Whether you’re a huge fan of country guitar or not, you’ll find this hot little guitar line is a blast to play. The secret to this licks’ rolling and popping sound comes mainly from the right hand.
This sound is often associated with amazing country players like Albert Lee, Brent Mason, the Hellecasters and Brad Paisley. Not to be left out of the fun, some adventurous rock players like Zack Wilde, Mark Knofler, Steve Morse, Eric Johnson and Eddie Van Halen also use this type of finger picking.
Let’s take a look at what is involved with our left hand playing before we tackle the right hand technique. Basically, this whole lick is built around an open position A5 (A power chord) chord.
Each line is a slight variation, but each one starts with a rapid three note hammer-on. There are a couple of half-step bends, one of which involves a double stop bend. Bending two notes at the same time, which I’m barring with my third finger on my left hand. Depending on your experience bending notes, this may require a little work, but keep at it.
All right, now for some right hand tips. Your thumb is going to be responsible for playing all of the bass notes. In this case all of the notes on the low E and A strings. All double stops on the D and G strings, are going to be played with the first and middle fingers of your right hand.
As you get better at this technique, feel free to be more aggressive with your finger picking. Also, practice muting strings with the right hand that you don’t want ringing. Think very staccato and abrupt with your finger picking. This will give you that snapping attack on the strings.
e|--------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------|
G|-----------0------2-----2----5/b--2--|
D|-----------0------2-----2----5/b--2--|
A|--------------3/b----0-----0---------|
e |-0-^-1-^-3---------------------------------------.|
e|--------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------|
G|----------0-------2----2------2--2---|
D|----------0-------2----2------2--2---|
A|-------------3/b-----0-----0---------|
e |-0-^-1-^-3----------------------------------------|
