Taylor Guitars | 1 decade ago
In this little lesson we are going to talk about some of the most essential scales for Bluegrass lead guitar. We will also talk a little bit about flatpicking guitar technique.
The term flatpicking comes form the flat pick that guitarists use. Most of the time flatpickers will use alternate picking in order to give their notes the most volume and definition. If you are playing Bluegrass leads you might find yourself picking the strings pretty hard in order to get more volume out of them. Some times this can really stress out the finger that you use to hold the pick. If I need a lot of volume out of my acoustic guitar, and have to pick harder, I generally like to brace my index finger with my second finger. This just helps take some of the stress off of my index finger. Make sure not to tense up when trying to get more volume out of your guitar. That can really stress our your fingers and arms.
Most Bluegrass lead guitar players use at least a medium pick. Using a thicker pick helps to get a bit more volume out of the guitar when trying to play solos over a full Bluegrass band. Experiment with a couple of heavier picks and see which one gives you the best results.
Many flatpicking guitarists set the palm of their hand right next to their wrist right on the bridge of the guitar. This helps them to keep track of what string they are playing. It also enables them to get a bit more volume out of their guitar without stressing out their fingers, hand and arm. If you want to see this technique for flatpicking you should watch a video of Dan Crary playing.
Bluegrass leads tend to use open strings whenever possible. Having said that, it makes sense to use open scale when building your Bluegrass solos. The following examples cover the open C major, G major and G major pentatonic scales. Play through and get familiar with each shape. - Nate Savage
For more lessons with Nate Savage, please visit http://www.guitarlessons.com/
