I've been bitten by the bluegrass bug it seems and have been playing a lot of acoustic guitar in the last few days and soaking up the sounds of some bluegrass greats like Tony Rice, Mark O'Connor and Doc Watson. The level of technical ability and musicality these flat-pickers have is astounding and can terrify a relative newbie to the genre like myself. Not mention the fact that a lot of these guys are multi-instrumentalists.On the flip side a lot of even the hardest flat-picking music sounds great at slower tempos. I strongly suggest you dig into some traditional bluegrass standards by these players. I am determined to learn ( at my own tempo of course) either Mark O'Connor's or JP Cormier's version of "Dixie Breakdown".
If your not quite ready for "Dixie Breakdown" here is a little guitar lick of my own in the key of G that is played in the first position and pretty basic. Note that the repeating figure in the first three bars changes slightly in the fourth measure. I also personally like the directional change from forward to reverse in the last two bars with the notes on the A string. Hope your enjoy this. Happy Pickin!
