If You Want To Play Country:

Some things you gotta do to get started...

Learn to hybrid pick. Pluck the strings like you're angry.

Learn and get proficient with the major/minor pentatonic scales.

Do some b3/3/5 or b3/3/1 licks. Like this:
E----------
B-----------
G----------
D-------2--
A--3h4-----
E-----------

or

E----------
B-----------
G----------
D----------
A--3h4-----
E-------5----

or

E-----------
B-----------
G-------2---
D-------2--
A--3h4-----
E-----------

or

E-----------
B-----------
G-------2---
D-----------
A--3h4-----
E-----------

Learn to do doublestop bends, also called stationary bends. Hold one or two notes while bending another. Like this:

E--5-------
B--5-------
G--4b6----
D----------
A----------
E----------

Use lots of open strings. Lots of 'em.

And if you're good at all of the above, you can play country guitar.

So many people ask about how to play country guitar on TDPRI, because it's a sweet guitar sound and a great skill to have. Here's your thread.

Great tips. My favorite is the "pluck the strings like you are angry". Awesome!

This is some good stuff thanks for sharing. Please post some open string licks! :)

x2 on the open string licks

I have just seen this thread, going to try these licks tonight. Thanks. :)

Open string licks:

This one will get you started:
E---------------------------------
B---------------------------------
G--3p2p0------------------------
D---------3p2p0-----------------
A-----------------3p2p0--------
E-------------------------3------

and that sounds alright, but this one is better:
E---------------------------------
B---------------------------------
G--3p2p0------------------------
D---------3p2p0------0-----------
A-----------------1h2--------
E-------------------------3------

and if you wanna throw some patterns in there and hybrid pick a little:
P=pick (down) M=middle finger
P P M P M
E--------------------------
B--------------------------
G--3p2p0---2p0---0------
D---------3------3--------
A--------------------------
E--------------------------

On that last one, you can take the same lick and move it to the A and D strings, then to the E and A strings and play all 3 one right after another and it gives a cool country descending kind of sound. If you're really adventurous, try these licks up higher on the neck, like around the 5th fret. You can use your pointer finger as kind of a "capo" to move up the "open" notes, or you can leave the strings truly open and see what happens.

Asphalt Cowboy - I'm really digging all of these. Thank you!

you can learn some generic licks like this.


e:---------------765-3----------------------------
b:------------------------------------------------
g:-----------0---765-4----------------------------
d:-------020--------------------------------------
a:---012------------------------------------------
e:-3---------------------------------------------

or you can go this route...
LU69VlwY9g8

Some things you gotta do to get started...

Learn to hybrid pick. Pluck the strings like you're angry.

Learn and get proficient with the major/minor pentatonic scales.

Do some b3/3/5 or b3/3/1 licks. Like this:
E----------
B-----------
G----------
D-------2--
A--3h4-----
E-----------

or

E----------
B-----------
G----------
D----------
A--3h4-----
E-------5----

or

E-----------
B-----------
G-------2---
D-------2--
A--3h4-----
E-----------

or

E-----------
B-----------
G-------2---
D-----------
A--3h4-----
E-----------

Learn to do doublestop bends, also called stationary bends. Hold one or two notes while bending another. Like this:

E--5-------
B--5-------
G--4b6----
D----------
A----------
E----------

Use lots of open strings. Lots of 'em.

And if you're good at all of the above, you can play country guitar.

So many people ask about how to play country guitar on TDPRI, because it's a sweet guitar sound and a great skill to have. Here's your thread.

Anyone else find these first couple of licks difficult to get under their fingers? Especially using hybrid picking these are harder than they look. :(

you can learn some generic licks like this.


e:---------------765-3----------------------------
b:------------------------------------------------
g:-----------0---765-4----------------------------
d:-------020--------------------------------------
a:---012------------------------------------------
e:-3---------------------------------------------



Knowing this, with or without the descending lick on the treble strings, is a prerequisite for classic country/bluegrass picking. It's in everything.

We'll seeing how you like that one, let me share a bit
more.
I was a rock player,and my dad had to bribe with
an American Made 1600.00 dollar customshop tele to come play in
his country band,because I was like not no..but H@%% NO!!!

The reason I put that punk rock video on there is sort
of mocking my dad who I dearly love..but you can't change
people.
He liked tried to make me wear the stupid hat,dress western
He's a real cowboy now not an Urban fake wanna be..But that's
not me nor will it ever be! but I respect him because he's
busted His rearend all his life to put food on the table!!


But I'm glad I did because I went from playing ozzy,blues
stuff. to actually becoming a real musician..by that I mean
you got to know how to spell you're chords..

So let me share a few secrets..Lead guitar is just that,
it leads somewhere..and if you're not careful it can lead
into the wrong chord when we're improvising!!
If you're playing scales you can start and end on the wrong
scale degree or target note.
What I'm trying to say is just learning licks is fun. But if
you really want to learn. Ya gotta learn to follow the Chord
changes!!
And let me show you like a little example of that..
this song could be a progression like Freddy Fender's
"Next tear drop fall's" or it could be "That's the way love goes"

By that I mean they both are 1,4,5 progressions let's say in the
Key of "C"... but these two songs will have a part where they go
up to 2nd chord say "D7th".then it will go the 5th Chord"G"
bringing us back to "C" again...A lot of songs do this "move".

The police's "Ever breath you take does this as well..cept it's
like a 1,6,4,5 progression but then they too throw that 2nd Chord
in there on the bridge.
You can actually hear this change coming often in a song you're
not famialar with..and when you do it almost always goes to the 5th chord.
and in this case the "G" is where you lay down
you're hottest licks!!
So enough yacking here's what I mean..and why
those treble 6ths on the 3rd string and 1st string is so useful!



now this is like the bridge on "Next tear drop falls"

F G C/// 2nd"D" G

e:-1-----3-------3--------10-10----7--5----3----
b:-1-----3---565-3--5----------------------------
g:-2-s/-4----5-5-4--5-5s/11-11----7--5---3h4------
d:-----------575-5--5------------------------------
a:--------------------------------------------------
e:---------------------------------------------------

Another thing I hear sometimes is this old Ideal.
Again we'll use C Major but then we like go to
FMajor for like 2 beats then it will go to like
Fminor then to say Dminor for 2 beats back to the
5th chord "G" resolving back again to C. this is
goes way back It reminds me of Buddy Holly 50's thing
but I'm sure it goes even further back..but it's still
used today!

but yeah I learn so much from him..how to be a professional,
how to like recover from a mistake,how not to criticize if somebody
has like real bad timing you wanna be singers know who you are!!!!
And cut you off..
Sometime's you gotta like lose a beat.
Dealing with drummers who give you the wrong beat on a song,
I could go on and on.. Keeping a steady tempo or trying to, to not let
a song snowball in speed!! Or one of my favorites is kicking a song off too
fast where you can't hardly sing it or play it like"Cotton eye Joe" or "sugarfoot rag" kind of
funny watching people try to dance to it!!:twisted:

"........you'll need a fiddle in the band."



;)

I'm hardly an expert on playing Country music but what I'm quickly learning from playing in a Country band is forget all the advanced chops stuff and learn SONGS and rhythm parts.

I would say you could learn more about playing Country by learning 3 or 4 Hank Williams Sr songs then any fancy solo or lead lick

Being aware of the chords is vital to all lead playing, for sure. I was mostly trying to get across the idea of how to use the lead techniques you already know and get the country feel, tone, and attitude in your playing.

Learning the songs, chords to the songs, and hitting chord tones are prerequisites to good lead playing regardless of genre.

Another thing I hear sometimes is this old Ideal.
Again we'll use C Major but then we like go to
FMajor for like 2 beats then it will go to like
Fminor then to say Dminor for 2 beats back to the
5th chord "G" resolving back again to C. this is
goes way back It reminds me of Buddy Holly 50's thing
but I'm sure it goes even further back..but it's still
used today!


I IV iv ii V(probably 7, though you don't say so) I

Interesting. I'm not sure I'm familiar with a song that does the IV -> iv thing. At least none come to mind. But I'll give it a try and see what it sounds like.

I just bought some thumb picks to start hybrid chicken pickin'. Funny how these runs look like blues runs but sound soooo different. What accounts for that difference? Timing? Amp settings? Effects?

I just bought some thumb picks to start hybrid chicken pickin'. Funny how these runs look like blues runs but sound soooo different. What accounts for that difference? Timing? Amp settings? Effects?

Hybrid picking is using a flat pick and your fingers.
Thumbpick is just fingerstyle.

Some songs that come to mind..but I guess I didn't exactly list it right.
But Like on "You don't know me"..has that Fmajor to Fminor...srry not really sharp on the Nashville number system..but like they will do that and like either go back to the tonic "C".

But like on George Strait's "What's going on in you're world" does have a progression like this,well the way we play it anyway which is probably our own twist..but like on the verse it's C,Emin,C,C7.
Fmaj,Fmin,Dmin..then it can like bounce back from Gmaj,Dmin,like 2 times then back to C. this is how we play the verse and these are all pretty quick changes like one to two beats each..just listen to the song I guess to hear what I'm saying..
But I'm sure that the right way probably has a bunch of chords in it.

But also like I had to learn Bryan Adam's "Everything I do" for a wedding one time..and it's like a piano song..but we had to learn it and it had that Forth chord Major to Forth chord minor in it at the end of the song If I recall correctly.

If you want to play country....learn to play the melody!

I just bought some thumb picks to start hybrid chicken pickin'. Funny how these runs look like blues runs but sound soooo different. What accounts for that difference? Timing? Amp settings? Effects?

It's attitude. And you use a few more notes than in blues. It's more... refreshing in that sense, at least for me. Not hanging on one note for too long is a big stylistic difference, too. You can't really BB-King-wiggle a single note for 5 bars on a Tele through a clean amp. I came up with the analogy, "Playing country on a Tele is like running through quicksand." You can't stop and soak in an individual note for too long or the soundwave's sustain sinks and leaves you struggling to reclaim the triumph of a great sounding solo. You gotta fly from note to note more so than other styles on other guitars. And that means you gotta think quickly or just have automatic licks ready at your fingertips. I prefer to use a mix of the two :)

It's attitude. And you use a few more notes than in blues. It's more... refreshing in that sense, at least for me. Not hanging on one note for too long is a big stylistic difference, too. You can't really BB-King-wiggle a single note for 5 bars on a Tele through a clean amp. I came up with the analogy, "Playing country on a Tele is like running through quicksand." You can't stop and soak in an individual note for too long or the soundwave's sustain sinks and leaves you struggling to reclaim the triumph of a great sounding solo. You gotta fly from note to note more so than other styles on other guitars. And that means you gotta think quickly or just have automatic licks ready at your fingertips. I prefer to use a mix of the two :)

Muddy Waters called. He said, "My balls...suck 'em if me tele ain't good 'nuff for ya blues."

I hate to say it, but if it's feeling like blues, you ain't playing it right.
Sure, there's some cross over and pentatonics for sure. But way more notes in between, open strings, hammer ons hammer offs or pull offs, double stops, double stop bends etc.

At least for chickin pickin - get the Brent Mason Hotlick vid, that's where I started.
If you learn all the open scales, Jerry reed, Don Rich and the guy from Haggards band's licks - those guys are just what all of us modern players have ripped off and elaborated on. Theres more swing and jazzy stuff to it as well. Triplets and stuff is when it gets fun.

And you have to get fast to do that stuff and be able to claw and thumb pick ideally.
But alot of guys do it hybrid style too. I could never get enough power with my other fingers whilst pinching a flat pick between my thumb and index, which is why I like the thumb so much. I need my index finger as it's the strongest one for me and my middle finger is the fastest. But when you start clawing is when it really comes in handy not pinching a pick.

I get a kick out of the new "shredders", ya the annoying kids that used to play that heavy metal racket seem to be graduating into chicken picking. Ask them to play a Merle Haggard song and they are stumped.

Well,actually I cheated I went and bought both Terry Downs guitar styles or Roy Nichols video's and books,highly recommended by the way,now I can do "Silver wings,Swinging doors,fighting side of me,mama tried,bottle let me down,working man blues, haven't learn think I'll just stay here and drink..
Terry if you read this do a Don Rich book!!!

Roy Nichols, that's the name I couldn't remember but his style is so unique.
Brent Mason covers a couple of his licks which are just so creative and funny.
He liked to add some really ear bending notes onto his solos and backgrounds.
I haven't studied the guy other than listening to his Haggard stuff, but I think he had some jazz in his background.

I IV iv ii V(probably 7, though you don't say so) I

Interesting. I'm not sure I'm familiar with a song that does the IV -> iv thing. At least none come to mind. But I'll give it a try and see what it sounds like.

I'm feeling pretty godawful stupid right now, because one of the songs in my post in the 'I'd cover it' thread has it. Geez, don't even know my own favorites...