes a triplet, Sharon shows you how the chords to “Red-Haired Boy” match the melody, which alternates between an A Mixolydian sound (with a G natural) and A major (with a G sharp). With Notation/Tab
The fiddle tune “Temperance Reel” is originally from Ireland, but has become popular at bluegrass and old-time jams. It’s in the key of G and includes an E minor chord. The tune starts with a triplet and includes some tricky pick moves. You’ll learn how to pick the triplet and get advice on maintaining strict alternating picking as you work through the melody. With Notation/Tab
One of Bill Monroe’s prettiest waltzes, “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz” has an unusual form and chord progression. The form is AABA and it moves between the keys of Dm and F. You’ll learn to play it out of an F major scale position with your index finger on the third fret. Sharon gives you advice on playing tremolo on the long notes, showing you how you can use a slower or quicker tremolo, and stresses the importance of ending the tremolo on a downbeat. With Notation/Tab
Bill Monroe’s recording of “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz” includes three fiddles playing the melody in harmony. In this lesson you’ll learn to play both of the harmony parts on the mandolin, beginning with the high harmony. Sharon also explains how to find harmonies by finding the next note in the chord above or below the melody. Includes play-along tracks for both harmony parts with Scott Nygaard playing the melody on the mandolin so you can hear how the two parts go together and play along. With Notation/Tab
There are many versions of the old-time fiddle tune “Sail Away Ladies.” This one comes from bluegrass fiddler Kenny Baker, who recorded it on his Baker’s Dozen album. You’ll learn how Kenny played it, along with a couple of variations. Sharon also gives you advice on how to pick some of the syncopated phrasing in both parts. With Notation/Tab
The fiddle tune “Stony Point” is popular with old-time and bluegrass musicians. It’s been recorded by numerous people, most famously for bluegrass pickers by Tony Rice on his 1978 album Manzanita. Tony’s version has two parts, the first of which is in Em and the second of which is in G. The old-time version, which you’ll learn here, goes by many names in addition to “Stony Point,” including “Wild Horse,” “Wild Horse at Stony Point,” etc. and reverses the order of parts while adding a short third part in G. With Notation/Tab
Bill Monroe’s fiddle tune “Ashland Breakdown” is in the key of C major and has three parts. The first two parts use the second position, with your index finger on the third fret. Sharon’s version combines the fiddle version that fiddler Kenny Baker played on his classic album Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe with some of Monroe’s phrasing from his mandolin solo on that same album. With Notation/Tab
Béla Fleck’s tune “Up and Around the Bend” comes from his classic 1988 bluegrass instrumental album Drive, which featured Sam Bush on mandolin, Tony Rice on guitar, Mark Schatz on bass, and Mark O’Connor and Stuart Duncan on fiddles. In this lesson you’ll learn the melody as well as a harmony part that was played by one of the fiddlers. With Notation/Tab
The fiddle tune “Denver Belle” comes from famed bluegrass fiddler Kenny Baker. It’s in the key of C, but modulates to the key of G for the B part. Sharon walks you through the melody and includes some minor variations on the A part that Kenny Baker played. She also gives you advice on playing the tricky triplet lick that the B part starts with. With Notation/Tab
The beautiful waltz “Ashokan Farewell” was written by fiddler Jay Ungar and famously featured in Ken Burns’ documentary The Civil War. In this lesson, you’ll learn the melody as well an upper harmony part you can use when playing “Ashokan Farewell” with another mandolinist or fiddler. Sharon shows you how she embellishes the melody with hammer-ons and tremolo and uses downstrokes to play a lot of the eighth-note melody lines. With Notation/Tab
There are many versions of the old-time fiddle tune “Dusty Miller.” This one comes from Bill Monroe, who recorded it in 1966. There are a lot of repeated notes in Monroe’s version so it makes a great exercise for keeping your pick strokes small and keeping the tip of the pick out on the surface of the string. Sharon walks you through the melody of “Dusty Miller,” pointing out the accents in Monroe’s playing and giving you advice on picking as she goes. With Notation/Tab
The old-time fiddle tune “Big Sciota” was introduced to the bluegrass world with the 1993 recording Skip, Hop and Wobble by Jerry Douglas, Russ Barenberg, and Edgar Meyer, with mandolinist Sam Bush guesting on the recording of “Big Sciota.” Since then it has become a bluegrass jam session favorite.
The Prelude of Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suite in G Major, No. 1 is one of the most well-known pieces in Western music. Violinists (and mandolinists) usually play it in the key of D so that the fingerings are the same as on the cello, and that’s where you’ll learn it. It's a great piece of music that will get your fingers to do things they don't often do, and there are some fingering challenges, especially when you want a note to sustain through another note. Joe walks you through the Prelude measure by measure, giving you advice on fingering choices as he goes.
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a series of two- and three-part inventions for the piano that can be very fun to play on the mandolin with another mandolin player (or two). The parts interlock in an unusual, contrapuntal way, often mirroring or answering the other part, so it may be a challenge if you’re used to playing fiddle tunes in parallel harmony, for instance. In this lesson, you’ll learn both parts of the first two-part invention.
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the Two-Part Inventions for piano. In this lesson, you’ll learn the right-hand part of Invention No. 8 (labeled “Presto e leggero possible”—as fast and light as possible) on the mandolin. Joe recruited Noah Fishman to play the left-hand part on the mandocello. So, once you’re learned the right-hand part, you can practice it with the left-hand part.
The banjo is found in many styles of music these days, not just bluegrass. Learn a few folk and pop tunes to play at jam sessions and with friends.
The ‘60s folk classic “500 Miles” is a great song for working on playing minor chords. In the key of G, it uses Em, Am, and Bm, as well as G, C, and D chords. You’ll learn all these chords and how to use the forward-reverse roll to play “500 Miles.”
The Grateful Dead song “Friend of the Devil” is one of the band’s most popular songs and one that is often played at bluegrass jams. It’s also a good song to work on changing chords quickly.
The Beatles’ song “I’ve Just Seen a Face” is popular in the bluegrass world and, of course, is fun to sing and play at all kinds of jam sessions. In this lesson, you’ll learn to play accompaniment to it using some variations of the forward-reverse roll, and how to embellish those rolls a bit if you want to create a simple solo.
The Christmas favorite “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” is a fun song to play on the banjo during the winter holidays, and it also uses a couple of chords you may not have played yet: Bm and A. You’ll learn an arrangement of the melody and chords using the forward-reverse roll.
John Denver’s 1970s hit “Take Me Home, Country Roads” is a popular song at bluegrass slow jams and campfire singalongs. In this lesson, you’ll learn a few ways to accompany it, including a pattern that combines the pinch pattern and the alternating-thumb roll.
Once you’ve learned the triad shapes, you’ll learn the scale patterns that correspond to those shapes. You’ll learn three closed-position patterns that can be moved to any key.
Josh Graves’s dobro playing with Flatt and Scruggs defined bluegrass dobro playing and still continues to inspire young dobro players. Learn a few of his solos, favorite songs, and tunes here, with play-along tracks to help you practice.
The Flatt and Scruggs instrumental “Shuckin’ the Corn” features a classic dobro solo by Josh Graves. You’ll learn a break to “Shuckin’ the Corn” inspired by Josh’s solo, including two classic variations on the B part. The one starts by walking up the minor pentatonic scale, so Mike starts by showing you the G minor pentatonic scale.
The Earl Scruggs tune “Foggy Mountain Special” is a 12-bar blues with a bouncy swing feel. You’ll learn the basic melody, which includes some cool slides and drone notes, as well as some variations and ideas for improvising.
The bluesy dobro instrumental “Foggy Mountain Rock” is another tune by Josh Graves. It’s a 12-bar blues in G with a bridge, which was usually played by the banjo, but you’ll learn a dobro part for that section as well.
Josh Graves’s solo on “John Henry” (in the key of D) on the Flatt and Scruggs Foggy Mountain Banjo album is a must-learn solo for bluegrass dobroists. Not only is it a great tune to play, but it includes some classic licks that most of the great modern dobro players have stolen and adapted for their own uses.
The Flatt and Scruggs recording of the song “Dig a Hole in the Meadow,” also known as “Darling Corey,” includes another classic solo by Josh Graves, this time in the key of C. Josh’s solo works the minor pentatonic scale up the neck, bringing a strong blues flavor to Flatt and Scruggs’ brand of bluegrass.
The classic Flatt and Scruggs song “Some Old Day” starts with a great Josh Graves dobro solo. You’ll learn a solo in the key of G played in closed position so you can transpose it easily to other keys. You’ll also learn where to add tremolo to some of the double stops to get the classic dobro sound, and even how to add a “string pull” to one of the melody lines.
The Carter Family song “Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine,” recorded by Earl Scruggs on his instrumental album Foggy Mountain Banjo, includes a great Josh Graves solo that you’ll learn in this lesson. It’s in the key of G and includes some great ways to get from a G chord to a C chord and back, as well as some classic syncopated bluesy licks that every bluegrass dobro player should know.
The Josh Graves slow blues tune “Flatt Lonesome” is great for learning to play in the key of A without a capo and it includes a lot of cool blues licks. Mike plays the whole tune through, and then breaks it down, phrase by phrase, showing you how to fill in some of the long held notes with tremolo. He finishes by showing you how you can play the first section an octave up the neck, if you want.
The Johnny Cash song “When Papa Played the Dobro” was recorded by Flatt and Scruggs (on their 1964 album The Fabulous Sound of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs) with Josh Graves playing some classic dobro licks that every dobro player should know (Shot Jackson played the dobro on Cash’s original 1960 recording). It’s also a good introduction to playing harmony scales out of straight bar position.
The Flatt and Scruggs song “Crying My Heart Out Over You” has become a bluegrass standard, and the original recording includes a great intro turnaround and solo by Josh Graves. The solo uses a lot of the slants and harmonized major scale double stops you’ve learned.
“Sleepwalk” is a classic rock and roll hit from the 1950s recorded by Santo and Johnny. Learn to play the melody of “Sleepwalk” in double stops: two notes at a time. You’ll also learn a cool slide technique.
The old tune “Dixie Bell” is better known as “Bicycle Built for Two” and is a fun tune to play on the ukulele. It’s a waltz in the key of C and you’ll learn to plays the melody and chords with your fingers: chord-melody style.
Marcy gives you a guide to playing chord-melody style on the ukulele using “This Land Is Your Land.” You'll review the C major scale on the top string and then learn the basic melody of “This Land Is Your Land.” Then you’ll learn to add chords to the melody.
Johnny Mercer’s classic “Autumn Leaves” is a jazz standard. In this advanced ukulele lesson you’ll learn Marcy’s arrangement of the chords and melody of “Autumn Leaves” played fingerstyle. Marcy walks you through the chord voicings you’ll use and shows you how to add the melody to the chords.
Learn a chord-melody version of the early jazz classic “Whispering” in the key of D. You’ll learn a lot of new chords, including a B augmented chord, an A7sus4 chord, and a D6/9 chord, among others, so Marcy makes sure you have them down before showing you how to combine the melody with the chords you’ve learned. You’ll also learn how to play a rest stroke when you’re strumming chords with the melody on the second string.
In these next lessons, you'll learn a few "lick series" and how to combine then in different ways to create new and interesting ways to back up bluegrass songs.
In this backup fiddle lesson, you’ll learn a series of bluesy licks that you can use in your bluegrass backup playing. Chad shows you two series of licks and then how to use them to play over a 12-bar blues.
Chad continues with another series of bluesy licks (Lick Series #3) that he learned directly from the playing of the great bluegrass fiddler Bobby Hicks.
Chad shows you how to combine the licks you’ve learned in the three Lick Series in different ways and how to connect them more seamlessly. He demonstrates how he practices jamming with the licks on a 12-bar blues progression and the bluegrass song “I’m Just Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail.”
In this lesson, Chad teaches you the melody to the bluegrass song “Whose Shoulder Will You Cry On?” and then shows you a solo that combines the melody with licks in the lick series.
Chad shows you a Bobby Hicks solo to the bluegrass song “Letter from My Darling,” which contains some of the licks in the lick series.
Chad shows you how to play the licks in Lick Series #1 in capo position so that you can move them to other keys. You’ll learn Lick Series #1 in the key of G in capo position as well as the series in the key of A in open position.
Chad shows you how to use the licks in Lick Series #1 in the context of a song: Bill Monroe’s “My Little Georgia Rose.” He starts by showing you the fiddle solo from Travis Tritt’s recording of “My Little Georgia Rose” on the album Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe. Then he shows you how to use each of the four licks in Lick Series #1 to fill the holes in the vocal melody.
The Don Reno banjo classic “Dixie Breakdown” features a series of up-the-neck passing chords, which are great for moving from one place to another on the banjo. The first part of “Dixie Breakdown” has the same basic chord progression as the second part, but is played mostly in first position, using a lot of forward rolls.
Don Reno’s “Follow the Leader” is a classic bluegrass banjo instrumental. You’ll learn two versions, Reno’s single-string solo and a roll-based solo. Bill’s version captures the flavor of what Don plays without being an exact note-for-note transcription.
Don Reno recorded his instrumental classic “Banjo Signal” on November 8, 1954. The first part of “Banjo Signal” features fifth-string fretting high up the neck combined with a one-measure forward roll. The second part is short and includes an early melodic-style phrase.
DGDGAD Tuning is kind of a cross between DADGAD and open-G tuning (DGDGBD), and of course has similarities to both tunings. It’s great for getting a DADGAD sound in the key of G. DGDGAD can be thought of as a “sus2 tuning,” which means there’s no third, major or minor, so it’s good for playing in either major or minor. The tune you’ll learn, “Paddy Fahy’s Jig #1,” is in the key of G minor.
In the last lesson, you learned the G minor tune “Paddy Fahy’s Jig #1” in DGDGAD tuning. In this lesson, Doug shows you how to play in G major in DGDGAD tuning, with “Paddy Fahy’s Reel #3.”
In this section, Aaron gives you some etudes based on songs you've already learned. These can be played as solos if you've already played the melody.
In this lesson, Aaron shows you an etude he wrote based on the swing standard, “Lady Be Good,” which he taught in a previous lesson. This etude is essentially a chord melody version of “Lady Be Good” that you could use to play as a solo, with embellishments and variations on the melody.
In this lesson, Aaron has created another etude for a song you’ve learned before: “Exactly Like You.” The etude is based on a riff that moves through the chord progression.
In this lesson, Aaron shows you an etude for “Deed I Do,” which he taught at the beginning of the Chord Melody Mandolin course. He starts by choosing two notes in the D minor chord and adding a rhythmic idea. He does the same for the C7 chord and proceeds from there, repeating the motif through the rest of the chord progression.
In this lesson, Aaron shows you an etude for “All of Me,” which you can play as a solo when it comes time for you to play a solo. The etude combines the chords of “All of Me” with some single-note lines and rhythmic patterns.
In this lesson, Aaron shows you an etude for “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” that uses a lot of single-note melody lines accompanied by chordal “hits.” Aaron shows you how to finger the single-note lines so that you’re ready for the upcoming chord voicing.
Aaron’s etude on the Duke Ellington classic “Satin Doll” starts with some rhythmic motifs using standard chord shapes and pinky notes and then uses more elaborate single-note lines in the bridge.
Aaron’s etude on the classic Fats Waller swing song “Honeysuckle Rose” starts with a big open G minor chord, which you’ll use in different rhythmic ways throughout the first A part. The second A part is based on a popular “shout chorus” often used on “Honeysuckle Rose,” while the bridge includes a number of single-note lines.
Aaron’s etude on the jazz ballad “Misty” is in the key of Eb, but it uses chord shapes and voicings that you’ve been using throughout this course.
Aaron’s etude on George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” in the key of Bb can be played as a mellow, standalone musing on Gershwin’s perky piano setting. But as Aaron explains, it also provides a basic framework for playing “rhythm changes,” a popular improvisation framework based on the title song’s chord progression. Aaron mixes single-note melody lines with three-note chords below the melody.
“Just You, Just Me” was composed by Jesse Greer with lyrics by Raymond Klages and was featured in the 1929 musical Marianne. Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards had the first hit record with the tune that same year, and the melody has been a jazz and pop standard ever since, with hundreds of covers by the likes of Bing Crosby, Lester Young, Joe Pass, and Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand). Aaron’s etude is in the key of Bb, and the rhythmically propulsive arrangement works nicely as a solo as well as a standalone piece.
The Carter Family reworked Ada Habershon and Charles Gabriel’s hymn “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” and recorded it in 1935 as “Can the Circle Be Unbroken?”. “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” was the title track of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1973 album, which introduced a generation to bluegrass and old-time music. The version of the song on that album featured a cast of country music legends, with Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Martin, and Roy Acuff trading verses backed by Earl Scruggs, Vassar Clements, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, and others. You’ll learn to play “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” in the keys of A, D, G, and C.
You’ll learn “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” first in the key of A, with solo ideas including fiddle fills, the “son of a gun I’m tired” pickup, blue thirds and fifths, drones, and a bluegrassy ending.
You can play “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” in two octaves in the key of D. Lauren starts in the upper octave since the handshape you’ll use is different from the handshape you used in A. Then she goes through it in the lower octave, which will feel familiar to your fingers. Lauren’s solo ideas for “Will the Circle Be Unbroken? include the same fiddle fills, “son of a gun I’m tired” pickup, blue thirds and fifths, and drones that you learned in the key of A.
Like the key of D, you can play “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” in two octaves in the key of G, but to do so, you’ll learn to play in third position for the first time. Lauren starts by reminding you of the melody and solo ideas in a handshape you’re already familiar with in the lower octave.
You can play “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” in two octaves in the key of C as well. You’ll play the upper octave almost entirely in second position, while the hand position for the lower octave will be familiar from the keys of G and D, so Lauren starts with the upper octave.
In the forward-roll style of banjo playing, melodies are played primarily by the index finger on the inside strings—second, third, or fourth strings—using forward and backward rolls. It’s a style you can hear in the playing of contemporary banjo players like Ron Block, who plays with Alison Krauss and Union Station. Wes gets you started with an exercise that combines the G major scale played entirely on the third string with forward rolls, followed by similar exercises using the G major scale on the second and fourth strings. He also shows you how to play the folk standard “You Are My Sunshine” using the forward-roll style.
Darol Anger’s wild and crazy fiddle tune “Ride the Wild Turkey” is a contemporary bluegrass instrumental classic. It’s been recorded by numerous people, including Jerry Douglas on his Slide Rule album, on which Scott played guitar. It’s a complex three-part tune (the form is ABCA) with a different number of measures in each part and some particularly unusual timing in the third part. You’ll learn the fiddle melody as well as Scott’s solo from Slide Rule in this lesson.
“The High Road” comes from Tim O’Brien who recorded it on his 1983 solo album Hard Year Blues as a song with a fiddle tune as the instrumental. Bryan Sutton recorded it as an instrumental on his album Bluegrass Guitar and it’s usually played that way in jam sessions. Scott used to play “The High Road” with Tim when he was a member of Tim’s band, the O’Boys, in the 1990s and this version is a combination of how Scott used to play it with Tim and how Bryan recorded it. In addition to the main melody, you’ll learn a variation of each part.
David Grier recorded his tune “Smith Chapel” on his 1995 album Lone Soldier and the tune has since become a jam favorite of flatpickers and bluegrass musicians. The chord progression is relatively simple—the A part progression is used in bluegrass standards like “Bury Me Beneath the Willow”—making it a fun tune to jam on, but playing Grier’s exact melody can be a little tricky.
The four-part contemporary fiddle tune “Cazadero” was written by fiddler Paul Shelasky and first recorded on mandolinist John Reischman’s album North of the Border (with Scott playing guitar). It’s also been recorded by Chris Thile (on How to Grow a Woman from the Ground) and has become a favorite of ambitious young string players. It’s in the key of E, and is usually played on the guitar out of D, with a capo at the second fret.
The bluegrass instrumental standard “Rebecca” comes from the great bluegrass mandolinist Herschel Sizemore. It’s played on the mandolin in the key of B, but on the guitar you’ll learn it out of G position with the capo at the third fret. “Rebecca” is distinctive for its unusual but very melodic phrasing. The form of the tune is AABA, but the A parts are 9½ measures long, and the B part repeats the odd phrasing of the A part and is 11 bars long. Scott shows you his version of the tune, along with a couple of variations that Herschel Sizemore played.
Tony Rice’s jazzgrass waltz “Old Gray Coat” is one of his most memorable melodies. This could be a simple tune to learn, but Tony has arranged the tune with different length interludes and chord progressions. In addition to learning the melody of the entire arrangement, you’ll learn the chord voicings Tony uses to accompany the melody of “Old Gray Coat,” voicings that he uses a lot in his jazzgrass work with David Grisman and his own Tony Rice Unit.
Béla Fleck’s tune “Down in the Swamp” is one of the highlights of his iconic late 1980s album Drive. It’s a fiddle tune in the key of E, actually E Mixolydian, which makes it the same as an A major scale. You’ll learn the tune in E without a capo and also out of D, with the capo at the second fret. Scott uses “Down in the Swamp” to talk about some of the phrasing choices you can make to get a tune in an unfamiliar key, like “Down in the Swamp,” to sound the way you want it to.
Scott’s tune “Crow Molly’ (recorded on his Dreamer’s Waltz album) has become popular in contemporary string band circles and was recently played by Chris Thile and Brittany Haas on Live from Here. It’s influenced by clawhammer banjo playing and has some tricky anticipations and syncopation in the second part. Scott shows you how he started with a basic melody based on old-time banjo playing and then adding syncopation and arpeggios to fill it out.
In this introduction to the Irish polka, Marla gives you some background on how the polka found its way to Ireland as well as how to get the feel of the polka on the mandolin. Polkas have fewer notes than reels or hornpipes but they have a distinctive lift and drive with an emphasis on the upbeat that makes them fun to play. Marla shows you her right-hand picking pattern for polkas and how she sometimes simplifies some of the melodic details in order to maintain the the lift of the polka on the mandolin. You’ll also learn “Charlie Harris’s Polka.” After walking you through the melody Marla shows you how the polka picking pattern works with the melody and how to give it a polka “lift” when you bring the melody up speed.
If you’ve got the basic polka picking style from the Introduction to Polkas lesson, Marla shows you how to add some ornamentation to polkas using “The Little Diamond Polka,” which is in the key of D. Marla starts by showing you the basic melody to both parts and then shows you how to add triplets to “The Little Diamond Polka.” In most cases the triplets you’ll want to add start on an upstroke.
There are three “Ballydesmond Polkas” that are often played together. In this lesson you'll learn “The Ballydesmond Polka No. 1,” which is in the key of A minor (A Dorian). Marla shows you a bare-bones version of the tune, omitting some of the quick melodic lines that would make it difficult to play on the mandolin. Then she shows you some ways she fills out the basic structure of the “The Ballydesmond Polka No. 1,” including double stops, off-beat accents, and triplets.
The polka “The New Roundabout,” which was written by County Cork accordion player Dave Hennessy, is played in A and/or D, so you’ll learn it in both keys. The melody has a limited range and can be played in two octaves in the key of D on the mandolin. Marla also puts three of the polkas together in a set so you can practice transitioning between the polkas “The Little Diamond,” “Ballydesmond Polka No. 1,” and “The New Roundabout.”
Learn two embellished versions of the melody to “Old Joe Clark.”
Learn an embellished version of “Eighth of January” as well as a few variations you can add to the B part.
Ricky Skaggs’ solo on the 1975 JD Crowe and the New South recording of “Old Home Place” is a classic and illustrates many elements of his funky style, including some cool syncopations and bluesy, swingy licks. The solo is in the key of Bb, so you’ll learn three ways to play a Bb major scale as well as how to find a blues scale, which includes the flatted third, flatted seventh, and flatted fifth, in Bb. Then you’ll learn Ricky’s solo, including how to pick the syncopated phrases and get the timing right. With Notation/Tab
Ricky Skaggs’ solo on the Bill Monroe/Peter Rowan song “Walls of Time” (from Ricky’s album Ancient Tones) is a contemporary bluegrass mandolin classic, an update of Monroe’s classic style with lots of eighth-note downstrokes, triplets, position shifts, and bluesy licks. Sharon walks you through the solo, which is in the key of B, phrase by phrase, showing you how to play with all downstrokes on eighth notes, make the position shifts, pick the triplets, and play the cool lick that begins the second half of the solo, which combines a descending major scale with pedal tones using open strings. With Notation/Tab
Bill Monroe’s solo on his recording of “Walls of Time” includes a steady 16th-note tremolo, eighth notes played with downstrokes, and a number of his characteristic arpeggio licks, as well as some subtle syncopations and variations on phrases. Sharon gives you advice on playing the 16th-note tremolo by using your arm and wrist together and then walks you through the solo, which is in the key of C and starts with a quick 16th-note run up to the C on the second string. With Notation/Tab
The Sam Bush solo on the fiddle tune “Big Sandy River” you’ll learn in this lesson comes from a performance on the TV show Nashville Now featuring Doc Watson with an all-star band: Sam on mandolin, Doc and Pat Flynn on guitars, Ricky Skaggs on fiddle, Bela Fleck and Tony Trischka on banjos, and Edgar Meyer on bass. The way he plays the B part is a good example of how to use sevenths leading to thirds, which Sharon has talked about in her lessons on arpeggios. With Notation/Tab
You learned the melody to Kenny Baker’s version of the traditional fiddle tune “Sail Away Ladies” in a previous lesson. In this lesson, Sharon gives you two solos on “Sail Away Ladies” that demonstrate how she would improvise and/or compose a solo for “Sail Away Ladies.” The solos alternate phrases based on the melody with other phrases based on arpeggios of the underlying chord or scalar sequences. The second solo moves up the neck, finishing with a repeat of the basic B part melody. With Notation/Tab
Sharon revisits the Bill Monroe/Peter Rowan song “Walls of Time” in this lesson to show you the solo she played on the Peter Rowan/Tony Rice Quartet recording of the song. Sharon’s improvised solo has lots of bluesy accidentals and slides and is very syncopated with some across-the-bar phrasing. She walks you through it phrase by phrase, showing you her fingering and picking, which includes a lot of consecutive downstrokes. With Notation/Tab
The solo that mandolinist/guitarist Bill Napier played on the Stanley Brothers’ 1958 recording of “Gonna Paint the Town” is a great example of creating a solo by using arpeggios in the key of G, which you learned in the Arpeggios in the Key of G lesson. The Monroe-style solo starts in open position, but shifts up to second position over the C and D chords, with some D and A notes fretted and some played as open strings.
In this solo to the fiddle tune “Soldier’s Joy,” Bill Monroe strips down the melody to the bare essentials, which allows him to really drive the melody with constant eighth notes. He starts his solo with the B parts of “Soldier’s Joy,” playing two identical parts, and then moves on to the A parts, which include a couple of melodic variations.
“Cold on the Shoulder” is a Gordon Lightfoot song that was recorded by Tony Rice on his album of the same name. In this lesson you’ll learn the solo that was split by Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas on that album, with Jerry’s dobro solo adapted for mandolin.
In this lesson, you’ll learn David Grisman’s kickoff and solo to the song “Letter from My Darling” from his 1991 Bluegrass Reunion recording. It’s a great bluesy, Monroe-inspired solo in the key of G, with tremolo, downstroke eighth-note lines, and quarter-note triplets played out of the G chop-chord position.
Adam Steffey’s inventive solo on the fiddle tune “Temperance Reel” (from Jim Mills’s recording Hide Head Blues) is chock full of interesting phrasing ideas and melodic and rhythmic variations.
Mandolinist Andy Statman’s tune “Flatbush Waltz” is a contemporary mandolin classic. In addition to having a great melody, it features some interesting double-stop movement in the B part and some unique embellishments and tremolo.
Norman Blake is probably best known as a guitarist and songwriter, but he has also written a lot of great mandolin tunes, including the “New Chance Blues,” a midtempo tune with a unique chord progression. Norman recorded it with Tony Rice and it’s also been recorded by Punch Brothers.
Joe’s original tune “Emily’s Welcome to Portland” (recorded on his album Sweet Loam) is a Celtic-sounding melody that Joe wrote in honor of his sister Emily’s move to Portland, Maine, which was Joe’s hometown at the time. It’s in the key of F and has some challenging string crossings and tricky left-hand fingering.
David Grisman’s tune “Dawg Patch” is also known as “Dawg Wood.” It’s a fast tune in the key of C, with a bridge in G and an AABA form, and it features some of Grisman’s characteristic syncopated phrasing. The B part uses some of the same syncopated phrases as the A part, and the last A part begins the same as the first two A parts, but the last four measures are different and there’s a different chord progression.
A four-part fiddle tune in the key of E major, “Cazadero” was composed by fiddler Paul Shelasky and recorded by both John Reischman and Chris Thile. The version you’ll learn here is based more on Chris’s recording. The first two parts are very notey, with a lot of phrases with continuous eighth notes, so the picking is pretty basic, but some of the fingering in the key of E can be tricky. The C section of “Cazadero” includes a number of triplets, including two that come back to back. Joe shows you how Chris Thile picks these triplets by using alternating picking, reversing the usual pick orientation for a couple beats.
The David Grisman tune “Janice,” from the album Hot Dawg, has a challenging chord progression, with a number of non-diatonic chords (chords that aren’t all in the same key). It’s also a great two-mandolin tune, so, in addition to learning the melody and getting advice on soloing over the chords, you’ll learn the harmony mandolin part.
Andy Statman’s “Roots Waltz,” from his East Flatbush Blues recording, is a simple melody in the key of D but with some tricky tremolo and triplet phrases. Joe shows you the basic way that Andy plays the tune, but Andy varies the way he plays the melody continuously, so Joe shows you a few of Andy’s variations as well.
David Grisman’s triple mandolin tune “Dawg’s Bull,” which he recorded in the late 1970s on Hot Dawg, is one of the most idiosyncratic mandolin tunes ever. It’s in the key of A major and the melody of the A part is based on arpeggios of the chords, but played up the neck (at the seventh fret or above) with some open strings and an unusual rhythmic syncopation. In this lesson you’ll learn the melody and both harmony parts.
Chris Thile’s tune “The Eleventh Reel” (recorded on How to Grow a Woman from the Ground), is a beautifully constructed but very challenging tune. The A part features a continuous flow of eighth notes and includes some tricky fingerings and articulations, while the B part is much simpler than the A part, with long open sections for improvising.
David Grisman’s “Opus 38” is one of his early tunes, and can be heard on Early Dawg and DJQ20. On some live recordings, Grisman plays “Opus 38” on the mandola while Mike Marshall plays mandocello, but the D minor tune works equally well on the mandolin.
“Tuning Tune” (or “Stämlåten”) comes from the Swedish folk trio Väsen, and it was written by the group’s guitarist Roger Tallroth and recorded on their album Trio. “Tuning Tune” has some similarities to the American fiddle tune “Blackberry Blossom,” with a similar chord progression in the A part. It also has some tricky melodic phrases and shifting, particularly the last phrase of the B part, which finishes up the neck.
Matt Flinner’s tune “Sam I Am,” from his album Latitude, pushes the boundaries of contemporary bluegrass mandolin composition. It has some interesting chordal movement, tricky melodic passages, and an A section with a lot of space. Unlike the A part, the B melody consists of a steady stream of eighth notes with some interesting harmonic displacement and very unusual chords in the last four bars.
“Amanda’s Reel” comes from the great bluegrass guitarist Kenny Smith, who recorded it on his album Studebaker. It’s in the key of G with an unusual form, two 16-bar A sections followed by one 16-bar B section, and all the parts end with a nice syncopated hook.
Sarah Jarosz’s beautiful instrumental “Peace,” which she recorded on her album Follow Me Down, is a great solo mandolin piece. On her album, she’s joined by Edgar Meyer on bass and Stuart Duncan on fiddle, but Joe’s version is based on a video of Sarah playing “Peace” as a solo mandolin piece at the 2017 Marshall Mandolin Summit.
“Tree King Creek” comes from fiddler Darol Anger, who recorded it on the Psychograss album Like Minds. It’s a fiddle tune in G with some tricky fingering, triplets, and phrases that will probably be new to you. The B part of “Tree King Creek” is 16 bars long with few repeating phrases. It has a twisty melody with some odd phrasing, landing on a C chord on the fourth beat of one measure, for example.
Joe’s new tune “When It’s Over” came out of a tune-writing class that he teaches at Berklee College of Music. It’s a contemplative tune that Joe originally wrote on the mandola, but it sounds just as good on the mandolin. Joe walks you through the A part of “When It’s Over” in this video, showing you the basic melody as well as how he fills it out with chords.
Chris Thile recorded his instrumental tune “Raining at Sunset” on his third solo album, Not All Who Wander Are Lost. There’s also a great version of him playing it on his radio show Live from Here. It’s in the key of A, and while there is a developmental part later on in the tune, it’s basically an AABA tune, and that’s how you’ll learn it here. It has a simple melody that Chris fills out with a banjo-style approach similar to John Reischman’s playing on “Salt Spring.”
Mandolinist John Reischman (who teaches Peghead Nation’s Melodic Mandolin Tunes course) wrote “Birdland Breakdown” and recorded it when he was a member of the Tony Rice Unit on the album Still Inside. It’s in the key of D minor and includes a passage that uses the D harmonic minor scale, a sound that is unusual for bluegrass but common in Gypsy jazz.
David Grisman recorded his beautiful waltz “Mill Valley” on Tone Poems with Tony Rice. It’s not a challenging tune for the fretting hand; the challenge will be to maintain a graceful, expressive tremolo for long passages. Grisman plays the melody differently on every recording, but the version you’ll learn here is based on Tone Poems.
“Pigeon Roost” is a David Grisman tune that comes from the recording Bluegrass Reunion, which features bluegrass singer Red Allen. “Pigeon Roost” was named for Allen’s home town and it’s a good way to learn some of Grisman’s more accessible bluegrass vocabulary. The first part has a standard eight-bar form that repeats, and it starts with a two-bar phrase on a G chord that is repeated a string down for the C chord. The B part has a circle-of-fifths progression and the second B part is different from the first.
“O Santo de Polvora” is a three-part from Galicia that Chris Thile recorded on his influential recording How to Grow a Woman from the Ground, which features the first incarnation of the band Punch Brothers. “O Santo de Polvora” includes a lot of triplet phrases, and as he walks you through the melody, Joe shows you a few different ways to play them.
“Charlie’s Song” was written by bassist Greg Garrison, who was a founding member of Punch Brothers and also plays with Leftover Salmon. It’s a fast waltz in A minor and D minor and was recorded by Greg on his record Low Lonesome as well as by Noam Pikelny on his record Into the Maze. “Charlie’s Song” has a circular 28-bar form with one long part that doesn’t seem to want to end. In addition to learning the melody of “Charlie’s Song,” Joe gives you ideas on improvising on the chord changes and melody.
This jazz waltz was written by guitarist Tony Rice, and his recording of the tune on his album Acoustics features Sam Bush on mandolin. Joe first heard the tune at a concert by Tony, Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, and Todd Phillips.
With “Musette in A Minor,” Joe pays tribute to one of his mentors, the great mandolinist Peter Ostroushko. “Musette in A Minor” comes from Peter’s recording with guitarist Dean Magraw, Duo. In addition to being a great tune, it’s a great display of different approaches to tremolo and includes triplets and crosspicking. It has three parts and follows the AABBACCA form used in musettes and choros.
“Sliding Down” was written by bassist/pianist Edgar Meyer and appears on his Uncommon Ritual recording, which features Mike Marshall and Béla Fleck. It’s a simple melody in the key of A and in 3/4 time, but the challenge is how to flesh out the melody with chord tones.
The Béla Fleck tune “Dawg’s Due” is a tribute to the playing of David Grisman, and Béla’s Natural Bridge recording of the tune features Grisman’s playing. “Dawg’s Due” has a fiddle tune–like melody in the key of G but with a couple of non-diatonic passages that are harmonized more like a jazz tune.
Matt Flinner’s tune “Red Shift” isn’t particularly difficult technically, but it’s a challenge to solo on because the phrases of the melody are unusual lengths, with long pauses between them and anticipated downbeats. It also shifts between G major, G minor, and G Mixolydian tonalities.
“Ah, Spring!” is the leadoff track on Chris Thile’s second album Stealing Second. It’s a moderate tempo tune in the key of G that sounds like a bit of an exercise, with repeated patterns and arpeggios that you can apply to other tunes.
Sarah Jarosz recorded her Grammy-nominated instrumental “Mansinneedof” on her debut album Song Up in Her Head. Mike Marshall also played mandolin on the recording, and you can see them play it together in this video from the 2017 Marshall Mandolin Summit.
Norman Blake’s tune “Blake’s March” was recorded on Original Underground Music from the Mysterious South (available now on the compilation Natasha’s Waltz), by the Rising Fawn String Ensemble: Norman Blake, Nancy Blake, Peter Ostroushko, Carl Jones, and Larry Sledge. It’s a sprightly fiddle tune in the key of G.
Joe wrote “Traveler’s Prayer” with guitarist Grant Gordy and recorded it on the recent album Extrovert by their band Mr Sun. “Traveler’s Prayer” is in the key of C minor (the relative minor of Eb), an unusual key for the mandolin. Joe played it on mandola on the album, but it also works well on the mandolin, with one phrase moved up an octave.
“Kissimee Kid” comes from bluegrass fiddle icon Vassar Clements. Vassar’s tunes tend to have fairly loose, non-specific melodies, and he never really plays the melody the same way twice. In this lesson, Joe shows you a version of the melody on the A parts and then talks about how to create your own version of the B and last A parts based on what Vassar tended to play.
The beautiful, mellow instrumental tune “Nowthen” comes from the great mandolinist/composer Matt Flinner, who recorded it on his album A View from Here.
“Go Jake” comes from the great iconoclastic guitarist Bill Frisell and was recorded on his album Nashville, which features bluegrass stars Ron Block, Jerry Douglas, Victor Krauss, and Adam Steffey. It’s a very simple melody but it makes a great bluegrass jam tune. Joe recorded “Go Jake” on the album Bluegrass and the Abstract Truth with Grant Gordy, Alex Hargreaves, and Greg Garrison. In this lesson, Joe shows you the melody and gives you ideas on improvising on the chords.
John Reischman recorded his beautiful, mellow tune “Greenwood” on the album Up in the Woods. John uses a lot of slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs so it’s a great tune for working on those techniques.
Joe’s original tune “Madison” comes from his new album If Not Now, Who? It’s a shuffle in the key of G, with just two chords: G7 and Bb. Joe shows you the melody and talks about how to solo on the chords.
John Reischman’s tune “The Eighth of February” is a fast fiddle tune in the key of A. The first part is pretty much a constant stream of eighth notes that follows a pretty chord progression, while the B part is more rhythmic and syncopated.
“Hamish’s Morphine Pill” comes from Canadian dobro and clawhammer banjo player Ivan Rosenberg, who recorded it on his album Clawhammer and Dobro playing the clawhammer. It’s a three-part tune in Bb, and Joe has adapted it from the clawhammer banjo version.
“The Tobogganist” comes from the band Hawktail and was written by bass player Paul Kowert. It’s a bright, playful fiddle tune in the key of F and has some surprising resolutions.
“O Vôo Da Mosca” is a Brazilian choro composed by the great choro mandolinist Jacob do Bandolim. It’s a three-part tune in 3/4 time and it has a typical choro form of AABBACCA, with non-stop eighth notes. It’s a huge project (the sheet music is more than 100 measures long), so expect to spend a good amount of time with it.
“Cody Road” comes from mandolinist Andrew Marlin, who plays with the bands Mighty Poplar and Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange). “Cody Road” is in the key of E minor and comes from his record Buried in a Cape. It has an AABA form, with a third A part that has a couple of different chord changes than the previous A parts.
“Goldbrickin’” is a three-part tune in A minor written by Ronnie McCoury and recorded on the Del McCoury Band album Del and the Boys. Ronnie fingers the melody in some unusual ways and uses some cool syncopated rhythms.
Chris Thile recorded his tune “Big Sam Thompson” on Not All Who Wander Are Lost. There are two sections to the tune, a slow section that’s kind of like a Celtic air, and a faster fiddle tune–like section. You’ll learn the fast section in this lesson. It’s in the key of A minor and there are some tricky sections up the neck that combine fretted notes and open strings. You’ll use your pinky a lot in this tune.
Tony Rice’s tune “Swing 51” appeared on the first David Grisman Quintet album and he also recorded it on the Tony Rice Unit album Acoustics. The melody lays out well on the mandolin, and there are some unusual transitions between sections. “Swing 51” also has an unusual chord progression that can be a bit of a challenge to solo on.
“Indifferénce” is a French musette waltz written by Joseph Colombo and accordionist Tony Murena in the mid-1940s. There are also some great contemporary mandolin versions by Peter Ostroushka, Mike Marshall, Tim Connell, and others. It’s a beautiful tune in the key of E minor and is a bit of a challenge for mandolin players. It has an AABBACA form, which is similar to the form of a lot of Brazilian choros.
“The Golden Ticket” is a fiddle tune in the key of G written by fiddler Eric Merrill. Eric’s playing is a mix of old-time and Celtic styles and “The Golden Ticket” is a good example of that.
“Jenny and the Dulac” is a beautiful tune written by mandolinist Andrew Marlin. The first part is in the key of D minor and the B part has a similar melody but in the key of D major. It makes a great twin-mandolin tune, so in addition to learning the melody, Joe gives you a harmony part for “Jenny and the Dulac.”
The key-of-E fiddle tune “Tobacco Patch” comes from fiddler/mandolinist Aubrey Haynie, who recorded it on his Doin’ My Time album. In the B part, it has an unusual chord change (a C chord in the key of E) and bounces between double stops a lot, which can be challenging if you haven’t done it before.
The instrumental “Hartford’s Real” was written by David Grisman and Sam Bush in honor of their good friend John Hartford. They recorded it on their duo album Hold On, We’re Strummin’. “Hartford’s Real” is a fiddle tune in the key of G with a form of AABA, where the parts are all 16 bars long.
“Port Tobacco” was written by bluegrass guitar legend Tony Rice and recorded on his 1986 album Me and My Guitar. Although it was written for the guitar, the melody to “Port Tobacco” lays out well on the mandolin, and the chords are based on the jazz standard “There Will Never Be Another You.”
The Tim O’Brien bluegrass instrumental “Bluegrass Part Three” (recorded on the 1987 Hot Rize album Untold Stories) is in the key of B, and the melody has a lot of repeated notes in a way that’s unusual for bluegrass mandolin. It’s a great example of bluegrass vocabulary in the key of B, and since it’s mostly played in closed position, a lot of it can be used in other keys.
The trad jazz standard “Sweet Georgia Brown” is a great tune for practicing improvising on circle-of-fifths progressions. Traditionally played in the key of F, the chord progression for the first half of “Sweet Georgia Brown” consists of four bars each of D7, G7, C7, and F, giving you ample time to practice your dominant scales on each chord. Chad begins by showing you the melody to “Sweet Georgia Brown,” and then gives you an exercise outlining dominant-nine arpeggios for D7, G7, and C7.
“How High the Moon” is a jazz classic that changes tonality every two to four measures. In this lesson, you’ll learn the melody as well as the scales and arpeggios you can use to improvise on the melody.
Chad gives you advice on improvising on “How High the Moon” using the scales and arpeggios you learned in the previous lesson. He shows you how to make musical phrases out of the scales and arpeggios by playing with dynamics and expression, and how to create melodies out of the notes of the arpeggios. Chad also shows how to play a chorus of Ella Fitzgerald’s classic recording of “How High the Moon” on the fiddle or mandolin, and how her notes correspond to the arpeggios and scales you’ve been using to improvise on the tune.
Chad shows you the melody to the jazz standard “All of Me” and explains how the melody relates to the chords. He also talks about some of the expressive techniques, like vibrato, slides, etc., that he uses to shape the notes of a melody. For fiddlers, Chad talks about how long to sustain the notes, whether to clip them, let them sustain with an abrupt end, or fade out, etc., as well as the attack and “tail” of the note and what kind of vibrato to use: wide or tight.
Chad shows you arpeggios for the chords of the jazz standard “All of Me.” He walks you through each chord in the progression, giving you an arpeggio for each one, as well as an exercise using the whole progression. He also talks about improvising using the arpeggios for each chord.
In the last lesson, you learned arpeggios for the chords in “All of Me,” and this month you’ll learn to add the ninths to all of the chords. Chad walks you through the chords, adding the ninths, and explains while with some chords you’ll add the regular ninth and with others you’ll add the flat ninths. He also shows you how to improvise with the upper notes of the ninth chords.
This great, rhythmic tune is played in A modal. It’s pretty straightforward melodically, but is often played at a fast tempo, so keeping it simple is important. Evie also talks about playing just the top two strings when you strum, which will give your playing a tighter, more percussive sound.
The old-time fiddle tune “Pretty Little Widow” is in A major tuning, but the second part has some notes of the G chord in the key of A, giving it a “modal” sound even though you’re not in A modal tuning. In addition to the main melody you’ll learn some subtle variations with slides and partial chords.
You already learned a version of the old-time and folk standard “Shady Grove” in G modal, which is probably the most common way to play it, but in this lesson Evie shows you another version in A major, with the song starting on the V chord and with a second (instrumental) part, as opposed to the modal version, which just has one part.
The old-time classic “June Apple” is in the key of A, but it has a strong G natural note (the flatted seventh of A) in the melody. You’ll learn the melody to both parts and to sing the melody of the second part.
This great A tune comes from fiddler Benton Flippen. The A part is one continuous melodic line, without much repetition but with some cool slides and little melodic variations. The B part starts up the neck and ends the same as the A part. You’ll learn a new IV chord up the neck, and get advice on making the shift from the fifth fret back to open position.
There are a lot of versions of the fiddle tune “Sugar in the Gourd,” but the thing that ties them together is the melody of the sung words. You’ll start by learning a basic version of the vocal melody, the A part, and then how to add some variations with drop thumbing, I-skips, etc.
“Jenny Get Around” comes from Kentucky fiddler John Salyer. It’s a “crooked” tune in A, and Evie starts by showing you how to listen for the patterns in the melody and focus on the melody by singing it without worrying about counting it. The B part is also slightly crooked and uses some of the phrases you’ve already learned in the A part. Evie shows you where each phrase starts, counting you through them so you understand each phrase.
Clarence Ashley’s version of “The Cuckoo” is a classic modal clawhammer tune in the key of A. It features the “Galax roll,” and Evie gives you advice on playing the quick strummed notes of the Galax roll clearly and distinctly. You’ll learn the instrumental verse of “The Cuckoo” as well as a banjo part to play when you’re singing.
Learn the great song “If I Only Had a Brain” from The Wizard of Oz. It’s a fun song to play and sing and the chords are beautiful, including some new ones: D, Em7, D6, B7, C#m7, and Bm7. You’ll also learn the tune’s signature lick. With Lyric/Chord Sheet and Chord Flash Cards
The song “IM4U” was written for the original Tonight Show, with comedian Jack Paar as host. Paar chose Chicago jazz musicians Marian and Jimmy McPartland to lead his band and they composed this humorous song made up of letters and numbers. Marcy sings it through and shows you the chords you’ll need to sing and play it, including the cool Caug–C6–C7 progression that begins the tune. With Lyric/Chord Sheet
Learn Roy Smeck’s fun ragtimey tune “Rockin’ the Uke.” Marcy shows you how to embellish some chords by just adding or changing one note and the strumming pattern for “Rockin’ the Uke”: fingers-thumb-up, fingers-thumb-up, fingers-up. With Chord Chart
The swing-era classic “Sentimental Journey” makes a great ukulele tune. You’ll start with a position similar to the open G7 position but moved up two frets. This position can be used to play the whole A part in harmony. The second part starts on an F chord and moves up to a D7 chord halfway through, finishing with a cool descending line over the G7 chord.
Learn to play the Beatles’ classic “Can’t Buy Me Love” with a rhythmic strumming pattern. Marcy shows you the pattern by starting with all downs and then adds ups for a down, down, down-up, _ up _ up _ up down, down pattern. She also shows you how to mute the strings after the upstrokes for a more percussive effect. With Lyrics and Chords
This jazz standard was first recorded in the 1930s by jazz greats like Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Spike Jones. Marcy shows you the chords you’ll need to play “Cocktails for Two” in the key of C and then walks you through the entire song slowly, calling out the chords and making sure you understand when they change. With Lyrics and Chords
This great old blues song comes from Memphis Minnie. It’s in the key of C and and has a basic blues progression but Marcy shows you how to get a bluesy sound by playing seventh chords and a couple of other cool bluesy moves. She also shows you how she plays it fingerstyle with a syncopated feel. With Lyrics and Chords
The song “Money, Money, Money” (also called “We Need Some Money”) comes from Washington, DC, “go-go” music pioneer Chuck Brown. Marcy plays it on the ukulele in the key of Eb. She shows you how to play an Eb9 chord with just a one finger barre, and gives you advice on playing barre chords. She also shows you how to play the percussive syncopated rhythm used in “Money, Money, Money” by strumming with your thumb and fingers and damping the strings. You’ll also learn a cool “horn lick” using sliding Db–D–C chords. With Lyrics and Chords
In honor of Bill Emerson’s 80th birthday, you’ll learn his tune “Sweet Dixie” in the key of C. It features a lot of pull-offs combined with a forward roll and played as eighth notes, so it’s a good opportunity to work on your pull-offs. Bill walks you through the arrangement measure by measure, and gives you advice on playing the pulled-off note at the exact same time as you play the next note in the roll pattern.
Bill Emerson recorded his great instrumental tune “Cowboys and Indians” in the 1970s when he was playing banjo with the Country Gentlemen, and Jim Mills has also recorded a version that is the basis for this lesson. “Cowboys and Indians” is in the key of C minor, and to play it you tune your banjo to drop-C tuning, with the low D string tuned down to C.
The banjo instrumental “Theme Time” comes from bluegrass great Jimmy Martin, who used the tune as the “theme” for his radio show on the Louisiana Hayride in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Bill Emerson is the banjo player on the original recording and Jim Mills has also recorded a great version. The song features a movable lick in the second half of the tune, played through C, G, A, and D chords, while the band hits “stops” behind the banjo.
Bill Emerson’s banjo tune “Home of the Red Fox,” recorded on his album of the same name, has become a favorite of artists like The Infamous Stringdusters and Billy Strings, and you’ll often hear it at jam sessions.
Bill Emerson wrote the banjo tune “Welcome to New York” in the 1970s and recorded it on his album Welcome to the Red Fox. It’s in the key of D, played with a capo at the second fret, and has an unusual chord progression: the first part is D–C–G–D, while the second part uses a G minor chord.
In this lesson you’ll learn a low-C tuning: CGDGAD. The top four strings are the same as the top four strings of DADGAD, with the bottom two strings tuned to C and G. Sometimes with strings tuned down that low, intonation can be a problem, so Doug uses a capo at the second fret for this lesson. He shows you chords and scales in CGDGAD and how to play the traditional song “Lady Owen’s Delight” in the key of G.
EBDGBD tuning was inspired by guitarist Will Ackerman’s FCE♭A♭CE♭tuning, which requires you to tune most of the strings up by as much as a minor third (A–C, for example). But Doug realized that if he tuned that tuning down a half step, he got EBDGBD, which is the same as standard tuning but with the A string raised to B and the high E string lowered to D, and creates a nice Em7 chord. He uses it to play “The Foggy Dew,” an Irish song written in the early 20th century.
Doug learned D major nine tuning (DAEF♯AC♯) from a recording by fingerstyle guitarist Trevor Gordon Hall. It works well in the keys of D and A. Doug shows you chords in the tuning, and talks about its similarity to open-D tuning, and then he shows you his arrangement of George Harrison’s “If I Needed Someone,” which he plays with a capo at the second fret.
C wahine tuning (CGDGBD) is a slack-key tuning and can be thought of as a major ninth tuning with C as the root, but it also works well for songs in G, and the top four strings of the tuning are the same as standard tuning. Doug shows you chords in the keys of C and G and then shows you his arrangement of the Turlough O’Carolan tune “Planxty George Brabazon” in the key of G.
EADEAE tuning is unusual because the third string (G) is tuned down to an E and the second string (B) is tuned down to an A while the sixth, fifth, fourth, and first strings are the same as standard tuning. EADEAE is part of a family of tunings that are often referred to as “pipe” tunings. It’s also closely related to DADGAD tuning, since it’s an Asus tuning and DADGAD is a Dsus tuning. Doug talks about the similarities between EADEAE and DADGAD, shows you chords in the key of A, and teaches you his arrangement of “The Banks of the Bann,” an Irish air most likely from the 19th century.
Written in 1899 by Ada Blenkhorn with music by J. Howard Entwisle, “Keep on the Sunny Side” was first popularized by the Carter Family, who released their recording in 1928. The song was an enduring hit for the “first family of country music,” and it’s become a bluegrass and old-time music standard. You’ll learn the melody and solo ideas for both the verse and chorus of “Keep on the Sunny Side” in the keys of G, A, C, and the new key of E.
Lauren walks you through the melody of the verse and chorus of “Keep on the Sunny Side” in the key of G and then demonstrates numerous ways to embellish the basic tune with pickups, bow ornaments, blue notes, drones, and harmonies.
The basic melody remains the same in the key of A, but the handshape, fingering, and adjacent drone strings will be quite different. In G, the drones were typically on the G and D strings. In A, you’ll learn to use the A and E strings in a similar way.
Lauren shows you how to play “Keep on the Sunny Side” in two octaves in the key of C. She begins in the higher octave with the closed hand shape in second position and shows you various ways to finger the melody and shift positions. She follows that with the lower octave, which will feel very similar to the patterns you learned in the key of G.
Lauren introduces a new key for this lesson, and you’ll learn to play “Keep on the Sunny Side” in two octaves in the key of E. The good news is that the handshapes will be mostly familiar: The lower octave uses shapes and fingering familiar from your lesson in C, and the higher octave will be familiar from what you learned playing the tune in A, with the addition of a bit of shifting into third position.
Learn a melodic-style arrangement of the classic fiddle tune “Arkansas Traveler” in the key of D. “Arkansas Traveler,” like many fiddle tunes, is very notey, but it’s also quite melodic. Wes walks you through each part of “Arkansas Traveler” phrase by phrase, showing you his rolls and positions on the neck and pointing out phrases that can be used in other tunes or played in other keys.
In this lesson, Scott demonstrates his approach to playing solo pieces on the guitar, using the traditional song “The Blackest Crow.” Scott’s solo style, like that of most flatpickers who play solo pieces with only a flatpick, including David Grier, Tony Rice, and others, is fairly individual: there’s no specific way to do this. In arranging melodies to be played unaccompanied, Scott concentrates on phrasing the melody and takes advantage of the natural sustain and resonance of the guitar.
Scott recorded the English folk ballad “Ten Thousand Miles” for his recording of the same name with Chris and Cassie Webster. The solo guitar version of the tune that starts the recording is played out of open A (capoed up to B for the recording), and it’s a good demonstration of playing solo guitar pieces in A. It’s also a good illustration of how you often have to modify the fingering of certain chord voicings. Scott walks you through his arrangement of “Ten Thousand Miles,” explaining his arranging process and why he chose certain fingerings.
Previous solo flatpicking lessons have dealt with playing slow and medium-tempo song melodies, but in this lesson Scott shows you how he arranges a fiddle tune like “Little Liza Jane” as a solo guitar piece by filling out the melody with bass notes, chord tones, and ringing open strings. Scott’s arrangement of “Little Liza Jane” is in dropped-D tuning, and he shows you how he arranges the melody on the top strings so that you can grab bass notes on the lower strings. He also shows you a few variations and talks about how he thinks about creating variations and improvising on the melody when playing a solo fiddle tune.
“Planxty Hewlett,” sometimes just called “Hewlett,” was recorded by the Irish group Planxty in the 1970s and has become one of O’Carolan’s more popular tunes. It’s in 3/4 time in the key of D, and like a lot of O’Carolan tunes has a short (eight-bar) first part and longer (in this case, 16 bars) second part. After showing you the melody, Marla shows you how to flesh out “Planxty Hewlett” with double stops, drones, ornaments, and melodic variations. She also shows you some of the harmonic ideas often used to accompany “Planxty Hewlett” and how you might incorporate those into your playing.
“O’Carolan’s Draught” is one of O’Carolan’s most popular tunes. It has a hornpipe-like feel and combines Irish folk and Baroque sounds. Like many O’Carolan tunes, the second part is longer (in this case twice as long) than the first part. It includes a tricky signature section in which you alternate fretted B notes on the A string with a descending melody on the E string.
It’s unclear whether O’Carolan wrote the set dance “Princess Royal” but it’s a beautiful and popular tune in the key of A minor, and the melody uses both the Aeolian and Dorian modes. Marla explains what set dances are and then walks you through the melody of “Princess Royal.” She also gives you ideas for chords you could use to accompany the tune and shows you some open-string drones and double stops you can add to the basic melody.
Learn some classic tunes and solos by bluegrass banjo legends like Bill Keith, John Hartford, Bill Emerson, Ralph Stanley, and more.
The great melodic banjo pioneer Bill Keith recorded his tune “Santa Claus” with Bill Monroe in 1963. The chord progressions bears some resemblance to the song “I Don’t Love Nobody,” but it’s definitely its own tune. It’s not as challenging as some of Bill Keith’s melodic tunes, with a lot of Scruggs-oriented rolls as well as some of Keith’s signature melodic licks.
The great Alan Munde joins Bill in the Peghead Nation studio for an exclusive interview. Alan gained fame as one of the innovators of contemporary bluegrass banjo as member of Country Gazette and on his albums with Sam Bush and the Kentucky Colonels, as well his own highly influential solo albums. Bill and Alan discuss his banjo playing and music, with advice about practicing with a metronome, improvising, creating melodies on the banjo and more. They also talk about melodic-style banjo, arranging fiddle tunes, etc., and finish by playing a medley of three fiddle tunes in D: “Whiskey Before Breakfast,” “Angeline the Baker,” and “St. Anne’s Reel” (the tab for which is included).
The great bluegrass singer and banjo player Ralph Stanley passed away recently. Learn Ralph’s solo on the Stanley Brothers classic “How Mountain Girls Can Love,” recorded in 1962. Ralph often used the forward roll, relying heavily on his index finger, which often plays the melody on the fourth string. You’ll also learn a couple of Ralph’s signature licks: an ending lick and a fill-in lick with a tenth-fret choke.
Many people will recognize “Doug’s Tune” from the Andy Griffith Show, where the tune’s composer, banjoist Doug Dillard, was a member of the fictional Darlin’ Family. “Doug’s Tune” has a bit of a ragtime feel and some unusual syncopations. It’s played out of G tuning, and that’s where you’ll learn it, although Doug Dillard recorded it with the capo at the fourth fret, which makes some of the stretches in the second part easier.
The instrumental tune “Appalachian Train” (also called “Appalachian Rain”) comes from songwriter Paul Craft and banjoist Ben Eldridge, who recorded it on the Seldom Scene’s album Old Train. The tune is played in G-minor tuning, in which the second string is tuned down a half step to Bb.
John Hartford’s influential 1971 album Aereo-Plain includes the song you’ll learn in this lesson: “Steam Powered Aereo Plane.” Hartford’s style is unique, especially in the way he used roll patterns, and the solo to “Steam Powered Aereo Plane” that Bill transcribed is a good example.
In this lesson you’ll learn two solos to the bluegrass standard “Sunny Side of the Mountain” that the great Sonny Osborne played on the late-1970s Osborne Brothers recording “The Bluegrass Collection.” Sonny’s banjo style was influenced by country music and musicians, especially piano and guitar players. You’ll learn both of Sonny’s solos, the first, more straightforward solo, and the incredible second solo, which ends with a wild flurry of licks.
The Irish tune “The Cuckoo’s Nest” has become a jam session favorite and has been recorded by numerous people, including Nickel Creek. Chad starts by showing you the chords to “The Cuckoo’s Nest” and then walks you through his version of the tune, including a couple of variations.
“The Butterfly” is an Irish slip jig, which means it’s in 9/8. It has an unusual melody that was written by Irish fiddler Tommie Potts, who meant it to mimic a butterfly that he was watching in his garden. It’s in the key of E minor and has three parts. Chad walks you through each part slowly, showing you the bowing as he goes. He also shows you some ornaments you can use once you have the basic melody down.
A fun and popular old-time tune played in the key of C, “East Tennessee Blues” has a bit of a ragtime flavor. You’ll learn to play it by alternating single bow strokes with the Georgia shuffle bowing pattern. The B part of “East Tennessee Blues” has a lot of held notes that begin with slides, and you’ll learn how to attack the beginning of the slides to really give them a bluesy feel.
The old-time fiddle tune “Farewell Trion” is in the key of C and has three parts, the second of which has an extra half measure. The tune has become popular in old-time music circles lately, and Chad learned it from the fiddling of James Bryan. You’ll learn the melody and bowing and get advice on using short bow strokes on some of the quick single-bow notes.
Rayna Gellert’s “Swannanoa Waltz” has a beautiful and simple melody. In this lesson, you’ll learn to add layers like double-stringing, hammer-ons, and pulses to the “Swannanoa Waltz” to give it a nice waltz rhythm. Chad also talks about getting an old-time tone by adding a little pressure to your bow and slowing it down a bit. He also shows you how you can play the tune in ADAE tuning, and how to adjust your fingering on the lowest string when you do.
“Red Wing” is a fiddle standard that all fiddlers should know. It’s commonly played in the key of G, which is the key you’ll learn it in this lesson. Chad walks you through the melody of each part phrase by phrase, showing you his bowing as he goes. You’ll also learn some double stops you can add to the basic melody as well as a couple of swing-style variations to the A part that use augmented and diminished chord arpeggios.
The old-time fiddle tune “Squirrel Hunters” was introduced to the bluegrass world by John Hartford and has become popular at jam sessions. It’s in the key of A Mixolydian and has an unusual chord progression, with each part ending on a D (IV) chord. Chad walks you through the melody of both parts of “Squirrel Hunters” showing you some drones and slides you can add to the basic melody. He also shows you some different ways to improvise on “Squirrel Hunters,” including varying the bow patterns and using target notes in the melody.
The old-time fiddle tune “Hawks and Eagles” is a one-part square dance tune in the key of D that has some interesting syncopation and bowing. Chad shows you the syncopated phrase at the heart of the tune it before he walks you the melody and bowing, which includes some cool “pulses” and double stringing. He also shows you the melody in the lower octave.
This Bill Monroe instrumental is in the key of G minor, which means you’ll mostly use the Bb major scale to play it. Chad shows you the Bb scale without the sixth step of the scale (Eb), since the melody doesn’t use an Eb or E. Then he walks you through the melody, phrase by phrase, showing you his bowing as he goes.
A medium tempo western swing blues in the key of A, “Milk Cow Blues” mostly uses the A major pentatonic scale, along with some blue notes and a couple of cool triplet licks. Chad walks you through the melody, showing you how he articulates the bluesy slides and bows it with a swing phrasing. You’ll also learn a couple simple variations, using unison drones and double stops.
Sam Bush’s beautiful waltz “The Old North Woods” is in the key of G minor, and mostly uses the G natural minor scale. Chad starts by reviewing the G natural minor scale in two octaves and playing the whole tune through. Then he walks you through the melody of both parts of “The Old North Woods.”
Chad learned the old-time tune “Josie-O” (also called “Josie Girl”) from the fiddling of the great bluegrass and old-time fiddler Art Stamper. It’s a three-part tune in the key of G, and the third part goes to E minor. Chad walks you through the melody, phrase by phrase, showing you his bowing and how to add double-stringing below the melody. The second part has some long stretches up to the B note on the high E string, so Chad gives you advice on making the stretch.
The fiddle tune “Quail Is a Pretty Bird” comes from Missouri old-time fiddler Gene Goforth, by way of John Hartford (the melody is also very similar to Edden Hammons’ “Sandy Boys”). It’s in the key of A, with two parts, and the scale uses a couple different versions of the seventh, sometimes the G# and sometimes a note in between G# and G.
The old-time fiddle tune “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss” is a popular square dance tune in the key of D. It includes some typical old-time anticipations and bow pulses (or pushes). Chad walks you through the tune, phrase by phrase, showing you his bowing and some of the ways he accents the melody and attacks notes in different ways.
Bob Wills’s “Faded Love” is a Western Swing fiddle classic, a great tune that is often played in harmony with one or more other fiddlers. Chad starts by showing the basic melody before showing you some of the fourth finger unison drones that give the tune its distinctive sound.
There are a lot of versions of the old-time fiddle tune “Sail Away Ladies,” but the one recorded by Uncle Bunt Stephens in the 1920s is a great way to learn some Southern-style old-time bowing. It’s a simple melody, but the bowing and rhythm of the phrases can be tricky.
The fiddle tune “The High Road” was written by fiddler/mandolinist/singer/songwriter Tim O’Brien many years ago, and has become a bit of a bluegrass standard. It combines sounds from a lot of styles: old-time, bluegrass, Celtic, blues, and even Klezmer. It’s in the key of E minor and the second part has a couple of unusual chords and note choices.
“Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase” is a three-part “crooked” old-time tune in the key of C. “Crooked” means that the parts aren’t an even eight-bars long. In this case, the first and second parts each have an extra half measure. The third part has some typical old-time bowing patterns with more slurs and bow sweeps.
You’ll learn one of Chad’s original tunes, “Margaret’s Musical Mecca,” in this lesson. It’s a fun tune in the key of A, with some old-time bowing and drones.
Chad learned the six-part old-time tune “Rabbit Hash” from the fiddling of Tricia Spencer and Howard Rains, who recorded it on their album The Old Texas Fiddle, Vol. II They recorded it in the cross tuning of GDGD, but you’ll learn it here in standard tuning in the key of A.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a harmony part for the fiddle tune “Rabbit Hash,” which you learned in a previous lesson and which comes from the fiddling of Tricia Spencer and Howard Rains.
Chad’s version of the old-time fiddle standard “Dance All Night” comes from John Lusk, who was the fiddler with the African American string band Gribble, Lusk, and York. The trio were recorded in the 1940s for the Library of Congress, and “Dance All Night” is from their first 1946 recording.
Chad learned the old-time fiddle waltz “Green Valley Waltz” (also called “Green Valley Trot”) from the playing of bluegrass fiddle legend Chubby Wise. It’s in the key of G, using mostly the G major pentatonic scale, with some bluesy thirds. Chad walks you through the each part of “Green Valley Waltz” in this video, showing you the bowing and bluesy phrasing, and giving you advice on bowing and attack.
Chad shows you a harmony part to the “Green Valley Waltz.” Like a lot of bluegrass harmony parts it doesn’t harmonize each note of the melody, but mirrors it with bluesy licks and double stops.
The old-time fiddle tune “Over the Waterfall” comes from West Virginia fiddler Henry Reed, who was recorded by fiddler Alan Jabbour, whose band the Hollow Rock String Band recorded many of Reed’s tunes in the 1970s. It’s in the key of D and has the standard AABB form.
The minor pentatonic scale is essential to bluegrass and blues. You’ll learn it in a closed position (without using open strings, so you can move it to other keys) and use it to play the bluegrass classic “Reuben’s Train” in the key of D.
This beautiful country classic sounds great on the dobro. Mike shows you how to use the different chord inversion shapes you learned in the Triad Shapes lesson to find the melody in different places on the neck.
In this lesson, you’ll learn the classic fiddle tune “Old Joe Clark,” played with a capo at the second fret. Mike plays the basic melody through and then breaks it down before showing you some ways to fill the melody out and spruce it up with rolls and drone notes.
The Josh Graves slow blues tune “Flatt Lonesome” is great for learning to play in the key of A without a capo and it includes a lot of cool blues licks.
Learn to play the Carter Family classic “Wildwood Flower,” a popular guitar instrumental and jam session favorite, in the key of C in two octaves.
Bill Monroe recorded his song “Sitting Alone in the Moonlight” in 1954. The waltz-time song was one of his biggest hits and it continues to be a favorite in the bluegrass world today. Check out this recent rendition by the Infamous Stringdusters, for example. This month, Lauren shows you the melody, chords, and ideas for soloing in the keys of Bb and A. Next time around, she’ll show you how to play it in the keys of G, and D.
Lauren introduces the key of Bb for the first time in this course, which offers some new challenges and opportunities. Playing in Bb includes both open and closed hand shapes, and Lauren teaches the requisite scale and chord progression before digging into the melodies for the verse and chorus. She talks about some rhythmic aspects of playing in 3/4 time and shows you some ideas for building a solo for the song.
Lauren teaches the song in the key of A in this lesson. The basic melody remains the same, but the handshape and fingering will be different from what you just learned for the key of Bb.
Lauren shows you the chords, melody, and some solo ideas for “Sitting Alone in the Moonlight,” this time in the key of G. The relative chord progression and melody are similar to what you learned in the previous three keys, but the handshape and fingering will be different.
Lauren shows you the chords, melody, and some solo ideas for “Sitting Alone in the Moonlight,” this time in the key of D. As Lauren notes, the handshape and fingering will be essentially the same as what you just learned in the key G, but moved up one string.
This lesson begins a series of lessons on accompanying Irish tunes on the mandolin. You’ll learn a tune and some variations as well as how to accompany it and tunes like it. “The Ballintore Fancy” is a two-part half reel in the key of G. Marla walks you through the melody as well as some variations, and then shows you her approach to acccompaniment, which is based on arpeggios and crosspicked partial chords. To do this, you need to know where the notes of the chord are, so she starts by showing you where all the notes of a G chord are in first position and gives you ideas on combining them. She also shows you arpeggios for the other chords you’ll use in the key of G: C, D, Em, Am, and Bm, and then shows you how she accompanies “The Ballintore Fancy.”
Marla uses the jig “Hawthorn Hedge” to show you how to accompany tunes in the key of D. After showing you the basic melody of both parts, including some subtle variations, she shows you her approach to accompaniment in the key of D. In the key of D you’ll use the three major chords, D, G, and A, as well as their relative minors, Bm, Em, and F#m.
In this lesson you’ll learn to accompany tunes in the key of A minor, using the march “Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine.” Marla starts by showing you the melody of “Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine” as well as some variations and ornamentation. Then she talks about her approach to accompaniment in the key of A minor, or A Dorian. The main chords in A Dorian are Am and G major, but you’ll also use the relatives of those, the relative major of A minor (C) and the relative minor of G (Em). Marla also shows you how to use the F and D major chords as substitutions.
Marla uses the reel “Lafferty’s” to talk about her approach to accompaniment in the key of E minor (E Dorian). In addition to showing you the basic melody of “Lafferty’s,” Marla spends a lot of time showing you the different kinds of melodic variations, ornamentation, and double stops she uses.
Before she shows you how she accompanies tunes in D Mixolydian, Marla teaches you the popular pipe tune “Toss the Feathers,” giving you lots of ideas for variations and ornamentation. Then she uses “Toss the Feathers” and “Hardiman the Fiddler” to demonstrate accompaniment in D Mixolydian, primarily using D, C, and Am chords.
Marla shows you how to accompany tunes in B minor in this lesson, with two tunes you’ve already learned: the slide “An Choisir” and the reel “Paddy’s Gone to France.”
Explore building a solo from scratch by playing three different solos to the bluegrass classic “Long Journey Home,” starting with one that just adds forward-reverse rolls to the melody. The second solo combines pinch patterns with some classic Scruggs-style licks that stand in for parts of the melody and the third solo replaces the pinch patterns with roll patterns. You’ll also learn an intro to kick-off the solo.
Sonny Osborne’s version of the gospel favorite “I’ll Fly Away” is a great illustration of how to build solos by taking the melody and filling it out with roll patterns and licks. You’ll learn Sonny’s banjo solo to both the verse and chorus of “I’ll Fly Away” in this lesson.
Learn to construct a solo to the traditional favorite “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” by adding roll patterns and other bluegrass banjo licks to the melody. Bill starts by showing you the chords and melody of “Bury Me Beneath the Willow,” and then shows you a basic arrangement that adds different rolls to the melody. He also talks about Earl Scruggs’s approach of “playing the syllables”—phrasing the melody the way a singer would—as a way to add more variety and interest to a basic arrangement. Then he shows you an arrangement of “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” based on this approach.
Most bluegrass banjo breaks are played in the key of G, or in G position with a capo, but it can be handy to know how to play in the key of C without using a capo. In this lesson you’ll learn chord positions for the I, IV, and V chords in the key of C (C, F, and G), as well as the C major scale in open position, the melody to the bluegrass favorite “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” in C, and how to create a solo by combining the melody, some typical roll patterns, and even a few licks you already know in the key of G.
The bluegrass classic “All the Good Times Are Past and Gone” is in 3/4 time, also known as “waltz” time. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to play backup in 3/4 time and how to adapt roll patterns to 3/4 times so you can play a solo to “All the Good Times Are Past and Gone” and other songs in 3/4.
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to play in the key of D without a capo, in G tuning, with the fifth string tuned to A. You can get a bluesy sound in this tuning, and Bill uses “Man of Constant Sorrow” as an example. Bill starts by showing you the chords you’ll need to play “Man of Constant Sorrow” in the key of D, along with some roll patterns that sound good with them. Then he walks you through a solo for “Man of Constant Sorrow” in the key of D.
“Lonesome Road Blues” (also often called “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad”) is a bluegrass classic. In this lesson, you’ll learn an up-the-neck solo similar to the one Earl Scruggs played on the 1961 album Foggy Mountain Banjo, and Bill also gives you ideas on playing a more standard solo in first position. He starts by walking you through Earl’s solo, phrase by phrase, giving you advice on playing the string bends (“chokes”) that are essential to the sound of this solo and showing you how to move efficiently between positions up the neck.
The bluegrass standard “Dark Hollow” is often sung in the key of C, so Bill uses it to explore creating solos in the key of C (without a capo) on the banjo. He starts by showing you the chords and the melody and how the two fit together. Then he gives you advice on adding rolls and licks to the melody of “Dark Hollow” to create a real bluegrass banjo solo.
“Sitting on Top of the World” comes from the blues and folk tradition and has become a bluegrass jam session standard. In this lesson, Bill shows you a couple of solos, a straightforward one and one with some more advanced licks, including a different intro and ending licks from JD Crowe and Sammy Shelor.
Bill shows you a variety of licks used by Earl Scruggs on C chords, both in open position and up the neck. He starts by showing you some hammer-on and pull-of licks in open position that Earl used in tunes like “Earl’s Breakdown” and “Flint Hill Special” and songs like “Your Love Is Like a Flower” and “Cabin in Caroline.” Then he shows you a few licks that work well in “John Hardy” as well as a couple up-the-neck licks Earl played in “Bugle Call Rag” and “Lonesome Road Blues.”
The bluegrass standard “Eight More Miles to Louisville” was written by the great clawhammer banjo player, and star of the Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw, Grandpa Jones. In this lesson, you’ll learn four versions of “Eight More Miles to Louisville.” The first version is designed for intermediate players and features the alternating thumb roll. Bill’s second version of “Eight More Miles to Louisville” features the index leading role, while the third version moves up the neck and uses the middle leading roll, a favorite of Sonny Osborne and Alan Munde. As extra credit, Bill shows you how to play “Eight More Miles to Louisville” using a roll that comes from Béla Fleck and Alan Shelton, which Bill calls the “first string repetition roll.”
In this lesson, Bill shows you how to create an arrangement of a slow song like the beautiful old hymn “Wayfaring Stranger.” He shows you the melody and chords in the key of A minor (in G tuning, but with the fifth string tuned to A), and then gives you ideas on adding roll patterns and melodic embellishments to create your own version of “Wayfaring Stranger.”
“Sourwood Mountain” is an old folk song that has been around for ages. There are great versions by Ralph Stanley, the Osborne Brothers, Allen Shelton, and Jim Mills, among others. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to take the melody of “Sourwood Mountain” and create your own banjo version, by adding roll patterns, hammer-ons, and pull-offs, etc. Bill’s version of the melody is based on the Osborne Brothers recording. You’ll learn to play a solo on the melody down the neck and also up the neck.
In this lesson on creating solos, Bill uses the Carter Family classic and bluegrass jam session “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” to show you a method of working up solos called “playing the syllables.” Earl Scruggs’s kickoff to “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” on the 1972 album of the same name is a classic example of this approach.
Double stops are two-note partial chords that sound great on the mandolin and are helpful for getting a bigger chordal sound out of a simple melody line.
This great fiddle tune is popular among old-time and bluegrass musicians alike. It’s in the key of C and played on the banjo in double-C tuning. So far you’ve learned some songs in double-C tuning, but this is the first fiddle tune you’ll learn in double C. The A part includes a variation on the second phrase Evie learned from old-time fiddler Brad Leftwich. The second part moves up to the fifth and seventh frets and includes a IV chord (F) up at the fifth fret. You’ll also learn a variation that goes up to the tenth fret.
A fast four-part tune in the key of C, “Hell Broke Loose in Georgia” uses a lot of the neck, from the lowest notes all the way up to the tenth fret. The first and second parts of “Hell Broke Loose in Georgia” are both played over a C chord, but the third part goes to A minor. The fourth part goes back to C and is mostly played on the lowest two strings. You’ll learn the basic melody to all four parts, along with a few variations, including one with an I-skip.
The song “I Love My Honey” comes from a recording of Kentucky fiddler Santford Kelly, who sang it while strumming his fiddle. Evie’s version for clawhammer banjo is in C major tuning, which is slightly different than double C tuning, with the first string tuned up to E from D. Evie’s playing on “I Love My Honey” is based on a steady fast bum-ditty rhythm with her thumb hitting the banjo head on the downbeats. This is different than the style of playing single note melodies used in the fiddle tunes you’ve been learning. You’ll learn some of the embellishments Evie adds behind her singing on “I Love My Honey” and how she plays the melody, including a variation with triplet hammer-on/pull-offs.
Bill Monroe’s classic bluegrass song “True Life Blues” does not follow the classic 12-bar blues form, but rather, the chords are the same as the common “bluegrass chord progression #1.” The fiddle solo you’ll learn, played by Chubby Wise on Monroe’s original 1945 recording, includes some great bluesy licks in the key of A that you’ll be able to use in lots of songs. You’ll also learn a variation on the solo that Chubby plays at the end of the recording.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a solo to the bluegrass classic “Letter from My Darling” based on the solo fiddler Bobby Hicks played on the Bluegrass Album Band’s recording. Chad walks you through the solo phrase by phrase, giving you advice on bowing and phrasing as he goes. He also shows you a version of the solo with some drones and double stops.
The bluegrass standard “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” comes from Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and has become a jam session favorite. In this lesson you’ll learn a fiddle solo to “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” in the key of A that is based on the solo that Bobby Hicks played on the Bluegrass Album Band recording of the song.
The fiddle solo, played by the great Benny Martin, on Flatt and Scruggs’ recording of “Someone Took My Place with You” is a classic, with some cool double stops, slides, and must-know bluegrass fiddle licks in the key of A. Chad walks you through the solo, phrase by phrase, first without double stops and then with them.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a solo to the bluegrass standard “Nine Pound Hammer” in the key of A. Chad starts by showing you the basic melody and then how to add variations, including unison drones, blue notes, and an ending lick, to create a bluegrass fiddle solo.
Fiddler Richard Greene’s solo on Tony Rice’s recording of the bluegrass song “Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler,” is a classic. The recording is in the key of Bb but in this lesson, you’ll learn a solo in the key of A based on Richard Greene’s solo, which uses the pentatonic scale along with some bluesy thirds and sevenths.
The song “Dark Hollow” is a bluegrass standard that is often played in the key of C. In this lesson, you’ll learn a solo based on the melody that includes double stops and bluesy slides. As “Dark Hollow” is a standard, it’s been sung by many people, of course, but Chad recommends listening to Larry Sparks sing it. Chad starts by showing you the basic melody and words and then shows you how you can turn the melody into a solo with the addition of double stops.
Josh Graves’ solo on the Johnny Cash song “When Papa Played the Dobro” includes some classic dobro licks that every dobro player should know. It’s also a good introduction to playing harmony scales out of straight bar position.
The classic bluegrass song “Your Love Is Like a Flower” has a chord progression and melodic shape you’ll find in dozens of bluegrass songs, so it’s important to know this progression how as well as a solo over it.
In this section, you'll learn instrumental solos (or "breaks") to play in between the verses of some classic bluegrass vocal songs.
Clarence “Tom” Ashley wrote “My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains” and recorded it with the Carolina Tar Heels in 1929. Tim O’Brien and Abigail Washburn released a lovely version a few years back, and the song remains a favorite in bluegrass and old-time circles. Sharon teaches the song in the key of D, and in addition to the basic melody and chords, you’ll learn some techniques for rounding out the sound and enhancing the groove.
“Shady Grove” is a classic American folk song that likely originated in the 1800s. There are numerous versions, but Sharon teaches you a version of “Shady Grove” in the key of D minor that is similar to the way Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, Tony Rice, and others have played it. You’ll learn the D minor scale and chords and the melody the way David Grisman played it on The Pizza Tapes.
“Sitting on Top of the World” is an old folk and blues song that became a bluegrass classic. It’s very popular at bluegrass jam sessions, so it’s important to know how to play a basic, melodic solo on it. You’ll learn it in the key of A, which allows you to play open drone strings along with the melody. Sharon’s arrangement includes a kickoff and ending and some typical bluegrass licks.
“Brushy Run” is one of Wes’s favorite old-time fiddle tunes, and his arrangement follows the fiddle melody exactly, which means that there are a few tricky sections for both hands. It’s in the key of G, and Wes plays it mostly melodic style with a touch of single string.
The first hop jig you’ll learn is “The Promenade,” which is in A Dorian. Marla walks you through the melody of both parts in this lesson, explaining how she emphasizes the first and third beats of the measure. She also shows you some ideas for variations and ornamentation you might want to use on the tune, particularly picked triplets.
The hop jig “Cucanandy” is very similar to the slip jig “The Whistling Thief,” so in this lesson, you’ll learn both. Marla starts by playing both tunes, which are in they of G, so you can see the similarity and difference, and then she walks you through both tunes phrase by phrase.
The E minor hop jig “Comb Your Hair and Curl It” is often played with a lot of triplet phrases. Marla shows you the basic version and how to embellish it with triplets. She also shows you some of the variations she plays, with double stops and melodic variations.
Use this video to practice playing the three hop jigs you’ve learned as a set: “Cucanandy,” “The Promenade,” and “Comb Your Hair and Curl It.”
Learn to play song melodies by combining sixth intervals with simple roll patterns. Bill begins by showing you how to find sixth intervals using the F and D chord shapes and then how to play a G major scale in sixths. He also shows you how to add t-i-m-i or m-i-t-i rolls to the sixths to fill them out. Then you’ll learn to play the melody to “You Are My Sunshine” in sixths and how to add the backward roll to the melody to fill it out. Bill also shows you how to modify your rolls to create more variety in your solo.
Bill shows you third intervals in the keys of G, C, and D, which will not only help you learn the fingerboard, but provide lots of ideas for creating licks, solos, and backup. Bill starts with the key of G, walking you through thirds from the bottom of the neck to the top and giving you advice on fingering. Then he shows you the same thing in the keys of C and D. You’ll also learn some exercises that combine thirds with the middle leading roll (m-i-m-t), and how to use this pattern to play the chord progressions to “Blackberry Blossom” and “Whiskey Before Breakfast.”
In this lesson, you’ll learn to create two solos for the bluegrass standard “If I Should Wander Back Tonight” in D using the melody and arpeggios in the key of D. Sharon starts by showing you the melody in two octaves, and then gives you some exercises on guide tones in the key of D, before showing you the solos she’s created. With Notation/Tab
Sharon shows you how to use ideas and licks you’ve learned in other solos to build your own solo on the bluegrass standard “Your Love Is Like a Flower.” Sharon uses a phrase from Ricky Skaggs’s solo on “Old Home Place,” which Sharon taught in a previous lesson, as a springboard to creating a solo to “Your Love Is Like a Flower.” She starts by reminding you of the first half of Skaggs’s solo, and then shows you how she combines one of her favorite phrases in that solo with the melody, some typical bluegrass licks, and other ideas to create a unique solo for “Your Love Is Like a Flower.” With Notation/Tab
In this lesson, you’ll learn your first hornpipe, “Bantry Bay.” Marla starts by talking about the history of hornpipes and some of their melodic characteristics. Then she walks you through the basic melody of “Bantry Bay,” which is in the key of G major.
There are a few tunes in Irish music called “The Blackbird.” In this lesson you’ll learn “The Blackbird Hornpipe” which is in the key of D major, with a last phrase in D Mixolydian. Marla walks you through the melody of “The Blackbird Hornpipe” and then shows you some ideas for variations and ornamentation.
“The Humours of Tullycrine” is a beautiful lyrical hornpipe in the key of A minor, or more specifically, A Dorian. Like many, if not most, hornpipes, the second half of the B part of “The Humours of Tullycrine” is the same as the second half of the A part.
The hornpipe “The Home Ruler” is usually paired with another hornpipe, “Kitty’s Wedding,” which you’ll learn in the next lesson. Both are in the key of D with a classic hornpipe structure.
The hornpipe “Kitty’s Wedding” is the companion tune to “The Home Ruler,” which you learned in the last lesson. They are similar tunes and it can be tricky to keep from getting the two mixed up, but they sound great played back to back.
The jam-session favorite “Cherokee Shuffle” can be played Scruggs style or melodic style. You’ll learn both in this lesson. “Cherokee Shuffle” is played in the key of A, but is played on the banjo in G position, so you’ll play it with the capo on the second fret. Before showing you the arrangements, Bill gives you some tips on keeping your banjo in tune after putting the capo on.
The Bill Monroe fiddle tune “Gold Rush” is a jam session favorite that can be played at different speeds. You’ll learn two versions: a Scruggs-style solo for when the tempo is blazing and a melodic-style solo when the tempo is a little more relaxed and you have time to throw in a few more fiddle-like scalar runs.
The fiddle tune “Angeline the Baker” is a popular jam session tune among fiddlers and mandolin players, so it’s good to have your own version at the ready when it’s called in a jam. You’ll learn a melodic arrangement of “Angeline the Baker” in the key of D (with the fifth string up to A).
The 1930s melody “The Old Spinning Wheel” makes a great bluegrass banjo tune in the key of C. You’ll learn the basic melody, to which you’ll add roll patterns, as well as a more embellished version. You’ll also learn how the C major scale relates to the chords in the key of C.
The old-time fiddle favorite “Turkey in the Straw” makes a good melodic-style banjo tune. You’ll learn some handy up-the-neck positions to play “Turkey in the Straw” and get advice on reaching some of the trickier positions.
The old-time fiddle tune “Big Sciota” has become popular in bluegrass jam circles in recent years. It can be played on the banjo in Scruggs style or melodic style. You’ll learn Bill’s arrangement, which combines a bit of both.
This Bill Monroe instrumental in the key of G minor makes a beautiful slow banjo tune, with some nice descending chords played up the neck in the first part and a repeating scalar melody played melodic style in the second part. Bill explains the minor scale, particularly the G minor scale used in “Crossing the Cumberlands,” and how to play it melodic style up the neck. He also shows you chord shapes in G minor you can use to accompany the song with vamping.
Bill Monroe’s beautiful four-part minor-key fiddle tune “Jerusalem Ridge” is in the key of A minor and works well on the banjo played melodic style without a capo. Before he starts walking you through the melody, Bill reminds you how to play the A minor scale (which is the same as the C major scale) in melodic style, including a couple of fingering options. The timing of the third and fourth parts of “Jerusalem Ridge” is a little tricky as each part has one measure of 2/4. The third part has a distinctive D minor chord, while the fourth part goes to the key of C for a couple of measures. Bill walks you through each section phrase by phrase, giving you advice about fingering and timing.
The fiddle tune “Blackberry Blossom” is a popular bluegrass jam tune and a classic of melodic-style banjo. In this lesson you’ll learn to play the tune melodic style as well as some ways to vary the melody using different roll patterns, and you’ll get a strategy for accompanying the tune, which has a lot of quick chord changes.
“John Hardy” is a bluegrass banjo classic and a good tune to call at jam sessions. In this lesson, Bill shows you how to take the basic melody and add roll patterns and licks to create a full-fledged solo. He starts by showing you the melody to “John Hardy” and explaining its somewhat unusual chord progression. After showing you a simple version of “John Hardy” created by adding simple roll patterns to the melody, Bill goes through the tune phrase by phrase, showing you some more complex licks and rolls you can use to play “John Hardy.”
The bluegrass jam favorite “Clinch Mountain Backstep” comes from banjo great Ralph Stanley. The notes of the melody of “Clinch Mountain Backstep” come from the minor pentatonic scale, so Bill shows you the minor pentatonic scale before showing you a basic version of both parts of “Clinch Mountain Backstep.” You’ll also learn to play an up-the-neck arrangement of “Clinch Mountain Backstep” and how to find the minor pentatonic scale up-the-neck, primarily on the top two strings.
The song “Red Wing” was written in 1907 and the melody has become a bluegrass jam session favorite. Bill shows you how to build a solo to “Red Wing” by starting with the melody and then adding roll patterns. He starts by showing you a basic arrangement, and then another version with some more elaborate sections inspired by the melodic banjo playing of Bill Keith and Alan Munde.
Bill’s arrangement of the Bill Monroe instrumental “Roanoke” is a good example of combining melodic style with Scruggs-style banjo. The A part of the tune uses the G major melodic scale in two octaves, while the second part uses sixths and thirds, combined with rolls, to play the melody. Bill starts by reminding you of the G major melodic scale and then walks you through his arrangement of “Roanoke.” You’ll also learn a more advanced version of the A part of “Roanoke” that matches the way fiddlers play the melody.
The fiddle tune “Billy in the Lowground” is a favorite at bluegrass jam sessions all over the world. It’s in the key of C, and Bill plays it melodic style, so he starts by showing you the melodic scale in the key of C all the way up to the C on the first string. Then he walks you through each part of his arrangement, explaining why he chose to play certain phrases the way he did, and showing you some alternatives.
The fiddle tune “Bill Cheatham” is a bluegrass jam session favorite and, fortunately, it sits well on the banjo. You’ll learn two versions in this lesson, a Scruggs-style version you can play when the tempo is high, and a melodic-style version that is closer to the way a fiddler would play the tune.
The bluegrass jam classic “Rebecca” was written by mandolinist Herschel Sizemore, and Bill’s arrangement is based on Jim Mills’s great banjo playing. It’s played in the key of B, so you’ll need to put your capo on the fourth fret (and your fifth string on the ninth fret) to play it at jam sessions. “Rebecca” is a “crooked” tune, which means that the parts don’t conform to the usual groupings of four or eight measures.
“St. Anne’s Reel” is a common jam fiddle tune in bluegrass, old-time, and Celtic music circles. It’s in the key of D and Bill plays it melodic style, with the kind of melody a fiddler might play.
“Ernest T. Grass” is a hard-driving bluegrass banjo instrumental that was written by Ronnie Bowman and Dan Tyminski in the 1990s when they were in the Lonesome River Band, but it’s primarily associated with Lonesome River Band banjo player Sammy Shelor, who recorded it on his solo album Leading Roll.
“Ashokan Farewell” was written by fiddler Jay Ungar and featured in the Ken Burns documentary The Civil War, and it has become a favorite of all sorts of instrumentalists. It’s a beautiful, slow melody and Bill plays it in a “chord solo” style (as he does in his “Amazing Grace” lesson), rather than the usual roll-based bluegrass banjo style.
In this lesson, you’ll learn to create a backup part for “If I Should Wander Back Tonight” with double stops that harmonize the melody line and fills between the melodic lines. Sharon starts by reviewing the double stops on each string in the key of D and the double stop “neighborhoods.” Then she talks about the importance of staying away from the singer’s melody notes, and shows you a backup part for “If I Should Wander Back Tonight” with harmony double stops and fills. With Notation/Tab
In this lesson, Sharon shows you some Bill Monroe licks that he used for backing up singers, either himself or another singer. The licks are based on major chord arpeggios and come out of the Monroe chop-chord shape.
The old-time tune “Western Country” is also known as “Susanna Gals,” “Susananna Gals,” and “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss,” depending on what lyrics you’re singing. It’s a square tune in the key of D and an essential tune to know for old-time jams.
“West Fork Gals” is another great square dance tune in the key of D, played in double C tuning with the capo at the second fret. It has a nice singable melody with a few more notes than some of the tunes you’ve been learning but it sits well on the banjo and is a great tune to know for jams.
There are a few different ways to play the old-time square dance favorite “Sally Ann.” In this lesson, you’ll learn to play Tommy Jarrell’s version of “Sally Ann,” which is sometimes called “Old-Time Sally Ann.” Evie walks you through it phrase by phrase, starting with the A part, which is similar to the B part of “Western Country” but with some crucial differences. You’ll learn to play the A part in two octaves, as well as the B part, of course, which is half as long as the A part.
In the last lesson, you learned Tommy Jarrell’s version of “Sally Ann,” which is sometimes called “Old-Time Sally Ann.” In this lesson, you’ll learn a three-part version that comes from fiddler Benton Flippen. Evie shows you how it’s similar to Tommy’s and how it’s different, walking you through Benton’s version phrase by phrase.
The fiddle tune standard “Whiskey Before Breakfast” is a must-know bluegrass jam tune, and is also a good tune to use for practicing playing in the key of D.
Rob Ickes recorded a great dobro version of the old-time fiddle tune “Flannery’s Dream” on the first Blue Highway album. The tune is in an A modal tonality (with major thirds and minor thirds as well as flatted sevenths) and has some cool bluesy slides as well as numerous hammer-ons and pull-offs.
The classic bluegrass fiddle tune “Bill Cheatham” is in the key of A, and you’ll learn it with a capo at the second fret. It’s a great workout for both hands, with lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs and some mixed roll patterns.
This beautiful country classic sounds great on the dobro. You’ll learn how to use the different chord inversion shapes you learned in the Triad Shapes lesson to find the melody in different places on the neck. Finding ways to play a melody in different places on the fretboard gives you more freedom to voice and phrase melodies the way you want to.
The classic Bill Monroe instrumental “Gold Rush” is in the key of A, played with a capo at the second fret. “Gold Rush” uses a lot of hammer-ons and pull-offs and some tricky picking-hand moves, and Mike shows you how to make it all flow smoothly, and includes a couple of cool variations.
The beautiful waltz “Midnight on the Water” comes from Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson. It’s in the key of D and you can play most of the A part melody on the first string, making it a great exercise in bar control and intonation. The B part is played using the open-position D major scale.
The banjo tune “Pickaway,” written by Vic Jordan, was popularized as a dobro tune by Mike Auldridge on his classic 1972 album Dobro. It’s a great tune for working on different kinds of rolls, and the second part includes some different rolls played on a circle-of-fifths progression: B–E–A–D.
This Bill Monroe fiddle tune makes a great dobro tune and has a lot of typical fiddle-style licks that you’ll find in other tunes in G. It has three parts, plus a short transitional section, and the second part is repeated after the third part. You’ll learn all three parts in the lower register and a variation on the A part in an upper octave.
The classic bluegrass picking tune “Salt Creek” is in the key of A with a distinctive flatted seventh chord (G) in both parts. Mike gives you advice on playing some of the quick pull-offs he uses in the tune, as well as some of the picking-hand fingering he uses, and also shows you a way to simplify the B part if the tempo gets too fast.
This fun dobro tune comes from LeRoy McNees and Josh Graves. You may have seen Leroy on The Andy Griffith Show playing dobro with the Country Boys (who later changed their name to the Kentucky Colonels). It’s made up of a few different sections, all with the same I–V (G–D) chord progression.
The bluegrass fiddle tune “Road to Columbus” was written by Bill Monroe and famously played by Monroe’s fiddler Kenny Baker on his Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe album. It’s in the key of A, played with the capo at the second fret. The first part is played mostly in open position and the second part moves up the scale on the top string. You’ll also learn a cool intro that imitates the way the fiddle starts the tune.
The bluegrass classic “Hot Corn, Cold Corn” is a fun song to play and a good song to use to illustrate a couple of different roll patterns you can add to bluegrass song melodies. Mike starts by showing you the song’s basic melody and then how to add a four-note roll pattern (a forward/backward roll). You’ll also learn a more syncopated version using a three-note forward roll pattern and how to give the rolls a swing feel or “bounce.”
Bill Monroe’s instrumental “Wheel Hoss” has been recorded by numerous bluegrass musicians, including dobroist Jerry Douglas, whose version can be heard on his Everything Is Gonna Work Out Fine collection. It is usually played at a fast tempo, and that can make it difficult to duplicate the fiddle melody. In this lesson, you’ll learn a version of the melody based on Douglas’s recording, which is a good way to play it when the tempo is blistering, as well as a version that follows the fiddle melody.
Written by Bob Wills’ steel guitarist Leon McAuliffe and first recorded in 1936, “Steel Guitar Rag” has become a dobro and steel guitar standard. You’ll learn the melody in the key of G, and since it’s sometimes played in the key of E by steel guitarists, Mike also shows you how to play it in closed position so you can transpose it to other keys.
Learn Mike’s version of the beautiful old folk song “Shenandoah.” Mike plays the tune “rubato” or without a regular pulse, and with a lot of dobro flourishes. He starts by showing you the basic melody, and then he shows you how to spruce it up, including matching barred notes with open strings to get the notes to sustain and the Dobro to ring, and adding some different chord inversions. He also talks about the improvised section he often plays in the middle of a performance of the tune.
The beautiful waltz “Ashokan Farewell” was written by fiddler Jay Ungar and famously featured in Ken Burns’s documentary The Civil War. Mike walks you through the melody phrase by phrase, showing you some dobroisms and chord tones you can use to fill out the melody.
The old-time fiddle tune “Little Rabbit” has five parts and is in the key of A, played with a capo at the second fret. The fourth part of “Little Rabbit” is probably the most distinctive, with a change to the IV chord after three parts with only one chord.
Ralph Stanley’s banjo tune “Clinch Mountain Backstep” is a popular bluegrass jam tune. It’s in the key of A and primarily uses the minor pentatonic scale, so Mike starts this lesson by showing you a minor pentatonic scale in open position. Then he walks you through both parts of “Clinch Mountain Backstep” phrase by phrase and shows you a few variations on his arrangement.
The fiddle tune “Billy in the Lowground” is not a standard dobro tune, but it’s popular at bluegrass and old-time jams. It’s in the key of C, and Mike plays it without a capo, so it’s a great exercise in playing scalar melodies in the key of C with alternate picking. You’ll learn two versions of “Billy in the Lowground,” one using alternate picking and one in which he works some roll patterns into the fiddle-tune melody.
In this lesson, Chad shows you how to use double stops on the bottom two strings to accompany (“comp”) songs, using the chord progression for “All of Me.” He walks you through the progression one chord at a time, explaining how he narrows down his voicing choices to just two notes of a given chord.
According to the Irish Traditional Music website, an amazing resource for traditional musicians, “the barn dance is, in origin, both a musical form and an accompanying social ballroom dance, which became popular in England and North America in the late 19th century.”
“The Hills of Tara” is a classic barn dance in the key of G, which is a common key for barn dances. In addition to teaching you the melody, Marla talks about what makes barn dances sound like barn dances and gives you some examples of variations and ornamentation you can use on “The Hills of Tara.”
In this lesson, you’ll learn another barn dance, “Bill Malley’s Barn Dance,” which has a bit of wistful quality compared to “The Hills of Tara.”
Barn dances, flings, and schottisches used to be distinct dance forms, since there were separate dances that went with them, but these days most traditional Irish musicians play them in a similar manner, with a similar rhythmic feel. “Joe Bane’s Schottische” is in the key of A, and the B part has some tricky fingering, requiring you to use your pinky on the high B on the E string.
Learn Bill’s “chord-melody” arrangement of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” from the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Bill’s arrangement begins by combining the opening keyboard riff with the vocal melody, played simultaneously, before shifting to a chord-solo approach where the vocal melody is the top note of each chord.
The holiday favorite “Silent Night” is not only a good tune to know for playing around the yule log, but it also makes a great study in thirds. Bill shows you how to find the third intervals on the top two strings in the key of C, and then walks you through the melody of “Silent Night” played in thirds. He also shows you how to finger the thirds in different ways, and how to find the most efficient fingering for each melodic phrase. You’ll also learn an accompaniment pattern for “Silent Night.”
Chord soloing is a concept that comes from jazz guitar and has been used by bluegrass banjo players like Sonny Osborne and Jim Mills to play slower melodies on the banjo. In this lesson, Bill explains the philosophy behind chord soloing and shows you a chord solo arrangement of “Amazing Grace.”
Bill’s original contemporary banjo tune “The Distance Between Two Points” was written with his daughter, Corey, and is featured on his recording In Good Company. “The Distance Between Two Points” is in the key of D, and Bill plays it in G tuning without a capo, but with the fifth string tuned up to A. In addition to walking you through each of the tune’s three parts, he demonstrates how he improvises on the third part.
The traditional folk song “Greensleeves” (known at the holidays as “What Child Is This?”) is a great tune to play as a chord solo on the banjo. It’s in 3/4 time and Bill plays it in the key of D minor, without a capo, so he starts by showing you the D minor chord voicings he uses, both as an accompaniment pattern in 3/4 time and then with the melody to create a chord solo.
The holiday favorite “Joy to the World” works well on the banjo played bluegrass style in the key of G. Bill shows you the melody of “Joy to the World” and then how he has adapted it to the banjo using Scruggs-style rolls for some phrases and melodic style for others. He also shows you a more bluegrassy version of the first couple of phrases that comes from banjoist Tom Boyd.
Sonny Osborne’s original tune “Siempre” is a Spanish-sounding piece that features the melody played in thirds and sixths. It recalls the playing of country guitarists and was recorded by Chet Atkins.
Bill Monroe’s instrumental “Bluegrass Stomp” is a 12-bar blues in the key of D and the melody uses a lot of I, IV, and V arpeggios in the key of D, so it’s a great tune to practice some of the arpeggios you’ve been working on. It also has a lot of syncopation and some triplet phrases. Sharon walks you through the melody, phrase by phrase, showing you how to pick the syncopated and triplet lines. With Notation/Tab
Sharon shows you how to vary your backup chords on “Bluegrass Stomp” (or any 12-bar blues in D) using the chord inversions you learned in the lesson on Chord Inversions, which used the three inversions and “neighborhoods” in the key of A. Sharon shows you the three inversions of the major chords and the three inversion neighborhoods in the key of D, as well as the inversions of seventh chords. With Notation/Tab
The instrumental “Hartford’s Real” was written by David Grisman and Sam Bush in honor of their good friend John Hartford. They recorded it on the album Hold On, We’re Strumming, which features lots of twin mandolin playing. With Notation/Tab
“Hartford’s Real” was written and recorded by David Grisman and Sam Bush on their great twin-mandolin album Hold On, We’re Strumming, so it makes sense to learn the harmony line as well as the melody. The harmony part faithfully follows the melody, so if you’ve learned the melody it will make learning the harmony part much easier. With Notation/Tab
In this lesson, you’ll learn the solos that Sam Bush and David Grisman played on the first solo section of their recording of “Hartford’s Real.” For this section, which is one pass through the entire AABA form, Sam plays the first, second, and third A parts and Grisman takes the bridge. With Notation/Tab
Bill Monroe’s instrumental “My Father’s Footsteps” was never recorded under Monroe’s name. Sharon’s version comes from banjoist Butch Robins, whose recording of the tune features Monroe on mandolin. Sharon also recorded the tune on her recording with fellow Peghead Nation instructors John Reischman and Scott Nygaard, Harmonic Tone Revealers. In this lesson you’ll learn the melody as well as the harmony part that Sharon played with John on the record. With Notation/Tab
The fiddle tune “Cattle in the Cane” is unusual in that the first part is in A major while the second part is in A minor. There are a few different versions, but Sharon learned hers from Tony Rice. She walks you through the melody, stressing the importance of fingerplanting in creating a smooth melodic line as you move across the strings and giving you advice on keeping your picking hand relaxed. With Notation/Tab
Bill Monroe’s tune “Road to Columbus” is a bluegrass standard in the key of A and a great jam session tune that hasn’t been overplayed. The version Sharon teaches you is based on fiddler Kenny Baker’s playing on the original Bill Monroe recording. With Notation/Tab
The old-time fiddle tune “Forked Deer” is a popular tune at old-time and bluegrass jams around the world. It’s in the key of D, with a B part that starts on an A chord and an anticipated beat—beat four of the last measure of the previous A part. With Notation/Tab
In this lesson, you’ll learn a solo for “Forked Deer” that Sharon created using many of the ideas she’s covered in the course, including arpeggios, double stops, licks from other solos, etc.
The bluegrass mandolin instrumental “New Camptown Races” comes from mandolinist Frank Wakefield. It’s in the key of Bb, an unusual key for a mandolin tune, so Sharon starts by reminding you of the Bb major scale in Bb in open position, where much of the tune is played. The form of the tune is a little unusual too, with two A parts that are 16 measures long, and an eight-bar B part that is played only once, followed by the last half of the A part. With Notation/Tab
Bill Monroe’s instrumental “Old Ebenezer Scrooge” has four parts and is in the key of A, although the melody mostly uses notes in the A minor scale. The first part just has two phrases and is repeated four times. The phrases in the second part have a distinctive rhythm that Sharon demonstrates before walking you through the whole part. The third part of “Old Ebenezer Scrooge” starts with a big sliding chord, while the fourth part is like the first in that it just has two phrases that are repeated four times.
The fiddle tune “Tennessee Politics” was written by John Hartford. It, along with countless other tunes he had written, was found by his family after he passed in 2001, and it’s included in the book John Hartford’s Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes. “Tennessee Politics” was also recorded on The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Vol. 1, and Sharon is currently producing Volume 2. “Tennessee Politics” is in the key of D and has become popular at jam sessions lately.
The late John Hartford is best known as the writer of “Gentle on My Mind,” but he was also a master of the fiddle and banjo, and a prolific composer in the folk, country, and bluegrass idioms. It’s estimated that his original songs and fiddle tunes number in the thousands, many of them never recorded. Sharon Gilchrist was deeply involved in making Julia Belle: The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project Volume 2, an album of 18 lovingly rendered interpretations of Hartford’s previously unrecorded music performed by an all-star ensemble. In this lesson, Sharon teaches “Spirit of the South,” a three-part tune in the key of G from that collection.
This beautiful and popular waltz comes from Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson. It’s played by fiddlers in the key of D and you’ll learn to play it in double C tuning with the capo at the second fret. When you learned the waltz “The Blackest Crow,” Evie showed you how to accompany a waltz with a bum-di-ditty pattern, but the melody of “Midnight on the Water” is a bit more complex so you’ll mostly be playing the melody without many strums, bum-di-ditty patterns, or fifth strings.
The traditional song “Short Life of Trouble” is another great waltz to sing and play clawhammer style. You’ll learn to play the melody and accompany your vocal in the key of A (G tuning with the capo on the second fret). Evie starts by going through the chords with a boom-chuck, chuck-a waltz pattern, and then shows you the melody with some nice slides, different chord voicings, and a unique pull-off.
“King of the Fairies” is a set dance, a tune that is not of regular eight-measure parts. Usually the first part of a set dance is eight bars long, with the second part being longer, going off on a more circuitous melodic journey. “King of the Fairies,” which is in E minor, has an eight-bar A part that repeats and a 16-bar B part that also repeats.
“The Blackbird,” like “King of the Fairies,” is one of the five traditional set dances, which means that there are specific steps that have been choreographed to dance to it. Like “King of the Fairies, “The Blackbird” has a regular-length A part and a longer B part, and both parts are repeated. But if the tune feels a little odd or crooked, that’s because it is. The last measure of each A part is a 2/4 measure, and the B part is similar, with a 2/4 bar at the end of each eight-bar section.
“St. Patrick’s Day” is another of the five traditional set dances. It’s in the key of G and in jig time, with an eight-bar A part (which repeats) and a 14-bar B part, the last four bars of which is the same as the last four bars of the A part.
The Irish set dance “Rodney’s Glory” is not one of the traditional sets, but it’s a beautiful tune in hornpipe time and, like most set dances, its B part has an irregular number of measures: the A part is eight bars long, and the B part is 12 bars long. The melody of “Rodney’s Glory” is based on a song of the same name written in 1782 by poet Eoghan Rua O Suilleabhain. The melody of the song was, in turn, based on “Princess Royal,” a set dance associated with Turlough O’Carolan.
The old-time fiddle tune “Yew Piney Mountain” is in the key of A and has some irregular phrasing. It’s what’s known in the old-time music world as a crooked tune. Sharon’s version comes from West Virginia fiddler Wilson Douglas and includes a lot of drone strings and some position shifts. With Notation/Tab
Bob Wills took the old classical melody “Maiden’s Prayer” and turned it into a Western swing fiddle tune. It has since become popular in bluegrass, old-time and swing circles. In this lesson, Sharon shows you the melody and gives you some different ways to accompany it using chord inversions and passing chord motion. With Notation/Tab
“The Road to Malvern” is an old-time fiddle tune in the key of A that comes from fiddler Jim Childress. Sharon recorded it with John Reischman and Scott Nygaard on their recording Harmonic Tone Revealers as a two-mandolin tune, Sharon playing harmony and John playing melody. You’ll learn both the melody and harmony parts in this lesson. With Notation/Tab
Sharon shows you a style of backup using two-string chords with open strings, which is used a lot in old-time music. It can also be used to backup songs or as a variation in your usual bluegrass backup style. Sharon demonstrates the style using the fiddle tune “Soldier’s Joy” and the double-stop neighborhoods you’ve already learned. She starts by showing you how to play the old-time backup chords on the chord progression to “Soldier’s Joy” in three different neighborhoods, and then shows you how to mix up the neighborhoods and move from one to another smoothly.
“Queen of the Earth, Child of the Stars” comes from old-time fiddler Edden Hammons, though it likely originated in Ireland. Sharon recorded it with John Reischman and Scott Nygaard on Harmonic Tone Revealers. It’s in the key of D and each part is 16 bars long and played only once. The melody includes some triplets and grace notes and the last phrase of each part has an extra beat. With Notation/Tab
The old-time tune “Half Past Four” comes from Kentucky fiddler Ed Haley. Sharon recorded it with John Reischman and Scott Nygaard on Harmonic Tone Revealers. It’s in the key of A, with some G♮s as well as G♯s. Unlike many old-time fiddle tunes, the A part of “Half Past Four” has little repetition, while the B part is more repetitive. With Notation/Tab
In this lesson, you’ll learn the harmony part for the old-time tune “Half Past Four” that Sharon played on Harmonic Tone Revealers with mandolinist John Reischman playing the melody. She also gives you suggestions for learning and memorizing the harmony.
“Farewell to Trion” is an old-time fiddle tune in the key of C written by Alabama fiddler Joe Blaylock, with a third part written by fiddler James Bryan. The melody covers two octaves, moving between open position and the closed position with your index finger at the first fret, and the second part starts with a long measure of 6/4.
This lovely fiddle tune in the key of A is commonly attributed to West Virginia fiddler Burl Hammons. You can hear a field recording of Hammons playing the tune at the Slippery-Hill website, an excellent resource for anyone interested in traditional American fiddle music. As you will note, the tune is “crooked,” a term describing melodies with parts that deviate from the conventional 16-bar format. Sharon plays it as a haunting, moderately paced tune that she describes as ideal for playing as a solo piece. For a contemporary take on the tune played in a style similar to Sharon’s, listen to this fiddle duet with Darol Anger and Peghead Nation instructor Bruce Molsky.
The old-time dance tune “Pike’s Peak” is in the key of C and played in double-C tuning. The melody goes from the lowest C up to the high C at the 10th fret of the first string. You’ll learn the basic melody of both parts as well as some variations on the A part and the B part in two octaves. You’ll also get advice on supporting your hand as you move up and down the neck as well as some possibilities for fingering variations.
The old-time fiddle tune “Lost Girl” is most often played in the key of G, but there are also nice versions in C and D. You’ll learn the version in the key of C in this lesson. The A part is really only half the length of a regular A part, but it gets played four times. You’ll learn a version in the lower octave and one in the upper octave. Evie’s version of the B part of “Lost Girl” includes a lot of drop-thumb and I-skip licks.
You’ve previously learned a version of “Lost Girl” in the key of C. In this lesson, you’ll learn the more common version in the key of G. Like the version in C, the G version of “Lost Girl” uses a lot of the neck, moving up to the ninth fret in the B part. The A part melody of “Lost Girl,” which is only four bars long, but is repeated four times, is played with lots of hammer-ons, pull-offs, and drop thumbs.
The modal tune “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” is different than the “Blackberry Blossom” commonly played by bluegrass musicians. The old-time tune is also sometimes just called “Blackberry Blossom,” but is usually called “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” to differentiate from the other tune. Some versions of “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” are in the key of G, but Evie shows you a version in the key of A, played in A modal tuning (aEADE) with a capo at the second fret.
“Lonesome John” comes from the great Kentucky fiddler John Salyer and is played in A modal tuning. Evie walks you through the melody phrase by phrase, showing you some variations and how to use pull-offs instead of drop-thumbs to get some melody notes.
“Cotton-Eyed Joe” was one of the first tunes you learned in this course, but there are a lot of different versions of this popular tune. This one comes from Marcus Martin. Like most versions of “Cotton-Eyed Joe” it’s in the key of A, played in standard G tuning with the capo on the second fret.
This month Evie teaches a great Ernie Carpenter tune in the key of A. Although the tune structure is the conventional AABB, the second part only has six bars, so it’s “crooked.” On Old-Time Fiddle Tunes from the Elk River Country, Carpenter adds an extra half measure in the A part, but in this lesson, you’ll learn the slightly “straighter” version.
Brittany teaches a James Bryan tune in D called “Willow Creek.” She shows you some drones and chords you can add to the melody and how she backs up another fiddler on the tune. The foundational rhythm she uses is quarter note/eighth/eighth but with a down/down/up bow pattern. She also adds some eighth-note runs between chords and shows you how she adds harmony lines to the melody.
Learn a traditional Swedish polska, “Brännvinspolskan,” which Brittany learned from Lena Jonsson and which is featured on Brittany and Lena’s duo album. She takes it apart, phrase by phrase, and shows you where to play double stops, also explaining the slurs and trills she uses throughout the tune.
Learn a great “crooked” old-time tune in the key of C. Brittany breaks it down phrase by phrase. and also shows you how you can add some nice double stops if you move up to second position, either for just the third part or the whole tune. She also shows you a few different ways to bow “Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase” and where you can add double stops and trills.
Brittany recorded her original tune “Down the Hatch” with guitarist Jordan Tice and bassist Paul Kowert on their debut recording, You Got This. The tune has an old-time feel but more of a song or march–like melody than the regular stream of eighth notes of many old-time fiddle tunes. It has two parts but the parts have irregular bar lengths. She also shows you the double stops she uses to highlight the chord progression, and talks about her bowing as well as how she improvises a solo on “Down the Hatch” and tunes like it.
Learn how Brittany plays the old-time classic “Duck River,” which comes from Kentucky fiddler John Salyer. Brittany teaches the tune phrase by phrase, shows you a way to rock the bow to get a real old-time feel, and and includes a few variations on each part, with different double stops, drone notes, and melodic variations.
The great Norwegian fiddler Annbjørg Lien writes a lot of wonderful tunes, and you’ll learn one of Brittany’s favorites in this lesson: “Fløteren.” Annbjørg plays the Norwegian hardanger fiddle, which is usually tuned higher than standard, so she plays “Fløteren” in the key of E. The main melodic and rhythmic motif is in 5/4, with some connecting 3/4, 2/4, and 6/4 measures. Brittany walks you through each part and then plays them each slowly so you can play along with her. She also shows you which double stops and drone notes to add to imitate the sound of the hardanger fiddle, and the basic bowing you’ll use for the 5/4 phrases.
Learn the beautiful three-part old-time tune “Farewell Trion,” which Brittany learned from the playing of James Bryan. She breaks it down, phrase by phrase and shows you some double stops and drones to play in the key of C.
Learn a Swedish waltz Brittany learned from fiddler Anna Lindblad called “Vals efter Kristian Oskarsson.” Brittany shows you some ornaments and drones that help make the tune sound Swedish as well as how to play “Vals efter Kristian Oskarsson” with a Swedish dance rhythm, with an accent on the downbeat and the “lift” on the third beat.
The “new old-time” tune “Crow Molly” was written by Peghead Nation guitar instructor and co-founder Scott Nygaard, who joins Brittany for this workshop. They take the tune apart phrase by phrase, Scott demonstrating it on the guitar and Brittany showing how she’s adapted parts of the melody to fit the fiddle.
In this lesson, you’ll learn the traditional fiddle tune “Chinquapin Hunting” in three keys: D, G, and C, all in G tuning. The arrangements primarily use melodic style, and these are the three most commonly used keys for playing in melodic style, so it’s important to be comfortable in all of these three keys. “Chinquapin Hunting” is a relatively simple tune, with a lot of repetition, so learning it in three keys is not as daunting as it might be with a more complicated tune.
“Whelan’s Jig” is a beautiful E minor jig and it makes a good set with a couple of jigs you’ve already learned, “Donnybrook Fair” and “The Gander in the Pratie Hole.” It uses the famous “E minor squeeze” so before she shows you the melody, Marla gives you advice on positioning your hand and fingers to play the “squeeze” as efficiently as possible.
The jig “The Black Rogue,” which is in the key of D, has a lovely, off-center feeling because it doesn’t start on the D. In addition to learning “The Black Rogue” in this lesson, Marla shows you how to create a set with it and two other jigs you already know: “The Killaval Jig” and “Banish Misfortune.”
The jig “The Banks of Lough Gowna” works well in a set with two other jigs you’ve already learned, “The Hawthorn Hedge” and “The Lilting Banshee.” Marla teaches you “The Banks of Lough Gowna” and then shows you how to play it in a set with “The Hawthorn Hedge” and “The Lilting Banshee.”
You’ve already learned a reel called “Toss the Feathers” in the key of D, but there’s another classic reel with the same name in E minor. It’s a seisiún standard, and both tunes work well together in a set rounded out by “Lafferty’s.”
The traditional song “Greensleeves” has the same melody as the holiday song “What Child Is This?” In this lesson, Sharon shows you how to make a mandolin chord solo arrangement of the melody that you can play for friends and family at the holidays or any time of the year. You’ll learn a chord melody arrangement of “Greensleeves” in two octaves in this lesson. With Notation/Tab
JD Crowe is one of the most influential Scruggs-style banjo players of the last half century, and is particularly great at playing breaks to bluegrass songs. In this lesson, you’ll learn his break to the song “Come Back to Me Little Darling” (also called “Come Back Darling”) from the Bluegrass Album Band recording. Wes starts by talking about the subtleties and timing of some of the hammer-on and pull-off licks and then walks you through the solo measure by measure.
You’ll start “making the leap” with the tune “Sourwood Mountain,” first with a version from the great North Carolina fiddler Tommy Jarrell. Evie walks you through both parts of the tune, phrase by phrase, showing you a basic version and some variations with drop thumbs, I-skips, etc.
The second version of “Sourwood Mountain” comes from West Virginia fiddler Ernie Carpenter and can be heard on an album put out by the Field Recorders’ Collective. This version starts on the low part and includes some of the same phrases as the Tommy Jarrell version as well as a number of different phrases. Each part is short (four bars) and is played twice.
The third version of “Sourwood Mountain” you’ll learn comes from Kentucky fiddler John Salyer and can be heard on the Slippery Hill website. Salyer’s version is similar to Tommy Jarrell’s in that it starts on the high part and has some of the same phrases, but Salyer’s A part is just four bars long, and his B part is eight bars long and repeats.
“Classic sets” are tunes that always, or nearly always, go together. “The Humours of Tulla” / “The Skylark” / “Roaring Mary” is associated with the great accordion player Joe Cooley, who was a major influence on the San Francisco Bay Area Irish and folk music scene in the 1960s and 1970s.
“The Humours of Tulla” / “The Skylark” / “Roaring Mary” is one of the classic sets. It’s associated with the great accordion player Joe Cooley, who was a major influence on the San Francisco Bay Area Irish and folk music scene in the 1960s and 1970s. You can hear Cooley play the set here and learn more about Cooley and his music at joecooleytapes.org, which includes numerous recordings. In this lesson Marla shows you the first tune in the set “The Humours of Tulla,” a D major reel.
“The Skylark” is the second tune in the classic Joe Cooley set. It’s a full 32-bar tune in the key of D with a busy, eighth-note heavy melody.
The final tune in the classic Joe Cooley set is “Roaring Mary,” which like the other two tunes is also in the key of D. Marla shows you the way Joe Cooley played “Roaring Mary,” as well as some simple variations.
Unlike an instrument like an acoustic guitar or mandolin, all the parts of a banjo are put together with bolts and screws. This means not only that it’s easy for banjo players to do their own setup work and adjustments, but that parts can become loose, especially when traveling. So it’s important to know how to fix minor problems. Wes goes through some basic setup issues (and shows you how to address them), like bridge position, head tension, truss rod adjustment, tailpiece height, using capos, and more.
There are many versions of the old-time classic “Cumberland Gap.” One of the most popular comes from Tommy Jarrell and other musicians in the Round Peak area of North Carolina. It’s the only version in the key of D. Most others are in G. In this lesson, you’ll learn Tommy’s version, which is played on the banjo in double C tuning with the capo at the second fret.
You’ll learn another couple of versions of “Cumberland Gap” in this lesson. Although Tommy Jarrell’s version of “Cumberland Gap” in the key of D is popular in the current old-time scene, there are many more versions of “Cumberland Gap” in the key of G. The first one you’ll learn comes from the great North Carolina fiddler Marcus Martin, and the other comes from the Williamson Brothers and Curry, who were recorded in 1927.
The Tarbolton Set is another classic set of reels that comes from a recording by the great Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman. It consists of “Tarbolton,” “The Longford Collector,” and “The Sailor’s Bonnet.”
The Tarbolton Set is a classic set of reels that comes from a recording by the great Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman. It consists of “Tarbolton,” “The Longford Collector,” and “The Sailor’s Bonnet.” In this lesson you’ll learn the first tune, “Tarbolton,” which is in the key of E minor or E Dorian, although it occasionally uses a C♮ instead of C#.
The G major reel “The Longford Collector” is the second tune in the Tarbolton Set. It’s a great straight-ahead 32-measure reel.
The last tune in the Tarbolton Set is the D major reel “The Sailor’s Bonnet.” It’s a straightforward tune, but the first part is eight bars long and the second part is 16 bars long.
An original tune from Wes’s new solo album, “Mary Evelyn” is named for his grandmother. It’s in the key of E major and combines melodic and single-string styles as well as roll patterns, in particular a t-i-m-t-i-t-m-i pattern.
The old-time favorite “Bunch of Keys” (also called “Old Bunch of Keys” or “Whole Bunch of Keys”) comes from the great North Carolina fiddler Tommy Jarrell. It’s in the key of A, played on banjo in G tuning, with a capo on the second fret and your fifth string tuned to A. In addition to a basic version, Evie shows you some different ways to vary the strums and how to play the B part in a higher octave.
The old-time fiddle tune “Jeff Sturgeon” comes from fiddler John Morgan Salyer. “Jeff Sturgeon” has three parts, of varying lengths, and is in the key of A, played on the banjo in G tuning, with a capo on the second fret and the fifth string tuned to A. Evie walks you through all three parts, phrase by phrase, showing you a few ways you can vary the melody as she goes.
Kentucky fiddler Clyde Davenport’s “Five Miles from Town” is a crooked D tune, with irregular phrase lengths in each part. It can be confusing to learn but once you get it, it’s a fun tune to play and a favorite of many old-time fiddlers and banjo players.
Arthur Smith’s “Going to Town” is in the key of G, played on the banjo in standard G tuning. It has regular length parts, two As and two Bs. Evie starts by walking you through a basic version of the A part, with and without drop thumbs. The B part of “Going to Town” starts with a repeated lick that you can play in a number of different ways.
The A tune “Jenny on the Railroad” is from the Carter Brothers and Son, and Evie learned it from the Horseflies, the popular Ithaca, New York-based string band. It’s in the key of A with a lot of G chords, so it might be thought of as a modal tune, though Evie plays it in A major tuning. The tune has four parts, ABCD, but the B and D parts are essentially the same.
“John Brown’s Dream” is a popular Round Peak tune in the key of A. It has four parts, although the fourth part is basically the third part played in a lower octave. Bruce’s version, in AEAE tuning, is largely influenced by Tommy Jarrell, with a lot of the rhythmic syncopation and bluesy pulse characteristic of the Round Peak fiddling tradition.
This great old dance tune in the key of A is from Fiddlin’ Bob Larkin, who played with a band called the Melody Makers in the 1920s. It’s most often played as a straight square dance tune, but Bruce Molsky adds an extra half measure at the end of the A part and plays each part just once through, just as Bob Larkin did. Evie teaches the “straight” version, which makes it a wonderful choice for square dances or clogging.
The fiddle tune “Chinquapin Hunting” comes from Virginia fiddler Norman Edmonds, although the melody and chords as commonly played have evolved a bit from Edmonds’s version. It’s a three-part tune in the key of A. The A part is crooked, with an extra half measure, and all three parts are short. In case you were wondering, the chinquapin is a species of chestnut found in the southeastern United States. The dark brown nut is edible.
Irish tunes with many parts are often referred to as “the big tunes.”
The five-part jig “Cúnla” is one of the “big tunes” and is both a tune and a song. As a tune it’s usually known as “The Frieze Britches.” The song was popularized by the group Planxty in one of their early recordings, and the lyrics are sung over the first two parts of the tune, with the other three parts usually played between verses of the song. It’s in the key of D and alternates between D major and D Mixolydian. There are a few versions of the tune, but Marla’s is basically the way Planxty played it.
“Kid on the Mountain” is another “big tune,” a five-part slip jig in E minor and G with lots of repeated phrases.
The five-part slip jig “The Choice Wife” (also known as “O’Farrell’s Welcome to Limerick”) is a pipe tune in D Mixolydian. In addition to showing you the melody, Marla shows you how to imitate the pipe ornament known as a “cran.”
“Dinosaur Birthday” is another original from Wes’s solo album Cascade. This one is in the key of D major and is played in G tuning but with the fifth string tuned up to A, which is a great way to play in D major or D minor. “Dinosaur Birthday” is played in melodic-style and includes a few positions and shapes you may not have used before. Wes walks you through “Dinosaur Birthday” phrase by phrase, explaining the positions and roll patterns as he goes.
There are a lot of versions of the traditional song “Red Rocking Chair.” Evie’s version is in G and is similar to the one that Bruce Molsky teaches in his Peghead Nation Old-Time Fiddle course. Evie starts by singing a verse along with the basic chords, and then shows you a “bum-ditty drop-thumb” accompaniment pattern. She also shows you how to play some of the melody notes in the accompaniment and how to play the melody when you’re not singing.
The old-time song “Lazy John” comes from Kentucky fiddler and banjo player Clyde Davenport. The chord structure is a little unusual, so Evie starts by just going through the chords—in the key of G. Then she shows you the song with a “bum-ditty drop-thumb” accompaniment. She also shows you how to play the melody and accompany the song with some up-the-neck chords.
Evie gives you ideas on varying your song accompaniment and how to fill in the pauses in song melodies, including adding drop-thumbing, hammer-ons, pull-offs, I-skips, and more to the basic bum-ditty pattern as well as moving the “bum” to different strings and using chords up the neck.
Evie talks about creating instrumental breaks to songs, using the song “Little Darling Pal of Mine.” She also talks about backing up instrumental breaks when it’s another instrumentalist’s turn to solo.
While some clawhammer banjo players run when they hear a waltz kicking off, Evie Ladin knows how to tackle three-quarter time with grace and aplomb on the old five-string. In this lesson, she teaches you how to approach “The Alabama Waltz,” a Hank Williams country classic. She begins by demonstrating a couple of approaches to getting a good waltz groove with your right hand. Then she explores how to find the right key to play it in. Unlike fiddle and banjo tunes, most songs can be played in any key, and Evie shows you how to pick a key on the banjo that suits your own vocal range and how to line up the chords in that key. Over the course of the lesson she cycles through the keys of A, G, C, and D.
Another classic combination of tunes is the pairing of the two hornpipes that both go by the name “The Peacock’s Feather.”
“The Peacock’s Feather” set is probably best known from the recording by fiddler Frankie Gavin and bouzouki player Alec Finn, who recorded a fantastic duo album in 1977. The first of the two hornpipes is in the key of D Dorian, but with an occasional F# added.
The second tune in the Peacock’s Feather Set is in the key of D major, and its bright happy sound is a nice contrast to the D Mixolydian sound of the first “Peacock’s Feather” in the set.
In this lesson, you’ll learn two-octave major and minor arpeggios with an exercise that moves around the cycle of fourths. Wes starts by showing you the two-octave pattern for G major and E minor (the relative minor of G), and then shows you how to move it to the keys of C, F, and Bb.
“Red Prairie Dawn” is an old-time fiddle tune that was written by Garry Harrison, a fiddler from southern Illinois who wrote a lot of great tunes that have become favorites of the old-time music scene. “Red Prairie Dawn” is one of his most popular and has been recorded by bluegrass musicians and even jazz guitarist Julian Lage.
“Boys Them Buzzards Are Flying” is another Garry Harrison tune. It has a simple melody but the second part is very crooked, so the challenge is hearing and understanding the phrasing of the melody. Evie walks you through the first part and then explains the phrasing of the second part, which begins with a couple phrases in groups of three beats rather than two.
The third in Evie’s trilogy of Garry Harrison tunes is called “Ole Bob.” It’s a happy dance tune in the key of A, and in her version, Evie plays all the melody notes on the banjo, rather than simplifying the fiddle melody as clawhammer banjo players do when playing with a fiddler or in a jam session.
Learn another popular set with a pair of tunes with the same name: “The Concert Reel.”
In this lesson, you’ll learn the first of another pair of tunes recorded by Frankie Gavin and Alec Finn with the same name: The Concert Reels. The first “Concert Reel” is in the key of A Dorian.
The second “Concert Reel” in The Concert Reel Set is also known as “Callahan’s.” It's in the key of G and is quite a finger exercise, with a lot of G arpeggios and lines climbing up the E string.
JD Crowe’s break to the bluegrass classic “Letter from My Darling” recorded with the Bluegrass Album Band is itself a classic and a great lesson in rendering a vocal melody on the banjo. Wes walks you through the solo phrase by phrase, pointing out the nuances of JD’s playing as he goes.
“Seneca Square Dance” initiates a series of students’ choice tunes, requests for tunes that Evie has gotten from students and that are popular in jam sessions. “Seneca Square Dance” is a square tune in the key of G that includes an Em chord halfway through the A part.
“Sandy Boys” is another popular old-time tune that a student requested Evie teach. It’s in the key of A, played with a capo at the second fret, and has a lot of flatted seventh notes. Like a lot of tunes, the B part of “Sandy Boys” moves up the neck and uses some of the same phrases as the A part.
There are many versions of the old fiddle tune “Bonaparte’s Retreat,” which can even be heard in Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring. Most of them are in the key of D, as is Evie’s banjo version, played out of double C tuning with the capo at the second fret.
In the next series of lessons, you’ll learn a number of tunes in the key of C and its modal counterparts.
The first tune in the key of C you’ll learn is the lovely reel “The Kerryman’s Daughter.” Marla starts by going through the C major scale and explaining what she means by “its modal counterparts”: modes that use the C major scale—D Dorian, G Mixolydian, and A Aeolian.
“The Cloone” is a reel in the key of C that has a lovely, open sound and mostly uses the C major pentatonic scale.
Paddy Fahy was an Irish fiddler and composer who wrote beautiful, intricate, and mysterious tunes but never titled them. “Paddy Fahy’s Jig #2” is a jig in the key of C that gives your fingers a good workout on arpeggios in C.
“The Girl Who Broke My Heart” is a reel in G Mixolydian, another mode of C major. G Mixolydian is what you get when you play the C major scale starting on the fifth step of the scale: G.
“Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” is an old-time fiddle tune bears no relation to the bluegrass jam session standard called “Blackberry Blossom.” Wes learned “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” from old-time fiddler Bruce Molsky. It’s in the key of G, but with a couple of alternate pitches. Instead of a C, in some phrases, it has a C#, and instead of an F#, it has an F♮. Wes plays the melody with some rolls and with some melodic-style passages based around two-note shapes.
“Cindy Gal” comes from Joe and Odell Thompson of western North Carolina. Joe Thompson and family were the primary teachers and inspiration for the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who have carried their repertoire forward. You can hear Joe and Odell’s music on Old-Time Music from the North Carolina Piedmont as well as Joe’s Rounder recording Family Tradition. Odell plays in a driving strumming style that doesn’t exactly follow the melody, but brings harmonies and backup rhythm into the music. His strumming style is perfect for dancing, which was often the milieu for the development of the music. Evie shows you a melodic version of “Cindy Gal” that is based on Joe’s fiddling playing, as well as a more rhythmic accompaniment part based on Odell’s banjo playing.
“Running Through the White Oaks” comes from the African American string band Gribble, Lusk, and York. Murphy Gribble’s banjo style, like Odell Thompson’s, is percussive and strummy and not as based on the melody as some old-time banjo styles. Evie recorded the tune with Karen Celia Heil on her Riding the Rooster album and worked out the melody of the tune in her own way, and that’s what you’ll learn here.
“Tie Your Dog Sally Gal” comes from the African-American fiddler Will Adams, who was recorded by a young Mike Seeger. It’s in the key of G, played in standard G tuning, with three parts. Evie walks you through each part, showing you a few variations on each phrase as she goes.
Pentatonic scales are an essential part of Western modern music theory. The two most common pentatonic (five-note) scales are the major pentatonic and minor pentatonic scales, which have the same relationship to each other as the major scale and its relative minor scale. In this lesson, Wes shows you movable fingerboard positions for the G major and E minor pentatonic scales.
Whether you’re playing a song or a tune at a concert or dance, at some point you’ll need to end whatever you’re playing, so in this lesson Evie shows you some common endings for songs and tunes and how to create your own. She starts by showing you some I–V–I endings in G tuning that are one measure and two measures long, and then shows you some double-tag endings, endings that start up the neck, and endings using chord voicings.
In this lesson, Evie shows you a few ways to play triplets, which can help you when you’re trying to play a melody like a fiddler or simply want to add some rhythmic variety to your playing. She shows you how to combine hammer-ons and pull-offs and even drop-thumbs to create triplets on different strings and parts of the neck.
The old-time fiddle tune “Big Sciota” was introduced to the bluegrass world through the Skip, Hop, and Wobble recording by Russ Barenberg, Jerry Douglas, and Edgar Meyer, with Sam Bush guesting on fiddle for this tune, and “Big Sciota” has since become a popular festival jam tune. Wes plays it melodic style with some tricky rolls on the inside strings.
The four-part fiddle tune “Methodist Preacher” comes from Bill Monroe. It has four parts but a lot of the melodic material in each part is repeated. It’s a great example of using simple melodic material to create a longer composition. Wes plays it melodic style, finding ways to make the banjo sustain and ring as much as possible.
In these lessons, Flynn shows you some advanced backup techniques and variations. Lessons include melody-only Play-Along Tracks so you can practice varying your backup along with mandolin or fiddle.
Flynn shows you some drone accompaniment and chord substitutions in the key of A minor using the jig “The Lilting Banshee.” He starts by giving you a down-up-down, down-up-down pick exercise you’ll use for playing drones on jigs, and shows you how to play an octave drone on two strings while damping the other strings. He also shows you how to add notes to the drone to give you the sound of G/A and D/A chords and some of his favorite substitutions in Am, including substituting D for Am and using D/C and G/B with some moving bass lines.
“Maid on the Green” is a jig in the key of G major, but Flynn backs it up in dropped D tuning, with some great examples of things you can play when backing up jigs in G while in dropped D tuning.
In this lesson you’ll learn some different ways to back up the three-part E minor (Dorian) reel “The Morning Dew” in dropped-D tuning. Flynn shows you a version mostly in open position and a version up the neck with some substitutions and variations.
In this lesson you’ll learn some advanced ways to accompany D modal jigs in dropped-D tuning using the traditional tune “Tatter Jack Walsh.” You’ll use chords in open position as well as three-note voicings up the neck combined with a D drone.
Flynn shows you an advanced accompaniment arrangement to the D major reel “The Boyne Hunt,” which shows you how he might backup “The Boyne Hunt” at a seisiún, with three complete times through the tune.
“The Birds” is a hornpipe in the keys of C and Am (the relative minor of C). You’ll learn to accompany it in dropped-tuning. Flynn shows you an accompaniment with open chords and then a version with closed chords that is similar to swing rhythm guitar.
“The Earl’s Chair” is a popular seisiún reel in the key of D major. In this lesson, you’ll learn an advanced backup part in DADGAD tuning with two different approaches to the tune, one using open chords and one using movable chords played up the neck.
“The Peacock’s Feather” is a hornpipe in the key of D minor, which is a somewhat unusual key in Irish music, so you may be playing some chords and chord voicings you haven’t played before, especially as you move up the neck. Flynn shows you two ways to back up “The Peacock’s Feather,” one in first position and one up the neck using high-D drone chords and closed-position, double-D chords.
“Molly Bawn” is a traditional reel often played in the key of E minor, but in this lesson Flynn shows you an arrangement of the tune in C minor, played with the capo at the third fret using A minor chord shapes in dropped-D tuning. Flynn gives you an accompaniment arrangement of “Molly Bawn” that evolves over three passes through the tune.
In this lesson, Flynn shows you how to backup a song in waltz time, using the traditional song “The Rocks of Bawn.” You’ll learn the song in the key of D, in dropped-D tuning, using chord voicings you’ve used before.
Watch these recordings of Evie's Live Workshops.
In Evie’s Zoom workshops on demystifying the banjo neck, she presented her helpful process for envisioning the neck of the banjo and using movable chords and shapes to play any kind of music on the five-string banjo.
Once you’ve mastered the basic right-hand “bum-ditty” motion of clawhammer banjo, there are myriad ways to open up your rhythmic playing to get more in sync with the more fluid rhythms of the fiddle bow: drop thumb, i-skip, triplets, and more. In these workshops, Evie goes through a number of these skills, and practices them in specific, common old-time tunes to increase fluidity without sacrificing steady rhythm.
This workshop will give you good practice on various rhythmic techniques, neck exploration, chord voicings, and more, in the context of familiar old-time tunes. Evie’s approach is great for opening up your playing to more improvisation and fluidity on the instrument, gaining confidence to play with others and ideas for making your own playing more interesting.
This workshop will give you good practice in aDADE tuning, on various rhythmic techniques, variations on melodies, and more, in the context of familiar old-time tunes. Evie’s teaching technique is helpful for opening up your playing to more improvisation and fluidity on the instrument, gaining confidence to play with others, and ideas for making your own playing more interesting.
In these workshops, Evie explores the same songs in different tunings, getting used to moving quickly so you can more easily join in a jam. She also looks at ideas for backing up others when they’re leading or taking breaks, variations for you to support your own singing, and more. You’ll be ready for any jam or session in no time!
There are numerous versions of the traditional song “Shady Grove,” including influential versions by Doc Watson and Jerry Garcia. It’s a simple melody, just eight bars long, but in this lesson, Wes shows you four different ways to play “Shady Grove” on the banjo.
The French-Canadian fiddle tune “St. Anne’s Reel” is popular in the old-time, bluegrass, and Celtic worlds. It’s played in the key of D and Wes’s version is played in standard tuning without a capo, with a lot of single-string and melodic-style playing. Wes walks you through the tune and gives you advice on blending the sounds of single-string and melodic-style playing.
In this lesson, you’ll learn some rolling backup for the fiddle tune “St. Anne’s Reel” that outlines the chords well and adds some extra harmonic motion to the tune with some nice chord substitutions. Wes’s arrangement varies the roll patterns, alternating between the Ron Block roll, the back-and-forth roll, the forward roll, the backward roll, single-string style, etc. For more examples of how Wes plays backup to “St. Anne’s Reel” check out this video of Wes and Simon Chrisman playing the tune.
The Bill Monroe fiddle tune “Gold Rush” is a bluegrass jam classic. In this lesson, you’ll learn an intermediate-level version of “Gold Rush” that combines melodic and single-string style passages with Scruggs-style licks and some phrasing in the B part that comes from Monroe’s favorite fiddler Kenny Baker.
In Wes’s more advanced version of “Gold Rush,” you’ll learn the melody of the A part an octave higher, once again combining melodic and single-string style passages with Scruggs-style rolls. You’ll also learn a flashy triplet lick at the end of the B part.
“Whistling Rufus” is one of Wes’s favorite fiddle tunes. It was composed in the 1890s by ragtime composer Kerry Mills, who also wrote “Redwing,” and both tunes later became popular among old-time and bluegrass musicians. Wes’s arrangement of “Whistling Rufus” includes a lot of melodic style, along with some roll-based passages and a snippet of single string.
In this lesson, Wes shows you some ways to play scale patterns in single-string style using two-string modules. These are closed-position shapes that allow you to move up and down the fingerboard in a linear fashion at fast tempos.
The fiddle tune “Billy in the Lowground” is a popular jam session favorite. It’s a great melodic-style workout in the key of C major, and you’ll use your thumb on the fifth string a lot up the neck.
“Crying Holy” is a classic bluegrass gospel song. In this lesson, Wes shows you a break that is inspired by JD Crowe’s playing but is not a direct transcription. It includes some of JD’s classic licks and signature syncopation.
“Freight Train” is a guitar instrumental and song written by guitarist Elizabeth Cotten that was popularized in the urban folk revival of the 1960s. It’s a great tune to jam on and also a great example of how to embed a melody in roll patterns.
You already learned to play a Scruggs-style break to “Crying Holy” in the key of G in a previous lesson, but in this lesson Wes shows you a break to “Crying Holy” in the key of C. The break is mostly in Scruggs-style, in open G tuning, but includes some single-string and melodic-style passages and some cool bends.
The bluegrass fiddle tune “Dixie Hoedown” was written by mandolinist Jesse McReynolds in 1959 and has since become a bluegrass jam session favorite. It’s also a melodic banjo classic, and in this lesson, Wes shows you a melodic-style version of “Dixie Hoedown.”
In this lesson, you’ll learn a single-string version of the bluegrass fiddle tune “Dixie Hoedown” that you learned in melodic-style in the last lesson. Wes’s arrangement is a great illustration of how he uses his middle finger as a “hinge” between thumb-led single-string playing and index-led single-string playing.
“Shuckin’ the Corn” is one of Earl Scruggs’s classic instrumentals. It’s based on a 12-bar blues form and the A part is two times through the 12-bar form while the B part is just one time through the form. Wes’s version of “Shuckin’ the Corn,” which you’ll learn in this lesson, is based on Earl’s playing.
In the last lesson, you learned a straight-ahead version of Earl Scruggs’ “Shuckin’ the Corn.” In this lesson, Wes shows you a solo he composed for “Shuckin’ the Corn” that uses some contemporary-sounding ideas that come from Béla Fleck’s playing.
The four-part fiddle tune “Jerusalem Ridge” is one of Bill Monroe’s most well-known original tunes. It’s in the key of A minor, and in this lesson you’ll learn a melodic-style arrangement of the tune played without a capo.
“Goodbye Liza Jane” is a classic fiddle tune and festival jam session favorite. Wes’s arrangement combines single-string and melodic style.
Wes’s fast bluegrass tune “Boss Fight” is the first track on his solo record Cascade. It’s in the unusual key of C minor, played without a capo. It has some tricky shifts and is played with a combination of melodic and single-string styles.
