Left Hand Boot Camp Guitar Lesson
Left Hand Boot Camp
Nick covers some of the most commonly used scale patterns in bluegrass.
Taught by Nick Amodeo in Bluegrass with Nick Amodeo seriesLength: 31:45Difficulty: 2.0 of 5
Supplemental Learning Material
Bluegrass with Nick Amodeo
Found in our Beginner Lesson SetsA sub-genre of country music which blends improvising with folk-like melodies. Pioneered by Bill Monroe in the 1930s in the "bluegrass" state. Nick will present flatpick techniques.
Lesson 1
Series Introduction
Nick Amodeo introduces the Bluegrass Series and explains what to expect in the following lessons.
Length: 2:27 Difficulty: 0.5 Members Only
History and Influence of Bluegrass
Nick discusses the history of bluegrass and the influence it has had on other styles of music.
Length: 27:44 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Bluegrass Instruments and Influence
Nick explains the musical role that each instrument plays in a bluegrass band.
Length: 17:01 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 4
Bluegrass Chords
Nick explains how to play some of the most commonly used chords in the bluegrass genre.
Length: 19:42 Difficulty: 2.5 FREE
Right Hand Techniques
Welcome to a right hand "boot camp" with Nick Amodeo! In this lesson, Nick demonstrates several picking and strumming exercises that will whip your right hand into shape.
Length: 24:48 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Right Hand Boot Camp
Nick Amodeo continues his discussion of picking technique in this installment of right hand "boot camp."
Length: 24:33 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Crosspicking Techniques
Nick presents several exercises that develop string skipping and crosspicking technique.
Length: 23:35 Difficulty: 3.5 Members Only
Common Bluegrass Scale Exercise
Nick covers some exercises and scales that develop left hand technique.
Length: 33:15 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Bluegrass Ornaments
Nick explains how to play various slurs such as slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs. Also included are some common bluegrass licks that utilize these techniques.
Length: 30:54 Difficulty: 3.5 Members Only
Bluegrass Right Hand Rhythm
Nick covers some basic bluegrass strumming patterns.
Length: 12:23 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Left Hand Boot Camp
Nick covers some of the most commonly used scale patterns in bluegrass.
Length: 31:45 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Nine Pound Hammer
Nick applies fundamental guitar techniques from previous lessons to the song "Nine Pound Hammer."
Length: 31:39 Difficulty: 3.5 Members Only
Texas Gales
Nick demonstrates his interpretation of "Texas Gales." You might say this one will blow you away!
Length: 38:30 Difficulty: 4.0 Members Only
Cross Picking: Home Sweet Home
Nick teaches the song "Home Sweet Home" and uses it to demonstrate cross picking techniques. Nick also covers the chords, and a chord with melody version to correspond with a picked version he has created.
Length: 57:24 Difficulty: 3.5 Members Only
About Nick Amodeo
View Full Biography
Nick Amodeo is a multi-instrumentalist based out of Denver, Colorado. A self taught musician, he took up guitar at age 12 before moving on to mandolin and electric bass. He is the 2005 Colorado state mandolin champion, and was featured on the 2007 Downbeat magazine Blues Album of the Year, Otis Taylor’s “Definition of a Circle.”
Nick has shared the stage with such artists as Buddy Guy, Chuck Campbell, Mollie O’Brien, Nick Forster and Pete Wernick of Hot Rize, and many others. Nick currently is the mandolin department at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado and has over 10 years teaching experience.
Acoustic Guitar Lessons
Our acoustic guitar lessons are taught by qualified instructors with various backgrounds with the instrument.
Pamela Goldsmith
Pamela brings a cap to her first 13 JamPlay lessons with another original etude inspired by the great Leo Brouwer. This is...
Free LessonSeries Details
Steve Eulberg
Steve Eulberg does a quick review of this lesson series and talks about moving on.
Free LessonSeries Details
Mark Kroos
Free LessonSeries Details
Kaki King
In lesson 6, Kaki discusses how the left and right hands can work together or independently of each other to create different...
Free LessonSeries Details
Peter Einhorn
In this lesson, Peter discusses the two bar clave that is common to the Brazilian style. You'll put together several patterns...
Free LessonSeries Details
Mark Lincoln
Time to unlock your creativity because in this information packed lesson. Mark dives deep into how to deconstruct the process...
Free LessonSeries Details
Eve Goldberg
Eve talks about the boom-chuck strum pattern. This strum pattern will completely change the sound of your playing.
Free LessonSeries Details
Jim Deeming
Jim Deeming discusses how to use a metronome for practice, skill building, and speed building.
Free LessonSeries Details
Hawkeye Herman
Hawkeye teaches several Robert Johnson licks in this lesson. These licks are played with a slide in open G tuning.
Free LessonSeries DetailsElectric Guitar Lesson Samples
Our electric guitar lessons are taught by instructors with an incredible amount of teaching experience.
DJ Phillips
Learn a handful of new blues techniques while learning to play Stevie Ray Vaughn's "The House Is Rockin'".
Free LessonSeries Details
Nick Greathouse
Nick starts his series with Alternate Picking part 1. Improve your timing, speed, and execution with this important lesson.
Free LessonSeries Details
Kenny Ray
Albert Collins brought a lot of style to the blues scene. In this lesson, Kenny breaks down Albert's style for you to learn.
Free LessonSeries Details
Bryan Beller
Bryan Beller of the Aristocrats, Dethklok, and Steve Vai takes you inside his six step method to learning any song by ear....
Free LessonSeries Details
Brad Henecke
Free LessonSeries Details
Steve Stevens
Steve Stevens shows some of his go-to licks and ideas while improvising over a backing track he made.
Free LessonSeries Details
Tosin Abasi
Tosin explains some of the intricacies of the 8 string guitar such as his personal setup and approach to playing.
Free LessonSeries Details
Allen Van Wert
Allen shows you the 24 rudiments crucial to developing finger dexterity. This is a short lesson but the exercises here can...
Free LessonSeries Details
Emil Werstler
Emil takes you through some techniques that he uses frequently in his style of playing. Topics include neck bending, percussive...
Free LessonSeries Details
Eric Madis
In this lesson Eric talks about playing basic lead in the Memphis Blues style.
Free LessonSeries DetailsAdditional Lesson Features Available to Members
While we have attempted to provide you with an accurate rendition of our video lesson experience, there are some features which
require a membership with us!
Custom Progress Reporting
At JamPlay, we give you the ability to monitor your own progress for any lesson! If you watch one of our lessons and feel as though you understand around half of it, mark your progress at 50%. This adds the lesson to your customized Progress Report, and gives you an incredible ability to document what you need to work on, and where you left off.
Progressive Bookmarking
With thousands of lessons at your fingertips, JamPlay can be a touch intimidating to a first-time user. With Progressive Bookmarking, we give you the ability to systematically bookmark sections of any lessons you are working on to quickly access later. After all, what is the point of all this content if it isn't easy to use?
Save Your Notes
JamPlay also gives you the ability to leave notes for yourself on any lesson. Just like in any educational system, taking your own notes while learning gives you the ability to highlight the instruction that is important to you. Leave your notes, and we store them in our database for you to reference each and everytime you come back to the lesson.
Join the Thousands of Members at JamPlay
Signup today to enjoy access to our entire database of video lessons, along with our exclusive set of learning tools and features.
Unlimited Lesson Viewing
A JamPlay membership gives you access to every lesson, from every teacher on our staff. Additionally, there is no restriction on how many times you watch a lesson. Watch as many times as you need.Live Lessons
Exclusive only to JamPlay, we currently broadcast 8-10 hours of steaming lesson services directly to you! Enjoy the benefits of in-person instructors and the conveniences of our community.Interactive Community
Create your own profile, manage your friends list, and contact users with your own JamPlay Mailbox. JamPlay also features live chat with teachers and members, and an active Forum.Chord Library
Each chord in our library contains a full chart, related tablature, and a photograph of how the chord is played. A comprehensive learning resource for any guitarist.Scale Library
Our software allows you to document your progress for any lesson, including notes and percent of the lesson completed. This gives you the ability to document what you need to work on, and where you left off.Custom Chord Sheets
At JamPlay, not only can you reference our Chord Library, but you can also select any variety of chords you need to work on, and generate your own printable chord sheet.Backing Tracks
Jam-along backing tracks give the guitarist a platform for improvising and soloing. Our backing tracks provide a wide variety of tracks from different genres of music, and serves as a great learning tool.Interactive Games
We have teachers covering beginner lessons, rock, classic rock, jazz, bluegrass, fingerstyle, slack key and more. Learn how to play the guitar from experienced players, in a casual environment.Beginners Welcome.. and Up
Unlike a lot of guitar websites and DVDs, we start our Beginner Lessons at the VERY start of the learning process, as if you just picked up a guitar for the first time.Our teaching is structured for all players.
Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.Nick, I am 68 yrs old and I've been hobby playing since I was 12 or 13 yrs old. I've been going over your basic lessons. I thought I knew how to use a pick, I thought I knew how to play a scale, but I tried what you taught in the left and right hand and it has in very little time changed my entire approach FOR THE BETTER. I have sore muscle in my right forearm and that is from picking the way you taught; it made me use different muscles; it took away a lot of tension out of my stroke. Just curling my right hand fingers and not pressing a finger or two on my pick guard really helped. Thank you
thats great to hear louie. im always glad to know my lessons are helping people. thanks, nick
Sorry,but are Lesson 8 and Lesson 11 exactly the same?
scene 8 is a C Major scale. scene 11 is a C minor pentatonic scale.
Sorry, I don't mean the scenes within this particular lesson, but the actual Lesson 8 and Lesson 11, the material covered seems to be exactly the same. thanks
oh, youre right! somehow this lesson was posted twice, just under different names.... ill let the guys know about it. good eye!
No problem! By the way, I'm just trying to get really serious about overcoming this mountain that is the initial stages of bluegrass, as in 'being able to play up to performance level speed as written in the notation'..., but anyway, these lessons have just been tremendous. Thank you so much. I really love the different exercises and such. Yes, they're challenging, but well worth it. The only comment I would have so far at this point is, well, more please! Of everything!
Best exercise is tough!! My left hand cramps and I have to push the 5th & 6th strings away or I end up muting the next higher string. I see the value of this one. Thanks.
Nice Santa Cruz!!