Borrowing Fiddle Techniques for Flatpicking Guitar on the Traditional Tune “Little Liza Jane”
This version of “Little Liza Jane” comes from the eastern Kentucky fiddler J.P. Fraley (1923–2011), who played it in the key of A major.
Scott Nygaard
Grammy-winning guitarist Scott Nygaard has decades of teaching, performing, and recording experience. He is a former editor of Acoustic Guitar magazine and the author of Fiddle Tunes and Folk Songs.
30 Ways to Improve Your Acoustic Guitar Tone
Improve your acoustic guitar tone with these tips and techniques for fretting-hand, flatpicking, and fingerstyle playing for both your right and left hands.
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Learn to Play the Fiddle Tune “St. Anne’s Reel” on Guitar
This flatpickers' favorite is ubiquitous at old-time, Celtic, and bluegrass jams.
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.
‘Man of Constant Sorrow’ – Learn a Great Song from the American Folk Canon
All steel-string guitarists should have at least one fiddle tune in their repertoire, so if you happen to be lacking one, then this is a good place to start.
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Using Slurs in Fiddle Tunes
Learn to maintain the right pick direction when playing hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides.
Flatpick the Fiddle Tune “Forked Deer”
Dan Crary describes it as “one of the great, majestic fiddle tunes.” The first eight measures of Scott Nygaard's arrangement are transcribed here.
Learn to Play the Fiddle Tune “St. Anne’s Reel” on Guitar
Fiddlers play this tune in the key of D, and it can be played effectively on the guitar in D without a capo or capoed up to the second fret and played out of C position.
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How to Use Open Strings When Playing in Flat Keys
Because one of the things that makes something “easy” on the guitar is the presence of open strings, let’s see how many standard-tuning open-string notes can be found in flat keys.
Learn How to Navigate Modulations in Circle-of-Fifths Progressions
Learn a few ways to understand the circle of fifths and how to play progressions with changing tonalities.
Video Lesson: Get Your Fretting-Hand Fingers to Move in New Ways
Create short melodic patterns and repeat them on successive steps of the major scale.
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Learn These 5 Easy Pieces from ‘The Song Train’
Harvey Reid says, “the best way to learn to play music is by playing songs, and there is no better place to start than some good songs that are easy to play.”
Up-the-Neck Octave Exercises
Learn to connect the fingerboard positions you know so you can move up and down the neck more smoothly.
Build Your Chops with a Harmonized Major Scale Pentatonic Workout
You'll start with a familiar-sounding major-pentatonic phrase and then move it up each step of the G major scale.
Weekly Workout: Chord Scales from the Jazz Standard ‘Autumn Leaves’
As you practice your scales, it’s good to remind yourself of the function of the individual notes of those scales. Here we start with open-position scales taken from the chord progression for "Autumn Leaves."
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Create New Melodic Lines by Looking at the Five-Note Scale in a Different Way
Create four-note patterns by removing the second step of a minor pentatonic scale.
Review: PRS SE Angelus Standard Has a Balanced and Even Sound
If the sound and playability of our review guitar is any indication, it’s definitely time to stop referring to PRS as an electric guitar maker.
Review: Martin’s DRS1 is a Solid Dreadnought Designed For the Working Musician
Luckily for those unable to afford a D-28, Martin recently unveiled the DRS1—a guitar with many similarities to the American-made D-15, but built in Martin’s Mexican facility.
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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…
Fiddle Tunes and Folk Songs | Acoustic Guitar Champions
Learn to flatpick the melodies to ten traditional fiddle tunes and songs, with simple melodic variations and performance tips.