Creating Bluegrass Solos: “Worried Man Blues,” Part 3: Crosspicking, Strums, and Place-Holder Licks

from: Advanced Flatpicking Guitar with Scott Nygaard

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

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

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Home Sweet Home

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

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Worried Man Blues

Creating Bluegrass Solos: “Worried Man Blues,” Part 1: Melody and Articulation

Creating Bluegrass Solos: “Worried Man Blues,” Part 2: Adding Lead-In Runs

Creating Bluegrass Solos: “Worried Man Blues,” Part 3: Crosspicking, Strums, and Place-Holder Licks

“Worried Man Blues” Play-Along Track

Creating Bluegrass Solos: “Worried Man Blues,” Part 3: Crosspicking, Strums, and Place-Holder Licks

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 melody notes. Scott walks you through a version of “Worried Man Blues” that includes examples of all these approaches and finishes with an improvised solo that combines melodic embellishment, lead-in runs, crosspicking, and place-holder licks.

"Worried Man Blues" (Available to subscribers)

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