President's Day Special
Ends in
Expiring soon. 1 month, or 1 year at JamPlay for up to $75 off! Unlock 450+ courses from 91 teachers. Automatically apply your coupon and lock in today.
Expiring soon. 1 month, or 1 year at JamPlay for up to $75 off! Unlock 450+ courses from 91 teachers. Automatically apply your coupon and lock in today.
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
A 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
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
Orville teaches a classic song called "John Hardy" in the style of Mother Maybelle Carter.
Length: 15:54 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Orville teaches the classic song "Bill Cheatum" in the bluegrass flatpicking style.
Length: 23:20 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Orville Johnson explains how to play the classic song "Blackberry Blossom" in the bluegrass flatpicking style.
Length: 26:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
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
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
Orville Johnson teaches the classic bluegrass song "Salt Creek."
Length: 19:56 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Orville Johnson teaches the classic buegrass song "Midnight on the Water."
Length: 39:42 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Orville Johnson teaches a solo guitar version of the classic song "The Wayfaring Stranger."
Length: 21:12 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Orville Johnson demonstrates the classic bluegrass song "The Eighth of January."
Length: 20:32 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Orville Johnson teaches "Over the Waterfall."
Length: 21:40 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
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
Orville Johnson explains how to play the classic song "June Apple."
Length: 21:27 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Orville Johnson teaches a bluegrass guitar version of the classic song "Soldier's Joy."
Length: 13:22 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Orville Johnson teaches the "The Arkansas Traveler" in the key of D.
Length: 26:06 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Orville Johnson teaches his version of "I Don't Love Nobody."
Length: 19:14 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Orville Johnson covers the classic tune "Old Joe Clark."
Length: 19:27 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
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
Orville Johnson teaches "Black Mountain Rag" in the key of E.
Length: 26:25 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
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
Orville Johnson takes a look at the bluegrass standard "St. Anne's Reel".
Length: 20:43 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In this lesson, Orville Johnson teaches a fantastic new tune called "Glory in the Meeting House".
Length: 19:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In his latest Flatpicking Bluegrass lesson, Orville Johnson teaches a tune called "Under the Double Eagle".
Length: 31:50 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
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
Orville Johnson teaches another great bluegrass flatpicking tune called "When He Calls Me".
Length: 12:45 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Orville Johnson teaches "Ragtime Annie," another bluegrass tune to add to your repertoire.
Length: 15:13 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
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
Orville Johnson takes a look at another fiddle tune called "Reuben's Train" in this lesson.
Length: 13:57 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Our acoustic guitar lessons are taught by qualified instructors with various backgrounds with the instrument.
Steve Eulberg
Steve Eulberg does a quick review of this lesson series and talks about moving on.
Free LessonSeries Details
Miche Fambro
Miche introduces several new chord concepts that add color and excitement to any progression.
Free LessonSeries Details
Mark Kroos
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
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
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
Peter Einhorn
JamPlay is proud to introduce jazz guitarist Peter Einhorn. In this lesson series, Peter will discuss and demonstrate a way...
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
Dave Yauk
Learn a simple mini song that illustrates just how intertwined scales and chords really are. Dave uses a G chord paired...
Free LessonSeries Details
Our electric guitar lessons are taught by instructors with an incredible amount of teaching experience.
John DeServio
JD teaches the pentatonic and blues scales and explains where and when you can apply them.
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
Lauren Passarelli
Lauren Passarelli offers up her wisdom on purchasing a guitar. She also includes information regarding proper setup and care....
Free LessonSeries Details
Jeffery Marshall
Welcome to Inside and Out with Jeff Marshall! In this lesson series, Jeff takes a bottom up approach to fret board proficiency....
Free LessonSeries Details
Brendan Burns
Brendan demonstrates the tiny triad shapes derived from the form 1 barre chord.
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
Dennis Hodges
Learn a variety of essential techniques commonly used in the metal genre, including palm muting, string slides, and chord...
Free LessonSeries Details
Paul Musso
JamPlay is proud to welcome senior professor and Coordinator of Guitar Studies at the University of Colorado at Denver,...
Free LessonSeries Details
David Wallimann
This is a crucial lesson that explains tablature, how to read it, and why it's important.
Free LessonSeries Details
Matt Brown
Matt Brown shows off some ways to add some creativity and originality to your rock chord voicings.
Free LessonSeries DetailsSignup today to enjoy access to our entire database of video lessons, along with our exclusive set of learning tools and features.
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 | 92 | 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.