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How To Play Bluegrass Guitar

Learning how to play bluegrass guitar songs is a fun experience because many of these tunes are variations of old country songs or gospel numbers.

I say that meaning if you can play a country song as far as rhythm goes, a transition over to a bluegrass song is quite easy as far as rhythm is concerned. 

Learning how to play flat-picking, well that's another story. But you always start with solid rhythm first.

The best way to learn in my opinion, is to jump right in and learn a bluegrass song. The picking stuff comes later. My lessons here cover many of the basic bluegrass runs you'll hear in many songs. In other words, the basic runs keep showing up in multiple songs. But learn rhythm first, then go back and review any picking found in these songs listed below

Use these jump links

How To Play Bluegrass Guitar A-Z

Amie ... info soon

1. Amie

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2. Baby Blue

Baby Blue ... info soon

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3. Blue Kentucky Girl

Blue Kentucky Girl ... info soon

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4. Bury Me Beneath The Willow

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5. Church Street Blues

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6. Darby's Castle

darbyscastle

Darby's Castle is  song written by Kris Kristofferson and is normally played much slower. The track is from his 1970 debut album entitled "Kristofferson".

This one was never released as a single but played at a faster pace by many bluegrass bands, including a group called Nothin' Fancy.

  • Drop D Tuning: No
  • Capo: No
  • Rhythm: root down up down up down up and repeat
  • Picking: Yes
  • Chords: G, C, Am, D, D7
Chords & Lyrics

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7. Dooley

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8. Don't Say Goodbye When You Go

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9. Footprints In The Snow

footprintsinthresnow

Footprints In The Snow was not written by Bill Monroe even though he apparently had made that claim. The song dates back to 1880 and was written by Harry Wright with the title "Footmarks In The Snow".

The song was first recorded in 1931 Ernest Branch & The West Virginia Ramblers but they called it "Little Footprints". Bill Monroe recorded his version in Feb of 1945 in Nashville. He re-recorded the song agin

in 1952 with different musicians. Monroe released his 1952 version as a single and later appeared on his Greatest Hits album.

  • Drop D Tuning: Yes
  • Capo: No
  • Rhythm: root down up root up down up and repeat
  • Picking: Yes
  • Chords: D, D7, G, A7
center> Chords & Lyrics

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10. Fox On The Run

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11. I Don't Remember Loving You

I Don't Remember Loving You ... info soon

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12. Man Of Constant Sorrow

Man Of Constant Sorrow ... info soon

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13. Rocky Top

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14. Three Men On A Mountain

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15. Tina At The Teardrop Inn

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16. Will You Miss Me

Will You Miss Me ... info soon

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History Of Bluegrass Music

Thanks for stopping by this how to play bluegrass guitar page. There will be additional pages links from this one over time with more information about specific songs discussing chords, strumming and so forth.


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