Which lesson(s) to get first?

windfeld

I am absolutely in love with Jim's playing and I really wanna get some of the lessons. I would love to learn more in the country and steel guitar style. Which are your favourite lessons in that style? Looking for something that could give me something to do, as I am kinda stuck in my playing at the moment:).

Hoping for some input.

Regards

Andreas

CJG

Hi Andreas,
Glad to hear that you are looking at some of the lessons. I have some recommendations off the top of my head but could probably do better if you let me know where your playing is at right now. What type of tunes are you working on? Are you in a band or playing solo? Do you have any fingerpicking experience?

If you are new to finger picking and would like to give it a try or want to improve your technique and style, the Travis 101 lesson is pure gold. If you are already proficient, however, you may want to start with something more advanced.

Country Lead in G is a brilliant lesson if you want to build some chops and get down some really great lead lines that are relatively easy to memorize and to start using to make up your own solos. The Country lead lesson is like getting 7 or 8 "mini lessons" all with varying degrees of difficulty. The first lead part is relatively easy to grasp and gives a taste of playing over changes and working in some chicken picken style playing. Each solo gets progressively more difficult and offers new and exciting little tricks - very cool double stops and killer descending riffs. And all of these riffs are easy to transpose in other keys. Its a really fun lesson that gives you some immediately accessible stuff to work on and then some pretty advanced ideas as well.

The Pedal Steel Guitar lesson is another lesson that is a lot of fun. There are a few relatively easy concepts to get down and then more and more advanced ideas as the lesson progresses. This lesson will help you develop a nice touch when bending strings to get that beautiful, mournful and sweet sound of a pedal steel right from the strings on your guitar. A very cool lesson.

Panhandle Rag
If you are looking for a tune that is fun to play and also will give you insight into the pedal steel style you may want to check out Panhandle Rag. Panhandle Rag is broken down into a basic almost skeletal version of the song that is easy to get down. Then, once you are feeling comfy with the basics Jim takes you through some intermediate and then very advanced pedal steel ideas all while keeping the feel and spirit of the underlying tune.

If you have time, shoot me an e-mail and let me know if you have any additional questions. If you let me know more about where your playing is and what you are looking for I may have some additional ideas for you.

Cheers,
CJ

morroben

I recently landed a gig playing lead behind a buddy that's singing and strumming old country tunes. Ernest Tubb, Willie Nelson etc. I've never had much experience with country and the first few gigs I sounded very bland. So this last weekend I got the "Country Lead in G" lesson and the "Pedal Steel" lesson.
I would agree with everything that CJG said. Both of these lessons are accessible enough that some of the ideas will make it into this Thursday's gig. Some of the more difficult ideas will take more time. They're both absolutely perfect for what I'm needing to learn right now.
The real progress comes when I'm able to connect the dots between these two lessons and the "Arpeggios as Exercises" lesson. It almost makes me feel like I know what I'm doing...almost...

JMH

Country Lead in G is good, I mined some ideas from that lesson for my soloing when I played in a country context with a band recently for the first time ever.

Workin´ Man Blues is fun too, since you get a mixture of rhythm and lead ideas.

windfeld

Of course. I should probably have told where I am at my playing right now.

I have been playing a lot for the last 15 years or so. Playing gigs and going to music school. I studied to go to the music conservatory, but I never got in and somehow I lost interest in playing. Might be the fact that I couldnt make it as a fulltime musician that made it hard for me to continue since it had always been my dream. But now after a few years only playing a gig every now and then, but not really practicing, I really wanna get back on the horse. I started my trio again, but my taste has changed:D. Now I am really diggin Jim's stuff. The whole country, rock and jazz thing really appeals to me. I have experience playing all sorts of music, but I am not that used to fingerpicking, chicken picking or in general just most country stuff. So "Country lead in G" definetely sounds like a nice lesson. I am probably looking to pick up 2 or 3 lessons. That's all I can afford right now:). Arpeggios as exercises sounds really good as well.

I'm looking for something that can get my technique back up as well as give me some new and creative stuff to play:).

I really appreciate the good replies. Thank you so much for helping out guys!

Andreas

CJG

Andreas, thanks for the additional info and glad to hear that you are making good progress! Another GREAT lesson that you may get a lot of mileage out of is "Playing the Blues: Nailing the Changes." As long as you already have the good ole pentatonic scale down, this lesson will take you to the next level. Jim uses a triad approach to finding the perfect notes to play over changing progressions. It's simple, brilliant, and applicable in countless situations. An essential lesson for any aspiring gutar slinger. This lesson is loaded with cool licks and riffs. It is very applicable in a Country, Rockabilly, Jazz and Rock N Roll context. Highly highly reccommended. Keep on jammin and thanks again for sharing your info.