Pick Technique: Downstrokes and Bass Notes

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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Lessons on learning the fingerboard geared toward bluegrass and roots musicians
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Pick Technique: Bass Notes and Upstrokes

Pick Technique: Downstrokes and Bass Notes

Pick Technique: Upstrokes and Swing

Pick Technique: Downstrokes and Bass Notes

Scott looks at the mechanics of pick technique in depth in these two lessons, starting first with the downstroke and the different ways you can play the bass note of a boom-chuck strum. He talks about the importance of the rest stroke in bluegrass guitar technique, the arm movement required to play an upstroke strum after a downstroke bass note, and the disadvantages of playing bass notes with a “bounce stroke.”

Previous Lesson

← Bluegrass Rhythm Basics, Part 2: “Long Journey Home”

Next Lesson

Pick Technique: Upstrokes and Swing →

Previous Lesson

← Bluegrass Rhythm Basics, Part 2: “Long Journey Home”

Next Lesson

Pick Technique: Upstrokes and Swing →

Previous Lesson

← Bluegrass Rhythm Basics, Part 2: “Long Journey Home”

Next Lesson

Pick Technique: Upstrokes and Swing →