Southern Fried Pickin' Part 2

        Written by:  Jeff Fiorentino

       Copyright © 2006 JFRocks   All rights reserved

These lessons are structured much the same way I do things on the main site jfrocks.com.  These lessons will cover various aspects of acoustic guitar and things to practice.  Mostly dealing with steel 6 string acoustic as that's what I play.  However, some lessons will deal with Nylon string acoustic guitar as well.  Either way the lessons covered here are interchangeable between the two guitar string types.  Although I recommend learning and practicing on Steel string acoustic.  This is because its more difficult to play and you will improve your electric playing immensely because you will build finger strength.  Also acoustic is less forgiving than electric.  Mistakes can and will be heard and are not covered up by effects or heavy reverb.  Updates to this page will be as often as I can.  I'm only human and while I have help with jfrocks.com, I'm on my own with this off shoot.  LOL  I will strive for an average update of 1 per week.  To be alerted of updates to this site or the main site, please sign up for our alerts on the main website.  You will receive an email when updates to either site have been made. 

 

 

Lesson Features
The song track	The Jam along track	The Video Guitar Lesson
Lesson MP3 song track	N/A N/A

 

Tabs & Lesson

 Original score by:  Jeff Fiorentino

  Transcription by:  Jeff Fiorentino

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This Lesson's difficulty level  1-10 scale

5

Performance notes

This lesson is by request from several people, but it goes out to the SWBA members that pop in here from time to time.  "southwest bluegrass association". 

All that aside, this is part 2 of Southern Fried Pickin'.  This type of playing is a lot of fun on acoustic as it was really made for acoustic guitar.  The double picking and strumming techniques are difficult for some but, this music at the very least isn't like Malmsteen or something.  There isn't a lot of stretching involved but it does tend to move a long fairly quickly at times. 

This lesson deals specifically with strumming technique and usage of the half step interval, "1 fret" We talk a lot about chromatics and things like that in other lessons on JFRocks but we are not so much deal with Chromatic scales or anything like that here as much as we are breaking riffs up into half step intervals. 

Below are a couple examples for you to mess with.  Each could be done on 12 string if you want.  For lesson purposes I'll stick to 6 string. 

The lesson tabs deal with the strumming pattern and the scales or scales involved with what we're playing here.

________________________________________________________________________

Main Lesson

Strumming pattern of the rhythm. 

Usually these are all down stroked.  You can alternate pick and do a down up down up thing if you want but at any traditional by the book Bluegrass jam they would stop and throw their instruments at you if you did that. 

Below are two different patterns of the same C Major chord.  The strumming is basically a bounce between, root, chord, and either 3rd chord, or 5th and then chord.  See tabs below and video for help.

Version 1

E___0_____0_______________________________________
B___1_____1_______________________________________
G___0_____0_______________________________________
D___2_____2_______________________________________
A_3_______________________________________________
E______3__________________________________________

Version 2

E____0______0_____________________________________
B____1______1_____________________________________
G____0______0_____________________________________
D____2___2________________________________________
A__3______________________________________________
E_________________________________________________

Scale or scales in play here

The scale we will use for this lesson is just a basic C Major scale, BUT, we are going to add in the minor 3rd and use both the minor 3rd and the 3rd.  The notes in our 8 tone C Major scale are:  C, D, Eb, E, F, G, A, B.  This scale contains a few half step intervals and we will use those as our primaries to create a certain feel.

The half step intervals in this scale are, B to C, Eb to E, E to F

C Major scale basic:  C, D, E, F, G, A, B

E_______________________1_3_5_7_8_________________
B_________________1_3_5___________________________
G___________2_4_5_________________________________
D_____2_3_5_______________________________________
A_3_5_____________________________________________
E_________________________________________________

C Major scale with an extra tone.  The minor 3rd has been added to our scale:  C, D, Eb, E, F, G, A, B

** It should be noted to avoid any confusion that the "8" tone scale we're using here is very similar to a scale called "Melodic minor"  However melodic minor is only a diatonic or "7" tone scale.  By definition a Melodic minor scale is made up of a Major scale with a minor 3rd going upward and then when you come back down it's a regular minor (Aeolian) scale. **   

The scale we're using here again has 8 tones and utilizes both the minor 3rd and the 3rd and is the same scale in both directions. 

E____________________________1_3_5_7_8____________
B____________________1_3_4_5______________________
G______________2_4_5______________________________
D______1_2_3_5____________________________________
A__3_5____________________________________________
E_________________________________________________

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Lesson Exercises

Practice Rhythm #1   Basic 1, 4, 5 chord pattern in C.

Perform with ALL down strokes of the pick.  You'll probably recognize the chord pattern from an TV show set in Beverly Hill, but not the 90210 Zip code.  Probably more like the 90211 zip code.  I've simplified it a bit and turned it into a strumming lesson.

E___________0_____0________1_____1______3______3_____0____0______
B___________1_____1________1_____1______0______0_____1____1______
G___________0_____0________2_____2______0______0_____0____0______
D___________2_____2_____3_______________0______0_____2____2______
A__0_2_0__3___________________3_____________2______3_____________
E______________3______________________3_________________3________

E____0_____0________1____2____3____3______________0____0____0___________________
B____1_____1________1____2____3____3______________1____1____1___________________
G____0_____0________2____3____4____4______________0____0____0___________________
D____2_____2___0__3____4____5____5________________2____2____2___________________
A__3_______________________________________0_2__3_________3_____________________
E_______3______________________________0_3___________3_________3_and repeat from beginning_

Practice Rhythm #2   1, 3, 4, 5 chord pattern in C.

This is an altered classic.  For lesson purposes, I have reversed the order and flow of the bass notes with each chord change into a back and forth thing.  This is a common technique used to make simple chord changes sound far more complex.  You can also use transition notes from within the scale to get you to or transition you to each chord change. 

E___0_____0______________________________________
B___1_____1______________________________________
G___0_____0______________________________________
D___2_____2___perform 4 times total__________________
A_3______________________________________________
E______3_________________________________________

E___0_____0_______________________________________
B___0_____0_______________________________________
G___1_____1_______________________________________
D___2_____2___perform 4 times total___________________
A_2_______________________________________________
E______0__________________________________________

E___1_____1______1_____1_______3_____3_______________________________
B___1_____1______1_____1_______0_____0_______________________________
G___2_____2______2_____2_______0_____0_______________________________
D_3___________3________________0_____0_______________________________
A______3____________3_______2____________2____0_2__and repeat from beginning____
E__________________________________3________3_________________________

Practice Lead Exercises.

A mess around for Rhythm example 1. 

This is just a goof around.  Lead exercise 2 is more the one you can screw with and is the one I put on the intro jam. 

E____________________________________________________________________________
B____________________________________________________________________________
G_________________________________0_2~_2_0________0_4_0______________________
D______________0_2_0____0__2-3~_3___________3--5_5_______5_0________0_2~______
A__0_2_0__2-3_3_______3_____________________________________2---3_3_______3_0_
E___________________________________________________________________________

E_______________________________________________ ______0____
B______________________________________________ _______1____
G_______________________________0_4_0________________ _0____
D_______0_2_0______3////---4////---5_5_______5______________ _2____
A_2--3_3_______2--3_______________________________0_2_0_3____
E_________________________________________0_2--3____________

Lead exercise 2

Same 1, 4, 5 chord pattern but more use of the half step intervals.

Sounds great on 12 string. 

All notes are picked.

** There is now an mp3 for this exercise available either on the mp3 page or by Clicking here.  I basically took the intro jam I did at the beginning of the video lesson and tracked around it.  I added 1 more guitar and a Mandolin part.  The only thing missing is Fiddle and it would be true Bluegrass.  The mp3's come out better if I play live and don't use excerpt parts from videos that I played raw with no click track but since this is bluegrass anyway and there is no such thing as perfect with bluegrass, it'll do.  It'll due is pretty much the motto of any bluegrass recording.  lol

E_________________________________________________________________________
B______________________________________________________1_0________________
G______________________________0_2_0__________0_2_0________2_0___2_0______
D______________0_2_0_____2_1_2_______2__2--3_3_______3__________3_____3____
A___0_2__3_2_3_______3____________________________________________________
E_3_______________________________________________________________________

E___________________________________________
B_____________________8_____________________
G________0_4_0___4---7___7---4_4_0_____________
D_3---5_5_______5_________________2_0________
A___________________________________________
E___________________________________________

Classic Bluegrass / style ending

There are 3 versions tabbed below of this Classic Bluegrass geetar pickin' ending.  Each one is the common way this ending is played.  I personally know probably 20 different versions of this same ending however, I have selected the 3 most commonly used ones for all you for lesson purposes.  You can embellish on these all you want to, which is what most players do anyway.

Version 1:  The most common way it's done and my personal favorite.  This is what I did on the intro jam at the beginning of the video lesson.

     C                                   F                                         G                              C                    C7

E_0__________________________3_5_3_5----8_5_0_3_5_________________0_____
B_1_______________1-3_1_3----5_____________________5--4____________1_____
G_0________0_2_0_____________________________________5---sl dwn--___ 3_____
D_2____1-2_________ ____________________________________________  2_____
A_3__3_________________________________________________________  3_____
E_____________________________________________________________________

Version 2:  Less common but sounds cool too.  This version is lacking the minor 3rd, 3rd half step interval.  So it sounds a little less fancy than the other two methods of this classic Bluegrass ending I have tabbed here for you.

     C                                   F                                         G                              C                    C7

E_0__________________________3_5_3_5----8_5_0_3_5_________________0_____
B_1_______________1-3_1_3----5_____________________5--3____________1_____
G_0________0_2_0_____________________________________5---sl dwn--___ 3_____
D_2____0-2_________ ____________________________________________  2_____
A_3__3_________________________________________________________  3_____
E_____________________________________________________________________

Version 3:  Pretty much a mix of the two ways above with an extra open 1st string thrown in for good measure.  This is probably pretty close to the way the Charlie Daniels band ended their track, "The Ballad of the Uneasy Rider". 

     C                                   F                                         G                              C                    C7

E_0__________________________3_5_0_5----8_5_0_3_5_________________0_____
B_1_______________1-3_1_3----5_____________________5--3____________1_____
G_0________0_2_0_____________________________________5---sl dwn--___ 3_____
D_2____1-2_________ ____________________________________________  2_____
A_3__3_________________________________________________________  3_____
E_____________________________________________________________________