Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
The Pick.
Holding the Pick and Hand Placement
Picking Exercises with Metronome
Intro to Rhythm
Rhythm Samples with Metronome
Major Scales
Song demo with Major Scale Solos with Metronome
Pentatonic & Blues Scales
From Melody to Solo
Song Demo with Pentatonic and Blues Scales Solos with
Metronome
Open Discussion
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
1. Using the Pick and hand position
“To Anchor Or Not To Anchor?”
. Floating
. Posting
. Gliding
“Start Slow to go Fast”
The Metronome.
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
Picking Exercises:
Alternate Pick Stroke
Open String Exercise
Straight Eights Vs Bounce
Alternate Pick Stroke
Closed String Exercise
Straight Eights Vs Bounce
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
Playing Rhythm
The most important role of the guitar in Bluegrass is a rhythm instrument. In the early Bluegrass
recordings, the guitar often never took a lead break at all. Just a few bass runs, and the rest was
rhythm. Today it's common for guitarists to take lead breaks in bands, but even then the
guitarist is playing rhythm 80% or more of the time.
Rhythm Guitar Roles
As a rhythm instrument in bluegrass, the guitar serves several roles:
1. It acts like a metronome to keep the tempo constant. In most situations, the rhythm
guitarist will place the emphasis on the off beat rather than the down beat. In a tune that
is 4/4 time that means that the guitar is emphasizing beats 2 and 4.
2. It fills the tune with notes besides the main melody. While the lead instrument is playing
a single note melody, the guitar is adding the other notes in the chords of the song.
3. It adds ornamentation to rests and turnarounds. The guitar can add short phrases when
there are rest measures in a song. The most common place that you will hear this is in
turnarounds, where the guitarist might add a lick like the famous G-run.
Playing rhythm requires you to:
Learn the basic chord shapes in several keys (C, G, and D are the important ones)
Develop a rock-solid sense of timing to keep the beat (metronomes help)
Learn how to vary your rhythm patterns with different time signatures and tempo
Learn how to play bass runs to transition between chords
Always remember that you're part of a band, and develop an awareness of how your
playing is contributing to the whole sound
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
Playing Rhythm The G-Run
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
Playing Rhythm Tablature Samples
Basic
One Quarter – Two Eight Notes
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
Add an Eight Note Hammer-on to One Quarter – Two Eight Notes
One Quarter – 6 Eighth Notes with Some Passing Tones
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
2 Quarter Notes with 4 Eight Notes
All Eighth Notes - Dan Tyminski Style
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
The Standard Bluegrass Rhythm
The Standard Bluegrass Rhythm with Cross Picking
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
Major Scales
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
Minor Pentatonic Scales and the Blues Scale
[
using scale tones 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 of the natural minor scale.
The blues scale is very closely related to the minor pentatonic scale, and is used unsurprisingly in blues. The blues
players often ad an attitional passing note to the pentatonic scale which is technically known as a flattened 5th - that
means an extra note in between notes 3 and 4 of the pentatonic scale. This note is called the blue note, and when
you add it to the minor pentatonic scale you get the blues scale.
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
Bluegrass and Flatpicking Guitar Workshop
By Dan Geib
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.FlatpickingTabs.com
