Country, Bluegrass, Americana

How to Boom-Chuck with Cathy Fink

The sound of the steel-string guitar is synonymous with the sound of rootsy styles like country, bluegrass, and Americana. Whether you’re looking to learn the basics of boom-chuck strumming, some hot flatpicking licks, or how to play Western swing, you’ll find it here.

A scene from the film ‘O Brother Where Art Thou?’

Learn a Guitar-and-Voice Arrangement of “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow”

Popularized in the film ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?,’ this classic American folk song has antecedents that trace back over 200 years.

Craig Havighurst
September 11, 2020

Lucinda Williams singing with her guitar

Tips for Playing “Jackson” by Lucinda Williams

Though the picking is rather straightforward, there are some challenging techniques to deal with.

Joey Lusterman
August 16, 2020

Learn to Play the Fiddle Tune “St. Anne’s Reel” on Guitar

This flatpickers' favorite is ubiquitous at old-time, Celtic, and bluegrass jams.

Scott Nygaard
January 18, 2020

‘Super Moon’: Learn a Barn-Burner From Molly Tuttle

Among the many cool moments of Molly Tuttle’s variations are the jazz-informed block chords that suddenly appear in bars 61–65.

Adam Perlmutter
November 15, 2019

Learn to Play the Texas Fiddle Favorite “Beaumont Rag”

Learn this campground jam favorite, recorded by artists like Bob Wills' Texas Playboys, Doc Watson, and Clarence White.

Scott Nygaard
August 3, 2019

Tiger Rag: The Light Crust Doughboys’ Barn-Burning Western Swing Classic

Grab a flatpick and a metronome and set aside a generous amount of time in the woodshed, as in this lesson you’ll work on the blazing guitar leads and swinging rhythmic accompaniment.

Adam Perlmutter
March 15, 2019

‘The Wreck of the Old 97’ – Learn to Play This Classic Railway Ballad

Guitarist Jody Stecher plays this country standard in F major, a key he finds has a sonic atmosphere all its own.

Adam Perlmutter and Adam Perlmutter
December 14, 2018

‘Whiskey River’ – Watch Willie Nelson perform this country classic live at Farm Aid in 1986

The song has a fairly simple structure, with two main repeating sections, a chorus and a verse, and instrumental solos played over the chorus progression.

Adam Perlmutter
May 21, 2018

Using Slurs in Fiddle Tunes

Learn to maintain the right pick direction when playing hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides.

Scott Nygaard
November 19, 2017

Play the Traditional Song “Down in the Willow Garden”

This excerpt of “Down in the Willow Garden” is arranged to be played with a plectrum. I play the melody on the low strings and the accompaniment on the high strings.

Jody Stecher
November 5, 2017

Country Backup Basics

So here it is, our first bass/strum move. It’s not so different from doing four straight downstroke strums, except that the first strum is replaced with a single note, the root of the chord.

David Hamburger
October 1, 2017

Learn to Play Hot Western Swing on Guitar

Bringing together elements of early popular and country music, swing jazz, blues, and rural dance hall traditions, Western swing is pure vintage American music.

Sean McGowan
July 29, 2017

Learn to Pick Maybelle Carter’s Classic Bass-Note Technique

Since each note of a diatonic major scale belongs to more than one chord within a key, each note can serve as a bass note for several different chords in that key. Take a look at B, the third note of the G scale: it’s the root of a Bm…

David Surette
March 12, 2017

Lesson Excerpt: Learn to Play ‘This Little Light of Mine’

A popular song in the ‘50s and ‘60s, often sung at civil rights rallies.

Peter Penhallow
January 8, 2017

Learn Open String Carter-Style Hammer-Ons

Carter-style guitar playing may be primarily based around first-position chord shapes, but within that simple framework there are plenty of ways to make the music come to life.

David Surette
May 9, 2014

closeup of hands playing an acoustic guitar

The Country Boom-Chuck Rhythm

Learn to adapt the country boom-chuck rhythm to rock songs.

Andrew DuBrock
July 18, 2013

Learn Maybelle Carter’s Bass Note Technique

Looking at bass notes this way gives you some flexibility to begin working melodic lines into the otherwise-basic chord progressions in the Carter Family repertoire

David Surette
May 10, 2013

Bluegrass Bass Runs

Posted by Scott Nygaard After you’ve settled into the basic bluegrass and country boom-chuck rhythm pattern, you’re bound to start looking for something else to do with your fingers to help embellish different parts of a song. One easy way to do this is to add bass runs between chords.…

Scott Nygaard
November 26, 2012

Want to Play Like Johnny Cash? Learn the Boom-Chuck Rhythm in 3 Easy Steps

The boom-chuck beat is one of the first rhythms guitarists learn, and for good reason: you can play thousands of acoustic-guitar songs in this style.

Chris Grampp
November 20, 2012