Bluegrass for the Curious Guitarist

Name: Bluegrass for the Curious Guitarist
Rating: 4.3 (73 reviews)

Complete bluegrass guitar course. Chords, strumming, soloing, melody. Learn 10 bluegrass songs. Beginner to advanced.

Created byDan Dresnok

Last updated 9/2025

English

What you'll learn

10 popular bluegrass songs.
Bluegrass-style chord strumming.
All guitar basics.
Bluegrass lead melodies (tabs).
Solo over any bluegrass song.
Bluegrass rhythm guitar.
Bluegrass lead guitar.
Play solo or with friends.

Course content

2 sections • 20 lectures • 5h 29m total length

Welcome to the Course12:16
Guitar Primer23:22
Learn or refresh your guitar basics from the beginning, such as string names, reading TABs, all the various open chords, and counting beats.
Country Strumming12:59
This technique is used by every great guitar player. Add life to your chord playing using country strumming for bluegrass as well as most other styles of music!
Open Position20:06
Learn your basic scale shapes in open position to add riffs to your chords, play the lead melodies properly, and solo like a true bluegrasser.
Bluegrass History12:24
Here is a basic overview of the origin of bluegrass & old-time music, including where, when, why, how, & what.
Jam Etiquette17:45
Rules to jam by! Here are the most common do's & don'ts when getting together with people for bluegrass, old-time, or acoustic jams.
Reading Music31:02
If you take the time to learn how to read music, as in, standard notation, you will enable yourself to learn any song you want. Most traditional music, like bluegrass & Celtic (fiddle tunes) have never been tabbed out, but they're all available to read & learn in standard notation.
Strum Pattern4:19
Here is a simple & great sounding strum pattern that can be used over most bluegrass songs, instead of just strumming quarter notes.

Cripple Creek11:27
Be sure to get the PDFs in the "additional resources" tab. One has the full tablature with melody & chords, the other is the simple chord chart.

Many old-time & fiddle tunes have lyrics from hundreds of years ago, but have become more popular as instrumental jam songs among bluegrass musicians. There is absolutely nothing wrong with singing a few verses from time to time to remember what the song was about.

Goin' up Cripple Creek,
Goin' on a run,
Goin' up Cripple Creek,
T' have some fun.
St. Anne's Reel19:10
Be sure to get the PDFs in the "additional resources" tab. One has the full tablature with melody & chords, the other is the simple chord chart.
This is a beautiful song of French-Canadian origin, it is thought that this became popular among American fiddlers from their travels to Canada for annual fiddle competitions.
Whiskey Before Breakfast16:03
Be sure to get the PDFs in the "additional resources" tab. One has the full tablature with melody & chords, the other is the simple chord chart.
Whiskey Before Breakfast, also known as, Spirits of the Morning, is thought to be a Canadian fiddle tune.
Alabama Jubilee19:08
Be sure to get the PDFs in the "additional resources" tab. One has the full tablature with melody & chords, the other is the simple chord chart.
Alabama Jubilee is an American standard from the 1910s.
Blackberry Blossom16:20
Be sure to get the PDFs in the "additional resources" tab. One has the full tablature with melody & chords, the other is the simple chord chart.
Blackberry Blossom is a Celtic song from the 1800s which has been altered and modernized throughout the centuries due to its high popularity and the nature of the aural tradition.
Billy in the Low Ground19:07
Be sure to get the PDFs in the "additional resources" tab. One has the full tablature with melody & chords, the other is the simple chord chart.
Billy in the Low Ground is best known to be an Irish-Scottish fiddle tune from the 1700s.
Red-Haired Boy18:53
Be sure to get the PDFs in the "additional resources" tab. One has the full tablature with melody & chords, the other is the simple chord chart.
Red Haired Boy is thought to be a story translated from the Gaelic (Scottish) about a bandit - a dangerous man.
Bill Cheatham14:57
Be sure to get the PDFs in the "additional resources" tab. One has the full tablature with melody & chords, the other is the simple chord chart.
Bill Cheatham is a traditional Irish reel with the name variations 'Bill Cheatum' and 'Bill Cheat'em.'
Blackberry Rag19:33
Be sure to get the PDFs in the "additional resources" tab. One has the full tablature with melody & chords, the other is the simple chord chart.
Blackberry Rag is a traditional folk song made popular again by Doc Watson in the 1960s. It is a great song for flatpicking (playing guitar with a regular flat pick - as opposed to finger picks.)
Foggy Mountain Breakdown29:05
Be sure to get the PDFs in the "additional resources" tab. One has the full tablature with melody & chords, the other is the simple chord chart.
Foggy Mountain Breakdown is an amazing tune written by Earl Scruggs in the 1940s. Earl Scruggs invented banjo music as we all know & love it. He invented the 3-finger roll which gives the lightning fast bluegrass banjo sound. Before Earl Scruggs, banjo players strummed chords in the background of ragtime bands and were no more than time-keepers for the rhythm section. Scruggs, 3-finger rolls, and songs like Foggy Mtn. Breakdown made people love bluegrass so much that they paid to watch it performed on stage, hence the birth of true bluegrass.
Closing Thoughts - Moving Forward8:56
We're wrapping up our course and discussing your ongoing journey with bluegrass guitar. Thank you and good luck!
Bonus Lecture2:15

Requirements

This course is for everyone - including complete beginners.
You only need a guitar - any kind of guitar with six strings.

Description

Welcome to Bluegrass for the Curious Guitarist! This is a complete bluegrass guitar course for all levels to get you playing & jamming real bluegrass guitar.

This course is in two sections: Bluegrass Guitar Basics & Songs.

In Bluegrass Guitar Basics, we'll get you up to speed with your basic skills such as reading tabs, basic chords, basic strum patterns, open scale shapes, solo techniques, jam etiquette, & bluegrass history.

You don't need to read music - or even learn how to - for this course. Everything in this course is in tab form. (There is a lesson on how to read standard music notation, but it's not a requirement for this course.)

Any kind of six-string guitar will work well for this course - electric, acoustic, or classical guitar.

Every lesson video has PDFs attachments. Download these, print these, & keep these. Each song in the Songs section has two PDFs - one with the melody & chords, the other with just the chords. Be sure to get all the PDFs.

The Songs section has 10 of the most commonly played bluegrass songs. I'll play through each song for you, chord at a time, strum at a time, and note at a time. I'll show you a few methods for playing the chords & melody, then I'll teach you how to jam (solo) over the chord changes.

By the end of this course, you'll be playing real bluegrass guitar. You'll be ready to jam with other bluegrassers for fun or performance. You'll have every tool you need to learn any bluegrass song you want.

I'm glad you're here - let's begin.

Who this course is for:

Anyone who wants to learn bluegrass guitar.
Beginners.
Advanced & intermediate guitarists.
Bluegrass guitarists of all levels who love bluegrass, old-timey, traditional, or folk music.

Bluegrass for the Curious Guitarist

What you'll learn

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Course content

Bluegrass Guitar Basics8 lectures • 2hr 14min

Songs12 lectures • 3hr 15min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: