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Solo Bluegrass Guitar Lesson – Composition on Acoustic Guitar – EP172

Description

In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a solo bluegrass composition on acoustic guitar (this can be played on electric as well). These solo compositions are a fantastic way to learn guitar because 1) you can set your own tempo and 2) you have a finished piece that you can perform for others. I’ll explain both strumming patterns and all of the melody notes which will give you everything you need to be able to play this composition.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

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Slow Walk-Through Video

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

  1. Karnac says

    September 30, 2016 at 6:01 pm

    Nice lesson…….I can hear “Me and Bobby McGee ” in there.

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  2. JohnStrat says

    September 30, 2016 at 6:17 pm

    Hi Brian I wasn’t expecting to hear bluegrass but it reminds me of something I played around with many years ago. I will look forward to learning this as I am sure that all the differing techniques can only improve ones ability once mastered. Thanks JohnStrat

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  3. Nevada Fats says

    September 30, 2016 at 6:18 pm

    Yahoo!! Thanks for this lesson.

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  4. Don D. says

    September 30, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    Nice song!

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  5. andrew c says

    September 30, 2016 at 6:26 pm

    Yes, mon. Brian, you the mon all day long.

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  6. Hanalei says

    September 30, 2016 at 7:21 pm

    Hi Brian,

    Coincidentally we’re having the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco this weekend…..and it’s all free to the public !…….I betcha already knew that….mahalo

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  7. JohnStrat says

    September 30, 2016 at 7:22 pm

    Congratulations Brian iI just noticed that this lesson takes your lesson search faciloty to over 200. I am sure i speak for all by saying amazing and well done and everyone a quality take. BIG THANKS JohnStrat.

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  8. JohnStrat says

    September 30, 2016 at 7:25 pm

    Ps we need an edit facilty for typo correction it seems to have disappeared

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  9. Maradonagol says

    September 30, 2016 at 7:48 pm

    Love bluegrass………nice lesson….thanks Brian!

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  10. sunburst says

    September 30, 2016 at 7:56 pm

    Cool , reminds me of blackberry blossom!

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  11. Rip says

    September 30, 2016 at 8:19 pm

    This sounds like fun, Brian. Thanks. For the past week I have been having fun learning to play the solo part of Whiskey Before Breakfast (in the Bryan Sutton style), so your timing with this tune is spot on!

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  12. Forbes says

    September 30, 2016 at 10:34 pm

    Maybelle would approve.

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  13. Michael J says

    September 30, 2016 at 10:43 pm

    G/day Brian,
    ” Oh Brother!” What a great tune.
    M.J.

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  14. brian-belsey says

    October 1, 2016 at 4:04 am

    Sounds stylistically a bit like Wildwood Flower. This could be added to extend it.

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  15. Lefteris B says

    October 1, 2016 at 5:08 am

    I’ve been waiting for a bluegrass lesson for months but now I am rewarded with a nice one. Thanks, Brian, for this lesson and for the extraordinary staff you give us every week. You cannot imagine the progress I made all this year with you as a teacher. But I’m in a difficult situation. I cannot decide which is best; your songs (either simple or advanced) or your teaching…

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  16. brian-belsey says

    October 1, 2016 at 7:54 am

    Posted my fairly obvious comment before seeing that Brian mentions Wildwood Flower!

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  17. Bill W2 says

    October 1, 2016 at 5:25 pm

    Thank you for giving me a lesson to practice which I probably would never have considered. There’s many great take a ways and i personally like the ending you picked to finished this lesson off. Always a new aspect to focus on whether it’s rhythm, scales, progression or picking.

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  18. Ken H says

    October 1, 2016 at 6:25 pm

    Thanks, it is great to learn different styles of music.

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  19. vkvk says

    October 2, 2016 at 9:10 pm

    I want more bluegrass lesson. Please.

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  20. sunjamr says

    October 3, 2016 at 5:46 pm

    Yahoo! My sister plays string bass in a bluegrass band, so finally here’s something I could play with her. I like it!

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  21. Michael R says

    October 3, 2016 at 10:37 pm

    LOVE THIS TUNE!!! Nice work Brian…

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  22. adam-quin says

    October 4, 2016 at 7:48 am

    Brilliant Brian, thanks for this one .

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  23. SugarmillMan says

    October 4, 2016 at 9:00 am

    Sweet tune!

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  24. ben4given says

    October 4, 2016 at 9:17 am

    I’m a big bluegrass fan. Thanks for this! I love all your stuff, but this is where my heart is.

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  25. Charles B says

    October 4, 2016 at 11:02 am

    Super!!! I feel you r listening to our requests. If u r a TN fellow living in the Nashville area, I now u gotta lot of blue grass under your belt. Please keep up the great work!!

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  26. cheese8800 says

    October 5, 2016 at 4:13 am

    wow – love it!!!

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  27. Rudai123 says

    October 5, 2016 at 3:58 pm

    My first stab at Bluegrass…good stuff, but outside my comfort level (which is good).

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  28. Jeff H says

    October 6, 2016 at 8:46 pm

    Yes, definitely a keeper. My “to be learned” list is getting too long… ;>)

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  29. sunburst says

    October 10, 2016 at 6:36 pm

    my mix up not black berry blossom, as you reminded, sounds lot like wildflower.. anyway, it would be cool to know what kind of pick / gauge you like using for bluesgrass flat picking! I tend best with a mid guage70mm 80mm too soft not enough..too thick i find it rather brutal on the strings and feels too hard and less forgiving.. less control using heavier pick gauge (pick tends to move between thumb/index more than mid gauge .. wonder what your take is Brian? tia

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  30. Sailorman500 says

    October 26, 2016 at 8:09 pm

    This was my favorite lesson of the three years of your excellent inspired teaching that I have enjoyed!.
    Thanks, more please!

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  31. webistrator says

    November 10, 2016 at 9:06 pm

    Sounds like a touch of “Wildwood Flower”…but what in BG doesn’t sound like something else?!

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  32. Leigh R says

    December 28, 2017 at 5:41 pm

    Really enjoyed this one Brian, great fun. Challenging without being too tricky.

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  33. Nick H says

    March 8, 2019 at 10:51 am

    you need a thin flexible pick to play this one,I always play with thick jazz pick and it wont work for this.

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  34. Joseph D says

    March 21, 2020 at 6:01 pm

    Hi Brian; Love the lessons recently. I found this one from 2016 and it helped a lot.

    I wonder if you’d consider a lesson on Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar patterns, specifically at fast tempos? I understand the role of the guitar in the bluegrass ensemble to be a percussive instrument, but I have a hard time picking out the patterns some of the more experience players I hear online and on the old recordings when the tempo is over 100 to 120 or more.

    Thank you, Brian.

    Joe

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  35. Jim D says

    May 15, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    I’ve done a few of your other lessons Brian, as well as some others online (and being a former classical player in college) and man I gotta say this one is deceptively hard! Barely three chords, a very simple melody but to me it’s harder to play clean than other more “flashy” ones I’ve worked through. I keep slopping my pick into unwanted strings, going back a forth between the tune and the high harmony. Gotta slow it down, then use metronome. (Confession: I can play this much cleaner fingerstyle than with pick — but I need the pick work!)

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  36. Michael K says

    January 27, 2024 at 10:03 am

    Working my way through some of the older stuff I missed. This, like all blue grass is best learned slowly at first to get the technique down, then the speed comes naturally in progressive phases after that. I already have a good deal of your other BG stuff in my skills already and it makes it fun to figure out different variations as you suggest to do. I would like to see some alternate tuning stuff just to vary the sound.

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