Picking Techniques (Guitar Lesson)
What are you waiting for? Get your membership now!
Picking Techniques
Freebo talks about some picking techniques using an original song called "To The Light" as an example.
Taught by Freebo in Freebo Artist Series seriesLength: 30:35Difficulty: 2.5 of 5
Video Subtitles / Captions
Supplemental Learning Material
Freebo Artist Series
Found in our Beginner Lesson SetsFreebo, acclaimed bassist, guitar player and songwriter walks you through the craft of writing and playing songs.
Lesson 1
Introducing Freebo
In the first lesson of his artist series, Freebo introduces himself as both a person and musician. He moves on to talk about his guitar, choice of strings and even throws in a bit of philosophy.
Length: 31:15 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Tuning Your Guitar
Freebo jumps into his first official lesson on the basics of the guitar. Before anything else, you must learn how to tune your guitar. Walk through the process with Freebo in this lesson.
Length: 15:53 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Basic Theory
Freebo touches on some basic theory in this lesson, including the very helpful I-IV-V progression. He uses a keyboard for visual reference.
Length: 33:51 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Introduction to Songwriting
Freebo starts talking about basic songwriting in this lesson. He uses an original song, "She's My D.O.G." as an example, which is a simple I-IV-V progression in the key of E.
Length: 18:30 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 5
Basic Song Structure
Freebo talks about basic song structure in this lesson, covering the verse, chorus and bridge. He uses his original song, "If Not Now When" as an example.
Length: 24:45 Difficulty: 2.5 FREE
Relative Minors
Freebo continues his discussion on songwriting with a lesson on relative minor chords.
Length: 17:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Chord Inversions
In his newest lesson, Freebo talks about chord inversions.
Length: 28:38 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Seventh Chords
Freebo talks all about seventh chords in this lesson.
Length: 22:17 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
The Pentatonic Scale
In this lesson, Freebo gets bluesy and takes a close look at the pentatonic scale.
Length: 24:32 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Circle of Fifths
Freebo takes some time to talk about the circle of fifths.
Length: 13:18 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Alternative Chord Progressions
Freebo uses his original song, "My Personal GPS," to demonstrate concepts such as blues riffs, slash chords, and secondary dominant chords.
Length: 24:55 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
The Songwriting Process
To help explain his songwriting process, Freebo talks about his thoughts and choices behind one of his original songs - "When There's No Place Like Home".
Length: 32:46 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Picking Techniques
Freebo talks about some picking techniques using an original song called "To The Light" as an example.
Length: 30:35 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Pedaling
In lesson 14, Freebo uses an original song, "How Do I Say Goodbye," to talk about pedaling.
Length: 26:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Trouble
In this lesson, Freebo teaches an original song called "Trouble." This catchy tune provides a great opportunity to practice more right hand technique.
Length: 30:02 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Time Signatures
Freebo takes some time to talk about time signatures in this lesson. He uses two songs as examples and also touches a little more on groove.
Length: 39:16 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Right Hand Groove
Freebo talks about right hand rhythm and groove using two original songs as examples: "The Beauty Of Life" and "Sometimes It's For Nothin'."
Length: 37:43 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
The Rule of Two
Freebo takes some time to talk about the "rule of two" and how it can be useful in songwriting. He uses a couple song examples to show how it works, including one of his originals, "We Are All One People."
Length: 32:36 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Alternate Tunings: Drop D
In this lesson, Freebo talks about drop D tuning using his original song, "A Soldier At War" as an example.
Length: 16:42 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Alternate Tunings: Double Drop D
Freebo continues his discussion on alternate tunings with a lesson on double drop D tuning. He uses an original song called "More Like You" as an example.
Length: 18:04 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Partial Capo
Freebo talks about partial capos and shares some cool ideas for using them. He uses his original song, "She Loves My Dog More Than Me" as an example.
Length: 32:08 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
It Goes By Fast
Freebo talks about his original song "It Goes By Fast". He uses this song to talk about his songwriting process.
Length: 25:56 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Before the Separation
Freebo continues his partial capo and songwriting discussion using one of his original tunes, "Before the Separation," as an example.
Length: 23:08 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Something to Believe
Freebo continues the topic of the partial capo and songwriting by using his tune "Something to Believe" from the album of the same name.
Length: 16:17 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
On The Parallel Together
Freebo continues his discussion on partial capos in relation to songwriting using two of his original songs - "On the Parallel Together" and " That's What Love Is."
Length: 22:24 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Standing Ovation
Freebo leaves us with one last lesson in this series; he performs a beautiful song called "Standing Ovation". He also concludes his discussion on songwriting and partial capos, and gives his final thoughts...
Length: 26:26 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
About Freebo
View Full Biography
Freebo is an award-winning singer/songwriter and blues folk icon. For 30 years, Freebo played bass on recordings and toured with some of the great artists of our time; people like Bonnie Raitt (10 years), John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, CSN, Maria Muldaur, Ringo Starr, Michelle Shocked, Neil Young, Loudon Wainwright III, Dr. John, and many others. He has alsoappeared on Saturday Night Live, Midnight Special, Muppets Tonight, and in concert with the legendary Spinal Tap.
Acoustic Guitar Lessons
Our acoustic guitar lessons are taught by qualified instructors with various backgrounds with the instrument.
Orville Johnson
Orville Johnson introduces turnarounds and provides great ideas and techniques.
Free LessonSeries Details
Steve Eulberg
Steve Eulberg does a quick review of this lesson series and talks about moving on.
Free LessonSeries Details
Alan Skowron
Alan shares his background in teaching and sets the direction for his beginning bass series with simple ideas and musical...
Free LessonSeries Details
Mitch Reed
Mitch teaches his interpretation of the classic "Cannonball Rag." This song provides beginning and intermediate guitarists...
Free LessonSeries Details
Robbie Merrill
JamPlay welcomes bassist and founding member of Godsmack, Robbie Merrill. In this short introduction lesson, Robbie showcases...
Free LessonSeries Details
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
Phil Keaggy
Welcome to the Phil Keaggy Master Course! In this series introduction, Phil shows and tells us what we can expect from this...
Free LessonSeries Details
Marcelo Berestovoy
Marcelo teaches the eight basic right hand moves for the Rumba Flamenca strum pattern. He then shows you how to apply it...
Free LessonSeries Details
David Isaacs
JamPlay welcomes David Isaacs to our teacher roster. With his first lesson Dave explains his approach to playing guitar with...
Free LessonSeries DetailsElectric Guitar Lesson Samples
Our electric guitar lessons are taught by instructors with an incredible amount of teaching experience.
Andy Whitehead
Join Andy as he takes a look at the style of one of the most influential guitarists of all time: Eddie Van Halen. In the...
Free LessonSeries Details
Billy Sheehan
Billy starts his artist series off with a lesson on something he gets asked the most to explain: right hand 3 finger technique.
Free LessonSeries Details
Aaron Marshall
JamPlay welcomes instrumental guitarist Aaron Marshall for a comprehensive master course. In this first lesson Aaron discusses...
Free LessonSeries Details
Dave Weiner
Dave "David J" Weiner returns with a lesson on how to play with style and attitude. He covers all the basic techniques you'll...
Free LessonSeries Details
Brendan Burns
Brendan demonstrates the tiny triad shapes derived from the form 1 barre chord.
Free LessonSeries Details
Danny Morris
Hone in on your right hand and focus on getting in the groove. You'll only play one note during this lesson, but it'll be...
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
John DeServio
JD teaches the pentatonic and blues scales and explains where and when you can apply them.
Free LessonSeries Details
James Malone
James explains how to tap arpeggios for extended musical reach.
Free LessonSeries DetailsJoin over 494239 guitarists who have learned how to play in weeks... not years!
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.Take a minute to compare JamPlay to other traditional and new methods of learning guitar. Our estimates for "In-Person" lessons below are based on a weekly face-to-face lesson for $40 per hour.
 |
||||
| Price Per Lesson | < $0.01 | $4 - $5 | $30 - $50 | Free |
| Money Back Guarantee | Sometimes | n/a | ||
| Number of Instructors | 88 | 1 – 3 | 1 | Zillions |
| Interaction with Instructors | Daily Webcam Sessions | Weekly | ||
| Professional Instructors | Luck of the Draw | Luck of the Draw | ||
| New Lessons | Daily | Weekly | Minutely | |
| Structured Lessons | ||||
| Learn Any Style | Sorta | |||
| Track Progress | ||||
| HD Video | - | Sometimes | ||
| Multiple Camera Angles | Sometimes | - | Sometimes | |
| Accurate Tabs | Maybe | Maybe | ||
| Scale/Chord Libraries | ||||
| Custom JamTracks | ||||
| Interactive Games | ||||
| Community | ||||
| Learn in Sweatpants | Socially Unacceptable | |||
| Gasoline Needed | $0.00 | $0.00 | ~$4 / gallon! | $0.00 |
Mike H.
"I feel like a 12 year old kid with a new guitar!"
I am 66 years young and I still got it! I would have never known this if it had not been for Jamplay! I feel like a 12 year old kid with a new guitar! Ha! I cannot express enough how great you're website is! It is for beginners and advanced pickers! I am an advanced picker and thought I had lost it but thanks to you all, I found it again! Even though I only play by ear, I have been a member a whopping whole two weeks now and have already got Brent's country shuffle and country blues down and of course with embellishments. Thank you all for your wonderful program!
Greg J.
"With Jamplay I can fit in a random session when I have time and I can go at my own pace"
I'm a fifty eight year old newbie who owns a guitar which has been sitting untouched in a corner for about seven years now. Last weekend I got inspired to pick it up and finally learn how to play after watching an amazing Spanish guitarist on TV. So, here I am. I'm starting at the beginning with Steve Eulberg and I couldn't be happier (except for the sore fingers :) Some day I'm going to play like Steve! I'm self employed with a hectic schedule. With Jamplay I can fit in a random session when I have time and I can go at my own pace, rewinding and replaying the videos until I get it. This is a very enjoyable diversion from my work yet I still feel like I'm accomplishing something worthwhile. Thanks a lot, Greg
Bill
"I believe this is the absolute best site for guitar students."
I am commenting here to tell you and everyone at JamPlay that I believe this is the absolute best site for guitar students. I truly enjoy learning to play the guitar on JamPlay.com. Yes, I said the words, ""enjoy learning."" It is by far the best deal for the money.
Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.Thank you Freebo for sharing this song in a lesson.
As an Artist i absolutely Love this song . I love the non judgement and the wisdom of truth. I actually think as i am writing this out how i feel about the words in this song i am finding my own voice for how i feel about choices and the lessons learned in my own experience .I am just year 1 and a bit for playing guitar everyday . Truly what a gift jam play is . I deffinately feel that although we are all connected we need to embrace our simularities and not our differences.