Blues Lead Techniques #2 (Guitar Lesson)
What are you waiting for? Get your membership now!
Blues Lead Techniques #2
Orville reopens the subject of lead techniques. He presents ideas on how to successfully build a solo and understand how to leave space to be most effective when playing with others.
Taught by Orville Johnson in Bluegrass Flatpicking seriesLength: 14:33Difficulty: 2.5 of 5
Video Subtitles / Captions
Supplemental Learning Material
Bluegrass Flatpicking
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. Learning to flatpick properly is absolutely crucial to the Bluegrass style.
Lesson 1
Alternate Picking
Orville Johnson starts out his Bluegrass Flatpicking Series with a lesson on alternate picking, a technique that is absolutely essential to almost all guitar styles.
Length: 25:21 Difficulty: 1.0 FREELesson 2
John Hardy
Orville teaches a classic song called "John Hardy" in the style of Mother Maybelle Carter.
Length: 15:54 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Bill Cheatum
Orville teaches the classic song "Bill Cheatum" in the bluegrass flatpicking style.
Length: 23:20 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Blackberry Blossom
Orville Johnson explains how to play the classic song "Blackberry Blossom" in the bluegrass flatpicking style.
Length: 26:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Orville Johnson shows how the classic bluegrass fiddle tune "Whiskey Before Breakfast" can be adapted to the guitar.
Length: 24:05 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Billy in the Lowground
Orville Johnson teaches how "Billy in the Lowground," a classic fiddle tune, can be adapted to bluegrass style guitar.
Length: 20:40 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Salt Creek
Orville Johnson teaches the classic bluegrass song "Salt Creek."
Length: 19:56 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Midnight on the Water
Orville Johnson teaches the classic buegrass song "Midnight on the Water."
Length: 39:42 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
The Wayfaring Stranger
Orville Johnson teaches a solo guitar version of the classic song "The Wayfaring Stranger."
Length: 21:12 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
The Eighth of January
Orville Johnson demonstrates the classic bluegrass song "The Eighth of January."
Length: 20:32 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Over the Waterfall
Orville Johnson teaches "Over the Waterfall."
Length: 21:40 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Lester Flatt G Lick
Orville Johnson demonstrates one of the most widely used bluegrass licks. This lick is named after "Lester Flatt" and simply called the "Lester Flatt G Lick."
Length: 15:14 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
June Apple
Orville Johnson explains how to play the classic song "June Apple."
Length: 21:27 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Soldier's Joy
Orville Johnson teaches a bluegrass guitar version of the classic song "Soldier's Joy."
Length: 13:22 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
The Arkansas Traveler
Orville Johnson teaches the "The Arkansas Traveler" in the key of D.
Length: 26:06 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
I Don't Love Nobody
Orville Johnson teaches his version of "I Don't Love Nobody."
Length: 19:14 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Old Joe Clark
Orville Johnson covers the classic tune "Old Joe Clark."
Length: 19:27 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
The Red-Haired Boy
Orville Johnson continues building your bluegrass fiddle tune repertoire with another great song called "The Red-Haired Boy."
Length: 27:49 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Black Mountain Rag: Key of E
Orville Johnson teaches "Black Mountain Rag" in the key of E.
Length: 26:25 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Black Mountain Rag: Key of A
In continuation of his previous lesson, Orville Johnson teaches "Black Mountain Rag" in the key of A.
Length: 23:31 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
St. Anne's Reel
Orville Johnson takes a look at the bluegrass standard "St. Anne's Reel".
Length: 20:43 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Glory in the Meeting House
In this lesson, Orville Johnson teaches a fantastic new tune called "Glory in the Meeting House".
Length: 19:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Under the Double Eagle
In his latest Flatpicking Bluegrass lesson, Orville Johnson teaches a tune called "Under the Double Eagle".
Length: 31:50 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Crossing The Big Sandy River
Orville Johnson continues building your bluegrass flatpicking repertoire with another great tune called "Crossing The Big Sandy River".
Length: 11:00 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
When He Calls Me
Orville Johnson teaches another great bluegrass flatpicking tune called "When He Calls Me".
Length: 12:45 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Ragtime Annie
Orville Johnson teaches "Ragtime Annie," another bluegrass tune to add to your repertoire.
Length: 15:13 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Bonaparte's Retreat
Orville Johnson continues to build your bluegrass fiddle tune repertoire with a fun tune called "Bonaparte's Retreat".
Length: 20:13 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Reuben's Train
Orville Johnson takes a look at another fiddle tune called "Reuben's Train" in this lesson.
Length: 13:57 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Turkey in the Straw
Orville Johnson takes a look at a fun song called "Turkey in the Straw" in this lesson.
Length: 9:54 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Flatpicking Exercise: The Mirror Technique
In this lesson, Orville introduces an exercise called "The Mirror Technique." This is a technique that will improve the communication between your picking hand and fretting hand.
Length: 21:09 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Flatpicking Exercise: Double & Triple Picking
Welcome to yet another lesson on picking exercises! Orville demonstrates how to achieve double picking and triplet picking techniques that are common in all musical styles.
Length: 23:25 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
The Devil's Dream
This traditional song offers the standard A and B parts and is another essential song to add to your repertoire of tunes that can be played with friends.
Length: 18:15 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Blues Swing Lead Techniques
Orville teaches a blues melody in G major and also explains how to "comp" or accompany/compliment the melody with the Freddie Green rhythm.
Length: 19:54 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Blues Lead Techniques #2
Orville reopens the subject of lead techniques. He presents ideas on how to successfully build a solo and understand how to leave space to be most effective when playing with others.
Length: 14:33 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Blues Lead Techniques #3
Time to design a solo! Orville breaks down the techniques needed to build a successful solo while both explaining space and scale theory.
Length: 19:49 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Blues Lead Techniques #4
This lesson is all about harmonic structure. Orville uses the theory taught in the previous lesson to help you choose the correct notes when building a solo.
Length: 23:03 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Bully of the Town
How about another classic bluegrass tune? "Bully of the Town" offers up a chance to use a capo and apply key change techniques.
Length: 25:23 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
The Beaumont Rag
Orville Johnson is back to his bluegrass flatpicking series. In this lesson, he discusses and teaches "The Beaumont Rag". This tune serves as a great picking exercise and is also a ton of fun to play!
Length: 23:28 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Cherokee Shuffle
Orville Johnson shows how to play a classic Bluegrass tune entitled "Cherokee Shuffle." It's fun, slightly challenging and sounds great.
Length: 35:05 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Banks of the Ohio
Orville Johnson travels back in time to teach a classic song called "Banks of the Ohio." Though this tune features a rather sordid narrative lyrically, the music is still quick, upbeat and fun to play.
Length: 42:50 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
About Orville Johnson
View Full Biography
Orville Johnson was born in 1953 in Edwardsville, Illinois and came up on the St. Louis, Missouri music scene, where he was exposed to and participated in a variety of blues, bluegrass and American roots music. He began singing in his Pentecostal church as a young boy, in rock bands in middle school, then took up the guitar at 17,with early influences from Doc Watson, Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, and Chuck Berry. In the early 1970's, Orville spent several seasons playing bluegrass on the SS Julia Belle Swain, a period-piece Mississippi river steamboat plying the inland waterways, with his group the Steamboat Ramblers.
Orville moved to Seattle, Washington in 1978, where he was a founding member of the much-loved and well-remembered folk/rock group, the Dynamic Logs. Other musical associates include Laura Love, Ranch Romance, File' Gumbo Zydeco Band, Scott Law, and the Twirling Mickeys. Johnson, known for his dobro and slide guitar stylings and vocal acrobatics, has played on over 100 albums. He has appeared on Garrison Keilor's Prairie Home Companion, Jay Leno's Tonight Show and was featured in the 1997 film Georgia with Mare Winningham. His musical expertise can also be heard on the Microsoft CD-ROMs, Musical Instruments of the World and the Complete Encyclopedia of Baseball. He teaches as well at the International Guitar Seminar, Pt. Townsend Country Blues Week and Puget Sound Guitar Workshop.
Orville released 4 recordings in the 1990's: The World According to Orville (1990) Blueprint for the Blues (1998) Slide & Joy (1999) an all-instrumental dobro tour de force and Kings of Mongrel Folk (1997) with Mark Graham. He also appeared on 4 discs with the File' Gumbo Zydeco Band and produced Whose World Is This (1997) for Jim Page and Inner Life (1999) for Mark Graham. In the 21st century, he has released Freehand, a new Kings of Mongrel Folk disc, Still Goin' Strong, and been featured in the soundtracks of PBS' Frontier House and the Peter Fonda flick The Wooly Boys as well as the compilation cd Legends of the Incredible Lap Steel Guitar.
Acoustic Guitar Lessons
Our acoustic guitar lessons are taught by qualified instructors with various backgrounds with the instrument.
Mark Lincoln
Lesson 40 takes a deeper look at slash chords. Mark discusses why they're called slash chords, and how they are formed.
Free LessonSeries Details
Mark Kroos
Free LessonSeries Details
Erik Mongrain
Erik expounds on the many possibilities of open tunings and the new harmonics that you can use in them. He explains what...
Free LessonSeries Details
Jim Deeming
Jim discusses the importance of setting goals. He provides some tips that will help steer your practicing in the right direction.
Free LessonSeries Details
Justin Roth
In this lesson Justin introduces his series on playing with a capo and dishes out some basic tips, including how to properly...
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 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 Details
Don Ross
New fingerstyle instructor Don Ross introduces himself, his background, and what you should expect in this series.
Free LessonSeries Details
Randall Williams
In this lesson Randall introduces the partial capo (using a short-cut capo by Kyser) and talks about how it can make the...
Free LessonSeries Details
Steve Eulberg
Steve Eulberg does a quick review of this lesson series and talks about moving on.
Free LessonSeries DetailsElectric Guitar Lesson Samples
Our electric guitar lessons are taught by instructors with an incredible amount of teaching experience.
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
Will Ripley
Join Will Ripley as he gives us all the details of his series, "Rock Guitar for Beginners". You'll be playing cool rock riffs...
Free LessonSeries Details
Evan Brewer
Evan Brewer explains everything you need to know in order to get going with your bass guitar. Topics include the parts of...
Free LessonSeries Details
Braun Khan
In this lesson, Braun teaches the chord types that are commonly used in jazz harmony. Learn how to build the chords and their...
Free LessonSeries Details
Tony MacAlpine
Free LessonSeries Details
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
John Shannon
Meet John Shannon and his approach to rhythm guitar. John discusses why he put this lesson series together and what his...
Free LessonSeries Details
Larry Cook
In this lesson, Larry discusses and demonstrates how to tune your bass. He explains why tuning is critical and discusses...
Free LessonSeries Details
Steve Smyth
JamPlay sits down with veteran fret grinder Steve Smyth of Forbidden and The EssenEss Project. He talks about how he got...
Free LessonSeries Details
David MacKenzie
David MacKenzie introduces the tapping technique and teaches a fun exercise. This lesson includes a backing track.
Free LessonSeries DetailsJoin over 517786 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 | 89 | 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.